#Rory said she wasn’t posing for shit

[ophernelia]

@imogencrnza: it was hard getting them all to behave for a picture.

[mrsbhandari]

wish you were sober

a/n: hey its a random ajay fic no one asked for fjkdlkjf;lskdj;f ANYWAYS im still working on that athlete au cuz its a BITCH but thats fine. i hope you like this one, it turned out way longer than i wanted it to oop--

words: 4k

warnings: underage drinking, swearing, light sexual harassment (brian crandall aka asshole of the year), like kinda suggestive if you squint

summary: ajay getting roped into the bullshit(tm)

tagging: @rulesofthebeneath, @theeccentricbibliophile

#

It was near midnight when she called, voice loud over the speaker of his phone and face lighting up the screen. He blinked blearily, unsure of what was really happening and what he should specifically do about this girl who called him and expected him to...what? Drop everything for her? Race over to Brian’s house and bring her home? 

I hate my fucking life, he thought as he pulled on some jeans and grabbed his keys. She looked crazy over the phone, speech slurring and loud laughs directed at something off screen that he wasn’t sure he really wanted to see. She yelled that he needed to get over there and hung the phone up abruptly, not allowing him to get any words in before she left, making his heart beat at the possibilities of what might happen if he didn’t pick her up. 

When he pulled up to the large mansion overrun with rowdy high schoolers, he couldn’t hold in his sigh. He was really traipsing into the lion’s den, looking for a fellow mouse that liked to wear a predator’s pelt, ignoring the looks of hunger pointed his way by the big dogs of both Hearst and Berry. He figured Skye would be upstairs in her room or sleeping over at someone else’s house, so being saved by her was out. Erin was on a trip with her family and Rory was practicing lines at their house, so he was sure that if Ajay was going to get Bailey, it was going to be by himself. 

He didn’t even know why she was here, and why the hell is he supposed to come get her? She probably tagged along with Casey, so why shouldn’t her own brother get control of her? She doesn’t even like me, he thought, grimacing and ignoring the odd stares at his behavior. He seemed to be doing well at hiding his crush on her in favor of the play, but no one told him how hard it was going to be with her! She smiled so easily, and he was just supposed to act like it didn’t make his hands shake and his heart beat faster and his mind race with thoughts of her lips on his and and and…

I hate my fucking life, he repeated to himself, making his way out to the backyard and the pool, keeping his head down to avoid any unwanted contact with people who could most definitely snap his spine in half if they wanted to. His eyes ran over the different sections of the backyard, focusing on the beer pong table that a certain blonde ponytail was near, making his heart skip a beat. He walked over, silently waiting for her to finish her turn and standing awkwardly until she did. What’s the etiquette for this kind of thing? He didn’t have to worry about it long because she sunk her shot and raised her arms up in a high V, shouting and laughing her elation at almost winning the entire game. He let out a small oomph! when she turned to him and wrapped long arms around his neck, seemingly noticing him for the first time. 

“Oh! Ajay!” Her breath stank of cheap beer, but she was so close to him and her body was so warm that he couldn’t find it within himself to care. “I’m winning!” She drew out the word, yet he hung onto every syllable like it was his lifeline, finding it to be the only thing keeping him from pressing his lips to hers, party be damned. A curse from her beer pong opponent brought him back to reality, making him pull back from her but keep a hand on his waist to ensure she didn’t fall drunkenly. 

“I’m here to take you home, Bailey. You called me?” He had to contain himself when she pouted, finding it to be the cutest expression ever, but she quickly turned away and slammed back the shots in the cups on the table. “Bailey, what the fu--” he began, but she let out a loud, giddy laugh. 

“I haven’t even gone for a swim yet?” She took a few uncertain steps, stripping her shirt off and then shimmying her skirt to the grass. Ajay shot glares at a few Hearst football players who whistled and catcalled her before following her protectively, hiding her body from the group of boys. “Ajay, join me!” She was painfully drunk, stumbling and moving far too loosely to be considered sober or dignified. 

“No, we can swim when you aren’t wasted, c’mon…” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a few girls filming them, so he turned his body towards their camera to hide her again. She had been dressed for it, a cute black bikini accentuating her curves, but there was something inherently sweet yet dirty about how exposed she was. He knew it would sound selfish if he ever said it out loud, but it didn’t sit right with him, the fact that she wasn’t only doing this for him. She was drunk, and she barely even noticed him there, and even if she wasn’t drunk, she would never look at him the way he wanted her to. “Bailey, seriously, let me take you home.” 

“I’ve got laps first!” She walked over to the diving board and carefully stepped onto it, almost losing her balance at its wobble. 

“Hey, this chick is gonna jump drunk!” Brian yelled, laughing cruelly at the crowd of other high schoolers who meandered over to the side of the pool to watch. Ajay wanted to yell at how they should be focused on helping her instead of going viral, but he knew it would fall on deaf ears, the predators too preoccupied with the smell of fresh blood. He turned his attention back to Bailey, who was posing for a dive, which she didn’t quite follow through on as she made her leap from the board. Before he could catch her, she was in the water with a splash, providing lovely entertainment for the top of the food chain guffawing at her jump. 

“Bailey!” he yelled, leaning forward as much as he could without falling in after her. She rose to the surface, but was struggling, splashing the water and taking gulping breaths that never seemed to be enough as she kept slipping under. Shit shit shit! He thought, quickly ripping off his shirt and jacket and dropping his pants, disregarding the suggestive sounds falling out of his classmates’ mouths. Right now, he needed to help Bailey; he would deal with his pending payout from the possibility of a Buzzfeed article later. He threw his glasses on the small pile of his clothes as he jumped.

The sudden feeling of the water enveloping him was a shock, but he ran entirely on adrenaline to get over it quickly and swim over to Bailey, wrapping an arm around her waist and hugging her close in the water. She was still struggling against him, unable to stop the panic that was taking over her heart, but he found the edge of the pool and the ladder next to the diving board, quickly pushing her to sit on one of the metal steps. When her fingers wrapped around the rail, she calmed down quicker than expected, allowing him a moment of relief to catch his breath. 

“Aw, damn, I was hoping I would have to administer some CPR!” Brian whistled, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at the pair in the pool. Suddenly, Ajay was hit with the realization that he was here...with Bailey...at a party...with a shit ton of high schoolers...in his underwear...sopping wet. 

I hate my fucking life. No matter how many times it ran through his head, a gorgeous face would pop up in his mind shortly after, making his features soften and his breathing slow. With a jolt, he felt her moving in front of him and opened his eyes just in time to watch her ass pass directly in front of his face, making him blush and look away. He climbed out after her, the reality of just what he did hitting him as he looked around at the other teenagers, all staring at him and Bailey like they were the only food available for miles. He found a towel on a table and handed it to her, but she offered it back to him with a flirty smile. 

“I think you need this more than me,” she whispered, eyes glancing downward for a split second before meeting his once more. He let out a cough and wrapped the towel around his waist, secretly happy he wore black, not-embarrassing boxers today. Collecting his pile of clothes from the side of the pool, he sneers at Brian when the boy stopped in front of them. 

“You think you can just make a mess at my party and leave without paying an exit fee?” He turned to Bailey, a sickly smile showing too many teeth and only making Ajay hurry to reach for his jacket and wrap it around her shoulders. “A kiss from the party girl?” 

“I think the fuck not,” Ajay said, tone low and threatening as he zipped up the thin layer over Bailey’s half-naked body. His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him and willing her to stop shaking at his side. She was suspiciously quiet, but he didn’t have time to worry about her; he needed to get her out of this party. 

“Oh, c’mon--”

“You lay a hand on her and I report you for sexual harassment, which will go down even worse when the cops look at the evidence of underage drinking. I’ll say it one time, and one time only: Fuck. Off.” He hid his satisfaction at the way Brian gaped at him and stepped out of the way. They silently walked off, Ajay’s hands full with his clothes in one hand and a drunk girl that he was secretly pining after in the other. He looked down at her briefly, eyeing her through her thick lashes that nearly closed over a sleepy gaze. Before he stepped back into the house, he looked over his shoulder to see Brian glaring after them. “Take that ‘exit fee’ and shove it up your ass!” With a resolute nod, he made his way through the house and to his car, surrounded by teenagers that he shooed away. 

“‘Jay…” she drawled, the first word she said in the past 5 minutes making him flush. “Where are we going?”

“Well, my house is closer, so I’ll text your brother and call your mom to say you’re staying over at my place.”

“Hm…” was all she hummed, allowing herself to be strapped in by him. He stayed outside the driver’s side to pull his pants on, but stopped with his shirt in his hands when she reached over and rolled the window down. “Leave it off!” She sounded like a child and he wanted to laugh, so bad, to just laugh with her and not worry about what the hell this party was and what the hell was going to happen in the morning and what the hell he was going to do when she was spending the night in his bed. 

But he couldn’t. 

“Sorry, Bailey,” he said, slipping the shirt down and smiling at her pained whines. 

“Such a Debby Downer,” she slurred. She looked back out of her window, pouting and ignoring him when he offered his phone, opened to Spotify for her. 

“I’ll make it up to you. Pick some music.” That seemed to distract her enough for him to get going, flinching at the volume she played WAP at and screamed the lyrics to. There was something intimate about this as well, and he couldn’t shake the feeling of how sweet it felt, wafting over his senses like being down the street from the bakery. You knew that the closer you got, the stronger the smell, and the more at home you felt amidst the warm pastries that lined the window. The closer he drove to his house, the more inevitable being close to her was, and he couldn’t get it out of his head as he switched his attention from the road to her hand movements as she rapped the lewd lyrics, fueled entirely by the alcohol. 

She whined more when he turned down the volume as he turned into his neighborhood, but he managed to convince her to be quiet with a single finger to his lips, something she seemed to focus on for far too long to even be attributed to the alcohol. She luckily kept this behavior up when he ushered her inside and to his room as quickly as possible while still keeping her from falling into several of Mohit’s loud toys and the large furniture that seemed to be ten times as dangerous at night. 

“I felt like I was on Wipeout,” Bailey gasped when he closed the door, voice entirely too loud for the quiet stillness of the room. He was about to scold her, but then she collapsed on the bed, making it creak and add to the genuine noise she brought everywhere she went. His heart decided that he liked the noises that were associated with her before his mind ever caught up, something that was happening a lot more nowadays when he saw her walk into the auditorium, ponytail swinging and smile wide. 

“Uh, here,” he said, offering a large t-shirt and some old pajama pants that were too small for him to her before turning around and covering his eyes. He heard the unzipping of his jacket and the ruffling of clothes, keeping his eyes shut under his hands as he waited for her with bated breath. He hated how his mind wandered to her even when he didn’t want it to, his eyelids seemingly tattooed with her bright eyes and curious gaze, always finding his glances with pinpoint accuracy that left him stuttering and looking away. She was here, in his room, drunk. Just a few feet away and he could reach out his hands to touch her, feel her skin under his palm, run the pads of fingers over her collarbone, the scar on her shoulder, the freckles on her cheek. His touch could linger for as long as he wanted it to, because she’d be looking forward to it as much as he was, and she would pull his face down for a kiss that knocked the breath out of his lungs. 

“You can look now,” was what a tentative voice behind him said, jolting him out of his fantasy and making him turn around. No matter how much mental preparation he could put his mind through, he never could fully be ready for the sight of the sight of his large shirt slipping off her shoulder, revealing the collarbone he had just been thinking about a few seconds before. She sat cross legged on the sheets, making her seem smaller than she really was. 

“You must be tired.”

“I’m not.”

“You looked ready to pass out at Brian’s, don’t bullshit.” He sounded unnecessarily harsh which made him feel even worse than he already did for her as she cast a glance down at her hands. He sighed. “Sorry, I was just worried.”

“About me?” 

“Well, you almost drowned, so yeah. I was worried.” Her gaze was still on her hands and she hummed, too full of thoughts for someone who probably couldn’t keep them straight. 

“Was that the only reason?”

“You talk too much. Aren’t you supposed to be passed out by now? I’ve never dealt with a drunk person before.” He saw her cheeks grow bigger and figured she was smiling; it made him smile, too, an indicator that he was too far gone to ever deny feelings for her that flitted around his mind like cobwebs. He shook them away to force himself to listen to her speak once more.

“I just…” She trailed off but stopped herself from releasing anything else, lips tight and silence awkward. 

“It’s fine.” His voice was too hurried, he sounded too panicked, and he cringed to himself when he got the simple words out. Damage control. “You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.” She just hummed again, and he hated the way he analyzed it, searching for the hidden meaning as if the vibrations would unlock some new achievement, leaving a letter in his pocket that would lay out all the things felt between the two. The more he thought about it though, the more he realized he would be afraid to read it. “You take the bed.”

“What? Why?” Her voice raised unexpectedly, enough so that even she seemed surprised by the sudden raise in volume that was met with another finger to his lips. 

“It’s polite, I’m not making you sleep on the floor drunk.”

“Just sleep with me.” The alcohol was clouding her mind, letting more pass through her filter without a second thought. 

“I can’t do--”

“Why not?”

The challenging tone made him pause, unsure if she really meant anything by the insistent way she clenched her fists and stared up at him, nose scrunched in an adorable pout that made his heart melt. He could feel his resolve crumbling, which is surprising since he was always seen as one of the most stubborn students in the theatre department. Someone shouldn’t be able to wear him down this much unless they were holding a gun to his head. 

Or maybe they were just looking at him with such a determination in their eyes that it made him stop and consider the options for once. 

“If I do this, you’ll sleep?” 

“Yes,” she sighed more than spoke, scooting backwards on the bed and edging over to leave room for him. He wondered if she could already hear the beating of his heart, loudly rushing into his ears as he tried to calmly walk over to the side of the bed. It all felt domestic, like they were husband and wife, but he felt too loud to be considered casual. His feet pounded the wood below him and his large hands scraped against the sheets. He left a layer under him so as to separate him from Bailey, but it proved unsuccessful as she just climbed (stumbled) back out and then got back in on top of the same layer, getting rid of his barrier and only making him sweatier. He was still in jeans, they noticed at the same time, and she looked up at him expectantly. 

“You can change your pants you know.” She raised an arm to her eyes, closing and covering them. “I won’t look.” 

You can if you want to. 

The sentence was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t find it within himself to say it, opting instead to just silently get up and change, slipping his legs into pants that he only realized matched hers when he climbed back beside her. When he settled with his back against the headboard, he nearly yelped when her hand found his thigh, running her fingers over the soft material. 

“We match.”

“Yeah. Unintentionally, I swear.” He stiffened when she nudged closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. 

“I don’t mind. I think it’s cute.” 

He never expected that “Bailey Called Something I Did Cute” to be written on his tombstone, but here he was: murdered by the shape of her mouth forming a word like that in reference to him. 

“Can I kiss you?” The question was unhurried and whispered in his ear, but it hit him like a bolt of lightning, sending tingles over his entire body as he flinched away from her. 

“What?” Half of his body was off the bed as she leaned closer to him, cupping his right cheek in one hand. She still smelled like shitty beer and chlorine, a combination that should’ve made him gag, but she managed to make seem like the highest priced perfume. It made him want to lean in right back, slot his lips against her plush ones and just accept that it happened, but he also knew that going back on his word to the rest of the theatre department was an awfully shitty move. 

“I want to kiss you.”

“You’re drunk.”

“What’s the saying? ‘Drunk words are sober thoughts’?”

“You want to kiss me when you’re sober, too?”

“All the time.” His breath hitched; Wasn’t expecting that development. “I wish I didn’t have to kiss Rory in the play. I think they like me and I don’t want to lead them on, but it’s so hard when the kiss is so anticipated. It’s especially hard when I have a crush on my director. ” 

Ah, the kiss, Ajay remembered, slightly ashamed at all the times they’d rehearsed the scene but he would always call for them to stop just before the climax of it. He knew it was kind of pervy, but he really only wanted to watch his crush kiss someone else the minimum amount of times he was required to: the four times they were performing the show, nothing less and absolutely nothing more.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Say you’ll kiss me.” 

“What about the play?”

“It’s your rule. You can decide if you want to break it with me.” She didn’t know he had already decided months ago when he saw her at auditions that if the opportunity ever made itself known, he would break a thousand rules just to feel her skin against his one time. And now he seemed to be giving in, leaning in closer and closer until her breath was hot against his, shared between the two like a secret. 

“I’ll kiss you,” he decided, finally closing the gap between them and kissing her. His lungs and chest felt tight, but any concerns about the play, the party, or the bitter taste of beer on his tongue melted away as she kissed him back fervently. He figured he should be impressed with how good she still was at kissing despite being wasted, but his thoughts were cut off as she pulled back. He was suddenly self-conscious, concerned about how good he was and the line of spit that still connected them. “What--”

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” she breathed, chest heaving with the excitement and the alcohol still in her system. “I’ve wanted you for so long, Ajay.” 

Ajay loved music, but he decided that if he had to give up every single record he owned just to hear his name fall out of her mouth again, he would hand them over in a heartbeat. Despite the way his heart was beating out of his chest, he forced himself to sound casual as he looked down at her. “Oh, yeah?” 

“Yes, you dork.” A drunken smile that stopped his heart and made his mind click trying to story it in his memory slipped onto her face, and she dropped her head back on his shoulder. “A long time,” she repeated softly, and before he could respond, she was asleep. 

He gently lifted her up and laid her down flat on the bed, making sure to keep close to her and her warmth. Just before he turned the light out, he pressed a kiss to her head, savoring the picture of her sleeping so soundly next to him, clutching his arm and one leg thrown over his waist. 

“Me too, Bailey.”

[cali-holland]

Heartbreak Weather, Part One- T. H.

Pairing: Tom Holland X Horan!Reader

Prompt: After going through a rough breakup, you lose all hope in love, but your brother Niall Horan insists on getting you back into the world. When you meet his friend Tom Holland, you start to think that maybe your life isn’t just heartbreak weather.

Word Count: 4000

Featured Songs (All by Niall Horan): Heartbreak Weather  -  Nice to Meet Ya  -  Dear Patience  -  No Judgment

Previous Part: Teaser

Masterlist   Tom Holland Masterlist

*Gif is not mine*

~~~

MARCH 2018

“God damn it, let go of the ice cream.” Your older brother huffed, attempting to take the cold dessert from you

“No, leave me alone.” You pouted, refusing to move from your position on the couch.

“You need to get up and off this couch. Come with me to the gala- you already have a dress and everything.” Niall sighed a breath of relief as he finally wrestled the pint of ice cream from your arms.

“I don’t want to go. Leave me to wallow in my own pity.” You groaned, pulling your blanket up over your head.

Just three days ago, you were excited for your older brother to come to London and spend a few weeks with you. You were at school in the bustling English city, and he was usually very busy. Luckily for the two of you, his charity gala for golf lined up perfectly with a break in school; and he invited you to go along with him. You were so eager for that event, and he’s right- you did have everything ready for it, including a red dress you were in love with.

Your mood changed completely when you discovered your boyfriend of two years had been cheating on you for over six months with his best friend. Niall’s arrival coincided with the downfall of your relationship. And now, you had no motivation to get off the couch; you simply wanted to be sucked into a void of sad dog movies and ice cream.

“No, you are coming with me to that gala. Think about it- you dumped Eric’s sorry ass and now you’re going to an event that will be flooded with paparazzi. Show him what he’s missing.” Niall said.

“As my brother, I don’t think you’re supposed to say that. I think you’re supposed to be over at his place, beating him the hell up.”

“Oh, trust me, if it was legal, I’d beat the shit out of him.” He stated. “Please, will you come?”

“Fine, but I’m going straight back to this state once it’s all over with.” You replied. You rolled your eyes while he cheered. You stood from the couch and headed to your room to get ready. Niall let out a sigh as he heard you begin to play Sam Smith over the speakers.

“As if she wasn’t sad enough.” He shook his head, before going to your guest room to get ready himself.

