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writefasttalkevenfaster · 4 years

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Aaron Hotchner / A Promise Amongst the Storm

Prompt: Based on season 11, episode 22, “The Storm” aka the episode Hotch gets arrested.

Summary: A family always kept their promises - but you just hoped you could keep yours to Jack, and get his father out of jail.

Word Count: 4,806

Warnings: fluff, angst, some language, reader going very lawyery on people’s asses, me possibly having too much fun using a tiny bit of what I learned in law school, mentions of Haley, use of dialogue from the episode

"You getting all packed up?" Aaron asks, his footsteps heavy with the thud of his shoes against the carpeted hardwood.

"Uh-huh," Aaron walks across the dining area, a kiss to your forehead.

"That means you too," you were typing furiously at your laptop, brow thoroughly furrowed. You needed to get this email out to your opposing counsel, just to let him know how inappropriate that sandbagging he pulled was, and how you were going to let the judge know that in your discovery meeting today.

"I'm almost done, grandpa, give me a minute," you mock grumble, shooting a grin to Jack, who hid his smile as he packed his backpack, before running out the room to grab something.

Aaron hums, his arms curl around you, "Is that how it's gonna be, old timer?"

"Since when am I old?" You giggle, as his large hands press into your hips, before wrapping around your middle. He presses a kiss to your neck, fingers finding yours, the cool metal of your wedding bang against his skin.

"Since you married a grandpa," he murmurs against your skin, as Jack re-enters, grimacing.

“Can you guys not be gross so early in the morning?” he has a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips, “I just ate breakfast.”

“I didn’t realize we were so gross that we could induce sickness amongst children,” you say, and Aaron laughs, pressing one last kiss to your cheek.

“Must be the elderly thing,” and you scoff, hands on your hips.

“Jack, am I old?” and then you see him hesitate, “Don’t answer that.”

“Good thinking,” Aaron mumbles, and you stick your tongue out at him, as Jack smiles, continuing to pack up his backpack.

The doorbell rings, and you see Aaron strode by to open it, “Hurry up,” he warns you more than Jack. You shut your laptop and tuck into your bag just in time to see J.J. and Henry enter past Aaron, grinning, “Good morning,”

“Hi,” J.J. greets, before the kids start talking.

“Did you bring the comics?” You throw your bag over your shoulder, ready to leave.

“Yeah, the new one comes out today,” Henry replies, the kids heading over to the dining table, as you mouth to J.J. ‘What comics?’

She waves you off, ‘It’s fine. Our kids are nerds.’ You hide your laugh, as Jack finishes up packing up, continuing to discuss the comics at length with Henry as he does.

“We really appreciate you giving us a drive today,” J.J. says, a small smile on her face, as Hotch goes to unlock the gun safe.

“Sure, absolutely. Any time,” he replies with a smile.

“I wish you would do it more often,” you squeeze beside her and Henry, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, squeezing J.J.’s hand, “I miss you both now that I’m working at the Attorney General's.”

“Well, Hotch makes it sound like you’re fitting in just fine—”

“More than just fine,” Aaron says, placing his gun in his holster, as you frown at him, “you just closed a major case last week for the Attorney General’s office—”

And J.J. raises her eyebrows, “I didn’t hear about this,”

“Technically, I can’t talk details, but it was quite a victory,” you shrug, “but the case has been going on for years, years before I started working there.”

“You have to give yourself more credit,” he presses a kiss to your forehead, as J.J. helps the kids finish packing up.

“That’s what I have you for, right?”

And the door bursts open, the sound of splitting wood and metal cracks through the relative silence. In a moment, Aaron pushes you behind him, pointing his gun, “MPD!”

“Aaron—” you whisper, but he keeps you behind him, as you look at the kids, both in J.J.’s arms,

“I’m on the job,” Aaron’s voice stays steady, but you can feel his heart pounding through his back.

“Drop your weapon—”

“I’m Aaron Hotchner with the FBI,”

“We know who you are, lower your gun,” the large barrels are pointed right at him, but you can’t move. You can’t speak, your fingers dig into his jacket.

“Aaron—”

“Who sent you?” he asks, and they don’t answer, only holding their guns steady as he orders Aaron again, to lower his gun.

“Hotch—” J.J. cuts through the silence, and you glance over at Jack and Henry — Jack whose eyes are glassy, and Henry who has his face buried in his mom’s arm.

He begins to lower his weapon, “This is a mistake.”

“Daddy, what’s going on?”

“It’s ok, Jack,” Aaron tells him, but its not. It’s not.

“On your knees,” he orders, “hands behind your back.”

“Is this really necessary?” Aaron asks, setting his gun down, holding his hands up in the air. And you know he’s not asking for himself — but for Jack. Is this necessary to do in front of his son? His son who has already lost so much. His son who has seen things he should never see. His son who doesn’t need another thing to keep him up at night.

“Now!” he orders.

“Daddy,” you see tears in Jack’s eyes, as he begins to cry. And anger floods your body like liquid heat, erasing any inch of fear. How dare they. How fucking dare they do this to your family.

“What are the charges?” you ask, as Aaron does what he says, slowly getting on his knees, and placing his hands behind his back, “you haven’t told us the charges — you can’t arrest him—”

“We have orders here that says you can—”

“Your orders do not pre-empt the Constitution,” you cross your arms, as you step in front of him now “now I’m Aaron Hotchner’s attorney, and you won’t take him anywhere, until you tell me what the charges are.”

Aaron says your name as a warning, “Don’t. Stay with Jack—”

“What are the charges?”

“He’s being charged with an attempted terrorist threat—” and you scoff, as they move to cuff him.

“Where’s your evidence? Where’s your warrant—” and they haul Aaron to his feet in cuffs, and you nearly break when you see him look at you.

“Daddy—” Jack cries.

“It’s okay, Jack,” Aaron’s voice is steady, hiding the fear and the confusion, tucked away, as he looks at his son, “it’s a big mistake and everything is going to be alright,” You move to leave, “Stay with Jack.”

You stop short, glancing at Jack, “I know, but—”

He looks at you, a silent understanding passing.

‘You need a lawyer.’

‘I am a lawyer.’

‘Jack needs to know you’re alright.’

‘Jack needs a parent there to tell him that.’

‘If you need me you’ll call?’

“I’ll call you if I invoke,” he promises, and you watch them pull him away, “I’ll be okay. I promise.”

You watch a moment, before rushing to Jack’s side, you kneel, pulling him from J.J.’s arms gently, “Jack, Jack,” he hugs you, sobbing into your shoulder, “he’s going to be okay. This is a mistake. And we’re not going to stop until we find out who did this.”

