tb5-hellbound

being an occasionally nsfw sideblog, mainly concerning Talented Amateurs sidebar art via @auroralynne!

[unclefather]

[tb5-hellbound]

don’t mind me, just arranging these according to all TA’s pairings, past, present and future. very few people follow this blog, but for those of you who do: surprise!

[ustrap]

[obi-juan-keno-bri]

I think my favorite thing about being engaged is when I ask my fiancé “Who’s my future husband” kind of in the same way you’d ask a dog who’s a good boy and he gets really excited and goes “ITS ME, I AM FUTURE HUSBAND”

[obi-juan-keno-bri]

News update we’ve been married for almost 6 months now (6 months in three days) and he still gets excited when I come home and say “Where is husband?” He’ll pop up from wherever he is or whatever he’s doing and say “HELLO ITS ME I AM HERE”

[keenarnor]

Goals

[caramelteaa]

PRECIOUS

[wonder7pickle]

30 Day OTP Writing Challenge

1. Nose kiss(es)

2. Reunion hug

3. Spooning for warmth

4. Walking hand-in-hand

5. Late night talks

6. Getting caught while making out

7. Surprise(s)

8. Can’t keep hands off each other (in public)

9. (Unnecessary) spoiling

10. Bear hug

11. Fingers in the other’s hair

12. Movie night

13. Hand holding for comfort

14. Forehead kiss(es)

15. Shared looks from across the room

16. Pet names

17. Early morning cuddling

18. Admiring each other

19. Laughing together

20. One (or both) is injured

28. (Bad) flirting

21. Kiss in the rain

22. Blushing

23. Hot and heavy

24. Shoulder kiss(es)

25. Getting dressed up

26. Dancing

27. Falling asleep together

29. Protecting the/each other

30. Date night

[tb5-hellbound]

from the absolutely wonderful @slashpalooza <3

[tb5-hellbound]

here is a long ago conversation about talented amateurs, between me and a much better writer

if it’s of interest to anybody, here’s a long ago conversation I had with a very dear friend (and the best writer I know), about this story and the shape of it. it probably would’ve taken place around November of 2018, which is wild to remember. My daughter was 3. I was in the middle of moving house. TAG still hadn’t aired S3. I came to know so much about this story that it’s surprising to remember that I didn’t know when I wrote the first chapter that it even WAS a first chapter.

and not featured here, but still necessary to thank personally for putting up with similar ramblings over the course of the past two years are @space-baegel, @scribeofred and @drdone. 

Anyway. Here’s a behind the scenes glimpse at what I knew in November of 2018. Thanks for reading <3

