#SINCE WHEN DID THEY START PUTTING **** BEHIND GLASS AT WALMART

[fabulouslygaybean]

brb gonna go cry now

[hessofather]

Chapter 3- The Angry Man

TRIGGER WARNING: Physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. This chapter will be less comical but I feel it is still important.

A/N: This chapter is about my Dad, and also that saying that goes, “If you grow up with an angry man in the house, you will always have an angry man in your house.”

My first memory of my Dad is when I was somewhere between the ages of 2-4. My mom and I were sitting on the couch. I remember my dad yelling and then a glass flying between my mom and I’s heads, shattering behind us, taking the window blinds out with it. Don’t worry they weren’t the good blinds, they were the kind with the drawstring that you pulled up with ease and spent twenty minutes trying to lower it with both sides even. To this day I have no idea how he didn’t break the window. I’m honestly impressed.

After the explosion of the glass, my Mom had me stay on the couch while she cried and cleaned up the broken glass. I hated my dad. I hated him before I knew what the word “hate” meant. I hated him for making my mom cry so much and making me scared all the time. Even more so I hated him because he always seemed to throw the nice dishes. The ones that came from Walmart instead of the dollar tree. I remember being so upset that he broke one of my favorite glasses in the house, that I just couldn’t contain my rage and screamed into the couch cushion. “That’ll show him” my tiny brain thought. My dad continued his rampage throughout the house while I watched my mother clean up the glass and then, when she gave me the ok, ran to my room and hid under my blankets.

I have a lot of memories of my dad like this. To the point where it just became a normal thing. Going to other people’s houses and seeing their cabinets full of dishes that all matched seemed so weird to me. When my friends would get scolded for doing something wrong I would just sit and wait. Wait for their father to pick something up and throw it at us, or start calling his children names like “stupid idiot” or “fucking bitch.” But their dads never did. I just thought to myself “Wow you must be a horrible kid since you don’t get disciplined right.”

I remember the first time my dad called me stupid. I was six. He asked me for a glass of milk, like the true sociopath he is, just straight milk, and yelled at me for not giving him enough. I thought it’d be funny to try and take the glass back from him to go put more in it. That was a mistake. I didn’t realize that he’d had the glass tilted towards his mouth, so when I pulled it out of his hand it clanked against his teeth. I heard the noise of it clanking and instantly felt the blood drain from my face and into my legs, making them too heavy to move. “YOU STUPID FUCKING IDIOT!” He seethed between his teeth as loud as he could. I don’t remember what happened next, all I know is that I came to hiding in my closet listening to my parents yell.

My dad and I did have some good memories though. Like when I was twelve and him and I blew up our mailbox on the Fourth of July. Going to watch the movie “Beverly Hills Chihuahuas.” Or when I was a kid, if he was in a good mood that night, he’d come in my room to say goodnight and we’d tell jokes and have wrestling matches. Helping him when he went on roofing jobs. Or the time he taught me how to change my oil, rotate my tires, and change my breaks on my first car. I cherish those memories and try desperately to hold on to them and make them the ones I remember the most. The good times were few and far between so I tried to remember them while they were happening.

I used to beg my mom to divorce my dad. I started begging her when I was five. Mostly because he scared me and because the whole family seemed happier when he was away. Then around the time I was ten, I heard the sounds of my Dad raping my mom, then he came out of their room like nothing happened. I hated him. I knew what the word “hate” meant this time and I knew that I felt every last bit of it for my dad. I wanted nothing more than to watch my mother drive away from that house as far as she could and never look back. Even if that meant leaving me behind. I wanted her to be happy and free, no longer in debt to my father. I would gladly take on her debt if she let me but she would always say she loved him too much. I knew what “hate” meant but I wasn’t so sure I’d ever understand the word “love.”

I had a special spot in the house that I’d retreat to if things got out of hand with my dads anger. I could smell it coming from a mile away. The second I felt the danger rising, I’d run to my room, go in my closet and climb onto my shelf. Hiding behind my clothes until the yelling stopped. Sometimes all night. I’d wake up behind my clothes, lines embedded in my face and arms from the shelving, wondering where I was, then remembering all the horrible things I overheard the night before. My parents still live in the same house, I can’t stand that fucking closet.

I have nightmares every night. Mostly of my past sexual assaults, but every once in awhile a nightmare fills my night with images of my dad molesting me. To this day I have no idea if it happened or not. I hope to whatever god is out there that it didn’t happen. I have no idea if it is simply a mix of my fathers anger and my past experiences with sexual abuse. Or maybe those bedtime wrestle matches weren’t as innocent as I remember. It haunts me that I will never have an answer to that question.

I have more memories of the angry man I grew up with. Like when he’d get angry while he was driving, he’d go 100mph down back roads and scarring the shit out of my mom and I. I remember screaming and crying for him to slow down but he’d just continue to speed up and scream at my mom and I. Or the time he punched the ceiling of the car so hard and so many times that to this day, twenty years later, there are still markings on the ceiling. I still remember my mom screaming “GO AHEAD AND KEEP PUNCHING THAT’LL HELP!!” Or the time he punched his rear view mirror and it came off. He never fixed it. I remember a time where he grabbed a handful of potatoes straight out of hot oil and flung them across the kitchen at me screaming “YOU NEED TO LEARN TO SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!”

I remember my father shouting at me for having an attitude saying “NOBODY WILL EVER LOVE YOU IF YOU KEEP THIS UP” Which is why to this day I don’t believe anyone could truly love me. I never lost the attitude. I lost my virginity at the age of 18 and about a year later broke up with the guy. My father came into my room while I was crying and said, “Don’t you regret losing your virginity now?” My dad loved rubbing every mistake I made in my face. He got so angry when my reply was “No.” There were many times when he wouldn’t shout when he was angry at me, he would simply look me in the eyes and say “You shouldn’t even call me dad anymore. Since you don’t want to respect me as your dad I don’t see the point.”

He hated me too. In the moment of the arguments I was fine with the knowledge that he hated me. I thought it was funny that he finally met his match when it came to anger. I was the only one in the family brave enough to give him a taste of his own medicine as I got older. I didn’t mind that he hated me. That was, until, I was in dance class watching all the girls my age practicing with their dads for the daddy daughter senior dance. I sat against the mirror smiling and so happy for my class mates and later that night cut my thighs and wrists open and cried myself to sleep, hoping to not wake up. I hated him and he hated me. I ached for a father, I still do to this day.

I grew up with an angry man in my house, and statistics show that I will always have an angry man in my house. Meaning I would marry an angry man. Strangely enough I married the most even tempered man I possibly could. Sometimes it drives me insane that he is so mild tempered but then I think of what the alternative is, and I’m grateful. What really scares me though, is the fact that while I did not marry an angry man, there still ended up being one in my house. I see him every time I look in the mirror. Every time I throw something out of anger it flys just like my dads did. Every hole I’ve left in a wall resembles the same ones he made. Every time I speed out of anger, the engine starts sounding like it did when I was a kid. I have done one thing better than him, my anger is hidden. Nobody I love will ever see that side of me. While I may be the angry man in my house on the inside. I will always be a kind, loving woman on the outside. Because I refuse to let my child understand what the word “Hate” means, before he understands what the words “Love” “Compassion” and “Happiness” means.

[watery-pancake]

To Sam

I went to the eye doctor to get my prescription. My boyfriend and I visited a polish store, the first he's ever been in, and one I used to frequent. We went to Walmart to pick up some things, and there, while I held a bouquet he bought me, there you were. Tyler drove you in his shitty car, I remember your dad always complaining how expensive it was to keep repairing it. You looked the same, as you did half a decade ago. Your hair is always fried from all the times you've bleached and colored and bleached and colored it. Still chemically short, still a butch cut as you've always kept it. You used to wear the same guns n roses sweater every single day of middle school. You seldom washed it, if ever. You would rather be caught dead than without it. Your glasses were the same as the last time I saw you with them. Your voices sounded the same. Still tall, still overweight. I know you hated it, your apple shape, but I loved you regardless. It took me a long time before I realized you were my first love.

We met in elementary school. Our grade went to Washington DC, and we were both left behind. I was fresh out of back surgery, so I was too ill to go, and your family couldn't afford it. We played games, learned each others' names. I always loved how peculiar your teeth were, unlike anyone else's. Needing braces to normal eyes, but they always made me want to see you smile. We didn't speak until middle school, and both decided to be best friends. We were complete opposites. I was the autistic scopophobic social recluse who sought comfort from men and fandoms online, and you were the emo writer with a shallow yet self perceived entranced mind that no one else could understand. But I did. We were both outcasts in the social heirarchy, and found each other's differences magnetic.

I always knew you were aroace, but your mother always taught you to not label yourself. You were all rockheads, wanting to be outside the social norm, live your life as you want it. I loved every second of it. I came from a home where I was constantly put into different boxes, and to resist would mean punishment. I followed the normal progression of what it means to be a functioning adult, and found all of your family to be so strange. One taste, and I was hooked. I binged on your cupboard, taking some snacks home with me to the inevitable punishment of my mother. I spent multiple days a week, hours and hours at a time in your bedroom where we could never end a conversation without it leading to another. We met before school, texted throughout the day, and finished in your house having dinner with your family. I always forgot that part, since it only happened twice. I never felt truly welcomed. I always knew I was a guest, despite being told I was a part of the family. Your father calling me your adopted sister, but I always had this gut feeling.

Our mutual friend became a better friend to you than I, and you would always find excuses to choose her over me. It was only when she manipulated me out of 1000$ that you finally chose me as your best friend. You even started calling her that, and I felt this burning in my stomach. Jealousy. I never tried to sabotage the friendship, I loved her as a friend. But it hurt, so much, to just be cast aside so easily and be forced to be class partners with strangers when she was friends with everyone. You chose the social butterfly over me. It was a single instance, but I never forgot it.

When you met Justin, it changed everything. He was your new thing, and he was perfect for you. He was also a rebel. Racist, homophobic, the playbook. And you loved it. He loved rock, like you, and he never played by the rules, unlike me. He was exciting, and I was just your friend for the past 3 years. My first ex and I broke up, and no matter how much space I needed, it was never enough. You cut me off while I was at my lowest, and I was truly alone. A little under a year I spent in total isolation. You became annoyed every time I tried to make a new friend, us hanging out suddenly more often when I had plans with others. I never did again, only with you. Perhaps a subconcious thing you never noticed, but I did. And when you cut me off, and I had no one, you still had Justin.

We became friends again the next year, and you were different. You were no longer the Sam I knew. The Sam who would send me little jokes every day, the one who would always ask if I wanted to hang out before and after classes, the one I loved. Suddenly, my unhealthy new relationship was a punchline to you and your new friends. The same house I came to so many times had your parents giving me uncomfortable silent looks, and when I mentioned our past, you pretended the past 3 years never happened. After all, to you, I was just a friend. We went apple picking, and you said I was never going to be your best friend again. Justin was.

We fought, and you sent one of your new friends to me asking that if I asked to be friends again you would accept. I said that it would be different this time. Last time I came crawling back to you to be friends. This time, if you asked me, I would say yes. To this day, I keep this promise. And to this day, I still haven't heard from you. Not a call, not a text, not a request, follow or message. Nothing.

I always knew I was pan, bi even in my denial phase. I always knew you were aroace, even before you knew it yourself. I would never want a relationship with you, to be your girlfriend or wife, even saying partner is an uncomfortable stretch. I know the Sam today is nothing like the Sam of 2016, for you wear her skin like a corpse. The inside is nothing I know, nor possibly will ever know. I love you, my first best friend, and most of all, the first person who showed me what being a person means. And it's not just being what everyone expects. I found being myself with you. Sometimes I'll get little reminders that make me remember you, and I'll recall the sweet Christmas nights and the fun Halloween costumes we mutually geeked over. I miss that, yknow? I'm glad it's in the past now.

It's nice, to remember the good times, and to move past the bad. I'll always remember you, and maybe one day I'll go to the grocery store, and you'll be there. And I hope we never cross paths again. I won't fall in love with you again, I don't want to see the mask of who broke my heart. You wear her body, but she is dead. And I hope you're happy. I hope your writing takes off, your Wattpad followers seem to love your stuff. I should read it one day. You always loved my feedback on your drafts. I hope your dad's shoulder is better, and your mom's health. I hope you guys and Mel were able to patch things up, and I hope Xiana and Alex are still happy, together or seperate. I hope Tyler is still rocking his thing on the drums, and Anthony is still being the same weirdo he's always been. I hope your new house is bigger and better than that little apartment you guys called a home.

I hope you're healthy and happy.

Best regards,

Short stack

[shayauthier]

He wore a mangled brown fisherman’s hat, dangling with plastic lures and an audacious red feather, an oversized leather jacket, a stained grey T-shirt and jeans. His clothes were baggy and dirty—the filth a stark contrast to the effort he seemingly put into the outfit itself. His hair was a greasy black snake slithering down his back, his eyes concealed by dark sunglasses. He looked like the kind of man who had seen things, who could tell you stories of at least a dozen near death experiences while cackling manically and nursing a stiff glass of whiskey. Simply put, he was the sort of man who looked as if he would willingly challenge a goose to a fight, and then strut around with a black eye proudly boasting about how he'd won.

But today was no day for a goose fight for Mister Socks. You might be wondering why they called him ‘Mister Socks’ as “socks” weren’t mentioned in the atrocious getup at all. Well, that’s kind of the whole point. He never wore socks, even when he had winter boots on. His feet were covered in blisters on top of old blisters on top of scars of older blisters. Legend had it, this was because his mother had once told him you needed to wear socks so you wouldn’t catch a cold in the winter, and he’d been out to prove her wrong ever since. But he just kept getting colds, so he kept not wearing the socks.

Anyways, Mister Socks was out for hamburger patties, foot-sheath status be damned. Walmart on a Friday was poppin’, even at three in the afternoon. Mister Socks didn’t like other people, that’s why he went at three in the afternoon. You’d think they’d start getting the hint that that’s the time he comes out and not to follow, given that he makes clear his stance on human companionship (and what hours should be reserved for recluses).

