#Yeah to cheer myself up i draw and doodle... It helps...

[greennoobartist]

Me: OH MY GOD IT'S 6PM AND I ALREADY FEEL DEAD!

TSoTT Blue: *carving* u know whats worse?

Me: ...*hesitantly* what?

TSoTT Blue: Its Monday

Me: *crashes down* ...f*ck you...

TSoTT Blue: ur welcome

[genesic-archives]

Nunnally's Halloween Ch 3-1: The Pumpkin Festival

This is the first section of the third chapter of 'Nunnally's Halloween'. This chapter shows the grand Halloween party that the group has been planning throughout this story.

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The story opens back up in the prepped festival hall lined to the brim with Halloween decorations.

Lelouch: N1, Kou, It’s time. 

Hong Yu: Oh, then let’s get it started. Alright everyone! MERRY HALLOWEEN! 

Al: No no, mix it up, mix it up. 

Hong Yu: Wait, don’t go. Anyways, thanks for coming! Let’s enjoy this party to the fullest! CHEERS!

The screen quickly flashes between all the characters standing next to a fellow ghost party member, with Nunnally beside the massive jack O' Lantern.

Al, Liu Ki, Nunnally, Gigi, Jack O’ Lantern and Ghosts!: CHEERS! 

We then cut to Lelouch in the Ashford school kitchen with a few helpers ghosts standing behind him.

Lelouch: Alright, we made it to the start of the party… P2, take this plate to Table 3. P1, go clean the second table. P5, go clean up the empty plates from the left. P9, don’t wander around. Monitor the doodle space properly. Hm… The food serving was delayed. P3 go follow P6.

Lelouch (internal monologue): (I never thought individuals from the ghost side would offer to help… Seems like my observation was correct.) 

We then cut back to Liu Ki and Hong Yu at the main festival hall.

Hong Yu: Isn’t this going great? Oh, this plate goes over here. 

Liu Ki: Lelouch is such a great cook. 

Hong Yu: It looks delicious. Just looking at it makes me hungry. We're also participants, so we can eat whenever we want.

Liu Ki: Even the ghosts are starting to eat right away… Wow, there are so many spicy dishes.

Hong Yu: Don’t do what you did last time. Ever since you ate spicy food a while ago, You’ve had some trouble with it. 

Liu Ki: Hey, brother! 

Hong Yu: Haha, my bad. With this communication device... I'm honestly surprised that I can hear Lelouch's voice from here.

Liu Ki: Ashford Academy supplies, right? That’s what they seem like. You better treat them with good care. 

A bit of static noise comes though.

Lelouch: N1, N2, this is no time for chitchat. There’s a glutton of a ghost over at table 9. I'll bring you the roast beef ahead of schedule.

Hong Yu: Oops, work comes first. Well then, let's go!

Liu Ki: Yup! 

The camera then fades to black to show Al next to a couple ghosts looking a little pensive.

Lelouch: P1, the glasses on Table 15 are empty. Please clear them immediately. P1? Can you hear me, AL! 

Al shudders a bit at Lelouch's yell.

Al: I can hear you. However, Lelouch! Aren’t you giving me too many instructions? 

Lelouch: After cleaning up the glasses, I'll refill the drinks at the drink server. Hurry up.

Al: Wait a second! Are you going to add anything else?! 

Lelouch: Hong Yu and Liu Ki are reliable, but since they lack modern knowledge, it takes time for them to understand instructions.Gigi and Nunnally are the moderators. With that in mind, you’re the only one left. 

Al: Still, with that being said-

Lelouch: ...Right now, I'm making all the dishes without taking any breaks while also checking on the situation at the entire venue. All by myself!

Al: I was being selfish. I’m really sorry. I’ll do my best… 

Lelouch: I’m thankful that you understand. 

Static pops through again as Al squeaks again in fear. We then cut to Gigi and Nunnally observing a few ghosts huddling close to the doodle board.

Gigi: Hold up, are those the ghosts that like graffiti? They're drawing as much as they can on the walls of the venue.

Nunnally: Heehee, seems like the ghosts are having fun too. 

Gigi: Yup, I think it would be fun to draw so freely. Nunna-chan,are you havin fun too? 

Nunnally: Yeah. If I remember correctly, the student council was holding an event like this. 

Gigi: Did the council president like hosting events? 

Nunnally: Milly, the granddaughter of the principal of Ashford Academy, is the student council president. She’s hosted quite a few events. 

Gigi: Oooh, what kinds of events? Culture festivals? 

Nunnally: That’s right. We also have school festivals. There were some unusual ones like the Silence Party, The Cat Dog Festival, The Cross-dressing Festival, and The Grand Art Festival. 

Gigi: Whaat, just the names of the events make em sound fun! Next time, let me know the details!  

Nunnally: Of course. Each event was so fun, and my brother was always by my side… 

As they chatter, the camera then pans around the hall to show off the many decor the room has along with the many excited ghosts floating around the party venue.

Gigi: Hmmm. Well then, I'm enjoying this party too. 

Nunnally: That’s… 

Gigi: What’s wrong? You not having fun? 

Nunnally: No! That’s not what I meant. I’m having fun. Having this party with you, Al, Liu Ki, and Hong Yu is… 

Gigi: But you get caught up in the moment, right? 

Nunnally: Yeah. I heard my brother and Al talking in the library.

We then cut to a black and white flashback from some discussion from the first chapter of his segment.

Nunnally: ‘This is not the time to be involved in a party’, they said. ‘It’s not worth it’... What my brother said made sense. ‘We have to move forward in a world that has come to a halt due to the “Moon of the End''. ‘A stopped world is the same as a dead one.’ But… 

We then properly cut back to Gigi and Nunnally.

Gigi: You felt lonely, didn’t you? 

Nunnally: …! Yes… But that’s not the case with my brother… 

Gigi: I can’t say the same. Lelouch is keeping everyone in mind, and that’s what he’s trying to do. But… 

Static comes through as Lelouch interrupts their deep conversation.

Lelouch: Q1, Q2, can you hear me? 

Gigi: Yessir! Q2, Gigi, hear ya loud and clear! 

Nunnally: I-I can hear you as well. 

Lelouch: We will soon move to the third phase. Proceed as planned. 

Gigi: Gotcha. I’ll make this party all the more exciting. Are you ready, Nunna-chan? 

Nunnally: Y-yes. I’ll do my best. 

Lelouch: Nunnally, I’m counting on you.

Gigi: Huh? What about me? 

Lelouch: Don’t get too excited, or it’ll bite you in the back. 

Gigi: Hey, mind your business!! 

Lelouch: There you go, letting it chew away at you. Okay, I’m counting on you. 

Gigi: Well, seems like we don’t have time to worry ‘bout that right now. What should we do? 

Nunnally: We’ll put our all into this event. For my brother’s sake! 

Gigi: Uhuh, that’s what we should do. Well then, let’s move on. 

Nunnally: Yeah! 

Lelouch (internal monoloue): (Thanks to Nunnally and Gigi's progress, the operation is going well. The ghosts are also making quite a show. Then it’ll all be down to the timing.) Al, what’s the status of the Jack O’ Lantern? 

Al: Huh? Oh, yeah.. It seems like he’s satisfied. 

Lelouch: Good. Notify every member. Shift the progression into the third phase! 

[tryingtolearnartsob]

DAY DIDNT START OFF SO GOOD… 😔😔😔😔

—since I was already drawing from last time I thought I might as well continue into next day and do some figure prac and sIGH. watching the time lapse of my fix redraw honestly bothered me. it felt like I was better than…. and I don’t think how I adopted drawing the ribcage lately is something im a fan of. it’s just something I picked up and I don’t think I like it…

—anyways from that and seeing how my first figure prac wasn’t amazingggg well. it just got to me and then when I tried to draw in my second figure using the way I used to draw in ribcage and stuff it really wasn’t going in great and ahhhhb I was really started to feel depressed about my arts again and all sorts of sad 😭😭😭😭 but I persevered and yayyyy things picked up REALLY nicely in the third one……

—I was drawing from ref but got an idea for how pose could go and so changed it to the idea and oh mannnn it came out so nice ♥️ im so happy ♥️

—but yeah the other two just sucked so I gave up and mannnn it got me sad about my art. maybe drawing character art would cheer me up but idk man. I couldn’t just draw more stuff. I think it’s cuz I feel like I’ve regressed in my art which make me sooooo sad. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 it doesn’t help that I want to draw more nicely but am not at that stage and I just feel frustrated I guess and want to just be more good at art…. SIGH…….

—-oh well. we’ll see how things are a few hours from now. I think I just should just take break from art right now. I did want to focus on my writing lately but haven’t gotten to. maybe I should do that hmmm.

00.40

okay I did have a strong moment where I was really gonna give up on art and everything and then towards end of the day I realised how ridiculous that notion was, considering how I still partially was thinking about art and stuff and cuz I know myself and how many times I wanted to draw my stuff so I know I will be crawling back to art eventually. either I didn’t feel like drawing any more stuff today OR SO IT WAS…

—until I came across this animatir(?) Art of boru+his mom and I had the sudden urge to draw them together now and so I got my iPad to satisfy this bizarre urge and… end up doing some more figure pracs.

—okay tbf, the figure pracs were… already there when I opened procreate and so I just got down to doing it. had realisation I just like.:..? doing these kind of poses () and also man legs are hard and I think I forgot how pelvis looks like and where they are placed and man im terrible at stuff where pelvis justs out… and also at angles where rib is more angled or whatever…? I have struggled with that

—also lol at one point I gave up properly doing these and turned really into more scribble-ly fun… also I was trying to shrug off these being serious stuff and just have fun drawing…. I think I needed that

—I got bored then… and went off to draw the boru+mom idea I had… I didn’t really have an actual idea tbh….. but then I realised I probs should get in some face pracs since I haven’t really drawn hina… and uhhhh yeah it’s been a hot while since I drawn boru and I have been thinking of prev art that made me feel sad when I think of it cuz I feel like my art has not been as good at drawing faces and so I thought to go back to prev brushes but before that in the naru folder I saw some gaa+love face doodles and these weren’t bad….?! anyways after one hard brush face doodle that wasn’t bad (but man do I need to practice drawing shoulders/bust up shots. I went to this other brush that I can’t spell…. And THIS IS WHERR THE MAGIC HAPPENED!!!!!! YES THIS WAS IT!!!!!!!!!

—and well of course not all the drawings were good…. and ahhhhh yeah I need to practice on side

—I wanted to do some skkr practice as you know what happened……yesterday…. I wasn’t gonna do it since it seemed a pain to switch to my ss folder but I just did it. And at this point the better in my pen was fighting for its life so I was quickly trying to get it down and hello??!??? while this is still not reaching the idea way I want to draw her. ITS SO MUCHHHHH BETTERER THAN PREF ATTEMPTS….. IM SO HAPPY…… also I think issue might be her longer narrow face…..? but I am very very pleasantly pleased at how she turned out overall. So happy. These day really turned around in the best way ever and im very happy heh.

[under-the-cherrytree]

A Proud Artists Work❣︎

Wally Darling x reader

Summary: looking at Wally’s art work, you feel slightly discouraged about your own. However, Wally quickly finds a way to cheer you up!

Warnings: starts off fluffy but ends a bit yandere-ish

A/n: I HAD TO WRITE A WALLY DARLING SMALL FIC I COULDNT HELP MYSELF!! I LOVE THIS MAN

Well i do hope all the welcome home fans like this!! Enjoy<3

You felt the wind brush up against your cheek as you looked down at your sketchbook in your hand. Your grip on it tightened as you looked around. The neighborhood was surprisingly calming this afternoon. Normally the neighbors would be outside playing but today they didn’t seem to come out of their homes. You watched as the leaves fell from the tree you were sitting under. You leaned up against the wood, taking a breath in.

You turned your head to look at your boyfriend, Wally Darling. He stared at his canvas intensely, focused on every paint stroke he made. His canvas faced you so you couldn’t see what he was painting. He wouldn’t allow you to see what he was creating just yet.

You admired him for his artwork. He was so diligent and his art was breath taking. You wished you were able to draw and paint like he did.

“Darling?” Wally looked over to you, noticing your dull expression. “What’s the matter?”

You sat up, looking away for him and down to the blank paper in your lap.

“Do you really think I’m a good artist?” You asked. He complimented things you have drawn before but a part of you felt like it was forced. Did he just compliment you out of pity?

Wally’s smile dropped slightly as he placed his paintbrush down. You looked up at him as he walked over to you and sat on the grass.

“Of course I do. Why would you question that?” He looked at your sketchbook, noticing it was empty.

“I can’t think of anything impressive to draw”

“Anything you draw will be impressive!” He grabbed a pencil out of pocket “Let’s draw something together!” He leaned in closer to you, starting to sketch an apple on the upper right corner of the paper. You just watched his hand move as he finished up the stem. He just spent a few seconds an apple and it looks amazing. What could you possible draw to impress him?

“Come on! What do you want to draw?” He looked to you. “Draw anything that comes to mind”

You looked up for a moment, trying to get some inspiration. You suddenly noticed a pretty pink flower growing in the grass.

“A flower?” You turned to him.

“Draw it!” He encouraged you. You gripped your pencil as you drew a circle for the base and petals around it.

“It looks great!” He began to add some grass around the flower “You should add a sun” You nodded and smiled softly. This felt nice.

An hour had passed and you two laid on the grass, doodling on the now full page. You two drew different things in nature, different animals, the neighbors, and even Home. You laughed softly seeing how the page was now full with the random doodles from you and your boyfriend.

You felt your cheeks heat up. Wally always knew how to make you feel better when you needed it.

“See, now that wasn’t so hard, was it~?” He gave you a grin “The page is full now”

“Yeah it is” You leaned on his shoulder “Thank you, Wally”

“Anything for you, darling”

Suddenly realization took over you and you remembered there was somewhere you needed to be.

“Oh I have to go!” You stood up, brushing your clothes off “I promised Sally I would meet her at her house to practice a play with her!” You quickly picked up your things, shoving them in your bag.

“Well you better run off, don’t want to leave her waiting” He stood up, holding his hands behind his back.

“See you later!” You waved at him and he blew you a kiss goodbye. He began to pack up his stuff knowing it was time for him to go home too. He carefully picked up the panting he was painting earlier, not wanting to ruin his work. He chuckled softly as he walked back to Home. Home opened the door for him, seeing that Wally’s hands were full.

“Thank you, Home” The puppet placed his paint supplies on the ground. The house squeaked as a way of saying you’re welcome.

“I drew another painting of them…~” He looked down at the colorful canvas. It looked exactly like you. You were leaning up against the tree you two were at, holding your sketchbook. He painted exactly what you looked like in the moment.

He walked down the halls, entering a room of Home. The room was filled with painting of you. Just painting of you.

Each painting you were doing normal activities, not even noticing that a certain painter was using you as his muse.

“This piece would look perfect… here” He hung the painting on an empty spot on the wall. “I like it. What do you think Home?” The house squeaked again.

“Maybe one day I can show them these paintings. I would love to see their reaction. After all, why shouldn’t an artist be proud of their work?”

[thatsthewaythechrissycrumbles]

Teaching El about Christmas

Eleven Hopper x gn!Byers!reader

Byler, Elumax, Jancy, Steddie, Rockie

Warnings: N/A

WC: 0.4k

The First NoEl Masterlist

“Alright, El. What is this?” You hold up a poorly drawn picture of a Christmas tree.

El concentrated on the tree, biting her thumbnail. “A tree…” 

“What kind of tree?”

“A Chr… Christmas tree?”

“Exactly,” You high-fived her across the table. “You’re doing great, El.”

“Yay.”

“Next!” You held up a picture of a steaming mug, also poorly drawn.

“A cup…”

“Mmm, El. Starts with M.”

“Mug.”

“Of?”

“Does it start with a k?”

“A c, but they make the same sound. Good job.”

“Chocolate- cocoa! It’s a mug of cocoa!”

“What are you guys doing?” Will asked, coming into the dining room and rubbing his eyes.

“Christmastime quizzing. Are you just getting out of bed?” You held up a picture of a box with squigglies on top. “Keep going, El, you’re doing great.”

“I was tired, leave me alone. And it’s Thanksgiving, it’s not even December first.”

“A blue box.”

To Will, “So? Gotta teach her before we see it all.” To El, “Not quite, it starts with a p.”

“She can learn through advanced memorization and mentioning.”

“She can’t, we already tried it.”

“Pleasant?”

“You’re really close.”

“Pl…”

“Prrrr…”

“Present!”

“Good job!”

Will sat next to El, “Why didn’t you ask me to help?”

“Because you were asleep.”

“You need drawing lessons, Y/n.”

“All you can draw is Mike.”

Will reddened. “That’s not true!”

“Yeah, it is.”

El nodded, her attention on the drawing of the red ball with a hook sticking out of the top. “That is true.”

“Well, you can’t draw, so.” 

“I think not being able to draw is better than only being able to draw one thing creepy-good.”

“Okay, firstly, false. Secondly, Mike’s my best friend!”

“Bet he’ll be your boyfriend between now and Christmas.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Ornament. Right?”

“Yeah, perfect.” You held up the next drawing. “I’m so right, Dustin and Lucas are gonna--”

“The Grinch!” El cheered, taking the drawing from you and grabbing the pen that Will was fiddling with. She doodled her own version of the Grinch next to yours, hunched over in the Santa suit with a bag over his shoulder and a terrifying grin.

“See, now, El can draw. You can’t.” Will muttered, looking over El’s shoulder.

“I’ve already admitted that, Will. Go wake up Hopper and Mom so we can eat at three like we planned!”

“I’m not waking them up, are you crazy?”

“No. That’s why I didn’t wake them up myself.”

“Keep Christm-izzing with El. I’ll make breakfast and… do something else helpful.”

“Just wake up Jonathan!”

“He’s dead tired. He didn’t get here until like three a.m.!”

“You’re boring.”

“You wake him up.”

“No way!”

[pepperonijem]

When He Sees Me || Peter Parker

MASTERLIST

Pairing:  Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings: um peter might be a little ooc and that’s because i’m writing about my unfortunate crush but i basically just changed his name to peter parker any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental <3 

Word count: 2.5k

Summary: What if when he sees me, I like him and he knows it? What if he opens up a door and I can’t close it? Catching feelings for your best friend is never easy.

A/N: This fic is sponsored in part by @bitchassbucky, @spiderrpcrker, @shurisneakers, @midnightsunfae, and @blackberrybucky who instead of shutting down my feelings, hyped me up to turn my crush and some of the things that we’ve done into a fic <3 this goes out to anyone who has ever started crushing on their best friend.

Oh God, please don’t walk this way, please don’t wa-

“Oh, hey Peter!” The crack in your voice betrayed your attempt at a casual greeting, despite your efforts to disguise it with a cough. “How’s it-- how’s it hanging?”

“You good?” Peter smiled at you but his eyebrow quirked upwards in concern. “I just wanted to make sure we’re still on for tonight?” His concern faded into a wide grin as you nodded in response. Peter gave you a quick goodbye before walking away towards his next class.

As soon as you saw him turn into the classroom, you turned to face your closed locker, letting out a groan before setting your forehead against it. Peter had asked if you were good, and although you nodded, the butterflies in your stomach threatened to give you away. You were very much not good.