“What if—” his voice breaks, “What if—”

“No what ifs,” you lean back, wiping the tears from his cheeks, “you know your dad is literally a superhero right? He can handle a few government goons. He was a prosecutor, he’s a bureau chief, and don’t forget how good he is at reading people. He knows what he’s doing. And I’m going to be with you, until we get him out. And he will get out. We will get him out.” you pull him to your shoulder again, glancing at J.J., “I promise.”

~~~

“I need to know where my husband is being held,” you paced the room, glancing at Aaron’s office where J.J. was sitting with Jack and Henry, “I work for the Attorney General’s office, I graduated with honors from a very reputable law school — either you tell me, or I will have every one of my colleagues, my classmates, and every attorney I’ve worked with suing you—” and then you started hearing words you liked, “thank you for the confirmation.”

You hang up the phone, sparing a glance at Aaron’s empty desk, your heart squeezing. He’ll be okay. You’ll get him back.

There’s a knock at the door, and Rossi sticks his head in, and you lean against the desk, a question written on his face.

“He’s being held by the Inspector General’s office, like I thought,” you crossed your arms, rubbing your temple, “I have a contact there, I’m going to call to see how he’s doing and where they have him. And maybe go down there, if Jack’s okay.”

“You do what you need to,” Rossi clapped his hand to your shoulder, squeezing it, “we can hold down the fort here.”

“I may have to go down there and see if I can get him, see if—” you feel your front crumble to pieces at the thought of Aaron in jail — being held on false charges. You knew as good as anyone how fucked the system was, how the government loved to make an example out of anyone, how completely, absolutely fucked this could get given the right circumstances— and instead of helping him, you were falling to pieces. Dave whispers your name, his lips twisted in a frown, and you shake your head, a small shaky breath escaping your lips, “What the hell is going on Dave?”

“I don’t know,” he pulls you into a hug, as you blink back tears, “but we’re going to find out.”

“Hey, J.J., mind letting me have some time with Jack for a minute?” she nods, shepherding Henry down to have some time with his Uncle Reid for a bit, while you sat next to Jack, “hey buddy,” He doesn’t look up from his comic, brow thoroughly furrowed — like father like son, “you don’t have to say anything, but I found out where your dad is.”

His eyes fly up, “Where is he?”

“The Inspector General has him. There’s been some sort of misunderstanding—”

“Does that mean he’s coming home now?” and your heart breaks, but this wasn’t about you — it was about Jack.

“Not yet, but I’m going to go down there, and kick some butts to make sure he can get home to you and to us as fast as possible,” his gaze drops back to the comic panels, but you could tell he wasn’t reading it, the gears grinding in his head, “I can’t force you to tell me what’s on your mind, Jack. And I don’t want to. I want you to feel comfortable enough to tell me what’s going on in that head of yours,” and he stays quiet, lips perfectly pursed, “and I’m also not a mindreader, like your buddy in the comic here.”

He scoffs, a smile tugging at his lips, “Spiderman can’t read minds,”

“Doesn’t he have that spidey sense or whatever? Can’t he read minds with that?” the smile is gone as quick as it appeared, “I just want you to know that I’m here for you. And as scary as this is for me, it’s just as scary, if not scarier, for you.”

He sighs, “Why is it always my family?”

And your chest aches, “Jack—”

“First it was my mom,” he whispers, “and then dad is away. He gets hurt. He’s in the hospital. And now they took him from me—” his voice breaks, a tear slipping down his cheek, “I just want everything to be okay.”

“It will be,” you pull him into a hug, his arms looping around your middle, “I promise, it will be. I’m sorry, Jack. I’m so sorry,” you wipe your own tears away, “I really wish you didn’t have to see that, buddy, and I’m sorry. But I know you are just as strong as your parents are, and they are so strong. And I need you to have faith in us — the team, me — we are your family too. And we will never let anything happen to your dad or to you.”

“Never?” he mumbles, and you run your fingers through his hair.

“Never,” you pull away, “you trust me right?”

“I do,” he wipes his tears away with his forearm before you hand him a tissue.

“Me and your dad know the law backwards and forwards — and you know what your dad is? Innocent, he didn’t do a thing,” you cross your arms, “We just have to prove that — and that should be pretty easy to prove, considering what a goodie two shoes your dad is. He wouldn’t even take those extra wet naps from that restaurant we went to.” You add, a smile pulling on your lips.

He chuckles, “He made you put them back,” and you grab a water bottle, handing it to him, he squeezes it in his hand, “when will you get him home?”

“If you don’t mind staying here for a bit, I’m going to go down there and see if I can speak to your dad, see if I can wrangle him out of there. I’m sure your dad already has them begging for mercy. Do you mind if I go? If you need me to stay, I will.”

“Go,” he says, before pulling you into another hug, his grip tight around your middle, “just please come back. Bring Dad back.”

“I will, I promise,” you press a kiss to his head, “We won’t ever leave you, Jack. Not ever.”

~~~

“I demand to see my client,” before you had taken this job at the Attorney General’s office, your law degree had been collecting dust in the back of your closet (along with Aaron’s for that matter). But after you started at the A.G.’s office, you had some time to readjust to being back into a legal setting, and you were particularly grateful for that at this moment. You were finally making progress, this was the only the third attorney you’ve spoken to — the other two which passed the buck — “I don’t have to tell you that an office charged with investigating the integrity of its officers having an ethical complaint and lawsuit thrown right back at them makes for good press coverage — and the kind of case I just love to prosecute. I have contacts at every major legal organization in the country, not least of all D.C., any of one of them would be willing to help me take this case—”

“Excuse me—” but you continue over him.

“And you will be buried, and I mean buried — until your entire office will have to resign in disgrace for violating one of the most vital tenets of the U.S. Constitution — the sixth amendment.”

“He hasn’t invoked,”

“And yet I asserted myself as his attorney in front of the armed SWAT team you sent to arrest a highly esteemed bureau chief of the FBI in front of another FBI agent and two small children, one of which was his,” you raise a single eyebrow, “do you really argue semantics with me right now? I want to see him. Otherwise, we can argue semantics in front of a trier of fact.”

The attorney stares at you, gritted teeth and clenched jaw. And you smile.

“What are you doing?” the door bursts open and you walk in, “This is—”

“This is a violation of my client’s basic constitutional rights,” you walk to Aaron’s side, squeezing his shoulder, “tell me, what was the probable cause you had to even start investigating him in the first place?”

“It was Scratch,” Hotch says, “he said—”

“This is a confidential—”

“You seized my client on the word of a psychopath,” you give a terse chuckle, “you violated his fourth amendment right to privacy, his sixth amendment right to attorney, his fifth amendment right to procedural due process—”

“That’s not important right now,” Aaron says your name, “there’s a prison break happening. The team.”

Shit. You checked your phone — twelve missed calls and so many messages from Garcia, “We need to leave here immediately.”

“He is not—”

“Should I actually start mentally preparing that report for the subcommittee?” and you cross your arms as well, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe I’ll join him and start preparing a complaint to file against your entire office and specifically you,” and you see him pale further, his brow furrowed in a scowl, “Your name was again?”

~~~

You don’t touch him until you leave that horrible office. But once you’re both through the double doors, the pretense of professionalism drops and he pulls you immediately to him, burying your face in his chest, “I was—”

“I know,” he breathes back, his face buried in the crook of your neck, “I was—”

“I know,” you smile, leaning back to cup his cheek, “Jack is at the BAU, I should get back. And you—”

“I have to go,” and you chuckle, “but you knew that already.”

“There are very few things I don’t know about you, Aaron Hotchner,” you murmur, pressing a kiss to his lips, "but everyday I look forward to learning some of them."

He kisses you again, full mouthed and sweet, as if he was trying to show you just how much he loved you — how much he did that he could never truly express in words.

"You'll tell Jack?"

You kiss him one last time, running your thumb across the ridge of his cheekbone, "Promise."

~~~~

Aaron enters , breathless, as if every breath he had taken from the moment he was arrested he released the moment he saw Jack. You hang back in the doorway as J.J. grabs Henry, “Hey,”

Jack doesn’t look up from his drawing, continuing to color, the scratching of the color pencil filling the silence of the office, “Hey.”

Aaron purses his lips, “What are you doing?”

“Drawing,” Jack responds tersely, and you frown, leaning against the door, holding your tongue. This was between them. It wasn’t your place.

“Can I take a look?” And Jack sets down his color pencil, flipping over the drawing decisively.

“No,” he replied, before tucking it away in his binder. And you didn’t need to see Aaron’s face to know he was hurt — or what was worse, thinking he deserved it, “are you okay?”

