#I think he'd be a good parent based on how he treats what's-his-face

[billiuspendragon]

I believe that Saiki is asexual as in he does not experience sexual attraction, but also that he is capable of asexual reproduction.

[angelismmm]

🪷 anon here

requesting a bsd Fukuzawa x fem!Reader married hcs🥹🥹

Sfw and Nsfw if it's fine with you🫶🫶

⟢ 𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 ft. fukuzawa

・sypnosis. how did you get together with him? and what's life after marriage?

・notes. gasp emoji a bsd post from me?!?! also hihhihi bro!!! more than willing to make sfw/nsfw hcs!!! honestly it's lowkey hard for me to do sfw hcs by themselves LMFAO, anyways

・warnings. nsfw toward the end, nickname daddy/sir used, breeding kink

𝐘𝐔𝐊𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐈 𝐅𝐔𝐊𝐔𝐙𝐀𝐖𝐀, what he is like in marriage?

・oddly peaceful, honestly thinking about his title annd stuff he'd be busy and stuff, and wouldn't be all that available, to your (and my) surprise, he's always there when you need it the most. probably would try his best to keep you away from his job though, it doesn't sound all that pleasing. only few people probably know about you too, like ranpo and just maybee yosano, just maybe.

・this man treats you like absolute royalty, anything, and everything about you is his favorite, most of the time is willing to try out whatever you find interest in, doesn't really like pda btw, much prefers to keep most things romantic in private, just between both of you. would probably adopt a cat with you if you want, but if you don't, that's alright too, anything you're okay with, he is too, most of the time at least. likes to feed stray animals near your shared house honestly, love all of them and probably gives some names based off what breed they are.

・oh but if you do happen to also work at the agency, he won't show much affection, because pda is not really his thing, never has been, prefers those little moments between you and him only, to be only with you and him, why does he have to share lol. plus is scared if any enemies had realized you were his weakness, being his spouse and all, that wouldn't be good at all, so he prefers to keep your relationship on the low, for your sake.

・but he does give affectionate glances, every once in a while, after all you are still his, and he's yours. next question: does he mention anything about kids? no lmao, you probably have to ask about the topic if you want him to think about it, just think. but another reason he would bring it up, is if like some lost kid just happen to be there, right beside the overly crowded place, tear stained face, every now and then glancing to the left or right, and parents probably abandoned the poor child. and you both decide to take the kid in, for a bit, 'till she finds a home, or if he tries to ask at least once about kids, but don't depend on it, even if he's good with the kid, he doesn't really bring it up. but honestly, maybe you both could adopt the little girl instead of bringing her to the adoption center, honestly, it'd be months after taking her in, that was when you both thought when should we be putting her in for adoption, or will we? you've both grown fond of her, even so by giving her a name, that you both decided on, well might as well just become her parents, officially, right?

・overall topnotch cutie as a husband, #keepbeingbbg

𝐘𝐔𝐊𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐈 𝐅𝐔𝐊𝐔𝐙𝐀𝐖𝐀, what if he did want a kid tho haha thatd be crazy...... (yes he does)

・daddy kink, like his appearance and demeanor screams it. like he can be all vanilla and stuff, that's his usual stuff, but if you ask him to be rough, bro will go down on you. not into bdsm, he doesn't wanna hurt you at all, but if you want it.... okay....

・breeding kink, too i guess. he likes slow and sensual way more though, seeing you with his seed all up in there he just feels like ":D". that's it, but he just wants to kiss you gently, and praise your beautiful skin and everything, loves everything like that. only goes rough without your kind of request if he's been pretty stressed that though. that's where the breeding kink goes hard, like absolutey, call him sir or daddy and he'll give you as many kids as you want :)

・medium-ish sex drive though, becomes high if stressed, is what i'm thinking, probably pretty big too, girthy asf too probably. can go for ages, and ages, and ages, and ages. probably the time to lick all his cum out your hole, sometimes wants you to masturbate in front of him

・probably while he's fucking you, rough or vanilla he's gonna start asking about what the kid's name should be, also would whisper immaculate amount of praise, like almost too much, but it balances out with how good he treats your body, and the marks upon your neck and collarbone afterwards. honestly doesn't care that much for other stuff during sex, finds the moments between you both alone is more attractive than anything else. loves making you happy more than anything. praise galore btw did i mention that yet, also loves kissing you everywhere

・also likes it when you cockwarm him while he does work, and he whispers into your ear about how he's almost done, the pile of work says otherwise though. super affectionate while watching you lowkey squirm on his cock. probably caresses his hand over your belly bulge from time to time ・super vanilla, or absolute fucking rough, no in between, that's it have a good night

[bowandcurtsey]

when y/n's ex appears Pt 1.

BC boys: Yuno | Zora | Luck [Part 1]

JJK: Sukuna | Gojo [Part 2]

Haikyuu: Kuroo | Nishinoya | Sakusa [Part 3]

x f! reader

This is gonna be a 3 part series because there's a lot of characters and the tags are gonna be so long so I just decided to put them into 3 parts in the end. Enjoy!!

Yuno Grinberryall

{So your ex shows up at the golden dawn base to ask you for help with his parents. And although reluctantly, you agreed to help a little because his parents treated you so well when you both were together.}

Yuno is extremely quiet all of a sudden. Eerily quiet. Plotting-someone's-death kinda quiet.

It was obvious the scumbag could settle his family shit on his own but he's just pulling on loose strings trying to get you back.

How could he ever hold a candle to Yuno? Yuno was a humble man but even he himself knew it; your ex could never compare to him.

But there was an eenie weeny part of him that asked: what if?

What if as you spent time together again and with his parents, you miss the old times? Or you realised he's not that bad after all? or worst, fall in love with him again?

When you came home, he'd still didn't talk much. he didn't know what to say either. He didn't want to ask how was your day because he doesn't want to know how you spent it with him.

He didn't want to ask why do you even do all these because he doesn't want to make you feel bad. he knew you did it because you were kind and you don't forget people that were once kind to you.

He loved you for you, so instead, he chose to keep quiet and pull you closer whenever you came home, hugging you close to his chest, nuzzling into your hair, to remind him that you're his. All his.

At some point you know you're hurting his feelings by being close with your ex again, so you reassure him again and again, that once the matter is resolved, you'll cut all contact with your ex.

Just add some cheesy, mushy compliment and Prince Yuno will be all blushing and feeling good again.

Zora Ideale

{Your ex came to the black bulls base, running away from some perpetrators, begging for protection and a place to hide at for awhile. He said he's do anything and he could do cleaning and odd jobs for free. Of course your captain Yami wasn't gonna give up on a free errand boy. Besides, it was only temporary.}

This man was salty af. He would side eye him, stare him down, prank him ALL THE TIME.

Your ex would get a stink bug multiple times a day at random places. Like his pockets, his shoes, his hair even.

Zora was extra snappy with your ex. He would nitpick even on the smallest things.

"It's "you are". not "your". dimwit."

Or he was extremely mean to him.

"You missed a spot here. can't even clean properly."

If you ever told Zora to "be nice" or anything along the line, he'd get upset. He'll give you the look and he'll roll his eyes a little.

Man simply does not care about your ex's feelings or whatsoever. In his eyes, your ex was a low-life for ever hurting you before and he hated the fact that he's now trying to squeeze his way into your life again.

Cue the extreme display for public affections. *Jeng Jeng Jeng*

He'll put his hands around your waist, on your ass, on your shoulders, in your hair, on your thighs. More often than normal.

If you thought that Zora has never cared before this, you're wrong. Now he's even more shameless. He could pull you in for a kiss just in front of your ex's face if he thinks that he's checking you out. (he barely took a glance). And he's always lying on your lap if you're sitting in the shared living room.

Zora never used to care about what you wore in the past. But now, you're not allowed to wear shorts or skirts above the knee. You're also not allowed to wear sleeveless clothes.

If you argue, he'd say: "well, you're the one that wanted to let that leacher in, so dress up unless I'll kick him out and you can be naked for all I care."

Behind closed doors, he's become more of the big spoon. Usually he's also happy being caressed in your arms, but during the period that your ex was here, he always held you firmly in his arms as he slept.

Luck Voltia

{well, you bumped into him when the bulls were on a mission. It had been awhile since you guys talked, so your ex was really keen in catching up. He comes to look for you at every chance he got - during patrol duties, during events, during your off days. Somehow he's appear.}

Luck was initially friendly to him. Asking him if he wanted to spar. Even when he introduced himself as your ex, Luck simple introduced himself as your boyfriend, proudly. He did not even batter an eyelid when your ex said that you used to date.

Your ex tried to spar with Luck but of course Luck would beat him hands down. Your ex tried multiple of times for the first few times they met. But he ended up just embarrassing himself, and Luck would always laugh.

Of course your ex being the stingy and petty person he was, he took it to heart and tried to complain about Luck to the Magic Parliament about a Magic Knight injuring a civilian.

Well, he obviously did not win because he then angered Captain Yami because Yami had to waste his time on a minor issue.

Luck finally understood what your ex was getting at and he then showed no mercy to your ex.

"so... you complaint that I injured you on purpose? Maybe let me show you what is on purpose..." he had a smile on his face when he said it, and it was hella scary.

Luck was on his tail for a good month, teasing him, pranking on him, chasing after him EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Luck was so fast, you didn't even know what happened but in the blink of an eye, your ex was sprawled on the floor. If your ex was headed somewhere, you bet Luck would bring him all the way back to the start point just as he was about to reach his destination.

Whatever your ex touched, was leave a static shock and Luck would just laugh. Your ex could never even find any evidence of Luck playing him or even touching him.

It went on until your ex had to kneel in front of Luck, begging him to stop, "I will never appear in front of you or y/n again, so please leave me off the hook!"

That night, Luck asked you if you would be sad to never see your ex again. "I'm sorry if I went too far this time round..."

But of course you reassured him that you have not seen your ex in ages and of course you would never mind not ever seeing him again.

And Luck was back to his jovial self.

[stop-talking]

How do you think jhutch characters would handle a baby?

I'm not quite sure if you're asking "what would they do if you handed them a baby" or "what would they do if you told them you're pregnant" but I'm gonna assume you meant the latter. (feel free to send another request if I got it wrong)

Ranking Jhutch characters from worst to best fathers:

Billy

☆ Would play dumb when you hand him the pregnancy test.

☆ "What's this? Oh, you're pregnant? Can't be mine. My pull-out game is too strong." (literally has NO pull-out game, refuses to use condoms because he "can't feel" with them on)

☆ Basically ghosts you until the paternity test proves it's his. Then he actually ghosts you.

☆ Drops off the face of the fucking Earth for years. Doesn't pay a dime in child support.

☆ Maybe he comes back like 3 years later drunk and demanding to see "his" kid idk. Literally the worst.

Derek

☆ Honestly I headcannon he had a vasectomy at like 24-25.

☆ His mom hit him up once she heard about his prostitute scandals and chewed him out. Gave him "the talk" even though he's a grown ass man... finally got him to get snipped when she brought up the possibility of paying income-based child support for 18 years.

☆ Assuming he doesn't have one, though...

☆ He'd initially be mad and blame you. "I thought you were on the pill!!"

☆ Then he'd be like "Is it too late to... you know... get rid of it?" (and kind of dance around the subject because he's too much of a wimp to just say the word abortion)

☆ Wallace and his mom would both force him to get his shit together and apologize. Eventually he'd come to terms with the fact he's gonna be a dad.

☆ He'd be the kind of bastard to throw an over-the-top gender reveal party. The kind that burns down half of California or pollutes a major water channel.

☆ I think he'd be a really good girl dad. He'd let her paint his nails and stuff. Spoil her. <3

☆ He would treat a son completely differently. Teach him to "be a man" or whatever when he's still learning to walk. Force him into random ass sports.

☆ He'd have them mostly taken care of by a nanny. That's probably how he was raised, anyways. Derek Danforth is NOT changing a diaper.

Futturman

☆ Whether we're talking pre-show or post-show, he'd freak the fuck out if you handed him a positive pregnancy test. I'm talking full-on pass out.

☆ Pre-show Josh would be like "Babe we can NOT afford a baby I literally live at home with my parents and work as a janitor."

☆ His parents would be so crazy supportive though. They've been hinting that they want grandkids for YEARS.

☆ They literally clear out a room IMMIDEATELY after hearing the news and offer it to you to use as a nursery.

☆ His mom buys you more baby clothes than you could possibly need. His dad builds a crib from scratch.

☆ Overall Josh is stressed asf but he does his best to be there for you, and his parents are OVERWHELMIGLY supportive.

☆ Post-show Josh, on the other hand, doesn't have that support. But he's survived unspeakable horrors across multiple dimensions, how hard could a baby be?

☆ Extremely hard, apparently. One day he just loses it and makes a huge decision without asking you.

☆ "Josh WTF happened to our savings??"

☆ "TRUST ME BABE we need to invest in Apple!!"

☆ You're pissed but it pays off in a few years and you're both able to live comfortably.

☆ Then in 2015-ish he did the same thing again, pouring all your savings into bitcoin. This time you SWEAR you're going to leave him, but it all pays out in the end. He gets your kid through college with that money.

☆ Overall he's a really good father, too. He had great parents, and even if he's not experienced with kids, he's naturally a very caring and attentive person.

Mike

☆ Cries when he sees the pregnancy test. He's not even sure if it's happy or sad tears.

☆ Gets sick to his stomach overthinking about how he's going to be a terrible father. His dad walked out on him, so he has literally no idea how to act.

☆ Abby, on the other hand, is absolutely delighted. She's always wanted a "little sister". Mike has to remind her that technically it's her niece. Or nephew. There's no guarantee on the gender yet.

☆ Eventually he comes to terms with it all. He's taken care of Abby for ten years, he isn't completely clueless.

☆ Takes you to all of your Dr.'s appointments, checkups, etc. Holds your hand. Makes all of your weird pregnancy cravings and doesn't judge.

☆ After the birth, he lets you rest. Nearly works himself to death trying to take care of the baby all on his own because he wants you to recover.

☆ I'm talking getting up bleary-eyed at 2am every night to microwave some formula and feed the baby. After working a 10 hour shift.

☆ Pulls the "I have a baby on the way" card at work in an attempt to get a raise. It works, thankfully. (In the novel version of the movie; it says he gets a job as a contractor at the end. So hopefully he can afford a kid...)

----------♡----------

[Remember: these are just MY headcannons. If you think differently that's fine. I didn't include Clapton because he's literally in highschool... and we all know Peeta is an amazing father.]

[sant-riley]

AAAAAAA IDEAAAAAAAAAH

Hi! I'm new here! I've come to bombard you with the idea of a parent of the reader's(most likely dad) showing up to the base out of nowhere.

Secret admirer,

-🐍

Omg I have my first ever emoji anon, Hi!! And yes absolutely I love this. I'm gonna try and be neutral with the parent in question so it's open to anyone :)

P.S idk how I used to format this shit I'm not checking Lmfao

[Task force 141 reacting to your parent/s showing up out of nowhere to visit]

If we're taking into account that this Simon and the og Simon have the same backstory,, its safe to say he doesn't have fond memories of his dad, though he has some for his mother.

Depending on your relationship between you and your parent/s, Ghost is either gonna point blank tell them they're not welcomed here. While Price IS above him, he isn't afraid to pull the intimidation and rank card to get them to get the hell out of there. Ghost was abused by his dad, God fucking forbid you were EVER treated poorly and he finds out.

However, even if your parent is kind, he still is uncomfortable by them being there. It makes his chest feel heavy watching you interact and it just brings up bitter memories he much rather not think of, so he won't linger around and instead go to the gun range and wait it out. He cares for you, and unfortunately, it won't ever really transfer over to your parents. Best he'd do is a stern nod and be on his way.

Soap, however, is very happy to introduce themselves and your parent swoons over his accent and likes him immediately, even if they're not the greatest of parents, Soap will make it a point to put his best foot forward and ask them if they'd want a tour.

If your mom is present she immediately likes him and isn't afraid to give you a look with an eyebrow raise saying "why aren't you dating him?". Don't get me wrong, though. He's not afraid to make smart comments and then joke it off. He's protective but not in your face kinda way.

He's definitely the type to sigh with relief when they're gone, complaining about small things he disliked about them to you openly (a lil bit of a hater but his mom raised him to not be rude to his elders okay.)

Doesn't matter who your parents are, Price intimidates them. He's the captain, and from what you've told them, he is extremely good at his job and he's a no nonsense leader, but you also mention that he's kind and he'd never leave one of his own behind.

Price talks EXTREMELY highly of you, he isn't afraid to clasp a hand on your shoulder and smile that stupid smile of his while he looks down at you in admiration.

It'd be most likely that he himself would have invited your parents without your know how, he has the ties and the authority but trust and believe if you expressed any discomfort with it, he'd rectify it and send them on their way.

Your parents may not like how particularly you close you are with such an older man but it's obvious he cares so much for you and your safety, so they take peace in that.

