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justagalwhowrites · 11 months

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New in Town - Ch. 9: Second New Year

Ringing in the New Year after you and Joel's first year together. The last chapter of New in Town, found in its entirety on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Best Friend's Dad!Joel Miller x Female Reader

CW: Smut :D. No use of Y/N. Age gap (reader is 35 Joel is 47, not a focus of the fic). Minors DNI, 18+ only

Length: 6.3k

AO3 | First Chapter | Previous Chapter

“Sarah, if you don’t stop fucking with that it’s never going to stay,” you said, glaring at her in the mirror as you drew on eyeliner.

“It’s driving me insane,” she groaned, leaning so close to the hotel bathroom mirror that she was fogging it with her breath, adjusting the false eyelashes for what had to be the millionth time.

“Yeah, because you keep fucking with them,” you said. “You have to give yourself time to adjust to them. Or just take them off because I’m not spending half the night fixing them for you, drawing the line in the sand now.”

“You are absolutely no fun,” she said but she smiled all the same. “It’s New Year’s Eve, I want to look extra good. Plus Nick thinks the long lashes are hot and I am ready for hotel room sex.”

“I didn’t hear that,” Maria called from the bedroom where she was putting on her dress.

“Hotel room sex, hotel room sex, hotel room sex!” Sarah called back.

You laughed, picking up your mascara.

“I don’t think it works like Beetlejuice where you say it enough times it just shows up.”

Sarah laughed back.

“Fuck I hope not,” she said. “Really don’t want to manifest hotel room sex in front of my aunt and my mom.”

She said the last word with a drawn out teasing edge and you had to pull the mascara wand away from your face so you didn’t end up with makeup in your eye from laughing so hard.

“Swear to God if you don’t stop calling me that I will marry your dad just to spite you,” you said once you calmed down again.

“You’re basically already married anyway,” Sarah said. “For the record, I would be fine with it.”

You paused for a second, putting more mascara on the wand and looking at her in the mirror.

“Yeah?” You asked.

“Yeah,” she smiled at you in her reflection. “But don’t expect Mother’s Day gifts from me if it ever happens.”

You snorted, returning to your makeup.

“Better get a bouquet, box of chocolates, the whole nine for holding your hair when you get drunk.”

You couldn’t believe it was already New Year’s Eve again. The last year had gone by so fast it didn’t seem like it could have contained quite as much as it did. But you’d spent almost the entire time so blissfully happy that it made sense that the time felt so damn short.

Things with Joel had been going so well before Sarah found out that it was hard to believe it could really get better, but it did. Not feeling like you were hiding from the most important person in both your lives was like losing a weight you didn’t even know you were carrying. Neither of you were dancing around talking about how you were spending your time now, not being careful about what pictures you sent her and not having to just pretend like a huge part of your life didn’t exist when talking with her.

When she went back to Seattle after Thanksgiving, the three of you started having weekly FaceTime calls, you and Joel sometimes on your couch or at his kitchen table or even in a hotel room in New Orleans once when you decided to get away for your first trip together as a couple.

That Christmas had been the best you’d ever had. Not that there was much competition but Joel and Sarah both had completely brought you into all their holiday traditions. The driving around to look at Christmas lights with a thermos of hot cocoa, the annual trip to Mi Tierra in San Antonio so you could properly appreciate the Christmas lights that apparently were up year round. When Sarah came back to town a few days before Christmas, she dragged you and Joel to the mall and made the three of you take a picture with Santa. You got some funny looks in line - three full blown adults with nary a kid in sight - but Sarah whispered something to woman getting ready to take the picture and she smiled and nodded, helping the three of you get arranged for the photo. You sat lightly on one of Santa’s knees, Sarah on the other, Joel leaning against the side of the large chair. Joel insisted on getting the actual printed photo and, when you picked it up, they also handed you a candy cane and a small Santa figurine. You frowned at it for a second.

“First Santa visits should be commemorated,” the woman behind the counter smiled. “Merry Christmas!”

You looked at Sarah for a second, worried you might cry and she smiled.

“You have a Christmas decoration now,” she said. “But if you really don’t want it at your place, we can add it to the Christmas village at Dad’s!”

You just hugged her and she laughed, hugging you back.

That Christmas, the figurine and the picture sat on the book shelf in your living room, right where you could see them from your couch. The perfect image of the kind of life you’d always wanted to have, one that was filled with people who loved you.

This year, the figurine and picture were at Joel’s because you were, too.

Your lease was up in the fall and, by that point, the two of you were having a hard time remembering the last time you’d slept apart. You were wondering how to broach the subject with Joel - did you just ask if you could move into his house? Was not quite a year of knowing each other too soon? Did you just find a new apartment and never mention it? - when he brought it up one night over dinner.

“Your lease is comin’ up soon, right?” He asked and you froze for a second, a bite of enchilada on your fork half way to your mouth.

“Yeah,” you said when you remembered how to move and respond again. “Six weeks I think? They want me to decide whether or not I’m staying within the next two…”

“Have you thought about if you might want to move in with me?” He asked, his jaw tense but his eyes soft. “Only if… you know… you thought you were ready for that. Just figure I’m at yours or you’re at mine most nights anyway and…”

“Joel,” you smiled, setting your fork down and leaning on the table with your arms crossed in front of you. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

“Only if you wanted,” he said quickly. “Not tryin’ to… I dunno… put pressure on you or something. Never tried to do this before so…”

You pressed your lips together, trying not to laugh. More at yourself than at Joel. Because of course he was thinking what you were thinking. Of course you were in the same place on this. Of course you were both nervous about bringing it up to each other.

“I’d love to move in with you,” you said once you were sure you had yourself together. “As long as you’re offering because that’s what you really want and not because you think you should.”

“Oh I want it,” he was smiling now and leaning toward you across the table. “Was considering just taking stuff from your place and moving it to mine, get you in the door before you even knew it was happening.”

“That what happened to my sexy underwear?” You teased.

“Nah,” he waved you off. “I stole those to jerk off with when you’re not there because you don’t live with me yet. Can have ‘em back when we unpack the moving truck.”

You moved in a few weeks later. Joel cleared out most of his closet, his jeans and button downs taking up only a small corner of it to begin with, and built you shelving for your purses and shoes. He made space for your things throughout his home, for your favorite pots and pans in the kitchen, for your decorations in the living room. Setting aside the bits and pieces of his life to make sure it could hold yours, too. If he’d asked you to marry him in that moment, you’d have said yes in a heartbeat.

“Oh shit,” you sighed, rifling through your makeup bag. “I think I left my fucking lipstick in my room…”

You went to get your room key from your clutch but Sarah plopped a tube of lipstick in front of you first.

“Use mine,” she said. “I’m almost ready and I don’t want to waste time with you up down three floors and all the way over to your room before we go to the party. I want cocktails, I want music and I want to flirt with my hot boyfriend while I wear a slutty dress.”

“Maria is still getting dressed, I’ve got five minutes…”

“No you don’t!” She called from the bedroom before coming to the bathroom door and turning around. “Zip me?”

You laughed and obeyed, Maria adjusting the dress a bit before turning back around.

“Hey sexy mama!” You whooped at her. “That looks like it was made for you.”

“Right?” She flung her long braids over her shoulder before admiring herself in the full length mirror on the bathroom door. “My pregnancy boobs have shown up but the bump is still in hiding. It’s the perfect dress moment, had to take advantage of it.”

“Hear that little one?” Sarah said, looking toward Maria’s lower stomach. “You’re making your mom look hot!”

“Hotter,” you corrected. “They’re making their mom look hotter.”

You settled for Sarah’s lipstick and the three of you headed for the elevator to go meet up with the guys.

Your first New Year’s Eve with Joel had been far more low key. Sarah was in town and Joel invited Tommy and Maria over to watch the ball drop. You’d ordered pizza and gotten drunk and played charades with your boyfriend’s family and, at midnight, kissed Joel so deeply that you could taste the champagne on his tongue.

This year, you had plenty to celebrate. It was Maria and Tommy’s last one before they became parents - you highly doubted they’d be up until midnight next year. Sarah had gotten promoted and you’d gotten her a job at the Austin branch in August. She had moved back to town just a few months before you moved in with Joel and the three of you had found a comfortable - if unusual - dynamic as a family. And it felt like you had finally found everything you’d ever truly wanted.

Instead of staying home this New Year’s Eve, you all decided to go to a party at one of the nice hotels in Houston. You’d all gotten hotel rooms so no one had to drive and the boys had all gone on ahead to the rooftop bar to hold a table while the three of you got ready to go.

“Crap, one sec,” Sarah said, frowning at her phone as the three of you went for the elevator. “Left something in the room, wait for me, OK? I don’t want to try to find them on my own!”

You and Maria watched her run back to her room - where the three of you had been getting ready - and you frowned as she tottered on her high heels.

“Is she acting weird?” You asked as Maria leaned against the wall.

“Sarah?” Maria laughed. “She’s always weird.”

She came back a few minutes later, tugging her dress down as she went and a little breathless when she got there.

“OK,” she smiled and took a deep breath. “Now we’re good!”

You were almost giddy as you rode the elevator up to the party, feeling the thud of music through the elevator doors before they opened.

It was hard to say why you were just so excited. It wasn’t like you’d never been to a party before - you and Sarah had rung in the New Year at a party a lot like this one that your office had handled the advertising for in Seattle one year - but it felt like something new. Like you were stepping into the first year of your life where everything had finally fallen into place.

“Hey!” Tommy yelled, standing and waving his arm over his head as he saw the three of you leave the elevator. You could barely hear him over the thud of the bass. “Over here!”

“How many beers do you think he’s had?” Maria asked conspiratorially and you laughed.

“Probably the same number mine has,” you replied, smiling at Joel as he craned his neck to get a better look at you.

“Holy hell woman,” he said, getting out of the round booth as you got to the table. He pressed a kiss to your cheek and dropped his voice low. “Not sure I’m gonna take that dress off you later, might need to leave it on.”

You smiled as he gave you a squeeze and you sat down, Joel sliding in beside you, one hand of his going below the table to the inside of your thigh.

One thing that hadn’t changed in the last year was just how insatiable the two of you were for each other. You kept waiting for it to calm down a bit, to stop looking at him and immediately start thinking of how to get him alone and naked as quickly as possible. But Joel was still the single sexiest man you’d ever seen and was still far and away the best in bed. You couldn’t help but want to fuck him all day every day. You were just thankful he seemed to feel the same way about you.

One of your favorite things about living with Joel was your after work routine. When you managed to make it so you left the office around the same time Joel left his job site, you’d join him in the shower, your hair in a knot on top of your head to keep from getting too soaked, Joel still a little sweaty and dirty from a hard day’s work. Sometimes, you just enjoyed each other. You loved the quiet intimacy of it, of being in such a private space together in just your skin, helping him wash the day from his body before he pulled you against him under the water. Other times, Joel pressed you against the cool tile and fucked into you, hard and fast and eager, making your back arch as your leg wrapped around him, the heat of his mouth and the steam filling you when you kissed him.

The new routines had just given you more reasons and opportunities to fuck, it seemed, instead of sex getting lost in the monotony of daily life. Sometimes it was in the middle of late night TV when you were both getting tired on the couch. Sometimes it was when you were putting away laundry. Sometimes it was when you were making dinner.

It was just that, sometimes, it required… additional boundaries.

Sarah had a key to Joel’s place, of course, but she quickly learned that she needed to announce herself before just coming in the door when she wasn’t expected, her walking in the house without warning when he was deep inside of you while you were draped over the kitchen counter was a little too close for comfort for all three of you.

“I have literally never wanted to know less about your sex life,” she shuddered a few hours later when you were sitting in Joel’s back yard, fully clothed with a beer in your hand.

You laughed.

“Never wanted you to know less about it so that works just fine for me.”

You, Joel and Sarah all had dinner together at least once a week, another routine you’d come to love, and you got Sarah all to yourself most days over lunch, happy for the chance to laugh with your best friend.

You weren’t sure life could get much better.

“Oh sweet!” Sarah said as the waitress came by the table, tray of drinks in hand, passing a cosmopolitan to Sarah. “Who knew this was just what I wanted?”

“Happy to take credit for that,” Nick smiled, kissing her cheek and you smiled at him. He was a relatively new addition to Sarah’s life but he seemed promising. You’d never seen her quite so giddy over a guy before and you were trying not to mention it so you wouldn’t jinx it.

When she finally owned up to being hung up on the man, though, you were going to start teasing her as relentlessly as she’d been teasing you. You were getting double wedding jokes lined up and ready, waiting for the perfect moment to hit her with it.

But it was a holiday. You’d take it easy on her for a little while longer. Assuming she stopped calling you Mom.

Joel had been paying attention too, it seemed, and the server handed you a mojito. Appropriate, since you’d just been lamenting the fact that you didn’t have fresh mint at home just two nights before.

“How often are you really gonna muddle mint for a drink?” Joel asked, barely contained smile on his face.

“At least once in a while!” You laughed. “Come on, we could do a whole herb garden in the yard…”

“You are not gonna keep a garden alive.”

“Yes I will!” You protested. He raised his eyebrows at you, incredulous. “If I have the motivation of cocktails I will.”

“Fine,” he sighed but still smiled, kissing your forehead. “In spring I’ll build you a garden and you can kill as many herbs as you want, Beautiful.”

“Is this supposed to bribe me into you not making me a garden?” You teased, taking a sip of the drink.

“Baby, I will make you whatever makes you smile,” he kissed your exposed shoulder. “But if I’m saving the lives of some poor, innocent plants by ordering you a cocktail…”

You laughed and kissed him, the scratch of his facial hair on your skin comforting and familiar.

The party really picked up not long after you got there and you, Sarah and Maria went to dance while the guys hung back to talk for a bit.

“You don’t think they’re being too hard on him do you?” Sarah asked, watching the table.

“Oh I’m sure they’re being super nice,” you said. “Joel and Tommy have never been protective of you, not once.”

“Oh God,” she groaned but she smiled.

“Wouldn’t worry too much,” you laughed. “It looks like he’s weathering it well.”

“Hold on,” Maria smiled and shook her head. “We can get him some help…”

She started waving to Tommy, who clapped Nick on the shoulder and got out of the booth to join his wife on the dance floor. You looked at Joel, eyebrows raised, until he met your gaze and you saw him sigh and smile before heading your way.

You put your arms around his neck and kissed him, pressing tightly to him and feeling every line of him through your clothes. His hands went to your waist, pulling you closer.

“You tryin’ to distract me?” He asked when you pulled away.

“Trying to get you to play nice,” you teased.

“Always play nice,” he said as you turned around in his hold, your ass going back against his hardening length. He lowered his lips to your ear, his breath hot on your skin. “Except when you ask me not to.”

You resisted the urge to drag him back to your hotel room right that second. Instead, you pressed yourself harder against him, moving your body in time to the pulsing, thrumming rhythm. His hands slid to your hips and you couldn’t help but think of how they felt on your bare skin.

But you managed to keep it together for a few songs, dancing until you were breathless and you really couldn’t take it anymore. You draped yourself around Joel again, pressing your lips to his ear.

“Order me a water and another mojito,” you said, your hand sliding into his pocket, brushing his half hard cock through his jeans, as you grabbed your phone. “And check your texts.”

You didn’t give him a chance to respond, just meeting his wide eyes for a moment before slipping into the crowd. You went around to the pool area of the rooftop, far quieter than the bar and the dance floor, the lounge chairs all stacked up next to a storage space that looked like it would provide the perfect cover from the dance floor. You took a selfie with just a glimpse of the thudding party in the background and texted it to him.

“Come find me.”

It didn’t take him long, coming around the corner while glancing back over his shoulder, looking nervous. You grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him into you, your back against the storage room.

“You are up to no good,” he said, pressing you back against the wall, his mouth covering yours, his body warm against the cool night air. “Tryin’ to get us kicked out of the damn hotel?”

His hand went to your breast, anyway.

“We can keep our clothes on,” you panted against him. “Be very well behaved. Like that time in the bathroom.”

“Fuck, Beautiful,” he groaned, putting his thigh between your legs, your skirt covering part of his jeans. He rocked his hips against you, his hands going to your waist, the outline of his hard cock against your stomach. “Wanna make me come in my pants like a fucking teenager?”

“Don’t think we’re making it to midnight any other way,” you were needy, aching as you ground your pussy down on the straining muscle of his leg.

“Still gonna let me fuck you later?” He kissed down your neck, rutting harder against you, your hands on his shoulders, grip tightening.

“You think I’m starting a new year without you inside me as soon as possible you’re insane.”

He laughed a little and nipped at your collarbone before pulling you tighter against his leg, making you moan. You started working yourself harder and faster against him, pulling him tighter to you, your wetness soaking your panties.

“You’re close, aren’t you, Baby?” He asked, voice dark. Your motions stuttered but you nodded frantically against him. “Gonna come all over my fucking leg aren’t you? Come from just riding my fucking thigh?”

You were close enough that you’d lost the ability to speak. You just nodded again and he kissed you, hard and messy and deep and you pressed yourself firmly against his leg as you fell apart, the tight coil inside yourself snapping as your clit throbbed against him.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He gasped as he pressed his cock hard against you and you felt him throbbing there, spilling into his jeans before slumping against you. His nose brushed yours for a moment and you smiled, kissing him lightly.

“You’re going to kill me,” he laughed a little breathlessly. “More than a year into this and you still want me to fuck you so bad you’re dragging me away from a party?”

“That’s nothing,” you teased. “Wait until we’re really old and we’re finding ways to sneak around the nursing home.”

He laughed and kissed you again.

“Love you so fuckin’ much.”

It was easier to focus on the party after that. Tommy gave Joel a look when you made it back to the table and Joel told him to mind his own business and you laughed and drank your mojito.

By the time midnight rolled around, you’d been pleasantly tipsy for more than an hour, draping yourself over Joel at every opportunity when you weren’t dancing with Sarah and Maria. As the countdown started, the six of you crowded onto the dance floor with everyone else, champagne in hand, Joel’s arm around you as he held you to his side.

“Three, two, one!”

Joel turned you to him and kissed you before you’d even had a chance to yell happy New Year and you sank into him, almost forgetting about the drink in your hand until some of it dribbled down your wrist, making you laugh against his lips.

“Couldn’t let a second of the year go by before I kissed you for the first time,” he said, his lips still close to yours. The knot of heat and wanting that had eased after your antics earlier was back with full force.

“Good,” you said quietly, drinking in the hungry look in his eyes.

“It’s supposed to be a toast, you insatiable weirdos,” Sarah laughed and you laughed back, separating from Joel far enough to raise your glasses and toast with your new found family.

It wasn’t long before all of you made your way to the elevators, piling into one with a handful of strangers, you happy for the excuse to stay pressed tightly against Joel.

“Good luck!” Tommy said, a teasing edge to his voice when the doors dinged open on your floor.

You frowned at him, confused, as the doors closed and you laughed a little as Joel led you back to the room.

“Why do you need luck? Is Tommy under the impression that you have to work to get sex out of me?” You teased. “Because it’s sweet that you’d protect my honor that way but we both know that’s a damn lie.”

“Tommy’s just a dumbass,” Joel replied. “Ignore him, that’s what I do.”

You laughed, the tail end of your buzz waning.

“Thinking we should take full advantage of that jacuzzi tub,” you said as Joel unlocked the hotel room door. “And use it to research the investment of a hot tub in the back yard…”

“You’re insatiable,” he teased, opening the door for you.

You laughed and were so busy looking at him - his thick, dark hair that was flecked with gray; his plush lips; his soft eyes - that it took you a second to realize there were roses and petals all over the room, a bottle of wine chilled in a bucket on the small table.

“Joel?” You looked back at him and he just shrugged, smiling.

You went further into the room and realized that it wasn’t just flowers and wine. There were framed pictures of you and Joel from the last year of your lives together. One of the two of you on Bourbon Street, another from when you decided to actually take those wine tasting classes you’d talked about, one from your second Longhorn’s game. There were at least a dozen, each one making it look so, so obvious that you made each other happy. That you gave each other the lives you wanted.

You picked up the picture by the bedside, the first selfie you’d ever taken together. You were hiking and you’d held your arm out far enough to try to capture some of the view behind you. You were smiling hugely at the camera, hair grimy with sweat, Joel’s arm around your shoulders. But he wasn’t looking at the camera. Instead, he was looking at you. Looking at you like you were the only thing worth looking at. Looking at you like you made him happier than just about anything else on Earth.

“What…” You trailed off, looking up from the picture to see Joel, on one knee with a box in his hands at the foot of the bed.

You gasped and jumped, your hands covering your mouth on instinct, eyes wide. Your feet moved before you really realized what was happening and it seemed sudden that you were right in front of him.

“Joel,” you breathed, trembling hands slowly leaving your face.

“For a very long time,” he said, his voice assured. “It felt like I’d gotten the only good thing I was going to get out of life. I had Sarah and seemed wrong to ask for more than that so I wasn’t lookin’ for it. Wasn’t lookin’ for you. But then I found you - or you found me, anyway - and I realized just how good life could be as long as I got to live it next to you.

“You are the single best person I’ve ever met. You’re so smart and funny and creative and kind and the most fun I’ve ever had and I can’t imagine anything better than getting to live the rest of my life with you. Will you make me the happiest man on Earth and marry me?”

***

Joel wasn’t sure his heart had ever beat this fast. Maybe when Sarah was first born and there were the torturous few seconds of silence before she started crying, not sure how anything about pregnancy or babies worked. Definitely never since.

But the silence between you seemed to drag on for an eternity even though he knew it could have only been a second or two. That didn’t stop his heart from racing.

“Yes,” you nodded, your voice thick, tears in your eyes. “Yes, yes, yes, yes yes!”

You damn near tackled him and he laughed, catching you and holding onto you as he lowered the two of you to the ground on a bed of rose petals.

Joel, Tommy and Nick had been in here getting everything set up while Sarah and Maria kept you busy in Sarah’s room. There was a brief moment of panic when Sarah texted that the three of you were headed to the party and Joel had to ask her to buy at least two minutes because they were walking to the elevator themselves.

“I’m so happy for you, man,” Tommy said, clapping Joel on the shoulder as they headed up to the party. “You deserve this, you really fuckin’ do.”

“She ain’t said yes yet,” Joel said, feeling the nerves all sudden and hot under his skin. “Don’t jinx it.”

“She’ll say yes,” Tommy said, sounding so confident. “Don’t ask me WHY but that woman adores you. She’s gonna love it.”

He hoped you did. He hoped you loved the idea at all, that you loved the proposal, that you loved the ring. Sarah had helped pick that part out so he was more confident of that, finding a piece that was elegant without looking dated, something that he hoped you’d like wearing for the rest of your life.

Because that’s what he wanted. He wanted you, wanted to make you happy, for the rest of your life.

He slid the ring onto your finger, the diamond catching the light as he did.

“Are you serious?” You asked, looking from the ring to him.

“Serious about spending the rest of my life with you?” He asked. “Can’t think of anything better.”

You threw your arms around his neck and kissed him, hard and needy. He leaned into it for a moment before he pulled back from you.

“Should move to the bed,” he breathed. “Gotta treat my fiancee right.”

You just nodded quickly and Joel got up before helping you to your feet.

He tugged your dress up and over your head - as much as he wanted to fuck you in the sexy little thing you’d been tempting him with all night, the need to feel your skin was too great - and eased you down onto the bed.

You moved to the middle of it and Joel got undressed, his eyes watching you hungrily, the glint of his ring on your finger making him somehow even harder. You removed your bra and cast it aside before you slipped your panties down your legs and tossed them to the side, leaving you exposed and bare. You were everything it seemed like he’d ever wanted and you were his, the proof of it right there on your hand. He fisted his cock, pumping himself once, twice, as he climbed between your legs.

He wanted to make this last. He wanted to go down on you and swallow your pleasure until you were screaming with it. He wanted to kiss every inch of your skin. He wanted to tease you with his fingers until you were begging for his cock. But he wasn’t sure he could, not that moment. He had a feeling you wouldn’t be leaving the bed for a few days after this.

“Joel,” you panted, watching him, pupils blown and back arched. He smiled. For some reason, you wanted him like he wanted you.

“Yes, Mrs. Miller?” He breathed, settling between your open legs, the apex of your thighs hot against his skin. You moaned and rocked your hips up against him, your needy little clit pressing into his skin.

“Fuck,” you moaned, closing your eyes, fingers gripping his bicep tightly. “Love the sound of that…”

“You have no idea, Beautiful,” he said, kissing you, grinding his cock against your dripping slit. You moaned, the movement of your hips stuttering for a moment before you adjusted the angle so the tip of him was catching on your entrance with ever pass, just enough for the most sensitive part of him to be enveloped in your tight, wet heat.

“Need you,” you were almost gasping with it, desperate and wanting. “Please, please, need to feel you, I need…”

“Always going to give you what you need, Baby,” he said, his cock dipping further into you this time before he pulled back and pushed himself against your clit again. “Always gonna take care of you, always.”

He pushed into you then, firm but not to fast, your breath catching on your throat as he did. Joel kissed you, trying not to think about how damn good you felt, how it seemed like he belonged right there, deep inside you.

“Fuck,” your nails dug into him but he held on. “Fuck, you feel so fucking good how do you feel this fucking good?”

He could only moan in response, fucking into you, feeling you open up to him, your walls gripping him tight. He stayed still inside you for a moment, savoring it, the feeling of you around him while he was over you, the way you held onto him.

But he couldn’t last that way for long. You - his fiancee. His fiancee, no one else’s, you belonged to no one but him - felt too damn good for him to last too long inside of you and he had to move, he had to.

So he did, starting a little slower but still firm, pressing his hips into you so your hot little clit was against his skin.

He could feel you starting to tighten around him, like your body was trying to pull him deeper somehow, your lips messy and desperate when they found his, trialing little kisses over his body when they don’t.

“That’s it, Beautiful,” he panted into you. “Come for me, can feel how close you are, just let go for me, let me feel you. Need to feel you…”

You gasped his name and pressed your whole body tight against him as you came around him, your pussy fluttering around him, working his cock, all warm and soft trying to pull him as deep as you could take him. He fucked you through it, hardly able to hold off his own orgasm, the aftershocks of yours still rippling through your tight channel when he emptied himself into you until he didn’t even have the strength to hold himself up anymore, collapsing on you, his head over your shoulder so he could smell your skin and your hair. Fuck, he loved that smell. Fuck, he loved you.

After a minute, he adjusted the two of you so you were draped over his chest, your arms all soft and pliant, close enough that he could feel your heartbeat on his skin, feel your soft, little breaths on him. You held up your left hand, turning the ring back and forth in the light.

“You’re sure about this?” You asked, glancing up at him as you fidgeted with the ring.

“More sure than I’ve ever been about anything,” he said. “Would make you Mrs. Miller tomorrow if you’d let me.”

You laughed a little at that, putting your hand down on his chest and taking a deep breath.

“Doesn’t seem fair,” you said softly.

“What doesn’t?”

“You’ve given me so much,” you said. “You’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted - everything. Feels like I’m not holding up my end.”

“You kiddin’ me?” He scoffed. “You’re so perfect I have to remind myself that you’re real sometimes, that I’m not just imagining you. You make me the luckiest man on Earth every damn day by just breathing in the same room as me. If anything’s not fair, it’s that I got too greedy asking you to marry me. Should know to quit when I’m this far ahead.”

You laughed and pressed your lips into his chest, looking at the ring again, twisting it this way and that with your thumb.

“Make you a deal,” you said, adjusting your head so you were looking at him.

“What’s your proposal?” He asked, teasing.

“You take care of me,” you said. “Make sure I’m not getting too overwhelmed or overdoing it at work or just getting too in my own head. I’ll take care of you, make sure you take time for yourself, make sure you relax, make sure you know how great you are. Deal?”

He smiled a little.

“Deal, Mrs. Miller.”

You smiled bigger.

“Excellent, Mr. Miller.”

He kissed your forehead.

“Don’t have to change your last name, you know,” he said, giving you a squeeze. “I can always just call you that for my own damn enjoyment without making it official.”

You laughed a little.

“No, I want to change it,” you said. “Sarah was right all along. I think I’m going to make a great Miller.”

A/N: Ahhh! I hope you all loved reading the story of Joel and Sarah's best friend as much as I loved sharing it! These two are so fun and so sweet, I'm so glad I got to give them the happy ending they deserved.

Thank you so so much for being here, for following along with this little story that started as a one shot based on a request that came in after I wrote another one shot as a request. I so appreciate that you're here, that you've spent your time with this fic and these characters and all of your support. This corner of the internet means everything to me and it's because you're a part of it <3 Love you!

Taglist: @fanficismydrug

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x oc #new in town #joel miller smut

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noodyl-blasstal · 4 months

Text

Cool, Calm, and Collegiate ch 1

It's @blupjeansweek!! Lup's returning to IPRE summer school for the first time since she attended it as a kid. Some of her colleagues are pretty awful, but one of them... Well... He's very interesting.

Find here or on ao3

Lup [14:45]

Made it safe, don’t burn the plants down and remember to water the kitchen.

Taako [14:45]

Instructions unclear. Filling bath with mayonnaise.

Lup [14:46]

You’re the worst <3

Taako [14:47]

Stop texting me and go teach kids space magic or whatever.

Lup [14:48]

You need to know I’m flipping you off right now.

Taako [14:48]

Never doubted you for a second, now go do your thing. Be safe, don’t talk to dogs, pet a lot of strangers.

Lup [14:48]

Taako [14:48]

Lup double checks the instructions, then stows her phone in her pocket, adjusts her rucksack, and definitely doesn’t give herself a pep talk, she doesn’t need to, she’s Lup fuckin’ Taako. They’re lucky to have her. These kids are gonna know so many things about space and magic and no one’s gonna act like she doesn’t belong.

“Eward! It’ll mess up my hair!” A tall elf looks perturbed as Edward, (her twin? Judging by the fact they look like mirror images they have to be, plus, twin recognises twin) holds out a satchel bag.

“It’s your bag, Lydia, dear.” Edward, clearly an optimist, continues to hold it out.

“Can’t Harry get it?”

“Oh yes. I’m sure he can come and sort this out.” Edward makes a sweeping gesture to the ever growing pile of bags and cases the poor taxi driver is piling on the pavement.

“I’ll call him.” Lydia snaps open her clutch.

Lup’s transfixed by her acid green nails and the wildly impractical heels. Not to mention Edward’s wearing a short sleeved suit jacket with embroidered shorts that Taako would kill for… how rude is it to photograph strangers?

“Harry… yes… sure, whatever… uh huh… well you’ll be glad to know that we’re here… yes… so can you come be a darling and get our bags?... I’m not sure that Daddy would like to hear that you’re being so unfriendly on our very first day… Thank you so much darling, we’ll see you soon.” Lydia grimaces and slides the phone back into her bag and shakes her head at Edward. “Such poor service here.”

It takes everything in Lup not to say something. Sure, their fashion sense is glorious, but they’re a caricature of awful if this is how they treat people. Lup’s ready to swing on poor Harold’s behalf. Not to mention the taxi driver they definitely didn’t tip, just waved her off once she’d finished hauling their ridiculous bags out of the minivan.

“Oh there you are, Harry, we’re just over here. Don’t worry about not being out front to meet us.” Edward smiles broadly, as if he’s not aware of precisely how much of a dick he’s being.

Lup’s willing to wager he knows exactly what he’s doing.

Harry though, assuming that’s the guy in the blue jeans who just walked reluctantly out of the front of the building, doesn’t look so confident. “Uh. Hi Lydia, Edward.” He tugs at the sleeves of his white shirt, clearly uncomfortable.

“So good to see you again.” Lydia says without looking at him.

“This is everything.” Edward points, as if there were a chance Harry might have missed the small mountain of wealth piled at the side of the road.

“And you need me to, uh, get some luggage trolleys?” Harry, poor sweet Harry, asks.

“If that’s what you need to move them to our rooms.” Edward shrugs, already scrolling on his phone.

“Did you check us in?” Lydia asks.

“Er… the accommodation office is…” Harry starts.

“Oh darling, these heels aren’t made for walking, are you sure you can’t just bring us the keys and let us know where we’re going?” Lydia titters and flutters her eyelashes at him.

Lup sends a beam of strength to Harry. Don’t fall for it, my dude, make them do their own life admin. You’ve go this.

“The accommodation office is over there.” Harry points.

Yes! Go, Harry, get ‘em!

“But darling, how will you know where to take our bags if you don’t check us in?” Edward asks, not looking up from his phone.

Lup watches the fight drain out of him. He fought a good fight…

“I’ll go to the accommodation office, which is over there.” Harry bites out.

At least he’s not trying to pretend he’s not pissed off any more. This is most definitely and absolutely not his job, for sure. Lup was under no illusions when she took this role. Science educator at a Summer education programme was never going to pay well, but coming here set her on the path she’s on now, and the least she can do is give back (and be legally allowed to make explosions for educational purposes.)

“Hey, Harold, mind if I walk with you? I haven’t been to the accommodation office before.” Lup catches up to him quickly, closing the distance in a few long strides.

When he turns to look at her his face is sour. “Please, uh, just, there’s no need to keep doing it.”

“Doing what?” Lup tilts her head, but doesn’t break her step. “Cha’girl needs to find the accommodation office, and you look like you know what’s up. It’s Lup, by the way.” She stops abruptly and offers a hand.

Harry stops too, looks at her for a moment, sizing her up. Then he smiles. “Barry.” He says, shaking it.

“Oh hell no.” Lup can feel the flush of heat spreading across her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, I just heard them say it and…”

“Yeah, well, they’re not always right.”

“Not often right, from what I’ve seen.” Lup mutters.

Barry laughs, once, sharp, perfect. “C’mon, I’ll show you the office.”

“Thanks Barry!”

His smile is glorious.

–

“I’ll help.”

“It’s fine.” Barry huffs as he tries to work out whether it’s better to wheel two suitcases at once in front or behind. “You’ve got your own stuff and you need to get settled.”

“Cha’girl has a single hiking bag because she’s not a complete maniac.” Lup rolls her eyes. “Plus, they’ll just complain if you leave anything on the side while you drop the first lot to their room.” She grimaces so Barry knows how wrong she thinks they are.

“You, uh, well, can’t argue with that.” Barry shrugs. Then adds, softly. “Thank you.”

Lup bumps his shoulder with hers. “Lup’s got you.”

She ends up with her rucksack, three bags on each arm, and the hair-mussing satchel (hair completely intact because she’s capable of operating a strap, thank you very much.) Barry wields two cases with his meat hands, and one with his mage hand. Lup copied him to get the last of the cases.

“How do people even have this much stuff?” Barry asks while they wait for the lift.

“Dedication? Perseverance?” Lup nudges him with her elbow, hands blessedly free as she’s laid the bags down to wait for the world’s slowest lift. “How much did you pack?”

“I didn’t have to, I live just off campus, uh, the street behind the student accommodation.”

“Oooh, happy accident that the job came up and you lived nearby?”

“Well, I… you know… work here. It’s new. But I said I’d help with the, er, the programme.” Barry looks embarrassed about this fact.

Lup raises her eyebrow. “I thought you said you were Barry?”

“I am.”

“They didn’t mention a Barry on any of the forms.” Lup knows for sure because she googled the fuck out of everyone and everything about the programme when she found out she got an interview.

“I’m not sure they put me on the letters or the websites or, well, uh, that stuff… plus, it’d by a different name.” He pauses. “It’s a long story.”

Lup points at the cheerful lift floor light which is currently still stuck on 19. “We’ve got time, my guy.” She’s going to go rogue and hack into the computers to fix it if this school is deadnaming him or something.

“Okay, it’s not really a long story, but I’m not on the forms because I help unofficially, and Barry isn’t my government name.”