You bit back a chuckle, despite everything, he was still his father’s son, and his mother’s for that matter, “Yeah, I’m ok. How about you?”

Jack looks up a moment, putting his things away, an inscrutable emotion flickering across his face, “I’m fine.”

“You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” Jack slings on his backpack, dejected, as he slips past his father without even a glance. Aaron watches him leave, his gaze cast downward, and Jack slips past you, Aaron following. You grab his hand, pulling him back a moment.

You glance at Jack and back at him, and he shakes his head, “I’m fine.”

~~~

It wasn’t fine.

And all three of you knew that. On the car ride home, you spent it in relative silence, exchanging looks with Aaron, mouthing in silent conversation.

‘You should talk to him.’

‘I will when we get home.’

‘Do you want me to be there?’

‘Always, Jack needs you too—’

“I know you’re talking about me,” Jack speaks up from behind.

You turn around, Aaron’s eyes flickering to the rear view mirror — caught in the act, “what do you mean, bud?”

“I’m not stupid, I can tell when you two are talking about me,” Jack crosses his arms, his backpack by his side.

“Jack,” Aaron chides gently, “we talked about language—”

Jack huffs, his voice rising, “Dad, you were arrested today—”

“Let’s talk about this when we get home?” you interrupt, looking between father and son, “Okay?”

God. You were only looking forward to the teenage years after this.

~~~

“Jack, a man I arrested framed me today,” Jack sat beside Aaron, while you sat across from them, “that’s why I was arrested. He was trying to cover up something else he was trying to do. Something bigger,” Jack doesn’t say anything, only staring downward, “But I’m okay. I’m sorry you had to see that, buddy. I didn’t want you to. I’m so—”

“Why didn’t you come back?” Jack peers up at him, as Aaron blinks, “why didn’t you come see me right after you got out?”

“Jack, I came—”

“You always have to go to work. You always leave. I was worried, Dad,” his voice broke, as his father pulled him into his arms, “And you got out, but you didn’t come see me.”

“Jack, people needed help, I’m—”

“I needed you, Daddy,” Jack fists his hands in Aaron’s shirt, “I need you.”

Aaron breaks in that moment, tears slipping down his cheeks, shaking his head, “I know, I know,” he wraps his arms around him, tugging him close, he presses a kiss to the top of his head, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Jack. I should’ve come to see you first before going. I didn’t think. I should have thought about you first. I love you. I love you more than anything.”

“But your dad did send me to check on you,” you piped up, walking over and sliding beside Jack, “you were the first thing on his mind when he got out, Jack, even with everything else going on. Even when he went to help the team, he was thinking about going home to you. He always is. Every case.” and his glassy eyes meet yours, before you add, “He should have come, you’re right, but he loves you, so much.” you brushed his hand, and he intertwined his smaller fingers with yours, “and I do too.”

He sniffs, “Did you kick a lot of butts to get Dad out?”

Aaron chuckles, and you grin, blinking back tears, “I sure did. I might be hearing from several other people’s lawyers who might be suing me for emotional distress — but I was mad. No one likes it when I’m mad.”

“We know,” Jack and Aaron said together, and you huffed, open mouthed.

“I’m not that bad!”

“Debatable,” He shrugs.

“I guess I’ll see you in court,” before clapping Jack on the arm, “come on, go get ready for bed, and I’ll tell you about all the yelling I did today to get your dad out—” Aaron raises his eyebrows, “what? I won’t work blue — it’ll be kid appropriate.”

“I’d like to hear this myself,” He gives Jack a kiss, “I’ll see in a few, buddy. I love you.”

Jack pauses, before hugging his dad again, arms thrown around his shoulders, “I love you too, Dad.”

He throws his arms around you too, his tiny arms squeezing around your neck, “I love you too,” he mumbles, before scurrying off without another word.

You both watch him run off to his bedroom to get ready for bed, as Aaron slumps against the couch, slinging his arm over your shoulders, “I think we could all use a vacation after this,” you run your fingers through his hair, “don’t you think?”

“Somewhere without cellphones,” and you scoff.

“Maybe for you, I can use technology without someone calling me to work,” you lay against his shoulder, looking up at him, “I’m still going to sue you though,” and he chuckles, a smile on his lips, you cross your arms, closing your eyes, “and I won’t hesitate to bring up all the times I saved your butt by the way.”

“Past acts don’t--”

“This isn’t civil court — I’m going to file a criminal complaint. I do know the D.C. District attorney after all,” his fingers tilt your chin upwards, warm touch making your eyes open to find him staring at you, his love so easily and clearly written there that it makes you smile, “past acts contribute to pattern, remember?”

“What are the charges?” he breaths, leaning closer, noses bumping, lips only brushing as you can’t stop smiling long enough to kiss him.

“Theft,” you murmurs, as his lips finally meet yours, your fingers tangling in the hair at the back of his neck, “you stole my heart after all.”

He hums, as his teeth graze your bottom lip, “Are you this corny in court?”

“Shut up,” you murmur, fingers brushing his jaw, “do I need to remind you who saved your ass today?”

A frown pulls at his lips, pulling away a moment, “Thank you,”

“You don’t have—” he shakes his head, bringing your knuckles to his lips.

“Not just for that,” he kisses each one, “for everything.”