Gaz is probably the most easy going out of the 4, casually making conversation and if your parents are the type to play match maker, he's their #1 choice I'm not sorry, it's the truth.

Gaz sings your praises, mentioning time and time again that you've been such a good help on base and a good comrade and friend and he will thank your parents for raising you. (Imagine him taking off his hat and holding it to his chest or tipping it what if I swooned)

You KNOW he's invited to family dinners if he's ever in the area, or if he has no plans for the holidays, he's welcome at the family home. (You tell him later that he doesn't need to feel pressured but he just ruffles your hair and asks what kind of alcohol your family prefers)

[itsclydebitches]

We've all rightly been gushing over Trent listening in on the parent-teacher conference and there are a lot of cool interpretations for why he'd eavesdrop: a crush on Ted, a tendency towards gossip (as seen in "International Break"), the fact that you just can't take the journalism out of the boy, Trent is clearly picking up personal tidbits for the book if the group's initial "Don't print that" worries are any indication, etc. So yeah, it's clear why he'd want/be okay with the door staying open.

Meanwhile, I'm slightly feral over Ted letting the door stay open and what that conveys to Trent.

Based on what we've picked up about his personal life and the direction of this season, we have good reason to believe that Trent was a deeply isolated man prior to Ted arriving. His job makes enemies simply by virtue of the profession itself, especially when you "bring the heat" as hard as he did. Roy flipping the press off at the gala in Season 1 and Nate sneaking out at dark this last episode shows us how journalists are treated on the regular: ignored, dismissed, told to "fuck off" as a matter of course. That's often well deserved, as Roy's two personal stories (Trent's article about him + the response to Isaac's attack) attest, but the end result is still a profession that alienates you from anyone other than your peers. When you're a "colossal prick" in your articles, people hate you all the more.

So Trent at least has other journalist buddies, yeah? Well, not that we've seen. I always think back to that chorus of "--The Independent" in the press room when everyone knew what Trent was going to say and how it... wasn't entirely fun ribbing. I think there's a fair bit of mockery there. Even if others disagree, I doubt that was received well by someone who wears their professionalism as an armor, who takes off his glasses as soon as they're complimented, who was, notably, closeted into his 40s. Trent is a man who is deeply aware of how others perceive him (pointing out his "vibe" feels quite calculated now: highlight what you want people to notice rather than waiting for them to find something on their own) and he is likely to read the worst of most interactions. Cue his shocked, "You really mean that, don't you?" when faced with someone like Ted who is not only genuinely nice, but blunt about it in a way that Trent can't misunderstand, or brush off via denial.

What's his home life like? Married to a woman when he's gay and that's putting a serious strain on them both. He tries to come out and isn't believed. The only other family members we know about are a toddler (who, while lovely I'm sure, can't provide Trent with the kind of emotional support an adult needs) and a father who, if we read the series through Lance's headcanons, may not have been very supportive of his son. Who else does Trent know? Uhhh... other subjects who hate him? Owners like Rebecca who want to use him? A random, potential date that he felt so little for he ditched to get a quote?

(EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention the strong implications that Ted was bullied in childhood/as a teenager, based on how he reacts to the whole of the club ignoring him -- resigned but unsurprised -- his reaction to Roy telling him to fuck off after he tries to mend that relationship -- disappointedly awkward "I can't believe I even tried that. What was I thinking?" -- and his body language during the locker room scene -- jumping, furtive glances towards Ted, backed up against the shower stall because shit, he's been in this situation before.

So uh, yeah. Trent may not have had a lot of friends growing up either! That was not the response of a social butterfly, but rather someone who is already very used to being ignored/dismissed/cursed out/threatened, not just within his profession, but within the school-like atmosphere of Richmond's family too.)

I'm by no means reinventing the meta wheel here, but Trent has truly undergone a STAGGERING transformation in Season 3 and the result of that is the reframing of his Season 1 and 2 scenes as, frankly, more depressing than they originally seemed. Seeing him now smiling, singing, gossiping, dressing just in t-shirts, casually snacking, making jokes, letting go enough to be a complete, hyperactive "dork" in front of others... it just hammers home how deeply unhappy Trent was before. How closed off. How closeted--in more ways than one.

So what must it mean to someone like Trent for Ted to leave the door open?

It's not just an open invitation towards community--sit near me, listen in, quietly participate, there's literally no barrier between us--but a staggeringly personal one too. I don't care if a 10-ish year old failing science is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, the fact remains that letting anyone hear a parent-teacher conference with your ex is a hell of a show of trust. That would mean a lot to Trent in general, this acknowledgement that someone trusts the ex-prick journalist with that amount of personal information, but Ted in particular? Oh boy. Ted is the one Trent betrayed with that article! And yeah, Ted forgave him the instant he learned of it, but Trent himself was obviously feeling a lot of guilt, hence him burning his source and orchestrating a firing. Toss in the fact that Ted, despite being a VERY open man on the regular (I still laugh at his "I don't mind" to Rebecca when over-sharing about Michelle) has in fact denied Trent information in the past. No, I won't tell you that was a panic attack. Yes, I will continue the lie that it was food poisoning. Perhaps for Ted it was less about Trent knowing and more about anyone getting at the truth, but at the end of the day it amounts to the same: there was a time when Ted did not fully trust him and Trent justified that fear by writing the very article Ted was looking to avoid, even if Trent approached that situation with as much grace as he could.

So this moment, beyond the humor, just makes my brain go !!!!!! for Trent. Ted Lasso, of all people, has left the door open for Trent Crimm, also of all people, to hear the messy details of his, Henry, and Michelle's life. He is not at all afraid that this information will be spun in a bad light--Local Gaffer's Son Suffers While Father Plays at Coach Across the Pond--despite the fact that Trent is actively writing a book about him. Trent himself is so unguarded in this moment, dressed only in a t-shirt, playing around with his orange, making little quips. The Trent of Season 1 would NEVER. I mean, I think we see small glimpses of the real Trent back then, especially when Ted amuses him enough to coax his guard down for half a second (Trent's reaction to “Make like Dunst and Union and bring it on, baby!" comes to mind. That's a gesture we're seeing a lot now that he's comfortable around the club), but on the whole he was still so, so, so isolated. No one knew the real him: gay, funny, dorky, inquisitive, longing for companionship and using the artificial 'closeness' of journalism to cover that ache up.

Now? Trent is fully a part of the Richmond community and he knows he's a part of it because everyone--Ted, Beard, Roy, Colin, Rebecca--are going out of their way to tell him that, notably in very overt ways. Trent strikes me as someone who wouldn't fully believe it when he's told someone enjoys his company; the kind of wounded, anxiety-prone person who, if casually invited to participate, would assume they're just being polite and he'd actually be an annoyance to them. Trent needs overt, obvious, beat-you-over-the-head-with-it reassurance, which is why Ted is so very good for him because Ted is composed of THE most over-the-top positivity you've ever seen. (Compare that need of Trent's to Michelle thinking that Ted is too much...) When faced with a defensive journalist Ted says explicitly that he liked spending time with Trent. When faced with a still unsure writer who thinks of himself only as an observer--never a part of the team himself--Ted literally begs with monkey noises to hear Trent's opinions. He's blunt to the point of absurdity and someone like Trent who has likely spent the majority of his life hiding/being told that his true self is inadequate needs that level of constant, neon-light reassurance.

So Ted leaves the door open to a personal conversation, refusing to literally bar Trent from his life. The best part? Colin re-opens the door because he understands Trent and he knows his coach; of course Ted wants him included. Colin asks permission to CLOSE the door, not open it, and Trent is seeing this openness again and again over the course of several months, with each episode bringing him further out of his shell as he slowly unlearns that self-doubt. Yes, please stay, please tell us what you think, please offer your advice, please join our Diamond Dogs, please ask us questions (they're no longer perceived as a threat), please become an integral part of our lives. We trust you and we like you and we want you here.

Everyone's waiting for Trent to catch the door again because, you know, the rule of three, but what if he doesn't need to? What if he's past slipping a hand or a foot through the crack and scraping by on what that gets him? He caught the door before it could close to get closer to Colin. He caught the door before it could close to get closer to Ted. Now they've both kept the door open for him, his presence welcomed from the get-go.

Trent doesn't need to sprint for that opening anymore.

[matamisin]

I am absolutely living for the Stardew art. I love that game so much and have over 600 hours of playtime in it. I did have a little bit of a request but feel free to ignore! Could you rate all of the potential spouses based on your personal interpretations?

Hiii!! Yes yes yes thank you for this ask- I planned to do quick portraits anyways! <3 <3

But let's start!!

[PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, reblogs welcome! >:3c)

Harvey: 10/10

Handsome yes yes

Very sweet and loyal like bro LETS GO that's all I need

Doctor?? AKA he fixes up love interest who regularly gets into trouble? Endless possibilities BRO this is my favorite trope to write/draw about

HOWEVER HARVEY DOESN'T ACCEPT ANY INSURANCE HE JUST CHARGES OUR ASSES bro I'm trying to have a tender moment of almost dying and him worrying and then BOOM hands me my bill like "see you at home honey ily"

Overall he would treat us right yes

Animals LOVE his ass but he's awkward with them LOL

He's often a tired man due the clinic but he'll pull through to do things with the farmer when they're dating (like outings)

In the beginning when farmer is frequently getting hurt in the mines and being brought in hurt, he buys them a walkie-talkie. He's said multiple times that he doesn't recommend going in those dangerous places but learns that farmer's determined to keep going so he'll do what he can to make sure they can relay when they need help

He'll chime in on the walkie when he sees farmer going towards the mines and has them check things off a mental list (hi, this is Harvery- going to the mines? Do you have your weapon? How about food? You have your first-aid kit on you too right?)

This man will be TENSE the whole day when he knows farmer is in the mines. He'll only ease up once he knows they're not in there anymore

Disclaimer: from here on most of what I write will be 100% from my head because I haven't married anyone else yet LMFAO

Sam: 10/10

I interpret him as the golden retriever type- very hyper and friendly

That just makes him 1000% more loveable

HE'D TREAT US RIGHT

Very good with kids cause of Vincent which is like YES

A little blunt sometimes but that's wassup

Doesn't eat the best (AKA I give him two pizzas every week. Hmm. So maybe that means I'M the problem lol)

Also doesn't really know a lot of cooking, but when he moves in farmer finds new-looking cookbooks tucked away in his spaces

I feel like he'd be the type to have a switch in attitude- he's v friendly UNTIL he has reason to distrust/not like someone and then he'll flip from bright to cold (especially if the person has bad intentions about somebody he cares about)

Doesn't realize farmer and him are dating he just thinks they’re hanging out a lot and just kissing as really good friends

When he does realize they’re dating he gets all flustered and red

Would let you win at Mario-Kart

Despite his goofiness, he knows how to be a gentleman. He's always keeping an eye on farmer and making sure they're okay. If they're out together, the moment the sun goes down his jacket is on farmer's shoulders. When it's raining and he wakes up late and sees that farmer has gone out of the house for the day, he'll get up quick and run around with an umbrella and a thermos of hot coffee until he finds farmer. He'll follow farmer around with the umbrella covering mostly farmer, so he gets pretty drenched.

Very vocal about his love

Shane: 10/10

Ah the chicken man himself

ALSO GREAT WITH KIDS but in a different light- he's way more protective about them whereas Sam is more the laid-back and playful parent-figure (he throws his children into the air)

Recovering from his alcoholism and the habits that came with it (messiness and cluttery) but he's trying his best aww

Will rub his stubble on your face when he comes in for a hug ouchie

Even though he is not a dad- he just comes with dad stuff (dad outfits, dad jokes, EVERYTHING)

His chickens are protective of him so you must prove yourself worthy

(In my headcanons, Joja is kinda twisted) Will start to distance himself from Joja after farmer tells him of how they're trying to hurt the Junimos. He may eventually quit to work elsewhere, even though he doesn’t really know what Junimos are but something about farmer telling him about them seems sincere

He's very cuddly after getting to know him and dating. His love language happens to be physical touch and every touch makes him fall harder

This also means he gets a little sad when it's summer and too hot to cuddle that farmer turns around in their sleep. He gets pouty in the morning after until he gets a kiss LMAO

He'll frequently realize how messy he leaves his spaces, and will clean up. He tries to upkeep the cleanliness and manages it for a few days before it starts to get messy again. Sometimes it lasts a while, but sometimes it just slips his mind due to bad habits

Farmer pops into mind every time he has an urge to drink, and he'll shake it off and go do something else for them. He's DETERMINED to be the best person he can be for farmer

Alex: 10/10

A little rough at first lol- his attitude is very icky in the beginning BUT he's cute 

Once you get through that exterior he practically does a 180- HE'S SO SWEET AND CARING and no longer uhhh icky

He would tackle things for you (can he help farmer out of the mines when they pass out in the game? If he does I'd like to think he just picks them up and BOOKS it for the exit knocking anything in his path down LMFAO)

Becomes pouty when he gets a little jealous

Again he's very sweet- he kisses Evelyn and George on the cheeks every morning before he leaves the house, he often thinks about his late mom and visits her grave with flowers from Pierre's and has a small picnic there

I feel he would be prone to dreams about his mom, waking up in a cold sweat and tears. After the 8-heart event he gets up and does something sweet like making a whole breakfast for Evelyn & George or giving Dusty some quality time with walks, playing, and a good treat

Will be extremely protective over farmer. Farmer gives him a heart attack every time they go to the mines or the skull cavern or even in the sewer like baby what are you doing WHY ARE YOU GOING INTO THE MANHOLE

The caves he can't follow farmer with because he knows he isn't trained to fight monsters like farmer is and might hold them back instead, but he'll wait outside or tell Harvey that farmer's in the mines instead

Doesn't come out with it but he needs a lot of reassurance due to abandonment issues. He gets a little clingy and touchy but a little shy. (reaching for farmer’s hand/just pinching onto a part of the farmer’s clothes and holding on)

Sebastian: 10/10

This one might be rough cause I've never really felt much for him IM SORRY

Once farmer asks him out he's very unsure how to proceed. He'll call them things like dude and bro *with love*

It's literally like pulling teeth for him to call farmer honey just cause he's never been the affectionate type till now hehehe he'll try to say it and then drop to his knees like OTL and curl up (He'll get it eventually tho- this is just like the first few months LMFAO)

He has frogs right? He'll show you his frogs 

Your void chickens will love this emo boy they just vibe y'know?

He shows his love through acts of service and gifts, finding out the things you love and bringing them to you

As awkward as he is, his true intentions are very evident when he starts to really try to reconnect with Robin and asking her for advice on most anything he hasn't much a clue about.

He wants to be able to properly feel like part of his family, because farmer tells him that he deserves to feel loved there too. He’ll have a difficult heart-to-heart with Robin, Demetrius, and Maru and over time the family dynamic starts to heal. Sebastian is eternally grateful for farmer and tells them about the relationship and they’re all overjoyed to have farmer as part of the family too

He WILL stop smoking if farmer ever raises concern for his well-being

He starts to come out of his shell more (in general) as he and farmer progress their relationship. He tries his best to be a great partner, and everyone can sense that his demeanor is a little bit brighter than before. He starts to not be as shy about PDA too

He has many hoodies for farmer to steal HOWEVER they're all the exact same pair HAHAHA

Elliott: 10/10

I may also struggle with Elliott for similar reasons

Handsome right off the bat bro

But you'll never be able to be the one with the great hair in the relationship cause man he dominates in that

I see him as a gentle lover- very old-school romantic

He writes farmer love poems and songs often HE WILL SERENADE FARMER EVEN THOUGH HE'S ALREADY MOVED IN

Has pictures of farmer EVERYWHERE like his desk, in his books and notebooks, and has one of those accordion picture holders in his wallet of farmer and himself (and their child(ren) when time comes) He shows them off to the other villagers at the Saloon even tho they literally know farmer LMAOO

Has a very comforting vibe to him- he knows how to coddle farmer after they take a visit to the clinic

He'd let farmer use his favorite pen, trusting that it would return to him

Romantic gestures are EVERYWHERE. Songs, poems, so many pretty flowers in farmer's hair. 

I think he'd be the best cook out of everyone. Farmer wants to go out on a fancy date out of the village?? S'NOT GOOD ENOUGH- Elliott will change the whole decor of the kitchen and spend hours cooking and preparing for farmer to come home and then he plays all the roles (waiter, bus person, lover, etc) through the entire meal. But if farmer really actually wants to go out he'll go with it

Bachelorettes will be done in part 2 soon!

[afewproblems]

and there you go hurtin' me so good again with the continuation of your cheating!Eddie steddie fic.. thank you! <3

Based on Part One, and this Ask here,

I was chatting with @samcoxramblings yesterday about this and I think maybe there should be some Steve POV, as a treat.

If Steve thought about the last few weeks of his life alongside every other instant of sorrow and pain he'd experienced, his relationship with Nancy, the Upside Down, the death of Barb, his parents, he'd say he should be used to this sort of thing by now.

But perhaps he'd been spoiled.