Mister Socks picked up a bag of floppy sesame seed buns and a bag of potato chips. Someone had left a dripping package of hamburger meat right there on the shelf. Mister Socks took this as a welcome shortcut and threw the thawing meat into his grocery basket.

A young man browsing next to him gave him a judgmental look—which he happily returned. Who did he think he was, judging him when he was the young’in out at three pm. Clearly he was jobless and also a loser.

Now with something to huff about (he was always huffing anyway so it was nice to have an excuse) he walked to the self checkout.

Mister Socks didn’t like technology as a general rule, but this was one innovation he could actually get behind. The only problem was the lady in the orange traffic vest telling him it was card only.

“EBT?”

“Sorry?”

God, did she want him to announce it to the whole store?

“FOODSTAMPS?”

“Oh,” the woman said sheepishly. “No, sorry. You have to go to the register.” Great.

Huffing at least as hard as a wolf ready to blow down a straw house, Mister Socks reluctantly turned to the actual lines.

Now he had to stand behind someone (and it was a big sweaty man in a wife-beater, not a girl in yoga pants or something interesting like that) not to mention speak to the person checking him out.

“Hi, how are you?” she asked cheerfully when his soppy hamburger crawled pathetically from the belt to the scanner.

Mister Socks grunted to indicate that he would be weller if no one was asking. His message wasn’t received by the universe, as when he jammed his card into the reader, it errored out and he once again had to explain that it was an EBT card. The cashier didn’t look at all displaced by the information, but it still made Mister Socks glow red with embarrassment and anger. Why did he always have to be explaining himself to folks? Why couldn’t everyone just leave him be, without making him feel hot with shame?

Mister Socks took his plastic bag without a thank you. On the way out, the security man checked his single plastic bag with its contents of crushed buns and wet meat, then he checked the receipt to make sure Mister Socks hadn’t stolen any of it. After it was confirmed his purchase of $5.89 was deemed credible, he was allowed to leave.

The thing was, maybe sometimes Mister Socks’s feet were cold. A lot of the time, they hurt real bad, too. But it just wasn’t nothing compared to visiting Walmart.

[slashersgostabbystabstab]

Halloween Oreos (Michael Myers x Reader)

Original Ask: How about some snack time with Micheal uwu sharing Halloween oreos with his s/o or someone me whose getting close to him. Perhaps they buy him some huehue

_____________

Haddonfield had become a rather quiet place following the Halloween murders, the following years becoming somewhat grim.

Halloween was no longer the same, or at least it was something that made the residents of Haddonfield tense up. Even after thirteen years, people were sometimes too afraid to speak the Boogeyman’s name. At least, people finally came out of their homes, as if the plague was already over with. After thirteen years, one could have said that the Boogeyman was no more.

October had finally come around, and this year Haddonfield was gifted with a veil of fresh white snow on just the third day of the month.

You grunted as you fixed the plastic bags in your hands, the mittens you wore making it somewhat difficult to properly hold them.Today was the day to go out for groceries, a task you only did every now and then due to your current living condition.

“Need help there?” you heard a voice behind you, prompting you to turn and see the cashier that had rung you up in the grocery store.

“Oh! Ah,” you gave a nervous chuckle as you once again fixed the plastic bags. “I-I can bear, thank you though.”

“I really don’t mind lending a hand, especially in this weather.”

“It’s alright.” you insisted, especially after a chill ran down your back, your eyes glancing around as an uneasy feeling came over you. “Thank you, I really appreciate it. I just need to get going right now. Somebody’s waiting for me.”

“Ah, I see.” he nodded, taking a step back as you sighed in relief. “I’ll leave you to it then.”

“Thank you, have a nice day.” you nodded as well, not bothering to watch him leave as you knew the consequences of such things.

As you headed to your car, you took notice of a news crew that had stationed itself across the road, right at a sidewalk that led to another array of stores. The crew was specifically focused on a hardware store that had its glass windows broken, even the farthest eye could see the bloody handprints that were splattered on the walls inside as well as other blood prints.

You shivered at the thought of what had gone down inside, instead focusing on the trunk of your car before loading everything inside. Not paying much attention to the camera crew, or at least not wanting to do so, you hopped into your car to drive out of town. But not before taking a good look at your surroundings, on edge about the eyes that were possibly watching your every move.

_____________

Home was a rather lengthy ride, no more than an hour’s time thankfully, but the searching for it was what made up for that isolation you required. Considering the situation you lived in, your partially preferred living arrangements lie in the woods outside of town, where things were calm and quiet.

Hopping out of your car, you felt as the snow began to fall once again. This meant that in the morning, the veil would be much thicker and there was no going out, especially as your small home was situated in a deep part of the woods.

Hearing your boots with every step, you unloaded the groceries which would definitely be taking more than one go. You made your way towards the cabin in front of you, coming to stop after walking onto the porch as your eyes caught crimson.

Right on the wood were boot prints, every single one as red as the blood from the hardware store.

Your eyes followed the trail that led to the door itself, and you took notice of it being ajar.

Dropping the bags onto the porch, you placed a hand on the door to cautiously take a step inside. The creak of the door was enough to have you jump back the slightest bit, especially as your eyes continued to examine the trail of blood that led into the kitchen.

Now, you knew not to act like a girl in a horror movie but…

“Hello?” you called out into the emptiness of your home, holding your keys close to either fight with them or immediately flee to the car. “Is that you-”

Soon enough your scream pierced the air as you jumped off the ground, this due to feeling a rough hand clasp onto your shoulder from behind.

Once you had turned around, you groaned at the sight of an older man that stared down at you with dead eyes.

“Michael!” you yelled at him, then fixing your jacket which had slightly crumpled up at the shoulder where you had been grabbed. “I thought you were someone else.”

The man before you in no way flinched, not even bothering to blink as he continued to watch your every move.

“You leave in the middle of the night without a word and leave me alone all day.” you mentioned before passing by him, knowing that he turned his entire body to always be facing you. “Well now that you’re done with scaring the hell out of me, I’m done with the groceries. Won’t need to go out until January I think. I hope so, since it’s starting to get pretty cold out.”

Michael Myers, the Shape or Boogeyman of Haddonfield, stood right at your door with not a care in the world. If anything, your door to your house, was his door to his house. It had been this way for quite awhile now.

A few years actually.

It was surprising that he was not wearing his mask, his blue and clouded eye completely fixated on your figure as you grabbed the bags right at the entrance.

Once you had grabbed the bags at the door and then the remaining ones in the car, you shut and locked the door before being followed by Michael into the kitchen.

After he had spared you years back, Michael had come to act like a cat. Always with his nose on the lookout for what it is you would be feeding him. Hilariously, that was just how Michael reluctantly came into your life.

“I haven’t prepared anything since I’ve been out most of the day.” you admitted, ever so quietly laughing at the soft groan that rumble in Michael’s throat. “I did find some sweet goodies at the market though. Especially at WalMart.”

Michael didn’t always understand the things you talked about, but he was always listening. Always watching. Learning.

“They have these new cookies for the season. The orange looks kind of funny, but I’m pretty sure they taste the same as the originals.” you mentioned as you set the groceries on the counter, looking through the bags as you began to put everything in its place. “I also got you some stuff to shave off that scruff.”

Michael’s eyes darted down in an attempt to look at his chin, instead seeing you hand placed under it as you softly rubbed your thumb on it.

“Though I have to admit that it’s starting to grow on me.” you smiled before making your way back to the groceries. “Just like the greys in your hair.”

It really had been a few years since you had met Michael, a relationship forming after a pretty good while. He was in his mid-twenties, practically a middle-aged man now who hadn’t been found by the authorities this entire time thanks to you.

As you began to prepare a hot beverage for yourself, and Michael who you knew would ignore it but drink it behind your back, you knew that Michael was watching you intently. His eyes were glued on your hands that grabbed a pumpkin you had purchased. Somehow, he had not even realized the large vegetable as you brought it in.

“Found a recipe you might like, especially for the cold.” you spoke before grabbing a kitchen knife, one that piqued Michale’s interest but was not enough to have him snatching it away due to its size. “Especially with all the pumpkins that are out now.”

To his dissatisfaction, you set the knife down besides the pumpkin on the counter before facing him.

“But before I make that, I’m gonna go change. These clothes are starting to make me feel stuffy.” you removed your jacket as you walked around the counter and out the kitchen, for once not being followed by Michael who was now focused on the knife you had left behind.

Knowing that you would be too focused on finding one of his shirts to wear, he approached the counter to take hold of the knife, bringing it to his face to admire how it shone under the kitchen light. He first held it pointing upwards, but changed it so that he was instead gripping it with the blade pointing down. His head craned to the vegetable beside him, and instinct got the best of him.

“I see you got started with the pumpkin.” he heard your voice, turning around after having jabbed the knife down into the pumpkin which had more than a simple wound.

Michael grabbed the knife once again to pull it out, his entire body facing you once again as he tilted his head at your figure.

Your eyes fell to the knife that contained a bit of pumpkin residue, even a seed or two managed to slip out due to Michael’s brute strength. Now your eyes were on his blank features, and you couldn’t help but give him a smirk.

_____________

It wasn’t often that you lit the fireplace as to avoid any attention from outsiders, especially authorities who had honestly given up on the search for Michael despite his former psychiatrist’s demands, but you believed that tonight was just the night for a warm fire.

Despite the cold weather, you only wore one of Michael’s shirts with socks, perhaps a little something on your bottom. You figured that there wasn’t an entire need for covering yourself when Michael was your human blanket, and one that refused to come off you.

With all of the day’s work done, you sat on the couch, or more like Michael’s lap as he sat on the couch. Your legs were crossed as your torso was constricted by Michael’s strong arms, his chin casually laying on top of your head as you ate the last of your pumpkin soup.

Both pairs of eyes stared up ahead, almost next to the fireplace where your TV screen was placed. You were both watching the moving pictures, or at least Michael resumed that when you made comments about the movie.

“That’s so cheesy, no girl would scream and faint on the spot if she saw a monster.” you ever so slightly shook your head, Michael’s chin too heavy to actually complete the motion. “At least, nowadays. However, that looked like that one scene from the latest Child’s Play movie where the guy has a heart attack.”

It was an old monster movie kind of night, your mood demanding it and Michael no doubt being curious. Frankenstein actually seemed to catch his attention.

The man’s eyes glanced down at you as he saw your arms stretch out with your empty bowl, attempting to put it on the coffee table in front of the couch. This of course was quite impossible with Michael holding you back, his grip on you only becoming tighter as you were managing to barely escape his grasp.

“Michael!” you groaned, pulling your head forwards until his arms made a ring around your hips after you were able to snake the top part of your body out.

As you reached out to set the bowl down, you felt Michael bury his face right into your back before rubbing himself all over and taking in your scent simultaneously.

“I just want to put the damn bowl down.” you wheezed, eventually releasing a sigh of relief when your glass bowl safely landed on the table. But it made you also pleased to have grabbed the plate you had prepared along with the bowls of soup, making sure it or its contents didn’t slip out of your hands as you adjusted your body to the former position.

Michael gave a grunt as he placed his chin on your head again, this time making sure that you had no way of escaping him.

“You wanna try one, Michael?” you lifted the plate just a bit, having Michael peer down at the plate that contained black little circles that smelled weirdly to him. “They’re the newest Oreos. The cookies I mentioned earlier.”

You placed the plate on your lap, wishing that that was enough to hold them up while you took one of the cookies and offered it up to Michael.

“I don’t have any milk right now because you’re not gonna let me get any, so take it like this.

Michael squinted at the cookie, the orange filling enough to have him blinking at least once. In this state of his, you were able to break free and spin your body in place so that your legs were no longer crossed but instead on either side of Michaels’ waist. The plate of cookies was safely put on the empty space of the couch so that nothing could fall.

Having a mind of their own, Michael’s hands wrapped themselves around you as he once again stared at the cookie.

“It’s just a cookie Michael.” you giggled, lowering it before taking a bite out of it yourself.

Michael’s eyes landed on your lips, watching the way they moved as you chewed the cookie piece. Tiny black crumbs adorned your lips, every now and then shifting the more you chewed.

You watched him as well, finding it how funny his curiosity was. So, you popped in the remainder of your cookie before eating it as well, now feeling one of Michael’s arms leave your waist.

Instead, his fingers brushed against the warmth of your skin as his nails carefully scraped your cheeks. The tips of his fingers now coming close to your lips, his index finger actually on your bottom lip before it pulled it down and open.

“Michael,” you breathed out, knowing that Michael was merely observing the crumbs left on your lips.

Blinking up at Michael, you saw as he brought his face down to yours. His lips now dangerously close to yours as he continued to play with your bottom lip, making your breath hitch as he neared more and more.

Soon enough you closed your eyes when Michael closed the gasp, but not with his lips but his tongue.

Your eyes shot open as you felt his tongue lick the corner of your lip, continuing onto your lips themselves. You placed your hands on his shoulders, gripping onto them as you felt his own twist around the shirt you wore.

Your lips had already been parted from the shock of Michael’s actions, that good enough for Michael to slip in his tongue to get a taste of your mouth.

He didn’t care about your nails digging into his shoulders but in fact enjoyed it, pressing your chest against his as his tongue continued to explore your cavern, tasting every bit he could. But before you could follow along with his treatment, Michael retreated himself and looked down at you with half-lidded eyes that matched yours. Well, his didn’t have as much emotion as yours for he was difficult to faze of course.

“Michael?” you sighed at him, thoughts clouded with what just happened. You were then snapped out of it when Michael let go of you with one hand, reaching to the side where the plate of cookies was.

He had grabbed another one, bringing up in between your faces and leaving it there for just a moment. Soon after, he brought it to your lips, scraping it against them before slowly slipping it in so that you could take a bite.

As you chewed the cookie, Michael took the other piece into his mouth, leaving the two of you with crumbs on each of your lips.

His tongue slid out once again, licking the crumbs off of his lips before you got the memo.

The flush on your cheeks was more than enough to warm you up on this chilly October night.

[themurphyzone]

PatB Oneshot: Crystal Clear

AN: Part of an art trade with @plutonis in honor of her upcoming wedding. She tasked me with writing an introspective piece for a Brinky wedding. The art piece I requested is for the next chapter of Nova, so you’ll see the finished product there. 