“Okay?”

“I prefer Barry.”

“Barry Bluejeans.” Lup points at his denim-clad legs.

“Why not?”

“Do you not want them to use your other name?”

“No no, it’s fine, it’s just for, you know, business. It’s what’s on my office door, it’s Sildar.”

“I never thought I’d know two! Sildar! Elf King of the Forest, Thirteenth of his Line…” Lup swishes her imaginary cloak and laughs gently. “Destroyer of…”

She stops, Barry looks stunned. Shit. Maybe he was more sensitive about his name than he made it sound. She’d fallen into a comfortable pattern. Lup closes the distance between them. “Oh, my dude, sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, that’s an…”

“...In joke.” Barry finishes for her. Then draws himself up to a majestic height and swishes his own cloak. “Destroyer of Ill Informed Zombies.” He’s smiling.

“Hallwinter?”

“Tacco?”

“Barry?”

“Lup?”

“What the fuck?” Lup swears she’s buffering, she’s usually not short of words, but this? What is she supposed to do with this? Sildar, in the flesh, not just a guy in a computer. “You’re real!”

Barry laughs. Hard.

Lup pokes him in the side.

“Ow!”

“Just checking.” She smiles her biggest smile.

He laughs again and it sets Lup off too. They’re still gasping for breath when the door the lift light finally blinks another floor down.

“Did the last email help?” Barry asks, pressing the lift button again, as if that’ll help.

“Yeah! The way you explained it made a lot more sense than the textbook.”

“Cyrus.” Barry says like it’s a particularly awful curse word, and shrugs dismissively.

“So you have roughly three thousand degrees?” Lup asks.

“No!” Barry protests quickly.

“Uh huh. Have you forgotten how many you have?”

“It’s only four PhDs. It’s fine. Erm… Look! The lift’s moving.” Barry points enthusiastically at the blinking light which shows a whole floor’s worth of progress.

“You can’t distract me from the fact I’m with academic royalty right now.”

“I’m not academic royalty!” Barry looks offended at the very thought.

Lup just wiggles her eyebrows. “Oh Sildar, can’t I please have your autograph?”

“Lup!” Barry looks genuinely distressed enough that she decides it’s time to stop bullying him.

“So what’s the best meal on the canteen rotation? I figure you’ve been here a little bit? You said you were moving in your email last month, right?”

Barry’s discomfort fades immediately. “So they make this mac and cheese with asparagus in it and the summer school kids hate it because it’s got green bits so they always give you extra. I figure it’ll be different once the students are back, but uh, I guess you’ll be gone then?”

Lup shrugs. “Gotta wait on the post docs to get back to me, but my cheese yen thanks you for the baller tip! What else you got for cha’girl? I’m gonna plumb your depths.”

There’s a long moment. Lup dares Barry to double her entendre. He thinks about it, she can tell, but he doesn’t. She’s not disappointed exactly… but.

By the time the lift finally arrives Lup knows where the quiet libraries are, has a few routes for her morning runs, and, most importantly, knows where to get the good coffee (The Davey Lamp Cafe or Barry’s office. She’s inclined to try the latter first, because Barry has good taste, obviously, no other reason.)

“Okay, tetris time!” Lup zoops the mage hand suitcase into the lift, Barry shoves his in close behind.

“Do you think we can do this?”

“Cha’girl has better things to do than wait another 84 years for the lift, Barold, prepare to get cosy.”

Lup shoos him in with the suitcases next.

“Okay, if I put the bags on top of the cases, and then…” Lup scooches into the, admittedly small, gap next to Barry. “Is this okay?”

“Uh, yeah, fine… er.. Good… I mean… Yeah.”

“Do you want me to get the next one?”

“No! No. I mean, this is okay.” Barry’s swaying very slightly, Lup’s pressed against his side, so sways with him.

“They’re floor 26, right?” Lup asks.

“Oh, fuck, hang on.” Barry lunges towards the buttons. “Yeah, there we go.”

The lift grinds slowly upwards.

“So why IPRE? I imagine everyone was clamouring to get their hands on you?” Lup wiggles her eyebrows and Barry flushes bright pink.

“Well, uh, you know… I really liked their er… ethos?” Barry starts tentatively.

“Funding?”

Barry laughs, relieved. “Yeah, that. They have plenty of funding available. Plus, they seemed interested in letting me, you know, work on some of my own stuff.”

“Bonds?” Lup hisses quietly, as if anyone could hear over the slow grinding noise of The World’s Shittest Lift.

Barry nods and his face lights up. “You remembered?”

“Hard to forget when someone’s so passionate about something, Barold.”

“It’s also closer to Mum.”

“Of course. How is Marlena?”

“Still raving about the cookies you sent. She said they were as baller as you promised, and that you’d promised you would only send them to her so I had to come visit if I wanted to try them.”

“Who am I, but a girl who is willing to engage in cookie crime to help a Mum out.”

“I visit her!”

“I know.” Lup nods, he’s talked a lot about wishing he was closer, especially as she gets older.

“Now I can go more.” Barry adds.

“You sure can, I’d better look at the recipe book.” Lup winks at him.

–

“Leave them here.” Lup shrugs. “You’ve done your bit.”

Barry dithers, and knocks again. “I don’t know why they went ahead of me to get the key when they specifically asked me to check them in.”

“Weird power play.”

“Really?”

“Definitely, I’ve met their sort before. Just leave their stuff here, don’t hang around waiting. You’re the guy, they’re nothing in the scheme of research. This is absolutely not your problem.”

“Yeah. Yeah…” Barry keeps his hands on the cases.

“Barold?” Lup takes his arm gently to pull him away.

Barry twitches slightly, like he’s about to pull his arm back, there’s a moment where Lup worries that she’s gone too far. Sure they’ve sent some emails, they joked in the lift, but this is Sildar Halwinter, Magic Science guy. He wrote the textbooks, or should have, he’s got the cutting edge papers… He’s not just a cute nerd for Lup to boss about. Thankfully though, he relaxes, lets himself be tugged away towards the lift.

“Yeah. You’re right. I’ve given them enough of my time.”

“Yes! That’s the spirit.” Lup punches the air. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Which floor are you?”

“3.” Lup says. “I don’t have fancy parental connections to get the good view.

“Well, at least you’re in luck if the lift goes out.” Barry says wrly.

“You truly are a genius, Dr Hallwinter.” Lup nods cheekily.

Barry throws her a sideways glance, and smiles. There’s no blush this time, maybe he’s easing into it.

This time, they stand slightly further apart in the lift.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Barry asks. He sounds like he means it.

Lup wants to say yes immediately. There’s absolutely nothing she can think of that Barry can do for her right now, but she likes hanging out with him. He’s fun to talk to online, and more fun in person, if just for the immediacy… also she gets to look at his face. Er… she means… shit.

“I’m not sure I need a hand with my bag, but you’re welcome to come check out the digs if you want?” She realises too late that it sounds like she’s propositioning him. ‘Come look at my room’, she may as well ask the guy in for coffee.

“I’ve actually already surveyed the rooms, so I’ll let you get settled, but if you decide you want coffee before the staff briefing this evening then stop by my flat, I’m heading home for a few hours.” Barry smiles warmly.

Uh… did Barold just uno reverse her? Bam! Proposition me will you? Here’s one right back! No, no way, he probably just means coffee. Would she go if she thought he didn’t just mean coffee?... Nope, stop! Bad line of thinking. He’s being kind, it’s generous. They’re friends! She’ll see.

“Cool, I’ll get settled, write a postcard, then maybe head over when I go to post it?”

The lift dings to announce its arrival at the third floor. “No pressure, I’ll see you later, Lup.”

–

Hey Ko’

I know you’re gonna roll your eyes, but you’re getting postcards, just like we wrote to Tia back in the day. Today was fine. Those twins I messaged about are fucking awful (that’s right, I can swear in these now, when you’re the teachers no one checks!) they kept calling this guy Harry, turns out his name’s Barry. Barry Bluejeans (well, not officially the last bit, but he was wearing them, so sue me.) They made him carry their bags, so obviously I helped, and we got talking and I was all “he’s really cool. No idea why they’re so mean to him”. Anyway, anyway, turns out his Government name isn’t Barry. It’s Sildar fucking Halwinter! That one, yeah. So I guess my pen pal is my person pal for the next 8 weeks… I’m gonna make the most of it, I just need to figure out which questions to ask.

Anyway, I’m running out of postcard space, but it’s all pretty similar to how it was, the room’s slightly nicer, only one bed and a private bathroom (thank every god going, I’ll never forgive Greg Grimaldis his bathroom crimes), but it’s still student digs.

Love you always,

Lup xxxxx

---

Thank you for reading! Find chapter 2 here.

#blupjeans week 2024 #Blupjeans #Lup #Barry Bluejeans #It's Blupjeans Week time gang!#BlupjeansWeek2024

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theboywithburninghands · 4 months

Text

Morning guys, or afternoon/evening depending on where you are. So, I know I said the @rottentricks story was only gonna be three chapters, but chapter two has gotten so big I wouldn’t feel right slapping a giant wall of text onto your timeline. So, it’s being split into two parts. Here you are, hope you like it!

T/W: Blood, discussions of suicide/murder, fantasy racism

Animals Ch. 2: Sheep, Part 1

What do you get for pretending the danger’s not real?

—

Pomni fell out of bed with a jolt at the sound of her telephone ringing. She hurriedly detangled her quilt from around her foot as the phone rang again, followed by the caller ID loudly and robotically blurting out:

“CALL FROM- PRIVATE CALLER.”

“Gee, thanks…” Pomni mumbled. She had no idea why her parents got her a phone with caller ID. It almost never worked unless the person had a private cell, and the only people she knew who could afford one of those were her parents… Hm, she might have just answered her own question.

She grabbed the phone off the charging dock and hit talk before it could ring again.

“Hello…?” she said sleepily.

“Hey Pomni, it’s Ragatha! Did I wake you up?”

Pomni cleared her throat. She checked her watch. 12:47 PM… sweet Jesus. How embarrassing.

“Uh- n-no, you didn’t… what’s up? You okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine, hun, but have you seen what’s going on downtown?” Ragatha asked, her tone hushed. A faint susurrus could be heard in the background of the phone call.

“Uh… no. I’ve been at my apartment since I got steak from Kingston’s Charcuterie yesterday morning… Working on stuff for school, you know? What’s happening?”

“You were at Kingston’s yesterday…? You know Jax then?” Ragatha’s tone turned much more serious.

“Uh, yeah..?”

“Honey, he was arrested.”

Pomni covered up the mouthpiece of the phone and loudly swore. She uncovered it and kept talking.

“Are you serious..? Why?” she asked. Her concern was quite genuine, but her surprise was not. She knew why.

“They’re saying that it looks like someone killed Kaufmo with a knife and hung him up a tree to make it look like a suicide… oh god, it’s horrible. But they found a knife from Jax’s store in the woods nearby, and they said that was good enough evidence to arrest him. They took him in last night around 6 PM…”

Pomni sighed. She knew it would happen… Those stupid cops already had him pegged for the murderer. There was some evidence sure, but-

Well… maybe she was wrong. Maybe they did find some evidence incriminating him that came up, fingerprints (like she demanded they look for), a piece of purple fur or something… Maybe she really was just letting her biases get in the way.

“…all over Main Street. …Pomni, baby, you there?”

Pomni blinked back into her apartment, and realized that Ragatha had been talking the entire time she’d been arguing with herself.

“Uh- s-sorry you broke up for a minute, what did you say?”

“I said that someone must have said something, because there’s a huge protest going on outside the station, saying it was an unfair arrest! There’s out-of-towners, some locals, they’re all over Main Street! I think I see a news van out there..! You can probably hear ‘em right now!”

“Oh god, is that what that background noise is? Holy shit. Are… you okay, Ragatha?” Pomni asked.

“Me? I’m a little shaken up. Jax has been providing supplies for the café for years! He gives us our steak, our burgers, our bacon, our sausages… and he’s my friend. He can be a bit rude and he’s scary looking, but… I don’t think he’s capable of…killing people.” Ragatha whispered the last two words.

“I don’t think he is either,” Pomni said. “And-And I only met him for a few minutes yesterday. Sure, it’s suspicious about the knife, but he sells knives! Someone could have used one they already bought or stole one. And-And I was there when those cops showed up, and I saw how they acted! They looked ready to shoot him and one of them said something really nasty…”

Ragatha sighed. “You wanna know the sad part, honey? That doesn’t surprise me even a little. Autumnvale is a nice place, but some people around here like things in their place, and if you fall outta that place… It can be hard for you. But I hope you don’t think our whole town is like that.”

“Oh- No- No, not at all! I love the friends I’ve made here. You’ve been amazing…” Pomni said. She meant it. Ragatha had basically taken on the role of her big sister here.

“Aww… That’s so sweet of you, Pomni. You’ve got enough to eat, right? I’m sorry I closed the café yesterday…”

“No, Ragatha, don’t worry. I was fine, and you needed the day off. But I can come see you now if you want? I haven’t had breakfast yet and I ate my whole steak yesterday…”

She could practically feel Ragatha’s luminous smile through the phone. “Well sure, hun, come and visit! I’ll make you something special. Just be careful, okay? These protesters are making me nervous…”

“I will. See you in a bit, okay?” Pomni said with a smile.

“Bye.~” Ragatha said, and there was a click at the other end.

Pomni hopped off her bed and got herself dressed. Fresh underwear, then shirt, then pants, then fleece, then puffer, then purse. She looked out her window, saw it was snowing, and added a pair of black gloves and a white scarf, topped with her gray university beanie. It didn’t match her outfit, but maybe with this on, the protestors wouldn’t yell at her. She was on their side, after all, she thought something was fishy about the whole thing too…

She stepped outside, looking around at the falling snow. Big, fat flakes that looked like wisps of cotton. She held out a black-gloved hand and caught one. The flake remained on her palm for a moment before the heat from her hand caused the fluff to recede into water on her glove. She smiled.

She put her glove back on the strap of her purse, then turned to look at the stairs. They were dusted with snow, and no doubt slippery.

She huffed and gripped the railing tight. One step at a time, never let go. Repeat for all thirteen steps.

An excruciating minute later and she was at the bottom, panting and sending up plumes of steam. She appreciated being on the second floor to avoid the rats and bugs, but having to climb up and especially down these icy stairs was brutal… One of these days she was going to slip and fall and it was gonna suck.

“You okay, Miss?”

Pomni looked up at the unfamiliar voice. An abstract person sat atop a horse. They had a triangular head, bright pink, with no visible mouth and a shiny metal hook for a left hand. They wore a heavy poncho, colored dark green with yellow diamonds, and a brown cowboy hat. They sat atop a horse with an unusual coat, a nearly perfect split between black and white stripes and plain white fur.

“Um… hi. Yeah, I’m fine, just… uh… stairs.” Pomni pointed to the offending structure, still out of breath.

“Mmm. You headed into town?” the person on the horse asked.

“Yeah. You heading there too? Have you heard about the protests..?” Pomni asked.

“Yeah. I’m close friends with the guy that got arrested. I’m gonna see if I can post his bail.” they said.

Pomni perked up a bit. “Oh, great! Uh, I’m a friend of his as well! I saw the way the cops treated him…”

“Really? Tell me about it, I’ll give you a lift into town.”

The person on the horse turned their mount around the opposite direction, offering their non-hook hand. Pomni took it, carefully sliding her feet into the stirrups and climbing up onto the horse, sitting herself a bit clumsily behind the rider. The horse shook their head and snorted in annoyance.

“I’m Zooble. This is ZigZag.”

Zooble patted the side of their horse, gently tugging on their reins so they turned back towards town, then flicked the reins with a soft “giddyup.” ZigZag chuffed and trotted forward, leaving horseshoe prints in the new fallen snow.

“Hi, I’m Pomni. I’m here on an art scholarship.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot Mayor Mason started doing that. You’re here a full year, then?” Zooble asked without turning around.

“Yeah. Until I get my Master’s in May… I really love it here though… Well I love most of here. Winter has been pretty rough.” Pomni admitted.

Zooble chuckled. “Yeah, we have harsh winters. Our nights are especially bad. You’ve been staying inside after dark, right?”

“Mhm, always. If I die, my parents will have wasted money. Worse still, the college will have to liquidate my loans.” Pomni replied, putting her gloves to her cheeks in mock horror.

Zooble chuckled once again. “I’m not surprised you fit in here, you came pre-fit with small-town snark.”

“Thanks. Oh, so, yeah, I saw Jax yesterday. The cops were already gung-ho about arresting him… You’re his friend, right? You don't think he would do something like that, right…?”

Zooble was silent for a moment. “To someone like Kaufmo? No.”

“Wait- what do you mean?” Pomni asked, leaning a ways off of ZigZag to get a better look at the rider’s face.

“What I mean is that… He would never hurt anyone that didn’t really have it coming. I don’t know if you know, but the other kids made his life hell growing up. They called him a freak and said his parents abandoned him ‘cause he was so ugly and a half-breed. But… he fought back one day. It was bad. And ever since then, he hasn’t taken shit from anybody. I bet the only reason he even went with the cops is because if he put out one of their eyes or snapped one of their arms, he’d get his brains blown out or thrown away to rot. He’s got a temper, and he’s capable of a lot when you push the right buttons… but no. He wouldn’t hurt Kaufmo. Or me, or Gangle, or Rags.”

“…Or me?” Pomni asked.

“…I dunno. Are you a good person?” Zooble retorted.

“I’d like to think so…” Pomni replied meekly. “He seems to like me okay. He let me have a steak yesterday.”

“Really? He almost never gives anyone free food. He mumbles and grumbles about just giving me enough beef chuck to make stew.”

“Is that right..?” Pomni felt her face warm up again.

As they approached the town, they faintly heard the chanting of a good-sized crowd.

“AUTUMNVALE ISN’T FAIR! RACIST PEOPLE EVERYWHERE! AUTUMNVALE ISN’T FAIR! RACIST PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!”

Zooble tugged gently on ZigZag’s reins, slowing her to a stop. ZigZag nickered uneasily at the commotion up ahead, Zooble putting a hand out to pet her neck.

“Yeah, I know it’s loud, princess. Don’t worry, we’ll tie you off right here, okay?” they soothed.

Zooble then hopped down off the horse, landing firmly on both feet. They looked up at Pomni.

“Need help, city girl?”

Pomni bristled a tiny bit at that comment. Sure, it wasn’t a lie or anything, but it always made her feel… inexperienced. Sheltered.

“I got it,” Pomni replied. She looked down at the snowy ground. It was a drop for sure, especially for someone her size. Well, what did she have to lose other than the use of her ankles?

She slid off the horse, hitting the snow with both feet a bit too hard and fast, buckling and being forced to catch herself with her hands. She stood up immediately and dusted the snow off her gloves.

“You go on ahead. I gotta tie her off and put on her blanket.” Zooble said.

“Okay, thanks for the ride… Do you really think you can cover Jax’s bail?” Pomni asked, looking down at the snow.

Zooble sighed. Their breath steamed.

“Hope so. I’m just one person, and the bail for suspicion of murder is gonna be a small fortune. But I got a lot in savings. You didn’t hear it from me though.”

“I… don’t have much money, but I can try and help.” Pomni said. She desperately needed that money for groceries and art supplies, truth be told… She wasn’t sure why she even offered.

“Nah. Thanks, but nah.” Zooble said, tying ZigZag’s halter to a wooden perimeter fence nearby. “Do have a quick question, though.”

“Yeah?”

Zooble opened one of the saddle bags and looked at Pomni. Even though they had no visible mouth, looking at their eyes made it clear that they were smiling.

“You said you only met Jax yesterday, and you’re dead-set on helping him out. Why’s that?” Zooble asked, removing a green and yellow horse blanket.

“Because…” Pomni swallowed and felt her already rosy cheeks darken. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Yup, that is true…” Zooble replied expectantly, shaking out the blanket.

“Y-Yeah. I’m… I’ll see you up ahead. Thanks again.”

“Be seeing you.” Zooble said, a laugh on the edge of their voice.

Pomni put her hands in her jacket pockets and crunched her way towards town. The roar of emotions in her belly distracted her long enough for her to reach the hubbub on Main Street.

A crowd of around four dozen people had gathered outside the Autumnvale police station, some familiar faces from around town, some people Pomni didn’t recognize that must have come from neighboring towns, maybe even her city. A few people held signs written on bright yellow or green poster paper, a few having opted for foam boards instead. They read things such as:

“DIFFERENT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE”

“YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN BLACK AND BLUE”

“AUTUMN-FAIL”

“WHERE’S THE EVIDENCE?”

“JUSTICE FOR JAX!”

An older chickadee birdman in an orangish-brown leather jacket and black toque stood at the head of the crowd. Pomni recognized him as the town doctor. She’d seen him a few times. He seemed to be the leader of the group, but that could be because he was the only one that had a bullhorn. He turned it on and spoke into it.

“We aren’t going to lay down and let the police continue to treat crossbreeds like second-class citizens! Not here, not in any other city!”

He then led the crowd in another chant of “AUTUMNVALE ISN’T FAIR, RACIST PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!”

Nearby, a news anchor and her cameraman interviewed a chess piece shaped fellow in a red flannel jacket and a fishing hat, who wrung his hands nervously.

“And you raised him, Mr. Kingston?” the anchor asked into her mic before offering it to the man.

“Y-Yes my wife and I raised Jax, the mayor found him abandoned in a cabin in the woods and brought him to us when he was just bite-sized.”

Pomni tried to walk a little closer inconspicuously.

“And you believe he’s innocent?” The anchor asked.

“Of course. Jax is a good boy. People around town have treated him so rotten.” Mr. Kingston said adamantly.

“You think that there’s bias in the arrest?” The reporter asked.

“Definitely, definitely. Some people around here still call him a cannibal, can you believe that? Just because he’s part wolf and needs meat in his diet, they call him a cannibal.” Mr. Kingston said, wounded.

“And what do you have to say about the knife that was found near the crime scene, Mr. Kingston?” The anchor asked.

“I say ‘malarkey.’ Jax sells those knives in his shop, anyone could have taken one and put it there. They probably picked him on purpose!”

Pomni listened a while longer before looking out amongst the crowd again. A few of the same cops from the crime scene the previous day stood in front of the station behind sawhorses, along with some new ones. Autumnvale must have brought in other precincts to keep the situation under control. One particular officer, a human with a gold badge and in a wide brimmed white cowboy hat and aviator shades, stood along with them, hands on his hips. Probably the sheriff.

The protest leader spoke into his bullhorn again.

“The detectives who made the arrest are nowhere to be seen! Isn’t that intriguing, everyone?”

The crowd booed.

“It seems that they feel perfectly comfortable bullying a man when they outnumber him, but once we show up, they go missing! Isn’t that intriguing?!”

Another round of booing and hissing from the crowd, one person shouting “Fuckin’ cowards!”

“Yes, these enforcers of justice seem to only bother enforcing said justice if it’s against people they don’t like!”

He continued on as Pomni slipped behind the crowd. The café was located just beyond the protest. No doubt, they were all going to head there after the demonstrations finished. Although from the amount of fervor in the crowd, it didn’t seem to be losing momentum anytime soon.

As she crossed to the other side of the road to the café, she spotted Trevor leaning against the post office next door. He locked eyes with her, a cigarette smoldering in his teeth, and grinned spitefully. Pomni hurried into the café.

“Hey! Good afternoon hun!” Ragatha waved. Pomni couldn’t help but smile and wave back. That sunny smile could cure sickness if someone could figure out how to bottle it.

“Good afternoon to you, miss.” another voice chimed in. A woman composed of a white mask and red ribbons sat at the counter, a black beret on her head and a cup of coffee in her hands. Er… ribbons.

“Come and sit, Pomni! You’ve met Gangle, right?” Ragatha poured another cup of coffee for the art student.

She stomped the snow off of her boots before going to sit at the counter, taking off her puffer jacket and hanging it over the back of her usual chair before climbing up into it.

“Um, I don’t think in person, but I saw your production of A Streetcar Named Desire. You were an amazing Stella!” Pomni said.

Gangle gave a worried smile. “Oh no, you weren’t there the night I forgot my lines, were you?”

“I don’t think so, I don’t remember any mistakes. Um, the guy who played Stanley was amazing too, so intense… Thank you.” Pomni accepted her mug from Ragatha.

“Ahh, yeah, Gummigoo. You know he’s actually a complete sweetheart in real life? We had to practice the scene where his character hits mine over and over with the stunt coordinator since he didn’t even want to pretend to hit me.”

Pomni added sugar and cream to her coffee, two blue packets and one little plastic cup, and stirred it.

“So how are you holding up this morning, baby? You said you saw those detectives get onto Jax, right?” Ragatha asked, leaning both her hands on the counter.

“Oh. Yeah, I did. I hid for a bit because I didn’t want to get in trouble just for being there… but then one of them said something really horrible and I yelled at them.” Pomni sipped her coffee. Bitter stuff, but it had a pleasant chocolatey taste on the edge of the flavor.

“What did they say? They didn’t call him a… you know…” Gangle whispered.

“No. They weren’t that blatant, but one guy, I think his name was Wexley, basically said Jax lived by himself ‘cause he’s a crossbreed. Said it was ‘understandable.’”

Ragatha made a disgusted noise as she went over to the griddle, pouring batter onto it. “I don’t understand how people that pea-brained are allowed to carry badges. Well it’s no wonder they’re not showing their faces right now. Probably got sent back to the big city with their tails between their legs. Buncha bullies…”

“Yeah… I’ve been meaning to ask, how did they find out so quickly..? The-The demonstrators, I mean. I thought Jax only got arrested last night…” Pomni inquired.

“It was probably Dr. Wren that found out,” Gangle replied, pointing out the window. Her ribbon pointed towards the older bird fellow with the megaphone. “Our town doctor. He’s always been about issues like this. You know, institutional racism and stuff? My guess is he jumped at the chance to get a crowd together. And look at the turnout!”

Pomni hummed. “Well, I’m glad he did.”

“Hm, I dunno,” Ragatha replied from over at the griddle. “Personally, I wish he’d have just waited a day or two so we could at least lay Kaufmo to rest. So many people here in town are still processing the fact that he might have been murdered, and he’s out there hollering his lungs out, disturbing everyone’s grieving.”

“B-But what about Jax? Doesn’t he deserve justice?” Pomni replied.

“Well of course he does, baby, but if he’s really done nothing wrong, he’ll be out of the jailhouse in 72 hours..” Ragatha flipped a pancake.

“He’ll- huh?” Pomni tilted her head.

“She’s right, I almost forgot…” Gangle chimed in. “This town has a Speedy Trial law. Since we’re such a small community, there’s not many trials. So there’s a 72-hour limit in place for someone being held in custody without substantial evidence… If Jax really didn’t do anything, and I don’t think he did, they’ll have to let him go in a couple days.

“And I’ll betcha the only people that are itching to find evidence on him are those detectives, and who knows where they went? With that protest out there, all our cops are busy keeping that under control. No time to be sniffing around for clues.” Ragatha added, testing the firmness of her pancakes with her spatula.

Pomni felt herself relax. That was… good news.. There was a pretty decent chance that they’d let Jax go tonight. Maybe she’d wait for him if the crowd had died down by then…

“W-Wait, so that means that the knife..?”

“Unless it had his DNA or prints on it, it’s not good enough. It’s like people have been saying, anyone could have bought it and hid it out there.” Gangle explained.

Ragatha gave a surprised smile over her shoulder at Gangle as she stacked the pancakes on a plate. “Well, look at you, Nancy Drew! Who taught you all this detective stuff?”

Gangle gained red blush marks under her eyes and looked down at the counter. “Oh, you know… I do a lot of research for my roles. We did an Agatha Christie play once…”

Ragatha brought over a short stack of pancakes, dusted with powdered sugar and topped with whipped cream and some fresh strawberry slices. She set the plate down in front of Pomni, along with a boat of maple syrup.

“Eat it while it’s warm, honey.” Ragatha cooed, pecking the art student on the cheek.

“Thank you Ragatha…” Pomni sighed. How this absolute peach of a woman remained single was a mystery to her. Wasn’t any of her business, anyway. She dug into the food. It was delicious, fluffy and moist cake mixed in with rich, hand churned cream and the bright flavor of strawberry. She could eat this every day for the rest of her life and never get tired of it.

The door to the café swung open, and a person in a yellow and green poncho stepped inside, stomping off their boots chasing snowflakes from their hat.

“Zooble! I was wondering when you’d show up! You want the regular… Zooble?”

Ragatha’s sunny voice darkened with worry as she saw a stain of red on their hand, which they were currently wiping off on their poncho.

“Zooble, are you bleeding?!” Pomni cried out.

“No, it’s not my blood. I punched Trevor in the nose. Might’ve busted it.” Zooble’s voice sounded hollow and distant. Their hand reasonably clean, they sank down into a chair by the window, resting their arms on top of the table.

“Trevor? The wolf?” Pomni asked. No, Trevor the marmoset, stupid.

“Yeah. He laughed at me when the sheriff turned me away. ‘Tough luck, pizza-head.’ I heard a crunch.” Zooble looked at their hand and clenched it a few times. “Anyway. Couldn’t post his bail. The Sheriff told me it was 500 thousand. ‘Possible homicide.’ I don’t even have half of that.”

“Oh, Zooble…” Ragatha opened the counter hatch and went around to see them. “Honey, I’m so sorry… But, we were just talking about the speedy trial law. If all they have is a knife that came from his store-”

“Horseshit…” Zooble mumbled.

“If there’s no DNA on the knife, then-”

“HORSESHIT!” Zooble bellowed, banging on the table with their fist. The sound rattled the glass salt and pepper shakers. Everyone jumped.

“Zooble, I’m sorry-” Ragatha began, but Zooble cut her off.

“You know how the system is! It doesn’t matter how many angry people wave signs around out there, or if the doctor gives some nice speeches on a megaphone! Jax is a crossbreed, and they’re gonna find some ‘new evidence’ or dig up some old law that makes it so he gets put away for good! Don’t you get it?! Those sheep big city detectives they hired took one look at Jax and saw he was a freak, so he must’ve done it! And our redneck-ass, no-brain FUCK of a sheriff agrees with them! They’ve been waiting to do this- they…”

Tears beaded in Zooble’s eyes, and they collapsed into their chair, shoulders shaking.

“They’ve been waiting…” they moaned.

For a while, there were no sounds other than the faint din outside and Zooble’s soft sobbing. Pomni couldn’t blame them… if her best friend was being put away on flimsy evidence based on prejudice alone, she’d have cried like a baby. Hell, she felt a little bit like crying now…

She pushed her half-eaten plate of food away and shyly walked over to Zooble. The cowboy looked at her through red, puffy eyes.

“What?” they spat.

“…I… I want to help.” Pomni said.

“I just told you there’s nothing we can do, kid… unless your mommy and daddy have $500,000 sitting around the house, this is the end of the line…” Zooble wiped their eyes on the non-bloodied parts of their poncho.

“Don’t say that. We can look for more evidence.”

“How? They’ve got the crime scene cordoned off… we’ll get in huge trouble if we go there…” Gangle said.

“What about Jax’s sales log? That’s like a list of suspects!” Pomni proposed.

“Cops already took it. I saw ‘em carrying it out of the shop when they hauled him away in cuffs…”

“Dammit…” Pomni chewed on her thumbnail. “Okay. Okay, what about this? Does anyone know where Kaufmo lived?”

“He lived not far from here,” Ragatha said. “His house was over near Gangle’s theater.”

“Do you think we could get a look inside it?”

“What? Pomni, what for?” Gangle asked.

“I dunno… anything! Clues about who might have it out for him!”

“Look, city girl. I appreciate your enthusiasm… I do. But the cops-” Zooble began.

“Are all busy, dealing with that.” Pomni pointed out the window at the crowd. “All we have to do is see if those three asshole detectives aren’t sniffing around the place, and we can look inside, right?”

“Pomni…”

“Look, Zooble’s right. Unless a miracle happens, the system is gonna do what it can to get Jax put behind bars for good. We need to at least try. Right?”

“I… But… Pomni, what about you? Aren’t you worried about losing your scholarship?” Gangle asked.

“Yeah. But… I think I… I want to make a difference in this town more than I want to just use it to further myself. You guys… this place has done so much for me, and I… I want to give something back.”

Zooble used a napkin to wipe their eyes. “It helps she also has a crush on Jax.”

Pomni turned bright red. “Hey! That’s not-”

“Aw, Pomni… that’s so romantic. A lover, wrongly imprisoned... It’s like a Carolinian play!” Gangle said, looping her ribbons together as though she was clasping her hands.

“Wh- He’s not my lover! We only met for like five minutes!” Pomni grabbed her beanie and tugged it down over her face.

“And yet you’re willing to risk your higher education to save him. Yup, you’ve totally got it bad, honey.” Ragatha added, crossing her arms and smiling.

“Sh-Shut uuuuuuuup!” Pomni whined.

“Well… I wouldn’t be much of a best friend if I didn’t do something incredibly stupid for him. Alright, let’s go, kid.” Zooble got to their feet, drying their eyes one more time.

“I’m twenty-fiiiiiiive!”

“You’re twenty-five? Jeez, you coulda fooled me. What are you, four foot two?”

“Four foot NINE!” Pomni snapped, shuffling out the door as Zooble held it open for her. Zooble said their goodbyes to Ragatha and Gangle before following after Pomni.

“Do you think they’ll find anything?” Gangle asked.

“Honey, I hope so. I… doubt it. But I hope so.” Ragatha replied.

#the amazing digital circus #funnybunny #jax x pomni #tadc jax #tadc pomni #oh no cringe #tadc #tadc ragatha #murder mystery au #tadc zooble #tadc gangle #tadc kaufmo #tadc kinger #tw sui talk

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vampireknight-analysis · 20 days

Text

Yuki's Evolution of Feelings toward Zero [Pt3]

Vampire Knight, Ch 47 - 72.

"I know that... half your heart is still connected to him."

Kaname vocally confirms what the manga has already shown us up until this point: Zero holds a deep place in Yuki's heart and has become incredibly important to her.

"I wonder what... you're thinking about right now..."

A year passes by and we see right away that Zero is still on Yuki's mind and in her heart.

"It's like he said. A part of my heart is still..."

Yuki has been struggling with her bloodlust for the past year. Her vampire side's dark desires have made it hard for her to use her fangs. Despite this, Kaname continues to feed her his blood, noting that she seems to have an insatiable craving for it. It’s revealed that her craving is tied to her desire for Zero’s blood as well.

"Vampires can only quench their thirst with the blood of the one they love..."

Yuki admits that she knows half of her heart belongs to Zero. Kaname explains that this is because Yuki loves Zero, and Yuki tearfully confirms it. She feels like she is betraying Kaname and that she is unworthy of him.

The manga shows that Yuki loves both Kaname and Zero. Kaname tells her that, no matter who she chose to be with, she would have struggled because part of her love also belongs to Kaname.

"I want you to drink only my blood. That is how you take responsibility."

At this point, Yuki agrees to only drink Kaname's blood, from now until forever, as a way to take responsibility for having love for Zero in her heart.

And Yuki finds solace in that punishment and responsibility. It helps to lift her spirits and take away the edge of the guilt.

When attending her first outing, the first person Yuki's gaze seeks out in a crowded room is none other than Zero. And, at the first opportunity, she reaches out to touch him. Yuki's craving for Zero's companionship is unquestionable.

"A scent that... recalls memories..."

When injured, Yuki is allured by the scent of Zero's blood. In a trance like state, she almost bites him. At the last minute, she pulls away to look at him, coming back to her senses.

"I'm still bungling up things, aren't I?"