And you smile, before tugging him close again, “I meant what I almost said — you don’t need to thank me for that,” your lips find his again, smiling against him, “but you’re welcome.”

~~~

“Is this your card?” Spencer pulls the card from Penelope’s hair, Henry and Jack gaping at him, wide grins across their faces.

“How did you do that?” Garcia squeals, gaping at Spencer.

“How did you do that?” you repeat, tone flat and brow furrowed.

“There’s always a skeptic,” Reid says, shuffling his cards.

“You’re the skeptic. You are quite literally always one,” you cross your arms, glaring at him, “how did you do that?”

You and Spencer continue to bicker, as Aaron watches, shaking his head, “I had a hard time putting both boys down last night,”

“They couldn’t sleep,” J.J. gives a short chuckle, shaking her head.

“Other way around,” her gaze turning back to the boys, “I didn’t want to leave them.”

“How are things on your end?” Aaron sighs, shaking his head. It had been some time since that day, but Jack was having nightmares still. There had been multiple days where he crawled into bed with you and him. It wasn’t like it was any better for him — Aaron kept having dreams about the gunmen at his door, Scratch, whatever other nightmare waiting for him. He was afraid.

Like anyone would be.

“You know, fortunately Jack doesn’t remember a lot about Haley’s death. He knows the story,” he adds, the memory a weight on his chest, recounting to his son about how his mother died protecting him, and she died because of his job, the job he kept, “But he was young.”

“That’s a good thing,”

“That’s a very good thing,” he affirms, flashes of the other day still fresh in his mind, the tears in Jack’s eyes, the fear — the same fear that will stay with him, “But he’s not going to forget seeing me at gunpoint. I just don’t want this job to take anything else away from him.”

He already had lost enough. Too much. More than he ever deserved to. More than he ever wanted his son to lose.

“Well, maybe it gives him something too,” he meets J.J.’s gaze, a wide smile on her lips, “You’re his hero. Not a pretend hero, a real hero.”

And he thought of the other night, I needed you, Dad. “Well he’s growing up. He’s not going to feel that way for too much longer,” a smile tugs at his lips as he watches him with Reid.

“Nah, you can worry about that later,” J.J. adds, “Just be his dad. Enjoy that,” He watches Jack and Henry hide behind you as Reid pelts you with streamers, “they are great together aren’t they?”

“Really great,” he smiles softly, before excusing himself to walk over to you, laughing at Reid’s antics, his hand easily finding yours, “Hi.”

“Hi, did you see—” He presses a kiss to your lips, soft and sweet and smooth, your eyelids flutter, lips parted, “What was that for?”

He pulls you aside slyly, fingers intertwined as he tugged you along, “I didn’t thank you for everything you’ve done,”

“You already did, Aaron,” you wave him off, but he shakes his head.

“I love you so much, and you were so strong, for me, for Jack,” he wraps his arms around your waist, “I can’t ever thank you enough for that.”

“I love both my Hotchner men more than anything — you don’t need thank me,” you press chaste kiss to his lips, tasting the alcohol on his lips, you hold up your hand, shiny band barely glinting in the low light, “that’s why we have these don’t we? Wouldn’t have married a grandpa if I didn’t love him,” he tilts his head, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips, “and I always will.”

“Promise?” he asks, pressing his forehead against yours, your breath warming his lips, as he tugs you closer, wrapping his arms around your waist. And for once, he felt like this was a promise that would be kept without question.

“Promise.”

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stufftippywrote · 4 years

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Bitty's Comprehensive List of Top 10 Kisses with Jack Zimmermann

First of all, anon, you are so greedy. I said i'd do the first three or four kisses, and you come in here demanding TEN? I'm just kidding. This was a fun one to think about and conceptualize, so thank you very much for sending it :)

Bitty's had a lot of time to think about this. And he's had a lot (a LOT) of material to work through. So he's ranked what he considers the top 10 kisses he and Jack have shared. Every so often, in his mind, he goes through them, laying them out and reliving them one by one. It makes a lot of long car rides and plane trips in and out of Providence bearable.

Number 10 is a kiss that they shared in a fancy restaurant, one of the first places Jack took Bitty after they went public. The food was divine, and there was a little jazz quartet playing old standards in front of a small patch of dance floor. After dinner, Jack held out his hand and asked if Bitty would care to dance.

Dance they did, and as the bass and the piano plucked out Fly Me To the Moon in the background, Jack hoisted Bitty off his feet, holding him just above the floor so their faces were close. His forehead tipped against Bitty's, soft and warm, and then it was like gravity, the sway of the dance and the melody drawing them together. Just a brief, beautiful kiss, like a single flower, there and gone again, but so unbearably sweet it left Bitty's lips and cheeks both flushed. Dessert was good, but not as good as that.

Number 9 was one particular early lazy morning kiss. And thank God Jack Zimmermann always gets up and brushes his teeth before he comes back to bed. That morning, he kissed Bitty so long, so languidly, just mouths moving together for minutes on end. Lips catching and holding and parting again. Jack's hand on Bitty's arm, thumb stroking oh so gently. They didn't even do anything else that morning, just kissed. Kissed for what seemed like forever. It put sunshine in Bitty's soul and a low hum of happiness throughout his body that lasted all day long. When he wakes up alone, Bitty still closes his eyes and imagines it.

Number 8 is special not necessarily because of the kiss itself, but because of where and when it was. Bitty's first trip up to Jack's apartment in Providence was notable in a lot of ways, but it was really the first time the two of them had total privacy and could do whatever they pleased. The minute the door swung shut behind Bitty, he dropped his bag and launched himself happily into Jack's arms. They were both smiling into the kiss, heady with the freedom of it. "Oh, Jack," Bitty murmured when their lips parted, and he buried his head in Jack's shoulder, sighing, his pulse jumping under his skin. They were all alone, together, with no parents downstairs or strangers to find out their secret, and this night was all theirs. Bitty won't ever forget that feeling.

Number 7 was just recently. Bitty wasn't about to get engaged without a proper engagement kiss, so when his friends stormed the ice, he shouted at them, "Wait a minute, wait just one little minute here! We're not done!" He skated Jack away from the gathering and spun into his arms. "Kiss me," he said, and this time it wasn't groundbreaking, it wasn't like the kiss they shared that shocked the world. But it was a kiss, there at Faber, with the smell of the ice in his nostrils and the cold air turning Jack's ears a little pink, and they were engaged, really *engaged* and they were going to spend their lives together. A kiss never tasted so much like hope.

Then, of course, Shitty and the rest of them started chirping, and that was almost as much fun as the kiss was.

Number 6 happened the same night as number 8, and it was memorable because of what else was happening. Bitty, being a proper southern boy, did his level best to take things slow with Jack. Certainly in Madison they couldn't get up to more than a little light groping (okay, maybe a bit of heavy groping), but in Providence, with the world a mile away, the two of them walked to the bedroom, hand in hand; they carefully undressed each other and got ready; and when Jack slid into him Bitty arched and cried out before Jack silenced him with a kiss. A kiss they both moaned into, as they got used to this feeling, before they started to move together. And then there were kisses and they were licks and there were even some bites, and a lot of noise, but the kiss that's seared into Bitty's brain was that first one, a kiss like a seal on something important, a bridge crossed, a new world entered.

Number 5: How can a kiss under fireworks not be memorable? They were still fledgling young lovers back then, still stumbling over themselves with awkward words and looks and touches, heady with the feel of it, not sure they were doing anything right. It was easy to be friends with Jack, but having him come to Madison as a secret boyfriend made Bitty ache in ways both good and bad. But that kiss, with the sound of the fireworks popping high above, made eerything feel right for the first time, like all the pieces of the puzzle had slipped into place. He and Jack could do this, were doing this, and it felt just a little revolutionary.

Number 4 was a quick one, after the momentous brunch at Jerry's. Jack had been horsing around with Shitty in the yard, and Bitty had to come out and physically drag him in to go take a nap. Bitty plucked a leaf out of his hair and gave him a quick kiss before Jack headed upstairs, and the assembled throng burst out in a comic "Awww!" Only later did it occur to Bitty that this was the first kiss they'd shared in front of friends -- in front of anyone -- and that this was the feeling of being free to express your love and know you'd be supported no matter what. For that reason, he treasures it.

