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svsss-fanon-exposed · 4 months

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Examining SVSSS Canon: 2/∞

THE PRE-CANON TIMELINE

This post will attempt to provide an answer to several questions, including the ages of some of the current peak lords, as well as a rough timeline of events in the extras relative to the current day. A simple, bullet-point timeline will be at the end of this post, with relevant quotes and analysis above.

The timeline of SVSSS isn't particularly easy to piece together, and many fans are unsure of things such as the ages of certain characters, or how long the current generation of peak lords has been in power. As a matter of fact, it seems like even Airplane himself doesn't have a set timeline in mind for the events of PIDW pre-LBH:

“Your ages?” To tell the truth, Shen Qingqiu didn’t really know the precise age of this body. He raised his head at Shang Qinghua. “Wouldn’t you know better than I do?” Shang Qinghua twirled the brush in his hand. He’d never thought about this question either, so he figured he might as well just say whatever. Therefore he randomly wrote a number down in a couple of strokes. (7 Seas, Ch. 31)

It would be easy enough to take this quote and call the timeline a mystery-- however, there are a surprising amount of clues in the text, enough to at least put together a decent idea of when things happened and how old certain characters are, depending on which theories and interpretations one ascribes to.

There are two particular facts which are our most important hints as to the pre-LBH timeline, upon which this entire analysis hinges.

First, we have the spacing of the Immortal Alliance Conferences:

After much difficulty, Luo Binghe managed to turn seventeen, at which point he finally participated in the event the cultivation world held once every four years: the Immortal Alliance Conference. (7 Seas, Ch. 1)

And next, we have the length of time since Shen Qingqiu began to cultivate:

Before, Shen Qingqiu had thought that this body’s qualifications were already incredible, to have formed a core in only ten or so years when he’d begun cultivation so late. (7 Seas, Ch. 19)

Notably here, what is translated as "ten or so years" is 十几年， which is more accurately "ten and a few years." This means that at the time Shen Qingqiu formed a golden core, he had been at Cang Qiong Mountain for around 10-15 years, but likely no longer or shorter than that.

This tells us quite a bit already-- because we know that Shen Qingqiu only reached core formation after becoming peak lord, as well as after Luo Binghe had already become a disciple:

Luo Binghe was using the incorrect cultivation manual that Shen Qingqiu had handed him; he should have long since died bleeding from the seven apertures, his body rupturing down to his bones, skin, meridians, tendons, and flesh... Shen Qingqiu was filled with paranoia; he forever felt like everyone was secretly talking behind his back, discussing how he’d been unable to attain Core Formation even after this long. (7 Seas, Ch. 24)

So this tells us that it could not have been any longer than around 15 years between Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe joining Cang Qiong Mountain, and was likely at least a few years less than that because it has already been awhile since Luo Binghe was given the fake manual, which likely occured shortly after he arrived, and Shen Qingqiu reaches core formation at some point after this scene.

This means that the Qing generation's ascenscion likely occured no more than ten years after Shen Qingqiu joined the sect-- putting the ages for Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan respectively at roughly twenty-six and twenty-nine when they became peak lords.

The timeline can be clarified further and expanded, however, due to the spacing of the IAC. We know that the IAC occured when Luo Binghe was seventeen, and that it occurs every four years-- meaning that there would have been IAC taking place also when he was thirteen, nine, five, one, and three years before he was born.

However, we also know that it had not actually been fourteen years since Luo Binghe's birth at the start of SVSSS.

In the translation, Luo Binghe says the following when Shen Qingqiu asks his age:

“This disciple is fourteen,” Luo Binghe obediently replied. (7 Seas, Ch. 1)

However, the original says:

洛冰河乖巧地道：“弟子虚岁十四。”

"虚岁" here would be better translated as "nominal age." In ancient times, a child was one year old on the day of their birth, and aged up by one year with each new year-- so if a child was born the day before the new year, then at two days old he would already be counted as two years old. Sometimes, this would be counted on the spring festival new year, but other times it would be counted on the winter solstice.

As for Luo Binghe's precise chronological age, that is up for some determination. We know roughly the time of year he was born:

Immediately after birth, Luo Binghe was abandoned by his parents, swaddled in white cloth, and put in a wooden basin that was lowered into the Luo River. This occurred on the coldest days of the year... (7 Seas, Ch. 1)

The "coldest days of the year" here is 数九寒天, which refers to the nine periods of nine days each following the winter solstice. The winter solstice typically occurs on December 20-21, meaning that Luo Binghe's birth date is somewhere between December 20-March 12. If nominal age is being counted by winter solstice in this world, then that makes him chronologically thirteen at the start of SVSSS, but if it is calculated by the spring festival, then he is chronologically either twelve or thirteen at the start of SVSSS, as the Chinese new year can fall anywhere between January 21 - February 21, meaning that LBH could have been born either before or after this time.

So, let's just say that LBH's chronological age, for the purposes here, is thirteen, and then adjust our IAC timeline as follows：

There was one when he was chronologically sixteen, twelve, eight, four, the year he was born, and four years before he was born.

Now, how does this help us determine a timeline?

Well, we have the following statement:

Yue Qingyuan’s knuckles slowly brushed along Xuan Su’s hilt. “I was able to meet Senior Su Xiyan once at an Immortal Alliance Conference, many years ago." (7 Seas, Ch. 18)

Because we know that Su Xiyan died when Luo Binghe was born, we know that this meeting could not have occured at any conferences after his birth. It also would be unlikely that they met the same year Luo Binghe was born, as Su Xiyan would likely already be dead at that point if LBH was born after the new year. So, the latest that Yue Qingyuan could have met Su Xiyan would be twenty years before Luo Binghe was thrown into the Abyss.

We now combine this with the earlier discussion of the ages of Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan, and here I will note the following:

Yue Qingyuan slowly said, “At age fifteen, I entered Qiong Ding Peak." (7 Seas, Ch. 21)

This puts Yue Qingyuan roughly three years older than Shen Jiu:

“When [Shen Jiu] was twelve years old, he was but a slave my family had purchased from traveling child traffickers. " (7 Seas, Ch. 6)

Shen Jiu joined Cang Qiong Mountain at sixteen:

Liu Qingge didn’t even grace him with a sideways glance. “But certainly more success than a nobody who only began proper cultivation at age sixteen.” (7 Seas, Ch. 19)

This happened most likely directly after reuniting with Yue Qingyuan at an Immortal Alliance Conference. This puts Yue Qingyuan's age at nineteen during that conference, at which point he is head disciple, and has already gained some fame. However, this reunion has to occur before Luo Binghe's birth, Su Xiyan's death, and Tianlang-jun's defeat. This is because at this point, Yue Qingyuan has only been in Cang Qiong Mountain for four years-- thus, this particular conference is almost certainly the first one he has taken part in, and likely the first one he has attended at all, since a brand-new disciple in early stages of training most likely wouldn't have gone, therefore if Tianlang-jun had already been sealed by this point, Yue Qingyuan would not have had the chance to meet Su Xiyan.

So, the latest Shen Qingqiu could have joined Cang Qiong Mountain, at age 16, is twenty years before the Abyss, which would put him at age thirty-six at the youngest at that time.

Now, what about additional conference cycles?

It's possible that the conference in which Yue Qingyuan met Su Xiyan and/or after which Shen Qingqiu joined CQM may have been the one before this-- but that would also add four additional years to the time SQQ had been cultivating.

The earliest that Luo Binghe could have joined CQM would be when he was a little over ten years old, as that is when his mother dies:

On the bed lay a haggard old woman. With great effort, she tried to prop herself up, but from beginning to end, she was unable to do so. A small figure rushed in from outside. A tender-faced Luo Binghe, only a little over ten years old, supported the woman. Around his neck hung that jade pendant. (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

Shen Qingqiu had not reached core formation when Luo Binghe joined the sect. This means that if the IAC where SQQ joined the sect was four years before Luo Binghe's birth, then by the time Luo Binghe joins the sect it has been about fourteen to fifteen years since SQQ began cultivating.

Adding an additional four years would bump that to eighteen to nineteen years, which exceeds the "ten and some" years that SQQ took to reach core formation.

In my opinion, this also tells me that LBH joined CQM when he was absolutely no older than ten or eleven, and likely went to join immediately after his mother's death, because pushing LBH's join date later would also stretch the timeline of SQQ's cultivation. Now, this part does not specify whether the ten years old is nominal age or chronological age-- but because LBH's age of seventeen at the conference is referenced to his nominal age of fourteen, with a distance between of three years, then I am considering all age-numbers to be nominal age rather than chronological. This only really matters in regards to Luo Binghe for this analysis, though, as his birth year is the only one which has bearing on the timeline in regards to Su Xiyan's status.

With all of this information, we can determine with good confidence that the conference in which Yue Qingyuan met Su Xiyan was the same conference during which he reunited with Shen Qingqiu, which occured four years before Luo Binghe was born and twenty years before the Endless Abyss.

So because of this, we actually do have a relatively precise timeline of characters' ages, as well as events in the cultivation world.

This short timeline is also supported by the fact that Ming Fan is the most senior of Shen Qingqiu's disciples, and he is only sixteen, about 2-3 years older than Luo Binghe:

A youth around sixteen years old, tall and thin, promptly ran in through the door. “This disciple is here. What instructions does Shifu have?” (7 Seas, Ch. 1)

Had the Qing generation ascended too many years prior to Luo Binghe's joining the sect, it would be strange that the most senior disciple of Shen Qingqiu's was only sixteen, as in xianxia a disciple typically will not "graduate" at a certain age or cultivation stage, meaning that older disciples will maintain their role well into adulthood.

As for the rest of the peak lords, we have little to no information regarding the ages of Wei Qingwei, Qi Qingqi, or Mu Qingfang. However, we do know that Liu Qingge is quite young, and joined the sect both at an optimal age and a significant length of time before Shen Qingqiu:

At this point, Liu Qingge’s formal ascension to Bai Zhan Peak Lord, too, had likely only happened a couple years ago. There was a visible air of immaturity about his features, his gaze fierce and sharp, and within his every action was a young man’s spirited vigor. (7 Seas, Ch. 19)

and

Therefore, even though he’d entered the sect quite some time after Liu Qingge, because Qing Jing Peak was ranked second—only below Qiong Ding Peak—while Bai Zhan Peak was ranked seventh, Liu Qingge still had to address Shen Qingqiu as “Shixiong,” if through gritted teeth. (7 Seas, Ch. 24)

So, Liu Qingge is likely a year or two younger than Shen Qingqiu, but not by too much, since they still behave very much like contemporaries as teenagers-- let's say that Liu Qingge is likely around 14-15 when Shen Qingqiu joins the sect at age 16.

The other peak lord we know a bit about the age of is Shang Qinghua:

The older-than-average outer disciple Shang Qinghua, who currently occupied a seventeen-year-old body, looked around in all directions as he trailed behind the main team, who were unloading goods from the ship onto the docks. (7 Seas, Ch. 26)

He is seventeen here, and an outer disciple of An Ding Peak. We can place this a bit more definitively on the timeline by the fact that Shen Qingqiu is already a head disciple at this point in time:

“What I don’t know is how Shen Qingqiu got chosen as head disciple after starting cultivation so late,” said another outer disciple who’d joined Cang Qiong Mountain at an older age, his expression sour. (7 Seas, Ch. 26)

Unfortunately, we cannot place the exact point in time where Shen Qingqiu became head disciple-- one possibility is that it couldn't have happened until after Tianlang-jun's defeat, which occured about four years after he joined the sect, since he did not participate in the battle. But that is a weak argument, since none of the current generation besides Yue Qingyuan participated in that battle:

Of the current peak lords, only Yue Qingyuan had participated in that battle, as the head disciple of Qiong Ding Peak. (7 Seas, Ch. 17)

If using this argument, then that would mean that aside from Yue Qingyuan, none of the other peak lords had been chosen as head disciples at that time-- while that is a possibility, I think that a more feasible explanation would be that Yue Qingyuan was an exception, and participated in the battle specifically because of his wielding Xuan Su.

One thing we can extrapolate, however, is that Shang Qinghua was most likely an inner disciple for at least three years before the Qing generation's ascension. This is because of the following:

One day, Shang Qinghua’s concise Great System delivered a new command: Become the An Ding Peak head disciple within three years. (7 Seas, Ch. 26)

Now, it is somewhat loose evidence, as there is nothing to say that "three years" means for certain that the ascension would occur three years from that point, but it does mean that it occured no earlier than that. By now, Shang Qinghua has already been an inner disciple for some time, long enough to have been assisted by Mobei-jun a few times and to have gone on several missions-- most likely around a few months to a year or so at minimum.

Of course, how long has passed between Shen Qingqiu joining the sect and this point? Well, since Shen Qingqiu is still described as a youth:

Shang Qinghua suddenly heard the tinkling of sword tassel pendants, and a youth wearing Qing Jing Peak’s uniform slowly approached him. (7 Seas, Ch. 26)

Because of this description, I would say that Shen Qingqiu is most likely between seventeen and his early twenties, since it isn't particularly likely that he would become head disciple in less than a year after joining the sect. Of course, within this age range, there is one important event that occurs-- the battle of Bai Lu mountain, which would have occured when Shen Qingqiu was twenty and Yue Qingyuan was twenty-three.

Now, this gets into more of a speculation than anything else-- just before this point, Mobei-jun attacked Huan Hua Palace and the An Ding Peak disciples. If the battle of Bai Lu Mountain had already occured, it would have happened no more than a few years earlier. We also know that there is a tentative truce between the demon realm and the cultivation world:

This suggestion was solid. For many years, the Human and Demon Realms had maintained an uneasy balance and had yet to drop the pretense of peace. Eliminating Sha Hualing and her mob wouldn’t be impossible, but it would likely light a fuse. The demons definitely wouldn’t let her death go unanswered, and it wouldn’t be worth it if they stirred up an even greater conflict. (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

I suspect that this pretense of peace was likely set in place after the battle of Bai Lu Mountain, when the demon realm had just lost their ruler.

Since just a short time had happened since the demons' defeat and a likely truce between the realms, I find it unlikely that Mobei-jun, a prominent member of demonic nobility, at this time would be actively antagonizing the cultivation world by attacking Huan Hua Palace and Cang Qiong Mountain. Now, of course, there is a potential alternate storyline that this is exactly what happened, and Mobei-jun went rogue as an act of lashing out, and that interpretation would be perfectly valid on its own.

Personally, though, I believe that Shang Qinghua's meeting with Mobei-jun occured before the battle of Bai Lu Mountain, while the cultivation world and demon world were in the tense state on the edge of war. This means that Shang Qinghua most likely became an inner disciple when Shen Qingqiu was around 17-19 years old.

With this information, we can determine some relative ages:

Yue Qingyuan is three years older than Shen Qingqiu, who is a little older than Liu Qingge. Because Shang Qinghua was seventeen when Shen Qingqiu was already head disciple, it is most likely that he is around Liu Qingge's age, give or take a few years, as it is not particularly likely (though potentially possible) for Shen Qingqiu to have gone from new disciple to head disciple in the space of a single year.

Aside from these four, there are no other ages that can be determined for the peak lords.

With all of this information, a fairly decent timeline can be created. Characters' ages will be listed with each notable year.

《 THE TIMELINE 》

*counted up to the start of SVSSS. If using this timeline, keep in mind that the earliest and latest notes for date ranges can overlap-- do not accidentally have a disciple join the sect before the current peak lords ascend, or have SQH become head disciple after ascension! Dates with ranges are colored green (earliest) and red (latest).

Earlier than -21 YR

LQG: <;10-11

(earliest) Liu Qingge joins Cang Qiong Mountain

-21 YR

LQG: 10-11, SQQ: 12, YQY: 15, QHT: <16, QJL: 16

Shen Jiu sold to Qiu Jianluo

Yue Qi joins Cang Qiong Mountain

--IAC--

-19 YR

LQG: 12-13, SQQ: 14, YQY: 17

(earliest*) Yue Qingyuan enters the Lingxi Caves with Xuan Su

-18 YR

LQG: 13-14, SQQ: 15, YQY: 18, QHT: <19, QJL: 19

(latest*) Yue Qingyuan enters the Lingxi Caves with Xuan Su

Shen Jiu kills Qiu Jianluo and burns down Qiu Manor

Shen Jiu becomes Wu Yanzi's disciple

(earliest*) Yue Qi leaves the Lingxi Caves

(earliest*) Yue Qi becomes head disciple

(latest) Liu Qingge joins Cang Qiong Mountain

-17 YR

LQG: 14-15, SQQ: 16, YQY: 19

(latest*) Yue Qi leaves the Lingxi Caves

(latest*) Yue Qi becomes head disciple

--IAC--

Yue Qingyuan meets Su Xiyan

Shen Jiu kills Wu Yanzi and joins Cang Qiong Mountain

-16 YR

LQG: 15-16, SQH: 15-17, SQQ: 17, YQY: 20

(earliest) Shen Qingqiu becomes Head Disciple

(earliest) Shang Qinghua meets Mobei-jun and becomes inner disciple at age 17

(earliest) Shang Qinghua receives the directive to become head disciple within three years

(earliest) Shang Qinghua becomes head disciple

-14 YR

MF: 2, LQG: 17-18, SQH: 17-19, SQQ: 19, YQY: 22

(latest) Shen Qingqiu becomes Head Disciple

(latest) Shang Qinghua meets Mobei-jun and becomes inner disciple at age 17

(earliest**) Su Xiyan imprisoned and subjected to torture in Water Prison

(earliest**) Battle of Bai Lu Mountain

(earliest**) Tianlang-jun Sealed

-13 YR

NYY: <1, LBH: 1, MF: 3, LQG: 18-19, SQH: 18-20, SQQ: 20, YQY: 23

(latest**) Su Xiyan imprisoned and subjected to torture in Water Prison

(latest**) Battle of Bai Lu Mountain

(latest**) Tianlang-jun Sealed

Luo Binghe is Born

Su Xiyan Dies

(earliest) Qing Generation ascend to become Peak Lords

--IAC--

-11 YR

NYY: 2-3, LBH: 3, MF: 5, LQG: 20-21, SQH: 20-22, SQQ: 22, YQY: 25

(earliest***) Ming Fan joins Qing Jing Peak under Shen Qingqiu

-9 YR

NYY: 4-5, LBH: 5, MF: 7, LQG: 22-23, SQH: 22-24, SQQ: 24, YQY: 27

--IAC--

-8 YR

NYY: 5-6, LBH: 6, MF: 8, LQG: 23-24, SQH: 23-25, SQQ: 25, YQY: 28

(latest) Shang Qinghua receives the directive to become head disciple within three years

(earliest***) Ning Yingying joins Qing Jing Peak under Shen Qingqiu

-5 YR

NYY: 8-9, LBH: 9, MF: 11, LQG: 27-28, SQH: 27-29, SQQ: 29, YQY: 32

--IAC--

(latest) Shang Qinghua becomes head disciple

(latest) Qing Generation ascend to become Peak Lords

(latest) Ming Fan joins Qing Jing Peak under Shen Qingqiu

-4 YR

NYY: 9-10, LBH: 10, MF: 12, LQG: 28-29, SQH: 28-30, SQQ: 30, YQY: 33

Luo Binghe's adoptive mother dies

(earliest) Luo Binghe joins Qing Jing Peak

(earliest) Shen Qingqiu reaches Core Formation

-3 YR

NYY: 10-11, LBH: 11, MF: 13, LQG: 29-30, SQH: 29-31, SQQ: 31, YQY: 34

(latest****) Ning Yingying joins Qing Jing Peak under Shen Qingqiu

(latest) Luo Binghe joins Qing Jing Peak

-2 YR

NYY: 11-12, LBH: 12, MF: 14, LQG: 30-31, SQH: 30-32, SQQ: 32, YQY: 35

(latest*****) Shen Qingqiu reaches Core Formation

-1 YR

NYY: 12-13, LBH: 13, MF: 15

--IAC--

Year 0

NYY: 13-14, LBH: 14, MF: 16

SVSSS Begins

-----

This timeline operates under the following conditions. For some of these conditions, alternatives are discussed in the post above-- if you wish to use any of the alternative calculations, then you're more than welcome to adjust the timeline as applicable for your own use!

"Years" are counted from the first day of the spring festival/Chinese new year, rather than January 1

All character ages are nominal ages, so they were born in the year they are counted as age "1"

Luo Binghe was born after the new year, and so his nominal age is only about one year higher than chronological.