Prompt given by Pluto: I was wondering if you could do a little fic in which Brain is walking down the aisle on his wedding day, and we hear the thoughts going on in his head. What is he thinking? How is he feeling?

AO3 Link

If Brain had his way, he would’ve taped himself to the table leg with extra strong industrial strength duct tape and remained there for the rest of his life.

But Romy wouldn’t let him attach himself to said table leg, and Wakko already ate the duct tape to prevent him from getting it. All other binding materials, including the shoe strings and gluesticks, had been placed on a shelf mockingly out of his reach.

And since he was already in his wedding dress, he couldn’t even climb the shelf to retrieve the necessary materials.

“Dad, you’re killing the glarb,” Romy complained as he pried Brain from the table leg.

“Unhand me at once or so help me, Roman Numeral One!” Brain shouted, trying to break free from Romy’s grip, but it seemed their son had inherited Pinky’s unusual strength.

Wakko wasn’t any help either. He just watched the spectacle from his perch on the dresser, chomping on a platter of garlic prawns swiped from the catering company. Thankfully, Brain had the foresight to order plenty of garlic prawns for their celebratory dinner.

As soon as Romy’s grip loosened, Brain broke free and reattached himself to the table leg.

Funny, how he wanted this for so long. Yearned for it. And when the time came, even after all the progress he’d made, he was still afraid for reasons he didn’t understand.

It was illogical, he knew. He trusted Pinky more than anyone else, even himself.

But even that wasn’t enough to get him moving again.

“Guess someone’s gotta tell Ma you’re not coming,” Romy sighed.

Brain’s fingers dug into the wooden grooves.

“He’s definitely gonna cry. Probably gonna curl up on the couch and watch daytime soap operas with buckets of triple fudge ice cream or something,” Romy continued.

Sweet, innocent Pinky being heartbroken at his own wedding. Running off and doing who-knows-what, because he could be very unpredictable when he was truly distraught. His simple mind eroding away because of the unhealthy combination of trashy soap operas and ice cream diet.

Brain’s heart clenched uncomfortably at that mental image. With great reluctance, Brain let go of the table leg and marched over to the mirror to smooth out the wrinkles in his wedding dress to keep his hands occupied as he quelled that troublesome idea.  

“You’re gonna tell him that Brain’s in here, right?” Wakko asked.

“Sure,” Romy replied.

Wait...everyone knew of his intentions to see this wedding through to the end. And he'd never let the hard work and efforts of their wedding plans go to waste.

It was just a ploy.

Brain took a deep breath. To lose his temper before the ceremony would surely spell catastrophe. He wanted to keep this an emotionally satisfying occasion, for Pinky’s sake.

“Romy, I won’t deny that your tactic was effective. But you will refrain from using my fondness for Pinky against me in the future,” Brain said.

Perhaps Roman Numeral One took after him more than he thought. It was impressive and aggravating at the same time.

"Sorry, Dad." Romy's head dropped as he handed the bouquet to Brain.

Like with Pinky, Brain just didn't have it in him to remain angry once an apology was issued. He transferred the bouquet to one hand and lifted Romy's chin from its downcast position.

"Look alive, Romy. This is a celebration," Brain ordered as he turned back to the mirror. "And Wakko, you're not touching our wedding rings with prawn-stained hands."

Wakko pulled out a kitchen sink from his hammerspace and started washing his hands without removing his gloves. With the soft hum of Happy Birthday in the background, Brain turned back to the mirror and examined himself one more time. They didn’t have long before the ceremony began.

His dress towed the line between simple and extravagant. Ruffles in the right places, but not so many that it would hinder movement. A small hole had been cut to fit his tail, carefully sized so that it was easy to thread the stiff appendage through. His sleeves cut off at the elbow, white fabric giving way to a delicate flower pattern, lending an elegant and dignified quality to the outfit.

It hadn’t been easy obtaining this dress. He’d lost track of how many toy aisles Pinky had dragged him down, and he didn’t want his outfit to come from the toy section of Walmart. Pinky had eventually called Dot for help, and with her connections, she arranged for a fashion designer who specialized in making clothes for dolls to help them out.

And while they eventually put the issue of clothes behind them, they had a fair number of arguments when Brain found a reason to reject all the dresses Pinky suggested. Especially with that gaudy puffed sleeve dress Pinky loved but Brain hated.

“I realize we must’ve been insufferable for the past few months,” Brain said. Planning for a wedding wasn’t anything like planning for world domination, as he learned the hard way. But it was Pinky’s wedding as much as it was his, and after one vehement disagreement, Brain had realized he was pushing out Pinky’s contributions to impose his own.

It wasn’t easy, but he did try to turn over some aspects to Pinky, just to see how he did with them. And Brain didn’t regret that choice, because the results were absolutely wonderful.

“Yeah, you and Ma were ruining my vibes,” Romy gave a lazy smile as Brain nudged him in retaliation.

Romy had said something similar when he’d first run away from home, but mischief had long replaced the anger. Though Brain still didn’t think ventriloquism was a lucrative career, he’d made his peace with Romy’s lifestyle while repairing their relationship. And Romy wasn’t the only one who derived happiness from working with dummies.

“Regardless, we’re grateful that you came,” Brain said.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Romy shrugged. “Better save your sap for the ceremony though.”

“I’m not being sappy,” Brain muttered out of principle rather than true irritation.

It was 2:55 pm. Five minutes until the ceremony began. He was running out of time.

He quickly fixed his leaf crown and attached veil so that it was less crooked. In years past, he never would’ve been satisfied until a golden crown with embedded jewels rested atop his head. But now he found the leaf crown was worth so much more than gold.

Then he made sure the transparent veil covered his face. The thin fabric didn’t hinder his vision, but he felt like he was looking through a lens.

Everyone would be watching him. He wanted that thin wall of privacy between himself and the onlookers. Seeing outside, but concealing his feelings within.

He didn’t have to. He knew he didn’t. But old habits die hard, it seemed.

The clock chimed three. It was time.  

What could go wrong?

“Don’t worry!” Wakko exclaimed as he picked up the purple velvet cushion with their wedding rings. “I didn’t mistake these for tiny Ring Pops this time!”

Brain was a fool. A sentimental, lovestruck, starcrossed, and twitterpated fool.

Wakko brought up the lead as they marched through the twisting hallways of the enormous property they’d rented for their Hawaiian wedding. Surprisingly, coming up with a location for their wedding hadn’t been difficult. After a stressful day of making other arrangements, they’d chosen a scenic, relaxing travel documentary to unwind.

As soon as the documentary showed a beautiful Hawaiian beach at sunset, they both agreed on making Hawaii the destination of choice for both wedding and honeymoon. Brain gripped the flower bouquet tightly, careful not to crush the petals between his fingers. Romy’s hand was on his elbow, light enough to not be intrusive but quick to react so Brain didn’t run into a wall.

He’d assigned Pinky to the task of flower selection, and Pinky had researched the meaning of flowers extensively with an unusual amount of focus. If Pinky had his way, he would’ve gathered one specimen of every flower in the world and brought them to the wedding, though Brain eventually convinced him to narrow his list down to a single digit range.

Brain was only familiar with the rose as a symbol of love, and he recalled the meaning of only two other flowers within their wedding. The rest were completely lost on him. The first was the magnolia, which represented perseverance. As such, a white magnolia stood proudly in his bouquet, nestled among the red roses of passionate love. Pinky had chosen the magnolia for Brain, and insisted Brain choose at least one flower too.

Though Brain didn’t place much stock in what the websites claimed, he just went along with it to humor Pinky. But he’d settled on the colorful freesia, just to thank Pinky for his friendship, faith, and trust for all the years they’d known each other.

Their miniature procession stopped at a glass sliding door that separated them from the rest of the proceedings.

Brain gulped and clutched the bouquet to his chest.

Beyond those doors, the wedding guests mingled with each other on the grass. A gorgeous, azure beach formed the perfect backdrop to the ceremony. White, fluffy clouds dotted the sunny skies, and the beauty was rather foreign to him. He’d spent far too much of his life hiding away in the darkness of a sterile lab.

It seemed the entirety of their Animaniacs coworkers had shown up for the wedding. He was surprised by the turnout, but it seemed that everyone had been clamoring for him and Pinky to tie the knot for years.

And while the usual toon antics were prevalent among the guests, Brain’s attention was drawn to the very front, where Pinky was arranging flowers on Pharfignewton, who’d jumped at the offer of being Pinky’s best mare.

Back then, the sight would’ve incited a feeling he’d come to realize was jealousy. Now he was just grateful that Pinky received some physical affection from someone when Brain couldn’t give it to him.

Wakko opened the screen door, causing a stir among the guests in the back, which caused a ripple effect that spread to the front and prompted everyone to take their seats. Pinky slid off Pharfignewton’s back, bouncing on his toes and craning his neck to see Brain.

Even from this far away, Brain saw Pinky’s bright, goofy smile. It made him regret keeping the veil over his face, cloaking his happiness even from his partner.

“Testing, testing!” Yakko said into the microphone. When he’d been ordained to officiate a wedding, nobody knew for sure. He shuffled through the cards for his opening speech. “Alright, everyone. We’ve all been very impatient for this moment, so no more delays, capiche? Dot, start the music!”

A hush fell across the audience, and even the most rambunctious members of the Animaniacs crew fell silent as a soft piano arrangement of A Whole New World began to play.

Wakko proudly held the cushion with the wedding rings over his head and marched to the front. From the aisle, Mindy reached into her basket and threw pink flower petals into the air, and Buttons held onto her so she didn’t fall out of her seat.  

Romy released Brain and followed Wakko. Pinky greeted their son with an enthusiastic hug, and Bunny flashed them a thumbs-up from her seat.  

All the attention was on Brain now.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted it.

He wanted to flee inside the house. Tell everyone to go home and they’ll get refunded the costs at a later date. Take Pinky to city hall and sign a document to make their marriage official instead.

The audience whispered.

He saw the worry in Pinky’s eyes, a stunning shade of blue that popped out from the beautiful Hawaiian beach. They were too far from each other to speak normally, but Pinky laid his hand on top of the colorful freesia pinned to his white dress shirt, just over his heart.

Trust me, he was saying.

And Pinky had proven himself worthy of his trust long ago.

Slowly, Brain laid his hand on the magnolia, the centerpiece of his bouquet.

I won’t give up.

Pinky smiled that soft, knowing smile of his. Emboldened by his encouragement, Brain stepped out of the house and onto the white, silky path that had been laid out for him.

He took slow, methodical steps to steel his nerves. This was his reward, and he was allowed to have it.

No more electricity, no more fear of rejection.

The happiness of having someone by his side. The sorrow when they were separated either by force or by choice. The surprise of receiving gifts from Pinky when he’d done nothing to deserve them. The guilt that came from upsetting Pinky with morally questionable schemes.

Emotions he’d once derided as frivolous were now precious and dear to him.

All the good, all the bad, and everything in between. And this occasion marked a brand new beginning, a new chapter of their lives that would bring new happiness and surprises. Though they’d be sad, angry, or terrified sometimes, they’d always be together.

That’s what counted most.

The melody of A Whole New World floated gently through the air. An airy tune filled with wonder at a world previously unknown to them.

He and Pinky dueted this song so many times that the lyrics and background instrumentals were permanently etched into his mind.

Only now did he understand what the song was truly about. Leaving behind their defined roles, into a freedom-filled sky. Just the two of them, exploring a huge world together. The burdens of the past and worries of the future left on the ground, and all that mattered was the present.

Being themselves, and experiencing things they’ve never experienced before.

It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

He could hardly wait.

Pinky waited for him, taking Brain’s hand in his own. He was absolutely breathtaking up close.

“Narf,” Pinky whispered, and Brain would never tire of that endearingly stupid word. “You did it, Brain.”

“All thanks to you, Pinky,” Brain replied, and Pinky’s tail wagged at the praise.  

Together, they walked to that beautiful wedding arch with intertwining pink and blue flowers, stopping in front of Yakko’s podium. Brain gave his bouquet to Romy so he could properly hold Pinky’s hands. Romy gave them a lazy grin, and Pharfignewton lowered her head so Romy could have a good perch. Wakko proudly balanced the cushion on his head, and Dot stood beside her brother, giving him a friendly shove without knocking the wedding rings off.

And Brain realized he was still seeing the world through veiled eyes. Though his vision was unimpeded, he’d barely noticed there was a filter among all his doubts and fears.

He’d kept the veil for a transparent amount of privacy when he walked down the aisle, but now that he was with Pinky…

Well, it just wasn’t necessary anymore.

He brought Pinky’s hands to the veil. Their eyes met, and a silent understanding passed between them.

Then Pinky threw back the veil, and the filter he’d been looking through was completely gone. And Brain saw the...no, he saw his world through fresh eyes.

A bright, happy, silly mouse stood before him, a colorful burst of freesia on his chest, and beautiful sky-blue eyes filled with endless love, promising hope and warmth and companionship forever more.

“You’re so pretty, Brain,” Pinky giggled.

It was the most wonderful sound for his compass, his heart, and his world.  

No more tolerating. He fully accepted the undeniable fact of how much he loved Pinky, and Pinky loving him back from this point forward.

Never before had he felt so much happiness, and he was ready for everyone to see it.

Unable to contain himself, Brain leapt into Pinky’s arms and kissed him. Though he heard their audience reacting with shock, it was all just background noise to him. And he’d never been a patient mouse.

Pinky was surprised at first, but his strong arms wrapped around Brain to support him, and he kissed back wonderfully.

Fireworks exploded in Brain’s mind, or maybe the Warners set some off, he didn’t know. But he had to come up for air, and he released the kiss, though it seemed Pinky could keep going for quite some time.

“Technically, you’re supposed to wait until I say ‘you may now kiss the Brain’, but who am I to stop true love?” Yakko grinned.

“Sorry,” the mice chorused, though neither of them regretted the little break in protocol.

The audience burst into cheers, and Yakko led them in a standing ovation for a good five minutes before they all settled down enough for him to start his opening speech.

“Love you, Brain,” Pinky whispered as he put Brain down and took his hands again.