A tap on your shoulder snapped you out of your thoughts and you turned to see your friend MJ. “What did Peter do this time?” MJ asked. For the last month, every interaction with Peter -- there have been a lot -- ended this way: a groan of defeat and a few welted lines on your forehead from holding your head against your locker. You turned to give MJ a dirty look, annoyed by the amused smirk on her face.

“Absolutely nothing,” you sighed, finally lifting your head up to talk to her. You opened your locker as you talked, not wanting to make eye contact with MJ as you confessed your feelings. “He just… smiled… and everything went downhill from there.” You rolled your eyes as MJ laughed. “It’s getting worse, I have no idea how I’m going to get through tonight.”

MJ laid a hand on your shoulder. “Well we’ll all be there,” she offered. “And if it makes you feel better, no one’s even noticed. Just act normal and you’ll be fine.” She shrugged her shoulders as if that was the easiest thing to do. But you couldn’t act normal anymore, not with Peter. Not when normal means resting your head against his shoulder every time he makes you laugh. Not when normal means borrowing his clothes when his aunt May tells you to stay the night every time a study session runs too long. Not when normal means wearing the extra sweater he keeps for you because you always forget yours.

Normal was when you didn’t feel butterflies everytime he looked at you, before your curious heart got the better of you and you began to wonder what it might be like to hold his hand. Now, things were just weird. At least for you. Nothing on the surface had changed, no one noticed how your heart rate picked up every time Peter touched you, or how you suddenly felt hot whenever he winked at you. But inside your heart was navigating uncharted territory in your friendship, trying to traipse along the thin line that separated how things have always been and how you suddenly wish things could be.

Pulling your textbook out of your locker, you shut the locker door a just a little bit more aggressively than necessary. MJ gave you a small hug before linking her arm through yours as you walked to your next class.

For the rest of the day, you found it impossible to focus on anything. Instead of taking down notes on George Orwell in English, you found yourself absentmindedly doodling hearts. Everything just reminded you of Peter and your own confusing feelings. Thankfully, you didn’t share any classes with him today, leaving you enough solitude to think about just why you were so frustrated with yourself.

Logically, you knew there was nothing wrong with having a crush on someone. You’ve had plenty of crushes before, a few of which reflected a temporary lapse in judgement on your part. You remember telling Peter about each of them, gushing about the most basic acts of human decency as he rolled his eyes and told you that you deserve someone better, but nevertheless helping you pick up the pieces every time someone broke your heart. That, you realized, was what scared you the most.

If you were to date, and then break up… well who would be there with kind words and your favorite boba when everything fell apart? The thought of losing your best friend over emotions, feelings, left far too much to chance. Was the idea of holding his hand, of hearing him call you his enough to make you risk the friendship that has always been enough for you? It should be enough for you, you reminded yourself. There was too much on the line and not enough guarantee for you to risk it.

With that determination in mind, you steeled yourself for the rest of the day, determined to put your feelings to rest and go back to normal.

Unfortunately, that plan quickly fell through.

You got to the restaurant a half hour late with only a really good nap to blame. You felt bad that your friends were waiting for you, but when you got there, you found an empty spot next to Peter, where your usual order of ramen was waiting and against your will, the butterflies flew rampant. The noodle that hit Peter’s nose as he ate while waving you over made you laugh as you sat down beside him.

“I got you your usual,” Peter explained in between bites. You smiled and thanked him before digging in. Peter had done this for you many times, and you willed your body to fight against the flutter of your heart.

Thankfully, the rest of your dinner was going well, and everyone had plenty of stories to tell. MJ had begun doing more portraits of people in distress and revealed her latest piece -- a portrait of Peter slurping up a noodle only to get a rogue drop of soup in his eye. Ned and Betty were off again, but of course they tried to keep it civil (they were on again by the end of the night) so no one would have to pick sides. Flash teased Peter about the B that he made on his literature exam yesterday over poetry and Peter’s face turned beet red.

“Hey,” Peter began, attempting to defend himself. “I totally could’ve made a perfect score. I was just distracted.” He shrunk down in his seat a little bit, and the rest of you laughed teasingly.

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Flash continued. “You’ve been drawing little hearts all over your notes, dude, it’s unsettling.” He rolled his eyes and took another bite of his food, swirling his fork around the bowl trying to grab as much noodle as possible.

Across the table, you and MJ made eye contact, a look of surprise between the both of you. You tried to signal her to say something before a weird silence fell on the table, but she was not reading your cues. Thankfully, Peter spoke again.

“H-hearts?” He repeated. “Why would I be drawing hearts on my notes?” Although he tried to play it off, the rise in pitch gave him away. He scrunched his face in exaggeration.

“Actually,” Betty began. “Now that I think about it, you were doing that in Spanish class too.” You glanced over at Peter who looked at you with panic in his eyes. You took a long sip of water, suddenly feeling a layer of sweat form at the back of your neck. “Wonder what that’s about.” She shrugged and turned to Ned asking if he wanted to split a slice of cheesecake with her.

Before Peter had a chance to try to defend himself once again, the waitress appeared. “Are you all ready for the check?” she asked.

“Yeah, but we’re splitting the check,” Flash replied. Betty rolled her eyes in response. “What? Just because I’m rich does not mean I have to share the wealth.”

The waitress nodded in response. As she was leaving Peter called her back. “Oh wait,” he called. “I’ll also be paying for this order,” he gestured to your bowl. She smiled at him and headed for the counter.

“Peter,” you smiled. “I have money, I can pay for myself.” Although Peter usually had to order for you, he didn’t usually pay for you, unless it was a special occasion.

“I know, I just wanted to be nice,” he responded, giving your shoulder a playful nudge. “Plus, you seem like you’ve had a rough week. Every time I see you, you seem to be lost in thought. What’s been on your mind?” The sentence came out casually, but the furrow in his brows revealed how concerned he actually has been. Peter was nothing if not observant, like he could sense things better than most people.

You let out a sigh, unsure of what to say. You didn’t want to lie to Peter, but you also didn’t want to tell him the truth, that you were thinking about him-- well, your feelings for him. Just when it seemed like he had backed you into a corner, however, the waitress had returned with the checks, and the question left unanswered.

After dinner, the six of you went to Flash’s house to watch a movie. He had a home theater and early access to new movies and he loved to remind everyone of that. Not that any of you minded, especially if it got you free popcorn and a movie out of it. Every week, a different person got to select the movie and today, unfortunately, was MJ’s turn.

You loved her, of course, but you absolutely detested her taste in movies. Mostly because she was a horror junkie, and you were absolutely not. Her last few turns however had been spent making sure you all had seen all of the Shrek movies. But today, she picked a horror film. Something about demons and the like. Peter and Betty cheered at her selection as Flash groaned. You settled into the couch in the back of the room and grabbed a blanket. Ned and Betty sat together on a smaller loveseat, and MJ sat on the floor in front of Flash’s seat, the perfect spot to be able to scare him with a single touch on his leg.

Peter sat down beside you, handing you a tub of popcorn and a soda. He pulled the blanket over his own lap as he sat criss-cross on the couch. You tried not to pay attention to how his leg was brushing against yours under the blanket, instead focusing on the screen as the room went dark.

The movie had just started, but you could already feel yourself tense up in expectation.The music was coming to a crescendo and you knew something was already going to happen. You didn’t realize just how tightly your fists had balled together in your lap till you jumped at the sound of Peter’s soft voice at the shell of your ear. “Are you okay?” He asked.

He tried to hold in a chuckle as you almost bounced the tub of popcorn off your lap. He grabbed it from you and set it to the side. “Look,” he pointed to the screen where the creature’s head had just rotated a full circle as it crawled up the wall in pursuit of the main character. “That thing kinda looks like the spider from that kid’s tv show, but not as creepy.” You let out a laugh, a little louder than you meant, and Ned turned to tell you to shut up.

The small joke was enough to dissipate the anxiety you felt towards the movie, but unfortunately only heightened your feelings about Peter. But he noticed how your fists unclenched and how your shoulders relaxed once you laughed, so he continued to tell you whispered jokes for the rest of the movie. Each time he noticed your body tensing, he tried his best to make you laugh, and god, how could you stop yourself from those butterflies anymore?

At the height of the movie, you found yourself with your hands over your ears, and eyes squeezed shut, unable to even look at the screen or hear a joke. When Peter realized a joke wouldn’t be enough, he slid closer to you and pulled you into his side and you buried your face into the crook of his neck. Before you had a chance to think about the spicy notes of his cologne or the softness of his skin, the sound of a high pitched scream in the movie caused you to jump with a gasp. In response, Peter wrapped his arms around you tight, with a gentle shush.

It was only after the music began to die down that you opened your eyes again, only to find Peter’s eyes fixed on the screen. Now that the worst was over, you no longer had an excuse to be in his embrace the way you were. You began to wiggle your way out of his arms, attracting his attention.

“What are you doing?” he whispered.

“Peter I’m a big kid,” you smiled, teasing. “You don’t have to hold me like a baby.” Peter let out a soft laugh before relaxing his hold on you just a bit.

“Okay,” he relented. “I’ll just hold you like this then.” He began to shift so that your head was on his shoulder, and one of his arms looped under yours, intertwining your fingers. The smile on his face was calm as if this was something the two of you did all the time, but his racing heartbeat reminded you this was something new.

The two of you remained that way for the rest of the movie. By the time the soft music began to play in the credits, you could hear light snoring from everyone else in the room. However, you and Peter made absolutely no efforts to untangle yourselves from each other. It was as if you were worried that once the lights came back on, you would never find yourself like this again, and what a sad idea that was. Normal, would never be enough for you again, not when you know now how much better life could be like this.

You weren’t sure if it was the adrenaline from the jump scares, or the sureness of his hand in yours, like it’s always belonged there, that gave you the courage to finally break the silence.

“Peter,” you breathed out, lifting your head from his shoulder, but not letting go of his hand.

He turned to you, with a look of concern, afraid of what you might say.

“Kiss me.” The words came out so softly and so quickly that you weren’t sure if you said it at all.

“Finally,” he whispered as his lips fell against yours, softly and slowly. He pulled away after what felt like hours and yet not nearly enough time. His hands reached up to cup your face. “I like you,” he admitted. “So much.”

Suddenly, you felt it. You felt exactly what it must feel like to fly, to let yourself go without worrying about gravity or anything else. The risks were still there, the numbers hadn’t changed, but you knew that no matter what happened next, just having the chance to fly would always be enough.

[ronsonlywhore]

❛ 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀. ❜ cedric diggory x reader

summary: every night, you disappear somewhere in the castle. no one knows where you go, and you don’t come back until way after curfew. you know it’s risky, but you do it to spend time with cedric. 

pairing: cedric diggory x fem!reader

prompts (from isa’s writing challenge): fluff/ 12. “this reminded me of you.” 17. “i’m never going to leave you. i promise.”

a/n: wrote this for isa’s 2.2k writing challenge! @acosmis-t

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

you look over your shoulder, making sure you’re not being followed as you quickly walk down the corridor. the setting sun shines in through the windows, giving you just enough light to see where you’re going. you tried visiting cedric when it was dark once; you were caught by filch and his stupid cat, and earned yourself a week’s detention. 

you see the abandoned classroom at the end of the hall. you pick up your pace, finally reaching the door. you step inside and find cedric sitting on the old teacher’s desk. he’s swinging his legs like a child, and his arms are crossed. 

he looks up when he hears the door open, smiling as he sees you. “you’re early today, (y/n),” he says as he walks over to you, looking excitedly at your bag. “why are you so out of breath?” he asks when he notices your heavy breathing.

“i ran half of the way here. mrs. norris was tailing me. don’t worry,” you add when you see cedric’s concern showing on his face, “she didn’t see where i went. i managed to shake her off on the corridor above.”

he nods and makes a dive for your bag. you move out of the way before he can peek though, leaving him frowning and pouty. “patience, cedric,” you say and sit down on an empty chair.

“how long have you been waiting?” you ask, trying to make conversation. 

“i’ve been here since six ‘o clock,” he responds. “i could smell dinner from the great hall even from over here. ready to show me what’s in the bag now?”

“my, my, aren’t we feeling eager today?” you rummage around your satchel and take out the first item: cedric’s missing charms book.

his face lights up when he see it. you flip it open and set it in front of him, turning the page every so often. his eyes skim over the pages, smiling softly at certain notes he scribbled in the marges, chuckling at doodles he would draw of you during class. 

“charms was always my favorite subject...where did you find the book?” cedric asks.

“under my bed. i suppose you had left it lying on the floor the week it went missing, the week before…” you trail off, looking at him sorrowfully. cedric tries to smile, but looks more like he’s in pain instead. 

trying to change the topic, you pull something else out from your bag, saying, “this reminded me of you.” 

cedric laughs; a real laugh, a laugh you haven’t heard in a while, as you place the walking viktor krum figurine on your palm. the figurine looks grumpily at you, but his face lights up when he sees cedric. krum waves enthusiastically, motioning for cedric to pick him up and let him strut around his hand. 

cedric smiles again, that painful smile, as he stares at the living figurine of krum.

“remember when you bought him for me at the world cup?” you ask wistfully, remembering how much fun you and cedric had before the night was ruined by death eaters.

“yeah, i do. i said...i said one day they would make figurines of me like that.”

he looks sad again, so to try and cheer him up, you say, “you were a phenomenal seeker.”

“i started quidditch for you,” cedric confesses.

“you did?” you ask, surprised. he had never told you this before.

he nods and explains, “in our second year, you said you loved quidditch. i didn’t know anything about it, but to impress you, that summer i begged my father to buy me a broom and practiced on it everyday...everyday for the entire summer.”

all you do is stare at him, wanting nothing more than to embrace him and never let go.

he continues, “and in our fourth year, when you needed help in charms class, i studied every night just so i could volunteer to tutor you.”

he keeps talking, listing another number of occasions where he did something just to grab your attention, and you can’t believe you never noticed just how much cedric had loved you before.

“when we started dating this year, i had never been happier. i entered myself in the triwizard tournament so you could...feel proud of me, i guess.”cedric turns around, facing away from you. his shoulders start shaking, but you know he’s not laughing.

you reach out to comfort him, but your arm goes through his chest. your hand feels cold as it passes through him.

he looks down at your arm sticking out the other end of his body. “i forget sometimes. forget i’m not…” he stops. you bring your arm back.

“it gets lonely sometimes, too.”

“i’m sorry, cedric,” you whisper.

“just promise me one thing, yeah?” he says as he turns around. you nod. “anything.”

“promise you won’t leave me, that you won’t forget me. promise you’ll never let me be alone long enough to…” he swallows. “long enough to disappear.”

he gets as close to you as he can get without floating through you. close enough to kiss you, if he was still…

it’s a hard thing to promise, you think.

“i'm never going to leave you. i promise.” you say firmly. 

he smiles. this time it isn’t a painful one, or a forced one. it’s filled with joy, genuine happiness.

it’s a smile you haven’t seen since the night he died.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

a/n: hey i hope you figured out the reader was talking to cedric’s ghost the whole time i literally got the prompts from the fluff section but turned it into an angst instead...sorry i got carried away.

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@ch0kemedracomalfoy @skaratjung @miraclesoflove @ronbrokemyheart

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[youmustbestrongernow]

time for a random snippet on this miserable thursday evening, i’ve been reading through what i’ve got so far to cheer myself up and this scene really made me smile, nothing like these two being shy and awkward as they figure each other out.

“Matteo?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you… could you maybe take a look at my computer? I dropped it the other week and it’s been playing up ever since,” David said.

“Sure!” Matteo said, jumping up from the stool and beckoning him to his room. David trailed behind him.

“That’s not… you don’t have to, just because… I won’t get angry if you don’t want to. I don’t have any money,” he said.

“I want to help, I don’t charge my friends anyway,” Matteo said with a smile, but he frowned when David’s face fell. He looked torn between telling Matteo to fuck off and breaking down. “Everything ok?” Matteo asked gently.

David took a deep breath and rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah fine,” he snapped. “Sorry,” he added immediately.

David was even worse than him, snapping, pushing whenever he felt vulnerable.

“It’s ok,” Matteo said. “Ok, show me the damage,” he said, clearing his desk.

When David didn’t say anything he turned around and spotted him looking through some of his drawings on the wall. He’d been plotting out a new game idea last night, had lost himself in creating characters and building worlds. He always did get carried away with fantasy. But David wasn’t looking at his fantasy landscape, fuck, he wasn’t looking at those at all, he was looking at Matteo’s mystery boy drawings. Fuck fuck fuck! Why the hell had he pinned them up on the wall? Why hadn’t he taken them down before David came over?

“Is this me?” David asked, amused now. Matteo rushed over and tried to pull them all down, shoving David aside in his panic. He was beyond embarrassed. David was going to think he was lame. No he would think he was a creep, watching him, doodling him. This was supposed to be his second chance and he was already blowing it.

“It’s not you,” he insisted, but his reaction had given him away. It was obviously him.

David tried to grab them, but Matteo held them out of reach.

“I like them though,” David said, smiling. He held his hand out for the pictures.

“Why?”

“Well if they are me, I’d rather be mystery boy than angry boy.”

“I don’t think you’re angry, sad sure, and lonely, but the anger is just a front,” Matteo said. “But you are a mystery. I... I’ve wanted to get to know you for a while,” he admitted.

David stared at him, still smiling.

“Sorry, was that ok?” Matteo mumbled, worried he’d pushed too far.

“It’s ok,” David said.

Matteo rifled through his pictures of David and found his favourite one, mystery boy David, sitting under a tree. So many times Matteo had seen David sitting by himself and wanted to invite him over to join them. He’d never been brave enough. He had watched him though, a lot. That time David had gotten a message or something on his phone and it had made him smile. Which had made Matteo smile and all the boys tease him. He didn’t care. He drew his own rendition of that scene, this time with David getting a message from Matteo, just a hello, but it making him smile the same way. God he was so lame, but he handed over the drawing anyway, then marched back to his desk, face burning. He shoved the rest in his drawer and tried to calm down.

When he looked up again David was smiling down at his picture like it was the best thing he’d ever seen. Matteo had to look away and focus on the desk for a minute to calm himself down. He swore his heart was going to explode. It didn’t and he managed to pull himself together enough to beckon David over.

[shypandawrites]

New girl (Twilight au Witch x Edward)

WARNING: this will be crap but I like writing so let me know what you think and Thank you!

I hope you enjoy it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking into the damp forest was relaxing to me, I hugged my hoodie closer to me as a gust of wind blew past me, sending chills down my spine.

“A little chilly isn't it?” I remarked to myself as I continued to walk in the forest from my house. I listened to the birds sing as I stepped over roots and hopped over a little stream before I stepped onto the gravel. Glancing around I was confused to see that I was in front of someone's house, it was a couple of stories high with glass and wood covering the sides, in front of the house were a couple of fancy cars. Oops, I went farther than I intended, I pondered to myself as I turned around and walked back home, humming along the way.

Once I stepped through the door I could hear my dad doing something in the kitchen, so I crept closer to the doorway and peeked in to see him placing a black pan of something on the counter with smoke coming off it. “Not go as planned?” I asked, wandering over to inspect the damage. Did it look like some kind of meatloaf? My dad laughed as he turned to open a window to let the smoke out.