Number 3 tasted of tears, and Bitty hadn't been quite coherent at the time, but the first kiss he received from Jack had to rank way up there in the top ten. When Jack held him at length, looked down to him, then leaned down, Bitty was still reeling from all the emotion he'd been holding at bay all day. He'd thought he'd said goodbye to Jack earlier, so even Jack's presence was disorienting. How he wishes he could have the moment back, so he could be completely present in it! But even in the haze of confusion and surprise, Jack's lips were deliciously warm, and the look in Jack's eyes was one Bitty had dreamed of seeing. It was the first romantic kiss of Bitty's life, and it's one that no amount of post-graduation haziness can dilute.

Number 2 was the kiss that changed everything. The kiss that opened all the doors, that let the world in, that let them out into the world. What a moment that was, with the joy of an entire city surrounding them, with Jack standing on top of the world and Bitty by his side, with cheers in the background, when the two of them came together and realized yes, now is the moment to move mountains! Jack's lips on his were impossibly sweet, and even when the flashbulbs started popping, the kiss lingered, Bitty and Jack both unwilling to let the moment go. It was glorious, a kiss that felt as important as it was, and when they were done they stood nose to nose, a soft smile curled on Jack's face, Bitty's eyes just opening, like they were waking up to a new day together.

As for Number 1, here's the thing about kissing Jack: each kiss is better than the last. So Bitty's pretty sure the best kiss hasn't happened yet. Maybe it'll be at the wedding. Maybe it'll be 25 years down the line. Maybe it'll be tomorrow. No matter when it comes, Bitty's looking forward to it.

#i love writing structured stuff like this #it always just kind of flows #zimbits #zimbits fic #check please #CHECK PLEASE FIC #why is that tag in all caps #omgcp #omgcp fic #stuff tippy wrote

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clevercatchphrase · 4 years

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2019 year in review

So… The 2010’s are almost over. Huh. What a decade it’s been. Hard to comprehend how much has changed in 10 years. I can barely believe that I was in high school at the beginning of this decade, and now I’m a college graduate with 2 degrees who’s been working at the same job for the last 3 years. But trying to summarize the past 10 years in a single post is a good way to give myself an existential crisis, so let’s not do that! Instead, let’s just focus on 2019 because there has been more than enough shit that’s happened to me in this year to talk about.

PART 1 OF 2: 2019 AND 2020 GOALS AND RESOLUTIONS

Huh, looking back through my archives, I apparently didn’t make a tumblr post about my goals this year. I definitely had some, though. Lemme list ‘em off real quick, and then we’ll go through them point by point.

1) Pay off all my student loans 2) Finish some song comics 3) Make art for my Redbubble account 4) Finish the first rough draft/script of a game I wanted to make 5) Practice ASL 6) Sew some stuffed animals 7) Finish some fan fictions 8) Work on Ghost Switch 9) AMVs 10) Do some original writing 11) Make illustrations for my fan fictions

Okay, first off, the student loans. I was actually SO CLOSE to successfully completing this one bUT THEN MY CAR HAD TO BE A WHINEY PISS BABY AND HAVE ITS ALTERNATOR DIE ON ME WHILE I WAS ON THE HIGHWAY AND THEN A BLOW OUT THREE WEEKS LATER.

GOD, if I had to summarize this year in two words, for me it would be “Car troubles”. I swear I spent more on auto repair in the first third of this year than I ever have just freakin’ OWNING a car. All four of my tires had to be replaced, my alternator failed and my car literally just SHUT OFF while I was driving, and I was barely able to coast into a gas station. Both my front breaks and rear breaks were worn down the metal and I only learned this when my car was barely able to stop after I had to slam the petal down full force! I went in for an oil change, and they found some problems and then I didn’t get my car back for three days! I don’t even like owning a car! I hate driving! I hate my country’s refusal to provide universal, free public transportation! I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!

Oh-kay… number 2. Finish some song comics. I didn’t finish any. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t work on them. I have made tiny progress, but that’s certainly better than no progress. One of these song comics I hope to be realizes is going to be a collab with one of my friends. It’ll be a long-time coming as it’s pretty low priority for the both of us, but if anyone else out there was disappointed with KH3’s ending, we’re gonna have ya’ covered… With SONG!

3. Make some redbubble art. I actually did this one! Not in the way I expected, but I added (technically) 3 new designs to my redbubble in the middle of the year. If you like butterflies and dragons, I got some product for you~!

Number 4, finish a script for a game I want to make. I… thought about this. I thought about this a lot, but I never put pen to paper, so… oops. It almost happened! I debated making this my main writing project for NaNoWriMo this year, but ended up having more inspiration for another story. Maybe next year? (god, I hope not. I don’t want to wait a full year just to write something)

Number 5, practice ASL. I just straight up didn’t do this and I only have myself to blame. Still keepin’ up that Danish Duolingo streak, though. 4 years going strong and not a day missed yet.

Number 6, sew some stuffed animals. Again, another one I just straight up didn’t do, but I have an excuse of trying to save money while my car crashed and burned in every other sense except literal this year. Hopefully 2020 will be different. I’ll definitely be able to pay off this last loan within the first half of 2020, and then I can start saving for whatever I want to buy.

Finish some fan fictions was number 7, and I did this! Well, I only finished, 1, but it was a story I’ve been working on for over 3 years, and it came out to over 200 THOUSAND words long, which is the longest thing I’ve ever written, and I’m quite proud of myself. Now that the big story is out of the way, and I’ve gotten into a good rhythm of working on Ghost Switch, maybe I can squeeze in some short writing sessions more frequently. (either that, or just wait for my car to break down again and then go on a writing spree in a pepboys. The lord and the fan fic discord know that’s solely why I finished my other fic this year)

Speaking of Ghost Switch, working on it was a goal this year too, and I did that! I kept it up all year and took a vacation in November and it was wonderful. While the major plot points have been in place since before I started drawing, I still need to script each arc beyond Snowdin, but hey, by the time we get there, it’ll be 2022 so I got time. (Note, don’t do this, kids. Script your stories and comics thoroughly before publishing. The road I’m on is paved with misery and pain and it will only end in tears unless I change lanes soon)

Number 9, amvs. Do people make AMVs anymore? Idk… the last one I made was... Jesus, 5 years ago? (it was a gravity falls/fall out boy crossover, if you were curious) I’ve been wanting to do 2 more for just as long, but in order for me to do that, I’d have to spend time re-watching the shows to find the footage, and then actually edit them together, and I just don’t…. feel like it. Maybe someday, but not any day soon.

10; do some original writing. I did this! For nanowrimo! I wrote the first draft of some original fiction I’ve been planning for a year or two now and it completely sucks! But it’s on paper now and I’m happy. Will I revise and edit it? Sure, but not for a while. I want to let it sit and forget about it and look at it with new eyes months from now so I can be sure I can make it better when time comes to rewrite.

11, make illustrations for my fan fics. Now that You Monster is done, I want to go back and add pictures to it. I didn’t do any this year, but I did keep a list of scenes I wanted to draw, so I have plenty of ideas to do as warm up sketches next year~ I kinda want to stream them~

So, that was 11 goals, and I successfully fulfilled 4 of them! That’s! Not a very good ratio… QmQ So, goals for 2020. Some I’m gonna keep from this year, some I’m gonna drop and some I’m gonna add. In short I would like to,

1) Finish paying off that last student loan 2) Put more stuff on my redbubble 3) Illustrate my own fan fics 4) Sew at least one stuffed animal 5) Make an enamel pin 6) Read one new book a month 7) Write one page a day/Complete at least one new fan fic 8) Learn Python or C# for the game I want to make 9) Finish fully scripting Ghost Switch 10) Boost my patreon

Most of these I think are pretty self-explanitory, but I’ll go into detail just a bit because I’m on a roll and typing my thoughts helps me feel less alone in the middle of the night when you’re super tired and you know you should probably go to sleep, but the toddler in you is throwing a tantrum and doesn’t wanna go to sleep just yet, but you can’t fight the progression of time either way.

Number 1- I should be able to reach this goal by the end of March. End of June at the absolute latest. Once that goal is met, my secret new year’s resolution will be unlocked as well!