Yuki's guilt and her obligation to only drink from Kaname stop her. She flees, trapped in her own failings and inadequacies, begging for Kaname to take her home and punish her for what she had nearly given into.

"Zero is falling to Level E."

Yuki becomes aware of Zero's condition and the fact that he is falling to Level E. Although she suspects it is because he is craving her blood, she initially denies it, telling herself that Zero must have let go of those previous feelings for her when he learned she was a Pureblood.

While now having to remain in the same vicinity as Zero, Yuki begins to struggle with her thirst for blood.

#vampire knight #vampire knight memories #zero #yuki #zeki #radiant zeki

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sneakerguybln · 3 months

Text

21 year old Marvin (left) is presenting his 19 year old disciple Damian (right) to other members of their fitness sect. Marvin is on his way to full membership. Members are fully brainwashed into building their entire life around gym and working out. The membership is organised in four stages: disciple stage, comitted mentors stage, full membership and presidency.

Disciples are new applicants. With their application they move into so-called congregation houses. A mentor is taking over to restructure the applicant's life. Marvin is Damian's mentor. From day one applicants are watching and listening to brainwashing hypnosis. Contacts to family and friends are under scrutiny and reduced if necessary. All sect members are wearing identical clothes. A mentor is monitoring a disciple's training routine, his nutrition and enforcing the hypnosis. Within the congregation houses the disciples are living in small cells. Applicants have to be without tattoos. Tattoos are forbidden within the first two stages of membership.

Comitted mentors are sect members who are passed the first stage. They're already brainwashed. For them the sect is the family. Marvin entered the sect a few days after his 18th birthday. On his 19th birthday he became a comitted mentor. The ceremony is consisting of giving up his old life formally, ceding all possessions to their church. After the signature a comitted mentor is branded with a stylized dumbbell on the back of the neck. At the end of the procedure they get a vasectomy as church members aren't allowed to start a family. From that point on sex is allowed with other sect members only. They have to lead at least five disciples from application to comittment before being eligible for full membership. They sleep in three men dorm rooms in the congregation houses.

Full members are getting some freedoms back. They can leave the congregation house as they want. Their life is fully developed. They made progressing within their training routine the center of their lives and are fully brainwashed. They have a job that allows them to focus on gym but to earn money for the church at the same time. The result is that their schedules are consisting of working and working out. Within that stage the members get their entire bodies covered in the same tattoos like the church's founder and prophet. They're allowed to build up 'own' companies (in truth the church is owning their companies). They're electing some members of the presidency.

Members of the Presidency are the officials of the church. Each congregation house has two leaders. An administrative leader is elected every second year at every congregation house. Spiritual leaders are full members selected by the prophet. While the administrative leader is taking care of all house related matters the spiritual leader is presiding over the hypnosis and brainwashing routines. Ten congregation houses are forming a ward. The ten administrative leaders are electing an administrative ward leader and the prophet is selecting one of the spirital house leaders as spiritual ward leaders. These ward leaders are delegating disciples and mentors from one house to another if necessary. They're calculating the budgets of the houses within their ward. All house leaders - administrative and spiritual - are forming the General Assembly that elects the President, the Vice-President and the General Secretary of the church on the same day as the US is electing their president. They will be sworn in by the prophet on Jan 20 after their election.

The Prophet is a 47 year old bodybuilder who says that Christ appeared to him and dictated him the 'true' testament of Christ. The prophet struggled in life as he was younger. He married at 20 but was forced into a cuck relationship by his wife and his twin brother. They forced a vasectomy on him and marked his body with tattoos. He fled into bodybuilding to cope with the situation. He was 28 as he cycled home after gym and got his first vision of Christ. In that exact moment Christ promised him to set him free the later prophet's wife and brother had an accident.

Discipline and obedience are the strong pillars of this church. Misbehaviour will be punished with shame punishments like walking naked with a chastity device only within the congregation house or wearing sweaty clothes of other church members. For some more problematic cases of misbehaviour or clear disobedience against members of the presidency corporal punishment is administred. In some very grave cases members can be sent into the hole. Each congregation house has two holes in the basement. These holes are technically on floor -2. They can be entered via the ceiling only and members sentenced to the hole are lowered down into the hole and then the ceiling is closed with a heavy metal cover. The hole is pitchblack. Food and water are provided via a shaft in the wall. Marvin was sentenced to the hole for one week after giving his spiritual house leader a headbutt as they discussed Marvin's potential within the church. Hole sentences are always signed by the prophet.

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altraviolet · 9 months

Note

Hi! Hope you're doing well! Just an ask abt the ch47 spoiler(thanks for that btw<3)

So in one of the paragraphs it says he feels love for sw and thinks of him as a sorta lover because sw cares for him in a way no not has but doesn't want to acknowledge it bc the only other time he felt that way was with drift. My question is that before sw confessed did he already feel this way before and I just haven't picked it up yet ?

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

(I just wanted to thank you for getting me into reading mtmte, I'm currently on issue #26 :D)

Before I read teg I had no idea what mtmte was so I just took your description of every character and just rolled with it, but now that I have read a few comics and have a somewhat grasp on their canon attitudes, I can confidently say that you wrote them so well! Every description and attitude you gave the characters matched up so perfectly I just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Also I'm very sorry if this is reaches you at 4am I'M VERY VERY SORRY

yayyyy I'm glad you picked up mtmte!! isn't it good?!?! I'm glad you enjoy the comic and that the fic's characterization works well with it.

>My question is that before sw confessed did he already feel this way before and I just haven't picked it up yet ?

Okay I'll admit I've read this question a bunch of times and I'm not exactly sure how to answer it. I thiiiiink the 'he' refers to Rodimus. I think you're asking, "has Rodimus shown any signs of liking SW and I missed it?" and I don't really have an answer to that, as I don't know what you've gotten out of the text. I think the answer here is: yes?

The fic is told mostly through SW's point of view, so while we haven't seen Rodimus pine over SW, we have gotten other clues as to how he feels. The ch 47 excerpt is the most explicit statement we've gotten about it: we see Rodimus drawing a ton of parallels between waking up with SW and waking up with Drift. As you said, he "doesn't want to acknowledge it bc the only other time he felt that way was with drift." So that part at least is clear.

You want examples of Rodimus becoming close to SW from earlier in the story? They're there. The biggest one is probably holding SW's hand, unprompted, in 2938. Usually I don't mind writing out examples and details, but I'mma be honest with you, I'm really tired xD If you ever feel like rereading the fic, keep an eye on Rodimus as you go. Watch him slowly change. There is definitely a first time he laughs at a SW joke. We do see him acknowledge his own obsession with alt dimensioners until they're assimilated. He tells SW a really big secret very early on. We see him share his private screaming place (the dead zone). We see how hurt he is when SW avoids him after The Irradion incident. We just usually see all these things from SW's point of view, so they don't feel as definitive.

Hope that helps/answered the question :)

#ask #yourperfectionistprocrastinator #rodimus

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bethanydelleman · 2 years

Text

A Full Defense of Lydia Bennet

Lydia Bennet is not a villain, but she gets a lot of hate for carelessly running off with Wickham and possibly ruining her sister’s lives. The narrator and characters, however, do not blame Lydia very much and I don’t think the author meant for us to hate her. She was failed by her parents, who did not teach her how to properly behave and did not ensure she was properly protected.

Obviously, the real villain is Wickham.

The most vicious takedown of Lydia is put in the mouth (letter) of a character we should not respect, Mr. Collins. We already know that his morality is skewed, as he seems to view the collection of tithes and sucking up to Lady Catherine as his primary duties, he writes this of Lydia, “I am inclined to think that her own disposition must be naturally bad, or she could not be guilty of such an enormity, at so early an age.” (Ch 48). However, even he mentions the real cause, “a faulty degree of indulgence”.

Elizabeth feels this cause strongly, and lays out a good argument for her father on why Lydia should not go to Brighton, “She represented to him all the improprieties of Lydia’s general behaviour, the little advantage she could derive from the friendship of such a woman as Mrs. Forster, and the probability of her being yet more imprudent with such a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must be greater than at home.” (Ch 41). Mr. Bennet dismisses all these great arguments because he is too lazy to deal with Lydia’s disappointment. He’s been a lazy parent and continues to be.

Mr. Bennet then takes on the responsibility for what happened, ““Who should suffer but myself? It has been my own doing, and I ought to feel it… No, Lizzy, let me once in my life feel how much I have been to blame.” (Ch 50). Lydia has been allowed to run around flirting with officers for months, without any check on her conduct. She does not act within the rules of society, and while Elizabeth and Jane have tried to correct her, Lydia knew they had no real authority. She needed parents and neither of them did their duty.

Mr. Bennet also acknowledges that he failed his daughters by not saving money for their future provision, “Had he done his duty in that respect” (Ch 50).

Mrs. Bennet shares this guilt, little as she will accept it: Mrs. Bennet, to whose apartment they all repaired, after a few minutes’ conversation together, received them exactly as might be expected; with tears and lamentations of regret, invectives against the villainous conduct of Wickham, and complaints of her own sufferings and ill-usage; blaming everybody but the person to whose ill-judging indulgence the errors of her daughter must principally be owing. (Ch 47)

Lastly, Lydia was failed by Darcy, who talks about his share of the blame here: “Wickham’s worthlessness had not been so well known as to make it impossible for any young woman of character to love or confide in him. He generously imputed the whole to his mistaken pride, and confessed that he had before thought it beneath him to lay his private actions open to the world.” (Ch 52). We see in Sense & Sensibility Elinor asking everyone who knows him about Willoughby’s character. Character references were important, that is how women knew they were safe in a man’s presence. Darcy knew the truth and he left Meryton and the Bennets in danger.

Lydia did make a choice (and certainly the wrong one), but she does not deserve all the blame for what happened. The narrator makes it clear that no one should be surprised by the outcome. Lydia was not taught was what right, she was not taught to control her impulses, and she was put out in the world too young, as Colonel Brandon said in Sense & Sensibility, “But can we wonder that… without a friend to advise or restrain her… she should fall?”

Related posts: Lydia too young to be out, Should Darcy have warned Meryton?

#lydia bennet #misunderstood villains #though she's not even a villain but people call her one #pride and prejudice #wickham #it is not modern of me to say Lydia is not to blame #It might have been modern of Jane Austen #But it's right there in the book she wrote #though Lydia has free will and she made choices #but she is 15 years old and Wickham was an adult

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footprintsinthesxnd · 9 months

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HBO WAR OC MASTERLIST

Ask Game Info

Lois Drake

Lois, born and raised in London, England, joined the SOEs at Bletchley Circle to make a difference to the war effort. She had a good eduction and was already fluent in French and German. She is effective and methodical with her job but not always in her love life. She’s been hurt by men before and so had sworn off love until she met a certain Lieutenant Winters and then everything just seemed to fall into place. Working alongside Easy Company was never going to be an easy feet, especially with the love hate relationship she has going on with Lieutenant Nixon and her friend, Kate’s, relationship with a certain Private Malarkey.

Josephine Nixon (nee Wills)

Josephine Wills was born in Ramsbury and grew up in Littlecote House. She studied Literature at Oxford university until the war began and her parents called her home where they were later evicted from Littlecote House by the government to use their house as regimental HQ for the 506 PIR. Josie never expected to fall for an American, especially not Easy Company’s Intelligence Officer, Lewis Nixon. But love is strange and when Lewis is sent overseas Josie will do anything in her power to follow him. Josie joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment to play her part in the war, working alongside medics and nurses on the front line to make a difference and she loves her job, but loosing patients takes it toll on her.

Florence Lark

Florence had always had an exceptionally beautiful voice. She was working at the local factory when the war broke out and having seen signs for the ENSA she went for an audition. She loved signing for the troops, raising their morale. Her job incidentally took her to Aldbourne where she met David Webster after D-Day. The pair soon became close, bonding over books and art that they loved, and of course music. Florence never expected to fall in love with him but no one could resist his boyish good looks and ch arming personality. But while the war was still raging in Europe the couple had a lot of trails to get through before they can be happy together.

Hugh Armstrong

Hugh was training as an engineer before Pearl Harbour. He quickly answered the call and trained as a pilot joining the 100th Bomb Group flying B-17 Flying Fortress’ across Europe. He is a kindhearted man who had a deep love and admiration for his sister who flies alongside him. He’s very good at boosting morale and will always be ready to have a laugh and a joke. He also gets his fellow pilots involved in multiple baseball games because he’d always loved the sport and it really brings them all together.

Hope Armstrong

She joined up shortly after her brother, training as a flight nurse to help evacuate wounded soldiers from combat zones and provide them with medical care until they reached a hospital. She worked as an orderly in a hospital before the war and dreamed of training as a nurse. She would often fly the Douglas C-47, as well as working in the back with the wounded soldiers. Although her squadron, the Ninth Air Force 806th Medical Evacuation Squadron is based in Berkshire they often land at airfields around England which is incidentally how she finds herself landing in Dickleburgh one day and running into her brother Hugh and the 100th Bomb Group.

Julian Owens

Julian was original born in Wales but he moved to Aldbourne with his parents when he was a teenager. He soon became fast friends with Josie and Jess and the three were inseparable. However, when Julian was a teenager his family moved to New England in the States but he often visited his friend during his summer breaks. Living in the States incidentally cause him to join the 101st Airborne and become a member of Easy Company so when his unit were stationed in Aldbourne Julian was reunited with his childhood friends and their adventures continue throughout the war.

William Beaumont

William Beaumont is a Lancaster Bomber pilot in the RAF. He grew up in Ramsbury and his family were very close to the Wills family. Both William and Josephine’s parents think they would make a good match and William is rather sweet on Josie but despite William’s charm and charisma Josie’s heart belongs to another. But in a world riddled with death and destruction who will come out on top.

Violet Elwood

Violet was born in Morgan City, Louisiana in 1923. She first meets Eugene Roe when he stumbles into her families shop with his sisters and from there their story begins. But Violet has a devastating secret that she’s keeping and it’s sure to break Eugene’s heart. They can only hope their love endures and it doesn’t die as a summer romance.

Maggie Reid

Born and bred in Dorset, England, Maggie plays her part in the war effort joining the Women’s Auxillary Air Force as a mechanic for the RAF Lancaster bombers sharing Thrope Abbott with the 100th Bomb Group. Her best friend and RAF pilot likes to play match maker between Maggie, a certain ground crew member Ken Lemmons, and Navigator Harry Crosby. The question is, which one will she choose?

#hbowar oc masterlist #band of brothers #hbowar #masters of the air #zombie au #easy company

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charmsandtealeaves · 5 months

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Making up for a few lacklustre reading weeks…

Read this week:

Choose Your Own (Sexy) Adventure by @ghostofbambifanfiction (Ch. 47-48)

WIP, choose your own adventure, modern AU Jily, Rated E

Too many cooks can occasionally write a story.

Laughter in the bedroom by heartnipnops

Complete (3k), Jily smut, Rated E

After stewing over something new she'd like to try in the bedroom, Lily finally tells her boyfriend James. She wants to peg him. James, albeit surprised, agrees to give it a try.

The Queen of the Quills- Jily edition by @elliemarchetti (Ch.3)

WIP, Regency Jily, Rated T

James Potter, London's most evasive bachelor, an impertinent libertine, has decided to get married. He has also already chosen his wife, the debutante Lily Evans, a self-confident young woman who has not the slightest intention of being seduced by such a man.

Pinkest Bluestocking of the Ton by @wearingaberetinparis (Ch 18)

WIP, Regency Jily, Rated M

Dearest Reader, the ton are abuzz with the latest gossip, and so it is my honour to impart to you the news that the Duke of Peverell has returned to London at last! A year after setting off on his tour of Europe, Lady Peverell's son has returned and rumour has it that his mother is preparing for the most joyous of occasions: a late summer wedding that sees her son wed the next Duchess of Peverell. It is my sincere hope that you have stored a bottle of wine for this most delightful of upcoming events for if ever there were a more determined mama, this writer is Icarus and this society paper has been scorched for flying too close to the sun. A Jily Regency Romance inspired by Shondaland's "Bridgerton".

Quest for Camelot by @petals2fish (Ch.21)

WIP, Quest for Camelot Jily, Rated T

After the legendary Excalibur sword is stolen, Lily and James embark on a quest to retrieve the lost weapon. Lily searches for the sword to prove she is capable of being a knight despite being a girl. James searches because his falcon, Marlene, is desperate to find it for her master, Merlin. Along the way, they attempt to outwit the sinister Ruber, navigate through magical obstacles, decode puzzling prophecies, and uncover surprising similarities between themselves. As their journey progresses, they both cannot deny the feelings growing between them with each passing day. Will they make it out of the quest alive, or will one of them perish in the ever-growing darkness that threatens to swallow the entire realm if Ruber gets his hands on the sword? Based on the 1998 movie Quest for Camelot, but with more plot and less singing

Reset by @ncoincidences (Ch.4)

WIP, amnesia Jily, Rated G

A mishap with a drunken dark wizard leaves Lily an amnesiac. The last ten months of her life has been completely wiped, which includes her breakup with James eight months before. To aid in her speedy recovery, James has to keep Lily under the pretence that her life has been the same as it was.

To Bring Down A Kingdom by @mppmaraudergirl (Ch.3)

WIP, Tristan and Isolde inspired Jily, Rated M

If we do this…” “For all of time, they will say it was our love that brought down a kingdom.” A story about forbidden lovers, the battle between duty and love, and the cost of betrayal. Inspired by the film Tristan and Isolde.

#rays read round up #week 17 #fic recs

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kotonoba · 3 months

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ISYT (Jushiro/F!Reader) Ch. 47

NGL, I almost lost count.

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As you rushed to the battlefield, your endeavors may have taken longer than expected. The fight had already started. You slipped through the barrier, which may have caught your husband's attention because he glanced in your direction & furrowed his brows. You hid in the exterior of the building, occasionally peering out to ensure you weren’t caught.

You were pleased with yourself until you felt a drop in spiritual pressure from your husband & quite literally a drop, as you heard as his body landed flat on the; a hole pierced through his chest. You were ready to bolt to him, but even as he was severely wounded, he glared in your direction, telling you to stay down.

So you did, until the sudden arrival of the former captains & lieutenants; vizards is what they called themselves. The former eighth division lieutenant spotted you & ushered you closer, knowing you were only there for your husband. “Heal him, but don’t hurt yourself,” she said as she proceeded to harm the eighth-division captain.

As speechless as you were, you weren’t too surprised that he sat up & gave you a disapproving shake before ushering you to heal your husband.

You placed your husband’s head on your lap; as far as you’re concerned, he has lost minimal blood because his body has already started healing. Since he's begun healing, you opted against using your healing shikai ability; you just aided with what you learned from the Fourth Division. Perhaps it was from the pain that your husband had faded out of consciousness temporarily. You watched the fights above while you assisted in healing your husband.

After they started to drop, you looked away & focused on your husband. Everything was a blur as it had happened so fast. Aizen truly transcended & manipulated the captains. As Ichigo appeared, it seemed like a weight of pressure lifted, but not enough to be manipulated once more.

Perhaps a fight had occurred, but you decided to ignore it, only focusing your eyes on your husband, who lay there motionlessly. However, the creature in your husband had already begun healing him. You wanted to ease the healing so he wouldn’t be as tired afterward; you aided in the healing process.

Who knows how much time has passed? By the time you came to, your husband had stopped your healing, “what happened? Why are you here? What–” it seems that the mark on your neck caught his attention, “who dares?” Voice cold as ice, & you glanced at him tirelessly; guilt riddled his face as he gritted his teeth. But you didn’t have time to respond. Your spiritual pressure dwindled so fast after using most of it to protect yourself & to heal him that you ended up passing out.

The next time you came to, it was that evening, your husband sat by you, reading over paperwork, & you touched your neck to feel bandages. As you turned towards him, he glanced over & immediately helped you up, “you gave me quite the scare, my love.” His voice shook. You’ve heard it once when you were a soul dwindling between the world of the living & the world of the dead, just before you were sent to Soul Society. He quickly embraced you, gripping your clothes, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you,” he whispered.

You had a feeling he would feel guilty about it, and it probably didn’t help when you passed out on him, which perhaps put him on overdrive immediately after the battle. You knew he always acted tough, so he probably acted tough in front of others, which would be equally as draining as he also worried about you, “I’m okay, it’s okay, ‘Shiro,” you whispered gently.

His embrace around you only tightened as you tried to ease his worries, “it’s not; I should have been aware that something like this would happen. I was careless,” you didn’t like hearing him blame himself. No one could have suspected something like this would happen. He pulled back from the hug, his eyes were riddled with guilt, “I–”

“No, it was not your fault that someone attempted to make advances while you were away,” you tried to defend, but his guilt shifted to confusion before it evolved to anger. You realized then that Jushiro probably thought someone wanted to kill you instead of assaulting you.

There was a moment of silence as you felt his spiritual pressure pulsate through your body as if checking for further signs of damage. A look of relief washed over his face, & you smiled a little seeing that. “Can you tell me what happened?” He whispered, leaning in to place a loving kiss on your lips.

Perhaps he was putting a spell on you because you didn’t want to trigger him, but after the kiss, you could only nod as you spoke. You felt his gentle kisses trail from your lips down to your neck. With a light tug on the bandages, loosening the wrapping, you thought him lick & bite your neck as you spoke of your experience.

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Cloudy's AO3

#jushiro ukitake x reader #ukitake jushiro x reader #ukitake x reader #bleach fanfiction #bleach fandom #jushiro ukitake #i'll see you tomorrow #bleach ukitake #bleach x reader #bleach x y/n #isyt #it's also on ao3

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justagalwhowrites · 1 year

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New in Town - Ch. 7: First Double Date

You and Joel go out with Tommy and Maria. A continuation of New in Town chapters 1-6 found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Best Friend's Dad!Joel Miller x Female Reader

CW: Smut. No use of Y/N. Age gap (reader is 35 Joel is 47, not a focus of the fic). Minors DNI, 18+ only

Length: 5.5k

AO3 | First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

“I swear to God Joel, if you make fun of me…”

“I’m not gonna make fun of you, Beautiful.”

“Oh you say that now.”

“I’m really not,” he laughed a little.

“I did like… research and shit,” you said from the other side of your bathroom door. “I Googled, OK?”

“I’m sure you look incredible,” you could hear the smile in his voice. “Just come out here.”

You sighed.

“Fine.”

You knew you shouldn’t be nervous with Joel and, usually, you weren’t. But this felt a little different. You opened the bathroom door and came into your bedroom, doing a little spin as you did to show him both sides of the outfit. His face shifted from a smile to something almost hungry as he looked you up and down from his spot on the edge of your bed. He checked his watch.

“What?” You frowned.

“Just seein’ how much time we have until Tommy and Maria get here,” he said, looking back at you. “Think if we’re quick and leave that little skirt on…”

You laughed and all but jumped on his lap, kissing him.

You were going on your first double date with Joel, with his brother and sister-in-law of all people. You’d met Tommy and Maria at Sarah’s cookout a few weeks earlier but hadn’t seen them since. You had, however, heard plenty about them since then. Especially after Joel told you that his brother knew about the two of you.

Your eyes had gone wide when he’d told you that.

“Are you sure it was a good idea to tell him quite yet?” You asked. “We haven’t told Sarah and they’re pretty close…”

“Yeah, I didn’t… uh…” Joel awkwardly cupped the back of his neck. “Didn’t exactly… tell him.”

You frowned.

“What do you…”

“Maria… might have heard us in the bathroom at the cookout.”

“What!” You yelped, eyes wide. “Oh my GOD, Joel!”

“It’s fine…”

You groaned and collapsed all the way down onto his couch, burying your face in the arm of it.

“They must think I’m some kind of ridiculous slut!” Your voice was muffled by the cushion. “This is mortifying…”

“It’s really not that bad,” he rubbed your thigh soothingly. “Really. They like you! A lot! And they kept sayin’ they’d never seen me this happy. Honestly, Tommy was just happy to see me with someone I wanted to fuck in a bathroom.”

“Jesus Christ,” you groaned. “Well, it’s been great, Joel, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to change my name and move to Antarctica…”

He laughed and tugged you over until your head was on his shoulder instead of the couch.

“Sounds cold,” he said, kissing the crown of your head. “I’ll have to find a coat.”

If you’d been falling for Joel before, you’d fully fallen for him over the past two weeks, ever since he’d found out everything about your childhood and your dad.

You’d almost expected him to look for an out once it all settled in. That, when all the baggage had been sitting there for long enough for him to take inventory of it all, he’d run.

But he hadn’t. He’d done the opposite. He spent that weekend holed up with you. Making you dinner, holding you close while watching Sharknado, changing the locks on your front door and installing a doorbell camera so you could see if he stopped by. He dropped you off at work Monday morning and picked you up that afternoon, heading straight to a car dealership after handing you a small pile of print outs. You frowned, looking at them.

“What…”

“So I took what I was asking you about cars over the weekend and found some good options for you,” he said. “Four of ‘em are at one dealership so I figured we could start there unless these are really not what you’re lookin’ for…”

You flipped through the pages, all cars that were makes and models you were already thinking about wanting to look at, just tracked down at places around you instead of an abstract thought in your head.

You teared up, a hand covering your mouth.

Joel frowned.

“We don’t have to do this today,” he said. “I don’t mind drivin’ you for a bit, happy to do it if you need a little more time or just aren’t up for it or…”

“No one’s ever done something like this for me,” you dabbed at the corners of your eyes, trying to keep the tears from actually falling and ruining your mascara.

“Told you I’ve got you, Beautiful,” Joel said. “Meant it.”

You ended up buying a car Tuesday, Joel not a fan of how the salesman you talked to at the first dealership seemed incapable of talking directly to you and instead looked at Joel when answering all your questions.

“That’s just how it is,” you shrugged as you headed back to his truck.

“Don’t matter,” Joel said, opening your door for you. “It’s bullshit. We can always come back if we come up empty but you shouldn’t give your money to that jackass.”

The second dealership had a saleswoman who would actually talk to you and not your boyfriend - boyfriend? - and ended up getting you a car with even nicer features than the one your dad had totaled for about the same price. You dropped Joel’s truck at your place and you drove the two of you to a restaurant you’d found on a local food blog, running your hand over the dashboard when at red lights.

“Happy with the car?” Joel asked, smiling almost proudly. It was one of the cars he’d found and printed the information on.

“It’s perfect,” you beamed at him. “Thank you so much for just… everything the past few days. This is the best I’ve ever felt after a visit from my dad.”

You were feeling pretty good on Wednesday when you got a Nest alert on your phone. Your dad was standing at your front door, trying the key he still had. You took a screenshot and texted Joel.

“Guess who,” you wrote. “Glad you changed the locks.”

He replied almost immediately.

“I’m staying over,” he said. “Got his parole officer’s number?”

When your dad came by that night and actually rang the bell, you stayed just out of sight, watching the reflection of what happened in a mirror on your entry way wall as Joel answered the door.

“Oh,” he said when he saw Joel. “I’m sorry, I must have misremembered the apartment…”

“You didn’t,” Joel said, his voice cold. “Know exactly who you are. You’re not welcome here. Come by again and I’m calling the cops and you’d better hope they get their hands on you before I do. She’s blocked your number.” He handed your dad a business card. “If it’s an emergency, you can call me but you’re stayin’ the fuck away from her. You had your chance, you blew it. Now go, before I make you go.”

“I don’t know who the hell you think you are or what my daughter’s told you…”

“I’m her boyfriend,” he snapped. “And she’s told me plenty. Was probably nicer than you deserved about it, too, knowing her. Last chance to leave on your own.”

Your dad was silent for a moment.

“Take care of her?” He said quietly.

“I will,” Joel said, tone softer. “Do a better job of it than you did.”

“Good,” he said. “Tell her bye for me.”

Joel closed the door and the second you could reach him you threw your arms around his neck, pressing your whole body against him. You kissed him, hard and frantic, tugging him back toward your bedroom as you did. You all but ripped his clothes off of him as you stripped down yourself, racing to get him inside you, not really able to calm down until he was.

“Fuck, Beautiful,” he groaned, his hands on your thighs as you straddled his hips, his cock deep inside. “What’s this for?”

“Needed you,” you said, dropping your forehead to his as you panted for breath.

You were sure you loved him then. You weren’t sure how to say it yet but you were sure you felt it.

Which is part of why you were really trying for this double date. You were in love with Joel, you wanted to impress his brother and sister-in-law. The two of you hadn’t really talked about it but, ever since he called himself your boyfriend to your father, that’s what he was. And you liked it that way. You wanted him to want to bring you places.

Including University of Texas football games.

Even though you knew fuck all about college football. You’d basically spent your entire college career studying or working, going to sporting events hadn’t been too high on your to do list.

So you’d done some research, looked up what people wore to things like college football games. You decided to go all out and settled on a denim mini-skirt, a v-neck University of Texas shirt, cowboy boots and little orange longhorn temporary tattoos on your cheeks.

“Wonderin’ if we should just cancel on them,” Joel kissed down your neck to your cleavage. “Look too good, don’t want to share you.”

“Yeah, we’re not canceling on your brother so you can get me naked,” you laughed a little. “But you can get me naked later.”

“Good luck stoppin’ me,” he nipped at your chin.

Your doorbell rang and Joel groaned, dropping his head to your chest.

“Tommy has always had terrible timing,” he sighed.

You laughed and got off his lap.

“C’mon you horn dog,” you teased. “Let’s go watch the sportsball.”

“One thing first,” he reached under your bed and pulled out a straw cowboy hat. “Thought you might need one of these to complete the look.”

You squealed and grabbed the hat, popping it on your head.

“How long has this been under my bed?” You gaped at him.

He smiled a little.

“Snuck it in the other day,” he said. “You’re a Texan now so you gotta have at least one.”

“I love it!” You looked in the mirror and adjusted it a little. “Thank you!”

You tipped it at him.

“How’s it look?”

He smiled.

“Beautiful. Just… Beautiful.”

Tommy’s truck was loaded down with coolers and a grill, your eyes going a little wide at it all.

“How many people are going to be there?” You asked Joel as you got in the back seat of the truck.

“It’s a tailgate,” he shrugged. “Can never tell.”

“Give Tommy an excuse to drink while grilling for a crowd and he’ll take it,” Maria smiled, twisting around in the front seat to actually face you. “Good to see you again!”

“You too!” You smiled, trying to resist the urge to jump out of the car when you thought about the fact that she heard you going down on Joel.

“I’m excited to have another woman around for this whole thing,” she smiled as Tommy started the truck. “They do this once a year and I swear it’s like they pack a whole season’s worth of football stuff into one day.”

“I keep tellin’ ya, get me season tickets and we’ll spread it out,” Tommy teased.

“You think I want to do this every weekend?” Maria asked, incredulous.

Tommy scoffed.

“Who wouldn’t?”

Maria gave you a look as if to say “See what I deal with?” And you smiled as Joel took your hand, lacing his fingers with yours.

You helped get the tailgate set up before settling into a folding camp chair with a beer next to Maria, the two of you watching as Joel and Tommy put meat on the grill, serious looks on their faces as they worked.

“So,” Maria smiled, taking a sip of beer. “You and Joel, huh?”

“Me and Joel,” you nodded, smiling a little back. “Not too insane, is it?”

“I mean, the circumstances might be a little odd but otherwise,” she shrugged. “He likes you.”

“I sure hope so,” you laughed, taking a drink of beer yourself and looking out at the crowd that was gathering to tailgate. The truck across from you was setting up a game of cornhole. Someone a few trucks down had started playing country music at top volume. “I’m a little fucked if he doesn’t at this point.”

She laughed, too.

“Look, I’ll be honest,” she said. “I know Joel better than most sisters-in-law probably care to know their brother-in-law. Him and Tommy… You marry one and you get the other, too. Package deal and all that.”

You nodded slowly, watching the two of them work while talking conspiratorially themselves.

“I’ve never, not once, seen him show this kind of interest in anyone,” she continued. “Honestly, Tommy and I figured he’d be single forever. Maybe a date here and there but… It never really seemed like a priority for him. He’s never even mentioned a woman before let alone brought her around.

“You seem to make him happy. Really happy. And I want to support him. But… I need to know that you’re in this for the long haul. That man doesn’t get attached lightly but he’s attached to you. Hell, he had me trying to interpret your texts a few weeks back, trying to make sure he didn’t fuck up…”

You winced.

“I was dealing with some family stuff,” you said. “I should have just talked to him about it from the get go and…”

“Hey, I get it,” she cut you off. “Not like you’d been seeing each other long, I wouldn’t have told some guy I’d just met anything all that personal, either. I just want to make sure you care, that you know he’s not just screwing around with you. Not that he’s said that but I know the guy. Tommy knows the guy. This is a first and I’d rather not watch his heart get stomped on.”

You looked at Joel. He was laughing at something Tommy said, his smile wide and beautiful. You couldn’t help but smile, too. Just looking at the guy made you happy.

“I’m in it,” you said, still watching him. “Trust me, I’m very in it.”

“Good,” Maria said. You thought you could hear the smile on her voice. “Because I really do need another girl around these two, they’re insufferable.”

Once the grill was going, Joel put his arms around your shoulders and led you around the tailgate. Tommy’s set up, you soon realized, was relatively modest. A few people had come with campers and had big TVs set up outside, chairs on rugs out front watching other games from around the country. The two of you stopped and played ladder ball with someone who worked with Joel, him smiling proudly as he introduced you as “his girlfriend,” making your heart soar. You even ran into one of your copywriters as he chugged a beer shirtless with an orange X painted on his chest.

“Oh shit, hey Boss!” He laughed. “Good to see you! Who’s your friend?”

“This is my boyfriend, Joel,” you smiled. It was the first time you’d gotten to say that. Joel beamed and the two shook hands. “Joel, this is Steve, one of the copywriters at work.”

“Want a beer?” Steve asked. “I’ll give you two if you promise to forget you saw me like this.”

You laughed back.

“Don’t worry, Steve,” you said. “I’ll be doing my best to forget that, anyway.”

“So not all these people are going to the game?” You asked as you walked slowly back toward Tommy’s truck. Joel’s arm was draped over your shoulders again.

“Nope,” Joel said. “People just come out to party. There’ll be a lot of people around the TVs later.”

“Football is weird,” you scrunched your nose and Joel laughed. “But I’ll still watch it with you.”

“Oh really?” He teased.

“Yup,” you smiled up at him. “But only because you’re hot.”

He laughed.

“Better get in the game time while I can, then.”

When you made it back to the truck, food was ready (“Still got a lot to learn about grilling a great burger, Tommy,” Joel teased his brother, who just rolled his eyes) and you and Joel lost at cornhole to Tommy and Maria.

“Do people really play stuff like that all the time?” You gaped at Tommy after he sent another bag directly into the hole on the opposite board. Yours were scattered on the ground around it.

“We’ve got a set in our backyard,” Tommy said after he punched the air in victory. “You and Joel will just have to practice, don’t know if he can handle me kicking his ass.”

By the time the game started, you’d almost forgotten that you’d come there to watch a football game, having so much fun in the parking lot outside that it seemed like the main attraction.

You tried to mimic how other people reacted to the events on the field, not really understanding any of it but having fun watching Joel have fun. It was about half way through the first quarter when Joel leaned down to whisper in your ear.

“You don’t understand any of this, do you?” He asked.

You winced. You’d tried to watch some informational videos on YouTube and read some basic explainers of the game over the past week but it was like it was in a different language, you hadn’t been able to absorb any of it.

“Never had anyone to explain it to me as a kid and never hung out with anyone who was into it as an adult,” you replied. “So no, not a damn thing. But it’s still fun!”

“Here,” he put his hand on your waist and pointed toward the lineup of men on the field. “We’re on offense right now, that means we’re trying to score and we’ve got the ball. It’s second and eight…”

Joel kindly, patiently, walked you through the basics, going back over things when he could tell you were confused or had forgotten something when it happened on the field.