He'd had more than twenty years of happiness, contentedness, with Eddie and their life together. He'd relaxed too much, and here was the other shoe crashing down.

The home phone line in their apartment has been ringing off the hook, reporters have been trying to get ahold of him to see his side of things, leaving messages and one bold enough to come to their apartment leaves a letter taped to their door.

Steve disconnectes the phone and installs another lock after that.

And speaking of letters, there have been a mix delivered to their shared PO Box, some in support of Steve, sympathetic to the situation, others are ecstatic --seeing it as their chance to wedge their way into his marriage just like the last person, that they've always hated Steve and can't wait to see him gone.

He only reads a few letters before letting them pile up on the side table by the door.

All because of that stupid photo.

There was no discernable face in the photo, or photos, that ended up online.

Just Eddie talking animatedly to someone facing away from the camera view. It pieces together the evening, a meet cute, a conversation, walking out of the bar together, and a passionate kiss before getting into a taxi.

Eddie confirms it, and it's like his heart breaks in two.

There are a million questions rattling around in his head.

How many times has this happened? How long has Eddie been lying to him, was this a one time thing or have they been secretly meeting one another for multiple tours? Does the band know? Have they been lying to his face as well?

Steve feels as though he's been on autopilot, walking around in a fog while at home, and mechanically moving through his lesson plans while at school.

To make matters worse, his principal calls him at home after the news breaks.

"Steve, how are you doing? I'm so sorry to hear," she tells him solemnly over the line, "if there is anything we can do please let us know".

"Thank you Liz, I, I really appreciate it," Steve hums, his voice much more level than it has been in awhile, "I'll take Spring break to finish up my marking and get my head on straight before we're back--"

"Steve, I'm sorry, I think," she hesitates, Steve can hear her pace around her office, her signature kitten heels click against the tiled floor, "I think it would be best if you take a little longer than Spring Break".

He feels his stomach drop into his shoes, no, no, they can't...

"What, what are you talking about, are you--"

"No, no, of course not," her voice shrill, panicked and tinny, over the line as she backpeddles, "no, we just think it would be better for you and the kids if you took some time away. We have a sub lined up and this wouldn't be permanent, just until it dies down".

"You can't be serious Liz, come on, their finals are coming up at the end of the month and I've never let my personal life affect my job before and I'm not about to start now, I don't need a leave of absence, I'm fine," he lies.

It has been difficult to get through class, to ignore the whispers from the kids during break or while they work in groups. He can feel curious eyes follow him in between the desks as he walks around for questions.

Liz sighs into the line and all at once knows the conversation is over, that it was never a conversation to begin with.

"Look, you're the best department head we've had in a long time Steve, and I want you back, fresh, for the kids. I can't imagine how you're feeling right now and I know this isn't what you wanted but I think it will be for the best".

"How long?" Steve manages to say, so softly that Liz asks him to repeat himself.

"Excluding the break, I'll say three weeks, so you can be back to see them through their exams," she sighs again, "the school year isn't over yet Steve, you'll still have lots of time with them".

Steve raises a shaking hand to his hair, running his fingers through it from root to tip. It could be good to take that time, Robin had asked him if he would when they initially spoke. It could give him a chance to think about what to do.

But, at this point, he worries if he stops moving, if he slows down, he won't be able to stop the grief he can feel, knocking at his window.

"Okay, okay, Liz, I'll take some time".

***

Steve finishes his marking in record time, but perhaps it's easy when one doesn't sleep.

He reorganizes the pantry twice, deep cleans all the storage closets, he throws every piece of clothing in the house into the laundry, including Eddie's, drops off the dry cleaning, and washes the walls.

He moves the furniture around and finds himself looking at rentable scaffolding to see about finally starting that painting project he's been thinking about.

It's only Wednesday.

One by one his family begin to reach out as the news begins to circulate more prominently in the regular entertainment news outlets. Hopper and Joyce call, Joyce asks Steve if he wants to come back to Hawkins for a bit, that their door is always open for him, just as it was when he was in his twenties. Hopper tells him all Steve needs to do is give him the word and he'll be in Chicago with a shovel, no questions asked.

Steve thanks Joyce and gives Hopper an emphatic, 'NO,' but he appreciates them all the same.

Dustin innocently brings up that he'll be in Chicago for a few days the following week, that Robin offered Steve's guest room to him, and Steve finds himself smiling while shaking his head at the co-conspirators.

All of the kids call at least once, but they are busy themselves, none of them are on a leave of absence after all, he thinks bitterly to himself.

Thursday afternoon there's a knock at his door, Steve is in the middle of changing out the old washer from the kitchen sink -finally getting around to fixing the small leak, he freezes at the sound.

He's not expecting anyone and even though he and Robin are nearly joined at the hip she still has the decency to call before showing up at his door.

Steve climbs out from under the sink and wipes his hands on the nearest towel before slowly walking towards the door. All the locks are still bolted from the night before, so he feels safer leaning in to peer through the peephole.

It's Wayne?

Steve feels his heart begin to race, what on earth was Wayne doing here? Was Eddie with him? Corroded Coffin was still on tour, he couldn't be.

He hazards another glance through the peephole but he can't tell if there is anyone else in the hall.

Wayne knocks again making Steve jump at the sudden noise.

Steve breathes in deeply through his nose and out through his mouth once, twice, before he unlocks both bolts and the chain with shaking hands, he opens the door a fraction.

"Wayne? What are you doing here?" Steve says softly, he steps aside to let the man through.

"I came to check on you," Wayne says after a beat, he wipes his feet on the second mat inside and shrugs off his red windbreaker. Steve tries to take the jacket to hang it up but raises his hands in surrender as Wayne waves him off and opens the closet to hang it up himself.

Steve takes him into the kitchen and puts on a pot of coffee, they never did invest in one of those single serve coffee machines, Eddie drank so much coffee when he was home that it made no sense and, 'brewed coffee just tates better Stevie'.

Steve shakes the memory away and grabs two mugs from the cupboard, "Just sugar right?"

He reaches for the empty sugar bowl as Wayne nods, he hovers awkwardly as Steve flits around the kitchen.

Steve grabs the sugar from their pantry and fills up the bowl before placing it on the table with a spoon.

"So," Steve sighs as he leans against the counter next to the coffee maker, it hisses and bubbles filling the air with the smell of brewing coffee, "Eddie put you up to this, huh?"

Wayne frowns but nods, "Call it the first good decision that dumb-ass has made in the last few weeks," he scratches the graying scruff on his cheeks and steps closer, "how are you doing son?

Steve wants to tell him about how he hasn't let himself even think about the future. How he told Eddie he couldn't come home yet, how he's so achingly lonely despite the number of people that have reached out. How he doesn't want to think about a life without Eddie, but that he also can't imagine being in the same room as him for more that a minute without wanting to just scream at him.

How, Steve firmly believed that he would lose the man standing in his doorway, how his friendship with Gareth and Chrissy would inevitably fracture over Eddie, and once again Steve would be alone, picking up the pieces of his life to start again.

Instead, he manages to say, "I'm so glad you're here," before stepping into Wayne's arms, and allowing himself to be held as he finally, finally cries.

Wayne's arms come around him firmly, he reaches one hand up to cradle Steve's head while the other rubs his back, "its okay son, I gotcha," he whispers as Steves shoulders shake and his chest stutters.

"I gotcha".

[pianostarinwonderland]

Speaking of parents you have any theories or ideas on what azuls mom may be like or the tweels parents?

OOF yes I have.

I think of them though as parents to their kids because that's usually what I think about rather than them as people. So this list of hcs is going to mainly center around their parenthood and whatnot. I'll divide this into two parts: Azul's mom and the tweels' parents.

Azul's Mom

I see her as someone who has the warmest smile and the liveliest personality. I think she's really kind and sweet, and she's very considerate of her staff. She's one of those people who can enter a room and you already feel a sense of rejuvenation, relief, joy, or all three because of how wholesome she is.

She'd have a loud and theatrical voice! She's gonna be the life of a party, and she'd lift people's spirits up. I like to think that she's got a laugh that's so contagious and wonderful to hear that you want to laugh along with her.

guys I think I want to fight Azul's stepdad for his wife's hand in marriage now after typing all that

You meet her and you'd end up wondering how on earth her son turned out to be a two-faced mafia boss kid. But don't let her sweetness fool you. She's intelligent. She knows her business, she knows her maths. She knows how to sell. And she knows that her charm can get anyone to buy whatever she's selling.

With Azul, she looks like the sweetest mom. And she really is. She's looking out for her son, she's that mom who's like, "Are you eating well? Are you doing okay?" every time he visits. She'd give him the biggest hugs, and at the same time, her tentacles are ready to punch anyone who dares hurt her baby. At the same time, she respects that he's growing up. She doesn't treat him like a kid at all, she can trust that he knows what he's doing, she respects his intelligence.

... except that she doesn't respect his individualism as much. I think that she's very pressed on passing down the restaurant to him. It's fruits of her hard work and she wants a successor, and her son runs his own place so why not?

I talk about the possible tensions that this would cause between Azul and his mom on this post, but as a summarized version, Azul isn't interested to say the least and in fact would want to stay on land even after NRC. As sweet as his mom is, he tends to avoid her when he can because he knows she's going to make a comment or two about him succeeding her in the business.

Leech Parents

Let's get through the canon stuff first before I state my headcanons. I personally like grounding my hcs based on what's canon and/or what references I can pull from the movies.

It's canon that Floyd and Jade's mom is a worrywart. She keeps in contact with them pretty regularly.

It is also canon that Floyd calls his mom mama, hence why he's mama's boy.

It is also canon that their dad has told them that appearance is very important. It's part of why Floyd likes shoes.

It's canon that the twins learned self-defense from their parents, so it's pretty much canon that the parents can fight, probably better than the twins.

Now, actually onto the hcs.

The twins' mom, I like to think that she's a very slender woman while their dad is King Triton buff. They have that kind of vibe.

Mama Leech is very motherly to her kids. I like to think that she's always the one in their home because it seems that both Jade and Floyd (the latter moreso) are closer to her. Mama Leech may also be worried about their well-being, but I think she respects their individuality and knows that they're grown up. They have a good relationship overall.

But outside the family? She'd probably be a devil hahhaha I like to think that she'd be as devastating as Yor from Spy x Family. Except I think she'd be the type to hiss.

Now onto Papa Leech. He's very professional, first of all. But everywhere. Including his family. If he could wear a suit underwater, he'd wear it everywhere he went, even in the house.

I think he'd be very distant. He's off somewhere, doing who knows what, probably running errands and doing shady business.

That distance can be felt when Jade and Floyd talk to him. Papa Leech strikes me as the type of person who would turn small mundane but interesting stories that the twins would share to him into lectures on some important life lesson or two. And he'd be going on and on for at least 10 minutes. And it's not that the life lesson lectures weren't important, it's just that Jade and Floyd want to talk to him about something that intrigued them, but their dad ruins the conversation. So they just stop talking to him unless he approaches them.

Papa Leech may be great at talking to people for his job but he's horrible at conversing with his family.

It doesn't change the fact that he cares for his kids, though. In his own way, he looks after them. All the important life lessons? He wants his kids to live smartly but also happily. It's just that he tends to prioritize his job over his family, so he's not the best at talking to his kids.

[kuwajima]

What do you think Zenitsu would be like as a parent? It would be very interesting to see how his upbringing (or, maybe more accurately, lack thereof) would affect the way he raises his own kids. I imagine he'd be crazy overprotective (especially over any daughters; he would probably scare away a lot of boyfriends lol) and also spoil them rotten, because his worst fear would be that they would grow up feeling unloved and unwanted like he did.

But on the other hand, I could also see him just. Not understanding what parents are supposed to do. Like...Nezuko getting mad at him for leaving their kid alone for too long and Zenitsu getting genuinely confused because? Wait huh what's the problem here? What do you mean I can't leave a toddler all by himself in the house for over an hour? What do you mean that's dangerous? He should be able to take care of himself by now, right?

Like he knew the way he grew up wasn't normal but it never really clicked until he had a kid of his own exactly how messed up it was. 'Cause he was always being told he was being overdramatic and that he needed to toughen up and now he has to face the fact that no, actually he was right, the way he was treated was wrong and it was not fair and he should not have had to take care of himself the way he did.

Ugh sorry for the long ask; I just have so many feelings about this.

I'm sorry this took so long to answer, I think it's a really good question. Personally, I think Zenitsu is very lucky that Nezuko is his wife because she fully understands how to raise children and (presumably) enjoys doing it. This would leave him able to fully spoil his wife and children. I think he would be overprotective and probably (irrationally) a little jealous of them getting attention from Nezuko. Not in a narcissistic way, but more like a "does not understand that love is not finite" way. I think Nezuko would help him with that though. Overall, he is so lucky he has Nezuko.

But to your point...I do think there would be things he simply would not understand or predict in terms of day-to-day child rearing. Like with romance/marriage, I think his perception of family and how they interact is probably based on observation or media and not because he has first-person experience with families. He would probably repeatedly be put into an emotional state realizing that he "missed out" on things (though I don't think he harbors any resentment, it's more "woe is me" and not "I have been wronged")

But I do think Nezuko is the Responsible One and Zenitsu is the "I will spent all the money we have on fun presents because that's my role here." And that tendency was probably somewhat trained out of him...eventually.

[saltynsassy31]

SAY MORE NOW I WILL LITERALLY LISTEN TO ANYRHING ABOUT TEAM EMPEROR ANGST

AAAAAAAHHH GIRL I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY I COULD BE HERE FOREVER 😭😭😭

Tho mostly what I've thought involves Skipper 💀💀💀 but it can still be true without him, I try my best to make my characters who are romantically involved not depend on one another to be who they are, its good to depend on others but also be your own person lol with your own interests and friends outside of the other lol

Anyways, that aside, I didn't talk much with my friend on angst and more of what his preference is based in who he is shipped with

And I had realised a pattern between the guys he's shipped with and the very few girls he's shipped with

So here is what i found, in great summary so I don't go on a 5 page rant on this

Basically, his type in partner is someone who strong willed, determined and knows how to stand up themselves

"But how does this relate to Emp angst?" You may be asking

Well

Another detail would be that he likes people who seem to break his pattern, okay most popular ship, Gloves

The guy was very different from whoever else he fought, he fucking insulted the guy and he still managed to come out with a smile and more determination than ever, he lost, but to him, he had won and you cannot tell me that didn't peeked Emperor's interest

Another ship, Specs. He's a more strict guy, stickler to rules and all that, but he's determined still and he is willing to listen to his teammate’s and try something knew, even at the risk of their winning spot because he trusts his teammate’s, his friends and again, you cannot tell me Emperor doesn't admire that part of him, hell, I believe he even uses Specs as an example to be a better leader 😭😭😭 (the dork)

Then there's Goggles, tho I don't ship them, it is still sorta of a popular ship nonetheless, and I can see why! He's a bit of both when it comes to Specs and Gloves, he's determined to do better, nothing can really strike him down in terms of motivation and he'd trusts his teammates in a heart beat! Tho something unique to him is that he's so ready to do the impossible, so ready to try new things just for the sake of fun, losing has no meaning if by heart you have won

These three made him face the fact that maybe he had more to learn in being a leader (tho, the real kicker was his brother, the final straw I could say), I doesn't even have to be shipped! But these people have definitely peeked his interest and surely made him reflect

At first, he probably would feel guilty, very guilty, terribly guilty with how he had treated his teammates, especially his little brother. Seeing how well Specs got along with his teammates for example, even when they lost they just kept going, Specs never put pressure in his teammates (tho he did so to himself but that's already another angst train) and let them have fun

He probably grew up only knowing success, it was his ego that kept him afloat, but what happens when someone shatters that? From what I remember, Emperor took the loss better than i thought he would have? Hell, I feel like a part of him was even relieved, weather he noticed that or not, and when he realised it I'd imagine him going "why do I feel so relieved?" [Insert identity crisis]

Having to reconstruct your whole beliefs from the ground up after it got dismantled has to be one of the hardest things (trust me, I know it from experience) and you almost don't want to, you rather have the shattered pieces then get a new one

But, seeing how his actions affected his teammates friends, and his brother? Gosh, that must have been gut wrenching, they probably had a long talk, and if tears were shed? No one said anything, soft apologies whispered in the dead of night for only those close to hear

Now, that also begs the question of how he grew up, I know it's easy to make his parents abusive, but I like a little bit more...nuance to it? Or a different kind of abuse, its easy to jump on the verbal abuse train, but I think neglect can be easily used here too, I'd like to think his parents were absent, maybe a video call here or there. He knows they love him, they are just very busy people! And he has to be the one to continue their legacy, maybe if he took some of the work they'd be less busy, right? If he took care if Prince they'd have one less thing to worry about, if he took on the public apperance of their name they'd have one less thing to worry about

He won his first turf war

And they're proud, they're so so proud, they praised him and even did a celebration for it! So he did it again, and again, and they celebrated it less often because why celebrate something that has become the norm?