Prelude 9:27 pm also i have another 2k in TA Kate 9:27 pm and you do not have enough hours in the day Prelude 9:27 pm and they are about to have a Big Talk Kate 9:27 pm OOOOH KHNDFKLVGERUILG i just got SO excited Prelude 9:27 pm no and I have a small person sitting on my lap yelling SUPER JUMP SUPER JUMP and not finishing her pizza Kate 9:28 pm hahshaaha she is my spirit animal except i would have finished the pizza in the first 30 seconds Prelude 9:29 pm hahaha yeah she got distracted by puppy games on her phone Kate 9:29 pm oh well then that is understandable Prelude 9:30 pm the problem is she still sits on my lap and she weighs forty pounds she is 3’6" and people think she’s a six year old Kate 9:31 pm she sounds exactly like my cousin sam she’s going to be TALL Prelude 9:31 pm oh yeah freakish Kate 9:31 pm are you and hubby tall? Prelude 9:31 pm oh yes Kate 9:31 pm both? Prelude 9:31 pm I’m 5’9", he’s 6’1" Kate 9:31 pm ahhh yess Prelude 9:32 pm I’m the shortest member of my family, although that may have changed Kate 9:32 pm but good height comparison between the two of you Prelude 9:32 pm My sister tells me she’s 5’7" I do not believe Kate 9:32 pm i would like to be 5’7" or even 5’5" Prelude 9:32 pm oh no kate are you tiny i write Penelope as very very tiny Kate 9:32 pm yes, i relate like in TA when you wrote that bit about gordon hovering above her i am her height Prelude 9:33 pm ehehehehehe Kate 9:33 pm so i could completely visualize it Prelude 9:33 pm niiiiice i love me a good height difference Kate 9:33 pm i mean anyone can visualize it but i mean i have been there lil lol i like guys at like 5’10" Prelude 9:33 pm Not Too Tall Kate 9:34 pm the 5’9" or 5’10" is great for my height YES EXACTLY Prelude 9:34 pm She wears like crazy high heels also like she’s wearing platform stilettos half the time. Kate 9:34 pm right i used to, i miss heels Prelude 9:34 pm i love a girl in Good Shoes Kate 9:34 pm i like opportunities to wear heels i haven’t in like a full year ME TOO! Prelude 9:34 pm (spoilers gordon is going to discover that he has a bit of a Shoe Thing) Kate 9:34 pm OH YES I AM READY Prelude 9:35 pm hahahahaha you just sit on the sidelines and cheer everytime I say these sinful things about this very good boy Kate 9:35 pm because i am the biggest, biggest fan of said sinful things Prelude 9:35 pm good, you keep me going Kate 9:35 pm really, just the biggest fan Prelude 9:35 pm It is very helpful Kate 9:35 pm i will be your cheerleader i am that peron person that wants the gritty stuff i want the details Prelude 9:36 pm bless your heart but also like I don’t think I’ll ever get to SMUT territory Kate 9:36 pm keeps me going Prelude 9:36 pm I just like writing like Kate 9:36 pm right Prelude 9:36 pm passions Kate 9:36 pm not that i would expect you too Prelude 9:36 pm not that I couldn’t either Kate 9:36 pm but you tow the line like where you are with TA is Prelude 9:36 pm I walk that tightrope Kate 9:36 pm perfect Prelude 9:36 pm the artful cutaway Kate 9:37 pm b/c then it’s really all left up to the imagination to fill in what you please yes! Prelude 9:37 pm the “oh by the way I can hold my breath for four minutes and I played clarinet in highschool” like Kate 9:37 pm i like that more than actual smut Prelude 9:37 pm subtle yknow Kate 9:37 pm LOL Prelude 9:37 pm see, you get it 😉 Kate 9:37 pm but you say things like"fuckfest" and it makes me happy b/c the deed was done, but again your imagination fills in the details Prelude 9:38 pm exactly and honestly the hardest thing about writing this stuff is writing what they’re both actually doing because I can’t just have the pair of them lying there but i’m very bad at visualizing I need like a pair of very bendy barbies artist doll things Kate 9:39 pm i like it when it’s right there, right at the edge, but then you (as the reader) take it there b/c we all have our own ideas and interpretations of events and what should happen and the way it happens Prelude 9:39 pm yeah! Kate 9:39 pm lol right Prelude 9:39 pm like, i will give you all of the bricks and all of the mortar you fit 'em together Kate 9:39 pm yes, love it! Prelude 9:40 pm ahhh but also like Kate 9:40 pm aw dang now i need more, prelude Prelude 9:40 pm well I mean also like, talking about the terms of their relationship and the fact that they’re going to have a relationship or at least see what happens Kate 9:41 pm i need it okay Prelude 9:41 pm oh man kate if I keep it going there’s gonna be So Much drama with Scotty Kate 9:41 pm like romance is also my New Thing okay like WAIT WAIT WHAT ABOUT DRAMA WITH SCOTT Prelude 9:42 pm oh yeah Kate 9:42 pm TELL ME MORE Prelude 9:42 pm if Gordon gets Penny pregnant, Scott is gonna rip him the fuck in half Kate 9:42 pm BUT LIEK like i don’t care i need it i need to see how it shifts the dynamics for all of them Prelude 9:42 pm oh yes it’s gonna be like, to the point of massive overreaction, almost for a Reason Kate 9:43 pm but that fits with scott i would expect that from scott does it have to do with age Prelude 9:43 pm well, i think for Scott the thing is that he like got a girl pregnant when he was in high school Kate 9:43 pm with scott stepping into dad role OMG YES keep going i am so excited Prelude 9:43 pm and she didn’t keep it, and that was for the best Kate 9:43 pm there are 5 boys in this family you can’t tell me an oops didn’t happen at least once Prelude 9:44 pm But he hates himself for being so irresponsible and stupid and impulsive and young Kate 9:44 pm yes yes yes the scott/gordon dynamic i am fucking HERE for it Prelude 9:44 pm me too But this is also just such a huge thing for Penelope because like her whole life and this was just supposed to be a sort of “well we’ll see” kind of a thing and the first impulsive night they have together, the unthinkable happened and of course she’s not on birth control, she hasn’t been in a serious relationship in a couple of years now And why would he have brought condoms to his grandma’s birthday party and they both should’ve thought about the potential for this consequence, but there’s such an afterglow and it seems more important to think about their relationship and neither of them figured this could happen Kate 9:46 pm right right and passion is like a real fucker that changes everything Prelude 9:47 pm no pun intended Kate 9:47 pm HA Prelude 9:47 pm and they were both looking forward to that courtship phase like Kate 9:47 pm but passion is a fickle bitch, it’s all about the moment she comes for even the most sensible Prelude 9:48 pm the thing that’s going to happen in this chapter is that she’s going to say “okay, let’s do this right. would you rather I took you out for valentine’s day or for your birthday?” “And would you rather go to Paris or Nice?” Kate 9:48 pm oh man grabby hands i’m super excited for the scott parts of this like i love the g/p part too obvs but what scott would go through would be a big Thing he is very emotitonal Prelude 9:49 pm oh yeah Kate 9:49 pm emotional Prelude 9:49 pm I think like Gordon doesn’t know about Scott’s thing And like john or somebody sort of has to take him aside and quietly explain Kate 9:50 pm also, you may not have ever even gone here, but due to my recent obsession, that then makes me think of virgil and kayo if they’re messing around too to be careful shit happens any of them, really, i guess Prelude 9:50 pm oH yeah Kate 9:50 pm i wanna be inside scott’s head when the news comes out Prelude 9:50 pm no they are fanatically careful and they are like Kate 9:50 pm so they are like straight up doing it though? Prelude 9:50 pm no, they’ve been doing this for like a year and a half No one knows Kate 9:50 pm like they are THERE Prelude 9:50 pm Oh yeah They are total fuckbuddies Kate 9:50 pm OH WAIT really? that long?! Prelude 9:51 pm oh yeah Kate 9:51 pm wow, that’s even ebtter better Prelude 9:51 pm no, they have a Thing They have a System Kate 9:51 pm also, i am super impressed that they kept it quiet for that long Prelude 9:51 pm Oh yeah Kate 9:51 pm which makes sense considering kayo Prelude 9:51 pm Yeah, entirely Kate 9:51 pm is special ops or whatever Prelude 9:51 pm I think Virgil’s just like I mean Kate 9:51 pm but like, i dunno, i love it Prelude 9:52 pm I think he’s the place where everybody else goes with secrets Kate 9:52 pm and i kinda like looking at the various dynamics Prelude 9:52 pm but he’s insanely good at keeping his own Kate 9:52 pm of what is and what isn’t YES i’ve always headcanoned virgil that way too Prelude 9:52 pm I think Somebody might know about Virgil hahahaha I also kind of I mean like Kate 9:52 pm wait tell me about the system Prelude 9:52 pm there’s a place I wanna go with Virgil Kate 9:52 pm i am sorry Prelude 9:52 pm haha I don’t know much yet Kate 9:52 pm i hijacked this conversation Prelude 9:52 pm but it’s like no no, it’s cool Kate 9:53 pm from pen and ink to virgil Prelude 9:53 pm No, I gotchu fam Kate 9:53 pm and kayo lol but i have thought lots about the first 2 Prelude 9:53 pm I think they have like Kate 9:53 pm and v/k is new and exciting for me lol WAIT THIS PLACE TELL ME MORE Prelude 9:53 pm hahaha well like I mean, it’s meant to be sort of an overall examination of relationships in the family Kate 9:53 pm yes yes Prelude 9:54 pm and how some of them know some things about each other and some of them know other things and some things are secret Like, Scott/Jane have a secret relationship, but I think like Alan knows or something Alan also still kind of has a thing for Kayo, but he’s aware that it’s dumb and he needs to get over it but he’s still gonna be really hurt if he finds out about her and virgil Kate 9:54 pm awww yeah Prelude 9:54 pm And then like I waaaaaant like Kate 9:55 pm poor ala alan just in general Prelude 9:55 pm like, there’s sort of two major ships with Virgil are V/B and V/K. and I kinda wanna go both places. I think Virgil is bi, but people tend to assume he’s gay. And I think maybe for a while he and Brains were kind of a thing, but also with that same sort of secrecy, and not like, in the fuckbuddy kinda way. I think they did more like traditional dating, just out of curiosity. But that hasn’t been a thing in ages, and they basically came to the conclusion that they’re happier as friends. Kate 9:57 pm hmmm would you try to explore both within this universe? Prelude 9:57 pm I think so. Kate 9:57 pm like the TA universe? wow! girl, you’ve got your work cut out for you! Prelude 9:57 pm Mostly just because I want Gordon to get mad as hell at Virgil, for having fooled around with the only two people on the island that they’re not related to, “you enormous lumberjack slut.” like, i want FIGHTS Kate 9:58 pm hahahahahha Prelude 9:58 pm “you beefy plaid whore” Kate 9:58 pm i don’t know why, but i have a hard time seeing brains in any sort of relationship with anyone Prelude 9:59 pm Yeah, that’s fair Kate 9:59 pm maybe it’s because i never formed an attachment to him? Prelude 9:59 pm I hear you Kate 9:59 pm or because he’s always like WORK SCIENCE OOPS Prelude 9:59 pm I mostly like the idea of Virgil being secretive about his personal relationships to the point that people assume he doesn’t have them. Kate 9:59 pm but also i LOVE the insults from gordon you beefy plaid whore HHAHAHAHA so virgil/kayo would end up coming out? Prelude 10:00 pm “you flannel strumpet” “there are two people on this island you don’t share dna with and you fucked both of them” (he didn’t, actually) (also scott knew about virgil/brains being a thing and this is why he thinks virgil is gay) Kate 10:00 pm like a total accident? how would gordon know? i wanna see this fight Prelude 10:00 pm Oh yeah, they’re in better shape than anyone else Kate 10:00 pm hahahaha Prelude 10:00 pm I think it comes out in one capacity or another Kate 10:00 pm hahahhahahaha the insults are amazing how would scott feel about that? Prelude 10:00 pm Either Virgil owns up for some reason, possibly to keep Scott from really tearing into Gordon Kate 10:00 pm with his whole secret jane thing oooh you know that is EXACTLY what virgil would do try to reason Prelude 10:01 pm i think there’s a massive blow out Kate 10:01 pm ooooh no i’m getting even more invested in v.k now Prelude 10:01 pm and Virgil grabs John and is like “okay, I’ll take Scott, you take Gordon.” Kate 10:01 pm like, what happens from there OOOH OOOH Prelude 10:02 pm i think V probably goes to Kayo and says “okay, i think I need to talk to Scott about us” Kate 10:02 pm KEEP GOING TELL ME MORE Prelude 10:02 pm And she’s like “MMMMMMM NOT SURE I DIG ON THAT, THERE IS LITERALLY A SMOKING CRATER WHERE GORDON WAS STANDING” “yeah but that’s why we gotta” I think John’s a bigger factor for Gordon vs the whole potential parenthood thing because I’ll always write him as aro/ace But he’s also the person with the closest analogue to a child, in EOS Kate 10:04 pm okay okay although, scott too Prelude 10:04 pm Oh yeah Kate 10:04 pm kinda assuming father role Prelude 10:04 pm Oh totally Kate 10:04 pm oh man oh man sarah Prelude 10:04 pm “I’m just telling you what Dad told me when I did this” Kate 10:04 pm you have no idea the kind of feels i have right now OH OOOH MAN Prelude 10:05 pm Gordon being like “excuse me, I did not knock up a cheerleader I’d known for three weeks in the back of Grandpa’s truck when i was seventeen” Prelude 10:06 pm “if the great state of kansas had an age of consent any younger than sixteen, what you did would’ve been statutory” then probably there’s some punching Kate 10:06 pm ooooh shit lol yeah yeah, there’s definitely some punching Prelude 10:07 pm hahaha oh man i just wrote a line Kate 10:07 pm OH DID YOU NOW Prelude 10:07 pm “Not much for sleeping late, then?” she inquires, curious more than she is critical. “Personally, I’ve got a terrible fondness for a good lie-in.”