“It’s really OK,” you said after a few minutes. “I don’t want you to spend all the time you’re supposed to be having fun talking to me…”

“Talking to you is fun,” he replied. “I’d rather talk to you all the time than watch any game. And I want you to have fun, too. Which I know you won’t if you don’t understand what’s going on because you feel better when you know things.”

You looked up at him, at his warm smile and soft eyes and the one curl that had broken away from the rest to start curving over his forehead, and you couldn’t help it. For a moment, the feeling overwhelmed you and it just spilled out of you before you could stop it.

“I love you,” you said before you realized you said it.

Then your eyes went wide and your face fell and you scrambled to take it back. It was too soon to be saying this to him, you’d only known the man a few weeks and things were still insanely complicated, you’d barely figured out that you were in a full blown relationship let alone ready to bring something like love into the mix. It didn’t matter that you felt it and that you wanted to say it, it wasn’t the right time yet.

“Shit. Ignore that, please ignore that, pretend I didn’t say anything, I don’t want…”

“I love you, too,” he cut you off, smiling so big his whole face lit up with it.

You just blinked at him for a moment.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “Yeah, I do. I really, really do.”

He tipped your hat up and kissed you, his arm sliding around you to pull you flush against his front. You wrapped your arms around his neck, holding tight to him, never wanting to stop feeling just like this.

“Look!” Maria patted your shoulder urgently. “You’re on the kiss cam!”

You pulled away from Joel just in time to see yourselves on the giant screen and you laughed, going back to kiss him again.

***

“I’m glad you two seem to have figured your shit out,” Tommy had told him while they set up the grill. “She really does seem great.”

“She is,” Joel said, watching you talk with Maria, looking so damn pretty in your little skirt and boots. “Fuck, she’s incredible.”

“Anyone who can actually get you to feel something is a winner in my book,” Tommy replied, hooking up the propane tank. “Not sure what’s thicker, your skull or the space around your heart.”

Joel laughed but he knew his brother had a point. He hadn’t been in a relationship - a real one - in a very long time. It had been even longer since he’d felt anything close to this for anyone. He’d gone from falling in love with you to just being in love with you and it had happened so quickly it was hard for him to even see it at first.

He’d just known it when your father had shown up at your door that day. Joel knew what he was after - some other way to manipulate you, he was sure - and it made his blood boil. He had to consciously stop himself from hitting the man. The only reason he didn’t was because he knew it would hurt you if he did. But he knew he had to protect you, had to be the one standing in between you and the man who’d done nothing but neglect and harm you your entire life.

His whole body burned with it. He wished he could have gone back in time somehow and protected you then, too. Made it so you didn’t have to go through any of it and stand between you and anyone who had ever so much as looked at you wrong. None of them deserved you. Neither did he, for that matter, but he could at least protect you from the worst of them.

He knew he loved you then. He couldn’t conceive of how anyone could look at you and do anything that would willfully hurt you, how anyone could look at you and see anything but one of the greatest things the world had ever let happen.

But he didn’t want to scare you off, so he kept it to himself, instead just doing everything he could to take care of you, get you to spend some time with him.

It turned out, he didn’t need to try that hard. It seemed like you were just as eager to see him as he was to see you.

You texted him over lunch on a day you were working from home, a picture of all the makings for mac and cheese and a BluRay of Jupiter Ascending, a movie Joel had heard was laughably bad and he’d been meaning to watch at some point.

“Your place or mine?” You asked.

Joel smiled.

“Wherever you are, Beautiful, I’ll be there.”

You asked to come to his place so you could actually get out of your house for a bit and you showed up not long after Joel had gotten out of the shower, a pan of macaroni and cheese ready to go in the oven and a grocery bag over your arm with all the fixings for Bloody Marys.

“I. Found. Bacon. Vodka,” your eyes were wide and excited. “It’s going to be amazing!”

You were right, it was amazing. Everything with you was amazing.

Because he loved you.

“You told her yet?” Tommy asked as they say next to each other on the gate of his truck during lunch.

“Told who what?” Joel asked, looking down at his phone for the umpteenth time since his lunch break started. You’d texted him a picture of a rather pathetic looking sandwich.

“This food truck’s a bust,” you said. “Feeling very let down. I require real food. Dinner?”

Joel was about to type out a response when you sent a selfie from what had to be a bathroom stall at your office, your shirt unbuttoned an extra button from what it had been when you’d gone your separate ways that morning.

“In case you needed motivation,” you wrote.

“Tell your girlfriend that you’re in love with her,” Tommy said.

Joel frowned and actually looked up from his phone.

“I didn’t…”

“Don’t need to say it,” Tommy clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m not blind and I might not be a genius but I ain’t that dumb. You’ve got it bad.”

Joel glared at him for a second.

“S’too early,” he muttered. “Don’t wanna scare her off.”

“You’re practically living with this woman,” he said. “She brought steak to your house the other night. Besides the blip, what’s the longest you’ve gone without seeing her since you started dating?”

Joel was happy that, after the mall incident, Tommy was understanding without Joel needing to be too specific about what happened with your father. He’d just told Tommy “It was a tough family thing, makes our shit look like child’s play.” Tommy just said “Damn, poor girl, shit’s rough” and had only ever called it “the blip” from then on.

“Just a work day, really,” Joel said.

“Don’t think it’s too early for shit, man,” Tommy said. “Just don’t fuck it up. And figure out how to tell your kid because I’m shit at keeping secrets.”

Joel sighed and nodded to his brother before texting you back.

“Never need much motivation with you,” he said. “Can’t let you starve on me. Come over, I’ll grill you a burger.”

When you fell asleep naked in his bed that night, he just watched you breathe, wondering how to tell you how he felt and how to tell his daughter that he was head over heels for her best friend.

So when you’d all but blurted it out at him at the game, it was a relief. He’d been terrified it would slip out of him for almost two weeks now. That he’d hand you something, you’d say “thank you” and, instead of “you’re welcome” he’d say “I love you.” That he’d kiss you on the way out the door in the morning and instead of “goodbye” it would be “I love you.” That he’d be looking at your perfect face as you rode him and he’d gasp “I love you” as he came deep inside.

It was a relief to know you felt it, too. It was a relief to say it out loud. It was a relief to feel the sense of security that settled into him at those words, the sense that this wasn’t something that would be easily undone. That this was something he could be safe in feeling, that he could rely on the connection he had with you that had gone from tenuous to vital so fast it made his head spin.

The rest of the game, he couldn’t keep his hands off of you. You were either perched on his leg or standing right in front of him for the rest of the game, his hands on your waist, pressing his lips into your neck and cheek, each kiss just another “I love you” in his mind. He couldn’t even tell you the score by the end of the game, only knowing that UT won because everyone else around them seemed almost as happy as he was.

Joel was eager to say his goodbyes to Tommy and Maria when they dropped the two of you off at your apartment. It’s not like he didn’t always want you - he always wanted you - but it was urgent now, a driving need more than a want.

You, it seemed, were on the same wavelength. The front door was barely closed when you took fistfuls of his shirt and pulled him against you, kissing him deeply as you walked backwards deeper into your home.

He pulled your hat off first, tossing it on your loveseat on the way back to your bedroom. You went from using his shirt to hold him close to tugging it up and over his head as he did the same with yours.

In the bedroom, you turned so he was against the bed as you deftly opened his pants and pushed them and his boxer briefs down and off. You nudged him down onto the bed and looked him in the eyes as you slipped your panties down your legs, leaving on the little miniskirt that Joel had so wanted to fuck you in before the game.

You straddled him, your arms resting on his shoulders, his hands on your back, fingers spread wide to touch as much of you as he could. He slowly, almost reverently, removed your bra, cupping your breasts for a moment before holding onto you again. You aligned your entrance with his cock, the head of him just inside of you.

He held your gaze, his nose brushing yours, breathing the same air you were. He looked deep in your eyes as you started sinking onto him, your breath hitching as you did.

“I love you,” he breathed, mouth so close to yours his lips brushed your own when he spoke.

“Joel,” you managed, your body soft and warm against him as you took him into yourself. “I love you, I…”

You gasped as he bottomed out within you and he clutched onto you, needing to be as close to you as he could possibly be.

The two of you just looked at each other for a moment, your skin on his, his cock buried deep within you.

He realized then that he’d never been inside someone he was in love with before you. He’d tried with Sarah’s mother but her resentment kept any real affection from becoming too deep. Everything before her has been for fun, he hadn’t been looking for anything permanent. No relationship had lasted long enough to actually fall for anyone since.

It was an intense thing, knowing you loved him back while being a part of you. You always felt incredible, better than anything or anyone else he’d ever felt, but it was different now and he never wanted to be anywhere but with you.

You took a deep, shaky breath before rising slowly over him. He could feel every inch of you, the tight grip of every ridge, the wet heat of you holding him perfectly inside. He kissed you as you started to ride him, moaning into your mouth, sinking his fingers into your soft skin.

Your skirt bunched around your hips and you ground your clit against him and he relished it, loving the feeling of you finding your pleasure with his body.

He met you stroke for stroke until you came over him with a whimper, kissing him deeper, pussy gushing over his cock.

Joel moved you below him, settling between your thighs, his body still tight to yours for a moment before he separated from you.

“Joel,” you whimpered, breasts heaving. He slid a hand up your stomach, drinking you in, eyes lingering on the place disappeared into you, your sex swollen and slick.

“Want to see you,” he panted, moving his hands to the inside of your knees, slipping them over your thighs until one thumb found your clit and the other slipped around your hip to your lower back, your sexy little skirt pushed up around your waist now. “Want to see you come for me.”

He started driving into you, pulling back almost reluctantly to thrust back as deep as he could reach, watching it move through your body, the ripple of your skin, the bounce of your breasts, the desperate look on your face as he worked your clit, your channel tightening around him.

“That’s it,” he panted as you ground your hips back against him when he thrust deep. “Are you close, Beautiful? That perfect little pussy about to come for me?”

You nodded and moaned, one of your hands flying to the bed and tangling in the blanket.

“Good,” he said, all but breathless. “Need you to come all over me, need to feel you come, need to watch you come. Just let go baby, just come for me.”

He watched your orgasm take hold half a second before he felt it, your face lost in pleasure, your clit throbbing as he felt you come apart around his cock.

Joel fought to hold his own orgasm off for at least moment, wanting to enjoy your pleasure for as long as he could. But he didn’t last long, thrusting deep and all but collapsing on top of you as the peak of your climax triggered his own.

Once he’d come down from his high enough to be able to think, he rolled onto his side and took you with him, still buried deep in you, kissing you gently as he held your face in his hand.

“I love you, Joel,” you said softly. “I’ve never really said that to anybody but I love you.”

“I love you,” he said, letting the feeling wash over him as he was so impossibly close to you. “I love you so much.”

As he fell asleep in your bed with you in his arms, he wasn’t sure he’d ever meant anything more.

Next Chapter

A/N: AHHHH THEY SAID IT!

I just love these two, they're so cute working through their relationship shit. They're getting there, they really are!

Thank you for being here and for following their story. It's been so fun to share with you! Love you!!

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x oc #smut fic #joel miller smut #new in town

283 notes · View notes

foreveralwaysanauthor · 11 months

Text

Camp Wanamaker (Ch. 10/10)

October 30, 2023

Notes - I'm still alive! Honestly, this month has really taken it out of me, but I'm still kicking and that's all that matters. Not long after I posted about everything that's been happening, my car broke down on me, so that's not great, but I have a bicycle to get around to work and stuff, which is helping somewhat. For now, I'm staying optimistic and looking for a new vehicle, but I'm finally done with this chapter and I couldn't be more excited about that! Again, I'm sorry it took me so long to write this final part, but hopefully, 47 pages is enough to make up for all that time!

Chapter 10: Dancing Queen

Rays of golden light breached through tightly drawn curtains, the glow of early morning light forcing its way through the colored cotton blinds as the alarm clock beside the bed began its daily screech. Bleary blue eyes peeled open before scrunching shut again as Miles buried his face in his pillow. The night before, after the last camper left with their family, they had spent a few hours celebrating the end of the summer in the mess hall and had gotten back to their cabin around three in the morning. After having to carry Bentley to bed after he had fallen asleep in his bowl of melted ice cream and just barely making the effort to change before falling asleep, Miles was in no mood to be woken at seven on the dot.

It was his own fault, really. He could have turned his alarm off upon retiring to his room - he would have thrown the batteries across the room if he had taken the time to think about it - but he had barely had the thought to kick his shoes off before collapsing on his mattress in the wee hours of the morning. Lifting his head from the pillow he curled up on at some point in the maybe four hours since he fell asleep, Miles glared at the beeping clock on his nightstand. Pulling his arm from under the pillow, he lifted it lazily and reached over to the clock before slapping the top of it, effectively silencing the bane of his existence.

With a soft sigh at the silence that filled the room, he opened the panel at the bottom, pried the batteries out of the clock, and disposed of them in the drawer before setting the clock back down and slumping back into the pillow he had scrunched into a ball. The pull of sleep was strong and, while all Miles wanted to do was curl back up, bury his face in his pillow, and let sleep claim him once more, he and Butchy had promised Royce and Bentley that they would take them to the mall to shop for Vivien’s birthday. He had no intentions of letting them down despite the exhaustion settling in his bones.

While they had most everything already set aside, they needed some things for the party they had been told about the night before - something small and intimate that Vivien’s grandparents planned to host at their house. With grumbling complaints and aching limbs that had remained twisted in his sheets for the majority of his time asleep, Miles pushed himself to sit up, slowly stretching himself out before running his hands through his hair. The slowness with which he moved made Miles feel as though he was in his eighties - and, if his birthdate was anything to go by, he was - but as he glanced in the mirror across from his nightstand, he was glad to see he was still just a twenty-one-year-old. A sore, exhausted, far-too-mature-for-his-age twenty-one-year-old, but a twenty-one-year-old all the same.

Standing from his bed, he made his way to the mirror and slowly pulled his shirt off, examining the trio of bruises on his otherwise pale skin. The reddish-purple spots near his collar bones where Bentley’s bony elbows had dug in during his piggyback ride to the cabin were still sore and tender as he prodded them. He was sure the bruise on his hip was from where he had collided with the doorknob on his way out of his youngest brother’s room, but he felt as though he’d been hit with a truck at some point. Maybe it was just the exhaustion washing over him. Maybe it would all go away with time.

Tugging his shirt back on with a huff, Miles rubbed his eyes with his fists and made his way out of his bedroom, leaving the door open on his way into the living room. Glancing around the room and muttering a half-awake greeting to the occupants found within, Miles felt his eyebrow tugging upward as his head listed to the side. Three distinct troublemakers were nowhere to be found. Normally, when he made his way to the living room, Bentley would start pestering him for some abhorrent concoction while Royce muttered his disgust at his brother’s choices and Vivien harassed him for sleeping in or his alarm being just as obnoxious as his voice. However, Carrie’s door was still shut, and the only people in the living room were Mick and Butchy, the latter’s slumbering figure curled into his wife as she read.

Finding Mick’s amber eyes from over the top of her book, he softly asked, “Where are the kids?”

The brunette shrugged as she ran a hand through her husband’s hair, “I don’t think they’ve come down yet.”

Only further confused, Miles glanced toward the front windows and asked, “Are you sure they’re not outside?”

“Not unless they shimmied down the drain pipe,” she claimed. “I’ve been out here since five-thirty.”

Miles inwardly cringed at the thought of only getting two hours of sleep, but thanked the younger girl before making his way to the stairs, climbing them as quietly as he could so as to not wake anyone still fast asleep. Riven’s door across from the landing was open and Miles could see him messing around with his keyboard, a pair of headphones plugged into the instrument to keep the music from bothering anybody, and a notebook thick with scribbled writing next to him. With nobody else in the room, Miles continued onward, finding the door to Bentley’s room wide open. Leaning into the room, Miles quickly found it empty and rounded the banister toward the last two rooms on the upper floor.

From the hallway, Miles could see into Royce’s room. Unlike Bentley’s, the bed was made and the window was open to allow fresh air in throughout the day - evidence that he was already awake. Something Miles had to get accustomed to while Vivien resided in their house during vacation, was her leaving the door wide open all night. His brothers kept the door closed as the rattling of their ancient refrigerator knocking against the wall kept Royce up, and he left his door closed more out of habit than anything. Vivien, however, kept her door open for the most part. So, as he approached the last doorway in the hall, Miles kept close to the wall and knocked on the frame.

“Yeah?” a croaked voice responded.

“It’s me,” Miles began. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.”

Stepping across the threshold of the room, Miles couldn’t fight the grin that tugged at his lips. Royce was propped up against the headboard with a book in one hand and Vivien’s hair tangled around the other as she leaned against him. Bentley was on his back at the foot of the bed, his head just inches away from dangling off the side as one of Vivien’s legs was propped up on his stomach. The blanket covering the trio was a crocheted one that Mick had taken with her but relinquished to the children, and while it covered them all in some way, it was evident that none of them felt it necessary to stay warm.

“Hey,” Vivien croaked, offering the oldest of the brothers a wave as he stepped closer.

“Jeez, kiddo, you sound like shit,” Miles mused.

“Thanks,” she chuckled.

Bentley beamed, “I told her she sounds like that science teacher back home.”

“Huxley or Parker?” Miles questioned.

With a scoff, Bentley rolled his eyes, “We all know I don’t have the grades to qualify for Huxley’s class.”

Miles chuckled, “She does kind of sound like Pack-A-Day Parker.”

“I hated her class,” Royce mused. “She had to keep a window open all winter just so she could smoke during tests.”

Vivien cleared her throat before saying, “Be grateful you guys don’t get snow.”

Bentley let out a snort of laughter and Royce smirked as Miles sat on the edge of the bed and asked, “So, why do you sound like that? You practiced all week and never sounded this bad.”

“I didn’t drink anything last night to help my throat,” Vivien shrugged. “It’ll go away sooner or later.”

“Not if you keep talking,” Royce sighed, sending his girlfriend a look as she stuck her tongue out at him. Rolling his eyes, Royce met Miles’ gaze and said, “She’s staying in bed today.”

“Or on the couch,” Bentley commented as Vivien opened her mouth to argue, earning him a grateful nod from the girl.

“How come?” Miles asked.

Instead of answering, Vivien shifted, lifting her left leg from Bentley’s abdomen and tugging it out from under the blanket before lifting it so Miles could see. Shades of angry red and deep violet circled around the girl’s ankle while faint speckles of bruising dotted her foot. Miles winced as he took in the rainbow of discoloration on the teen’s skin. Like Miles had been at her age, Vivien was accident-prone and, while he knew just how easily her skin turned colors, he hadn’t expected her to look this bad when she walked herself back to the cabin the night before. Last he knew, she was fine. She had complained that her feet were sore, sure, but she had quickly brushed it off and hobbled her way upstairs.

“What on earth did you do this time?” Miles asked as Vivien lowered her leg back onto the mattress.

“The heel of my shoe got caught in the deck on my way in last night,” she claimed. “My leg turned, but my foot didn’t.”

Royce quickly piped up, “I told her that it looks bad and that we should get it checked, but she just wants to rest it off.”

“‘Cause I’ve done it a zillion times before, Rolls,” Vivien sighed. “It’ll look bad for a few days and then I’ll be fine.”

Before his brother could argue the matter, Miles asked, “Are you sure, kiddo?”

Vivien was quick to nod, “I’m a figure skater; if I went to the hospital every time I got the slightest bit injured, I would never leave.”

“And you’re sure you’ll be better soon?” he pressed.

“Positive,” Vivien stated. “I’ll use the crutches I forgot to bring back to the health center to hobble around, and if I need anything, I’ll text someone for help.”

Miles nodded, more to himself than to Vivien, and said, “Well, I guess that means you won’t be going shopping with us today.”

“You guys are going shopping?” Vivien asked, a hint of disappointment evident in her voice as Royce’s wide eyes settled on his older brother.

“For souvenirs and a few things Mick needed from Walmart,” Miles shrugged, fighting a smirk as Royce relaxed a fraction.

“Oh,” Vivien breathed. Glancing at Bentley, she asked, “Could you grab my bag for me, please?”

“Sure,” the blond said as he pushed himself to sit up. Grabbing the bag dangling from the footboard, Bentley tossed it toward Vivien, smiling when the girl caught it before it could hit her in the stomach.

After thanking the boy, Vivien unzipped the mini backpack, rifling through the contents within before tugging her wallet from the abyss. She quickly fished two ten-dollar bills from the back fold and held them out to Miles before asking, “Can you pick me up a gel wrap? I think they should still be in the health department, but they might have moved them to the medical section with the walkers and canes.”

Miles pressed a hand over Vivien’s outstretched one and pushed it back as he nodded, “Sure, I’ll add it to the list.”

Once Miles’ hand moved, Vivien held the money out again, “I’m not letting you pay for it.”

Again, Miles pushed her hand back, smiling at how easily she allowed him to push back. “You have to. I’m not taking your money, kiddo.”

“Take the money.”

“You know I won’t.”

“But I want you to,” Vivien tried, swapping the money to her other hand and holding it out again. “Take it.”

Instead, Miles caught her by the wrist and pushed her arm down with a chuckle, “I’m not letting you pay for something you need; you know that.” Ruffling the girl’s hair, he rose from the bed and said, “You just worry about getting some rest.”

Vivien let out a resigned sigh as she shoved the money back into her wallet and tossed it back into her bag as Royce and Bentley got up from the bed, “I guess I’ll see you guys later, then.”

“Do you want help going downstairs?” Miles offered.

“Nah,” Vivien said with a shake of her head. “I’m good here.”

Miles nodded as Royce knelt on the bed, leaning over to press a kiss to Vivien’s forehead before stepping away, “We won’t be gone long.”

“I know,” Vivien said with a grin. “Have fun.”

Bentley quickly filled his brother’s spot, wrapping his arms around Vivien’s shoulders before backing up a step, “We’ll bring you ice cream on the way back.”

“Who said we’re stopping for ice cream?” Miles asked as he led the way to the door.

“I just did,” Bentley said with a smirk. “I promised Viv ice cream which means we have to stop now.”

“You are such a little shit.”

“Takes one to know one,” Bentley laughed.

Once his brothers had left, Royce turned to Vivien with a smile and shook his head, “Sorry about them.”

“Don’t be; I love them,” Vivien chuckled.

“Not as much as I love y-” Royce quickly cut himself off, coughing nervously before correcting himself, “Not as much as I love them.”

Either Vivien was oblivious to Royce’s quick slip or she just chose to ignore it as she smiled, “Probably not, but they’re practically my brothers now too, so…”

“Yeah,” Royce nodded. Giving his girlfriend a final embrace, he said, “If you want anything, shoot me a text and I’ll grab it.”

Vivien nodded, “Alright. Have fun.”

Smiling as he backed his way toward the door, Royce said, “It won’t be nearly as fun without you there.”

Vivien let out a snort of laughter, “That was cheesy.”

“Maybe,” Royce agreed as he stepped out of the room, “but it got you to smile.”

“It did,” Vivien relented. “Now, go before they leave without you.”

“See you later.”

“See you,” Vivien said with a final wave, watching her boyfriend leave before digging her phone out of the blankets and making her way to YouTube. Regardless of how long they would be gone, she would need some form of entertainment. As she found a playlist of one of her favorite YouTube gamers playing an apocalypse game she wanted to get, she tapped on it, hoping to be quickly immersed and forget the passing of time around her.

Royce had gotten up early when morning came around on Monday, grateful to see Vivien sitting on the couch with a cup of apple cider. Vivien had spent most of the day before in bed and, despite getting Riven to haul her downstairs to spend the evening with everyone in the living room, Royce was relieved to see that she was more motivated to move around on her own as Monday rolled around. He approached her from behind and tilted the headband of her headphones back before pressing a kiss to the top of her head, earning himself a smile and a spot on the couch beside his girlfriend. Though she claimed she was feeling much better after resting a full day and was able to walk fairly well without the crutches, she continued to keep her feet on a throw pillow she had propped up on the coffee table.

By the time everyone else had begun to join them, Vivien’s head was perched on Royce’s shoulder as he read aloud. However, their relatively peaceful morning was soon interrupted as someone knocked on the door. To everyone’s surprise, it was none other than Vivien’s dad, Damien, coming to ask if he could steal his daughter for the day as he would be away for work on her birthday. Vivien had, of course, quickly agreed and gotten herself ready before meeting her dad on the porch, waving a quick goodbye to everyone who would await her return before allowing her dad to wrap an arm around her and guide her away from the cabin.

With Vivien out of the picture for the day, the lodge's residents divided to get things ready for the girl’s birthday party. The small, gathering-type party with most of the staff members was no surprise as they celebrated everyone’s birthdays in one way or another, but the party her grandparents were planning for the end of the week, was supposed to be. As Charlie and Hayley enlisted the help of Butchy, Miles, and Riven to get decorations in order at the Hill House, Mick and Carrie made it their mission to follow the girl and her father through the mall to make sure she didn’t get anything they had already bought for her. That left Jade and Erica to help set up the mess hall while Royce and Bentley worked on wrapping the gifts they had stored on the top shelf of the pantry, tucked behind unopened packages of raisins, a box of generic brand oat bran cereal, and a box of snacks that they’d been given during a storm, but never touched.

“Are you sure you don’t want help?” Bentley asked as he eyed his brother.

“Yeah,” Royce huffed, tugging a piece of tape from his shirt, “why?”

“Because we both know you suck at wrapping gifts.”

“I do not.”

“Says the guy surrounded by wrapping paper and tape,” Bentley said with a snort as he set aside a neatly wrapped box with a violet bow glimmering on top of a satin ribbon. Multi-colored wrapping paper littered the floor of Bentley’s bedroom, cheerful fonts wishing everyone around a happy birthday as Royce struggled to get a piece of tape to stop folding back on itself.

Resigning to his fate, Royce extended the haphazardly wrapped gift to his brother and watched as Bentley peeled the tape off in one swipe and began fixing the paper. “I don’t know how you do this stuff so well.”

“And I don’t know how you can’t,” Bentley chuckled, swiftly rearranging the paper before beginning to fold it around the box. “It’s sort of like making a paper airplane.”

“Except that you have to hide a giant box inside the plane and hope it doesn’t show through,” Royce grumbled, watching as Bentley smoothed out the paper and taped it into place. “I’d rather sit through one of Mr. Baxter’s math quizzes than do this stuff.”

Bentley snickered as he handed Royce the neatly wrapped box and watched his brother slide it across the floor to the growing pile by the door. “And I would wrap giftsall day if it meant I didn’t have to sit through boring classes every day for another year.”

Royce shook his head, blowing a stray lock of curls from his eyes as he looked up at Bentley’s set of presents that had already been wrapped. “To each his own, I suppose.”

With a shrug, Bentley nodded and pushed himself off of his bed, crossing over to his closet where he quickly ditched the packages in the corner by his duffel bag. “So, what do we do now?”

Rising from the floor with a sigh, Royce gestured toward the presents he had bought for Vivien and said, “I’ve got to put these away, but after that, we can go help the others if you want.”

“Sure,” Bentley agreed, grabbing some of the gifts and allowing Royce to take the rest before following his brother to his room. As Royce began putting things away, Bentley asked, “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Go for it,” Royce said as he pushed the box Bentley had wrapped for him further on the top shelf of his closet.

Handing Royce the gifts he had brought, Bentley asked, “What’s it like?”

Royce’s eyes flickered to Bentley as he pushed the closet door shut, “What do you mean?”

“Falling in love,” Bentley asked, perching himself on Royce’s bed. Once he had Royce’s attention, he said, “You and Vivien are young and neither of you have had a ton of experience before, but everyone can tell you love each other. Everyone else is older and most of them have been together a really long time, but you guys are pretty new to it all still, so I was just wondering how it feels from your perspective.”

Tugging his desk chair from under its oaken companion and wheeling it over near Bentley, Royce sighed, “Well, I don’t really know how to describe it, really. When we first got together, I was really clueless. I felt sick every time I was around her, but in a good way.”

Bentley’s head tilted like a confused golden retriever as he asked, “How can you feel sick in a good way?”

“I don’t know how else to explain it,” Royce chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with a shrug. “It was like the stereotypical stuff - butterflies, sweaty hands, wanting to be around her all the time and feeling lost when I wasn’t around her. Mickie told me once that I was like a lovesick puppy and it just kind of stuck with me.”

“But you’re still like that now,” Bentley mused.

“I guess so, yeah,” Royce nodded, “but with the right person, I guess that feeling never truly goes away.”

“Does it feel any different to you now that you’ve been together for almost a year?”

“A little,” Royce admitted. “At first, I was really lost on how relationships worked, but I knew I cared about her as more than just a friend. Now, it’s like I have this whole other person in my life who knows everything about me and cares about me, and likes who I am as a person. What makes it even better is that I care about her and her interests just as much, and I love who she is as a person.”

Bentley smiled, “How does that feel?”

“Incredible,” Royce breathed. Giving his brother’s question some thought, Royce took in a slow breath and confessed, “But sometimes, when she’s not around, it’s like there’s a magnet in my chest, tugging me toward where she is. When we’re home and she’s not there, it sort of hurts.”

“Maybe you could talk to Mickie and Butchy about it,” Bentley suggested. “They did the same thing, like, forever ago. Maybe they can help you.”

“Yeah,” Royce agreed, nodding as he met his brother’s aquamarine eyes. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

For the first time in a long time, Vivien found herself walking up to peace and quiet. With her siblings off doing their own things and keeping busy with sports over summer vacation, they had no ability to body-slam her awake first thing in the morning. Looking around the barren, sun-tanned walls of her small room, Vivien felt a faint pang of sadness in her chest. Although she told Abby and Oliver off for their antics every year, she sort of missed the bony elbows digging into her ribs and the cheerful morning greetings her siblings gave her every year. Sooner or later, they wouldn’t have those mornings anymore.

Her phone made a soft chirp and, as Vivien picked up the device, she found notifications from both of her siblings as well as her father. Abby’s video wishing her a happy birthday and promising to take her to the mall when they had the chance - at the expense of the gas in Vivien’s car, of course - was complimentary to Oliver’s kind-hearted message about wanting to spend the day with her once they had the chance, but both had given her the promise of presents when she got home. Her father had sent her a video as well, wishing her a happy birthday from the comfort of his car and promising her that, once he had a day off, he would take her out with her siblings to truly celebrate and that they would do whatever she wanted. After typing out a reply to both of her siblings and sending her dad a short video thanking him and hoping his meetings went well, Vivien pushed herself out from under her blankets to get dressed before heading downstairs, taking her hair brush and some elastics with her.

Though the living area was only populated by Bentley’s snoring form, she could hear conversations echoing from the back hall - a clear sign that some people were awake. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail, Vivien allowed a yawn through her lips and made her way to the kitchen. Turning into the room, she found Mick and Butchy standing by the stove, talking in hushed voices, while Carrie helped Riven and Royce with something on the counter. Watching the group interact with relative ease, Vivien smiled. It wasn’t often they got a chance to enjoy a peaceful morning.

Choosing to make her presence known, Vivien spoke, “Good morning.”

Though her appearance in the kitchen shouldn’t have been unusual, the collective jolt of surprise that rippled over everyone’s shoulders made it nearly impossible for Vivien to contain her laughter. Turning toward the birthday girl, Royce stepped forward, allowing Riven to slide into his empty spot to hide whatever they had been making. Bringing his girlfriend into an embrace, he wished her a happy birthday before asking, “What are you doing in here?”

“Getting something to snack on,” she replied almost cautiously as she leaned away from her boyfriend. “What are you guys doing? Normally, you guys wait for breakfast.”

“It was supposed to be a surprise, Pip,” Riven told her with a grin, gesturing to the tray he had attempted to hide. “Breakfast in bed.”

Carrie nodded in agreement, “Miles and Bentley were supposed to keep you out there with them until we came out.”

“I didn’t see Miles, but Bentley is sleeping on the couch,” Vivien said with a smile.

Butchy shook his head with a faint smile as he let out a sigh, “Of course he is.”

Vivien glanced around with a smile, “Anyway, I’ll forget I saw anything.”

“Good,” Mick said as she flipped a pancake. “It’s the only thing we’re allowed to do for you today since you won’t let us give you any presents; the least you can do is pretend you had no clue.”

With a roll of her eyes, Vivien sighed, “It’s just until my party.”

“How do you even know your grandparents are throwing you a party?” Royce asked. “If it’s a surprise party, that sort of defeats the purpose.”

“They always throw me some sort of party once camp is closed for the season,” Vivien claimed. “Chances are, they’ll have a small, family-and-close-friends party at the park or the beach by the end of the week.”

“Well,” Butchy began, “since you’re so sure, piccola, why don’t you go read or something so we don’t burn the surprise breakfast you don’t know about?”

With a smirk, Vivien raised her hand and flipped him off, giggling at the matching one he sent her in return. Vivien chuckled, “Love you too.”

Stepping away from the stove as she urged Butchy to get back to work on what they were cooking, Mick smiled at Vivien and suggested, “Why don’t you go try to find Miles? Maybe you can rope him and Bentley into playing a video game with you or something until we finish up here.”

Taking a glance around the room, Vivien nodded, “Sure.”

Thanking the girl, Mick said, “We’ll come find you when we’re done.”

With another nod, Vivien stepped out of the kitchen and heard everyone begin to return to their previous tasks as she began walking back to the living room where Bentley was still sleeping the morning away with his face indented with lines from the couch cushions and a throw blanket. Fighting an amused snort, Vivien fondly shook her head and rounded the couch, heading up to the door of Miles’ bedroom. Though the door was cracked open, she still knocked, listening to him fumble around inside until the door pulled open.

The raised eyebrow he gave her made Vivien smirk, but he was quick to ask, “When did you come downstairs?”

“A few minutes ago,” she replied. “Can I come in? Bentley’s asleep on the couch and I don’t want to wake him.”

Stepping aside, Miles allowed the girl into his room before asking, “You didn’t go into the kitchen, did you?”

Sitting on the edge of Miles’ bed, she nodded, “I did, but they said you were supposed to keep me out.”

Miles let out a sigh as he crossed the room, “I asked Benny to cover for me so I could get stuff done in here.”

“What stuff?”

“You’ll see eventually,” Miles said with a grin, “now scoot.”

Shuffling further down the bed with a smile, Vivien asked, “So, what did you get me?”

Miles scoffed as he filled the space Vivien vacated, “As if I’d tell you.”

“I’ll start guessing.”

“You really want to spoil your surprise now?” Miles questioned, knowing full well that he couldn’t stop her. “You just have to wait until the party.”

“Yeah,” Vivien sighed, “but that’s days away. I like tormenting you now.”

“When don’t you?”

Instead of answering Miles’ rhetorical question, she asked, “Is it… a dinosaur?”

“I’m not telling you,” Miles smirked, prying the brush from the girl’s hand and pushing himself further back on the bed so that he could sit behind her.

“That doesn’t mean I’m stopping anytime soon,” Vivien grinned. Glancing back at Miles, she asked, “Two braids, please?”

“Of course.” Splitting the girl’s hair down the center of her head, he said, “Now, go on, pester me some more.”

“Alright. Is it a puppy?”

Glancing at the girl’s reflection in the mirror across from them, Miles asked, “You already have that horse of a dog at your house and your grandparents’ dog - why would you need another?”

“You can never have too many dogs,” Vivien beamed. “Is it a set of tickets to the Eras tour?”

“I thought you said Taylor Swift is overseas now?” Miles mused as he began weaving one side of Vivien’s hair into a braid.

“She is, but she’s coming back,” Vivien shrugged. “She’ll be back in the States around Halloween.”