~~~

The gala was being held at a fancy hotel in central London, and you felt nerves overcome you as the car came to a stop outside of the entrance. The paparazzi lined the carpet and the fans lined the paparazzi.

“Can I go home yet?” You asked, and Niall gave your hand a quick squeeze.

“Come on, you’ll kill it out there.” He smiled. The car door opened and Niall stepped out with you following along behind him. You two stopped and posed for pictures on the carpet, before you stepped aside to let Niall have his moment.

Making your way inside, you took in the beauty of the ballroom- it definitely looked like a gala rather than a glorified hotel room. Bruno Mars’ Just the Way You Are sounded over the speakers, and you couldn’t help, but feel a sting in your heart. This was your song with your ex; and it still hurt to think about it. Your smile began to drop as you scanned the room, wondering if Niall had made it in through another entrance. Your eyes fell upon a brunette boy across the room. Almost instantly, his brown eyes found yours and he smiled. You felt your lips curve into a genuine smile back at the stranger. Something about him felt familiar to you, but between the crowded room and the surprisingly bad lighting, you couldn’t place him.

“Y/N,” Niall’s voice caught your attention, pulling you away from the stranger’s captivating stare. “Come on, we gotta get seated.” He led you over to your table, which had name cards placed on them.

“Who are we sitting with?” You asked, wondering if he would know, as you two sat down.

“My buddy, Tom, should be with us.” Niall stated.

“Tom as in-” Before you could finish your question, a loud British voice sounded from behind the two of you.

“Niall! It’s been ages!” The voice exclaimed, pulling your brother into a hug. As Niall pulled away, you felt your eyes widen with surprise as you were met with the face of Tom Holland in front of you- a.k.a. the brunette stranger from not even five minutes ago.

“Tom! How have you been?” Niall smiled.

“I’ve been great. I’ve been here for a few weeks, but I go back to filming in a couple days.” He replied, just as cheery.

“I’m on a break right now. We gotta get together before you leave and play a few rounds.” Your brother eagerly replied, “There’s this great golf course by Y/N’s place.” Niall caught himself as he looked down to you awkwardly sitting there at the table.

“Hi, I’m Tom.” Tom smiled, holding out a hand for you to shake.

“Y/N, Niall’s sister. The one that lives near a golf course apparently.” You joked, shaking his hand. Niall sat down and Tom took the seat beside you, effectively trapping you between the two.

“Y/N, do you still play?” Niall asked you.

“Not often, but I bet I can still beat you.”

“Really? You’re even better than Niall?” Tom inquired.

“Surprised I’m better than him?”

“Considering he’s the only person who’s beaten me every single time, I’d say I’m more intrigued and intimidated.”

“I’ll come play some holes with you two, then we’ll see.” You laughed.

The gala’s host made his way onto the stage and the three of you fell into a comfortable silence with the rest of the audience. Dinner was served shortly afterwards and there was a flow of conversation between the three of you.

“Oh, there’s Rory. I need to go say hi.” Niall stood up, once he finished his meal and spotted his friend at another table. He immediately went over to Rory, striking up a conversation with him.

“He’s such a social butterfly. Everywhere he goes, he knows someone.” You laughed, shaking your head at him.

“I bet the fans get crazy with him, don’t they?” Tom asked.

“Ni gets spotted a lot less now that he’s got his brunette hair back. I’ve always liked it better natural than blond.” You stated. Before Tom could speak up again, you got a text notification. Though the contact was missing you knew exactly who it was, sending you a ‘I screwed up. Please, let’s work this out’ text.

“Uh, sorry, I just- I have to go.” You said, standing up from the table and avoiding looking at Tom. This whole night, you hadn’t thought about your ex at all; you were so captivated by Tom.

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” Tom asked, standing as well.

“Nothing, I just can’t be here right now.” You replied as your voice cracked through your words. With phone and purse in hand, you rushed out to the empty hallway and sat against the wall, letting your tears freely flow. You were crying so hard that you barely registered Tom sitting beside you and putting an arm over your shoulders to comfort you. As you steadied your sobs, you began to speak.

“Have you ever felt like your whole life’s been heartbreak after heartbreak; it’s always heartbreak weather at this point. I dated my ex for two years, and he cheated on me for months. And now he wants to get back together?” 

“I’m sorry.” Tom said, “If he’s stupid enough to cheat on you, then he doesn’t deserve you. You’re incredible, and that’s coming from someone who’s only known you a few hours.”

“I’ve spent every day of the past two years devoted to him, and now I have nothing. I wasted so much time on him. I should’ve known he wasn’t the one. Niall warned me all that time ago that he wasn’t good enough.” Your voice was soft as you spoke. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve all been through this before.” Tom paused, thinking of how to lighten the mood, “Do you want to get out of here? We can go get some real food- this vegetarian stuff isn’t cutting it for me.”

“I look like shit now.” You said, wiping under your eyes in an attempt to fix your mascara that was bound to be all over your face.

“You look amazing. Come on,” Tom stood up and held out a hand out to you. You took it and he helped you stand.

“I don’t want to confront Niall, not now. I’ll just text him.” You stated.

“Just make sure he knows you’re safe.” He replied, leading you out the back exit as he called for his car. You pulled out your phone and texted Niall: ‘Went to go get actual dinner with Tom. I’ll see you tonight’.

You and Tom got dinner from a drive through and ended up taking it back to your place. Your shoes were both abandoned by the door, and Tom’s jacket laid on the back of a chair with his tie hanging loosely from his neck. He rolled up the white sleeves of his suit, giving him better access to chicken wings.

“This has got to be the best post-gala idea.” Tom laughed, taking a bite of the chicken wing, trying his best not to make a mess as you did the same.

“Absolutely.” You agreed. “I should have probably changed out of this dress though.”

“At least it’s red?” He offered.

“That does nothing to hide a chicken wing stain.” You teased.

“Just trying to be helpful.” He laughed.

After you finished up eating, Tom searched for something on Netflix while you changed into more comfortable clothes- a tight fighting dress was not the move for a night in.

“Do you want to watch anything specifically?” Tom called out to you from the living as you made your way into the kitchen, in search of some wine.

“How about a comedy?” You replied, “Do you want some wine?”

“Sure.” You grabbed two glasses and an unopened bottle, taking them into the other room. You set them on the coffee table and took a seat beside Tom on the couch.

“The Hangover?” Tom asked, and you let out a laugh, pouring out the wine.

“I love that movie.” You said, handing him a glass as he hit play.

“I’m not normally a big wine guy, but this is good.” He stated, surprised after the first sip.

“My ex may be a shithead, but he’s got great taste in wine. This was one of his most expensive bottles. I took this from his place about a week ago.”

“Damn, you might as well take his wine.” Tom joked. “I wouldn’t have expected you to like wine.”

“What did you expect me to like? Beer like Niall?”

“Yeah, actually.” He laughed.

“Don’t worry, I can hold my own with beer as well.”

The two of you fell into a comfortable silence as the movie played. At some point during the film, you shifted and placed your head on his shoulder, leaning into him. It didn’t take long for you to drift off to sleep.

You began to wake up when you heard a door shutting, but you couldn’t bring yourself to move, too content with your peaceful sleep. You were only vaguely aware of two voices.

“Tom, you’re still here?” Niall asked, his voice at a regular volume.

“She’s sleeping.” Tom replied in a hushed tone.

“Oh,” He said, recognition coming over him as he saw your position. He glanced over and saw the wine, knowing exactly how you ended up in there.

“Yeah, we got dinner and watched the Hangover.” Tom explained quietly.

“Here, I’ll take her to her room.” Niall moved over towards you in an attempt to free Tom from his position.

“I’m up now, you dickheads.” You mumbled, keeping your eyes closed.

“You gotta get up or else Tom can’t move.” Your brother stated. You let out a groan before opening your eyes. Your eyes widened in confusion as you realized your head was fully on Tom’s lap, not at all on his shoulder like you last remembered.

“My bad.” You said, sitting up and giving Tom the opportunity to move freely once again.

“You’re fine, love.” Tom replied with a smile.

“Well, I’m going to get a shower. I kind of got champagne all over me.” Niall laughed, before heading off to the guest room.

“How long was I out?” You asked, slowly standing from the couch to clear the wine bottle and glasses from the table.

“I don’t know. I think the movie finished a couple hours ago?” Tom replied.

“A couple hours? Tom, you could have woken me up.” You said.

“You just looked so peaceful, like you really needed the sleep. I didn’t want to disturb you. When the movie finished, I moved your head so your neck wouldn’t be sore.” He explained. His words just about made you blush, thinking that he spent his whole night caring about your wellbeing.

“You’re sweet, you know that?” You smiled, leading him to the front door.

“Thank you for everything, Tom. I had a great night.” You admitted as you walked him to his car.

“I had a great time too.” He replied.

“Good night, Tom.” You said, stepping away from him.

“Good night, Y/N.” Tom got into his car as you walked back inside your apartment.

“So, you and Tom, huh?” Niall asked the moment you got inside, his hair still wet from his shower.

“Piss off.” You shook your head at him and ducked into your room. That night, you drifted off to sleep with thoughts of the next time you’d see Tom floating around in your head.

~~~

The next day, you woke up to the smell of Niall making breakfast. Sure, he could easily get his own place in London, but him staying at your place meant you two got to see each other more. By the time you made your way to the kitchen, he was already eating his portion and drinking his morning cup of coffee.

“Morning.” You smiled, helping yourself to the rest of the food.

“Did you sleep well?” Niall asked almost teasingly.

“Yeah actually. Best night’s sleep I’ve gotten in a while.” You replied, avoiding eye contact with him, knowing exactly where he was going.

“Wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain British lad now, would it?” 

“I don’t know. Did Louis say something?” You teased back, sitting down at the table across from him. He rolled his eyes and playfully scoffed.

“Well, if it has nothing to do with Tom, then good.” Niall stated as you began to eat your breakfast.

“Good?”

“I wouldn’t want it to be awkward or anything. We’re going golfing today, and you’re coming with us.” He smiled before clearing his plate of food.

“I’m sorry, what?” You laughed awkwardly because yes, it would be strange having to see Tom again so soon. 

“Golf. Eleven o’clock.” Niall clarified, before getting up from the table and clearing away his dishes.

“What if I don’t want to go golfing?” You asked.

“Oh come on, like you’d want to pass up the opportunity to beat me.”

He left the room in silence, leaving you to finish eating alone. You sighed, picking up your phone to flick through Instagram while you ate. Like every other day, you had to go through your follow requests. Being the younger sister of Niall Horan meant that a lot of fans tried following you for the past several years, but you wanted to maintain some privacy and kept your page hidden from the public. The fans still attempted to follow you though; you couldn’t exactly tell your brother he couldn’t follow you, and so they easily found it.

You paused your scrolling when you saw a verified mark. The little notification read, “tomholland2013 wants to follow you”. You let out a small laugh before accepting it and following him back- another one of your Instagram habits, you didn’t follow many celebrities besides the One Direction boys. You finished your scrolling and then went through the rest of your morning routine of checking out new posts and viewing stories. As you went to view the new stories, you saw Tom had just posted one. When you clicked on it, you didn’t think you’d be so surprised by it, but boy, were you surprised.

You weren’t sure what kind of stories Tom posted, but you definitely felt like a shirtless, sweaty gym video was an unusual story for him. You laughed, shaking your head. Sure, you had heard about the actor being incredibly ripped, but you never really thought about it in detail. And after that video, you were sure you would think about his muscles a lot more.

You decided that was enough of Instagram for now- you didn’t want to stumble into anymore thirst traps right then. Besides, it was time to get ready for golf with Niall and Tom.

A few hours later, you and Niall pulled up to a golf course on the outskirts of town, and you met Tom inside with his own set of clubs. You couldn’t help but blush when you saw him in his tight polo, especially now that you know exactly what his abs look like under there. He greeted you and Niall with a smile, and you tried to ignore the fact that his stare lingered on you.

“Who’s ready to play?” Niall asked, pulling you away from your thoughts as the three of you headed over to the golf carts.

“Are you ready to lose?” You quipped back, making Tom laugh as you all placed your clubs in the backseat of the cart.

“When’s the last time you played?” Your brother questioned.

“Like a year ago.” You replied.

“I might put my money on Niall winning then.” Tom joked, “He’s been playing weekly.”

“Hey, I had to practice weekly so I could beat Y/N next time we play together.” Niall stated.

“Just sounds like you’ve got no life.” You teased.

As expected, you won the overall game as Niall placed second behind you. He swore that you were cheating somehow. The three of you decided to go down to a nearby pub for lunch, and, also as expected, your brother ran off to the bar for drinks, leaving you and Tom alone.

“So, I see you found me on Instagram.” You said, teasingly, “How long did it take for you to try to find me?”

“Took me longer to decide if I wanted to actually request you or not.” Tom laughed, “I didn’t want to come off creepy, especially because your account is private.”

“It wasn’t creepy.” You laughed as well, “I have to say though, the gym video was a nice touch. A minute after I followed you too.”

“That happened to just be a coincidence.” He said as he began to actually blush at the call-out.

“Oh, I bet it was.” You teased.

“Is there any way I can get your number? I leave tomorrow for filming, but I’d like to stay in touch with you.” Tom asked, his voice sounded nervous. You were a bit surprised by his forwardness, but you already knew your answer.

“Yeah,” You replied and both of you reached to take out your phones. Swapping phones, you both added your numbers. You smiled, seeing his lock screen- a picture of a dog. You asked, “Is this your dog?”

“That’s my Tessa. She’s such a sweetheart.” Tom said, smiling as he looked at the picture fondly.

“She’s adorable.”

“Maybe you can meet her one day. She loves meeting new people.” Before you could even try to reply, Niall came back, pulling the two of you back into reality.

“I forgot I was driving.” Niall told you sheepishly and you laughed.

“I can drive, don’t worry.” You laughed.

You two parted ways from Tom, wishing him a safe journey to the states. The car was filled with a strange silence between you and your brother until he finally spoke up.

“Am I allowed to ask about you and Tom again?” Niall asked anyway.

“I gave him my number, but we’re just friends.” You said with a small sigh. “I dated Eric for two years. Up until last week, I thought he was the one, but then he broke my heart. He was unfaithful to me for months and-”

“Tom’s not Eric.” Niall spoke up calmly, “I know you’re afraid of rushing into things with Tom, and that’s fine- take it slow and be patient. You don’t even need to date him. I know Tom though, and he would never do to you what Eric did to you. Tom’s a good man. I never liked Eric; there was always something wrong about it. I thought he was using you to get to me sometimes-”

“Way to sound vain.” You quipped.

“My point is,” He emphasized, “I don’t let just any of my guy friends hang out with my baby sister, and I especially don’t leave you in social situations with them. Eric was a dick. I know you’re probably worried that the whole distance thing won’t work with Tom; maybe it will, maybe it won’t, I don’t know.” “Where are you going with this?” You sighed as you pulled up to your place, parking the car.

“What I’m trying to say is just give Tom a chance. Be friends with him, get to know him, maybe date him. Just don’t shut him out because of what Eric did. Don’t let Eric have that power over your life anymore. Don’t let him make you scared of dating or of even being friends with a guy. Alright?” Niall asked.

“Yeah, I get it. Thanks for the whole pep talk.” You said, getting out of the car with Niall right behind you.

“Besides, if you two date and he breaks your heart, then I’ll go beat him up for you. The press will love that one.”

“Oh yippee.” You playfully rolled your eyes at his antics. As awful as his pep talk was, he was right overall- you couldn’t let your past with Eric dictate your future with Tom. You were headed for some sunny skies, away from the heartbreak weather that clouded your past.

~~~

Part Two   Part Three   Part Four

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Forever  Bump In The Road

Summary: What should be a routine sexing scan for their latest baby throws up something a little more serious, and leaves Katie and Steve reeling. Warnings: Language! And some mega angst with a light sprinkling of fluff

A/N: What’s life in the Rogers household without drama… sorry…but this and the follow up chapter are a lead in to my mini series- Stark Spangled Destiny. And to be honest, I’m sick of reading shit on here today so thought I’d post some of my own.

@southerngracela​ @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ @icanfeelastormbrewing​ dedicated to you, my home girls...

SSF Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist

October 2029

It was meant to be a routine scan...they'd been to 3 of these already after all...a routine, 20 week scan to find out the sex of their latest addition. But as Steve sat there, the words of Katie's ob-gyn made him feel nothing but numbness.

"I'm...I don't understand?" Katie said, her voice quiet "You said at the last scan that it would most likely right itself."

"And 9 times out of 10 Mrs Rogers it does." Dr Kellet said, sadly "Normally a low lying placenta moves but it's developed into something called placenta accreta, which is where it has grown too deep into the uterine wall. This means that it won't detach during labour and can cause critical levels of blood loss."

Steve swallowed and turned his attention from the small, blank screen which had moments before shown the image of their baby to the Doctor as Katie gripped his hand even tighter "So what does this mean?" he demanded.

Dr Kellet sighed "I won't lie to either of you. It is considered a high risk complication. However, we are lucky in that we have caught it now. In a lot of cases as it often causes no signs or symptoms, we don't realise until the mother is in labour which can have disastrous consequences for her and baby. As we have picked it up now, you'll need careful monitoring for the rest of your pregnancy and we'll have to perform an early C-section delivery..." she paused "Followed by a hysterectomy."

“A hysterectomy?" Steve said gently "as in..."

"Surgical removal of the womb yes." Dr Kellet says "We do his at the time of the C-section, so you'll be awake with your baby Mrs Rogers...it just means you'll be in hospital for a few days, possibly a week or so to recover."

Katie swallowed, taking a deep breath "You said early..."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, anything form 34 weeks but again, that will be subject to how you go. Obviously the longer we leave it the better but...to be honest, all your babies have been fully baked, to use the popular term now-a-days, thanks to Dad's enhanced DNA so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Worst case scenario they may need a few days in the Neonatal Unit but..."

Katie wiped at her eyes with her spare hand and Steve felt his heart contracting painfully at the sight of her as he bent over to kiss her head.

"I know this is a lot to take in..." Dr Kellet said, her tone sympathetic "But we've found it in time to deal with it. I assure you, it won't make any difference to your baby's development...it's you it poses the biggest danger for. But, as we're prepared, like I said, we can deal with it."