“Love you too, Pinky,” Brain replied, and he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

Everything was laid out before them, clear as crystal and bright as day.

End AN: This is cheesy but I don’t care I love it and they’re married now. 

The Hawaiian setting is not a reference to the PatB fic Trouble in Paradise, it’s just that the last wedding I went to was in Hawaii and it was so romantic.

3rd time I’ve referenced A Whole New World in these fics. This song is just too perfect for them. 

[hockeyisit]

maybe a morning to night blurb of a typical day-off for auston and amelia??💫💕

A.N Hii loved this request thanks so much! Hope you enjoy it!!  

Word Count: 3,235

Masterlist

I rolled over reaching out to cuddle closer to Auston only to find the bed empty. Letting out a small groan I pushed myself into a sitting position as I looked around for my missing boyfriend. Auston had the day off as well as tomorrow and it was the first time in almost two weeks. I was really looking forward to spending the whole day with him. I turned towards my bedside dresser reaching out for my phone to check the time.

9:34

I groan loudly annoyed that Auston was out of bed before ten. I slowly pulled myself out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and pee. Once I was done I pulled on the first sweatshirt I saw, which happened to be Auston’s Guchi Bear sweatshirt, and left myself in my underwear. I slowly made my way out of our bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen where I could hear quiet music playing and the sound of something cooking.

Auston was standing at the stove shirtless cooking what looked like an omelet and some turkey bacon. I breathed in happily as I smelled the food. Auston and I had gone out last night because we knew we would have the day to recover. It had ended up being a late night which was why I was so surprised Auston had made it out of bed before ten.

“Smells good babe,” I mumbled into his shoulder as I slid my arms around his waist from behind. He jumped slightly before relaxing into my hold.

“You're awake,” he smiled as he turned around to wrap me into a hug. I let out a deep relaxed breath as I breathed him in.

“I was missing you,” I mumbled leaning forward slightly to peck his lips.

“Sorry I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. I figured I would do something useful and make breakfast,” he said as he turned back to the food.

“Well I am always okay with you making me breakfast,” I grinned at him as I made my way over to the fridge and opened it up only to find very limited options.

“Hey Aus,” I called out to him.

“Hmm?” he asked, not looking away from the bacon.

“We need to go grocery shopping. We only have beer and salsa in the fridge,” I said as I looked through the very empty shelves. I grabbed the Britta out of the fridge and turned to set it on the counter before grabbing out two cups.

“I know,” he whined as he reached out for the glass of water and took a sip.

“Next time you have a day off I better find you in bed when I wake up. I don't like when you hit it and then leave in the morning,” I whined as I wrapped my arms around his neck. A small smile came across his face as he wrapped his left arm around my waist and held me tight against him.

“Alright babe. I’m sorry,” he apologized, pressing a kiss to my forehead. I hugged him back for another moment before going over to the chairs at the island and sitting down. Auston reached over into the cabinet and pulled out two plates setting them on the counter.

“You know for the longest time when I lived on my own I didn't own dishes. I just used paper,” Auston said as he started to put food onto the Corelle plates. I looked up at him with shock clear as day on my face.

“No way,” I laughed loudly. He grinned at me before nodding his head.

“I got chirped pretty bad for it but I was a slob and didn't want to do dishes,” Auston admitted sliding a plate in front of me.

“Well, I’m really glad I met you after that phase,” I teased as I poked him gently. He laughed as he pulled out the stool next to me and handed a fork over.

“Thank you,” I smiled as I took the fork from him.

“I was thinking maybe we could get lunch somewhere and then go grocery shopping?” Auston offered. I took a bite of my food moaning in delight as I nodded my head. I never ate breakfast unless it was made for me and I always enjoyed it when Auston made bacon and omelets.

“Sounds good what were you thinking?” I asked after I finished chewing.

“Sushi?” he suggested. I grinned before nodding my head. It had been so long since I had sushi.

“Okay,” the two of us finished eating quickly. Auston finishing first he stood up bringing his plate over to the sink. Once I was finished he grabbed mine and brought it over. He then turned around to face me and leaned against the counter.

“I don't want to do the dishes,” he finally said breaking the comfortable silence. I stood up from my chair and made my way over to him. Once I was within reaching distance he reached out and pulled me in close, his hands falling to my waist.

“You look so good when you wear my sweatshirts,” he mumbled, pressing a kiss to my forehead before pulling me closer so that my face was resting on his shoulder. I grinned up at him as I reached forward to press a kiss to his lips. His hands slid down my waist so that they were resting on my ass.

“And you look so good when you don’t wear clothes,” I teased as I ran my hand across his chest. His eyes followed the movement of my hand before he pulled me into another deep kiss. We stood there making out for another few moments before I felt something nudge my leg. We pulled away to look down at Felix who was whining at our feet.

“Aww it looks like someone wants attention,” I cooed as I bent down to pet his head. Felix leaned into the touch before turning to beg Auston for attention.

“He probably needs to go out,” Auston mumbled as he reached down to pet him. I stood up again and gave Auston another quick kiss before turning to the dishes.

“How about you take him out. I do the dishes and then we meet up in the shower when we’re done,” I suggested as I turned the warm water on. He sent smirk my way before reaching out to me. I raised my eyebrow questionably.

“Does that sound good?” I asked. He nodded.

“I need a shirt any chance I can have my sweatshirt?” he asked through a grin. I threw my head back as I laughed. I reached down and started to pull it off but Auston stopped me before I fully could.

“Wait babe I thought you had something on under that. I’m not going to make you wash the dishes naked. I’ll go grab something,” he said as he made his way to the bedroom. He came back out wearing a Leaf’s sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants.

I quickly started in on the dishes as I waited for Auston to get back from his walk. Just as I was finishing the last dish Auston walked in with Felix. I put the dish in the dryer rack and made my way back to Auston’s bedroom climbing under the covers. I put my phone back on the bedside table and closed my eyes as I comfortably sprawled out on the bed.

“You showering?” Auston asked, making his way towards the bathroom and taking off his sweats and sweatshirt.

“I want to sleep a little longer,” I mumbled as I shoved my face into the pillow. He made his way over to the bed and hovered over me. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my cheek before deciding better of it and climbing into bed next to me.

“I’ll nap with you,” he said resting his head on my chest. I let out a light laugh as I ran my hand through his hair gently.

-----

“Thank you for taking me for sushi,” I told Auston as he paid the tab. He grinned at me brightly before shrugging.

“No problem babe,” he said standing up and grabbing my coat and holding it out for me. I quickly pilled it on and then the two of us made our way out of the restaurant to my car. I hopped into the driver’s seat and put on my seatbelt.

“Which grocery store did you want to go to?” I asked him as I put the car into reverse. We had a few different ones that we went to like, Walmart if we needed basic things, a local Mexican shop when Auston was feeling homesick.

“Walmart,” he responded as he pulled his phone out. I nodded my head as I started my way to the closest Walmart.

“Willy just sent me a funny meme look,” he said showing me his phone at the stoplight. It was a video of a guy going down a kid slide but the slide was really powerful and he got yeeted off instead. I laughed loudly as I turned my attention back to the road. Willy was kind of the meme king and was always sending things to Auston and me. We actually had a groupchat with the three of us that we used to send Tik Toks back and forth. It was mostly just Willy and I that sent Tik Toks but Auston always watched them so I didn’t mind that much.

“He sent me the best Tik Tok ever the other day. Remind me to show it to you later,” I said as I pulled into a parking space. He looked up from his phone at me and nodded his head. We both unbuckled and made our way out of the car.

“Do you have the list?” Auston asked as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I wrapped my arm around him.

“Yeah, it’s in my purse,” I pulled away from him to grab it out of my purse as he went to grab a cart. I sent him a grateful smile. I was convinced that I was the worst cart picker in the world. Every time I went to the grocery store alone I picked a cart with a messed up wheel or it was squeaky.

“Where to first?” he asked as he pushed his up to his sweatshirt sleeves.

“Produce we need, lettuce, onion, jalapeno, serrano peppers, uh, cilantro, tomatoes, green onion, and-”

“How did our list get so long?” Auston asked as he reached out to pick up some of the things on the list.

“I haven’t gone shopping since we last did,” I mumbled feeling a little embarrassed. The last time we had gone to the grocery store was almost three weeks ago. He looked at me with a slightly judgy face before breaking out into loud laughter.

“Babe that was three weeks ago what the hell have you been eating?” he asked, picking out a few tomatoes. I reached over and grabbed some limes and lemons.  

“Well, it’s not like we're out of food completely. I’ve been making those rice packets I bought and I go to Steph’s for dinner a lot,” I said shrugging my shoulders. I didn’t really like to be alone so whenever Auston was away I tried to hang out with a friend and because of that I tended to go out to eat more often than not.

“Real healthy babe,” Auston said and then snatched the list out of my hand. I gasped as I raised my hand to my heart.

“Auston, are you judging me?” I asked, moving my hand to my hip. He glanced up from the list with his eyebrow raised.

“No babe,” he replied sweetly as he started pushing the cart in the direction of the next thing we needed on the list.

“I don’t like to grocery shop alone,” I admitted loud enough for him to hear but only because we were standing so close. We stopped to look for the item we needed on the shelf. He wrapped his arm around my waist and tucked his hand into my back pocket pulling me closer to him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled sadly. I shook my head as I pushed away from him to grab the sauce I was looking for off the shelf.

“Don’t be.”

----

“If you can carry the bags I can probably carry the beer and the water up,” Auston said, stacking them on top of each other. I reached out and grabbed all of the bags and then shut the trunk as I led the way to our apartment. Unlocking the door I push it open, immediately we were being greeted by an excited Felix.

“Hi puppy, I missed you,” I grinned down at him as I pushed my way into the apartment setting the bags on the counter. I started putting things away, as I closed the fridge Auston came up from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

“You look so good babe,” he mumbled against my neck as he placed a gentle kiss there. I blushed bright red as I turned around in his hold. No matter what he always made me feel like a blushing teenager. He started trailing kisses over my neck and just as he got to my ear I pushed him away.

“Aus, stop. We have to take Felix for a walk,” I told him sternly as I dodged his arms on my way to the front door.

“Felix,” I called out loudly. He immediately came running towards us with a bark. I laughed lightly as I reached down to pick up the leash. Once I had him leashed up I turned to face Auston.

“Are you coming with?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. He huffed as he made his way over to the door.

“Yeah I’m coming,” he slipped into his shoes before putting his coat on. We both stepped out of the apartment and made our way down the hall to the elevator. Auston pulled me into him as we waited for the elevator. When the doors opened it revealed Freddie Anderson. I let out a soft smile as we joined him in the elevator.

“Hey Fredzila,” Auston grinned as he followed me into the elevator. Freddie let out a soft laugh as he sent us a shy smile. Felix jumped up on Freddie causing me to let out a small gasp as I reached out to pull him down.

“Felix no,” I told him sternly. He quickly listened and leaned back on his paws.

“Where you guys headed?” he asked.

“Just taking him out for a walk. Where are you going?” I said before Auston had a chance. Freddie grinned as he turned to look away.

“Just going out,” he laughed.

“Wow sounds secretive,” I mumbled as I glanced over to Auston hoping he would know something. The door opened before any of us had a chance to say anything else.

“Hey so uh this summer I’m going home for the like two months. I was wondering if you’d wanna come and stay at my house with me? You could meet my friends and like all my family?” Auston asked after a few moments of silence. I sucked in a sharp breath looking up at him. He was rubbing his neck an obvious sign that he was nervous for my answer. I nodded my head as we stopped walking. Felix in the middle of taking a bathroom break.

“I’d love to Aus,” I grinned as I reached out for his hand closest to me. He pulled me into a side hug as a huge grin spread across his face.

“I was also wondering if I could meet your family this summer,” he said gently. I pulled away from him slightly as I tensed up. Talking about my family had always made me uncomfortable considering his family was so loving and open while mine hadn’t always been that way after my mom died.

“Yeah, we could plan that,” I finally answered taking a deep breath in. He sent me another soft smile before turning us around to make our way back to the apartment.

Once we got back to the apartment Auston made a snack for himself before following me into the living room. He sat down on the couch next to me wrapping his left arm around me. I leaned against him slightly as I scrolled through my Instagram.

“Want to play switch?” I asked looking away from my phone towards Auston. He looked away from his food as he nodded excitedly. I hopped up from the couch and grabbed the remotes from the switch that was already connected to the tv.

“What game?” he asked as he switched the channel.

“Mario Party please,” he nodded his head as he pulled it open. Auston chose Luigi as his character and I chose Goomba. He then selected the team party and started the game.

----

“Hey I’m going to make dinner,” I mumbled as I pulled out of Auston’s hold. After we had finished our Mario Party game we had turned on Grey’s Anatomy, my favorite show. Auston and I had dozed off but now that I was awake I was ready to make dinner.

“Okay,” Auston grumbled as he spread himself out on the couch. I made my way into the kitchen and pulled the fridge open. I stared in as I tried to decide what to do for dinner. We had so many different options, tacos, soup, steak, hamburgers. Closing the fridge I turned to our cabinets. After another moment of deciding, I pulled some rice out and brought it over to the stove. Rice and tacos it is.

“Smells good,” Auston said making his way into the kitchen thirty minutes later. I turned to face him as I grinned.

“Thanks,” I smiled.

“I was thinking we could eat out on the balcony?” Auston asked as he made his way over to me and wrapping me up in a hug. I leaned back into him. He smelled so good.

“Okay,” I whispered as I stirred the meat around. I pulled the rice off the stove and moved it to the counter.

“Food’s ready,” I said softly. We both made our plates and made our way outside. I gasped softly as I took in the candles set up on the table.

“This is beautiful Aus,” I grinned as I sat down across from him. He sent me a soft smile before digging into his tacos.

“I think you make these better than my mom,” Auston said causing me to let out a soft laugh.

“Thanks, babe it’s my secret recipe,” I winked at him. When we finished eating Auston led me to our bedroom.

“Want to watch a movie?” he asked laying down on the bed next to me. He grabbed the remote and turned the tv on.

“Marvel,” I responded as I rested my head on his chest. I was so tired.