Number 2- I want to put more art of my OCs on redbubble. These OCs are tied to the game I want to make. There’s already some art of them up there, but I want at least one piece for each character.

Number 3- Mostly for You Monster. Embrace the cardinal rule of fan fic and apply it to fan art. If you want to read about see art about certain ideas, scenarios, or what-ifs, you gotta make it yourself.

Number 4- I have 3 potential ideas to sew. One is definitely leagues easier than the other two and will probably be chosen if/when I have the time and materials.

Number 5- This year I got really, REALLY into the idea of making enamel pins. Unfortunately it’s a pretty big investment (like, $350 to make 100 pins you might not even sell). If this happens, it’ll probably be towards the end of the year, and if I get enough interest. I’m currently torn between making an original enamel pin and one based off Undertale. We’ll just have to see where this goes.

Number 6- Back in 2018 when I paid off one of my many student loans, I rewarded myself by spending over 200 dollars in used books. All these books had a theme; they were focused on dragons because I have a problem. I have not yet read a single one of these books I have bought, and I would like to fix that. I have, like, 20 unread dragon books, and even if I only read 12 out of 20, I would consider that an amazing accomplishment and money well spent.

Number 7- I currently have about 8 different WIPs I could work on. (well, I don’t know if I can even call them wips. More like, a general idea and a title written down.) I want to build good writing habits, and if I can write just 200 words a day, hell, even 200 words a week and just one of my 8 stories done, I would consider this goal met.

Number 8- I’m torn between making my game in unity or ren’py. I know jack shit about both. Ren’py is more user friendly, but unity will allow me more customization. (Lol, can you guess what kind of game I want to make yet?)

Number 9- I really just want the full story to be done and written incase anything goes horribly terribly wrong in my life and I find myself unable to continue making ghost switch in comic form. Then at least I can finish the story by other means, you know?

Number 10- It always surprises me every month when I get that patreon email saying I got paid. Sure, I don’t even make double digits on it, but it still awes me enough to know that people out there like my work enough to throw me a tip. I can’t thank my patrons enough for supporting me and I hope to one day be in such a good place I can update my comic/song comics/writing frequently enough without need for goals or milestones. But until that magical day arrives, money is always a great incentive for anything, I suppose. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ALRIGHT. PART 2 OF 2: SHIT THAT HAPPENED TO ME IN 2019

Cheesus crust what a year. This year started off great! Back in late January Kingdom Hearts 3 FINALLY released, and let me tell you a little story. Back in the summer of 2006 I was a 13 year old middle schooler with no way of making money other than by doing house hold chores at a rate of 25 cents a task. A few weeks ago, I had a sleep over at a friend’s house and they let me play this weird game called “Kingdom Hearts” and god, I was instantly hooked on it. That summer, I did over 800 chores, enough to earn myself 200$ and buy myself a playstation 2 (just in time for the ps3 to come out, gg me) The only games I had for the ps2 were KH1, 2, Re:CoM and Okami, and I beat them all… except Okami. Miffed that the PS3 wouldn’t allow for backwards compatibility, little 13-year-old me made a promise. I looked myself in the mirror and said “I will not buy the next playstation console until KH3 comes out, AND BOY that was probably a good choice for me to make with my level of gaming. I’m even less of a casual gamer than the average casual gamer, but I have been waiting 13 years for this piece of closure, and I even told my friends and family that “the day Kingdom Hearts 3 comes out is the day I will buy a playstation 4”. My dad apparently thought this was the funniest shit, because he literally took the day off from work that Friday to drive me on base to get the game and console (he thought it would be less crowded than a regular walmart, I suppose). I paid $400 on a ps4 pro while he bought me the game. Again, I have an impecible sense of timing seeing as the PS5 is now right on the horrizion, but just like before, I’m not buying a new console until the next KH game is released. See you in 2045, sony~. While I was at the gamestop on base, I also picked up Okami HD and The Last Guardian. For all of February and even early March, I took my time playing through KH3. And…! It was the best disappointment I’ve ever played. After a month away from gaming, I started The Last Guardian and finished it in a couple weeks. I love trico and would die for him, but trying to get 100% completion on that game is udder insanity. Okami, HD, however… again after a month break after finishing TLG, I started replaying Okami. I think I had only managed to get about halfway through the game before I just… stopped playing it on my ps2 version. I am currently SO CLOSE to getting a 100% on the ps4 version. In fact, I’ve beaten the game. I only (techinically) need 2 more trophies to be done; 1st, escape the water dragon without being eaten, 2nd, I need to beat that dumb stupid race with Kai, in order to get the last bead on my rosary, as well as the top dog trophy. I hate her so much. I hate this race so much. It’s awful and bad.

Flash forward to December! Earlier this month I was at Barnes and Noble, buying myself a planner for 2020. I exit the store and notice that there’s a gamestop across the street. For shits and giggles I go inside to look at their game selection, and I find KH 1.5 and 2.5. Now, my PS2 died a few years back (it just won’t read my discs anymore, I don’t know why) and I haven’t been able to replay any of my other kingdom hearts games since. If you had seen me the day I finished kingdom hearts 3, after the ending credits rolled, you would have heard me say “Man…. I wish I could play kingdom hearts 2 again”. AND NOW I CAN, ALONG WITH BBS which I had never even played yet, but knew the story of. I’ve restarted playing kh1, and I was so happy to hear that familiar music when I booted the game up for the first time. While at the game stop, I also picked up Rime and Tearaway, two games that had looked interesting to me. At the time of writing, I’ve finished Rime and am 25% done with tearaway. Rime was…. An interesting experience. I learned about it through Jacksepticeye’s channel a couple years back and thought the art style was enticing. For a super casual gamer like me, I found the puzzles just the right level of challenging and exploring was a blast! The music gave me VERY strong Princes Mononoke vibes, but the overall story left something to be desired. Overall I had fun, and enjoyed completing this game to 100%. Now for tearaway. Can I just say this game is super fucking adorable? I know the original was on the ps vita and the gameplay there was arguably more diverse and imaginative, but this game is just so fucking cute I don’t care?? ALSO, this game’s sound track is ABSOLUTELY incredible and I’ve only heard the first fourth of it! Listen to The Orchards, Pig Riding, and Gibbet Hill Pilgrimage for a taste of their wonderful beats and fantastic use of string and woodwinds! God, I’m so excited to get some more games in 2020. I’m proud to say I currently own more ps4 games than I ever did with my ps2 (and now the majority AREN’T Kingdom Hearts titles!), and I’m still hoping to play Journey, The Witness, and Abzu before everything becomes ps5.

What else happened to me this year. Oh, I went to a doctor for, like, the first time in seven years. I also had my blood drawn for the first time ever, and the nurse said the most disturbing thing to me while she did it. Now, whenever I get shots, I refuse to look. I did that here. So she thought it would be appropriate to say to me “Can you feel your blood leaving your body?” Lady… You can clearly see I am uncomfortable with what is happening here. Why, of all the things you could say, did you choose to say that. Unfortunately, while my doctor is nice, she keeps wanting to run tests on me, that I just cannot afford with my current salary, and my monthly insurance is about to go up to 200$ a month, so I’ve cancelled my next appointment with them, and don’t plan to go back until it’s absolutely necessary. Capitalism is fun, guys. Preventative healthcare is for wusses.