They visited less often as he got older, he's an adult now, he should be able to care for himself now, and he does, without fail

Until he doesn't

And what would they think of him? He wouldn't know, they don't call him anymore

And when they did, they said nothing about it, just "do better next time" and that was it

They never told him to do any of that, they never pressured him to do anything, they never yelled, punished or hurt him, for the first few years of his life they were very caring and even when they called they never blamed him, they were nice to him and would ask about his life and how things were doing, they never did not care, infact, he was free to do as he pleases as long as it didn't tarnish their name, it's him who decided to do all of that, and for what? For praises of people who he barely even knew besides a familial title? Psh, that's so stupid

And he's stupid for falling for that

But maybe, there is more to life than winning, right? Losing felt so....New, and he liked that, what other new things can he feel? It's so gosh darn thrilling, isn't it?

[razzlee-meow]

i'm going on a short break.

uhm. things have not been going well.

i will be taking a short break (maybe a week, or so?) to get my shit back together and start working on writing again.

and while i'm at it, i'm going to explain what happened under the cut. there are triggering themes in here so please take caution when reading this.

my adoptive dad and i are not on the best terms and i don't think we'll ever be able to live how we used to.

i was very sheltered growing up (so much so that i only recently learned how to use the stove and washer, and i'm turning 19 this year) and a lot of how i act and the way i respond to things is based off what my adoptive mother did to me, and what my adoptive father *didn't* do.

i never knew how to do anything, and was considered "spoiled" by a lot of people but i don't look at it that way. i mean, sure, i had everything i needed and more but the one thing i can say i never truly had:

parents.

my adoptive mom was sick. like, she couldn't walk, sick. oftentimes i had to do a lot of shit for her. my adoptive father was always working. he was never home and when he was home, he'd never talk to me and go straight to bed.

my (adoptive) mom was really abusive. mentally, physically, you name it. and a lot of people excused it because of her "poor health". it grew so bad that i had started cutting my entire arm up. (i think i had over 100 of them, i counted. i was so angry that night.) she was allowed to do things to me that my real mom would fucking kill her for. she also touched me inappropriately for three years.

(she also pinned me to the bed to do smth to my face for some reason? i was screaming for help but the other family members looked at me like i was crazy. the only one who believes me is my real mom. i love her.)

she also screamed at me for wanting a men's shirt. a full-black shirt with the pac-man board on the back of it. ....alright. (she said if she saw me wearing it at the time, she'd rip it off me and burn it. i was like, 13.)

i also say "was" because she's dead. and i hate to say it but good fucking riddance. oh but razz, it's not right to speak ill of the dead. she wasn't a good person when she was alive, she sure isn't when she's dead.

my father found out about me cutting and told me to basically suck it up. we never talked about it again although it continued to happen for 4 more years. (thankfully, i'm three years clean now. :thumbs up:)

when mom died, a lot of responsibility fell onto him. i was 15 when she died.

and he still treated me as if i didn't exist.

i was never important to him, never someone worth caring but his own children were. and i hate to fuckin say it, but if i was his own child, he'd pay more attention to me.

i've asked him for stuff that should've been taught to me. how to prepare myself for real life, how to do things that he can show me, but he's so obsessed with his reality ("money is everything") that he doesn't seem to notice. or maybe he does but doesn't care.

don't get me wrong, i love him. he's been a father figure to me all my life. but...

he's accused me of being a thief multiple times (i was not), told me that i needed to be put in a mental institution, and said that i was basically good for nothing. he also canceled my therapy appointments without telling me, and misgenders me constantly even though i remind him and remind him that i'm trans. (i've been out to him for two years, and out to my family for one.)

i know that he's old. (he's 70.) i know that he forgets things but goddamn it, he remembers all of my sister's shit. why can't i be special?! why am i the failure kid?!

i wish i could make up with him but lord knows i'm not forgiving him. i will fucking cut him off. i don't care if i'm in his will anymore. he pulled the same "you'll be sorry when i'm dead" shit my mother used to pull and to that i say "FUCK YOU".

that's the main story of everything. i could get into much worse (i've been through everything) but that's enough venting for me. sorry if i've made anyone uncomfortable.

[lilabyrne]

Destin Karn headcanons inspired by an ask game i saw

Playing card games - he's such a sore winner. the kind of person to laugh in other peoples faces if he wins. he's got a good poker face, but luck doesn't always go his way and he gets angry when a game is more luck based than skill based. he also loses all the time to Evan and can't hide his competitiveness

Pretending to act a certain way - he's canonically very good at acting except when it comes to someone he loves being in danger. He will literally act so anxious and skittish if he knows someone is in danger and he might not be able to protect them

Group project - he's the type to not want to work with a group on the project and insist he can do it alone. When he has to work with people, he begrudgingly accepts their ideas but usually tries to run with his own plan and gets annoyed when other people go against it

Receiving a present - oh man. he is not used to receiving gifts. he's used to money, sure, but he's always utilized his position as a way of survival. i would say its entirely likely he hasn't gotten a gift since he was a very young child. I mean even being treated with a base level of kindness makes him suspicious of a person. i think he wouldn't know how to react to a gift. he'd be like "this is for me? are you sure???"

Giving someone a present - he is a generous person at heart. i think he'd be very casual with his gift giving, but would always put a lot of thought into the gifts he got people. he probably always shrugs peoples' appreciation off. he has access to a lot of resources, and he wants the people he likes to be happy. he gives people things they need, material things, and doesn't mind sacrificing things for himself in order to make others happy

Swearing/cursing - he has no qualms about cursing. i mean canonically he curses plenty. he can restrain himself, of course, but internally he's swearing up a storm.

Looking after children - he definitely underestimates his ability to care for kids. I think later in life he would be the more hands on parent. plus he's got his relationship with harper and madeline where he takes on a big brother role. he's good with kids, he wants to protect them but also is able to teach them things.

Waiting for a long time - we all know my man is patient. he'll wait for an opportunity, for a person, for more than 2 years. the main thing he hates is if he has to wait not knowing what's going on. if he didn't know what was happening, he'd get extremely stressed out. he's definitely a pacer and a leg bouncer. i think he's anxious when he doesn't know what's going on and is waiting around, but if he's waiting for something on his terms, he's calm and collected

Being in a party - top wallflower ever. he's a good dancer, but doesn't always show it. he stays off to the side and isn't a big socializer, except with his close friends. he doesn't love the crowd of a big party but he enjoys the music

[s-brant]

Pirates and Princesses (8/8)

(gif: @beccs) (PART SEVEN) (SERIES MASTERLIST)

Summary: JJ must confront his childhood trauma when returning home for the first time since his dad went to jail and prevent it from sabotaging his new relationship. Meanwhile, something sinister happens at the Chateau that brings Y/N face to face with her grief over John B’s death.

Word Count: 13.4k

Warnings: Angst, implied sexual content, strong language, parent/child abuse, mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, grief, and fluff.

A/N: Welcome to the final chapter of Tokens! This one has a little bit of everything in it, but it also has detailed scenes about JJ and his dad, so proceed with caution if you’re easily triggered by that topic. The love you guys show this fic warms my heart so much, so thanks to anyone who stuck with this story until this chapter. Hope you enjoy it!

Now that she has been sentenced to both punishments, one as a consequence of the fight with Kacey and the other as a consequence of the stunt she pulled with JJ to break out of ISS, Y/N can confidently say that out of school suspension is superior to in-school suspension by a long shot. Instead of sitting in a humid room with Alec for the duration of multiple school days, she's allowed to stay home, go out surfing, and do whatever she wants in lieu of doing classwork.

She promised herself not to make it a habit, promising the invisible presence of John B that she likes to pretend follows her around that she will never get herself into trouble again, but she sees no problem in enjoying her suspension while it lasts.

For the first few days of her suspension, JJ skipped school to spend it with her. Their memories of the conversation they had at three in the morning on Sunday were fuzzy, but not missing entirely. She noticed a difference in his behavior for the first few hours after they woke up under the tree together for the second time in one week. It wasn't a difference in their relationship or how he treated her, it was a difference in him.

He was quieter than usual as they cleaned up cans of beer and tossed them into the recycling, sending pictures to Kie while she was in class after she made them promise not to throw them in the trash. Rather than cracking jokes or making casual conversation with her, JJ made his way around the yard with the recycling bin in his hands and his head in the clouds. It disappeared as the day progressed, but for a little while, he wasn't completely there.

Today, he went into school instead of ditching to spend extra time with her in between shifts at work and time spent with their friends. Since they can't exceed three consecutive absences without a doctor’s note and he doesn't own a printer or laptop to forage the header from a doctor's office, he had no choice but to part from her this morning.

He bites his lip to contain his smug facial expression at the recollection of her wake up call for him. The hand holding his locker door open for him to lean on in the midst of his not-so-wholesome thoughts of her squeezes the metal hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

The curtains weren't shut all the way when they fell asleep before midnight last night, allowing a shaft of sunlight to shine in and land on his face. But that wasn't what woke him up from the dream he was having. In fact, the reality he opened his eyes to was a hell of a lot better than any dream he remembered.

Most of his memory of those moments spent suspended between consciousness and unconsciousness consisted of feeling her pressing a kiss to his shoulder, then her hands rubbing up and down his waist to slip lower and lower until they settled on the waistband of his underwear. It was then that he woke to find her looking up at him for permission from where she peppered kisses along his chest.

Their eyes met right as she kissed the edge of his nipple with this pleading, needy look that he took pride in causing without actively attempting to. She woke up on the brink of coming undone from a pleasant—to put it tamely—dream about him. With a glimpse at the time displayed on the alarm clock, it didn't take much for her to roll over to wake him up.

It ended with her beneath the sheet, finishing what she started Friday afternoon until he was clutching the pillow beneath his head in the midst of his orgasm. It happened so fast, a fault of how hot he found it to wake up to her wanting him so badly, but it felt slower than it truly was in the early morning haze of exhaustion they felt.

The memory as he relives it is as heady as it felt the first time around. He sees it in fractions; her eyes looking up at his, warm palms finding the familiar planes of his muscular body with the exploratory touch of someone who's never traveled it before, and the intense sensations he felt at the end...It's easy for him to stand here and lose himself in it. Despite the class he has to go to, he bargains with himself for one more second spent in the paradise of his memories before he has to come back to reality.

Reality, as his shitty luck would have it, comes in the form of a familiar feminine voice chirping from behind his back as he replays his morning bliss.

"It's good to see you're alive and well, Maybank."

He decides, based on who he knows he'll see when he turns around, that he might invest in a sharpie to write "Bang head here" on the inside of his locker door for instances like these where he'd rather suffer brain damage than speak to someone he can't stomach the presence of.

When he turns to see Kacey with one arm still stretched to hold his locker open, he doesn't bother concealing the genuine reaction from his face for the sake of her feelings. Any care he had for her and her feelings was thrown to the wind as soon as she decided she could steal from and put her hands on his girl last week. However, after a second of thought, a condescending smirk finds its way to his face.

He says, jerking his chin to vaguely gesture at her bruised up face, "Purple really suits your complexion. It makes your eyes pop, don't you think?"

Though the swelling of her black eye has deflated in the days since the fight that’ll soon tally up to a week, the verbal jab hits right where it intended to if the light leaving her eyes tells him anything. She bounces back after a second, though, ever the relentless pest they've come to see her as.

She offers a sickeningly sweet, yet fake smile to mirror the one gracing his striking features and spins so her back meets the locker beside his, allowing herself to invade his space further.

A collection of Y/N's stickers decorates the inside of his locker door that he briefly entertained the idea of designating as a place to bang his head against. They range from girly, glittery ones to those he willingly picked when she gave him the choice. Whenever they're at his locker together, she sticks one on the inside, and the evidence of the habit catches Kacey's wandering eyes.

Her fingertips brush against the surface of the sticker-covered metal while she ignores his protest of, "Can you not touch my stuff?" to inspect them. Since one of the Pogues in particular is famous for her endless supply of stickers, her expression sours at the thought of the girl responsible for them.

She spares him a quick glance out of the corner of her eye as she continues to analyze the sticker collection against his instructions not to, asking, "Why weren't you at the bonfire?" A failed attempt at a seductive look in his direction makes him fight not to roll his eyes. "After how last year's ended, I thought you wouldn't miss it for the world."

JJ doesn't bother to take a second to think things through before he reaches to slam the door closed with her hand still outstretched inside of it. Watching her pull it away just in time to avoid jamming it in the locker probably pleases him more than it should, but he can't help it. His hand catches on the edge of the door, halting it in place right before it closes where her hand previously rested.

She doesn't look too happy with him when he opens the door with no harm done except for the drop of her stomach when he initially pretended to swing it shut on her bruised knuckles. She didn't get many shots in on Y/N when they fought, but apparently it was enough.

He doesn't bother with the fake niceties she's giving him after the disrespect she showed him, his friends, and, most importantly, his girlfriend. The fact that she thinks she has any right to breathe in his direction, let alone flirt with him, after she stole JB's bandana is criminal. 'Cause not only did she mess with Y/N, she messed with John B on multiple levels, and his loyalty to his best friend hasn't disappeared with death. Kie and Y/N told him everything she said about their departed friend in the locker room last Thursday.

But he's smart enough to know what'll hurt her more, so he doesn't go for the general scolding he imagined giving her in his head. Since he was told everything about the encounter in the locker room, he knows she's still holding their history together near and dear to her heart.

"We stayed home," he says, casual and cool as always, with added emphasis on the first word, "You know how it is, my girl doesn't like parties. Especially not ones with kooks."

Hook, line, and sinker.

She scoffs, "Your girl?"

Looking at her now, he wonders if she was always this stupid, or if this is a new development she's had in the year since he last spent more than a minute or two at a time with her. It’s easier to trick her than it was with Kie and Y/N a few days ago, and those poor girls flew into that trap like moths to a flame.

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

The ire is visible in the way her face tenses up in places, her lips pressing together a little more firmly and her forehead creasing between the brows.

"Doesn't your, um, history bother her?" she asks, and he's gotta give her credit for being a sneaky little shit when given the chance. The girl takes every possible opening she can to strike for a potential weakness. "No offense, but you kinda get around."

He shrugs this time, deciding to drop his casual act and aim straight for the jugular.

"She likes having someone who knows how to fuck her right, actually, but I really appreciate the concern."

Much like Kie's reaction to their matching tattoos in the hot tub the other night, her jaw is unhinged to meet the unswept hallway floor they stand on. It makes him wish Y/N weren't suspended in order for her to see the gobsmacked reaction Kacey has to the harsh dismissal. Though he wouldn't want to incite an extra round of the Kacey vs Y/N WWE showdown by having her watch another girl flirt with him and essentially call him a slut upon rejection, he knows she'd get a kick out of it.

This one's for you, baby, he thinks with a quiet laugh to himself and turns his focus to the sticker collection she so lovingly crafted.

There are plenty of summer themed ones left over from the same pack he gifted her for her birthday with the surfboard sticker she used to tease him, as well as a newer genre of Valentine's Day stickers she started using the closer they grew since first getting together. They're mostly different colored candy hearts with corny phrases ranging from "U SXY THING" to the classic "BE MINE" and one printed with "ANGEL" on it—his favorite by far.

However, others are random ones from her endless stash built up over the years from birthdays and holidays deemed worthy enough by her dad to stop by Dollar Tree for a new pack, so the one he sets his attention on is likely meant for teachers or coaches to give to their students. The opportunity appears too good to be true to him when it clicks, but it isn't.

He peels the sticker off of the locker door, careful not to disturb the ones around it, and leans in closer to her to place it on the front of her tank top.

"Leave us alone or I won't stop her next time," JJ says lowly, past the point of civility, then backs away to slam his locker shut for real this time as his voice raises back to a normal volume, "And keep John B's name out of your mouth, got it?"

All she can do is look down at the sticker placed on her shirt with squinted eyes to try and read it while he walks off in the direction of his next class. It tears away from the fabric with a soft noise, and when she finally reads it, she rolls her eyes.

“Good Try!”

​​Walking out of school to see the Twinkie parked in the usual spot Y/N takes when she isn't suspended is a delightful treat he didn't know to expect after a rough day in class and his run in with Kacey. His head was hung low on his way to Kie's car to hitch a ride to his house before going home to the Chateau, since he had some things to pick up with his dad out of the picture for the near future, but then he heard her greet them.

JJ's body melts into hers upon contact, and he nearly pushes her up against the closed passenger side door of the van with how hard he hugs her. Though he doesn't want to acknowledge it, his dad has been living in his thoughts more than usual today. Ever since he texted him goodbye, he's been withdrawn inside of his head more and more, and after today's inconveniences, the rising anxiety of his plan to visit home has him two seconds from losing his mind.

Her eyes widen at his zeal, meeting Kie's concerned gaze from over the shoulder she rests her chin on. She stands with her keys swinging around her finger as she watches the couple embrace one another. In an answer to the silent question Y/N asks her in their stare, her lips mouth the words, "His dad," to her.

Deep down, Y/N had a feeling.