Sighing, Miles shook his head, “Well, either way, the answer is no.”

“Well, damn,” Vivien sighed, “I give up.”

“‘Bout time.”

With a snort, Vivien resigned to watching Miles work on her hair. It never took him long once he reached the back of her neck, but she found it interesting how thorough he was with the rest of her hair. Ever since her stay at his house, she discovered he was the best braider around - apart from her Nonna or Charlie, of course. Unlike when her mother would braid her hair before competitions, Miles never yanked her head in the direction he needed her to sit in or tugged close to her scalp to keep things neat. He was methodical, sure, but Miles always took his time with her, making sure there weren’t a lot of stray hairs and that the braids were near-perfect while also being gentle with her. Vivien smiled to herself as Miles began working his way through her hair - he was a good brother.

As though he felt the girl’s gaze on him, Miles looked up at the mirror, smiling confusedly at Vivien’s reflection as he asked, “What’s up, kiddo?”

“Just thinking,” Vivien shrugged.

“That’s dangerous.”

“Oh ha ha.”

Smirking, he asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Taking in a deep breath, Vivien sighed, “It’s almost time for school.”

“Yeah.”

“And, since I’m doing a joint year, this is my last year of school,” she continued.

As Miles tied off the bottom of Vivien’s hair, he brought his hands to her shoulders and smiled at her reflection as he told her, “And you know how proud everyone is of you.”

“I do,” she nodded, a ghost of a smile tugging at her lips. “It’s just…”

“What?”

“I have no idea what I’m going to do next,” she breathed.

Bringing the brush through the other side of Vivien’s hair, Miles asked, “Who says you have to make up your mind now?” Once Vivien’s gaze met his in the mirror, he continued, “You have an extra year to figure things out for yourself, Viv. You’re still a kid.”

“I know,” Vivien said. “It’s just that my mom wants me to go off and be a lawyer or something - to make something of myself - and my dad just wants me to be happy, but I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

Hands stilling against Vivien’s head, Miles asked, “What do you mean?”

“I thought I had everything figured out,” Vivien sighed. “I wanted to go to Harvard like Aunt Hayley and Charlie, make a name for myself, and then figure everything else out. Now, it’s like everything’s changed.”

“How so?”

Taking in a slow breath, she explained, “When I spent time with you guys for my break, it felt like I didn’t have to be anybody other than myself. I could just be me and that was enough. It made me realize that, even if I graduate with a four-point-oh GPA and get accepted to Harvard Law School, that won’t make me happy.”

Allowing Vivien’s words to settle in the air, Miles continued to braid her hair and gave her a moment to process her thoughts before asking, “What would make you happy?”

“I don't know.” Sucking in a breath, Vivien admitted, “I’m happy with Royce and I know that, when the time comes, I’d be more than willing to live both in your world and mine the way that Mickie does. I’m happy here at camp and I can see myself helping run the place when Grandpa George and Nonna decide to retire.”

Nodding, Miles asked, “What about school? Do you want to go to college someday?”

Vivien was quick to nod, her movements small so as to not mess up Miles’ hard work, “I do. Harvard has always been a dream of mine and my guidance counselor said I could easily be accepted. They have a great volleyball team and a figure skating club I could join to keep up my practices.”

With a smile, Miles said, “That would be great. What program would you do if you had the choice?”

“Astronomy or robotics,” Vivien decided. “I love space; my final project for last year was on the uncharted parts of the Milky Way, for crying out loud, but robotics has always been interesting to me. I used to build things with Aunt Hayley and Mick’s dad on the weekends and I was the state champion for the battle bot championship over April vacation.”

“Astronomy or robotics, huh?” Miles mused. When Vivien nodded, he smiled, “I could see you doing well in either.”

Vivien smiled, grateful for the older boy’s encouragement, “It just feels like I would be letting people down if I pick something that isn’t what they think would pay well.”

“Since when have you ever given a shit what people think about you?”

“I know, it’s just-”

“You don’t want to let the people you love down.”

“Yeah.”

“Believe me, I know how that goes,” Miles huffed.

“You do?” Vivien asked, her eyebrow lifting past the edge of her bangs.

Miles nodded, “My dad wasn’t always a deadbeat. I remember him saying that I should go on to be a doctor or something to drag us out from under the poverty line since he couldn’t. He was injured in the service and couldn’t go back to his job as a carpenter. My mom never wanted that, though. Her old journals were filled with things she wanted for us - happiness, adventure, and a life full of love. I decided that even if it pissed off my dad, I wanted to be happy like my mom hoped I would.”

Vivien hummed thoughtfully, “Was that why you moved out?”

“No,” Miles chuckled as he tied off her hair. “That’s a story for another time, kid.”

“So, what did you want to do?”

“Well,” Miles began as he moved out from behind Vivien, “if things had gone the way I planned, I would have gone to college on a football scholarship and eventually gone on to be a teacher or a guidance counselor. I just wanted to be there to help kids find their full potential.”

The more Vivien thought about it, the more it sort of made sense. She had learned over her time in his house that Miles was a responsible sort of person and a great teacher, but picturing him in front of a class of rugrat children, teaching them math problems didn’t feel right. “What kind of teacher would you have been?”

“English, history, or automotive,” Miles claimed as he set Vivien’s hairbrush in the girl’s hand.

Vivien let out a breath of laughter, “You would have been like Mr. Turner if you taught English.”

“Mr. Turner?” Miles echoed.

With a shake of her head, Vivien brushed off the older male, “It’s from a nineties show. We’ll watch it sometime this week. Anyway, the point is that you would have been a cool teacher.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah,” Vivien said. “I mean, you’ve been great with all the kids this summer and you’re amazing with me and the boys. If you can handle us, you can handle anything.”

Miles chuckled, “Well, to be fair, I didn’t have much of a choice in handling the three of you this summer.”

“No,” Vivien agreed, “but you did have a choice when I stayed with you guys for a while.”

“We all liked having you there,” Miles claimed.

With a teasing smirk, Vivien nudged Miles with her elbow and scoffed, “Yeah, because I got all the work done that you’d been putting off.”

Rolling his eyes, Miles nudged her back, “You and I both know that isn’t the reason.”

“I know,” Vivien said as she let her head land on Miles’ shoulder. “I actually kind of miss living with you guys.”

“You do?” Miles wondered, leaning his cheek against the top of Vivien’s head.

Vivien hummed, “I love staying with my parents, don’t get me wrong, but it feels like my dad is the only one who cares anymore. My mom’s always too busy to give a shit. I mean, you were there at the closing performance - she never even showed.”

“Your dad said she was busy,” Miles tried.

With a roll of her eyes that Miles couldn’t see, Vivien scoffed, “Yeah, busy making some big dinner to celebrate Abby’s soccer team winning their first match of the season.”

“But Abby-”

“Was there? Yeah, I know.” Vivien lifted her head with a huff, “Abby and Olly would have been here this summer if mom wasn’t up their asses all summer, pushing them into every sport imaginable.”

“Why does she push them so much?” Miles wondered aloud. “They’re not little robots.”

“No, but she wishes they were,” Vivien sighed. “Since she works for the state, she thinks her ‘family image’ is all that matters. If people see her kids being high achievers, they’ll see her in a positive light and keep electing her to keep her position. I don’t fit inside the mold anymore, so she pushes everything onto the twins.”

“That’s a bunch of bullshit.”

“Yeah,” Vivien nodded as she rose from the bed. “That’s why I liked staying with you guys; there was no pressure to be anything other than myself.”

Standing, Miles offered the girl a smile and said, “Well, you’re always welcome to stay with us.”

Thanking the older boy, Vivien smiled as she made her way to the door of his room. An open-door policy like that was definitely needed. The more her mother ramped up the pressure, the more she just wanted to up and leave. The only thing was, she didn’t feel like abandoning her dad and siblings; they didn’t deserve to put up with the torture alone. That didn’t mean she couldn’t take vacations there as she had over her break, spending weeks or months in a never-ending summer with a group of people who cared about her without strings attached.

Reaching for the door handle, Vivien slowly turned toward Miles and said, “Maybe that’s what I could do.”

Miles’ head tipped in confusion, clearly not following the girl’s train of thought, “What?”

“Maybe I could spend my gap year with you guys!” Vivien exclaimed. “I mean, obviously, I don’t have to just stay with you and the boys if you don’t want me there for that long, and I might have everything figured out before the year is up, but I could spend time in your world and figure out what I really want without my mom breathing down my neck or worrying about being away from my siblings for long. I could work at Big Momma’s or the record shop or something to help with bills and still have the chance to figure things out before I go to college.”

Eyeing the girl as he took in the information she had practically spewed his way, Miles grinned, “That’s a great idea, kiddo, but shouldn’t you talk it over with your parents first?”

“My dad will say yes,” Vivien said confidently. “He has my best interests at heart and, if I explain to him that it would help me sort out my future, I’m sure he’ll be fine with it.”

“And your mom?”

Vivien shrugged, “If Dad agrees first, she won’t argue. It’s part of some deal they made in the divorce. If I talk with Dad first, everything would be fine.”

“In that case,” Miles began, “I don’t see any issue with it.”

With an excited squeal, Vivien bounced on her feet before lurching forward, bringing her arms around Miles’ middle. As the girl’s snake-like arms tightened around him, Miles smiled and brought his arms around her shoulders. Listening to the girl ramble against him, prattling off about all the things she would do and how hard she planned on working to make it all work during her stay, Miles merely chuckled and assured her that she didn’t need to plan anything just yet. As Vivien began to lean away, the door slammed open behind her, making both Vivien and Miles jump, whirling around to see who had barged in.

A dazed Bentley stood in the doorway, the imprint of the blanket and pillow he had been curled up with still lined in red on his cheek as his hair stuck out in every direction and his wide blue eyes scanned the room. Once his gaze landed on Miles and Vivien, he breathed, “How long was I asleep?”

“Long enough, by the look of it,” Miles chuckled.

“Yep,” Vivien nodded. “Disney now owns all of Florida, Elon Musk bought the moon, and we brought the Sanderson Sisters back from the dead again to make a third movie.”

Bentley’s sleep-riddled brain took a while to process Vivien’s claims, but when he finally caught up with it, he smirked, “So nothing’s changed?”

“Nothing apart from my age,” Vivien shrugged, patting the blond on the shoulder as she ducked around him to head back to the living room. “Now, come on, my dad got me some games yesterday and I plan on beating you both.”

“You’re so on!” Bentley laughed.

“Yeah,” Miles agreed as he followed the pair out to the couch. “Just because you’re the birthday girl, doesn’t mean you get a free win.”

“Game on, boys,” Vivien beamed as she grabbed a controller from the coffee table.

At dinnertime that evening, as everyone gathered in the mess hall, those who worked in the kitchen set out the cake and cupcakes that Erica, Jade, and Vivien’s aunts had worked on. The camp had celebrated birthdays throughout the summer, making sure cake and ice cream were available on Fridays so that everyone who had a birthday during the week could celebrate, but as the staff’s end-of-year party was going to happen on Friday and they had a lot of work to do for the next two days, Vivien’s birthday party would have to happen on Tuesday.

Pulling her to the front of the room as they did to anyone with a birthday during the week, George and Dawn kept their granddaughter between them and called everyone’s attention to them. Vivien’s hatred of the spotlight was on full display as her face burned while everyone sang her Happy Birthday. However, before she could scurry back to her normal table and bury her face in a bowl of ice cream, Dawn’s hand gripped her shoulder, keeping her rooted in place once the song was over.

Glancing between her grandparents in confusion, Vivien felt herself shrink under everyone’s gazes as her grandfather began to speak, “As most, if not all of you know, Vivien here is our granddaughter.”

“Whoo!” Noah hollered from his table to which Vivien rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, Vivi!” Erica shouted, earning herself a glare from the brunette.

“Anyway,” George continued, amusement evident in his tone, “as you know, Vivien has been our little helper through the years - both during her time as a camper and as a member of our staff. Over her time here, we have watched her grow and mature.”

“In some ways more than others,” Dawn said as she nudged her granddaughter with a grin.

“It is because of this growing maturity that, starting next year, she will be training to take over this camp,” George claimed, smiling as Vivien’s wide, green eyes found his. Murmurs of confusion fluttered through the room as people began questioning what they were told. Raising a hand to silence the staff before him, George continued, “We have no intention of leaving anytime soon, even when she takes over, but we want this camp to stay in good hands for generations to come and this is the start of making sure that happens.”

Dawn nodded before explaining, “Vivien won’t be alone in this endeavor as our daughter, Hayley, and her wife, Charlotte, plan on helping her in every way possible.”

“Damn straight!” Hayley said, making a round of laughter echo through the log building.

Vivien smiled as her aunts lifted their cups of juice in a sort of toast. Before she could say anything, her grandfather said, “I know this all will take some time to adjust to and, while it will be a while before everything is said and done, we hope you all will continue to stick around for Vivien as you have for us.”

Without allowing anyone to argue the point, Dawn plastered a smile on her face and gestured toward the dessert table as she said, “Now, come on everybody! Let’s celebrate! There’s cake and ice cream for everyone.”

As her grandparents began walking away and some of the staff started making their way up to get something to eat, Vivien dodged anybody coming her way and slid into her usual spot at the table, wedged between a cockily smirking Riven and a smiling Royce. As Riven teased her for her lobster-red face, Royce’s hand found hers as he said, “That was great. I’m so excited for you.”

“That was embarrassing,” she sighed, flipping Riven off as he teased her some more.

“At least you chose to not change into your pajamas before coming down for dinner,” Riven joked. “Can only imagine how you’d feel if you had to stand in front of everyone, wearing your roller skate pajamas.”

Leveling Riven with a glare, Vivien muttered, “Another word out of you and I’ll kill you in your sleep.”

“You won’t.”

“I will.”

“For some reason, I highly doubt that,” Riven chortled. “You love me too much to kill me.”

With a smirk, Vivien leaned closer to Riven’s face and hissed, “Try me, bitch.”

For their final full day at Camp Wanamaker, the staff got to work making sure everything was put away and ready for the next season. Linens that had been put into the wash the day before were folded and tucked away into cabinets and storage rooms while anything that didn’t belong to the camp was tossed into duffel bags or suitcases. The last sweep of the pool was finished fairly quickly, leaves and debris scooped out before the water was drained to prevent cracking and mold. Musical instruments were placed into cases and set into storage rooms for safekeeping. Everyone wanted things put away in their rightful places by the end of the day so that they could enjoy the staff party at the end of the day without having to worry about getting back to work putting things away.

Almost everything was taken care of not long after lunch as the sun took the slight edge of an autumn chill out of the air. However, there was still one place that looked as though a tornado had blown through it: the playhouse. After the performance on Saturday, everyone involved was too busy letting themselves come down from the adrenaline rush or working themselves down to a relatively normal way of life to take the time to clean the aftermath. Chairs remained in somewhat uniform rows, pamphlets and snack wrappers littered around the floors, and everything that had been on the stage during the final number was left where it needed to be at the time.

So, once he was done cleaning the already fairly neat library, Royce dragged himself over to the playhouse to offer help in any way he could. Riven, who was busy folding chairs and placing them on rolling racks, was quick to direct the teen to Carrie, telling him that she needed help sorting through all of the costumes and supplies in the dressing rooms. Reluctantly, Royce sucked in a breath and nodded with a tight smile before making his way to the back of the stage. He had promised Vivien he would be on his best behavior with Carrie until the end of their stay and, while it had gotten quite a bit easier to act nice with her, he still rolled his eyes at the thought of spending any one-on-one time with her.

Though he felt they had a few moments where things with Carrie weren’t so bad, finding her sitting on the floor in one of the dressing rooms, surrounded by a mountain of vintage clothes, was not one of those moments. The blonde’s normally tame hair rivaled Royce’s chaotic chocolate curls, testing the strength of the scrunchie she had borrowed from Vivien as she let out a noise of frustration. Normally, a quip about Carrie dirtying her designer shorts would be the first thing out of Royce’s mouth in that situation. However, as he took in how stressed the blonde appeared, he swallowed his comments and tapped on the door with his knuckles.

Whipping around to see who had entered, Carrie let out a defeated breath as she remarked, “If you’re going to tell me that it looks like a Barbie doll’s closet threw up in here, I already know.”

Reducing the bark of laughter he wanted to let out to nothing more than a smirk, Royce said, “I was actually just going to offer help, but that works too.”

Raising a skeptical brow, Carrie slowly questioned, “You want to help me?”

“Riven said you need help and, from the look of things,” Royce glanced around the piles of clothes and chuckled, “I think he was right.”

“So you’re not here to harass me on your way to help Charlie or something?” Carrie wondered.

“Oddly enough, no,” Royce said with a shake of his head as he cautiously stepped into the room. “I genuinely want to help so you guys can enjoy the party.”

Despite still feeling rather skeptical, Carie shrugged and said, “Well, get comfy then because we have a lot of work to do.”

Pushing some clothes aside to make room for him to sit on the floor, Royce sighed, “What first?”

“I don’t actually know,” Carrie huffed, blowing a lock of curls from her face. “I was going to go by color, but then chose to go by size, and now I don’t know what to do other than shove everything in the closet and hope for the best.”

A half-snort of laughter later, Royce chuckled, “Yeah, ‘cause that would be great for them to deal with next year. Just open it up and out comes an avalanche of clothes from the sixties.”

“Well, what do you suggest?”

“I have two ideas,” Royce mused as he looked over the mountainous mile. “We can either just go by size and organize everything in bins with the largest sizes at the bottom and work our way up or we can call Vivien and have her go through all of this.”

“Why would we need Vivien to do this?” Carrie questioned as she picked a shirt up from the pile.

“She’s a pro at organization and her ADHD makes it impossible for her to stop once she’s started a project,” Royce explained. “She’d get it done in no time.”

“How did you figure that out?”

Royce chuckled as he began folding a pair of pants, “When she stayed with us, she took one look at the room Ben and I share, and took two whole days to clean it all before moving on to the rest of the house.”

“Well, damn,” Carrie breathed. “Maybe I could get her to help the wardrobe department organize their disaster area.”

“Knowing her,” Royce began, “she’d probably like that.”

Humming in agreement, Carrie grabbed another article of clothing and began folding it. The calm silence between them wasn’t nearly as awkward as she thought it would be. It was one thing for him to be nice to her for Vivien’s sake, but it was another entirely for him to offer to help as well as keep any snide comments to himself. As mildly off-putting as it was for the two of them to not be at each other’s throats, Carrie found herself grinning at the thought of having a nice conversation with the seventeen-year-old. Watching Royce begin sorting his side of the pile into separate sizes, Carrie cleared her throat and said, “You know, I think this is the longest we’ve gone without arguing.”

Glancing up at the blonde, Royce smirked, “Would you prefer it if I was rude to you?”

“Not particularly,” Carrie chuckled. “It’s just nice, that’s all.”

Despite the shrug he gave, Royce nodded, “I’m still not the biggest fan of you or your relationships with the people I care about, but I have to say, you’re not half bad when you’re not acting like some big shot actress with her head up her ass.”

“Tell me how you really feel, why don’t you,” Carrie laughed.

Royce’s grin returned, “I just did.”

“You don’t hold back at all, huh?”

“It’s easier to just speak your mind,” Royce shrugged.

Pausing to think about the boy’s words, Carrie asked, “Do you really think I have my head up my ass?”

“If I’m being honest, I’d have to say that, recently, you’ve been okay,” Royce admitted. “You were far worse when I first met you. Remember that day at the pool?”

Carrie shuddered at the thought. Her first outing with Miles’ family and close friends still kept her up at night from time to time. The immediate rejection by both Royce and Bentley, the feeling of being ostracized by practically everyone, and getting shoved in the pool by one of Miles’ closest friends all made that day memorable, but certainly not in a good way. No matter what she did that day, nothing brought her closer to the people Miles loved most. Nodding to Royce, Carrie sighed, “Sadly.”

“Well, coming home to see you, of all people, dating my brother wasn’t great,” Royce began, “but watching you go full-tilt diva at the pool did you no favors.”

“Yeah,” she breathed. Carrie pushed aside a stack of neatly folded clothes and asked, “Had you seen me before then? Did you watch my shows or something?”

“Hell no,” Royce scoffed. “I was never into drama in school, why on earth would I watch a show about the stuff I tried to avoid?”

“But you knew me?”

“Your face was plastered on magazines and the inside of people’s lockers,” he shrugged. “It doesn’t take a genius to know who you are.”

Carrie nodded in understanding. Surely, if Royce had heard kids at school talking about her, it must have been surreal walking into the house and seeing her there. Their first meeting was awkward all around, but they had made at least a handful of small strides since then, and Carrie couldn’t have been more grateful for that. As Royce began filling a plastic bin with clothes, she asked, “So, uh, how are you feeling about spending the rest of the week at Vivi’s grandparent’s house?”

Royce sighed, discretely rolling his eyes before turning back to Carrie, “I’m okay, I guess. It’s going to be a long few days.”

“How come?”

“I haven’t done anything like this before,” Royce claimed. “I don’t exactly like spending nights in odd places and, on top of that, I have to spend the entire time doing my best to impress her family.”

“You won’t have to work hard at that,” Carrie said with a smile, hoping Royce would take it in a somewhat comforting way.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, unlike my first time spending the night at your house, you already have a good relationship with your significant other's family.” Moving to sit cross-legged as she met the boy’s caramel eyes, Carrie said, “I had to sit through a lot of awkward tension and feel the wrath of two teenagers who wanted nothing more than to get me out of their home, but you know that Chief and Nonna love you already.”

“How would you know that?”

“Because they talk about you like you’re their grandson,” Carrie said with a smile. “I sat in a meeting with them, listening to them talk about how proud they are of everyone. They had a lot to say about how cute you and Vivi are.”

“They did?”

“Who wouldn’t?” Carrie chuckled. “You guys are adorable together.”

Royce shook his head, “I doubt they said that.”

“It’s the truth,” Carrie shrugged. “They adore you and Bentley just like everyone else does. You’ll be fine.”

Eyeing the blonde, Royce asked, “How can I be sure you’re not just messing with me?”

“With how well we typically get along, you can’t,” Carrie claimed. “But just know that I wouldn’t screw with your relationship like that. The two of you are too cute for me to want to do that to you guys.”

“I don’t think we’re that cute,” Royce tried, hoping the roll of his eyes was enough to mask his gradually warming face, “but thanks.”

“You’re right,” Carrie nodded. “You two are adorable.”

“No.”

Carrie smirked, “Fight it all you want, but you two are like two little kittens curled up in a little basket - adorable.”

“We are not.”

“You absolutely are,” Carrie laughed. “I mean, I may have my head up my ass sometimes, but even I can see that.”

Finding himself unable to fight the grin Carrie’s mildly self-deprecating jibe brought to his face, Royce turned his gaze back to the clothes piles before him and muttered, “Shut up.”

In return, Carrie only laughed.

The staff’s late-night party went far past the usual call of lights-out, but none of the people attending the party seemed to mind. Thursday morning, however, made nearly everyone in attendance regret their decision. As counselors and other staff members trudged their way out of their cabins with bags full of their belongings now bursting at the seams, a handful of workers set out trays of food and made sure the buses that were scheduled to arrive were prepared to bring everyone where they needed to go.

Perched on the porch with her faithful, canine companion by her side, Vivien watched as people dragged themselves up the steps of the mess hall, tossing their belongings in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. While some gave her grunts of acknowledgment or fleeting greetings as they passed, some just waved as they headed inside. After having a cup or two of punch, Bentley joined her in watching the parade of sluggish staff members, making sure Ding was given the attention he deserved as they talked about their plans for the day.

By the time breakfast was over, a few buses from the next town over had arrived to bring some of the local workers home. With coffee in their systems and the promise of relaxing for a couple of days before going back to school, work, and normal life, people ditched their trays in the collection bin by the door and scurried outside to find a good seat on the buses that awaited. Those who didn’t need a ride piled into their cars and took off after making sure they had all of their things tucked in the trunk or back seat. A handful of people offered rides to their friends whereas the international staff hugged their new friends for the last time before getting on the shuttle that would bring them to the nearest airport.

With everything loaded in the back of her car, Vivien took her spot on the deck of the main office, waving goodbye to those she knew well as they left. Riley Nicholls pulled herself away from her mom before rushing up the stairs to give Vivien a quick hug, thanking her for helping Noah work up the courage to ask her out and promising to try to keep in touch before joining her mother and sister at the car. Noah wasn’t far behind, but Vivien met him halfway, the two of them taunting each other before Vivien watched him leave.

Once everyone had left and the buildings were locked for the time being, Dawn and George made sure that everyone who was leaving with them had gotten all of their things together before heading to the old car they had left parked in front of the main office. Following the oldest members of their group, Butchy made sure to keep close behind Vivien and her grandparents’ vehicles as they pulled out of the end of the street and turned toward the house on the hill. The trip only took a few minutes and, as they pulled into the driveway, George lifted the garage door and pulled inside, allowing the others to park just outside it.

Depositing their bags by the stairs, Dawn led the group to the living room before grabbing Vivien and heading to the kitchen to make some food for dinner. Grabbing a pot from the cupboard, the older woman turned to her granddaughter and said, “I hope you know that you’re not sleeping with him tonight.”

Taken aback by her grandmother’s words, Vivien turned to her with a raised eyebrow and wide eyes, “Why on earth would I want to?”

“I was a teenager once, baby girl,” Dawn said with a small grin. “If there was no other option, I would let it happen, but where his brothers are here and there is enough space for everyone, I don’t think it would be the greatest idea.”

Thinking for a moment about Dawn’s words, Vivien closed her eyes and let out a breath of a laugh before asking, “You’re talking about us sharing a room, aren’t you?”

“Yes, of course,” Dawn nodded, “what else would I be talking about?”

“Sharing a bed and sleeping together are two totally different things, Nonna,” Vivien chuckled.

“Well, I certainly didn’t think I had to worry about you two going at it,” Dawn claimed with a smile as she set the pot in the sink and turned on the tap. “As far as I know, you two haven’t even kissed yet.”

“We haven’t,” Vivien confirmed as she pulled two boxes of Hamburger Helper from the pantry. “And, for the record, we’ve shared a bed before, but I wasn’t going to ask if we could.”

Setting the pot of water on the stove, Dawn turned to her granddaughter and asked, “Miles was alright with that?”

“There was nothing inappropriate about it,” Vivien shrugged. “Besides, Royce normally shares a room with Bentley, so it wasn’t a big deal.”

Dawn examined Vivien’s expression, searching for anything that might give away that what she said wasn’t true, but after a moment she shrugged, “Alright, well, maybe I can talk with your grandfather about it.”

“That’s alright,” Vivien said, dismissively brushing off the idea with a wave of her hand. “I’ll just take my regular room.”

Watching Vivien read over the instructions on the box, Dawn smiled, “If you’re sure.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Vivien set the boxes down and made her way to the fridge to retrieve the meat they had taken from the freezer to thaw. Turning toward her grandmother, she asked, “Am I rooming with anybody?”

“It depends, really,” Dawn explained. “I’m sure your aunts, as well as Mick and Butchy, would want to have rooms to themselves, but I’m not sure about your friends - Jade and Erica - or Miles and Carrie.”

Vivien glanced toward the hallway and said, “I don’t know, but my guess would be that they’d be down to share.”

“That leaves the boys and Riven.”

“It does.”

“What do you suggest we do?”

Vivien shrugged, “Well, the boys already share a room at their house and at Mick’s family cabin, so I doubt that would be an issue, and Riven and I have shared a room before during competition weeks.”

“And you don’t mind having him there?” Dawn asked.

“Apart from his incessant snoring, no,” Vivien chuckled. “If I get sick of him, I can always kick him off the bed or make him sleep on the couch or something.”

“Vivien,” the older woman said somewhat sternly.

“What?” Vivien asked innocently. “You can’t honestly say you haven’t kicked Grandpa out of bed before.”

“Fair enough.”

To most in the house, Friday flew by. Determined to spend time with the people in their home, George and Dawn pulled some of their old photo albums from a box in the basement and set them out on the coffee table for everyone to look through. While others found pictures of the couple’s wedding and images taken throughout the vacations they took together before having children, Vivien found herself drawn to the thick book of pictures from the eighties. As the colors of everyday objects and clothing shifted from the beiges and browns of the late seventies to the wild patterns and vibrant neons of the late eighties, Vivien found herself smiling at how young her grandparents looked.

Acid wash denim and loudly patterned sweaters were commonplace by the time she reached 1985. Seeing pictures of her mom and aunt as babies and watching them grow was fascinating, but so was the fashion her grandparents shoved their toddlers into. Pastel corduroy pants, delicately designed sweaters with cartoon characters hand sewn into the front, oversized tops and high-waisted pants, all complimented by fluffy bangs and hair stiffened by enough Aqua Net to poke a hole in the ozone layer. As interesting as it was to see her grandparents spending their twenties in a decade of eclectic style choices, Vivien wondered if they knew at the time how their style choices would be perceived so many years later. Then again, she knew the styles she wore in her earlier years would be considered atrocious by the time her family had another few generations.

Vivien winced inwardly at the thought of clip-in feather extensions, half-shirts over tank tops, and jeggings making a come back. The only things from her childhood she wished would return were Silly Bandz, Heelys, and Club Penguin. Maybe her grandparents felt the same as they looked back over their previous choices. Maybe they despised it all the same. Then again, as her grandpa proudly showed off a picture of himself in their yearbook - plaid bellbottoms and a horizontally striped shirt with an oversized collar - she realized they probably didn’t care anymore. Perhaps, in time, she would be able to look back on pictures of her pre-teen self and laugh as well.

By the time they had lunch, the rain had dwindled considerably, but the photo albums had been set aside and a stack of DVD wallets had been set out in their places. Looking over the stack of DVD folders, Vivien looked to her grandparents and asked, “When did you guys get so many movies?”

“We’ve had them for a long time, sweetheart,” George claimed. “We’re not the greatest with those things you and your siblings put on the TV, but DVDs are easy enough to understand.”

“Plus, there are a lot of movies we grew up watching that aren’t available on Netflix or anything like that,” Dawn added.

“How did you get so many?” Erica wondered as she flipped through one of the wallets.

“Amazon and tag sales,” George said with a grin.

“Seriously?” Vivien asked as she picked up a small, blue pouch of DVDs. “So you can figure out Amazon on your phone, but not a streaming app?”

George shrugged as Dawn spoke up, “This isn’t even our whole collection.”

Mick laughed, peering over Vivien’s shoulder as the younger girl unzipped the folder in her hand and flipped through some of the available films, “Where on earth do you hide them all?”

“In boxes in the hallway closet,” Dawn said, gesturing to the far side of the room. “If you want, you can go look through them.”

As Mick stood, Vivien quickly followed, handing the packet of DVDs to Royce before pushing herself from the floor and tucking her phone into her back pocket. Once they were away from the group, Vivien tugged Mick into the bathroom and quietly closed the door. Looking around, Mick’s confused chestnut eyes fell on Vivien as she asked, “Why are we-?”

“Shh!” Vivien hissed in a whisper. Lowering her voice, Vivien spoke, “Look, I didn’t want to say anything in front of everyone, but I found something.”

Intrigued, Mick muttered, “What?”

Reaching into her back pocket, Vivien pulled out her phone and set it on the edge of the sink before holding out a DVD for Mick to take. Gingerly slipping the silver disc out of Vivien’s hand, Mick slowly turned it over to see an image of Lela and Tanner standing on opposite sides of a surfboard, their vibrant smiles grinning up at her from just under the title of their movie. Not wanting to believe they were being called out by the sixty-something-year-old couple, Mick looked for a sign that the picture was a sticker slapped onto the disc. To her dismay, however, it was not. Adding insult to injury, the white ring on the back of the DVD showed the movie’s title in thick black letters, further proving that the movie was exactly as it appeared.

Mick examined the DVD for a while before slowly lifting her gaze to the young brunette before her, “Do you think they know?”

“I don’t know,” Vivien breathed. “As far as I know, they haven’t said anything to any of us and I don’t think they watch a lot of movies, but if this is in their collection, they must have seen it at some point, right?”

“Probably,” Mick sighed.

Running her hands over her hair out of habit, Vivien asked, “What are we going to do?”

With a shake of her head, Mick breathed, “I don’t know. Maybe I can talk with your grandma later or something - see how much she knows - and, in the meantime, we can hide the DVD in one of the cases in the closet.”

Vivien slowly nodded, “That’s actually a pretty good idea.”

Twisting the doorknob, Mick smirked, “Don’t sound so surprised.”

After finding the box of DVDs in the hall closet and shoving the movie into an empty case in the middle, the girls returned to the living room and settled down until a film was agreed upon for the afternoon. Once everyone had gotten snacks from the kitchen, Mick placed a bag of popcorn in the microwave and perched herself on one of the island stools as Dawn searched the pantry for some nacho cheese popcorn seasoning. The dark-haired woman hummed to herself as she moved things around, the song both soothing and making Mick more anxious as she listened to the woman’s gentle voice.

Preparing herself for the inevitable conversation, Mick twisted her seat around toward the woman and chuckled, “You know, my parents would go nuts if they saw your movie collection.”

“Oh really?” the older woman asked, turning with a grin as she pulled a tray of popcorn seasonings from the pantry shelf. “Well, if they ever feel like stopping by and borrowing some of them, we always leave a key in the socket cover by the garage door.”

“I’m sure they’d love that,” Mick said graciously. Swallowing thickly as the woman set the tray of seasonings on the counter, Mick said, “There were a lot of old movies in there.”

“Yeah, well,” Dawn gestured toward herself and chuckled, “we’re old.”

“You’re really not,” Mick offered, “but some of those movies are from before your time. I mean, come on, movies from the thirties and forties? Those have to be pretty rare.”

With a shrug, Dawn popped open the nacho cheese seasoning and held it over the already popped bag she had made as she said, “The more famous ones like Gone With The Wind were transferred to DVD in recent years, but everything from the fifties onward is pretty standard.”

Mick nodded, “I did see a good set of movies from the sixties.”

Dawn let out a short laugh, “Those were mostly mine.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes,” Dawn nodded. “I had a thing for collecting as many Frankie and Annette movies as possible. I’m actually still looking for a couple of them.”

“Which ones?” Mick asked as she pulled her bag of popcorn from the microwave and sat back down at the counter. “My parents might have an extra copy.”

“I believe I still need Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley,” Dawn said as she shrugged, “but I’m sure I’ll find them in my own time.”

“Yeah, probably,” Mick said with a hopeful smile and a nod. Taking in a breath, she brought her bottom lip between her teeth before slowly releasing it and saying, “I was surprised you had a Blu-Ray copy of Wet Side Story. My parents love that movie.”

Dawn chuckled, lifting her head and meeting Mick’s eyes as she said, “I was wondering how long it would take.”

Taken aback by the woman’s words, Mick shook her head faintly and asked, “I’m sorry, what?”

“I was wondering how long it would be before one of you said something,” Dawn restated. When Mick chose to remain silent, her shock keeping her frozen in place, the older woman continued, “Before summer, I set aside that little folder of movies for George and I to watch in our free time at camp, but when you showed me some pictures of things in Florida, I recognized Lela as the girl on the DVD we were supposed to watch that night.”

Finally allowing herself to speak, Mick asked, “And you’re fine with it?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Dawn asked in return. “It’s your life, sweetie; as long as you’re happy, I don’t have an issue with it.”

“Aren’t you curious as to how it all works?”

“A little, but I can’t say that I would understand it if you chose to tell me,” Dawn chuckled. “Just know that George and I support everything and will keep it a secret if you need us to.”

“Not a lot of people know,” Mick stated.

“Your parents must.” Slowly, Mick nodded. “Does Vivien?”