“I get nervous when I don’t know what time it is,” he admits, a little sheepishly. “I mean—it doesn’t matter. S’just…I dunno, I’m all hungover. And we’re supposed to be outta here by noon. And—and I don’t mean to keep coming back to it, but my entire family, Penelope. Right outside your bedroom door. My grandmother. We weren’t supposed to get her anything, but like…happy birthday, Grandma! I slept with our London Agent.”

“Well, if it helps, it was well after midnight before anything of consequence actually happened.” Penelope tilts her head slightly (adorably), and seems bemused by the concept. “But then, it does beg the question—is that something she would consider a gift?”

Gordon shrugs. “There’s a reason Grandma rhymes with drama.”

On the topic of drama, her answering sigh is exaggerated, but tolerant. “Yes, because you’re an American and you pronounce everything incorrectly.” Kate 10:08 pm lol penny but seriously, i LOVE this and i love the direction it’s going and i love everything i know about the overall shakeup for the family Prelude 10:09 pm oh yes I’m very excited Kate 10:09 pm i can’t describe to you how excited i am for all of this!!! Prelude 10:10 pm hahaha good! motivate me! Kate 10:10 pm how?!?! i’ve done LOTS of screaming!!! lol Prelude 10:11 pm hahaha i mean you are! you are super motivating me Kate 10:11 pm YAYAYAYAY!!! i’m a sucker for relationships and analyzing them throwing wrenches into them lol Prelude 10:11 pm yeah! also Gordon and Grandma and “grandma i fucked up” and just like Kate 10:12 pm OH my gosh yes!!! Prelude 10:12 pm being so upset at how this changes what he thought was goign to play out like, he wanted the chance to fall in love with her i mean, more in love with her but like, to do it Right Kate 10:13 pm right, follow kind of the natural course Prelude 10:13 pm and to have to figure out how to make their relationship work out between their respective jobs because I also think she’s like “I don’t want an abortion” Kate 10:14 pm and the added pressure of distance Prelude 10:14 pm I kind of don’t think that’s in her nature Kate 10:14 pm or how to come together like at least v/k are on the same island Prelude 10:14 pm yeah, exactly Kate 10:14 pm i would assume too, for penny, there’s some sort of expectation of how things should be like, from a social standpoint from a name standpoint Prelude 10:15 pm Yeah, exactly she’s just like staring down the barrel of this scandal and like she’s run into a crumbling south american temple without batting an eye but this scares her Kate 10:16 pm yes that makes perfect sense things are going to change moving forward, forever but there’s really no way of knowing how things will play out Prelude 10:16 pm And their family is so private like so incredibly private she’s lived her whole life in the public eye and he just hasn’t aaaaaah and like man Kate 10:17 pm yesss there are so many factors at play Prelude 10:18 pm he wants so much to do right by her, and like, he already loves her enough to marry her but now he doesn’t know if he should ask or what she’d say if he did or if she wants that Kate 10:18 pm and emotions are so high that i’d think that’d impact a lot like as far as asking for marriage Prelude 10:18 pm also preggo hormones yeah, exactly and like Penny being told that she can’t do that secret side of her job any more she has to be just a socialite Kate 10:19 pm and i’d think maybe this might challenge the nature of their jobs? for anyone involved? Prelude 10:19 pm oh yeah Gordon’s gonna get benched Kate 10:19 pm yeeeep good thing they don’t need him for things like deep sea rig explosions Prelude 10:20 pm wELL not like Penny can do it either Kate 10:20 pm right but that’s what i mean they both do these kinds of things Prelude 10:20 pm exactly Kate 10:20 pm but now adding a child brings in a whole lot more to think about and i am thrilled to see how it plays out!!! Prelude 10:20 pm and now they both have each other on the sidelines Kate 10:20 pm ahhhhhh!!! Prelude 10:20 pm yeah!!! i gotta!!! write it!!! Kate 10:20 pm on the sidelines YES and the virgil/kayo Prelude 10:21 pm “go have a tea party with penny or whatever it is she does” oh yeah Kate 10:21 pm i hope you know you’ve created a monster and i will NEVER let this go even if it takes YEARS AND YEARS Prelude 10:21 pm I think v/k going like “…well should we try and be a thing now? like a real thing? like stuff is changing, should we take that opportunity?” Kate 10:21 pm i’ll always be there, whispering in your ear HAHAHA Prelude 10:21 pm “…what if we don’t work as a thing?” Kate 10:21 pm YES YES and it would be virgil that makes the proposition, yes? Prelude 10:22 pm Oh yeah oh man Grandma taking Gordon aside and being like “the only reason your mother and father got together was because Scott was conceived in a hayloft when your dad was twenty-one, he can get off his high-horse.” “And there are five of you and your parents loved each other more than anything.” Kate 10:22 pm was it intiially like, one of them that said ‘let’s just keep it where it’s at’ or like, very adamantly keep it as fuckbuddies on the dl Prelude 10:22 pm “this doesn’t have to be a disaster” Kate 10:23 pm YES Prelude 10:23 pm I think Kayo is a little bit scared to be caught keeping another secret from the boys. Kate 10:23 pm GRANDMA FOR THE WIN Prelude 10:23 pm and also being like “your dad never meant for IR to be your entire lives” Kate 10:23 pm at least she has virgil in it with her and if anyone is sensible in that family, it’s virgil yes 😔 ir really is literally everything Prelude 10:23 pm “you’re meant to have partners, you’re meant to have your own futures, you’re meant to grow up and learn how to make this a part of your lives and not the totality” And like Kate 10:24 pm impacts ALL areas of their lives Prelude 10:24 pm the core of the reason why any of them keep these secrets at all is because they’re afraid of how it would impact IR and Dad’s legacy Kate 10:24 pm oh my gosh sarah i am fucking here for it and fucking pumped!!! Prelude 10:24 pm and none of them want to be the guy to ruin that. hahahahaha ily kate you complete me Kate 10:24 pm <3 Prelude 10:24 pm i am down to talk about this always Kate 10:24 pm ME FUCKING TOO cuz see, you’re looking at what comes next, and what happens later, not just right now and i fucking APPRECIATE THAT Prelude 10:25 pm oh yeah I am a Big Picture Person and I am very much about the interplay of all these relationships Kate 10:25 pm ugh me too Prelude 10:25 pm and how these different connections form and also like Kate 10:25 pm YES Prelude 10:25 pm unexpected connections Kate 10:25 pm and they’re all getting older Prelude 10:25 pm Like Kate 10:25 pm and things change Prelude 10:25 pm exactly! like it’s so significant that Gordon goes to her intially because he’s like “i need to start getting over you” Prelude 10:26 pm and she’s like “well first you’re gonna be under me for a bit” Kate 10:26 pm and if they’ve found someone that they could make a life with, it’s important that those things happen Kate 10:26 pm b/c of fulfillment and everything Prelude 10:26 pm exactly! and like This is the break scott’s been waiting for, even if he doesn’t realize it And he’s gonna be in this massive funk and he’s gonna be like “I’M GOING OUT FOR SOME AIR” Kate 10:27 pm YES! KEEP GOING KEEP GOING Prelude 10:27 pm and he’s going to fly across the globe to whatever airport Jane is spending the night in and be like Kate 10:27 pm GOOOOO KEEP GOING Prelude 10:27 pm “my fucking little idiot brother knocked up an english socialite” Kate 10:27 pm omg omg Prelude 10:27 pm “let’s get MARRIED.” Kate 10:27 pm i love this Prelude 10:27 pm “that’ll teach him.” Kate 10:27 pm this is literally what i live for omg ahhahahahaha scott Prelude 10:27 pm “he’s not the only stupid impulsive idiot in the family” Kate 10:28 pm hahahaha i love it omg Prelude 10:28 pm And Jane’s gonna be like “slow your roll, babe 😃 " “ily but you’re dumb as hell when you’re mad.” like that Scott’s found someone outside the family who does what Virgil does for him in IR in like an emotional capacity Kate 10:29 pm YESSS omg beautiful i love love love these things Prelude 10:29 pm saaaaame Kate 10:29 pm and like, above all else, these boys DESERVE this Prelude 10:29 pm yeah!!! Kate 10:29 pm they deserve love and something to indulge in and get that ultimate fullillment outside of what they know Prelude 10:30 pm and also I want Penny to go to John first with the news that she’s pregnant because bffs and also I think he’s just who she calls when she’s in trouble Kate 10:30 pm that makes sense and i thought she would cuz bffs hahahaha Prelude 10:30 pm well and also because that was where she went when she first kissed Gordon Kate 10:30 pm right follows patterns Prelude 10:30 pm and i live for callbacks yes also i just like Kate 10:31 pm yes i’m like in my glory right now thinking about it all Prelude 10:32 pm really love that she would trust him and would be correct in trusting him and that he’d be the person to say “well, I will help you handle this however you want to handle this and no one else has to know” “but also please don’t keep this from Gordon, because if he ever finds out any other way he’ll literally die.” “i cannot explain the degree to which this would hurt him and i know you don’t want to hurt him.” Kate 10:32 pm yessss yes Prelude 10:32 pm also parker is going to be Furious Kate 10:33 pm ooh i never really even thought about parker! Prelude 10:33 pm yeah, I keep remembering him at the last second Kate 10:33 pm there are so many players involved and so many lines to follow so many people impacted Prelude 10:33 pm yessssss i live for that shit hwd is like that Kate 10:34 pm like, nothing anyone in this family does only impacts that person Prelude 10:34 pm so complicated so many relationships Kate 10:34 pm or that couple there are repercussions for EVERYTHING any of them do that impact EVERYONE else