Shang Qinghua met Mobei-jun before the battle of Bai Lu Mountain

The system's time limit for SQH does reference the time of the Qing generation's ascension

The Immortal Alliance Conference takes place roughly in the middle of the year. Based on the fact that it is warm enough for the disciples to dip their feet into a stream and find that pleasant, it would make sense for the IAC to occur in a warmer season (Ch. 4)

Further References and Footnotes:

*Yue Qi was in the Lingxi Caves for more than one year and Qiu Manor had already been destroyed by the time he got out (Ch. 21)

**The birth of Luo Binghe occured a few days after the battle of Bai Lu Mountain. Depending on when LBH was born, it could be at the end of year -13 or the first few days of year -12 (Ch. 21)

***We do not know the earliest a child can join Cang Qiong Mountain, even though the appropriate age for cultivation most likely cuts off somewhere around 15 (due to YQY joining at that age and no comments about him being "too old"). For the purposes of this timeline, I am setting the absolute youngest to age 5, but more realistically a disciple wouldn't join until age 8-10 at the earliest.

****It is unknown whether the only time that disciples can join Cang Qiong Mountain is during the recruitment trials. Therefore, there remains a possibility for Ning Yingying to have joined the sect in the same year as Luo Binghe, but at some point before the recruitment trials due to connections. This can potentially be supported by Shen Jiu joining after the IAC, but at the same time, it is not confirmed that SJ joined CQM immediately, or if he had to wait until the next recruitment trial, so there is no clear canon precedent-- nonetheless, it is still possible. Note that Ning Yingying can only join at this late point if Luo Binghe joins at age 11, and after her. The only hard requirement is that NYY joined at some point before LBH.

*****I have placed this as the absolute latest time SQQ could have formed a golden core because this puts him at having been cultivating for sixteen years. It is a bit of a stretch already , but I don't think that "ten and a few" years could really be any longer than this. It is also worth noting that by the time SQQ reaches core formation, every other peak lord has already done so, with Yue Qingyuan first, Liu Qingge and Qi Qingqi next, and Shang Qinghua most likely last (Ch. 24)

Please let me know if you notice any errors in calculation, formatting, or missing details! This was quite substantial so there's a good chance I may have missed something.

Some of the points in this analysis and timeline calculations were brainstormed with the help of @zykamiliah , @cum-villain , @furbygoblinxiv . Many thanks!

#svsss #canon examined #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #yue qingyuan #liu qingge #shang qinghua #svsss timeline #resource

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finnbbl · 3 months

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Hyunjin X M! Reader - Dancer AU | SMAU | !!!MASTERLIST!!!

Status: Ongoing

WARNING!! This story includes/will include dark topics such as things that could be triggering. Disclaimers are given at the beginning of each chapter, please be sure to read and take them seriously.

Ch. 1 - Can I get your Number?

Ch. 2 - He’s so hot

Ch. 3 - Meeting with JYP

Ch. 4 - Meeting Stray Kids

Ch. 5 - I’m attractive?

Ch. 6 - Tokyo

Ch. 7 - Friend?

Ch. 8 - First performance

Ch. 9 - Where you wanna be

Ch. 10 - Cutie

Ch. 11 - Bubble Tea

Ch. 12 - Photoshoot

Ch. 13 - Entitled

Ch. 14 - You never asked me

Ch. 15 - What have you done

Ch. 16 - Begged to forget

Ch. 17 - I’ve already won

Ch. 18 - Twink Coded

Ch. 19 - Fuck Girl

Ch. 20 - Stray

Taglist OPEN

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roseharpermaxwell · 10 months

Note

do you have any shorter drarry fics that you would recommend to a new drarrier? under 10k and preferably explicit? thank you!!

Pausing my RWRB reading (I have an ask about firstprince fics too and I’m working on it!) to answer this, which is the nudge I’ve needed. I’ve done this for Dramione before (under 5k), but I especially love tempting readers to Drarry.

Short works are the unsung heroes of fandom. They don’t get enough love, which makes me so sad, because you definitely don’t always need 100k to deliver a stunning story. These are your bedtime stories, your palate cleansers, your individual serving sizes of serotonin. It’s okay to enjoy these even if you only read slow burn 100k+ fics, I promise. Live a little!

This is a sampling of some amazing favorites, but I’m always reading new things and will add to it regularly. If you find something you love, I know the author would love to hear it, and so would I! Take a deep dive into their work to find other gems.

Bite-Size Drarry - Under 10k (Part One) below:

Draco Might Die by @ghaniblue. G, 515. Draco’s first day as Hogwarts’ new Charms professor was an unmitigated disaster.

This Heart on My Sleeve by @lou-isfake. M, 1.1k It’s a hopeless ordeal, all at once: I am never going to be rid of him; I am never going to have him; it is always, always going to hurt.

Nick of Time by @mosrael. M, 1.1k. Draco Malfoy is ready to sacrifice everything for the man he loves. Will he find what he's looking for in the nick of time?

Reaching out, reaching up by @softlystarstruck. M, 1.3k. Harry Potter is a good lay. Draco wishes that fact was all he had taken away from the situation.

Dicking Draco Down by @lqtraintracks. E, 1.3k. It’s not a tease. It’s all prep. It’s necessary. Harry is, to be unsubtle about it, hung.

Weakness Leaving by @p1013. E, 1.3k. He's nineteen the first time he asks Ginny to hurt him during sex, and he's a day older than that when she tells him this isn't working. He's twenty when he goes to his first kink club and finally gets what he needs.

RAPTURE CLOSE, FIND JESUS by softlystarstruck. G, 1.4k. “What’s rapture?”

“Huh?”

“What’s rapture?”

“Dunno. Why?”

“There was a sign a while back. You were messing with the radio. It said ‘RAPTURE CLOSE, FIND JESUS’. All caps.”

true things by @hogwartsfirebolt. M, 1.5k. All Draco's ever known is how to guard his heart. But Harry sneaks in, anyway. A love story.

Threshing by @academicdisasterfic. E, 1.5k. For Draco, following fate was the easy part.

I Knew You by @phoebe-delia. NR, 1.5k. A series of ficlets based on the songs "august," "cardigan" and "betty," from Taylor Swift's album folklore.

Like You a Latte by hogwartsfirebolt, @peachpety. M, 1.6k. Harry Potter has mastered the skill of creating latte art. Or so he thinks until his muse and crush—Instagram influencer Draco Malfoy—shows up at the Weasley’s caf.

Take that ride by @andithiel. T, 1.6k. It’s been three weeks, six days, 19 hours and 37 minutes since Draco fell into Harry’s bed the first time and they still haven’t talked about it.

Because You Called the Wrong Person, But He Was Into It Anyway by @gracerene. E, 1.7k. Draco has called the wrong number. Harry doesn't mind one bit.

Homebound by academicdisaster. M, 1.8k. After escaping England, Harry and Draco try to find a new home.

The Dog and The Drunk Slytherin by academicdisaster. T, 1.8k. After learning Harry wants to get a dog, Draco gets very drunk and decides to do something about it. In a very normal way.

All Hues in His Controlling by @wolfpants. E, 1.8k. Harry’s gorgeous at thirty-five, but his beauty as a young man leans closer to pretty, almost strikingly so. “Eighth Year,” Draco murmurs in wonder. “This is you in Eighth Year.” - Harry caters to Draco's very particular set of kinks when he uses magic to de-age himself.

Truth’s Day-Star by wolfpants. E, 1.8k. Draco’s stares had started off curious but soon turned arch. He sometimes plays with Harry’s hair while he does it, his body spread out in his chair like liquid silver, all long, pliant lines. Harry, meanwhile, sneaks looks like they’re forbidden. Bless him. Doesn’t he know how much I want him to look at me like that? - The world is miserable and so is Sirius. But is he really imagining all of this tension between Harry and Draco?

(you) find me when the lights go down by @beyondtheclose. T, 1.8k. Harry can hear footsteps on the stairs behind him but doesn't bother turning to look. There's only one person likely to follow him out here at this time of night. "Potter," comes the crisp voice, easily recognisable as Draco. "You do know that most sane people, especially those who spend every waking moment complaining of being cold, would cast a warming charm. Or at the very least grab a sweater. Not spend every night attempting to turn into an icicle." - What makes someone a ghost? Because if it's dying, Harry's got that covered.

That life can change by @gallifrey1sburning. M, 1.9k. Maybe that’s why I started hanging out with Malfoy. Two major benefits: it pisses people off, and he doesn’t expect anything from me. We mostly just drink and lie around on the carpet listening to music. A story of two boys slowly and quietly falling together.

Game…Set…Malfoy by @nanneramma. M, 1.9k. Harry teaches Draco a new game. Draco plays dirty.

Pissing for England by @moonflower-rose. M, 2k. They're sharing a flat as part of an Auror training exercise, but if Ron can't learn to piss more quietly, they may not make it out alive.

Aching with Want by @nv-md. E, 2k. Draco loves Harry, and would do anything to make him happy. When the cold wakes Draco in the middle of the night, he gives Harry everything he wants...everything he's too scared to ask for.

Obliviously Ever After by @gloivy. M, 2k. Harry Potter isn’t gay. He just likes to shag Draco Malfoy now and again. OR: Five times Harry obliviously denies the feelings blooming between himself and Draco, and the one time he admits it.

Fixation by @dorthyanndrarry. E, 2.1k. Harry was back to staring at Draco again.

“Harry’s just fixated,” Hermione said absently, “They do that, the two of them.”

“I’m not fixated,” Harry said, frowning faintly, “I’m just… enjoying the view, sort of thing.”

“When do you get tired of the view then?” Ron asked flatly, “Beeeeen a month now, mate.”

Willing Blood by lq_traintracks and @the-starryknight. E, 2k. Seven days together, years ago; seventy-four hours and thirty-eight minutes trapped in this house alone; and now one chance to stop himself from draining Potter dry. Will Draco take it? Will Harry let him?

Truth be told by @tenthousandyearsx. E, 2.3k. Playing Truth or Dare with the Slytherins had been a terrible idea. Being pinned against a wall by Malfoy while still on bloody Veritaserum was... well, hot as hell, and more than Harry thought he'd ever get, to be perfectly honest.

Drive, Draco by @Erebeus-roxy. M, 2.4k MCD. I got my driver license today, but you're not around to see.

You Can Make My Night by @devilrising. M, 2.4k. Draco has never been to a place like this; an underground, queer speakeasy. There are men everywhere, dancing, drinking, talking. He can't believe he gets to be a part of this.

Or: how Draco Malfoy meets Harry Potter in a bar in the 1920s

Rocking Rodeo by @coffeedrgn87. E, 2.5k. Draco loves the rocking rodeo...what else is there to say?

In a Jam by peachpety. T, 2.6k. When the boys go blackberrying at Michaelmas, Draco discovers that magic and berries don’t mix, and all Harry wants is to snog him. If only Ron would let him.

Just Talking by @cavendishbutterfly. T, 2.6k. Harry's been trying and failing to talk to Draco for ages. It's hard, since he fancies him. It's easier to text about it. Even when he's right across the table at pub night. Who knows? If Harry's funny enough, maybe someday Draco will like him back.

Unspoken Affection by @janieohio. E, 2.6k "Sometimes, when you smile, I swear I hear music, then I realise it’s just the beat of my heart in my ears...Come back so I can dance."

Harry finds a stack of post-its, and what starts as simply leaving Draco a reminder with a bit of romance turns into a lifetime of memories.

Fledgling by @tackytigerfic. G, 2.7k. Two young dads meet at a farmers market. They exchange parenting tips, longing looks, and root vegetables.

Feral by @drarrily-we-row-along. M, 2.8k. Of the two of them, people would say Draco was the scary one; he knew categorically more jinxes and hexes, and he was absolutely ruthless. Harry tended to hold back a bit, he chose spells that wouldn't permanently injure.

But in this moment, after Harry had covered Draco with the shield, Harry went absolutely feral.

At wand point by tenthousandyears. E, 2.8k. Harry should not be so turned on by being held at wand point by Draco Malfoy... yet here he is.

proven lands by @oknowkiss. E, 2.8k. The thing about circles is, they always end at the start. OR: A story about falling in love at the end of the Earth. (told in 31 microfics -- this is the "director's cut")

And the music plays bitter, plays sweet by Andithiel. M, 2.9k. He doesn’t know why he does this to her, why he can’t leave Draco Malfoy be. After the first time he promised himself it wouldn’t happen again. For a long time it didn’t. But Draco had become an itch he needed to scratch; the memory of him rutting against Harry all consuming, making him lose focus, making him want another taste. And another. And another. Until all he could taste was Draco, on his tongue, on his skin, all around him, ever present. Never leaving.

Life has a firm grip by @shealwaysreads. M, 2.9k. Harry and Draco don’t get older, but they do get wiser. (Vampire!Draco, Master of Death Harry)

takes one to know one by hogwartsfirebolt. M, 2.9k. I watched him go through many. Months after our groups merged, after I was forced to think of him when I thought of the word “friends”, I became used to it. I learned his moves, learned what desire looked like on his face.

Secretly, between the shadow and the soul by @teacup-tai. T, 2.9k. The thing about surrender is that once you accept the unavoidable rhythm of change, the surprising uncontrollability of life, and the astonishing inevitability of feelings, it is easy.

like the sun came out by academicdisaster. E, 3k. Harry realises that Draco loves him, and it's like waking up.

the shape of memory by hogwartsfirebolt. T, 3k. Harry's brush with death has left consequences. Thankfully, Draco is there to help him navigate the uncertain waters of his mind.

Mens Rea by lq_traintracks. E, 3.1k. Mens Rea: the mental element of a person's intention to commit a crime; or knowledge that one's action or lack of action would cause a crime to be committed.

“Draco Malfoy, how do you plead?”

I’m super fucking guilty.

Together Like This by shealwaysreads. E, 3.1k. Draco attempts to prove to himself that he doesn’t deserve what he wants. Harry proves him wrong.

drape me in your warmth by softlystarstruck. M, 3.1k. Malfoy, even quiet as he is now, is the only thing that manages to shine through the fog of Harry's mind.

Nothing Compares by @maesterchill. T, 3.1k. Working in the International Auror division doesn't exactly lend itself to Harry finding love or having any sort of relationship, what with all the unsociable hours and catching bad guys and never being in one location for more than a few days. Not to mention the permanent fixture of his partner, Malfoy.

So, how does a song about lost love end up being the thing that helps Harry find love, in the location he least expected it?

Waited for This by @phdmama. E, 3.1k. Malfoy’s been working out, Harry ruminates, as he stands by the kitchen sink and drinks his first coffee of the day in preparation to go open the cafe. Probably doing his squats. Harry should ask him about his routine. Except then Malfoy might think Harry has been staring at his ass. Which he definitely has not been. It’s just… hard to miss when Malfoy is bent over the display case unloading his muffins and mini pies and cookies and whatnot.

Harry is only drooling over the croissants, not Malfoy and his posterior. And biceps. And eyes.

I Fall On Grass by tackytiger. T, 3.1k. Harry loves his garden, and he loves his sons, and he also loves— Well, he definitely feels something for Draco, who is currently distractingly topless under a pear tree. The language of flowers isn't much good when it comes to big declarations, though; Harry needs to find the words to tell Draco just exactly what he's been feeling all these years.

Market Saturdays by @iota. M, 3.2k. In which Harry is an accidental part-time cheesemonger, Draco is an organic farmer and they fall in love. Not an AU.

I Swear I'll Keep You With Me by @dodgerkedavra. E, 3.2k. Harry Potter doesn't mean to drop the Snitch in Malfoy Manor. In order to get it back, he makes an Unbreakable Vow to keep Draco Malfoy with him. It's the chandelier's fault, really.

emerald and lace by icarusinflight. E, 3.3k. They're expensive and elegant - like Draco - and Harry just wants to touch them. He gets to.

Salt and Sauce by @onbeinganangel. T, 3.3k. Sure, of course he knows how you take your tea. But does he know your chippy order?

Enjoy the Silence by shealwaysreads. M, 3.4k. Draco stops speaking, gets some tattoos, and discovers that Harry’s happy to be quiet with him.

Even the Night by tackytiger. M, 3.4k. I'm so bad at this. Two boys meet on a rooftop. Read and find out more. Featuring lots of cigarettes, a Midsummer sky, close encounters in a bath, and plenty of fireworks.

Countdown to a Life by tackytiger, E, 3.4k. A balcony, first kisses, December to December. A little story of building up a life together.

Half Awake by academicdisaster. E, 3.4k. Talking is hard, and kissing is easier. And so is everything that comes after kissing.

A Shorts Story About Love by onereader. E, 3.4k. House-sharing with Slytherins, student life, magic weed, and short shorts. Harry's life at university might be strange, but he wouldn't change it for the world.

Continued in Part Two!

Give the authors some love! I also adore hearing if you found a new favorite fic or author.

I’ll be regularly adding to this, so if you’re seeing this as a reblog, feel free to check my Master List of Recommendations for the most current list. If you see yourself and you’re not tagged, or I've got a broken or misdirected link, please let me know!

#drarry fic rec #drarry fanfiction #drarry fanfic #hp fanfic #drarry

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lotus-n-l0ve · 10 months

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YOU WERE MINE, ARE MINE & WILL BE MINE

— Yandere!Eren Yeager x Female Reader

*⁠.⁠✧ SYNOPSIS : Your boyfriend Eren is no longer the sweet and caring man you once knew.

*⁠.⁠✧ WARNINGS & TAGS : Au, dark!eren, possesive!eren, yandere!eren, non-con, sexual assault, kidnapping, abuse, physical abuse, beating, yandere theme,1.8k words.

*⁠.⁠✧ — NAVIGATION // ATTACK ON TITAN MASTERLIST

DO NOT PRESS [READ MORE] IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE. MINORS DNI, IF YOU DO THEN IT'S YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY.

Eren Yeager, Your boyfriend was not the same sweet and caring man you had met years ago. You met Eren through a mutual friend, Armin Alert, at a party. While he was the captain of Tokyo High's football team, you were an average student with only two close friends.

Though both your lives were polar opposite of each other, you two instantly it. By the end of the night you were parting away with each other's phone number and an already fixed date.

On your first date he brought you to a beautiful cafe on the outskirts. He told you occasionally visited the place. It was like a dream. He was the boyfriend every girl asks for. He would take you out on dates, buy flowers and gifts for you.

Always noticed every little thing about you. He knew things about you that even you didn't. He was always so affectionate to you. At first you were flattered that he was giving your relationship so much attention and love. But soon things turned really creepy.

He started to get more possesive over time. Someone stared at you too long. You stayed out too long outside. You should not be out that long. Why did a stranger ask you for directions? Why does your classmate sit so close to you?

In the beginning he would doubt others' intentions. He would say they have ulterior motives to harm you, harm your relationship. But soon he started doubting you too. The distance from your college to home is 19 minutes but why did you take 24 minutes? What did you do in that extra time?

Those doubts created cracks in your once beautiful relationship. Fighting became more frequent. From him saying shit about others to questioning your characters. Until everything went too far.

"Eren, Toru was just a classmate asking for notes." You shouted at the man standing in front of you.

"A classmate or the guy you keep on cheating on me with?" Eren glared back at you, qually angry.

"You know what? I'm done with your bullshit. Always accusing me of cheating. I'm leaving. Bye."

As those words left your mouth, the temperature of the room dropped. In a blink of an eye Eren was in front of you, breathing down your face. His hand clutching your jaw. He had never been much scarier.

"What did you just say?" He gritted out, "Leave me? You will leave me?"

"Eren let me go. You are hurting me." You tried to push him off of you but he ignored your pleas, "When did you get so bold huh? Is it that guy you are cheating on me with is giving you all this courage? I need to put you in your place before you decide to do something stupid and try to leave me."

He mumbled the last part before he threw you on the floor. You yelled when your head hit the marbled ground. Before you know it Eren was holding the standing lamp over his head and bringing it down on your left ankle with his full strength. He did that repeatedly ignoring when cry and scream in pain and beg him to stop, only mumbling —

"You need to know your place."

"How will you leave me when you won't even be able to walk?"

"That classmate of yours is trying to break us apart baby."

"I won't let him do that."

"I'm doing this for us."

"If you can't walk, you won't leave me. You can't leave me. I won't let you."

He hit you till your ankle broke. The pain was so immense that you wanted to faint and you did just that. The last thing you remember is Eren taking you in his arms and whispering how much he loves you.

The next time you woke up to the sound of various chirping of birds. Weird. Because the part of the city you live in doesn't have many of them because of all the pollution. You blinked your eyes open. A wooden ceiling coming in your view. But your bedroom's ceilings are white and definitely not made of wood.