“No, it didn't. How about I order some pizza?” He grabbed his phone and started looking up pizza places near us. Got to love my dad when there is nothing to make pizza will always be the answer, not that I would complain of course. “Sure! Pepperoni please.” I picked up the pan with an oven mitten and dumped it in the trash. “And I won't ask what this dish was ok?” I joked, putting it in the sink for later. He just laughed and started calling around.

I walked past him to go to my room upstairs to unpack more of my things, listening to music as I do. Once I was unpacked I glanced around my new room and then grabbed my sketchbook I had thrown on my bed while I unpacked and went to the window seat I had in my room. It was one of the reasons my dad chose this house, that and how deep into the forest it was. We liked our privacy. Flipping to a new page I started to draw the view outside my window. Drawing always seemed to calm me down or relax me. Soon I finished that drawing and then started to draw the house I walked to.

Just as I was finishing it my dad hollered up the stairs that the pizza was here. “Yay!” I giggled, hopping up from the window seat. I go to the kitchen to see my dad setting the plates on the tables for us. “Thanks, Dad,” I said, munching down on a slice before putting it on my plate with another slice.

He just laughed at me and got a couple himself. “Walk anywhere fun?” The house I saw popped in my head but then I shook my head, going back to eating my pizza. “No.” His eyebrows went up but then he dropped the subject. “Ok, then are you excited about starting school tomorrow?” That made me smile. “Yeah, actually but it seems that a girl named Isabella Swan is starting school tomorrow as well. I heard some of the people talking about her at the gas station. She’s the sheriff's daughter.” I said, as I ate the last of my pizza and went for another.

We ate with jokes about the move and after I washed the dishes, I went back up to my room and played some music as I doodled on a page. Wasn’t long before I headed to bed and woke up to my alarm blazing from my phone. After shutting it off and getting ready for the day I came downstairs to grab something to eat before heading to school. I wasn’t surprised to see my dad already making breakfast before his day starts. “Hey, kiddo.” He said as I came into the kitchen to see him putting some scrambled eggs on two plates.

“Hey, I can at least make some easy eggs.” He joked putting one of the plates on one side as I got the juice and poured us some. As I put them down we sat and ate. When we finished the plates went in the sink and I grabbed my keys and hugged my dad before driving to school.

I played some music as I drove, as soon as I got to the school a group of people was around a brown-haired girl who looked a little uncomfortable with the attention. That must be Isabell Swan. I hopped out of my car and easily walked around them as they fussed over her. Getting my schedule and directions to my classes was easy enough. I was a little late to my first class but that was because I got a little turnaround.

Once I knew I was at the right door, I knocked and opened it to see an older man at the front of the class that turned to me with a smile. “You must be the new student Luna ?” I nodded and walked over to him as the class went silent and stared at me as I handed the teacher my schedule. “Well, welcome, I am Mr. Varner and welcome to Calculus. I hope you’re good at math.” He joked then turned to survey the class. “You can take the seat next to Edward.” He waved at a boy in the very back with an empty seat.

“Ok.”

Ignoring the stares and some glares that I was confused about I sat down and nodded to the ‘Edward’ I was sitting by and looked straight as the teacher continued the lesson. When the teacher was asking people to answer the big math equation he had on the board, I figured out the answer and wrote it down as the guy next to me answered it correctly.

The class went on like that, and each time Edward would answer some of the girls would turn and stare at him. I wonder why they keep staring? Can’t they tell that it is annoying him? Taking a moment to look at him I could see why people would stare at him. He is very handsome and some might think beautiful but even the beautiful don’t want to be stared at for long.

Just as I was thinking that he turned his head to look at me and I ducked my head and turned away. That was dumb of me, I shouldn’t have stared! Focusing more on the lesson, I wrote down each answer, and when the bell rang I handed that to the teacher. He just laughed and then handed me the math book. “I’m so sorry about that.” I waved it off. “No, it’s fine Mr. Varner. But how would I get to.” I paused to look at the schedule again. “History.”

As I was asking him, he looked behind me and smiled. “Why don’t you have Edward show you the way,” he suggested, and Edward upon hearing must have stopped and stared at me. Feeling his eyes dig holes into my skull cause I didn’t turn around made me feel like I wasn’t worth his time. “No, it’s fine I’ll find it somehow.” I lightly giggled, taking my schedule back and walking around Edward as he stood aside from the door. Wouldn’t want him to hate me.

After a few trials and errors, I found my history class. This teacher was a nice lady with glasses, after giving her my schedule back she asked me to sit next to a girl named Alice. I liked her spiky hair. She smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back, not looking her in the eyes. I took my seat and listened to the lesson while writing down notes. Halfway through the lesson the teacher Mrs. Wilcox stopped and turned to me. “If you need help catching up I’m sure anyone would love to help you.” It was funny seeing Alice’s hand shoot up. “I can help her if she has any questions.” Her cheerfulness is nice, she seems like a great person to know. “Well ok then, if you have any questions just ask Alice then.” She said as she went back to her lesson.

“Alice,” Alice said, putting her hand out to me with a smile. “Luna,” I whispered, shaking her cold hand. The instant my hand touched hers my mind went blank as her life went through my mind. I let go of her hand and nodded to her before looking upfront and sifting through her memories. She can see the future? Neat. I smiled to myself as I was glad to not be the only one who is not normal.

When the bell rang I got up to go to my next class when I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I jumped back a bit at that, jerking to look at who it was before dropping my gaze at who it was. “Oh, sorry I thought you might need help finding your next class.” Alice smiled. She is nice. “Sure, my next class is art.” “This way!” she said, walking in one direction, Hurrying after her I kept up as she kind of danced the way, it was interesting to see someone dance walk.

Reaching my class I turned and thanked Alice before heading in. “No problem.” Watching her dance away was funny. And she is so tiny. For some reason, that class went by fast which I was sad about cause I liked Art. As soon as the class was over I asked Mrs. Bloom where my next class was English with Mrs. William. When that class was over I asked the teacher for directions to the lunchroom and after she told me I went and got some lunch and sat at an empty table next to another in the corner.

Just as I sat down and pulled out my sketchbook to draw as I ate, I saw Isabella at a table. She seems to like it here. Going back to a drawing of the lunchroom I heard a girly giggle. I saw it was just Alice with a guy who looked like he was in pain. I wonder if something happened. Seeing others come through the door I watched as a beautiful blonde and a big guy came and sat down at the table I was next to.

Alice waved at me which made me duck my head as the others turned to me. I never ate that fast in my life. Throwing my garbage away I went back to my seat and was finishing the drawing of the lunchroom when someone came over to me. “Hello.”

“Hi,” I said, without looking up. “No need to be rude.” the person scoffed and walked off. “I wasn’t,” I whispered, a little hurt. Motion to my side caught my eye, and after glancing over to the table with the beautiful people, I looked away as I saw Edward seeming to glare at me. I thought back to think if I offended him somehow and I couldn’t think of any.

Maybe I’m just destined to be hated for no reason. Getting back to my drawing I finished it and put my sketchbook in my bag as I grabbed my schedule again. “Late again.” Alice’s voice made me glance over to see a medium-built guy sitting down breathing hard, clutching his tray. “Shush Alice It’s not my fault the teacher is a devil to me.” He defended himself, as he began to eat as his life depended on it. His dark brown hair swayed as he chatted with Alice.

Looking away from their table I looked at the schedule to see I had Digital Media next. But where would that be? I could ask Alice but Edward seems like he doesn’t want me near them, judging by the glare he hasn’t dropped when he looks my way. I gave up as I picked up my backpack and started for the door.

I wasn’t watching where I was going, cause the next thing I know I bumped into the back of someone. “Sorry!” I hurriedly exclaimed, quickly walking away and out the door. I walked aimlessly around until I finally found the class. I entered right as the bell rang and got a seat at the very back. The seats next to me were empty until someone got up and sat next to me. “Hi, I’m Asher.” A voice said to my right. Peeking over I saw it was the guy that was sitting with the beautiful people. “Hi.” I nodded, seeing the teacher come in and hand out the tablets that we plug into the computers.

It wasn’t long before we’re drawing something in photoshop. As I was drawing I felt a hole digging into the side of my head. “Did I do something?” I whispered to them since the teacher was walking around. “Oh, no I was just wondering if you were going to tell me your name. You did bump into me at lunch.” He chuckled, turning back to the computer. My face started to burn as I ducked my head to hide my face. Stupid! Of course, he would want to know your name. So he can call you out on it.

“Luna. And I’m sorry for bumping into you I didn’t mean to.” He simply shook his head. “Luna then, it’s fine. I was going to tell you it was fine but you were gone before I could. My sister did tell me to be nice to you though.” I stopped drawing to peek at him again. “Your sister?” “Yeah. Alice?” I felt my eyes go wide. She is his sister?! “Alice is your sister? But you don’t-” “Look alike?” He laughed softly. “Well, that is because we are adopted. All of us are.” Ah, that’s cool! “So everyone on that table is adopted?”

I went back to drawing on the computer as he was silent for a moment, probably thinking of if I am worth his time. “We are but some of them are together.” “Together?” I questioned as I added the finishing touches and got ready to send it to the teacher’s email. Just as I did he leaned over to see what I drew. “Wow, that is good!” “Thanks.” Leaning back so I don’t accidentally touch him and see his mind. No one wants their mind invaded.

He soon realized that he was too close and backed up sheepishly. “Sorry.” I just shook my head. “You were talking about them together?” It was a little funny seeing him go from sheepish to beaming. “Right. Well, Alice, I’m sure you met Jasper the curly blonde one.” I thought back to the one who looked like they were in pain. “And Rosalie the beauty is with Emmet the huge guy.” “They do look like a cute couple,” I commented, with a little smile.

“Right! They make a lot of people jealous. It's quite funny to see.” He laughed a little too loud cause the teacher came over. “Need help, Asher? Luna?” I shook my head, pointing to my screen that showed that I sent my work to him already. “No Sir I was just chatting with Luna, since we are both done I just have to send you my work.” I stared as his tone went from happy to monotone. It was weird.

Mr. Turner simply nodded his head and went back to walking around the room, helping people. I glanced at the clock to see it was almost time for the class to end. Pulling my bag into my lap I waited. “Why don’t you look at people?” I heard Asher ask, he had turned to me. I felt my body freeze. Think of something! “I ah I have this fear of looking people in the eyes.”

He looked like he didn’t believe me but then shrugged. “Alright, that would explain it I guess.” Before he could ask more questions the bell rang and I jumped out of my seat. “Yeah. Bye!” I answered, walking out the room before he could catch me.

Marching through the halls I tried to get to my last class while not hitting anyone. I almost collided with the blonde beauty Rosalie around the corner. Barely missing her I apologized and went to my last class Social Studies. Once I got to the class I headed straight for the back seats in the corner. Glad that no one sat next to me. That joy went down a little when I saw Asher enter the classroom but he didn’t seem to see me as he sat at the front.

The teacher Ms. Simms welcomed me in the back to which I just waved and sunk into myself again. “And if you need any help I’m sure someone is willing to help.” She smiled as she walked to her desk and sat down. I didn’t need to look to feel someone staring at me cause it was answered when someone sat in the chair next to me. “You are fast you know that?” Asher jokes, getting his homework out to do as I already was finishing the English assignment I got. “Sorry,” I mumbled as I put the finished paper in my bag and brought out my sketchbook.

“No, It’s ok I’m a little nosy, sorry about that.” Shaking my head I hid a smile. “You’re fine anyone would want to know about the new people they meet right?” His face beamed. “Yeah. But it’s nice to have someone to talk to. Some of my friends only wanted to be my friend cause they wanted to get closer to my siblings. And cause you’re new and you don’t seem to want to get close to them I thought it might be nice if we could be friends if you’re ok with that.” He is cute. I'll give him that. My lips turned up as I held my hand out to him.

“A friend would be nice.”

“Great!”

I kept my little smile on my face as his memories came flooding into my head. “And it would be nice to have a guide around the school. I can’t count how many times I’ve lost my way.” I tried to joke which worked by his laugh.

Chatting with him came easier after that. We spent the whole class period talking while he worked on his homework. The bell rang as we were putting our stuff away and we walked out still chatting, it wasn’t until we got to the parking lot that we had to separate.

“Hey is it ok if I talk to you when you get to school tomorrow?” He asked as he was turning to go to his family, not parked far from us. “Sure.” He then turned back and grinned. “And sorry about my family I know they are weird with how happy Alice is and how Edward looks like he...Never mind.” I nodded, taking a step closer and patting his shoulder, and whispered. “It’s ok don’t worry about it I know it takes a bit for vampires to get used to being human again but it’s nice to see them being happy that way.”

I didn’t need to look up to see his face drain of all color as the muscle under my hand went stiff. “What did you say?” “Well, they are. And I have to go bye see you tomorrow.” I said as I headed to my car, now feeling multiple eyes digging into me. I started my car as there was a knock on my window. I jumped startled to see Asher panting at my window. “Catch your breath.” My hand went to roll down the window and he took a few deep breaths before looking at me as if he was going to plead.

Right as he went to speak my phone went off. Picking it up I saw that my dad messaged me not to forget the cheese at the store before sending over the whole list. Dad why? I turned back to Asher seeing Edward and Emmett coming over and that did nothing to help my heart. “Sorry Asher I have to go I’ll talk to you tomorrow bye.” Putting my car in gear I drove off as he stood there with his brothers.

Calming down my heart wasn’t easy but I did it. I know they were probably going to just ask me not to tell anyone. Not like I would but still, seeing two people walking over with mean expressions is not something I would wish on anyone.

I found the store pretty easily. And was getting what was on my grocery list when I saw a beautiful lady reaching for the top shelf for a sauce. “Would you like me to get that for you?” I asked, not wanting to be rude. She turned and her golden eyes smiled at me. “Yes if it’s alright.” I shook my head, trying not to hug her as I reached up and grabbed the sauce she was reaching for. I gave it to her and she thanked me and we went our separate ways, only to meet up in the parking lot.

She was standing outside her car looking defeated. “Did something happen?” I approached her, seeing some keys in the car with her holding a different pair of keys. “I left my car keys in the car. And I only have my house keys.” She explained as she continued to look defeated. “Do you have someone to come pick you up or someone to come pick up the car cause if so I can give you a ride home?” I offered, seeing that made her look at me.

“I wouldn’t mind but are you sure?” At that, I gave a small smile not looking her in the eyes. “Yeah, I don’t mind if that’s ok with you miss…” “Esme.” I smiled at her this time. “Then Esme I wouldn’t mind driving you my car is this way.” I pointed as she was texting someone, before looking at me. “Ok then, one of my boys will come to get my car since he has the keys as well.” We walked over to my car and filled it up with our groceries. Getting in the driver’s seat I followed her directions to her house and to my surprise her house was the same one I walked to.

“Beautiful house,” I commented as I helped her take her groceries in before heading back to my car. “Would you like to stay for a bit?” Esme asked, and I don’t think I could say no to her, she had a motherly aura around her. “Sure just let me take my groceries to my house. It’s surprisingly close to yours.” She grinned. “Oh, you must be our new neighbors.” I nodded getting in my driver’s seat.

After putting the groceries away I put on my hoodie and walked over to her home and knocked, she greeted me and waved me in. Her home was stunning and spacious, it even had a piano! I sat down in one of the high chairs as we talked about the weather and our hobbies. It was nice talking to Esme, I shook her hand and felt sad for what she had to go through but she is happy so I can’t be too sad. It was refreshing to talk to her. I even got a snack from her.

It’s nice to see the vampires are happy with living among humans. As I was taking a sip of the tea, she made me, I felt a prog in my mind which usually lets me know when someone is trying to read my mind or that something is coming closer. “I’m sorry to ask this randomly but what is your last name Esme?” She paused her snack-making and smiled at me. “It’s Cullen. Dr. Cullen is my husband and we have this home with our kids. They go to forks high, you might know their names.” She started to count on her fingers. “Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, and Asher.”

Just as she said Asher’s name a car engine cut off outside. “That must be them.” I took another sip from my cup as the Cullen clan came into view. The instant Edward saw me he started to glare. But when Alice saw me she skipped over to me and hugged me. “Hi, Luna.” “Hello, Alice.” They all seemed shocked by this but me and Alice. “I see you met.” Edward continued to glare as Asher just looked at me with pleading eyes. “Yeah, we met.” He then turned to Esme. “She knows.” “Of course I know,” I said as Esme’s face turned sad.

Alice let go of me and just stood next to me, when Jasper went to walk over to her she shook her head at him, looping her arm through mine. “You do give off the vibe of not being human you know,” I commented, shrugging as I turned back to grab my cup only to see Edward in front of me. I kept my head down as he stared me down. I finished my cup and hopped off to put it in the sink when he finally spoke.

“If you tell anyone.”

“You will kill me?” I tilted my head at that thought. “Well, then go ahead.” He was taken aback at that. “No?” glancing to see him back up a little I walked around the counter and put my cup in the sink. After I rinsed it out, I quickly washed it and put it on the dish rack.

I turned to see them all still standing there, and only Asher breathed. Seeing Alice still smiling at me made it seem funny. They were all ready to kill me but it seems she didn't. “Esme?” Walking over to her seemed a little nervous but then gave me a sad smile. “Is it alright if I come over tomorrow? I would like to try that tuna snack you were telling me about. If that’s ok if not I won’t.”

I waited for Esme to answer as a bouncy bunny came over to me and hugged me again. Does she have no fear? I wrapped an arm around her little shoulders. “You’re calming.” Her cheerful voice seemed to bring everyone back to the present. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Asher sitting down on one of the high chairs, watching us all.

“I would like it if you came back,” Esme said, walking over to us and placing her hand on my shoulder. “Ok,” I smiled at her before taking my arm from Alice and headed out the door. I didn’t make it a few steps on the gravel when someone grabbed my arm.

Turning back I saw Asher with Edward and Emmett behind him. “Hmm?” I tilted my head but kept my eyes closed. “Where are you going?” The grip on my arm was warm so I knew it was Asher who was holding my arm. “Home,” I said, simply taking my arm out of his grip. “Then can I walk you home seeing how it is getting dark?” He is sweet. I ruffled his hair and shook my head. “I’m ok, see you tomorrow.”

Without another word I smiled and walked back to my house past some trees. Stepping inside I was greeted with the smell of smoke. I held in a laugh as I went into the kitchen. “What happened this time?” I asked, opened the windows as he put the smoking pot on the counter. “It was soup since it looked chilly outside.” He defended himself. “Would you like to try again and let me help?” I laughed as he nodded in defeat.

I found a different pot and started helping him make the soup while cleaning the other one out. Even taking the trash out, I came back in and we ate, joking about it.

After we got done eating he insisted on doing the dishes so I went to my room and looked over my homework to make sure it was right and when I was satisfied I pulled out my sketchbook and started to draw before it got late and I went to bed.

********************************************************************

Any feedback is welcomed ! and yes I know it was bad but I'm trying.

[swearwolf-writes]

Sunset Curve not Sunset Straight (pt. 8)

It’s been a long day. Halloween is almost here and Flynn is raving.