Prelude 10:34 pm Exactly and deep down at the core of it, it’s just that they all want to protect each other Kate 10:34 pm yes comes from a good place and i’ll never think they’re in the wrong for wanting something more Prelude 10:35 pm and also none of them can BELIEVE that they’ve all been keeping these sorts of secrets with varying degrees of success Kate 10:35 pm i did laundry today and i missed one half of 6 pairs of socks lol Prelude 10:35 pm hahaha Kate 10:35 pm right!?!?!?! Prelude 10:35 pm skillz Kate 10:36 pm like, the kayo/virgil one is kind of mind blowing based on sheer length and thought that goes into it and keeping sage safe Prelude 10:36 pm oh yeah Kate 10:36 pm and secret like shit Prelude 10:36 pm they’re both just like I think they almost get more satisfaction out of the secrecy of it than any other aspect Kate 10:36 pm it’s kind of daunting lol Prelude 10:36 pm Like the sex is fine and great and whatever But what’s almost more fun is that they’ve gotten away with it for so long they’re both kind of competitive and they work really well together as a team and Virgil likes getting one over on his brothers and Kayo feels incomplete if she’s not keeping SOMETHING secret like it probably started up shortly after they found out about her uncle like Kate 10:37 pm oooh Prelude 10:37 pm if that’s the way the context of their relationship changes like that whole sort of “well, at least now it’s easier not to feel like we’re the only family you have” Kate 10:38 pm oooh yes yes yes dude there is so much to explore Prelude 10:38 pm I knoooooow Kate 10:38 pm also like how the hell do they keep quiet? in the literal sense Prelude 10:38 pm it’s a big island Kate 10:38 pm on an island eh true i bet they have A Place Prelude 10:39 pm little huts on the beach TB2 is Pretty Big Kate 10:39 pm but also like, if something really tough happens, do they sometimes just NEED tht touch, that reassurance i think they got the best end of the stick Prelude 10:39 pm (hahaha Gordon: “IN THE CO PILOT’S SEAT. I SIT THERE.”) Kate 10:39 pm they’re both right there HAHAHAHAHAH hahhahaha i love it so much Prelude 10:40 pm “ALAN’S SAT THERE.” “YOU’VE TAINTED OUR BABY BROTHER.” Kate 10:40 pm i don’t understand how my laundry piles up so quickly HAHAHAHAHAHA gordon questioning literally everywhre Prelude 10:41 pm “in MY POOL.” “DRAIN THE POOL.” Kate 10:41 pm hhHAHAHAHA this is my favorite part of that relationship everyone else finding out and gordon with his insults SO ENTERTAINING and i wonder if virgil keeping that sort of secret, in light of gordon seeking him out for a similar type of secret, would lead to some hurt feelings or if he’d be like, i gotchya bro Prelude 10:42 pm oh man i think the thing with Virgil is that like everybody trusts him but he also tells Kayo everything Because couples just do that. Kate 10:42 pm right, which she even told gordon LOL Prelude 10:43 pm exactly and so the thing with Virgil is going to be less that he kept his own secret and more that he didn’t keep anyone else’s. Kate 10:43 pm and like, even if they’re calling it ‘just a thing’ if it’s been a year and a half, like, they’re invested Prelude 10:43 pm oh yeah no, more than either of them realize Kate 10:44 pm that’s the shit i am 100% here for gawd i’m a total slut for that shit Prelude 10:45 pm ehehehe man and like the idea that maybe the secrecy was the only thing that kept them going Kate 10:45 pm also like, friends with benefits is great in theory but i really think it’s more of a short term thing Prelude 10:45 pm I think he’d probably try to argue that they haven’t ever been that. they’re definitely more than friends Kate 10:45 pm and when you don’t see them super often Prelude 10:46 pm like, her being really vulnerable to people knowing something so personal about her Kate 10:46 pm yes yes i think so too that’s a super vulnerable position to be in to even open yourself up to someone that much and put that kind of trust in them Prelude 10:46 pm and him being like “we’re still your family, you can still trust us” “nothing’s going to change about the way they feel about you” and her being like “literally everything will change about the way they feel about me.” Kate 10:47 pm right and more than friends i think has a really high probability of leading to more over time i think it was bound to happen Prelude 10:47 pm yeah, entirely Kate 10:47 pm they’re both right Prelude 10:47 pm I think the best place she could get to by the end of it would be “willing to try with a high hope of success” Kate 10:47 pm but like not in the way they expect, i think Prelude 10:47 pm yeah for sure Kate 10:47 pm i mean, this is just me thinking about it obvs Prelude 10:48 pm no totally, I need thinking about it Kate 10:48 pm also, i had a friends with benefits thing that turned into something more and it was a fucking mess so Prelude 10:48 pm Ooh see like Kate 10:48 pm that kind of impacts, for me, the way i see this playing out Prelude 10:48 pm the thing with me Kate 10:48 pm also Prelude 10:48 pm is that i have been in one (1) relationship Kate 10:48 pm why i am so attached to this idea of v/k and it just happened to be with virgil Prelude 10:48 pm and it has lasted for 14 years and we have a kid Kate 10:48 pm but like, the relationship itself is what got me hooked right, which by the way is fucking amazing!!! Prelude 10:49 pm hahaha thank you we got very lucky Kate 10:49 pm from my experience, and that that friends have had, it’s never easy, and it’s rarely clean Prelude 10:49 pm entirely Kate 10:49 pm even if the agreement is made at the beginning that it’s a ‘whatever will happen’ feelings change damn, memories lol you did get very lucky i think, i am also at the age, the ripe old age of 28, where these things are making a much larger impact on me like, the idea of finding someone or something as the next step 28 is a Year, man Prelude 10:51 pm oh yeah what the hell you’re only 28 you baby you infant Prelude 10:53 pm I’m 29, and I’m going to be 30 so I can say these things Kate 10:53 pm i was about to sya i am pretty sure you are not much older than me lololol Prelude 10:53 pm no, i am not but like I think that’s where Scott’s at I think he had a FWB thing with Jane but it turned into “well, now you’re the person I want to talk to at the end of every day” “even if you’re on the other side of the world” “and even if this is the least physical relationship I’ve ever had” “And usually I rely on that more than I rely on the other thing” Prelude 10:56 pm I think Scott’s been waiting for his moment for like this big reveal and whatever and he thinks that “I have a secret girlfriend and today is our six month anniversary” is going to be a big deal but possibly Gordon swipes that out from under him with “I got Penelope pregnant.” Kate 10:57 pm yes yes, that was one of my first thoughts, actually i feel like, scott’s secret is actually the last on the OH SHIT reveal list like, in order: Prelude 10:58 pm oh yeah Kate 10:58 pm 1: pregnant 2: 1.5 years sneaking around IN THE SAME HOUSE 3: 6 month relationship, not so physical Prelude 10:58 pm but like! the shame of it is, Scott’s so damn proud of himself because I think they started out as like Kate 10:58 pm right!! Prelude 10:59 pm she was just someone he’d bootycall occasionally and then it just got to be more Kate 10:59 pm and it’s good for him to have found that anchor Prelude 10:59 pm and his relationships don’t usually get to the “more” stage I think that was the mistake he made in highschool Kate 10:59 pm it is all very exciting Prelude 10:59 pm like he was seventeen and ready to marry this stupid girl Kate 10:59 pm but even with him, there are more complications Prelude 10:59 pm and her parents were like “NOPE.” Kate 10:59 pm b/c they do not live near each other so as far as more goes that can be hard, i’d imagine! Prelude 10:59 pm yeah, entirely I mean, I did the LDR thing for a few years with the husband Kate 11:00 pm dude and he (scott) totally would have Prelude 11:00 pm entirely he was young and stupid and he thought he was in love it would’ve been a dISASTER though Kate 11:00 pm aww poor scott lol yeah he wouldn’t be where he is! Prelude 11:01 pm no! Kate 11:01 pm and like the dynamics of the entire family would have changed!!! Prelude 11:01 pm and he would’ve had a horrible marriage that lasted a terribly short time and would’ve ended in a messy divorce because he cares way too much like, the way it worked out is still the best way it could’ve worked out but like, he also got a vasectomy as soon as it was reasonably possible (aaaaugh but also Grandma and Gordon sitting side by side at the edge of the pool, and he is just DEVASTATED.) (because Scott came down on him so hard, and even in spite of everything there’s this tiny tiny tiny little part of him that wants to be excited) (that thinks this is new and amazing and wonderful and maybe it means something) (and maybe it could be okay) (but like, Scott pulled the roof down on his head and made him feel like a bad person) (for something that was a mistake/accident) Kate 11:04 pm yesssss yes i see all of that Prelude 11:04 pm (and grandma being like “you know, you remind me very much of your brother and very much of your father right now, because I have been right here with both of them, and Scott was the cause of one of those situations and the result of the other. so don’t worry kiddo. it all works out.”) ('i’m going to have a very very pretty great grandbaby. those creighton-wards have some excellent genes.”) Kate 11:05 pm hahaa yes Prelude 11:05 pm (“and don’t tell your brothers, but you’re the cute one.”) Kate 11:05 pm i do love grandma tracy HA HAHA Prelude 11:05 pm (“best possible baby. let me get my phone, let’s look at your baby pictures.”) Kate 11:06 pm hahaha yes the comedic relief that is very much needed Prelude 11:07 pm For sure Kate 11:07 pm but also proof that things will be okay or that they can be okay that it can work out