Katie nodded and sniffed a little "Is there anything that causes it or..."

"No, not really." Dr Kellet shook her head. "Women over 35 are more susceptible to suffering from an accreta but your placenta laying low is what's done this. Like I say, it's rare but not completely uncommon."

"This is not your fault." Steve looked at her, speaking sternly as he knew exactly what she was thinking. Her green eyes locked onto his and she gave him a small smile as he kissed the back of her hand.

"No,it isn't." Dr Kellet said, equally as sternly "This is just one of those things Mrs Rogers."

The three of them fell silent and after a few seconds, Dr Kellet took a deep breath and looked at Katie.

"Ok, so...how about we get some good news huh?" she asked, picking up the wand and pressing it back to Katie's stomach. "Let's find out if it's pink or blue."

Once more the tiny profile of their baby filled the screen and Steve felt Katie's fingers tighten around his again. He squeezed her hand back and Dr Kellet made a little noise in her throat. "Ahh, there we go...and it's another little girl mom and dad..."

Katie's face broke into a smile as did Steve's and he pressed another kiss to her hand which he know held in both his, his elbows resting on the edge of the bed. As they both watched, their daughter moved her tiny little fist in front of her face, and Steve swallowed, blinking back tears.

After a little more discussion with the Doctor who told Katie to try and stay calm and to call her if she had any worries, they booked in with the receptionist on the Gyne Ward for another scan in a fortnights time and then after bidding Dr Kellet a final goodbye they made their way back to the ground floor, both lost in their thoughts. Steve kept shooting a side glance at Katie whose face was straight, but he could see the sadness in her eyes. He was fighting back the tears himself, he hated this. The thought that something could go wrong, something that meant he might lose her or their baby...but she would be in good hands. He trusted Dr Kellet implicitly afer the safe birth of the other 3 and, after all, like the woman said, early diagnosis made a huge difference. The elevator doors opened and they walked down the busy corridor towards the main doors of the building, and as they reached the main reception desk a young man and a heavily pregnant woman passed them going in the opposite direction. Katie's eyes followed them and she stopped, the hand that wasn't in Steve's falling to her bump as she took a deep breath, and turned to look up at him Steve.

"Well..."she smiled softly as she spoke for the first time since leaving the Maternity Suite, “At least when all this is done there's no chance you'll impregnate me again."

Steve spluttered a small chuckle, shaking his head "Seriously? You're making that joke now?"

"I have to." she said softly "Because if I don't I'm gonna cry."

Steve sighed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him. She buried her face into his chest and he softly rubbed at her back, pressing a kiss to her head "It's gonna be fine Sweetheart." he said, sounding braver than he felt "You heard Doc. They found it early, we can prepare."

Katie nodded against his shirt, keeping her eyes scrunched shut "Yeah..."

"And you get a few more days recovery...relaxing, away from the rabble at home."

Katie gave a watery laugh as she stepped back and looked up at him, "I'd rather be with them..."

"I know baby." he said, wiping her tears with his thumbs as he cupped her face "I know."

Katie took a deep, shaky breath and licked her lips before she smiled softly "Another girl though Stevie” and he gave a playful groan.

"Makes it 4 on 3, I’m outnumbered."

"Nah, it’s 4 on 4 if you count Stark."

"That's true." he grinned “Not sure how Jamie’s gonna take it though!”

"It's Rori you're gonna have to worry about." Katie looked at him, smirking a little as she made to continue walking, and Steve was pleased to see her Stark sassiness was creeping back through.

"How so?”

"Because she's suddenly going to have to cope with not being you only little princess anymore...there's gonna be another girl fighting to wrap you around her pinkie."

"Well..." Steve said, curling an arm round his wife's shoulders as they walked out into the sunshine. "Let's go break the news...."

"Kinda wish you still had the shield..." Katie mumbled, and at that he let out a loud laugh, pulling her closer and pressing a kiss to her temple.

***** It was after dinner that they told the kids about the sex of the baby. They all gathered in the sitting room, the youngest two in their pyjamas as Katie told them all that they should be ready to buy a lot more pink things.

“A girl?” Jamie looked at them both, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Steve smiled at his eldest son who was sat in the chair on the opposite side of the room. Rori was perched on his knee whilst Harry was sat on Katie’s, his little hand on her bump.

“Wow…” Harry mumbled, looking a Katie “Sister?”

“Yup.” she smiled, kissing his head as he smiled at her. She looked at Jamie who shrugged at her.

“Whatever.” he said, grinning “I don’t mind…as long as it doesn’t turn out like her.” he pointed to Rori.

“Shut up Jamie!” she glared at him as Steve sighed.

“Ok, come on guys…” he said his tone carried enough warning to shut them up “Don’t fight.”

“I think it’s awesome.” Emmy smiled, where she was slumped on the rug, tickling Stark. “Another Rogers girl eh Rori?”

Rori looked at Emmy, then to Steve, then to Katie’s bump before she shook her head “No. I don’t want it.” she said nonchalantly, jumping off Steve’s knee and heading to the door.

“Rori.” Katie said, and she stopped to turn to her. “Come here.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Aurora.” Steve frowned at her, his voice stern and she sighed, taking small steps back into the room. “Come on princess, this is a happy time.” She looked at him, her face sullen “Why do you have to have a girl?”

“We don’t pick honey.” Katie looked at her, Harry shifting in her lap a little, his hand tangling in her hair. “And it’s not something we can change.” “But I don’t want a girl!” she stamped her foot and Katie sighed, rubbing her forehead a little and Steve felt the nerve in his jaw twitching. After everything they’d been told and had to process today he was mentally drained and really NOT in the mood for one of her little temper tantrums.

“That’s enough!” he said loudly and she looked at him, her green eyes widening slightly before she recovered herself and fixed him with a filthy look. He saw Emmy and Jamie exchange a glance and Jamie stood up, backing to the door.

“I’m gonna go play on the computer in the den…” he said, before he hurried out of the room sensing an impending Diva meltdown. Which arrived seconds later.

“I hate it!” Rori glared at her father and then Katie “I hate the baby already and I don’t want it in this house.” “Aurora Sarah Natasha Rogers! That is a horrible thing to say.” Steve pointed at her, feeling his neck warming with anger. “You apologise right now”

“No.”

“Fine.” Steve said, standing up. He pointed to the door. “Go to your room.”

“No.” she repeated

“Rori…” Katie said, her voice cracking slightly as she blinked back her tears “Do what your father says.”

“Make me.” she folded her arms and looked at Katie, her chin raised defiantly and Steve let out a noise of frustration that vibrated in his throat like a growl. “Don’t tempt me.” he glowered at her and she turned her attention to him.  “You have until the count of 3 to get out of my sight and up those stairs before I drag you up them myself.”

Rori looked at him, blinking and he started his countdown.

“One…”

Nothing.

“Two…” his voice grew louder.

At that point, it was like something twigged in her brain and she suddenly understood exactly how pissed he was. Her eye filled with tears and she wheeled round, running from the rooms her sobs carrying to their ears as her feet stomped up the stairs. They heard the dull slam of her bedroom door and Steve’s hands fell to his hips and he took a deep sigh, looking at his feet.

Katie sniffed slightly and Harry looked at her, frowning.

“No cry momma…” he said softly, his hands wrapping around her neck. She pressed her face into his hair and kissed his head.

“I’m ok baby.” she said gently. Steve shook his head and looked at his wife, running his hand over his face.

“What’ going on?” Emmy asked, looking at her mom then to her dad.

“Nothing, just sick of her attitude…” Steve snapped back and Emmy looked at him.

“Don’t take it out on me.”

“Sorry I’m…I didn’t mean to.” he shook his head.

“What are you not telling me?” Emmy pressed “Don’t treat me like a kid!”

Katie looked at Steve then to Emmy before she sighed “The scan showed something up. I have a condition called placenta accreta. The baby is fine it just means that I will need a caesarean section…” she swallowed “And then a hysterectomy afterwards. But it’s gonna be ok, they picked it up and we have time to prepare.”

Emmy took a deep breath “So you’ll both be ok?” she asked “You and the baby?”

“Yeah.” Katie told her. “It was just a shock, for both of us to hear that’s all.”

“I can imagine.” Emmy said quietly “I’ll ring Pete, cancel tonight, I can stay…” “No,no…” Steve protested at the same time Katie shook her head.

“Em,you don’t need to do that.” Katie sighed “We don’t want you to…honestly there’s no need.” “Are you sure?” “There’s nothing you can do.” Steve said “There’s nothing any of us can do and there’s not point you worrying about it so…go out, enjoy yourself ok?”

She nodded and stood up, crossing to give her mom a hug before doing the same to Steve and heading out of the room. Steve looked at his wife for a moment before Harry glanced at him.

“Dadda mad?” he asked softly.

“Not with you pal.” he replied, crossing the room to sit besides them. Harry shifted and untangled himself from Katie before he crawled over into Steve’s lap.

“I get sister?” he asked looking at Steve and Steve smiled at him.

“Yeah buddy.”

Harry grinned and nodded before he tugged on Steve’s beard and Steve playfully snapped his teeth at the tot’s fingers in the way he always did.

“Snappy snappy crocodile!” Harry laughed and Steve let out a chuckle before he looked at Katie, his hand gently squeezing her knee.

“I’ll give her 10 minute and then I’ll go speak to her.” Steve said.

“Don’t think I’ve ever heard you shout at her like that.” Katie raised her eyebrow.

“She deserved it.” Steve said, blowing a breath out of his nose. “Her attitude stinks.” “She’s jealous.” Katie said simply “And we only have ourselves to blame.”

“What do you mean?” Steve frowned.

“I mean we ruin her.” Katie said simply “We indulge her little diva attitude, brush her tantrums off as amusing most of the time…she’s not a bad kid, I mean 9 time out of 10 she’s awesome and everyone comments on how well behaved she is, how all of them are for that matter, but…” she sighed “Things are about to change for her, and like I said she’s going to have to share you-“ “She shares me now…” “Yes but not with another little girl.”

“Yes she does, we have Emmy…” “Emmy isn’t little.” Katie shook her head. “She was a lot older when Rori was born and she’s been there for Rori’s entire life.” Katie reasoned “This is different. And it’s going to take some getting used to. I’m not excusing her behaviour before you say it…” she held her hand up to cut him off as he opened his mouth to speak. “She was really naughty then and you were absolutely right to do what you did…I guess, well we just need to be prepared to follow it through because I don’t think that’s the end of it.”

“So how do we deal with it?” Steve said after a moment’s deliberation.

“We keep her involved, try as much as we can to ensure she becomes interested in the baby.” Katie shrugged “And perhaps if you can get her to talk to you, admit what she’s feeling that might help.” “Easier said than done.” Steve looked at his wife “She’s as stubborn as you.

“Pot, Kettle Rogers.” Katie raised an eyebrow and Steve chuckled, leaning over to give Katie a soft kiss.

“Gross…” Harry mumbled, in a very Jamie like way.  Steve blew a raspberry on his cheek, making him giggle and scrunch his body up, pushing Steve away. They both spent a bit of time with the tot then, talking to him about Nursery, listening to what his limited vocabulary told them, before Katie headed into the den to check on Jamie and Steve jogged up the stairs to face the Star Spangled Diva.

“Rori…” he said, poking his head round the door.

“Go away.” She sniffed and he sighed, shaking his head.

“Sorry, can’t do that.” he said, stepping into the room. “It’s the law in this house that we don’t go to bed angry, remember?”

She looked up at him from where she sat on the floor, her Scrap Book (or the crap book as he and Jamie dubbed it) open on the floor at a page where she had been sticking in some pictures of animals from an old book he’d picked up in the University second hand shop for her to dissect. He noted she was labelling different parts of the animals with brightly coloured pens and smiled.

“You been doing animals at school?” he asked.

“No.” she shook her head “I just like them.” her voice fell quiet. Steve crossed the room and took a seat on her bed and she avoided his gaze again.

“Rori, look at me princess.”

She obeyed and her eyes locked onto his and he patted his knee “Come on.” She stood up and scrambled onto his lap and he wrapped his arms around her.

“Sorry for making you mad daddy.” she sniffed.

“And I’m sorry for shouting.” he replied, “But do you know why I did?”

“Because I said mean things.” “Yeah.” he nodded “You did. You wanna tell me why?”

She shrugged

“You know having a baby sister isn’t going to mean you miss out on anything.” he said softly “Me and Momma will still love you just as much. You know that right?”

“I guess so.” She shrugged again. Sensing he wasn’t going to get anything more out of her, he decided to leave it there and looked down at her, as she pulled back, her hand fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. “Do you think you need to apologise to someone else?”

“Momma.” she said quietly.

Steve nodded “Ok, go on then and come back up. It’s bed time for you.” “But…”

“Rori…you’ve been really naughty and apologising isn’t going to change that. So you can go say you’re sorry to momma and then it’s bed. We start again tomorrow, ok?”

“Ok Daddy.” she bowed her head and slid off his knee, heading out of the room and down the stairs. Steve gave her a second or so before he followed her down, almost bumping into Emmy who was dressed in a nice pair of jeans and a tight, low cut navy blue sweater under her black leather biker jacket. He looked at her and she shook her head

“Don’t bother.” she smirked “I’m 22 you can’t say it…” “I can and I am.” he arched an eyebrow “Cover yourself up.” “Bite me.” she grinned, and he nudged her with his elbow, chuckling as they headed down the stairs. Katie was in the kitchen crouched down, hugging a sobbing Rori.

“It’s ok.” she soothed “I forgive you baby.” Rori sniffed and pulled back, as Katie wiped her daughter’s tears with her fingers. “You know me and daddy love you don’t you?” She nodded and looked down at the floor, averting her gaze. “I know.” “Hey…” Emmy cut in, crossing the room and crouching down next to her mum. Katie stood up and looked at Steve who smiled at her. “You know what…when Mom and Dad told me they were having Jamie I got scared too.” “I’m not scared…” Rori said defiantly and Emmy shook her head.

“I’m not saying you are…I mean you’re way braver than me.” she smiled “But I thought having Jamie might mean there was no room for me anymore.” “There’s lots of room.” Rori looked at her confused. “We have a big home.”

“I know that now, but I didn’t at the time.” Emmy smoothed her little sister’s hair back. “I thought Mom and Dad wouldn’t love me as much because I wasn’t actually theirs but they did. And that was almost 10 years ago. I’m still here. And Jamie was so cool as a baby, we got to do loads of fun things, share stuff, play together.”

Rori looked at her sister and then looked down at her feet. “I’m not sharing my toys.” Emmy glanced up at her mom who shook her head, indicating that enough was enough. They’d had an apology and that was fine for tonight. Tempers needed to stay calm and they were in danger of spiralling again.

“Ok….come on.” Steve said, and Rori looked at him, her eyes pleading “Remember what I said.”

With a deep sigh she looked at her mom “Night momma.” she said, her eyes falling to the floor again.

“Night baby.” Katie said, bending down to give her head a kiss. She trudged to the door and looked up at her dad, batting her eyes at him and for a second Katie thought he might waver but he didn’t. Not a chance.

“Nice try.” he said, gesturing into the hall with his head. Rori gave an exasperated groan before she headed to the stairs.

“Sorry, I thought that might help.” Emmy looked round.

“Don’t be.” Katie looked at her “You know what she’s like. It’ll work out.” she rubbed at her eyes before she smiled “You look nice, where are you going?”

“Oh, just to play some pool and grab a burger.” Emmy said, “Brooke’s bringing Josh. I won’t be out long.” “Josh…” Katie mused “Double dating?”

“kinda.” Emmy shrugged “He’s a bit of a douche to be honest but, whatever, she seems to like him.” “Bucky doesn’t” Steve snorted.

“Uncle Bucky doesn’t like a lot of people.”  Emmy laughed and Steve chuckled.

“That’s true.” he admitted as she fished in her pocket for the keys to her BMW convertible, a 21st present from them both. He nodded to them and fixed her with a look “Drive safe.” She rolled her eyes and then grinning saluted him “Yes Captain.” He shook his head and snorted as she passed him in the doorway, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek.

“See you both later.” “Have a good time.” Katie called. Steve watched her go before he turned to his wife and stepped into the kitchen. She fell into his open arms and he kissed her head.

“Why don’t you go put Harry down, then have a bath and get in bed?” he suggested “I’ll spend a bit of time with Jamie before I send him up.”

“You sure?” she asked.

“Course.” he dropped a kiss to her head.

“Ok. That sounds great, I won’t lie.”

He smiled as she stepped back, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and headed out. He followed her with his eyes before he took a deep breath and pushed his worries to the back of the mind and wandered into the den.

“Right son…” he grinned “Fire up the Mario Karts…I’m gonna kick your butt this time.”

“No chance old man!” Jamie grinned, jumping up to switch the game in the console.

*****

An hour and a half or so and 15 round of karts later, Steve was down 6 games to 9, which was an improvement over all. He sighed, tossing the controller down, holding his hands up. “Ok, I yield…”

Jamie grinned “Told ya…”

“Yeah, yeah…” Steve rolled his eyes. “And now I’m telling you, bed time…you can watch TV for half an hour ok?” Jamie let out a little groan but stood up, obeying all the same. He turned off the TV and Stark followed him out of the room. Steve turned off the lights before he closed the door as Jamie turned to him in the hallway. .

“Night dad.” Jamie said, giving him a hug.

“Night bud, don’t forget to say night to your mom too.”

“I won’t.” he nodded, before he bounded off up the stairs.

Steve headed around the house, doing his usual lock down checks before he too made his way up to their room. Katie was sat propped up in bed, looking at her phone.

"You ok?" he asked, walking into their room.

"Yeah..." Katie looked up at Steve, "I'm fine."

"Good." He dropped a kiss to her lips. "What you looking at?"

"I was googling my condition." She shrugged. "Then I decided to change the topic and was looking at names..."

"Any you like?" He asked, seizing the opportunity to talk about something positive to do with their baby. He sat down on the side of the bed, tilting slight so he was facing her, placing one arm over her so his palm was flat on the covers by her hip.

"One...but it's a little old fashioned...but...I really like it" she looked at him a little shyly "Florence"

Steve looked at her for a moment and then then looked to her bump before he peeked back up at her, smiling softly "that was my grandmother's name, on my dad's side."

"I know." She looked at him "I think it’s beautiful. So many things we can shorten it to as well..."

"She was known as Flo." He said, "I never met her...I only know from what Ma told me"

"Well I like Flo or Flossie..." she said, looking down at his hands as her fingers began to play with his.

"Flossie..." Steve played with the name. It was a little unusual, but he liked the way it rolled off his tongue "yeah." He chuckled "Flossie Rogers"

"A 40s movie star name if ever there was one." Katie smiled.

"I think Rori has dibs on the Diva title." He chuckled.

Katie gave a small laugh and looked at where their hands were tangled together again before she glanced up at him, her eyes full of tears. "I'm scared Stevie." She whispered and he sighed, shifting slightly to cup her face with his spare hand.

