#ANYWAY she went and got the chocolate milk HERSELF yesterday after that and now i can order choco milk iced capps again! :)

[safyresky]

Leave my desk for like, FORTY MINUTES to ACTUALLY DO WORK AND THIS HAPPENS

[bhaalsbabe]

Big vent

My mother knows I've been literally addicted to milk chocolate for years (but especially last one when I ate up to 100-300grams of it PER DAY) and I've just cold feet quit it a few months ago and there just CANNOT be milk chocolate (specifically milk, I don't like any other) in the house because if I find it, I'll probably eat it. Well guess what. She got herself milk chocolate. And I found it yesterday. So I ate like 2 rows of it (and another 2 rows today) and I told her today that she has to get rid of it because I just can't control myself well (the fact I just didn't munch the entire thing is the most I was able to do, I just can't think straight when sugar is involved, I barely eat anything these days so my brain just went crazy). And she's like "what? That expensive lindt chocolate? How could you, I bought one thing for myself and you eat it". I did not eat it all YET. She always have some sort of chocolate in the house but it's always the kind I don't like so it's okay but this... She fucking knows how hard this is for me, how much I starve myself to lose weight, and now my entire journey is in danger because of this? Because she just had to buy a big good milk chocolate and leave it in the box with vegetables (where she stores chocolate for some reason) and now act hurt that I started eating it?? While I'm struggling to not eat the whole thing and get more the next time I'm buying groceries? What the fuck did she expect? AND WE HAVE TWO FRIDGES AND SHE COULD'VE PUT IT IN THE STORAGE BOX IN THE OTHER ONE THAT I DONT FUCKING USE BUT NO, SHE HAS TO USE THE ONE I USE AND STORE MY THINGS IN. She's not even trying anymore. The worst thing is that I know she'd act the exact same way if I was addicted to alcohol and drank one of her many beers that she would keep in the house anyway, because why should *she* abstain too. Because she doesn't understand how fucked up your brain gets when you're addicted to anything. And that the longer you go without it, the harder it is to resist and not be like "just this once" because this once turns into "okay things happen, I'll have it one last time today" and boom you're back in it, finding excuses and every day being the "last day" but it isn't. Ugh I'm just so mad, upset, idk what. And she even knows my weight has been stagnating a little for the past few weeks so I'm already demotivated and now this.

(just btw she's the kind of person that would say "nah you're fine, stop overreacting" even if you were dying, great example of me when I was child, breaking my arm, telling her how my arm hurt AND HER TAKING ME TO THE HOSPITAL AFTER AN ENTIRE WEEK. And we have free healthcare so cost wasn't a problem, it's just her never taking her children seriously, kids or adults)

[widowbitessting]

Sugar Mommies Pt.15

Right imma apologies for the LONG wait for this part! 😂 I’m still not overly happy with it buuuuut yeah, it’s finally here! The Sugar Mommies Trio! are back!❤️

I’m going to tag everyone like I did yesterday with the Drabble and if anyone’s username isn’t underlined - apparently it doesn’t tag you - I’m gonna remove you so if your username is taken off, let me know and I’ll retag you. Lol me trying to desperately make this tag list work!  

Please let this tag list work!

New upload time is every Sunday at 8pm GMT (London) time! 

18+ ONLY! MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!

❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️💋❤️

MJ(11:13): Y/N did you get milk when you went grocery shopping??🤔

MJ(11:13): Cuz I can’t find it…

MJ(11:13): I really need my hot chocolate fix too, Y/N.

MJ(11:14): Y/N????

MJ(11:14): You’re always on your phone, what are you doing???

MJ(11:14): Shit 

MJ(11:14):…you went out to your gals didn’t you…

MJ(11:14): 😳😳

MJ(11:14): God,you’re so horny I love it😋

MJ(11:14): Did you take protection?

MJ(11:15): I’m not ready to be an auntie!

Wanda stops reading when you cover your face with a pillow.

“Shall I continue?” 

God, you can hear her smirking even though you can’t see her. 

“Is murder still illegal here?” You ask, voice slightly muffled. 

Wanda drags the pillow from your face and sticks her bottom lip out in a small pout.

She squishes your face with her fingers and pecks your lips.

“Unfortunately, my sweet.”

“Shame.”

“Shall I continue?” Wanda asks again. 

“Is there more?” 

You don’t know why you’re so shocked. It’s MJ. She once spammed your phone with 50+ messages when you were in the shower at your parents’ house, and she was binge watching Stranger Things.

“There’s a lot more, baby.”

You exhale loudly through your nose.

“Please say yes, I kinda want to see how she ends these texts.”

“She’s actually so embarrassing.”

“Pleeeease?” Wanda shoots you with her best puppy dog eyes and you give in almost immediately.

“Go on then.”

“Yes!” Wanda looks back at your phone, “where was I?”

MJ(11:15): I’d be an amazing auntie wouldn’t I?

MJ(11:15): Yknow, if you actually reply to me, I’ll slap you.

MJ(11:15): After your women do of course…😏

MJ(11:15): you’d think I’d stop texting you by now…buuuut nope! 

MJ(11:16): What’re the chances your ladies will kill me if I interrupt you again?

“Quite high.” Wanda mutters. “Luckily you were too…occupied…this time.”

 Wanda winks at you and you blush.

MJ(11:17): Anyways, hope you have fun! If you’re hoarse when you come home then I know why!

MJ(11:17): last thing I promise, did you get that milk or not…?

Wanda looks at you, eyes dipping down to where you’re holding the bed sheet to your bare chest.

“Her last text says she’s locked herself out again. Does your friend do this often or just when you’re with us?” 

You can’t help but laugh when Wanda tells you this.

“She’s locked out again?” 

“She is.” Wanda hands you your phone. “See?”

There it is, encased in a dark grey bubble, MJ’s iMessage. 

MJ(11:18): Sooo I was rushing out and didn’t grab my keys…any chance you’re nearly done screaming over there?

“Not to be rude…but is your friend an idiot?” 

You shrug. 

“She’s just…MJ…very forgetful MJ…” 

“Hasn’t she got a boyfriend?” 

“Peter? Yeah.” 

“Does she have keys to his place?” Wanda asks. 

You nod with pursed lips. 

“They’re with the keys she locked in the apartment aren't they?” 

“They are. I actually think they’re on a hook by the door to be more specific.”

Wanda lets out a laugh and grabs your phone back. 

When you see her begin to type back to MJ, you dive forward with a startled noise.

“What are you doing?” 

Wanda moves effortlessly away from you, stepping off the bed in one swift move and you can do nothing but follow her. 

You hastily wrap the sheet tighter around your body, giggling after Wanda. 

“I’m just giving her some advice.” Wanda says, moving your phone out of reach. 

Once she finishes typing, Wanda shows you what she’s written and waits patiently for you to read it.

“Go get a hot chocolate and meet up with Peter for a while. Y/N will be back much later - Wanda.”

“Am I okay to send it?”

“I’ll do you one better…” 

You press send yourself and smile up at the other woman. She grins down at you, puts your phone on aeroplane mode so MJ can’t disturb you again and tosses it blindly onto the bed.

“Now…where were we?” 

Wanda’s hands grip your wrists firmly and she pulls slightly so that the sheet droops slightly. 

“Y’know, I’m really having a hard time sharing you with MJ. Especially when you’re wearing that.”

You’d swallow if you had any moisture left in your mouth. 

“Oh yeah?” 

She nods. 

The taller woman leans down and captures your lips with her own; kissing you possessively. 

She suddenly pulls you flush against her, tearing your hands from where they’re keeping what little modesty you have, so that the sheet falls freely away.

Leaving you standing in their bedroom naked. 

Whilst kissing a very clothed, and very turned on, Wanda. 

She moves to your neck quickly, teeth finding home in your skin, marking you up with little to no care. 

She nips a little too hard, causing you to hiss as you’re backed up blindly. 

And when you’re about to buckle down onto the mattress, Wanda’s hands lift you effortlessly before chucking you onto the bed. 

Watching wordlessly as you bounce a couple of times.

Before she practically jumps on the bed, towering over you with a smile. 

Wanda pecks you before moving to kiss down your chest - lavishing at your nipples until they become small peaks. 

When your hips buckle, Wanda drags herself lower, her spit glistening on your skin as she settles herself between your legs. 

“I was gutted I didn’t get a taste before.” Wanda mutters. She licks you greedily and moans as your taste fills her mouth. “Now you’re all mine.” 

And fuck, your eyes roll to the back of your head. 

She doesn’t relent once she has you, arms locking around your thighs to keep you where she wanted.

Her tongue moves at an almost inhuman speed against you, wet noises gushing from you.

When Wanda shifts her arms from you, you whine at the loss of contact. 

It’s only for a small moment however; as seconds later, with a devious grin and wink up at you, Wanda slips two fingers into your clenching hole, and when you feel her teeth graze your clit, a small scream escapes you. 

Your eyes flutter shut as you can feel the coil in your belly tightening again.

Your hands grip onto Wanda’s hair.

“Gonna cum already for me, kotenok?”

“Uh huh.” 

You shamelessly grind your hips up to meet her face. 

“That’s my girl.”

“Faster.” You all but plead. 

Wanda’s fingers curl inside you as she quickens her pace, switching from sucking on your clit to rubbing it with her free hand. 

“I wanted you to ride my face,” Wanda says as she moves herself closer to your face before kissing you soundly. “But I was just too eager to fuck you, baby girl. Maybe next time.”

“S-sure!” 

You continue to moan as Wanda’s fingers fuck you qucker, moving in such a rhythem that has you squelching around her. 

When she stops abruptly, your eyes are quick to look at her. 

She smiles smugly down at you as she removes her glistening fingers to suck them into her mouth. 

Wanda moans at your taste.

“Your turn.”

You open your mouth as Wanda slides her two fingers into your mouth. 

You’re quick to suck on them, tasting the small residue of yourself still on her. 

“That’s a good girl. Get them nice and wet for me, detka.” Wanda is hypnotised by the way you suck on her fingers. “Not that you need it, you’re so fucking wet for me.”

When she pushes back into you, two fingers automatically curl, she doesn’t stop, doesn’t let up until you’re shaking under her. 

She kisses you as you let out an incoherent steam of words, hands cupping her face as you close in on your high. 

“That’s it.” Wanda pecks your nose. “Cum for me.”

The coil in your belly snaps.

You let out a silent cry as your orgasm hits you, body shuddering under her. 

She lets you ride it out before withdrawing her fingers from you, kissing you soundly.

“You okay, detka?” she asks, settling beside you.

You can’t figure out how to form words anymore so you can only nod at her. 

“Good girl.” She sucks on your fingers again, enjoying your taste. “I’ve got one question to ask you though.” 

“Oh?” 

“Think you can cum again for me?” 

You stare at her, slightly dumbfounded. 

“I - I…maybe?” 

Wanda grins. 

She settles more comfortably on her back and brushes her hair out of her face. 

“Hop on, baby girl.” 

“What?” 

“You heard me. I want you to ride my face. C’mere.” 

When you don’t move, Wanda raises an eyebrow. 

“Do not make me ask again. Come here.” 

You rise on shaky legs and slowly mouth her face; where Wanda wastes no time. 

She pulls you down roughly against her face, lips enclosing around your pussy. 

In hindsight, you’re wondering if you should be ashamed of how quickly Wanda made you cum like that, her mouth and tongue working wonders against you. 

It takes you under 60 seconds until your release is leaking down Wanda’s chin and you’re being nudged back onto the bed, panting. 

“You taste amazing.” Wanda murmurs, gathering your excess juices on her finger before licking them clean. “I think I’m hooked.” 

“I think I’m hooked, Wanda.” You let out a shaky laugh. “Is it bad that I can't feel my legs?”

Wanda lets out a laugh, watching as you look around the bedroom. 

“Is it bad that I’ve just noticed Carol and Nat aren’t here…?” 

Wanda snorts and taps your nose. 

“I’m sure their gigantic egos will be able to cope.” 

“Where are they?” 

“Business called.” Wanda glances at your bare chest. “They’re on a Zoom in the office.” 

“Weren’t you needed?” You ask. 

“Trying to get rid of me?” 

You snort out a laugh. 

“Shut up.” 

Wanda hums and leans down to peck your lips. 

“I could have gone but I wouldn't have done much.” Wanda replies. “Besides, there’s a beautiful girl in our bed; what better excuse is there?” 

Your eyes widen.

“You didn’t tell your boss that, did you?” 

Her fingers trace down the length of your jaw.

“So what if I did?” She asks. “In fact, we all told the bosses the same thing…” 

“What?” 

“Relax, detka; we’re the bosses. It’s our company.” 

You’re shocked but then you can’t really say you’re surprised. Everything just makes sense. 

“Of course you are.” 

Wanda can’t stop smiling.

“They’ll be finished soon enough. Then we’ll all get ready and go out; as long as you’re able to walk that is.” 

“Oh! We’re still going out?” 

“Of course...we don’t intend to keep you trapped in our bed.” Wanda replies, “unless you want to be...” 

You playfully shove her with a laugh.

“Where are we going?” You ask.

Wanda shrugs.

“Don’t know.” 

“You’re lying.” 

“I’m actually not. Carol and Nat won’t tell me either. Apparently I’m a walking spoiler. Or whatever that means.”

This time it’s your turn to tap her nose. 

“That is hilariously cute.” You say. “Do you really not know where we’re going?” 

“Nope. They don’t tell me about gifts either because I can’t keep them a secret.” 

You stretch and let out a loud groan. 

“What time are we going again?” You ask. 

“1. You’ve got about an hour until we need to go.” 

You pause to think before saying,

“I have two requests…” 

“Go on,” Wanda replies, interested. 

“Am I okay to have a shower before we go? I smell of…sex…” 

“Of course, kotenok.” she grins. “What is your next request?” 

“Can you carry me? I think my legs have turned to jelly.” 

❤️💋❤️💋

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.6.5 Pt.7 Pt.8 Pt.9 Pt.10 Pt.11 Pt.12 Pt.13 Pt.14

Tag List under the cut! 

@fishlikestuff @spartanghost118 @ironsnowstorm @romeo-the-cactus @brutashafan @midnightreme @your-my-mission @trikruismybitch @bitxhinthecomments @messuhp @severepeanutartisanhands @8plasma @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @khiaraaa-in-spacee @madamevirgo @selluequestrian @kaitlynroseb @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory @coollemonsaresour @pianogirl2121 @loomontoia @wandas-lover @cybeleceto @tomy5girls @starmako26 @claudiamyan @emilyprentisslittlewhore @vynia @cordeliaswhore @angelicl-y @ashadash0904 @the-most-unicorn-of-them-all @stuckyforliife @ktstudies @your-my-mission @tomy5girls @coollemonsaresour @khiaraaa-in-spacee @emilyprentisslittlewhore @umsolikeblog @angelicblackwolf @pianogirl2121 @upsidedowndanvers @anastasiabeaverhousen87 @wrennieee-blog-blog @spiderling-18 @madamevirgo @beforeoursecrets @8plasma @imdreamingblo@wandas-love @mmmmokdok @greydinosauregg @crazylittlereader2474 @thatonehippiefriend @midgardianweasley @battleg03 @sav06nat @marvelwomen-simp @ineedafinghug @suki-is-a-queen @wandanatblogs @wandanatstan @im-in-demilesbians-with-you @crispychaospanda @raqelacevedo @harmoni0527 @starmako26 @osterfield23 @wandanatblogs @ophelias-heart @natashafamdreams @osterfield23 @sweeterlust @adyadalia  @jemilyssecretlover @aleynaishere @jayxxace @smileyromanoff @ashadash0904 @scxpingdrms @amcg0615 @insomniac-delusions @yorkthelocksmith @emilyprentisslittlewhore @wandavixen @gay-ant @iwantwatermelonrn @marvelxdickinsonmarvelxdickinson @marvelwomen-simp @alianovnasworld @whhyyynottt @wandaswigglywoos-ish @lexi-2003-love @smallestavenger @mcu-churrio @fastlikealambo @luflufsstuff @birdie0101 @fabgronsky @insomniac-delusions @theheeheeman @idontknownemore @scxpingdrms @depression-desu @ashadash0904 @demonslayer06 @spookymomfriendtm @smromanoff @raqelacevedo @wandanatfan @simpforflorencepugh1 @s1ut4nat @d14n4ol @alianovnasworld @academiagaymess @natblidaclexa @childofsapph0 @mellxa @messuhp @valiantmugcowboyscissors @luflufsstuff @lorsstar1st @alianovnasworld @wandaswigglywoos-ish @itwas-neverreal @pianogirl2121 @itwas-neverreal @forever-a-diamond-bitch @sayah13 @scxrlett-wid0w @alianovnasworld @froufrousnowman @scarletwidow21 @robnicole @likefirenrain @xxxtwilightaxelxxx @ejeiwbskqn @arin-swear-rose @aloaph @jjs-doll @mommysslutsworld @geico-insuranc @ashadash0904 @scxrlett-wid0w @sayah13 @froufrousnowman @anyilherrona @alianovnasworld @whhyyynottt @schuylersthelimit @tomy5girls @caylusromanoff @sadlesbitch @silver-lotus @milaackerman69 @onmykneesforwanda @imtrebleandsharp @alana-debnamcarey @comfy-mee @immathinkerg @simpforwandanat @alianovnasworld @luckypupsmama @sophiecala @shrekisloveshrekislifw @xoxolittledizzy @nattyswidow @mcu-romanoff @njavezan @laurenmaximoff @druggedduck @laylayb1106 @speedytimetravelgalaxy @snowdrop1026 @scarletts-future-wife @darling-dontforgetme @r4nd0mgir1 @heartsforlee @r4nd0mgir1 @heartsforlee @geico-insuranc @copper-boom @emmamaximoff11@sweetmissnothing @readings-stuff @villanelles-little-wh0r3 @bigfinsquidd @copper-boom @yelenatwanda @wizardofstories @beinggayanddoingcrime @ashw0lf @adnawidow @wandanats-ghost @mall6ry @violetromanova @navyblueobsessed @elle-romanoff@readings-stuff​ @practiceinpublic@yelenatwanda@simplysimping999@darling-dontforgetme@talia-alianovna@maiyaisdumb @inluvwithfictionalwomen@gay-ant@wannabe-fic-reader@10-19-17uswnt@rt--link@sluttyforfemaleavengers@im-just-a-gay-fanfic-reader@anastasiabeaverhousen87@olicity-boo@gryffindorkromanoff@ara-a-bird@lesbianfornatasha​@anchorjdm​@whoreforjimhopper​

[ivyglow]

making my boyfriend jealous #prank 01 - Carter Hart | Philly

a/n: this idea sounded perfect in my head, but I don’t know if I’m satisfied with how it turned out; Hope you guys like it anyway. Don’t forget to let me know <3 It’s not proofread-ed so let me know if you find some mistake

btw, I wanted to say a huge thank you to @skarsgardswiftie​ for putting up with me talking about this idea and helping me out with some scenes. Love you, Val!!! <3 *muah*

Word count: 3.5k

Requested: yes

Prompt: 17. “wait a second..are you jealous?”  19. “I don’t love them. I love you” 

warnings: none

No one would believe if told that Nolan, the grumpy almost shy one, was best friends with y/n the smiley and loud girl. They met at a pharmacy, going for the last pain medicine box on the shelf and bumping hands, he was about to give up, but then she smiled and suggested buying it and give him one card since there were two inside. They spent some time talking in the line and when she found him once again in the same pharmacy she didn’t lose time following him and sliding to his DM. They got along pretty well and months after y/n saw herself in a bar full of hockey players to celebrate the victory of the team. 

That’s how she met Carter and more further ahead started dating him.

They were two distinct polos. 

Y/n loved to dance, Carter preferred to sit and sip at his drinks.

Y/n was a college student of Fine Arts, Carter was a hockey player.

Y/n had curly hair while Carter had the thinnest straight strands of hair.

Y/n was Colombian, Carter was Canadian. 

 Y/n had a YouTube channel and Carter, well Carter discovered that he liked it a lot more than he was supposed to. 

She did videos of hair care, study routine, and even some dance moves while cleaning the house. He was able to watch her, hear her, and almost feel her even if the timezone would not allow during trips. 

Their first kiss was in one of those videos, y/n was talking about some chapstick new flavor while Carter was watching some game on the TV sitting on the opposite sofa. 

“Well, I’m really suspect to talk about the peach one since I don’t like peaches” she comments while putting it on. “Carter, can you come here for one sec.” 

At that point, the boys were part of her routine so they were used to appearing in some videos sometimes, TK truly loved the attention, he would show out of the blue behind the camera or pretend the video was about his morning routine. Nolan would crack a laugh and Carter would roll his eyes telling his friend to give the camera back to y/n. Of course most of the time she would edit these parts, so it didn’t appear, but sometimes it was hilarious, and so she couldn’t help herself. The next day Travis would be the joke of the locker room -but he never stopped-. 

“What’s up?” he asked, sitting by her side on the living room floor. Travis and Nolan were out buying food, Hart and y/n being the only ones in the house. 

“Can you taste this chapstick flavor and see if you like it?” she applied one more time in her lips and smelled the tiny balm in her hands, making a face and giving it to him. 

Carter laughed and scooted closer to her taking her shin into his fingers and bringing her face close. She giggled not expecting him to taste directly from her lips, he was probably messing with her like they always did with each other. But when Carter closed the gap all she could do was hold his neck and dive into the feeling. 

After the episode, they would kiss every time no one was around. Dates and night in started to be a common thing and the rest is history.

It was a Saturday morning, Carter was sound asleep since he was going to have a game later in the afternoon and y/n was already in the kitchen preparing the usual breakfast they had for game days, except today she was reasonably early. 

“Hey there, my lovely pals” she greeted trying to speak as low as possible. “It’s a Saturday morning and I’m doing breakfast while editing some school stuff, Carter is sleeping and this video has everything to do with him” she grins while sipping from her favorite cup of coffee. “Travis was talking to me about some kind of conversation they had at the locker room and apparently Carter said he wasn’t a jealous person...well, it’s something between the boys but my amazing and devilish friend came up with the idea...he wants me to act a little weird and see if Carter really doesn’t feel jealousy at all. I decided it was better to film it so he wouldn’t be capable of denying it. He’s sleeping as I said before and I’ve distanced myself since yesterday, I don’t know if he already noticed it but yeah..let’s go” she turned around to start paying full attention to the preparation of breakfast. 

Y/n was halfway done when she faced the camera again.

“So we usually have the ‘breakfast-pre-game’ together whenever we can, but today I’m calling Trav and Nolan to join us…”

The next record was y/n pacing in the kitchen while sending some messages on her cellphone. When the duo was already there TK gave her a bear hug and murmured “let’s go for it, Hartsy girl”. She laughed and went to hug Nolan, who didn’t know about the prank. 

“Where’s Carter?” he asked.

“Sleeping, can you wake him up while I set the table, please?” 

Nolan noded going for the stairs and Travis started setting the table while y/n moved the camera to a better angle. When Carter and Nolan showed up he was still in his sleeping sweatpants and with his hair a total mess. 

“Morning” he mumbled to his friends going directly to his girl and wrapping his arms around her.

“Morning, sleepyhead” she teased.

“Why you didn’t wake me up?” his calm breath lingering on her neck almost made her forget about the plan. 

“I did, I just send Nolan to do it” y/n answered pretending to be confused with his question. On these days she was the one to wake him up and she did it with kisses, depending on the mood even some morning sex. 

Carter left one last kiss on her shoulder before they head to the table. 

“What’s up with the juice, babe?” Carter asks while sitting beside her. 

“Oh, Travis didn’t want chocolate milk so I made him orange juice…” here we go, she thought. 

“God, you’re so sassy, TK” Nolan rolled his eyes glancing at his friend.

“You see?! He comes to have breakfast at my house and wants to choose what to eat” the goalie goes along while TK just grins.

“It’s ok, Carter, he didn’t ask for it, I just wanted to make sure he is one hundred percent spoiled since it’s a game day...” she speaks and then pauses pretending she said the wrong thing. “Not only him, but you guys, of course…” 

Travis tried to suppress the giggle, that fucker! she was a great actress. 

The meal went along with TK always carrying the subject to y/n witch made Carter glance at him every once in a while. She would for sure zoom his face in the editing process.

…

“Hey, lovely pals, it’s afternoon now, Carter is already at the rink and I’m getting changed. I’m going with Travis jersey today and we’re expecting a big win so I have an excuse to film the boys leaving the locker room and get a good view of Carter’s reaction.” 

Y/n keeps the camera on her face while showing some makeup tricks and it was not long before Ryanne was knocking at her door. They met way before y/n started dating Carter, back when she was starting her friendship with Nolan, he was the one saying that the two would get along pretty well...and he wasn’t wrong. 

“Why are you wearing TK’s jersey?!” was the first thing she said when the door was open. 

“Hi, Rya, I’m doing pretty good, thank you for asking!” Y/n’s words packed with irony were responsible for both of their laughs. 

“I’m sorry, it’s just...very weird. Like I look at your face and my mind goes straight for a #79…” she jokes.

Y/n rolls her eyes slightly at her friend and let her enter “I’ll just grab my purse and we can go!”. 

Not even 10 minutes later they were already in a cab making the way to the arena. Y/n take advance of the time to explain to her friend everything while making sure she won’t let herself slip, such as sheer too loudly for Carter or forget about everything once he left the locker room with wet hair and rosy cheeks pursuing her body for a warm hug.

And that’s exactly what Ryanne does once the game starts and y/n is on her feet holding tight to her water bottle. The thing is, the Colombian girl was very competitive being raised in a home where the weekends were specially for soccer games and her father got her a jersey even before she was born. She was so used to diving deep into everything she did, especially if it was about cheering for a team. And well, living in Philadelphia and dating a hockey player made her role to cheer as loud as possible. It was her team and her boyfriend after all. 