It began with his impromptu request to run away with her a few days ago and extended into his uncharacteristically reserved attitude the next morning that receded somewhat, but has yet to fully disappear. There is a part of her that's upset that he hasn't come to her to talk about it, to communicate the way they swore they would, yet she also knows it isn't that simple.

She has to remind herself that she knew what she was getting herself into with him. That's not to say that dating her must be a walk in the park for him, it isn't.

She knows based on the amount of times he had to hold her as she cried, or the time he curtailed her panic attack in this very parking lot, that she hasn't made it easy for him in the aftermath of John B's death. But it's because she knows how it feels that she has such patience with his communication issues.

It's not a conscious choice most times, it's an involuntary blockage preventing the words from being spoken no matter how desperately they long to be. They may have made a promise, but she won't chastise him for succumbing to the same pitfalls as her. It’d be hypocritical.

"Bad day?" she asks.

Her voice is tender with him, prodding gently for a clue as to why he pounced on her on sight. He sinks further into her arms at the sound and lets the sanctity of her touch sway him into submission. Everything about her sets him at ease, if only for a second. Her hand lifts the beat-up red hat from his head to allow the other to brush through his hair.

There's a hum of agreement that she feels vibrating through the center of his chest into hers, and her arms pull tighter around his shoulders in response. This time, when she looks up to see Kie there, she's waving a quick goodbye and setting off toward her car, clearly giving JJ the space he needs.

"We can go to the beach," she says softly, "I have a towel in the back of the van, we can just lay there and talk about it if you want."

The idea of her kind offer to him should add to the comfort he finds in her embrace. It should make him nod and whisper his gratitude to her for being the one person that knows him better than anyone, but it brings him back to the gloomy headspace he was in before seeing her.

It started as a minor distraction when he first arrived at school after carpooling with Kie. It followed him in the quieter moments, only making appearances when he wasn't distracted with more pressing matters. It began as that and built the closer the day came to ending. The sooner his inevitable visit back to his childhood home came, the more he lost himself in his fear, reverting back to a state of helplessness he now occupies with no small amount of shame.

His bottom lip trembles with the urge to cry.

"Can we stop somewhere on the way home first?"

The last place she expected him to drive the Twinkie is here.

As they made their way down each street, taking each turn necessary to bring them closer to the house he seldom let her go to over the course of their lifelong friendship, she felt her heart begin to race. And now, as the van rolls to a stop in the yard in front of his house, she has swallow back the lump in her throat at the sight of it.

She has only been here a few times.

The first time, she was seven years old.

It was a sweltering summer morning in the Outer Banks for her and John B as they set off to retrieve their friend after he missed their plans to meet up at the Chateau for a day of having fun, riding bikes, and playing on the boat. Pirates and Princesses was her favorite game to play with them because JJ would switch roles with her halfway through when she grew tired of being the damsel John B had to rescue from the most cruel and vicious Captain Jesse James Maybank.

The HMS Pogue would rock beneath his feet as he marched across the deck of the boat and took her place as the kidnapped Princess Routledge. He handed off his "sword" to her, a stick he found in the yard, and stood at the edge of the boat with his hands behind his back as though he were a tied up damsel in distress for her to hold captive. The sun setting behind them laid a picturesque backdrop that made the scene all the more vivid to their imaginative young minds.

The boat floated in the afternoon current as John B approached the pair with his best pretend face of worry for the fair Princess Maybank, who had the sharp sword of the pirate queen pressing into his throat with the threat of death should he have tried to escape.

Sometimes, she'd let John B advance on them and tie make believe rope around her wrists and ankles while he and Princess Maybank claimed their victory. Other times, they'd get backed up until the heels of her sneakers hung off the edge of the slippery deck. One move from her brother would have her yell something along the lines of not taking either of them alive, then she'd let her and JJ fall back into the marsh together with gleeful laughs infiltrating the humid air upon their return to the surface.

On the day he didn't show up, none of that happened. She and John B rode their bikes together along sidewalks until they pulled into a driveway marked with the address number he remembered from the other time he sought him out to play before.

Y/N didn't understand what they were hearing when they pushed their kickstands down and called out for their friend, but John B's little face blanched at the sound flooding out of the opened windows of the dilapidated yellow house. It was a combination of banging against the walls, glass shattering, and childlike shouts of frustration and pain. Her big brother placed himself in front of her protectively when the front door opened and smacked against the side of the house, but it wasn't his dad storming out of the house, it was JJ.

His eyes widened at the sight of the siblings standing there, and his heart dropped to his stomach at the realization that they heard it. Maybe not all of it, but based on how the girl peeking out around John B's shoulder looked at him, they heard some.

The van is parked in the exact same place their bikes once were, the exact place she and John B stood years ago when they were first confronted with the harsh reality about their best friend's home life, and he looks like he has fully backpedaled into the state of mind his childhood self inhabited. Even when he turns the key in the ignition and lets the rumbling engine sputter down in silence, he sits in the driver's seat with his lip drawn between his teeth in thought.

Yet as soon as she summons the courage to say something, he takes a deep breath and opens the door without a warning or the typical instruction for her to stay in the car. He doesn't tell her to follow him in, nor does he order her to stay out as he used to when his dad still lived inside. He gives her the choice to make on her own, and, when faced with the opportunity to support him or stay outside like the confused little girl she once was, she chooses the first option.

Her swift steps kick dirt up from the earth onto her ankles as she follows him out of the van to the front steps of the house. She tries not to make her concern for him as evident as it'd be without her intervention on her way up the porch, but it's impossible to erase every sign of it from her face.

It isn't a particularly special or scary house. It's a normal home that'd likely look more inviting if JJ were still living here to mow the lawn and tend to the household upkeep his father saddled him with since he was old enough to be put to work. But she knows better than to trust the street appeal. As he takes her hand to lead them through the threshold of the haunted structure, she is overcome with a sense of creeping trepidation that she can't shake.

"You're sure he isn't here?" she asks.

The entryway is crowded with stacks of mail his father wasn’t bothered to open, as well as empty cardboard boxes that once held cans of beer that are scattered, empty, in various places around the house. Her question is answered by the state of the rooms they breeze past in the direction of his bedroom, but she needed something to say to fill the silence. With them, they usually don’t feel uncomfortable not speaking to each other, but this feels different.

The way he stares out in front of him with his hand squeezing hers hard enough to cut off circulation unnerves her more than the tainted energy of the house itself. He isn't himself. He's a shell of the JJ they know and love, the JJ who is most comfortable tucked away in the safe walls of the Chateau with their friends, not here. If anything, how he is while he's here is the antithesis of his behavior while living with her.

Ever since John B died, he's practically moved in with her. When they're hidden away in her house without the reminders of his home life in sight, he's usually the caretaker of the relationship. It comes naturally to their dynamic, both with him being slightly older and his promise to take care of her, but everything is flipped here. It's an alternate reality for him, or, perhaps, actual reality smacking him in the face after a carefully constructed two months in utopia with her.

They come to a stop in front of his closed bedroom door.

"He's gone," he says, not even sparing a glance at her for reasons she can't decipher, "He texted me a few days ago to say goodbye."

With that, he turns the doorknob and lets the door swing open to reveal the bedroom she only saw one other time.

The second time, she was thirteen years old.

It was a Friday.

Since his dad was supposed to be at work, they stopped at his house on their way home from school exactly like they did today so he could share with their friends what he got from his cousin the night before. Being the good girl she was, she didn't even know what he was showing her when he dug it out of the backpack in the bottom of his closet.

Her brows furrowed at the ziploc bag, more specifically the contents inside of it. She was knelt down on the floor in front of the opened closet door with her shoulder pressed up against his to inspect it. The dried green cluster of a plant didn't look like anything she'd seen before, and she couldn't help but ask him what the hell it was rather than react the way he knew the others would.

"What is it? It looks like dried up moss."

JJ laughed and pulled another bag with rolling papers and a grinder stowed inside.

"It's weed. My cousin Ricky gave me a discount since—"

He halted mid-sentence abruptly enough to startle her, his head turning in the direction of where he heard a trunk pulling up to the front of the house. Her stare was still set on where he was holding the plastic bags in his hands, and she noticed, after he stopped speaking in reaction to his dad coming home, that his hands began trembling. It was so minimal, she almost didn't catch it until she saw the bag wavering under the light coming in from his window.

Before she could open her mouth to say anything more, she felt his hands on her shoulders shoving her into the closet. He followed in closely behind her and crawled in until they were both crammed into the confined space together. With the closet doors shut in front of them, he clamped a hand over her mouth, whispering in her ear for her to be quiet.

She stands with her arms crossed over herself in the center of his room, and though nothing has yet to be said or done to convince her anything is wrong, that's the exact reason why she feels so unnerved by the entire experience of coming here.

He's silent.

The closet doors are wide open as he stuffs the rest of the clothes he had yet to bring to the Chateau into the biggest bag he could find. He rips through his belongings in a fit of melancholy driven anger. His thoughts are swirling with similar memories to the ones she conjures from being here again, but his are tinged with a darkness hers don't have, even with hearing him crying in pain as a child and hiding in the closet with his hand smothering her mouth to evade his dad.

JJ visibly grimaces at the memories he's forced to relive in flashes with every glimpse he gets of the room he spent so much time hiding in. It used to be more tolerable to be here, or at least easier to suffer through. At least he was used to it before, but he got so accustomed to life somewhere else that the second he was confronted with coming back, he started to fall apart.

Whatever he can't live without, he finds space for it in the bag and prepares to leave the rest behind. But every object he touches and step he takes around the room brings him back to the person who he spent his adolescence simultaneously fleeing and wanting more from. More notably, it brings him back to the train of thought that has been nagging him ever since he texted him over the weekend.

The third and final time she came here was over the summer.

It happened right before Hurricane Agatha waged war on the island, when none of the Pogues heard from JJ for two days after he said he had to go home to help his dad with something. She didn't want to track him down to his house after they went over twenty-four hours without a single message. She didn't want to have to go back to the house that gave her chills to think about, let alone go to again after they hid in his closet when they were younger, but he gave her no other choice.

What was she supposed to do except go check on him where he last said he'd be? After all, if she lived in the hazardous environment he did, he'd do the exact same for her. If their friends were involved in her thoughts at the time, they would've gone out on a limb to say he would've gone beyond what she did to protect her if the situation were flipped. If he knew someone was hurting her, he would've come in swinging first and asked questions later, but, in her defense, he strictly told her to never come back to his house. By walking over in the first place, she was breaking one of the fundamental rules of their friendship.

Nevertheless, she found herself crouching around the side of his house to find his bedroom window and check if he was in there. Kie and Pope weren't aware of what was happening with his dad yet, but she and John B accidentally found out years ago, so she wasn't wondering why he wasn't answering them, she was wondering if he was alive.

Part of her truly thought underneath it all that Luke might've killed him. He might've been too drunk or high and went too far when beating him, too far to the point where he didn't want to risk going to jail to take him to the hospital for help. She couldn't live with herself if she didn't check, and if he got pissed at her for showing up against his wishes and didn't want to speak to her ever again, she could live with that.

She knocked on his window in a cadenced beat loud enough for it to heard through the room but not any further. After the first series of knocks, no one came to the window. It ripped her heart to pieces to wonder if she'd see him again as she continued to knock and allowed the sound to increase in volume in hopes that maybe he was asleep, but it didn't bring anyone to the window.

It wasn't until she turned back around to go to the front of the house again that she bumped right into the solid wall of his chest and was pushed back up against the house. The question of what she was doing there was on the tip of his tongue, but she said something that stopped him from asking it.

Her arms were thrown around his shoulders in a desperate bear hug.

"Oh God, JJ, you scared me half to death!" she cried into the front of his shirt, "I thought he killed you!"

He can't help but think of it as he packs his belongings away for a final time to bid his hellish childhood home goodbye: What kind of life are they going to have together if they can't get off this island? Running away may have been an idealistic drunken fantasy for him to entertain after his conversation with Pope got him to admit his true feelings for her, but they both know his consistency can't be trusted.

One moment, he's planning to tell her. The next, a day like today comes along, sweeps his legs out from beneath his body, and he's questioning whether it's worth it to force her to put up with his fickle commitment to her. It isn't fair to her, is it?

Right now is just about when he'd normally start to hyperventilate with an oncoming wave of panic, and he does, but he can't let it fully sweep into him with her here. He fights the urge to smack his head with the heel of his palm, as if that'd forcibly remove the poisonous thoughts infiltrating his mind and ruining the careful work they've done together to remedy their issues with communicating their feelings.

Just like you ruin everything, a thought whispers in the corner of his mind. What made you think this would be any different?

His actions around the room have turned somewhat aimless and distracted, which she notices as soon as he starts to disintegrate into a mess of heavy breaths and self-sabotaging thoughts. She picks up on the shift in his energy as soon as the anxiety starts to wash over him, and she'll be damned if she continues to stand here quietly to let it happen.

It's one thing if he's being silent because being here upsets him, or if he simply doesn't know what to say, but she refuses to let him tailspin into a mental breakdown without doing something to stop it. Whether he knows it or not, after what they went through with him trying to push her away last week, she knows what's occurring within his mind right now.

He flinches at the feeling of her hand grabbing his shoulder to turn him to face her at first, and when she reaches again with her other hand to try to hold his hand as he cries, he shrugs off her touch.

"JJ..." she lets the solemn sound of her own voice murmuring his name trail off, "it's just me."

His head shakes at her consoling words. Everything else inside of his mind is so earth-shatteringly loud, he can't drown it out with logic or reason to bring himself away from the memories of his dad. Those intrusive thoughts keep attacking him with doubled, then tripled force the harder he tries to resist them, and he's so exhausted from it. All of it—the memories, his dad going to jail, and his inability to accept her love to its fullest extent without convincing himself she'll abandon him—is exhausting.

This time, when she rests her hand on his shoulder, he swats it away as the frustration of today crushing him with the force of an avalanche. Not to hurt or scare her, but to get her hands off of him before he bursts out of his skin with the sickness it stirs in his stomach. So detached from himself, he anticipates pain from every touch she gives him, and he knows it hurts her.

JJ hardly recognizes his own voice as he backs away from her a step and says, "Don't."

He can tell it hurts her based on how she looks at him immediately after, but he can't handle being touched right now. How did this happen so quickly? It was overwhelming when they first parked outside, but as soon as he stepped foot inside, it was as if a switch was flipped inside of him and all of the buried feelings he kept hidden over the past two weeks exploded into this.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"You need to leave. I just-I can't breathe and"—He still refuses to look up from the ground or see her face as he paces around the room with no real intent in mind—"You can't see me like this."

That is what breaks her out of her soft spoken, timid attitude to handle the situation the way it needs to be handled. Their natural dynamic worked best for him to take charge when she had her panic attack because JJ acts first and thinks later. He saw that she was in distress and jumped in to help her before things got worse rather than allowing her to keep him at an arms length where he couldn't do anything about it.

Taking a page from his rule book, she takes action.

The room surrounding them is in a state of disarray from him searching through it for the items of clothing and objects now stashed in his duffel bag. There are multiple obstacles in her way as she steps between them like navigating a minefield to reach him after he backed away in instinctual fear, but they don't stop her from reaching him. Nothing could.

Y/N walks right up to him and reaches to grasp his face between her hands, forcing him to stop pacing around and actually look at her for the first time since they arrived her so he hears what she says. To say the least, the way he looks right now is enough to make her cry. There are tears welled up to the brims of his blue eyes, his lips are downturned with his sobs, and he's staring at her like she's about to strike him.

She says it as slowly and clearly as she needs to get it through his head, "He's not here," and before he manages to squeeze out another word of doubt between his rapid inhalations, she cuts in, "Take deep breaths."

He isn't listening to her.

The movement of his chest that hits hers from how close they stand to each other has yet to settle into the familiar pace she remembers from nights of falling asleep with the rhythm of his breaths beneath her head.

Her eyes search his face frantically, from left to right and top to bottom, for any sign of the person she's known for years, but she doesn't see him. Instead, she sees the same panicked child her and John B saw the first time they visited this house. It's uncanny how similar the expression in his face is. It feels to her as if she's been hurled back in time to the moment itself, and when she tries to think about what would've worked with him back then, she doesn't know what else to do except help him escape.

So, with the helplessness of having to watch him turn into a sobbing, incoherent mess, she decides to step into the darkness with him and do what seven year old Y/N would've done. Just like their games of make believe, of pirates and princesses, she assumes the role John B would have and rescues him from what holds him captive. It’s his own mind in this case, but, in the physical sense, it's the house.

She drops her hands from his face and takes his hand in hers to drag him out of the room. The packed bag sits on the floor in their wake as she pulls him back through the bedroom door and into the living room, not caring about what they came here to do.

It doesn't matter anymore.

The various rooms of his dad's house pass by them in a blur as she leads him down the hallway to the front door with one sole objective in mind: get him out of here. If he wants his stuff to bring back to the Chateau, she'll go back inside and get whatever he needs her to, but she isn't letting him inside of this house again. Not under her watch.