"I know." He said gently "but you're the strongest person I know. If anyone can get through this, you can."

"I don't feel strong." She whispered

At that Steve took a deep breath and moved, wrapping his arms around her as she lay her head on his shoulder, her face pressing into his neck, her body shaking with silent sobs. He had been waiting for this, the moment she cracked. His hand gently rest on the back of her head, fingers softly tangling in her hair.

"I dont wanna be numb..." she said gently "the thought of them sticking needles into my back...not after..." she gulped and Steve closed his eyes, gently shushing her as he tried to stop his own tears. He knew full well about her fear of needles and anaesthetic which stemmed from the time Hydra had taken her. She had told him all about the fact they had injected her with stuff that left her paralysed from the waist down for hours, just to watch her lose her dignity and control. That was the reason she had refused epidurals for all their kids. The fact she was shouldering this, as well as knowing how she didn't have a choice tore him in two.

“I’ll be with you, the whole time.” he said softly, looking down at her and pressing his forehead to hers. She smiled and nodded, wiping her eyes. “Do you want a drink or anything before I hit the shower?”

“I wouldn’t mind a camomile tea.”  she looked at him.

“Ok.” he dropped a kiss to her head and stood up. He made his way downstairs.

He flipped on the kettle and became that lot in his own thoughts he didn’t hear the security system announce Emmy had come home which was why her voice startled him slightly when she spoke.

"You ok pops?"

Steve spun round to see her watching him carefully as she leaned against the counter, her long hair hung around her heart shaped face, her eyes shining.

“You weren’t out long.” he commented and she shrugged.

“Brooke has an early shift tomorrow. We shot a few games and ate and…well that was it. It was fun.” “Good.” he smiled “Where’s Queens?”

“I dropped him home.” Emmy shrugged and she didn’t need to explain why. She was trying to give him and Katie some peace, which Steve was grateful for.

He took a moment to look at his eldest, taking in not for the first time how pretty she was. With her olive skin, ebony hair and deep brown eyes she looked nothing like him or Katie, which was to be expected as she wasn’t biologically theirs but still, she’d turned into a gorgeous young woman, but what he was most satisfied about was her compassion and drive. She’d aced university, working so hard and was now channelling her skills and her degree into becoming a Child Therapist, working alongside a local Children’s charity which the Stark Relief Fund had set up. Steve had no doubts that she’d end up running the Charity on behalf of SI at some point- she had the drive and passion to do so and she had been adamant since she was 17 that she wanted to work with kids who suffered from abuse, just as she had, using her own experiences to help others.

That he could attribute directly to Katie, and he couldn’t be more proud to do so if he tried.

"I'm fine honey." He said, giving her a small smile and she chuckled.

"Liar."

He sighed "you always call me out on my bullshit. You're like your mother."

She shrugged "There are worse people to be like"

"Very true." He agreed, turning to the kettle as he picked it up and poured hot water over the teabag in the mug.

"Do you think you’ll get any more trouble from Rori?"

“Probably.” Steve licked his lips as he turned back to her. “But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Thank you for trying before by the way. I was a bit surprised you remembered all that to be honest”.

"Course I do." She grinned "I was petrified you wouldn't want me anymore."

Steve shook his head "nothing could have been further from the truth"

"I know" she smiled "know what else I remember like yesterday?"

"The time you punched that jerk in the face at school?" Steve teased and she snorted

"Well yeah but that's not what I was gonna say" she shook her head "I remember the day you got punched in the supermarket. You gave me the adoption papers that afternoon. It was Jamie's birthday. Uncle Tony and Auntie Pep gave me my bracelet with my initials."

Steve beamed "Yeah. Despite the punching that was a good day. You know, we'd had those papers for a week before we told you."

Emmy took a deep breath "I don't think I say this enough but I really am grateful you and mom took me in..."

"Em, you don't need to-"

"I know." she cut him off "But I am. You didn't need to, but you did. And all of us, bump included are the luckiest kids around. You're the best parents any kid could wish for."

Steve felt his eyes misting over and he looked at Emmy, shaking his head "Come 'ere." he smiled and she pushed off the counter and walked towards him, stepping into his embrace "I know it might not seem like it at times with the others being as demanding as they are but we do love you with all our hearts Em." he said, pressing a kiss to her head "You'll always be our first baby."

"Stop it!" she spluttered, stepping back to wipe her eyes.

He smiled and cupped her face before he took a deep breath "Anyway, I meant to ask...you and Queens still going to look at that apartment or..."

Emmy shrugged "It’s not important at the moment”

“Em.” Steve sighed “What’s going on with your mom, we don’t want that to impact on your plans.”

“No, I don’t mean that. Well, ok, that is important but, well,  I'm still training at work and Pete's getting to grips with all the R&D department  at SI so we both kinda said if the right place appears then great, if not...well, we can wait."

"Sensible decision." he nodded, "You only just turned 22, and yes, I know..." he held his hand up to cut off what he knew full well was going to be her protest about wanting to be independent "You want to stand on your own two feet but, this is your home and always will be for as long as you want. And if you're really desperate to be away from the chaos in here, well me and your mom had an idea that maybe we could do the Cabin up."

"That's your man cave." she looked at him.

"I can move my art stuff into the attic or the garage." he shrugged "We could use it and make you a little apartment. Just a thought to keep in mind."

"Pete as well?" she asked and Steve looked at her, cocking his head to one side, taking a deep breath as he nodded.

"Queens as well."

She smiled. "Thanks Dad. Maybe we can talk about it once everything has settled down."

Steve nodded "Sounds like a plan."

"You'd know, after all you are the star span-..."

"Yeah yeah." he cut her off, rolling his eyes "And on that note I'm going to bed." He picked up the mug containing Katie's drink and stooped to give Emmy a peck on the cheek. "See you in the morning sweetie."

"No don't stay up too late?" she quipped in a deep voice as he walked past her. He chuckled and looked back over his shoulder.

"As you keep reminding me..." he dropped his chin to level her with a look "you're a grown ass woman now."

At that she let out a laugh and he smiled, before he left the room. Katie was in the en-suite when he got upstairs so he placed the mug down on her nightstand and then headed over to check on the kids. First off he stopped at Rori’s room and smiled as she was in her bed with Sparkles, her pink unicorn teddy clutched to her chest. He crossed the room and placed a kiss on her head, noting the tear tracks were still evident on her face. He felt a pang of guilt once more for his outburst at her earlier in the evening but really, she had deserved it, and he knew that tomorrow was a fresh start. He flicked off her lamp before he then headed over to check on Harry. He was led flat on his back, the covers tangled around his feet, his stuffed giraffe on the floor as always. Pulling the duvet up around his chin he tucked him in, errant giraffe placed by his side he dimmed thes night slightly, leaving it casting soft illuminated stars onto his ceiling, which was apt really as the boy was an absolute star of a kid. Then he headed over to Jamie’s room, the boy already asleep with Stark led by his feet.

“Down.” he instructed the dog, pointing to the basket in the corner of the room. The mutt gave him a reproachful look before he stood up and gave a huff as he jumped down and padded to his bed. Steve knew full well the dog would be back up there the minute he closed the door on his way out, but at least his conscience was clear when Katie moaned about dog hair on Jamie's quilt. As he turned off Jamie’s TV it struck him how it seemed such a pointless thing to be complaining about all things considered.

Turning off the hall lights he made his way back into their bedroom where Katie was watching something on TV.

“They all ok?”

“Fast asleep” he smiled, pulling unbuttoning his plaid shirt before he tossed it into the hamper. He then shed his jeans and headed into the en-suite for a quick shower before he dried off, pulled on a clean pair of boxers and settled down into bed, Katie snuggling up to him, tossing her leg over his and laying her head on his chest. After a moment or so she moved, her hand dropping to her bump.

“You ok?”

“Yeah she’s kicking…” Katie smiled, “That’s the first time I’ve felt her doing that…she’s just been wriggling up until now.” She took Steve’s hand and he eagerly waited until he felt their baby give another little jab and he felt the grin spread across his face as he felt his daughter move for the first time. He shuffled down a little placing both hands either side of her bump.

“Hey Flossie…” he mumbled, pressing a kiss to the curve of Katie’s belly as her hand tangled into his hair.

“So we’re decided on Florence.” Katie chuckled and he peered up at her, smiling.

“Yeah, I think so.” he nodded, his hand feeling another kick and he gave another smile before he shuffled back upwards and lay on his side, looking at his wife .“Love you.” he said, sliding his nose against hers, seeking out her lips for a soft kiss.

“Love you too” she muttered against his mouth, unwilling to break away as his kiss grew a little more urgent. Eventually he pulled back, pressing his forehead to hers, his eyes closed.

“It’ll all be ok.” he muttered softly.

“You trying to convince me or yourself.” Katie asked.

“Bit of both.” he admitted.

She gave him another soft peck before she turned over, reaching for the remote. Flicking off the TV she shuffled back into his arms, her back pressed to his chest as Steve curled his arm around her, his hand cradling her bump and their precious cargo.

*****

November 2029

Things settled down a little after the initial shock of the news had sunk in. Katie was continuing to have regular scans and their baby was fine. Dr Kellet had suggested that they look to do the operation at 35 weeks, the point at which she was confident their baby would be absolutely fine. With that in mind they were given a provisional date of 9th January, subject to the situation remaining stable.

What didn’t improve, however, was Rori. Whilst there were no more outbursts or temper tantrums, her attitude had changed from one of anger to simple apathy. They’d told the kids what they were going to call their daughter, but Rori wasn’t interested. She wouldn’t talk to Katie’s bump, or feel it like the other kids did, she was just completely and utterly indifferent to the entire situation. And whilst it was better in some ways than her shouting and screaming, Steve could see it was starting to get to Katie which was why he had taken Rori out for the day to give Katie a bit of time where she didn’t have to worry or deal with her, and hopefully try to get the little girl to open up a bit more. She still hadn’t admitted to either of them what she was feeling and every time they tried to talk to her she simply changed the subject.

He’d taken her to the Natural History Museum in Manhattan, treating her to a ride on the subway which always fascinated her. They’d had a lovely afternoon, even if it had been a little cold outside, and she had enthusiastically looked at the exhibits on the dinosaurs and animals, her little face lighting up as she chatted away and completed the activity booklet she had been handed on their way in, tracking all the clues as they went.

There had been no mention of the baby, at all, and as they walked around in the gift shop, Rori browsing, Steve decided to raise it and see if she would talk to him and open up now they were alone and away from the house.

"Shall we pick something for Florence, ready for when she is born?" he asked her as she examined a shelf full of stuffed animals.

Rori looked at her dad and averted her eyes "if you want..."

“Don’t you want?"

She shrugged

“Ok..." Steve sighed, knowing when he was beat. “Come on then, let’s go home.”

Rori turned her eyes to his before he looked at the floor, her sneakers scuffing on the tiles of the gift shop. "I'm sorry..." She whispered, her lower lip wobbling.

“What for?” Steve asked, taking a deep breath as he crouched down and gently brushed her hair out of her eyes, one of his hands gently resting along her rib cage.

“Being mean.”

“You’re not being mean.” he said gently, which was true. She wasn’t. “You’re sad though. I can tell.”

She shrugged again, still avoiding his eyes.

"Why does the baby upset you so much Princess?" He pressed gently. She looked at him, her eyes watering.

"Coz she's gonna take you and momma away from me..."

"Oh Rori..." Steve sighed as her tears trickled down her face. Finally hearing her admit it out-loud meant he could confront it head on, give her the direct re-assurance she needed. "I told you already, that's not gonna happen. Me and momma love you and that's not gonna change." She sniffled as he wiped her tears away with his thumbs. "Harry was born after you, did he take us away from you?"

"No." She sniffled.

"So why would the new baby be any different?"

"Coz she's gonna be your new princess. I'm not gonna be special anymore."

Steve felt his heart breaking as Rori began to sob.

"Ok..." he said, picking her up and carrying her out of the shop into the large foyer. She pressed her face into his neck and he gently rubbed her back as she cried whilst he walked them over to a bench at the side of the room where he sat silently with her, gently rocking her as she cried, Katie's words from a few weeks ago echoing in his head.

"She's jealous Steve. And we only have ourselves to blame."

As much as Katie had said “we” she may as well have said “you”. Rori had been his little princess since the day they had found out they were having a girl, and Steve knew he indulged her, because he fucking loved her. He loved her craziness, her sassiness, the way she gave him so much back chat and general attitude...even if it did drive him mad. But most of all he adored the way she looked just like Katie and had inherited her mother's tactile nature. She was always the first to reach him when he got home from work, racing down the hall to fling herself at him. She insisted on sitting on his knee at night as they watched TV, she would crawl into his and Katie's bed between them on a Sunday morning for a cuddle before they got up. He was the one she went to when she had fallen over, unless he was out, and then Katie would suffice but he would get the full sympathy play when he got home. It was the exact role reversal to their two boys who sought Katie out for their bumps and scrapes but came to him for the fun and games. Both parents gave them all different things, which was how it was supposed to be and fuck, Rori would always be his little girl, as would Flossie, and a new baby sister should be filling her heart with love not worry and sadness. As he sat still, she hiccupped slightly, he sobs growing quieter and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"I'm gonna tell you something now sweetheart." He said as she tightened the grip her little hands had on his jacket as he continued to gently rock her to and fro "you have no idea how special you are to me and your momma. You know we lost you once..."

"Lost me?" Rori sniffed "how?"

"Remember we told you about the bad man that made Uncle Bucky and Uncle Sam go away...and how your Uncle Tony died with Natasha to bring them back?"

She nodded

"Well when he sent all those people away, you were in your momma's tummy and he made you go away too. We were so upset when we found out."

"But I came back?" She asked, her green eyes wide

"You sure did. You were our little magic baby" He smiled "And when you were born we were so happy to finally meet you because we had waited so long, Rori. And I remember thinking when I held his for the first time how beautiful and perfect you were."

"So I am special?"

"Of course you are" he nodded "I mean how can you not be? Your birthday is the same as your Uncle Tony's and you're named after 2 other very special girls." He smiled as she glanced down at her hands which were now playing with the buttons on his shirt. "Your nanna Sarah and Natasha."

"And Princess Aurora" she looked at him.

"And Princess Aurora" he nodded.

"And I look like Momma." Rori nodded back to him, "which makes me pretty too right Daddy?"

"Absolutely." Steve smiled "your momma is the prettiest woman in the world."

Rori looked at him for a moment before she smiled "Can we go back to the shop please Daddy? I want to get the baby something now."

Steve smiled. "Sure, come on."

She hopped off his lap and they headed back inside to the store, her little hand in his and she led him over to the soft toy section, her eyes roaming the shelves, brow furrowed in concentration.

"What should we get?" She asked, looking up at Steve.

"You pick." He said, looking down at her. "I trust you. You are a princess after all so you know what princesses like..."

She contemplated his words before she glanced back at the shelves, scanning the plush toys. Steve stood patiently before she tugged on his hand and pointed to a zebra which sat on the shelf in her eye-line.

"That one." She said firmly

"Sure?" He asked and she nodded.

"Zebras are like ponies daddy." She said "and all princesses should have a pony"

"Alright. You wanna grab it?" He looked down at her, his spare hand gently cupping her cheek.

She nodded and turned back, plucking one down off the shelf.

"Do you want one?"

"No, I have a Sparkles" she shrugged "Unicorns are much better."

Steve looked at her for a moment, and decided to let her have that little victory.

“I think we should call her Rolfina.” Rori said, handing it to him.

“Rolfina?” he frowned “Where on earth did you hear that?” “Dur, it’s the zebra in Zootopia.” she said and Steve rolled his eyes.

“Course it is.” he mumbled, heading to the till to pay.

***** “Momma!” Rori burst into the living room “Look…”

She held out the toy zebra as she made her way over to where Katie was sat, tapping at her laptop

“Wow!” she smiled, setting the computer down onto the coffee table. “Did you have a nice time?” “Yeah. I did the activity book and we did the treasure hunt and then we bought this…” she paused and Steve leaned in the doorway, bracing himself for her to clam up again but she continued, albeit her voice a little softer “…its for the baby.” Katie hid her shock well, Steve had to give his wife credit.

“She’ll love it.” Katie smiled “You can put it in her room if you like?”

Rori nodded and then hesitated before she climbed up onto the sofa and wrapped her arms around her Mother’s neck. Katie hugged her back and looked at Steve who flashed her a wink as he pushed off the door frame.

“Where are the boys?” “Playing lego in the den.” Katie smiled as Rori pulled back slightly.

“Can I say hi to the baby?” she asked shyly and Katie nodded.

“Of course you can.” Rori wriggled down a little, her cheek pressing to Katie’s bump over her t-shirt. She took a deep breath and spoke in a soft voice. “Hi Flossie…” There was a second pause and Katie felt a jab in her belly and Rori’s head flew up as her eyes widened and she squealed. “Momma she moved!”

“That’s because she heard you baby.” Katie smiled, thanking her lucky stars that Flossie had chosen that exact moment to give a harsh boot. Steve felt his heart swell as he watched Rori return her hands to Katie’s stomach.

“She can hear me?”

“Yeah, she can hear you all.” “So…” Rori sat up a little, her eyes downcast “Will she have heard me say those nasty things when I said I hated her?”

“And she will have also heard you say sorry.” Steve said, sitting down next to her. He wasn’t even going to try to explain that the baby wouldn’t be able to understand a word of what Rori was saying.

“And she knows its me?” Rori asked “For sure?” “For sure.” Rori gave a grin and jumped down running into the hallway.

“Hey losers!” she shouted, heading towards the den “I just talked to the baby and she listened and knows me coz she moved…” Whatever sarcastic reply Jamie shot back died as the door to the den shut and Katie looked at Steve.

“Ok, who is she and where’ the real Diva?” “What can I say, I just have that magic way with my girls…” he grinned. “Hmmm, sure you do.” Katie looked at him and he smiled, leaning over to give her a kiss.

“And maybe Rolfina had something to do with it.” he grinned, picking up the stuffed Zebra.

[nightingiall]

head in the clouds: part iii

{story page}

“You know,” says Rory through a mouthful of popcorn, picking a stray kernel out of Spike’s fur. “I don’t think it’s healthy for Spike to be this large.” 

She doesn’t remember how exactly Niall Horan convinced her to come to his place to spend some time with Spike, especially after she’s been adamant on wanting nothing to do with this. They’d bumped into each other at, of course, a party, somewhere at the Residences, somehow ending up alone on someone’s balcony. They shared a joint and he said something that made her laugh so hard tears sprang to her eyes. And after he showed her some photos of his very large, stolen, perpetually frowning cat, it wasn’t long until she caved. 

And, now, here she is, two bottles of beer and a whole bowl of popcorn in, curled up into Spike on his couch with some true crime show playing on his television.

“How do you mean?” Niall is three bottles of beer in and is still going quite strong. Rory can’t deny that she’s impressed. 