The game went better than expected and thanks to Ryanne she was able to hold herself together. 

“So I bet this is the hardest part…” Ryanne stated holding y/n’s camera and prepared to film everything. “That’s why I’m praying for TK or even Nolan gets here first…” y/n sighed.

It was not long before the three boys come all together laughing and talking about something y/n predicted as the game. 

“Hey, babe” Carter greeted burying his head in the crook of her neck and breathing deeply. 

“Good game, Hart” she smiled hugging him back but shorter than the usual. And only when she went to hug the other two players he notices the different numbers printed on the jersey. His lips twitched and his brows furrowed, Ryanne tried to suppress a giggle before Claude finally leaving the locker room. 

“Nolan I hope deep down in my heart that you washed this hair with shampoo, please” she joked. 

“For your information, I always wash it with shampoo…” he shoves her lightly before hugging her by the shoulders. “He’s lying, y/n, last time I went to his house he was using soap to wash this damn birds nest.” Travis grabbed her hand bringing her closer to him.

“Hey! Great game, by the way, Trav! I loved that last pass!!!!” and that’s it, that’s precisely how she usually does with Carter, praising everything he does during the match time, always. Giving him advice and hyping him up. 

Carter chose to let it go while they started to make their way to a bar to celebrate as they did every possible time. 

At the bar, Carter kept his distance while y/n danced around with Ryanne and Travis,

He should be happy since his team won and he did an amazing job keeping every puck away from the net, but something was bothering him and he knew exactly what it was once his eyes found his girlfriend one more time that night. 

Something in the way she did not bother to stay close or even tells him how good he played was giving an uncomfortable vibe. Not that she should always do that, but habitually that’s what they up to, and the sex after too, so when y/n brush him off going for a cup of water in the kitchen he knows something is really wrong.

They just got home from the celebration, she was barefoot looking for a glass in the cabinet.

“Y/n what’s wrong?” he approached not knowing how to start that conversation. “What do you mean?” she asked, a confused look on her face. 

“I mean, why are you wearing another player jersey…??” 

“Oh...I just wanted to support the team in general, you know?!” she shrugged. “I need to go to sleep now. I’m exhausted, sorry. TK danced too much tonight…” she giggles, walking to their shared room and leaving Carter behind. Knowing damn well that she planted a jealousy seed in his mind. 

...

Two days and more distance later she was recording a video about her playlists in the bedroom when Carter got home from practice. 

“Hey, missed you” he muttered undoing his tie. 

“Hi, Carter” she grinned, not the big bright smile he’s used to when he got home, but at least it’s something considering she’s been almost ignoring his the last days “I’m filming a video” she explains. 

“Not gonna interrupt” he left a kiss on her forehead and went for the closet to change, coming back minutes later with his grey sweatpants and no shirt on. Y/n knew what he was trying to do and being as competitive as she is she choose to make a game out of it. 

“...and so there’s a lot of Post Malone’s songs, as you guys expected, and some Spanish as well because hell yeah I’m here for praising my own language…” she’s trying to focus on the camera in front of her when the bed dips, Carter is laying in the bed. 

Sometimes he used to do it, but usually, he would wear a shirt or something and try to be as invisible as possible, just wanting to be closer.

“You can keep going, I’m just gonna...watch” he whispers smiling and laying his head comfortably at the pillows. 

She rolled her eyes and went back to talking with the device when his hands found hers. The long and calloused fingers threading and holding to her strongly but still somehow soft. She felt his adoration look and could not keep her eyes from founding his and her lips from mirroring him and smiling.   

Carter was this contagious. 

Like some kind of speel.

It was hard to resist when he started being so soft and loving around her. 

And that’s exactly how he managed to lay her beside him and finally get the deep kiss he’s been seeking since three days ago. His hands found her waist bringing her closer and slotting one of his legs between hers. Y/n’s hands went to his soft hair and pushed it lightly, part of her wanting to separate their mouths, the other just expecting for what he did next: he moaned into her mouth. He melted every time she pushed his hair and she knew it. 

“Babe, please…” he spoke sinking his head in the crook of her neck, kissing that spot.

“Not today, Carter” she tried to resist, departing their bodies. 

He huffed but nodded his head. “Can I at least eat…” he started looking for her legs and she gasped interrupting his naughty question. “The camera is still on” she tried to pretend that this was the big deal, but in reality, she would not be able to hear his full question and deny it. “It’s not like you are on live, puff” he joked and she tried to stay serious. “Wait...are you on live?!” his eyes went wide and y/n didn’t resist the laugh. “I’m not on Live, calm down.” 

“Fine, but are you sure?! Are we ok?!” he asked sitting when she did the same. 

Y/n turned her head to the nightstand pretending to look for something while answering “yeah, we’re just fine” 

“So does that mean we can do something?! I just want your attention, love” and there he was all soft again.

“I’m just...not in the mood, Carter” she mumbled. “Not even for kisses?! Cuddles?!” She shook her head and he sighed. “Fine. Can I at least just be here watching you??” he asked this time not looking at her but drawing imaginary patterns in the mattress. She felt a pang on her heart but went for the answer she knew was going to make he thinks something was different “yeah, whatever”.  

And just like that, she kept trying to go on with the video while Carter was laying beside her and watching every move until he fell asleep. Still, he kept the adoration look, she knew it, she felt it. 

…

The Flyers were playing again and just like the last game y/n went wearing TK’s jersey. But only this time the game wasn’t so good as the last one. The team failed shamefully and even TK gave up from the prank for some time after leaving the locker room. This time the hug y/n gave him was well needed. Consequently, when she was comforting him, it was not part of the jealous-game anymore, but for Carter, it all seemed the same obviously. “You did great, Trav. Sometimes we just can’t control everything and that’s ok” he hugged her strongly before letting go. 

Hart just noded for his two buddies, Nolan and TK, before heading for the parking lot, not going for his usual hug or kiss after loss or victory. 

“You don’t want to hug me or anything?” she asked once they reached the parking lot.

He sighed. He looked tired. “I...I guess Travis needed the hug more than I did.” she furrows her brows. “Wait a second..are you jealous?” she asked and he shrugged before entering the car. 

“You’re ok?!” y/n asked as soon as she got inside the car. He nodded starting to drive in complete silence. She knew better than to give him his space after a loss, but usually, he wanted her around, he would not want to talk during a certain hour, but he definitely wanted to hug her or at least have her close.

This time it was different. 

And it kept being different during the whole ride home.

He was giving the silent treatment. 

She almost forgot to turn the camera on when they arrived home, but when she felt the tension she knew it was the moment he probably was going to snap. 

“Y/n…” he called already inside the apartment. “Can we talk…?” 

“Is it about the game?! Of course, we can talk…” she pretended not to be aware. Carter shook his head. “It’s...about a subject completely different.” He was undoing his tie while walking to sit beside her on the couch. Somehow it seemed like he was too nervous about it, so he just rose and started pacing in the middle of the living room.

“Oh, go ahead. What is it about?” 

He sighs.

The passe goes on.

“I’ve been noticing lately what your...friendship with Travis started to change...to develop…” she tried to open her mouth and comment, but he shook his head again. “Just...let me finish ok?!” his voice was not angry, it was calm...like he wasn’t that angry like he was just...hurt. And so he went on “And I love you… that’s why I just want to see you happy. So...if you’re not feeling the same anymore, if it’s something I did or said, or it’s nothing at all just you falling out of love with me...just...let me know. I do trust you with all my heart, and I know you would never cheat and I know you don’t want to hurt me too” he took a deep breath before starting again. “So...what I want to say is that if you’re starting to like Travis, tell me now, don’t bring it to me out of the blue-”

He’s so deep into his ranting that he did not notice she’s snickering with her two palms covering her face. When he did, he stops himself. “Oh- no, don’t cry, babe. It’s not your fault, feelings happen...and I’m not blaming you…” she was about to finally crack a laugh, but when she found his sad eyes she just couldn’t.

“What’s so funny?!” He’s clueless. 

“It’s not it, Carter...it’s just...you love me so much. This is a whole level of maturity and affection...I was not expecting. I thought you would be jealous and snap at me, get angry, I don’t know. I’m just in shock.” 

“I was not that angry because it’s not like we choose to fall in love you know?! We just do…” he says apparently deep into his thoughts. “But if I could choose I would go for you anyway.” there’s this small smile in the corner of his lips. 

“I’m so sorry I was so distant lately. But...I don’t love him. I love you” she whispers. “I’m really really sorry about this week.”

“so…?” 

“It was a prank, Travis idea, I got curious...I did not imagine it would get this far. I’m sorry I make you felt like I did not love you…” she hugs him and feels when his body relaxes into the embrace. He was relieved.

She stood up and went to the camera behind an ornament in the coffee table. 

“This is the moment you tell us how it felt. Take it easy on TK, he’s not the greatest actor, we could’ve come up with something better...” she joked sitting in front of her boyfriend. Carter chuckles admiring her face behind the camera. 

“Actually, I do love him, but as a friend” y/n adds before turning the lens a little and kissing his lips.

“That I can deal with.” 

[bookworlders]

don’t overthink

a/n: this was supposed to be a one-shot, but i can’t freaking let these characters go, so here it is — self-indulgent fluff

part 1, part 2 (nsfw-ish)

So she hadn’t slept in her own room in over a week.

That was fine, right? Annabeth pondered as she stirred her coffee. She had taken over their kitchen counter as her makeshift drafting table, blueprints and pencils and rulers spread out and covering every surface. She had a huge project due tomorrow at her first class on Monday so today was going to be dedicated solely to schoolwork.

Annabeth had meant to spread her work out over the weekend, but she and Percy had ended up spending all of Saturday at the park with their friends. Then his mom had invited her and Percy over for dinner that night, and Annabeth would never ever say no to Sally Jackson. When they returned to their apartment near campus, she and Percy had gotten wine drunk and had sex and fallen asleep in his bed.

Just friends, right? Annabeth buried her face in her hands. Percy was in the shower, and this was the first time she was able to have a moment to herself to think. She was supposed to be thinking about her big design project, but her thoughts strayed to her best friend who she heard singing in the shower.

Ugh, life was so so good right now. For the first time ever. She loved their group of friends. She loved spending time with Percy. She loved living with Percy. Their arrangement had seemed perfect, as long as feelings didn’t get involved. Because feelings equal mess, and with Annabeth’s rigorous classes and internship and Percy’s swim team schedule, they both had no time for mess.

Yet, she hadn’t slept in her own room for a week. Last weekend, Annabeth had ambushed Percy after swim practice and she spent the night in his bed and they cuddled in the morning. She had been terrified of things being awkward when they got up and returned to real life. But no, Percy made her blue chocolate chip pancakes like he always did, and they ate breakfast and watched cartoons in their living room.

That night, after Annabeth had brushed her teeth and put her pajamas on, Percy had pulled her into his room. He didn’t say anything, neither did she as she climbed under his covers and curled into his side. The next night Percy wordlessly climbed into her bed and spooned her after getting home late from swim practice. The night after that, Annabeth made spaghetti for dinner and they wordlessly went to sleep together.

They often communicated without words, roommate telepathy she decided — like when Percy knew exactly when she wanted to leave a party just from the glance she’d send him and how Annabeth knew exactly when to to distract him with a funny story from her day when he was feeling stressed just from his body language. They both knew that they slept better with each other at their sides, all warm and tangled up together under the covers.

Annabeth had awoken extra early that morning, extracting herself carefully out of Percy’s warm embrace and set up camp at the kitchen counter. She needed to get this done, but she could not for the life of her stop thinking about Percy.

Annabeth heard the shower shut off. She chugged the rest of her coffee. A few moments later, Percy padded into the kitchen, dark curls glistening and a towel around his neck.

“Morning, ‘Beth.”

“Good morning,” Annabeth said, trying to sound calm and breezy. She didn’t. Percy shot her a look.

She ignored it, and pushed a mug of coffee towards him. She made it just how he liked it — two sugars and enough milk so it didn’t even taste like coffee anymore.

“Thanks,” Percy said, taking a sip and hopping up on the barstool next to her at their kitchen counter. “You were up early.”

“I need to finish these blueprints before tomorrow, and they’re just taking forever,” Annabeth unrolled one and used her empty mug as a paper weight. The other corner began rolling back up, but Percy held it down.

“Where’s your drafting table?”

“It’s in my room, but there’s just no space to set it up.” Annabeth began sketching.

“You need an office.”

Annabeth scoffed, “Yeah, let me just turn our coat closet into an office. Honestly, we’re really luck we found an apartment in Manhattan that has a closet.” She erased one of the lines she drew. Percy nursed his coffee, alternating the mugs between his hands so he could keep a hand on the edges of her blueprints that kept furling back up. Annabeth was grateful for the help, and it was few moments of them quietly working together before Percy broke the silence. 

“What about your room? That can be your office.”

“There’s no room with my bed in the way.”

“Then let’s get rid of your bed, isn’t your mattress just borrowed from Thalia anyway?”

Annabeth’s hand paused over her pencil. She looked at Percy, who was stirring his coffee.

“But then where would I sleep.” She asked slowly.

Percy took a swig from his mug, “My room.”

“Percy—”

“Annabeth,” Percy said, still staring at his coffee, “Last night, at my mom’s, I saw how you were playing with my baby sister and how happy you made my mom when you guys were chatting, and I was looking at you three last night and I just remember thinking, ‘Wow, those are my girls.”

“Percy,” Annabeth didn’t know what she wanted to say.

“I know we said we’d just be roommates, but we became friends anyway and that worked out fine, right? And then we started sleeping together, and that’s been awesome. But yesterday, at the park, when you made that stupid, dirty joke about Jason’s professor, I just wanted to lean over and kiss you. But I couldn’t. Why can I only kiss you when we’re alone in our apartment?”

“Because the rules—”

“Fuck the rules, Annabeth. I want to kiss you in front of our friends at the park. I want to kiss you when you rant about books when we’re studying in the library. I want to kiss you when I see you cheering in the stands at my swim meets in front of the whole crowd to see. I want to kiss you right now.”

Percy tangled his fingers in her hair, leaning in, his lips not touching hers yet, “Don’t you?”

Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck, murmuring, “All the time.” She pressed her lips against his like her life depended on it. Percy deepened the kiss before pulling away. Annabeth kept her arms around his neck, leaning her forehead against his. This was the first time they kissed outside of the context of their friends-with-benefits hookups, and it felt so right.

When Annabeth opened her eyes, she muttered, “So what does this mean.”

“I don’t want you to overthink,” Percy murmured.

“But what are we now?”

“That’s exactly why I don’t want you to overthink things. We don’t have to be anything.”

“So we’re just roommates who—”

“Who happen to be best friends and who happen to sleep in the same bed—”

“And who happen to have sex—”

“Yeah,” Percy said, with a shrug, “And who happen to be in love with each other.”

Annabeth smiled against his lips, “Did you just say you love me?”

Percy grinned, “Yeah, kind of a lot. I’m in love with you, Chase.”

Annabeth laughed, her hand sliding down and resting on his chest, “I love you, too. So what now? I have to get rid of my bed?”

“I mean, only if you want to.”

Annabeth grinned, “I don’t know, I did see this gorgeous desk at IKEA and it would look great next to my night stand.”

Percy stole a kiss, “Actually, I take it back, this is not worth a trip to Brooklyn.”

“And since we’ll be at IKEA anyway, we need to get a new duvet.”

“What’s wrong with my duvet?”

“Drool stains.”

[welcometophu]

Not Your Guardian Angel: Chapter 3

Marked Book 3: Not Your Guardian Angel

Chapter 3

[ Previous | First | Next ]

Pels falls into a routine, reminding herself that it’s only for a few days. A week. She can handle that, then she’ll be back at PHU in the life she’s slowly building for herself there.

And maybe yes, she should allow herself to build a little of that life.

It seems like some of it is happening whether she likes it or not. Jess and Shane keep texting, both in their group chat, and in a separate group chat that has expanded to include Hayley and Ángel.

“I’m so proud of you,” Dad murmurs. “You have more friends than you can count on one hand now.”

Pels mutters something rude to him and is thankful that he can’t actually work her phone. She’d worry about what he might do to try to help her move forward in life.

She showers after lunch on Monday because she has to go out and pick up Cheyenne from school. When Mom walks in carrying a pile of clothes, Pels is half-dressed in jeans and a bra, still trying to decide if she’s going to put on a blouse in deference to the house rules, or if she wants to just throw on a hoodie.

As Mom drops what looks like several dresses on the bed, Pels grabs a hoodie and yanks it over her head.

“You didn’t go to church yesterday,” Mom says, as if that has anything to do with wearing a dress today.

“And I’m leaving next Saturday before there’s another service,” Pels mumbles, her voice muffled by the hoodie still stuck on her head. She tries to untangle herself, and mutters a low thanks when Dad turns it and frees her to get her head through it properly. “You know I’m not—” She fails to find the right words. “Peter’s probably happier I wasn’t there.”

“Your father—”

“He is not, and will never be, my actual father,” Pels says firmly. “He doesn’t even like me, so I’m not going to make the effort to like him.”

“He adopted you and gave you his name—”

“Because he had to.” Pels isn’t going to budge on this point. “Mom. I get it. You love him. You love the Church. Cheyenne’s your good daughter. Please just let me be your little not-quite-an-atheist daughter. I have a guardian angel. Pretty sure God’s looking over me whether I show my face in church or not.”

Mom sinks to sit on the edge of her bed, one hand on the pile of clothes. “Dresses and leggings. All comfortable. Not stodgy, as you’d say. In colors that I think you’d like. All I’m asking is don’t wear jeans. You know he doesn’t approve. Dress appropriately while you’re home.”

And try not to rock the boat.

Dad coughs, and Pels shakes her head. He’s standing next to the dresses, and any second now those dresses could go flying into the air, scattered around the room. That’s not what she wants. “Mom,” she says quietly.

“It’s for one week.” Mom rises, smoothing down her own skirt. “Wear your combat boots. I know you will anyway. But he pays for your tuition. Wearing a dress at home, in deference to his beliefs, can’t be that difficult.”

She closes the door behind her, a soft thunk like the lid closing on a coffin.

“She was different when we met,” Dad muses. “I remember her being so alive. Ready to be a part of the world, not withdrawing from it. She’s intelligent, and strong. Why does she…?”

“You remember my grandparents?” Pels mutters. She sifts through the dresses, finding one in a t-shirt fabric of dark maroon, with lighter swirls, and a pair of black leggings. She quickly changes, then laces up her boots over the leggings. “I don’t think Mom was ever really the person you knew. She never has been.”

She yells out on her way to the car, “Mom, I’m taking Cheyenne out for ice cream after school today,” then escapes before Mom could possibly say no.

They arranged this ahead of time. Pels arrives ten minutes after the final bell, pulling into the half circle in front of the school just after the buses pull out. Cheyenne sits on a low stone wall by the stairs, her bangs falling in curls around her face while her long hair is pulled back in a high ponytail. She flushes as the boy who sits with her tucks one of the curls back behind her ear.

Pels supposes he’s cute, in a very eighth grade sort of way. He’s about the same height as Cheyenne, and skinny like a stick. But even from a distance she can see a kindness in his dark eyes, and the gentle way his fingers touch her cheek, like she’s a precious thing to him.

She touches the horn lightly, and Cheyenne jumps up, pulling the boy with her. They grab their things, then both climb into the back seat of the car, like Pels is an actual chauffeur. “Hi, Pels, this is Adric,” Cheyenne chirps happily.

“Hey,” he says, with a quick bright grin, braces flashing on his teeth.

“Young love. It’s so cute,” Dad murmurs. Pels is thankful that no one can see her roll her eyes at him.

She glances up at the mirror. “Cheyenne, you have to tell me where we’re going. I don’t actually live here.”

Cheyenne flushes brightly, carefully withdrawing her hand from Adric’s so she can lean forward and point, directing Pels the few blocks until they reach the ice cream place. A sign in the store boasts “13 Flavors Made Fresh Daily” and as Cheyenne opens the door to get out, she says, “It’s not that they only have thirteen flavors, it’s that they make up thirteen fresh huge things of ice cream every day. So sometimes they have flavors from a day ago, if it’s one that’s not as popular. And sometimes they run out early, especially in the summer. They do all kinds of crazy flavors, and they have this big sundae that you can share and win a prize if you finish it in a half hour.”

Pels is pretty sure she’s seen a place similar to this everywhere she’s lived, including in Unity, by PHU. She tails along behind Adric and Cheyenne, who hold hands loosely in line, their shoulders lined up and just barely touching. Cheyenne tilts her head slowly until she just leans against him, and she makes a little squeak when he lets go of her hand and puts his arm around her shoulder instead.

“All it takes is letting yourself make a connection,” Dad says as Pels lines up behind them.

She crosses her arms and glares at him. “Not my thing,” she mutters. “Cheyenne’s good at all that shit. Like keeping in touch with people she went to school with two states ago. She gets how people work.”

“You could,” Dad says.

It’s not that Pels doesn’t want to. It’s always been such trouble. The moment she’d start to understand someone, her family would pick up and move, and she’d have to start all over again. “I’ll leave it to Cheyenne.”

“Leave what to me?” Cheyenne asks cheerfully, as Adric steps forward to place an order. “We’re sharing a sundae,” she whispers, as if it’s a scandalous thought. “We each picked two flavors and a topping, and I said it’s okay if he gets nuts on it, as long as they’re peanuts. And whipped cream. We have to have whipped cream.”

Pels blinks. “That is the most disgustingly cute thing I have ever heard and I have been watching people fall in love for a semester and a half.” She shakes her head, trying to clear her mind while ignoring Dad’s snicker. “What’s good here?” She waves at the long line of ice cream behind the glass counter.

“Depends on what you’re in the mood for.” Cheyenne looks up at the board, where flavors are handwritten under dates. Her tongue peeks out as her brow furrows thoughtfully. “They have Apple Strudel, and honestly, that is one of the best flavors ever, even if we’re not getting it in our sundae today. Cherry Delight is all dark chocolate and sour cherries, or if you just want chocolate you can go coffee flavored with a Mud Slide or decadent with Death by Chocolate or if you really want to just fall over in a chocolate induced sugar coma, there’s the Chocolate Mountain. It’s a sundae with a base of Milky White—which is a milk and white chocolate swirled flavor—then Mud Slide on top, and the peak is Death by Chocolate. And it’s covered in homemade hot fudge, and chocolate whipped cream.”

“That sounds evil.” Pels has a feeling she’s going to overdose, so as she steps up to request it, she adds, “In a to-go container, just in case I can’t finish.” When the girl behind the counter laughs, she gets the feeling she’s not the only one to ask that.

Adric and Cheyenne claim a table, and sit on one side of it, their knees pressed together as they lean in, poking at the sundae with their spoons and stealing bites of it while giggling. Adric eats with his left hand, while Cheyenne uses her right, and their other hands lie on the table between them, fingers tangled together.

It really is disgustingly cute.

She lifts her phone and takes a picture of the two of them—Dad standing behind them, gazing out the window, doesn’t show in the image. Then she opens the chat with Jess and Shane and tries not to overthink it as she types, My little sister has her first boyfriend and they are adorable.

She presses send, then turns her phone upside down on the table.

She’s digging at her sundae, eating the Milky White flavor first in spoonfuls covered in dark chocolate fudge and whipped cream, when her phone buzzes. She starts to pick it up, but catches a flurry of movement out of the corner of her eye. A large fake ice cream cone drops from where it hangs in the bay window, the point hitting the sill with a thud before it falls over with a loud crash. It tugs on the curtains decorating the sides of the windows, pulling them down in a clatter. Adric jumps up, his back to the window and his hands out, but the decorations never even come close to their table.

Or anyone’s table.

Because Dad’s the one pulling them down, and shoving them back into the window in a mess before they can hit anyone.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Pels snaps. “What the hell?”

Cheyenne makes a small noise. “Is this—one of those things?”

“Are you okay? It didn’t hit you, did it?” Adric sinks back into his seat slowly, one hand on Cheyenne’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, everyone.” The girl from behind the counter is there, pushing between their table and the window, walking right through where Dad stands guard. Dad’s gaze is fixed on something outside, and he ignores the girl who stands half in the same place as him. “Are you all okay? Let me just get this cleaned up and make sure it’s stable. I don’t know what happened.”

All around them the people closest to the windows are packing up to leave, except for their own table. Adric watches Cheyenne, who is staring at Pels. And Pels is glaring at Dad, waiting for some kind of an explanation.

“Pels?” Cheyenne says quietly.

Right. Shit. Cheyenne had asked a question. “Yeah,” Pels mutters. “It’s one of those things. Which means we really ought to get out of here because God only knows why it happened, and I sure as hell don’t want it to happen again.”

There’s dust on her skirt when she gets up, and she brushes it off so Mom doesn’t figure out that they’ve had an Event. When she goes to take a step, her chair slides in her way and she stumbles, grabbing onto the table before she trips. “What?” she snaps.

“Just wait a minute,” Dad says, his hand out.

Pels makes a show of looking at the bottom of her boot, like there’s some problem that caused her to trip. It gives Cheyenne and Adric time to get something to put the remains of their sundae into, and Cheyenne puts the lid on Pels’s sundae as well.

“We can go somewhere else to finish up,” Pels says under her breath, not sure if she’s talking to her sister or her Dad. When he nods, Pels motions for the other two to follow her.

She hangs back while they get in the car, standing by the closed door with Dad behind her.

“Peter was outside,” Dad says quietly. “You know how he’d feel about Cheyenne on a date.”