I started going to a chiropractor on a monthly basis. Story time- I don’t know when it started, but sometime late last November I began to notice that I had a headache that just... wasn’t... going away? And each day it was starting to get a little worse. It made it hard for me to find a comfortable position to sleep, it made it hard for me to be in bright areas or move fast. So I said to myself “Okay, if this headache persist through the month of december, then something is proooobably wrong and I should go see someone about it. And hoo-boy were thing wrong with me. By the time this January rolled around, I couldn’t even stay on my feet for more than a few hours without it physically hurting to just BREATHE. So I started going to this chain called The Joint (A+ name, I know). THey aksed me “How are you doing?” I said “I’m in pain” and they said “We can help fix that!”. I’ve only been to a chiropractor once before in my life a few years back after my freshmen year of college because I began to notice my hips weren’t able to support me? LIke, I would lie on my back, and I couldn’t push my hips up when my feet were flat on the floor. I also couldn’t climb anything steep, because my legs just couldn’t push me up if my knee had to bend more than 90 degrees when I lifted my leg up. (Turned out both my hips were apparently out of place). This time only one of my hips were out of place (which they fixed. they said one of my legs was an inch “longer” than the other because I had been leaning all my weight on one leg when I stand). But two of my ribs were apparently “Stuck” which was why it was hurting for me to just breathe, and one of my shoulders was missaligned too, causing one of my trap muscles to constantly be streched, which was pulling on my skull, and causing the headache. Anyway, after they popped all my bones back into place, I still felt terrible, but by god, that night was the first time in weeks I was able to sleep without a migrane. A chiropractor can’t magically heal your arthritis, or fibro, but I definately think they have merit to keeping your posture good and helping your body with things like circulation. 10 outa 10, would recomend. It’s all the fun of getting your neck snapped without the dying!

Earlier this month I got together with two of my friends and we baked Christmas cookies. It was a lot of fun, as well as a great learning experience. A member of my family has a gluten allergy, so we used rice flour for most of the cookies. We learned this is a bad idea! The cookies will just fall apart! A few member’s in one of the friend’s family have nut allergies. Other friend and I knew this and were careful to avoid cookie recipes with nuts, bUT THEN COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT ALMOND MILK AND ALMOND EXTRACT COUNT AS NUT. IN FACT, ALMOND EXTRACT IS PURE CONCENTRATED NUT JUICE AND WE FELT SO BAD FOR ALMOST ACCIDENTALLY POISONING THE FAMILY.

Earlier this year me and these same friends took a field trip to Hobby Lobby and just dicked around the store for a couple of hours. It was super fun, 11 outa 10, would recommend, a great date idea for your artsy S.O.

Back in May I went to a wedding for the first time in my life. (well, not true, but the first one I could remember) we left at 5am, drove 5 hours to get there, hung out at a zoo and spent the night in a la quinta before the wedding day. I slept on the bathroom floor because my mom was snoring too loud in the main room and keeping me awake, and the rest of the day was just spent me trying to keep myself together because I was pissed off and tired.

Other than all of that, nothing really major happened to me this year. I guess one more thing I’ve tried to do this year is started the process of breaking certain internet addictions so I can use my free time for more personal projects. Seriously, I found myself watching way too much youtube and following blogs that didn’t even make me happy. I had a personal intervention with myself where I sat down and asked myself, “why do you watch these videos and youtubers? Why do you follow these blogs? Do you really enjoy their content? Do you really care? If you stopped watching/following them, would you even notice?” After critically thinking it over, I’ve found myself unfollowing several channels and blogs and suddenly I feel so much happier. I thought I would miss it, but I realized I didn’t really care if I saw their content or not. I wasn’t missing much. And now I feel like I have more time to draw, read and write. If you think you spend too much time consuming and not enough time creating, I suggest you try and de-clutter your internet habits as well. It’s done wonders to un-fuck my headspace.

And… well, that about sums up my year. How are your holidays going? Anything fun, exciting, dramatic happen to you this year? I hope your new year is warm and safe! Good night, everybody!

#new year's resolutions #year in review #long post #(seriiously this think is like 3k words)

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lokisgame · 6 years

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Good Things Come...

[parts 1-4] [part 5]

Wrapping last of the wine glasses and gently putting it away in a box, Scully sighed and wiped her forehead. She didn’t realize how manny things she accumulated over the years. When she was in college she could make due with two mugs a couple of plates, two pots and a frying pan, now china only filled three boxes weighing what felt like 100 pounds. Glad she wouldn’t be carrying all of it on her back, she taped the box shut and put a warning sticker on each side. Will hasn’t come out of his room for a while so she went to check, if he was packing his toys and books as she asked. “Will? Is everything alright?” she knocked, then pushed the door open. The boy sat curled up on the bed, hugging his stuffed gray alien, quickly wiping his eyes. Queequeg beside him, head on Will’s feet, looked like a ginger ball of sadness. “I’m fine, mom” he tried to sound convincing but a loud betrayed him. “Sweetie” in three steps she was sitting next to him, arms tight around his slim shoulders, the plush toy squished between them. He didn’t cry, but hugged his mom back. Scully didn’t ask what’s wrong, the toy was a birthday gift from his best friend Holly, and as much as Will was excited about the move, the thought of leaving his best behind must’ve been weighing on his young heart. In that moment Scully didn’t care about half empty drawers, toys scattered everywhere, a pile of comic books spilled over the floor next to the bed, she held her son, feeling his pain like it was her own. “I will never see Holly again” he whispered, voicing the worst of fears spinning inside his head. “You will, when we come visit aunt Missy” she assured him, stroking his back but they both knew it wasn’t much of a consolation. “She will forget me” he sighed, falling deeper into her arms. “No, don’t say that. It doesn’t have to be this way” his silence screamed skepticism and she wanted to give him something to hold on to. She stroked his reddish brown hair, carefully weighing her words “I have an old friend, whom I haven’t seen since before you were born” “So?” the kid sniffed again. “His name is Mulder” she couldn’t help the slight shake in her voice although the boy didn’t yet realize the significance of that particular part of her past “we met in college and after I graduated, he stayed in D.C. and I moved to Boston” “With aunt Missy?” the boy quickly connected the new facts with things he knew already. “Yes, we barely seen each other after that, spoke on the phone once or twice a year” the boy was listening now “So you see, we too were separated and yet, years later, we’re still friends” “You just say that to make me feel better” “No” she dropped a fond kiss on the top of his head, smiling at his wounded tone. Ever since Jack left them, he didn’t like to be treated like a kid, feeling he should be strong for her sake “I met him when I was looking for a place for us, and now he’s helping us set it up. I sent him the sketches we made and he talked to the painters so that I or grandma wouldn’t have to be there.” “Because grandma went to see uncle Charlie in France?” “Exactly, so you see, distance doesn’t have to mean the end of a friendship, there are ways to stay in touch, phones, letters” Will freed himself from her embrace looking a little better, but kept the stuffed alien near by “you just have to give it a chance” “I will” he smiled and they both looked around the room. “You decided which toys you want to keep?” Scully changed the subject and picked up the dog, set him in her lap to scratch behind his ears. “Books, lego and the telescope, everything else can go” “Okay, I’m taking Queequeg for a walk, you can order pizza for dinner” “With whatever I want?” at the mention of pizza Will’s humor was coming back fast. “As long as there’s pepperoni and mushrooms in there somewhere” she laughed and left, taking the dog with her.

The night was cold and she forgot her gloves, but that didn’t stop her from answering the phone. “Scully, it’s me” his voice was enough to keep her warm. “Hi, I got your message” laughter on the other side said that he knew what was coming next “it looks beautiful, but where did you find a tree that big?”

#Good Things Come...#x files fanfic #msr fanfic #AU #extended chapter

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wbwest · 7 years

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New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 7/7/17

I took last week off, but I hope y’all had a great 4th of July weekend. Life’s still kinda kicking my ass, so this’ll be an abridged edition this week.

I finally got around to watching a movie! It’s been on my list since I first heard it was in pre-production, and I’m amazed it took me this long to watch it, considering my love for the source material. The Founder stars Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, the “founder” of McDonald’s who really just stole the concept from the McDonald Brothers. A down-on-his-luck shake machine salesman, Kroc happens upon the fledgling McDonald’s restaurant in Southern California. Knowing a good thing when he saw it, he pretty much insisted on becoming a part of the operation, mainly focused on franchising the business. And that’s when things get interesting. I LOVE McDonald’s. You can hate me all you want, but like Jim Gaffigan says, “Everyone has their own McDonald’s”. Mine just happens to be the actual company. I don’t know enough about the history of the company to know how factual an account the movie was, but it was sure damn entertaining. Keaton is amazing in it, and I feel like anyone would enjoy the movie even if they think they don’t give a rat’s ass about McDonald’s as a company. I highly recommend this film.