“So we gotta get our costumes, matching, obviously. Oooh, maybe the boys can come as ghosts-!” She jumps up and down on Julie’s bed, it’s owner shaking her head. “They’re supposed to be from Sweden, remember?” “Oh, right.” She sat still, playing with Julie’s mic. “Your doodles are awesome - do the boys draw too?” Julie raises her eyebrows at her best friend, “Do you have a crush on them?” “Les-be honest,” Flynn wiggles her eyebrows, “you’re the only one with a crush on any of em.” Flynn still doesn’t know about Julie and Luke, Julie still trying to figure out how to tell her bestfriend that she’s dating a ghost.

“Julie has a crush?” Reggie saunters into the room and flops onto the bed next to them. “Do tell.” “I don’t have a crush!” She lightly pushes his shoulder, Flynn looking confused. “Which one-?” “Reggie’s here.” She points to the seemingly empty space on her bed, Reggie waving goodnaturedly despite the fact that Flynn still can’t see him. “He’s waving.” She grins and waves at thin air. The bassist turns back to Julie. “So what’s going on?” “Flynn here,” she gives the girl a pointed look, “thinks I have a crush on one of you guys. I told her I don’t-” Reggie and Flynn share a knowing look despite her not being able to see him. “-I mean isn’t there some sort of unofficial rule about bandmates dating?” “Boy, I hope not-” Julie blinks at him, slightly shocked. “Wait, did any of you guys date-?” He sits up, glancing between the girls suspiciously. “Are you winding me up or did you really not know?” “Know what?” “That they used to date.” Julie slowly moves her gaze over to Flynn. “Apparently Luke and Alex used to date?” Julie fills her in, the lesbian punching the air. “I called it!”

“Wait, you said used to? Why did they break up?” The girls stare at him expectantly, the boy raising his hands in defence of himself. “That is their business whether they tell you or not. But,” he jumps off the bed and moves towards the door, “I do have a bunch of polaroids from when they were dating.” She follows suit, grabbing Flynn’s hand and dragging her with them. “Lead the way!” “The way to where?” “Memory lane.” Julie grins and squeezes her hand, the girl not understanding her but going along with it anyways.

“Ta-da~!” Reggie brings the old box, down from the loft, setting it on their old table. Flynn creates a groove in the dust and wipes her dirty finger down in disgust. “This seems cool but my mom needed me home an hour ago. And remember, we’re matching this Halloween, alright? I’m thinking the creepy twins from The Shining. Or maybe we’ll be Ghost Busters.” “Hey!” Reggie complains to deaf ears as she smirks and walks out, waving goodbye. “I’ll think about it.”

She turns back to the pouting ghost and pats his knee. “We won’t bust you guys.” “I know, I know.” He shakes his head and turns back to the box, blowing the dust away as best as he can while Julie coughs in the background. “Pros of being dead: we don’t actually need to breathe so dust doesn’t make us cough either.” She continues coughing and glares at him, the boy quickly avoiding her gazing and opening the box.

“Aww, check these out.” He picks up some old pictures, smiling nostalgently. He shows them to Julie, watching as she smiles at the boys’ goofing off. “This is you guys and Trevor- Bobby?” “Yeah, Christmas, 1994.”

“All I want for Christmas is you~” Bobby sang along cheerfully to the song on the radio, taping mistletoe to the strings criss-crossed across the studio. The plant was all over the room, inescapable.

“Seriously, dude?” Luke walked into the studio, Alex and Reggie close on his heels. “If you’re gonna live in my garage, I get to decorate.” Alex groaned as Reggie whooped quietly, grabbing their camera and taking pictures of the bizarre décor. Bobby stopped the other boys in their tracks, pointing up above their heads. Mistletoe. “Seriously-” Alex stared at the rhythm guitarist with disbelief, only to be met with complete seriousness. The boys blushed as they met in a sweet kiss, Luke’s hand on Alex’s jaw, the taller boy resting his hand on the shorter’s waist. Bobby and Reggie cheered teasingly, the bassist capturing the moment in a picture.

“They were, like, together-together, huh?” “Bobby and I had a bet that they’d be engaged before they were 20.” Julie raises her eyebrows, cooing quietly. “And then you didn’t even live till 20.” Reggie side-eyes Julie goodnaturedly, gasping in mock-offence. “We died, Julie- that’s not something you joke about-” She raises her hands in defence, checking out the other pictures.

“Hey, you guys looked cute here.” She shows him a picture, the boys sat on Luke’s couch, Reggie taking a selfie with the four of them. They were grinning widely, Julie chuckling as she finds its sequel.

“Alright, I’m taking another-!” Reggie warned the band as he raised the polaroid camera. Bobby swung an arm over Alex’s shoulders, the quartet smiling brightly. “Say cheese!” Reggie took the picture, blushing brightly as Luke pressed a kiss to his cheek, the image holding that memory firmly.

Reggie flushes brightly as he spots the second image in Julie’s hand. He reaches over to try and take the picture from her hand, Julie jumping out of the way as she watches his reactions.

“Oh my God-!” “What?” “You have a crush on Luke!”  The boy babbles unintelligibly as his cheeks grow hotter. “No, you have a crush on Luke!” He pulls an Uno reverse card from his pocket, Julie bursting out into laughter as she sees the card. “I mean, we’re dating so I guess you’re right - but I don’t deny it - unlike you.” He relents with a nervous chuckle, rubbing the nape of his neck. “So maybe I have a small crush on Luke-” Julie bounces on the balls of her feet, slapping his shoulder wildly. “Awesome!”

He looks at her strangely. “You’re not mad?” “Why would I be?” “You got there first?” She shakes her head and flops, graceful as always, next to him. “You got there in 1994 or 95 - you just didn’t know it.” Reggie opens his mouth to protest but quickly closes it as he realises he has nothing to say to that. “That…. is true. Fair enough.”

They sit in silence, flicking through photos, Julie glancing back up at her bandmate every now and again. “You gonna tell him?” He splutters and sets the pictures down, mussing his hair. “Absolutely not.” “Why not?” She crosses her arms, setting the old polaroids on the table. “Because he likes you.” “He’s poly-” “Which doesn’t necessarily mean he likes me.”, he pointed out. “But it means he might.” She pokes his stomach, Reggie snorting and paling suddenly.

Julie looks back at where he’s staring, spotting Luke standing by the door, Julie’s old ipod still playing music from the earphones dangling in his hand.

“Luke! Look, Julie, it’s Luke. Lukester, Lukiepoo, Luke-a-” Reggie’s impromptu rambling is cut off by Julie, her hand plastered over his mouth. “Been there, done that - not fun.” She mumbles at him, smiling widely at the singer. “Hey, Luke!” “Hey.” He walks into the garage and spots the pictures, grinning brightly. “Oh hey, it’s Christmas!” Reggie moves Julie’s hand from his mouth. “Uh, yeah, I might have told Julie that you and Alex used to date and showed her the polaroids.” “She already knew, dude.” He kneels on the floor and looks between the old pictures, smiling sadly at the pictures of the four boys. “No, I didn’t.” Luke looks up in surprise at the girl. “I swear I told you-” She shakes her head, avoiding the urge to smile. “Oh- well, Alex and I used to date.” She shares a look with Reggie, their affection for the ghost clear in their eyes. “Who’d’ve guessed?”

She reaches towards the table and knocks some of the pictures off. “Oops- Reggie, help me pick these up.” She sends a sweet smile Luke’s way, her heart fluttering when he sends one back, and pulls Reggie down by the elbow. Luke raises an eyebrow, one earphone in as he hums and keeps rifling through the images.

“Ow-!” He hisses quietly as he hits said elbow on the table. The pair face each other, confusion all over the poor boy’s face. “Sorry-” She winces and shakes her head, slowly picking the pictures. “You gotta tell him-” She whispers, the boy frantically shaking his head. “I can’t-” “What’s the worst that could happen?” “Easy for you to say - you know he likes you.” He looks around, seeing Luke’s jean-cladded knees shuffle around he continues, seemingly unaware of their conversation. “I can’t ruin things between us. We’re family and I can’t-” “You won’t lose him,” she puts a hand on his knee, looking up at him, “he used to date Alex, right?” The boy nods, busying himself with the fallen polaroids. “And they’re still good, right?” “That doesn’t mean they didn’t hurt each other-” He sighs as he picks up the last picture. It was one of Luke with his family, taken only a few weeks before he ran away.

He was kneeling with his dog, Zeppelin, his parents smiling brightly as he tried to get the dog to stay still. “Stay.” The dog behaved himself, Luke swinging one arm over his back. “Good boy.” “Smile!” Reggie lifted the camera, snapping the picture just as the dog gets excited and jumps up, knocking Luke over and licking his face. The teenager yelped in surprise, laughing as he tried to shift the large animal. Reggie took another two pictures of this scene, the first image probably coming out blurry.

He’d kept the blurred image, one of the non-blurry pictures given to Luke’s parents and the other to Luke. He could still hear the scene in his head. “Luke’s been through enough. I don’t wanna hurt him-”

“You wouldn’t hurt me.” The pair jump up from under the table, Reggie this time hitting his head, the rest of the pictures falling off the table. “Fuck-!” He groans loudly, pressing his hand against his head. “I get that we’re sorta tangible now but that doesn’t mean I have to keep hurting myself!” He yells at no one in particular. Luke moves next to the whining boy, looking at his head. “You’re fine. And, y’know, not hurt.” He whips his head, ignoring the mild pain in his head as his cheeks flare bright red. “Did you just call me fine-?” “Yup.” He grins and picks up Julie’s black cat, making soft soothing noises and stoking her soft fur. “Even Melody agrees, Reggie’s pretty fine.” Said ghost looks between Luke, Julie and the cat wondering if they were playing an elaborate prank on him.

“What…. is going on?” He tilts his head, setting the pictures on the table and moving to pick the rest of the pictures. The singer looks at Julie as he tries to come up with an explanation, scratching lightly behind Melody’s ears. “I might have been eavesdropping?” Reggie groans and covers his face, shuffling the images in his hands nervously. “How much did you hear-?” “Like all of it-” “God-” He puts the pictures down on the table, looking up at Luke who gave the cat to Julie.

“Look-” Reggie starts only to have Luke cut him off. “Can I actually go first-?” Reggie bites his lip anxiously, looking over to Julie who gives him a thumbs up. He smiles and nods at him, Luke sitting in front of him, their legs crossed.

“I like you. Have since ‘93 - I didn’t realise till I was dating Alex and so tried to push it out of mind. I didn’t know poly was a thing till now and I know now that I like my very awesome girlfriend,” he smiles shyly as he thinks of her, “and I like our very awesome bassist.” Reggie blinks at him in disbelief. Luke frowns and looks back at Julie who shrugs. He waves a hand in front of his face, Reggie jerking back instinctually. “You good, dude?” He just gapes, red spreading further over his ears. “My crush of two years just said he’s liked me for 3- This-”, he gestures vaguely at the group, “this isn’t possible-” “Is it really that hard to believe?” Julie raises her eyebrows at him from the couch. “That Luke Patterson has a crush on me? Yes.” “Why? You’re hot, you play at least three instruments and can read Shakespeare off the top of your head.” Reggie freezes. “You called me hot-” “Yes, Reggie. Y’see, I have these things called eyes- I get that yours don’t work as well as most people’s-” “Oh, come on; I haven’t worn glasses since I was like 15-” “That doesn’t mean you don’t need them-” “We’re dead, man. I’m pretty sure I don’t need them- or do I-?” They sit in silence as they ponder their afterlife, Julie watching her dummies.

She coughs, drawing their attention towards her. She motions towards the two of them, the pair blushing as they remember their conversation. Julie sighs and lets Melody go, marching towards them with her hands on her hips. The boys lean back, slightly intimidated. “Luke, you like Reggie?” “Yes.” “And Reggie, you like Luke?” “Yeah.” “Luke, do you wanna date Reggie?” The latter looks up at her in surprise. “Definitely.” Reggie stares at the ghost, pleasantly surprised. “Reggie, d’you wanna date Luke?” “Yes?” “Good - you are now dating. Congratulations.”

Reggie stares blankly at the girl. “Wait, what-?” “What what?” “That’s that? We’re suddenly dating now?” “Pretty much.” She nods and smiles happily, chuckling at Luke’s excited grin. “I have a girlfriend and boyfriend- awesome!” He gazes at the pair of them softly, Reggie giggling happily. “I have a boyfriend-” The pair beam at him. “My first boyfriend. Wicked!” He smiles brightly as Alex and Willie walk in.

“Finally!” Alex stuffs his hands in his hoodie pockets, shaking his head at them. “I’ve been watching you two pine over each other for years.” “I wouldn’t say years-” Reggie attempts to defend them. “I would.”

Willie sits next to Julie and watches the exchange, taking his notebook out and tapping the table to let her know he’s there. “Hey Willie.” “Hey Jules.”, he says, writing it onto the pad, adding a smiley face.

“And we weren’t ‘pining’.” Luke backs up his boyfriend, Reggie nodding in support. “Are you kidding me- You look at each other like that cat from Shrek-” Melody hisses at the word cat before returning to grooming herself on top of Julie’s piano. Alex narrows his eyes at the cat. “Gremlin-” “Don’t be mean to my baby-” She tosses one of Luke’s shirts at him, the boy just watching as it passes through him. “Your ‘baby’ is mean-” He grumbles, sitting next to Willie.

“So how was your date?” Willie smiles brightly, lightly nudging the blond with his shoulder. “We went to the old Ghost Club and smoked weed mostly - no clue why but eating and stuff, still possible there, even without Caleb.” Willie talks and writes for Julie, Alex hiding his face in his cap. “There may have been some graffiti involved-” “Alex? Our straight-laced, trustworthy Alex broke the law?” Luke looks between the two ghosts, impressed but in complete disbelief. “Technically, the law doesn’t actually apply to us anymore. So, no, he did not.” “Alright, Alex! Welcome to the dark side; we break the rules and look good doing it.” Reggie pats his knee, groans escaping from behind the hat. He sweeps his hair back and puts the cap on, Willie staring at him with adoration in his eyes. “What-” “You’re cute.” “I’m-” The flustered boy takes a, technically unnecessary, breath. “Okay-” Willie giggles quietly at the pink flourishing across his boyfriend’s face, Luke, Reggie and Julie sharing a look.

Luke nods towards the door and the trio leave the couple to themselves. “So, they’re adorable.” Reggie remarks as soon as they’re out of earshot. “Right?” Luke walks backwards, his hands tucked into the pockets of his sleeveless hoodie. “Like, I can’t even see Willie and I can still tell they’re meant for each other.” Julie tucks a curl behind her ear, talking animatedly with Reggie, Luke watching them with a soft grin on his face. ‘My girlfriend and boyfriend - awesome!’ 

[emerald-echeveria-plant]

[Part 3 of ???]

The Lost Civilization

//Baozhai is doodling in a notebook. She drew a picture of the stranger aka Flint with little hearts draw around him.//

Baozhai, sighs in admiration: you're the most handsome man I've ever seen..

Cletus: Why thank you! I always did fancy myself as good-looking.

Baozhai, glares at Cletus: Not you! I'm talking about the stranger I saw from yesterday..

Cletus: Which one?

Baozhai: The handsome one..~

Cletus: ...

Cletus: Erik?

Baozhai: no!

Cletus: Sao?

Baozhai: No... The one that I felt I had a close connection to..

Cletus: Oooh! I know who you're talking about... The Captain is gonna be real mad if he finds out you're attracted to Haggis.

Baozhai: WHAT?! NO! NOT HIM! GROSS DEFINITELY NOT HIM!

Cletus: Well, then who is it?

Baozhai: I don't really know his name..

Cletus: If you don't know who the fuck it is, how am I supposed to know??

Baozhai, frustrated as hell by this point but somehow manages to stay calm: I'm talking about the guy that... Punched me in the face..

Cletus: Oooh... I already knew that I was just fucking with ya' *snickers*

//Baozhai punches Cletus in the stomach. Cletus falls the floor. He groans in pain as he clenches his stomach. Noëmie walks up to Baozhai and lightly taps her shoulder.//

Noëmie: Um.. Baozhai?

Baozhai, turns to Noëmie and annoyed: What do you want Noëmie?

Noëmie: I know almost everyone you talked to about your love interest isn't going to well... But uh, maybe the next time you see him, try to, I dunno... Get to know him more and tell him about yourself..?

Baozhai: ...

Baozhai: Noëmie... did you just give me advice about love?

Noëmie: Um, I think so..?

Baozhai: ...

Noëmie: ...

//Baozhai hugs Noëmie and twirls her around in her arms.//

Baozhai: Noëmie, you're a genius! That's a wonderful idea!

Noëmie: oh my, well, thank you!

Baozhai: Yes, I'll charm him! Flatter him! Make him mine! And if he doesn't accept it... I'LL RIP OUT HIS SPINE, GOUGE HIS EYES WITH A RUSTY NAIL, AND-

Noëmie, cutting her off: How about you don't do any of that brutalizing stuff..

Baozhai, genuinely confused: Why..?

Noëmie: Well if you love someone, you can't threaten them with violence and maiming. Especially when they don't accept your feelings.

Baozhai: Then, what do I do..?

Noëmie: Cry it out, accept thats how they feel, and move on.

Baozhai: That sounds good.. but what if I keep bothering him-

Noëmie: what-

Baozhai: keep professing my love to him-

Noëmie: wait-

Baozhai: and I'll make him mine..! I am such a genius!

Noëmie: Please don't do any of that..

Baozhai: Don't worry Noëmie, I won't do any of that unless he loves me back. You have nothing to fear! Because I am the master of charm 😏 oh! I better go practice putting on makeup.. since I don't really know how.

//Baozhai runs off to another part of the ship.//

Noëmie: ...

Noëmie, shakes head: This is going to end horribly.. I just know it is.

Islay, walking up behind her: You really shouldn't have said those things. Don't ya' realize the captain will take issue with her falling for one of Haggis's crewmates???

Noëmie: Oh dear! How could I forget their fueding..! I hope this infatuation is minor with Baozhai. Who knows what'll happen if the stranger falls in love with her too!

Islay: oh please, you don't need to worry about that. Baozhai has the literal sex appeal of a boat crash. It looks terrible but you just can't look away. I don't mean to insult her but it is true. Can't see any men or women falling in love with her personality or looks. And knowing Baozhai, she's going to do something stupid and dangerous to get his affection.

Noëmie: I mean she is rather distasteful at times but I wouldn't call her that...

Islay: This better not cause any issues. The captain already has enough on his plate with Haggis nearly killing him. But if it does, this'll be on your hands for getting those ideas into her head!

Noëmie: okay..

//Islay goes to help Cletus off the ground. She puts the injured man over her shoulder and proceeds to walk towards the hold. Leaving Noëmie alone on the deck. The dark grey canid poundered for a bit.//

Noëmie: I mean, it's not like Haggis and his crew are following us... Right..?

//And Noëmie couldn't have been more wrong. Because in fact, they were following right behind them... On Haggis's ship, they managed to fix up the hole that Bonnet had caused previously. Haggis was still pissed that Bonnet did that to his ship. He was getting revenge and they were going to pay with their blood. As Haggis navigated the ship, on the deck were Flint and Billy, swabbing the deck.//

Billy, looked over to Flint: So, you and that loony crewmate of Bonnet's... Kinda odd that they stared at you for a pretty long time.