“It doesn’t matter. As long as I’m involved, it’ll be my fault, not hers, and that’s fine,” Pels mutters. “Just leave it. You don’t need to interfere.”

“It’s possible that I’m trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need your protection,” Pels snaps. She yanks the door open and slides in, slamming the door behind herself. It doesn’t do any good—Dad’s in the passenger seat by the time she has her seat belt clicked into place—but at least it felt satisfying.

“Is everything okay?” Adric asks from the back seat. Cheyenne is digging a spoonful of ice cream out of their shared to-go cup, not meeting Pels’s eyes in the mirror.

“Yeah,” Pels says as she starts the car. “Everything’s going to be fine. But we probably shouldn’t stay out too long. I think Mom said that Peter would be home early tonight, and we’re having dinner together.”

“Who’s Peter?” Adric whispers.

“My Dad,” Cheyenne tells him, setting her spoon down. “But that still wouldn’t be for hours. He’s at the church now.”

Pels doesn’t say anything, figuring Cheyenne will eventually get the point. She starts driving, not sure where she’s going, but it gives her sister time to finish sharing her sundae with Adric in the back. She’s sure hers is melting, but that’s fine, it’ll taste okay as ice cream soup. “Let me know when you’re ready for me to drop Adric off.”

“It’s okay, my folks know I was going out, and they aren’t home anyway,” Adric says.

“Pels is right. Mom will be wondering where we are with the car,” Cheyenne says quietly. “But I think we’re okay for now.”

Pels uses the time to explore this small town downtown area. She realizes that the small stone church on one corner is probably Mom and Peter’s church, which would explain why he was out walking. But there’s plenty more to explore as well, and she drives by a large library that looks like it’s expanded since it was originally built and is large enough to hold both traditional books and space for online and group activities. If she has to come back in the summer, she could apply for a summer job, maybe. That’s assuming Peter’s ministry doesn’t take him somewhere else before PHU is out for the year.

Dad is blissfully silent as she drives, the only background noise the murmur of Adric and Cheyenne’s quiet voices in the back. Pels keeps a loose eye on them, but they remain adorable and cute, and nothing to worry about, their fingers linked on the seat between them. The part where they sit gazing at each other and smiling is almost sickeningly adorable, but Pels can put up with it, if it makes Cheyenne happy.

After a while, she coughs quietly, and Cheyenne looks up, cheeks flushed.

“Go back to the school,” Cheyenne says, and Pels thinks she might be able to manage that without explicit direction. “If you go to the street just past it, then down behind the school, Adric lives on that street. He usually walks in the morning.”

It takes a little more direction than that and one missed driveway and subsequent u-turn before Pels is parked in Adric’s driveway, watching them hold hands, foreheads close, as they say goodbye at Adric’s door.

When Cheyenne returns, she opens the front door and slides into the passenger seat as Dad moves to the back. “I have a secret,” she whispers, as she looks down and clicks her seat belt in place.

That’s not what Pels was expecting. “Is this going to be the kind of secret where I have to give you a very stern big sister lecture?” She tries to keep her tone light, but her heart is hammering in her chest.

Cheyenne looks up, eyes wide. “No. God, no. Pels. Gross. This doesn’t have anything to do with Adric. It’s a totally different secret. But.” She chews on her lip.

Pels wants to give her time to talk, so she pulls out of her parking space and gets on the road. She makes sure her GPS is up and running so she can find her way home later in this unfamiliar space as she just starts driving, aiming away from the house.

“It might’ve been my fault,” she says softly. “What happened back there.”

Pels blinks. She shares a look with Dad, reflected in the mirror. “In the ice cream shop? When things started moving around?”

Cheyenne nods, staring down at her hands. “Possibly. Sometimes things happen when I get… um… emotional. Usually I can control it, though, and I’ve been practicing, I swear, because I know that Talents can be a way for the devil to get in, but I don’t feel like I’ve got a devil in my heart. I just. I can move things without touching them.”

Oh.

“Wow.” Pels exhales hard, gripping the steering wheel too tightly. “Nearest park?”

Cheyenne points to a spot on the GPS screen that looks a couple of blocks away. Pels focuses on getting the car there and getting parked, so she can look at Cheyenne.

“Hey,” Pels says softly. “I promise you, what happened at the shop wasn’t the devil in your heart, and it wasn’t you. And Talent isn’t good or evil on its own; it’s all about the people who have it.”

“You said you’re Talented,” Cheyenne says. “But it’s always so—”

“Yeah, well, I’m not Telekinetic. Exactly.” Pels grabs the spoon sitting next to her covered cup of slowly melting ice cream. She holds out her hand, the spoon on the flat of her palm. “Show me,” she says.

She’s aware of Dad leaning over the seat, watching, but he doesn’t reach out. The spoon wobbles against Pels’s palm, then slowly lifts. It turns lazily in the air before Cheyenne reaches out and grabs it.

She worries at her lip with her teeth. “See?”

Pels takes the spoon back and sets it on her palm again. “My turn.” With a soft huff, she looks at Dad. He picks up the spoon and waves it about before he sets it back on her palm.

“You said you’re not Telekinetic.”

“I’m not,” Pels agrees. “And I’ve actually told Mom this, but she doesn’t listen. You know how my Dad died before I was born?” When Cheyenne nods solemnly, Pels points the spoon at the back seat. “What you can’t see is that he’s sitting right there, and that he is annoying as fuck most of the time.”

“Rude,” Dad says.

“You shut up.” Pels jabs the spoon in his direction. It occurs to her that as long as they’re sitting still, she can eat her cold ice cream soup, so she opens it up and takes a soggy bite. Yeah, it’s still good.

Cheyenne looks from the back seat to her. “You’re haunted,” she says slowly.

“I call him my guardian angel, which pretty much says that he can’t possibly be the devil, right?” Pels points out. “He’s been around since I can remember, and he’s always taken care of me. When things happen? It’s been to make sure worse things didn’t happen. Or to stop other things from happening. He has absolutely no tolerance for bullies, and I’ve been bullied a lot. On the other hand, when shit gets weird around me, I tend to get bullied more, so that backfires.”

She swallows another gulp of almost frozen ice cream drowned in melted whipped cream. It’s rich, and sweet, and so, so good. It helps calm her. She turns her wrist to face Cheyenne. “This is partly his fault. He shoved me into Shane’s lap.”

“I bumped you and you knocked into him,” Dad counters.

“Tomato tomahto,” Pels says curtly. “Point is, I wasn’t going to touch him until you got involved.”

Cheyenne blinks several times rapidly. “Why?”

“Care to field that one, Dad?” Pels asks, as if Cheyenne would be able to hear him.

“It was the right place for you to be.” He sits back, his arms crossed, eyebrows raised as if he dares her to contradict him.

“He thought it was the right thing to do,” Pels translates, even though that’s not exactly the same thing. “So he did it. Dad is not known for forethought or impulse control. I’m sure there’s a reason for why he acts and reacts the way he does, but I have no idea what it is. And Mom never believes me when I try to tell her.”

“So you have a secret by default, and I have one on purpose.” Cheyenne smiles slightly. “Thank you for listening to me.”

“Hey, I’m happy to.” Pels sets down her cup, reaching for Cheyenne’s hands instead. “We’re sisters, and we’ll stick together. But you can’t let Peter know. It’s possible that Mom would be reasonable, but his ministry is absolutely against Talent.”

“I’ve noticed,” Cheyenne says dryly. She tosses her head, ponytail swinging. “Didn’t I say I’ve got the devil in me? I’ve paid attention. He’d try to exorcise me.”

“Mom tried that with me,” Pels confides. “Didn’t work.”

“Did she really? I don’t remember that.”

“I think I was about your age, so you would’ve been what… eight?” Pels tries to remember the details, but it’s all hazy in her mind. She shakes her head. “I don’t remember you being there. Maybe you were at a sleepover or something. You’ve always been better at making friends than I have.”

And that makes her wonder… “How did you get to thirteen years old and I never knew you had a Talent? Did you just Emerge?”

Cheyenne’s gaze slides up, her expression innocent. “I just figured it out recently, but I think it’s been around all along. Like. It’s kind of easy to do things when other things just move to make it easier. But I didn’t really figure out what was going on until a couple months ago when I got really upset and all the pictures in my room started rattling. Then I knocked a mug off my desk because I got scared, and then I got more scared because I didn’t want it to break and everything just stopped. Froze. The pictures all clattered back into place when I grabbed the mug out of the air and then I realized I’d done it. So I started practicing.”

“You know you can talk to me any time, right?” Pels says. “Because you’re my sister. And now it looks like it’s you and me against the world. The two Talented demons. Okay?”

Cheyenne snickers. “We’re so demonic, aren’t we?”

“Absolutely.” Pels exhales. “So, there’s one thing Dad does well, and it’s that he’s a great early warning system. Peter was walking around outside the shop and Dad didn’t want him to see you and Adric earlier. So be careful about that, or that secret is going to be out.”

“No more downtown dates,” Cheyenne agrees. “But still.” She lets go of Pels to launch herself closer, throwing her arms around her and hugging her hard. “Thank you for taking us out. You really are the best big sister influence.”

“Aww,” Dad murmurs.

Pels holds on, because out of everyone in the universe, Cheyenne’s the one she’s going to protect first. “Any time. Anything you need, okay? I promise.”

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[propheticfire]

Magic

(Viren & Soren & Claudia, modern AU) A Dragon Prince fic:

Traipsing through Disney isn’t exactly how Viren had planned to spend his birthday, but between work and school, this week was the only one that had fit into his and the kids’ schedules. It’s been a year since the divorce, and the kids are adjusting as best they can, but he’d wanted to do something to help take their minds off it. He’s tried so hard to enjoy himself too, but every part of him not covered by clothing has been sunburned more than once. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get the chlorine smell from the resort pool out of his hair. Parts of his body ache that he didn’t even know existed. His voice is hoarse, his head hurts, there are blisters on his heels, and if he has to hear “It’s A Small World” one more time he might just throw himself into the moat around Tom Sawyer island and let the riverboat run him over.

But the kids…

It’s day five, and somehow they still have just as much energy as day one. The joy that lights up their faces every morning as they enter the park has been worth every sore muscle and sleepless night. Soren has not stopped talking about Pirates of the Caribbean, running around their hotel room with his plastic sword and feathered hat, forcing Viren to hold Claudia “captive” so he can duel him to save her. “But I don’t have a sword,” Viren protested, the first time. And Soren came back with, “Pretend you’re a dark wizard, Dad! Use magic! You’re an evil pirate wizard!” Claudia, for her part, has insisted she’s capable of saving herself, and has assembled and disassembled her Haunted Mansion attic diorama kit twelve times already since yesterday, in varying ways. They’re a little disappointed they won’t get to go on Space Mountain again before they leave, but only a little. Because today…

…is Star Wars day.

If Viren had backpacks with leashes on them, he would have used them, because the kids are already trying to take off in different directions as they enter this part of the park.

“Dad! Lightsabers! I wanna get a lightsaber!”

“Look Daddy it’s Rey!”

“Dad I wanna fly the Millennium Falcon!”

“Daddy can we get some blue milk? Or some green milk? I want blue and green milk! Does that make turquoise milk? Do they have purple milk?”

As tired as he is, Viren can’t help but smile at their enthusiasm. “Questions, so many questions! Yes, we can look at the lightsabers. No, you are not gong to build your own. I will try to take you to meet Rey. Yes, Smuggler’s Run is on our to-do list. Yes, we will get some colored milk. I don’t think they have purple. Just don’t get too far ahead of me. There’s a lot to do and I want to make sure you stay close so we don’t waste time.”

Claudia is too excited about the milk, so that’s the first place they head, even though it’s on the opposite end of Star Wars land from where they are. Ah well. Viren can modify their itinerary a bit. They’ll just work their way back down to this end instead.

Or at least, that’s the first place they would have headed if both Soren and Claudia hadn’t gotten distracted by toys.

“Dad look! There’s the lightsabers! Can we see them? Please can we see them?”

“Is that a bantha? And a porg! And…I don’t know what that warty-looking one is but I want to pet it!”

They’re both tugging at his hands, so with a sigh he lets them lead him into the toy shop. Immediately they pull out of his grasp, Soren toward the lightsabers and blasters, and Claudia toward the stuffed creatures. He tries to grab their hands again, but they’re too fast.

“Kids! Wait! Stay togeth— Come back— Oh for goodness’ sake, Soren! Claudia don’t go too far!”

The shop isn’t that large, though, and he can just make out Claudia’s form on the other side of a kiosk, so he opts to trail after Soren. He’s the more likely one to run off or accidentally break something anyway.

After exploring the shop a bit, Soren runs up to him, a lightsaber in one hand and a blaster in the other. “Dad! Dad look! Now I can be a smuggler Jedi!” He brandishes them both with enthusiasm. “Can I get them?”

Viren tries to catch his son’s flailing arms. “You can be a smuggler or a Jedi. Not both. You have to pick one.”

Soren considers, then finally thrusts the lightsaber at his father. “This one.”

“Very good. Now go put the other one back and find your sister. I’m getting in line.”

The store had started filling with people as they shopped, and the checkout line is getting lengthy. He’ll have to hurry if they want to stay on schedule. He steps into the queue as Soren scampers off.

Soren reappears once with a stuffed warty toad-like creature. “Claudia wants this. We’re gonna go look at the blasters again, okay?”

“Okay, but you can still only get one—”

Soren is gone before he can finish the sentence.

“—thing.”

Eventually, he reaches the front of the line. He pays for the items—how are these things that expensive?—and weaves through the people back to the lightsabers and blasters.

“Soren?”

He doesn’t see his son. Or his daughter. He looks around the area again. They’re not there. Okay maybe they went back over by the stuffed animals.

They’re not there.

Maybe they went up to the register to find him.

They’re not there.

Maybe they’re somewhere else in the shop.

Not there.

Maybe they went outside to wait?

Not there.

They’re not there.

Where are his kids?

He takes a deep, slow breath, trying to quell the cold dread that’s quickly building in his stomach. They can’t have gone far. They obviously did. There’s only so many places they could be. They could be anywhere. Maybe they went to find an employee to help them. Maybe someone took them.

There are a couple other shops adjacent to the toy one. Viren walks through those. Checks every corner, every hiding place around and behind every kiosk and clothes rack. There’s still no sign of them.

Where are his kids?

Maybe they did go to the milk stand after all. Soren had asked for a map of the park, presumably to tape it up on his wall when they got home. Maybe Claudia had insisted and they’d gone on ahead. But if he goes there, and his kids come back to the toy shop, then he’ll miss them. But he can’t stand here and do nothing. He walks one last time through all the shops he’d checked. Still no sign of them.

Having made his decision, he takes a breath, and heads for the milk stand.

They’re not there either. And he hasn’t seen them on the streets, or in the line for Smuggler’s Run. That cold panic constricts his chest, weighs down his limbs. This is the last thing he needs. Four days at Disney and he’s held it together, and on the final day he loses his kids. How could this happen? How could he let this happen? He should have never let them out of his sight, he should have designated a meeting place for them here, he should have gotten the backpacks with leashes, he should just never have come—

“Excuse me, are you Lord Viren?”

He snaps his head around. The speaker is…an employee, he thinks. They’re dressed very Star Wars-y, but they have a nametag and an earpiece. “My name is Viren, yes.”

“Could you follow me, please?” the employee says. “Your children are waiting for you.”

Oh thank goodness.

“What? Where? You found them?”

The employee nods, and says something into the earpiece, then beckons him to follow. They lead him back through the Star Wars attraction, all the way back to almost where he’d first entered. There, talking happily with the actor playing Rey, are his kids. He nearly collapses with relief. They’re okay. They’re safe and they’re okay.

“Dad!”

Soren notices him and waves. It’s all he can do to not run over and gather his son in his arms. Claudia sees him too, and tugs on Rey’s outfit. She crouches down so Claudia can whisper something in her ear, and smiles.

The employee who had led him here stops before them and announces, “Young Master Soren and Padawan Claudia, we have located the dark wizard Lord Viren, as you requested.”

Soren and Claudia clap. A few more employees gather closer. Something tugs at the back of Viren’s mind. It feels like there’s more going on here than it seems.

Rey stands up and approaches Viren, his kids in tow. “These very bold and thoughtful younglings sought me out to tell me that today is their father’s birthday. They love their father very much, and they wanted to surprise him with something nice.” She nudges the kids, and they run to the edge of the little half circle that’s formed around them, taking some things from the employees standing there. When they come back, Claudia is holding out a piece of chocolate cake, and Soren is holding up a shirt with Darth Vader’s silhouette on it, that reads “BEST DAD IN THE GALAXY”.

“A little Disney magic, from our family to yours,” Rey says, and then she nods at Claudia.

Claudia immediately bursts out into song. “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!” The gathering crowd quickly catches on. The third line is a garbled mess between “Lord Viren” and “Dad” and “Daddy”, but by the end, Viren is blushing hard and there are tears in his eyes. He kneels down and envelops his children in a hug.

“Please don’t ever run off like that again,” he says quietly, “I was so worried. But thank you.”

“We love you Daddy,” Claudia says.

“Yeah Dad,” Soren echoes. “We love you.”

“And I love you. Now, who’s ready for Smuggler’s Run? I think it’s almost our turn.”

“Yaaaaaay!”

The kids run back to Rey to say their goodbyes, and the actor hugs them both, before nodding in his direction, a genuinely delighted smile on her face.

“I do believe these younglings are safe in your care. Happy birthday, Lord Viren.”

(Also available on AO3)

[bookandcranny]

Stone Heart Gambit

 Part 1 - Chapter 3

Soso wakes up in her bed, and for one blissful moment it’s as though all of it were only a dream brought on by too much chocolate before bed. Sunlight is shining through her window and, other than a dry mouth and a mildly upset stomach, she feels refreshed and content. Today has the makings of a perfect lazy day, she decides. She sits up, stretches, relishing the feeling of life coming back into her stiff muscles, opens her eyes, and squeaks.

The living gargoyle is staring at her from the foot of her bed. He’s eating a candy bar, pausing to pick flecks of caramel out of a rather impressive set of pointed teeth, framed on either side by a pair of tusks. Next to him on the floor is an empty bread bag, empty milk carton, two boxes of cereal- yes, empty- and a jar of peanut butter that has, as of yet, been spared from the rampage.

“You ate all my food,” Soso comments dumbly. All things considered, it shouldn’t be the biggest issue, but that milk was supposed to be communal and her housemates are going to kill her.

The beast bows his head. “I’ll replace it.” Before she can question just how he plans to do that, he hands her the peanut butter like a peace offering and— what the hell, she takes it and starts eating with her fingers. It calms her down, marginally.

“You were a statue,” she says with, if she does say so herself, remarkable evenness.

“I was. Rather, I was cursed into a prison of stone.”

“A curse, okay, sure. And now you’re… uncursed?”

He nods.

“But you still look like…” She coughs awkwardly. “I mean, you know, you don’t look human.”

“That’s because I’m not,” he explains. “I am Adamantius the unbreakable, son of man.”

“That’s a hell of a name.”

“I am the fire that burns in the west,” he says, as if that explains everything. “What may I call you?”

“I’m… Soso,” she replies. “Soso Willoughby. I don’t have any fancy titles, sorry.”

“Lady Willoughby,” he says, and his eyes sparkle. “I owe you a great debt.” He drops his head so low his horns brush the floor.

“Hey, I’m not mad about the food, don’t worry about it. You must’ve been hungry.”

“I was. I have been. For countless years I’ve been imprisoned, waiting until the fated night you would free me from my endless purgatory.”

“I did what?” she gawks. “No, you’ve got me confused with someone else. I didn’t free anyone from anything.”

He sits up and presents her with a slightly squished snickers bar. “A single selfless gift,” he says, sounding overcome. “Even when the world forgot about me, even after the stories of my triumphs were lost to time, you still came and spoke to me with such kindness. Truly I can never repay you, but I will stay by your side and serve you faithfully ‘til the end of my days in gratitude.”

“Whoa, wait, what?” she chokes. “I didn’t- I didn’t do anything! And you can’t… how am I supposed to explain you to my roommates? How am I supposed to-“ A thought occurs to her. “Oh god, how am I supposd to explain to Mr Surehouser that I stole his gargoyle? We need to get you back to the library before anyone notices you’re missing.”

The reverence falls from his face, replaced by a baring of teeth. “I will not go back there.”

Soso puts up her hands. “Okay, okay. Let’s… put a pin in that discussion. I need to think.”

“I apologize,” Adamantius rasps. “I didn’t mean to frighten you again. I swear to you, I will not cause you any harm. But I do not wish to return there, ever.”

“Well, what do you wish- want?” She leans tentatively closer, studying him. He’s less frightening in the light of day, but not by much. The color of skin still makes him appear as if made of stone, except now she can see his chest rise and fall with his breathing. A thin crack near the junction of one of his horns glows a faint red, the same flame-light that flickers behind his eyes, an inferno contained in a shell of granite.

“I want only to serve you, and to bring to account those who have wronged us.”

She doesn’t like the sound of that. “What does that mean?”

A flicker of something almost devious enters his expression. He gestures towards the bedroom window. Soso gets up to have a look. She pales.

Outside, the town is in chaos. Windows are smashed in, cars are tipped over, heavy claws marks carve a path down the entire street. It looks like the aftermath of a horror movie. A young man wearing a rubber mask is cowering in a tree on Summer Street as police and concerned neighbors try to coax him down.

“I thought it was just a really good costume,” another boy says, shaking like a lead as he gives his statement to a local news reporter.

Soso stands on the porch barefoot in yesterday’s clothes and tries not to panic. Adamantius comes up behind her in the doorway and she shoves him back inside. Remembering she’s not alone in the house, she keeps shoving until they’re standing in the narrow fenced-in area behind the back of the house, well out of sight.

“What did you do?” she demands.

“I thought the fates of the enemy should be left to your discretion, but I wanted to ensure they got the message.”

“Yeah, I think they got it!” She puts her head in her hands. “Dear god, you didn’t kill anybody, did you?”

“As I said, I was awaiting your orders.”

“Okay, my orders are ‘don’t kill anybody’.”

He cocks his head to the side. “Not ever?”

“Not ever! No killing, Ada- Adam- Why is your name so complicated!” she asks in frustration. “Don’t you have nickname or something I can call you?”

He lowers his head, looking pensive. After a moment he says, “There was someone once very close to me called me ‘Adami’.”

This information mellows Soso’s temper somewhat. Despite his appearance and somewhat murderous tendencies, there had been someone who cared for him, and whom it seemed he cared for in return, and now if his story was to be believed, crazy as it all sounded, they are likely long gone. Soso tries to imagine being imprisoned like he was, asleep and awake at once in a frozen form while the days, months, years went by. It sounds terrible.

“How long exactly were you… doing time?”

“I couldn’t say. After the first few decades or so time begins to lose its meaning. I didn’t so much feel the passage of time, only watched the rising and falling of the sun, the turning of the seasons. For much of that time, I wished only for vengeance, then for death, and then I wished for nothing at all. There didn’t seem a point. I had lost all hope of rescue long ago.” His gaze falls on her again. “Then you came. You spoke to me, and reminded me that I was still alive.”

Soso feels her face heat. How was she supposed to tell him that she’d only started talking to him because she thought he was an inanimate object?

“Adami,” she says gently. “We need to go back there. I need to figure out what happened, and the only other person I can think of who might know something is the librarian. I can’t- I don’t have enough room to hide you here without someone finding out, and once they do… I don’t know, they’ll probably want to put you in prison or dissect you for science or something!”

She reaches up and places her hands on his shoulders, privately marveling at the sheer size of him. She has to stand on her toes.

“I promise I’m not going to let anything happen to you, but you need to trust me.”

“Of course,” he says without hesitation. “I will follow where you lead.”

Soso exhales an anxious breath and releases him. “I’ll need my bike.”

 --

 Surehouser doesn’t wake up in his bed, and rather than the morning light he is woken by a persistent thumping sound. At first, he thinks it’s simply the pounding in his own head. He’s had a bottle of dandelion wine- a gift from some cousin or other- stowed away since the equinox, saved for the express purpose of drowning out the Halloween festivities with his own.

In the time it takes him to recognize the knocking for what it is, he’s become aware of three things. One: he is wildly hung over. Two: today is the first of the month. Three: following that logic, he is well overdue to submit his annual report, which was due at the first of last month. He should get to it, he supposes, adjusting his glamour to better disguise the air of malaise he carries with him. Then again he doubts anyone is going to come breaking his door down about it. If not for the occasional paperwork and the letters and packages from his relations he’d think the whole of faerie society had long forgotten about him. It’s not as if anything happens here anyway.

He trudges to the front door of the library, wondering who could be so desperate to get his attention, and finds standing there the young lady who’s been dropping by the past couple weeks, accompanied by an eight foot abomination.

“So,” says the girl. “Don’t freak out.”

Surehouser runs to his desk and retrieves the enchanted blade he keeps below the stationary drawer. He’s not as spry as he used to be though and the monster has him pinned to the cherry wood before he can so much as unsheathe it. It gnashes its teeth and twists his arm until he’s forced to drop the weapon with a cry. Without any other option, he drops the human farce and the light it forces outward stuns the creature just long enough for him to slip from its grasp. From there, escaping would be easy, just take the form of a jackrabbit or a will o’ wisp and be gone. He almost does just that, but it seems somewhere along the years he’s picked up a conscience. Damn it.

“Soso, get back, I’ll hold it off.” He places himself between her and it, forming a barrier. Between the throbbing headache and the fear he hardly notices her grabbing onto his arm.

“Hold on a second, both of you stop it!”

Adamantius readies to charge and Soso steps between them.