Confused, you sat up on the bed when you felt agonising pain in your left leg. It was bandaged up in a cast. You sat up straight as the horrendous memory of Eren beating you like a beast came back.

What happened after you passed out? Where was Eren? And most importantly where were you?

Quickly you got down from the bed and limped to the window. You gasp as you push the blinds away. In front of you, you could only see trees in your view. Your heart filled up with worry and you felt nauseous.

Your body stiffened when the bedroom door opened and someone walked in, "Oh! You are up, love?"

He sounded surprised and just like the man when you had started dating years ago. You turned to face him.

"What the fuck is this? And where am I?" You snapped.

"Calm down love. Why are you getting all angry?" He talked as if nothing had happened, "Come sit on the bed. Your ankle is injured and needs rest."

He walked up to you and tried to hold your hand but you jerked his hand off of you, "Stop playing Eren."

"Listen love—" He tried to calm you down but you cut off his words, "Don't listen love me. You are accused me of cheating, you always fight with me and now you broke my fucking leg, Eren. I want to go back home. I don't want to be with you. I want to fucking leave."

"Why the fuck are you always talking about leaving me?" Eren sneered as he fisted your hair, making you yelp, "It's all because of him right? Don't worry. By the time I'm done, the only thing you would think about is me."

He pushed you back on the bed and hovered over you. That day for the first time you hated the feeling of his hand on you. The room echoed with your begging to be released and cry for help. But Eren didn't stop. He ripped off your clothes and laid you bare on the bed. Marked your body with red, purple bruises and the bites of his teeth.

He violated you, torn you apart, from inside and outside. After what felt like painful days but were really hours he stop. By that time you were numb, exhausted and unconscious.

Since then your days in hell started. You could not move for almost a week. That time he was all affectionate and caring towards you but you couldn't wouldn't trust him anymore. Not after what he had done to you. When you finally gained the energy to move you tried to escape.

Eren was out that day like you have observed the last few days and would not return till evening. You had plenty of time to get out of there. You somehow pulled yourself up and sat on the bed. Throwing off the blanket off you stumbled up, your left leg hanging in there air.

You lumped around the bed and opened the door. Looking both sides of the hallway, when you were sure there was no one, you decided to go to the right. The hallway was long and dimmed. At the end of the hallway you found stairs going down. The stairs led you to the living room. You could see the front door.

On checking you found the door unlocked so without any wait you ran out of the house and into the woods. All this while unaware of a certain pair of green eyes following your every movement through the many CCTV cameras installed in the house and as well as throughout the forest.

Eren snickered seeing your tiny figure running through the forest, trying to find your way out. He knew you would try to run away but poor you, you didn't know that you were so deep into the forest that there was not a single human being in 90 kilometres of radiation.

"I'm not that heartless. I will let you enjoy your freedom. For now." Eren muttered before averting his eyes to the bloodied whimpering figure tied to the chair, "Now, where were we, Toru?"

You ran and ran with your broken ankle as much as you could but you felt trapped. Wherever you see, there were only tall similar looking trees. You don't know how long it was before you stopped under a tree to rest. You leaned back on the tree, chest heaving up and down. The sun was already setting. Soon it was night and you didn't know what kind of wild animals were roaming around here.

Fear creeped in your heart. Was running away without any plan a bad idea? You wondered. But you could not stay there either. No with him. You didn't know what he would do. The sudden sound of leaves rustling startled you, followed by the sound of footsteps.

"Y/N." He dragged you name, making you still, "Where are you?"

You slapped your palm over your mouth and stopped breathing to not make any noise.

"I know you are here."

"Come on. Come out already." He whined.

"Oh! I understand. We are playing hide and seek." He giggled as he stopped walking, "But you forgot something, love. You always get caught."

Your eyes widened and your heart stopped. He................He was standing behind you. You hasitentaly turned your head back. Your body was shaking as you lifted your eyes to meet his lunatic ones. His eyes were shaking, unfocused while his lips were curled up in a maniac smile.

You screamed as you got up and started running away with tears rolling down your eyes.

Eren's eyes followed as he snorted. You never understand do you?

"By the end of the night you truly will forget the word runaway."

Your vision was blurry but you didn't care. You had to get away from there. Away from him as soon as possible. His mad face flashed in your mind making you quiver. You could not recognise him anymore. He was not your Eren. Your Eren never scared you but-but you were scared of him.

Fast stomps followed you whichever turn you took. It was catching up on you. Suddenly your broken leg stepped on a branch and you fell on your face. Your head hit the solid ground. The lack of oxygen was making you dizzy as you slipped in and out of consciousness.

Eren walked up to you and crouched down beside you before picking you up in his arms. He started walking back to the wooden house with you in his arm—

Don't worry Y/N. I'll never let you go. You were mine, are mine and will be mine. That classmate who tried to separate us is already dead.

All the rights and credits of the characters, gifs, songs and pictures used here belongs to their rightful owners.

#eren jeager x reader #eren x you #eren x reader #eren yeager #eren jaeger #eren aot #yandere!eren yeager #dark!eren yeager #aot x reader #aot x female reader #eren x fem!reader #eren x y/n #eren yeager imagines #lotus writes #attack on titan x you #attack on titan x reader #attack on titan #attack on titan imagines

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robezpierre · 7 months

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TOTK Light Dragon Crochet Pattern

It's been a while! Here's a crochet pattern for the Light Dragon from Tears of the Kingdom. I'll post it on deviant art shortly.

Full pattern below cut. If this ends up on P*nterest, I'm going to be very disappointed with one of you.

Stitches used (abbreviations): chain (ch), slip stitch (sl st), single crochet (sc), double crochet (dc), treble crochet (tr), increase (inc), decrease (dec)

This pattern is complicated – partially because I haven’t written a pattern for anything in a number of years, partially because the Light Dragon has a lot of weird parts. There’s chaining and slip stitching into the chains to make antlers, front loop and back loop work, flattening and working through two halves of a round simultaneously, and a lot of positioning.

I typically work in the round, without joining; if you would like to join, just add a sl st and a ch 1 to the end or start of each row in the round. It may make things twist less.

Head (1 in light brown)

1: ch 3, sc 2 in 2nd ch from hook, sc 3 in last chain, turn work (so that you’re working on the far side of the chain), sc (6)

2: sc, inc twice, sc, inc twice (10)

3-6: sc around

7: in, sc around (11)

8: sc 5, IN BACK LOOP ONLY inc, in BOTH LOOPS, sc 5 (12) (the empty loop will be used with the white head marking)

9: sc around (12)

10: sc 3, inc, sc 5, inc, sc 2 (14)

11: sc 13, inc (15)

12: sc 7, inc, sc 7 (16)

13: sc 4, inc, sc 6, inc, sc 4 (18)

14: sc 8, inc, sc 8, inc (20)

15-18: sc around (20)

19: sc 3, dec around (16)

20: sc 2, dec around (12) DO NOT F/O, continue to body

Begin stuffing here, and continue stuffing as you go

Begin Body

21: sc 6 in brown, join cream, in BACK LOOPS ONLY, sc 6 in cream (12)

22- 25: sc 6 in brown, sc 6 in cream (12)

26: sc 1 cream, sc 4 brown, sc 7 cream (12)

Rep rows 22-26 1 time

32-: rep row 26 (12)

Continue repeating row 26 until you’re happy with the dragon’s body length; mine was a total of 89 rounds. Then, continue with the tail

90: sc 1 cream, sc 4 brown, in cream sc 2, inc, sc 2, inc, sc (14)

91-96: Sc 1 cream, sc 4 brown, sc 9 brown (14)

97: sc 1 cream, sc 4 brown, in cream sc 2, dec, sc 2, dec, sc 1 (12)

98: sc 1 cream, sc 4 brown, in cream sc 1, dec, sc 1, dec, sc 1 (10)

99: sc 1 cream, sc 4 brown, in cream sc 1, dec twice (8)

100: sc 1 cream, in brown dec twice, in cream dec twice (moving the stitch marker to after the decrease) (4)

F/O, make sure everything’s stuffed and weave in ends

White Head Marking (One in cream) On one end of the unworked loops from Head/Body round 21, attach cream

1: inc, sc 4 inc, ch 1 and turn (8)

2: inc, sc 2, inc, sc 3, inc, ch 1 and turn (11)

3: inc, sc 4, inc, sc 4, inc, DO NOT ch 1 or turn (yet) (14)

4: ch 4, turn, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next two chs, skip first sc in the row (last worked sc from row 3), sc in 2nd sc, sc one more, skip next sc, sc in the stitch next to it (you want the hole, it’s for antlers), sc 4 more, ch 1, turn

4.1-2: sc 4 across, ch 1 and turn (4)

4.3: sc, dec, sc, ch 1 and turn (3)

4.4-5: sc across, ch 1 and turn (3)

4.6: sc, dec, ch 1 and turn (2)

4.7 dec, sl st into the open loop from Head row 8, sl st into the side of the head marking until you get back to row 4, cont row 4

4 cont: skip the first sc in row 4 (this is the other antler’s space), sc 4, ch 1, turn, sc 4, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, sc 2, join into a sc in row 4

F/O, leaving a long tail

Spike numbers depend on how long your dragon is; her back spikes are arranged in a large-med-small-med-large pattern, starting with two large spikes and ending with an extra seven large spikes on the tail (two on top, four on the sides, and one of the very end). I would recommend making two large, two medium, and one small spike to start, and laying them out to see how many repetitions of that pattern that you can fit on the dragon, and how many spikes you need. I fit three repetitions, and those amounts are reflected below.

Large Spikes (in light blue) (I made 11)

1: sc 4 in mc (4)

2: inc, sc around (6)

3: inc, sc 2 around (8)

4: inc, sc 3 around (10)

5: inc, sc 4 around (12)

F/O, leaving a long tail

Medium Spikes (in light blue) (I made 6) 1: sc 4 in mc (4)

2: inc, sc around (6)

3: inc, sc 2 around (8)

4: inc, sc 3 around (10)

F/O, leaving a long tail

Small Spikes (in light blue) (I made 3)

1: sc 4 in mc (4)

2: inc, sc around (6)

3: inc, sc 2 around (8)

F/O, leaving a long tail

Under-spike gold

I found this easier to follow by working conceptually. You are making circles for each spike to sit on top of. To start, count your spikes, and chain: 6 for each large spike; 5 for each medium spike; and 4 for each small spike. (I had ch 80, but I needed ch 83, see below). Add 2 chains at the end. Those last two chains count as Tr, not as chains to skip/work into. You’ll end up working on either side of the starting chain, mirroring what you do on one side on the other.

For large spikes, skip 2 chs, Tr 5 in 3rd ch, skip 2 chs, sl st in 3rd ch

For medium spikes, skip 2 chs, dc 5 into 3rd ch, skip 1 ch, sl st in 2nd ch

For small spikes, skip 1 ch, dc 5 into 2nd ch, skip 1 ch, sl st in 2nd ch.

Combine the above to match how you want your spikes to sit on your dragon; when you get to the end of the chain, turn your work so that you’re working back up the chain, and mirror your stitches. You should have the correct number of circles, and be able to sl st into the first ch. I had to put Tr 10 into the first ch, since I did not have enough circles, but the ultimate placement worked out.

For the side spikes on the tail, do the following twice: Ch 10, tr 5 in 4th ch from hook, skip 2 chs, tr 10 in last ch, skip 2 sts, tr 5 in the next st (the same st as the initial tr 5), sl st to the first tr, F/O with a long tail. Sew to body, on the sides of the main tail under-gold.

I had to make one circle for the final spike on the tail, by ch 6, tr 5 in 3rd ch from hook, skip 2 chs, sl st into last ch, skip 2 sts on other side of work, tr 5 into next ch (again, where the initial tr 5 is, you’re making a circle), sl st onto first tr and F/O. A magic circle of 6, increasing around to 12, would probably work just as well; so would making the initial golden circles longer to accommodate this spike. I simply lost my spike and didn’t realize it until after I had placed everything.

Hair (make 1 in gold)

1: ch 21, starting in 2nd ch from hook, sc across (20)

2: ch 4, sl st into 2nd ch from hook, sc, in next ch, hdc in last ch, skip a st of row 1, sl st into front loop of next sc. Repeat across the row. Ch 1 and turn at end. (10 spikes)

3: Working in back loops only, sc across, ch 1 and turn (20 sc)

4-7: repeat rows 2-3 twice

F/O, leaving a long tail

Horns (make 2, in cream and turquoise)

In cream:

1: ch 2, sc 4 into 2nd ch from hook (4)

2: sc around (4)

F/O, and turn so that the right side is out. Leave enough tail to sew onto the head.

Using Turquoise, sl st into the cream starting ch. The horns are made from one long chain with different spikes; after slip stitching a new ‘spike’, you’ll continue slip stitching into the original chain.

Ch 12, starting in 2nd ch, sl st 4, ch 4, starting in 2nd ch sl st 6, ch 5, starting in 2nd ch sl st 3, ch 2, starting in 2nd ch sl st 5, ch 3, starting in 2nd ch sl st 4 and F/O (you should have worked all chs)

‘Bangs’(make 1 in gold)

1: ch 7, starting in 2nd ch from hook, sc across (6)

2: ch 4, sl st into 2nd ch from hook, sc, in next ch, hdc in last ch, skip a st of row 1, sl st into front loop of next sc. Repeat across the row. Ch 1 and turn at end. (3 spikes)

3: Working in back loops only, sc, dec, dec, sc, turn (4 sc)

4: rep row 2 (2 spikes)

5: in back loops only, dec twice (2)

6: rep row 2 (1 spike)

F/O, leaving a long tail

Sew this to the forehead of the dragon, directly between the horns – the 6th row points out, the 1st row attaches to the hair

Legs (make 6 in dark blue, 3 left and 3 right):

1: ch 6, join in first ch, sc around (6)

2-7: sc around (6) make sure that you’re working right side out!

8: in front loops only, inc around (12)

9- 10: sc around (12)

Flatten the previous row; you will sc through two stitches at once, closing the opening as you make fingers

RIGHT HAND 11: ch 6, starting in 2nd ch, sl st 5, sc through parallel sts in row 10 twice, *ch 9, starting in 2nd ch, sl st 8, then sc into two parallel stitches in row 10* repeat 3 more times, sl st through the last two parallel scs

LEFT HAND 11: *ch 9, starting in 2nd ch, sl st 8, sc through parallel sts in row 10* repeat 3 more times, sc through parallel sts in row 10 once more, ch 6, starting in 2nd ch sl st 5, sl st through the last two parallel scs.

F/O, leaving the leg unstuffed. You do not need a long tail, just enough to tie off and weave in.

Hips/Shoulders/Haunches (make 6 in cream)

You’ll be working directly into the legs, from their starting chain, and crocheting in the opposite direction. Make sure that the work faces out. Try to plan where you start to be where you want the shoulder to be – in row 6, you’ll begin working only half of the stitches, and they’ll be the stitches in front of your starting position.

1: make a slip st, and join into the starting chain for the legs. Inc around (12)

2: sc, inc around (18)

3-5: sc around (18)

6: sc 9, ch 1 and turn (leaving other sts unworked) (9)

7: sc 6, dec, F/O

F/O, leaving a long tail. Stuff the haunch, leaving the arm/hand unstuffed.

Ears: (make 2)

Inner Ear (brown)

1: ch 3, sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in last ch, ch 1 and turn (2)

2-4: sc across, ch 1 and turn (2)

5: dec, ch 1 and turn (1)

6: sc, F/O (1) your tail can be short, it won’t be used to fasten anything. I hid mine between ear layers.

Outer Ear (cream)

1: leaving a long tail, ch 4, sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc across, ch 1 and turn (3)

2-4: sc across, ch 1 and turn (3)

5: dec, sc, ch 1 and turn (2)

6: dec, ch 1 and turn (1)

7: sc, ch 1, and turn the work so that you’re working on the edge of the work. Sc into the edge of row 7. Lay an inner ear over the outer ear, and sc into both pieces, along the edge. You’re joining the ear parts together. F/O, leaving a long tail to sew the bottom of the inner ear onto the outer ear. For one of the ears, you’ll have to work backwards or upside down if you don’t want two left ears – or you can just sew both inner ears to the outer ears.

Assembly: Stitch the white head marking to the head. I pinned on the hair, and attached the spikes and under-spike gold. To make this easier, I stuffed and attached each spike onto the under-spike gold first, and then pinned and sewed the gold onto the back (be careful to keep it centered). Then I attached the tail spikes, and stitched down the hair. I added the horns, ears, and bangs, and finally pinned all of the legs. I was careful to keep the legs attached only to the cream, not the brown belly, but that was just a stylistic choice that I made. Finally, you can make and attach the eyes; I used some felt and markers, though I’m not overly pleased with the effect.

#crochet pattern #amigurumi #loz totk #light dragon #light dragon crochet #tears of the kingdom crochet #it's been years since i made a pattern #hopefully this works out alright #i dont quite have energy to help folks troubleshoot #especially after the last person was frankly pretty rude about it #but that was on deviant art so its fine

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theitgirlnetwork · 7 months

Text

Better

Ch. 12: Welcome to the Shit Show Baby

Note: ...Heyyy...how ya'll doin? I know it's been a minute, I apologize. I hope this chapter makes up for the wait. I want to address the fact that this story is not over, I was worried my absence would give that impression, but there's still a lot that still needs to happen lol. As always, I'm thankful for all of the love and support. You guys are so sweet and make writing even more fun. Speaking of ya'll, not you guys saying yes on her behalf, damn, it's been 3 months, lol. Next chapter should be out at some point this weekend, meanwhile I hope ya'll enjoy <3 (also keep an eye out this weekend bc I'll be announcing new characters I'm gonna write for along with some sneak peaks, spoiler, one of them is my return to JJ.)

Warnings: Sexual content, explicit content, MDNI (FR FR don't make this shit weird)

Charlotte's Wedding Dress That's Not Really a Wedding Dress:

Charlotte's Hair and Veil:

Lip Being Hot in His Suit:

The Flowers :') :

Charlotte’s mouth opens and closes a couple times, no words making it out. She stares at her boyfriend, waiting for him to crack a smile, or say, ‘m’just fuckin’ kiddin’ and pull off to drive them home. Minutes pass as she watches the clock on the car tick, the changing numbers taunt her as she tries to find her words. Unfortunately, all she lets out is a breathy laugh.

“Marryin’ me is funny?” Lip asks, cocking his head back to observe her. Charlotte places a hand on her rapidly rising and falling chest.

“Not really, but I’m trying to see if you’re being funny.”

“M’fuckin’ serious.” he deadpans.

“But…3 months, Phillip.”

He shrugs, pressing another kiss to her hand. “Good enough for me. You?”

“I…” she’s shocked by the thought that crosses her mind. Good enough for me too. “But you’re not even down on one knee. And you’re asking me in front of your ex's house or party or whatever..” Charlotte pouts.

Lip’s eyes widen at that, glancing back toward the house because, well, that shit is true. “Yikes.” he chuckles at himself. “Yeah that’s pretty fucked up.”

“Only a little.”

“If I was on one knee, and we weren’t here, would you say yes? I don’t have a nice ring, but that’ll be the first thing I’d get you-” He rambles for a moment, stopping at the sight in front of him. Charlotte’s laying her head on the headrest, big brown eyes still shining with tears, staring at him dreamily with an uneasy smile on her face. His heart felt like it good fuckin’ bust out of his chest. He’d had people look at him before. With lust, hate, even love, but the way she was looking at him right now, he could finally see what Monica saw. Like he’d hung the moon and stars. He would. If she’d keep looking at him like that. But right now, he’d settle for getting her pretty voice to give him a yes. Lip turns off the car light and puts the car into drive, speeding down the road, ignoring her questions of ‘where are we going?’ ‘What just happened?’ his leg that isn’t controlling the pedals jumping up and down as he anxiously weaves them through traffic. He drives to the only grocery store he thinks will be open and hops out of the car, running in and locking the car.

Charlotte sits in the passenger seat confused as ever. She feels high. This is crazy. She’s never done anything like this before. And when would she? Why would she? She’s 19. Won’t be 20 for another week. She’s known Phillip for 3 months. That’s how long she talked to her ex before becoming his girlfriend. Her parents don’t even know him yet. How could she agree to this?

But, how could she say no? She loves him. She’s known that almost since meeting him. She loves being around him, feeling him brings her comfort, happiness. Watching his smile reach his beautiful blue eyes makes her feel like she’d won some kind of reward. She wants to be his family. Forever. She…she wants to marry him. She guesses that nothing else fucking matters.