Flint: Mhm.

Billy: ...

Billy: Not gonna say anything about that?

Flint: Whatever happened between me and that man was minor. So, no, I don't have anything to say about it.

Billy: Flint... That was a woman.

Flint, stops swabbing and looks at Billy: what?

Billy: That was a woman. That you also happened to punch. In the face.

Flint: Oh... Well, too late to take it back now.

//Flint walked towards the bucket of water. As he went to dip the mop into the bucket of water, Erik stepped in front of the path of the cabin boy.//

Erik: Hello Flinty~!

Flint: Erik. How disappointing to see you.

Erik: Oh you're such a charmer! Wonder if your little girlfriend thinks so too! *Chuckles*

Flint: What the hell are you taking about?

Erik: Heh, You think nobody noticed you and that little wench making goo-goo eyes at each other?? Because boy, everyone's been talkin about it!

Flint: First of all, he's- I mean, she's not my girlfriend. And secondly, I wasn't making "goo-goo" eyes at anyone. Especially towards someone who looks like they got their nose done by the front door.

Erik: hmm.. well, it'd be a real shame if someone told the captain about those rumors about you and that girl.. and told him they were true. Meaning you'd get punished some more for coercing with the enemy..😏

Flint, rolls his eyes: you want something don't you. Of course you do, I already know you too well... Now tell me what is it???

Erik, grinning: Give me half of yer loot when we find the treasure and I'll keep my mouth shut.

Flint: what if we don't find the treasure??

Erik: Then, I guess I'll have to tell the captain. Too bad you've barely gained his trust from the time you spent on this ship..

Flint: Just in case you didn't know, I loathe everything about you.

Erik, chuckles: Hehe, I know. So do we have a deal..?

Flint, sighs: what other choice do I even have..

Sao, interrupting their conversation: LAND HO!

//The crewmates put their attention forward. A few miles away from them was a planet with lush jungles and plants. Beaches with golden sand with oceans that seem so crystal clear you can see right through them. Not too far in a distance were tall golden buildings, along with statues of different deities. The ship came to a stop, landing near the sandy beaches.//

Captain Haggis, shocked: I can't believe it..

Sao: what is it captain..?

Captain Haggis: Don't you see it... This is the lost civilization of the Paititi! A city that has tons of gold hidden somewhere to prevent colonizers from stealing it..

//Haggis looks through a telescope. He looked towards where Bonnet's ship had landed. He saw Bonnet, what looked like giving his crew orders. Bonnet then pulled out several maps and passed them out to each of his crewmates. Haggis chuckled darkly.//

Captain Haggis: Too bad the "gentleman pirate" and his crew won't be as much as getting a dabloon of that treasure.. Sao, round up the crew and get them ready. I'm making sure they don't leave this place... Alive.

Sao: Yes Captain! Right away!

//Sao made her way down towards where the rest of the crewmates were.//

Sao: Alright everyone, Captain says to get ready.. we're going treasure hunting!

//The crew cheered with joy. Some lifting their swords and flintlock pistols in the air.

Meanwhile on Bonnet's ship, he finished giving out the maps to the rest of his crew.//

Captain Bonnet: Alright with these maps we can all split up into two pairs. They show where hidden booby traps are and how to get to the treasure.

Ironbeard: this all seems like a good idea captain but uh, why are you splitting us up into pairs exactly..?

Captain Bonnet: Because I think I'd be a much more quick and efficient way to do so! And also the twins have been freaking me out lately..

//Ironbeard and Bonnet turn their heads towards the Solace twins. The twins slowly crept their heads towards the rest of the the crewmates. They were holding hands and were side by side to each other. Their eyes looked soulless as they stared at the others.//

Solace twins: A horrible fate awaits to whoever dares to awake the beast's slumber from inside the depths of hell and they'll bring misfortune and misery if awoken.

Ironbeard: ...

Ironbeard: Yeah I guess I can see why.

((Bonnet, Baozhai, Noëmie, Cletus, Islay, and the Solace twins belong to me!

Haggis, Sao, and Erik belong to @chaossmith2))

[the-awkward-outlaw]

i’m so excited your inbox is open!!😁😁can i request an arthur x fem!reader where he’s insisting he’s “an ugly, old outlaw” and all that bs and she gets really emotional and gives this speech on how handsome (adorable) and loyal and caring he is? basically just tooth-rotting fluff😊😊love your work!!🤍

I hope I ticked all the boxes for this one, lol. But it definitely turned out very fluffy (which is good, because I live for fluff! They are my favorite to write, especially with Arthur). Enjoy! 

Masterlist

Read on AO3

You stand on the edge of Horseshoe Overlook, repeater in hand, waiting for an improbable attack. Of course, you can’t be entirely sure there won’t be one. Arthur mentioned a couple days ago running into some Pinkertons while he was out fishing with Jack. Something tells you that if they found this place, they’d have no problems marching in. 

An hour later, the sun’s beginning its slow descent into the sky and you hear something: a horse coming down the path. Just as you lean around a tree to see who it is, Arthur comes into view. 

“Oh hey, Arthur!” you say excitedly. Not only does he carry heavy weight in camp, he’s one of the nicest men you’ve ever met (despite being an outlaw), and he’s also the man you’re in love with. You haven’t had the courage to tell him this, the thought alone terrifies you. 

He gives you an adorable “gun” finger salute as he trots past, but you notice his eyes don’t crinkle the way they do when he smiles, almost like he’s faking it. He goes on towards the camp and you follow him, wondering if something’s wrong. 

When you get to camp, you ask Karen to take guard duty for now, explaining you’ll make up for it later. She accepts, saying you owe her a whiskey, to which you agree. Arthur dismounts his horse, feeding her a treat. You hear him say, “rest now, girl. You did good.” God, he’s so cute the way he talks to his horse. 

He continues on towards his tent and young Jack crosses his path as he walks. “Hiya, Uncle Arthur!” 

“Hey there, Jack. You keepin’ safe?” Arthur’s been worried about him ever since he ran into the Pinkertons. Of course, Arthur’s always been protective. 

“Yeah.”

“You still reading with Hosea?” 

“Yeah! He read me a story about a prince! I did a page all by myself!” 

“That’s excellent, son! Good for you!” 

Jack skips off and Arthur continues on towards his tented wagon, his shoulders rolling as he walks. You melt at the exchange he had with Jack. He is the most adorable, gentle man you’ve met. How is it that he’s a wanted man? 

Arthur shuffles around his wagon a bit, adjusting some things on his little table. Then he grabs the flaps of the canvas and pulls them down, clearly wanting some privacy. 

Silently, you go over to his tent and peak in. The sight breaks your heart. He’s sitting on the cot, hunched over, his hands clasped together as his elbows rest on his thighs. You can tell he’s upset about something. 

“Mr. Morgan?” you ask. 

He looks up and clears his face. “Oh, hey there, Y/N. What can I do for ya?” 

“Nothing. I just wanted to check on you. I was… I guess worried. You okay?” 

He smiles a little, huffing a bit. “Oh I’m doin’ just fine.” 

You can tell he’s lying, and you’re nervous to stay any longer. It’s clear he wants to be alone. However, you swallow your fear and walk into the tent. 

“Can I ask what’s wrong, Mr. Morgan? Whenever I have something weighing heavy on my mind, I find it’s helpful to tell someone.” 

“Oh trust me, no one wants to hear about my problems. I’m just… just a sad, miserable ol’ outlaw.” 

Your heart feels like it’s going to break. How can he think such awful things about himself when every time you see him, he’s doing something good to those around him? Bringing Mary-Beth a pen, reading stories to Jack, giving that one-armed man in Valentine money. Every time you’re with him, he proves the exact opposite of what he’s saying now.

“You… don’t really think that’s true, do you, Mr. Morgan?” 

“Oh trust me, I ain’t sayin’ bad enough about myself. I’m… a no-good killer, a fighter. And uh, just a bad man.” 

A tear slides down your cheek and you go sit down next to him. “Mr. Morgan, forgive me, but that’s not what I see. Every time you’re around, I see you helping folk, making people smile. I see you doing too much good to believe that a bad man is all you are.” 

“You don’t know me very well, Y/N. Hell, you only been with us a few months. Wait a few years, you’ll be sayin’ somethin’ different.” 

“I don’t think so. If anything, I’ll probably be sayin’ even nicer things about you. And honestly, Mr. Morgan, I’ve never lied to you. I ain’t startin’ now.” 

“Trust me, you won’t. No one does, everyone who spends any length of time with me knows how horrible I am.” 

“I’ve spent plenty of time with you,” you say. “I don’t think you’re horrible. Sure, you’ve made some bad choices, but who hasn’t? I… I’ve made choices that I regret too. But you can’t look at the world with people split in two based on good and bad. People are complicated. You’re complicated. That’s how the world is, and you ain’t doin’ yourself any favors by seeing it that way.” 

He sighs heavily, looking away from you. He doesn’t speak for a few moments and when he finally does open his mouth, you’re sure he’s about to tell you to leave him alone. 

“To be honest, Y/N, I really am a bad man. The only thing I’m good for is fightin’. All I ever been good at.” 

“Mr. Morgan, can I ask who told you this?” 

“No one told me, Y/N. I… I always known. And the other night, robbin’ that train full o’ city folk. Well, I robbed and beaten plenty of people before, they was really no different. But… I was over near Strawberry earlier. Some guy challenged me to a race. Guess he just bought a new horse, wanted to show off. Anyways, ol’ Artemis and I gave him a run for his money. I won, of course.” He scratches his chin. “When that other bastard got there, he was real angry. So angry he shot his horse in the head, so I shot him. Don’t quite know why I did neither. When…. When I shot him, I realized I felt nothin’. Not joy, not regret. Just nothin’.” 

“Maybe because there was nothing to feel, Mr. Morgan. After all, a man who can so easily shoot his new horse he was so proud of moments ago cannot be much of a man at all. Perhaps… perhaps you killing him was a good thing.” 

“How do you mean?” he asks. He finally turns to you, his blue eyes searching yours. 

“Well, if he can so easily shoot a horse in that fashion, something tells me he doesn’t know how to rein in his anger, that he lets it get the better of him. Who knows? Maybe he was constantly hurting his wife or kids if he had them. Maybe you killing them will send them relief, freedom. That’s the way I have to see the world, Mr. Morgan, that our bad deeds have a positive effect somewhere in the world.” 

Arthur grunts a bit. “Maybe. But… but I’m still nothin’ more than a fighter.” 

“No you’re not. Forgive me, Mr. Morgan, but I’ve been watching you probably more than you think. You’re a good man, a wanderer, a hunter. An artist too I bet.” 

“How do you figure that?” He cocks his eyebrow a bit, staring at you from the side of his eye. Part of you thinks he’s on the verge of smiling, which encourages you. 

“I’ve seen you sitting on the edge of camp, writing and doodling in that journal of yours. John told me Dutch taught the two of you to draw, but it didn’t take with him.” 

“Hmm, a lot of things didn’t take with that boy.” 

You giggle, but don’t really want to lead this conversation into a heated discussion about John Marston and his flaws. “I bet you’re good though. Could… I mean, would you hate me for asking if I could see your drawings?” 

You are extremely doubtful that he’d give you that privilege. After all, you and Mary-Beth talked about journaling and she mentioned how Arthur is notorious for it, but how no one has ever seen the inside of his. However, Arthur surprises you by sighing heavily and taking his journal out. He flips through it quickly, finding a page that has a drawing of a large wolf on it. He hands you the book, though he seems nervous. 

Gently, you take it from him and inspect the drawing. It’s beautiful, professional even. You can so easily see the textures of the wolf’s fur, the bristles of the pines behind it. It’d be impossible to not admire the strokes put down, each one with their own intention and purpose. 

“Mr. Morgan, this is incredible. I knew you were an artist, but I didn’t think you were this good.” 

“Oh nonsense. Anyone can draw like this. Hell, I bet you ain’t that bad of an artist yourself.” 

It’s your turn to raise your brow. “You wanna bet? Give me your pencil.” 

He hands it to you and, in the lower right corner, you draw a small version of his wolf, which is far more than laughable. You’ve never been very good at drawing, but even this version is pathetic. After a few minutes, you hand him back his journal. 

“There. Now your wolf has a badly deformed companion.” 

Arthur takes one look at it and then he lets out a laugh. “I like it,” he says after a moment, his eyes meeting yours. This time, his eyes crinkle. 

You can’t help but giggle. “I’m glad you like it, Mr. Morgan.” 

Still grinning, he straightens up a bit. “Why you always callin’ me Mr. Morgan? You can call me Arthur on occasion, you know.” 

“Oh I… I know,” you say, looking down at your lap, your cheeks burning. “I… I don’t know why I do.” 

He admires your features for a moment. Arthur knows you’re sweet on him. He clued into it pretty quick when he first asked you to call him by his first name weeks ago and you refused. Then he heard Tilly and Mary-Beth joking about how they knew. He also noticed you did things for him no one else did: bringing him coffee in the morning, offering to clean his guns, how he was the only person you asked to teach you how to play poker and black jack. Other small things you did only for him. It didn’t take long for him to realize he felt something for you too.

He finds your behavior now endearing and you’ve helped cheer him up immensely. He grabs your hand and lifts it, placing a soft kiss to the back of it, which causes you to look up at him. 

“Thank you, Y/N,” he says. 

You’re blushing hard again. “You’re welcome. Arthur.” 

Just as he’s about to lean over to try and place a kiss to your lips, Grimshaw’s shrill voice carries across camp. 

“Where the hell is Y/N?! That damn girl, always disappearing! I swear when I find her…” 

“Shit,” you say and quickly yank your hands out of Arthur’s grasp and then darting outside to subdue Grimshaw. 

Arthur chuckles, his heart much lighter than it was before. He looks down at his journal, finding your poor rendition of a wolf. Little do you know that it brings him great comfort and always will. In the future, when things go bad, he opens to this page just to look at it, to remember the things you said. It’s a moment he’ll never be able to forget. 

[huckleberrysclutterbucket]

LOSING CONTROL

Lucas tries to keep his temper under control, but sometimes is just imposible.

Lucas POV

Control, is a small word with a big meaning. My dad used to say after I got in a fight, “If you could control your temper, you wouldn´t be in this situation”. I got sent to the principal´s office several times, I got suspended twice. My dad had business in New York and saw an opportunity to help me start over. And I did. I had everything under control, or so I thought.

First day, I haven´t even reached school, I meet this girl, she walks up to me like she owns the freaking subway and makes a number for her friend. They are both cute. The fisty one is named Maya and the other one Riley. I get to school and enter my new classroom, I was held back a year since I spent most of it in detention or suspended, and to my surprise, both girls are in my class. And to top it all, my history teacher is Riley’s father. 

As soon as Maya recognize my accent, I was doomed. She wouldn’t waste a chance to call me names and make fun of me. Little did she knew, instead of irking me, I loved those names she gave me, Huckleberry, Sundance Kid, Ranger Rick. All western. The girl did her homework, she knew what I liked. It was time for me to find out what she liked and get to her. 

As time passed, we became friends, even Farkle accepted me in his group. Riley was the one who kept us all together, even in the most difficult times, she always had faith in our friendship. I did noticed the moon eyes, she likes me, really likes me, in a romantic way, but I’m not into romantic stuff, so I never really asked her out. I was more intrigued about Maya, she’s more about act first think later, kinda reminds me of myself. Tuff exterior and soft in the inside, like a lobster. I wonder what made her put up all those walls around her. It seems like the only person she lets in is Riley. I really wanted to get to know her.

Everything seemed to be under control, untill Maya asked me to beat up a kid that was bulling Farkle. I worked so hard to keep my temper under control, change my old ways. I told her we shouldn’t use violence, it never ends well. We were in gym class when Billy, my team mate, started bulling Farkle, I lost my temper and pushed Billy, I had him pinned to the wall and was about to trow the first punch when Maya jumped on my back and stopped me. “Lucas, don’t!” “Isn’t this what you wanted Maya?” “No. Thats what he wants, he wants you to be like him” Hearing her anxious words in my ear and feeling her heart beating so fast on my back made me realize that she was scared. I imediately returned to my calmed self and talked some sense into Billy. That was the first time I almost lost control. If it wasn’t for Maya, I would have ended up in a fight again.

Valentines day came, and this girl asked me out, Missy Bradford. She was the most popular girl in our grade. Then something funny happened, Riley got jelous. She looked so cute all mad about it. I had a talk with Farkle about the girls, he knew them better anyways. That’s how I learned that Farkle was inlove with both Riley and Maya, and he wanted to know if I would ask one of them out, so he could ask the other. That was weird, so I asked “And what if I pick the other one?” and he just said “Then I get the first one! how long do you wanna play this game?” Was this a game for him? Ok then. I can play along. 

Maya, had other plans in mind, she asked me out instead, the girl has nerve and wasn’t going to sit around waiting for us to make a choice, and I’m not afraid to admit I kinda like that about her. She told me to pick her up at Riley’s and I was so thrilled to do so, but I was ambushed. Maya set me up to date Riley, luckly Mr Matthews wouldn’t let her go unless Maya and Farkle came too, as long as she was there I didn’t care. The four of us took the subway, I kept stealing glances at Maya  and noticed she kept looking at some older guy a few seats ahead. Suddenly she walked straight to that dude and started talking to him, was she flirting? Riley noticed me staring at Maya and explained to me. Josh Matthews, he was her uncle. And apparently Maya had the biggest crush on him.

Maya sat beside Josh, and after a few words were crossed I could tell he said something that hurt her feelings. He got off the train on the next stop, leaving Maya with sad eyes. I wanted to punch that guy so much. I almost did, but then I remembered I was supposed to be dating Riley. I told her to go sit with Maya and see if she was ok, but Maya pushed Riley back to me. That’s when Riley fell on my lap and kissed me. It lasted just a second, but I stood frozen, it seemed like time had stopped. I just sat there, wondering if anybody else saw that, more like, wondering it Maya saw Riley kissing me. I didn’t tell anyone about it.

No one knew about my conflicted past, untill Zay came along with his big mouth. That month his family moved to New York, and my old childhood friend transfered to this school too. He’s only been here a week and I’ve already got in a fight. All the work I put on having my temper under control goes to hell. His big mouth got him in troube with a senior and I had to get in troube to save his ass, again. I got detention for friday after school. Thanks a lot Zay. To my surprise Maya was there too. She got in trouble but wouldn’t tell me why. I walked her home after detention, I find out her mom works until late and her dad is not around since she was 5, we were in detention together a few times after that. Apparently she doesn’t like to do homework. I must confess I got into a few fights just to get in detention so I could walk her home.

I always sat behind Maya, that way was easier to catch on the details. I still wanted to get to know her. That’s how I noticed all the little drawings on the edge of her notes. She hated science and chemestry, I was her lab partner, it was basically like having no partner at all, she would fall asleep in my hand, literally. But I didn’t mind. I even liked to do all our projects together, more like me doing the project while I watched her sleep or doodle. Sometimes I took her to my house so that she would fall asleep in my bed. How I loved to smell my pillow. The scent of her shampoo lingered for a while after she was gone.