She runs her fingers through Spike’s fur, smiling at the resulting purr the gesture elicits out of him. “Like, I’m pretty sure it’s not normal for him to be this size. And he drags his paws when he walks sometimes, like it’s a struggle for him.” 

When she looks up at Niall, he’s quirking an eyebrow at her, that stupid grin of his threatening to break through his features, and Rory just knows he’s about to say something that’ll have her rolling her eyes. “Rory Bhatt,” he draws out, and his voice is low and slow as he leans forward to narrow his eyes at her. She tries to ignore the swoop in her tummy at the way his accent lilts through her name, at the way the blue in his eyes appear brighter than she’s ever seen. “Are you fat shaming Spike?” 

She doesn’t know why she does it. Doesn’t even want to do it. But a laugh bubbles out of her so abruptly that Spike moves away from her and starts slithering towards Niall, clearly not appreciating being disrupted as he’s trying to take a nap. “No!” She has to clutch her stomach she’s laughing so hard, and she’d blame the beer but she’s not even drunk. 

Niall joins in regardless, scooping up Spike into his arms as he cradles him. “Did ol’ Rory offend you, Spikey boy?” he coos at him. He leans back into the armchair and the cat curls into his lap, purring contentedly the whole time.

“I’m just saying!” she attempts to continue, swiping at the moisture that’s collected beneath her lashes, and Niall’s full-on grinning at her now. “How many cats do you know have grown to that size? Maybe Dreyfuss wasn’t taking care of him properly.” 

Niall hums, looking at her thoughtfully now. Spike has already made himself comfortable, tail flicking once against Niall’s chest, and Rory has to hold back a laugh at the thought of Spike falling asleep and Niall not being able to move for the next hour or so. “Suppose you have a point,” is what he finally says, looking at Spike fondly. Rory startles for a moment at how tender the moment is, how gently his fingers skim across Spike’s fur, how closely he holds him. It’s a side of him she’s never seen. “But what should we do? We can’t exactly take him to a vet right now.” 

Rory ignores the we in his statement, figuring that she’s in way too deep now to be insisting that she doesn’t want to be a part of this. She wonders where his head is, though. He’s always annoyingly optimistic and preppy, but she also hopes that he understands the gravity of the situation he’s gotten himself into. “Well, what’s your long-term plan for Spike? Are you going to keep him once the summer’s over?” 

“Of course!” Niall gives her a look like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I didn’t rescue him from Dreyfuss for no reason ya know. Just because she’s rich and owns shit or whatever doesn’t mean she gets to treat her pets like shit.” There’s a fire in those blue eyes, lit up into the most electric hue, accent thickened significantly. He’s hypnotizing. Rory can’t tear her eyes away. “He’s mine now. Aren’t ya buddy?” he murmurs, voice all gentle and sweet now, like it always gets when he talks to Spike. “I won’t treat ya like ol’ Dreyfuss did. We’ll get you healthy in no time.” He looks up at Rory, smile intact. “Won’t we?”

Rory finds herself smiling back. For the first time, she feels as though she and Niall Horan might just get along. After all, he’s shown her nothing but kindness. And he may be annoying sometimes, with his loud, obnoxious laugh and terrible jokes, but his positive attributes are among the rare finds at Hightstown, especially with people their age. He’s incredibly attentive, has always been respectful of her boundaries, thoughtful, and overwhelmingly empathetic, even to a fault. Most of all, he has made her laugh in a way she hasn’t in a long time. So maybe, she thinks now, looking into those big blue eyes that always seem to reflect whatever light that gets thrown into them, helping him keep this cat a secret isn’t such a bad idea after all.

“Yeah,” is what she ends up saying, more conviction in her voice than she’s ever heard. “We will.” 

***

This is how it starts. Fiery hot summer days melting into cool, breezy nights. Racing to Niall’s place after their lifeguard shifts, giggling the entire way. Sharing beers and laughs over figuring out the best cat diet and getting Spike to be more active.

This is how it starts, and there are only 42 days of summer left. 

***

Rory is kind of drunk. 

Chester from the kitchen, an older man with kind eyes and a big personality who’s worked at Hightstown for as long as Rory can remember, had given her two bottles of wine that were from an extra shipment that came in by accident. She’d gone there to snag some extra meat and other scraps they could use to make something healthier for Spike to eat and ended up with an interesting tidbit of gossip from one of the assistant chefs. Apparently, Mrs. Dreyfuss was going crazy searching for her missing cat. She’d laughed it off then but quickly detoured to Niall’s place to let him know that he’d have to be more careful now that people may actually be keeping an eye out for a stray wandering around. 

Somehow, that turned into them sharing a few beers, then chasing Spike around the apartment for a while, luring him through the obstacle course Niall built for him before giving him his food and letting him rest. They’d learnt the hard way that Spike got impossibly irritated with them after they made him exercise, so they always give him some alone time afterwards so he can enjoy his food in peace. 

Now, they’re sprawled out on his floor, one bottle of wine already drained by the both of them, stomachs full from the chocolate-peanut butter cupcakes Niall made—another thing she’s learned about him, he’s an excellent baker. Her limbs feel all lax and sated. They’d fully intended only to drink a glass or two each, but the wine went down so smoothly, a burst of sweet tartness on her tongue, and before she knew it, the entire bottle was empty. 

“That was,” Niall slurs, and she can see from her peripheral that he’s rolling onto his side to face her, “the best wine I’ve ever had.” 

She finds herself giggling at his words. Stupidly, inanely, happily. “Agreed.” The ceiling looks as though it’s rippling like waves in an ocean above her, all long, fluid lines, the muted colors of white and brown swirling together. She rolls her head over only to find Niall looking at her already, that stupid grin plastered onto his face. His lips are stained cherry red from the wine, chocolate, brown hair looking incredibly soft as it sticks up in every direction, cheeks tinged a perpetual bubblegum pink, presumably from the alcohol thrumming through his system. It appears that she’s so drunk that she can look at him and only think of sweets. “You look ridiculous by the way,” is what ends up coming out of her mouth, even though she’s gone enough to admit to herself that she thinks anything but. 

Niall laughs at that, a loud, guttural cackle that reverberates off the walls and bounces around the entire apartment. It’s resounding and vibrant and it has the alcohol in her veins feeling like champagne bubbles instead of the velvety wine she actually consumed. She finds herself laughing too.   “What do I look like?” 

She simply stares at him for a moment, lower lips worried between her teeth, and she nearly wonders why she’s unable to formulate words before she’s realizing that she can’t tear her eyes away from that magnificent blue. They’re intoxicating, magnetizing, and if Rory weren’t already drunk she’d think that those eyes alone could get her wasted. She’d never looked close enough before, but there’s a ring of gold, right around his pupils, blending up into a bright, sapphire blue. Brilliant, soulful eyes that somehow sparkle in the light, that somehow look as though they held the entire universe, constellations of stars orbiting around in those deep pools of blue. 

“Rory.” He’s still laughing, waving his hands in front of her face, snapping her out of her thoughts and she blushes, wondering dumbly if he could somehow read her mind, skin tingling in mortification at the idea. “Don’t pass out on me now.” 

She rolls her eyes but giggles at the way he unwittingly hits his hand against the couch. “You look like…” She feels around for her phone so she could snap a photo and show him but she can’t find it anywhere. “Where’s my phone?” She shifts around to sit up and her head immediately starts to spin. She is so drunk. “I’ll just,” she mumbles, spotting the notebook and pen on his coffee table they’d been using to write down a recipe for Spike’s food and grabs it, “I’ll just draw you.”

“Ooohh.” Niall sits up too, limbs flailing around clumsily as he laughs at himself. He accidentally knocks over the empty bottle of wine that had been sitting between them, the action sending them into another fit of giggles. “Draw me like a French girl,” he slurs out through his amusement, grinning wildly at her as he shifts into a ridiculous pose, “or however that saying goes.” 

Rory can’t breathe from the way the laughter escapes her at the way he tries to pout seductively, tears springing to her eyes as she tries and fails to control it. “You’re such a dumbass.” Her fingers find the pen, dragging it across a clean sheet of notebook paper in short, quick strokes. It’s a hasty and slightly sloppy sketch of a boy who seems to have her laughing more than she ever has in her entire life. Of a boy who has a bright smile and a raucous laugh and a big, kind heart. “There,” she declares once she’s done, flipping the book around so he can see her creation, and it’s only when she’s paying attention again that she finds that they’ve unknowingly moved closer to one another. 

“I think I look quite good actually.” He’s still laughing. Rory wonders how he still has oxygen in his lungs left to do that, how he manages to make it take up the entire room. “But I think your hands can make anything look good.” He’s grinning at her but then his eyes go impossibly wide. “Because you’re a good artist!” he quickly clarifies. “Not anything dirty! That sounded like it could be dirty. But I just meant—”

He can’t finish because he’s curled up on the floor again, overtaken by another round of the giggles, and Rory’s sucked right into it, dropping the notebook because she’s laughing so hard. Niall’s all sprawled out, limbs knocking into hers, hand over his chest as a tear rolls down the side of his face, and Rory reaches out to swipe at it. But she’s drunk and is lacking coordination so she accidentally pokes him in the eye, falling into another bout of laughter because of the way he yelps. 

And they laugh and laugh until, somehow, his hands are in hers. Until, somehow, she’s falling into his limbs, warm, gangly legs tangled within hers. Until, somehow, they’re not laughing anymore, just looking at one another, all soft smiles and flushed cheeks, the spiral of the notebook poking into her side. Niall is still working through a giggle, the sound knocking around in his throat as he rubs his eye, leaning onto his elbow as he looks down at her, and it’s happening again, her getting lost in the wonder of his eyes. Until, somehow, he’s saying, “Is this the part where you kiss me?” 

Her eyes widen at him, heart skipping a beat in her chest. “What?”

There’s that grin again, wide and bright and blinding. “Isn’t that what happens in the movie?”

Another laugh threatens to break out of her throat. “What movie?”

“The ‘draw me like a French girl’ movie,” he says simply, shrugging. But he leans closer regardless. 

This time, she actually does laugh again. “Titanic?”

“That was Titanic?” He sounds skeptical, eyes going out of focus as he tries to remember the scene he’s talking about. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Niall, I’m pretty sure.” She rolls her eyes at him again. “And I’m pretty sure you’re getting the quote all wrong.”

He makes a face at her. “That’s not even the point, Rory.” 

She almost rolls her eyes again, a retort already sitting on her tongue. But it disappears when suddenly, her eyes are zeroing in on those wine-stained lips, and all she can think of now is how sugary and delicious they must taste, like the wine they just drank, like California grapes and chocolate-peanut butter cupcakes and whatever else he must taste like. “Your lips look like they taste like all the sweets in the world,” she blurts out, and immediately blushes at the sound of her own voice. 

Niall raises a brow at her, eyeing her a bit coyly as he unconsciously runs his tongue across his lower lip. Rory watches the action in a daze, humiliation at her drunken admission simmering away into a hot ball of desire, melting down her throat and into the pit of her stomach. When he speaks again, his voice is low and deep, a smirk slowly spreading across his face. “Wanna come over here and find out?”

And, god, she does want to lean over and find out. She really, really does. Because he’s so close and he smells clean, like lemongrass and lavender. Because it’s all she’s been thinking about the whole night. Because he’s joking around but is looking at her like he absolutely wouldn’t mind kissing her if she wants it too. 

But she can’t. She can’t let last summer happen again. 

So she forces a chuckle and shoves his face away and slyly says, “In your dreams, Horan.” Niall shoves her back and suddenly she’s actually laughing. “Wanna open the other bottle?” she asks, waggling her eyebrows at him. 

“You know I do.” He winks at her, already getting up to go find it, and Rory only allows herself to watch him go for a moment before following after him. “We should watch Titanic while we’re at it because now I need to know how that scene actually goes.” 

Rory starts laughing at that, wondering if he’s ever actually seen the movie because she figures that any guy would remember a scene where Kate Winslet stripped her clothes off so Leo DiCaprio could sketch her wearing only the fancy necklace that everyone in that movie was obsessed about. When she gets to the kitchen, Spike is still curled up in his food corner, licking at his paw, clearly still mad at them. She frowns at him for a moment, wondering if perhaps they were going about this the wrong way. 

Niall must see her face because he says, “Don’t worry about Spike, he’s just being pissy.” He smiles at her when gets closer, reaching out to playfully nudge at her chin. “I FaceTime’d my cousin who’s a vet and she said that a little exercise won’t hurt and to not let him guilt us into letting him get out of it. Turns out cats are smart little buggers.” 

As if replying to Niall, Spike meows lowly from his corner, and the two of them burst into a fit of giggles again. “Hey, have you seen my phone by the way?” she asks, suddenly remembering its absence earlier. 

He twists the wine opener into the cork, looking around before gesturing behind him. “Is that it on the counter over there?”

Sure enough, when she looks over, there it is. She’s surprised to see how late it’s gotten when she turns it on. The surprise quickly melts away into dread at the notification telling her that she missed four calls from her mother, one voicemail waiting for her. She sighs as she opens it up, forgetting how annoyed her mom always got whenever she didn’t answer the phone. The past few weeks have been good because Rory actually remembered to call her every night. And if she was too tired to call then she’d send a text saying as much. But with radio silence tonight, her mom must have been pissed. 

Rory opens the voicemail and presses the phone to her ear to hear it, but her mom always talks irritatingly low on the phone so she has to turn the volume up and start it over. “Hey, sweetheart,” comes her mom’s voice through the speaker, and to Rory’s surprise, she actually doesn’t sound upset. “Nani came over today and wanted to talk to you, hence the many calls. You’re probably busy but she’s here for the next day or so, so call me back whenever you’re free. Love you, Aurora.” There’s a rustle of movement before she speaks again. “Nani says she loves you too. Talk soon.” 

The message ends and Rory figures that she’ll call back tomorrow when she’s sober and actually has time to talk. So she shoots her mom a text telling her as much, apologizing for good measure. She knows she didn’t get yelled at because her Nani was around. 

“Aurora?” comes Niall’s voice from behind her. When she turns around to face him, he’s looking at her all surprised. She’d forgotten they were standing in the same room before she played the message out loud. “I’m learning so much about you today.” The beginnings of a laugh are threaded into the seams of his voice, and Rory can’t even find it in herself to be annoyed that he now knows her actual name. Harry and Leslie don’t even know, and they’re some of her best friends. He smirks at her, sending her a wink, saying, “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” 

Her skin begins to burn at his words, and she’s glad that her hair is down because she knows even her ears are turning bright red. “I don’t go by that name,” she mumbles out, pocketing her phone and moving towards him to grab the now opened wine bottle, pouring a generous amount of the deep red liquid into their glasses.

Niall’s looking at her curiously, but it’s not the judgemental kind that Rory nearly expects from everyone. “Why not?”

She shrugs, but can’t come up with an answer. There isn’t really a big story behind why she prefers to be called Rory. She’s just always thought that it fit her better. “Aurora was always too prim and proper for me I guess.”

At that, Niall laughs, taking his glass and leaning against the kitchen island where they’re standing. “Why, because it’s a Disney princess name?”

She laughs back, leaning against the island as well, flipping her hair back over her shoulder just for something to do. “Well that definitely didn’t help. But, I don’t know.” Her mind searches for a memory of having a bad experience with the name and none comes up. Everyone’s just always called her Rory except for her mom. But that was always because she’d told them to. “I just never felt like an Aurora. I always wanted people to call me Rory.”

When she looks up at him again, his face is softened up around the edges and he’s smiling that fond sort of smile at her that he usually reserves for Spike. Or maybe she’s imagining it. Maybe she’s too drunk. “Well,” he starts, voice a mere whisper in the already quiet kitchen, and it makes her lean in just to hear him. He leans in too, hand coming around to rest on the island ledge beside her, and she’s suddenly thinking about kissing him again. “I think ‘Rory’ is beautiful too.” And the way he says it makes her heart stop, makes her mind go blank as she gets lost in those eyes again, wide open pools of honesty and sweetness and what also looks like affection. But then he clinks his glass against hers and the spell, once again, is broken, and she’s crash landing back to earth. “Cheers,” he murmurs, still smiling at her, still leaning into her space ever so slightly. 

Rory smiles back, but she doesn’t make a move, knows she won’t. Not after last year. Not after falling for a boy who made her feel like she could float up into the sky only to turn around and break her heart. So she simply says, “Cheers” back and they quietly sip their wine before somehow finding their way back to the living room. 

They end up finishing off the second bottle, wine glasses abandoned on the table in favor of passing the bottle itself between them, and getting way too drunk to even get through Titanic, instead sprawling out on the couch, Rory on one end and Niall on the other, sharing stories they’ve accumulated over the course of the summer and laughing their heads off. At one point, Niall nearly falls off the couch and Rory nearly spits wine into his face so, yeah, they’re wasted.

They’re currently dying over an impression by Niall of Mrs. Dreyfuss when she realized Spike went missing, and Rory doesn’t know how she still has the energy or lung power to laugh as hard as she has. She’s wiping streaks of tears from her eyes when Spike finally crawls in next to them, curling up into their tangled feet in the middle of the couch, and both she and Niall start cooing affectionately at him before they realize how stupid they sound and start giggling again. 

“I really love it when you laugh,” Niall says suddenly, and when she looks up at him, he’s leaning his head against the back of the couch and watching her with a soft smile. “You, like, light up.” He makes a gesture with his hands to mimic sparks and Spike makes a sound that, to Rory’s drunken mind, sounds almost like agreement. “This whole summer, all I wanted to do was make you laugh.” 

She doesn’t know what to do except roll her eyes and toss a pillow from the ground at him. Her skin always feels impossibly warm whenever he throws a compliment at her, and she’s starting to think that he’s just doing it to watch her go red. “You’re drunk,” she says, still laughing a bit. 

Niall tosses it right back at her, and it hits her square in the chest. “But it’s true! You and Spike could have been twins with the way you were always frowning.” 

Rory looks at Spike, who is indeed frowning, and she gasps, feigning offense. “That’s so mean!” She throws the pillow at him again, narrowly missing Spike, who watches her almost warily. “But also probably true.” They laugh again, and every time Rory thinks she simply cannot laugh anymore, something happens and it just bubbles right out of her. Once they’ve finally settled down, silence overtaking them for a few moments, Rory slides down to make herself more comfortable on the couch, eyes trained up at the ceiling, which once again looks like fragments in her drunken vision. 

She closes her eyes and just feels the alcohol pumping through her system. Just feels the way she’s light and airy and carefree. Just feels how good it is to be here, laughing away at everything and nothing with Niall, like there isn’t anything else that matters. Just feels how Spike’s warm fur is curled up against one of her legs and Niall’s fingers are tracing circles along her ankle on the other and smiles to herself because it all just feels so right. 

“You know,” she starts, voice slightly slurred but also slow and quiet in the sudden calmness that’s enveloped the living room. “I wasn’t going to come back this summer.” The words flow out of her naturally, and once she starts talking, she realizes that it’s something she should get off her chest, once and for all. “Which is actually crazy now that I think about it because I’ve been working here for as long as I can remember, and everyone here is like family.” She thinks of Gigi and Harry and Leslie and Chester and all the other staff who have basically seen her grow up. Summer would not have been the same without them. It wouldn’t have felt right. “I was afraid...that things would be different. After last summer.” But she stops herself before she says too much. 