[tb5-hellbound]

talented amateurs - deleted scene (Scott and Jane)

the interlude to close out all that emotionally charged and highly dramatic Island Nonsense was originally going to be a monster of a chapter, a six way rotation through the POVs all of the significant other characters (plus a couple new voices) who we haven’t heard much from. this proved to be FAR too monumental a task and while I’m happier with the simplicity chapter I wound up with, there are still a few thousand words worth of written but unpublished extra content that add context and depth (as well as a bunch of important points I didn’t get to address on account of opting out of The Monster Chapter, fml), so here’s one of them.

There's a certain kind of long distance intimacy to the fact that they always know where to find one another. It's the first thing she does when she lands anywhere new---tells him where she is and how long she'll be there, just on the off chance that it's somewhere he's got the time to be. He responds in kind, and especially makes a point to let her know when he'll be free for more than one or two days at a stretch, and when possible, they'll both make a point to get together.

Jane's job takes her to almost as many corners of the world as his does, and currently she finds herself in a hotel room near the airport in Singapore, getting the requisite amount of sleep before her next cargo flight, a contracted sequence that takes her all over the South Pacific.

But she isn't sleeping. She'd already called Scott earlier in the evening to let him know she was going to be in the neighbourhood, relatively speaking, and he'd promised to get back to her as soon as possible. Now she's in her pajamas, curled up beneath the blankets in her hotel room bed. Instead of sleeping, she lies awake beneath beneath the bedsheets, frowning at the messages that glow from the screen of her comm.

S: I need to see you.

J: ooh I kinda hoped you might <3

J: Room 301 @ Aerotel Singapore ;)

J: bring me a bottle of whiskey or I'm not letting you in

S: Not like that.

J: oh.

J: Is everything okay?

S: Can't talk about it. Unsecured comm. I'll be there in an hour. Talk then.

And then nothing else. There's not much to go on, and she knows better by now than to try and press Scott for information when there's something bothering him, and she knows something's bothering him by the way he's terse and sharp and short. Whatever it is, it must be serious enough to warrant such strict privacy.

An hour is a long time to lie alone in the dark wondering what exactly her boyfriend's problem is. Initially she scours the news for any mention of any sort of disaster requiring the involvement of International Rescue and Thunderbird 1 by extension---but there's nothing. Nothing that's been publicly reported, at least. It's not in Jane's nature to worry about things she can't change, and so she puts it resolutely out of her mind. She passes the time reading recipes that she never intends to make, and browsing idly through the latest offerings from the tabloid press, though the "news" is all fairly stale and none of it sparks her interest.

She's dozing a little bit by the time there's a knock on her door, hard and loud enough that she starts awake, briefly bewildered before she remembers she's expecting company. There's an insistence to the second knock on the door that makes it more of a pounding, and she mutters uncharitably under her breath as she climbs out of bed.

The hotel room is cool, and it's late enough that it's starting to be early. Outside, the first suggestion of dawn creeps into the sky, a reminder that she really does need to be fresh and well-rested for her next flight, and whatever's brought Scott to her doorway right now had better be urgent.

Even though she's expecting him, natural caution has her stop and tap a fingertip against a touchscreen embedded at eye-level in the door. Just to be safe. This activates a camera to reveal a view of the hallway, and grants her a glimpse of Scott in an unguarded moment. The weariness and the worry in his bearing stifle any inclination she might have to tell him off for pounding on her door. He's rested one of his forearms against the doorjamb, and leans against it, looking worn out in a way he usually doesn't. He's also in full uniform, which isn't exactly uncommon, considering the usual manner of their meetings. Every now and again their schedules will overlap in such a way that she can join him somewhere where they can both be in their civvies---but tonight her uniform hangs pressed and ready in the closet by the door, and he's still in brilliant IR blue when Jane opens the door.

She only just catches him straightening up and pushing a hand through his hair, and if he doesn't quite smile when he sees her, some of the tension around his eyes seems to soften slightly.

"Hey," she says, and offers a smile that's gentle where it might otherwise be wicked, if this were their usual flavour of rendezvous. "C'mon in."

"Hi," he answers, but something about the way he says it seems almost absent, perfunctory. He's visibly distracted as he steps into her hotel room, moves swiftly past her as she closes the door behind him, and when she turns, he's made a beeline straight for the minibar in the corner of the room. A glass hits the countertop, and there's a melodic chime as the mini fridge swings open, and then three tiny bottles of liquor cluster around his chosen glass.

"I was kidding about the bottle of whiskey," Jane volunteers, watching as Scott deftly twists a tiny lid off a tiny bottle, and pours himself a shot of straight tequila. For Jane's part, her current employer maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol, and there's a twelve hour delay required betwixt bottle and throttle. "I'm due back in the air in nine hours, I won't be joining you."

"Wasn't planning to share." Shots of rum and vodka join the tequila, tinting the concoction into a light amber colour. Scott reopens the mini fridge, frowns into it briefly, before closing it again. Before Jane can comment any further, he's picked up his drink and thrown it back, in the manner of somebody who'd better not intend to fly anywhere in the next twelve hours. This accomplished, he abandons his empty glass on the countertop, and turns away from the bar to drop bodily onto the waiting couch at the far end of her suite, tipping his head back and closing his eyes with a heavy sigh.