We had a school dance, the semi formal. I was supposed to ask Riley to go to the dance with me, but I never did. I asumed we were all going together as a group. However, Charlie Gardner had other plans, he asked Riley to be his date to the semi formal when I failed to do so, and she said yes just to try to get me jelous. I was kinda not okay with her childish behavior, so I got irritated but then again, Maya didn’t had a date, and I finnaly had a chance to dance with her. And I did. 

At school things were not going great. Not only I had a bunch of homework and projects, but the Art class was about to be canceled. Is the only class Maya actually enjoys. Even when Maya said she was ok with it, and that it was just a class, or just a hobby, I knew her better by then. That class was very important to her, it was her escape from all the stress in her life, I could see that sadness in her eyes and I couldn’t stand it. We did all we could think of to convince the board to keep the arts program at school. And we succeded.

Riley’s and Maya’s friendship used to be the strongest, but now it seemed so fragile, to the point of crazyness. Me and Maya were voted as “best couple” on the yearbook, and when Riley and Farkle noticed, it was like if all hell broke loose. Riley was sinking into depressed Riley wich she called Morotia M Black. Maya tried to bring her back by pretending to be Riley. Farkle was angry too because he wanted to be “taken seriously”. I didn’t understand what was happening back then because I’ve always taken him seriously, but he changed his style and now he wanted to be called Donny Barnes. It seemed to me there was someone else he wanted to impress. Someone in particular that he wanted to notice him or to take him more seriously.

Zay told the girls about my accident riding a sheep when I was four. On vacation we went to Texas, more like Riley and Maya signed me up to ride a sheep to “overcome my fear of falling from Judy”. I would have appreciated their effort if it wasn’t for the fact that grown men don’t ride sheep, they ride bulls. So accidentally they signed me up to ride a freaking bull named Tumbstone, like if the name didn’t freak me out enough. What the hell were they thinking? Riley was trying to cheer me up, “You can do it Lucas, You’ll do great” but Maya, she knew how scared I was, and she knew why. I could die or get seriously injured. “If you do this, I’ll never speak to you again” she told me. But Pappy Joe was proud of me for doing this, and had already told all the town I was doing it, leaving me no room to back off from it without looking like a coward. Even though I didn’t got hurt and I could only ride the bull for four lousy seconds, it was enough to hurt Maya’s feelings.

That night we made a bonefire, we sat around it and talked, Riley broke up with me finally. She told me that Maya teases me because she’s attracted to me. Zay left with Riley and Farkle to “get ice cream” wile I talked to Maya alone. I asked her myself about it and she denied it. Against my better judgement, I lost control of myself again, I wanted to hear her say it so bad, I push and cornered her, “If you don’t like me, then why do you make fun of me? And why didn’t you wanted me to ride the bull?”  “Because I didn't wanted you to win and get all coincided”. Yeah right... Lamest answer. I knew I was getting close to a confession, so I kept pushing her “Why do you make fun of me?” “Because you’re easy to make fun of” “That’s not it” I walked so close to her, I could almost hear her heartbeat “Because you are a Huckleberry” she was becoming more agitated and kept yelling all this western nicknames at me. I couldn’t take it anymore, so the moment she hahurred in my face, I reached with both hands for her face and I kissed her. It was a soft kiss and it ended too soon but it worked, she stopped. And most importantly, she let her walls down. “Why did you do that?” She asked me. I was dumbstruck... I had kissed her. I didn’t knew what to do next. What should I say? “I’m sorry. I… I didn’t know how to make you stop” Now I was too nervous. I blew it… from all the things I could have said... I apologized? “Don’t have to be sorry. Of course I like you Huckleberry, if you got hurt I don’t know what I woud have done”. I made her say it, and I didn’t felt any better about it.

Back home we were all a wreck. Riley was still upset about me liking Maya, and she started going out with Charlie Gardner. How I hate that guy. Farkle started dating Smackle, and I asked Maya out. We had a smoothie, well my head had a smoothie, my “I delivered a baby horse” line didn’t work on her. I should have known that it wouldn’t. She’s not like other girls, she isn’t looking for a prince or a hero to save the day. I was in real trouble, Riley was so easy to impress, she was happy to hear my cowboy adventures. But Maya made fun of me, I had to work hard if I wanted to impress Maya.

New year came, Riley made a party in her house. Oddly enough, it was Charlie the one who invited me, so irritating, but everything about him was irritating. At the party, Maya and I couldn’t catch a break. We sat alone by the baywindow only to be third wheeled by Riley. Then we were having this moment, at the balcony, it felt so romantic and I was about to lean in for a kiss, when Farkle came running and ruined the moment by announcing “Riley still loves Lucas”. Wait what? Seriously? Then Riley broke up with Charlie. I wasn’t going to break up with Maya. Not a chance.

That’s how we started this weird triangle thing. Maya wouldn’t go out with me anymore since Riley was back in the picture. Their friendship was healing and they didn’t want to hurt each other. We tried to be just friends for a while, but the truth is, we couldn’t. I like Maya way too much.

We started High school and it was full of changes and new challenges. Both girls introduced me as their boyfriend, I could hardly keep up with them both, and to top it all, Riley demanded too much attention. She was naive and gullable, we had to keep an eye on her all the time, I snaped a few times at Riley, Maya tried to stay out, but everytime Riley would ask Maya to scream at me too. It was getting ridiculous. So Maya decided to drop out, she broke up with me and asked me to “go tell Riley that you love her”. I could never say no to her, so I stayed with Riley. When she asked about Maya, I was honest and told her the truth “She’s the one who sent me to you”. She didn’t seemed to mind, she was happy I stay even if that meant loosing Maya. I wasn’t too happy.

I went out with  Riley for a while, untill she moved to London, we never officially broke up, the relationship just froze. Her mom got a very good job offer and her whole family moved. We tried the long distance thing but it was harder than I thought. Specially after I found out that the only reason Maya broke up with me was because Riley’s uncle told her to. Josh and Maya started dating after that. Not that you could call that dating. He was in college and hardly got any time to see her, she spent most of her time alone in Toppanga’s coffee shop reading some novels. I know because, after Riley moved to London, I started going there too to keep her company. We had good times there. 

It was like going back in time, back to when we used to date. But this time she had a boyfriend and I had a girlfriend, only they weren’t here. I spent almost all afternoons with Maya, we became very close friends. Except when Josh was “available”. I really hated that guy, and I could tell he felt threaten by me. One time we had an argument, after that He tried to stop Maya from hanging out with me, as if someone could force Maya to do something. She broke up with him after that. Farkle and Izzy broke up too, and before we knew what was happening we all went our separate ways. Zay and Izzy started a relationship, hanging out on their own. Farkle stopped hanging out with us too. Somehow now that he was single he seemed to be very busy, on his computer or his phone, but always talking to someone. I spent almost all my free time with my football friends, at parties or with Maya. Mostly with Maya. We would have movie nights. It started as a group thing in the livingroom, but since Zay, Farkle and Izzy ditched us most of the times, we stopped inviting them. Now it was just the two of us, laying on my bed, talking and watching movies while we ate junk food untill we fell asleep.

We were watching one of those teen movies, when the typical sex scene began. Maya started a conversation. A sex talk to be exact. “Huckleberry, do you think we should have sex right now? I mean not you and me, but you and Riley, and me and someone else?” “Why now?” “Because, you’ll be 18 very soon, and Riley is only 16, it would be ilegal, and right now is not” “But I’m not in a hurry to have sex. Besides, even if I wanted to, Riley is in London” “But, she’ll be back for the summer, after prom” “Like I said, I’m not in a hurry to have sex,” “But, doesn’t it bothers you to be the only guy in the football team with a V card?” “Does it bothers you?” “No. but is different with guys. I’m sure they must have teased you about it” “Well, they don’t know I’m a virgin. They think I have too much sex actually” “Really? With whom?” How can I explain to her that every guy in the team thinks she’s my girlfriend and they know we hang out in my bedroom, almost daily.

Here it goes... “Remember when we were freshmen and you told everybody you were my girlfriend?” “Yeah, so?” “Well... They also know that you and I hang out in my room most afternoons” “How would they know that?” I reach for my phone in my jeans and give it to her. She looks at me because she knows which picture I have as background, she took it herself. Is her in my bed, wearing just my jersey and I’m shirtless next to her. “This doesn’t prove anything” she says but I tell her to unlock it, she knows my passcode. And I see her questioning face. “What am I supposed to do with this?” “Read” I’ve been ditching my friends to hang out with her and it has been buzzing with stupid ass coments about my sex life all day. Is a group chat with the football team. I already know what it says but I wait for her to read it. “Friar? you in for later?” “We are at Ross house.” “WHERE RU?” “You coming?” “He’s coming all right. In the gf” “He’s Banging the GF?” “They allways banging” “I’m so jelous” “You dog” “Too much sex has to be bad for your game” “Dude, he killed last game!” “Then keep it up” “Is up allright” “hahaha” “LOL” ...

She stops reading the texts and looks at me with horror in her eyes once the realization of what’s going on hits her. “So they think we are having sex? Like right now?” “Yes. Basically.” “oh my god, they think I’m a whore!” “No no no. They think you’re my girlfriend” “Why didn’t you tell them I’m not?!” “Would you rather let them think we have casual sex?”  “No! No wonder no one ever asks me out. I’m sigle and a virgin because of you!” “Would you rather loose your virginity to some idiot who would dump you next week?” “Yes! Damn it. I don’t wanna be a virgin anymore. I’ll even give it up to the next guy that asks me out!”

And right there I lost my temper again. The single thought of someone else touching her drove me mad, “I would never allow that! Everyone knows you’re off limits!” “Why would you do that to me?!” “I didn’t do it by myself you know! You are the one taking intimate pictures, cheering at my games, waiting for me after practice, I drive you everywhere, you wear my letter jacket like a girlfriend would.... You even sit on my lap for christ sake! What do you think it looks like when you spend the night in my bed?! Even my mom gives me freaking condoms because she thinks we’re fucking!” I knew I shouldn’t have said that the moment it came out of my mouth. Me and my goddamn temper. 

I was livid, and Maya was furious at me. “Even your mom thinks I’m a whore! I’m a virgin whore. What are the odds?...”  “You’re not a whore… They think you are my-“ “Don’t you dare say girlfriend, because you know is not real!” “WAKE UP MAYA! Is as real as if we were already fucking!” “SHUT UP! You’re Riley’s boyfriend!” “Pff please… we both know that relationship died way before she even left” “I can’t believe this... How could I be so stupid?” “Why don’t you admit that you like to pretend to be my girlfriend” “No, I don’t!” I had to make her say it “Then why are you here Maya?” “Because you invited me to watch a stupid movie!” “No. Why are you here, with me, in my bedroom?” With every word, I would take a step closer to her, until I cornered her to the wall. “Why spending the night in my bed when you know very well spooning you gives me a raging boner?” “I didn’t know.” “Stop... just stop lying already!” I was angry and I reached the wall, “What do you want me to say? That I want to lure you into having sex with me?” I had her trapped between me and the wall, I slammed my palms to the wall, on each side of her head “No! That you still love me! Because you know damn well that I still do!” I crashed my lips and claimed hers.

For the second time in my life I kissed Maya Hart, only this time I wasn’t gentle, I wasn’t a nervous kid and she wasn’t a scared little girl anymore. We had all this sexual tension and frustration we were eager to let out. She kissed me back with the same lust as me. Having her in my bedroom was just asking for trouble. She wanted sex and I was dying to give her just that. I slid my hands from her back to her waist, then down her  hips, to her ass and held her up, she wrapped her legs on my waist grinding her hips to me, and I was gone. I lost control to my hormones. Next thing I know, I had her on my bed, me on top of her. My hands touching all her curves, Maya’s legs arround me and pulling me down, between her legs, I’m grinding myself to her, enjoing the feeling of that friction and her soft moans. I was about to make the rumors true, already yanking the elastic band of her underwear, but then my mom walked in. She slammed the door and as she walked down the hall I heard her mutter “Just friends my ass”.

I got off of Maya as fast as I could “Fuck! Fucking freaking fuck!”, she was panting. I turned to watch the tv, the movie was over, the music and credits were on. We calmed down a bit, she sat on the bed, and some tears ran down her cheeks as she fixed her clothes. I made her cry. I sat on the bed with her. “I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t planned this” “How could I let this happen? I’m so stupid. What’s gonna happen when Riley comes back and someone tells her that you and I.” “I’ll tell her the truth, and then I’ll break it up, officialy” “She’s gonna hate me” “She knows our thing is over Maya. We haven’t even talked for weeks” “This can’t happen again. Never!” She put her sneakers on and ran away from me, out of my room, and out of the house. My mom was in the kitchen. “Isn’t your girlfriend staying for dinner?” “Not my girfriend mother. And No, we weren’t having sex, we were just making out. If we ever decide to have sex, I’ll wear those damn condoms.” I told her very irritated and ran after Maya.

She was walking down the corner when I caught up with her, and conviced her to get on the car so I could drive her home. I could tell by her red cheeks that she was very embarassed about what was about to happen in my room. “Maya, don’t worry. If it makes you feel better, tomorrow morning I will tell everybody we are both virgins” “I don’t care about that.” “Then what is it?” “We were about to... This is going to kill our friendship” “I’ll deal with Riley when she gets back. But right now, we need to talk about what just happened” “I can’t do this... we have to stop” “Believe me, I tried to stop, but I can’t. I’ve tried for so long, and I’m done holding back” “I can’t” “I’m loosing my mind here Maya, I have these intense feelings for you that you were reciprocating just a few minutes ago” “We can’t be friends anymore Lucas” “We were never just friends Maya, the scene in my room just proved it. You’re just too stuborn to accept that” We stopped movie nights until we could figure our relationship out. Maya was avoiding me at school, with all the finals, and prom everybody was too busy to even notice, and the ones who did, just pinned it for a couple’s argument.

End of term came sooner than expected. And so did a certain brunette. It was the week before prom and I had just asked Maya to be my date. Flowers, ballons, chocolates, the whole thing. I wanted her back in my life. She said yes. I came back home and Riley was at my door. “Riles, hi” “hey! I’m back” “Yes, I can see that... Come in. So what brings you here?” “I came to be your prom date, I meant to surprise you in school but you were gone and I had an interesting chat with some of your friends” “Yeah, we need to talk” “About you screwing my best friend behind my back?” “Oh... so, you heard” “All the fucking school knows. It’s humiliating!” “Yeah... But it isn’t true” “what about all these pictures in your locker?” I had forgoten about all the photos I had in my locker, nothing bad, just some pictures of me and Maya, movie night, parties, after a game, and my favorite where she had my letter jacket on because it was cold that night.. “You went trough my stuff?” “Was it a secret? I kinda had the impression it was public knowledge”

It wasn’t the fact that Riley didn’t believe me, or trusted me, I didn’t cared about that. It was the fact that the lie would ruin Maya’s and Riley’s frindship that made me confess all of it to Riley. “It was all fake Riley, you should know by now, Maya wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. She didn’t even knew about that stupid rumor until recently, and honestly I didn’t care enough to tell people it wasn’t true”. “But why?” “Because I like spending time with her, we have fun together, and it was easy to let the guys think whatever to get them off my back and hers” “Do you love her again?” “I never stopped loving her Riley, but you already knew that.” 

“You look happy together in all those pictures” “Yeah... that’s probably because we are.” “So, how does it work? She pretends to be your girlfirend?” “No Riley, we are not pretending, we just hang out together, like we always have, without labels. At least that was untill last week” “What happened last week?” “I told her about said lie. We had a fight and then I kissed her. But before you jump into conclussions, you should know that she freaked out and ran away from me” “She still loves you” “I know she does” “But she’ll never admit it” “Because she thinks you still love me. She cares more about you than herself” “Was she happy?” “The happiest I’ve ever seen her”. Somehow, even when she was the same Riley, she seemed different, more mature. She wasn’t really mad at me. She just seemed lost in thought. “I go away for a few months and you all wonder like scathered sheep” she joked. Riley excussed herself and left to go find Maya. Baywindow duty, and I’m guessing trying to fix all this mess we were in. I just hope that I didn’t ruined their friendship. Maya would never forgive me otherwise.

Maya called me that same afternoon, saying she couldn’t be my date to prom. She was still going, just not with me. I guessed it had something to do with Riley, but I wasn’t going to go with Riley so, I refused to go.  I was tired of falling into that game. I decided to stop playing it. Prom day came, it was a clouded sky that day, and so was my brain. I decided to show up last minute, I had to see her on her dress. I changed to my formal clothes, my cowboy hat, my rose, and I drove to prom. As soon as I got out of my car, it was pouring rain, I walk down to the door and stoped, right there trough the glass I could see her. She looked beautiful, dancing and spining on the dancefloor, her bouncing golden curls, sorrounded by all her friends, Izzy, Zay, Riley and Farkle, all together again, it seemed so surreal.

As they were dancing, Riley caught my eyes, she was staring at me, watching me with a devilish smile, while Maya was dancing oblivious to us. Then I remember why I liked Riley, she just had to fix everything. From where I was standing outside in the rain, I couldn’t hear a word, but I saw Riley lean into Maya and whisper something to her ear. Maya nodded, and closed her eyes happily. I didn’t loose her from my sight, as Riley took Maya’s hands and led her right in front of me. I was breathless, watching her laugh with her eyes still closed. Riley made eye contact with me and opened the glass door, then whisper something in her ear and left. Maya counted to three outloud and opened her eyes to see me.

“One, two, three.” “Hi” “Hey. You’re here” “Yeah, I wouldn’t miss seeing you in that dress for the world” “You should come in... the storm.” “I don’t mind” “Don’t you wanna come in and dance with us?” “There’s only one person I’m interested in” I gave her the red rose and then I took her hand and pulled her outside. The rain was still falling and she was getting wet. She came near me and hugged me, I put my arms around her as I swayed to the rithm of the music. It was a slow dance. I told her softly to her ear “I missed you so much” and she stopped dancing. I looked at her face as she looked deeply into my eyes and when she was about to speak, I kissed her. Only, this time, after she kissed me back, she didn’t pushed me away. It was so weird, how things turned around. Maya used to be the one who pushed Riley and me together, ever since we met. And now it was Riley the one who finally was pushing Maya towards me. She wouldn’t have me any other way. I told her “I love you, even with that stubborn head of yours”. She laughed and said “I love you, even with that bad temper of yours”.

[squishyeth]

cam girl [g.d] au

SUMMARY: Y/n is the shy girl. Grayson Dolan is the most popular boy. What happens when Grayson finds out that the cam girl he’s been chatting with is the  girl that he sees everyday.

WARNING: sexual content (masturbation-male, p&v penetration, fingering), graphic language

NOTES: italics are flashbacks

WORD COUNT: 3.5k

*I DO NOT OWN ANY GIFS*

“You’re so sexy, Mistress.” Sexyboi69 moaned out as he was stroking his length. I continued to dance seductively.

“Are you going to cum?” I said, biting my lips and shaking my ass a little. With that, I see the white liquid spurt out and his loud moan fills the room.

“That was my best orgasm yet.” Sexyboi69 complimented as he cleaned his hand with a towel.