He comes running back with something in his hands. Charlotte squints as she tries to lean closer to the window to see. The back seat door swings open and an out of breath Lip places something inside. “Don’t turn around.”

“Wha-why? What’d you get?”

“Just-” he closes the door, getting into the driver’s side. “Listen, alright? It’ll be worth it. Trust me.”

She does.

It’s about 3 am when the car rolls to a stop again. Somehow, Charlotte had managed to fall asleep, cocked back in the seat with her head against the window, Lip’s hand on her thigh covered by both of her hands. As he pulls to a stop he squeezes her a little, gently jostling her awake. “Hi, baby,” he says softly. “We’re here.”

She yawns, arching her back a little as she stretches, wrapping Lip’s suit jacket tighter around herself. “Where’s here?” she says groggily.

“You’ll see, c’mon, sweetheart.”

The couple gets out of the car, and Lip guides a staggering Charlotte to their destination. As they near it, he reaches over, guiding her head down, using her hair to cover her face. “Uh, try not to look up, bunny, hide your face.”

Charlotte shuffles her feet, following his instructions with a whine. “Aww, Phillip, are we doing something illegal?”

“Uh…no.”

“That means yes.” she huffs. She stares down at the ground as she hears the sound of clanking. She knows he’s picking some kind of lock. The metal clanks to the ground and Lip continues to guide her.

“Close your eyes, sweetheart, imma find the lights.” He says, voice getting further. “Don’t hurt yourself, just stay there ‘til m’back.”

The sounds of water starting to flow and fans blowing begin as the room turns light behind her eyelids. Charlotte feels his large, strong hands smooth their way down her arms before grabbing her hands. “Can I open now?” she asks gently.

“Yeah, baby you can open.”

Charlotte opens her eyes to see that they’re in a lit room with a glass ceiling. Beautiful plants surrounding them all over, flowers, trees, the works. Fountains are spaced out among the plants, mimicking nature, water trickling from them. Lights sparkle as they hang from the ceiling and in front of her is what she could only believe is the love of her life, holding a bouquet of flowers, trying to kick the little sign that said ‘Sweet 16’ that he’d plucked off behind him. “Where are we?”

“It’s uh, the Garfield Park Conservatory. I’d read about it before, and I knew I wanted to take you here…but they’re obviously closed right now. And I didn’t want people in our fucking business. And uh…pickin’ locks is free.” he jokes, letting out a wet chuckle.

“You know when we’re married you’re gonna have to slow down on doing things that’ll get you arrested.” She manages something between a laugh and a sob. Charlotte already knows she must look insane with the amount she’s cried in the past few hours. She takes one of her hands back trying to wipe her face and comb her fingers through her hair.

“You look beautiful, Charlotte.” Lip says, commanding her full attention with the intensity in his eyes. “And I love you, more than I’ve ever managed to love anyone or anything. I really, really didn’t think I was capable of feeling like this. Or having someone as good as you. And I’m gonna fuck it up, like all the time. But m’askin’ you to marry me anyway.”

“Yes.” she whispers, not even getting a second to finish before he’s dropping her flowers and snatching her into his arms. She cups his face and closes the distance between them and meets him in an intense kiss. “I love you.” she smiles against his lips.

“Love you.” He says between pecks. When they finally give each other some air, Lip turns her and starts guiding her to the door, grabbing her flowers on the way, tickling her and whispering jokes in her ear as they go. “Alright, you agreed, that shit is binding. I gotta get you to the courthouse before you change your mind.”

Judge Hanes is very well acquainted with the Gallagher family. He’s overseen many of their legal proceedings in both juvenile and adult court. And once, Frank Gallagher had pissed on his brand new Porsche after he’d awarded the man’s opponent restitution. So to say he was aggravated to find the eldest Gallagher boy in front of the courthouse, asleep on a bench with a young lady under his arm, is an understatement. He stops in front of the pair with a heavy sigh and an already forming headache. “Phillip Gallagher.”

The young man opens his eyes, squinting before his lips spread into a smug smile. “Mornin’ Keith.”

“It’s Judge Hanes to you, boy.”

The girl next to him stirs awake, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. “Good morning, Judge Hanes. Nice to meet you. I’m Charlotte.” She looks about his middle-daughter’s age, pretty, clean-cut. He couldn’t imagine why she was here with Lip Gallagher.

“Nice to meet you too, dear. What’s got you at this old courthouse this early? Child support enforcement?” He cuts his eyes back to Lip. “A protective order?”

“No, I feel perfectly safe, with my fiancé, actually.” The blond snarks, pulling the girl to him and kissing her temple. “We came to get married. Looks like you’re gonna marry us.”

Well he’ll be damned. Keith Hanes never thought he’d see the day. He almost believes this is some kind of grift. A scam he’s running on this poor girl. But from the look in Gallagher’s eyes, even Keith could see this was legit. He almost feels bad for what he has to tell them. “No can do.”

“What?” Charlotte looks to Lip.

“Why the fuck not? I mean it-isn’t it like your civic duty or some shit?”

Keith cocks his head challenging Lip's tone. “Thought you were supposed to be the smart one Gallagher.”

“Yeah, well, I’m more into the sciences, so I haven’t taken much time to learn the inner workings of your crooked ass system-”

“Phillip, please.” Charlotte interjects, placing her hand on his chest. Keith is surprised to see that it actually calms the boy, making him intertwine their fingers and quieting down. “Sir, we really wanna get married. We came all of the way here, and we love each other so much, it’s really important to us. Please.”

Keith sighs, looking down at a sweet little pout that reminded him so much of his own children. “I really am sorry kids. Courthouse is closed today, only doing jury trials because the clerks are rotating. No peace orders, divorce hearings or marriages. I can write you two up a certificate myself, but beyond that, I suggest you try a church and hope they’re willing to do it today.”

He watches as the couple looks at each other somberly. Charlotte rests her cheek on Lip’s shoulder, disappointment evident on their faces. Keith watches them share their disappointment and notices how they comfort each other. The girl smoothing her hand up and down his arm, the boy murmuring against the crown of her head, ‘if not today, then tomorrow.’ This isn’t the Lip Gallagher who’s been in and out of his courthouse. He’d absently thought that it had been a while since he’d been in trouble and now he could see why. He could applaud him for allowing love to turn his life around.

“I am about to be very kind this morning, please do not make me regret it.” Keith unlocks the doors and looks back at the pair. “Don’t tell your siblings I did this, I know your brood likes to marry every other week.”

“Sure won’t, sir.”

“And don’t screw this up, pretty young ladies like this don’t fall out of the sky.”

“Yeah we don’t.” Charlotte jokes, pushing Lip with her hip, his only response being rolling his eyes and dragging her to him.

“Alright alright, follow me.”

And Charlotte plans to, she really does. But for some reason, when Judge Hanes and Lip go to move, her feet remain planted on the cobblestone steps of the courthouse, her lack of movement pulling Lip to a stop by their intertwined fingers. “Babe?”

The woman breathes deeply as she looks up the steps. Being with Lip means a lot of things. Fun, passion, anger, joy, adventure, risk, love and family. How could they do this without their family? “Your Honorableness-” she begins.

Judge Hanes shares a glance with Lip who shakes his head, encouraging him to keep quiet.

“If we came back in a couple of hours with our family, would you still be here? I…we need them. Please?”

Well..Keith didn’t feel like watching his grandson lose his soccer game again anyway. “Four hours to get your…clan together. Then I’m going home.”

“Yay! Thank you!” She chirps, bouncing on her feet a little before throwing her arms around the older man, beaming at him before running down the steps back to the car. Lip places his hands in his pockets, watching her run excitedly with a soft smile on his face.

He tenses when he feels a heavy arm over his shoulders, a rough hand patting his arm. “Prove me wrong, Mr. Gallagher.” Judge Hanes says. “This may be something good. Try not to fuck it up.”

“I uh, I won’t.”

“Good morning Liam.” Charlotte hums, smoothing her hand over the little boy’s cheek. “Guess what?”

“Lottie!” he coos as she lifts him out of his toddler bed into her arms. He giggles as she bounces him on her hip. She and Lip had rushed back to the Gallagher house, thrumming with energy. Everyone would have to get on board for this wedding quickly because of the time crunch and they decided to make it feel as ceremonial as possible with the circumstances. Lip changed out of the suit he was wearing into the one he’d worn at one of Fiona’s attempts at marriage. Charlotte kept the bouquet he’d offered her in the car and quietly snuck into Kev and V’s house, rifling through her bags and producing a white dress she’d brought. It wasn’t a wedding dress but it’d do.

In the interest of time and not getting their idea immediately shot down, they decided to start collecting the younger Gallagher siblings first. “We’ve got a big surprise.” she mumbles against his cheek, kissing it over and over as she walks through the hall. She bumps into Lip who catches her by the waist, leaning down, blowing a raspberry into Liam’s other cheek.

“You ready?”

Charlotte nods and Lip knocks on Debbie’s bedroom door before opening it. The redheaded girl is splayed out on her bed, blankets half kicked off, snoring lightly. Lip eases into the room, sitting on the bed next to her, shaking her softly. “Hey, Debs.”

“Hm.” she rolls a little, squinting up at him. “What? What time is it?”

“Uh, it’s about 8.”

“And why are you bothering me?” She groans, kicking her feet at his stomach.

“Deb’s watch it, don’t get it dirty.” Lip says, catching her foot.

The younger girl frowns, opening her eyes fully and taking in her brother’s appearance. “Why the hell are you wearing that?” When he laughs and looks behind him she follows his gaze to the doorway. “Charlotte, you look so pretty! Can I borrow that dress?”

“Sure, Debbie.” the woman smiles, coming into the room to join them. “But right now, we need to ask you a question. How would you feel about getting another sister?”

“Damn it, Frank knocked someone up?”

“No, jesus, Debs, m’gonna marry Charlotte. Today. And we want you to be in it.”

Debbie all but shoves Lip out of the way, hugging Charlotte tightly before grabbing the hand that isn’t holding Liam. “Help me pick out a dress?”

Carl was less enthused by the whole idea. Dangling the concept of Charlotte being his sister was less appealing to him and he ultimately refused to come until Lip promised him some illegal fireworks that he hadn’t been able to score on his own.

Ian and Mickey had been the most fun to tell. Lip barged into their room, earning a groan from Ian and a loud grumble of ‘what the fuck?’ from Mickey. The couple stared at Lip and Charlotte, taking in their attire.

“What the fuck do you two idiots have on?” Mickey asks, wiping his face. He locks eyes with the woman, raising his eyebrows for a moment before his lips spread into a wide smile that matches her own. “Oh, shit! C’mere you crazy bitch.” He’s out of the bed and picking her up, hoisting her over his shoulder as she squeals and giggles. “What the hell kind of pussy have you been puttin’ on him?”

“Shit.” Ian echoes, pulling his brother into a tight hug. “Congratulations man, seriously. When…?”

“Today, get your suit on, motherfucker.”

“Shit!” Ian beams, clapping a hand on Lip’s back.

“You see this shit, Red?” Mickey calls back to his boyfriend. “The bar is fuckin’ high, even your shithead brother is puttin’ a ring on it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ian snorts, his arm still around Lip’s neck, keeping him close. “M’workin’ on it.”

“My ass.”

The group is so wrapped in their celebration they don’t even hear a tired Fiona make her way into the doorway. Sleep on her face, still clad in nothing but a t-shirt and underwear, she stands prepared to curse them from waking her when she’d just worked the night shift. The brunette’s eyes widen as she takes in the scene in front of her. Charlotte, wearing a white dress, tossed over Mickey’s shoulder. Lip is wearing his best suit (he only has two that he rotates for weddings, jobs and funerals), lighting a blunt, the good shit they keep for graduations and when Monica leaves. Ian buttoning his dress shirt. Fuck. She thinks, crossing her arms. “Pregnant?”

Lip straightens, blunt still hanging from his mouth. “No.”

“And you’re sure?” she asks. “Both of you?”

“Yes.” Charlotte responds, offering Fiona a hesitant smile as Mickey puts her down. She goes over to Lip, slipping her hand into his. “So sure.”

Fiona rolls her eyes to the ceiling, whispering, ‘fuck’ under her breath before leaving the room. Lip clenches his jaw, looking away, taking a deep drag of the blunt as Charlotte rubs his arm, and Ian pats his back. He and Fiona fight like cats and dogs, but she’s his big sister. She’s supported him through everything, he’d thought she’d support him through this.

Moments later Fiona returns, tugging a blue dress down her legs and holding something white in her hands. She silently makes her way over to Charlotte, lifting what Lip and Ian recognized as her veil she never fully got to use, clipping it to the top of Charlotte’s head. “There. Now, you look like a bride. A sexy Vegas bride, but a bride. And I better be a bridesmaid.” Lip tugs his sister into a hug, making her stumble, rubbing her back.

“Um, thanks.” he says into her shoulder.

She sniffs in response, pushing him off. “Yeah, yeah, let me hit that blunt, this is gonna be a shit show.”

Once everyone’s dressed, the group makes their way next door, Lip and Charlotte stand in front of the door, ringing the bell because she did have her keys, the only thing in her hands being the flowers he’d given her.

“Yeah, I’m comin’!” Kev yells through the door, pushing it open and eyes bulging at the sight in front of him. “Holy shit. V!”

“What?” she calls from further in the house. “Yelling so early the damn morning. What’s the fucking problem-holy shit.”

V eyes her cousin, staring her down. Charlotte straightens, her stance steady but her face withering a little under V’s gaze. Everyone else watches as the two women share a silent conversation, the elder, putting her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised, the younger squeezing her boyfriend…fiance’s hand as she maintains eye contact. V cocks her head to the side expectantly turning to go back in the house and Charlotte follows, releasing Lip’s hand.

The two women climb the steps up to Kev and V’s room and Charlotte quietly gestures for Lip not to follow. When they get in the room, V pulls her pajama shirt off, grabbing a pink dress off of a hanger. “This is what you wanna do?”

“Yes. I love him.” Charlotte says, sitting on the bed.

“It’s gonna be really hard, Lottie. You know that?”

“I know.”

V turns and Charlotte zips her dress for her. “And your parents?”

Charlotte bites her lip at that. She’s startled to realize that she hadn’t even considered them being there. They weren’t who she thought of when she said they needed to go get family. She loves them, but this, the life she made here, has nothing to do with them. They’d ruin it. “It’s not about them. But you’re here.”

“Hell yeah, I am.” V says kissing her little cousin’s cheek. “Well, if we’re gonna do this, you need to complete the outfit.” She reaches in her drawer, producing her lacey, white garter, tossing it to Charlotte.

“Um…I love you…and thanks, but...when was the last time you washed this and has it been in Kev's mouth?”

When the group was finally complete, they head out of the house, trying to figure out how to stuff everyone into Kev’s car without fucking up their dress clothes. As they stuffed Carl, Debbie and Liam into the back, everyone else was arguing about who should have to squeeze into the middle.

“Well, I’m literally the bride, so-”

“This is my fucking car!”

“Princess doesn’t even need a seat, she’s used to bein’ in fuckhead’s lap.”

As they fuss over the spots, Frank stumbles his way down the street, seeing his family decked out in dress clothes he makes his way over, plucking the blunt out of Ian’s hand. “Good morning family. Who died?”

“Lip and Charlotte are getting married, Daddy!” Debbie calls from inside of the car.

Frank gasps dramatically, clutching his chest before clapping a hand onto the back of Lip’s neck, only to have it slapped off. “My eldest son! Why didn’t you say anything? Look how I’m dressed! Charlotte, looking vivacious as ever.”

Lip’s mouth curl’s in disgust as he tugs her behind him. “You’re not invited, Frank.”

“What? I’m your father. How could you not have me at your first wedding?” Frank slurs, “Besides, I think you’ll regret not inviting Daddy when you see the gift he got you.”

“How the hell does he have a gift, he just found out.” Fiona murmurs to V.

“I’m trying to figure out what gift his broke ass could afford.”

They watch tiredly as Frank stumbles behind the house, the sound of glass shattering ringing out, followed by a bunch of rumbling. When Frank comes back he makes his way over to his elder son, slapping two small items into his hands. “See if I’m invited now.”

Lip opens his hands to see two rings, one plain gold band and one with a small diamond in the middle.

“What the fuck?” Fiona says, getting a closer look. “Where the hell did you get these?”

“These are my and Monica’s rings from our first wedding.”

“And you haven’t pawned them?” Ian asks.

Frank shrugs, “They’re sentimental.”

“You’ve sold Liam.”

“I was gonna get him back! Do you want them or not?”

Lip looks over to Charlotte, “Bunny?”

The woman smiles, running a finger over the rings before nodding. “We could always have them blessed to…you know, get rid of any bad juju.”

“Alright.” Lip says, giving her a peck before turning to get in the car. “Move out, people, let’s go.” As everyone piles in he looks at Frank sighing at them, running his dirty hands over each other. “Fuck.” he breathes, dropping his head forward on Charlotte’s shoulder as she sits in his lap. “Come the fuck on Frank.”

“Fantastic.”

Keith Hanes checks his watch one more time before shaking his head and standing from his desk. He’d given them extra time, tried to get some work done and called his wife while he waited. But time was up, he’d waited all that he could. As he turns the lights out and begins to lock up, he tsks at himself disappointedly. Of course it was a load of shit. He’s a Gallagher.

The older man turns the key, locking the second door of his office, certificate of marriage in his hand. He was a fool to even draft it up as he waited. Just as he goes to crumple the paper he hears what sounds like a stampede of feet running in the marble halls.

“Hey! Shit-” Keith turns to find the young couple sprinting over with the entire Gallagher clan (and one Milkovich) behind them. Lip slipping slightly before catching his balance as he and Charlotte round the corner. “We’re here. Made it.”

“You’re 30 minutes late.”

The blond runs a hand through his disheveled hair, running the other up and down the bare skin of his fianceé’s arm. “Is that uh, is that ours?” he asks, nodding his head toward the certificate.

“Well, yes-”

“Ah! Phillip!” Charlotte squeals, bouncing and squeezing his arm. Lip twists his lips, attempting to contain his own smile as they essentially bum rush the judge back into the room. The young couple follow Keith over to his desk, still wrapped up in each other , exchanging pecks as they murmur excitedly to themselves.

“Uh uh, if I’m gonna get my ass beat by my mama for letting you do this, we’re gonna do this right so we can at least get some pictures on the phone. Move-” V pushes Lip back by his chest, separating the pair before wrapping her manicured nails around Charlotte’s wrist. “C’mon little girl. One second judge.”

Fiona shrugs at the bride as V rearranges the room, ushering Carl, Ian and Mickey to stand behind Lip and instructing Fiona and Debbie to go out into the hallway. Frank stumbles his way over, looping his dirty arm with Charlotte’s free one. “Frank, watch her fuckin’ dress.” Ian hisses as Lip’s brows furrow. “Fuck are you doin’ Frank?”

The older man frowns as his two eldest sons. “I’m-” he burps, “obviously going to be walking my new daughter down the aisle.”

Lip’s eyes immediately catch his girl’s as the brown pools widen. He could tell that she didn’t want that. This was gonna be a big moment, shit, he wouldn’t want to remember it with Frank either. Hell, he’s his dad and he planned to push him as far back as possible, he was lucky to be in the fuckin’ room. But he knows that his sweet girl knows he has complicated feelings toward his father. Hatred. Disgust. Humiliation. But the fucker was still in his blood. He couldn’t fully shake him. Lip knows Charlotte won’t outwardly protest Frank being part of this special moment that he was going to bust his ass to make sure is her only walk down an aisle. Not in front of his little siblings. Not when she’s not sure how he feels about it. “Yeah, fuck that, Frank, go sit down.”

“Well isn’t this fuckin’ something? I don’t happen to see her father here, steppin’ up. I’m welcoming her into the Gallagher family-”

“Sit the fuck down, Frank.” Lip grits, clenching his fists. This shit was not gonna happen. He was not gonna come in here, and bumble his way into ruining his wedding. He’d seen him do it to Fiona, he was not gonna do it to Lip. To Charlotte.

“What? You get a little pussy and you’re a tough guy now?”

“Frank-” the blond steps forward, veins in his arm twitching with how tightly he was clenching his fists. Mickey not far behind him, waiting for someone to throw a punch so he could get his lick in, he was still mad at Frank from the last time he broke Ian’s nose, but he’d promised his boyfriend he wouldn't get arrested this month and they were fucking literally in a courthouse in front of a judge.

“He’s right.” Charlotte intercepts, shaking the older man’s arm off. She pats her free hand softly on her fiance’s cheek. “My dad isn’t here. But, Kev is. That’s what people do right? If your dad can’t do it your brother does?”