Jane, having watched this dramatic little one-man tableau from the doorway, takes her cue to pad across the room in her bare feet, and seats herself gingerly on the sleek coffee table in front of him. She doesn't say anything, quietly expectant, and waits patiently for Scott to set the tone with whatever he decides to say first.

To his credit, he doesn't make her wait long. "...Sorry." He lifts a still gloved (gauntleted, really) hand to rub his fingertips against closed eyes, and then drags his palm down his face.

"Hit the bottle kinda hard there, champ," Jane observes, keeping her tone carefully light and non-judgmental, at least until she has a better explanation of what's going on. "You're lucky the room gets charged to my company card."

Scott chuckles but doesn't look at her, darkly sardonic in a way that he just isn't, usually. "Just following orders."

That's uncharacteristically cryptic, and something about the way he's said it makes her skin crawl slightly, hinting at something she's starting to suspect, but doesn't want to believe. Three little bottles still sit empty atop the minibar, winking in the low lights of the hotel room and persistent at the edge of her awareness. She'd been joking about the bottle of whiskey, but it's true that some of the best times they've had together have been over beers at a ballgame, or sipping Scotch at some nameless hotel bar. But this is clearly different. And not just because he's on his way to getting very drunk, while she remains resolutely sober. Something's wrong; this isn't like him. Something brought this about.

Jane reaches out to put a hand on Scott's knee, and her voice is gentle and sincere as she asks, "Are you okay? What happened?"

Scott takes a deep breath, and his gaze falls to her hand upon his knee, as though he can't bring himself to look at her when he answers, "...I fucked up." His fingers close over hers with a kind of desperate urgency, like her touch is a lifeline he can't lose hold of. "I mean I really fucked up, Jane, and I came here because I need to talk to somebody, but I don't know if I can even tell you. It's some shit about me and some shit about my family, and it's big and ugly and complicated and none of it's good and I just---I don't know what you'll think."

He falls silent, and Jane isn't sure what to say. Even after two years, vulnerability is rare in the man who saved her life, and truth be told, Jane likes it that way. Not that she'd fault him for it, just that she wouldn't entirely know how to respond. She knows, though they never really talk about it, that Scott's seen some shit. Jane doesn't know how to talk about that kind of thing, because that kind of thing is the kind of thing she renders in terms like "seen some shit". Sensitivity isn't her strong suit. Softer emotions don't come naturally to her.

But then, Scott knows that. They have it in common.

It's some instinct, then, that has her take his hand in both of hers. Idly, absently, she starts to undo the assorted straps and buckles that fasten his gloves. It's easier to talk if she pretends that this task is meticulous and demands more attention than it really does. All she really wants is to get down to bare skin, the intimacy of real contact, and hope it'll help make her point clear.

"I remember when I told you about my dad," she says, not looking up and unbuckling a clasp and loosening a strap, and starting to work the fingers of the gloves loose. This gets a little tricky as Scott's fingers twitch, reflexively trying to clench into a fist at the mere mention of her father. She squeezes his wrist gently and his hand relaxes, so she goes on, "Speaking of 'big' and 'ugly' and 'complicated'. I didn't know what you were going to think, either."

She tugs the glove free, tosses it onto the couch beside him, as he protests, "This is different."

Now her hand clasps his for a moment, before she gets up from the coffee table, and sits right back down, beside him this time. Insistent, she curls herself up on the couch, leans against his chest, tilts her head against his shoulder. "Maybe. But you let me tell you, and you listened, and it helped to get it out, and now you know something about me that almost no one else does. If it would help to get it out, Scott, just talk. Or do you need me to get you another drink?"

"I need you to stay just exactly where you are." His right hand is bare now, and much more deftly than she had, he pulls his other glove off. Reflexively, maybe, his arm wraps around her shoulder, and though she'd nestled close, he pulls her closer still. The bare skin of his palm is warm against her arm, and she can smell the alcohol on his breath when he rests his cheek against the crown of her head and sighs.

Jane tilts her face up and kisses his cheek. For being as brave and intrepid and daring as he is, it can sometimes be hard to get the ball rolling with Scott. More often than not, Jane finds herself initiating things between them. She gives him another little nudge, literally and metaphorically. "Look---I recognize the irony of telling you this while we're in another damn hotel room, but babe, when we decided that this whole thing was going to be more than just hook-ups in hotel rooms, part of that was an agreement to talk to each other about our lives, once in a while."

He shifts beside her, but she refuses to do anything but cuddle stubbornly closer, even if she can hear the discomfort in his tone when he protests, "It's my brothers, though."

She can't help a snort of laughter at this. "You tell me everything about your brothers. The number of times you've come bitching to me at the end of a long day about Alan's whining or John's micromanaging---some days I think I know your brothers better than you do."

The statement is carefully crafted, deliberately phrased so as to needle at Scott's not-so-subtle competitive edge, his perpetual need to prove himself. Still, even thus prompted, it takes him a few long moments to volley back, and there's genuine anguish in his voice when he asks---

"Do you know what to do when one of them gets his girlfriend pregnant?"

[tb5-hellbound]

Talented Amateurs - Top Ten Chapters

Had occasion to browse through TA and pull together my best and favourite chapters and passages therefrom, so here they are!

Spoilers for Talented Amateurs beneath the cut!

1 - champagne and bourdeaux

It’s a strange thing to know, especially as wholly and completely as she suddenly seems to know it. Sitting beside him beneath a staircase, after a day like today, a day so different from the days they usually spend together—realizing that it’s not the silly, childish crush she’s always assumed it was. And it seems like such an enormous, obvious truth, yet it’s hard to know how to react. Penelope doesn’t feel frozen exactly, so much as she feels some essential part of her has stilled, and grown suddenly calm and tranquil, in the presence of something very important.

He’ll remember what she does next for the rest of his life, and so it’s very important that she does it slowly and carefully, with absolutely no ambiguity about her intent. Gordon’s hands are still anxiously occupied by the champagne bottle he’s been toying with, and Penelope reaches over to take it from him, sets it gently on the floor between their feet. One of her knees presses against his as she shifts to sit closer, takes his hand in hers, and threads her fingers into the spaces between his.

And, well. She’s probably had just enough champagne for this to be a viable course of action.

She finds she quite likes the way that, even sitting, she needs to turn her face upwards to press her lips against his jaw.

6 - comment and critique

Well. Of course she’s imagined this.

Half the time she runs into him, he’s wearing nothing better than a wet suit. Frequently this is wet. The damn thing sometimes looks like it’s been sculpted onto him, a classical study of the male form in shades of cerulean. He’s a former Olympian. He’s an efficient, compact package of boyish good looks, supreme physical fitness, and real, actual heroism, wrapped up in bright blue with a sunshine yellow ribbon.

She’s only human.

But before now she’s always had to catch herself, always felt rather guilty if her thoughts about Gordon in particular had strayed too far into “cosmopolitan” territory. Penelope’s always had his brothers for context, had to consider him as the fourth out of five. Second youngest. It’s all relative. She’s known him from the very beginnings of International Rescue, when there were questions as to whether he was too young for the job. She’s almost of an age with his second eldest brother—John’s only a few months older than she is, October to her December. But there are three years between her and Gordon and before now, her idle musings about the shape of his hips, or the curve of his spine at the small of his back, or whether or not it’s true that swimmers tend to wax every last bit of hair off their bodies—it’s always felt a little bit wrong.

The incidental answer to this last question is no, actually. Not quite, anyway.

7 - questions and answers 

And then she sits up beside him and stretches, gloriously unselfconscious about her body, not that her body is something she should be even remotely self-conscious about. She’s gorgeous.

And he’d known that, obviously. It’s not like he’s looked at Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in all her aristocratic untouchability and never gone through the mental exercise of just what she might look like naked. Gordon broadly considers himself to be a good person—but the sort of good person who runs into burning buildings after orphans and who donates millions of dollars to save coral reefs and who drinks eight glasses of water every day. Not the sort of good person who looks at the most beautiful woman in the world and keeps his thoughts about her perfectly chaste and pure.