“I said STOP!”

It stops. “As per your instructions,” it growls, startling Surehouser almost more than the attack itself. “I will not kill him.”

“I don’t want you to do anything to him, understand?”

The creature- he looks torn. “Not even-“

“No, whatever it is, no!” she says, flustered. She chides the rampaging goliath like one would a misbehaving dog. It’s honestly impressive. “Mr Surehouser’s a friend.”

Another snarl tears from him. “He’s a faerie.”

It takes a moment to sink in, but once she realizes he knows there’s no way to deny it. Soso steps back and for the first time really takes him in, the truth of him. Under his human disguise, the librarian is summer court through and through; his body all mist and golden light. The base human features are still there, but unlike some of his more passable fellows, one look at him without the aid of a glamour is enough to know he’s not of their world. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, he veils himself with the familiar mask of the old unassuming librarian. It’s a magic specifically designed to make him easy to overlook, though the exact details of his appearance still depend largely on the viewer’s perception. It’s why he does his best to stay away from crowds. Too many conflicting accounts of the same man create a very real risk of his cover being blown.

It’s been a long time since he willingly dropped the act around another person, even among his own kind, however infrequently he sees them. Certainly he hadn’t planned to destroy his entire carefully-crafted persona when he woke up seven minutes ago. Yet here they were.

“That’s, wow,” the girl says.

He forces a chuckle. “Not the worst reaction I could’ve gotten, I suppose.”

“Yeah, well, I’m getting to a point where being shocked at every new thing is just taking up too much energy.”

Her eyes are winged and weary. Surehouser looks from her to Adamantius, an ancient warrior whom last he saw was petrified on his front lawn, a being even older than his great-grandfather, and significantly more sapient than he’d been led to believe from the wartime tales. He casts one last, longing look at his dagger laying on the floor and declares,

“It seems that we have a lot to talk about and frankly I don’t want to have this conversation standing up.”

He takes them out of the main library to a sitting area. There are two arm chairs and a small sofa loosely fitted into a circle around a low table in front of a fireplace, now dormant. Soso flops gratefully into the nearest chair. Adamantius isn’t so eager.

“I don’t like faeries,” he says. “And I don’t like your rings.”

“It’s a semi-circle if anything.” He sits. The monster stays standing, hovering at Soso’s side, tense and wary.

“So,” Surehouser begins after a moment. “You’ve, er, woken Adamantius.”

She nods slowly. “If it counts for anything, I didn’t exactly mean to.”

“It’s alright, Soso. I understand many humans in your age group go through an arcane phase, performing your little rituals and whatnot. Although how you stumbled upon something powerful enough to undo a curse like that is far beyond me.”

“I’m serious, I don’t know anything about magic or curses or whatever! It was an accident.”

He looks into her eyes; she seems earnest, though it can be hard to tell with humans.

“I gave him a snickers,” she says. “Adamantius says it was a gesture of pure kindness that broke the curse, or something.”

She looks to him for confirmation. He doesn’t take his eyes off the faerie, but nods his confirmation. She goes on to tell the full story, punctuated with various exaggerated hand motions.

“-And you don’t seem that surprised by all this,” she notes as it comes to a close. Or rather, catches up with the present. “And also, you’re a faerie? Is Surehouser even your name?”

“You could say so. It’s a name, and it’s mine.”

She makes a face. “Right. So like, what now?”

He lets out a long sigh. “Now, I need a drink.” He stands up and, obliged by the laws of hospitality, adds, “Do you want anything?”

“Oh, I don’t really drink. Also, it’s like 2:30.” When it becomes clear that that is not the deterrent she thinks it is, she turns to the creature. “What about you?”

“If you’re not having anything, neither will I.”

She purses her lips. “Actually, Mr Surehouser, if I could bug you for some water or something to eat… all I’ve really had today is, like, half a jar of peanut butter, and this guy was a rock for like a thousand years I guess so he’s always hungry.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Though food is not his indulgence of choice, he’s pretty sure he remembers where the kitchen is supposed to be. The fruit there doesn’t go rotten and the water he runs into a pitcher is cold and clean. For himself, two painkillers. As much as he’d rather not, he’s starting to think this is indeed a conversation he should be sober for.

Once he’s made up a tray he returns to the sitting room where the odd pair are exchanging muttered words and serious glances. Soso stands up to help him set everything out but as she reaches for the fruit, her monster stops her.

“For pity’s sake, Adamantius, they won’t harm her. This place is neutral territory. That’s the whole point.”

While he’s distracted she pops a handful of grapes into her mouth. “You two know each other?”

“Not personally,” says Surehouser. “Though at the same time you could say we’ve been neighbors for years.” He chuckles to himself. “For more than a century, now that I think about it. I’m a watcher. Not the first, though maybe the last.” He loses some of his good humor. The reality of the situation is setting in, unbelievable though it is. “It’s been my job to… well to prevent what is happening right now.”

“He is my jailor,” Adamantius clarifies.

“More or less. Soso, do you even know who it is you’ve been sitting so comfortably beside?”

“Does she know who you are?” he snaps in retaliation. “Have you ever taken a moment to explain the depths of your fraudulence, you oversized pixie?”

His eyes narrow. “Name calling isn’t necessary. But you have a point.” He turns to the girl. “I haven’t lied to you, but neither have I been truthful. Look around you. You see an old library, and me, its keeper. Although on the surface that is true, it’s such a small fraction of what it is. It’s only a name, only some books on some shelves.”

“Then what is the truth? The full truth.” She stares at him intently.

“Long ago,” he begins. As a start to a story, it’s as good as any. Soso’s told him her story, now he owes her one in return. “There was a terrible war between humankind and the fae people. You might know them as faeries, the hidden folk, the good neighbors. Again, that’s only the barest sliver of it. The fae consist of all magical beings, united against humanity. Once, our worlds were one, with the faerie lords, whose magic was strongest and purest, ruling over all.”

“While the humans,” Adamantius interjects. “Struggled at the bottom of the food chain. Although they were greater in numbers and more widespread than almost any other species, they were preyed on by the faefolk because of their lack of natural magic. When their science and scholarly learning grew strong enough to threaten even the faeries’ regime, war broke out. In the process, countless human lives and achievements were lost.”

“I would’ve gotten to that,” Surehouser says haughtily. “As I was saying, after years of fighting the humans finally made a breakthrough. Through study and spiritualism their brightest scholars developed a power that was enough to rival fae magic. They called it alchemy, and with it they created a killing machine powerful enough to turn the tide of the war. Adamantius, the man-made monster.

“Though it was magic, albeit humans’ version of magic, that created him, he became the ultimate soldier against the fae forces. Because of this, many came to consider his existence the ultimate insult, a betrayal of our ways.”

The monster in question lunges forward. Soso seizes his arm, nearly falling out of her chair.

“Your ways and your magic have nothing to do with me. I am the son of man.”

Surehouser takes a sip of water, smiling against the rim of his glass. All this drama for a beast who was unable to act without his human’s approval.

“Personally I’m neutral on the subject. War is a terribly ugly thing. The humans’ precious pet soldier did a lot of damage, but so did we. The only reason the humans won the war in the end was because the lords at the time feared their new alchemy. This single creation of theirs had dealt more damage in a few years, a blink of an eye to them, than all their previous efforts combined. If the humans managed to reproduce their experiment… well, the risk was too great.

“The fae forces surrendered and treaty negotiations began. One of the main conditions of the treaty was that each nation’s greatest tools of war be retired and sealed away somewhere on neutral ground, never to be used again. You see where I’m going with this?”

Soso looks offended. “Adami’s alive. A living person isn’t a weapon.”

He shrugs. “When I say tools of war I’m not speaking of just blades and bombs. Lots of things can be a weapon that you wouldn’t expect. Wealth, knowledge, even a bowl of fruit.”

Adamantius picks up an armchair.

“Kidding, kidding! No need to go throwing furniture.” He stands up, hands raised. “You are much more hair-trigger than the stories suggested. Come, I’ll show you what I mean.”

He takes them behind the front desk and pushes aside a shelf of “staff picks”, revealing a hidden doorway that opens onto the basement. Anyone who knew what to look for would be able to pick out a concealment charm easily. Sometimes it paid to do things the old-fashioned way, so to speak.

The entrance is short and narrow and Adamantius struggles to squeeze through for a minute before it becomes clear that it’s wasted effort.

“What a pity,” Surehouser chirps. “Guess you’ll just have to trust me with your human for a while.”

He growls his disapproval, but once again Soso manages to talk him down. “I’ll be fine. I promised, right? Nothing bad is gonna happen.”

The creature doesn’t look entirely at ease with the idea, but he relents. As they descend the steps, he stands stalwart at the doorway, his eyes following them down until they disappear into the darkness completely.

[preface2adreamplay]

Under Your Spell (Part 21) - Let Me Twist It A Little Deeper

Summary: A Jared Padalecki/OFC /Oscar Isaac fiction.

Stef is not having the best weekend at the con.

Chapter warnings: Flirting, swearing, infidelity. masturbation, angst. 

Chapter WC: 3,554

Everything was packed and ready to go. Stef lay in bed, unable to switch off the noise of the day.

‘Come on, Stef, go asleep,’ she told herself. Pushing off the covers and pulling them back on again. Tossing and turning didn’t cover how much she had moved around. 

Finally, she gave up. Grabbing her phone from her bedside table. 4am. 

Claire was staying with Richard. Jared was with his family and who knows where Oscar was. 

She scrolled through insta for a while, seeing all the photos fans had shared from the previous day. A headache was forming behind her eyes, it was gonna be one of the bad ones, she knew. 

‘Fucking sleep!’ Stef cursed. Only one thing left to try. Reaching down under the sheets, Stef rolled her fingers around her clit, the first thought that came to her mind was Jared on stage, smiling and joking. The next thought was him shirtless, the last time he was in her bedroom, jeans hanging low on his hips, arm muscles bulging while he fished around on the floor for his clothes. 

Breathing out a soft groan, Stef continued, fingers finding her opening hot and wet. She slid inside, one finger. Jared breathing on her neck, sucking soft kisses against her jaw, his voice in her ear, ‘c’mon Stef, give it to me.’ 

It was a phrase he liked to use when he was in a playful mood, she would relinquish control of her pleasure to him. When he took control of her, his hands, his mouth, his voice would be everywhere, all over her. His mouth humming against her in the most delicious way. And she would ride waves of pleasure. 

Stef felt her walls contracting around her finger, her body trembling and finally stilled as she drifted into a disturbed and dream filled sleep.

Oscar had taken her by the hand, dragging her through the crowds, ‘look at them!’ he kept yelling over his shoulder. ‘Let go of me, I can’t go with you.’ Stef tried to twist her arm from his grip. They stopped at the stage where the Q&A had been. Jared sat with his wife in his lap, giggling with her between kisses. Instant fiery hot jealousy raged through her. ‘Look at them!’ Oscar said again. His dark eyes on the couple that were wrapped up in each other. Stef drew her gaze away, unable to look at them any longer. Oscar didn’t flinch when Stef waved her hand in front of his face, he was in a daze, his mouth open in a soft smile. ‘Help me get away.’ Stef shouted. Jared started, seeing Stef below him. ‘No wait, come back.’ He begged. 

Stef was running, the carpet beneath her bare feet was turning into steps too high for her to climb, she couldn’t run hard enough to get away. An arm caught her as she tumbled. 

Stef couldn’t hold back her tears, burying her face in the chest of the man holding her up. 

Stef woke suddenly, throwing the blankets away. Running her hands down her face, she glanced at herself in the mirror across the room. She was perspiring, hair was clinging to her neck. ‘What the actual fuck?’ 

Stef didn’t dream much, but that one made her feel sick to her stomach.

Wiping the bathroom mirror clean after a hotter than hell shower, Stef looked at her face, wanting the woman looking back at her to settle her nerves, tell her she wasn’t being an idiot, it went with the territory. 

Why are you really fucking surprised, was all she said. 

Stef sat on the side of the bath tub and cried. 

Claire had done her best to make up for not being around. When she finally got around to coming back to the hotel room they were sharing, Stef was dressed and fresh faced.

‘Did you sleep?’ Claire rummaged through her bag looking for clean clothes.

‘Not much. I bet it’s pointless to ask if you got sleep last night.’ Stef winked seeing Claire trying to hide a coy smile.

‘I have to shower but then we are definitely having breakfast. There is a thing on later that I wanna check out but I’ll be back before lunch and then we can head back to the airport, k?’ 

Claire was being overly nice, her voice raising a little higher with every sentence.

‘Richard wouldn’t happen to be doing the thing you’re interested in, is he?’ Stef finished applying a second layer of mascara. 

‘Maybe,’ Claire elongated the word, disappearing into the bathroom.

Stef’s phone beeped. Picking it up she saw a message from Jared.

Jared: Good morning sweet thang. x

Stef put the phone back down and checked herself in the mirror. Heaving a sigh, she gathered herself, put on a smile and bent to put on her Nike’s. There would be more walking today, it called for comfortable footwear. Her jeans were loose around her waist, she hadn’t realised she had lost some weight. Not too much to be noticeable she thought. 

Claire was singing in the shower. Stef chuckled, hearing it was one of her older songs, Claire loved the band Stef was taking a break from.

Shit, she thought, remembering one of the members had called her a couple of days previous to ask when she was available to meet up.

Every year or so they would meet, see what was going on with each other and decide if they would do new music or not. 

Hitting the call button, her old friend answered straight away.

‘Hey, Stef! How are you?’

‘Sorry I kinda forgot to call you back, Nik, I’m in Toronto right now.’

‘Yeah, I was talking to Oscar yesterday he told me he ran into you over there. Having fun?’

‘The most fun,’ she lied. 

‘We are meeting Friday night at that bar you hate.’ Nik blew smoke down the phone. Stef knew the sounds of him inhaling and exhaling like his life depended on that one cigarette.

‘I’ll be there.’

‘Great!’ He did sound excited. Stef smiled, excited to catch up with them.

‘Gotta go, I’ll get the details from you during the week.’

‘For sure. Later, Stef.’

‘Was that Jared?’ Claire peeked out from behind the bathroom door, steam billowing behind her. Strands of dark red hair plastered against her face.

‘Nah. Nik. Band meeting.’

‘Oh,’ Claire seemed a little disappointed. ‘Will you see Jared before we leave?’ Her voice kept on the side of casual/hopeful instead of the misery Stef felt creeping into her bones.  

‘I’d like to think so, but, with his family showing up I don’t know if he can get away.’

Stef didn’t have to hear Claire tutting from the bathroom to know how she felt about it. 

Stef looked at her phone as it pinged again. 

Jared had sent a very close up selfie. Laughing, she replied.

Stef: Good morning, Jared. How are you today?

Jared: Tired. Glad this con is almost over. Photo ops at 12, you gonna be around?

Stef: Yep, can swing by before we leave. 

Jared replied with a few celebratory emojis. 

‘Claire, come on, I’m hungry.’

‘Go down without me, I’ll be right behind you.’ Claire was brushing her teeth furiously.

Ok, Stef shrugged.

Filling her plate with as much food as possible, Stef was trying to figure out how to use the coffee machine when someone brushed past her, nudging her elbow, sending a piece of toast sliding off into the mug she had managed to fill with a watery mix of milk and coffee.

‘Sorry,’ a soft voice came. Stef turned to say it was cool when she met the woman’s eyes. 

‘It-it’s fine,’ Stef stammered, her eyes glued to the beautiful brown eyes staring up at her. It was Jared’s wife.

Fuck, Stef thought. 

‘You’re uhm, you’re…’ Gen tried to find a way to say her name without owning that this was the woman her husband was fucking. 

‘Yeah,’ was all Stef managed to say. 

‘Well, you’ve made him a happier man. When he comes home to us.’ Gen said graciously, putting a hand on the shoulder of a boy standing next to her, gaping up at Stef.

He had Jered’s eyes and my god, he had Jared’s hair. Stef swallowed hard, what could she say to that?

’Nice to meet you, anyway.’ 

Gen gave Stef a smile and taking her son by the hand, led him away. Stef closed her eyes, her mouth dry like a fucking desert. Suddenly, the coffee didn’t seem so important. But, there was a queue building up behind her.

‘Go ahead, I can’t seem to work it,’ Stef moved away from the person waiting patiently next to her. Rubbing her nose with her hand, she cleared her throat, not sure where to look or what to do. Fearful of moving her eyes across the room in case she were to see Jared’s family again or worse, Jared himself. She couldn’t face him now. 

Claire arrived, hair swinging, bosom bouncing, a huge grin on her face. ‘Hey did you get me coffee?’ 

Her smile turned to a horrified look, ‘you ok?’ Rubbing Stef’s shoulder. ‘You gonna puke?’

‘Maybe,’ Stef replied, ‘Can we grab a seat?’

Finding a small table hidden behind a huge, ugly plant, Stef told Claire what had just happened.

‘So she thanked you for sleeping with her husband? She’s a better woman than I would be.’

‘Claire!’ Stef pinched the bridge of her nose, the toast on her plate now finding its way to Claire’s mouth.

‘What?’ the redhead replied, ‘She could have ignored you, or punched you, or made a scene, but she didn’t. Sounds like she was just as shocked to bump into you.’

Stef nodded, her brow furrowed. ‘My life is not normal. This is getting awkward.’

‘This is probably the only time you will ever meet her or even see her, just chill.’

Stef blew out a breath, rubbing her sweaty hands against her jeans. 

‘I’m gonna get you a coffee and a chocolate croissant, then we can go see Richard. He will make you laugh and forget your troubles.’

Stef groaned.

‘Now that was my attitude when I first came to the con, you changed my mind. C’mon.’

‘Is it bad that I want a Margarita for breakfast?’

‘Yes, it is, this situation is not that bad.’

***

Claire hadn’t let Stef hide away in the room, which was a good thing. The convention was so big, the chances of her running into Gen again were slim, but Stef kept looking over her shoulder anyway. She regretted agreeing to see Jared at the photo op’s, but bit the bullet - well, asking Richard to scope out the room first and waiting for him to come back and confirm it was mostly Padalecki-free. 

Stef had never seen this section of a convention before, people lining up to take silly/well thought out pictures with Jared and Jensen. 

Jensen smiled and nodded when he saw Stef waiting off to the side. He leaned in to say something to Jared, who turned his head so quickly in her direction, his hair flipped into Jensen’s face, hitting his friend in the eye. The people close enough to see roared with laughter. Jared was falling over himself apologising to Jensen, clapping him on the back with his huge hand, winking over at Stef. 

‘I see why you like him,’ the familiar voice next to her made her smile. ’Tall, handsome, funny. I’d hit it.’

‘Oscar,’ Stef scolded softly. He was alone, standing with his hands in his pockets.

‘Where’s your date?’

Oscar made a dismissive sound, ’She bounced, I’m really good at making people feel unwanted, apparently. It’s a talent, it would seem.’

‘She left?’ Stef shook her head, laughing. 

‘Yes, she did. She said I wasn’t emotionally available.’ Leaning in so that only Stef would hear. ‘I’m kinda glad, she was jealous about everything.’

‘You’re not into chicks that are fawning over you?’ Stef bit her lower lip.

‘Nah, maybe I just didn’t like her.’

‘You heading home today?’ 

‘Yeah, you?’

‘You don’t sound excited.’ Stef was watching a couple set up their photo, within seconds their experience was over. A fleeting moment that would stay with them forever. 

Jared made eye contact with her and pulled one side of his mouth into a grin, looking over Oscar quickly and greeting the next in line. 

‘Want me to get out of your hair?’ Oscar murmured. 

‘No,’ Stef hooked her arm into his, changing the direction so she was walking away from Jared’s line of sight.

‘We haven’t had time to hang much at all.’

‘You want to hang with me?’ 

‘Yeah.’ Stef squeezed his arm. Oscar’s chest puffed out a little. 

‘What’ll we do then.’

‘I saw a stall with some stuff that had your Star Wars guy, Darius specifically requested something with your face on it.’

Pushing his tongue between his teeth, Oscar threw his head back to laugh. 

‘Why the fuck not, let’s buy my own merchandise.’

***

Jared: Where did you go? Photo ops just done.

Stef: Just grabbing a drink, you want one?

Jared: I’ll meet you in the bar, I’ll be about 5 minutes.

‘Is that him?’ Oscar eyed her over his drink, taking a long gulp and sighing. 

‘Yes, he’ll be down here in a few minutes.’ Stef put a hand on his arm. He had rolled up his shirt sleeves. One fist resting on his hip and he cocked an eyebrow, glancing around the room, he looked too hot. Stef had to check herself.

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ He said, not looking at her, his eyes resting on a pair of blondes sitting at the opposite end of the bar.

‘Like what? I don’t want you to go if that’s what you mean.’ Stef pouted.

‘No, you’re looking at me like I’m lunch.’

Stef opened her mouth to laugh, involuntarily spitting her drink across his lap.

‘Oh shit, I’m so sorry.’

Oscar brushed the droplets away, laughing too much to form a coherent sentence. ‘I didn’t think it would have that effect.’

Wiping her chin with a napkin, she eyed him curiously.’ What kind of reaction did you think you would get?’

‘I dunno, I thought it might make you argue with me.’

‘You want an argument?’ 

’Nah, I just wanted to wind you up a little before your dude gets here.’

‘My dude, as you say, is already here.’ Stef raised her eyebrows in greeting as Jared made his way toward them. Oscar turned his head, not bothering to adjust how he was sitting, legs splayed open, knees on the outside of Stef’s, keeping her sitting in place at the bar. 

‘Hey,’ Jared said softly, tucking hair behind his ear. 

‘Hi,’ Stef grinned up at him. He was nervous, shifty. 

‘I guess I should formally introduce you both.’

They did that thing that men do when they don’t think women notice, they were eyeing each other, sizing each other up. Shaking hands and making pleasantries. Neither spoke, waiting for Stef to break the ice.

‘We will be leaving after lunch.’

‘Isn’t lunch, like, right now.’ Jared checked his watch.

‘Shit it is. Where the hell is Claire??’ Stef reached into her bag and checked her phone. No messages. Typical.

‘I cannot trust that woman around Richard, my god!’ Stef huffed, pressing the call button and listening to the tone on the other end, knowing Claire wouldn’t be picking up.

‘She could be back in the room.’

Oscar was half grinning, a knowing look on his face. ‘Better go check, you don’t wanna miss your flight again.’

‘Again?’ Jared was looking incredibly awkward now. 

‘Oh, Claire has made Effie miss a couple of flights over the years. She almost missed a video shoot her band was doing in Italy.’ 

‘Oh don’t remind me, that woman causes me stress I could do without.’ Giving up on the idea of Claire picking up her damn phone.

‘I gotta head back up to the room anyway, we will be leaving soon too.’ 

Jared put a hand gently on Stef’s elbow, hoping to get her up off her seat and away from Oscar. 

‘Yeah I’ll walk with you,’ turning to Oscar, placing a beer mat on top of her glass. ‘Mind my spot for a few minutes?’ 

Oscar nodded, turning his attention back to the blondes at the bar.

‘Nice to meet you, man.’ Jared offered Oscar his hand, the shorter man taking it, ‘You too, finally.’ Oscar winked at Stef as she walked away.

Stepping into the elevator, they were finally alone. Jared grabbed her waist, drawing her to him. ‘Damn, I’ve wanted to kiss you all fucking day.’ His teeth were nipping at her lips, teasing. Stef stood on her tip toes, trying to reach his mouth. ‘Kiss me then.’

Jared groaned when their lips met. It wasn’t long enough. The doors were opening on her floor. He took her hand in his, leading her down the hall. Stef was looking down at her small hand wrapped in his. ‘That ok?’ He squeezed her fingers.

‘Yeah, just surprising.’ 

Jared shrugged, stepping behind her as she slid the key card into the hotel room door. They were greeted with two naked bodies writhing on the bed. 

‘Oh god!’ Stef covered her face, unable to tear her eyes away from Richard’s naked ass bouncing as he pummelled into Claire.

Pulling the door closed with a bang, she covered her face, eyes wide. ‘How can I un see that?’ She gasped, laughing so much she thought she would puke.

Jared was on his knees, unable to speak. 

It took a few minutes for them to calm down, Richard’s frantic cries of ‘are you guys still out there?’ made the situation worse. Neither Stef nor Jared could answer him.

Jared had managed to drop his gum onto the carpet, causing him to laugh even more.

‘Don’t put that back in your mouth.’ 

‘That’s what she said.’

‘Oh Jared, please stop, I’m in pain from laughing.’

A large hand was on her back, her face was suddenly crushed into his chest. He was gasping for air like he had run a race. 

‘Well that’s put a good ending to a rough weekend.’ Jared was wiping tears from his eyes.

Stef remembered running into Gen earlier in the day, her stomach twisting with guilt. Or maybe it was jealousy. Or a sickening mixture of both.

Swallowing, she looked up at Jared.

‘What’s up, babe?’ 

‘Nothing.’ She lied, kissing him gently on the mouth.

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah, I’ll just miss you is all.’

‘You have good company downstairs, Oscar is keeping your seat for you at the bar.’

‘Jared…’ Stef wanted to explain what had happened earlier, but he cut her off with another kiss.

‘I’ll call you tomorrow, I’ll be back home. After the kids go to bed. Sound good?’

’Sounds good.’ Stef agreed, unable to hide the disappointment in her eyes at how this weekend had panned out. 

Richard opened the door, having dressed himself in a hurry. ‘Come on, man.’ he said to Jared, pushing past them, his cheeks flushed, hair tossed from Claire’s fingers. 

‘Gotta go.’ Jared kissed her quick and left, following Richard down the hall. 

Stef stuck her head in the door, ‘you decent?’