“Alright,” he responded as he clicked through the different options before settling on Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I cuddled up closer to him causing him to wrap his arm around me and I fell asleep cuddled up to him with a smile on my face.

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

I Learned That From You: Seven

Clint sat behind the wheel of his car and gnawed on his lip anxiously. “I’m not sure I can do this, Tasha,” he said softly. 

The spy made a soft sympathetic noise and rubbed the back of his neck, “Maybe we need to catch her at work… Not at her house?” she suggested.

In the back seat, Bucky made a soft irritated sound but, when Natasha shot him an angry look, he didn’t say anything. In a way, he could understand why Clint was torn up. But it didn’t make him not angry. Clint had been struggling for weeks to man up and tell his ex-wife what he’d done. Ostensibly to keep from hurting her. 

Clint nodded slowly. “I just-”

“I know,” Natasha said, “But you know that she deserves the truth, Clint.”

The archer hung his head and took a deep breath. He knew that you did. And that was his own fault. But he didn’t want to do this. He wanted to talk to you. He wanted to keep talking to you. To keep feeling the way he felt when he knew that you were happy. 

Neither Bucky or Natasha said anything as Clint pulled down the street. And Clint took in the sights. The town looked exactly like you described. It was idyllic and sleepy. Brick and white picket fences. Tree-lined streets. Big enough to have a college but not big enough that there was a Walmart. The kind of town you always wanted to live in. To raise a kid or two in. The kind of place that Clint wouldn’t have been caught dead in when he was 20. 

The kind of place that sounded like heaven now. 

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Nat asked, “Wait for the shop to open?”

“I don’t think I can eat,” Clint said.

“Well I’m fucking starving,” Bucky said, “Try the diner up there.”

Clint sighed, but pulled the car over to park off the street. Bucky and Nat were there as a favor to him. Nat for moral support and Bucky to maybe- well. To be perfectly honest he wasn’t sure why Bucky was there. Maybe to show you that Bucky was real and Clint really hadn’t conjured someone up to trick you. And in that vein, he needed to make sure that he wasn’t being a dick. They hadn’t put him in this mess. 

So. He got out of the car and followed them. And it looked like every 50’s diner that he’d ever seen in a movie. Complete with a jukebox and a lighted dessert case. 

A uniformed waitress took their order, all bubbly and beaming. Natasha’s burger, Bucky’s pancakes, and Clint’s black coffee. And Clint watched the foot traffic on the sidewalk. He knew that your shop was somewhere on this street. It was a shop made from a converted newspaper office. Second Chance Treasures. An eclectic little boutique shop that held antiques of all kinds and refurbished furniture. The kind of store you’d always wanted. 

And he was sure that inside, it was perfect. Down to the last little detail. You’d always been good with tiny details. And making plans. Saving money. Clint wasn’t sure how. Your home life had been just as horrible as his. But at some point, evidently, you’d made up your mind that the family curse was going to end with you. And Clint wished that he had come to that way of thinking himself, just a little faster. 

“Penny for your thoughts,” Nat said softly, pushing his cup of coffee closer to him. 

Clint smiled a little sadly, “Just wondering how things could have gone, I guess.”

Bucky restrained an eye roll with effort. He didn’t understand any of this. Or rather, sometimes he understood it, kind of, and sometimes he was at his wits end. Today, he was at his wit’s end. He wanted Clint to grow up. Just go find this girl, tell her he loved her and move on. The wistful looks and whining were working his last nerve. Especially since, for Bucky, there was no second chance. Any of the women he had loved before were either dead or wishing for death at this point. And you were here. Alive and well. On the dating scene even, not married with three kids. 

The bells above the door chimed and Bucky watched Clint’s head snap up, “Shit,” he muttered, going pale. 

And Bucky half turned to see what he was looking at. A woman with long hair half piled on her head. Paint spattered over alls. And a wide, friendly smile. Bucky turned back around quickly. And absurdly, he could almost understand. He wanted you to talk to him. He wanted to talk to you. To see that big smile up close. 

He tried not to turn back around. And Natasha was frantically trying to get Clint to stop staring. To not draw attention to the table by making an idiot out of himself. 

But. 

It was all too little too late. Even over the din in the diner, Bucky could hear your soft little gasp of “Clint?”

And the flurry of movement as you pay for your coffee and run out the door, dodging a handful of old farmers on the way. 

Bucky applied himself to his pancakes, pretending that he wasn’t moved. Pretending that he hadn’t even seen. Anything to keep from hearing the devastation and the confusion in your voice. 

“Clint,” Nat muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Tasha,” Clint muttered, lips bloodless, “What do I even say?”

“I’m sorry might be a good way to start,” she answered. 

But both Bucky and Clint had a sinking feeling that “Sorry” was just not going to cut it.

__________

Clint sat behind the wheel of the car and stared at your shop front. The closed sign mocking him from across the street. “C’mon, Y/N,” he muttered, pleading with you like you could head him, “Throw me a bone here.”

But the sign didn’t move. Even as they could see you moving around behind the glass. 

“Maybe Nat can go talk to her first,” Bucky piped up from the back seat. “Explain how stupid you are.”

“She knows-”

“She knew almost 10 years ago,” Nat said looking at Clint. “It’s not the worst idea.”

And Clint nodded after a moment. It was true that you might respond better to another woman. Someone you could commiserate with. Someone else who knew how dumb Clint could be. The woman that had taken over trying to keep him alive. 

____________

You looked up to see the redhead from the Diner standing in the door about to knock and sighed. “Just a second,” you call, walking around the jewelry counter where you had been frantically fixing a display of antique broaches. 

When you unlock the door and open it, leaving your closed sign flipped, she opens her mouth, but you hold up your hand for silence. “I don’t want to see Clint,” you tell her. 

“He needs to see you,” she said quietly, reaching down to stroke Rocky’s ears when he came to investigate. 

“Why?” you challenge. “It’s been 8 years. What the fuck could he have to say now?”

Natasha exhaled slowly, “He should probably tell you himself.”

You sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose, “I can’t. I just-” you exhale slowly and look up at the ceiling for a second, looking for control. Admiring the details on the antique light fixtures you’d restored. “It was hard enough to move on. To even want to move on.”

Natasha felt a twinge of sympathy and reached out to squeeze your hand. Before, she’d felt for Clint. His pain. But now? Watching you, a real, live woman. Watching you try and tamp down  the pain. She wanted to punch Clint in the nose. 

“That’s what he needs to talk to you about,” Natasha said softly.

[whereisstevethestove]

Ventricle.

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Characters: Virgil, Logan, Katrina Flores (OC), Nico Flores

Relationships: Familial Logan &Virgil, hinted at Logan x Nico

Additional Tags: abortion mention, bisexual disaster logan, teen parenting, hate sex mention, logan having an emotional breakdown in a walmart, nico being a smooth motherfucker.

Word Count: 1805

Summary: Logan made a dumb decision when he was eighteen, which led him to being saddled with a difficult choice when he was just nineteen. Now he's living everyday with the consequences.(in the accidental adoption universe, but can be read as a stand alone. no prior knowledge needed)

Notes: *me, looking at the lack of nico x logan*: Fine, I’ll do it myself.  Also, I have an actual angst logan x nico fic coming out later today maybe, probably.

AO3  

@psychedelicships  here’s some logan and nico... at the end, but I promise it’s worth it.

He was nineteen, young and dumb when it happened-

Logan stared down at the sleeping boy in his arms, a newborn that was only five hours old, with a shock of black hair that was reminiscent of Logan’s baby photos.  He was the only one awake, his ex also asleep from the sheer toll of birth on her body.

She had wanted to keep him, and then, now that Logan was holding the infant, she had admitted that she was going just… throw him into the foster system and hope that someone wanted him.  Logan hadn’t wanted to keep the child, he’d begged her to have an abortion, but he’d promised in the end to still pay child support if that’s what she wanted.

But now…

Now he was holding his son.  She didn’t want him, he looked too much like his dad, and Logan could feel his own heart tearing apart as he thought of giving him up.  

His ex stirred and Logan looked up as she opened her eyes, a look of displeasure on her face.

“You’re looking at it all weird.”

Logan smiled softly down at the infant.  “I know.  He’s beautiful.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not a teen mom.”

“You told me that you don’t want him.”

“And I don’t.”  She looked up at the ceiling of the hospital room and sighed.  “Where did we go wrong Lo?” Lo.

Ah yes, the nickname that she’d called him for so long, when they were first dating junior year in highschool.  Logan used to look back on his past with fond memories, but now everything was tainted the smallest bit darker with the realization that he had, in fact, cut his younger phase short.

“It was the drunk hate sex, I’m sure.”  He responded and she laughed.

“I can’t take him.  I want a life Logan.”

Logan nodded.  “I’m sorry.  But if I may?”

“May what?”

The infant yawned in his sleep and Logan’s heart broke again.  “I’d like to take him.  You won’t have to pay child support, we can go our separate ways and never talk again if you want, but goddamnit, I want to raise him.”

She shot him a rueful look.  “Take him.  After I’m discharged, I never want to see you again though.”

“Of course.”  Logan held back his happiness, but his face betrayed him and even she knew as she watched him hold the infant just a bit closer.

Maybe a part of her wondered how someone like Logan could have ever loved that deeply.

Maybe a part of her didn’t care.

…

Logan had a harder time the next morning convincing the nurse who was filling out the paperwork to put him down as the provider.  After all, the kid was supposed to go straight to adoption, and now the father wanted him.

Not to mention the whole naming thing.  She was less than impressed when Logan told her that he wanted the infant to be named Virgil.  

Logan won both battles and after a talk with Virgil’s doctor, he was heading out to his car with the infant safe in a carrier, which he buckled in before getting in the driver's seat and leaving.

…

He had no idea what he was doing.  Virgil was sitting in the shopping cart child spot, chattering happily in the gibberish that only babies spoke as Logan had an emotional breakdown in front of the baby food.

It’d been six months since Virgil had been born, and according to online and the various books he’d read, advice from his mother and also from his great aunt, the kid should be fine starting solids, but he didn’t know which.

Virgil babbled something and a tiny hand patted Logan’s hair.   He looked up and Virgil giggled before reaching for his glasses.  Logan leaned his head back a bit.

“Virgil, we’ve discussed that you cannot gnaw on my glasses.  You have a teething toy or a pacifier if you’d like.”

Virgil clapped.

There was a gasp behind him and Logan looked back to see a woman, who was grinning at the pair.

“Is that your son?”  She walked up to him and cooed at Virgil.  “How old is he?” “Six months.”  Logan said tiredly as Virgil clapped again and the woman smiled.

“He’s clapping so early.  Most don’t for a good while.”

Logan pumped a tired fist in the air.  “Wonderful.”

“I’m Katrina, I’ve got some little ones at home, it can be tiring.  How old are you? You look a little young to be this sweetie’s daddy.  What’s your name?”

Logan held out his hand for her to shake.  “Logan Alt, nineteen.”

“Oh!  Is your lucky bride at home?”

Logan bit his lip and looked down at the floor of the supermarket.  “Ah, no.”

Katrina seemed to freeze for a moment, but it was fleeting enough that Logan ignored it as she looked up at him.

“Six months you say?  He should be in prime time to start solids.”  When Logan nodded, she seemed to straighten up.  “Would you like some help with a list of foods that you can start him on?  I also have a wonderful book in my car I can grab you.”

Logan stared at her.  

Then he burst into tears and Katrina pulled him into a hug, rubbing a hand soothingly across his back.

“Hey darlin, I know how hard it can be, having a young one so early.”  

Logan nodded into her shoulder and she pulled him back to arms length, a soft smile on her face.  “You’re gonna be the best dad this kiddo ever has.  Let me help you get him some starter foods and then I’ll give ya my number and you can call me on my phone whenever.  We sure are damn lucky for these samsung flip phones, aren’t we?”

“Thank you…”  Logan stuttered out as he wiped at his eyes.  Katrina nodded and gave him another hug before turning to Virgil and patting his head. 

“Hey buddy.  I’m here to help your daddy, okay?”

Virgil babbled something and mirrored her smile.  Katrina gave him another gentle pat on the head.  “Thank you for letting me know that very important thing.”

Logan looked down at Virgil.  “What’d he say?” Katrina’s response was simple.  “That he loves you very much.  Onward to the bananas!” …

Katrina and her family were there when Virgil first waddled up to Logan, and said his first word.

“Space!”

Logan blinked as Virgil made grabby hands, but he complied and lifted his son up into his arms.

Katrina leaned over.  “Looks like you have a little science nerd.”

Virgil reached out and excitedly patted Katrina’s shoulder.  “Space!”  He crowed out and Logan couldn’t help but grin as his now one year old excitedly chirped the word again, squirming in Logan’s arms.

“Looks like you might be right.  Would you like down?”  Logan asked and Virgil nodded vigorously.

Logan set him down.  Virgil laughed and clapped again before looking up at his dad with glee.  

“Space!”

“That’s right.”  Logan nodded solemnly.  “Space.”

Virgil waddled off to where Katrina’s other kids were playing, and the group easily parted to include him.

“Kat.. thank you for inviting us to your Christmas celebration, you didn’t need to.”  Logan looked away from Virgil and she shrugged.

“Lo, with your mom’s passing in November, you told me that you didn’t have anywhere to go, of course I’d offer you my home.”  Katrina picked at a loose thread on her sweater.  “Virgil deserves a good first Christmas, and you need social interaction.”

Logan laughed softly.  “I guess you’re right.”

“I always am.”  Katrina crossed her arms.  “I need to go check on my husband, but I’ll see you around.  Try talking to my younger cousin.”

Logan looked around the room.  “Where are they?”

Katrina pointed to a man Logan’s age, who was sitting on the couch, surrounded by the stuffed animals that the other kids were bringing to him.  “Nico Flores.  He’s single.”

She winked and Logan rolled his eyes at her fondly before heading over to the couch.  Nico looked up from the kid who was speaking to him, a grin splitting his face.  “Hey!  I could use some company!”

The kid that he’d been talking to rapidly fired something at him in Spanish and Nico laughed before responding in kind as Logan carefully moved the stuffed animals and sat next to him.

Once the kid had gone back to the others, Nico held a hand out for Logan to shake.

“Nico Flores.”