It’s almost impossible to believe that the reality of her is better than anything he’d ever imagined, chaste or otherwise. By night he’d been enthralled by the feel of her, by the softness of her skin and the warmth of her hands and by the strength hidden behind her essential elegance. He hadn’t expected that. He’s never thought of Penelope as particularly strong. At least, not in a physical sense. She’s always seemed too dainty, too delicate, too ladylike. She’s reasonably fast and impressively nimble, especially for as often as she wears five-inch heels, but he wouldn’t have thought of her as strong, per se.

But then, there are things you learn about a person when their legs are wrapped around your waist, and Gordon’s enough of an athlete to perceive and appreciate what must be a fairly robust workout routine, to give a girl a core like that. Gotta be some yoga in there. Definitely some Pilates.

13 - valentine

It would be fair to say that Gordon’s kissed a lot of people. He could probably number them in the dozens, though he’d be lucky if he could name half of them. It would be reasonable to say that he’s gotten good at it, with a full decade of experience in between now and the first kiss he’d ever had; an awkward, fumbling experience with someone forgettable, behind the bleachers out by the football field, at his dustbowl of a Kansas high school.

This is better than that. This is better than any of the hundreds of kisses that must have come before it, from dozens of people, half of whom he doesn’t remember. This is better by a country mile, and it doesn’t even matter what country. Even if it’s France and the country mile should probably be rendered in metric. Gordon’s usually pretty good at doing the math in his head, but with her lips on his, he’s not sure what that would even be in kilometers. It hasn’t even been a month since the last time he’d seen her—the last time he’d kissed her—and yet somehow it’s like kissing her for the first time all over again.

Gordon’s kissed enough people to know that first kisses are just a means to an end, that is, the means to enable further kisses. He’s kissed enough people to know that she probably only meant to kiss him hello, but then he brought his A-game, and there’s that slight, almost faltering gasp as she draws back for a moment to get her breath back. The hands that had been light and loose around his waist come up, her fingers twisting in his tie as her other hand finds the back of his neck, and this second time is better than the first, not that he would’ve believed that possible. He wonders if that’s always going to be the case, if kissing her is always going to be an experience that iterates gloriously upward.

15 - lover

He needs to stop himself from telling her she’s beautiful, again.

But that means he’s going to need to come up with something else to say, otherwise he’s going to lose the rest of the night to staring at her. Even after everything that’s brought him to this point—Valentine’s Day, in Paris—he can still barely believe he’s really here with her; that this has happened, and is happening.

What pops into his head isn’t ideal, and probably shouldn’t be the first thing he goes with. But it’s relevant, and something he’s been trying to find a moment to mention. Not that it’s been bothering him. Because it hasn’t. But if it were, she’s gradually becoming the person he wants to talk to about the things that bother him. Not that this has. Because it hasn’t.

“Wanna hear something funny?” he says, as though telling her this as like it was a joke will make that so. “Something else Scott said.”

Her fingers slip daintily between his, clasping his hands. Her sarcasm is perfectly measured, exquisite, as she says, “Oh, I do so love it when Scott feels the need to say something.”

Gordon can’t help grinning at that, that she’d make him feel better about it before he’s even told her what it was. “Right?”

“What was it?”

She’s already on his side, and that’s the best possible feeling in the whole entire world. Gordon almost feels a little guilty, repeating back what Scott had to say, but in fairness, it concerns her, too. “Well, when he dropped me off in Sydney, he said it was nice of you to humour me, on my birthday.”

There’s a beat of silence. Her hand leaves his and goes to her wine glass, still half full of the half glass of champagne she’d talked him into. The rest of this vanishes, and the foot of the glass lands on the white tablecloth with perhaps a little less delicacy than should be employed, with stemware. There’s a flash of fire in her blue eyes beneath their dark lashes, but her voice is so cold it brings the breeze up with it. “Your brother,” she declares, “can be such a prick.”

16 - cunning linguist

It’s funny about French, and especially about this particular phrase in French, just how easy it is to get it wrong. The language of love is something of a minefield, especially when it comes to love. All manner of homonyms and double-meanings lie in wait, lurking scandalously in the vicinity of other perfectly innocent turns of phrase. Penelope has, on more than one occasion, made an absolute ass of herself in French and had thereafter settled for nothing less than absolute fluency in the language. There’s really only one way to properly say I love you in French.

Not, of course, that he’d said it in French.

“Yeah, that.” But though he’s still holding her, sat in his lap, he doesn’t look up, and instead decides to bury his face against her shoulder, and he holds her little tighter as he does so. It’s a tremendously vulnerable sort of gesture, rightly so, and she’s quick to press a kiss against the crown of his head and hug him back, as he mumbles into her shoulder, muffled and embarrassed, “I’m sorry.”

That won’t do.

“No!” she protests, because this is precisely what she’d hoped to avoid, “No—darling, don’t be. Please, don’t be. There’s no need.”

Gordon pulls away and shakes his head, and when he looks up at her, Penelope’s heart gives a little twinge of its own at the vulnerability in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have—”

But she puts a finger to his lips and doesn’t let him finish, cutting him off, “Really, dearest. It’s not exactly as though I can’t already tell.”

There’s the slightest spark in his eyes, then, the sort she would’ve missed if she weren’t noticing how pleasing their agate-brown colour is by candlelight. Beneath the fingertip she has pressed against his lips, there’s a flash of a half-smile he can’t quite seem to help, as he comments, “And here I’m usually so subtle.”

“As a brick through a window.”

21 - valentine (reprise)

It's late and the house is dark. The floorboards creak beneath his feet as he proceeds through the front hallway. The hallway opens with the kitchen to his right, pale blonde cabinetry wrapped around a breakfast bar. The dining room is just beyond, a whitewashed trestle table, a hulking wooden thing that his grandfather had built, big enough that it had sat all nine members of their family at its largest—Grandma and Grandpa Tracy, Mom and Dad, Scott and his brothers.

None of them are here now.

The dining room opens up to the living room, wrapped all around with big wide windows with their broad, beautiful view; facing the fields that roll gently beyond the backyard, outward until they run into the wooded break of the treeline that separates the Tracy family's farm from the farm beside it, though the fields immediately around the farmhouse have lain fallow for years now, and those that have been bought up around them are farmed by roving agricultural drones. In the daylight they're a sight to behold, gleaming dark green and gold, John Deere's legacy

As he crosses the room, Scott idly drops his helmet onto the dining room table, where it thuds off the wood and rolls onto its face. "Honey, I'm home," he calls softly into the living room, and after a few moments he's rewarded by a shifting sound from the overstuffed living room couch.

A hand reaches up over the back of it and he gets a vague wave. She's wearing one of his shirts, pilfered from the upstairs dresser, and the sleeve of this drops back from her wrist to her elbow as she greets him, unceremoniously, "You're very late."

Scott feels a twist of guilt through his gut, though he knows by now that she doesn't hold it against him, and that she never will. It doesn't mean he isn't sorry. "I know."

"Late isn't really your thing."

27 - in and out

"Hiya," he starts, and in the time he had to wait for her, he should've tried to figure out what exactly he planned to say when she arrived, not that it even the wittiest repartee would've held up against the way she'd kissed him. Still. "How was—"

The pads of her first two fingers press against his lips before he can get any further, and her voice is soft and sultry and appealingly almost sternas she tells him, "No. No, my darling, none of that. No talking, I promise, we've nothing to talk about. Not now. Not after what happened last time. Later, darling. After."

There are very few people on the planet for whom Gordon will immediately shut up and do exactly as he's told, but Penelope Creighton-Ward is one of them. She's probably at the top of the list. Her intent is unambiguous, and there's a familiar intensity about her, as she leans into him again, her lips soft and her mouth wet as she kisses his neck. One of her hands has buried itself in a fistful of his hair, and the other has found its way beneath the hem of his t-shirt (cerulean blue, with an artfully faded logo declaring his allegiance to Lucky! brand jeans), and her fingers are as cool against the skin of his stomach as her breath is warm against his throat. The shiver that follows her touch is entirely involuntary.