‘Doesn’t matter, you saw everything just now.’ Claire wasn’t half as bashful as Richard. 

‘Oscar is waiting for me at the bar. Meet us down there?’

‘Let me just fix my sex hair and I’ll be down.’

When Stef made it back down to the bar, she saw Oscar talking to a woman. She was hitting his arm and laughing. It was fake. Everything about her was. You can spot when someone wants someone because of their fame, and this was one of those vacuous women.

Stef put her arm between them to get her drink. ‘Oh hey, you’re back.’ Oscar looked happy at her reappearance. 

She was one of the blondes he had been ogling. His face said ‘please help.’ And while Stef would usually have left him to it, she decided on this occasion to do a good deed. 

’I’m Stef,’ she said, sticking her hand out for the stranger, who took it, gingerly.

‘Sorry, are you with him?’ She asked, pointing a talon at Oscar’s chest.

‘Yeah,’ Stef said simply.

The blonde looked her up and down, taking in the old Nike’s, loose jeans and band t-shirt. 

‘Call me,’ she mouthed to Oscar, swaying back toward her friend. 

‘Do not call her.’ Stef warned, sliding back onto the barstool, her legs fitting snuggly between Oscar’s again.

‘Just filling the time til you came back,’ Oscar sighed, leaning his torso toward her.

‘You look flushed, what’s up.’

‘I just caught Claire and Richard fucking.’ Stef looked at him, wide eyed and excited. 

Oscar put a hand over his mouth, his nose scrunched up as he laughed. ‘No fucking way.’

Stef finished off her beer in one gulp. ‘Buy me another one and I’ll describe Richard’s ass to you.’

‘Oh fuck, please don’t. But, I’ll definitely buy you another drink.’ Oscar winked, turning to grab the barman’s attention.

Butterflies. He had given her butterflies with that look.

Fuck, she thought

[perditaalottachocolate-blog]

Maybugs Don’t Fly in June (3)

@ladrienjune 2018, Day 4: Protecting

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | art |  5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |

AO3 / fanfiction.net

Today was a nice day, Marinette mused, collecting her things after classes. First of all, there was no akuma attack so far and after yesterday’s tense battle Ladybug could definitely use some time off. She used this opportunity to gaze affectionately (but discreetly) at the blond in front of her. He had really helped her yesterday with Manon. The girl wouldn’t shut up about him the rest of the day, complaining that he had been much better at being a rag Chat Noir than Marinette and retelling all his ideas and made up stories.

As Marinette, she was definitely delighted; as Ladybug she was grateful and impressed. That’s why she brought a double amount of thank you treats for him today. She was happy to see he liked that little surprise and even slipped a few cookies into his bag, for easy access she assumed. She noted that he chose the cheese ones as well as chocolate chip and smirked at Tikki’s jealous whine from her purse.

The idea of Adrien as Ladybug’s sidekick had its undeniable appeal, although there was also the risk that Chat might see right through her and discover the identity of her crush. But maybe… just maybe, she could consider giving Adrien another miraculous one time? Alya wouldn’t be pleased, even if that would give her a possibility to gather footage for her blog, but maybe time would come where another set of powers, another wielder would be more needed than Rena’s illusions? Hmmm, an idea worth remembering for later. Marinette’s cheeks went red at the sheer thought of fighting with a masked Adrien at her side, protecting her and Paris at the same time. That would be awesome, and if he was as big a fan of the superheroes as he seemed based on what Manon had noticed, he probably would be as excited as Alya if not more.

After that Marinette’s lessons went in a blur, with the girl’s thoughts filled with vision of Adrien in skin-tight fashionable and stylish suit. He’d look good in royal blue. Too bad the peacock brooch was missing. Eh, just her luck. Maybe she could give him the bee comb? Or something from the lower compartments? And before Marinette even notice through her daydreaming and planning the school was over, the seat in front of her and the whole classroom empty. At least now she could finally treat her kwami to more cookies she saved specifically for her. She took one out of her backpack and opened her purse.

‘Want a cookie, Tik-’ she stopped abruptly staring at the empty space, lined with red fabric. ‘Tikki?’ she whispered. ‘Where are you?’

Silence was her only reply. But then she heard a gentle snore from somewhere near. Although she never heard Tikki snoring, there was no one else in the room who could make that sound. Marinette carefully lowered herself to the floor and searched for the source of the snoring.

The box of pastries she had brought for Adrien was lying forgotten under his seat, the whistle of a sleeping creature definitely came from inside. She never would have guessed Tikki was such a glutton to sneak her way into other people’s boxes of treats! All the more after she lectured the girl so many times about the importance of keeping her identity and her kwami’s existence secret. It was the miraculous holder’s responsibility to protect their kwami. How could Marinette do that if Tikki sneaked out unattended?

The girl huffed in indignation and pulled the box out. ‘What do you think you’re doing!’ she scolded opening the box. ‘You’re- a- a- a-’

‘Afternoon, Ladybug,’ a little black cat yawned blinking his green kitty eyes.

‘You’re not Tikki,’ Marinette pointed out eloquently.

‘Nope,’ he stretched his paws and arched his back. ‘The name is Plagg. Nice to meet you.’

The little sprite peeked from the box and after making sure they were alone he flew up to her face. ‘Got any cheese?’ he asked licking his lips. ‘The gougères were delicious, but they didn’t last long,’ he sighed mournfully.

‘You- you’re- ‘ Marinette forgot her voice for a moment and just stared at the sprite, so similar to Tikki yet so different. She would describe him as cute, but something told her he wouldn’t have appreciated that.

‘Chat Noir’s kwami,’ he finished. ‘Although temporarily Chat-less, it seems.’

Her eyes got as big as saucers. ‘Chat Noir is here?’

‘Was,’ Plagg shrugged. ‘He probably went home.’

‘Probably?’ Marinette asked weakly. The gears in here head were turning at high velocity. If Chat Noir’s kwami was here, then Chat had to be somewhere near - or had been for a while. That meant Chat must be much closer to her, than she ever imagined.

‘Easy, Ladybug,’ the black kwami flicked his paw, as if reading her thoughts. ‘You don’t want to accidentally figure my Chosen out. It’s bad enough you met me, Tikki is going to kill me for sure.’ He shuddered. ‘Speaking of the charming yin to my disastrous yang, where is she?’

Marinette sank to her seat in resignation. None of it made sense and Plagg was right, too many clues and bam! goes Chat’s secret identity. ‘I have no idea,’ she sighed. ‘How did you get here?’

‘I smelled cheese?’ he offered innocently. ‘I found the gougères and then I must have fallen asleep.’

‘You… smelled cheese,’ the girl echoed. ‘And came here. But that means-’

‘That means you have to stop thinking, princess,’ he warned.

‘Aren’t you even going to look for Chat?’

‘Nah, he probably went home already,’ Plagg plopped himself on the desk in front of her.

‘Do you know where Tikki might be, then?’ Marinette asked anxiously. That little cat’s attitude was slowly getting on her nerves and she was worried about her kwami.

The black sprite shook his head and stretched lazily. ‘Nope,’ he murmured. ‘If she hasn’t shown up yet, I’m as clueless as you.’

Now she felt the panic rising from the pit of her stomach. ‘Do you have any idea how to contact her?’

‘Do I look like a phone to you?’ he scoffed in reply and then his lips stretched into a sly smirk. ‘So… you seem to find yourself kwami-less, while I’m chosen-less, what a happy coincidence,’ he mused.

‘What are you even saying?’

‘Take me home,’ Plagg suddenly flew up and zipped to her.

‘You’re joking, right?’ she blinked at him in disbelief. ‘What if Chat comes looking for you?’

‘If he hasn’t come yet, he probably doesn’t know I’m not with him,’ the feline kwami replied easily. ‘And if you leave me here I’m gonna starve. I’m so hungry!’ he swayed slightly mid-flight. As if on cue his stomach gurgled, the sound much deeper than his size should allow. Plagg swooned theatrically. ‘Please, Ladybug! Don’t leave me here. I’ll starve. Chosens must protect kwamis! And I might come in handy if there’s an akuma attack.’

‘How?’

‘How what?’

‘How can you come in handy, if you’re not with Chat Noir?’ she asked and then his words finally sunk in. And just like that the day wasn’t so good anymore. ‘Oh no!’ she moaned, ‘Oh, this is bad. Neither of us can transform now!’ She cursed her luck. This was exactly the time Chat would need her email as she would need his. But she had yet to share that contact with her partner and now it was too late.

‘I will admit this is unfortunate,’ the kwami stated. ‘But I’d rather stay with you than here. Look at it like this: out of the two missing kwamis you at least know the whereabouts of one. That’s better than none?’ he suggested.

‘Okay,’ she sighed. ‘You’re probably right. Let’s go,’ she offered him the place in her purse and he happily curled up inside.

‘Can I get more of those heavenly cheese puffs?’ he asked hopefully.

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she smiled, closing the clasp.

There was something right about having a kwami, even if it was the wrong one. Plagg’s presence somehow calmed her nerves. Even if she was still worried over Tikki, the little cat’s easy demeanor suggested his miraculous counterpart would be all right. If he wasn’t panicking, she probably shouldn’t either. Maybe he knew or suspected something he didn’t want to share? Still, what had been Tikki thinking! Sneaking out of her purse like that. Had she been trying to find Plagg? If Chat was at the same school she might have wanted to contact the other kwami. Which meant-

‘Stop it!’ Her purse hissed. ‘I can hear you muttering under your breath. Too much thinking isn’t good for you right now. It’s bad already that you know Chat Noir is in the same school.’

‘Fine!’ Marinette gave up. She reached the bakery anyway. ‘You want only gougères or something else too?’ she whispered.

‘Any chances for a cheese danish?’ the purse ventured.

‘You really like cheese, huh?’

‘What can I say? Rotten milk is the feast to my stomach,’ the purse snickered.

‘Oh god, I’m so happy Tikki likes cookies,’ Marinette muttered, collecting a few treats to a plate and heading upstairs. ‘I can’t even imagine the smell of your emergency food!’

‘A divine smell, mind you,’ the purse pointed out. ‘Even if my Chosen constantly complains about it. He’s just too young to appreciate good cheese.’

The girl chuckled, imagining poor Chat grumbling over it. He was kind enough to allow his kwami everything the little sprite asked for, even if that made him miserable at times.

Plagg was a good companion. He kept silent, although he snickered after seeing her room. ‘This pink is ridiculous,’ he offered as a way of explanation, but Marinette had a feeling this wasn’t what he meant at all. After that comment he patiently worked through the contents of the plate and then sprawled himself next to her screen, while she was doing her homework. She could swear he purred lightly, when she rubbed his cute head with her finger, but that might as well have been her imagination.

The afternoon was slowly melting into evening when a ping from her phone startled them both. It was a notification from her special e-mail account, that so far only one person knew of. What would Adrien want from Ladybug?

“Found your little friend. She’s fine. I hope you’re not too worried. How can I get her to you? A.”

Marinette stiffened, nearly dropping her phone. Adrien found Tikki?! But how? Where?

‘Oh, that’s good news!’ Plagg’s voice managed to break through the questions screaming in her mind. He plopped himself on her shoulder.

‘Yeah,’ she admitted, once again calming down. Was this a cat magic that she was somehow susceptible to?

‘Now I think we should go and get her,’ the black sprite suggested, clicking his tongue.

‘Are you kidding me?’ Marinette raised a brow. ‘I’m supposed to waltz just like that to the Agreste mansion and ask Adrien to return my kwami? Yeah, that would go well for my secret identity,’ she snorted.

‘Hey, I’m not saying you should go to him as Marinette,’ he took flight again. ‘That would be stupid indeed.’

‘Yeah, well, I don’t exactly have any masks on me,’ she scoffed.

Plagg flew over to her and inspected her earrings. ‘It’s been a while,’ he mused, ‘and they aren’t as comfortable as my ring. But I can definitely work with that.’ He turned to her. ‘Obviously not everyone would look good in black, but with your ideas I bet you’re gonna give us a showstopper, huh?’ he wiggled encouragingly.

‘W-what?’

‘Claws out?’ he suggested.  

[littlemulattokitten]

The Game - Chapter 2

The Game - Chapter 1

Day 2

7:00 AM

Contestants Remaining: 17

He slowly shook his head at the monitors. There were nineteen in all. Yesterday, he’d turned off two, shut down those two safe rooms, and turned them into puzzle rooms for the next challenge. Now there were only seventeen – fifteen rats, the maggot, and the angel with broken wings.

The angel was curious the night before. She’d found the sliding panel to her bathroom, expressed her gratitude, and made a comment under her breath thanking him for the two-ply after musing if the quality of the toilet paper was why he’d given them off brand crayons.

He laughed and bought her —only her—name brand colored pencils for the next activity.

The maggot found his bathroom attempting to find some means of escape. He complained that there wasn’t a mirror.

He was ignored.

Several of the mice found their hidden panels as well, but some had to ask. He put ticks next to their names on his clipboard.

The angel’s name was written in light blue ink. She would never receive ticks.

The maggot’s was written in dark red, separated from the main list, at the bottom of his paper. His ticks were implied.

The mice were in black. The one’s with less ticks would suffer the least. The others he would play with.

He watched them wake up, minded the time, and ended up using his system of modified dumbwaiters to send generic, pre-packaged breakfasts to the mice with no food allergies. The ones with restrictions got altered meals. The maggot got bread, a half glass of milk, a bottle of water, and a string cheese.

While the four automated dumbwaiters sent the correct meals to the designated rooms, he left the monitoring room and boarded the lift in the short hallway.

He made his way into the kitchen once he was upstairs, took note of his stores of food, and started making two omelets. Then two servings of toast with grape jam. He grabbed an energy drink, tried to decide what fruit she might prefer that morning, and settled on two kiwis and a mango. After cleaning and dividing the fruit into two portions, he finished with the omelets, plated them, and grabbed another chocolate chip biscuit.

He put his plate on his desk and held hers while the dumbwaiters finished their rounds. The first one to finish got her plate and he used the digital interface to send it to her. While waited for it to arrive, he sat back at the monitors, and waited to see her reaction.

And he didn’t start eating until she did.

~~~~~

It wasn’t meant to be this way.

You needn’t have changed your tune.

How dare you.

She trusted you.

I should have killed you then…

But I suppose late is better than never.

~~~~~

~*~*~*~*~

Hermione woke up early. She was still in the white room, to her unsurprised disappointment, but she stood and stretched anyway. It wouldn’t do her any good to lose her head, despite how much being trapped in some madman’s twisted underground prison might support the losing of one’s head.

So far, aside from the kidnapping of however many people aside from herself that he was holding captive, he’d only made them solve a riddle. That seemed pretty mild compared to some of the demented serial killer horror stories she’d heard on the news over the past few years.

His crayons might be offbrand trash, but she was being fed well so far. And she had a decent enough bed to sleep on. She had a bathroom. She probably wouldn’t have a job anymore whenever she got out of this place but she also didn’t have her awful coworkers to deal with at the job she loathed.

She was worried about her cat, but Crookshanks had figured out how to get into his food bags before and would probably claw one open if he really got hungry without her. And there were two extra bags in the laundry room she was certain he’d find…

So Hermione stretched and sat on her mattress with a small yawn, deciding to enjoy the solitude, despite how she came to have it, and wait for something to happen.

When the dumbwaiter across the room slid open, she only hesitated for a moment before going to inspect its contents.

She hadn’t been expecting a hot meal.

Still, she accepted the plate of food and sat back down before beginning to eat slowly. An omelet, fresh fruit, toast, and another biscuit. The only thing missing was a pot of tea, but she could live without that.

When she finished and returned the plate to the dumbwaiter, however, it was as if “M” had read her mind, because the next time the panel opened, it held a single mug of tea and two bottles of water.

“M” didn’t address them until the clock on the wall read 9:00 AM and Hermione anxiously sipped her tea as he spoke.

Good morning, everyone. I see some of you slept better than others.

I feel congratulations are in order for the lot of you. I was expecting more failures yesterday than we had. Only two of didn’t complete my little challenge.

Hermione stared at her ceiling in a dissociated sort of horror. He hadn’t explicated stated that those two were dead, but the day before his threats had been quite clear. Passive, perhaps, but clear.

I’m impressed with some of you. Outright shocked with the majority. But there were a few who I expected excellence from, and they were rewarded accordingly when they delivered that excellence.

I believe the Americans have a phrase: ‘smart cookie’. Doesn’t sound quite as pleasant when you change it to biscuit, but the concept stands.

Smart cookies get cookies.

So, if you got a biscuit yesterday, or this morning, well done.

If you didn’t, well… Better luck today, perhaps.

And I do have another challenge for the rest of you today.

In a few moments, a hidden door will open in each of your rooms and will remain open for the remainder of the day. It leads to a small room, in which various tools will become available to you. Each of you will be given a slip of paper with instructions.

But you’ll have to figure out how to read them on your own.

You have until 10 o’clock tonight to complete your tasks.

I suspect a much larger number of you will not be with the rest of us tomorrow.

Silence filled the room for several moments before Hermione remembered to breathe again. She tried in vain to sip her tea and calm her nerves, but her hands still trembled around the mug. The panel in her wall didn’t startle her, but she had goosebumps when she went to receive her instructions: a small sealed envelope and a paper bag wrapped around something thin and rectangular.

At 10:00 AM on the dot, a panel slid open on the wall across from her mattress. Hermione hadn’t even been able to tell there was a door in the main walls, despite finding her bathroom, and entered it cautiously.

The lights in the room were movement activated, blinking on once she crossed the threshold, and she found that it was only slightly bigger than the room she’d been sleeping in. There was a small whiteboard mounted to the wall across from her. There were several solid colored baskets along the wall to her right and several solid colored toys and objects lined up on the wall to her left. There was another speaker in the ceiling.

She was confused.

Sitting in the middle of the floor, she carefully opened her envelope and pulled out the small white card inside.

Chg gur oyhr onyy va gur erq onfxrg.

Oernx gur lryybj ong. Chg gur cvrprf va gur oyhr onfxrg.

Jevgr svefg anzr bs lbhe ybire ba gur punyxobneq.

Hermione took a slow, calming breath. It was just a cipher. Hopefully each line was solved by the same key, but still, it was just a cipher.

Putting the card in front of her, she reached for the plain paper lunch bag and unfolded it so she could remove its contents as well.

She stared at the twelve pack of Crayola colored pencils, feeling a sense of dread crawl down her spine.

Obviously he could hear into her room, but he could hear things she muttered to herself, even phrases that were barely audible to her own ears?

If he’d given her name brand art supplies this time, was is some sort of sadistic nod to her sense of humor? Had she annoyed him or entertained him?

Hermione rubbed the goosebumps from her arms and surveyed the room, filled with a muted sense of dread.

It was going to be a long day, she thought.

~*~*~*~*~

By midafternoon she was tired, had a stress headache building in her temples, and had started to wonder if she would live to see the next day.

Granted, the next day would involve remaining in a maniac’s prison, and she likely would never return to the world outside, but she tried her hardest not to dwell on those things.

It didn’t keep her from acknowledging all the things she would never get to do if she died in the sterile white rooms.

Tears prickled at the edges of her eyes and she rubbed them away bitterly. She’d been through enough in the last few years, lost enough, hurt enough for a lifetime, and now she was being held prisoner by a psychopath who’d watched too many horror movies.

When the threat of tears had been rubbed into submission, she glanced at her cipher again and eyed the sheets of paper “M” had allowed her to ask for, each with several possible cipher keys scratched out in various name brand colors.

A quiet, bitter thought danced in the back of her mind and brought the burning back to her eyes.

Tom would’ve figured this out by now.

She grabbed the dark green pencil, Tom’s favorite color, snapped it in half, and chucked the pieces across the room. They smacked against the white board, but the sound wasn’t satisfying enough to placate her. She brought her knees up and let her forehead fall against them, fully aware that she was pouting, but unable to care.

“Damnit, damnit, damnit,” she muttered. She’d been a coward then and she was a fool now. She should’ve reached out to him. Should’ve tried to salvage a lifetime of friendship when she had the chance, but she’d avoided him instead.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She’d tried every cipher type she knew from Tom, which were few in number, to no avail. She’d tried picking out the most commonly repeated letters and trying to put them together, but she guessed there were too many vowels involved, and to many three letter words, for her to be certain which words were which.

There was something that would lead to the key. She just didn’t know what.

And Hermione was certain she was overthinking the whole thing.

“You’re either not thinking enough or thinking too much,” she said quietly. It was a phrase Tom had said to her more times than she could count, but it was true. She either overlooked the obvious or ignored the simple answer looking for the most complex and sophisticated solution. But solutions weren’t always as difficult as possible. Sometimes they were easy. Sometimes she just needed more patience, he’d said.

She didn’t know where a man with such a temper has accumulated so much patience for such cerebral activities, but he’d loved logic games twice as much as she did.

Would he react as all, she wondered, if news every reached him that she’d disappeared? Probably not. She’d burned that bridge more thoroughly than she’d intended.

Feeling dejected, she picked up another pencil and grabbed a sheet of paper that wasn’t covered in angry scribbling yet.

She’d just have to keep trying.

~*~*~*~*~

She spent three more hours going through Caesarean cipher keys in numeric order. When she finished with the ninth, she had to take a break for another mini pity party, then started trying on the next one.

The longer she tried to solve the puzzles the harder it was not to think about Tom.

She was on mental autopilot while she kept going through ciphers. Ten, eleven, twelve. None of them worked.

She was almost done with thirteen when she realized she was writing recognizable words, and stared at her paper in shock.

Jumping up, she hurried over to the whiteboard across the room and used the single black marker to write out the cipher message, leaving gaps of space between each line so she could write under them. Then she wrote out the entire alphabet beside it, again leaving spaces, and started from A.

Thirteen spaces over started the alphabet at N.

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M

A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Chg gur oyhr onyy va gur erq onfxrg.

Put the blue ball in the red basket.

Oernx gur lryybj ong. Chg gur cvrprf va gur oyhr onfxrg.

Break the yellow bat. Put the pieces in the blue basket.

Jevgr gur anzr bs lbhe ybirq bar gur juvgrobneq.

Write the name of a loved one on the chalkboard.

A few broken huffs of hysterical laughter left Hermione as she put her head in her hands.

She had been overthinking it.

The blue ball found a new home in the red basket. The yellow toy baseball bat was made of thin wood, not plastic, and snapped in half easily. The pieces were thrown into the blue basket.

She erased her solved cipher with the sleeve of her jumper and picked up the marker again.

Plenty of people came to mind, both living and deceased, but one kept coming back to the forefront.

“My last task,” she said quietly, hoping her captor was listening. “How do I know you go after whoever’s name I write?”

He didn’t respond right way.

You don’t. But I will say that it would only benefit me to ‘go after’ very few people in acquaintance with any of my contestants.

“That’s, not exactly comforting,” she sighed. “Is this why you thought more people would fail today? Because we wouldn’t be willing to put someone we care about in danger?”

Again, there was hesitation before M answered, and she was surprised with his seemingly candidness.

There is only one person you could name that is in any sort of danger from me. Someone who would have no qualms about leaving you for dead.

Seeing as he’s done it once before.

Hermione felt the blood leave her face. “How could you possibly know about that?” she asked, hating how shaken she sounded.

Perhaps you would be better served by completing your final task and enjoying your free time than fretting over things that will only stress you further.

I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve had a rather trying day.

Hermione snorted bitterly, but uncapped the dry erase marker anyway and quickly wrote Tom’s name on the board.

“If anything happens to him,” she said as she went back to her ‘living space’, “I’ll personally drag you into the deepest layers of hell. Even if I die here. Lay a hand on him and you’re coming with me.”

M didn’t respond to her that time. At least, not verbally, and she wanted to feel foolish for threatening the man who could absolutely kill her in her sleep, but couldn’t muster up enough sense for shame.

She’d meant every word.

She must’ve fallen asleep on her mattress, because the sound of the panel in her room opening startled her awake.

This time her dinner was a large beef pasty, vegetables, more bottled water, a bottle of apple juice, and another bag of crisps.

And two more chocolate chip biscuits.

~~~~~

It wasn’t meant to be like this.

This needn’t have gone on for so long.

I saw the photographs. He hurt you.

Why did you keep going back to him?

Why didn’t you come home?

~~~~~

@meowmerson

[sadrien]

prince of cats

chapter four: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

on ao3 || on ffnet 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

hey how is everyone? if you follow me on tumblr, you'll know i wrote like 8k for this fic in one day, and hopefully i'll be doing a lot more writing for it this week, so it looks like posting will be constant all the way through which is pretty nice!

thanks for reading! enjoy~

Marinette pulls her hair up into a messy bun as she makes herself a hot chocolate. It’s almost noon, and she slept far too late, but yesterday was a day. She had sat in Adrien’s kitchen for longer than she had ever imagined, familiarizing herself with the swoop of his hair and the way the corners of his eyes crinkle when he smiles.

And then she had gone over Alya and Nino’s and had screamed about it for almost an hour over dinner.

Marinette glances over to the window by the sink, where the window is cracked open. For some reason, she half expects Plagg to appear, purring and demanding something to eat. If she thought she had it bad before, after spending a few hours with Adrien, it’s infinitely worse.

She is totally and completely screwed.

Marinette takes her hot chocolate and makes herself comfortable on her couch with a sketchbook and some old markers that she needs to use before she can justify spending an outrageous amount of money on new ones. She really should be working on designs for work — the head designer had a theme for a new line that they were throwing around — but she finds herself reverting to old styles that she played around with back in collège and lycée. There’s something familiar and comforting about the draped evening dresses and elegant suits.

Men’s wear is boring and Marinette intends to fix it.