“She didn’t for a while, but she figured it out a year ago,” Mick said with a nod. “I think it was around the time she and Royce started dating.”

“I figured as much,” Dawn mused. “Does anybody in the house not know?”

“Riven, Erica, Jade, Hayley, and Charlie,” Mick listed. “As far as I know, they’re clueless.”

With a nod, Dawn took in a breath and asked, “Are you planning on telling them?”

“When we feel the time is right,” Mick nodded. “Vivien wants to tell Riven first as a test run, but since he hasn’t come to us with questions, I doubt she has.”

Dawn hummed, “She’s always been fairly anxious about telling people personal things, but she’s a smart young lady. I’m sure she’ll tell him when she’s ready.”

With a nod, Mick pulled open the bag of popcorn before her and wondered aloud, “Should we tell the others that you guys know?”

“Not yet,” Dawn said with a shake of her head. “I think George and I would both feel better about it if they came to us on their own. For now, we can let them think we’re in the dark still.”

Almost hesitantly, Mick nodded and muttered, “Okay.”

Patting the girl on the arm, Dawn picked up her bowl of seasoned popcorn and gestured to the hallway before allowing Mick to lead the way back to the living room. Before they could reach the room where everyone else had gathered, she softly asked, “So, when Vivien went to visit you on her school break…?”

“She was actually staying with us in the movie world,” Mick clarified. At the woman’s confused expression, Mick chuckled, “It’s a long story.”

“In that case, I’ll be glad to hear it someday,” Dawn said with a grin before following Mick into the living room.

“Happy birthday!” two voices screeched in Vivien’s ears as the sun barely glowed through the curtains of her bedroom window.

If the elbow to her ribcage or the knee in her thigh wasn’t enough to jolt her awake, the voices of her siblings definitely did the trick. Sluggishly shifting to wrap her arms around her siblings, Vivien yawned, “My birthday was on Tuesday, first of all, and, second, what are you guys doing here?”

Oliver was quick to answer, “We rode over on our bikes.”

“Yeah,” Abby agreed. “You didn’t think we’d let you get away with avoiding our tradition, did you?”

“I was hoping I could go a year without a bruised body for my birthday,” Vivien breathed, “but I have to admit, I did sort of miss it.”

Abby rolled her eyes as Oliver sat up, “We wanted to stay at camp after the show, but Dad said we had to go back home.”

“Yeah,” Abby huffed. “Otherwise Mom would get all pissy.”

“Abs,” Vivien scolded lightly.

“What?” Abby asked. “It’s the truth and you know it.”

“It’s still not nice to talk about Mom like that,” Vivien sighed.

Oliver scoffed, “Whoever said Abby was nice has clearly never met her.”

“Look, dickhead-”

Before her siblings could go too far, Vivien interrupted, “So, where is Dad?”

With a sigh, Oliver said, “He and Mom were arguing when we left, but he said he would be here.”

“They’ve been arguing a lot since she missed your performance,” Abby claimed. “Dad said that, if they weren’t already divorced, they’d be getting one now.”

“What about Mom?” Vivien asked, brushing off the statement with ease. “Is she coming?”

Abby shrugged, “We’re not sure. I heard her say something about work.”

Oliver nodded, “And I overheard Dad telling her that work isn’t more important than the three of us.”

“But they just kept arguing, so we’re not sure what’s going to happen,” Abby finished.

“That’s fine,” Vivien said with a grin. “One parent being here is more than enough for me. Besides, Nonna and Granpa are here with Aunt Hayley and Charlie.”

“And you’ve got us too,” Oliver added as he stood from the mattress.

“Yeah,” Vivien nodded. “So it doesn’t really matter whether Mom shows up or not.”

“Exactly,” Abby agreed, pushing herself off of Vivien’s borrowed bed. “Now, enough of the adult shit. Is this going to be a pool party or what? If it’s a pool party, can I borrow one of your swimsuits?”

Shoving away the blankets that had tangled around her legs, Vivien laughed, “Since when do you ask before borrowing my things?”

“Since you glitter-bombed me last time I took your sweater,” Abby said with a roll of her eyes.

“I remember that!” Oliver laughed as Abby pushed him toward the door. “You looked like some six-year-old’s deranged Barbie doll and it was hilarious.”

“Hysterical,” Abby deadpanned, “now leave so Viv can change.”

“You too,” Vivien said, gesturing for both of her siblings to leave the room she had claimed as her own while she searched through her duffel bag for something to wear. “Go bug Nonna and Grandpa George for breakfast or something.”

“But what about the swimsuit?” Abby whined as Oliver tugged her out of the room.

Throwing a floral one-piece at her sister, Vivien laughed, “Just go!”

As Oliver swung the door shut, Vivien laughed as she heard Abby’s muffled voice call out, “Thanks, sissy!” Rolling her eyes, Vivien pulled some clothes from her bag and quickly got dressed before zipping her duffel bag shut and hefting the strap over her shoulder. Leaving her room, Vivien made her way through the hall to where Bentley and Royce were staying with Riven. Finding their bedroom door open and the three of them sitting on the floor with Riven’s Dungeon Master folder sprawled out between them, Vivien leaned against the doorframe with a smirk.

“Well, well, well,” she mused, gaining their attention. “It appears the nerds are busy nerding; I suppose I’ll have to come back later.”

With a roll of his eyes, Riven scoffed, “You’re just upset we started without you.”

“As if,” Vivien chuckled as she made her way into the room and took her place beside Royce. “The one you have to worry about is Erica.”

“You won’t tell her,” Riven said confidently.

“I would if I didn’t think that meant starting World War Three in my grandparents’ house,” she sighed.

“Didn’t think so.”

“Dick.”

“The hugest.”

“Not a compliment.”

“Don’t care,” Riven said with a smirk. Bringing his attention back to the board before him, he said, “Now, we were actually just talking about your character and how you played in Tales of the Yawning Portal.”

“Oh really?” Vivien asked.

Bentley quickly nodded, “He said you leveled up really fast.”

“I wouldn’t say it was fast,” Vivien began, “but I quickly learned how to play my cards right, so by the time we got to the Tomb of Horror dungeon, I was already level fifteen.”

“That’s impressive,” Royce mused.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from her,” Riven said. “She’s great at molding herself to fit in any scenario she comes across.”

“Like that Star Wars campaign we did over Thanksgiving break last year,” Vivien offered.

Bentley’s eyes practically sparkled as he turned to Vivien with a beaming smile. “You can play Star Wars campaigns?”

Riven chuckled, “With a fun Dungeon Master, you can do anything.”

“What was it like?” Royce asked.

“It was great,” Riven said.

“I think it was called Dust and Echoes,” Vivien said. Looking to her skating partner, she asked, “Do you still have the storyline sheet?”

“When don’t I?” Riven asked with a laugh before holding up a finger for the others to wait. Hazel eyes scanned over the folder on the floor before he reached out and pulled a stack of papers from under a flap of protective plastic. Flipping through the pages, Riven lightly shook his head, muttering things to himself until he eventually pulled a page out and set the others on the floor.

“I should’ve known,” Vivien chuckled with a roll of her eyes.

Clearing his throat, Riven read, “‘While escaping an imperial Star Destroyer, a Rebellion cruiser is forced to abandon ship, scattering the survivors on a nearby mysterious artificial moon. Here they must find their fellow rebels while staying out of sight of the Imperial search parties. When they have a sizable force, they begin surgical guerrilla strikes to accumulate enough Imperial star ships to get everyone away from the Empire, who have begun exploring the strange moon. The nature of the artificial world begins to unfold, as it turns out that it is a creation of an ancient civilization, perhaps the Celestials, meant to expand into a dyson sphere in order to harvest energy from stars. As the Empire rushes to take control of the planet’s bridge with superior firepower and numbers, the Rebels discover that the creators never got the moon’s systems to work properly and that it inadvertently destabilizes stars, causing solar-system wipe catastrophes. So what now? Desperately outnumbered and outgunned, the Rebels are forced to extreme tactics to destroy the Dyson sphere before it is too late.’”

If Bentley wasn’t already enamored with the idea, he certainly was now. The glow of adoration in his eyes was obvious as he spoke up, “I wish we could have played it with you guys.”

“Who says you can’t?” Riven asked.

“But you guys already played it once,” Royce wondered.

“We’ve replayed campaigns before,” Vivien said. “Sometimes, Riven mixes up the story a little to make things interesting.”

Riven nodded, “Besides, I was already planning on working on some new campaigns.”

“Really?” Vivien asked.

Again, the auburn-haired boy nodded, “I didn’t want to say anything, but I put together a handful of ideas over the summer.” Picking up some of the pages he had placed on the floor, he flipped through them and said, “Star Wars, Hary Potter, a couple of Halloween ideas I want to mess around with, and a few set in different points of history.”

“Like Hamilton?” Royce asked.

“That’s one of them,” Riven agreed. “I also have one during the Salem Witch Trials, one in the eighties, and a few during the late fifties or sixties.”

Realization flooded through Bentley as he fleetingly met Riven’s hazel eyes. Over their time at camp, he had spent more than a few days talking with Riven about how things were in their world. Had Riven been using that information to create new campaigns? Before Bentley could think about confronting the older boy, Vivien tentatively asked, “Why the fifties and sixties?”

“The space race, mostly,” Riven shrugged. “But I’m not sure on it yet. I know you also wanted to do one based on those Professor Layton games you like so much, so maybe we could use that period for that instead since nobody knows when they actually take place.”

“I thought the games happen in the thirties and forties,” Vivien claimed.

Riven shrugged and began to explain how he hadn’t been able to find any evidence of a concise timeframe for the games in his searches and how he was compromising for the middle of the timeline he’d found as Bentley let out the breath he’d been holding. Glancing toward Royce, he found his brother looking equally relieved for an entirely different reason, but as Riven and Vivien began bickering about continuity and timelines, their attention was drawn to the doorway as Vivien’s dad leaned against the wood, pressing a finger to his lips to keep his presence a secret.

“I’m telling you,” Vivien argued, “the way they dress is typical of the thirties and forties!”

“But one of the puzzles mentions texting which means it had to be at least in the nineties, if not the early aughts,” Riven fought back. “And those double-decker buses are from at least the late fifties.”

“Professor Layton’s car is old, though, you can’t argue that.”

“I can’t, but they made those until the early nineties,” Riven claimed, brushing the brunette off with a wave. “And who’s to say he’s not a car guy who collects clunky classics?”

“But everything else points to it being older than that!” Vivien griped. “The steampunk style was popular way back in the eighteen-hundreds, for crying out loud.”

Before Riven could fire back at the teenager before him, Damien made his presence known as he suggested, “Maybe Layton isn't set in the past, but in an awesome future where the retro of the fifties meets the steampunk of the eighteen-hundreds.”

Whirling around, Vivien’s face split into a smile as she pushed herself from the floor, “Dad!”

Wholly unprepared for the freight train that was his oldest child, Damien found himself stumbling backward as Vivien slammed into him at full force. Bringing his arms around his daughter, Damien lifted her from the ground and took a few steps into the room before setting her down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Are you done harassing Riven?”

“Never,” Vivien and Riven replied in unsurprising unison.

“I didn’t think you’d get here until later,” Vivien said.

Damien chuckled, “I wasn’t about to miss out on Grandpa’s bull’s eye toasts.”

“Ah,” Vivien breathed as she leaned out of her dad’s arms, “so it has nothing to do with me having a party today?”

“Oh, are you?” Damien asked teasingly as he took a plastic tiara from where he'd tucked one side of it in his back pocket and placed it atop his daughter's head. “I suppose I should have brought you a gift.”

With a dramatic sigh, Vivien placed the back of her hand to her forehead and said, “Whatever will I do without a present from my dearest father?”

Chuckling at his oldest daughter’s theatrics, Damien asked, “So, what are you four up to?”

“We were just talking about some new campaigns,” Riven said as he began folding his things together again.

Damien nodded before finding Royce and Bentley and asking, “Are you two planning on joining their group?”

“Yes, sir,” Royce said.

“It looks like fun,” Bentley agreed with a nod.

“It is,” Damien nodded as he moved closer to the group. Finding Royce’s gaze with a grin, he said, “And, for the millionth time, you kids don’t have to call me ‘sir’. I’m not your boss or some military official; I’m your friend’s dad. You can call me Damien.”

Swallowing thickly, Royce minutely shook his head as he muttered, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I could do that, even if I wanted to.”

“You can call him ‘dad’,” Vivien shrugged. “A bunch of my friends do.”

“Do they not have parents?” Bentley asked as his head tipped to the side.

Elbowing his brother, Royce told him off before looking up to both his girlfriend and her father and saying, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Damien chuckled. “But, really, you can call me just about anything and I won’t mind.”

While Royce struggled to find something to say in return, Bentley sent the man his usual, brilliant smile and said, “We’ll work on it.”

“That’s all I ask,” Damien said. Clapping his hands, he smiled and said, “Now, let’s get downstairs before all of the French toast is gone.”

“Nonna made her French toast?” Vivien asked, excitement glimmering in her eyes.

“Mhm,” Damien hummed with a nod. As Vivien took off for the hallway, the older man turned to the boys on the floor and asked, “Are you three coming?”

Riven nodded, “We’ll be there in a minute, Dad. We just need to clean the room before we go.”

As Damien left the room, telling the boys he would see them downstairs, Royce turned to Riven with a curiously raised eyebrow. Once Damien was out of earshot, he quietly asked, “How is that so easy for you?”

Riven shrugged as he put his folder on his bed, “Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad, but I’ve spent so much time at Vivien’s house that her family is practically mine as well.”

“I don’t think I could do that,” Royce sighed as he pushed himself off of the floor.

“I could,” Bentley said as he sat on the end of the bed he had shared with Royce. At Royce’s confused look, he said, “What? Our dad sucked and Viv’s dad is really nice to us. He deserves the title more.”

Royce’s confusion dissolved as he thought about his brother’s words. While Bentley was, by technicality, right, he couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of calling someone else’s father ‘dad’ after all their dad had put them through. His train of thought quickly halted as Riven chuckled and stood, patting Royce on the shoulder with a gentle smile as he reassured the teen, “You’ll get used to it, I promise.”

Though Royce nodded in response, he couldn’t help but think to himself, ‘Yeah, right.’

As the day wore on, Vivien found herself tugged in every direction by the people in the house. At first, she was bombarded by people in the dining room, each of them either wishing her a happy birthday or wrapping her in a bone-crushing hug. Her siblings, eager to recant the tales of their summer and hear about their older sister’s time at camp, pulled her to the backyard to talk after breakfast, but their conversation was cut short as their grandparents pulled everyone into the lounge to discuss their plans for the day. Once they were done and everyone went their separate ways, George and Dawn pulled their oldest grandbaby aside to give her a gift away from everyone else - a hand-beaded bracelet that had been passed down to the oldest child of every generation of her family. Upon asking why Hayley hadn’t given it to her, the older couple simply stated that the woman had felt it best to have them give it to her instead as it would mean more from them.

After lunch, Vivien was ordered to stay indoors while her family set up the backyard for the party, but it didn’t take long for Erica to get sick of babysitting duty. “This is so fucking boring,” she moaned.

“I thought you liked this movie,” Jade said with a grin as she gestured to the screen. On the screen, Optimus Prime, leader of the alien group called the Autobots was locked in battle with his longtime nemesis, Megatron. While the others were fairly engrosed in the film and enjoying the surround sound speakers that amplified the fight, Erica had found herself sitting almost upside down in one of the arm chairs, unable to take an interest in the film.

“Normally, yeah,” the blue-haired girl spoke, “but I’ve seen Transformers so much that I know it word for word.”

“Well, if you’re so bored, what do you actually want to do?” Riven asked.

Erica heaved a sigh as she pushed herself to sit like a normal person. Glancing around the room, her gaze settled on Vivien and a scheming grin spread across her face. Meeting the girl’s glimmering eyes, Vivien hesitantly asked, “Do I wanna know what you’re thinking about?”

Instead of answering directly, Erica asked, “Did you wash your hair last night?”

Confused, Vivien slowly nodded, “Yeah, why?”

Standing from her chair, Erica rounded the arm of the couch and pulled Vivien to her feet, “Get ready to look like Grimace!”

As Vivien was dragged out of the room, the others scrambled to their feet, following the pair out of the room as Jade quickly grabbed the remote and paused the movie. Following the others upstairs to the bathroom across from the staircase, the green-haired girl leaned into the room to see what was going on. Vivien had been perched on a chair in front of the vanity mirror and, despite looking mildly worried, she sent her friends a small smile of reassurance as Erica reached into the towel closet and pulled out a plastic Walmart bag wrapped tightly around a box.

Holding the bag out tot he younger girl, Erica said, “Happy birthday, bitch.”

Tentatively tugging the bag away from the box, Vivien laughed to herself as she pulled out a box of Midnight Tanzanite hair dye. “What is this?” she asked.

“Damn,” Erica chortled, “you really do need those glasses, huh?”

“Asshole,” Vivien laughed as she shoved the blue-haired girl.

“Yours truly,” Erica agreed. “Look, you said you wanted to dye your hair after JJ and I did, but that your mom would be pissed. So, after she didn’t show up at the end-of-summer thing, I bought this. Think of it as a bit of payback.”

“Or some really petty revenge,” Riven mused.

Taking in a deep breath, Vivien asked, “What if she shows up today? She’ll still be pissed.”

“So what?” Ignoring Royce’s pointed look telling him to stay out of the situation, Bentley continued, “It’s your body and, if you don’t like it, it’ll come out eventually.”

“Or we can dye it back to brown,” Jade tacked on.

Erica nodded, grateful they chose to back her up, “And, for the record, we don’t have to do your whole head. We can do just the ends or maybe some peekaboo colors under your hair. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”

Vivien looked at herself in the mirror, trying to imagine herself with shades of purple tinting the ends of her hair. It would be quite the change from her normal look, but wasn’t that what she wanted? Glancing in the mirror at the reflections of her friends, Vivien scanned over their smiles until she found her boyfriend smiling encouragingly at her. Taking in a deep breath, Vivien glanced at herself once more before looking up at Erica, “Let’s do it.”

Hauling a wooden crate through the storm hatch to the backyard, Miles asked, “Are you guys sure we need all of this?”

“It’s the end of summer,” Hayley replied as she took the box from him. “We always make sure to go out with a bang.”

“I get that,” he said, “but don’t you think this is a little overkill? This isn’t the Fourth of July.”

Damien chuckled, patting Miles on the back as he joined the younger male, “Believe me, son, this is tame compared to their usual firework shows.”

“Tame?” Carrie wondered as she set a box of Roman candles on the edge of a folding table. “There are enough fireworks here to blast someone into outer space.”

“As I said,” Damien began with a smirk, “this is tame.”

“Normally, a party like this goes until midnight,” Charlie stated as she neared the group. “There are sparklers for the kids, Roman candles for the adults, firecrackers and aerials for the group, and plenty of drinks to go around.”

With a raised brow, Dawn asked, “You guys don’t do firework shows in Florida?”

On instinct, Miles glanced over to where Mick and Butchy were pulling lawn chairs onto the grass, used to having one of them there to answer questions like that so he didn’t have to. Trying not to stumble over his words, he cleared his throat and said, “Not often, no.”

“How come?” George asked.

Miles swallowed thickly, attempting a smile as he tried to think of something to say. Thankfully, he didn’t have to think for long as Carrie spoke up, “We try not to do a lot of them because Royce has really sensitive hearing and the noise bothers him a lot. It’s easier to just do sparklers and small things.”

After a few moments of muttered understanding, Dawn patted Miles on the arm and said, “I have some ear plugs he can use if he’d like to join us for the whole show.”

“I’m sure he’d love that,” Miles said with a grateful smile.

“I’ll grab them after we do presents,” the older woman said. Checking her watch, Dawn turned to her husband and asked, “Where are the kids?”

Shrugging, George took a bite of the brownie he had swiped from the snack table and said, “No clue. They weren’t watching the movie when I went to get the chips.”

“And you didn’t go looking for them?” Dawn asked.

“Was I supposed to?” George questioned.

As her mother heaved a sigh and shook her head, Hayley stepped up with a grin and placed a hand on her mom’s shoulder as she said, “I’ll go find them. They’re probably playing their dungeon game upstairs.”

“Thank you,” Dawn said.

However, before Hayley could make her way inside to find her niece and the girl’s friends, Erica pushed the sliding glass door open and stepped outside. Loudly clearing her throat, Erica raised her voice and declared, “People of the backyard, I proudly introduce the new - and only slightly cooler - Vivien O’Brian.”

As the blue-haired girl stepped aside, Vivien stepped into the sunlight, apprehension obvious as she smiled hesitantly at her family. Though the dyed strands of her bangs made the change more evident in the light, the underside of her hair was darker and had taken on a deep amethyst tone. Regardless of the slight difference in color, the girl’s smile was all her family needed to see to approve of her choice.

“Well?” Vivien asked as she glanced between the people before her. “What do you guys think?”

Before anyone else could think of speaking up, Charlie let out a squeal and made her way forward, running her fingers through the ends of Vivien’s hair with a beaming smile. “I knew it would suit you!”

“You knew?” Vivien asked.

“Of course, I did, silly,” Charlie said. “Erica asked me what color I thought would make you happy.”

“I can’t believe you never told me,” Hayley spoke as she neared the pair. Turning her attention solely on Vivien, however, she smiled, “You look amazing, baby girl.”

Before Vivien could say more, her dad joined them and said, “They’re right. It suits you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Vivien said with a smile. “Mom might not think so, but-”

Damien shrugged, “To hell what she thinks. You’re happy with it and that’s all that matters.”

As the twins stepped up, Abby said, “Yeah, who cares what Mom has to say about it?”

Nodding, Oliver agreed, “You look great, Vivi.”

“Thanks, guys,” Vivien chuckled.

“It’s kind of like one of those crystals in your windowsill,” Oliver mused.

Smirking at her brother, Abby offered, “Let me guess - amethyst?”

Quickly, Oliver shook his head, “The way there are different shades of purple all mixed together makes me think of charoite.”

“Since when have you listened to me about my crystal collection?” Vivien questioned.

“I always listen,” Oliver shrugged. “Just because it doesn’t interest me doesn’t mean I can’t listen to what you like.”

“Awe,” Vivien cooed, wrapping her arms around her brother who looked just thrilled by the interaction. “That’s so sweet, Olly!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Oliver mumbled, patting his oldest sibling on the back before she could pull away.

As everyone separated and returned to their previous tasks, Vivien made her way to where her grandparents stayed, watching them as they set out a handful of fireworks they’d use once the sun went down. Stepping between the older couple, she asked, “How are you guys?”

“Proud,” Dawn said, turning to smile at her granddaughter.

“Very,” George added as he brought an arm around Vivien’s shoulders.

Taking Vivien’s hand, Dawn said, “I remember when you used to dye your hair with Kool-Aid.

“That was ages ago,” Vivien snickered.

“Just goes to show how much you’ve grown, little one,” George said.

Squeezing Vivien’s hand, Dawn said, “Why don’t you go over by the fire pit and we’ll do presents.”

Vivien nodded, yet paused to ask, “What about my Mom?”

“We’ll cross that road when we get to it,” George shrugged. “For now, just enjoy your time with family.”

“And friends,” Vivien added.

“I think, by now, they’re just as much your family as we are, eaglet,” Dawn chuckled. Patting her granddaughter’s arm, she said, “Now, go have fun.”

Once Vivien was far enough away, George nudged his wife and said, “I told you that purple was her color.”

“I can’t argue that,” Dawn agreed, “but her aura is definitely green.”

It wasn’t until they had already had Vivien blow out her candles and cut herself the first slice of cake that the now seventeen-year-old’s mother showed up, grumbling complaints about her heels sinking in the grass as she rounded the side of the house. Though the woman looked ready to complain about Vivien dyeing her “beautiful, hickory hair,” she bit her tongue and gave her eldest child a quick embrace before sitting at the picnic table where the food was kept. After making some small talk, Chelsea wished her daughter a quick “Happy birthday” before handing over Vivien’s gift - a one hundred dollar gift card to Abercrombie.

“Abercrombie,” Vivien mused with an obviously strained smile. It would have been one thing if Vivien actually liked the store in question, however, Vivien had only bought something from store once in her life and it was a dog sweater for Loki. Abercrombie wasn’t even on her radar when she went shopping, but Vivien knew it was one of Abby’s favorites.

Chelsea hummed, already back to tapping on her phone - something for work, presumably. Glancing up at her daughter, she said, “School is starting soon and you’re graduating this year, so you need to look more professional.”

“Professional?” Vivien echoed.

Again, Chelsea hummed in confirmation, “Enough of the cartoon shirts and distressed jeans. You’re almost an adult; you should at least look like it for once in your life.”

Forcing herself to keep her opinions to herself, Vivien thanked her mother and tucked the gift card into her pocket before asking her friends for help bringing the rest of her presents inside. Once they had set everything in the hallway by the front door, Vivien slipped the gift card into Abby’s purse and encouraged everyone to go change into something for the pool. After changing into her swimsuit for the party, Vivien met her friends in the hallway and followed them back out the backyard where they began filling their plates with food and desserts.

Cake frosting and ice cream puddled together on their plates as they talked, their potato chips gradually growing soggy as the melting ice cream inched closer. As the sun fell further over the horizon the adults began to prepare the fireworks as everyone else gathered in the pool to watch from a safe distance. As a majority of the group gathered by the edge of the pool bracing their arms over the side or relaxing on pool floats to watch the fireworks explote over the hill beyond them, Vivien took Royce by the arm and brought him to the middle of the pool.

Taking out one of the ear plugs Dawn had given him, Royce asked, “What’s up?”

Vivien smiled, “I find it’s quieter to float in the water while the fireworks go off.”

Nodding graciously, Royce took Vivien’s hand in his and said, “Thank you, but are you sure you don’t want to be with everyone else?”

“If I wanted to be over with them, I wouldn’t have offered.”

Before Royce could say anything more, Vivien released his hand, stepped back, and sank into the water, pushing herself to the surface before patting the water beside her as an invitation. With a breath of a laugh, Royce tucked the ear plug into his ear once more and followed suit, allowing the water to flow around him as Vivien took his hand once more. While Vivien was right that the water muffled any remaining sound, he still heard the faintest of blasts as the first firework erupted in the slowly darkening sky above them.

As brilliant colors illuminated the sky alongside the setting sun, Royce took in a deep breath and sighed. The summer was almost over and, with it, the end of their stay in New Hampshire. All too soon, he would be on a flight back home, waiting for the ache in his chest to go away enough for him to focus on his everyday tasks. Granted, they would be back in just a few months and he would be able to video chat with Vivien and her friends during their visits to Mick’s family’s home, but it wasn’t quite the same as actually being there. Turning toward Vivien, Royce smiled at her wonderstruck expression, the glimmering displays above them glowing against her skin. Shades of red, blue, purple, and gold shone in the reflections of the water, making a sort of halo around those in the pool.

As Vivien turned to say something to him, she froze, raising an eyebrow curiously at her boyfriend. She looked as though she wanted to say something, but instead, she lowered her voice and asked, “I know you’re asthmatic, but how long can you hold your breath under water?”

Taken aback by the question, Royce thought before asking, “I’m not sure, really, but I’ve gotten better with it after taking surfing lessons with Mick. Why?”

Lifting her free hand into view, Vivien said, “I think the bracelet Nonna and Grandpa George gave me is at the bottom of the pool.”

Royce moved, looking around at the dark water as though the bracelet would appear if he squinted long enough. “I’ll look for it,” he told Vivien as she moved to look for the bracelet.

“It’s beaded, so it should be easy to find at the bottom,” she told him.

Nodding, Royce sucked in a deep breath before ducking under the water, using his hands to feel around the bottom of the pool as Vivien joined him. They hadn’t gone far since getting in the water, but as Royce looked around, he couldn’t seem to find the bracelet anywhere. Taking in another breath of air as he neared the edge of the pool, Royce turned around toward where Vivien had been searching and ducked back under the surface of the chlorinated water. Finding himself face to face with a grinning Vivien, Royce raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if she’d found the bracelet. Instead, she merely shook her head before placing her arms around his neck and pulling him close.

It seemed she wanted to catch him off guard, as she always did with quick kisses to his cheek, but this time, he leaned in at the same time and they finally met halfway in a kiss. For a fleeting moment, Royce stared at Vivien in shock, but when she didn’t pull away, he allowed his eyes to slide closed and his hands to come up to her face. As Royce had anticipated and grown anxious over during the duration of their relationship, the kiss was awkward, but he was melting nonetheless because it was Vivien he was kissing. If oxygen deprivation hadn’t been a thing, he was sure they would have stayed there in that moment for the rest of the night. However, with the knowledge that his lungs would begin to cry for some semblance of fresh air if he didn’t move soon, he pulled away from Vivien, preparing to go up to the surface. Even so, he still kept his hands on her face, simply because he didn't want to let go yet.

Slowly peeling his eyes open, Royce found Vivien smirking back at him, mischief glinting in her emerald eyes. As fireworks exploded overhead, Vivien pointed upward, silently asking him if he needed air. Although he nodded, Royce pulled Vivien close once more and pressed another kiss to her lips. It wasn’t long or intense, but it was certainly enough to throw Vivien off as she let out a flurry of bubbles. Smirking at the wide-eyed Vivien as he pulled back, Royce took her hand from the back of his neck and pushed to the surface, taking her with him.

As both of them took in some air, Vivien looked to Royce and breathed, “I wasn’t expecting that.”

With a breath of a laugh, Royce replied, “Neither was I!”

After a moment of laughter, Vivien tentatively admitted, “I liked that. Like, a lot.”

“Me too,” Royce admitted with a smile. “A lot.”

Vivien beamed, utterly proud of herself despite the reddening embarrassment flushing her cheeks. As Royce let out a relaxed sigh and looked back up at the rainbow of lights flashing in the sky, Vivien dug into her pocket and held her bracelet out for him to see. “Look,” she told him.

“Oh, good!” Royce softly exclaimed, holding the end of the bracelet as he smiled in Vivien’s direction. “Where’d you find it?”

“In my pocket,” she explained. Meeting Royce’s gaze, she confessed, “I just wanted an excuse to kiss you.”

“You didn’t need any excuse,” Royce claimed. “You could have just asked and I would have said yes.”

“I know,” Vivien nodded. “But I’ve always sort of wanted my first kiss to be an underwater kiss like Percabeth did in The Last Olympian.”

“Again, you could have told me and I would have gladly helped you.” Royce chuckled, his face gradually reddening as he admitted, “Honestly, you could have just shoved me under and I would have been fine with it.”

Vivien let out a laugh, “Yeah, I guess I could say the same.”

Without a moment of hesitation, Royce said, “Maybe next time.”

Despite feeling her face burn brighter than the fireworks illuminating the sky above them, Vivien found Royce’s caramel eyes and smiled as she nodded, “Yeah, maybe next time.”

#camp wanamaker

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indignantlemur · 6 months

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hello, I was wondering what your head cannon was on the ahm tal? Also may I ask what your head cannon was, if I didn't already, about the andorians in the andorian incident?

Thank you.

Hello again! <3

We'll start with the Am Tal, I think. This is another long one, so details below the cut.

PART 1: The Am Tal

The Am Tal (or Ahm Tal) is effectively the Andorian secret service - their equivalent to the Romulan Tal Shiar, the Vulcan V'Shar, and Earth's Section 31. Canon lore on them is sparse, naturally, but what is there tells us this:

The organization was founded in 1935 on the Andorian colony world of Cimera III. After the founding of the United Federation of Planets, the Am Tal often collaborated with Starfleet Intelligence and the Federation Intelligence Service, both officially and behind-the-scenes, but at all times the Am Tal operated independently of both. Am Tal agents working black-ops would sometimes pass on information to those more visible agencies as "anonymous sources." The Am Tal did not confine their activities to Andorian territory, contrary to what Federation Intelligence Services/Starfleet Intelligence once believed. They performed whatever operations were deemed essential to the welfare of Andoria and her people throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, up to and including black-ops and wet work. They were regarded as brutally efficient, ruthlessly determined, and they were feared almost as much as the Tal Shiar. A "boogeyman" among the intelligence services, foreign spies, double agents, terrorists and others they deemed as threats would simply "disappear" when the Ahm Tal were around. Andorian citizens often attribute such incidents to the Ahm Tal, and they are often right. [sources: Alpha and Beta canon; LUG: The Andorians: Among the Clans, All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook; Decipher: Aliens]

We also have an excerpt of a fantastic speech from LUG: The Andorians: Among the Clans from a politician regarding the Am Tal. As I harvest canon lore from multiple resources and try to make the jumbled mess make sense, I don't strictly adhere to ATC's lore, but I've always loved this detail:

"I think it tragic that we deny the existence of the Am Tal simply because the Federation doesn't understand what the Am Tal is. They are the most valorous heroes of our age. They die, silently, by the hundreds, saving our lives, protecting our freedom, defending our honor. They mutilate themselves for us. They focus their passion toward noble results. We should honor them. We are not obligated to explain them. Their real names must never be known." - Oshuvas Idrani, public address, Tarsk, 2268 They are noted scientists. They are wealthy merchants. They are adventurous pirates. They are Starfleet officers. Am Tal operatives are everywhere, the "seekers of secrets" and the sworn protectors of Andorian interests. The [Andorian government] denies their existence, despite the fact that 100 members are Am Tal and that the other 200 not only believe in them but want them shut down. [source: LUG: The Andorians: Among the Clans "Am Tal: The Art of Secrecy"]

Starfleet Intelligence does not manage to confirm the existence of the Am Tal beyond rumour and hearsay until the late 24th century - TNG era, that is.

To help put all of this in context, in Emigre the current year as of the most recent chapter (Ch 47) is 2174.

From this we can conclude a few things.

The Am Tal are very good at what they do. Despite the fact that the average Andorian citizen is well aware of the Am Tal as an entity protecting Andoria's interests, Starfleet Intelligence (and the Federation Intelligence Services branches) can't pin them down for at least another hundred years. That is some impressive operational security from the Am Tal's side of things.

Am Tal operatives are perfectly willing to undergo radical surgeries, including removal of their antennae, for deep cover operations - regardless of whether or not these procedures are reversible. They cultivate a ruthlessness and cold efficiency in their operatives that, frankly, sounds a hell of a lot cooler than Section 31 ever did.

Am Tal are spread throughout the quadrant and have an extensive spy network. They sometimes leave 'anonymous tips' for Federation Intelligence Services (FIS) and Starfleet Intelligence (SI) when they catch wind of something outside of their purview that the Federation might want to look into. No word on whether that courtesy extends to the Vulcans at the time of Emigre, however.

Anyone could be Am Tal. They're not all super soldiers or secret agents slinking about in highly visible uniforms, and their propensity for radical cosmetic alterations means that they slip under the radar with shocking ease. In short, literally anyone anywhere could be an Am Tal informant or operative, and there really isn't a good way to tell for sure.

From there my headcanons are as follows:

The Am Tal are a vast and far-reaching network of spies, informants, assassins, deep cover operatives, and citizens from all walks of life. They recruit anyone, regardless of Clan or status, who can meet their stringent requirements for loyalty, ruthlessness, and competence, and who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to serve Andoria.

There are many different kinds of Am Tal operatives as well, and a broad array of skills are required to serve Andoria and her people. Not every operative is a fierce warrior or possesses genius-level intellect, though the organization will certainly go out of its way to recruit such individuals if it can. Their ranks include merchants, scientists, engineers, freighter captains, shipyard workers, domestic service employees, clerks, media specialists, and more.