Thankfully, since he is undeniably stronger than her and she wouldn't have stood a chance, he doesn't fight it. He stumbles after her guiding hand the same way he always has, just like how he followed her back to the Chateau after she and John B saw him that day when they were kids. She led the way as he sat on the handlebars of her brother's bike, and he watched her hair flutter in the wind with the momentum of their bicycle spokes until the tears dried up.

He watches her drag him out of the home until they've reached the safety of the yard at the bottom of the porch steps, and as soon as the soles of her shoes meet the dirt, she feels his hand slipping out of hers.

"JJ?"

She turns around to see him clutching his chest, rubbing his hand along the front of his shirt over his heart as though it'll loosen up the tightened muscles preventing him from catching his breath. His body weight is leaned onto the railing of the porch steps for support. He's partially slumped on it, looking at her desperately, like she somehow knows the answer to every question screamed inside of his head, and she has never felt as useless.

"You're gonna leave," JJ says through the gasps and cries that leave his cheeks stained with tears.

When she reaches out again to help him remain upright without leaning over the railing, he doesn't shove her hands away as he did inside of his bedroom. It's a small battle won, but she takes it as a win nonetheless.

"What are you saying? I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere—"

"You're gonna leave! Everybody does! My mom, John B, my dad, and you"—his head falls to look at the ground instead of her, and she watches him work through it in his head—"I mean, look at me. You don't want this."

"Don't tell me what I want," she says.

Her voice remains as steady and calm as she can force it to be amidst the turbulent situation, but the way he said it...It takes her right back to sitting in the back of the Twinkie with him at the Cherry Bowl, except it's ten times worse. That felt like a break up, but based on what he's saying, this is one. She hasn't prepared herself for the heartache she feels in response to it.

"You don't want me, you just think you do 'cause I was there after John B died, but you don't. You're gonna go off, find some perfect guy that isn't as fucked up as me, and have a great life somewhere else, but it ain't here," JJ says, his breathing evening out with the distraction of the argument to keep him tethered tor reality, "And it won't be with me."

He can see it every time he's looked at her and debated saying those three titular words that have been floating around in his head since he first met her.

How could she want someone who can't walk into his childhood bedroom without breaking down, or someone who still has years-old scars from cigarette burns on his skin when she touches him? Her bright future contrasted with his pre-designated fate on the Cut, her personality better matched with someone more similar to her, her life continuing on whether he's there or not—it's his worst nightmare, but he's prepared to see it through.

What he doesn't expect is for her to hold her ground.

"You honestly think I'm buying into that bullshit?" she asks.

"What?"

She doesn't put it softly, she states facts with as much harshness as his cruel fantasy had, "You're trying to push me away and I won't let you."

Her typically sweet, soft features have hardened into a bitter expression he's sure he mirrors. The arms holding his waist to keep him upright move to climb up his chest and cup his face between her hands with all of the gentleness her face and voice don't have right now.

She sees right through him.

When he tries to look away again, to avert his eyes to make what he's trying to do easier on himself by not having to look at her when he does it, her grasp on his face holds firm. Her hands guide his chin back up so they're face to face, and he realizes what a mistake everyone makes in assuming her this dainty, broken girl whose only source of strength came from the brother she lost. She's a forest fire.

"You're not hearing what I'm saying—"

Y/N interjects, "I am hearing what you're saying, I'm just saying it's bullshit."

She refuses to let him off the hook, and though it frustrates him on the surface, deep down, it makes him fall in love with her all over again. Her insistence against his speech about her leaving him proves him wrong more than anything else could, 'cause he gave her the perfect chance to dip and she shot it down instantly.

The house looms behind them as a menacing presence that threatens to take control of him again, but she doesn't let it. She keeps his eyes on her no matter how many times he tries to look away and doesn't let anything get in the way of what she says next.

"You think that if you push me away and get me to leave you right now, it'll hurt less than it would if I did it later, and I don't accept that. I won't take the bait and let you torture yourself anymore, okay? I can't speak for anyone else, but I know I'll never leave you. Not willingly, anyway."

She looks into his eyes, and this time its softer, more loving, and he's never felt as understood as he does when she continues to speak.

"I'm in love with you. Whether it scares you or not, it's the truth, and I'll never stop saying it. If you think that your issues with your dad are gonna change that for me, you've officially lost your mind." Their noses brush as she leans in to ghost a kiss over his mouth and pulls away a second later to whisper, her forehead pressed to his, "I love you, JJ. Stop being so stubborn and just let me."

His next breath in trembles as he lets her words sink in, and he's stuck at a crossroads inside of himself without a clue of what to do.

The breeze blows her hair away from her face, the afternoon sunshine painting her golden, and when he sees her hair flutter in the air like it did so many years ago, he can't help but feel as calm as he did during their bike ride home. The further away he got from his dad and the house where it all happened, the calmer he grew, and it hits him at this moment that he's so taken aback by her confession to him, he forgot why he was so upset.

It's sobering. The intoxication of his panic hurtled him back in time to the frightened, childlike state of mind his dad's violent abuse often sent him to, but it was hearing her say those words he's feared for weeks that brought him back. Like the jolt of a defibrillator, he's roused back to life with more clarity than before.

She loves him, but, perhaps more importantly, she said she'd never leave him, and that is what he needed to hear more than anything. That is the statement worth more to him than the four letter word he has agonized over endlessly. No one else every attached the promise of "I love you" with the stipulation of it lasting forever. They said the empty words and contradicted it with their actions, but she hasn't done that. Her actions spoke the words long before her mouth did.

He sighs.

It's a deep, yearning sigh that sends him melting into her with the acceptance of what he's denied for too long. He savors the hands cradling his head, as well as the body pressed up against his that he has memorized down to every beauty mark and imperfection, and makes the right choice.

It isn't like it was the night at the Cherry Bowl, or the night he spoke to Pope about it. It still takes more bravery than he possesses to form the words, but there isn't a physical incapability stopping him anymore. It's just him against the trauma beckoning him into its trap again, and he won't let it lure him back into that house.

"Alright," JJ says to her through a sniffle in acceptance to her command, as if he were agreeing on afternoon surfing plans rather than something as monumental as allowing someone to love him, then continues onto with a timid tone, "I love you too."

Before he can watch for her reaction, she's surging forward through the few inches of space left between them to connect their lips in a kiss.

It's vastly different to the kiss they shared in the hallway at school last Friday. In contrast to that one, the reigning emotion within him that drives the kiss after the hesitant beginning doesn't lead them into increased intensity, it gets gentler. It doesn't explode into chaos and passion, it's a tired kiss that he never wants to retreat from. It's the physical manifestation of his feelings for her underneath the guarded exterior he uses to protect himself: gentle and yielding, yet undeniably powerful.

He feels her smiling through her tears against his mouth. In the face of everything that happened this afternoon, he doesn't feel like he should be smiling back at her, but he does. He smiles while kissing her with tears streaming down his face, still reeling from his traumatic response to coming home for the final time, and wonders how a person can feel such contradicting emotions all at once.

Y/N is the one who starts to pull away first, though it's only to check in on him. If she had it her way, she could stay here with him until the sun sets, but he did just come back from the brink of a full-blown panic attack, so she can't in good conscience ignore his well-being for the momentary bliss of their love confessions.

Her thumb brushes over his bottom lip, her smile drooping with worry as she asks, "Wanna spend the rest of the day on the boat? You always say being on the water makes you feel better. Maybe it'll make it easier to talk about it."

His Adam's apple bobs with how he swallows the lump in his throat.

"Can we maybe take baby steps for now? I don't think I can handle telling you all that shit yet."

It was already enough to allow her to follow him into the house, watch him break down into a fit of panic no one else has seen him in, and tell her he loved her, but it'd cross the line into uncharted territory to talk about everything between him and his dad so openly. Between the minor annoyance of dealing with Kacey to this hellish visit home, he thinks he's reached his quota on feeling uncomfortable today.

She nods in agreement.

"Baby steps."

Drawn back to each other by a force stronger than gravity, they collide again, but it isn't a kiss this time. It's a hug charged with all of the previously unspoken emotions they've buried inside of themselves for years, the same hug she gave him the last time she came to this house with the fear of his potential death lingering in her thoughts.

She throws herself at him with the same desperation she did that day and relishes the feeling of his muscular arms returning the embrace until their bodies are tangled together. She'd usually never refer to something as inherently affectionate as an embrace as violent, but it's the closest she can come to capturing how it feels as their bodies meet. It makes her lose her footing on the bottom step they stand on together, teetering on the edge she'd surely slip off of with the force if not for him keeping her steady.

He's about to say something, a thank you to her for calling him out on his bullshit and not letting him go that easily, when the grating sound of her ringtone blares from the back pocket of her denim shorts.

The contact popping up on the screen along with a series of frantic messages when she pulls away from him to answer shows Pope's name.

Pope You and JJ need to get back to the Chateau ASAP!!

The van doors slam shut behind Y/N and JJ as soon as it rolls to a stop in front of the Chateau.

Under the assumption that something dire happened, as in injury or death or catastrophic damage to the house itself, they bolted off of that porch faster than they knew they could move. She only turned back when she remembered the packed back of JJ's things they abandoned on his bedroom floor and, not wanting him to reenter the house, she brought it back to the Twinkie in record time.

They're preparing to trample up the porch into the house like a stampede of animals when they hear Kie calling them over to the backyard and change direction.

"No one's hurt!" she shouts, knowing that was likely where their minds went after everything they went through during the summer, "You have to see this though, I don't know who did it!"

Sticks and fallen leaves crunch beneath her feet on her way around the side of the house. Her mind races with the possibility of what could've happened that didn't hurt their friends but necessitated a series of texts and calls as frantic as the ones she received at JJ's house. She drove over here in defiance of the speed limit, something she rarely does, and prayed nothing terrible was happening.

It gave her flashbacks to when she found out John B and Sarah died in the storm. The pedal beneath her foot brought the van to an uncomfortably swift speed, then she remembered the sound of Shoupe's voice when he gave them the news. JJ warned her to slow down, then she remembered how it took multiple people to help her restrain him from attacking the new sheriff for letting his men drive their friends into their deaths.

At first, she doesn't realize what's wrong.

Kiara and Pope are standing and waiting for them across the grass near the large tree that sits as a centerpiece to their yard. Based on the body language screaming their frustration and the tears in their eyes, she can tell something bad did happen, but it's not clear what it is until she looks past them to the tree. More specifically, until she looks at what's on the tree.

"Oh my god," she whispers to herself.

Her hand is already up to cover her mouth and conceal the instantaneous frown besmirching her previously relaxed face. They both are stopped in their tracks halfway to where their friends are standing, and she can’t hear JJ's reaction over the rising volume of her hysterical thoughts.

Spray painted in red on top of their memorial for John B are the words "COP KILLER" in bold letters that conceal what they burned into the tree trunk for his gravestone. It sticks out from the beauty of the greens, browns, blues, and swathes of other earthy tones composing the scenery around the Chateau like a thorn amongst flowers, so much so that she wonders how she didn't instantly see it when they rounded the corner to come back here.

Yet that isn't the only thing amiss in the peaceful sanctuary they call home, there are random things strewn around the ground around the tree. An old t-shirt spray painted with the word "murderer" on the front, four ripped up envelopes, and a gorgeous mahogany jewelry box...broken on the grass.

The freshly turned dirt they had the contents of the box buried beneath is scattered around the trashed area as well. It clicks with her a few seconds late that whoever came here to do this must have seen the pinwheel she put in the ground to mark the "grave" and dug it up to add insult to injury.

She moves forward without consciously realizing it and stumbles until she reaches the first object of the debris field. Before this, she was doing a masterful job of holding in her cries, but as soon as she crouches down to pick up the pieces of the jewelry box, the lid snapped clean off the hinges to separate it from the bottom section, it comes rushing out of her against her will. The first unrestrained keen is the first thing to snap JJ out of his shell shocked trance.

He walks after her as fast as his legs will take him without breaking into a run, but she isn't letting him get close before she puts the box back down and shuffles forward to collect the torn letter remains. She doesn't want them to get blown away by the wind anymore than they already might have been, so she scrambles to gather the pieces until they're cupped in her hands to protect them.

"Why?" she asks and looks up at Kie and Pope with tears dripping down her face, "Why would anyone do this? Who would do this?"

Pope says, "My guess is as good as yours. We didn't see anyone leaving when we got here, so it must've happened before school ended. This is all we saw before we called you guys."

For a second or two, JJ is grasping at straws for why this happened and who did it like the rest of them are, but then something Pope said makes it click into place. It sets off a domino effect in his mind as he brings back the memory of a certain offspring of satan being absent from gym this afternoon despite being at school earlier, since his encounter with her before Physics made him, unfortunately, aware of her existence again.

His face is set in anger, jaw clenching with the tension of him grinding his teeth together, and he takes his hat off to fidget with it between his hands for a second. Their friends are too focused on her crying to see him contemplating it, but as soon as he speaks, they look up to see him setting his hat back onto his head in preparation to leave and track Kacey down.

Y/N's head snaps up from the torn letters in her hands to the sight of him storming off across the yard with his only goodbye being the words, "I'm gonna kill that bitch."

Her and Pope stare after him in shock, unable to put the pieces together about who that "bitch" is, but Kie doesn't miss a single beat. While Y/N is crumpled over on the ground in tears, she's rushing after JJ before he can approach the bike parked in front of the house. He doesn't even make it five steps before he feels her hands latching onto his wrist to stop him.

She asks, "Who the hell are you talking about? And why would they do this?"

His eyes narrow at her. His unreleased frustration for the situation in general and having to watch Y/N cry after an emotional afternoon together comes rushing out when he snaps at her.

"Kacey. She talked shit at school and I put her in her place. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna pay her a little visit."

He yanks his arm sharply towards himself to free it from her grip, but she's a step ahead of him. Quicker than he can think to stop her, Kie swipes the keys hanging out of his back pocket away and throws them to Pope, who, bless his heart, can't catch to save his life. The key ring jingles with its contact at the dead center of his chest, and she mouths an apology to him before turning back to face JJ.

"What the fuck, Kie?"

He makes to stomp past her and retrieve the keys from Pope only to be stopped by her hands reaching out to grab his shoulders.

"Listen to me, you can't go anywhere. Look at her," she whispers lowly enough to keep Y/N from hearing, pointing behind her to where she sits on the ground with Pope knelt beside her, "I wouldn't put it past Kacey to pull a stunt like this. I'm just as mad as you, but revenge can wait and you know it. She needs you."

The fury visible in his expression is subdued by looking past Kie's shoulder to see Y/N crying softly to Pope about the vandalized memorial.

The last time he saw her so distraught over something, it was the day they made the memorial and buried the box in the first place. She sits on her knees with her mom's broken jewelry box between them, shuddering with the sobs she has no control over, and pours the torn paper into the empty bottom half of the box. Exhausted to the core, she looks more like a sullen, kicked puppy than she does herself.

It makes his anger-fueled instincts that urge him to hunt Kacey down and do something, anything he can to make her feel the pain they do right now bubble down into sorrow. It's visible in his eyes when he looks at her.

Kie knows she's gotten under his skin when he sighs, sparing a parting glance to the bike in the driveway, and nods once at her before setting off back to where they're sitting in the grass.

Meanwhile, Y/N is stuck staring down at the disarray of her backyard with nothing but pain aching through her to the bone.

Her brother did wrong things sometimes as a consequence of being human, but never this, never something worthy of having his name dragged through the mud and being branded a murderer after his death. He stole scuba gear from Ward and broke dozens of laws in their hunt for the gold, but he never crossed that line into moral bankruptcy. Rafe did, and it kills JJ to see someone like Kacey do this to his best friend while hanging off of Rafe and his friends like a leech.

The fabric of his worn t-shirt is tarnished by the dried paint clinging to the front of it to the spell the lie written there, and her vision blurs with tears for what feels like the millionth time in the span of an hour. First, it was JJ. Now, it's John B, and she can't help but wonder if the heartache will ever end. It began to feel better over the course of the week, her grief for him slowly beginning to slip from her mind until now. Until the storm clouds converged again to batter her with another wave of it.

Through the deafening volume of her mind racing with thoughts and feelings to process what's happened, she hears Pope shuffling around to stand on his feet. Then, another person sits down in his place and scoots closer until their bodies are touching, and she knows it's him. She doesn't have to wait to hear his voice or look to see his face, she can tell based on the feeling of his touch and the smell of him she's so intimately familiar with, yet couldn't describe it aloud if she tried.

He doesn't smother her. He sits close enough to touch her and doesn't push it any further.

The background of the pale, cloudless sky frames him in the foreground like the subject of a painting—a living, breathing painting that she could study endlessly. The other trees planted in the yard's leaves flutter distantly behind him and try to draw her gaze away, but she keeps her eyes on him.

Maybe that's how it is, she thinks.

Maybe it'll get better and worse in a dance that'll only stop when they're no longer here to agonize over it. Maybe this is what moving on from John B will always be like. It'll feel like they've made strides in the right direction, then something will come along to shatter it to sharp pieces that'll reopen their stitched up wounds. If that's the case, at least the four of them have each other to lean on when it gets worse again.