She’s scribbling out a jacket design that she absolutely despises when there’s a knock at her door. She sits back on the couch with a sigh, twisting up her hair and shoving her pencil in it to hold it in place.

She’s surprised to see Adrien standing in her doorway with an awkward smile. “Oh, uh, hi!”

He lifts a hand in greeting. “Hi, I’m here to, um…borrow a cup of sugar?”

Marinette raises an eyebrow. “You…are?”

“I…” Adrien rubs the back of his neck. “Would it be weird that I kind of just needed an excuse to come talk to you again?”

She blinks in surprise.

“I’m not good at this friend thing,” he continues quickly. “I was… I was homeschooled and when I went to university I didn’t really talk to anyone I didn’t already know—” Adrien stops and buries his face in his hands. “I’m just trying to say I have no idea what I’m doing,” he mumbles. His ears are steadily getting pinker and pinker.

It’s almost unbearably cute.

If Marinette hadn’t already been completely sold, she is now.  

“Hey,” she says softly. Adrien looks up from his hands, face red. “I’m not doing anything today. Want to come in for a drink?”

He glances back into the hallway. “Not coffee, right?” he asks, smiling weakly.

Marinette steps to the side so Adrien can get through the doorway. “Coffee is disgusting.”

“You’re disgusting,” Adrien says. He spins in a slow circle, taking in her apartment. “This is nice,” he says softly. “I love your posters.” He motions to a Jagged Stone poster hanging in the center of the wall. It’s surrounded by other posters, ones she’s stolen from events when no one was looking or that Alya or Nino had bought her from the internet.

“Thanks,” Marinette says as she closes her apartment door. “I made it.”

Adrien’s eyes go wide. “You did?!”

She nods. “Back in collège. I entered one a contest where you had to design a poster for one of Jagged Stone’s concerts. The winner got two free tickets.”

“And?”

She smiles smugly. “Watching from the front row was incredible.”

“Wow,” Adrien murmurs. He looks back to the poster. “You’re amazing.”

Marinette ducks her head as she feels her face grow warm. “It was just some work in Photoshop, nothing fancy.” She had spent hours and hours on it, looking up tutorials on YouTube and asking for opinions from everyone she knew. It wasn’t nothing, but she has a million things she would do differently if she could redo it. “Anyway, I don’t have any coffee, but do you want anything to drink? I have milk and hot chocolate and like…water.”

“Water is fine if you don’t mind me invading your Sunday,” Adrien says. Marinette bites her lip as he wanders over to her couch, knowing her sketchbook is sitting open on the cushions.

She waves away her worries — if he hates or judges her for one bad jacket then they probably should stop trying to be friends immediately — and turns toward the kitchen. “I don’t mind,” she promises. “One sec.”

Marinette is pulling a glass out of the cabinet when Adrien calls out to her from the couch.

“Did you draw this?”

She blows air out the corner of her mouth and quickly fills the glass with water. “Yeah,” she says as she walks out of the kitchen. She hands Adrien the glass. “I did mention I was a designer, right?”

Adrien takes the glass from her, a crease between his eyebrows. “Why did you scribble it out?”

Marinette sighs and leans against the back of the couch. “I hate it.”

He frowns.

She reaches down and takes the sketchbook from him. She tilts it in the light, scrunching her nose as she studies it. “It’s too…” She points at the collar. “It’s just not working for me. It’s very…angular? But not…in the right…”

Huh.

“Can I have that pencil?” she asks, holding out her hand. Adrien hands it to her and she flips to a new page. “Give me like…less than…a minute…” she murmurs, scratching a new jacket on the page. It’s similar to the other one, but with better proportions, angles in different areas, a collar that isn’t so horrible.

She can feel Adrien’s eyes on her.

“You didn’t come here to watch me draw,” Marinette says when she’s got a basic sketch down. The most basic she can get, barely more than an outline. She tucks her hair behind her ear and looks up to see Adrien watching the paper intently.

“I don’t mind,” he answers almost automatically.

Marinette stares at him for a long moment. She tries not to get too lost in his eyes — she is, in fact, trying to read him and make a point right now — but it’s a challenge. “You said you came here for sugar,” she says eventually.

Adrien shrugs. “I needed an excuse. And I don’t have any sugar, so I figured that I might as well try that cliché.”

She furrows her eyebrows. “You…actually don’t have sugar. You drink your coffee black?”  He nods and she grimaces. “First of all, that’s disgusting. Second of all, what do you do when it’s two in the morning and, like any real adult, want a mug brownie?”

Adrien blinks slowly, mouthing the words back to her. “Mug brownie?” he asks when his brain has apparently decided to work again.

Marinette puts down her pencil. “You’re kidding, right?” She takes in his slightly dazed and incredibly confused expression. “You aren’t kidding.” She gives herself half a second to consider before she closes her sketchbook. “Come on,” she says, motioning toward the kitchen.

“What are we doing?” Adrien asks, trailing after her.

“I have to teach you how to adult.”

✦ ✦ ✦

“If you’ve got random chocolate chips laying around,” Marinette says, “this is where you’d throw them in.”

Adrien frowns at the chocolate bar she’s handed him. “This is a chocolate bar.”

“Yes,” she agrees. “It is.”

“What do I do with a chocolate bar?”

Marinette rolls her eyes. “You are so lucky you have me, because you’re hopeless. How have you lived on your own for…how long again?”

Adrien laughs awkwardly. “I get it. What do I do with the chocolate bar, oh All-Knowing One?”

“Watch this.” She unwraps the chocolate bar and puts it down on the cutting board she always has out on her counter just in case. She pulls a knife from the drawer and starts chopping up the chocolate bar. “It’s magic. Almost like chocolate chips and chocolate bars are made of the same thing.”

Adrien crosses his arm across his chest and leans back against the counter. “Okay, I probably should’ve been able to figure that out myself.”

Marinette gives him a pointed look. “You think?”

“Why do you add more chocolate anyway?” he asks. “You said it was optional.”

“Why wouldn’t you want more chocolate?” she counters. “Also, it’s fudgier.”

Adrien hums. “You just have this memorized?”

Marinette nods as as she splits the chopped up chocolate in half and puts some in each mug. “Eventually you just know that you need two tablespoons of cocoa powder, because it’s three in the morning, you’ve been prepping for finals since noon, and looking at a screen for the directions is too painful. Memorization is inevitable. Besides, how else are you supposed to get through university?”

“Uh… Willpower?” Adrien suggests.

Marinette makes a face. “I’ll stick to my double chocolate chip cookies, thanks.”

“You know to make double chocolate chip cookies?” he asks in surprise.

“How are you alive?”

✦ ✦ ✦

As the mug brownies cook in the microwave, Marinette teaches Adrien how to make chocolate chip cookies. Not exactly her original plan for her Sunday, but it means spending more time with Adrien. Also, Alya and Nino will never complain about cookies.

She tries to keep the conversation flowing as they measure out ingredients and mix them together in a large glass bowl. Adrien is twenty four, just like she is, and moved to Paris a few months ago. He never really wanted to go into business, but he doesn’t know what he would’ve gone into if his father hadn’t offered him a job. He did like physics when he took it and he goes off on a ten minute tangent about gravitational waves.

When Adrien is passionate about something, he lights up like the sun. His eyes sparkle and he gestures with his hands, brandishing the spoon in the air. He talks quickly, backtracking and making asides and random commentary the entire time.

Marinette finds herself turning away to hide her smile an awful lot.  

He asks her about designing and she somehow finds herself offering to show him some old designs sometime. He says he once could make a pillow. She laughs and says that she started out with a lumpy pillow that looked more like a very sad ball.

When the cookies are in the oven, the take their mug brownies and curl up on the couch in the living room.

Marinette flips on the TV and then looks over to Adrien. “What kind of movies do you like?”

Adrien pokes at the steaming brownie with his fork. “Honestly, anything. I’ll watch anything from bad Hallmark movies to action movies to Disney classics to comedies.”

She hums as she opens Netflix.

“What about you?”

“Whatever can act as background work while I design,” she admits. “I like to multitask.”

“That’s a good one,” Adrien says, pointing his fork at the screen.

Marinette stops on the movie he’s pointing to. “Anastasia?”

He nods. “Have you seen it?” She shakes her head. “Oh man, it’s a classic. Up there with Disney movies.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Really? What’s it about?”

“It’s a musical—”

Marinette scrunches up her nose.

“Hey, don’t make that face! Musicals are great!”

“Not usually my cup of tea,” she says with a shrug.

“Give it a chance,” Adrien pleads. “It’s about the lost daughter of the last Russian Tzar, but she doesn’t remember who she is. She’s just trying to find her family in Paris, she doesn’t realize she’s royalty.”

Marinette takes one look at his pleading eyes before she sighs and gives in. “I’ll give it a try,” she says, and hits play.

It’s worth it to see Adrien smile.

[sunken-standard]

For the 4\3rd rond drabble challenge: 16, 20 or 27 please? I'm immensely enjoying your ficlet feast! Have you considered of opening an account at Patreon or the likes? It's my guess that more than a couple want to thank you for your fluffy cracked up Sherlolly.

This one is just a disconnected littlevignette that could fit in a few different universes.

“Stop questioning my lifechoices.”/ “When’s the last time you smiled?”/“Sometimes I just don’t want to exist.”

“For the love of God, wouldyou just take a case already?  Or, I mean, at least put clothes on.”

“I have clothes on.”

“A blanket doesn’t count asclothes, even if it’s fashioned into a toga.  You look like theworld’s most fabulous caveman,” Molly said, flicking the cornerof the hot pink tiger-stripe blanket as she took the spot next to himon the sofa.

“I’m wearing pants,” Sherlockargued.

“Oh my, what’s the occasion?”

“I always wear pants in yourflat.”

“No you really don’t.”

“Well, not to sleep. Sleeping naked is better for health, you’re a doctor, you should knowthis.”

“I went to actual medical school,I didn’t get my degree from Cosmo, thank you.”

“It’s your skin, you do what youwant with it.  If you want to miss out on the benefits of reducedcortisol levels and higher levels of human growth hormone andoxytocin, that’s completely your prerogative.  Don’t come crying tome when you look like a pair of old riding boots by the time you’resixty,” he sniffed.

Says the man who looks like a pairof old riding boots now, she thought.  She wouldn’tsay that, though; he might decide to send a woodsman after her to cutout her heart and she really didn’t want to end up with seven tinyflatmates.  Just the one oversized one was enough.

“You really do need to dosomething.  Get out of the flat, go for a walk, anything.”  Trygoing back to your own flat…

“There’s nothing for me out there. Everything I need is right here, and for the rest I’ve got variousinternet-based delivery services.  And you,” he added as anafterthought.

“How flattering,” she saidlightly.  "You’re wearing a dent into my sofa cushions, youhaven’t shaved, you haven’t eaten a vegetable in over a week.  When’sthe last time you smiled?“

"1993.  I saw a seagull steal abiscuit from a toddler.  Such a fond memory.”  

At least he was still making jokes. The depression/ boredom/ existential crisis alert didn’t need to beraised to red just yet.

*

“Tangy cheese Doritos and meltedchocolate ice cream.  That’s your breakfast?” she asked, lookingover his shoulder as she walked past the sofa.  At least he was in aslightly different position than the day before.

“Stop questioning my life choices. I don’t make a fuss about your oat straw and poison-berry porridge.”

“They’re goji berries, and they’refull of antioxidants.  So, while your skin may be fresh and dewy as acherub’s arse when you’re a pensioner, I’ll have the cell health of ateenager.  Unlike you, whose entire gastrointestinal tract will bemade of MSG molecules stuck together with cholesterol.”

“I can still say with someauthority that they taste like poison.”

“Okay, yes, fine, they taste likepoison.  But they aren’t actually poison.”

“Famous last words.”

“Whose last words?” she askedcynically.  She was pretty sure she made one of Sherlock’s own facesback at him.

“Rasputin, Emperor Charles VI, oneof the popes, Johan Schobert, Alan Turning, the 900 or so people atJonestown…”

“And yet you don’t even know whothe PM is.”

“I didn’t vote for them so itdoesn’t matter.”

“Do you even vote?”

“Of course I do.  I vote formyself as a write-in.”

“You know that’s not actually athing here.”

“I’m making it a thing.”

She held eye contact with him for onevery long moment, then went to get herself coffee.  It’s way tooearly for this, she thought.

*

She came home to find Sherlock lyingflat on her kitchen floor, looking up at the ceiling.  She stifledthe urge to fuss over him and ask if he was alright; he wasn’t lyingthere like he’d collapsed or anything, more like he was quietlywaiting for the planet to get bulldozed by aliens.

“Just couldn’t get the hang ofThursdays, huh?” she asked, stepping over him to get to thesink.

“Everything is tedious.  SometimesI just don’t want to exist.”

She would be more worried, but at leasthe was dressed.  And he’d shaved.

“Did you at least go outsidetoday?  You’re going to get rickets at this rate.”

“You like bow-legged men anyway.” He twisted his head around to look at her.

“I like Jensen Ackles. It’s not just about the legs, he’s the total package.”  How didhe even know that, anyway?  She’d never said a word, and it wasn’tlike she had anything incriminating in her browser history.

“I am right here, youknow,” Sherlock said, sounding genuinely miffed.  Like heactually cared if she found other men attractive.  Which he probablydid, because heaven forbid he wasn’t first on every list.

“Yes, you are, and you’re in theway of the fridge,” she said, nudging his waist with the instepof her foot.

He rolled to the side and sprang up,then wavered on his feet for a second.

“How long have you been lyingthere?”

“Four… ish? hours?  I watchedthe news, then some programme about holiday getaways, then I ate someof your not-poison berries in the hope that they were actuallypoison, then I was going to make tea but I really didn’t see thepoint, since we’re out of milk.”

“You could have gone to buy some.”

He looked at her blankly.

“Or ordered it online and had itdelivered.”

“My phone was in my pocket. Seemed like more trouble than it was worth to get it out.”

“At least you got dressed today. Why did you get dressed today?”

“Because you nagged me into ityesterday.  I can get undressed again, if you prefer.”

She was certain that if there was aGod, he/she/it was testing her.

“Lestrade phoned this morning.  Hesaid he might have a case but I haven’t heard back from him, so hemust have solved it.  Or got lost in the Met office on his way backfrom the toilet.”

That was a good sign.  A very goodsign.  

“Does he know you’re here?”

“No,” he said, like itwas the stupidest question in his very extensive history of beingasked stupid questions.  "Why would I tell him that? Nobody knows I’m here.  Mrs. Hudson thinks I spend half my timebehind the clock face of Big Ben.“

"Do you think he went to BakerStreet?”

“He would have phoned when herealized I wasn’t there.”

“And your phone was in yourdressing gown pocket.”

“Yes.”

“Just putting this out there, buthave you checked it at all since you lost your will to live in themiddle of my kitchen?”

“No, why would I?” he asked,pulling out his phone.  "Huh.  How did I miss that?“

"You fell asleep, didn’t you?”

“Maybe,” he admittedreluctantly.

“You never hear your phone whenyou’re asleep.”

“Yes I do.”  He scowled ather before looking back down at his phone.  "Oh,“ he saidsoftly, in that way that indicated something had piqued his interest.

"You sure don’t,” she said,but it was lost on him.

His fingers flew over the screen andthen his eyes got that gleam; thank God, she thought.  

“Oh,” he repeated a littlemore excitedly.  He shook off his dressing gown and let it drop tothe floor without looking up, the small smile playing around his lipsblooming into a full grin.  "Oh, this could be good.  Don’t waitup!“

He bent to give her a peck on the cheekand hit the corner of her mouth; time seemed to stop as his lipslingered partway on hers.  Then he straightened and whirled away likehe always did without a word of apology or acknowledgement of howawkward everything just got.

At least he wasn’t still moping on hersofa.

[I’m pretty sure I lifted the ridingboots line and the seagull thing from somewhere, but I can’t rememberwhere.  I do this all the time, drives me up a wall.  Just consider them a nod to something I thought was clever.]

[chaospenelope]

First Impressions

The World Beyond

Penny rose up with a loud yawn. The room still felt a bit different after the third morning, maybe that would change after she got new stars to put up there. She got out of her bed, picked out some clothes, and went to the hall bathroom to get ready for the day. The scent of frying bacon floated up the stairs and filled the hall as she finished. It wouldn't be too long before her mother would call her and Nade down for breakfast so she only went into her room for her watch. The watch she left on the nightstand next to the window. She looked at the window and to her surprise the curtain was open. A young yellow bear was staring right back at her with wide blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress. It was like a strange mirror. The child scurried out of sight as soon as her shock subsided. "Penny, Nade, breakfast is ready." Neda's voice snapped her out of her own frozen state.

"Mama! Mama!" SpringBear ran up to Plushy as she poured some milk on some Trix. "What's got you so excited?" "There's a girl living in Uncle Teddy's old house!" The girl crawled onto the seat as she exclaimed. "Someone broke in?" William was ready to charge in and confront the theoretical criminal. "Oh, that's right. We forgot to tell you someone bought it." "Who are they mom?" Freddy asked as he dipped his spoon under the milk. "I don't know too much, just that they're a family of four like your aunt and uncle..." "Maybe we should greet them to the neighborhood." "That's a great idea Freddy, but what should we bring them? Guess we can't just make them pizza. Has to be something they can eat later..." "What about cookies?" "That is the logical choice...I wanted to impress them with something special though." "We can make the cookies special." "Yeah, we can make ones with different nuts and chocolate when we're done with breakfast and give it to them after lunch. How's that sound?" "That sounds fun Mama but, what if they're really mean? What if they see my legs and think I'm a freak?" "Oh Sweet pea, I don't think they'll do that, but if they do much as utter one little word we'll leave and never visit them ever again, OK?" "Ok Mama." "That's right, the minute they say 'Hello' we're outta there." "Philip, eat your cereal."

"Hey, Neda, did you see the article about the carnival that's coming soon?" He asked as his wife sat next to him. "That sounds fun...Phin, did you buy that at the restaurant and waited all day yesterday just so you could read it at the breakfast table this morning?" "...You know how I prefer to read the comics when I wake up." "Mom, Dad!" Penelope hurried up to her seat as the rest of the family settled down. "I saw a someone." "Oh?" Her father folded the paper discarded it. "Did our neighbors finally return?" "I saw them through the window. They ran away before I could say anything, but I guess they wouldn't have heard me anyway..." "They ran? Sounds like they weren't supposed to be in there. What did they look like?" "They were a kid like me Mom. I don't think they're a burglar." She poured some honey on her toast. "Hm, Must be shy." He cut the sausage as he spoke. "You two going outside today?" "Sure." "I don't know, Maybe?" "It's going to be very hot today, don't forget to bring a water bottle with you." "I know." She started to think about the girl. So many questions about who she was and what her family was like. Then there was her face. She looked scared when she ran. Penelope was getting a bit too distracted as she poured the syrup to make a face. "Penny, don't waste the syrup." "Huh? Oh, sorry Mom." "Is there something bothering you?" "Still worried about the neighbors huh?" "Yeah, I just hope...It's not important." "You know you can tell us anything. What's wrong?" "She caught me by surprise...I don't think I changed, but why else would she run away?" "Oh, She probably wasn't expecting someone to be here. This house has been empty for some time." Neda softly padded her daughter on the back giving a warm smile. "You'll be fine." "Your Mother's right, you have better control of your self then when you were a baby. I don't think you have to worry about anyone seeing that again." She looked up with a still unsure but hopeful smile. "I guess you're right." He felt it was wise to change the subject. "...You know, I don't go back into work until tomorrow. Maybe we can go on a little day trip into town, since we spent most of the weekend unpacking. We can go out for lunch, maybe see what stores they have, or explore that park. What do you think Neda?" "Would be nice, wouldn't it?" "I don't know about the park, but that other stuff sounds good." Nade answered before gulping some milk. "It does sound fun."

"Ah, I love the smell of fresh cookies." Robert nodded eagerly at Plushy's statement. Five of the FazBears traveled into the kitchen to see if the treats had cooled yet. "Hey Ma, This is an awful lot of cookies..." William spoke as he and three of his siblings took in the varied sweet aromas. "Yeah, never know what kind they might want." Robert stared to sign, "I don't think they could eat all of them, maybe we could help?" "You could?" She gave her children a smirk. "Well, you did help clean up, so you can have two each." The kids immediately rushed up to pick their two favorite flavors. "Don't take too many macadamia and white chocolates." She waited for them to collect their reward then started putting them in separate Tupperware containers. "So, Billy, Bobby, you coming to greet our neighbors?" "Nah, I kinda want to start repairing my castle set after Icy ran into it." Robert on the other hand signed that he was glad to join them. He was a bit curious what they were like and he knew his little sister was still uneasy about all this. They put all the containers into a couple grocery bags and walked the short path to the next house giving a light knock to the door. "Hello?" The wife opened the door and studied the two rabbits and twin cubs. "Can I help you?" "Hi, We're your neighbors. Well, not all of them. My husband's at work and three of our older kids thought they were too cool to greet the new neighbors." She motioned to her rabbit son. "This is my son Robert," He waved his large paw. She moved to the cubs. "These are the twins Frederick and SpringBear," "Hello Ma'am." The said together. Spring sounded so small. She looked up at the stranger and wanted to hide behind her mother and brothers, but she forced a smile instead. "And I'm Plushy. We're the FazBears, some of them anyway." "I'm Neda. It's so nice to meet you. Won't you come in?" She moved out of the doorway and let them in. "Make yourselves comfortable. I'll go get the kids." "Wow, You really jazzed up the place." Plushy noted as she and the children moved into the living room where the husband stood up from his seat to introduce himself. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Phineas NightShade." He held out his paw for a handshake. "Hello." She hesitated for the slightest moment before giving a handshake. "We made you some cookies. I wasn't sure what kind you wanted...Hope it's not too much." "I don't think the kids would mind." He said with a chuckle. "Thank you, I'll just take them to the kitchen." "You can keep the containers. We have plenty." "Penelope, Nade?" Neda looked around the two bedrooms to find her children playing a racing game. "Some of our new neighbors are here. Do you want to greet them?" "Do we have to?" Asked Nade. "Wouldn't be very polite To eat all the cookies they made without saying Hello." "I'm sold." "Only some?" "Apparently they have fairly sized family. They seem nice, I really don't think they know or saw anything." "They probably would have came with pitchforks and torches if they did." Her Mother grew a worried expression. "Penny-" "Sorry, I was just joking mom." She pushed herself up and followed her to the living room. "Penelope, Nade, these are our neighbors the FazBears." "Hello." "Hi" Penny and Nade waved. The twin cubs smiled as they approached. The girl looked a bit shy holding tightly to her skirt. "My name is Frederick, but you can call me Freddy." "My name is SpringBear...Your name is really pretty Penelope." The little black bear's ears perked up, she wasn't sure she heard her right. "Thank you. I think your name is cute." The blue eyed cub smiled brightly. "Thank you." "Miss FazBear brought some treats in the kitchen, you can have two each." "Yes." Nade slid back off the couch he was just trying to climb. "Oh, Just call me Plushy." "Aren't you guys going to get some?" She asked as her and her brother climbed the stools to get to the kitchen counter. "We already had some." "You should try the chocolate pistachio. They're really good." "Your mom makes them too?" "Well, it was kind of by accident..." Freddy looked at the kitchen. Despite there being the same counters and walls it still felt a little foreign to him. "It looks so different now." "So, How do you guys like Masons County so far?" Plushy asked. "It's been nice. Feels secluded but not too far from the city." "The town seems to have a lot of interesting stores. We haven't been able to check out all of them though." "Too busy unpacking huh?" "For the most part, but there is one restraunt that's been closed all weekend. We thought the kids might like it. I hope they open again soon." "Really? Closed all weekend...You don't mean FredBear's Diner, do you?" "Yes." "Oh, no. We're not- We were just closed for some renovations. We're open today. Probably should have mentioned that on the note..." "You work there?" "Yes, My husband and I own it, and we preform every Friday and Saturday." Penelope carefully poured some milk into the cups before asking, "Did you come here a lot?" "Yup, Our cousins lived here." "Oh, You probably miss them now, huh?" "Yeah, We miss Faye and Amelia a lot. We visited them last weekend, they're doing ok." "Guess it kinda sucks seeing someone else in their old house..." "Not really, as long as your not mean burglars." "You don't have to worry about that." She said with a smile. "I didn't mean to scare you earlier through the window." "That was Victor's old room. Did you find his favorite toy stash? He left them behind in the move." "No, Where is it?" "I can show you, it's hard to explain." She ran across the kitchen. Penny followed her knew neighbors optimistic about future development.