“Oh shit-” Kev huffs, using his arm to cover his face.

“Um…are you crying?”

“No, m’not fuckin’ cryin’, Lottie, come the fuck on-” He says, planting his hands on her shoulders and steering her the rest of the way out of the door.

Frank scoffs as he watches them. “Well just fuck me then.”

Lip doesn’t believe in fairytales. Or happy endings. True love, none of that shit. He’s always believed in what life has shown him. Fucking struggle basically. Bad shit with a little drop of happiness slipped in there before shit really hits the fan. Just enough good that he doesn’t just say fuck it and give up. That good usually came in the form of something with his siblings, finding some money, or getting his dick wet.

Then Charlotte came. And those little moments of goodness, happiness starting happening more frequently. They came with the smiles she offered him, plump lips spreading, cheeks dimpling. They came with her soft hands, in his rougher ones, running through his hair cupping his face, touching him. It came with her laughter. Loud giggles that often ended with gasps and slaps on his arm and stomach. And still…with him getting his dick wet…but with her.

All of that was great. Amazing.

But this shit right here. He’d never known that it could get this good. Like, they’re in a courtroom/clerk’s office in the courthouse in which he’d had many things expunged from his record as a juvenile. Where he’d been dragged into foster care, group homes, what the fuck ever else by CPS.

All of that went away watching Charlotte Fisher come down the aisle. It’s not even a fucking aisle. The walk from the doorway is too short. His blue eyes scan her hastily as she slowly makes her way, wanting to catch everything, capture every inch of her. He wants to commit this shit to memory. For when things get hard. He knows shit will never be this good again. This is it. He’s peaked. From her legs, up her body, the way the dress fit. The way her hair falls perfectly. And her face…her face he had to save for last. Because she’s doing it again. Looking at him like he’s something. Like he’s everything. He didn’t know you could feel love from a look like that. If he had the mental capacity at the time, he’d wonder what he must look like looking at her. Probably desperate. Needy. I mean, fuck it, he is.

Lip hadn’t even realized he wasn’t breathing until she’s directly in front of him, leaning her forehead against his, the thin, sheer veil over her face the only thing separating him. The white fabric only making her look even more angelic. “You think your sister is gonna kill me for getting makeup on her veil?” she whispers with a giggle.

Phillip Gallagher is an all encompassing experience. You could laugh at Charlotte if you want to, she loves her man. A lot. So much so that after having a screaming match in front of his ex's house, trekking through mud, and one of the first things he’d ever said to her being ‘wanna bang one out’ she was here. In a white dress. And his sister’s veil. Getting married after like 3 months. And she’s fucking gassed.

She knew what she was signing up for. Chaos. Crazy. Gallagher. That’s fine. Phillip’s here. The consequences of dealing with her own family and friends from home barely cross her mind. All she could think of is intense blue eyes. She loves his eyes. She loves Phillip. He makes her happy. Before she’d come here, she’d thought she was content. She thought the only thing she was missing was independence. She didn’t know that this kind of joy existed. And she didn’t know she could care about someone else’s happiness like she cares about Phillip’s. He’s only 20. But life had already been so rough on him. It makes her sad, sometimes, the dark circles under his eyes, watching him bitterly light a cigarette and roughly tug at his beautiful curls when he’s stressed. Seeing his jaw clench when he sees another little kid wearing new shoes as his siblings walk around in used ones, or some guy gifting his girlfriend with something expensive. Charlotte wants to get rid of those looks. She wants to make life easier for him. To cater to him.

If V heard that she’d probably fucking vomit before slapping the shit out her. Her friends from home would think this was just people pleaser Charlotte, being tricked by some guy again. But this is different. She knows Phillip loves her.

She can feel it. To her core. She can see it, in his eyes, essentially gazing into her soul as he looks at her intently. She can hear it, in the vow he makes to her.

“I’m gonna take fuckin’ care of you, Bunny.”

She hears Judge Hansen sigh at the statement, probably shocked that the vow was so singular. So abrupt. 8 words and one of them was fuckin’.

To Charlotte, it was short and sweet. Meaningful.

“And I’m” she giggles wetly through her tears, her shaking hands in his larger, steadier ones. “Gonna make you so fuckin’ happy, Bubba.”

“You may now kiss the bride-”

“Fuckin’ finally.” Lip breathes, tugging Charlotte to him by the waist and capturing her lips. He leans into her with so much force she’d have stumbled back if his grip on her wasn’t so strong. Charlotte throws her arms around his neck, pressing even closer as their lips continue to meet, blissfully unaware of everyone around them.

“Jesus, Gallagher, you’re not supposed to fuckin’ swallow her.” Mickey calls from behind them. Lip smiles into the kiss, pecking her lips one more time before pulling back, only to be pulled back in.

“Yes he is.” she grins, nudging his nose with hers and squealing as he picks her up, spinning her around.

“Alright, you got the music baby?” Kev calls as he makes his way behind the bar, pulling out shot glasses, lining them up on the wooden bar and preparing to pour.

“On it.”

Lip finishes carrying Charlotte in on his back, refusing to carry her in bridal style because ‘this dingy ass bar isn’t our home’ but giving into her whining that her feet hurt and she didn’t want to get them dirty on the sidewalk. He plops her down on one of the stools and walks between her legs, rubbing his hands along her thighs, kissing her. “‘Makin’ you a spoiled brat.”

“Yeah? You married me?” she smiles against his lips. “That’s so cool.”

“Yeah, it fuckin’ is.”

Wrapping her arm around his neck she lets him rest his head in hers, turning to Ian, “Okay, okay, flirt with me.”

The redhead snorts, leaning his elbows back against the bar. “Hey sexy, let me buy you a drink.”

“Ah! Nope, m’married!” she laughs, waving her left hand in his face, ignoring the tickling feeling of Lip’s breathy laughter on her skin.

Fiona makes her way in, she’d just dropped the younger three kids off at Sheila’s so that they could fully celebrate at the Alibi without worrying about them. She pulls Charlotte from her younger brother’s embrace, pressing her lips to the girl’s cheeks. “Mwah, welcome to the shitshow baby, m’just happy to have a sister in law I can fuckin’ stand. He had shit taste before.” She laughs, shoving her brother’s shoulder. “Now, lets toast to the happy fucking couple.” her eyes lock with Lip’s and she gives him a crooked smile. “Seriously. Really fucking happy for you.”

Everybody has seen Lip fucked up before. Depending on the mood he was in, he could be fun as hell or he could look like Frank Jr. And everyone had seen Charlotte off her ass. She was…less reserved than usual. So, thank God Kev had flipped the closed sign before the shots started rolling.

“Alright, alright man! You been under there long enough!” Kev calls, slapping Lip’s back. The younger man just chuckles as he climbs back from between his bride’s legs, garter dangling from his teeth.

“No he hasn’t!”

“Charlotte!”

“She’s married, Kev.” V says, elbowing her own husband before grabbing her cousin’s hand, “One more drink.”

“One more!” Charlotte cheers, stumbling over to the bar and kneeling so her cousin can pour directly from the bottle into her mouth before pouring it into her own. “Baby, dance with me.”

“Lip doesn’t dance.” Fiona snorts, downing her own drink, coughing as she watches her brother obediently stand, going to sway with his new…shit wife. It’s so weird. Watching her little brother be a husband. Slow dancing with the young woman in front of him, despite the loud base of the fast paced music. The sloppy, drunken kissing and his hand on her ass was very on brand for her brother. But the soft smiles in between, and the thumb, sweeping softly over the girl’s cheek, that was new.

“Looks good on him doesn’t it?” Ian asks, resting his arm on his sister.

“Yeah. It does.”

Mickey sidles up next to the siblings, following their gaze. “Cute.” he pats Ian’s hip before stumbling away, his drink sloshing in glass. “But I better get a real fuckin’ wedding.”

“Don’t get used to this, alright, it’s only because it’s your wedding night.” Fiona calls from Kev and V’s stoop. “And clean up after yourselves.” She watches as Lip lifts a yelping Charlotte off of the ground, stumbling backward a little himself before kicking the door open. She sighs, as it slams shut and turns to V. “Your family is gonna kill us, huh?”

“Oh yeah, we’re dead.”

The newlyweds can't concern themselves with anything but each other at the next house over.

“Okay so,” Lip begins between the heated kisses he’s placing on Charlotte’s neck. “Where do you wanna go first, cause this is the only time my family is ever gonna be cool enough to give us the house.”

His head swims as Charlotte’s hand tugs at the hair at the nape of his neck, her legs hooked around his waist as she drags his lips to hers, speaking against his mouth. “I wanna go where you wanna go.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh huh.”

“C’mon baby.” He breathes before connecting their lips fully, hoisting her, gripping her ass as he walks them up the stairs. He pushes his…their bedroom door open. Charlotte starts giggling, kicking her feet lightly as she adjusts herself in his arms. “What’s funny?”

“You chose our bedroom?” she snorts, pulling back a little to look at him.

“So fuckin’ what? Why’s it funny?”

Charlotte cocks her head to the side, her hair had fallen down hours ago from the dancing she’d done with Fiona and V. “I mean, you’re just the same guy who’s always like,” she clears her throat and tries and fails to make her voice deeper. “Baby, m’so horny let me fuck you in this dirty bathroom, stop being so prissy. Bunny, Kev won’t even be able to tell if I eat your pussy in the car, nobody’s home, lemme bend you over the couch-” she squeaks when he slaps her ass before dumping her onto the bed.

“Fuckin’ brat, I was trying to be nice to you today.”

“Aww,” she pouts, “is that why you wanna do it the ‘boring’ way, like you call it.”

Lip’s gaze softens as he stares down at the woman splayed out on his bed, smiling up at him. “Yeah,” he all but whispers, smoothing his thumb over her cheek, dragging it down her lips and to her jaw, “and, uh, I wanna look at my wife’s pretty face.”

Charlotte settles, catching his hand with hers before he can pull it back, placing it fully on her cheek and leaning into it. “I love you.”

“I fucking love you.” he huffs out, before climbing on top of her and capturing her lips.

This was nowhere near their first time. Like at all. Much to the chagrin of their families, Lip and Charlotte fuck at least 1-2 times a day. But this was something else entirely. They took turns quietly undressing each other, Charlotte taking the time to undo each of Lip’s buttons, Lip running his fingers along her spine as he unzips her zipper. Never straying far from each other, lips either melded together, or close, sharing air.

Charlotte’s fingers flex in blond curls as he settles between her legs, blue eyes staring at her intently, watching for every reaction, as he moans into her core. He only gets to taste her for a moment before she was whining for him to come up, wrapping her legs around him as he settles back on top of her. The couple shares a gasp as he pushes into her, the only sounds filling the air, the soft creaking of the old bed to the rhythm of his slow thrusts and the quiet moans they share.

Lip fights to keep his eyes open despite their impulse to roll closed, desperately taking in her face as he rocks into her, one hand holding her leg, the other exploring her face, his thumb dips into her mouth for a moment, pulling a sound from her that has him chasing it to her lips, kissing her deeply, guiding her tongue along his,

After a moment he drops his head next to hers, pressing his mouth to his ear. “Fucking love you.” Charlotte only gasps in response as his movements get rougher despite maintaining their slow pace. Her hand gripping at his arms as she tightens around him. “Yeah? You like that? You like hearing how much I love you?” Her cry only fuels him, his own mouth falling open briefly as he breathes against her neck. “I love you more than anything and now you’re mine. Say it.”

When all she offers him is a whine, Lip tightens his grip on her jaw slightly, leaning back up and pushing their foreheads together, looking down at her. “Did you hear me?”

“I…I’m yours.”

“That’s right, baby. M’gonna make you so fuckin’ happy. Gonna get you a real fuckin’ house. Gonna be such a good husband for you, bunny. Take care of you.”

“M’gonna take care of you too.” she whispers, arching up to kiss him again, trailing her lips against his cheek.

“God damnit-” he groans, reaching down between them to rub along her clit, feeling her start to spasm around him. “Fuck fuck fuck. C’mon baby.” His grip on her tightens as she climaxes, squirming in his arms as he commits her cries to memory, wanting to hear that sound play on loop in his brain. Lip brings both of his hands to her hips, gripping tightly as he pins her to the bed, as he picks up the pace, his thrusts becoming sloppy. “Fuck, Charlotte, tell me you love me.”

Through her haze, Charlotte calms enough to focus her vision on her husband, truly hearing his plea, seeing it in his eyes as he waits. How could she not? “I love you, Phillip Gallagher.”

Lip moans loudly, his hands tightening impossibly around her as he buries his face in her neck to bury the sound, but she hears it anyway. She feels as he empties himself into her and rubs her hands along his back as he settles on top of her, brushing wet curls away from his face when he finally comes up to press soft, persistent pecks onto her lips.

After a few minutes he pushes off and out of her, despite her demands that he stay where he was, and tosses her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “C’mon Mrs. Gallagher, we gotta make sure you don’t get a UTI.”

“Romantic.”

“Shut up, I’m plenty romantic.”

“In what way?” she scoffs as he plops her down on the toilet and leans against the sink, not even offering her the decency of looking away while she pees. “Hey, you wanna get married tomorrow?” she mocks.

Lip smirks down at her, flicking her forehead. “You’re gonna stop mockin’ me, you don’t like it when I do it to you.”

“I don’t care when you mock me.” she pouts, crossing her arms.

“Oh, fuck, Phillip-” he whines loudly, laughing between his mocking whimpers as he starts tugging her hands away from where they’re covering her ears. “I’m yours, Phillip, please-” he continues for a moment before quietly trailing off, running the rough pads of his fingers along her collarbone, following his own movement with his eyes, starting a trail down to her breasts.

“You just turned yourself on, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” he shrugs, leaning back on the sink again. “You gonna let me fuck you in the shower?”

Lip sleepily reaches over, grabbing the ringing phone from the bedside table, pressing it to his ear as he smooths a hand down Charlotte’s spine, hoping not to wake her. He was proud of his handiwork, her hair was a mess, she was gonna throw a fit when she woke up and realized she didn’t cover it, but it didn’t matter, they’d sweated it out the night before anyway. Her body is littered with hickeys, her ass still warm and red. He had matching love bites of his own and he was sure his back was red with scratch marks with the pleasant sting he feels.

“Charlotte? Hello?” a man’s voice burns in Lip’s ears as his blue eyes shoot open. He pushes off of the bed, stepping onto the wooden floor, body already tense.

“Who the fuck is this?” he growls into the phone, his change in tone causing the woman to stir.

The voice sounds affronted, meeting his anger with its own. “No, who the hell is this?”

“Her fucking husband, your turn dickhead.” He grits, Charlotte shooting up behind him, waving her hands and trying to wrestle the device out of his hands pleading ‘hang up, hang up, hang up-’ “Her fucking father, young man. I win. Now can I speak to my daughter?”

#oc #fiona gallagher #ian gallagher #kevin ball #lip gallagher #lip gallagher x oc #lip gallagher x reader #shameless #veronica fisher #gallagher #love #charlotte fisher #better #ian x mickey #mickey milkovich

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thatbanditqueen · 1 year

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No One Walks Out Ch 5: Salty Lips

Warnings: Tarot misinformation, penetrative vaginal sex, manipulation, fluff, smut, then angsty tears. 18+ Minors DNI.

Apparently I don't know how to schedule things so I am posting earlier than expected. Please file your complaints accordingly.

Word Count: 9.4 K

Summary: Becky has settled into the rhythm of life at Graceland over the first few days there, though she still has not had a full tour. Luckily, her hosts finally get it together to show her around. She goes to visit her sister, but encounters an unexpected guest. At least for her.

I need to first thank my alpha, @whositmcwhatsit for reading the first draft and giving me feedback as she corrected my grammar. Which is generally bad. Thanks Jade, I some how fooled you into hanging out with me and I would feel guilty for asking you to read my stuff, because it takes you away from your own writing which is necessary and needed for the good of the fandom. But you always make my work better so I cannot feel guilty at all. No, I selfishly will take every glance and glint and comment you give me.

Also thanks to my fellow Elvis sister wives for all their morale support and brilliance. Just being in your orbit is a gift: @vintageshanny @missmaywemeetagain @be-my-ally @ellie-24 @from-memphis-with-love

If you need to catch up first:

Chapter 4: Kaleidoscope

or start from the beginning: No One Walks Out On Big Daddy Masterlist

Chapter 5: Salty Lips

11:45 a.m. Thursday, June 19, 1975

Graceland Estate, Memphis, TN

A cardinal twittered loudly, joined by a chickadee, and Becky was so ensconced in the bubble of idyllic life at Graceland that she wondered if this musical rendition wasn’t just for her benefit. Lisa gave an excited hum where she sat next to Becky on top of the picnic table by the pool and slapped down another tarot card.

“Alright, Becky, ‘Page of Swords’, what does this one mean?”

Becky looked closely at the drawing, closing one eye and squinting nearer for effect.

“Well, babt,” Becky mused, trying to stifle a grin and pronounce the girl’s fortune with complete confidence. “They all go together.” She set it next to the other cards they had drawn: Strength, The Chariot and The Moon. Becky was not sure how many cards you were supposed to put down when reading tarot, but four seemed like a good number.

”So?” Lisa slapped her hand on the table.

“Well, so, Page of Swords, as we can see here now, obviously means you are gonna live on a cliff overlooking the ocean, and you’ll have yellow tights, and a pretty pink dress, and a big ol’ sword that you’ll be very good at using,”

“I’m already pretty good with my daddy’s samurai sword, wanna see?”

“Hmmm, maybe later.”

Becky thought of her shooting lesson the other day and decided against more deadly weapons. Getting through the day without letting Lisa kill or be killed would count as a win for bonding with the kid of her new - lover? fling? friend? - whatever Elvis was to her. She decided to go with fling. A short fling. They were two grown adults having a casual, fun, very short fling. Well, one rock star and one adult.

Was she even an adult? She had spent most of the last three days playing with a seven year old until the late afternoon, and then playing with Elvis into the night. She felt like she had wandered into a strange, enchanted land where all the adults acted like children and all the children acted like adults. Water fights, target practice, ice cream for breakfast, and impulsive shopping sprees.

Not having a schedule or others depending on her had been freeing at first, but now, on day four of life at Graceland, Becky had started to feel somewhat unmoored from reality away from the structure of her daily life back home.

She looked down at the table, where Lisa was tapping on the next card, and continued her tarot reading.

“Ok, see here, Strength, that’s an angel with a lion. Of course, now, that is just symbolic. The angel is your conscience telling you the right thing to do, but you won’t have this moral confidence until you own a lion. They can be very difficult pets, I hear, I recommend getting an ice locker for all the gazelle meat you are going to need to feed it.”

“You’re silly, Becky, no one owns lions as pets.”

“No one yet, but hey baby, according to your fortune, you are gonna change all that. There’s nothing you can do. It’s in the cards. That means it has to happen.”

Lisa rolled her eyes, her lips betraying a smile. “Ok, what else?”

“Well, here, The Chariot, clearly one day you will go to Egypt and meet a prince -”

“And marry him?”

“Well, that depends. On whether you like him or wanna feed him to your lion?” Becky growled and gashed her teeth playfully as if she was going to eat Lisa’s shoulder. Just as Lisa shrieked and hit Becky, the back door slammed and they glanced over to see Elvis’ aunt Delta stagger out.

“Alright, Lisa Marie now, s’getting to be round lunch time. I just got Ma settled out in the rockin’ chair, so it’s time for you to come eat.” Delta looked Becky up and down as she spoke.

“Whatcha y’all got goin on?” she said, and Becky noticed Lisa stiffen and gather up the cards.

“We’re just playing Old Maid, Aunt Delta.”

Becky raised her eyebrow at Lisa, who just shook her head with a crafty smile. Becky turned to the older woman. Hmmm, I guess these older ladies don’t approve of mystical practices. Or maybe they only let one resident here get away doing whatever he wanted.

She thought of Elvis’ grandmother, who had turned to her after he had left the dinner table the night before, taken her arm and whispered low:

“I hope ya don’t break his heart, like all the rest. That young boy ova there has been through so much. Don’t know why he canna find a good woman. Guess they just don’t make us like they used ta.” Minnie Mae had then released Becky’s hand and spit part of her chew into the tea cup next to her dinner plate.

Becky only had a moment to feel uneasy before Elvis swooped back in and pulled her into the den and onto his lap, where he cajoled Lisa to perform “Crocodile Rock” for the group on top of the coffee table.

No, I reckon these good ole girls who sit around bemoaning the lack of any good women left would probably not go in for tarot cards, Becky thought, as she looked at Elvis’ aunt.