“Same time as tomorrow?” I asked, sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Of course” he replied, with a thumbs up. I can’t see his face, but from the sound of his voice, he’s probably smiling; smirking even. The call ended and my phone dinged. I lifted up my cat mask to see it was from venmo.

‘Sexyboi69 paid KittyMistress $300 for a good time ;)’

CURRENT DAY

Y/N’s POV

I sat in the back of English, doodling as the teacher rambles on about her personal life that no one seems to care about. When I begin shading in the kitty’s ears, the bell rings. 

“Don’t forget to read chapter 13 and be ready to discuss it tomorrow!” Mrs. Allen said as everybody was packing up their bags and leaving. I put my sketchbook away and beginning zipping up my backpack. I got up and made my way out of the class. I saw Grayson holding the door open because he was a little bit in front of me.

“Thank you” I said quietly and as I walked away, I heard a faint you’re welcome. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a crush on him. Hell, everybody does. Grayson and Ethan Dolan are the most popular boys in this shit hole of a school. They have every girl swooning over them. I just particularly like Grayson more. I’ve had a crush on Grayson since 7th grade. He has just never noticed me because we don’t come from the same “clique.”

LATER THAT DAY

I put on my cat mask I got from a Halloween store a few months back. That’s when I became a cam girl. I do it for the money because my family struggles with paying bills. They don’t know that I’m on an adult site or else they will lose it. All my parents know is that I babysit some kid who lives down the street. I post free videos on the site, but I charge for personal videos or a skype session. My most popular client is Sexyboi69. He only shows his crotch area, but I don’t mind because I never show my face. Speaking of, my skype went off and Sexyboi69 showed up on the laptop screen. I hit accept.

“Hey” I innocently said, sitting crossed leg on my bed.

“HI, Mistress.” He said, waving to the camera.

“How are you?” I asked, biting my lip. 

“Eh, school stresses me out nothing new” He replied, “Just need a release” He finished, stroking his hard on. It turned me on, but I don’t touch myself on camera. I save that for my alone time. 

“And that’s where I come in!” I replied, with a giggle; standing up.

“Would you consider taking off the mask just this once?” He asked. I froze in place and before I could react, I slammed the laptop shut.

‘Sexyboi69 paid KittyMistress $500 I’m sorry :(’

THE NEXT DAY

I sat in my usual spot, in the back. I don’t have many friends. That’s a lie, I have no friends. 

“Quiet down!” The teacher said loudly, snapping her fingers like we’re dogs. 

“Okay, I’m going to explain the final project for Taming of the Shrew and it’s a partnered project” she explained and everyone cheered, except me, I internally groaned. “Except I’m picking the partners.” She finished to which now made everybody groaned. I’m eh on this; at least I don’t have to do the picking. She started pairing the class until she got to me and the one person I did not want to work with is

“Grayson, you’ll be partnered with Y/n.” She said 

‘Fuck’ I mouthed, keeping my eyes glued to my sketchbook.

“Man, I wanted the smart one.” One guy shouted, which resulted in the class to laugh. Great, just because I’m quiet, everybody thinks I’m Einstein. Everybody scatters around to their respective work partner and I stay seated; he’s going to have to come to me because I am not getting up.

“Hey” I hear a male voice say. I look up to see it’s Grayson.

“Hi” I quietly reply. He seats in the desk in front of me.

“Did you draw this?” He asked, pointing at the cat girl. I nodded.

“It’s really good, I like it!” He replied, smiling.

“Thanks” I mumbled with a small smile.

“So about the project” he stated, “We could go to my house, but my parents don’t trust me enough to bring someone over so do you have anywhere we could go to work together?” he asked. 

“My parent’s don’t come home until like 8 so we could work at my house?” I suggested quietly, trying not to make a lot of eye contact.

“That will work! Do you drive?” He asked, I shook my head “bus” I stated.

“Not today.” He replied with a smile.

LATER THAT DAY

We pulled up my driveway and Grayson turns the car off and we both get out and walk across the dead grass.

“Your house is, nice” he hesitated to say. If old and torn down is nice then thanks I guess. I know he’s just trying to make small talk, but no talk would be better. I unlocked the front door and walked in, locking the door once Grayson was in. 

“My room is the first door on the right,” I explained “Do you want some water?” I asked

“Yes please” He replied with a smile and made his way down the hall. I went into the kitchen and grabbed the ice trays from the freezer. After I filled two cups with ice water, I made my way to my room. When I entered my room, I saw Grayson sitting on my bed, holding my cat mask with furrowed eyebrows. I panicked and dropped the cups. He jerked his head to me, still holding the mask.

“Um, can I see that mask?” I asked, ignoring the cold water I’m standing in.

“Yeah, sorry” He said, handing it to me “Do you need help cleaning this up?” He asked, pointing to the water puddle.

“Uh no it’s fine” I stuttered “I’ll get more water though.” I said while turning around leaving a clueless Grayson standing at my door.

‘I really hope he doesn’t know who KittyMistress is’ I thought to myself. He’s a teen boy with hormones. I shouldn’t have let him go in my room by himself. I don’t even want to know what people would if they find out about the person behind the mask of KittyMistress. I am so stupid.

MOMENTS LATER

After I cleaned up the mess, we got started on the project. Scratch that, I started the project. This always happens so I’m not mad. It may hurt a little more because this is my crush and he’s paying no attention to me. My phone vibrated from my lap. It’s skype.

‘I really am sorry about yesterday :(’ Sexyboi69 texted. I look up to see Grayson is busy texting.

‘It’s fine’ I texted

‘I won’t be able to video chat. School stuff.’ He texted back

‘That’s fine! :) I have a school project coming up so I probably won’t be available for the next couple of days’ I hit send before placing my phone back in my lap. I got back to writing a summary, but I felt a pair of eyes on me.

THE NEXT DAY 

Mrs. Allen let us work on the project in class. Of course, Grayson was talking to his friends across the classroom. The bell rang and I have never been happier. My stuff was already packed so I put my backpack on and briskly walked out of the classroom with my English notebook clutched in my arms. As I’m walking to my next class, my phone vibrates,

‘Hey :)’ Sexyboi69 texted. What? Why now?

‘Hello?’ I sent, entering my biology class. Grayson also has this class with me, but I sit in the front and he sits in the back.

‘Why ?’ He sent back, I felt a pair of eyes burning the back of my head so I turned around, but saw no one, I turned back around.

GRAYSON’s POV

I’m overthinking it. Y/n is not KittyMistress. KittyMistress is confident and wild and y/n is quiet and clumsy. She’s a cute clumsy though. I look up to see y/n turning her head around so I put my head back down and pretend I’m texting. It’s not like I have a crush on her or anything. I have a thing for KittyMistress. Well, it’s one sided; I really want to know the face of the sexy body I see everyday. The face under the same exact mask y/n owns. Then again anybody can own that mask; I’ve seen that exact mask at a Halloween store. There it’s settled; y/n is not KittyMIstress.

LATER THAT DAY

I’m back at y/n’s house and she’s working on the project. I should really start helping. When I open my mouth, I hear the front door and a woman’s voice,

“Y/n! Are you home?” The woman yelled.

“Shit” y/n whispered. The woman opened door when y/n stood up and we made eye contact.

“Oh. Who’s this handsome young man?” She asked, smiling. 

“Um, Grayson” y/n stuttered out, “We’re working on an English project together.” She finished, fidgeting with the hem of her hoodie. The woman, who I’m guessing is her mom asks me,

“Oh yay! Grayson, we would love to have to stay for dinner!” She exclaimed as if her daughter doesn’t bring home friends. She has friends, right? I looked over at y/n who was chewing at her bottom lip, nervously.

“I would love to” I replied, smiling. Her mother seems nice.

“Yay!” She exclaimed, while clapping “Your father should be home early, but dinner should be ready soon!” She said before closing the door behind her and leaving us alone.

“Your mom is nice.” I said, smiling which resulted in y/n groaning.

AN HOUR LATER

We were all seated at the tiny table. I don’t remember the last time I’ve eaten with my family, but this feels nice.

“So Grayson” y/n’s dad started off “How did you meet my daughter?” He asked, dabbing his face with a napkin.

“We’ve had the classes since middle school, sir, but we got partnered up this year on a final project.” I explained, he nodded and drank his water. I can see from the corner of my eye that y/n is blushing. She’s so cute.

“You know,” y/n’s mom says while covering her mouth to swallow “She’s always talking about how cute this Gra-” she continues, but is interrupted by y/n coughing.

“Sweetie, are you okay?” Her mother asks with concern and rubs her back. Y/n just nods and drinks some water.

“Oh what was I saying?” She says

“Honey, we probably shouldn’t overwhelm him with questions.” Her husband said with a chuckle. 

“You’re right” She sighed “I just got excited because our daughter never brings guests home” She finished.

“I have to use the restroom” y/n said and ran down the hall. 

MOMENTS LATER

“I’m sorry ab-” I started, but was cut off by y/n,

“It’s fine, just leave it alone” she muttered, writing a summary for the project; I nodded. I was being nosy and started to look around. I had a deja vu moment when,

“You looking for something?” y/n sassed, I was taken aback and just shook my head. 

Y/N’s POV

I don’t know what has gotten into me or where this wave of confidence came, but I kind of like it. Grayson actually helped on the project for once; it might of just been gluing the pages on the poster, at least he was quiet. After about half an hour of walking, Grayson announces,

“I better go home.” Right as he said that, lightening strikes and we both get an alert on our phones that read,

‘FLASH FLOOD WARNING THIS AREA TIL 11:30PM EST. AVOID FLOOD AREAS. CHECK THE LOCAL MEDIA.’

I looked out my window and just my luck, the streets looked like a lake.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I mumbled, he agreed.

“Do you have a guest room?” He asked, turning his head toward me.

“No, but you can take my bed” I offered, “I’ll sleep on the floor.” I said, getting up to get the extra blankets out of my closet. I told my mom I would never need to use them, but I can hear her in my head saying ‘I told you so!’

“No, it’s you’re ro-” He said, but I cut him off by placing my finger on his mouth, “No, you’re the guest and I swear to god if you fight me on this, I will make you swim home I don’t care.” I ranted. Jesus Christ, who let KittyMistress out? Where did this confidence come from?

"Who is this and why doesn’t she come out at school?” He joked, but there was some seriousness in it. I rolled my eyes playfully and continued to grab the blankets. If I’m sleeping on the floor, I’m going to make it as comfortable as possible.

“I’m going to change in the bathroom” I explained, “Try not to be nosy while I’m gone.” I joked and he saluted, making me giggle as I walk out of the room. After I change into a tank top and pajama shorts, I exit the bathroom and make my way towards my room. When I open the door, I see Grayson carefully running his fingers through my lingerie hanging up. You have got to be kidding me. Out of all things I have?

“What are you doing?!” I yell.

GRAYSON’s POV

I notice something lacy in the closet. Y/n’s words replay in my head, but I feel myself being drawn towards the closet. I can’t imagine y/n in something lacy or tight fitting even. I’m sure she has a nice body under all those hoodies she wears. As I approach the open closet, I see that it’s lingerie. My eyes have definitely popped out of my head. I can’t imagine y/n in stuff like this. I hear a jingle sound and see that there’s a collar with a bell on it.

‘Where have I seen this before?’ I think to myself with furrowed brows. My thoughts were interrupted by y/n,

“What are you doing?!” She yells. I’m just standing there; it can’t be her. She just rolls her eyes and snatches the lacy material out of my hands and walks away. Before my mouth can catch up with my brain I speak out,

“Mistress.” She stops dead in her tracks. Gotcha.

“What did you just say?” She asked, facing away from me.

“I had a feeling when I first came over, but I thought the mask was just a coincidence.” I explained, walking towards her; her breathing is now ragged,

“And then the texting” I whispered by her ear. She’s shivering at this point.

“Sexyboi69?” She whispered, dropping the items on the ground. I nodded with a smirk. I’ve been waiting for this moment. My fingers trailed up her arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps. With her back still facing me, I slowly put my hand down her shorts and cup her pussy. Before I can feel her insides, the door knob starts to jiggle. I pull my hand out and she steps away from me.

“Hey, how are you guys?” Her mom says as she sticks her head in.

“Yeah, I was just making myself a bed on the floor” she explains, pointing to the makeshift bed. She nods while smiling and closes the door.

“The bed is big enough for the both of us” I said, smirking.

“Don’t you start with that” She jokingly replied with her finger pointing at me. I move towards her slowly and grip her wrist softly.

“I swear to god if you don’t stop looking at me like, I am going to cum in my pants.” I say as she blushes and replies,

“What look?” Like she doesn’t know. The innocent look that has every guy preying on her. It’s like my mouth has a mind of its own and next thing I knew, my lips were on hers. She was taken aback at first, but then relaxed under my touch. Our lips moved in sync and I find my hands wandering all over her body. 

“Are you sure you want to do this with a virgin?” She asks as I leave sloppy kisses on the base of her neck.

“There is nothing sexier than a virgin.” I replied and meant it. She seems to have a burst of confidence because she tossed me on the bed and straddled me. Her confidence never fails to turn me on. I pull down her tank top so that her breasts are spilling out. I begin to knead them and suck on them as her back arches and lets out a moan. 

“You are so fucking hot” I state, making my way back to her lips. My hand slides down her shorts and rubbing her clit before pumping finger in her. She moans in my ear which turns me on even more if it’s even possible at this point. Her hand is bunching up my shirt as I add another finger. 

“So tight.” I compliment and rewarded with a moan. I rub her clit with my thumb and I see her eyes roll so she must be close. Just as suspected, I feel a sticky substance coating my fingers and y/n collapses beside me.

“How was that?” I asked, laying next to her.

“What about your problem?” She asked, eyeing my very painful boner.

“As much as I would love those pretty lips around my cock, I need to be inside that pretty pussy.” I said, getting on top of her. She gasps and blushes at my words. My lips meets hers and she begins to undo my belt. 

“Why in a hurry?” I said, smirking and holding her hands down in the bed. She surprises me by flipping us over. Goddamn how is she so strong. 

“Because I’m in charge and you will address me as Mistress.” She stated, pinning my hands down.

"What are you going to do to me, Mistress?” I asked, lifting my head up from the bed. She smirks and rubs my hard cock through my jeans. I hiss and say,

“If you do that again, I am going to have a wet spot on my jeans.” She just continues to rub my dick before unbuckling my belt and sliding off my jeans, leaving me in my boxers and shirt. She gets off of me and then walks over to her drawer and digs around and pulls out what looks like a box of condoms.

“If you’re a virgin then why do you have a box of condoms?” I genuinely asked.

“What do you think?” She sarcastically replied. Her mom. I played it off with a laugh when she opened the new box and pulled out a condom. She walks over and hands it to me. I look at her confused.

“I don’t know how to put one on.” She shyly says, which makes me smile.

“Here” I say, taking the condom from her hand and taking it out of the package. I pull down my boxers and I see y/n’s eyes go wide from the side.

“Come here” I whispered, holding out my hand; which she takes and I put her back on my lap. “Give me your hands” I continued, guiding her hands on the condom to slide it down my dick.

“Is this going to fit?” She whispers

“We’ll see” I reply, flipping us so she’s beneath me, “Let me know if it’s hurt” I say and she nods. I slowly begin to push myself and see a tear run down her cheek. Y/n grabs the back of my head and begins kissing me, which is my queue to go deeper. When I’m balls deep in her, we both let out a throaty moan. 

“Please go faster” She whimpers in my neck.

“Your wish is my command” I whisper in her ear and begin thrusting at a faster pace. Her moans sounds pornographic as the sound of rain and my balls slapping fill the room. I reach my hand down to her clit and rub it in a circular motion. She starts shaking and I feel myself starting to climax. Before I knew it, I’m seeing stars and my load fills the condom. I stay in her warmth for a little longer before laying next to her and discarding the condom.

“How was that?” I asked, out of breath and facing her. She replies, still out of breath, but with a goofy smile,

“Better than porn.”

[musicaltheatrewannabe]

mystery flowers - a seblos oneshot <3

decided that i had to write this before next week’s ep comes out!! based on my post from yesterday lol where the flowers are from seb for carlos but he messes up and doesn’t attach the card - enjoy!

“We’ve got mystery flowers people!” Carlos shouted, carrying in an enormous bouquet of flowers and drawing everyone’s attention. Seb put down his brush, hoping his makeup would make his actual blush less obvious, but the entire cast and crew were looking at the flowers, so he had nothing to worry about. Maybe the size of the bouquet was a little bit overkill, but once he had started adding flowers he couldn’t stop. He had wanted to give Carlos an opening night gift to show his appreciation for all of his hard work on the show throughout the semester, and when he had found that basket abandoned in the barn, it had all come together. He picked the flowers from his backyard discreetly, but when his mom saw what he was doing and started yelling at him, the damage had already been done. It had still been worth it, though, to see the smile on Carlos’ face as he carried in the giant bouquet.

Seb was about to go up to Carlos and talk to him alone when he processed one of his words and Big Red articulated his next thought: “why mystery?”

Carlos shrugged and said, “there was no card, so I’m guessing it’s dealer’s choice, but, if I had to bet, I’d say it’s for our leading lady!” He pointed at Nini who returned a shy smile, and everyone returned to their state of pre-show chaos.

Seb knit his brow in confusion. Why did Carlos think the flowers were for Nini? He had very clearly written Carlos’ name (accompanied by little hearts) on a small piece of card and-

Seb stood up suddenly, earning a concerned look from Kourtney. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Seb stammered, his eyes darting around the room for his coat, “I just left something in my coat, I think.” Kourtney shrugged and continued doing her own makeup as Seb made a beeline for the corner of the room with the pile of jackets.

Once he found his corduroy jacket, his hands fidgeted frantically with the button on the right top pocket. He stuck his hand inside. Nothing. He opened the pocket on the other side and when he reached in he did feel the crisp edges of the card. Seb rolled his eyes at himself. Of course he had forgotten to actually put the card in the bouquet. He glanced around the room to make sure no one had caught onto what he was doing, but everyone was preoccupied with one last-minute emergency or another, including Carlos. He made his way back to the makeup tables and decided he would have to tell him about the flowers after the show.

.

As the cast walked off stage from the curtain call, bursting with energy, they all cheered and yelled incoherently. They had ushered Miss Jenn and Carlos onstage after all of the cast bows, and Seb had beamed with pride as the other boy grinned and bowed for the cheering audience. Their eyes met across the stage and when Seb caught up to Carlos in the wings the other boy took his hand.

“You were so good! Absolutely stole the show,” Carlos said, swinging their arms as they followed the rest of the cast backstage. “I told you you had nothing to worry about,” he squeezed Seb’s hand, earning a smile from the blonde boy. Their eye contact lingered for a few moments before Nini ran up to them and hugged them both.

“Seb!!! You were so incredible, it was so hard to hate you!” she gushed, and the boys laughed. “Oh my God, and Carlos,” she added, “might I just say, the best portrayal of Chad Danforth I’ve ever seen.”

“I second that!” Seb giggled.

“Let’s never talk about that again,” Carlos groaned. “But you? Nini Salazar-Roberts, you blew me away!”