[bangtanhmu]

backstory

hi hi my friends ! i have finally compiled all of my backstory files & have decided to put them together for u in one giant post since some of u were interested ! i linked the texts where certain info is referenced for some things that u might have missed !!!! n also u don’t have 2 read this @ all like y/n is still YOU these are just like the mini fics i wrote 2 help me write the texts so they’re all unique 2 each individual boy n everyone has their own stories n personalities !

pls put ur reading glasses on 2 protect ur lil eyes bc we are abt to go on a luv~ journey

Y O O N G I:  custard bread couple

how they met: 

they met @ a clothing store !!! the stylists had finally caught on that yoongi had been taking home his ~work clothes because honestly he had been a lil too lazy to shop or dress himself lately and after he gave them back he was left w very little clean things and didn’t want to go through their communal laundry pile n figure out what was his so he decided to just shop instead. so he went out w the standard celebrity hat + mask disguise combo and tbh noticed y/n working in the shop right away bc she was in the darks section hidden between two racks of sweaters n secretly using her phone. and it was kinda cute n funny to him 1. bc she was slacking off during work and 2. bc she was dressed in white n pastel pink so she did more standing out than blending in. n so yoongi pretended to look thru a rack of black sweaters for a few mins before he cleared his throat n said “is playing hide and seek part of the job?” and y/n obvi jumped bc she didn’t even realize someone had been in that section and dropped her phone on the ground. so she was pouty and ready to kinda say something bratty back but as soon as she took one look @ yoongi n his hat + mask she bursted into laughter and said “you look like a walking police sketch” min yoongi pretty much lost to the demonic possession that is love @ that very moment

backstory: yoongi’s y/n

her parents run an art gallery in gangnam !!! they always gave her lots of freedom 2 pursue her own interests so when she was little she did everything from piano to taekwondo to dance to collecting dragon ball figurines but also rilakkumas. she never rly had 2 worry abt anything bc her parents are super supportive. and now……..because she’s always had so much freedom, she doesn’t exactly know what she wants to do w her life ??? because a lot of things interest her ?? and choosing one thing doesn’t seem like a decision she’s ready to make yet !?? so she got the job @ the clothing store bc she wanted some responsibility  (even tho she breaks company policy n is on her phone half of her shift) and routine. n it made her feel a little less guilty abt being ~taken care of i guess ???? but tbh she doesn’t give herself enough credit bc she does a lot for other ppl ??? esp for her parents like she’s always helping out @ the gallery and running errands hmm other things. she has an older brother who studies film (her fam is generally v artistic) n he’s quite serious n like the definition of perfect child and she likes to tease him a lot but she takes care of him a bit too she’ll call him like “ i dropped off some candles n boxes of tea @ ur apartment bc yesterday you looked so stressed u kinda resembled goku abt to go super saiyan. that can’t be good for ur health !!! take care of urself ”!!!! um tbh when yoongi n y/n were getting to know each other like ~deeply she was kinda worried that he’d be put off by her upbringing bc tho they are not completely polar opposite, his is still very very different from hers and she was afraid that maybe he’d judge her for it but it wasn’t like that @ all !!!! yoongi was v happy & relived (?!!!) to hear this bc he knew that she had 3 pillars of support if he couldn’t be there for some reason and also it was so……….. relieving………. for his heart to know that she hadn’t been hardened by the world ??? and like y/n had been studying his reaction super closely totally prepared for some judgment but the only thought in yoongi’s head was “thank god thank god thank god” because y/n is like his own little heaven & that’s hella cheesy for him to think so it’s probably why he calls her demon instead. he likes that she has many interests because she always has something new to tell him and she knows a little abt everything so when they go out n she explains something to him he feels proud ???? and impressed and smitten ?? and not the usual annoyed bc she talks abt things a lot cuter and with less pretense than namjoon does when he’s being a know it all. but he doesn’t feel like y/n is a know it all. she’s just a sharer !!!! she wants to share everything w yoongi from random facts abt soccer or art or the extensive n complicated backstory of the band gorillaz & she gets excited about it and yoongi LOVES it !!!! he loves that when she’s excited the first thing she thinks abt is telling him so he can be excited too and he loves that he doesn’t have to guess what she’s thinking or feeling bc she tells him everything. she doesn’t hide from him and so he feels like he can’t hide from her and pushes himself to be more honest and open and it’s so relieving to finally be able to fully share himself w someone !!! the only thing that takes years off his life is that yoongi is like 90% of y/n’s impulse control (i think u could tell that in a few texts) lmao

custard bread couple things:

side characters - custard bread lady. y/n’s best friend sooyoung who has a very straightforward and ~jeongguk like personality.

reoccurring themes: custard bread, stop saving his fansite pics, love is demonic possession lmfao, RILAKKUMA VS KUMAMON, this face ;( 

nicknames:  brat (he calls y/n this usually followed by ;( ) demon (they call each other this lmfao) yoongz (y/n calls him this) mim moomgi (y/n calls him this)

how they met custard bread lady:

it was predating. yoongi was walking y/n to work one morning (which….. he’d rather be sleeping but he wouldn’t be able to see her for a week after that so he decided to milk all the time he had) n they decided to stop @ custard bread lady’s shop bc it was open and on the route 2 y/n’s job so it seemed pretty convenient (they had never been there before) n the plan was to get yoongi’s black coffee & y/n’s hot chocolate n get out of there within 5mins which seems like a reasonable plan but little did they know a middle aged man from h e l l would be the customer ahead of them. & every time yoongi tells this story he swears this man must’ve had zero concept of the coffee making process bc he was like ridiculously offended that he’d have to wait a few minutes for his coffee n completely yelling @ custard bread lady for no reason which was……….delaying the production of his coffee even further. n y/n wanted to step in so bad yoongi could see it all over her face she wanted 2 straight falcon punch this middle aged dude all the way to whatever sad desk job he has for disrespecting the god they would come 2 know as custard bread lady. but he knows her. she’s too high maintence for prison.  so yoongi rolls his eyes and very loudly says “just go buy a bottled coffee from f*cking starbucks if ur really in that much of a hurry” and the man turns around like what did u say u punk. who do u think you’re talking to. and yoongi has decided to just completely pretend like he didn’t say anything bc if u dont give demons like this attention they’ll eventually go away so he takes the opportunity 2 step up to the counter n is like “can we have a black coffee n hot chocolate pls we’re prepared 2 wait as long as u need” n custard bread lady is so confused bc the man is like still yelling @ yoongi (who is holding tightly onto y/n so she doesnt turn around like “HE SAIIIIIIIID JUST GO BUY A BOTTLED COFFEE FROM F*C—”) so custard bread lady prepares their order n the guy is yelling @ yoongi who is now scrolling through twitter on his phone & taking mental note of all the new curse words he’s learned from this man and eventually that dude leaves (not without threatening to find yoongi later) and custard bread lady is relieved that he’s gone & is thanking them like they’re some kind of heroes & they’re like we literally didnt do anything @ all. but she’s appreciative anyway n throws in free bread w/ their order and unknowingly changed their lives n taste buds 4ever 🍞

face claim:

gfriend eunha

(idk if these are technically face claims bc i rarely show their faces ! i just like 2 use the same girl for one member to keep the texts consistent & unique 2 them)

S E O K J I N - ajae couple

how they met: 

they met @ uni !!! seokjin is hardly ever on campus (he’s a v busy man) so he was super super lost n confused trying to find a restroom one day. and while he was wandering through the halls he saw y/n carrying a 50 ft stack (an exaggeration) of coloring books (there’s a reason ehehheh) and even tho his bladder was abt 2 explode he ran over to help her bc it really looked like she’d fall over if a spec of dust landed on top of them. but being suddenly approached by a tall n broad (n handsome) guy startled y/n so s he fell over anyway. and seokjin laughed his rly rly loud goofy laugh as he picked up the coloring books surrounding her and made a rly cheesy  "wow i didn’t think you’d fall for me this quickly"  joke & @ first y/n was completely appalled but then she realized he wasn’t laughing at her he was laughing at his own joke lmao !!!! not everyone is as confident n open as seokjin he has no problem talking 2 ppl but it was kind of not the case for y/n she didn’t rly know what to say or do so he did abt 90% of the talking as he carried the coloring books (he didn’t ask abt them) to wherever they needed to go n y/n did abt 100% of the laughing bc seokjin held back a little not wanting 2 overwhelm her and because he rly liked hearing her laugh for some reason. so they get 2 where y/n needs to go n seokjin puts everything down n jokingly asks if there’s a 50ft stack of colored pencils that he also needs to bring in n she laughs again so he’s satisfied n decides to quit while he’s ahead. before he leaves he asks 4 her number and also directions to the nearest restroom !!!!!!! 

backstory: seokjin’s y/n

she wants to be a teacher. a kindergarten or elementary school teacher❗️👩🏻‍🏫 she’s like a teaching assistant rn n she’s almoooooooost finished w school !!!! i think what she wants 2 do says a lot abt her personality. very patient very kind & gentle !!!!!! and will indulge in ~childish things like games the way seokjin does !!! but i don’t think she’s as outgoing as him she’s more introverted n shy !!!! she’s the oldest in her family n has 2-3 younger siblings so i think that’s part of the reason why she wants to work w kids so much bc she’s good w them and she loves interacting w them and she has more patience than others do so she’s rly good @ taking the time to understand them…………and seokjin lmao. she listens to him like genuinely listens & appreciates what he has to say and it rly means a lot to him bc there’s certain times when he feels under appreciated or like his voice doesn’t matter but she takes him 100% seriously. she encourages all the silly behavior he’s usually told to suppress bc that’s his charm !! and she thinks he’s sincerely funny and cute and interesting and smart. and tbh most people don’t rly remember that seokjin is his family’s maknae and being the oldest of 7 dudes was probably hard to adjust to !!! they talk abt cooking & baking !! it’s usually seokjin leading and y/n assisting but she’s the one who finds the recipes and stuff n gets so excited bc “omg seokjin is gonna LOVE this !!!!!” and tbh she’s so soft for seokjin he still flusters her a lot even tho they’ve been together for a while so whenever she calls him handsome or cute it’s not bc she knows he wants to hear it but bc she’s still like so in awe of him n probably won’t ever stop. family is so important to her & hers really ADORES seokjin like she mentioned how much her mom loves and brags abt him & that makes her so happy ! n it makes him happy too bc he fits right in & he feels like he belongs ! @ the beginning seokjin was rly worried about scaring her off bc she seemed so shy and stuff and he didn’t wanna overwhelm her but they both got comfortable super quickly bc seokjin is such an easy person to be around and once she started opening up he brought out his full personality. and it’s feels so nice to be himself and have someone w/ common interests and someone he can talk to without feeling like he’s whining. he loves her a lot like rly rly rly loves her n is willing to put aside his pride & admit that she might be the most beautiful person on this planet. he loves to take photos of her when they’re out eating n stuff n it makes her shy but he just like loves looking at her and probably spends most of the day remembering her face. but he also loves like how good she is !! like just a genuinely good person w a pure heart and he thinks it’s so cute that all the games she plays are like super mellow nintendo games like animal crossing !!! he probably bought the game too just so he could give her the fruit from his town and bury bells outside of her house. omg he probably screams when he shakes a tree and bees start chasing him and y/n thinks it’s so cute & funny to watch him panic n then complain abt his character’s visual being compromised bc of the stings. tbh they’d be THAT family that has like a yt account where seokjin uploads vids of him & his son’s mario maker map or snack reviews and u can hear y/n laughing in the background as she’s filming. good & pure.

ajae couple things:

reoccurring themes: cooking, food, video games.

face claim:

red velvet irene

J E O N G G U K - choke slam couple

how they met:

these 2 frogs met outside a convenience store lmao !!!! u know those claw game machines where u spend like a billion quarters just to fail @ winning a plushie 50 consecutive times ??? that’s what guk was doing. mingyu made the mistake of saying those things were impossible and of course guk had to prove him wrong. honestly @ the time he didn’t even know why he had so many quarters in his wallet but he’d later find out that it was one of taehyung’s weird pranks that he’ll forever be grateful for because y/n who was eating her convenience store ramen very very slowly had been watching him lose to the machine 7 times in a row and tbh it was so f*vkifng funny to her and watching the rly cute guy getting scammed by a machine had made her forget abt the mental breakdown she had bc of exams 1hr earlier. so she stuffed her snacks in her backpack n watched him fail just once more before sauntering over as he turned to complain to his friend. y/n smiled n said hey as she put 2 quarters into the machine & guk turned around v v v startled but his surprised rounded eyes soon filled w/ awe ? admiration ? worship ? as y/n managed to successfully capture a plushie within 4 seconds n then slid it into the large pocket of his hoodie after she pulled it out of the slot. but guk couldn’t do much 2 respond bc what tf a goddess was standing in front of him??! this divine and hot as hell supreme being who conquered the cursed claw machine in 1 shot. so y/n taught him the secret to beat the game and mingyu had excused himself after the pair had won two more plushies together and guk didn’t even feel bad that he had forgotten that his friend was there bc this really really interesting convenience store girl was leaning over his shoulder n coaching him as he went for the doramon plushie and her hair smelt like strawberries. when he walked her back to her dorm there were 3 plushies in the pocket of his hoodie, one in his actual hood, 3 in y/n’s backpack and one in her arms.

backstory: jeongguk’s y/n

a student !!! she’s a 1st yr university student. she kinda reflects where guk might be if he was a ~normal dude. i think that’s why the way they met is kinda important bc it was 2 ppl the same age @ the same place @ the same time but @ two completely diff places in life & feeling completely diff emotions. she grew up in a competitive environment bc her dad is a taekwondo instructor and her brother is a well decorated like student athlete type of thing in that sport. omg so she spent a lot of time there and idk why i gave her a tiny bit of sad story but she lived most of her life w/o her mom so it’s always been her & her dad & brother like eating take out n watching sports together @ home and that was more than enough 4 her. only her & yoongi’s y/n & hoseok’s y/n seem to be genuinely interested in idol groups and for her i think it’s bc she rly turned to girl group members for her female role models n stuff !!!!! she’s living away from her dad & brother for university & that’s probably why she was having a hard time that night they met. and bc guk knows she’s alone he gives her a lot of attention (in f2l texts he always wanted to talk on the phone or FaceTime even tho they weren’t together yet & he talked abt how he loves being w her even tho sometimes he’s just keeping her company while she studies) guk’s y/n is smart and witty and confident and guk really really really thinks she’s wonder woman or something. in his eyes she can do ANYTHING they joke a loooooot and roast each other a looooooooot but he truly believes she’s the most capable person in the world and he thinks super super super highly of her. she’s funny and dependable and ambitious and understanding and she respects the creative direction of his dubsmash vids lmao. bc they joke around so much guk always takes the time to let her know how much he cares abt her so she doesn’t miss understand. like in the christmas texts and valentine’s texts he’s one of the only members 2 rly pour out his feelings bc he makes sure to put in the effort during special days. y/n sometimes tells him that he doesn’t need to bc she knows without him having to say it and she doesn’t want him to feel pressured but he thinks it’s really important that she hears it from him. it’s a real concern for him he’s mentioned it a few times that his instinct is to show affection through teasing her & memes but that’s bc he was scared of the vulnerability @ first but now he’s a self proclaimed Emo™ and let’s her know that she’s loved by him. their personalities are really really similar so they understand each other easily but are different enough that they compliment each other well and are literally each other’s partner in crime (they talk abt how much trouble they get into). idk if any of u watch running man but there’s this episode when haha’s wife guest stars and they’re paired as a team and the dynamic is sooooooo guk & y/n bc even tho they’re competitive and she’s yelling @ him to endure just a little bit longer so they can win the challenge she’s still being like affectionate n like calling him pet names while coaching him and after he gets eliminated from another challenge and it’s her turn he does the same for her and they won the show that day by like playing to the other teams weaknesses and gassing each other up @ the same time omg & the last challenge was something romantic like they had to both pick a random floor of the building to meet on and if they chose the same one then they’d win and they both picked their anniversary and won & it was so funny & cute bc they were like screaming. and that’s how guk & y/n are. partners in crime but @ the end of the day Emos In Luv.

choke slam couple things:

reoccurring characters: wonwoo from seventeen. uyoo the dog. y/n’s best friend yerin. the napkin lady from the convenience store (who hates them very much).

reoccurring themes: kermit memes / frogs, RIPPED (as in everything he raises [kids…….or puppies] will be ripped like him), jeon jeongguk vs jeon wonwoo, getting banned from places, choke slams

nicknames: frog girl (he calls y/n this because he claims that she looks like a kermit the frog meme) babe (usually it’s hot babe lmfao and he never calls y/n this directly only when he’s talking abt her……..to her?) 

face claim:

red velvet joy

J I M I N - snow couple

how they met: 

they met…………@ the dmv hehehehehehh! jimin can’t drive yet but he really really wants to and in korea u gotta take one written test n two driving tests. mini is there for the first driving test n he’s sosososo nervous bc if he fails this he really won’t hear the end of it from the others……….especially jeon jeongguk. he’s gone over the procedure abt a thousand times in his head and he’s convinced that he’s ready but then the small waiting room door opens and in walks y/n dressed in all white & her hair in pretty bun (she looks like she has v important plans after this) and she’s reading the driving manual they gave him after his written test and jimin is surprised bc he for sure thought he’d get celeb privilege n take the test alone (plus its early morning who else would be here). y/n sits beside him and notices he’s not studying @ all so she’s like hey wanna share my book !!!! and omg shy jimin is like o….kay…….sure as she scoots closer to him. n jimin pretends to read the left page but rly he’s looking @ her through his peripheral n listening to her whisper the ~important things on the right page to herself and it’s kinda calming but also making him incredibly nervous. n when y/n notices he’s totally not reading she closes the book and introduces herself and jimin (v shyly) does the same n she tells him that she thinks she has a 3% chance of passing considering that her brother has been teaching her & it took him 3 tries to get his license n mini laughs @ this and says that he has a 5% chance of passing because bc he only studied last night and exactly 0 ppl have been teaching him how to drive. so they go out to take their tests and jimin cheers for y/n and she fails n y/n cheers for jimin & he fails but it’s ok and jimin’s like “it looked like u were playing v bad gta” n y/n’s like “well u looked like u were 8th place in mariokart” and while the instructor went to schedule another test for them they were talking abt the teasing they’d get from their friends n jimin was describing guk like an elementary school bully & y/n was like “ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ he’s probably just jealous bc ur more handsome than he is” & jimin was gooooooone

backstory: jimin’s y/n

wow a BIG CUTIE a real flower girl like if jimin was born a girl he might be the cute n small n secretly devilish y/n !!! i imagine her parents to be business people or at least someone mildly important bc she always maintains a clean appearance (like even when they met early in the morning @ the dmv jimin made note of how well put together she looked)  and i think she likes that image and so does jimin bc he always feels like he’s meeting up w a princess (except on their secret shinee nights……..that’s strictly business) they can relate to each other in that sense bc even though they’re both very much themselves most of the time there’s still pressure to maintain a certain image in the back of their mind n i think that’s why they clicked right away when they met bc as soon as they stopped pretending to study and joked abt how unprepared they were it instantly became so comfortable. they can admit their faults & insecurities to each other w/o dwelling on it so it’s rly rly rly refreshing n jimin always feels like he’s floating on a cloud when he’s with y/n. she adores him really really adores him so much and i think it’s obvious (even tho she teases him bc his reactions are so cute) bc everything reminds her of him ! jimin has said that she thinks everything small and round looks like him  but i really think it’s bc having tiny jimin’s around when she misses him gives her some comfort !!! i don’t think he’s caught on yet bc he still has a hard time comprehending that someone likes him that much & reciprocates his feelings & attachment 100%. she’s the most insecure abt her bf being around so many beautiful ppl !!! n it’s not even that bad like she only ever mentions one group and the only reason it makes her uncomfortable is bc jimin has talked abt them before and jimin is the best guy in the world 2 her so there’s small feelings of “ah am i good enough for him?” but she usually fights those thoughts off. they have so much fun together & they love meeting up outside bc being cooped up is not what they’re abt !!!! but omg jimin is so determined not to waste any opportunity to spend time w her that he sometimes meets up when he’s v exhausted and ends up falling asleep while they’re out (it’s happened twice in daily texts hehe) and y/n doesn’t mind bc she thinks he’s cute even tho it hurts her that he works himself so hard !!! but she’s okay w/ looking after him while he sleeps bc at least she knows for sure that he’s resting. jimin adores her just as much !!! he thinks she’s so funny & amazing & cute & smart and they’re always giggling abt something or talking abt something excitingly but even if they aren’t doing much like if he’s just resting on her lap before he has to leave for a schedule he still feels like he’s on a high. and nothing makes him happier than checking his phone after a super long day n seeing a bunch of goodnight selcas and msgs~ and he appreciates that she feels the need to take care of him bc she’s never really had to take care of anyone before (she's family maknae) and that must mean that he’s rly dear to her so holds that special feeling and takes it with him wherever he goes~

snow couple things:

reoccurring themes: snow app thirst traps, secret shinee thing, apeach, tiny………..park jimin………tears………..

nicknames: mini (y/n calls him this)

what is the secret shinee thing:

okay the secret shinee thing is a………….game? a competition? initially meant to be a stress reliever but it got way too competitive and complicated over time lmfao okay it’s like competitive noraebang + chubby bunny + other special rules !!!!! so the other person picks a shinee song (member solos are allowed too but usually saved for the final round) for you and u have to sing it with 2 marshmallows in your mouth and during a specific members part you have to dance too. and there’s a banned word that u can’t say & u get 5 points deducted from ur score every time u say it and every time u forget to dance. so u have to try to get a high score despite all the challenges and whoever has the highest combined score @ the end wins. okok for example if mini was choosing for you he’d say something like

 ring ding dong 

 jonghyun

 banned word: butterfly  

and okay if ur score was like 89 but u said butterfly once and forgot to dance once during jjong’s part then ur score would be 79. & if u were picking for mini you’d say something like

taemin 

danger

banned word: stay

and the loser has to do like a full game of chubby bunny (i’m imagining jimin rn and dyyyyying) + buy dinner + something embarrassing that the other person gets 2 chose :p

the reason they don’t want anyone to know abt it is because 1. it’s their special game n they’re worried their friends (taehyungandgukbutudidn’thearthatfromthem) might try to take it over 2. they rly look SO ridiculous while playing 3. jimin is actually friends w/ shinee (taemin) and if they found out abt this he’d be mortified 4. they take the competition too seriously heheh :p

face claim:

gfriend yerin

N A M J O O N - aesthetic couple

how they met: 

omg they met on set !!!! namjoon is super super super super super super lucky that someone else was sick n y/n was sent to the photo shoot instead. longest photo shoot of his life honestly bc he was hung up on her as soon as she wheeled a rack of clothes past him w/o even looking his way. and he couldn’t help but stare as he was getting his hair done and his eyeliner applied and completely ignoring whatever yoongi was complaining about this time bc the peach tones of her outfit n make up n aura were too captivating & his mind couldn’t rly be bothered to focus elsewhere. and y/n totally knew that he had been staring @ her the entire time bc hello this is y/n she’s always 2 steps ahead of namjoon (which he loves bc he’s always been @ the top of whatever he does he’s never had 2 play catch up before) n so she continued to avoid his eyes as she smoothed out the collar of his shirt & joon was holding his breath bc her perfume that he recognized was really the icing on top of the cake. y/n smiled when he was finally styled to her liking and said “you know my sister likes bangtan. she talks abt jimin 24/7, but i’m more into rappers” joon finally woke up as she was walking away and he shouted out a v awkward “ur wearing chanel no5!!!” and y/n laughed @ his clumsy + cute attempt to impress her. n the fact that she was the smooth one during their first meeting still kills joon 2 this day.

backstory: namjoon’s y/n

she’s a stylist —but not all the way up there yet she mostly does styling for photo shoots n doesn’t have like a person or team she exclusively styles for at the moment but she’d rly like one. she’s interested in design & that would be like a dream come tru and namjoon fully believes in her bc she is so unique & brilliant & pretty much other worldly (in a good way) to him that he knows whatever she creates is gonna be good. she’s like namjoon in that she wants to be cultured ! and has probably studied like foreign language (they talked abt english lessons) or art history or some other interesting thing bc she’s always looking for inspiration. she has a younger sister who loves bangtan (her fave member is jimin) & hates namjoon bc of an incident that happened the first time she met him heheheh her dad is a professor n her mom works very hard to raise the family ! n they’re very well mannered n always had high standards for their daughters n even though they’re not authoritarian style parents y/n & her sister always felt like they had to maintain a certain image. so y/n carries herself w/ a lot of grace & namjoon loves it bc he’s (life threateningly) clumsy. @ the beginning he thought that he was way more into her than she was into him but i think we can all tell from the texts that she rly thinks namjoon is the hottest man alive lmao :p and tbh she finds him rly cute & charming especially the quirky way he dresses & the way he smiles w his entire face & the way he needs to fact check everything !!!!! & she really loves that he’s interested in fashion & supports her work bc she loves sharing each other’s opinions of clothes. they rly are the soulmate couple to me bc even their different interests are similar interests like. they go to record shops/cafes because namjoon likes to find weird english music and she likes to look @ the album art & they have this habit of turning two different things into one common thing. kinda like a puzzle. and that’s why i think they were meant for each other. she’s so openly into him like 24/7 and he pretends to be nonchalant but it flusters him & he loves it but he does his best to act ~smooth. it’s also super good & healthy bc he never feels insecure in the relationship and in return he tries his best to treat her like an actual goddess which she has fun w/ sometimes (the pic of him tying her shoes lmao) but they both receive back the love n attention they give ! it’s a rly good balance. y/n has also mentioned being close w/ namjoon’s mom a couple of times now and he loves it bc he’s such a momma’s boi but sometimes he feels like they just get together over tea and compare notes 📝 bc he’ll get calls from his mom like “you broke her sister’s arm !!!!!!!” or texts from y/n like “i can’t believe it took u 2 days 4hrs and 17 minutes to call your mom back, kim namjoon” lmao they just get each other and are so comfortable w/ each other namjoon can lay his head in her lap and talk abt alternate universes for 3 hours n she’ll let him get all of his thoughts out & he listens to her talk extensively abt the different shades of red. they’re each other’s best friend, personal photographer, #1 fan etc etc. just a good n healthy relationship

aesthetic couple things:

reoccurring characters:  y/n’s sister who hates namjoon. y/n’s best friend seungwan.

reoccurring themes: selfie wars, when will y/n’s sister stop hating him?, ryan, mildly suggestive texts. 