The Am Tal do not as an organization shy away from black-ops and wet work when it's needed, but it is not their first choice for dealing with problems. Their biggest priority is actually information-gathering, collation, analysis, and dissemination. A wealth of knowledge - particularly knowledge no one else wants one to have - wins wars as surely as a knife in the dark can topple nations. Moreover, dead men tell no tales and while death is certainly an option, Am Tal would much rather extract every ounce of information possible first before considering more final alternatives. They're not always picky about how they go about this, but finesse over brute force is the Am Tal's preferred modus operandi.

Part of the reason behind Am Tal's success is their operatives' willingness to do whatever it takes to preserve their covers. If they even suspect they're at risk of discovery, they disappear - and with their propensity for surgical alterations, quite effectively at that. Faking their own deaths is common, especially to estrange themselves from relatives who might pose problems in the future. In extreme circumstances, compromised operatives will self-terminate in such a way that their bodies and identifiers are destroyed as completely and thoroughly as possible. This is meant as a last resort only, and officials within the Am Tal are careful to neither condone nor discourage the act.

During the Earth-Romulan War (2156-2160), the Am Tal had limited success in gleaning information about Romulans, which was more than anyone else in the Federation had managed - but even so, it was hardly anything at all. Their file on Romulans and the Romulan spy network is threadbare at best in the current year, but it's all the Federation has to work with beyond the Enterprise incident reports.

The file, such as it was, was left anonymously on the Section Chief of Starfleet Intelligence's desk early one morning. Upon the isochip's discovery, the security footage or digital logs for the entire building were pulled, but upon review there was simply nothing there that shouldn't have been. Everyone involved agreed that the footage and records must have been tampered with, but no one could figure out how.

There are a number of Clans on Andoria (and its colonies) which have some association or another with the Am Tal, but not one of them have a provable tie to the shadowy organization. Rumour and hearsay at best are all that countless investigations have turned up. That doesn't stop the general population from making a few assumptions, however - better safe than dead is a rule to live by, on Andoria. Clans that have garnered such a reputation are generally treated with caution, since one never quite knows *who* exactly they are speaking to once Am Tal factor into the equation, but so long as the Clan's members are law-abiding citizens that's as far as it goes.

PART 2: The Andorian Incident!

The Andorians in the Andorian Incident are Commander Thy'lek Shran, Thon, Keval, and Tholos. As far as I know, we're never given the ranks of the other three, but I suspect Tholos was possibly a lieutenant.

Generally speaking, I have a few headcanons about these four, but I haven't really sat down and fleshed them out properly.

Shran is the most well-fleshed out character, having gotten the most screen time of the bunch. Where he's concerned, I mostly have headcanons about his departure from the Andorian Imperial Guard and subsequent poor lifestyle choices from a man who previously had been shown to be a competent and reasonable commander and negotiator. Something about that doesn't quite track, for me. It's generally agreed that he left the Guard out of guilt and shame for the fate of the Kumari, though I don't believe anyone else blamed him necessarily. The Marauder was a nasty piece of work, specifically designed to be a ship-killer, and it wasn't anything that anyone else in the quadrant had run up against before. It would have taken a miracle to save the Kumari once Shran's ship was the last one standing after the initial ambush. Certainly, there would be repercussions for the loss of the Andorian ambassador and the rest of the complement, but I don't think those repercussions would have been Shran's to bear, at least not entirely. He not only survived but saved as many of his crew as he could - and, more importantly, he lived long enough to negotiate a treaty in the ambassador's stead and be debriefed, despite his recklessness in his grief and the diplomatic shit-show that was the ushaan duel. The man has insane luck in the worst way - he has a weird tendency to be in the right place at the the right time, usually while he's also up to his antennae in problems and active firefights.

Tholos seems to be Shran's second in command, and he seems very comfortable following Shran into potentially volatile situations, from P'Jem to Corridan. That alone makes me think the two have known each other for years, or at least served together long enough to build up trust in the other's instincts. I headcanon Tholos as Shran's chief of security on the Kumari. Now, Tholos gets a bad reputation for creeping on T'Pol during The Andorian Incident which... fair. I personally think that the threats were empty, because something about Tholos' tone and word choice makes me think he's actually repulsed by Vulcans. His antennae, certainly, were not indicating any kind of fixation or arousal beyond sharp attention, which lends some credence to the idea that he was trying to provoke T'Pol, the other Vulcans, or the Enterprise landing party into giving something away. Since that didn't produce any of the desired results, he didn't bother with a second attempt, which a genuine creeper almost certainly would have. Remember that the Andorian squad was searching for evidence of a listening post, and as usual the monks were less than helpful. Provoking a response at this point - any response- would have been at least some kind of progress, since the Andorians had very clearly run out of momentum just as the Enterprise landing party arrived. Don't get me wrong - still creepy as fuck, but the possibility of tactical creeping makes me think that Tholos is the sort to actively look for weaknesses to exploit, maybe even habitually. He very well could be the sort who turns this on his own friends at times, with keen observations and cutting words that have become almost second-nature. In short, Tholos is an asshole but he's not that kind of asshole.

Keval, by comparison, we only see operating scanners and helping to search the monastery, which makes me think he might be a tech specialist or possibly an engineer. He doesn't get much in the way of screen time but even so Keval doesn't appear to be impulsive and we don't see any indication of a cruel streak like we do with Tholos. I headcanon Keval as a more measured sort of man, more likely to step back to assess rather than leap forward and react. He might be on the quieter side, as Andorians go, of a thoughtful disposition otherwise. When he's not searching Vulcan monasteries for secret lairs, I imagine he's the sort to enjoy tinkering with the systems under his care to improve their yield and efficiency when he has time.

Thon is the one we know the least about canonically, as he has no dialogue and is kind of just... there. He participates in the firefight, follows orders, and generally exists in the background. I'd say probably part of the Kumari's security complement under Tholos' command. I like to imagine Thon as an easy-going sort of guy, when he's not on a mission to suss out super secret Vulcan spy lairs, though he's by no means a pushover - the sort to enjoy wilderness hikes and hitting local dive bars.

#star trek #andorian #andorians #headcanon #Am Tal #Ahm Tal #The Andorian Incident #thy'lek shran #shran #commander shran #Tholos #Keval #Thon

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callsign-magnolia · 1 year

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I Hope You Dance // Ch. 47

MATURE CONTENT (18+)

A/N: This is cross posted to my Wattpad, so if this seems familiar that is why!

TW: Mental abuse, emotional abuse, slight physical abuse, death and loss.

Description: When Caila meets Rooster, sparks fly. But, she's already married, to a man who she thought loved her, and won't let her go. Rooster will fight for her, he just has to convince Caila to fight for herself.

Word Count: 8.5k

Chapter 46 | Masterlist

The next morning Rooster and I slept in, seeing as we kept each other up until the early morning hours. But when we woke up, we still couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves. “Fuck, Bradley!” I cried out as I straddled him, his cock brushing that one spot inside me as he thrust up into me. “God you take me so well, pretty girl. Taking me like a good girl.” I moaned at his words, my slick coating my thighs and his as he fucked me. My nails were digging into his chest as he hissed in pain. I leaned down, my lips molding to his as his arms wrapped around me, his thrusts speeding me up. “Oh god, oh god, oh god!” I cried out. “Cum for me mags. Come on.” The knot is my stomach was pulling tighter and tighter. “Come on, pretty girl. Cum on my cock for me.” His hips were slamming into mine, his words spurring me onto until I was crying out, cumming on his cock and shaking. He chased his own high after I finished, making tears stream down my cheeks from the overstimulation. “Fuck, Mags!” He grunted, one hand tangled in my hair, the other gripping my ass. “God you feel so good! Fucking take it!” He said before moaning loudly, cumming into the condom and laying back on his pillow breathing hard.

He grinned at me, pulling me down into his chest before placing a kiss to the crown of my head. “God, I love you.” He said, running his hands through my hair. I giggled, resting my hand on his chest and resting my chin on my hand. “I love you too, Roo.” He smiled at me, his thumb rubbing across my cheek. “What time do you have to meet your mom?” He asked. “Eleven-thirty.” He hummed. “Think we got time for one more round?” I grinned, sitting up as he followed me. Pushing me onto my back before hovering over me. “I think we can make time.” I whispered before pulling his lips down to mine. After we wore each other out, we didn’t realize we fell back asleep until I woke up, looking at the clock to see ten forty-five. “Shit!” I yelled, launching out of bed and startling Rooster. “What?!” He asked as I rushed into the bathroom. “I still need a shower! I’m gonna be so late!” I yelled as I slammed the door shut, cutting on the water and grabbing my toothbrush and toothpaste. I quickly showered, and brushed my teeth while I rinsed the soap off my body. Once I was out, I rushed to dry off before stepping out of the bathroom and rushing to the dresser. I yanked out some yoga pants and a tank top. I got dressed and slid on some tennis shoes before pulling my wet hair into a bun and rushing downstairs.

I grabbed my purse before looking at the rack we keep our keys on, but they were gone. “Fuck! Where are my keys?” I turned but Bradley stood there with a cup full of iced coffee and my keys. “What would I do without you?” I asked before standing on my toes and kissing him quickly. “You’d still be searching for your keys.” He said as he opened the front door for me. “I love you and I will see you when we get to the stadium.” He said, pulling me into one last kiss. “I love you too!” I yelled as I rushed to the jeep. Once inside I backed out of the driveway and headed for the stadium. I sped around the building, pulling int next to mom’s tour bus before grabbing the pass mom gave me and getting out. No one stopped me as I rushed back to the dressing rooms to set my stuff down. I got to mom’s dressing room and swung the door open, she was tying her shoes on the couch when I walked in. “You’re late.” She scolded. “And your hair is wet.” Olga, mom’s stylist said as she walked in behind me, her Swedish accent thick behind me. “Yes, I know. We fell back asleep so I barely managed to shower before rushing here.”

“What could you have been doing that you couldn’t be up by ten o’clock? You’re in the navy! You’re up at like four a.m. every morning!” She exasperated. “Fucking, Regina! They were fucking!” My cheeks burned as Olga yelled out the answer from behind me. “Oh my god. I did not need to know that.” She said before walking past me and out the door. “She seems to forget that when her and your dad got together, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.” I groaned, dropping my face into my hands. Olga has been with my mom since she started touring in the eighties. They’re also close friends and have been since before Jameson was born. “What? I walked in on them a time or two. On accident of course. Dressing rooms seemed to be their thing-“ “Olga, I love you but just like mama, I didn’t need to know that.” She rolled her eyes. “So sensitive.” She remarked. “Same old Olga.” She smiled at me, kissing my cheek. “Go rehearse and when you are done, I will make you look… not so messy anymore.” She waved me off and I chuckled as I walked out of the dressing room and down the stadium hallways to the stage. Once there mom was talking with her lead guitarist. Once she saw me, she walked over, holding out a microphone. “Ready to rehearse?” I nodded, taking the mic. “Hey, mom.” I stopped her. “I’m really sorry I was late.” She shook her head. “It’s okay. I don’t ever recall you being late for things. I just wish Olga didn’t blurt out what she did, because I definitely didn’t need to know that.” I nodded. “I know.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Let’s go and practice. I’m so excited to have you up here.” I smiled and nodded, following her down to the end of the stage.

“Hold still!” Olga yelled, gripping my cheeks to hold my head still. “I’m sorry.” I said through squished cheeks. Soon she let go, grabbing the purple nude lipstick from the counter. “Pucker.” If there was one thing I learned, growing up, was if any staff on the tour told you to do something, you did it and Olga was no exception. She finished my lipstick and stepped back. “Beautiful. Stand up.” I stood and she fluffed the curls in my hair. “Okay, now get changed. Regina will want you in about thirty-minutes.” She stepped out and I grabbed the rhinestone covered bustier from the hanger. If there was one thing my mom was known for when on stage, was her presence and her outfits. Once I got the bustier clipped together, I grabbed the black high waisted skirt and draped the thin rhinestone belts across it. My nerves had my hands shaking and I wasn’t sure how I was going to do this. It’s been a while since I’ve been on stage, and I haven’t done it since my very public divorce. I gave myself another once over in the mirror before walking out, my heels clicking as I made my way down the halls. I high pitch horn sounded behind me, making me jump. “Need a ride?” I smiled as Mark rolled up in a golf cart. “Absolutely.” I ran around to the other side, climbing in.

~~~

“Where’s Magnolia? I thought she’d be here?” Hangman yelled over the roar of the crowd and the music. I shrugged, burying my hands in my pockets as we stood in a separate section by the stage. “I don’t know. But I was hoping she’d come out here. I wanted to enjoy this with her.” I looked around, hoping I could catch sight of my fiancé but no luck. Regina was finishing her first song, the thunderous cheers booming around us. “So, I have a friend in the crowd tonight and her birthday is coming up.” She paused as the crowd cheered. “And just like me, she is a big Guns N’ Roses fan. So I decided to perform one of my favorite songs tonight for her.” “Me?!” Penny yelled as Mav pointed at her. “Yes, you!” Penny is fun-loving, but mostly calm. So to see her squealing and jumping up and down was a sight. “Mom! Calm down!” Amelia yelled as she grabbed her arm. “Rooster!” Phoenix called from down our line. She was pointing up on stage, back towards the band. “Look!” I glanced up as the opening chords to ‘Welcome to The Jungle’ blasted through the speakers. The lights went up and the big screen showed the main stage, but I didn’t need it to know it was Magnolia on the lift. Cheers erupted around us as she made her way down the stage towards her mom, guitar in hand. My eyes were fixed on her, I wasn’t able to look away. The rhinestone covered top, that short skirt and the boots that made her legs look like they went on for miles. If I wasn’t careful, I would get a hard on right here and now.

A smile lit up her face as she played the guitar. It was a side of her I don’t always get to see. “Is that why she’s been playing guitar more often the last few weeks?” Phoenix asked from next to me and I shrugged. “I guess. I didn’t know she was doing this.” I was surprised, but I was happy to see her face light up the way it did. The song closed out and the floor shook with applause and cheers. I joined in, screaming as she waved out to the crowd. Her head whipped around, curls flying around her face as her eyes searched the crowd. Once they landed on me, she smiled, winking at me before blowing a kiss my way. I smiled at her, winking back. “Who wants to hear her do one of her own songs?” Regina asked, the crowd screaming as Caila looked at her with wide eyes. “Come on. You can’t tell them no now!” I was worried, seeing as she looked nervous. “Okay.” She agreed and Regina ran up the stage, grabbing something from one of the stagehands. I smiled, recognizing the black fringe jacket and white Stetson. Once she had that on, Regina whispered in her ear before going backstage. Caila adjusted the mic stand as she looked out at the sea of people. “Wow, okay I didn’t expect this. Um, I was also informed of what song to perform. This one is called ‘Closer To You’. I wrote it while my fiancé-“ She was cut off by more thunderous cheers in response to the term. “Thank you. Um, we’re both in the navy and we were separated for a while because of deployments. I wrote this after I came home but he was still gone.” I paid close attention to the song. Watching as she stood up there, looking like a literal angel in the lights.

“We can cut the headlights out when there ain't no one else around Kill the space in between, slide across that leather seat Heart to heart, face to face, you know all I wanna do Is get closer, closer, closer to you Closer to you.”

The chorus told me everything I needed to know. “Thank you, San Diego!” She said before walking off stage, her mother replacing her. “I think that’s my favorite song of hers. What did y’all think?” We all cheered before Regina started her next song. “CAILA!” Rita screamed from the opposite end. I watched as she pulled Mags into a hug, chatting her ear off before everyone else swarmed her. I tried to push through, but it was no use, so I just backed away, watching the show. But it wasn’t long until I felt a small hand wrap around my arm. “Hi honey.” She was quiet but I could pick up her voice in the loudest of crowds. I looked down at her, smiling widely. “Hi, pretty girl.” She grinned at me, her free hand reaching up and wrapping around my neck, pulling me into a kiss. “How’d you like the song?” She pulled away just long enough to whisper the question against my lips. I couldn’t help but grin against her lips, my hands falling to her waist to pull her flush against my body. “I loved it. Did you write that for me?” She nodded, pulling back just enough to look at me. “I did.” Her arms went around my neck, our bodies warm against each other’s. “I just wanna be close to you, Roo.” The grin never left my face as she looked up at me. “I’m always keeping you with me, pretty girl.”

~~~

I kept my body pressed against Rooster’s as we watched the rest of the show whether that be me pressed against my side, or my back against his chest as his arms were wrapped around my waist. “San Diego, I have had a blast with you, but sadly, time is running out. So, I want to leave you with one last song, it’s a personal favorite of mine. Let’s throw it back to the year two-thousand, and… I Hope You Dance.” I’ll never get used to the sounds of clapping roaring over everything else. It shook the ground beneath my feet, causing Rooster to pull me closer. The opening chords started, and Rooster let me go. I was about to turn and ask him what was wrong when he spun me around, one hand falling to my waist as his left hand grabbed my right. My left hand rested on his chest as he smiled at me, resting his forehead on mine. “You know, I searched and searched for this song but never found it.” I giggled as he stared into my eyes. “How? You could’ve looked at Mama’s discography.” His eyes widened. “In six years, I never thought to do that.”

I leaned up, kissing his nose before wrapping my arms around his neck. “That’s okay. You don’t have to search for it anymore.” He nodded, his hand coming up and resting on my cheek. “Because I have you.” I raised a brow. “I was gonna say because I know the song and the artist but, what you said works too.” He threw his head back laughing and it took him a second to catch his breath, but he pulled me close when he did. I took my hat off, resting it on his head so I could lay my head on his chest as he swayed us side to side. I took a deep breath, his cologne surrounding me as his heart was beating in my ear. I thought back to the last time we were at one of mom’s shows together. It was when we were in Virginia, and he showed up. I told him he wasn’t good enough and was so cruel to him. “Rooster?” I asked, his hand rubbing my back as he kissed my head. “Yeah, pretty girl?” He answered. “I love you. So much, Rooster.” He hummed as his lips rested against the crown of my head. “Oh, I love you more than words can describe, Magnolia.”

Once the concert was over, we all made our way backstage and hung out for a while. Rooster held onto JJ who was dead asleep on his shoulder. Little man had a blast watching the show, and Penny was still ecstatic about the song for her. But finally, we were all exhausted and went our separate ways. “What time do we have to meet the photographer tomorrow?” Rooster asked as we walked through the front door. “Noon.” I grumbled, feeling dead on my feet. He chuckled, following me upstairs, still in my outfit from the show. Once upstairs I immediately sat down, kicking off my boots before laying back on the bed. “I forgot how exhausting performing can be.” I mumbled as Rooster chuckled, slipping off his shirt. I laid there with my eyes closed, trying to find the motivation to move. I could hear Bradley rustling around, but he startled me when he climbed up my body. I opened my eyes, looking up at him as he straddled me. “So this is what it’s like in this position.” I giggled as he opened something next to me. He rubbed something on my face, and I realized he was taking my makeup off. “You’re so good to me.” I mumbled as he gently worked to get all the makeup off. Once he was done, he got up before coming back and setting something next to me. “Your solution is in there. But you have to take your contacts out yourself.” I giggled again, taking out my contacts before he put the caps on the case and putting it back in the bathroom. “Now my favorite part.” He said before he reached behind me. “This is more intricate than a normal bra. You can’t work your magic with this one.” He smirked. “Watch me.” He attempted to snap the clasps open, but was unsuccessful. “Here.” I managed to roll onto my front, allowing him access to the million and one clasps on the bustier. Once unclasped I sat up and he slid it off, carefully laying it in the floor. I tucked my arms under my head, closing my eyes again. But I smirked when I felt his soft lips placing gentle kisses along my shoulder.

“You’re keeping all this, right.” I hummed in agreement as he worked his way down my back till he got to the waist band of my skirt. “I absolutely loved seeing you on stage. But I think this is my favorite part of the night.” I giggled as he placed a kiss in the center of my back before slowly dragging down the zipper. “I knew you only wanted to get in my pants.” He chuckled, resting his forehead on my back. “I’m trying to be all sweet and you keep making me laugh.” I sat up, turning my head back to look over my shoulder. “Guess I’m doing my job then.” He smiled, gently pulling the skirt down my legs and unclasping the rhinestone belts. I squealed as he hauled me up to the head of the bed, pulling the covers down before enveloping us in them. “God I love you.” He said as he hovered over me, his forehead resting against mine. “I love you too, Roo.” His lips molded against mine as he kissed me, my hands running up his biceps as they held him up. He pulled away, trailing kisses along my cheek and down my neck. “You know, we just got that video camera.” I hummed as his lips ran across my chest, taking one of my nipples in his mouth, making me moan. My eyes were closed and I was struggling to stay awake. “We could put that to good use.” His lips trailed along my belly, his tongue dipping into my navel as he went across it. I was fighting to stay awake, but his soft kisses and hushed whispers slowly lulled me to sleep.

The next day I was redoing my curls after I finished my makeup. “What shoes do you want?” Rooster asked as he laced up his own boots. “The white block heels in the floor of the closet.” He nodded and went to get them. I set my curling iron down and fluffed my hair. “How do I look?” I asked as I walked out of the bathroom. He smiled at me from the closet doorway, looking over my body. “You look,” He said as he came over, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Fucking ethereal.” He leaned down, kissing me gently. “But I’m still mad at you for last night.” I groaned as I sat in the chair next to the closet. “How many times do I have to apologize for that?” I groaned. “I’ll let you know when you’ve groveled enough.” I glared at him as he crouched down, slipping my shoes on my feet. He clasped them together around my ankle. “But I still love you, so I won’t make you beg for forgiveness too much more.” He sat up, kissing me again. “I love you too.” He helped me up and I brushed out my dress. It was powder blue, with puffy sleeves on the shoulders but it was backless. Rooster had on one of his signature Hawaiian shirts. It was white with powder blue flowers. I told him to wear whatever, but he wanted to somewhat match. He had on washed out jeans that clung to his thighs. “We’re finally doing these pictures, I’m so excited.” He said as he lifted me up, carrying me out of the bedroom. He put me down and we went downstairs and found the girls staring out the back door. “Y’all can go out later. You’ve had baths and you need to stay pretty for your pictures.” I said as I leaned down, kissing Dahlia’s head. I grabbed some waters from the fridge and set them on the counter just as the doorbell went off.

I walked into the living room, seeing Rooster holding the door open for Nina, our photographer. “Hi! Thank you so much for coming and doing this.” I greeted as she walked in. “My pleasure. I love this house by the way.” She said as she looked around. “Thank you. We just renovated.” Rooster said as he came over, wrapping his arm around my waist. “But I can’t help but notice the hole in the wall there, and the one in the ceiling up there.” I bit my lip. We haven’t had a chance to patch the holes yet but the officers did remove the bullets from the walls. “We had a break in back in March.” She nodded and dropped the subject. “Well I’m glad everything is okay. Now, I would love to get some shots of you two on the staircase. You have many family photos, and other wedding photos. So I think that’d make a cute one. Could I see the rest of the house?” I nodded and we took her on a tour of the house. Once we were back in the kitchen she nodded. “This entire house seems to embody you as a couple. I think we’re gonna get some good shots in here.” For the first round she had us take a few pictures in the living room floor, which the dogs bombarded. We had to calm them down so they would lie on the floor with us. Then we moved to the couch, where Nina caught some beautiful pictures of us. One was Rooster laying back against the couch, my back to his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. We did a few on the staircase, my favorite had to be when he dipped me, holding my one leg up.

“Okay, Rooster take off your shoes and get on the bed. He raised a brow but did as she said, sitting on the bed and scooting back. “Okay, you take yours off and get up there, facing him.” I unbuckled my heels, climbing up onto the bed with him. He grinned at me as I crawled towards him before sitting down with my legs in front of me. He smiled down at me as I tossed some of my hair over my shoulder. “Hey, pretty girl.” He whispered, leaning closer. “Hi honey.” I whispered back as he rested his forehead on mine. “You look beautiful.” I couldn’t fight the grin on my face as he lifted his had to cup my cheek. “These are going to be so perfect!” Nina squealed as Rooster kissed me. We took a few of us cuddling, him laying on his side as I laid back against him before we went back downstairs. “Is that a piano?” She asked as she led us to the kitchen. “It is.” I answered and she turned to me. “Do you play?” I shook my head, pointing behind me. “He does.”

“Okay.” She grabbed Bradley by the sleeve of his shirt, gently pulling him over to the piano. “Sit and lay something romantic.” He just chuckled and did as she said. “Okay. Now go up behind him and wrap your arms around him or kiss his cheek or something.” I grinned, walking over and wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he played something soft and slow. I closed my eyes, gently pressing my lips to his temple for a few seconds before pulling away. “Do I dare?” He asked with a shit eating grin. “Oh… you do dare.” I whispered back. Before I knew it, he hit the familiar notes. “You shake my nerves, and you rattle my brain!” We took off, belting out the song together as I danced around him before joining him on the bench. We laughed as we finished, sharing another kiss. “Wow! You guys were so good!” Nina yelled excitedly. “Thank you!” I replied as we stood from the bench. “On to the kitchen!” She said, marching that way. We took a few cute ones in there. One of rooster lifting me on to the counter, him standing between my legs. She even got some cute shots of my ring on the white and black granite countertop. Then we moved outside with the dogs and took some cute little family photos, but I think my favorites were the ones of Rooster and I lounging on the porch swing. I was nestled between his legs and even though we were posing, I felt so safe and relaxed. “Okay, to the beach!” She yelled, jogging through the gate and out to the sand. “I really like her energy.” I said as we kicked off our shoes and followed her. Once on the beach Dahlia took off in a run as Sadie tried to keep her paws off the sand as much as possible. “Aw, come here.” Bradley cooed, lifting her off the ground and into his arms.

“Okay, just take a walk down the beach and pretend I’m not here.” Nina yelled and we just laughed and did as she asked. Rooster held Sadie in one arm and held my hand with the other as Dahlia ran ahead. “I’m excited to see these once she’s done with them.” I said as we walked. “Me too.” I narrowed my eyes up at him, staring intensely. “So… are you going to give me any hint on what this super special date is?” He just laughed, smiling down at me. “Nope. It’s a surprise, pretty girl.” I threw my head back groaning before Nina called us back. We took a few more pictures with the dogs before we sent them inside. “Okay, just walk along the water.” We did as she asked and after a few paces she stopped us. “Okay, give her a spin.” Rooster took my hand, spinning me slowly before he pulled me in, dipping me as the surf came in. “Perfect!” I couldn’t help but grin and throw my arms around his neck as he pulled me back up. “Can I see the ring?” I nodded, slipping my ring off and handing it to her. She walked back, placing my ring gently in the sand, using her finger to trace a heart around it. She took a few more pictures of it, even pulling out some scrabble letters and writing out love, using my ring as the ‘O’. “Okay.” She said as she handed my ring back to me. “How do you feel about getting wet?” We nodded, looking at each other. “Sounds fun!” I said and she nodded. “Bradley, sit down in the surf.” He did as she asked and he just gave me a dopey grin as he looked up at me. “Alright. Straddle his lap.” She was so straightforward. I love it. I bounced over, tossing my leg over his before slowly dropping myself down onto his lap. His hands latched onto my hips, pulling me close to him as our noses brushed together.

“Now…. Kiss!” We laughed and kissed as she said it. His arms wrapped around me, holding me close. My own hands drifting to his hair. There was a fire in this kiss, one that made me feel like flames were licking my core. “Please don’t forget I’m here.” Nina said, making me laugh in the middle of the kiss. “Okay, now, walk out into the water and Bradley, I need you to lift her till her legs wrap around your waist.” He nodded, standing with me in his arms. “Or don’t even put her down. That works too.” He walked right out into the water, waves crashing against us making me squeal. She walked a little closer but not too far that the camera could be damaged. “Okay, turn so I can see your side profiles.” He did as she asked, smirking at me. “No funny business until she’s done.” “I make no promises.” I narrowed my eyes at him as a wave gently crashed into us. “Kiss! Do something cute!” He kissed me again, pulling me as close as he could get me. I smiled into the kiss, grinding my core against him. “Stop it.” He said as he pulled away. “I’m not doing anything!” I exclaimed. “You’re being a little-“ He was cut off as a wave crashed into us. I squealed as we were officially soaked from head to toe. “What were you saying?” He opened his mouth as another wave crashed into us, taking us under. The water wasn’t too deep, but I was a little disoriented as the wave rolled over me. Soon I managed to get my head out of the water, gasping as I flipped my hair out of my face. “Are you okay?” Nina asked, reaching her hand out for me to take.

I accepted her hand, pulling myself out of the water. “Where’s-“ I was looking for Bradley when he popped up a foot away from where I was. “Damn. Didn’t think I would ever get back up.” He said as he stood, making his way over. “You look like a drowned cat.” He said as he looked at me. I smacked his chest, gasping. “How dare you!” He laughed, wrapping his arms around me and lifting me. “Good thing I love cats. And you!” I pouted, crossing my arms over my chest as he held me. “Oh, c’mon honey. I was just joking.” I continued to pout until he wrapped my legs around his waist, leaning over. “I love you, pretty girl. I didn’t mean it.” I couldn’t hold it in anymore, smiling before I grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss. “I just wanted to hear you beg.” He laughed before putting me on my feet. “Well, good thing I got all the photos I needed before you two were almost washed away with the tide.” Nina joked. “So, we’re all done here?” Rooster asked and she nodded. “Awesome! Let’s get back inside so I can give you your check and we can shower and get ready for our date.” I said and Rooster shook his head. “Don’t bother showering.” Rooster said as we made our way back to the house. We managed to dry off enough to go inside and I gave Nina her check. “I’m really confident in these, so would you mind if I used them on my website?” I shook my head. “Not at all. Go for it.” She nodded. “And of course, if you want to use me as a wedding photographer, I have another person who works with me and she’s a videographer. I love using her for weddings because we can get shots of the bride and groom in the aisle.” We nodded. “We’ll keep that in mind.” She nodded before I walked her out. “Now,” Rooster said as I closed the door. “You need to change into a bathing suit and a coverup.” I raised an eyebrow. “We just got out of the water, and you wanna go get back in it?” He shook his head. “Not quite.”

Twenty minutes later we were in the bronco, and Rooster’s large hand was resting on my thigh, slowly pushing my dress up higher and higher. “How much longer?” I asked as I adjusted the blindfold on my eyes. “We’re pulling in now.” He said and soon he came around, helping me out of the bronco. “Careful.” He said as he walked ahead of me, holding my hand as the other hand rested on my elbow. “Step. Step.” Once I was on solid ground, I could tell there was wood beneath my feet. “Stop.” I did as he said, and he yanked the blindfold from my eyes. “Watch the braid!” I yelled as I ran my hand over my wet hair. I looked in front of me, seeing a white sailing yacht. ‘What’s this?” I asked and he grinned, taking my hand. “Come on. I’ll show you.” He took my hand helping me up onto the boat before joining me. “Penny let me borrow her boat. You can set our bag down there.” I went down into the cabin, setting our bag on one of the cushions, spotting a basket sitting on the small table space. I grabbed it, walking back up. “Did Penny also leave us a basket with champagne, fancy cheese, crackers and chocolate?” He chuckled. “Yes. There’s another basket down there but I’ll pull that out in a little while.” I nodded, putting the basket in a safe place. I went back to the cockpit, smiling as Rooster pulled in the last rope. “And we’re off.” I took the wheel as he opened the sails. Once they were open, he took the wheel from me and sailed us out of the harbor.

Rooster was sailing to a cove about an hour out and I had the time of my life as I stood by him, the boat tilting and water splashing up as we made our way through the ocean. Once we were there, I helped him drop anchor and he closed the sails. “Okay, you go sit on deck.” I did as he asked as he went down to the cabin. I stretched my legs out in front of me, leaning back on my hands as the sun hit my face. “Okay!” I looked back as Rooster came over, a wild grin on his face as he carried a picnic basket and the bottle of champagne. “We have dinner and champagne.” He pulled out some plates and a few other items. Caprese pasta salad, fruit, some veggies, reuben sandwiches and a charcuterie board. “Did you really pack everything for a charcuterie board?” He nodded as he set it all up. “Sure did.” Once the food was set out, he grabbed two plastic champagne flutes and poured our glasses. “Okay, I love this. But why is this a super special date?” I asked and he smirked, sitting up and grabbing my hand. I thought he was going to hold it until he snatched the ring from my finger. “Hey!” He held it away from me then sat up till he was on one knee. “Magnolia. I know, I’ve already proposed. But I wanted to do it again, the way I had planned it the first time. You are everything to me. You are what my world spins around and the reason I get up every day. I spent a long time alone, and I don’t want that anymore. I want to spend the rest of my life by your side, reminding you everyday how much I love you. So, Caila Motley, will you marry me?” A few tears trailed down my cheeks just like they did five months ago, and I laughed as he stared down at me. I sat up on my knees, grabbing his face and kissing him sweetly. “Of course, I will marry you.”

He chuckled, placing the ring back on my finger. “You’re not gonna ask me if I’m sure this time?” I sat back, eyes wide. “Are you not sure?” He shook his head, chuckling. “This is the one decision I’ve never questioned. I know this is what I want for the rest of my life.” He kissed me again before we sat back down, scooting closer together. “Is this how you were originally gonna propose?” He nodded as he handed me my plate. “It was. But I knew when I was able to meet you for Christmas, I couldn’t wait. If anything happened to me, I wanted to know that you knew how much I love you.” I smiled, kissing him again. “I love you too, Roo.” With that we dug into the food, enjoying everything he packed. “This is so good. You should cook more often.” He just chuckled, leaning over and kissing my cheek. “Why would I when everything you make is so amazing?” I hummed, looking over at him. “Well, you’re not wrong.” I said and he laughed. We finished the food and drank half the champagne before Rooster stood from his spot, slipping his shirt off, the fabric landing in a heap next to me. “What are you doing?” I asked, watching as he slipped off his shoes as well. “We’re in the middle of the water. I’m going for a swim.” He said as he stood on the rails of the bow, before doing a backflip off it and landing in the water. “Come on, Mags! Don’t keep me waiting!” He yelled. I looked over the side, seeing him wading in the water. I grabbed the bottom of my dress and started to lift it. I caught sight of my thighs, and I realized something. I had gained more weight than I had thought in my time away from work while I was healing.

I hadn’t noticed it till now, because every time before Bradley saw me naked or in a bathing suit, there was a distraction. But now, sitting here alone I could clearly see the cellulite on my thighs, and I just felt heavier today. “Um, I actually think I’m gonna sit up here and tan while the sun is still high!” I called back, deciding to lay back on the deck, allowing the sun to warm my skin. I grew comfortable in the heat, until I felt the boat rock slightly. I heard Rooster padding over, and soon a large shadow blocked the sun. “You know, I’d believe the whole tanning bit more if you took your dress off and you didn’t just have a spray tan.” I pulled my sunglasses down my nose, peering up at him. “Maybe I just want to tan my legs.” He chuckled, crouching down next to me, dripping water over my legs. “What’s really going on?” He asked and I shrugged. “Nothing.” He smirked, leaning over me, caging me in. “I know what this is.” I bit my lip, knowing he probably did know. “The same thing happened when you were grounded during your divorce. You’ve gained weight, so you don’t feel beautiful.” I sat up quickly, our heads almost colliding. “Have I gained that much?” He shrugged. “I don’t pay much attention to your weight. I just know you are still the beautiful woman I love, and I’ll be damned if you think less of yourself.”