“Logan Alt.”

“That your son?”  Nico pointed to Virgil, who was sitting on the ground as another one year old passed him blocks, which he promptly threw down with a laugh.

“Yeah, how’d you guess?”

“He’s the whitest child here.”  Nico ran a hand through his hair and grinned at Logan.  “You’re extraordinarily pale.”

“It’s the german from my father’s side.”  

“Ah.”  Nico laughed as a girl brought him another stuffed animal, taking one from the pile on the ground at his feet as she switched them out.

“Thank you Tio!”

“It’s just Nico, you know that Gemma!” 

Gemma gave a screeching laugh as she ran off.   

“So, how’d you meet my cousin?”

“I had a bit of a rough time finding Virgil, that’s my son, some food as he was about to start solids and I’ve never had a child, so I was unsure of what to buy him and she helped.”  Logan smiled as Virgil looked up to find him, getting off the ground to waddle over and hold his hands up.   He picked up Virgil, who pulled his glasses off his face and held them out to Nico.

“Space!”

Nico took the glasses and nodded seriously.  “Space.”

Virgil, pleased, wiggled out of Logan’s grip again, but not before stealing a stuffed animal from the pile.

Nico handed him his glasses.  “He’s sweet.”

“Indeed.”  Logan smiled fondly before shaking himself out of it.  “So, what brings you here?”

“Kat invited me because, and I quote: ‘There’s gonna be a hot boy here, I swear it.’”  Nico grinned at him.  “She wasn’t wrong.”

Logan felt the blush start to creep up his face and he swallowed nervously.  “Oh?”

“Yeah.  It’s a pity I don’t know his number.”  Nico leaned back on the couch and shrugged.  “It’s also a pity that there’s not really any mistletoe nearby, the cat’s allergic.”

Logan felt like he was gonna die.

“Guess I’ll never know.”

“Ifyoureallywantmynumberyoucouldhaveit.”  Logan blurted out in a rush.

Nico gave him a blinding grin.  “Sounds like a date.”

Yeah, Logan had made some dumb decisions in his teenage years.  But if it had led him to a warm Christmas party, with a cute boy his age next to him and an adorable son playing with his friend’s kids…

Was it really dumb?

[fluffi]

my little dirt ball. | hueningkai

pairing: hueningkai x reader

genre: fluff, friends to lovers!au, hauntedhouse!au

word count: 9k

author’s note: wow...my first published fic and its 9k words...i don’t really know what to think of this, but I hope everyone likes it!

warnings: vague descriptions of things in haunted houses, y/n being an oblivious idiot

others: this is part of a halloween group collab. You can see everyone else’s works here! this also is in correlation to an upcoming yeonjun fic i have planned (see bonus)!

special thanks: @/spookybias for literally taking 30 min of her time to help me get the entire fic in order and @/yeonjuncore as inspiration for the correlation fic thingy (see her hueningkai and soobin halloween fic).

October 31, 2020 | 6.38am

You were unable to fall asleep. Tossing, turning, and sitting up ever so often in a sweaty mess. You would walk over to the thermostat, turn it down, only for you to wake up shivering. Then the cycle would repeat, so you never ended up actually sleeping.

While squirming in bed, you heard loud thumps emitting from your bedside window. What the heck? It wasn’t raining, you were sure of it, since you couldn’t hear water leaking in your bathroom. Just then, your phone rang. You groggily sat up and pressed the green answer button, without bothering to look at the caller ID.

“Wake up, loser. Did you forget that it’s October 31? Halloween?”

Right. That was what I forgot. You were so busy doing projects and finishing assignments in school that you forgot your yearly tradition with your Halloween-enthusiast best friend, Kai. He was probably very annoyed at your lack of attendance, but you were tired. Maybe the tradition could wait till next year.

You groaned. “Sorry, sorry. I know we’re supposed to meet at the park like we do every year, at 6am. But Dude, I’m so tired. Can we postpone this meetup? I have 3 more English projects that I have to finish, and I can’t seem to fall asleep tonight.”

“Perfect! Since you can’t sleep, we’re meeting. Dress up and sneak out, like last year, and every other year before that. You don’t have to walk to the park. I’m outside your house right now, throwing these really nice pebbles at your window. By the way, these pebbles are nice. They’re like, really freaking shiny. Where’d your mom get them fro-“

You accidentally ended the call, cutting him off. To be fair, you weren’t expecting him to blabber about stupid walmart pebbles for such a long time.

Sometimes you wondered why you were friends with Kai, and then you remembered that it was because you liked him. A lot. You liked him way too much. Kai was always stuck in your brain. Every thought you had when you were alone was about him, and almost every thought you had when you were with him, well, you couldn’t even think straight when you were around Kai. But he didn’t need to know that. He was just that popular cute boy, living his best life surrounded by drop-dead gorgeous girls who would do just about anything to be with him. They were ten times prettier than you, surely he wouldn’t settle for a girl like Y/N L/N.

You pulled yourself out of your pity puddle when you remembered that Kai was waiting for you outside. The boy you were probably in love with, who might break your window if you don’t hurry up and meet him right now. You swear, if you hear the tapping of rocks at your window one more time...

You sat up, opened your window, and screamed, “Kai Kamal Huening, I swear, if you do not stop right now, I will drag your as-“

7.02am

“Hey, random question. Why does this tradition have to be exactly the same every year? Why does it matter if I meet you at 6am? What if I meet you at 6.10am? In that case, will you stop being friends with me?” You teased, trudging alongside Kai on a rugged concrete path.

Kai sighed, tilting his head to look at you with his beautiful, brown eyes. “It matters because it takes 15 minutes to walk from your neighborhood’s park to Mr. Roger’s pumpkin patch, and he opens at 6.20am exactly, every single Halloween. If you get to the park at 6.10am, we’ll reach his pumpkin patch at 6.30am. By then, all the competitive mothers who want their child to have the best pumpkin will have taken all the round, orange, hard-enough-to-carve-but-not-so-hard-that-carving-becomes-a-chore kind of pumpkins, and we’ll be stuck with the oblong shaped, ugly pumpkins.”

“Then why aren’t we running? At this rate, we will only get rotten mushy pumpkins.”

“We aren’t running because you have tiny legs and we won’t make it that far before you get tired. I don’t want you to get hurt, shortie.” Kai teased, sticking out his tongue while leaning over you in an attempt to intimidate you.

At this point, he was only a few inches away from you, and the both of you were so close that you could peck his lips. As much as you wanted to, you resisted the urge to lean closer towards him and instead laughed nervously as he smiled at you. This action only made your heart beat faster. It didn’t help that he just said that he cared about you, and despite the statement being so lighthearted, it warmed your heart to know that he prioritized your well-being over pumpkins.

Your heart was thumping faster and faster, and you were turning into an embarrassed mess. Cheeks hot and red, eyes darting everywhere. Come to think of it, that plant behind Kai looks interesting, how come you’ve never seen it before?

The awkward tension was getting quite unbearable at this point, and you couldn’t take it anymore. “I-uh...we…um….uh...race you to the pumpkin patch! Yeah..uh..let's go!” You nervously muttered, trying to sound confident. You immediately ran opposite the direction of where the both of you were supposed to go.

“Y/N! The pumpkin patch is this way!” Kai confusedly shouted. “You’ve been to the pumpkin patch multiple times! Where are you even going?”

You were getting out of breath, but you would only stop running once you were out of Kai’s sight. “Uh...I’ll take the longer route! Yeah...I’ll meet you there...uh...don’t follow me!” You turned around and started running backwards, so you could see if Kai would start following you.

“Y/N! Stop running, wait! No! Look behind you!”

The last thing you saw was Kai’s figure running towards you before your head hit the ground with a loud thud.

7.46am

“Ugh, what do you want? Why did you wake me up? And why is Y/N sleeping in your arms?”

Kai was at Beomgyu’s house, holding your unconscious self bridal-style in his arms. You had tripped over a brick ledge all because your idiotic self was too panicked with the thought of kai finding out that you liked him.

Kai sighed, “Look hyung, I’m sorry if this is a huge hassle, or that I may be disturbing your 8-hour beauty sleep, but Y/N fell down, and she isn’t asleep. I think she got knocked out.”

Beomgyu started frantically waving his hands and shouting incoherently. “Oh my gosh, are you serious? If she’s knocked out, we have to go to the hospital! We have to call 911! What if she doesn’t wake up?? Kai, why did you bring her here, this isn’t my problem! Oh my goodness, I’m not even kidding, wh-“

While Beomgyu was going full-on emergency mode, you had regained your senses and was starting to stir. Maybe it was because Beomgyu’s panicking actions had woken you up, or that you had a sixth sense blaring huge warning signs all across your brain because you were in Kai’s arms. Wait, you were in Kai’s arms?

You slowly fluttered your eyes open to see Kai looking confusedly at a screaming Beomgyu, who seemed so sure that you would never wake up. As you laid in the Kai’s arms, you gazed at his ethereal features. Brown eyes with gorgeous golden specks in them, wavy brown hair, his cute little boopable nose, he was a literal angel who looked perfect from every angle. Just then, said angel looked down at you.

“Beomgyu-hyung! She’s awake! Her eyes are open! Why is she smiling? Hi Y/N, good morning, why are you smiling? Her cheeks are really red too, she looks like she’s drunk! HAHA! Y/N, Y/N?”

It took you a few minutes to register that Kai was talking to you, and that he was indeed, calling your name. By the time you tried opening your mouth to respond, gross-man-Beomgyu was already looking over at you with utter disgust and relief clouding his face.

“Oh, good. I thought she was going to die. Okay, now just in case idiot Y/N stumbles and falls again, she should rest here. You guys can leave when she feels better. Ugh, the things I do for you guys. Sacrificing my 8-hour beauty sleep, my privacy, and most importantly, my lovely couch, that disgusting Y/N is going to lay on.”

You once again came back from Kai Dreamland when you realized that Beomgyu had just insulted you. About to rebut, you remembered that you were still in Kai’s arms and that he was starting to carry you to the couch. Feeling the heat that was rising up your cheeks, you immediately tried squirming out of Kai’s arms.

You tried lifting your legs off his left arm and grabbing on his right one for support. “Uh, Kai, actually, I feel better already. I can walk myself to the couch, yeah, thanks.”

Kai stifled a laugh and bemusedly stared at you. “Y/N, you just fell down and knocked yourself out. The couch isn’t too far, if I can carry you to Beomgyu’s house then I can surely carry you to the living hall.”

“No, um, I’m good. I’m independent!” As you fumbled out of Kai’s grasp and began attempting to get to the couch, you thought to yourself. Y/N, how stupid. Who uses ‘I’m independent’ as an excuse? Way to blow it in front of your 10-year-crush.

Meanwhile, Beomgyu, who had been grabbing water, immediately put the cup down and ran towards you, who was struggling to even walk in a straight line. Grabbing your arms and dragging you to the couch, he tutted. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Y/N, you really be walking like a drunk man at 4am. Why did Kai stop carrying you? He shouldn’t have put you down, for goodness sake, you nearly knocked down my mom’s sacred glass vase with your swinging beanstalk arms!”

Kai lifted both of his hands in defense. “I didn’t put her down. I insisted on carrying her all the way to the couch but she flailed around in my arms and said she could walk just fine. I’m starting to think that she might have an actual brain injury.”

You, being perfectly fine and functioning decently with your 3 brain cells, had only gotten dizzy from the sudden shift of laying down to standing up. You had laid down on the couch and was starting to drift off to sleep. The last thing you heard was Kai and Beomgyu giggling about something related to brains, but you were too tired to ask them about that inside joke.

8.40 am

“So...have you told her?”

Beomgyu and Kai were sitting on the floor in the living hall, with you fast asleep on the couch behind them. There were cards messily sprawled across the floor, and 2 cup noodles on a chair placed in front of them.

Kai sighed. He discreetly held up his uno cards in front of his face to block the reddening that was beginning to form on the apples of his cheeks.

“Told who what?”

“Oh, stop acting so oblivious. Ya know, have you told Y/N that you like her?”

Kai felt his cheeks heat up even more and he embarrassingly smacked Beomgyu’s arm. “Hyung, are you dumb? Y/N’s right behind us. She probably just heard you say that. Plus, did you forget about the very special Halloween plan happening in like, 10 hours?” He quickly turned around to see if you were actually asleep and not just getting some shut-eye. You were definitely deep into your slumber, hair all messed up and your body spread across the couch in an very uncomfortable looking position. However, to Kai, you looked extremely cute. He couldn’t resist the urge to smile ear to ear. Kai wanted to boop your nose right then and there, and was fighting hard to resist this temptation in fears of waking you up. He removed his baby blue hoodie and gently placed it on your sleeping figure, doing his best to not wake you up.

Beomgyu, who was looking disgustedly at Kai’s chival gesture and his beaming face, made a heart with his hands between the both of you. “Wow, you are whipped for Y/N. Anyways, she’s clearly asleep. She looks like a pig! And it wouldn’t matter if she heard me say that you have a crush on her. She clearly likes you too.”

Kai scowled at Beomgyu’s insult, and sat back down. “First of all, do not say that Y/N looks like a pig, she’s gorgeous and way prettier than you. Secondly, no! She definitely doesn’t like me that way! She probably thinks my Halloween obsession is weird, and I’m probably not the type of guy she likes. She likes ‘hot’ dudes.” Kai gagged when he said that statement.“She probably likes Yeonjun or something, they would be cute together.”

Beomgyu rolled his eyes and declared. “Have you seen the way she looks at you? Her eyes sparkle and she awes at you like you're the only thing that matters on this planet! Heck, you probably are the only thing that matters to her on this planet.” Beomgyu sighed, rolling his eyes. “You two are so oblivious.”

“Let’s divert the topic, this is making me flustered and I don’t like it.” Kai said, as he picked a draw 8 card from the fan of uno cards that was still covering his burning red cheeks. “I was initially planning to just skip you, but because you brought this topic up, draw 8.”

Beomgyu innocently smiled, then put down a draw 4 card. He looked back up at Kai, stuck his tongue out, and then cheekily laughed at the fuming boy.

Kai’s cheeks were glowing red again, but this time, it was for an entire different reason.