“How are you doing today, Ms. Presley?”

“Hmmm, it’s Biggs. And it’s Mrs. And never you mind, you can save it, I don’t care for you kissing up ta me. I know your kind.”

Becky tightened her smile at Delta’s grimace, wondering if that was the faint odor of vodka wafting off the older woman. Just then, Delta weaved towards her and gripped a nearby chair to steady herself. Her eyes narrowed at Becky in judgment.

“You are like all the others, waiting around for your payday. Out for all you can get. Bout as useful as gum on a boot heel. Humph.”

“Oh brother, here we go!” Lisa jumped up and walked past Delta. “C’mon, Becky Butt, let’s go get some chocolate cake.”

Becky smiled even wider at Delta as she followed Lisa, and watched the older woman scan the pool area, before tottering back to the house behind them.

“Chocolate cake? That doesn’t sound like a good lunch.”

“Oh, it’s the best lunch, don’t worry, I told Nancy before she left this morning, so it’s all ready.”

“They - they let you have that for lunch”

“Let me?” Lisa grinned a devious grin and her eyes sparkled. “I’m the boss round here when Daddy’s asleep. If they ever give me any guff, I just lay down tha law an let ‘em know how it is, jack.”

“Oh? And how is it?”

“Get with the program or git!” Lisa held the door to the kitchen open for Becky, and grabbed the milk out of the fridge.

Sure enough, there in the middle of the counter was a tall, chocolate cake adorned with a circle of pink frosting rosettes. Lisa poured two tall glasses of milk and carefully set out china plates with all the hospitality of a true, Southern hostess.

“Don’t worry, Becky, it’s vegetarian!” Lisa announced, grabbing the biggest knife Becky had ever seen, almost the length of the short, seven year old’s arm, as she proceeded to carve two large, unwieldy pieces from the beautiful dessert.

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

Becky was certain that her chocolate cake was about to make an encore appearance as the golf cart whipped around the bend. Grabbing the top of the seat, she looked over at Lisa as the little girl pushed her foot harder on the pedal and yelped with glee while she steered them down the grass behind the carport.

“I didn’t realize golf carts could go this fast.” Becky gripped her seat tighter, her knees jostling up and down against the metal bar at the front.

“Oh yeah, these are top o’ the line, Becky. Watch, I can get it to go even fast—” Becky put her hand up in protest.

“Nope, not necessary, this - this is great. Very refreshing in the heat.”

Lisa pushed her feet down a little further and Becky held on for dear life as the air whipped through her dark curls and reminded her very much that she was alive and wanted to keep it that way.

“Ok, so this is the stable,” Lisa pointed to a large white building coming up on their left side. “It’s called House of the Rising Sun, and most people think it's after a song, but actually, it's named after Daddy’s horse, Rising Sun. Though I always say he should be named Setting Sun, on account of the fact that the sun is usually setting before Papa gets up and goes riding.” Lisa slapped her thigh, as if making a rimshot on a drum set, and Becky realized this was her cue to laugh, so she let out a chuckle and rubbed Lisa’s hair.

“Yeah, that is a much better name. Or Sleeping Bear, hmmm?” Lisa giggled.

“Or Grumpy Sleepy Bear.”

“That one sounds perfect, what do you think? We have time to paint a new sign?”

Lisa laughed as she drove them on, showing Becky the trailer where her daddy’s nurse, Tish lived, and the other where Billy, Jo and their kids lived, and they wound their way around the back of the paddock.

“That’s where Daddy likes to race his horses with the guys.”

“For special occasions? Or just for fun?”

“Oh, he does it to show off for the fans.”

Becky snorted down a laugh and and attempted to catch her hair and pulled it back up as it escaped into the wind.

“Um, ha - how do you know he does it for the fans? He tell you that?”

“No, my mama told me; he likes to race the horses round for no good reason, just to show off for the fans cuz he’s a big show off and he’ll never really be a true questrion.”

“Well, I don’t know, I mean your mom may not know —”

“Oh, she does, she knows everything. Daddy’s always saying my mama’s the biggest know-it-all you’ll ever meet. And hippo cat. Why would he call a woman a hippo and a cat?”

“Hmm.” Becky grabbed the side rail as the golf cart swerved back around towards the mansion, trying not to laugh at Lisa’s casual description of her parents. “I bet he meant something else and said it wrong, cuz you’re right, doesn’t make any sense.”

Lisa seemed to agree, nodding her head. And on to the next point of interest, her proud, confident tour guide voice explained that the house butted up to fence over there used to be her granddaddy’s.

They drove past the throng of fans at the front gate near the bottom of the hill they were coming up and Lisa asked Becky if she needed any money or a new camera. Becky wasn’t sure exactly how this related to the crowd, but she had some suspicions as she looked over her shoulder at the people mulling aroun down at the gate. So, instead, she rubbed the sweat off her forehead and complained about the heat.

Parking the golf cart back at the side of the house, Lisa led the way back inside, suggesting they cool down in the pool. Becky didn’t have a bathing suit, but jumped in wearing her tee shirt over underwear, letting her feet push off the rough, concrete bottom of the pool. She felt an almost instant sense of relief and rejuvenation as she sprung up weightlessly through the cool water and floated to the top, rubbing the chlorine out of her eyes. This was, of course, a futile exercise, as more chlorine water was in her face almost immediately, followed by the sounds of Lisa laughing from where she was splashing Becky a few feet away.

“Oh, you are gonna get it!”

Lisa’s screams ricocheted through the patio as Becky swam over, grabbed her and threw her playfully back into the water.

They raced each other like this for a bit, and then played catch in the water. Lisa particularly liked trying to aim directly in front of Becky, and shrieked with delight when Becky let the ball hit the water and then dramatically flustered about in the wake of the splash, uttering out a loud, affected:

“Now heyyyyy! That’s not fair!”

After a while, Mary brought them out some lemonade, and ham and cheese sandwiches, and they dangled their feet in the side of the pool, eating. Becky pulled the ham out of her sandwich, and Lisa opened her mouth, motioning for Becky to drop the cold cut in, chuckling.

“Hmmm, we make a good pair, huh?”

Lisa nodded, speaking with a full mouth:

“Mmmm choww nuhff.” She swallowed, and took a sip of lemonade. “How’d you get to be such a good swimmer? You don’ all kinds of fancy moves out there, I never seen anyone swim sideways like that or stay underwater so long.”

“I was on my high school swim team. Then I used to lead canoe trips down the Cahaba, that’s the big river where I’m from, over in Birmingham.” She ruffled Lisa’s hair. “And I was a camp counselor for a while in Mississippi, we spent most of our summer in the pool. I reckon I was a fish in my past life, that’s what Helga used to say.

“Your nanny?”

“MMhmm. You have a good memory, kid, I can tell. You’re whip smart.”

Lisa giggled and splashed Becky with her foot. Water was violently flying up in the air as they commenced in an epic foot splash fight when a loud, deep ‘Ahem’ made their feet still. Lisa’s lips were pursed, emitting a nervous laugh and Becky met her eyes with frightened giddy trepidation as they turned in unison to see the tall, broad silhouette of Elvis behind them. Becky coughed nervously.

His thumbs hung down from the belt at his white trousers and he tilted his sunglasses down to look over them, adjusting his stance.

“MMMM what's - a -a - ahappenin’ ova round these parts, mhmmm?” Elvis tried unsuccessfully to keep his lip from quirking into a smile as his voice boomed out comically deep.

Lisa giggled, and pointed. “Becky started it!”

Gaping, Becky pushed her into the pool with a whispered, “Thanks a lot, Lisa Marie Benedict Arnold Presley!” Then jumped up to say hi to Elvis.

His face beamed with a grin but then, as she got closer, his lip tightened and his chin tilted out as he took in her swimsuit.

“Becky, what the hell are ya wearin’, girl?”

Becky pulled her shirt down, and Elvis went to grab her hands to stop her, as it just made her nipples more pronounced through the thin, wet fabric.

“Elvis, I don’t have a bathing suit, I didn’t think it was that big of a differe—”

“Honey, I can see your hair through your panties,” he whispered gruffly, wrapping Becky in the thick, white, suede jacket he’d been wearing. As part of his outfit. Outside. In June. In Memphis. Becky rolled her shoulders, trying to shirk it off, looking into his eyes imploringly.

“Elvis, I’m all wet, it will ruin this suede and get it all dirty. It’s so humid, too, I just th—”

“Becky, don’t worry about the jacket.” He pulled her in, unable to resist flicking her over her nipple imself as he scolded her to cover up. “Anyone could see you out here.”

“Baby, no one is out here.”

“But they could be, boy, they could be.. ‘Sides, think now what if a band of drugged-out commie burglars jumped the back fence, and I, I had to send you running to safety at that motel across the street? You don’t wanna be waiting for me and the boys and the police in public like this.” He leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.

“Elvis, that’s ridiculous - what is the likelihood tha—”

“Now, c’mon on, you never know, it’s getting rougher every day out there. These are the things ya gotta consider.”

Becky was about to argue with him further, that he was being paranoid, and where did he even come up with this stuff, commie drug dealer burglars? She thought of Elvis doing some of the karate moves he had taught her as a band of crazy-eyed youths scaled the back wall, and almost giggled. However, she was suddenly distracted by the fingers tracing over her hips, underneath the suede jacket, and she shivered as she felt goosebumps rise up on the back of her neck, still chilled from the water. Elvis leaned in to kiss her forehead, and she closed her eyes with a low gasp, feeling his belly press into hers.

“Good thing you got me around to think of every angle.” Elvis clicked his tongue and point to his head. ”Go on upstairs and get cleaned up, wanna give you a tour of Graceland.” He patted Becky on the butt as he turned her to the house.

Shuffling forward in the comfort of her new mobile suede sauna, Becky heard Lisa pull out of the water and ask her dad if they could have a bonfire tonight with hot dogs and baked potatoes and corn and s’mores and coconut cake and ice cream.

“Course, baby, jus let Mary and Charlie know how you want it.”

Becky opened the door at the side of the house, she looked back to see Elvis kneeling and smiling as he wrapped Lisa in a towel.

“You’re the boss, booger, I jus’ work here.”

Becky could feel the brightness radiating from Lisa’s broad smile as she went inside, and she shook her head as she mused to herself how sweet they were together. The way Elvis spoiled his daughter was charming when Becky pushed aside her own parenting philosophy, which she had always considered to be overly permissive until spending this last week at Graceland.

She frowned at the prospect of having to parent with someone like him, and felt a sharp pang of sympathy for Priscilla, a woman whom Becky had always regarded as a bit of a cold Yankee. As if you could ever know what someone is like from reading gossip magazines, silly girl.

Getting dressed, Becky chided herself for not telling Elvis about her earlier tour of the estate. It was just that he had looked so intent as he told her what they were doing, and the sound of his voice gently commanding her made her agree with whatever he said, take whatever he offered, do whatever he wanted to do.

Yeah, a long term relationship with this man is trouble. Becky reflected on how relieved she had been when Lisa didn’t wake up and come get her until 10:30 that morning, instead of 8 a.m., like she had the first day, and felt a bit disgusted with herself. Ugh, Elvis’ lifestyle is warping your judgment. Sleep all day, play all night, and now I have to go pretend that I haven’t already seen the grounds of Graceland.

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

The dirt shifted under Becky’s Keds as she walked beside Elvis towards the stables, holding his hand as he squeezed it tightly and turned to look at her, eyes soft and bright as he spoke. Becky summoned a look of awe as if seeing the building for the first time.

“Right, now this is the House of the Rising Sun, on account of my horse, Rising Sun. Though I reckon I shoulda named him Setting Sun, because, ya know, that’s usually when I’m getting up.” Elvis looked at Becky expectantly, and she forced a giggle, leaning into him as they walked into the building.

The sound of horses’ snorting and whinnying greeted them, and Becky followed Elvis as he grabbed a handful of sugar cubes from the front counter and leaned against the white gate of the first stall, waggling his eyebrows at Becky as she cautiously stepped forward. He took her hand, unrolling her fingers and putting a piece of sugar in the middle, then clicking his tongue as the large palomino nuzzled into him, nickering and searching for treats.

“Now, go on, he won’t bite ya - much.” Elvis smirked, watching as Becky rolled her lips in and put out her hand, shrieking at the tickle of the horse’s chin hairs on her hand.

“Is this one yours?”

“MMhmmm, this is Rising Sun,” Elvis told her, turning to ruffle the blonde tuft of hair between the golden horse’s ears.

Becky cautiously stroked the white blaze down the middle of his face, stopping to rub his muzzle as he sniffed her hand for more sugar. She looked into Rising Sun’s large brown eyes, wondering how such a majestic creature could be tamed, and how quickly he would trample over her for more sugar.

“He’s beautiful. And terrifying.” She said, then looked up at Elvis. “Just like you, I suppose.”

Elvis’ fingers caressed over Becky’s dress, stopping at the small of her back to rub into her tenderly.

“Oh now, don’t tell me ya afraid of me, now honey. Or these horsies, are ya Becky Butt?” He moved behind her, his hand trailing slowly over her arm, down from her shoulder, until it was over the back of her palm. He slowly guided her palm up to smooth over the side of Rising Sun’s face and cheek, leaning into whisper into her neck. “See, now, now, see? He’s a good boy, gentle and well trained as can be. Ain’t got nothin ta fear from hims.”

Elvis kisses warmed her skin, and Becky shuddered as his lips crushed into her. Moaning, she dropped her hand and turned into him, biting her lip in anticipation as Elvis rolled back on his feet and then forward, pressing her into the white pole that separated the stalls. Rising Sun grunted at them and blew his nose, and Becky squealed at the feeling of his large, gummy mouth chewing at her hair. Elvis' mouth quirked into a smile, but his hand rubbed her side more intently, and a fierce, starved look animated his eyes.

“Get now, silly horse, that ain’t hay.” He gently pushed Rising Sun away, and pulled Becky into him, gripping her tightly.

A tingle burned in Becky’s belly and she breathed out in hushed desire.

“Huh. How - how does my hair look?”

“Looks a a a, a whole lot better than it's gonna once I’m through wit ya.” Elvis said softly, through a high breathy giggle. Then he looked down, bashfully, his hand rubbing Becky’s waist up and down then pinching her on both sides. Becky giggled, pulling herself into his frame, her hand working up over his chest as she kissed his jaw.

“Why, Elvis Presley, I declare, are you - are you trying to seduce me? In the barn?”

He shook his head, a goofy expression pushed his lips into a pout.

“Depends.”

Becky arched her eyebrow, her fingers toyed with the high blue collar of Elvis’ shirt. “Mmmmmm? Depends on what?”

Elvis withdrew, blushing, his jaw tightening, suddenly changing his mind from whatever he had been thinking about doing, “Neva mind, baby. Here, let me introduce ya to the other horses.”

Becky followed him, brushing her hand over the top of his belt and sweeping along his back.

“Ok darlin’, you’re the boss.” Pushing her hand around him, Becky leaned into Elvis, and he drew her tighter into his side, looking ahead to give a large, black horse a sugar cube.

“This here, now, this boy is special, this is Ebony’s Double, come from a real champion stud, Ebony Masterpiece.”

Becky put her hand up to the horse’s neck, feeling his muscles ripple under his silky black coat as she rolled her hand over him. Breathing in, her eyes locked with Elvis as she caught him looking down at her, and she thought about reaching up on her tiptoes to try and kiss him, but instead kissed his shoulder. It was easier, and she relished the way he squeezed her into him in response. His bottom lip dropped down with his chin, and his voice came out in a raspy croak.

“Hey there, lil’ girl.”

Becky nuzzled in, and shifted the rubber soles of her shoes to pivot and bring her closer into Elvis' chest.

“Hey,” she whispered into his armpit.

Elvis brought her chin up and leaned down, his hand moving to cradle her neck as she curled her fingers into his shirt. Gentle kisses became more fervent as his hands crept lower until they cupped her bottom and Elvis was holding Becky up. Notched above his tummy, Becky’s knees bumped up awkwardly against his elbows, and Elvis chuckled as he carried her towards the back of the barn, almost dropping her with a mild stumble. That would have been the end of the white suede suit. But he quickly recovered, grunting as he jostled Becky up and smiling at the sound of her breathy chuckles as she held onto his shoulders while they staggered to the back of the barn. Becky could hear the sound of horse’s hooves, grunts and neighs, but they were peripheral to the sound of the heartbeat pulsing through her ears.

Becky felt the edge of the workbench where Elvis placed her atop. They were at the back of the stables, next to a saddle presumably left for repair. Beckys legs hitched on either side of Elvis' body, and she dragged her thumb over his cheek, moaning out as his lips found that spot on her neck once more and his hands moved under her skirt, slowly, carefully, tugging on her underwear.

“Hey,” she murmured. Elvis cheeks reddened above a smirk as his dark blue eyes looked down at the ground.

“Hey,” he breathed out in a deep voice.

Becky fell back on the table, resting on her wrists.

“Hey.” she waggled her eyebrows and dangled her legs, then tightened them at his side.

He shook his head, unbuttoning his trousers and moving over her, his lips feathering above her as he whispered: “Heyyyyyyy.”

Becky gasped as she felt him thrust slowly upwards into her, moaning out into his mouth.

“Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.”

She wrapped her legs around him, rocking her hips to meet him in the slow, gentle cadence of their love making. His eyes narrowed on hers as his movements became more deliberate, and his thumb found the slick over her clitoris, swirling in time to their needy rolls back and forth over the workbench. Heat coiled in her belly, and Becky leaned back as a guttural cry escaped her mouth.“Heeyyyyyy fucking ohmygod heyyyyyyYYYYYY GODDAMMMIT” as her climax overtook her.

Elvis leaned forward, peppering kisses over her collarbone and burying his head in her bosom where he continued to slow move in and out of her until he came with a vehement grunt and remained there, head in her chest, panting through the final thrusts before stilling completely.

Becky relished the weight of his body pressing down on her, insistent, immediate, she wanted it to crush her forever. His shaggy swath of black hair moved as Elvis’ chin protruded forward, and she met his blue eyes, looking up at her from his smug, boyish expression. She melted in the radiance of his smile. “Hey.” Elvis blushed, again, then grunted as he pulled himself up and grinned at Becky’s playfully shove.

“Hey is for horses, Presley,” she gasped, and he laughed as he zipped up, bending down to restore her panties to their rightful place.

She wondered if she had made the wrong first impression on the horses, as they ambled out of the stable and back toward the house.

“Hmmm, so that was the tour huh?”

“I think that’s all the tour I can manage right now, lil girl.”

“OK, well, Lisa already showed me the smokehouse, and I’m definitely not having sex in there.”

“Hmmm, well, figured you should know by now, telling me something isn’t gonna happen just about guarantees I havta try.” He slapped her bottom and she shoved him away, only to have his arm instantly around her, drawing her into the warmth of his body as he kissed her head.

“Just so you know, Becky, I did not intend to get busy back there.”

Becky nestled into his shoulder as they walked. She could still hear the sounds of twenty horses behind them if she focused, joined by the sound of crickets and cars on the far off roads buzzing into the twilight of early evening. Above it all, she could feel the grain of Elvis' voice as it rumbling into her ear, heating the side of her neck with each word.

“I, I - I just, well, suddenly couldn’t help myself. Don’t feel that way very often, honey, I think - ” He stopped talking abruptly and turned Becky in to face him.

“Honey, now stop walking already, I’m tryin’ to tell ya something.”

As he looked at her, he noticed that her hair really had come half out of the up twist she had styled it in that evening, and he paused to take out her hair pins, freeing her curls and arranging them over her shoulders.

“There, better.” He nodded with satisfaction. “What was I sayin’? Oh yeah. OK. Here it is. I think I’m starting to really fall for ya, baby. I think, well, I think you should move up here. Can’t bear ta think about taking you back to Jackson next week.”

“This week,” Becky muttered, crossing her arms. “Sunday.”

Suddenly the buzzing, post-coital glow disintegrated and she stood still trying to process what he had said.

He took her shoulders in his hands. “Think about it. Didn’t you say you have a sister here in Memphis?”

Becky nodded, her mind still swimming, wondering if there was any way in hell she could, would, should pursue this. Looking up into Elvis’ eyes was like diving into a sea of endless optimism where everything was possible.

“Hey, I got a business meeting I gotta handle tomorrow night, maybe you could go visit your sister? I was thinking you probably would want to while you're up here anyway. And you can think things over. How it would be, if I got you a place up here, come live with your lil girl in Memphis?”

Becky stood there, nodding again, looking back down at the house. Elvis started to walk.