nicknames: baby (he calls y/n this)

why does y/n’s sister hate namjoon:

he broke her arm lmaoooooooooooo ! accidentally ofc ! it was the first time y/n was introducing her to him n she was very very worried bc her sister is a fan of bangtan n had high expectations that he’d be the person fans thought he was. so namjoon gave 2 of the tickets that are reserved for his friends & family to y/n  and her sister and they were gonna meet for the first time after the show n probably eat w his parents or something. at least that was the plan. so everything is over and they’re backstage looking for namjoon & y/n goes to the restroom bc um…….their concerts are like 3hrs long friends. and while she’s waiting y/n’s sister spots namjoon n like naturally she gets v excited bc she’s a fan and stuff n she forgets that she’d recognize him even tho he probably wouldn’t recognize her and she reaches her arm out as he passes to say like��“yo my sister is in here” bc he looks like he’s trying to call her on his phone but instead it comes out as a loud n excited HEY !!!! and namjoon looks up 2 see a teenage girl reaching towards him n shouting n wearing the tour merch so he jumps to a very bad conclusion n assumes she’s like a sasaeng or something n gets scared n freaks out lmfao he like pushes his arms out to keep her away n this catches her off guard and she stumbles back n loses her footing n falls v awkwardly n suddenly starts yelling y/n’s name (it all happened v fast they both didn’t have time to react) and namjoon finally recognizes the familiar features and puts 2 n 2 together and hes like oh……………………….shit… and y/n comes out of the restroom and sees her sister on the ground looking livid and namjoon standing in front of her looking like he just signed a deal w/ sweet death and she also says oh……………………shit…and after many bribes including getting jimin to sign her cast she still hates him.

face claim:

apink naeun

T A E H Y U N G - soft couple

how they met: 

they met at noraebang late one night omg !!!! taehyung was there w jimin and we know tae doesn’t drink but y/n truly thought he was drunk outta his mind when she walked into the wrong room n found him singing (yelling) and dancing to gee by snsd. jimin was so embarrassed (even tho he wasn’t the one trying to hit taeyeon’s high notes) and just looked @ the doorway mortified but tae didn’t care n offered y/n the microphone as he continued to follow along to the choreography as best as he could. and of course he gained a duet partner bc y/n was smitten as soon as she saw the pure (non intoxicated heheheh) excitement in his eyes :b y/n forgot abt the friends she was supposed to meet there and stayed with the 95z until their hour was up. tae made jimin pretend to be hungry so he had an excuse to hang out w y/n some more and invited her to mcdonalds w them and he kept sneaking peaks at her as they walked the two blocks bc he honestly was convinced she was an angel n now that he wasn’t being filtered by the multicolored lights of the noraebang room he felt a lil shy and ofc jimin noticed this right away and would giggle whenever taehyung’s eyes would go wide when y/n spoke to him and when he stuttered out her order to the cashier !!!! so mini had his fun bc he knew that would be the last time he’d ever hang out w them n not feel like a third wheel

backstory: taehyung’s y/n

if u asked taehyung abt y/n he would tell you that she’s an angel. an angel that has been sent down from heaven to love n protect him. she’s everything an angel would be: kind and caring and sweet and open and loving. she let’s tae be tae and that’s a v important thing !!! often he gets kinda scolded for behaving too ~weirdly or they tell him not to act so freely when they’re on broadcast but that’s never the case w y/n. he’s never heard those things from her. she accepts everything he shares & treats everything so specially n like it’s the most brilliant idea in the world. whenever he’s super excited texting her abt things she never shuts him down or refuses to play along she always joins in just as excited & encourages him to express his creativity and so he always feels super good & confident & he’s never worried that she’ll think he’s strange. and tbh it’s not like she goes out of her way to baby taehyung, that’s just who she is as a person. like when they first met & she didn’t turn around and walk out the door but rather joined in on the fun he was having w/o missing a beat !!!!! she’s just naturally rly open & accepting & fun so he doesn’t feel like she puts up w/ him out of sympathy or whatever. he knows it’s genuine & that she TRULY does think his thoughts and opinions are smart & unique & interesting & she really does fully trust him. and that’s why he think she’s his angel and he’s always reiterating his appreciation for her n complimenting her n making sure that she never doubts the pure love he has for her. she’s an only child and bc of that she’s very sociable and has a lot of friends and obvi has no problems starting conversations w strangers heheh. and she’s also a student like guk’s y/n (i see her doing something w medicine like studying to be a pediatric nurse or something n i can already imagine taehyung shouting nurse wifey !!!!!! when he gets a paper cut) and i think she puts a lot of pressure on herself to succeed in school & worries a lot more than he does in general & she doesn’t rly have to talk about it for taehyung to recognize it so he’s ALWAYS alwaaaaays talking abt her positive qualities bc he never wants her feeling insecure & he mentions how he’ll always be there to love & support her no matter what’s going on in her life bc like he said he loves her when she’s sad happy hungry sleepy thirsty sneezy but especially SAD bc that’s when she needs him most. they’re rly soft and pure omg everything they do is so cute like the couple items? scream. most of it is taehyung’s idea bc he’s excited to be in love and he wants everyone to know !!!!! even though he technically can’t let anyone know & that’s part of why he dotes on her so much too. this is a 2 way angel street. he’s her angel too and she feels it all the time !!!! there’s always a happy guy around that brings out the best in her !!!! n she loves the spontaneity that taehyung brings into her life bc they try a lot of new things !!!!! but still keep some regular things like they’re always eating mcdonald’s lmao (pls help these kids) and they don’t feel the need to go out as often the way jimin’s couple does. they stay in a lot and cuddle up and that’s just as exciting to them bc they have big imaginations and a lot 2 talk abt. they don’t stay mad @ each other bc theyre bother very forgiving n understanding n bc their fights are never fights like they both are very thoughtful ppl they’d never do things like forget an anniversary or say something hurtful that they don’t mean. bc that’s not who they are as ppl (esp in the relationship) taehyung’s jealousy is very small n usually half serious ! bc everyone likes her (like everyone likes taehyung)! from grandmas they meet when they’re out to kids in her neighborhood to her professors to his members (especially guk but it’s only in a noona - dongsaeng way & he mostly just feeds her & the other gfs info on tae/the other boys) so he gets nervous but she always thinks it’s cute and reassures him !!! there’s lots of communication n support n gassing each other up !!!! as expected from angels !!!!!

soft couple things:

reoccurring themes: uses dog pics to represent himself, this couple doodles a lot, tae uses bullet points / report style when he’s trying to make a point without being too serious (ex: missing person report when ur sad, recipe when he’s jealous), emojis, boyfriend daesang, soft memes

nicknames: wifey (he calls y/n this)

face claim:

red velvet seulgi

H O S E O K - best couple

how they met: 

they met @ the hospital when hoseok was a handful of months old and y/n was a handful of hours! n there’s not much to say abt that initial encounter but their moms are best friends n they grew up together u know. hoseok would cry whenever he fell n scraped his knee & y/n would tell him she loved him n did her best to distract his thoughts as she placed a band aid over the wound. when her parents didn’t get her the doll castle she wanted for her bday hoseok ran home n gathered up all his legos to build one for her. n so they lived w that kind of dynamic (being each other’s knight in shining armor) for a long time n they loved it u know and they could admit that to themselves and to others but as they grew older they would never admit that they ~more than platonic~ loved each other bc “best friends don’t do that”. so hoseok would sit on the edge of y/n’s desk w his arms crossed n his tongue digging into the side of his cheek as another one of their classmates attempted a horribly thought out confession and instead of direct rejection y/n would ramble on abt what a perfect guy shinee’s taemin was. hoseok still instinctively scoffs whenever he hears replay. it wasn’t easy 4 y/n either bc her bff hoseokie whom she had to quickly change the channel for when horror movie ads came on was suddenly this handsome godly dancer n she had to wash her hands for an uncomfortable amount of time as she eavesdropped on the other girls in the restroom gushing over how hot her best friend was and struggled to deal w the fact that she thought the same.

backstory: hoseok’s y/n

we know a little bit abt y/n’s backstory bc hoseok & y/n mention their childhood a lot. like we know that he’s her best friend and that their moms are best friends and we know that she hasn’t loved anyone besides hoseok (except for shinee’s taemin) she’s basically hoseok sunshine but…………w/ a twist. hoseok is a capri sun & she’s lemonade. she’s rly rly sweet but wow if u even look @ hoseok the wrong way ur dead SO DEAD. but hoseok usually talks her out of being confrontational so u’ll probably just get hit w/ the double stink eye from them. to me she’s got an office job !!!! like she’s the mischievous graduate assistant n probably maknae of the office so she’s well loved but has to do things like run to the store n buy pringles for her coworkers when they’re working overtime and the stereotypic coffee run thing~ she brings a lot of joy to the older employees the way hoseok brings a lot of joy to his members & team so they never work her too hard. i think it’s a v comfortable job for y/n & it’s nice to have kind of a ~controlled environment. the beginning of their relationship was a mix of easy & awkward bc even tho it’s what they both wanted for a long time it was still like…….suddenly ur making out w/ ur best friend what the heck is going on. but after that it was so natural !!!! they know each other’s personalities so well that they’re never confused abt what the other needs !!!! tbh everyone was waiting for this to happen. like their moms have been dreaming abt a wedding for years and yoongi + guk had a bet going on and guk lost bc yoongi did some instigating hehehehh. y/n is so friendly & charming & they’ve known her for as long as they’ve known hoseok so they all like her for him bc she’s absolutely his #1 fan. y/n i think worries the least abt his schedule and not seeing him for a bit bc she’s already experienced it as his best friend and if anything it’s easier now bc she knows he’s ~hers. and if she is missing him he’s rly good @ making himself available to her so things get sorted out pretty quickly ! she rly rly rly cares abt him and wants to protect him bc he’s the best person she knows and so like that’s why she gets so worked up even if someone says they don’t like bngtn lmao & she rly cares abt his feelings like they mentioned that she was a fan of taemin when they were in school but ever since she found out it slightly bothered hoseok (f2l texts) she never mentions it (the way guk’s y/n does. not that she doesn’t care abt guk’s feelings. they’re just 2 v diff boys) !!!!!! she’s always giving him compliments and trying to make him feel good she doesn’t want him to feel insecure. hoseok rly loves her bc he truly feels like he has a person in this world who understands him 100% and he never feels like his personality is too much or too little when he’s with her. everything feels perfect & familiar & it’s like his heart’s home is w/ her and not w him.

best couple things:

reoccurring themes: my mom told ur mom to tell me to tell you / family events  (basically all stuff implying that they were childhood bffs turned Best Couple), lee taemin

face claim:

red velvet wendy

[sanguine-fairy]

Your Lightning in January Chapter Three

A/N: SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! Here is chapter three! You can read chapter two here. I’d like to give a big shoutout to @miss-zei for helping me write this and for the constant encouragement. You’re the best. I hope you guys enjoy this. Chapter four will not take as long as this one did xD

Things were surprisingly normal between the two of them. For some reason, Laxus had it in his head that they would have to worry about a sort of awkwardness. Lucy had asked him to a dance! How much more awkward could it get?

But things weren’t awkward. Lucy continued to smile and talk with him in the same way that she always had, it didn’t appear as though she’d been affected too much by the whole ordeal. Or even at all, for that matter.

Even as they sat together during lunch, Lucy happily spoke of a lab that had gone horribly wrong during her last class. Apparently, her lab partner had accidentally added a bit too much of some kind of chemical that he couldn’t pronounce and the whole south side of the school wound up smelling like a mix of rotten eggs and spoiled milk.

While the rest of her class had been completely disgusted and mortified, Lucy had found the whole situation to be quite humorous. That much was clear in the way that she could barely contain her giggles as she struggled to get the whole story out for Laxus.

“You should have seen the way everybody was diving for the door that leads outside, even the teacher was pushing kids aside to get out there.” Lucy wiped away tears that had formed in response to her fit of laughter, she sighed. A perfect sound of contentment that made Laxus smile a bit.

“I can’t say I’m a fan of rotten food smells.” That and, Laxus enjoyed hearing Lucy talk so much, he wasn’t sure he was willing to have experienced that story any other way. Her voice was just so soothing, he felt a little bit like a creep for enjoying it so much. But of course, he couldn't really help it.

The way she weaved herself into his life so intricately right under his nose went against everything that was drilled into him by his father. Don’t get attached. Well… it’s too late for that. Much too late. His father never warned him about blonde haired angels who come barreling into your life like a hurricane of sass and laughter. He wasn’t quite sure what these feelings were, but he knew it was too late to turn back.

“Laxus?” Lucy’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Huh? Oh yeah.” He attempted to play it off with a smile but the look on her face told him he wasn’t successful.

“Anyways, are you ready for the test in Fiore History tomorrow? I’ve studied all week and I still don’t feel confident in my knowledge.” Lucy said with a sigh.

“Wait, you’re in that class too?” There is no way that Laxus would have missed seeing her in that class. Lucy wouldn’t let him live it down if he did.

“Well, yeah! I have it later in the day than you, silly. All juniors have to take it.” Laxus felt his cheeks tinge in embarrassment. He should have known that.

“Oh, right. I haven’t really studied at all but I guess I should…” He trailed off. Why would she be bringing this up in the first place? She never showed any interest in his studies before. Lucy sighed again, this time almost expectantly, and then it hit him.

“Would you… uh, like to study? Together I mean. We could study at my house. If you wanted of course.” He cleared his throat nervously. Talk much?

Lucy’s face lit up as she smiled, putting the sun to shame. She never failed to be the brightest person in the room.

“Okay! I’ll come over after school and we can study together. Do you have any snacks? We’ll definitely need snacks,” Laxus shook his head no in reply, “okay that’s fine. We can stop by my house on the way to grab some. Oh! That’s the bell. I’ll see you after school.” With that, she skipped off through the cafeteria leaving Laxus smiling after her.

In class, Laxus had a hard time keeping his eyes off of the clock. Each second passed slower than the next. His excitement was definitely getting the best of him. He couldn’t remember the last time he had invited a friend over to his house, let alone a girl. He’d never been in a place long enough to make any friends to invite over. Laxus was headed into unknown territory and Lucy was leading the way.  For the first time in his life, he felt like a normal teenager. Whatever that meant, anyways.

Like most teenage boys, Laxus wasn’t much of a believer in fate. There was no solid evidence that things happened for a reason with those reasons being beyond any person’s control. But the more he thought about that first day at Magnolia high, the more he started to consider the possibility. Lucy couldn’t have been the only office aid in the school but she just so happened to be that morning. What if he had gotten to school twenty minutes later that day? Surely he wouldn’t currently be on the edge of his seat waiting for the last bell to ring because of a girl. He definitely wasn’t complaining.

It felt like a small fire had started in the pit of his stomach. He hadn’t noticed it before but he was sure sparks were flying that first morning. Each day it was like Lucy was adding kindling, piece by piece. It made him feel… alive. He’d spent most of his life not having much of a purpose. Eat. Sleep. Go to school. Don’t anger father. Repeat. It was a life without color, a life without heat. The only thing he truly cared about was music. But now, he found himself listening to music less and talking to Lucy more. He found himself wondering about Lucy’s day instead of how to get his hands on the limited edition Bowie vinyl. He even started wearing his headphones less whenever Lucy was around.

In the hallways at school, that was a different story. The end of the day had finally arrived and Laxus was eager to get to their usual meeting spot.

He wasn’t surprised to find her waiting for him. The teacher had kept the class a few minutes late in order to finish his lecture.  Laxus took a moment to admire the way that her golden hair fell over her shoulders, he was amazed that such unruly looking hair could appeal so much to him. It always seemed so soft and inviting.

It was then that she caught him. Her brown eyes lit up in that familiar way when her gaze landed on him and… was that a slight tinge of pink to her cheeks? No, it had to have been the early evening light playing tricks on him. She waved and he quickly lessened the gap between them.

“We shouldn’t have to stop by my house for too long, I actually just went to the store yesterday for some and haven’t even taken them out of the bags.” She smiled at that, as though enjoying a secret before she spun on her heel and gestured for him to follow along. “Really, I’ve got a ton. You’re going to have a whole selection to choose from. Chips, popcorn, chocolate, blueberries, strawberries… you name it, I probably got it.”

Laxus couldn’t help but chuckle at that, “Geez, you sound like a dealer.”

Lucy laughed before playfully shoving him. The force behind her effort was pitiable, though the blond just chalked it up to their sheer size differences. Though… he couldn’t help but think about how fragile she seemed. Even through her tough words and actions, it wouldn’t take a whole lot for her to break.

That thought scared him.

“Who knows, maybe I am a dealer.” Lucy stuck her tongue out at him before she laughed again and started to run, leaving Laxus in her wake.

The young man pursued the girl and let her win the unspoken race. She cheered the entire walk from her front gate to the front door that she unlocked with a golden key that she pulled out of her school bag. She stole a quick glance back at him before she pushed open the door.

The room was dark but Laxus could still make out what looked to be a large living room as he followed Lucy inside. His assumptions were confirmed as she flipped on the lights. The living room was filled with beautiful dark wood furniture that looked like it had never been used. Beyond the living room was an even more grand kitchen. Based on the two rooms he’s seen, the house was immaculate but it didn’t feel right. It felt… sterile.  He followed wide-eyed behind Lucy as she walked towards the kitchen.

“This place is… amazing.” He commented while still taking in the sight. The kitchen was so large, at least three times the size of his bedroom and he thought his bedroom was a decent size.

“Oh, this old place? My mom would love to hear that. She’s an interior decorator. She changes the decor at least once every couple of months. It’s a good thing my dad’s a doctor so he can afford it… even if that means he’s gone often.”  Laxus tore his eyes off of the decor to look at Lucy. Her words had been tinged with sadness, a sadness he knew all too well.

It shocked him, knowing that she might be struggling with a similar problem that had plagued him for as long as he could remember. He studied her face. She was smiling, like she always was. Her face was an impenetrable wall, not betraying her emotions like her voice just had. Maybe behind that smile, she was just as alone as he was

“I gotta grab all of the snacks and then we can head to your house.” She began to dig through the cupboards. “Oh, I forgot that we don’t have any things to drink here. Do you have anything at your place?” She didn’t bother turning around to hear his answer as she pulled random boxes and bags onto the counter.

Laxus tried to picture the contents of his fridge. “We have energy drinks… and some green tea stuff.”

“Anything without caffeine? I’m… not supposed to have caffeine.” She replied.

“Just water. Maybe some juice? I can’t remember for sure. How come you can’t have caffeine?” Lucy paused slightly at his question, contemplating her answer.

“Well-” Before she could finish her sentence the front door opened.

“Luuuuucy, I’m home! I got those drinks you asked for from the store. I hope I’m-- oh!” Lucy’s mom halted as she noticed Laxus standing in her kitchen. “Well, hello. Who is this tall, handsome  young man?”

Laxus felt his face heat under her curious gaze. Lucy was the spitting image of her mother. The long blonde hair, coffee brown eyes, the whole nine yards. If he didn’t already know any better, he would have thought they were sisters.

“Mom, this is Laxus.” She left her spot at the cupboard to envelope her mom in a tight hug. Laxus ignored the dull pang in his chest as he watched the embrace and gave them a nervous smile.

“You didn’t tell me you had such a handsome boyfriend, Lucy!” Her mother exclaimed when they released each other from the hug.

“Mom!” Lucy screeched, her face turning a bright shade of scarlet. “Don’t embarrass me in front of my friend!”

Her mom gave Laxus a knowing wink. “Okay, okay. I’ll leave the two of you alone. Be safe!” She dropped the groceries on the counter and rushed out of the kitchen before Lucy could complain.

Just like her daughter, Lucy’s mom came in and out of the room like a tornado, leaving Laxus wondering what the hell had just happened.

“Let’s get out of here before she comes back.” She handed him a bag full of snacks and grabbed the drinks before pushing him out of the house as fast as she could.

The walk to Laxus’ house was relaxed. Neither of them spoke much, they were both stuck in their heads. Laxus kept replaying Lucy’s mother’s words in his head. She had called him Lucy’s boyfriend. And lucy didn’t deny it directly, although she did call him her friend right afterward. The thought of being Lucy’s boyfriend warmed him… and scared him.

There was no guarantee that he’d still be in Magnolia in the next month but he couldn’t deny the magnetic pull he felt towards Lucy. He could see them being close for a long time, even after he moved on to a new city. One thing he knew for certain was that he’d never find another Lucy in any other city out there.

The moment his thought process switched from ‘don’t get attached’ to ‘enjoy it while it lasts’ could be pinpointed to that walk to his house. If he couldn’t control how much time he had left in Magnolia, he could at least control how he spent his time there. He wanted to spend it by Lucy’s side.

It was starting to get dark by the time they arrived at Laxus’ house, the winter sun making its leave for the moon earlier every day.  Seeing the even darker house, Laxus made a mental note to leave the porch light on when he left for school in the mornings. He fumbled the keys in his hands, dropping them once. The sudden wave of nervousness hadn’t hit him until the two of them were standing on his doorstep, but it hit him hard nonetheless. He was bringing a friend, let alone a girl, to his house for the first time. There would be no one home to chaperone. Just him and Lucy. Alone.

“You okay?” Lucy’s question managed to pierce through the silence and shock Laxus out of his sudden, yet near suffocating anxiety over having her over. He couldn’t help but chuckle a bit before sending her a reassuring smile and nod.

“Yeah, I guess I’m still getting used to the new set of keys.” Which wasn’t entirely false, he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to one set of keys.

With only a bit more fidgeting with his keys and then the door knob, he was soon letting themselves in. The first thing he did was smack the light switch that was on his left.

“The place is a bit of a mess,” he admitted sheepishly as the room lit up. There were still several boxes scattered around, he simply hadn’t felt motivated enough to unpack. He never really did. Laxus’ father certainly never had the time to do so himself.

“I don’t mind!” Lucy sang happily as she removed her shoes and carefully set them next to where Laxus had placed his own. “Maybe one of these days I can help you unpack, it might help liven the place up a bit! I definitely wouldn’t mind. I have always enjoyed moving things around, I guess my mother rubbed off on me in that aspect.” She giggled softly before she turned her gaze to him, “Where will we be studying?”

His nerves began acting up again at this question and he realized that he probably should have thought about this a little bit more before agreeing to study at his place.

“I… actually don’t have a desk or anything set up. The carpet in my room is pretty soft, but I’d understand if you’d rather not work on the floor.” The ‘kitchen table’ was really just a bar counter and he’d only saw the need to have one bar stool for it.

His life really was not shaped to fit another person in it.

“That's fine by me! I don’t mind at all, lead the way.” She smiled and Laxus attempted to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. What was wrong with him?

His bedroom was equally as bad as the living room had been. Boxes remained stacked up against the wall, only a few were open.

“Alright, show me the notes you’ve taken! We can compare and then talk a little bit about what we’re struggling with and figure out from there what we should do about it.” Lucy said, immediately kneeling down in the middle of the room as she swung her bag from off of her back and set it on the floor in front of her.

Laxus watched her with a chuckle before he did the same.

Usually, homework or studying were things that Laxus preferred to put off as long as possible. Often times this would result in a zero or two, although this was typically fine because of how skilled he was when it came to actually taking tests.

He’d be screwed if he were a bad test taker.

Though this… this wasn’t so bad. He probably wouldn’t even mind doing his homework if he could do it by her side every day. He wasn’t sure what made it so much better, perhaps the occasional brush of their shoulders as they worked.

She smelled nice.

Her overall presence would be enough to make even counting grains of sand enjoyable.

One hour passed and quickly turned into two, before he knew it… the clock struck eight.

“Geez… where did the time go?” Lucy laughed after having glanced at her phone to check the time, “I should really head home. My mom will throw a fit if I’m not home by the time she gets ready for bed.”

Laxus stood as the blonde did and he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I’ll walk you home.” Even though they’d see each other at school the next day, he didn’t want their time to end quite yet. He was enjoying her company outside of school too much.

“Okay!” Lucy replied as she gathered her notebooks back into her backpack.

She followed Laxus out of the house and into the chilly winter night. It had gotten considerably colder compared to the unusually warm winter day they had earlier and Lucy only had a light jacket to protect her from the bitter cold. Despite her attempts to hide it, Laxus could tell she was shivering. He’d never understand why girls never had warm enough jackets in the winter. It’s like they wanted to be cold or something. Or maybe…

“Are you cold?” Laxus asked the shivering blonde.

“N-no. I’m okay. My house is only a few blocks away anyways.” She replied, her breath creating white puffs of air in front of them.

“I can hear your teeth chattering from here. Why don’t you take my jacket?” He began to shrug off his long, fur-lined jacket.

“No! I don’t want to take your jacket. Then you’ll be cold!” She said, waving her hands in protest.

Laxus put the coat around her shoulders, “It’s only a few blocks anyways,” he teased, using her own words against her.

Lucy huffed in defeat but pulled the jacket tighter around herself, reveling in its warmth.

The rest of their walk was quiet. There was something about this silence that was different from their usual. Laxus couldn’t shake his hyper-awareness of Lucy walking next to him, wrapped in his jacket. Each time their shoulders would bump against each other, he’d lose track of what he was planning on saying to break the silence. She was walking closer than usual, Laxus thought. Soon Lucy’s house was in view and they hadn’t spoken a word since he lent her his jacket. Their night together was coming to its conclusion and he couldn’t let it end in silence.

However, just as he was opening his mouth… something unexpected happened. All of a sudden, mid-step, there was a softness thrown against him that completely took him by surprise.

The hug lasted only about three seconds, but he could have sworn it had stretched for an eternity as his brain struggled to comprehend what was happening. Before he could even return the hug, she was retreating. His jacket was thrown at him as she bid him goodnight and booked it the rest of the way home, her face hidden from his view.

Leaving a very shocked Laxus Dreyar in her wake.