October 31 2020 | 8.10am -> October 31 2009 | 9.33am

While the boy you were in love with and the boy you wanted to punch into a different dimension were talking about you, you were deep inside Kai Dreamland.

Almost every night, you dreamed about dating him. Being able to feed each other food, holding each other’s hands, cuddling, and being able to do ‘justcouplethings” with him. This dream, however, was very different.

Unbeknownst to you, a past flashback was about to happen, and it would make you finally realize why you liked Kai so much.

You were looking at your very young self in third person, who was wearing a weird wire contraption shaped like a sphere. Draped on top of the contraption was a dirty brown blanket, and stuck on top of it were what were supposed to be sprinkles and icing sugar. The sprinkles and icing sugar were made of horribly cut colored paper, and they looked like they were on the brink of dropping off because of the faulty glue gun job that was barely keeping the whole costume together. You had your purple Dora backpack in your right hand and your left hand was lifted up, about to knock on a wooden birch door with the placard “Class 1C” right in the center of the door.

Oh, no. Oh, no no. Present Y/N knew what was coming. You hated this moment so, so, much, because you knew what was behind that innocent-looking door. Out of all things, did I really have to dream about the most humiliating moment of my life?

Young Y/N finally knocked with all her strength on the wooden door, and a young adult wearing a witch hat that did not match her professional blazer and work skirt opened the door.

“Hello, dear! You must be Y/N L/N, our new student! I see you that you must’ve got the memo to dress up. I love your costume. My name is Ms. Kim. Do come inside!” Ms. Kim flashed an exaggerated smile, and gestured for you to come in.

Your younger self was very oblivious to the fact that Ms. Kim did not like your costume one bit just based on her fake smile and the giggle she tried to hide. Nonetheless, you confidently strutted in the decorated classroom, unaware that your sprinkles and iced sugar pieces were starting to fall off, leaving a trail of cut colored paper from the door to where you now stood, which was in the center of the classroom.

A few classmates had already started to snicker, proudly pointing their stubby fingers at the trail of papers, and the brown sphere you were wearing, then bursting into immature giggles. However, you continued to lift your head up high.

“Class, class, settle down. We have a new student. Y/N, do introduce yourself.” Ms. Kim announced. The high-pitched laughter echoing from the audience died down.

“Hello, class of 1C! My name is Y/N L/N, and I am proud to be here today! I will do my best in this class!” You beamed, and the class burst into booming laughter. Chaos erupted, making the giggling just now nothing compared to this event.

Paper balls and pencils were thrown, and the monstrous classmates could no longer keep their childish giggling to themselves.

“She looks like a dirt ball! She looks like a dirt ball!” A loud shout emitted from the back of the class, and soon, everyone else caught on.

“Dirt ball! Dirt ball! Y/N is a dirt ball!” The class hooted, enjoying this Halloween party way more than they should.

Ms. Kim sighed, and looked down at your fragile figure who was on the verge of tears. “Class, if you do not quiet down and respect Y/N, we will cancel this party. All of you can go back to doing your addition and subtraction.”

Immediately, the mean teasing and laughter died down, and you shuffled your way to your assigned seat, leaving a trail of more cut colored paper. Once you put your backpack behind your seat and sat down, you put your head in your arms, not bothering to look at the wavy-haired boy leaning his head on his elbow, smiling innocently at you. Noticing your sad self, he immediately placed it upon himself to cheer you up.

“Hello, you’re Y/N, right? I’m Kai. I really love your costume! Is it a cake pop?”

Kai really did love your costume. He liked the fact that anyone could tell that you had worked so hard to make it. Compared to his target-bought jellyfish costume, it was a piece of majestic art.

You immediately sat up, all signs of sadness gone. You were happy and satisfied that at least one person knew what your costume was. The hard work you spent gluing on the paper and the hard work your mother spent looking for a wire contraction that would fit you had finally been paid off.

“Yes! It’s a cake pop. I love your jellyfish costume too!” You smiled, revealing one of your missing front teeth.

“Nah, my costume isn’t as good as yours. I'm sorry if the class was so mean to you, I think your outfit looked great. In fact, my mom is having a small Halloween gathering this week, would you want to come? There will be lots of food, and I got my dad to build…”

At this exact moment, your past self realized that you liked this boy. You didn’t care if you married him, or if you just stayed friends, you wanted to be with him through thick and thin. For your present self, this just proved that you loved him more than he would ever know.

October 31 2020 | 10.35am

“...ding, ding, ding, ding…”

Ughhhh. What is going on with my phone?

“...ding, ding, ding!”

As soon as the ringing from your phone stopped, you immediately dozed back to sleep.

“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding…”

“ARGHHH! Kai, can you please help me check my phone! It's ringing like it's a bomb about to detonate!”

No response.

“Kai? Gyu?”

As you worriedly stood up and glanced around bemusedly, the baby blue hoodie that Kai had carefully draped onto you slid off, and dropped at your feet. You noticed it and picked up the familiar looking sweater.

You suddenly realized that this hoodie belonged to the one and only Kai Kamal Huening, and your heart started pounding when you came to terms with the fact that he had just draped one of his favorite hoodies onto you. You scrunched the sweater up in your hands, and wore it over your graphic pumpkin shirt (which was your “costume”). It smelled exactly like Kai, and with the faint scent of his maple autumn leaf perfume (that he only used in October) wavering in the air, you felt like you were in Kai Heaven.

However, the annoying dings in the background didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon, so you finally addressed the noise by grabbing your phone from your bag on the dining table.

You groaned as your phone screen lit up with an incoming call from Yeonjun.

“Hi, Yeonjun. I don’t think I can come.”

“What, why?” Yeonjun dragged, the ‘y’, sounding like a whining baby. “We’re doing a haunted house. All the cool kids are gonna be there. Are you not a cool kid?”

‘Well, number one, I'm not going cause haunted houses are scary. Number two, I’m not cool Jun, you know that. Number three, Kai and I were supposed to do our yearly tradition, but I fell down this morning. I think we’re going to continue it afterwards, and I don’t think Kai likes parties that much. Speaking of Kai, do you know where him and Beomgyu are? I’m in Gyu’s house by myself right now, and when I woke up they weren’t there anymore, are they with you?”

Yeonjun coughed from the other end of the line and seemed to hesitate before replying. “No, I don’t know where Kai and Beomgyu are. But I think Kai wants to come to the party, he said he would, Y/Nieeeee, please come, it’ll be fun.”

You were about to reconsider your choice and dial Kai asking if he wanted to come, when you heard an oddly familiar high pitched dolphin laughter occurring from the other end of the line, followed by a loud shout of glee.

“Wait, Yeonjun. Isn’t that Kai? Is he with you?”

“No. Kai isn’t with me. I don’t know where he is. I really don’t. I think I saw him yesterday? Uh…”

Yeonjun muted the call and left your curious self waiting on the line.

“Okay, I’m back, sorry, technical problems. But yeah, don’t know where Kai is. Totally don’t know.”

“Yeonjun, I can tell when you’re lying.”

Yeonjun sighed from the other end of the line.

“I’m coming over.” You said, as you ended the call, furious and confused as to why he lied to you about such a trivial matter. At least Kai is safe, you thought to yourself, as you grabbed your bag roughly. You were about to stalk out of the house, when you remembered that you were still wearing Kai’s baby blue hoodie that looked extremely over-sized on you. You considered wearing it to Yeonjun’s house, then decided against the decision in fear that Kai might get the wrong idea.

As best friends, the both of you didn’t exchange much skinship or share many things, so this was your first time wearing Kai’s hoodie. You didn’t want him to find out that you like him, and was planning to keep your sacred secret for as long as you could.

After taking off Kai’s sweater, you folded it into a little bundle and shoved it in your bag, just in case he might want it back at Yeonjun’s house. Finally, you walked out of your house, still curious and disappointed as to why a close friend would lie to you about such a small issue.

11.13am

Instead of going to Yeonjun’s huge house, you were now seated across an anxious, fidgeting Kai, in Magic Island, a homely cafe that the both of you would go every halloween for their special rainbow halloween-themed cupcakes. Kai had requested the both of you to meet at this cafe instead of Yeonjun’s house for who knows what, but surprisingly, you didn’t question his rushed and breathless statement when he called you as you were walking out. In the call, he anxiously explained that he would explain in the cafe, and begged you to not go to Yeonjun’s house. Even though this statement only made you more curious as to what they could and were doing there, you reluctantly obliged and began walking in the opposite direction to Magic Island.

And right now, you were seated on a very comfortable sofa with a witch cushion behind you and a pumpkin-themed cover draped over your seat. Around you, there were assorted forms of Halloween decorations ranging from black and orange themed hanging tinsels to the cafe’s signature baby witch statue that took its place at the shop’s entrance.

There was an awkward silence beginning to form between the both of you, so after glancing at everything else but Kai, you finally tried staring him down as sternly as you could, trying to show that you wanted an explanation.

“Kai, why would Yeonjun lie to me about such a trivial matter? What are you guys hiding from me?”

“No, you don’t understa-“

“I thought friends were supposed to be truthful to each other. Am I not trustworthy? I don’t remember doing anything that broke your trust.” It was getting harder and harder to control the words spouting out of your mouth at this point. You were curious and disappointed, and he had been acting shady recently. Kai has never left you alone so randomly, and to your knowledge, none of your other close friends have ever lied to you about his whereabouts.

“Look, wait! Don’t interrupt me! I can see your eyes getting unnaturally huge, and you only do that when you’re about to interrupt someone. Here, let me cut to the chase, I, uh, we, Beomgyu and I, we were at Yeonjun’s house to help him prepare for the party.”

He is a horrible liar, you thought to yourself. Nevertheless, you let him continue to see what else he could spur up.

“We uh, we went to, his house because he needed help preparing, and you know, Yeonjun’s house is huge, so like, obviously, one person couldn’t just decorate the place himself, plus, we’re helping him for the haunted house too, so uh, we-“

“Kai, you're still not answering my question. If it was nothing, why did Yeonjun lie to me about your whereabouts?” You rebutted, impatient and wanting the answer to your question quickly.

“Fine, fine. I’ll tell you. I really can’t keep it anymore. Y/N, the reason why I’ve been acting so shady, was because I was planning a-”

“SURPRISE!” A loud chorused shout echoed from the entrance of the cafe. As you turned back, you saw Yeonjun, Beomgyu, and Taehyun strutting in. Yeonjun was holding a few helium balloons with the words “Happy Birthday” and “Merry Christmas” printed on them in jazzy handwriting, and Taehyun was beside him lighting up candles on a cheap walmart chocolate cake that probably tasted like garbage. Beomgyu was trailing behind the two boys with a cheesy smile and jazz hands. Turning back, you glanced at a bemused and shocked Kai, who, seeing that you were staring at him suspiciously, covered his previous expression with a shy giggle and a smile equally as fake as Beomgyu’s.

Taehyun put down the lit up cake on the candy corn colored table and Yeonjun handed you the Target-bought balloons.

“Yeonjun lied about where Kai and I were because he didn’t want to spoil this surprise, right, Yeonjun?” Beomgyu said while maintaining his ear-to-ear smile.

Yeonjun glanced back at Beomgyu, who was still smiling but now with his eyes wide open and blinking rapidly as if he was trying to send morse code. Yeonjun responded with a small smirk and looked back at you. “Yes, we spent the morning at my house buying these things and preparing it for you. It was Kai’s idea, wasn’t it?” Yeonjun winked at Kai and finger gunned him. Wow, Jun, way to be cringey, you thought to yourself.

If this “surprise” were for any other sane person, they would’ve obviously realized that it was some last-minute pull together and would immediately called them out on it. But you, being head-over heels for Kai, felt touched that he had planned a surprise for you (and only you) and completely ignored all the screaming signs that it wasn’t an actual surprise, and then it wasn’t just a surprise for you, but for him too. Nonetheless, Taehyun’s idea of this cover-up was working perfectly and had completely erased all your previous suspicions of what Kai had been doing before.

However, your oblivious self was curious about only one thing. “Hmm, I have to ask about something.”

The four boys started breaking out in cold sweat, but Taehyun kept his cool, and managed to ignore the panic boiling inside. He calmly asked, “What are you curious about?”

“I would like to know why the balloons Yeonjun gave me say ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Merry Christmas’ on them, it is certainly not my birthday today and Christmas is in two months.”

In order to break the awkward tension rising up in the room, Beomgyu finally spoke up. “Oh, uh, a-about t-that-”

“It doesn’t matter!” Kai clapped his hands loudly and stood up, “this surprise was made for you to be happy anyway! Do whatever you want with it!” After boldly exclaiming this statement, he turned around and mouthed a word of thanks at his three friends, before turning back to you. You were busy sucking helium from the balloons and did not see the interaction that just went down.

“Kai, can you hear it? I sound like a chipmunk!” You innocently smiled at him and sucked even more air out from the deflating “Merry Christmas” balloon.

Kai felt his heart start beating just a little faster, and he laughed quietly, before walking over to join you in your little helium endeavor.

The three boys saw this as an opportunity to step out, and waved goodbye to a giggling Kai and his future girlfriend. After leaving the cafe, they burst into a fit of laughs and fake gags.

“Nice idea Taehyun, they’re a cute bunch, aren’t they?” Yeonjun giggled as he fist-bumped a Taehyun who was fake gagging.

“Wait till Y/N sees what we have planned for her later, then maybe she won’t act so ‘cute’ anymore.” Taehyun said, laughing as he stared once more through the window of Magic Island at Kai (attempting to) impersonate a gorilla and you in a heap of laughter.

‘Race you to the house! Losers!” Beomgyu teased as the three of them started sprinting back to Yeonjun’s house, where the real party would begin.

5.34pm

You were standing in front of Yeonjun’s house, no, house wasn’t the right word to describe it, it was a huge, tall, extravagant, white mansion. Said white mansion was now decorated with a  wide assortment of Halloween decorations that ranged from fake graveyards that were stuck into the soil, live-sized skeletons, realistic looking decapitated heads, and a huge amount of gruesome plastic bones scattered on the entrance of the house. The roof of the mansion had orange lights and actual fire burning, probably to make the illusion of something scary, but you couldn’t point out what that seemed to be.