I looked down at my thighs, my hands resting on them. “I just…” I took a deep breath, the salty air warming my body. “It’s hard. I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to maintain a weight that’s acceptable within the navy and it’s so hard. I can eat healthy and still push the limit. The only way I can keep my weight down is when I’m in the gym every day and since being out of work and recovering I haven’t been I was only back a week before we took this week off.” I pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them. “I haven’t been able to consistently fly since the accident. Every time I turn around, I’m out of work for some reason. It’s so infuriating because I either can’t work out because of an injury, or I’m having to take care of something that takes all of my time.” A few tears gathered in my eyes from frustration. “It’s not just about how I look. If I gain too much weight, then I can’t fly. And I have fought to damn hard for my job just to let it go over something like that.” Rooster took his thumb, wiping the tears away from my eye as we sat there. He took my hand in his, rubbing his thumb along my knuckles. “I know how scary it can be to have your job on the line. Any other person would tell you, ‘Fuck what the navy thinks.’ But I guess that’s the beauty of having someone who understands. We’ve worked our asses off to get where we are in our careers, and to lose it over something as small as a single pound is almost… soul crushing.” I sniffled, as I wiped more tears away. “But in this moment, it’s not about your career, Mags.” Fuck, I was hoping to throw him off. “What’s going through your head?” He asked as he pushed some hair away from my face. “I don’t really wanna take my dress off.” He smiled at me as he placed his free hand on my thigh. “And why is that?”

“I’m afraid what you’ll think when you see me without it.” He chuckled, almost looking surprised. “Honey, I’ve seen you in nothing. How is this any different?” I huffed, laying back in frustration. “All those times it’s been heat of the moment. We’ve been so… lost in each other that you don’t really take the time to look over my body and take in all the little details. But here, I’m just worried you’ll finally notice all my flaws.” He sighed, looking at me. “Let me start this next sentence with, I love you and I think you’re perfect.” I raised a brow at him as he chuckled. “Are you societies standard of perfect? No. Have I ever dated a girl like you, looks and personality wise? No. But that’s what makes you so perfect to me.” I know he meant well but I wasn’t sure if I should feel a little insulted. “I love you, Mags. I want you to know how special you are to me, and I need you to understand that.” He leaned over me, lowering himself to kiss my lips. ”Are you gonna let me show you?” I bit my lip, nodding. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down into a kiss. He placed his knee between my legs, pushing up till he was brushing against my core. I moaned, running my hands across his sea salt-soaked shoulders. “Come on, let’s get this off.” He sat up, pulling me with him as he gently gathered my dress in his hands, pulling it off me. “Goddamn.” He groaned, looking down at me. I had on a retro style bikini, the top was green, and the bottoms were high waisted, and white with palm leaves on it. “Come here.”

He hauled me to my feet, his arms wrapping around me as his lips devoured mine. I smiled into the kiss, my fingers finding their way into his hair. I felt him grow hard against my abdomen and I smirked, running my hand down his chest until I dipped behind his waist band, gripping his cock firmly. “You’re asking for it.” He muttered against my lips. “I really am.” I responded but yelped when I felt him pop the band of my bikini top. Immediately my boobs fell out the bottom of my top, his hands running up and over one of them before he pulled the top over my head and tossed it behind us. “Roo.” I moaned as he bent down, taking one of my nipples in his mouth, his tongue running over it, bringing it to a peak. “Oh fuck.” I whined as he tugged me closer. I pumped him in my hand a few times as he groaned against me. He stood up, kissing me hard. “Come here.” He pulled me over to the railing, pressing me against it as he started kissing my neck. “Get them off.” I mumbled, reaching behind me and shoving his swim trunks down his legs.

“I fucking love when you’re needy.” He groaned out. He grabbed my bottoms, pushing them down my own legs before kicking my feet farther apart. “You want it, pretty girl?” I could feel him hard against my ass and I moaned as his hands came up, gripping my breasts in his large hands. “Yeah.” I sighed out, my head falling back to his shoulder. “Mm, gonna have to do better than that if you want me to fuck you.” It was like my brain glitched, and I could hardly think straight. “Please, Bradley.” He chuckled in my ear, lips finding their place behind it. “Oh, come on, Mags. Try a little harder for me.” I moaned as he pressed himself against me. “Bradley. I need you. Need you inside me.” He chuckled, one hand letting go of my boob pushing against my back and bending me over the railing. “Oh, Mags. I’ll give you whatever you want, honey.” I felt his tip press against my entrance, slowly slipping in. I moaned as he slid in, inch by inch until finally he bottomed out, leaning over me and placing kisses along my back. “You feel like heaven, Mags. I could spend the rest of my life buried in your pretty pussy.” I moaned as he pulled back before slamming back into me. “Oh, fuck.” I moaned as he found a rhythm. “Bradley.” He smirked against my back, his left hand coming up and wrapping around my neck. I gasped as he leaned back, rolling his hips into me. “Bradley! Yes!” I moaned as his hips slammed into me, the sound of skin slapping surrounding the world around us.

“You feel so good, Mags.” He groaned in my ear. “Fuck.” Suddenly he stopped and I whined. “I don’t have a condom on.” He said, panting with his head resting on the back of my shoulder. “I’m on birth control, remember.” His head shot up and I could feel him staring at me. “Just please, fuck me, Roo. Need to feel you inside me honey.” I stood, leaning back against him. His hand tightened around my neck and the other wrapped around my waist. Suddenly he started pounding into me, little gasps and moans escaping me. “Gonna cum on my cock, pretty girl?” I nodded, a high-pitched moan escaping me. “Yeah, that’s it. Come on, Mags. Cum for me, honey.” The tightening in my core snapped and my orgasm hit me. “Fuck! Yes! Yes! Bradley, don’t stop!” I screamed out, as he continued to thrust into me. “Oh fuck, I’m gonna cum, Mags.” I couldn’t stop myself. “Cum inside me.” He moaned, not slowing down at all. “You sure?” I nodded. “Fill me up, Roo. Want to be full of you.” My brain was hazy, not coherent as to what I was saying. “I can’t wait till we’re married. Gonna keep you full of me, gonna have my babies.” He reached down, fingers finding my clit which sent me tumbling towards my second orgasm as his own hit. “Oh, fuck Mags! That’s it, pretty girl! Take it!” My legs started shaking in pleasure as he buried himself deep inside me, his forehead resting on my back. “WOO!” My head snapped up seeing a boat full of frat guys slowly sailing past, a few with phones in their hands and pointed straight at us. “Oh my god, Bradley!” I called. “NICE TITS!” I covered myself as Bradley slipped out of me, his hands fell to my waist, and he moved me behind him.

“Get dressed.” He demanded and I did, slipping my bikini bottoms back on as I grabbed my top. Bradley had his bottoms on, and I turned to him. “I need help with my top.” He came over, tying my top before I turned to him. “I can’t believe that happened.” I said as I laid my head on his chest. “Maybe the middle of the cove wasn’t the best place for sex.” I nodded against him as he wrapped his arms around me. “Do you think they actually took pictures?” I asked and he shook his head. “Nah. They’re just some pervs trying to get a closer look at the action.” I let out the breath I was holding. “I hope you’re right.” He chuckled, holding me out at arm’s length. “I know something that will make you feel better.” I looked up at him expectantly. But I squealed as he leaned down, grabbing me and tossing me over his shoulder. “Bradley!” I yelled as he climbed up on the bow. “If you drop me headfirst on this deck, I swear to god!” He just laughed. “Plug your nose!” He yelled before jumping off the bow and into the deep blue water.

We swam for a few hours and as the sun started setting, we crawled back on the boat, deciding to air dry for awhile before we headed back. “You know what would make this say even better?” I asked him and he smiled at me. “I didn’t think it could get any better, but I’m up for suggestions.” I got up, walking down to the cabin and grabbing my phone. I came back up, smiling at him as I scrolled through my music. “What’s that grin for?” I clicked on the song I wanted and set my phone down. I walked over, holding my hand out to him. “Dance with me?” He just grinned, taking my hand and standing before pulling me flush against him. “What song is this?” He asked, looking down at me. “When You Say Nothing At All.” I laid my head on his shoulder as one of his hands rested on my waist, his other holding my right hand as he spun us around. “Hey Roo?” I asked and he buried his face in my hair. “Yeah?” I smiled. “We get married in seven months.” He picked his head up, smiling down at me as I looked up at him. “Oh, I can’t wait to make you Mrs. Bradshaw.” He said before spinning me around, dipping me as I squealed.

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

Taglist: @mak-32 @rosiahills22 @dhwanishah09 @genius2050 @callsign-athena

#i hope you dance #rooster #rooster top gun #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster fanfic #bradley bradshaw #top gun maverick #natasha trace #phoenix #jake hangman seresin #bob floyd #robert bob floyd #pete maverick mitchell

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yeehawbvby · 10 months

Text

Falling Away With You | Ch. 47

Sebastian x F!Reader and M. Rasmodius x F!Reader

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Chapter Summary: You tell a few people about your polycule and get some Spirit's Eve preparations out of the way.

Author’s Note: N/A

Table of Contents + Work Summary

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“So you’re just, like, banging them both?”

“Pfft–” I choke on my hot cocoa, which is totally too sugary for me to be drinking with such a sore throat, but Leah insisted I have some.

When I told her I was sick and bored (and stressed by how much Magnus and Seb have been coddling me for the past two days, to be honest,) she shot right over with some homemade shortbread cookies and hot chocolate.

Being much wiser than Seb, as he’s starting to feel a bit under the weather too, Leah arrived with face masks – one for herself, with a forest green gingham pattern, and one for me, a mustard yellow with some autumn leaves speckled around it – at my request. She’s also been keeping her distance. She’s situated at the table, which has some art supplies sprawled around it amidst the cookies, and I’m sitting pretzel-style on my bed, all wrapped in comfy clothes and blankets.

I came clean about my relationship with the two goobers. She’s a close enough friend now that I think I can trust her not to judge – and based on the enthusiasm behind her response, I don’t think she is judging me in the slightest.

This does make it a little harder to imagine how it’ll go once I eventually come clean to Sam, Abby… everyone else, really. Can’t fathom everyone having a positive reaction to it. But it’s super appreciated, of course.

I confirm, “Yeah, I am.” Still laughing, I clear my throat, then add, “Not at the same time, though…?” Drawing out that last word, I tilt my head and squint up at the ceiling, wondering if our situation the other day counts as a threesome. “Well, technically, not at the same time.”

“Damn, alright Aphrodite!” Curling into a fetal position in her chair, Leah complains, “Ugh… I’m not desirable enough to even get one girlfriend and you have two boyfriends.”

I frown, taking another sip of my drink before raising my mask back over my face. “You totally could, Lee, people just suck. Yoba knows I got lucky.”

“You want another partner, then?” she jests back.

Thankful that my mask hides my blush, and unsure if I should interpret that as a joke or not, I chuckle, softly walking around the subject. “God, two people is already a lot to wrap my brain around.”

“Especially those two,” she adds.

During her few attempts to become a spellcaster (which failed quite fucking horribly, actually, there isn’t a single arcane bone in this poor woman’s body…) in the week or so after Seb and I were greeted by her in Magnus’ tower, she kinda got the gist of Seb and Magnus’ silly natures.

It was an odd group for sure, but a fun dynamic nonetheless. And honestly, it’s been nice to have a friend to talk to about magic other than people who do it themselves.

“I’m surprised Camilla hasn’t tried to throw herself into our weird little polycule,” I think out loud.

“Is that the hot witch lady you guys work with?” I nod. “I wonder if she’d want me.” As Leah says this, a dreamy expression falls over her face. She doesn’t even know what Camilla looks like! I wonder what she’s imagining in the woman’s stead.

“She’s terrifying,” I point out. “Super fucking hot, but like…” I finish my sentence with a shake of my head and shoulders. Shimmying out the jitters. “Here, lemme draw her for you,” I offer, placing my cup beside the bed and making grabby hands at the sketchbook near my friend. She tosses a pencil and the book over one by one.

“You think she and Magnus have…?”

I look up as I open to an empty page, and Leah wiggles her eyebrows at me. Not as flawless as Seb and Robin’s signature moves, but still a solid eight out of ten wiggle, I’ll say. She pulls down her mask to take another sip of her hot chocolate.

“Because I mean,” she pulls her mask up, “as freaky as he is… god. He’s sexy, babe.”

A cough-laugh comes out of me. Once I can breathe better, I respond, “Are you not a lesbian?!”

“I am, but I can make exceptions! ‘Labels are for soup cans,’ or whatever we used to say back in, like, the 2010’s.”

After crossing one leg over the other, Leah pulls down her mask again just to smirk at me, winking simultaneously. I cover my face with my hands, nervously giggling into them.

“Good lord,” I mumble to myself. She laughs, and as my view raises, she’s covering her face with the fabric again. I take that as my cue to go on with my attempt to capture Camilla’s beauty. “And to answer your question, she’s tried. He’s not into it, though.” I shrug. “I think his hatred outweighs any desire that coulda been there.”

“He’s so sweet that it’s almost funny to imagine him disliking someone.”

“I always think the same thing!” I laugh, swiping away a few eraser shavings before tacking on, “It’s a secret pleasure of mine, seeing him all riled up like that.”

Through some of her own chuckling, Lee asks me, “Doesn’t he just wanna go apeshit?”

“I’d like to imagine that someday he will. He’ll just, like… give up and deck her in the face or something. I dunno.”

“Maybe a good ol’ slap-and-kiss for good measure.” I love how she said that as if it's a thing.

“I’m just picturing… ok,” I pause drawing again to talk with my hands, “You know that one reaction image of Toad and Yoshi making out completely sloppy-style?”

“PFFT,” Leah nods, snorting. “What, them fighting then kissing?”

I shake my head and elaborate, “In one corner of my brain it’s them,” I hold up my left hand to the side, “and in the other you’re there too, and kinda just…” I hold up my right, and then bring the two hands in front of me, almost like I’m making them kiss, but at a weird angle. “...latched into the middle of them.”

“Like a leech.”

“A horny one, apparently.”

I resume my drawing. Leah adds, “A sex leech.”

“Sex Leech…” I echo. “That would be a great band name.”

“Oh! Leah and the Sex Leeches.”

“Would be mood music, for sure.”

A short silence passes after Leah’s responsive laughter dies down. I make a few additions to the quick, small doodle in my lap, then tilt my head as I observe it, tapping the eraser against the page.

Something’s missing… Oh! I whisper the word to myself as I think it, flipping the instrument around to add her signature artificial beauty mark.

“Here,” I gesture my supplies in Leah’s direction. She readies herself as I toss over the pencil first, then the book. “Doesn’t do her justice, but I tried.”

Leah puts down the pencil before situating the sketchbook rightside up, and I snag my drink, holding it in both hands to absorb some more warmth. I’m not chilly by any means, between all these blankets, Seb’s huge sweatshirt, and the fireplace blastin’ to my right. But I’ll be damned if I don’t try my hardest to sweat out this fever.

Leah’s eyes widen, then she tilts her head to the ceiling and groans. I laugh while she exclaims, “Are you freaking kidding me? I need her!”

“No!” I point at Leah like she’s a naughty puppy or something, and only supporting the gesture, she slinks in on herself a little. I’d like to imagine she’s pouting beneath the mask. “I don’t know what it is about her specifically, but the vibes are horrendous.”

“I suppose if your part– well,” she corrects herself, “ one of your partners isn’t a fan, that’s probably a sign to steer clear.”

I tap my head knowingly. I can see a grin in her eyes before she turns her attention to the book again, staring longingly at the page.

“So does she have any weird colors about her too, or is that just a Magnus sort of deal?”

I shake my head. “White skin – a smidge paler than yours, maybe – and the same hair and eye colors as Haley pretty much.” I pause to cough into my arm, then mention, “She does have pointy ears, though. Can’t tell if it’s plastic surgery or if she has some Elven heritage like Magnus does.”

Grabbing the colored pencils, Leah adds some vibrance to my sketch. “They have surgery for that?”

“Yeah, I follow this dude who does it. Lives somewhere outside of Ferngill, though.” I finish off my cocoa before placing down the mug and twisting my torso to pop my back. “I’ve always wanted to go do it myself, but the recovery period outweighs my desire for cute pointy ears.”

“Your ears are very cute as they are,” Leah compliments cheerfully.

Caught off guard a little, I cover my face again. She isn’t looking, it’s just more of a self-soothing sorta deal at this point.

“Thanks,” I all but squeak out. Leah glares at me playfully. She’s caught onto the tic too, god damnit. “Grew ‘em myself.”

Lee places down the pencil she’d been using and stares down at the page. “Maybe if I show up at Magnus’ place someday,” she suggests, “I’ll just so happen to run into her, and then… you know…” As Leah trails off, she fucking holds up her middle- and pointer-fingers on each hand and slots them together oh my god.

“Leah!”

“Sorry!”

“We really need to get you laid.”

“I really need to get laid, yeah…”

______________

Seb and I both recovered from our illness with enough time to do some last-minute Spirit’s Eve shopping. He’s going to pass on going to Krobus’ sewer party thing — wants to make sure he has enough time to get his work done before going to the town festival — so he’s able to wear whatever he wants. I, on the other hand, am specifically searching for something extra creature-like.

Magnus warned me that shadow people tend to get a little quirky around humans, with Krobus being one of the very few outliers. I’ve gotta disguise myself real good if I want to avoid conflict. Something that’ll help me blend in with shadow people, at least disguising me as some kind of elemental, while also being acceptable for the main event… hm.

Gonna be kinda hard to find something like that at Party City.

“What about this?” Seb mutters, inspecting a cheaply manufactured vampire outfit.

I purse my lips and tilt my head, trying to figure out a way to salvage this. Because sweet Yoba above, Seb would make a sexy vampire.

“What if we just get you a cape, fangs, and maybe some pointy ears, and then try to closet-cosplay the rest?”

“Hmm.” Still turning the package around in his hands, Seb contemplates his options. “I mean, on one hand, I can get corny with it.” He gestures at the costume in his hand. “Commit to the bit, y’know?”

I nod. A fair point, indeed!

“On the other,” he continues, head tilting a little to the left, “I could try some Astarion Ancunín-type shit and get kinda slutty with it.”

I nod again. Both wonderful options. Secretly rooting for the second, but whichever makes him happy will make me happy.

“Oh! Y’know what would work?”

“Hm?”

“If we get your ears pierced before Spirit’s Eve, you can wear those red earrings we got in Calico. Would make a sick bloody effect. Sorta.”

“Oooh, you’re onto something, kid. Just gotta check what material they are, make sure they’re safe for a new hole and all that.”

“I’ll give you a new hole...” I mumble.

“Is that a promise?”

“It’s a threat.”

“A sexy threat.” Seb waggles his brows before returning his vision to the costume he’s holding.

While Seb weighs out his options, I stray a little further down the aisle. “Oh my god.” I practically tear the costume off its hanger and jog over to Seb, holding it out in front of me. “Scratch that. Why be a vampire when you can be motherfucking Wumbus?!”

Seb chuckles, taking the costume from me. He puts on his best nasally, nerdy voice to say, “Um, actually,” then points at the title of the costume on its packaging, and informs me, “it’s a Big Green Wumbo.” Shifting back to his normal speaking voice as I snort-laugh at his beautiful performance, Seb also notes, “But also, no way. Sam would lose his shit if I showed up as Wumbus. That’s his thing.”

“Technically not Wumbus!” I point out, poking his forehead through his thick fringe. He headbutts it out of the way. I take the costume back, wondering aloud, “God, how do they come up with these names? What even is a ‘wumbo?’”

“Dunno. It’s charming in its own way, though.”

I nod in agreement, then shuffle back to where I found the Big Green Wumbo to place it back on the rack it came from. “Wouldn’t feel like shopping for costumes at a Party City or whatever without the vast array of totally legit characters to choose from.” I turn to look at the row behind me, then pick out a knockoff Katniss Everdeen costume. “Oh wow, I sure do wish I could go as this Braided Archer Girl!”

Scrunching his nose and grinning, Seb walks over to me, tucking the vampire costume under his arm. “This wha—“ He sees the one I’m holding and laughs. “So powerful.”

“So fierce!”

“A force to be reckoned with in the, uh… what’s a good alternative to–”

I chime in, cutting him off, my brows furrowed with determination, “Hungry Fortnight.”

“Nah, dude, Fortnight’s too much of a brand at this point.”

“Ah, true…” I continue to stare at the costume. Oh, wait. “The Famine Games?” I suggest, looking up and to my right to see him. I shrug. “The Hungry Games is probably already taken.”

“The Famine Games it is, then. Great work, champ.” Seb holds out a first for me to bump. Instead of punching it back, I high-five it. Makes a dull smacking noise. Sounds less epic than I was hoping it would.

We spend a few more minutes giggling like a bunch of losers over all the goofy costume names in this aisle before moving onto the next. Some honorable mentions: Speedy Blue Rodent (Sonic), Lightning Rabbit (Pikachu), Ruler of the Countryside (Prairie King), and a couple’s costume of Dolly and Jake Skeleton (Sally and Jack Skellington).

Sighing, I look at the new options. Mostly lady-adjacent costumes over here, and they’re mostly labeled with that “one-size-fits-all” bullshit. Even if I were to fit into any of those, I wouldn’t want some lame fatphobe profiting off of it as a result.

I groan. “I wonder what the chances are that I'll be able to find something here.”

Pulling me closer by the waist, Seb suggests, “We could try other stores if we need to.”

I lean into him. “I wonder what the chances are I’d be able to pull off being a fully-fledged elf… like some Magnus-looking elf, y’know?”

“Might be harder, but maybe his shrine could help.”

“Oh hell yeah!” I look up at Seb, my eyes and smile wide. “I didn’t even think to try using that thing, it always seemed like too foreign of a concept. Hopefully he’ll let me.” Knowing damn well I don’t have enough mana to make a long distance call, if you will, I opt to wait until later to ask Magnus about this.

I’ve gotta get home a phone.

“Who’s Magnus?”

Seb and I nearly jump out of our skin, “OH MY GOD!” and “WHAT THE FUCK!” being shouted respectively. We simultaneously whip our heads around.

Again, speaking at the same time, “Mom?!” and “Robin?!” are exclaimed by the two of us. She evilly chuckles a little.

I hold my right palm up to my chest and rest my forehead against Seb’s left arm. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

“Wanted to surprise your father with a matching costume.” I turn my head to her, still smooshing my temple against Seb. Before my emotional support human can interject, Robin adds, “Yoba knows he won’t want to wear it, but it doesn’t mean I can’t force him.” She’s still got a mischievous smirk on her.

“Good luck with that,” Seb scoffs.

“So. Who’s Magnus and what’s this something about a shrine?” his mom prods.

Oh god damnit.

Seb and I look at each other.

“Think it’s time to tell her?” I whisper. I’m horrified. I try to hide it.

“I fucking guess so.”

“Tell me what?” If the woman wasn’t giggling about her own dickheaded nosiness over there, this would be a lot more intimidating.

“Uh…” I mutter.

Shit, who am I kidding? It’s still intimidating.

“Straight to the point, yeah?” Seb asks.

“I guess..?”

In the next breath, I’m saying “Our partner,” while Seb is saying “Her partner,” and gesturing at me. We both look at each other, both sets of brows furrowed.

“My partner?” I suggest, while he counters, “Our partner.”

“This is hopeless,” I whine.

I look at Robin. Her head is tilted and her eyebrows are raised in confusion, her slightly chapped lips slightly parted. I latch onto Seb’s arm and hide my face from her. My anxiousness about the situation takes over. I can practically hear my pulse.

Seb clears things up while I quietly panic. “So like… (y/n) and I are dating, yeah?”

“Uh huh…” Robin agrees.

“Well, she — we’re…? Oh my god.” Seb takes a breath to compose himself.

I look up at him, face coated in a furious blush because oh my fucking god this is so embarrassing. His is too, which makes me feel a little better about it.

“She,” he settles on, “is also dating our friend Magnus. But like, we both know about it. It’s chill.”

I turn to look at Robin. She’s biting her bottom lip and there’s a slight grin curling them up. She’s still very clearly bewildered, if slightly amused too.

I hide my face again.

“God, ma, please say something,” Seb breathes.

“I… wow. Do I know this Magnus person?”

Seb and I both shrug. “So, funny story…” Seb goes on.

“Uh huh.”

“You know that super suspicious-looking tower south of (y/n)’s farm, west of Marnie’s?”

“Uh huh.”

“It’s the guy who lives there.”

“Uh huh…”

“He’s a wizard.”

“Uh huh.”

“He has a shrine that can change appearances.”

“Huh.”

“It’s magic.”

“Uh huh.”

“And that’s what we were discussing.”

“Uh huh.”

“Please mom for the love of god—“

“(Y/n), you little minx!”

I squeak, my shoulders tensing up. “I’m not a hussy, I promise!” I try to assure her from behind Sebastian’s arm. I feel a hand on my head and flinch. Feels small, so I’m assuming it’s hers.

“As long as you’re both happy with this guy, I’m not judging.”

“You’re not even questioning the wizard part?” Seb asks incredulously.

“I’ve always thought it looked like those wizard towers in movies, so no, honestly. It just makes me wonder if he’s… ya know, some kinda crusty, Gandalf-looking dude.” A short pause passes. Robin asks hushedly, “Are you into old guys, Sebby?”

“I– I’m not the one dating him!”

“Suuure you’re not.”

“And you’ve probably seen him!” Seb declares. “Absurdly tall, purple hair, wears cloaks and shit, looks like he’s sick but it’s just his skin color–”

“Oh! I’ve seen him hanging out with Linus, by his tent!”

“Yeah, him!” Seb almost sounds excited that he didn’t have to explain any further. “They’re close.”

“Oh, he’s cute! Are you sure you don’t like him like that?”

“Ma, what the fuck!”

“Not so loud, son. There’s kids… er…” There’s a pause. I’m assuming Robin’s looking around. “Somewhere in here, I’m sure.”

Hesitantly, I turn back towards Robin to interrupt them. “So you don’t think I’m a hussy?” It comes out small and meek. Just like me, right now… Seb snort-laughs and pulls his arm around my shoulders again, pressing a kiss to my scalp.

Laughing alongside her son, Robin replies, “You’ll only be a hussy if you hurt my son.”

She meant for it to be lighthearted, and I know that, but my eyes brim with tears anyway.

“Oh! Oh no!” Robin laughs a little harder as she notices the true state I’m in. “C’mere,” she offers as she holds her free arm out for a hug. The other is carrying two costumes – looks like Morticia and Gomez Addams, or whatever other names this place gave them.

Hesitantly, I let go of Seb and wrap my arms around Robin.

This is our first hug.

This is weird.

A good kind of weird.

Is this what it’s like to have a good mom? I think to myself.

Oh no.

Oh god, no.

The tears start falling after that thought.

What is with me right now?

“I’m sorry I’m being such a big baby...” I defend myself, in an effort to not seem quite as pitiable as I’m coming off, “I don’t do good with surprises, and I really didn’t expect this to happen yet!” I doubt my save is working. Sounds too wet and pathetic.

Robin hands off the costumes to Seb and wraps her other arm around me, bending a little to let me lean into the crook of her neck. She’s not nearly as tall as Seb, at like 5’6” or so, but still tall enough that it’s necessary.

Huh. I think she uses Bearglove too. That, or something similar. “It’s really okay, hun! It’s okay!”

“Thank you…” I pull away, risking showing my snotty, tear-stained face.

Robin’s hands are on my shoulders. I can’t meet her eyes, but she gives me a friendly pat with her right hand.

“Seriously,” Seb chimes in behind me. I turn to look at him. He looks relieved. “Thanks, mom.”

“It’s simply my job to love you unconditionally,” she decrees. “And you make him happy,” Robin directs towards me, poking my shoulder and catching my eyes, “so that means you too.”

Oh no.

Just when I thought I was almost done crying!

I bury my face in my hands.

“Oh gosh,” she laughs. “You’re a mess, aren’t you?”

I nod. “You’re too nice to me…”

“I can be meaner if you want, but that would just be weird.”

“You’re fine how you are!” I agree.

“Are you two done here?” Robin asks.

“I think so,” Seb answers. His words come out sorta like a question, so I nod.

“Why don’t we go grab a bite from that cute diner around the corner? My treat.”

Seb brightens a little. “You sure?”

“Yeah, why not! (Y/n)?”

“Oh! Uh… yeah, sure.” I use my sleeves to try patting my face dry.

“Perfect! Let’s go check out first.” Robin gestures her head towards the registers, which are across the store but within eyeshot. “As much as I dislike capitalism, I’m not about to go to jail for stealing…” She holds up the costumes to read them. Does that thing older people do where they squint and hold it a little further from them. Guess it’s time for her to get some reading glasses! “Beautifully Creepy Wife and her Spooky Doting Husband…? God, seriously?”

Seb and I both laugh. “This place is the fucking worst,” he retorts. “C’mon, let’s go.”

______________

After paying for our stuff, Seb and I hop on his bike to meet his mom at the diner. Seb told me on our way over that before Demetrius and Maru were in the picture, Robin would always take him here after they bought their Spirit’s Eve costumes from that same Party City we were just at.

It’s no wonder he looked so happy about this, that’s fucking precious!

The restaurant is cuter than I imagined it would be, with that archetypal overabundance of tiles and wavy glass windows that the best diners always seem to have. The interior looks like an 80’s and 90’s stereotype of a diner had a weird baby, in the most endearing way possible. There’s pastel pink, blue, and green accessories decorating the place, a black and white checkerboard floor, and a wooden jukebox with rainbow lights along its outer rim near the waiting area.

While Robin talks to the host about grabbing us a table, I people-watch.

A handsome middle-aged dude with jet black hair and a matching leather jacket is nursing a coffee at the counter while trying to rizz up two younger blonde women a few stools over. Seems like it’s working, too. Good for them! In the meantime, the server behind the counter is very visibly eavesdropping, pretending to keep occupied with the glass case of baked goods. He looks impressed.

When we walk past all the booths and tables further in, I continue being a little nosy, taking note of how many old folk are here. Most of them are in groups, some of them are in pairs, and a few sit alone.

One lady with a thick white perm, deep laugh lines, and long crow’s feet, who also seems to be here alone, is loudly chatting with the waitress. They seem to know each other. Maybe that woman’s a regular here.

Once I get a little closer, my hands tingle a little bit and her gaze lands on mine. I notice her irises shift in color – from a deep emerald green to a bright, happy yellow – and my eyes widen. I can’t help but smile, which she mirrors, and we share a nod of acknowledgement before she returns her attention to the waitress.

God, magic is so cool.

Once we settle into a somewhat secluded booth towards the back – with Seb and I on one side, and Robin on the other – Seb begins to lay down some ground rules.

“Alright, so first off.” He holds up his pointer finger. “Nobody can know yet.”

“Well, duh,” Robin shrugs, takes a sip from her complementary cup of water, and then goes on, “Most of the older folk in Pelican Town barely tolerate gay people, let alone non-monogamy.”

“Perfect. Second,” Seb puts up a second finger. His middle this time. “Please don’t try to talk to him the next time you see him.”

Robin practically pouts at her son. “What?! Why not?”

“He likes his privacy,” I chime in.

Seb nods and tacks on, “Yeah, and he’s not exactly wonderful at meeting new people, so he’d probably want a bit of a warning first.” I nod in agreement.

“Aw man. Fine, I’ll keep my distance,” Robin responds, putting down her glass and holding her palms in front of herself to surrender.

Just before Seb can continue, a waitress comes by to take our orders. We all ask for some coffee to start. Then, Robin gets some sorta huge deluxe breakfast combo thing, god damn; Seb orders a bagel, topped with cream cheese, lox, and some greens; and I get a veggie and cheese omelet with some toast on the side. It’s pretty late in the afternoon, but diner breakfast food is the best breakfast food. Glad we’re all on the same page in that sense.

Once the waitress leaves, Seb continues. “Last thing.”

“Shoot,” his mom prompts.

“Please don’t tell anyone he exists.”

“Why not?”

“Privacy again, but also because of the magic.”

I nod, adding, “This isn’t something everyone can just… know about. It can fall into the wrong hands and whatever that way, y’know?”

“Dramatic, but reasonable.”

“Besides,” Seb adds, “we’re only safe from monsters and shit because of him. If anything were to happen because an angry mob of old farts from around town made their way over to his place, we’d all be fucked.”

“What, like, the critters in the mines?”

Seb and I shake our heads. The waitress comes back with our coffees, and once she’s gone, I continue, “They’re all over Ferngill. The ones we have down there, and plenty of way more dangerous ones.”

I grab a few sugar cubes and cream packets from near the window before offering some to Robin. Seb drinks his coffee black, that edgelord, so I don’t bother passing any to him.

While Robin and I fix up our drinks, Seb goes on, “There’s a high-proficiency wizard in most of the higher-populated parts of the country, and each of them are in charge of keeping a protective barrier around the area they’re stationed in.”

“Who stations them, themselves?”

“Kinda..?” Seb looks to me.

I jump in, “There’s like, a whole council of spellcasters that take care of this stuff.”

“So, politics.”

“Basically,” me and Seb respond in unison. We both give each other a look feigning disgust. That’s, what, the third time we’ve said the same thing at the same time today, maybe?

“So are you two involved in it, or is that just his deal?”

Robin squints at Seb, as if to silently tell him, “I’ll be so not-mad-just-disappointed if you left me out of this.” Seb and I look at one another, then at her.

“Oh you are, aren’t you?!”

Trying to take the load off Seb, I defend, “To be fair, I’m new to it, but yeah, kinda. I’m a mage and the council knows about me.” I sip my coffee, before shyly adding, “They might recruit me at some point, actually.”

“Wait, really?” Seb asks. I shrug. “News to me…”

“It’s iffy, but I dunno, Magnus seems hopeful. I’m 50/50 on whether or not I wanna actually do it. Seems intimidating.”

My deflection worked, and now Robin is solely focused on me. Nice. “Wait, you do magic too?” I nod. “Can you magically give me a million bucks?” she jokes, holding out an open palm. I snort, lightly slapping it.

Just after this interaction, our food arrives. Thank god. The conversation diverts here, into some less serious stuff. The weather. Spirit’s Eve. How good the food is. How shitty the coffee is. Et cetera.

When we’re all done eating, Robin insists we all split a piece of one of those giant chocolate layer cakes they had in the pastry case. And while the three of us go ham on it, Seb looks up nearby piercing parlors to go to, considering our earlier discussion.

“Huh. I think this is the one I started stretching my ears at.” He tilts the phone towards me, absentmindedly fiddling with one of his gauges with the other hand.

“All the way in Zuzu, huh? Would you wanna go out there?”

“I don’t see why not. Seemed like a solid crew.”

Robin raises a brow. “You’re not making those things bigger, are you?” I can’t help but giggle at her more official motherly side coming through.

Seb shakes his head, telling her about our cheesy matching earrings, and his Spirit’s Eve plans. She feigns disgust, much like Seb and I did before, but I can see the loving glint in her eye. She really does seem to love us as a couple, it’s super cute.

Seb adds that he might get a few extra piercings while he’s at it, like a triple helix or nose stud or something. He wants more tattoos too, but figured piercings are easier to handle in bulk like this, so he’s gonna hold off on that. While he explains this, he messages the shop in question on Facebook to ask if they do walk-ins. They hastily respond that they do!

Seb clasps my shoulder. “You wanna go out there tonight?”

I wince. “I’m exhausted, dude.” The short-lived panic I endured earlier today took a toll on me. Plus, I harvested a few pumpkins this morning. Those bitches were heavy.

“No worries. I can go on my own.”

“You better drive safe,” Robin warns through a mouthful of cake, pointing her fork towards Sebby.

“No promises.”

I mime Robin with my own fork before adding, “I’ll kill ya if you die in a freak biking or piercing accident.”

Seb chuckles, takes another bite, and then puts his fork down, proceeding to dip each of his pointer fingers into the frosting. He plops a small dollop on to my and his mom’s noses. A declaration of war... which is nullified by the waitress coming back with our check.

I’ll get his ass next time.

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