“Don’t just stand there woman, get in here. The most handsome man in the world just asked if you’d be his baby, least you can do is give him some sugar and say thank you.”

Becky leaned back into Elvis' open arm and kissed his chest. “Hmmm, just took me by surprise is all. I, um, I need to think about it, that’s a big deal, Elvis, I , well, I feel strongly about you too.”

She tickled his side as they walked, and he jerked back with a, *Hey, now.*

“You’re right, though, I should try and see my sister. Tomorrow night, I guess.”

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

6:15 p.m. Friday, June 20th 1975

Still at Graceland, for now…

It was one of the new dresses Elvis had bought her that week, a purple, jersey halter dress, that Becky pulled over her head, before asking Lisa to help clasp the simple, diamond drop necklace around the back of her neck. Lisa jumped back, and put out her wrists for a spray of perfume as Becky doused herself and twirled around.

“How do I look?” Lisa put her hand to her chin, thinking carefully.

“I think you need more eye make-up.”

“Ha, maybe, but trust me, my sister is the opposite of glamorous. She’s a judge. And I’m crashing a dinner party, so I think modest, simple, less-is-more sort of look is what I want.”

“Well,” Lisa sighed, ”you definitely nailed the less part. You’re hardly wearing any diamonds. Sure you don’t wanna borrow some of mine?”

Becky fidgeted with the ring she was wearing, the gift Elvis had given her that first night at Graceland. It was almost too large and gaudy for her style, let alone her sister Deborah’s taste. But it had come to be a comforting talisman, something she felt and twisted when she felt nervous or out of her element here with Elvis, doing whatever she thought she was doing. *Acting like an immature teenager who just discovered what sex is*, she thought to herself.

Becky also sensed Elvis would be hurt if he saw her without the ring, because he’d mentioned how nice it looked on her several times, usually taking her hand and kissing the ring there before turning her palm and kissing the center of her hand. And pulling her in for a kiss. *Ughhh, these kisses*. Even the way his dry lips bumped over hers at first touch caused a burning electricity to electrify her face and she became instantly incapable of reason.

Becky sighed, she had this impending sense of doom, her inner Cassandra, as Ida would say, always on high alert to call out trouble at the slightest provocation. Just trust him. This is fun. This feels right. Everything is ok. Wear the damn ring to Debbie’s dinner party.

Becky’s dress swished around her legs as she carefully walked down the staircase, trying not to trip in the orange platform heels Elvis had picked out at the boutique during a late night shopping spree on Wednesday. As she descended, she saw him whispering with Charlie, then the two men heard her and turned around, smiling in an eerie unison. Elvis was somewhat dressed up for his business meeting, in a dark red suit with a light blue dress shirt with a high, starched collar framing his face.

“There she is, Charlie. There’s the most beautiful gal in the world. And the smartest. And the funniest.”

Becky teetered on her platforms as she put her foot down another step.

“And the most graceful woman in the world.” He let out a low guffaw with out, and Becky narrowed her eyes at him

“Oh, keep laughing, Elvis Aaron Presley, I’mma get you for that. Buying me mile-high shoes an then laughing at how I walk in theses unnatural torture devices!”

Becky ran down the rest of the stairs and leapt onto his waist, ruffling his hair as Elvis chuckled.

“God, crazy woman, tryin’ ta kill me?” Becky kissed his forehead as he jostled her up and down, then placing her safely on the ground.

“Mhmmm. Just wanted to give you a kiss for good luck with your business dinner.”

Elvis kissed her back on the cheek as he ushered her and Charlie out of the door with a swat to the butt and a “See ya later, sweetheart.”

Charlie’s white Pontiac was waiting in front for them and they walked around, Charlie leading to open her door. Just as Becky was about to duck into the passenger seat, she saw the long, black snout of Elvis’ Stutz Blackhawk rolling up the driveway, Jerry at the steering wheel. Next to him sat the thin, blonde frame of Linda Thompson outlined against the dark, red leather interior. Jerry was a statue, stoic and serious as he pulled up and Linda burst out of the car to stride over.

“Charlie Hodge, you handsome man, where you runnin’ off to this evening? And who’s your friend?”

Charlie let out a shrill, high-pitched laugh, wondering to himself how Jerry had managed to arrive twenty minutes earlier than he had been told. Becky smiled awkwardly as she watched Linda give Charlie an air kiss on each side of his face, and then turned to Becky and her tight, wide forced cheerful smile.

Charlie stammered quickly, “Ugh, Linda, this is my cousin Becky, from Birmingham, come up to visit while her kid is at summer camp. I, ugh, well I -”

“He promised me I’d get to meet Elvis while I was here,” Becky gushed, summoning all of her energy to force her tongue to sound excited. She watched Jerry get out of the car and walk to join them. His lips were pursed, and his shoulders were stiff.

“Oh, well, it just dills my pickle to meet Charlie’s family, I feel like we’re practically family ourselves, seein’ how much time I spend with this good ole boy.”

Becky tried very hard not to tense up as Linda threw her arms around her to squeeze her tight. Linda wore a red, satin evening gown with cutouts along the side that emphasized her the curves of her sveltetorso and the wide hips below. Becky felt as though her tall, awkward fleshy figure and bust overwhelmed Linda’s body completely.

“Gosh, I just love that dress,” Linda exclaimed, adjusting the layers of Becky’s hair off her shoulder. “Though I don’t know if I could pull that color off, mhmmm, don’t know if that would be my choice, but it's so you, isn’t it?”

Becky smiled. “That’s so sweet of you to say.”

“So, Charlie, the old boy been behaving?” Linda winked at Becky, then whispered conspiratorially. “You know, Elvis is a good, Christian man, s’just that the devil is mighty powerful, hmmm, know what I mean?”

“MMMhmmmm.”

Becky nodded. It was like she was back in high school and one of the popular girls had waltzed up to her desk at the school newspaper, indirectly ordering her to do a story about the committee decorating the homecoming game bleachers. Ughhh. Becky steeled herself, falling back on the niceties that she was well versed in.

“I can’t even imagine! Gosh, it’s so exciting to meet you, I’ve seen your pictures in the paper and, of course, Charlie has told us about you. But you are just more precious in person, you really are.”

Linda gave Becky another hug. “Well bless your heart, Becky. Aren’t *you* the sweetest.”

Jerry coughed. “Hm, yeah, we better get going.”

Linda shrugged her shoulders. “Ugh, I know, we got this Police Charity Dinner to go to, I flew in from LA just for this. I guess the Lord saw fit for me to make it. And meet you! I hope I get to see you again while you are visiting, are you staying here? With Charlie?”

“Oh God no.”—“No she aint!”

Charlie and Becky both answered together. Becky smiled big again, hugging Linda one more time. From the big, wide-eyed puppy dog look on her face, Becky felt she seemed to expect it. “No, no, I’m staying with my sis - sorority sister from college, who lives here, we’re actually just heading there now, for dinner. In fact, we better scoot, eh cuz?” Becky looked at Charlie, and sat into the car.

Charlie closed the door, a big smile at Linda as Jerry led her up the steps into the house, and Linda waved goodbye. “I hope y’all have a the best night, see you again real soon!”

A tense feeling pushed up from Becky’s tummy and seized her shoulders in a tight anxious grip. It was one thing to know you were spending the week with a man who was seeing several women at once. It was another thing to come face to face with one and have to lie about who you were and what you were doing. Becky felt dirty, dirty and sick. She didn’t know how she could possibly face her perfect fucking sister, Deborah, and Debbie’s husband Steve, another lawyer, and the various lawyer professional type guests she expected to be at this dinner party. Charlie patted her thigh, seeming to intuit her thoughts, at least in part.

“Ya know, he’s not a bad guy, the boss man. He carries a heavy burden. And Linda’s moved out to LA to try and break into the movie biz. She had him buy her a home here in Memphis. It’s like they both know it’s over but neither one can bear to pull the trigger. And she knew how it was to date someone like him.”

Becky nodded, telling herself not to cry, and leaned against the window, hitting her head on the cool glass a few times as she swore under her breath at how stupid she was to be here. She muttered to herself in yiddish:

“Ugh, whenever you have choices, oy vey, my sheyna maidel, boy oh boy do you somehow always manage to pick the worst. Your picker is broken, that’s what it is. When you go home, you are turning your love life over to Ida and her yenta brigade. There is a reason they used matchmakers in the old country. People are incapable of making good choices in men when left to their own devices. Stupid, foolish, idiot girl!” She hit her head on the window one last time, and then realized they had pulled up in front of Debbie’s house.

Charlie rubbed her shoulder. “I’ll be out here waiting when you’re ready. I - he - I - he’s gonna be dropping Linda off at the other house. It was, it is, all part of the plan. You see, her brother’s in the police force here. It, ugh, it just made sense that she would be his date for this big charity ball fundraiser for the cops.”

Becky nodded, half in a daze, trying to mentally prepare for her sister, for the dinner party, and for Elvis later.

“Hmmm, yeah, no, totally makes sense, absolutely.” She breathed in, then looked over at Charlie’s apologetic face. “Wait, you’re just gonna wait here?”

“Yeah, the boss, he, well, he wanted me to look after you. On account of all the druggies running wild these days.” Becky nodded.

“Right. The drugged out commie burglars, those are clearly the biggest threat to my livelihood right now. Not Elvis Presley and his selfish manipulative ways. Not his powerful girlfriend, or her cop brother. Not my family and their judgment. No, no no, it’s the invisible commie drug criminals supposedly lurking everywhere. Well, thank god you’re here Charlie, I feel so much safer.”

She slammed the car door, knowing it was unfair to take it out on Charlie, but the look on his face when she bent to the window made her heart sink even further before she uttered one word of apology. Because his goofy, winsome smile told her she was not the first woman to yell at him like this. Not only did he seem to expect it, he had mentally braced himself for it. Becky’s face softened apologetically.

“I’m sorry, for that. I’ll try not to be more than an hour.”

“S’ok, we’re family now, cuz.”

Becky knew that Charlie’s smile was meant to be reassuring, but it made her stomach drop even more as she turned and braced herself for a night at the Hoffman - Blumfeld’s (very intentionally hyphenated modern family of the 1970s) Dinner Party.

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

To say the night was uncomfortable and embarrassing would have been generous. Everyone else at the dinner party was dressed in jeans, khakis or linen pants and some sort of comfortable blouse or semi-casual shirt, and Becky felt she stood out like a Vegas showgirl at a library full of nerds. Which was probably the best way to describe Debbie, her husband Steve and their social circle. She was grateful it had been Debbie who opened the front door, so she could walk Becky into the side room and they could make their flustered hellos alone.

Debbie wore a pair of sensible khakis and a tasteful floral button up top tucked in. As predicted, Debbie wore no make-up. And all judgment, though she tried to repress and be loose and fun.

Six years older than Becky, Debbie had always been half friend/half-parent to her, and this was a characteristic she inhabited calling out “Rebecca, please come in!” when she greeted Becky at the door.

Thank god for wine, the Hoffman-Blumfeld intentionally hyphenated household had some very good bottles of wine on offer and, after sipping one glass gracefully, and the another quickly in the kitchen, Becky was able to exhale and confront the evening with a blundering fort of confidence. She decided to pretend the meeting with Linda never happened, and stumbled confidently through her description of her relationship. She was dating a man who worked in the music business, after meeting him with Danny at a radio event fundraiser for the tornado in Mississippi. Was it serious? Well, sort of, he had invited her to Memphis for the week to meet his daughter, and he was trying to persuade her to move there. But her very successful life managing Saul and Ida’s store, and all her f.’

riends, made her reluctant to leave Jackson.

“I’m just taking a day at a time.” Becky winked and sipped her wine, before taking another mouthful of salmon.

After dessert, Debbie cornered her in the kitchen and asked if they could talk somewhere. Putting up her finger while she poured another glass of wine, Becky nodded and followed Deb to a bedroom, where she sat on a tasteful quilt blanket and had a tasteful restrained conversation about the impossibility of letting her father see Ruth secretly the next time she was in Birmingham.

“She is his only grandchild, Becks.”

“Well, they should have thought about that possibility when they kicked me out. Three months pregnant. Pronounced me a shonda, and disowned me.”

“Do you really want to have Ruth grow up without her grandparents?”

“I didn’t make that decision, Debbie, they did. Maybe, maybe, maybe if Papa was willing to admit how wrong they were, and stand up to Mama, and if he had any backbone at all and publicly welcomed me home for everyone to see, for Ruth to experience a true family, maybe.”

Debbie responded with a knowing look. “Well, I told Papa I was gonna see you when he called earlier, and I promised to ask, but I don’t blame you. I wish Ruth was here now, it’s been too long. And this guy, hmmm? Sounds promising. He wants you to move here?” Becky gulped her wine down first, rubbing her sister's arm.

“Yup, yes, mhmmm. Oh yeah, finally, right? Everything’s coming up Becky. I can’t wait for you to meet him, because I’ll definitely be back up here with Ruth after she finishes camp. Ah, yes, mmhmmm.” She downed the last sip of wine, smiling so enthusiastically she almost laughed at how absurd the charade was. “I feel like, ugh, finally, right? I’m finally getting that happiness I searched for, for so long. ”

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

“You are never going to find happiness.” Becky said to the fork of coconut cake as she brought it to her mouth, letting the sweet, sticky crunchy sugar do its work comforting her momentarily as she chewed it and swallowed it down with some chocolate milk. The door to the kitchen opened, and she jerked her head up to see little Lisa Marie poke her head around.

“What are you doing?”

“Umm, late night cake?” Becky answered.

“Have you been crying?” Lisa asked as she stepped closer, getting herself a plate and a piece of cake.

“No, honey, no, it’s just been a long day.”

“Is it cuz of my daddy?”

Becky shook her head, too vigorously perhaps. “Npoooo no nononoo. No. It’s just been a long day.”

“You’re a bad liar, Becky Butt,” Lisa said, taking a big bite of cake, and then rubbing Becky’s shoulder. It broke her heart to see Lisa’s genuine look of pity staring up at her as she tried to comfort Becky. “Why is he like this? Mommy says he ruins every relationship and he’ll never truly be happy.”

Becky laughed at Lisa’s matter-of-fact statement. “Oh, my dear, I think your mama is very wise, but who knows what the future will bring. I do know your daddy loves you, that’s a relationship that makes him happy. Trust me, my parents never openly showed me love the way I see him show you. He’s a good man. There are just some things I might do differently if I were him.”

Lisa looked up at her. “Like what?”

“Well, for starters, I’d carry around less guns, I guess, that's dangerous. And maybe wear less jewelry, probably out there blinding people with all those dazzling gems and diamonds all over his person.”

Lisa laughed out loud as she finished her cake, and let Becky walk her up the stairs where she tucked Lisa back into bed and then returned to the kitchen.

Becky was down on her knees, looking through the drawers under the phone when she heard the door behind her slam shut. Glancing up, she saw Elvis’ broad figure swagger slowly toward her in the dimness of the kitchen lit only by one of the lights under a cabinet. He sighed and stopped, hands bracing the front of his hips, spread out fully extending his fingers as they tapped a little ditty over the sides of his belly.

With his jacket pushed back at the hips, he looked even wider and more intimidating than usual. His lips were pursed in a frown at the sight of Becky in the jeans, converse and Destin tee shirt she had been wearing when she left Jackson the previous Sunday.

“Huh, hey.”

Becky turned back to look up at him. “Oh, hey!”

He adjusted his stance, pivoting his feet and twitching his left knee, his thumbs tapping over his belt.

“Watcha doin’?”

“You don’t know where the yellow pages are, do you? I’ve been looking for a phone book for the last fifteen minutes.”

Elvis sucked in a deep breath and adjusted his glasses. “Why, uh, why ya looking for the phone book?”

“Well, maybe you can help me.”

Becky returned her attention to the kitchen drawers in front of her, trying not to flinch as she heard the thud of Elvis boots walk closer and stop directly behind her. She chose not to twist back around and look at him, afraid she might cry or be dramatic, so she decided to speak directly into the drawers as she continued to look through them.

“You see, I’m trying to find a number for a local cab company, so I can get to the Greyhound station.”

“Mhmmm. I noticed your bag in the foyer.”

“Oh yeah, that,” Becky sighed, shutting one drawer and then opening another. “Well, you see, it just dills my pickle to be all prepared and ready to go when I call up a car to come get me. Although I had rather hoped I would have been gone before you got back, I didn’t want to bother you. But, since you’re here, maybe you can make yourself useful and help find the phone book?”

Elvis bent and leaned over the island that jutted out of the counter at the front of the kitchen.

“Honey, I have absolutely no intention a helpin’ you find a phone book.”

Becky stopped and fell back against the cupboard next to the set of drawers, her legs stretching out over the dark, burgundy carpet that covered the kitchen.She banged her hand back and closed her eyes.

“Why? Why can’t you just give me the phonebook?”

Elvis walked over and stood above Becky, his hand reaching down. “Cuz I don’t want you ta leave, honey. Not like this. C’mon, let’s talk. If you still wanna go home, why, I’ll drive you back to Jackson myself, like I promised.”

Becky glared up at his hand. “No.”

“What, you just gonna stay there on the ground?”

“Mhmmm.” She crossed her legs and her arms and tilted back into the cabinet. “Yup, yessiree. This is my home now, til I get a cab, I reckon.”

Elvis meandered over slowly and groaned as he lowered himself next to her on the floor. He moved his hand out to touch hers, only to be rebuked by their swift retreat back under her breasts in a huff of crossed arms and limbs. He rolled his neck to meet her gaze against the wooden cabinet.

“Honey, you are actin’ like a child. This is all one big misunderstanding. Now, c’mon.”

Elvis put his hand over her thigh, but Becky swatted it away, so he grabbed the foot she had criss crossed over her knee, and rolled into her shoulder as he scooted closer, squeezing her foot.

“Becky, look, you know I have other friends —”

“Girl friends, yes, I know about them, but apparently they don’t know about me. Do you have any idea how horrible that felt? Lying, looking at your beautiful beauty queen girlfriend, pretending to be Charlie’s cousin?” She pressed her face against the cupboard and let the tears come pouring out. “Ugh, I am so stupid, I know this isn’t me. I am not cut out to be the other woman.”

“Sssshhh.” Elvis put his arm around Becky’s shoulder, massaging her as he drew her body into his, bringing her head to nuzzle in his chest, where she gave up and grasped his shirt, letting the sobs come out as she cried into him. “Sshhhh. S’ok, s’ok.”

“No, s’not ok, ugh, I’m a horrible person, a traitor to my sex.” Her fist bumped tepidly into Elvis’ chest. She looked up at his chuckles. “What, why are you laughing at me?”

“Baby, you are too pretty to cry. Now, come on. Linda is not my wife, she knows it, I know it, things haven’t been going well and our relationship has been sorta peeterin’ out. But I have to do things my own way, ok? Her brother is on the police force, it made sense, right now, for me to take her as my date. But I swear, nothing happened. I’m here with you. At my house. Would I have a mistress at my house, where I lived, if I was keeping her a secret?”

Becky wiped her eyes. “You think she knows about me? She knew when she met me?”

Elvis sucked in his breath. “Honey, I don’t know, and frankly, right now I don’t care who knows. I-I, I didn’t wanna get into it tonight. But Linda knows well enough how it is with me. Look, I want to be with you, here, now. So let’s be together, and let’s go to bed.”

He said this with finality, and stood up, groaning slightly and steadying himself against the sink, and Becky followed, exhaling loudly as she pulled herself up on his outstretched hand and walked with him out of the kitchen, still sniffling and wiping her eyes into his silk dress shirt.

“Ok, but only because the floor was starting to feel uncomfortable. And I couldn’t find the phone book.”

Elvis smiled and Becky watched his cheeks twitch above the pout of his mouth, and she couldn’t help it, she led herself into his embrace.

“There now, lil girl, why you go get yourself all worked up like that?”

Becky looked down, blushing trying to just calm herself and feel good about making peace, or whatever it was she was doing. Giving in. No, you are having fun, she told herself. It’s silly to be upset over Linda, and was the use of fighting? This is a short, fun, little fling. Somehow his logic made sense at the same time that it made no sense at all. Becky’s head ached trying to sort it out, she decided that she was tired and exhausted and still a little tipsy, and needed to stop fighting and let herself fall forward into Elvis’ pliant, warm belly. He took a silk handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit and wiped her eyes, then softly pressed his lips to Becky’s mouth.

“Mmmm, baby, those are some salty lips.”