Niall is apparently very perceptive though, because he says, “Someone hurt you, didn’t they?” His voice is hushed and gentle, and when she shifts her head to look at him, he’s watching her carefully. 

“Why?” she asks back, feeling wary all of a sudden. “What have you heard?” She feels like she’s been asking him that a lot lately.

He shrugs, looking down at Spike, who seems to have fallen fast asleep. “Nothing. It’s just,” he’s shrugging again, as though attempting to fill up the space between his thoughts and his words, trying to get them right. And when he looks at her, there’s something in his eyes that she recognizes, even though the space is dimly lit, the only light coming from the lamp at the far side of the room. “I see it, sometimes. In the way you carry it, in your shoulders.” At his words, she suddenly realizes how tense she’s become and relaxes into the pillows slightly, but not tearing her eyes away from him. “You get this look sometimes. When someone says something and you want to laugh but then don’t, as if realizing you shouldn’t. Or when we’re at a party or event and you tense up because you start to realize you’re having fun.” 

Rory doesn’t know how Niall Horan has noticed all these things about her. Doesn’t realize all these things about her even existed. But it’s sort of eye-opening. She’s spent this entire summer feeling sorry for herself, feeling insecure over what others might have thought of her after last year, that she’s forgotten how to have fun. Forgotten why she even loves this place. 

“Sorry,” Niall’s suddenly saying, eyes widening as though he regrets the words that just left his mouth. Rory realizes that silence has stretched between them for minutes and she was too lost in her thoughts to notice. “I didn’t mean to cross a line or anything just—”

“No,” she says, and tries to sound reassuring but instead it sounds sluggish and slurred, her tongue heavy in her mouth. “No, you’re right. I—” She sighs, looking up at the ceiling again, hands folded over her tummy. “I guess I just didn’t realize that I became this person that...I didn’t even want to become.” 

Niall gives her a moment to mull over her thoughts before he says, “I don’t think you realize how much of an impact you have on people.” His fingers are tracing random shapes into her ankle now. Rory wonders if he even realizes he’s doing that or if the gesture is just absentminded. “Everyone here loves you.” 

And for once, she allows his words to take on the meaning he intends, allows them to wash over her bones and settle into that Shack boy-sized hole in her heart left from the summer before. She is more than her heartbreak. She can rise from it and move on.

“Thanks, Niall,” she murmurs after a moment, and as she smiles up at the ceiling now, she can feel herself being pulled into sleep, limbs feeling lethargic and heavy from the day’s events and the silky smooth wine buzzing through her. “Tonight was fun. I needed that.” 

She doesn’t have to look at him to know that he’s smiling too. “Good night, Rory.” 

And silence blankets them for a final time that night, wrapping around them snug and warm. Just two people and a cat, all tangled together, slow, deep breaths lulling them into a state of calm until they listen to sleep’s call and drift off to dreamland.

***

“When are you going to tell me about what’s happening between you and Niall Horan?”

Gigi’s waggling her eyebrows at Rory from where she’s sitting at their kitchen table the next day, sipping on a cup of coffee, and it reminds her too much of a similar conversation they had at the beginning of the summer. 

Except this time, a searing heat cascades across her skin, her cheeks prickling with the telltale signs of a blush, and she’s glad to be holding up a book so Gigi can’t see the way her skin is undoubtedly turning red. “Nothing is going on between me and Niall Horan.” 

There are 40 days of summer left, and that feels like the biggest lie Rory’s ever told.

--

tell me what you think! :)

[halfgclden]

The Ol’ Chop

Summary: Haircut, Blonde, Neapolitan ice cream

Date: Mid-December

Abel, lying upside down on their couch, flipped over completely to land on their feet on the floor, then stayed squatting. They rested their elbows on their knees and their chin on their fists and looked at Rory for a long moment before speaking. “I have a strange inch-long ring of black hair now that my roots have grown out.” It seemed as though this was not the end of their thought, but they paused. “Have you ever thought about dyeing your hair?”

Rory jumped slightly when Abel suddenly moved, having been distracted by her text conversation with Macey. They had trapped her legs underneath them some time ago so she wiggled them to get the blood flowing again, then twisted her body, now crossing them instead. At their words, her hand reached out to pick up a strand of hair, inspecting the inch of black hair they were talking about. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that. Did you have a new master plan to cover it up or did you just wanna touch them up?” She tilted her head, both waiting for their response as well as the question she had been asked. “Yeah? I mean, not a super crazy color or anything, but I’ve always thought about doing it at some point.” Her eyes now narrowed, though the smile slowly growing showed she was joking. “Why?”

Abel closed one eye as Rory touched their hair. “I don’t know.” They hummed. “I could go totally dark, but Jacob might think I’m copying him.” They opened their eye again to focus both on her. “Well,” they said as they tilted their head to one side, cracking their neck. “Speaking of Jacob, he decided to go back to black, which has left me with an excess of bleach, which, if you don’t know, I don’t need.” They shrugged. “So if you wanted to try anything while I figure out what to do with this mess,” they pointed to their head. “We very easily could.”

“I mean, yeah I’m down. I don’t even the last time I got a haircut, definitely before everything happened.” Dropping the piece of hair in her hands, Rory’s attention then shifted to lift one of her braids, investigating the dark brown hair in her hands. She tried to picture what the strands would look like in a different color, but it was hard to imagine for some reason. She looked back down at Abel, a small frown on her face. “What do you think would look good?”

“Oh my gods.” Abel climbed back onto the couch, and dug their knees into the cushions as they picked up Rory’s other braid to inspect. “You must have a lot of dead ends.” They raised their eyebrows at her. “You down for a makeshift salon in my bathroom? I can give you the ol’ cut and colour. Blondes have more fun, you know.”

Rory swatted their hand away at the dead ends comment, then grabbed the braid for herself and held onto it, looking almost offended. “No, I’m a leo, my hairs perfect.” She paused, blinked then let go of her braid and sighed. “I need to stop listening to Macey with this astrology shit. I have no idea what I just said.” She admitted, but turned to face them on the couch, allowing Abel to pick up her braid again. She looked at her hair again, trying to picture it blonde and felt nervous excitement at the idea of a whole new look. After all, it was hair, it’ll grow back eventually. Looking back at her cousin, she grinned. “I’m down.”

Abel grinned. They hadn’t said the comment to make her upset, but seeing Rory pout was always amusing. “Ah, you’re right that you have good hair, and I suppose it’s a leo trait, but that doesn’t stop you from also having dead ends.” They picked up her braid again before dropping it and climbing off the couch. “Okay.” They were still grinning, clearly excited for the endeavor. “Awesome, cool. I’ll set everything up in the bathroom. Might bleach bath myself to try to turn this,” they pointed to their black streak. “At least brown without making it gross.” With that, they turned to grab tinfoil from the kitchen, then disappeared into the bathroom, obviously waiting for her to follow.

In a totally adult fashion, Rory stuck her tongue out at their back once again in protest of the dead ends. Watching Abel walk off as they spoke, she stayed in her spot on the couch for a minute before letting out another sigh and pushing herself up onto her feet. Entering the bathroom behind them, she looked at everything that had already started happening and was suddenly grateful for the decision to wear one of her older, more comfy shirts. “Need me to do anything? Or do you just want me to sit down?”

Abel was pretty much a pro at getting a bathroom set up to dye hair. They normally did it at Jacob's, just so that their friend wouldn't have to wash his hair out in an unfamiliar bathtub, but since Rory could see, it posed less of a problem. They tapped their lip in thought as they handed her a towel to put around her shoulders, and moved to their room to pull a stool out from it for her to sit on. "Do you need to borrow a shirt?" they asked as they scooped up Soup to get him out of the way, though he just reappeared in the doorway once he was put down. "But just sitting is fine." They filled a spray bottle with water and pulled a few more things from under their sink to prepare for the spontaneous mock-salon. "I'll start with the cut. I'm not gonna buzz it or anything, but how short are you willing to go?"

Shaking her head, Rory moved to sit down on the stool they brought in. She laughed when Soup rebelled and immediately came back into the room, and she reached out to give the cat some rubs before sitting back up. “No I’m good, I don’t really care if this one gets ruined or anything.” As Abel continued getting things ready, she busied herself with undoing her braids, running her hands through her now loose hair to try and get some of the knots out, which doubled  as a way for her to try and get the nerves out over cutting it. “I...don’t know.” She moved her hand away from the strands to try and gauge it out, not really going above her shoulder. “Around here probably? Fuck, I don’t know, Abes. I trust you, just don’t make me ugly.”

Abel nodded as they listened to Rory, glancing up at the mirror to wonder what they were going to do with their own hair in the meantime. Once everything was set up; the bleach ready but not yet mixed, they ushered Soup out once more to keep him from eating the hair dye. They laughed as they sprayed her hair to get it damp and shook their head. "Impossible. You could pull off a mullet. Not that I'm going to give you one, don't worry," they said with a laugh, realizing that the fact that they were bringing up less than appealing hairstyles to her with scissors in their hands. "I'll go simple. But really, I think you could use a change, you know? Mix it up for once."

Rory gave her best dead pan stare through the mirror when mullets were brought into the picture. Her eyes quickly flashed to the scissors though once they got closer to her with them, and let out a breath to get and get rid of some of the nerves.  Rory was a creature of comfort at heart, and once she finds something she likes, she rarely deviates from it. That included hair length, so she couldn’t remember the last time her hair had been any other length, and while she was extremely nervous to be breaking that comfort, she couldn’t help but feel excited about the change. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it, go ahead.” When the scissors got close again, she shut her eyes to prevent herself from freaking out more.

Abel just smiled at the look, knowing that she would (hopefully) end up loving anything they did. Once they were satisfied with how wet her hair was, they combed through it, then clipped pieces of it up. They kept in mind how long she said she was comfortable with, then made the first cut a bit longer than that. “I tell you I’m getting a dog?”

At the mention of dog, her eyes flew open and she gasped. Barely able to keep herself from turning around - remembering there were scissors almost at her neck helped a lot, her eyes instead moved to meet Abel through the mirror. Luckily she couldn’t see the cuts they were making so her full attention could be on the dog. “Are you really?! When? What breed?”

Abel laughed, pulling the scissors back as a precaution. They should have known that the casual mention would warrant this reaction from her, and they shook their head, pointing at where their phone rested on the sink. “Last few pictures on my camera roll. Cute little thing. I think some sort of border collie-aussie mix?” They waited for her to take their phone before they started at her hair again. “I’m getting it a special magic harness thing to make it so that Alec doesn’t die living with it, and I’ve read through like four training manuals.” They unclipped a bit of her hair to start on the next layer. “We’re stuck on a name. I’m thinking Ramen, or Noodle, to match Soup, but Salt n Peppa, Bones, and Yorick are all contenders too, since I asked the roomies for help.”

Quickly grabbing the phone, Rory unlocked their phone, having known the code for some time now.  A few taps later, and she was gasping over how cute the dog on screen was.  "Oh my gods, I love them. Him? Her? I don't care, I'm in love." She flipped between the few photos multiple times, pouting at both how cute the animal was, and over the fact that it made her miss Sheep.  Hopefully soon her and Keaton would actually talk at some point so it wouldn't be weird for her to randomly show up and see her baby.  "Noodle! Fuck, that's so cute, Abes.  Bones is cute too." She said casually, unsure if Abel knew of her obsession with the show of the same name.

"He, not that it really matters for a dog." Abel was pleased with how well their new pet was serving as a distraction for Rory. She wasn’t flinching with each snip, and they were making good progress with the haircut. They combed through another layer and cut to make sure that it was even, then unclipped another piece of her hair. “Koda’s a big fan of ‘bonesy’, but it might all come down to a coin flip or seeing what he takes more of a liking to." The show didn't cross their mind as they sprayed her hair again; it wasn't as though they were thinking of naming the dog 'Charmed'.

Rory thought that she'd be able to feel her hair getting lighter with each snip she heard in between gushing over the new dog, but when Abel dropped more of her hair out of the clip, decided that it was probably because she has a number of layers to still go through.  "Poor boy is gonna get so confused having so many people calling him different nicknames.  Sheep would get confused if we used to many different pet names in a row." Closing the photos, she busied herself with searching for their Spotify app, scrolling through playlists before putting on one that had more indie vibes to it.

Abel let out a small laugh. “Yeah, I’m gonna try not to confuse him too much. Can’t let the fact that our household is overwhelmingly air signs hinder his training.” They changed scissors so that they could feather her hair out properly, then paused and shook it out a bit so they could make sure it was all even enough. “How’s Piper doing? In general, I know she’s probably pretty indifferent to her name, in normal cat fashion.” They picked up a hair dryer to plug in and dry her hair out a bit, brushing it as they did. “Sorry to drown out half your song,” they said with a laugh once they were finished. “That wasn’t me being passive aggressive. I like the choice, I swear.” They brushed a few strands of her hair from her shoulder. “But, uh, the cut’s pretty much done. Ready for some colour?”

Rory grinned. "That's okay, that's what I'm for.  I'll bring some fire into that dog's life.  I'm gonna be his favorite aunt and spoil him silly." As Abel continued to work, she gently hummed along to the song on the radio, stopping as they spoke up again.  "It's okay, this is on my running playlist so I hear it too much anyway. But, she's doing good, all her nicknames are variations of her actual name, loves the cabin, she cuddles up with me at night and Bailey gives her all the rubs she wants during the day.  As far as she's concerned her life is made." She raised her fingers to count every point as she made them, then moved them to run through her hair when the cut was deemed finished.  It was short, and it was weird beyond words, but glancing in the mirror and catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror made her smile.  "I love it." Her eyes flashed to Abel's through the mirror again at the question.  "As I'll ever be, make me blonde, Abes."

"Oh come on, Ror," Abel started seriously before their lips twitched upward in a smirk. "You missed the chance to say you were going to bring electricity to the dog's life. But, I do approve of you spoiling him, just make sure he doesn't like you more than me, or I'll get jealous." They nodded as she spoke about her cat, not mentioning anything as she brought up Bailey. "Wow, is it bad that I wish I was a cat?" They began mixing the bleach as she inspected her hair, excited by her reaction. The smile was more than they were expecting, and they were glad that she was as pleased as they were by the chop. "And I'll show you how to braid it. If I can manage to get my hair into braids, we can totally do yours. You won't have a total loss of self." Once the bleach was mixed, they separated and clipped up different parts of her hair again.

Rory rolled her eyes at the joke, noting that she had to slap them later for how lame it was. “I’ll make sure to let you be the one to give the treats, there’s no way he’ll love me more if you’re the one with the food.  But yeah seriously, sometimes I just wanna be Piper for a day, it would be way less stressful.”  She grew quiet again as the bleach started going into her hair, sending a quick mental prayer that she wouldn’t regret doing this before pushing the thought aside. Her shoulders relaxed a bit at Abel’s promise of braiding lessons, relieved that she would still be able to keep her braids in. “Thank you, that would be awesome.”

“True. And if he only loves me because I give him food, that will be good enough for me.” They began applying the bleach, jamming quietly to the music as they wrapped her hair in tinfoil. “I doubt my life would be too different if I was a cat. I’d eat more fish, dye less hair, but probably blink about as much,” they joked, their lips twitching upward as they did. “Braids are only slightly harder on shorter hair. Not even harder, you just need the dexterity.”

"Same, honestly." She said in reply to living the life of her cat.  "I'd be able to sleep more, which would be kinda cool."  As time went on and more foils were added to her hair, Rory realized that one: this was going to take a while to finish, and two: the foils covering her head is gonna get really old, really fast. Letting out a small huff at the realization, she fought the urge to lean back and rest against their legs as they spoke about braids.  "That's fine, it's better than nothing.  I think i'd go insane if i had to keep my hair just loose every damn day."

Once Abel had most of her hair dyed and wrapped, they grinned at Rory and poked her cheek lightly. "You're not gonna zap me because of this, right, sparky?" They knew that they were going to get jabbed as soon as they weren't messing with her hair, so they went back to it, hoping she might let them off if they put it off for long enough. "Yeah, your ponytails might half half of them falling out, but that's cute, as long as you can stand the hair on the back of your neck."

At the poke, followed by the words, Rory turned her head to narrow her eyes at Abel. Raising a finger, she made of show of letting the sparks dance across her skin before quickly jabbing them. The zap was no more than a static shock. “I was just going to slap you, but thanks for the idea.” She teased, now turning fully around to face them. “Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll look stuff up on Pinterest too and find some things.”

Abel jolted slightly at the prod, laughing. “I meant because of the foil. I was wondering if it was like sticking a fork in a socket.” They grinned. “But thanks for the opportunity to call you Frankenstein. Can you believe we didn’t do anything like that for Halloween?” They shook their head. They put the dye down, clicked their phone on, and set a timer. “Oh Pinterest. That’s a good idea for finding stuff.” They leaned against the sink. “I just forget it exists because I’m not a stay at home parent or getting married.”

Rory looked up at them, a confused look on her face.  "Neither am I? So what kind of excuse is that?" What she wasn't saying is she had Macey to remind her that Pinterest did in fact exist, as a nice chunk of their texts where links back and forth of various things.  Pulling a leg under, she curled up on the stool a bit more.  "Just because you're dumb and forgot it exists isn't my - or any bride-to-be's problem, Abes." She teased.  "But yeah, I do believe it cause you didn't even try to have a matching costume with me.  You knew I was doing the scooby doo gang with Macey and them, yet nothing."

Abel gave a exaggerated eye roll. “Okay, but your best friend is planning a wedding, so I think that counts.” They raised one eyebrow at her. “Okay, I don’t see what you wanted me to do about that. Be Scrappy?” They held up a hand and shook their head. “Don’t tell me that’s exactly what you wanted me to do, because I wasn’t going to be a sidekick to Macey’s dog.” Their amusement was clear on their face. “I didn’t see you offering to dress up as Sakura either.”

Rory waved her hand dismissively at the Macey comment and had immediately opened her mouth in rebuttal, but was halted by Abel's hand lifting up.  After a second, she pouted slightly then closed her mouth, slumping in mock defeat because that was in fact, what she was going to say.  "Okay, but those are two totally different vibes, Abel.  It wouldn't have gone with Velma and Kim Possible." Her words had a hint of a sarcastic tone to it, especially since they both knew she would've happily dressed up with them if asked.

“Liar,” Abel muttered, mostly to get a rise out of their cousin. “Next year we’ll do all matching costumes, how ‘bout that?” They stretched their arms out over their head. “But, if I’m honest, doing a group costume is a great way to guarantee that you won’t stick together during the night. I had a friend who matched costumes with her boyfriend twice and didn’t stay with him either night.”