Nini grinned, keeping her arms around them on either side. “Thanks! You know, knowing that the dean was here, it actually motivated me… Speaking of, I should probably go back out there and introduce myself!”

“Yes, go go go!” Seb pushed her back towards the stage and Carlos gave an encouraging thumbs-up. “I’m gonna go and quickly change out of these pants, they just don’t breathe at all,” Seb gave Carlos a knowing glance.

“Ok,” Carlos chuckled and raised his eyebrows as Seb rushed off to get his clothes, before turning to find Gina.

Once everything had quieted down a bit and most of the cast had filtered out, Seb, with the only trace of his Sharpay costume now the glitter in his hair, spotted Carlos packing up his binder in the corner of the room. He took a deep breath as his hand wrapped around the card in his pocket. Carlos glanced up and met Seb’s eyes with a smile. “What are you still doing in here? I thought everyone had already gone to Ashlyn’s.”

Seb fidgeted with his hands and looked down as he walked towards the other boy. “I was looking for you, actually…” Carlos raised his eyebrows in response, waiting for Seb to go on. “I know we joked about it earlier, but you seriously did such a good job stepping up to play Chad,” Seb said earnestly, as Carlos started shaking his head. “And I mean, as much as all the role-swapping tonight was an absolute mess, we managed to deal with it pretty well!”

“Luckily we had you as the star of the show to hold it all together,” Carlos smiled, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

Seb blushed, muttering a shy “thanks,” before realizing that he needed to say something now if he was going to. “Hey, um, before we go,” he started, Carlos glancing up expectantly, “I found the card that was supposed to go with the flowers.”

Confusion washed over Carlos’ face. “Wait, what do you mean?” he asked, and Seb held out the card in response.

“For you,” Seb said with a shy smile, and Carlos took the card, blushing at the little hearts doodled around his name.

“They’re from you?” Carlos asked, completely dumbfounded. He really had thought they had been for Nini. The possibility of the flowers being for him hadn’t crossed his mind at all, not even for a moment.

Seb nodded, gathering up the courage to respond. As a result, it came out all at once. “Yeah, I picked them on my farm this morning, did the whole arrangement as an opening night gift and even made the card, but because I’m an idiot, I forgot to actually put the card in the bouquet before leaving it in the hallway…” he trailed off with a shrug and a smile.

Carlos was overwhelmed. He still couldn’t believe the flowers were for him, let alone from Seb, the love of his life, or his crush, who was standing here all flustered in front of him. “You picked them yourself?” was all he managed to say, and Seb nodded sheepishly.

“I’m sorry- do you not like them?” Seb looked concerned, “I should’ve just bought a bouquet on the way here-“

“No, no, I love them, Seb!” Carlos reassured the other boy, putting his hands on his shoulders. “They’re beautiful,” he dropped his hands back down and cocked his head to the side. “But why didn’t you say something earlier? When I brought them in?”

“Well, you said that they weren’t addressed to anyone and I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of everyone,” Seb explained. “Especially after everyone thought that they were for Nini - I didn’t want to disappoint her right before going onstage,” he added, and Carlos nodded along.

“Ok, good point,” Carlos replied. “That might have dramatically increased the stress level in the room, and it was already pretty high, mostly thanks to me,” he chuckled.

Seb looked Carlos in the eye. “You know how incredible you are, right?” he asked. Carlos just stared back at him, speechless. “I didn’t just bring you flowers because I- I like you,” Seb blushed, and Carlos did as well upon hearing those words, “I brought them because you deserve them. This whole year you’ve been working so hard to bring this show to life, basically singlehandedly, when Miss Jenn was going through it, and no one has truly acknowledged that.” Carlos stared in awe at the boy in front of him. “I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate you, Carlos, for everything, but especially for giving me what I’ve always wanted by helping me become Sharpay.” Seb’s heart was pounding in his chest, and he couldn’t believe he had said all of that, but he was glad to have gotten it all out.

Carlos took a step closer to brush the few stray hairs that were hanging down onto Seb’s forehead out of the way, resting his arms around his shoulders, and the blonde boy thought he would combust right then and there. “Thank you,” Carlos said, his voice softer than Seb had ever heard it before. “For the flowers,” he added, smiling and shaking his head in disbelief, “and for everything that you just said.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Seb smiled, glancing from Carlos’ eyes down to his lips and back, “it’s all true.”

Seb took another step forward and they both leaned in, their eyes fluttering shut moments before their lips connected. Carlos tightened his arms around Seb’s neck and Seb wrapped one arm around Carlos’ back, gently pulling him closer. The kiss was soft and careful but they pulled away after a few moments because they both found themselves smiling too much. Seb giggled and couldn’t help but give Carlos a quick peck right after they pulled apart, making the other boy blush even more. “Oh my God, you’re the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Carlos said, keeping his arms around Seb’s neck and ruffling his hairspray-hardened hair with one hand. Some glitter fell into his face and Seb scrunched up his nose and eyes but still couldn’t stop smiling.

“Stop, the glitter’s gonna get everywhere!” Seb laughed, and Carlos pulled his arms back but shrugged.

“Isn’t that the point?” he asked, reaching for Seb’s hand and intertwining their fingers. Seb shot back a giddy smile and squeezed Carlos’ hand.

A thought suddenly dawned on Seb and he pulled Carlos toward the door. “We should really get going if we wanna make it to Ash’s in time for the cake!”

“Cake? No one ever told me about cake!” Carlos replied with just as much urgency. “But will you at least help me carry the flowers to the car, since it’s your fault that they’re so big?”

Seb laughed and picked up one side of the basket. “Of course,” he said, and they carried the bouquet out into the East High parking lot together with dumb grins plastered across their faces.

[soundtrack-scribe]

Choices

Summary: Ashton Irwin thought he had everything he needed in life in the form of his daughter. Funny the difference a choice can make.

A/N: I have 7 completed chapters of this baby to share with y’all. Two chapters today because I probably won’t post fic stuff tomorrow. Y’all ready for more Nashton?! Of course you are! What a silly question, Bri, we’re always ready.

Content: Nothing too crazy/out of the norm.

Word Count: 2.7K

And away, and away we go!

Chapter 2

“Oh, c’mon Cal. It’s Sunday night,” I said into the phone.

“Just come out with me, Ash. I met this girl. She has friends. It’s just a small hang. Nothing major.”

“A small hang actually makes it worse, Cal. That means I’d have to interact with people.”

“Good! Less chance of you moping in the corner all night. Get dressed. We’re doing this.”

“I don’t mope…”

“Yes, you do. Look, can’t Lauren watch Cass for the night? She watched her last week.”

I rolled my eyes. “Alright,” I caved. “If Lauren’s free to watch Cass I’ll go. But only for a bit.”

“Wait, for real? Alright!”

About an hour later, we pulled up in front of a house. Music poured out from the back yard and I could hear noise of conversations, laughter, and the splashing of the pool. “You ready?” Calum asked me as we walked up.

I adjusted my hat on my head and let out my breath. “I guess.”

He turned to go towards a girl who was waving at us and smiling. “Have some fun for once, yeah?”

I looked around, watching him go off with some girl. I spotted where the drinks were and made my way over to see what they had: cheap beer, tequila, and water. I groaned and settled for a water. It was probably best if I didn’t drink anyhow.

I maneuvered through the crowd, trying not to spill my drink or theirs as people brushed past me without a care in the world. I took a deep drink from the water. “Mmm, shit! Sorry,” I quickly said as I almost collided with a girl.

“Ash?” Nic asked, clearly surprised to see me.

“Hey,” I said, trying to hide my own surprise. “Wanna drink?”

“I’m good,” she said, holding up her own water.

I half-smiled, “Cool.” I rocked back and forth on the heels of my feet trying to figure out what to say. I’d been avoiding her in the halls at home, trying to push her from my mind as best I could. But, every time I tried to sleep I just remembered the way her lips had brushed my cheek, and how badly I wanted to feel her lips on my skin again. Nic didn’t need to become attached to someone like me. I knew I was too busy to give her the kind of attention a girl like her deserved. And she was building a life for herself. She needed someone who was building a life for himself too, not some guy raising a kid. That didn’t stop me from wanting her though.

“Hey… um… you left your jacket,” she told me.

“Oh, is that where it is? Cool.”

“Yeah… um… is everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh… cuz you seem a little…”

“Nah, just busy. Sorry.”

“Okay… Well, it was good seeing you, Ash.” She smiled and walked off to find her friends.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose, cursing myself. “Whoa, who was that?” Calum asked, appearing by my side.

“Just some girl.”

“Some girl… isn’t that the girl from the bar?”

“Yeah.”

“Go talk to her! Make something happen!”

“Cal… she’s… I’m… it’s…”

“What?”

“She deserves someone better than me, okay?”

“So?”

“So, I can’t do that to her. I’m not gonna waste her time when I have literally nothing to give her.”

“Ash. For once in your life, stop doubting yourself. You have more to offer her than anyone else here. And more than that, you’re actually a damned good guy. Go. Go!”

I sighed, took another drink, and walked over to Nic. “Hey,” I said, interjecting myself in their conversation. “Can I talk to you?”

“Yeah, sure,” she smiled and followed me to a quieter part of the house. I was acutely aware of the eyes on us and the jealousy. “So, what’s up?”

“I… uh… I was wondering if you… uh…. wantedtogooutsometime?” I rushed.

“Go out? With you?”

“Yeah…”

“Sure. I’d love to.”

“Great. How’s Friday? Or whichever day works best for you.”

“How about now?” she asked coyly.

I nodded my head fast. “That works.” Then, “Did you want to get out of here? Maybe get some real drinks?”

“Yeah, sure. Are we walking?”

 I laughed at the joke, “I actually drove this time, so we can take my truck if you want.”

“Awesome. Let me just tell the girls I’m leaving.”

Yeah, I gotta tell my friend, too. Meet you out front in five?” She nodded then walked back to her friends while I scanned the crowd for Calum. “Hey, Cal. I’m leaving.”

“What? Ash…”

“It’s not like that. I got a date.”

“What? Ash!”

“Yeah, so you're good?”

“Yeah, I’ll find a way home. Have fun on your date!”

I laughed as I made my way out of the house and found Nic on the porch. “Ready?” I asked, offering her my arm.

She wrapped her arm around mine, our fingers brushing together as we interlaced them. “Yeah,” she smiled. “You know, you had me worried there for a minute. I thought I had scared you away.”

“Nah, I don’t scare easy,” I told her as I opened the door for her. We let go of each other as she got in the front seat. I gently closed the door before making my way into the driver’s seat, saying a silent prayer that I had left Cassidy’s car seat with Lauren.

“Can I ask what happened then? I mean, it’s okay if you don’t like me. Or aren’t interested in me that way or whatever.”

“No. I like you, Nic. It has nothing to do with you. I’m just…”

“Just what?”

“Alright… I’ll just put this out here and you can make your choice. I’m not good enough for you. You’re a girl who clearly has a bright future ahead of you. And I… well… I’m just… I have a five year old.”

“What?”

“I’m a single dad. I have sole custody over my daughter. So, if you’re looking for something serious, I’m probably not the guy to get serious with. That’s all.”

“And are you looking for something serious?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure what I want. But I know that I like you. And I’m willing to see where that goes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Okay, I’m also willing to see where this goes.”

I smiled and started driving. “So, tell me about yourself. I don’t know much about you besides your name and that you moved here for grad school.”

She let out a small laugh. “Well, I’m Nic. It’s short for Nicole. I grew up in Atlanta. I went to college there. Moved here for grad school. I needed a chance of pace.”

“Nicole… Pretty. What are you going to school for?”

“Rehabilitation medicine.”

“Wow… so like sports injuries and stuff?”

“Hopefully.”

“So, do you like sports?”

“Sort of. My dad’s more of a fan than I am. But I know enough, I guess.”

“So are you more into baseball or football?”

“Both, I guess. Football is easier to follow for me, but baseball’s more exciting.”

“Well, yeah, it’s easy to follow a team that only plays 1 game a week.”

She laughed, “That’s why I like it.”

I laughed too. “That’s cool though. So, you’re an Atlanta fan?”

“Yep,” she nodded. “And you’re a…” she looked at my hat which was my Seattle Mariners cap. “Seattle fan. Go figure.”

“I could say the same, Miss Atlanta,” I teased.

In a swift motion, she took my hat off my head, flipped it frontwards and placed it on her own. She flipped down the visor and stared at her reflection, posing here and there. “Hmm… the blue’s kinda nice.”

I looked over at her, my hat low on her head. “Looks good on you,” I told her.

“Oh, now you ruined it! I can’t look good in a Seattle hat!” She laughed loudly as she handed me back my hat. I quickly flipped it backwards and slid it on. “There, much better. Although, you look good without the hat, too.”

“Yeah?” I looked at my reflection in the rearview mirror. I looked like I always did. I took off my hat and ran my hand through my hair, giving it a ruffled, “rolled out of bed” look. I shrugged. To me, hat or no hat, I looked like I always had.

“So are you just one of those guys that always looks good?”

I laughed, “I guess. Going from a high school athlete to the police academy to keeping up with a five year old will do that to a guy.”

“Well, you look amazing.”

I laughed again, feeling my cheeks turn red. “Thanks. You look amazing too. Stunning, really.”

“Well, it’s hard to help with rehab if I’m not in shape myself. Plus I was a dancer.”

“Dancer?”

“Yeah, I was on my high school and college dance teams. Did cheer and gymnastics too.”

“Wow… that’s actually really hot,” I admitted. “So what do you do for fun? Like in your downtime?”

She shrugged. “Typical stuff. Read, watch TV, listen to music. Nothing weird or super cool I guess. Why? Do you have a cool or weird hobby?”

“Kinda? I play music.”

“Like instruments? What kind?”

“Little bit of everything. Mostly guitar and drums though.”

“That’s cooler than what I do.”

“Oh, c’mon. There’s gotta be something cool you do.”

“I mean, I draw.”

“See? That’s cool! Just doodles or…?”

“Doodles mostly.”

“Very cool,” I said as I pulled my truck onto a gravel road and stopped. I shut off my engine, but left the radio playing. “This is my favorite place,” I admitted, not really sure why I was telling her that or why I took her here.

“It’s beautiful,” she admired, staring out the windshield towards Puget Sound, the sun starting to sink into the horizon.

“I like to come here when the world gets a little too fast for me. I come here and time seems to slow down.” Again, I had no idea why I was telling her these things.

“I can see why you would. I mean, yeah Atlanta is a city, but it’s still a southern town. So there’s stillness to it. Here? Well, everything seems so busy.”

I shrugged. “It’s home. Well, actually my mom and I moved here from Australia. But I was two, so I consider here home.”

“Australia?!”

I laughed. “Yup. But, like I said. I consider here to be home. Well, Monroe’s home.”

“Is Monroe far from here?”

I shook my head. “Bout a half hour drive.”

“And your mom’s still in Monroe?”

I nodded. “Yep. She’s still in the same house with my stepdad and little brother. Harry’s still in high school.”

“And your sister?”

“Lauren’s in Tacoma for college. So, she’s close too.”

“Are you close with your family?”

I nodded again, “Yeah, they help me a lot with raising Cass. My sister’s babysitting her now.”

“And Cass is your daughter? What’s that like? Being a single dad?”

“Hard,” I laughed. “Very hard. Her mom’s not in the picture, so it was hard both losing her and dealing with that on top of trying to raise a newborn. It was like hitting the jackpot on the worst possible luck.”

“That sounds rough, I’m sorry.” Her hand reached out to gently squeeze mine.

I shrugged, “It’s alright. I love being a dad. Just gets lonely sometimes.”

“You’re telling me you haven’t used the hot single dad thing to your advantage?”

I shook my head, “Not that girls haven’t shown interest, or that I haven’t been interested. It’s just hard to maintain anything real when I have to balance being a dad. And I’m not a one-night-stand kind of guy.”

“Maybe you just haven’t found the right girl.”

I shrugged. “It’s possible. But, from my experience, girls dig the hot single dad vibe until the phone rings and I have to break our dates because Cass got sick or had a nightmare. As if I could choose when and when not to be a dad. But Cass is priority number one; and they all think it’s cute until it’s not. It’s cute to be the devoted father until it ruins date night. Then it’s an inconvenience.”

“Well that’s their loss. Like you’re an adult. It’s both stupid and selfish to think that the world doesn’t exist outside the two people sharing the relationship. Outside priorities being what they are, I just want the guy to be loyal.” In the fading light, I could see her face blush red, as she ducked her head and bit her lip.

I felt my heart pick up a little speed in my chest and my own face flush. My next few choices were either going to be the best choices of my life or the worst mistake of my life. I took a breath and bet on it being the former. I gently cupped her chin in my hand, lifting her face to look at mine. “I can be loyal,” I breathed.

“Can you?” came the small murmured question as she looked deep in my eyes.

“Mhm,” I told her before kissing her. It was one of those kisses that started out soft, but turned fierce. With one hand still holding her chin, my other hand wrapped around her back, pulling her into my lap. With her straddling me, I reach for my shirt, tugging it over my head and tossing it to the side with my hat. Her fingers went up to run themselves through my hair before they traced paths across my shoulders and back. I shuddered at her touch, a touch so familiar and that made me hungry for more. It made me painfully aware of how long it had been since I had been with a woman, and how much I had missed this. One of my hands reached up her shirt to undo her bra and the other hand fiddled with the button on her jeans.

“Mmm… Ash… wait…” she said, pulling back, breathing hard.

“Everything okay?” I asked, pulling her back to me.

“I’m… I’m not ready,” she blurted, pushing herself off my lap. She bit her lip while she waited for my mind to catch up.

“Oh…” I looked at her face, half-scared that she had ruined whatever we were building, and probably half-scared she had almost hooked up with me in my truck. “It’s fine,” I told her.

“Really? It’s not because I’m a virgin or anything. Like I’ve had sex. I just… we… I’m not ready to do this with someone I barely know. Sex means something to me.”

“That’s fine,” I told her, pulling her towards me. “I like you for you, Nic. We don’t have to do anything we don’t both feel 100 percent comfortable with.”

“Really?” This time, there wasn’t as much fear in her voice as there was surprise.

“Yes,” I told her again, kissing her. “Honest. I’m fine.”

“Sorry…”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” In truth, I was a little glad she had stopped us. I was clearly more willing to put myself out there than I had been until today. But, I still wasn’t sure if I was ready for what came with having sex with someone, especially since the last time had left me with a broken heart and a daughter. I reached for my shirt and pulled it back on before fiddling with the radio. The music pumping through my speakers was the only sound as we watched the sun fade into the night. She scooted over the bench seat and rested her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her and kissed the top of her head, breathing in her smell. “So, you dance, right?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Dance with me,” I told her, opening my door and getting out. “C’mon,” I coaxed, holding my hand out for her.

She giggled and got out of the truck, taking my hand. I spun her in a circle before pulling her close and started swaying us side to side. She let out another giggle, “You’re ridiculous, y’know that? And you can’t dance.”

“All I have to do is spin you in circles,” I pointed out.

“There’s more to it than that,” she laughed.

“You’re the dancer,” I conceded. Then, “Just dance with me,” I begged, pulling her close. In the headlights of my truck, underneath the stars, we danced and sang along with the radio.

~~~

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