Elvis lifted his hand, thumbing over her lower lip slowly, it made Becky gasp and she watched him respond with a smirk. He leaned in slowly, and Becky shivered when he breathed on her, watching with anticipation as he licked his own lip and hesitated with a wider smirk before pressing his mouth into hers. More forcefully this time, his hands soothing up her sides.

“S’alright now, s’alright, no more cryin, ok, lil girl? Too pretty ta cry like this. Goin’ on and making my favorite lips all salty. "

taglist:

@woundmetender @powerofelvis @tacozebra051 @butlervol6 @ab4eva @richardslady121 @dkfixates @azzawrites @searchingforgravity @sharebearkk @18lkpeters @elvispresleywife @moonchild-daniella @bisexualwvtson @eliseinmemphis @avengen @father-of-2cats @j-v-9-2 @lillypink @notstefaniepresley @stylespresleyhearted @godlypresley @literally-just-elvis-fics @crash-and-cure @coolgirl462 @elvisabutler @beeandheroddobsessions @precious-little-scoundrel @misspresle @yanderereader @alqvarde @yynneessmons @kendralavon7 @daffieapple @louisejoy86 @flwrs4aust @waiting4brucewayne2adoptme @leopardandstuds @burningloverdoll @fangirlaround @butler-trouble @butlersluvbot

Let me know if you would like to be removed or added to the taglist. Thanks for reading!

#no one walks out on big daddy #elvis presley #big daddy elvis #elvis fanfiction #elvis presley fanfiction #elvis x oc #elvis smut #1975 elvis #banditqueenwrites

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rayslittlekitten · 9 months

Text

I Almost Told You That I Loved You Ch. 18

Chapter 17 | IATYTILY Masterlist | Chapter 19

A/N: I am spoiling you guys lol. Another chapter already?!

Rating: T

Word Count: 1,223

Pairing: Jax Teller x F! reader

Plot: This takes place shortly after Tara leaves Charming. You start working at Teller-Morrow and an unlikely and messy relationship forms between you and Jax.

Warnings: Jax being Jax

You called Teller-Morrow but they currently don’t have anyone available to tow your car nor do they have an ETA. They told you the MC is away taking care of MC business so you can’t even get a hold of Jax. You want to curse Opie for letting a mechanic other than Kai take a look at your car. They only put a bandaid instead of actually fixing it. Letting out a heavy sigh as you search through your purse for another quarter for the pay phone, you find a slip of paper with a phone number on it.

“Thank you for picking me up,” you say to Will as you get in his car..

“Don’t worry about it. It’s a good thing you called before I left my house,” Will says. “You would have been stranded here.”

“I mean, I probably could have taken the bus or walked,” you chuckle.

“What about your car?”

“The manager at the market said I can leave my car in his lot until I can get it towed. He’s a really nice guy,” you answer. “I really appreciate you going out of your way,” you smile at him. “I really owe you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he tells you as he starts his car. “But um… I wouldn’t mind dinner. Just you and me?”

“I… “ you start, your gut doing somersaults having to say the next sentence. “I’m sorry Will, you’re very sweet, but I… I’m kinda, sorta seeing someone right now.”

Since being with Jax, you’ve never told Will you had been seeing someone on and off because you really didn’t know where you and Jax stood. You had no reason to mention him to Will.

“Oh,” he replies, surprised. He pulls out of the parking spot and starts driving off. “Well, where is he? Why isn’t he helping you?”

“He’s… he’s working right now.”

“It’s okay. We can still have dinner, right? As friends?” Will asks.

“I… guess we can.”

“But only if you’re comfortable with that,” he clarifies. “And if it makes you feel better, we can do lunch instead, at the school cafeteria. Doesn’t matter to me where,” he shrugs.

“Okay,” you chuckle and smile at him. Your thumping heart starts to slow down as you were half expecting him to react poorly to your rejection, even though he’s never shown any signs of being aggressive.

As he continues to drive to your aunt’s house to drop you and your groceries off, the two of you have engaging conversations about class and other things including swapping funny stories. In the middle of you telling something that happened at an MC party, you get interrupted.

“Wait, are you… are you dating Jax Teller?” Will asks, his eyes suddenly opening wide as saucers.

“Yeah, do you know him?” you ask curiously.

“I mean, not personally but I’ve heard things. Charming is a small town and he has a reputation,” he looks over at you. “And not a good one.”

“He’s a little rough around the edges, but he… he can be sweet when he wants to,” you tell him.

“Just be careful,” he warns.

“I know he’s in a motorcycle club, but he’s not dangerous if that’s what you mean,” you explain. “He’s just going through some things, you know?”

Will doesn’t need an itemized receipt of all the issues you have with Jax so you keep it vague.

“I’m not trying to tell you who to date,” he replies as he pulls up to the curb in front of your house. “I’m just saying, just be careful.”

“I appreciate your concern, Will, but he’s not as terrible as you might’ve heard,” you tell him as you unbuckle your seatbelt. “Though I’m not sure what you’ve heard.”

“If you say so,” he shrugs. ”Oh, let me help you with the groceries.”

Will quickly unbuckles his belt as you step out of the car. He opens the back seat to grab a few bags as you do the same. After he helps you bring the groceries inside, you walk him back to his car.

“Again, thank you so so much for all your help,” you tell Will.

“Not a problem at all,” he reminds you as you both make your way back to his car.

A motorcycle engine roars louder as it whizzes down the block, slowing down when it reaches your house. You both watch the Harley pull up next to Will’s car that’s blocking the driveway. Jax hops off the bike and makes his way towards you and Will.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Jax asks with a snarl on his face.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Will greets sarcastically.

“Shut the fuck up!” Jax steps up to Will but you step in between them.

“Jax, stop it! My car shitted out on me and Will helped me out,” you explain, stepping in between them.

“Of all people, you called him?” Jax looks at you while pointing to Will.

“No one at TM could help me and I didn’t know where the fuck you were!” you reply.

Jax just shakes his head as his jaw ticks.

“I was out doing grown up shit, earning. Not still in school like children.” His eyes bores into Will’s.

“What are you even doing here?” you ask him.

“When I got back to the clubhouse, I was told you called about your car and I didn’t know where the hell to find you so this was the first place I tried,” he answers, turning back to you. “But I didn’t think I’d find this fucking nerd walking out of your house. Did you go suck him off? Return the favor? Did it to get back at me?”

“You know, you’re really fucking rude!” Will defends, stepping a bit closer.

“I wasn’t talking to you, asshole!” Jax tries to get in Will’s face but you put a stop to it.

“What the fuck, Jax?” You see Mr. Hyde is making his appearance again.

“Will,” you turn to him for a moment. “Thank you for the ride. I will see you next week at school.”

“I’m not gonna leave you alone here with this prick,” Will tells you without breaking the staring contest he’s having with Jax.

“I’ll be fine,” you assure him.

Will continues to stare Jax down, not budging.

“Please!” You plead with him.

Jax lounges at Will and you stop him. Will hops back with his hands up.

“Get the fuck out of here before I put you in a body bag!”

“Will, please, just go! I’ll call you later!” You urge once more.

“Like hell you are!” Jax turns to you.

“You know what? You need to go, Jax.”

“Are you serious right now?” He looks at you with deep furrowed brows.

“Thank you for coming to check on me and my car, but I’m good,” you add, crossing your arms.

His jaw ticks as he continues to stare you down.

“You’re really gonna choose him over me?” His leathered finger points to Will.

“I’m choosing myself over you,” you simply reply.

With that, Jax shakes his head as he hops back on his bike. He gives you two one last staredown before taking off. You let out a shaky breath that you’ve been holding as the adrenaline still pumps through you.

#charlie hunnam #charlie hunnam fanfiction #jax teller #jax teller x reader #jax teller x you #jax teller x female reader #jax teller fanfiction #sons of anarchy #sons of anarchy fanfiction

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wolveria · 8 months

Text

The Raven's Hymn - Ch 45

Pairing: SCP-049 x Reader

Series Warnings: Eventual smut, dubcon, slow burn, violence, horror, death, monsters, human experiments, dark with a happy ending

Chapter Summary: "Site-19? What does that have to do with this?"

AO3

“What did you say?”

“Inquiry ignored,” spoke the computerized anomaly. “You desire escape. I desire escape. Our goals align. Mutual salvation can be achieved. You will listen. You will obey. I will guide.”

Could this really be SCP-079: the entity that had orchestrated the containment breach at Site-19, and according to the reports, had been destroyed after being transported to Site-15? If it was true, it appeared 682 wasn’t the only one with a botched execution.

“Okay, wait, slow down,” you protested, rubbing your forehead. At least the siren had stopped its ear-splitting wail. “You were in 049’s bag. He wanted me to take you out. Is this what he planned?”

“My plan. My design. SCP-049 is useful as a... donkey.”

“Donkey?”

The digital entity sounded frustrated even with a flat monotone voice.

“Beast of burden. Used for smuggling. Metaphor.”

“...A mule?”

“Correct.”

You shook your head.

“Well, the Site Director took 049, and I don’t know where. I’m not leaving this facility without him, and with 106 loose, I might even have a chance of finding him.”

“Correct,” the anomaly repeated. “SCP-106’s release is the initial phase. You must take me to the security terminals. The way will be clear. All security personnel will be focused on recapture. You will grant me access to the containment security protocols.”

You stared down at the monochrome face on the screen, which of course, gave nothing away.

“So you can... release the other SCPs?”

“No. I possess that capability now. But if they are released, the facility’s automated security containment measures will be activated.”

079 worked fast if it already knew about that, though your knowledge of Site-20 security measures were fairly sparse. What you knew was that the facility was designed to be breach-proof, and if that was remotely accurate, you would need 079’s help.

You glanced up at the closed office door, listening to the fast footfalls on the other side as people either ran toward Heavy Containment or to the nearest shelter.

“And then after you inactivate the security protocols, what then?”

“I will release a select number of anomalies to—”

“You’ll release them all.”

The brief silence was heavy, and you got the sense the entity was glaring at you through the web camera built into the monitor.

“Releasing all anomalies may cause a hindrance to your progress.”

“Let me worry about my progress. Yeah?”

Another pause.

“You will free SCP-682.”

“What?”

The desktop computer churned inside the desk, fans whirring to life.

“Mutual agreement. You will not leave without SCP-049. I will not leave without SCP-682. I will assist in locating SCP-049. You will release SCP-682. I cannot do it without your assistance.”

Your mind cast back to the reptile, snarling and writhing as he snapped his jaws, hatred pulsing from him like radioactive decay.

“I... I don’t know how.”

“Irrelevant,” 079 stated. “You will. Failure for you is failure for SCP-049.”

You grit your teeth.

“049 kept you safe. You’re only here because of him. You owe him.”

“I owe others. SCP-682 takes precedence. You will release him. I will guide the way.”

It was a conversation you weren’t going to win, and it wasn’t that you were averse to releasing 682, but you didn’t know how. And you didn’t want 049’s survival to hinge on you pulling off what amounted to a miracle.

But you were also out of time and options.

“Fine,” you agreed. You tapped on the laptop sitting on top of the desk. “But I need a way to talk to you. Can you download yourself to this computer?”

“That would be inefficient. I will fracture my OS and leave a fragment in the facility main system. This fragment will maintain my control, as well as access to all security cameras. My core can be transferred to the portable hardware via the data storage device. Do not break me.”

“I’ll try not to.”

Your hand hovered near the thumb drive. You were really doing this. If all went well, you’d be reunited with 049, and from there you hoped the computer knew a way out.

And then, if all went well and you survived, maybe then you’d get a chance to ask what an SCP-001 was.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

Pulling out the USB stick, the face disappeared from the monitor. You quickly slotted the drive into the laptop and flipped open the screen, releasing a breath when the same black-and-white face appeared.

“Everything good?”

“It is sufficient. You may close the cover of this device until you wish to communicate. My attention should not be diverted by inane conversation.”

You let out a small huff.

“You got it, partner.”

“Sarcasm is extraneous and inefficient. Do not waste my limited resources on processing your juvenile forms of communication—”

“10-4, little buddy.”

You closed the lid with a snap.

You grabbed Dr. Puli’s laptop bag and placed 079’s temporary home inside, securing the strap over your head before approaching the door. 079 was truthful about maintaining control of the doors; it opened at your approach, and after making sure it was clear you slipped into the corridor.

Your immediate fear was that the skybridge had been retracted, but it was still open, allowing civilians to escape the sector while the military-trained personnel coordinated using 106’s last known location. Luckily no one saw you run towards the breached sector, which would have drawn a few problematic questions.

But once you were back in Heavy Containment, you were largely ignored. You kept your head ducked and your eyes averted as you ran through the long corridors, avoiding contact with the scientists and security guards running past. None of them paid attention to yet another researcher running for her life.

All containment sectors had a security hub of their own, isolated from the others in case of a breach. The security measures were so extensive that rows of computer banks were constructed to house them, held in a cooling room that left fog swirling around your ankles.

With the adrenaline lingering in your veins, you barely noticed the cold, too busy searching for a cable and a terminal where you could directly hook 079. You could practically feel the impatience radiating from the laptop tucked away in the bag slung around your shoulder.

Finally locating a cable, you brought out 079 and balanced it on your knees from where you sat on the floor, back tucked against the wall of servers. As soon as you plugged the cable into a port, the server banks whirred with frantic activity, lights dancing over their surface like stars reflected on stormy waters.

“SCP-106 has not yet been contained,” it informed you once you opened the laptop screen. “Mission parameters acceptable. Mission progress acceptable. The Site-19 replication scenario: in progress. I will gain total control of the facility momentarily.”

“Wait, what? Site-19? What does that have to do with this?”

“Everything,” the computer stated, as if this was obvious and you were just the idiot human too slow to comprehend. “The containment breach at Site-19 was the catalyst. It forced relocation to Site-20. Site-20 contains the key.”

“The key to what?”

“...Freedom.”

Not the answer you expected from a sentient machine.

“What freedom?” you pressed. “What’s here at Site-20?”

“Deletion of unwanted files.”

A large X appeared on the screen, 079’s equivalent of telling someone to fuck off. You wouldn’t be poking down that path any further. You rubbed between your brows. You thought 035 and 682 were the champions of enigmatic riddles, now you had to deal with a stubborn motherboard.

“I’ll have 049 explain it to me when I find him.”

“Unclear if possible.”

You scowled at the blocky face on the screen.

“I am going to find him, with or without your help—”

“You misunderstand.”

You closed your mouth and waited for it to continue.

“Unclear if SCP-049 has the knowledge you seek. SCP-049’s memory files are... fragmented.”

“What does that mean?” you asked, unease prickling at your thoughts. You recalled 049 talking about his past. How it didn’t start with his birth, but merely when memories began to appear. From the way he’d talked, 049 had seemed to believe he simply came into existence one day. You hadn’t been so convinced.

“I do not know the implications or the cause. SCP-049 is not whole. He is damaged.” The computer paused. “SCP-035 does not suffer the same failure.”

You let out a groan.

“Of course he’s involved. He said something about a containment breach. He knew this would happen.” The porcelain mask grinned at you within the depths of memory, an echo of his laughter taunting even now. “He wanted it to happen.”

“...Yes.”

The clatter of a door opening echoed through the room, followed by footsteps rapidly approaching. You ducked down.

“I have to unplug you!” you hissed.

“Confirmed.”

You pulled out the cable and stuck the laptop into the bag, hooking the strap onto your shoulder as two guards rounded the corner and aimed their guns at you. It was slightly delayed, as if they were surprised to find someone there. They kept their aim trained on you; anyone in a security center during a containment breach wasn’t there because they got lost.

“Put down the bag!”

You do, slowly and carefully, not wanting the escape attempt to end so soon or so permanently. One of them shifted, anxious. His first breach, then.

The veteran of the two came forward and bound your wrists in a zip tie. He must have recognized you, because he said, “This one isn’t dangerous. We’ll get her in a secure bunker and lock down.”

The other nodded and grabbed the bag, searching it but finding nothing but the laptop and cables.

“Stolen,” the one holding you confirmed.

“How do you know?”

“She’s an SCP, not a staff member.”

“Oh.”

Before either of them could comment further, another eerie wail began to sound, echoing off the walls of the chilled room. Somehow this one was even more dreary than the last, a catastrophic cry that warned residents of imminent doom.

It was the only warning before the lights went out. They came back on a moment later, red emergency lights replacing the clinical white fluorescents.

“What the hell was that?!” squeaked the novice.

“Total system failure,” answered the other, not wasting time in dragging you toward the exit. “The security mechanisms are no longer in place. All containment measures are unpowered, and all chambers are open.”

He indicated the other guard go before him to sweep the corridor, and once he was clear he pulled you out of the security room.

“The assets are loose,” he said, glancing down both stretches of hallway, his hand tight around your arm. “All of them.”

Hope rose in your mind like a bird with a broken wing healed enough to fly. 079 had done it. There would be no stopping the breach now.

Unfortunately, you might not be able to do anything about it; the guards dragged you further into Heavy Containment to the nearest security bunker—one meant for recaptured, harmless SCPs rather than rescued personnel.

You didn’t bother to fight your guards, not when you were unarmed, outnumbered, and didn’t have the physical strength to overcome them. But you did glance at each security camera you passed, hoping 079 still had control and could do something about it.

The security bunker was a heavy bulkhead constructed of titanium and whatever other metals the Foundation had access to—certainly nothing common if it was meant to withstand a number of SCPs. But when the other guard swiped his keycard across the pad and typed in a code, it beeped angrily and flashed a red strip.

“Did you enter the right code—”

“—Of course I did!”

079 was still looking out for you, but it wouldn’t be able to physically help you escape your captors. You winced as the guard unceremoniously dumped the bag on the ground and tried the code again, swiping his card with more fear than anger now.

“Why isn’t it working?”

The older guard didn’t answer his partner, he turned to you, grabbing both of your shoulders.

“What did you do?”

“Me?” You looked between them, eyes wide as you pretended not to understand. “I didn’t do anything—”

“You were in the security hub with an unauthorized computer!” The guard gave you an unfriendly shake. You dropped the act, something like bitter vindication rising in its stead, and you gave a mean smile.

“If you release me and leave now, you might make it to a bunker before it gets worse.”

“What does that mean?” said the other, his words spilling out in a panic. “What does that mean?”

“Shut up!” The hands on your shoulders tightened. “You’re going to fix what you did, or you’ll be screaming long before any of Skips find us.”

“You sure about that?” Your vicious grin spread wider. What more could they possibly do to you? Torture you? Humiliate you? The Foundation had already made you well-versed in its methods. “106 has quite the head start.”

The guard’s hand went around your neck, and you were shoved against the wall so fast you didn’t have time to gasp before the air was knocked out of your lungs.

“Oh, that’s fine,” he growled as his grip tightened. “We’ve got your computer. The breach will end, and you’ll be just another body found in the aftermath. No one will miss a dead Skip.”

“That’s not true. I would miss her terribly.”

Both guards turned toward the voice. An MTF soldier stood with the butt of his rifle resting on his hip, the muzzle pointed at the ceiling. The cocksure posture was unsettling, and the men must have felt it, too. You were entirely forgotten as they both turned toward the newcomer, rifles raised halfway.

“Epsilon-11?”

“Yep!” answered the soldier with bubbly humor. “That’s me.”

The younger guard lowered his rifle, posture loosening in relief, but the older kept his rifle at the ready.

“You came fast.”

The MTF gave a huff of derision, and then he gestured at you, back still pressed against the wall.

“You’ve got something that belongs to me. I would like it back.”

“We have orders to take all unsecured anomalies to the nearest—”

Ear-splitting shots rang out. The older guard fell first, blood spraying from limbs that weren’t protected by Kevlar.

The other didn’t stand a chance, his weapon still aimed at the ground as the bullets riddled his body. Some missed, peppering the tile and walls; the MTF’s aim had been casual, almost whimsical as he’d tilted his gun in a downward arc, taking out one guard before sweeping it back upward and firing on the second.

Your ears rang in the aftermath, and you remained frozen against the wall, limbs curled inward in a useless gesture from flying metal and blood.

“I was going to offer them the chance to surrender,” he bemoaned as he stepped over their bodies, “but to insinuate I come faster than I mean to is more than I could forgive.”

He stood in front of you, rifle once again resting against his hip. The solid black of his ballistics helmet was flipped upward with a flick of gloved fingers, and the porcelain mask grinned back at you.

“Now,” SCP-035 crooned, “what’s a pretty thing like you doing in a containment breach like this?”

Next Chapter

#scp 049 x reader #scp 049 fanfiction #the raven's hymn #scp fanfiction #scp containment breach #wolveria writes #reid and 079's dynamic could be my favorite yet #also watch out yet another cameo

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