"Every single one?" Rory let out a long, dramatic sigh.  "I don't know, Abes.  Piper might wanna do a costume with me and I don't wanna just double book myself like that, you know?"  As they stretched, she quickly jabbed her finger at their stomach, letting another small static charge hit them, not even attempting to hide her amused grin.  "Cool with me, who said I wanted to spend the whole night with you anyway?"

Abel somewhat maintained their composure during the shock, but shuddered. “You’re being awful to someone who can literally fry your hair right now, Ror,” they warned, though it was clear that they were joking. They poked her forehead and shook their head. “But fine. Dress up like one of the main characters from Cats and ignore me all night. Sounds like a great Halloween. I’ll be sure to take pictures for you.”

While Rory made a small attempt to look offended at the mock threat and return poke, it was clear she didn’t take it seriously. “You wouldn’t dare, I would just give you a really shitty Yelp review.  But nope, pick literally anything else - Cats is fucking nightmare fuel and I refuse to be a part of it.”  She shuddered as if to prove her point, then reached out for his phone again to peak at the timer.

Abel barked a laugh at the Yelp comment and pushed themself away from the sink so that they could start cleaning the hair from the floor. “Nope, too bad. I’m imagining you as... Taylor Swift? Jason Derulo? James Corden? Take your pick.” They checked on her hair as she checked the timer. “We might be able to wash it out a bit early thanks to your virgin hair, but I’ll leave it for a few more minutes, just to be safe.” They dumped the hair they swept up into the garbage and looked up at her. “You know, Renee has a bunch of pink hair dye. I might see how that works on me.”

Rory's eyes just rolled in response to their list of celebrities, barely stopping herself from zapping them for a third time.  She stayed silent as they started checking the foils in her hair, only speaking up after they commented.  A sigh fell out of her mouth. "You know, my hair was the only virgin part of me left.  At least it was good for something though." She blinked, trying her best not to burst out laughing at her own stupidity, instead focusing on the pink hair dye situation.  "Well, she is the queen of pink, so I'm not surprised that there's just bottles of pink dye here." Her eyes flickered up to their patch of natural color, then nodded.  "Might as well try it, I think it'll be kinda cool."

Abel looked up at Rory, an incredulous look on their face as they laughed. “Um, gross Ror. Are we there? Are we going to be like the Tyche kids? Explaining our various exploits in great detail?” They sounded more amused than appalled, and grabbed a bottle of pink hair dye from the cabinet. “Please call her that to her face, she’d love it. Also, I think I’ll do it. I can zip it into my roots and let it set as we wash yours out?”

Rory couldn't help but laugh along with Abel.  "Oh, I totally thought we were, did you not agree?" She teased, watching them as they pulled out the bottle of dye.  "Maybe not the great detail part, of course. I mean, I'm not thirteen anymore, Abes." She held up two thumbs up in agreement.  "Sounds like a plan, and I definitely will.  I'll be declared Renee's favorite in no time."

"Sorry, my virgin ears couldn't take it," Abel replied, their lips twitching upward. "Oh yeah, be careful if Koda hears that. Don't let the bright hair and smiles fool you, she's a real killer if she's jealous." They were quicker with their own hair than they had been with Rory's, but still careful. Still, since it was just their roots, it took almost no time to apply, and they were just about finished when the timer went off. They jabbed at their phone to shut it off and pointed to the edge of the bathtub. "I can wash it out for you if you sit there, or you can do it yourself s'up to you."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm very aware of how dangerous she is.  Or did you forget that her and I use to train together when we were younger?" It had been a while since she had trained with the other girl, especially since after Koda left, Rory moved away from fighting with knives as often.  "I have no desire to bring that rage anywhere near me, thanks."  Following their directions, she got up off the stool and made her way over to the bathtub, sitting down on the edge of it instead.  "I mean, you are the professional here, so I'll let you do it."

“Just thought I’d give you some fair warning.” Abel turned and ran the water, making sure it was a good temperature before they began taking the foil from Rory’s hair. “Oh yeah, the bleach definitely worked.” They waited until she tipped her hair back to start washing the bleach out, and once they were done, they immediately put toner in so she wouldn’t yell at them for giving her yellow hair. As they waited for the toner to set in her hair, they rinsed their own roots out, and grinned at Rory as they scrubbed their hair dry with a towel. “You’re gonna look so cool.”

Rory didn't retort, opting to keep her mouth shut and eyes closed to try and prevent herself from accidentally eating any bleach, shampoo, or toner as Abel washed her hair out.  Once the water was shut off, she lifted her head up enough to give them room to wash out their own roots, grinning as they spoke again, her eyes focused on the pink they saw poking through as they dried their hair.  "I already feel cool.  The pink looks really good though."

Abel just kept grinning at Rory. "Oh yeah. I make anything work though." Once they felt their own hair was dry enough, they poked her forehead to get her to tip back again, and rinsed the toner from her hair. "Alright. Blow dry and then the big reveal?" They raised their eyebrows as they moved to pull a hair dryer from below their sink. "Are your friends going to freak out on me for this?"

At the poke, Rory pouted, but obeyed and tipped her head back once again to let them wash out the toner, closing her eyes once again until the water was turned off.  Stealing the towel they had just used for their own now pink hair, she quickly ran it through her new hair, before dropping it onto her lap as Abel pulled out the blow dryer.  "No way, Macey's going to practically send you flowers or something.  She's been trying to get me to change up my hair for years now.  No one else will really freak out though, so you'll be fine."

“Perfect, I love flowers,” Abel before blasting her with the hair dryer. Before long, her hair was finished, and they couldn’t hide how pleased they were with their handiwork. “Okay, no denying we’re the hot cousins now.”

When the blow dryer shut off, Rory immediately opened her eyes to look up at Abel, wanting to see and gauge their reaction first before seeing it for herself.  Seeing the wide grin and overall very pleased look on their face, a smile was already growing on hers as she moved to look into the mirror.  "Holy shit." Her hands ran through her now very short, very blonde locks, turning her head this way and that way to get every angle she could of the new style.  When Abel ducked into the mirror to be side by side with her, she laughed.  "Oh for sure, we're the hottest cousins this place has ever seen."  Meeting their eyes through the mirror, her grin widened.  "I fucking love it, Abel.  Thank you."

“Of course,” they said, giving her hair a small ruffle, careful not to actually mess it up. They snapped a few pictures of the two in the mirror for their story. “Tell Macey I like wisteria.”

[sophiainspace]

For the dialogue prompts, I'd love to see 82 with Mick, your choice who the others involved are

82. [Rephrased] “Look at her like that one more time and I’ll make sure you’ll never look at anyone again.”

Len could tell Mick and Lisa were home before they even entered the warehouse, and he was rather wishing they’d stayed away.

“I cannot believe you!” Lisa was screaming, out in the middle of the freaking car park.

Len winced. “Safe house, Lisa,” he muttered, but it had always been useless trying to explain such things to his teenage sister, who did what she wanted - cops, other criminals and the mob be damned.

He’d been enjoying a great nature documentary, too. He sighed, pausing the video at a rather dramatic moment where a lion was about to rip into a zebra. And folded his arms, and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long. There was the slam of a door, followed by a weak, “Oh come on, Lise,” which almost sounded contrite. And then the clomp-clomp of Doc Marten boots (that Len had stolen from a very expensive boutique) stomping towards him.

“Do you wanna hear what he did?” Lisa demanded, appearing in front of him.

He tilted his head. “Good morning, Lenny, how are you? Oh I’m fine, sis, thanks for asking, what about you?”

She stomped her foot like a child, the heavy heel of her boot echoing through the mostly-empty warehouse. “Do you wanna hear what he did?” she repeated, her face turning more sour by the second.

“Not really.” She scowled, and he rolled his eyes at her. “Fine. What did he do?”

She flopped dramatically down on the couch, her nineteen years perfectly embodied in her entire pose. “Ask him.”

Pretending this wasn’t stretching his patience to its limits, he called out to the guy who hadn’t bothered coming in yet. “Mick. Why does my sister have a face like a smacked ass, and what exactly was your role in this oh-so-terrible predicament that she’s dying to to tell me about but won’t?”

Mick’s face appeared in the doorway, but he didn’t stop - just kept marching straight down to the back wall, which held the cupboards where they kept the food and alcohol. Of course.

Len repressed an actual growl. “When you’ve got a minute, Mick, I need to interrogate you. Possibly with torture, depending on what you’ve done.”

Crouched down at the cupboard, pulling out packets of donuts, Mick shot back, “I ain’t done nothing. She’s just being a spoiled little shit.”

“I am not!” Lisa screamed.

Len stood up, pointing meaningfully at the broken office chair across from the couch. “Sit, Mick. Before I make you.” He annunicated every word in the latter sentence very carefully.

Seconds later, Mick was in the chair.

“Thank you. Now, what did you do that pissed Lisa off?” Len rubbed his temples. “And if you could try to tell me without screaming at each other, my head would appreciate it.”

Beside him, Lisa huffed. Mick glared at her. “I went with her to the bar like you said, right?” He kept glaring, managing to make it sarcastic. “Since she was so determined to stay out till six in the fucking morning when she ain’t even old enough to drink.”

Lisa snorted at the ceiling. “Oh right, because everything you do is so legal.”

Mick kept talking over her. “And I come back from the shitter, right, and this twenty-something fucker is hitting on her, ‘cause, I mean, look at her,” he added, indicating Lisa’s fairly impressive mostly-leather outfit and sniffing like it offended him. Len was hoping that particular argument wasn’t going to turn ugly again. He was of the opinion that Lisa could wear whatever she wanted. Mick was not. “And by the time I get back to the bar,” Mick went on, “he’s getting real handsy with her. And all I said was that the guy should get his fucking hands off my sister, and that if he looked at her like that one more time I’d make sure he never looked at anyone else ever again.”

“Ableist fucker,” Lisa added, with just a touch of glee, shrugging when Mick’s death-glare intensified.

“Not ableist!” he protested. “I didn’t say I’d discriminate against him when he was blind. Just that I was gonna make him that way.” He pouted, apparently taking the comment to heart.

Lisa sat up, scowling over crossed arms. “See?” she demanded of Len. “He’s a misogynistic bastard! He thinks I’m a child! He lost me a date!”

Len sighed hard. He made an ‘everyone calm, please’ gesture, his fingers and thumbs making zen-like circles. The other two ignored him.

Mick’s face was turning nearly as grumpy as Lisa’s. “What’s misog— That?”

“Misogynistic. Sexist. Women-hating. Crack a book, Mick - geez.”

Ouch. Len tilted his head. There were off-limits subjects in this house, and everyone knew it. The list included Lewis Snart, Len’s PTSD, and Mick’s dyslexia. Making fun of any of those things usually resulted in breakages and fires, both which Len objected to when not on schedule. “Lisa,” Len growled. “Apologise. Now.”

Lisa fiddled with a loose thread on her jacket. “Yeah, okay.”

“Okay what?”

Parenting. Simultaneously the best and worst job Len had never asked for. No wonder he was shit at it. Even now, with Lisa technically an adult.

“Okay, I’m sorry, Mick,” she muttered.

Mick grunted in lieu of acceptance.

“Right. Mick, are you gonna apologise for losing Lisa a date?”

Mick’s eyes got wider at him. “You telling me you think she’s right?”

Len let his head fall back against the couch back, already so done with this. “No, Mick. I think you’re both assholes. But she might have a point that you’re an overprotective misogynist who’s way too invested in what she’s wearing and who she’s dating.”

“Hah!” Lisa said, pointing.

“And you,” Len said, turning to Lisa, whose face scrunched into a scowl again. “What was the reason I made Mick come to the bar with you, hmm? Was it that I was being an overprotective brother?”

“No,” she muttered.

“Why was it?” he pushed, patiently. Useless advice was ringing in his head from the dozen parenting books he had speed-read during those weeks of panic after Lisa had... got hurt, and Len had gained very unexpected custody.

She was once again staring up at the spots of damp on the warehouse ceiling. Her voice was quieter when she finally replied. “Because you have a lot of enemies in this town, not to mention the cops, and any one of them could decide to use me against you, at any time. And then I could get really hurt.”

Len swallowed down the bile that came with that thought. “Right. And how would that make me feel?”

“Not good,” she said quietly, glancing at him and looking away again.

They didn’t talk about it anymore. The way Len had reacted when Lewis hit Lisa, when they still lived with the bastard. The things Len had done to protect her. The times he hadn’t been able to. It didn’t mean either of them had forgotten.

“Okay,” Len said, nodding. “So, will you stop complaining if Mick occasionally overreacts while he’s trying to keep an eye on you?”

“Okay,” she echoed, her voice now very quiet. She glanced between Mick and Len. “Sorry.”

Mick grunted again.

Len coughed to break the uncomfortable silence that followed. “Thank you, Lise. Now, don’t you think it’s time you got some sleep? Sunday morning or not. I seem to recall you have a job interview tomorrow.”

A smile flickered across her face. Len fought not to smile back. He would never tell a soul how happy it made him to see that look on his sister’s face. “The van driving thing. Right.” She got up, leaning down to leave an indulgent kiss on Len’s forehead. Then, with a still-petulant look, she shrugged and popped a kiss on Mick’s cheek.

And then she literally skipped away, towards the curtained-off space that served as her bedroom.

Blinking, Len turned to Mick. “You, uh, called her... your sister?”

Mick scratched his head. “Okay, yeah. About that...”

Len laughed. He pushed himself up, heading for the chair and straddling it. “Oof,” Mick grunted in surprise, which Len ignored while he leaned in to kiss his partner.

“Ahh.” Mick breathed a contented sigh when they finally pulled apart.

“You’re a good guy, Mick Rory,” Len observed, running his hand over Mick’s shaved head. “In your own way.”

Mick grunted. “Miso...gystic.”

Len shrugged. “You can work on that.”

“Nope. I ain’t gonna change,” Mick countered, glaring.

Grinning, Len wriggled off Mick’s lap and stood, offering him a hand. As he pulled Mick up, Len said, “Of course not.”

As Len led him to their bedroom, Mick didn’t let go of his hand. “I’ll apologise to her tomorrow.”

“Steal her a leather jacket,” Len suggested. “She’ll forget in minutes.”

Mick hummed. “She was looking at this yellow flowery dress in a store window the other day. I could get her that.” His face resolved into a sour look. “Ugh. She’s gonna wear it with DM boots, ain’t she?”

Len laughed. “She ain’t gonna change either.”

“Of course not,” Mick echoed.

And then they reached the bedroom, and that was the last time they thought about Lisa for a while.

Until she started screaming at them to keep the fucking noise down because she did not need to hear her brother and his live-in boyfriend having sex, thank you.

Which rather killed the mood.

Dialogue prompts

[locitarose]

Here’s the Rogue Canary AU I started for NaNoWriMo a couple years ago that I never finished. I’m determined to finish it and I went back to it today. This is just the second scene of the story though: 

           Len raised an eyebrow at the man standing in the doorway while Sara tilted her head, studying him. He couldn’t help but think she looked like she was looking for weaknesses but he wasn’t about to say that out loud. Maybe it was just because of her similarities in looks to the other woman, the one that had been in white leather, but he couldn’t help but make the comparison.

            Besides, he had a feeling that they were similar in more than just looks.

            “So, we’ve found somewhere that you’ll be safe from—“

            “The crazy lady trying to kill us?” Len interrupted. The man—he should probably learn his name but if they were just dropping them off then whatever—looked startled before he nodded.

            “Uh, well, yeah. I already told Sara and—“ This time the guy interrupted himself, slapping a hand over his mouth. “I mean...oh crap.”

            “Sara?” Mick asked, frowning.

            “She said she was family. That my dad would never lose me,” Sara said softly. “And she knew that because—“

            “—she’s you,” Len finished.

            “Well, Raymond, you really know how to mess things up, don’t you?” The man that they’d only gotten glimpses of was standing there, arms crossed and eyes narrowed as he stared at the other man—Raymond—with a look that said he was very much in trouble. Len frowned because the newcomer looked...he shook his head in denial.

            “It’s not like I meant to, Snart,” Raymond snapped. A moment later, his eyes widened and he slapped his hand back over his mouth.

            Len stared at the other man. Snart. The man who looked familiar because he looked like Len. And if the other blonde woman was Sara and this guy was named Snart and was spending time with Sara’s older self...

            “Holy shit, that’s me,” he said. Sara nodded in agreement.

            “And if that’s you and the woman is me,” she started.

            “Then the big scary guy is me,” Mick realized.

            “Congratulations, Raymond,” Leonard—Snart? What were they supposed to call Len’s older self?—announced. “The rest of us managed to keep our identities secret but less than five minutes in here and you blow it.”

            “And guess what?” was the question that came from behind him. Sara’s older self stepped forward, her arms crossed.

            “You’re not going to kill me, are you?” Raymond asked, sounding an odd mix of resigned and nervous. She smirked and shook her head.

            “We’re letting you tell Rip, Haircut,” Mick’s older self told him, his voice sounding close to a growl. “Because I know myself and there’s no way that’s staying a secret.”

            “And we’re not the ones that did it,” the older Sara said.

            “For once,” Leonard smirked.

            “You guys are usually the ones messing up?” Sara asked the group in front of them. The older Mick grinned at them as Raymond sighed and walked off, mumbling something about finding someone named Rip.

            Mick shrugged. “You get in a few bar fights throughout time and suddenly you’re troublemakers.”

            Len crossed his arms, unconsciously mirroring his older self’s pose. “Throughout time?”

            “Hell,” Leonard sighed. “Yeah. Throughout time. Time travel is real and we’re part of a team that’s been traveling throughout history trying to stop a jackass who’s been alive for four thousand years and is going to destroy the future.”

            “Well, that’s one way to break the news to them,” the older Sara muttered. “Really, Leonard?”

            “There’s no tactful way to say that.” Leonard told her, shaking his head. “Besides, do you really think Rip’s found a normal place to take all of our younger selves? They’d figure it out.”

            From somewhere else in the ship, they suddenly heard a man shout, “You did what, Dr. Palmer?”

            “I think it’s safe to say that Rip knows,” the older Sara said with a laugh. Leonard smirked.

            “I hadn’t noticed.”

            The sound of pounding footsteps stopped anything else they were about to say and then a man in a long brown coat burst in.

            “Please,” he demanded in a British accent as he glared at their older selves, “tell me you haven’t been giving them information about the future.”

            “And if we were?” the older Sara asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

            “Ms. Lance, I realize that the three of you have very little respect for the rules of time travel but telling your younger selves what will happen to them—“

            “It’s a good thing that we didn’t then, isn’t it, Rip?” she said, cutting him off. “And besides, even if we had told them something about their future, what would it matter? I heard you talking to Ray and you gave his younger self a pill so that he wouldn’t remember any of this.”

            Rip opened and closed his mouth a few times before shaking his head. “That is entirely beside the point,” he exclaimed. “You still shouldn’t say too much!”

            “You do know what it means when someone doesn’t remember, don’t you, Rip?” Leonard asked in what was probably the most condescending tone that Len had ever heard come out of someone’s mouth. Beside him, Sara snickered and Mick snorted. His own lips twitched when the older Mick just looked at them over Rip’s head and grinned again.