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We finally got our first trailer for Marvel’s Inhumans, and now I realize why they were so hesitant to release it. MY GOD THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE! It looks like Into The Badlands – a show that I hate because people fawn over it when it looks like something that would’ve aired after Xena on Saturday afternoons 20 year ago. Yeah, I even told one of the Badlands creators that when he confronted me over my “appraisal” on Twitter. Badlands is a bad show, but it gets “diversity points”, so folks give it a pass. This show doesn’t even get diversity right, so it’s really just a shitshow in the making. I hate hate HATE that this is considered an official part of the MCU, even if it’s just a part of the never-referenced TV wing. Anyway, this trainwreck debuts in IMAX on September 1st, but will officially air on ABC beginning September 22nd.

Speaking of diversity points, CBS lost all of theirs when they let the Asians go from Hawaii Five-O last weekend. Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park both left the show after salary negotiations broke down as they requested pay equal to their costars. I’ve never seen more than 15 minutes of that show, but I know the dude from Lost seemed pretty important to things. He was basically the White guys’ interpreter to all things native. CBS has claimed that they offered them sizable increases, which weren’t deemed acceptable to Park and Kim. Now the Five-O showrunner, Peter Lenkov, is now joining the side of the network, saying that CBS made “generous offers” to the stars, yet they decided not to renew their contracts.

This has turned into a discussion of race in Hollywood and how things still aren’t equal across the board. I’m a big fan of billing. Billing is important, and should go to the most well-known star. It’s the reason all the ’89 Batman posters say “Jack Nicholson” first. Dude was a bigger star. Now, I didn’t watch Lost and I didn’t watch Battlestar Galactica, but I still recognize Kim and Park from those shows. Maybe it’s just because I’m a geek and folks were always talking about those shows. The show’s star, Alex O’Loughlin? I can’t name a thing he’s been in. Don’t know that dude from Adam. And the other lead? James Caan’s kid? Whatever. Y’all mean you couldn’t pony up the cash to keep Lost Dude and Battlestar Girl? We’re not talking about big names here so, unless there was a favored nations clause where O’Loughlin would have to get a raise if they got raises, thereby thwarting the whole “equality” thing, I don’t see what the problem was. As has been pointed out, all O’Loughlin and Caan had to do was stand in solidarity with their costars and this would’ve been a non-issue. Word on the street it O’Loughlin is quitting at the end of the season anyway, so it’s not like we’re talking another 5 years here. He couldn’t keep his ego in check for a season? Nah, for too many folks, as long as they’ve got theirs, they don’t care if you’ve got yours.

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We also got a trailer for Pitch Perfect 3, forcing me to reiterate that NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE A TRILOGY. I know everyone involved likes money, but sometimes there are natural, built-in ends to things. That thing was a 2-movie franchise and that’s it. Don’t forget – I lived that life. I was in the same competition the Bellas won in the first film (we came in 2nd), and I experienced the aca-graduation blues that the girls experienced in the second film. That’s pretty much it. There’s nowhere else to go. I mean, sure there are some random outlier outcomes. One of my groupmates is a hit producer in Asia now. Another is a pretty big pop star in Hong Kong. The rest of us? Dead-end jobs and bills. I used to occasionally do karaoke, but even that got to be too depressing. That shit is fun while it lasts, and then you’ve got to move on. So, in that vein, I can understand the plot of the 3rd movie, with the girls wanting to have one last hurrah, but I don’t really understand the concept of putting them on a USO tour. Is that something the troops wanna see? Has Pentatonix been dropped into the theater of war? It just seems kinda farfetched to me, and I was fine with how things were left in the last movie. Sure, I’ll see it, but it won’t be in a theater.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Hide grandma’s wallet – QVC is buying out Home Shopping Network.

After 3 seasons, The Carmichael Show has been canceled by NBC. I really wish someone else would snatch it up, as it’s a smart show

Netflix has renewed Dear, White People for a 2nd season. Meanwhile, they canceled Girlboss after one season. Reed Hastings giveth and he taketh away.

Speaking of Netflix, hearing the cries of fans, Sense8 will officially conclude with a 2-hour finale special

Netflix also renewed one of my favorite original shows, F is For Family, for a 3rd season.

Apparently a series based on the popular Step Up film series, called Step Up: High Water, will premiere on YouTube Red, where absolutely NOBODY is gonna watch it.

Fuller House season 3 will coincidentally premiere on the 30th anniversary of Full House, September 22nd.

Make your vacations weird again, as Cirque du Soleil has purchased Blue Man Group.

Patton Oswalt is engaged to 80s actress Meredith Salenger. Ya know, the same Patton whose wife died last year. I guess we all grieve in our own ways…

Lack of interest brought down The House, which bombed at the box office last weekend. It was reportedly Will Ferrell’s lowest live-action opening for a major studio.

Nick Fury will reportedly be making his MCU return in 2019’s Captain Marvel

HBO is reportedly getting the True Detective band back together, with a 3rd season to star Mahershala Ali

Nixing speculation that she was still up for the White House Press Secretary job, Kimberly Guilfoyle has reupped her contract with Fox News

Rob Lowe and his sons will chase the supernatural in The Lowe Files, and I literally cannot wait.

New game show, Snap Decision, premieres August 7th. Hosted by David Allen Grier, the show breaks precedent because it will debut on GSN and in syndication on the same date.

The world’s leading (and only) bar scientist favorited my tweet this week

We’re gonna do something different here this week. Usually, if you’ve been paying attention to the week’s news, you can at least try to figure out who or what had the best week. Some weeks it’s harder to choose something than others. Then I remembered, “Will, this is YOUR site.” After all, this is all pop culture through my lens, so it’s my rules. So, sometimes I might choose something that meant a lot to me that week, while you were none the wiser. But I bring it up on the site so that we’re all on the same page. And that’s the kind of pick I have this week.

After watching The Founder, I was left thinking, “Michael Keaton is a goddamn national treasure”. After watching Spider-Man: Homecoming last night (yeah, we’ll talk about it next week, when more of y’all have had a chance to see it), I was thinking “Why have we been sleeping on Keaton the past 20 years?” I mean, with the exception of The Other Guys, I honestly hadn’t seen a Michael Keaton movie since probably Batman Returns, and yet Birdman is the one considered his “comeback vehicle”. In The Founder, he really made you feel for a traveling salesman who was at the end of his rope. After a string of laughable failures, he finally found something to which he could hitch his wagon: McDonald’s. And while he also had to prove this to everyone in his sphere of orbit, most importantly he had to prove this to himself. He really needed a win, and Keaton did such a great job conveying that.

In Homecoming, Keaton plays Adrian Toomes, better known as the Vulture (though he’s never called that by name in the film). Not unlike Alfred Molina’s Dr. Octopus, he’s something of a sympathetic villain. Were it not for the fact that comic book franchises deal in the good/bad binary, you could almost relate to him and understand where he’s coming from. He’s a modern-day working class guy who feels ignored by the fat cats up on high. He doesn’t have evil goals. He simply wants to provide for his family, and he has a code of honor that dictates he must do whatever it takes to make good on that promise. I felt that Keaton did a great job expressing the plight of the working man. Sure, he got to utter some cheesy villain dialogue, but that simply comes with the territory. If you stopped for a minute, and ignored the fact that Spider-Man HAS to win, you realize that Toomes is actually kind of on to something. Again, though, I’ll get into more Homecoming thoughts next week.

My pal Chad pretty much swears by Michael Keaton as his favorite actor – a lot of that having to do with his immense love of 1989’s Batman. I’ve gotta say, I was never a huge fan of Keaton’s Batman, and when Chad would laud Keaton’s praises, I wasn’t really seeing it. I see it now, though. I have seen the light and I am healed! Dear Hollywood, more Michael Keaton, please! He pretty much impressed me on two different cinematic fronts this week, and that’s why Michael Keaton had the West Week Ever.

#80s #A Cappella #Batman #Comics #Marvel #Movies #Politics #Race #Social Media #Syndication #Television #West Week Ever

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