JJ sits with her and lets her crawl onto his lap, resting her head on his shoulder, until the sun sinks below the horizon.

The gentle bobbing of the HMS Pogue at the surface of the water steadies her amidst her eddying thoughts. It keeps her present to the moment the way the ropes tying the boat to the dock keeps it from floating adrift into the marsh. It's a motion engrained in her from the start of her life until now from countless days spent on the water. Whether it be for fishing, swimming, or playing make believe with her boys all those years ago, it's as much a part of her as her personality or body itself.

JJ was right about one thing: being out on the water makes it easier to think.

He hasn't followed her out since she woke up before sunrise and snuck out of bed to come here. Despite her efforts not to wake him, he woke up when she disentangled her body from his, silently cursing the fact that they always cuddle so closely, and he tried to pull her back to him with a whine of displeasure in his groggy, half-asleep state. Sleep finally found them after hours of staying up together to talk about what Kacey did, unable to relax from the chaos of yesterday, so he wasn't prepared to wake up that soon.

"Go back to sleep, angel," she whispered as she hovered over him, brushing a chaste kiss to his lips that he was too tired to return.

That was the last time she saw him since this morning, and now that the sun has risen to its peak in the sky without her moving an inch from her perch atop the bow of the boat, she's begun to wonder if he's awake yet. It isn't uncommon for them to sleep in for half of the day when there isn't school or work, so it isn't surprising to her that he's just now waking up when she hears the back door to the Chateau opening and closing.

Unbeknownst to her, JJ has been awake the entire morning since she left bed.

They were so attached to each other yesterday night, he didn't have the time to put it together without her seeing and ruining the surprise, but once he heard the door to the porch close to signify her leaving, he kicked the blankets off of himself and got to work. He wasn't originally planning on starting so early, since they stayed up late into the night together, but once he woke up to the feeling of her sneaking out of his arms, he was too awake to fall back asleep.

The sound of his footsteps on the dock warns her of his approach, but she doesn't raise her head from where she rests it in her palms to stare out at the water.

"I was wondering when you'd finally wake up," she says.

There's another few steps, then the boat jostles with his weight stepping onto it.

He doesn't say anything to her in response. The only clue she gets as to what he's doing are the footsteps on the deck that lead closer to her until she feels him sitting down on the bow next to where she is. And she's about to open her mouth to ask if he's okay when he sets something down in front of her.

It's a shoe box.

Y/N turns to see him, eyes flickering over his tired face, and looks back at the box with furrowed brows.

"What is this?"

His hair is messy, exactly how it was when she left him in bed this morning, and if she weren't more focused on the mysterious box he plopped down in front of her, she'd be combing through it with her fingers. He's gotten used to those casual displays of affection from her; how she runs her hands through his hair on mornings before school when he forgets to brush it, or when she fixes a button on his flannel that he missed.

JJ's lips are tipped in a smile, and she can't help but blush with how he looks at her. She never used to see it, but he has always looked at her like this. Like he's hopelessly, utterly in love with her. Even before they lost John B, back when he'd expend all of his romantic and sexual attention on girls he hardly knew, he still looked at her this way.

He gestures at it and says, "Open it."

The lid of the box is coated in a freshly dried layer of blue paint to match the shade of the sky overhead. She knows instantly that he must have dug through the arts and crafts box she specifically labeled with a warning for him and John B to stay out. It's painted with aimlessly sloppy brushstrokes and stickers placed at every corner of the cardboard box, all of which she recognizes from the stash she kept under her bed alongside the India ink he borrowed last Friday.

As she gives him a skeptical look and reaches to lift the lid off of the shoe box, she makes a mental note to rewrite the label on the arts and crafts box without the warning for him to keep out. Since John B isn't here to steal anything from it and JJ never follows that rule anyway, it's redundant at this point.

Any skepticism is washed away from her face as soon as she flips the lid open to reveal what's inside. It leaves her speechless as she looks down at it all.

"JJ..." she murmurs in awe.

Sitting at the bottom of it is a folded up t-shirt she saw JJ wear multiple times, but never again since John B died. He refused to glance at the shirt his best friend gave him the year before they never saw him again, let alone dig it out of the corner of her closet where he keeps his things...until now.

But that's a scratch on the surface of all of the things about his gift that stuns her to silence. The next thing to catch her immediate attention is a picture she hasn't seen in years.

It's one that Big John took of the three of them together right where she and JJ are sitting. She was much younger in it, flashing a toothy grin with her arms thrown over both boys' shoulders. To her left, John B was leaning his head on her shoulder. To her right, JJ was wearing an eyepatch they crafted out of an old black shirt he stole from his dad. It was cut with the kitchen scissors and tied around the back of his head in a knot.

She brushes her thumb over John B's face, then sets the crinkled photograph back down atop the folded shirt and moves her attention to the last surprise.

Letters.

Torn up pieces of paper painstakingly taped back together sit one on top of the other, some missing pieces here or there, and it makes her mouth part in shock. Her hands shuffle the letters apart to see each one and recognize the handwriting: Kie's bubbly, swirling letters, Pope's neat cursive, hers, and JJ's chicken scratch writing that she's able to decipher from years of proofreading his essays.

She pictures him at her desk all morning while she was sitting out here, ripping tape off of the roll and arranging the puzzle pieces of the ripped letters until he was sure he got it right. It made him want to rip the hair from his scalp, but he sat there and pushed through the frustration to make it as perfect as he could for her. The missing pieces were primarily from Kie's letter, which fluttered away on a balmy breeze when Kacey tore it up and threw it to the ground, but the one he wanted her to have the most wasn't missing more than a single piece.

Y/N looks up from the letters held like a precious treasure in her hands to see him watching her with that same classic JJ smile on his face, but he doesn't let her get a word in yet.

"Go on," he says, leaning closer to pull his letter to John B out and place it on top of the pile for her to read, "I want you to read it."

"You didn't let me read it when I asked before though, are you sure you—"

He interrupts her before she can worry herself over it, "Dude, just read it. I promise I'm fine with it. I want you to."

The letters crinkle under her touch as she looks back down and smooths them out on the deck enough to read through the clear tape. With one last confirming glance to him for permission, she takes a deep breath and reads the first line.

Dear John B,

You really know how to keep a guy on his toes, don't you? You really outdid yourself on this one. I was so sure we were gonna make it, but I guess you had to go all Romeo and Juliet on us, huh? As long as you and Sarah are happy macking on each other in heaven, it's okay.

In all seriousness, I fucking miss you, bro. I miss you more than I realized a person could miss another person. Whenever I need to talk to you again, I don't know what to do. I guess that's why it's good that Y/N made me write this.

Also, I'm really sorry for—

"What does it say there? There's a whole chunk missing," she murmurs.

He scoots close enough to her that she can feel his body warmth radiating onto her through the shoulder of his flannel. Sunlight reflects on the silver rings decorating his fingers as he holds one side of the paper to tilt it enough for him to squint at.

"Macking, I think. It's supposed to say "I'm sorry for macking on your sister."

—macking on your sister. You can totally kick my ass for it, but before you come back from the grave to murder me, let me defend myself, okay? She isn't just another girl for me, John B.

I think you knew it before I did.

Last summer, you asked me straight up if we were hooking up behind your back after I kissed her in front of you on the porch. I laughed in your face, but you were right.

You saw everything before me, man. You knew I loved her since we were kids and waited for us to come to you about it, so that's gotta mean something, right? I hope it means you wouldn't be mad at me for this.

I swear I won't fuck it up with her, but you already know that. That's why you asked me to take care of her,. I didn't know why at the time but I do now. I won't let you down.

I'm keeping my promise.

- JJ

P.S. Don't miss me too much. We'll be shotgunning beers together up there before you know it.

There are tears blooming in her eyes when she lifts her gaze from the tattered paper to look at him again, but they aren't sad. For once, the tears slipping down her cheeks are happy tears, not born from grief, sadness, and pain, but bittersweet happiness.

They're caught staring at each other for a second before he asks her shyly, "It isn't too sappy or anything, is it? 'Cause I thought it—"

"C'mere," is the only thing she can get out before she's tugging him forward by the front of his shirt to kiss him.

JJ stumbles a little with the unexpected force of her pulling him to her, but he takes it in stride. He steadies himself and lets his hands shoot out to grapple for purchase on her waist, keeping her pressed up against him tightly as he kisses her back.

And it doesn't get much better than this, does it? This is it for him. He meant what he wrote to John B, he won't fuck it up with her, especially not because of his trauma with his dad getting inside his head and sabotaging his relationship with her. This is what makes everything worth it.

It brings happy tears to his eyes too.

She can taste the salt of them where their lips meet in the middle. It makes her smile, wrapping her arms around his neck and clenching the letters he mended for her in her fist to keep them from blowing away in the wind, and they both start to laugh into each other's mouths at the poignant feeling they both share but can't quite place.

They pull away from each other to catch their breath after another moment of it, and she can't help but stare. How could she not when she feels like this? It’s less like he’s her boyfriend and more like a piece of her soul has attached itself to his with no hope of letting go in the near future.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me," she whispers to him.

Plain and simple. No room for disagreement or a bashful rejection of the compliment. She's pulled back from him enough to hold his gaze and make sure he sees her seriousness, and there isn't anything he can do to refute her statement.

He brushes his nose against hers affectionately, dipping down to kiss her again, but when he leans back to see her face, he can't help himself.

"Ditto."

The rest of the day after their moment on the boat, locked away in their own little world where none of the monsters chasing them could sneak through and ruin it, melts away peacefully. After another half hour spent looking through the box together, of her thanking him over and over again, he hops off of the HMS Pogue onto the dock and extends his hand to her in the most gentlemanly manner possible.

His lips are curved into a smirk as he kneels down on one knee as though she's a revered royal and bows his head in subservience, "Princess Routledge."

Her hand fits in his warm, calloused palm as a perfect match, and she steps off of the boat onto the dock beside him with an expression to match his.

"Captain Maybank," she says in her most regal royalty voice.

Her stellar performance breaks into a laugh they share as he stands and throws his arm around over her shoulder to walk back to the yard. The cardboard box is tucked beneath one of her arms while the other slips around his side to hold him back, and her heart feels full with both the presence of JJ and John B alongside her.

They bury it together.

Tag List: @gabiatthedisco, @fangirlvoice, @black-syren, @apparrio, @particularcth, @planetdemon, @idk-ijustworkhere, and @krisphann

Also, now that it’s over, let me know what your favorite part was in the comments or tags if you’d like to :) I’m curious.

[highwaytothedangerzone502]

India Lima Yankee - Chapter 5

Pairing: Rooster x Female OC

Word Count: 2587

Warnings: None

Summary: Juliette Kazansky discovers Maverick is back in town for a special training detachment, but she's more than a little blindsided when her Rooster arrives too. Having not spoken to him for almost ten years after their less than amicable break-up, Juliette can only imagine how the next few weeks are going to play out when she remains head over heels in love with him while he wants nothing to do with Juliette other than to forget her.

Or so she thinks.

Notes: Chapters in italics are flashbacks.

Chapter Songs: Rumors Salute Dark Horse

Chapters: Chp 1 Chp 2 Chp 3 Chp 4 Chp 5 Chp 6 Chp 7 Chp 8 Chp 9 Chp 10 Chp 11 Chp 12 Chp 13 Chp 14 Chp 15 Chp 16 Chp 17 Chp 18 Chp 19 Chp 20 Chp 21 Chp 22 Chp 23

"How do I look, boys?" Juliette inquired, looking at her dogs through the mirror she twisted in front of to assess her outfit. "Too much? Too little? Just right?"

Lightning, always the vocal one, barked in response. Raptor wagged his tail. Juliette took their reactions as signs of approval. She admired the military green business dress, cinched at the waist with a matching fabric belt, and paired with bronze peep toe stilettos with the famous red-bottom soles. Something about the brand gave Juliette confidence whenever she needed a boost. Add in her ever-perfectly curled hair, winged eyeliner, and a bronze smoky eye to match her shoes, even Juliette had to admit the outfit was fire.

"All right, momma has to go to work," Juliette said, grabbing her purse and keys." Do you two hooligans want to come? Or do you want to go see grandpa?"

At the word" grandpa," the dogs jumped up, bouncing up and down. Ever since her father was diagnosed the third time with throat cancer, Raptor and Lightning had been attached to his hip whenever they were around him, almost like they sensed his ailing health. Iceman adored the dogs as much as they did him and was more than thrilled whenever his daughter asked him to watch them.

Juliette drove to her parent's house and dropped Raptor and Lightning off. When Iceman saw his daughter, he raised his eyebrows with evident surprise and no small amount of amusement. Juliette frowned and said, "Put those back down. I'm about to be in the presence of the best of the best. I need to look my best."

Iceman nodded, but his daughter suspected he didn't quite believe her explanation to be the whole truth. It wasn't, but Juliette would never admit to that. Kissing her father on the cheek, she hurried to her car and to the base. Being a constant presence there, along with her father being the Admiral, Juliette had no trouble clearing security. She arrived well ahead of everyone else. The only person who beat her was Hondo, who she found setting up the training area with chairs and tables and playing some hits from the 2000s.

"Well, what do we have here," he said when Juliette approached. "If you're not a sight for sore eyes, I don't know what is. How are you doing, Princess?"

"Hondo!" Juliette exclaimed, thrilled to see Maverick's right-hand man and chuckling at the unofficial callsign she'd developed on base. At first, it'd annoyed her, but she came to develop a fondness for it the more the soldiers treated her like one when they realized she wasn't just the Admiral's daughter. They quickly discovered Juliette could hold her own and hold it well. 

"How've you been?" Juliette asked, enjoying the bear hug Hondo gave her. She always said if he'd become an aviator, his callsign would've been Papa Bear.

"Well, the stress from being friends with Mav hasn't killed me yet, so I'm good," he joked.

She grinned. "I heard about the encounter with Cain. I would've paid good money to see his face."

"I'm sure I can find security footage of it somewhere for you. I'll even let you see it for free if you tell me why you're all dolled up more than usual."

Juliette groaned, tilting her head back. "Seriously, I do my hair and makeup like this every day. Why are you and my dad acting as if this is the first time you've seen me like this?"

"I don't know. There's something about-" Hondo motioned with both hands at her ensemble- "that speaks 'I'm a boss ass bitch today' more so than usual."

Juliette burst out laughing. "As long as I always look like a boss ass bitch, that's all that matters."

"That goes without saying." Patting her affectionately on the shoulder, Hondo returned to setting up chairs, and Juliette assisted. They sang along to Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Backstreet Boys, NYSNC, and more. At one point, the Electric Slide came on, and both Hondo and Juliette found themselves dancing along to it. They only stopped when they heard voices coming from the hall. They swiftly ceased their entertainment and pretended like nothing happened, a good thing considering Warlock and Cyclone strode into the room a few seconds later. The latter zeroed in Juliette.

"Jules, I didn't know you were attending today," Cyclone said, not unkindly. If the man liked you, he loved you. If he didn't, he hated you. Being Iceman's only daughter, Juliette had an edge with favoritism with the vice admiral, even against her own brothers. "It's good to see you."

"Good to see you too, sir. Maverick invited me to join since I'm working on a new project for Lockheed," she replied, smiling sweetly at him. Juliette had to work it if she was going to convince the vice admiral to let her go up in the jets. "If possible, I'd like to go up during one of the flights today. It'd really help to have first-person experience."

Cyclone pondered her request for an agonizingly long time before finally conceding. "Very well. You can go up with Maverick since you're well-acquainted with him, or I can put you with Bradshaw."

"Seriously?" Juliette raised an eyebrow at him.

Cyclone, the ever-stoic soldier, cracked a smile. "Just trying to figure out why you got all dressed up when you were planning on going up in a plane today."

"If one more person comments about my appearance today, I'm going to commandeer one of these jets and shoot them with it," Juliette threatened, clenching her jaw in frustration and placing her hands on her hips.

"You could stab them with your shoe too," Hondo suggested, gesturing at her stilettos.

Juliette nodded in agreement. "The blood would blend in with the red sole. Thanks for the idea, Hondo."

"I'm very disturbed by how casual you both made that sound," Cyclone remarked, his expression more than a little mortified. "I'm also now debating whether you should be let in a plane today."

Juliette pursed her lips. "… I promise I won't shoot anyone with it if you do."

"Or stab them with your shoes?"

"The heels aren't sharp enough anyways, so yes, your pilots are safe."

"Much appreciated. You can kill any of them after this special training detachment ends. I'll probably want you to."

Juliette grinned. "I'm holding you to that."

Cyclone nodded, clapped her on the shoulder, and fell back into his stoic expression, which seemed to always be edged with constant, mild exasperation. Hondo and Warlock followed him. Juliette remained put, scanning over her notes spread out neatly on the table to figure out the areas she needed to work on. Juliette kept a careful eye on the pilots trickling into the room, however. Some she recognized, others she didn't, but Juliette truthfully only cared about one, and it wasn't the one that approached her.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Hangman drawled, sidling up to her. Juliette hated how good his cologne smelled because it made it difficult to concentrate. "Wasn't expecting to see you here?"