This has happened before. This happened on just the other side of her bedroom door, only she'd known exactly where she was going, then. It's only been a couple minutes, she's only just gotten here. She doesn't quite have the lay of the land yet. So when she pauses again, for just a moment, Gordon easily and obligingly sweeps her off her feet into an effortless cradle carry. Less useful during rescue work than one might suppose. Surprisingly useful in this specific scenario, especially when one benches about two-twenty and one's girlfriend weighs about half that. Penelope gasps as he gets a proper grip on her, but his arms are solid behind her knees and around her back, and she relaxes almost immediately, clasping her hands around the back of his neck.

29 - hue and cry

It’s so easy to forget that Penelope’s tiny, really. With her shoes still abandoned by the foot of the bed, she’s over half a foot shorter than he is, slight and delicate. He glances at his watch—it had been 4:17PM NZST when he’d first taken her pulse, and the moment seems to have frozen itself in his memory—but it’s nearing half past the hour, now. It feels like longer, and yet he can still see the imprint she’d left on the plush duvet, and can’t stop seeing the way she’d looked so small and still and fragile and made him feel sick and frightened inside. Despite everything, these are better emotions to hold onto than anger, a better motivation to try and convince her that he’s right.

“Pen, please. I’m not—I don’t want to fight about this, why’re we fighting about this?” It comes out more like pleading than he wants it to, but it’s still better than shouting at her.

“Because you’re trying make me do something I don’t want to do,” Penelope informs him, coldly, turning away from the window to glare at him. “Something wholly unnecessary.”

Gordon’s not sure how often he can repeat the truth without it making the slightest impact, but he tries again anyway, “But, it’s—you were just gone, Penny. You went right out, fast, and then you were barely breathing and your pulse dropped, your blood pressure—your hands were like ice, they’re still like ice. You scared the hell outta me; you’re scaring the hell outta me. This kinda thing doesn’t just happen without a reason, and—”

“The reason is everything I’ve done to get here.” There’s an imperious little stamp of her foot, which would be adorable if she weren’t so angry—an emotion she clearly has no compunction about—and her hands drop into fists at her sides. Her glare moves up a level in severity and becomes an absolute glower. “I’m exhausted,” she continues, apparently indifferent to the fact that she’s not helping her case, and that the little paramedic in the back of Gordon’s brain is helpfully adding fatigue to her growing list of symptoms, along with irritability and altered mental status. “I’ve done so much to be with you, because it’s been awful not to be. I want you; I’ve missed you.”

She says this like it’s an accusation, as though it’s his fault somehow and she’s simply furious with him about it.

excerpt  (nsfw) from - here and now 

“Shh.”

There are very few people in the world who can get away with shushing Penelope, and one of them has just stolen her voice with another kiss, and his hand at the side of her neck, his thumb ghosting over the point of her pulse. This must be racing. His mouth leaves hers and lingers briefly along her jaw, before drifting down to her throat. Her eyes close and her neck arcs backward against his hand, as teeth scrape gently against her flesh, the pressure of his tongue against her throat as she swallows, her mouth falling open as another soft sound of longing escapes.

He pauses again, briefly, hesitant. “Tell me to stop,” he prompts softly, and she just shakes her head, shifting underneath him. At some point, beyond her ability to notice, he’s settled atop her properly, knees at either side of her hips. The hand that hasn’t clasped at the back of her neck has found its way beneath the hem of the t-shirt she’s wearing, pushing it upwards, to bare the skin beneath. His palm rests against the curve of her ribcage, but goes no further. “If this is too much—”

“No,” she answers, and her hand fumbles for his, clasping his wrist and pressing it clumsily upward, until his fingers find the tender, waiting warmth of her left breast, and though her breath draws sharply, she still insists, “No, don’t—don’t stop. Anything. Everything. More—oh, god, more. Please.”

He chuckles softly, and the palm of his hand slowly kneads and squeezes her flesh, as Gordon bows his face to hers again, “Well, since you asked nicely,” he murmurs, and she tilts her chin upwards to kiss him again.

[tb5-hellbound]

tfw a song for Penny is also a song for Gordon

And traveling light is a curse and a blessing For someone like me whose heart has gone missing So get on that plane, as the snow turns to rain And I'm writing your name on the glass 

(also DAMN thomas sanders has a set of pipes on him)

[myfairylily]

@alinabosch  

[couplenotes]

[tb5-heavenward]

absolutely gorgeous and unbelievable art courtesy of the incomparable @anayellowbendyfruit​, and hopefully this piece will be available via Redbubble soon, because I very dearly want a print of it for my office wall.

here we go! unsubtle imagery aside, here we go. back to the island and the highly dramatic happenings thereupon. I’m sure everyone will react to this news in a levelheaded and reasonable manner. long time readers may notice a minor heavenward parallel, landing in right about the same place where it landed in Heavenward. I am a one trick pony.

talented amateurs - 34

There’s a storm over the island. A great big towering thing. Not as scary as it looks, probably, but Scott’s still standing at the window, watching the skies, because his little brother’s flying home through it.

Gordon’s late.

Only by an hour, and with Tracy Island all hemmed in by wind and rain and billowing cumulonimbus clouds, with lightning tearing bright along their edges, it’s not surprising. But they’ve still got comms and they’re still in contact and his GPS still works, and he’s nearly home. His last transmission to the villa had been that he was just entering the island’s airspace, on final approach to TB2’s broad, forgiving runway. Last one home after a long day off.

Not that anyone else had left in the first place.

Gordon’s late, but Scott’s not mad, because his little brother was right. Twenty-four hours of downtime, exactly what they’d all needed.

[chenria]

Commission for the wonderful @preludeinz / @tb5-heavenward of Gordon Tracy and Lady Penelope as an illustration for her fanfic “Talented Amateurs”. 

They were fun to draw and I hope I did them justice. 

[tb5-heavenward]

a certain page needed a lovely header, and this is just too perfect <3 <3 <3 Thank you as always :D :D :D

[this-blog-is-inactive]

A commission done for @tb5-heavenward! Again I had so much fun!!!!

[tb5-heavenward]

Reblogging this particular set of commissions to add some songs for some couples, because that is the kind of mood I’m in.

What I’ve done in darkness I must turn away This mended heart is meant for so much more Though the wind it’s telling me that it’s ok I’ll stand my ground till I hear the kingdom come So I will fight to keep the fire burning in the night For I found words to keep me still Oh I’m prone to go and make the same mistakes I hear your voice calling out my name

Grab me by my ankles, I’ve been flying for too long I couldn’t hide from the thunder in a sky full of song And I want you so badly, but you could be anyone I couldn’t hide from the thunder in a sky full of song Hold me down, I’m so tired now Aim your arrow at the sky Take me down, I’m too tired now Leave me where I lie

[magicspiceman]

A commission for @preludein Of one of her OTPs! Can’t remember the show name! Lol….

Tagging @tb5-heavenward

[tb5-heavenward]

Reblogging this particular set of commissions to add some songs for some couples, because that is the kind of mood I’m in.

Oh Somebody, somebody, somebody, somebody jumped the gun Oh oh oh, they go just as quickly as they come Now nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody understands The promises between a woman and a man Don’t always go as planned Honey, take a stand

Well, hey, little baby, what would you say If I took you further away? Now that countdown’s begun Counting backwards to one On and on, the endless debating You get home, but nobody’s waiting Countdown’s begun Five, four, three, two, one

I don’t know what you’re hunting It’s not for me, it’s something else And I can’t deny That I am hurting I know it’s never-ever With us, we’re not forever You won’t be for me My hallelujah In the middle of the night did you think I’d be alone Waiting patiently for you to come home? I’m not the waiting kind, you can’t ruin my mind I’ll find somebody else to call mine

[magicspiceman]

A commission done for @tb5-heavenward

I finally got some sunlight to take a really great picture!!!

[tb5-heavenward]

Secret heart What are you made of What are you so afraid of Could it be Three simple words Or the fear of being overheard What’s wrong? 

Let him in on your secret heart

I’ve been burned before You’re not fooling me There’s no mystery You’ve forgotten what you’re hiding for 

Call it self-defence You can obfuscate And manipulate But it’s only at your own expense 

You make it easy

Easy to be with you Easy to obey Easy to forgive you at the end of the day Easy now to judge you Easy to betray Easy to adore you, though you want to run away