            The look that Rip shot Leonard was unamused. “I hardly think that this is the time—“

            “You’d think wrong,” Leonard interrupted. He didn’t bother to hide his amusement when Rip’s eye twitched. Len smirked and glanced at Sara and Mick, who were each very clearly trying not to laugh.

            “Yes, well, be that as it may, we’ll be picking up Mr. Stein’s younger self,” Rip told them. The older Mick perked up at that.

            “We going back to 1975?” he asked. Matching grins appeared on the older Sara and Leonard’s faces causing Rip to frown.

            “No. Actually, Mr. Rory, you and I will be collecting Mr. Stein just after his birth. After that, we’ll need help causing a distraction and picking up young Jax just after his birth as well.”

            “Is there a reason we’re suddenly kidnapping babies?” Leonard asked.

            “First,” Rip started with another frown, “it’s not kidnapping.”

            “Right, because you totally asked the parents if you could just borrow their kids for a little while,” Len muttered.

            “Ha,” Mick burst out, looking down immediately to hide his grin from the others as Sara laughed. Len didn’t bother hiding his pleased smile at their reactions.

            Rip let out a sigh, looking like he was regretting ever starting this conversation. “It’s not kidnapping,” he repeated. “We’re protecting them. And second, we don’t have time to convince their younger selves to come with us as we did with you and Dr. Palmer. The Pilgrim has stepped up the timeline of her plan, so to speak. If we take them as babies, they’ll be nowhere else in the timeline for her to attack.”

            “If you’re worried about that, why not take all of us as babies?” the older Mick demanded.

            For the first time since he entered the room, Rip looked amused. “Because I have no doubt that you three were terrors as children.”

            After a moment of consideration, the older Mick shrugged and nodded in agreement while the older Sara looked mildly offended.

            “You’re just worried that baby me would have you wrapped around his finger,” Leonard accused. “Because I can guarantee you that I was an adorable baby.”

            “Beneath the horns, I’m sure,” Rip shot back, a smirk on his face. Leonard’s eyes lit up at that response, opening his mouth to reply when Mick cut them off.

            “What are we supposed to call you guys anyway?” he blurted. His eyes widened when all four of the adults focused on him and Len frowned while Sara narrowed her eyes, both of them unconsciously shifting to stand slightly in front of him even as Mick’s fists clenched in reflex.

            Their movements didn’t go unnoticed and Leonard looked pleased while the older Sara gave them a small smile and the older Mick only looked surprised for a brief moment before his expression cleared.

            “You can call me Rory,” he told them with a small nod.

            Leonard shrugged. “You can call me Leonard or Snart. Whatever you’re more comfortable with.” He turned his head slightly as the older Sara opened her mouth. “Don’t even think about saying it, Assassin.”

            She lifted her brows at him. “Say what? I’m hurt, Crook. Here I was, about to tell them what to call me and you’re implying I was going to do something else.” She smirked when he shot her a knowing look. Ignoring him, the older Sara looked at them and winked. “You can call me Canary.”

            Sara grinned. “Still?” was all she said. Canary smiled back and nodded.

            “That was illuminating,” Leonard drawled.

            “Could we please get back on track?” Rip demanded, drawing their attention once more. “Good. Now, as I was saying, we’ll need someone to be a distraction at the hospital while someone else takes young Jax out of there.”

            Canary nodded in understanding. “I call Team Kidnapping.” She slanted a look over at Leonard. “Leonard can be the distraction. Maybe in a uniform.”

            He gave her a mock frown. “Don’t objectify me.”

            This time Rip’s sigh was entirely exasperated. “Yes, that’s very tragic. Now, we need to get to the bridge and plan out how we’re getting in and out without too much notice.”

            Leonard smirked as Canary rolled her eyes at him. “Relax, Rip. You act like this is the first time we’ve done this.” He turned and nodded at the younger versions. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Mini Me.” Rory and Canary shook their heads as they began to head towards the bridge with a nod (Rory) and a wave (Canary) as a goodbye.

            “We’re all going to lose our wallets by the end of this,” Rip muttered.

            “He can’t take your wallet, Rip,” Leonard assured him. Off of Rip’s look, Leonard held up Rip’s wallet with a look of satisfaction. “I already took it. You should probably keep a better eye on that. And update the money in there if you’re going to Stein’s birth. You never know when you’ll need cash.”

            With that, he walked out, Rip on his heels and already lecturing on why he shouldn’t steal the captain’s wallet as the door closed behind them.

            Mick looked between Sara and Len before focusing on Sara. “So,” he said, “you’re an assassin in the future.”

            Sara slowly smiled, her eyes lighting up at the prospect. “So I am,” she agreed.

            Len smirked. “I think this trip is going to be very...enlightening.”

[the-desolated-quill]

Death In Heaven - Doctor Who blog (Fuck You Moffat)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Remember when I said The Name Of The Doctor was the worst series finale in New Who. Turns out I was wrong. This is the worst series finale in New Who. And I do hope Moffat isn’t interpreting this as a challenge, trying to come up with finales worse than the previous year’s. How about writing some good shit for once in your career?

Dark Water was an incredibly bad episode, but Death In Heaven takes it to new, insulting extremes. It’s utter bollocks from start to finish. It’s a mountain of bullshit so rock hard, not even diamond tipped drills could penetrate it. It’s an entire hurricane of piss. It’s... It’s... I didn’t like it.

Having fucked up the Daleks back in the previous series, it seems Moffat is now determined to ruin the second most popular monsters in the show the Cybermen, and he succeeds with flying colours. Is there anything the Cybermen can’t do now? They can fly, they can convert the dead, they can create clouds of Cyber-pollen, and apparently every atom of a Cyber body contains a program to upgrade the human race. At this stage the Cybermen have become so over-powered that they’ve just become utterly boring, evading anything the Doctor throws at them by pulling another random superpower out of their arses.

Also, like I said in my previous review, why are they converting the dead? Why not convert the living like they usually do? And why, once they’ve been converted, do they just stand around doing bugger all? It’s a bit hard to find Cybermen threatening when they pose no fucking threat whatsoever.

And then, as if you couldn’t undermine the Cybermen anymore than he already has, Moffat decides to go in for the kill with Danny Pink. I’m sorry, but Danny the droopy Cyberman has got to be one of the most pathetic sights I’ve ever seen. He wants to erase his emotions because of Clara (which seems like an overreaction to me) and asks Clara to do it for him even though there’s no reason why he can’t just do it himself. It must be out of spite. That’s the only reason I can think of. Oh, but Moffat still wants us to think that Danny and Clara are the perfect couple as opposed to a highly dysfunctional and toxic pairing that would seem more at home on The Jeremy Kyle Show than Doctor Who. 

Also, even in Cyber form, Danny can’t resist chastising the Doctor even though he’s actually trying to help the ungrateful bastard. In fact there’s a lot of Doctor-blaming going on in this episode and I really don’t get why because, as far as I can see, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. At this stage I wanted nothing more than for Danny to fuck off and die, and I thankfully got my wish, except it had to take the form of a stupid, heroic self sacrifice. This isn’t the first time the Cybermen have been defeated by the power of love, and it’s always been really stupid every time, but this has got to be the most nonsensical. Danny’s love for Clara reverses the Cyber conditioning? Are you seriously telling me that Danny is the only person in the entire world who has loved someone enough to want to save the world? And if that’s not bad enough, Danny gets not one, but TWO stupid self sacrifices when it’s revealed the Master’s teleport randomly only has enough power for one trip (bit fucking convenient) and so he chooses to save that kid that died in that war zone. A series worth of buildup for this cliched pile of shit? Cheers Moffat!

Since I’ve mentioned the Master (I categorically refuse to call her Missy), let’s talk about her. I didn’t think it was possible to be more annoying than John Simm, but Michelle Gomez somehow managed to pull it off. I utterly detested her in this. I’ve never really liked the Master anyway, but I swear the character never used to be this fucking childish. She’s weird, obnoxious and goofy for no other reason other than she’s ker-RAYzay. (seriously, is that the only way Moffat knows how to write villains? She’s basically Andrew Scott’s shitty version of Moriaty in a dress). What’s worse is that the only way to make her come across as even remotely threatening is by making the characters around her act like fucking morons. UNIT have met the Master before. They know how dangerous she is. Why do the soldiers guarding her not react when she very visibly activates her bracelet, breaks out of her restraints and puts on her lipstick? Why does Osgood, who has apparently read all the dossiers about the Master, get so close to her to listen to her whisper and not scarper when the Master threatens to kill her?

Also, what is the Master’s plan exactly? Why Cybermen? Considering these Cybermen have pretty much nothing in common with actual Cybermen, I can only assume they’re there for rubbish fanservice and that Moffat is too fucking lazy to come up with his own ideas.

Apparently the Master wants to give the Doctor his own army to prove the two aren’t so different. It appears Moffat is going for a Killing Joke vibe, but it doesn’t work because while Batman and the Joker are two sides of the same coin, the Doctor and the Master are so diametrically opposed that this whole plot point becomes fucking laughable. It has the same whiff of bullshit that Journey’s End had with Davros chastising the Doctor for ‘taking ordinary people and fashioning them into weapons.’ Like I said about that episode, there’s a world of difference between turning people into weapons and encouraging people to defend themselves. The Doctor is very much the latter, so spare me the ‘we’re not so different, you and I’ crap. Is the Doctor better than the Master? ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY!

Yes, once again, it turns out this episode is all about the Doctor. That’s all this bastard series has been about. Characters talking relentlessly about whether the Doctor is a good man or not. It’s utterly tedious to sit through because we all already know the bloody answer. Hopefully the Doctor’s speech about how he’s just an idiot in a box with a screwdriver will finally put it to rest. Not that I’m praising the speech mind. Peter Capaldi does his best, but it’s badly written and stupidly over the top, plus it’s hard to really feel the emotional weight of this speech when all it does is state the fucking obvious. The Doctor isn’t a soldier or a hero. He’s just some guy. Yeah. We know. What, have you only just worked that out Moffat? Why are you boring us to death with shit everyone and their mums already fucking know? Can we move on?

If there’s one thing I hate more than Moffat trying to spin the bleeding obvious as surprising revelations, it’s the bullshit lies and fake outs. Why are the Doctor and Clara lying to each other at the end? What purpose does it serve? (Also trust Moffat for coming up with a pretentious bullshit reason why hugs are bad. It couldn’t possibly be as simple as this Doctor just doesn’t like hugs). What was the point of Clara pretending to be the Doctor to trick the Cybermen? That never goes anywhere. Oh no! Danny is going to be Cyberfied... oh wait. He’s okay. Oh no, Kate Stewart has fallen out of the aeroplane... oh wait, she’s fine. OMG, the Doctor is actually going to kill the Master... oh wait, that wasn’t an orange light. It was a blue light, which means she’s teleported, so she’s probably okay. Wow, the Doctor is finally going to find Gallifrey... oh wait. No. The Master was lying.

Like I said in my previous review, keep wrong-footing the audience and eventually we’ll get sick of the bullshit and stop trusting what we see. I mean look at Osgood’s death. That should have been shocking, but not only is she a one dimensional character that I don’t give even a sub-atomic particle of shit about and is clearly too stupid to live, the fact is none of Moffat’s characters ever actually stay dead, do they? Rory. River Song. Strax. Jenny. Clara. Nobody really dies in the Moffat era, so why bother getting upset about Osgood? She’s probably going to come back in the next series.

But the thing that angered me the most about Death In Heaven is the utter contempt and disrespect Moffat shows to classic series fans. And don’t pretend you don’t know what scene I’m referring to.

Cybermen are converting the dead. The Brigadier is dead. Moffat is an insecure, egocentric hack who desperately wants to stand out from the Who rabble. Take a random guess what happens.

I’ve seen bad Doctor Who episodes before. I’ve been pissed off by Doctor Who before. But never before has an episode filled me with such utter rage. Not even Kill The Moon managed that, and you all know how much I despised that load of garbage. I didn’t take the idea of the Brigadier being a Cyberman particularly well, and I’m not exactly proud to say this, but my reaction was quite extreme. I basically had a full blown screaming fit. I was so angry and so upset by this. I couldn’t believe Moffat would do something so fucking crass and so fucking disrespectful. Yes it’s just a TV show, but the Brigadier was one of my favourite characters in Classic Who and indeed one of the most beloved characters in the entire show. And when a talentless, arrogant smartarse like Moffat comes along and tramples all over those happy, nostalgic memories, I think you have every right to take it personally. This has got to be the most insulting thing Moffat has ever done, and if I wasn’t committed to reviewing the rest of these episodes, I think I can safely say I wouldn’t be watching this show anymore after that.

Death In Heaven is a fucking terrible finale to what has been a fucking terrible series. Yes some episodes had decent elements in them, but it’s largely been awful. Series 8′s only saving grace has been Peter Capaldi, who has done an amazing job in the role despite the material he’s had to work with.

Moffat, go flush your head down the fucking toilet.

[winniewils]

{The} Teenager Chronicles • Part Two •

Winnie was wearing a shirt that had stripes and flowers on it. Her jeans were mom-style and she had on bulky, black sandals. Fairs were still entirely new to her after growing up in New York City her entire life, but this was her in third one in Brooksville and she was excited for kettle corn. Miss Nora had given each of the kids twenty dollars to do what they would with it, and Winnie hit a vegetarian food truck first before getting in line at the popcorn stand. This year there were different flavors too. Tiny bags of ranch and white cheddar and bacon flavored popcorn sat on stands and she was tempted to snag them all, but she didn’t. Winnie paid five dollars for her usual medium sized bag and went on her way, tripping off of the sidewalk and into the street. Birdie was the first to catch up with her. Then Seymour, Steven, and Arthur and his girlfriend. A couple of fans came and said hello, but other than that, the pack traveled pretty smoothly through the crowds and the games and the noises. Then, kinda all at once, everyone dispersed and Winnie agreed to take Lily Bleu on the humongous slide at the edge of the fair. 

When they got to the tippy-top, Lily yipped, “We can see all of Brooksville from here!”  “Mm. I don’t think we’re up that high, Lil.” “Yeah huh!” She smiled such a big smile Winnie couldn’t crush her dreams, “We’re like Rapunzel in her castle! Hey, where’s Flynn Rider?” Winnie squeezed Lily’s shoulders as they waited for their turn, “I don’t know, but when you find him, you tell him he’s got me waiting to be saved!”  Lily giggled, instantly sticking her thumb in her mouth as she stepped towards the edge of the slide and got nervous, “No, I don’t wanna go anymore.” “--What? Why not?” The blue-eyed babe latched onto Winnie, “What if we fall off?”  Winnie carefully sat down at the end of the slide, pulling Lily onto her lap as she made eye contact with Steven waiting for them at the very bottom, “Sometimes it’s okay to fall if you have the right person to catch you.”

The Beer Garden was a new addition to Brooksville’s fair. It had come within the past four years and it was the place for old BHS alumni, parents and teachers to hang out. They served beer, of course, amongst other alcohol and had lawn chairs and tables set up in a special roped off area. You could only drink within its borders and it was the only alcohol served at the fair so as soon as it got dark out, parents and teenagers with fake ID’s alike both headed over to get their liquid courage fix. Brooklyn was already on his third water bottle full of Fireball when he shuffled past the garden, slipping a twenty dollar bill to Brody and telling him he knew what to do. Moments later, Brody was behind the porta-potties with two large glasses of beer that Brooklyn poured carefully into two new water bottles and then he happily went on his way. Brooklyn’s favorite area at the fair was by the DJ and karaoke stand. There was a youth group called “25 & Alive” that were all about no drugs, alcohol, or bullying, and though half of the kids who stood around participated in all of those things, it was still a decent place full of colorful strobe lights, hip music, and easy access to the shadowy, hook-up areas the fair had to offer. 

“Jenna...” Brooklyn cooed, grabbing at the arm of a brunette from a nearby school, “Jenna, come up to Whoops with us later we’re all gonn--” She pushed him off of her and elicited a rumble of laughter from the group of junior classmates they all stood with, “Brooklyn, you’re drunk. Go home.”  “I aaaam not--I am jussst happy.” “Well, go be happy with Noa,” Jenna said, folding her arms across her chest, “Everyone knows you’re the school slut, and she’s the school slut. Or, should I say schools? She supposedly gave Nick a handy last week in my hot tub.” “Fff, no she didn’t,” Brooklyn’s head was pounding and his eyes were hurting from the purple strobe lights, “She’s a good girl. Don’t you--don’t you say that abou--” “Aye,” It was the annoyed voice of one of Brooklyn’s friends that spoke up, “Quit being all loud and shit, man, you’re going to get us busted. ‘N shut the fuck up about Noa. Everyone knows she’s just a fuck ‘n dump.”  Brooklyn felt like his skin was boiling, and he punched his friend in the face without thinking twice, “She’s not a fuck ‘n dump,” He hit him again, and then again, “I love her.”  

Apollo Dance Center performed the Saturday morning of Brooksville’s fair for the past seven years. Before that, it was the other studios in town, but now, ADC was all there was. They didn’t perform on the main gazebo stage, but another one on the opposite side of the street. It was a tent, and though it wasn’t big, it was always full of viewers bright and early before the parade. Codie walked around after she performed rocking her ADC clothes like a badge of honor. She’d performed her award-winning solo “Temporary Home,” and had danced with all of the others before spending the rest of the day at the fair. Now, it was nighttime and she was in her bright, neon yellow ADC hoodie and black leggings. She sat on the lap of one of her best school friends, Gwen, and giggled at a couple of their boy friends who were wearing the same Nike socks. It was pure and youthful and playful and only broken up by someone asking where Chance and Rory had went. Codie shrugged, tired of hearing about the girls in the house who were around her age (but not admitting that, of course), and she turned back to Gwen, saying she was going to run and go pee before they headed for the pumpkin ride. 

“Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” Codie mumbling, passing through the herds of teenagers who stood near the street as she crossed over to the other side of the road and headed to the old theater where the only bathrooms that weren’t porta-potties resided.  “Codie Sutton!” It was an unfamiliar voice but an excited one that made Codie turn around, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, I love you so much. Can we take a picture?”  Codie still found fans a little weird but she smiled, “Uh huh.”  Codie posed and put up a peace sign and the fan shrieked, “Wait, we have to Skype my brother, Sammy! He thinks he’s your boyfriend! He’s got the biggest crush on you!”  “Oh, ha-ha, okay.” A minute later a pre-pubescent blonde popped up on the iPhone and Codie waved awkwardly, “Hello!”  Sammy teen-boyishly said hi back and then he asked, “Can I have your number?” “Um,” Codie shook her head, “I don’t know. I don’t really know you.”  “You could know me if we text each other!” “I’m okay,” She laughed, rolling her eyes at the fan holding the iPhone, “I really have to pee though so I’m going to go.” And Codie scurried off without saying anything else, running into the nearest stall and beginning to cry. Not because she was nervous or embarrassed, but because she’d just had a cute boy ask for her number and she was still ashamed she wasn’t the slightest bit attracted to him, or any of the other boys, at all.