"Last minute invite. Perks of being the Admiral's daughter, I guess," she responded casually, deciding to keep her relationship with their trainer a secret for now. Plus, she desperately wanted to see the cocky look evaporate on Hangman's face when he realized precisely who he threw 'overboard' last night.

Behind him, Juliette clocked Bradley entering the room with Phoenix and Bob. She hurriedly shifted her attention back to Hangman, who continued speaking, "Last minute, and you still manage to look like a model?"

She sighed. The Lord was testing Juliette's patience today, and she regretted agreeing to Cyclone's terms. Could he not have waited until after Hangman arrived to make them? "I dress like this all the time for work."

"Who do you work for?" Hangman queried, shifting closer to her.

"Lockheed. I'm going up with one of you today to get some first-hand experience to try and give me some ideas for a project I'm working on."

"Sharp in dress and in mind. You're a girl after my own heart."

"And how many girls have you told that to?" Juliette countered in amused exasperation as she collected her papers and placed them in her purse. "You should go sit down before Cyclone catches you flirting with me."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, giving her a two-finger salute. Winking, he strolled off to the front of the room and took a seat. Juliette went to stand next to Hondo. He raised eyebrows and subtly glanced over at Hangman. Juliette shook her head and muttered 'don't ask.' The last thing she needed was for it to get back to her dad that the pilots were focusing more on her than the mission. She scanned the room to see if they were missing anyone other than the man of the hour, careful to avoid having her gaze land on Bradley despite the fact all Juliette wanted to do was look at him ever since he walked into the room. The past nine years had been kind to him, and if possible, he'd become even more handsome. Juliette had never been a fan of mustaches, but she'd be damned if she said Bradley didn't pull it off unnaturally well. Juliette also couldn't help but think how much he resembled his father now. As a young kid, he'd always taken on more after his mom, but now, he could be his father's twin.

Warlock took to the podium and began speaking. Noticing everyone paying attention to him, Juliette caved to her desire and finally looked at Bradley. He watched Warlock with the innocence of someone who had no idea the man he despised would be joining them in mere seconds. That not only would the man who set him back four years be speaking, but he'd be training them. Bradley wouldn't take it well, and Juliette cringed inwardly at how the fractured relationship would play out. She'd thought about warning him last night, but he'd been having fun with his fellow aviators? Why ruin it with the knowledge? He wouldn't have slept if he knew, and Juliette wanted Bradley at the top of his game.

"I give you Captain Pete Mitchell, callsign: Maverick," Warlock announced as her uncle strode down the aisleway towards the podium. Juliette's gaze flicked over to Hangman, who, by now, recognized Maverick. He hurriedly turned around and pinched the bridge of his nose. Juliette bit back a smile, glad to see some of the arrogance knocked out of the aviator before he'd even taken flight. Her gaze returned to Bradley, whose hopeful expression had been wiped away. To those who didn't know him, they'd seen an emotionless man, but Juliette knew better. She saw the fury alight in his eyes as he turned his head to stare out at the F-18s. Unfortunately, Bradley must've sensed her watching him because his gaze met hers, and suddenly, Juliette was transported back to the last time they'd been together as a couple. The look of utter betrayal in his brown eyes usually filled with love and warmth, the seething rage rolling off of his trembling body, the hurtful truths he shouted at her, the overwhelming guilt that-

"The F-18 NATOPS," Maverick said, pulling Juliette out of her spiraling memories. She tore her gaze from Bradley as her uncle patted the thick manual. "Contains everything they want you to know about your aircraft. I'm assuming you know the book inside and out."

There was a chorus of yeses, a few 'damn rights' and a 'damn straight' from Hangman. Maverick glanced over at Juliette. She gave him an encouraging smile and the smallest of nods: You've got this.

Maverick dropped the manual in the trash bin beside him. "So does your enemy."

"And we're off," Hondo said under his breath.

"But what the enemy doesn't know," Maverick continued, staring down each and every pilot, "is your limits. I intend to find them, test them, push beyond. Today we'll start with what you only think you know. You show me what you're made of. Any questions?"

A guy in the front raised his hand. Juliette recognized him as Reuben Fitch, a.k.a. Payback. Maverick motioned for him to speak. "May I ask who she is?"

The pilot turned to Juliette, and suddenly, the entire room's attention shifted to her. Keeping calm and relaxed, she answered, "My name is Juliette Kazansky. I'm a representative from Lockheed. I'll be going up with Maverick to gain some insight into the planes you're flying to help with a project I'm working on."

Juliette saw the familiar flash of disbelief that she, the girl with the perfect hair and makeup, could handle going up in a fighter jet. Rather than confronting him about it, she kept silent. Juliette would find a way to get back at them later and show them precisely how capable she was.

"Good to have you here, Juliette," Maverick said, smiling at her. "Everyone, suit up and be ready in fifteen. Dismissed."

Juliette gathered her things and followed Cyclone to get her flight suit. She'd done it so many times that she rivaled the pilots in getting ready timewise. Juliette even had her own helmet, a graduation present from her father and Maverick, who somehow managed to convince the Navy to create a helmet just for her with 'Princess' for the callsign. She'd had a say in creating it, and the helmet had Maverick's design with her father's colors, an homage to the men she looked up to the most. 

Juliette found Maverick waiting for her in the training area, all geared up. 

"You ready?" He asked as they headed towards the plane.

"Always," she answered, adrenaline pumping through her veins from excitement. It disappeared when she saw Bradley up ahead of them. Maverick stared at him, and Juliette saw the longing in her uncle's eyes.

"Go talk to him," Juliette encouraged. "At least see if you can get him to be open to putting things aside for this mission. It'll do neither of you any good to be all tensed up around each other."

Maverick hesitated, then called out, "Rooster!"

No response.

"Bradley," Maverick tried again, walking a little faster. Juliette let him go ahead of her. This was between the two men. She and Bradley had nothing to say to each other. They'd let it all out nine years ago.

When Bradley still didn't respond to Maverick, her uncle called out firmly, "Lieutenant Bradshaw!"

Bradley finally stopped and turned around. Juliette, although she couldn't see his eyes behind the dark lenses of his aviators, could sense him watching her walk by. She didn't dare look over at him, keeping her head high as she strode to Maverick's plane. Beside her were Payback and his WSO, Fanboy. The latter jested playfully, "You ever been up in a jet before-" he glanced at her helmet- "Princess?"

"A few times," she lied innocently. "I'm looking forward to going up in one again. Good luck, you two!"

You're going to need it. Juliette thought snarkily as she climbed up into the jet. She readied herself and had just settled in when Maverick arrived. Seeing the drawn look on his face, Juliette could tell the talk didn't go as well as he'd hoped. "You good, Mav?"

"Yeah. You ready?" Maverick answered, turning around to look at her.

Juliette flicked her gaze over to Payback and Fanboy's plane, which was pulling out onto the taxiway. Returning her attention to Maverick, she said, "Let's give them hell."

***

Tags: @lgg5989 @shanimallina87

[lilac-5ky]

Hey there!! Can I request some moments with child takasugi and reader?? like she's treating his wounds after a fight with gintoki or something :)

Ps. Thank you so much for quenching my thirst for this man!! ily~❤

HI HI HI! I was so excited to see your request, as it's the first one I receive. I'd like to say that I'm actually in the process of watching Gintama and so I haven't finished the show yet. I wrote this based on my own analysis of Takasugi's character, stuff I've heard and how I would imagine him to act around a female childhood freind. I hope it turned out good enough, if I'm slightly off though I'll take up on your request again in the future once I've progressed a bit more with the show. Also excuse me, I've slept for like 3 hours, yet I was so hyped about your idea that I wanted to start writing it today no matter what. Without any futher ado, here we go, hope you enjoy!

(P.S. Thank you for your kind words and support! It's my pleasure to be writing about him after all!)

Child!Takasugi x Female childhood friend (taking care of him)

"Shinsuke! Shinsuke!" You called out his name while running after him. Had he not heard you or was he actually ignoring you? "Shinsuke!" You yelled out once again, trying to catch up to him. "Stop running away already!" Out of breath you made one final leap until your hand grabbed his, forcing him to turn your way.

The second he did, your eyes widened in shock. His clothes were painted red and his face spotted a huge scratch, as if he'd gotten in the middle of a catfight. His ever irritated expression was even more irritated as he narrowed his eyes to look at you. Frowning, he grabbed your hand before shaking it off his.

"Stop following me!" He said before proceeding to walk away from you.

"What happened? Why are you like this, did you get into another fight with Gintoki?" The second you mentioned that name he stopped in his tracks, clenching both of his fists. So it was Gintoki, you noted. "At least let me help you, you can't go home looking like that!"

Walking up to him, he actually let you reach him this time. While avoiding your wary eyes, he kicked a pebble on the street, making it bounce away from you, before whispering a Fine under his breath. He could win swordfights all he wanted but when it came to you, he could never win somehow. Smiling at the realization, you took hold of his hand once again, making him follow behind you.

Such was the relationship between the two of you. Ever since you could remember yourself, Shinsuke had always been a big part of your life. The two of you had been friends nearly since birth, and while he liked to pretend that you weren't, at the end of the day he always found his way back to you. Every time he got into a fight with someone, you'd be there to clean him up. Every time he ran away from home to escape his parents, you'd be there to listen to him. Every time he was sad and angry and felt like he had no one, you were there for him. An unspoken promise of some sorts, you had pledged yourself to him, to support him in the best way you could. That's what friends did.

As the two of you walked in silence, you stole glances at him. He seemed quite flustered, a hint of red covering up his face. You could tell you weren't the only one who found him unusual; passersby kept looking at the two of you as you dragged him around like that. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was embarrassed about being seen with you.

After a while of walking like this, the two of you reached your house. Letting go of Shinsuke's hand, you opened the gate in search of your parents. "Mom? Dad?" No answer. "They must be still at work. Sit down, I'll bring some towels." Shinsuke nodded before taking a sit on your porch, his feet dangling aimlessly as he swung them around. Looking at him one last time before entering the house, you chuckled to yourself. He was so childish.

Returning with some fresh towels, a couple of bandages and a bucket full of water, you sat next to Shinsuke, taking both of his hands in yours as you begun inspecting them. They were unscathed yet they were still covered in blood, you noted. Grabbing one of the towels, you begun wiping them softly. Shinsuke sat in silence, letting you do your job while avoiding your stare.

"So what was it this time? Why did the two of you fight?" You asked the boy, attempting to make him spill the beans.

Making a tch sound, he looked away from you. So typical of him. Although he always got into ights with Gintoki, you were happy to see him doing well at his school. Well, as "well" as this could be considered. You wanted him to be happy, to have friends beside you. He deserved it after all that had happened in his life.

"Don't tell me he mocked you about your height again. You are still developing, you know, some boys take a while longer to sprout. I am certain that when the time comes, you'll-"

"It's not that!" He protested, flinching one of his hands away from you. "And stop talking like a grandma when you are younger than me."

"Fine, fine." You laughed at his whim. At times like this, Shinsuke appeared to be so adorable. Even when he tried his best to grow up and to become a man, he remained a cute boy. A stubborn, mildly annoying boy, yet still an endearing one at that. " If it wasn't because of your height then what is it?" You insisted.

Letting go of his hand, you squeezed the towel towards the ground. Dipping it back into the bucket, you leaned towards him, placing your hand on his chin as to ifting it up. Rubbing the mix of dirt and blood off his jaw, you moved your attention at the scratch that was covering half his forehead. It wasn't as deep as you originally thought, it was mostly the dried up blood that made it look more dramatic. Still, it could leave a scar if left untreated.

The second your fingers touched the wound, he flinched away in pain. " When are you gonna stop getting into stupid fights for no reason... You know being a samurai doesn't mean that you need to fight everyone and everything. If you do that, you'll always remain a child." You noted with a sigh, attempting to touch him again.

"What would you even know about that?" He protested.

"I know you. And I know Gintoki. And I know how the two of you fight each other all the time about the stupidest things. So what happened this time?" You insisted as you cleaned his wound, more carefully this time. Patting against it with the towel, you made sure it was all dried up. Lifting his hair upwards with your fingers, you begun blowing on it soflty. Suddenly your eyes crossed, his green hues going wide as he opened his mouth. The red tint you had noticed earlier was manifesting itself again as the boy's face had turned beetroot red. With a jolt, Shinsuke got up, shaking you off in the process. As a result, you fell onto the ground, unable to keep your balance.

Looking up at him, you saw him extend his hand for you to grab while doing his best to avoid your eyes. You could tell he didn't mean to make you fall, yet his behavior remained rather unusual. Accepting his offer, he pulled you up.

"Shinsuke. Just tell me. It's okay." Attempting to comfort him once you were standing up, you spoke in a softer voice.

You could see he was troubled as he opened his mouth a couple of times before shaking his head and looking away. The blush on his cheeks was still there as he looked flustered. "That guy... that guy said some things." He admitted.

"What things?"

"Just some things!"

"That's not very specific."

"He said some things about you okay? He said that I... he said that we do adult stuff together and that you like me."

Blinking your eyes in surprise, you were the one to avoid his stare this time. Shinsuke and... you? Now that you were thinking about it, this wasn't the first time someone commented on your relationship. Your parents always gave you extra food to give to him and your other friends made funny faces whenever he passed by. You spent most of your free time with him, helping him, worrying about him and laughing at his whims. And then there was that stupid promise you had made him years ago when you could barely stand on both legs. Cringing at the thought, an image of your younger self stating that one day you'd marry him appeared in your mind. That was such a long time ago that you had barely even thought about it in the last few years. Yet it had happened, and hearing him talk about what Gintoki said breathed life into that old memory.

Unsure of what to say, you rubbed your knees together in awkwardness. You had to be the mature one, like you always were, but this time you weren't sure of what you should do. Looking at his face for answers, you started noticing certain things. His hair actually had a pretty color. So did his eyes. And well when he wanted to, he could be really nice. Even when he wasn't as nice, he still managed to look kinda cute. Feeling yourself getting embarrassed by your own thoughts, you had to fight back your instinct of burrying your face into your hands.

Instead, you chuckled out loud, a forced laugh that didn't come as natural as you wanted it to. Shinsuke turned to face you, furrowing his brows at your reaction.

" Is that why you fought? That Gintoki, he should know better than to assume things on his own." You said while forcing another laugh. Awkwardly, you rubbed the back of your head with one hand. "As if you and I could... it's too stupid to even think about, right? Right?" Laughing again, you felt as if you wanted to run away.

"I... Yeah, that's what I told him! Girls don't even talk to him because of how disgusting he is, he is just making things up because he is jealous we are friends."

"Woah, did you really call us friends, Shinsuke?"

"Sh-shut up!" He yelled stuttering. This was the first time he had ever called you his friend. Unable to hide your joy, you smiled brightly at him, as you begun to feel more at ease. He was right, Gintoki was totally making things up. You'd never.... he'd never... because friends never...

"Will you sit down now? I'm not done yet." You said, motioning towards the supplies that awaited you on he bench. Unwillingly, Shinsuke complied, sitting back down. Following suit, you picked up the bandages, wrapping them carefully around his head in order to cover his scratch. It would take some time to heal, but he'd be alright. Giving him a playful pat on the forehead, you saw him cringe as his fingers instantly reached the bandanges. Instead, his palm cusped yours, as the two of you shared a look. You both went wide eyed as you simultaneously looked away, both of your faces tinted red.

Holding onto your hand, you could feel a small movement on top of your knuckles, as you could have sworn his thumb rubbed a circle on top of your skin. Neither wanting to acknowledge what had just happened, you both let go of each other as you jumped to your feet. Nervously, you tried to come up with something to say when you noticed a sound coming from your stomach. Only then did you realize that you had been starving all day long.

"Uhm. Shinsuke wanna get some food? My treat." You asked, eagerly to change the atmosphere.

"I should be back before the sun sets-"

"Then we'd better hurry. Come!" Approaching him, you grabbed his hand once again, pulling him up before you begun to run towards the the gate.

Running with him towards the street, you held onto his hand tightly while the two of you disappeared into the crowd of people returning to their homes. The sun was starting to set already.

Although you could never be certain, at that moment you'd like to think that you weren't the only one holding onto him. Perhaps that promise wasn't so stupid after all, you thought to yourself as you turned to look at his face. His expression was softer and there was a hint of a smile as the two of you raced against time. Perhaps Gintoki saw something that neither of you wanted to admit. Whatever the case was, it didn't really matter at the time; Shinsuke was your precious friend and that was good enough. That's all that mattered. As long as you were together, you knew it was going to be okay.

I just had to include another gif of child Takasugi, he is too precious. Thank you for the idea, it actually makes me wanna write more about how this particular relationship would involve in the future, but I didn't want to get out of topic. Hope this turned out to be good enough and if you have any more requests I'd be happy to take them on!