After the questionable event that occurred in Magic Island Cafe, the both of you decided to continue with the tradition: doing everything on the list from baking ghost cookies, watching Halloween movies together, carving pumpkins (even if they were super mushy this year), and last of all, trying out costumes.

Usually, the both of you would go to the small homely costume store that opened on the other end of town and try out the wackiest costumes, knowing that the both of you weren’t going to wear them out anytime soon. However, today was different. You were now about to face the tons of popular kids at your school, and you were dressed in an orange pumpkin costume and an idiotic pumpkin hat. To be frank, you looked like a cutie, and Kai knew it. He had made you wear this outfit to the party, and he matched with you by wearing the same pumpkin costume, the only difference being that his was black. Obviously, Kai wanted the both of you to match so that you guys could look like a couple, and so everyone would know that you were his. Your oblivious self however, did not comprehend the true intentions of his actions, and could only think about how cute Kai looked in his round black pumpkin costume.

As the both of you admired the scary decorations adorning the entrance of the mansion, and the menacing fire burning on the top, you turned to Kai and smirked. “Wow, Yeonjun and his team really went all out this year, huh?”

“Yeah...I didn’t think it would be this great…” Kai said with his mouth agape, still busy staring at the entire mansion from top to bottom. Honestly, he wasn’t expecting Yeonjun to put in this much time and effort into his little idea, but he was appreciative of his hyung and hoped that everything would go as planned.

Just then, the two enormous doors to the inside of the mansion opened, and someone in wearing a red sweater motioned for the two of you to come inside.

“Kai! I haven’t seen you for so long! Come inside!”

That girl was gorgeous. The epitome of all popular girls.

Kai smiled softly and ran up to her, giving her a warm hug while still wearing his pumpkin costume. At this sight, a tinge of jealousy sparked within you, but you did your best to hide it. Kai and this girl would be cute together, you thought to yourself. Two popular kids, one pretty, one handsome, it's no wonder i'm no match for Kai.

You walked up the steps afterwards and gave her a small nod as a greeting. She stayed at the entrance to greet other guests, but she kept eyeing you for some weird reason.

As you stepped in with Kai, you suddenly stopped in your tracks. Letting him trail in front of you, you awed at your surroundings. Oh my gosh. Even though you had been friends with Yeonjun since middle school, this was your first time visiting his house and you were shocked to say the least. Bright orange and grey fairy lights were placed on the extremely high ceiling of the house, and there was green slime hanging around the huge glass chandelier. The living hall was almost as big as your school cafeteria, with a long glass table at the corner filled with halloween themed snacks. There was a cauldron, an actual cauldron, with gory fruit punch, eyeball cake pops, spider pancakes, and so much more. Any halloween-themed food you named was probably on the table, and if it wasn’t, it could be whipped up within an hour by the private chef on hand.

Just then, Yeonjun came up to you. “So, how is it?”

Trying to hide your amusement and shock unlike Kai, who was hyperventilating over all the decorations and prancing around like a kid with too much candy, you merely responded. “It's okay, I guess.”

“Its okay, IT'S OKAY? Do you know how many days it took for us to make this for you-”

“HEY Y/N! Long time no see!” A hand was placed on Yeonjun’s shoulder, and he was shoved aside abruptly. Replacing him was Soobin.

“Omg! Soobin! It's been a long time. How’s it going?” You squealed, as you embraced the lanky boy.

You hadn’t realized that Kai was missing because you were too busy catching up with Soobin, and your oblivious self didn’t realize the lack of people in Yeonjun’s obnoxious living hall to realize that this was not a normal party.

7.07pm

“Alright, next participants! Kai and Y/N!” The staff at the front-desk of Haunted Matchmakers called out.

The both of you exchanged questioning looks at each other as you felt multiple pairs of eyes drawn to the both of your figures.

“Why were we the only ones that he called out?” You whispered to Kai, not expecting an answer.

“Probably because together, we’re special.” Kai turned his head and winked at you cutely.

Thank goodness the two of you were still in the dark waiting room, so he was unable to see your burning cheeks.

Little did you know, Kai’s cheeks were just as fiery as yours, if not hotter.

“Alright, you ready?” The waiting room assistant asked cheekily, as he shifted his gaze between the both of you, and gestured for the two of you to enter the menacing rusty entrance.

“Yes!” Kai shouted, and pumped his fist into the air.

You, on the other hand, was a scaredy-cat, and without thinking twice, you grasped onto Kai’s hand tightly, and shifted so close to him that both of your shoulders overlapped each other.

Kai could feel your nervousness, and he was nervous too, but for an entire different reason. After you grabbed his hand, his heart started hammering in his chest and his hands started becoming clammy.

Not wanting to waste his time, Kai screamed in glee and nodded at the assistant, who pushed open the rusty wooden door. He was about to walk in while still holding your hand, when he realized that you weren’t budging.

Kai was afraid that you were going to back out of the haunted house, and as he glanced back, he was met with a teary-eyed you, shivering and trying to wipe your stubborn tears with the sleeve of your pumpkin costume.

“Hey, Y/N, what's wrong?” Kai immediately crouched in front of you so that the both of you are at eye level. land you sniffle even more.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey. Y/N. I know you’re scared, but it’s alright. I’ll be with you every step of the way, okay?” Kai coaxed, running his thumb over your intertwined hands.

You looked up at Kai with your watery eyes, and nodded ever so slightly. Kai swore his heart could’ve melted right there and then.

Just then, you realized that there were people lining up behind you. The people, who, surprisingly, were patiently waiting as you and Kai shared your cheesy moment. Realizing that you were being an inconvenience for their halloween experience, you straightened up, fixed your fallen hair, and nodded at Kai as firmly as you possibly could.

With the rusty door ajar, the both of you confidently stepped inside. Your hand was engulfed in Kai’s, and as long as you were with him, the both of you would be able to get through anything together.

7.34pm

Take deep breaths. In, out, in out. Hee, hoo, hee, hoo. Y/N, you can do this. They’re just humans dressed in manufactured plastic, with a face full of over-the-top makeup. Remember what you said before, just now? When you’re with Kai, you can get through anythi-

“AHHHHHHHH!”

Your thoughts were interrupted by yet another piercing dolphin scream from the two of you after being jump-scared by the long-haired lady with a bad case of smallpox.

You had initially thought that Kai was the brave one here, but now that the both of you were finally experiencing the actual haunted house, you couldn’t decide who was more of the scaredy-cat.

Kai had already known about this plan and played the biggest part in the creation of Haunted Matchmakers. However, he was still scared because...well….it was you he was going to surprise...and, he’s still a baby at heart.

“Kai, I don’t think I can do this. I wanna go back to the entrance.” Your shaky voice shook him out of his thoughts.

“No, no, it's okay! We just finished the third room! We’re almost there! There’s only one more room left.”

“Wait...how do you know the amount of rooms this haunted house has?” Finally, your oblivious self had started to pick up on Kai’s many mishaps.

“Well, I, uh, I, I asked the admin staff when you went to the bathroom!” Kai exclaimed.

Suddenly, you realized that it was quiet. Too quiet. The eeriness was scaring you. There was no more haunted house music, no jump-scares, nobody else with the both of you.

You shakily clung onto Kai, hooking both of your arms between one of his and pressing your cheek into his neck.

“Kai, it doesn’t feel right. This place doesn’t feel right.”

“What do you mean? Of course it doesn’t feel right, we’re in a haunted house!”

“No...I mean, like, it doesn’t even feel like a haunted house anymore, it feels like something is…” You trailed off on your speech as you spotted a small Polaroid of a selfie of you and Kai taken many moons ago at Soobin’s birthday party.

When you were too busy stuck in your place as you tried processing what a picture of the both of you was doing on the wall of a haunted house, Kai had disappeared. He was there for a second, and suddenly, your arms were clinging onto nothing but air.

“Kai? Kai? Kai?! Don’t scare me like this! You know I hate jump-scares! You promised me that you would be with me every step of the way! Kai, stop playing around!  This isn’t funny anymore!” Tears were threatening to fall out of your eyes, and you started rapidly blinking and looking back and forth to see if Kai would be hiding behind a statue or corner just to scare you.

But no, he wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere.

Back in the control room, Kai frantically paced back and forth as Yeonjun stared through the screen at you, who was crouched down and silently sobbing. The sniffles you tried to hide echoed through the corridor, and Yeonjun knew that doing nothing wasn’t going to help.

Grabbing the walkie-talkie from the girl with the red sweater, who was sitting next to him looking at other screens on an armchair while mindlessly fiddling with said walkie-talkie in her hands, he turned the knob to channel 5 and spoke into it rapidly.

“Haeun, plan B. Get back inside to corridor 2, where Y/N is, and lead her to the beginning of the trail. This surprise won’t work if Y/N doesn’t start moving.”

7.42pm

You were sitting down on the ground, head in your arms, sobbing aimlessly as you thought to yourself. What kind of sick joke is this? Why isn’t anyone coming to scare me? Where did Kai go, why did he just leave with no explanation? Shouldn't someone come now to tell me to stand up and move on so that they can keep the line going?

Speak of the devil, you felt a light pat on the shoulder. Thinking that it was staff, you looked up to be met with a gory, bloody, devil mask. Squealing and screaming, you started running away, pushing off the hands that landed on your shoulders. Suddenly, said mask was removed, and you were met with a very familiar face. Haeun? Lee Haeun?

Lee Haeun was a close friend you met outside of school in a theme park when you were by yourself. She wasn’t close to anyone here, and she was one of the last people you expected to show up here.

“Hey, Y/N! Surprise, surprise, I'm here! Sorry for scaring you,  I forgot to remove my mask!’”

“Lee Haeun...what are you doing here? Wha-”

“I’ll explain later, for now, just keep moving forward. Promise you, there’ll be no jumpscares, no nothing. Just lots of love.” She winked at you, and she had pushed you forward without you noticing, so now you were standing in front of a closed door that had a purple letter stuck onto it.

“Open it,” Haeun gestured, and pat your back twice before leaving.

“What…?” Nonetheless, you listened to her, and grabbed the folded purple letter, carefully unfolding it to reveal Kai’s handwriting:

Dear sweet Y/N,

Hi, this is Kai. I have a feeling that you’re going to be really shocked and surprised right now. ‘What? This is a haunted house, why is a letter here? Also, where is Kai? I'm gonna slap that son of a…’, anyways, yes, I know that’s what you’re thinking right now, but trust me, it’ll all make sense as soon as you walk through this door. If you thought that I disappeared into thin air, don’t worry. I’m in a control room, and I can see you right now.

Upon reading this sentence, you looked around frantically and spotted a small camera with a red blinking light. You cheekily waved at it before looking back at the letter.

About this whole event...well...firstly, if you couldn’t tell already, this haunted house isn’t real. We set it up, yes, Y/N, and if you’re here reading this, that means everything is going to plan. I knew your oblivious self wouldn’t find out ehehe! However, I couldn’t have done this large-scale event myself, you see, I only have four close friends: Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, and Taehyun, and all of them helped me out on this large-scale project. No, Y/N, I didn’t forget about you (I can practically read your thoughts right now!). You see Y/N, we’re not friends, you’re not my best friend, you’re my..ne. You’re myne. You’re mine. Ugh, I’m going to shut up now. Open the door and see for yourself, beautiful Y/N.

Lots, and lots, and lots of love,

Kai ;)

You were appalled and bashful to say the least. Wait, this can’t be? This isn’t, this isn’t what I think it is. No way. He also just called me beautiful. Me, beautiful?

For your information, Y/N, you are beautiful. You’re gorgeous, more gorgeous than that girl in red, or whatever.

You carefully folded the letter and put it in the pocket of your costume, and nervously pushed open the door to reveal...Soobin.

Oh, Soobin. What’s he doing here?

Soobin was mischievously smiling at you, while gesturing with his hands to literally everything else besides him.

Only when you stopped open-mouthed gaping at the boy, you looked around and realized the wallpaper was...interesting. There were zillions of pictures of you and Kai, all from when you met, to just 3 days ago, glued to all 4 sides of the room, covering basically every spot of the wall until you couldn't even tell the color of the room itself. Cute little pumpkin fairy lights were hung, giving the room a warm orange glow. Soft and calming Halloween decorations and statues were situated around, and you spotted the same little witch statue as the one in the entrance of Magic Island Cafe. Wow, Kai, has really been focusing on his symbolism lessons in english class.

You walked every inch of the room, and you realized that all of the pictures on the left were when the both of you first met, and as they continued on to the right, the pictures taken became more and more recent, and at the end of the room were pictures of the both of you just this year.

Soobin snapped you out of your little room tour when he walked to the side of a brown cauldron, grimaced at it, and turned back to you with a plastic smile.

“Uh, stick your hand in it.”

You tilted your head in confusion as you went over to where he was and looked over the eerie looking cauldron. It was glowing, and was neon green. You were half expecting something to pop out to scare you. You turned back to Soobin.

“No.”

“Come, on! It's part of the process, ya know? To get things rolling.”

‘What, that's not a valid reason for me to stick my hand into something so gross. What am I gonna get out of it?”

Soobin smirked. “You'll get Kai’s love.”

As you felt a blush tinting the apple of your cheeks, you immediately stuck your hand into what you thought was liquid. It was definitely not green-colored water, it was green-colored Jello. You felt a hard plate, and was about to remove your hand from the gruesome, slimy solid, when Soobin wrapped his fingers around your arm and gestured for you to lift whatever you had grabbed.

What you pulled up was not a plate, it was a picture frame. Inside said picture frame was a photo of a memory you wanted to forget forever. It was a picture of you and Kai, you in your hideous cake pop costume and Kai in his cute colorful jellyfish costume. The picture was taken by the both of your moms after the first day of school. Your mother, seeing that you had only made one friend, wanted to cherish the sacred moment. In said photo, both of your arms were slung over each other and your heads were leaning against each other. Kai had a crooked smile on his face, and you were happy as you could ever be.

On the frame were 4 words written in Kai’s writing with a sharpie. Said four words were enough to make you tear up.

“My Little Dirt Ball.”

Soobin, noticing your entranced state, tapped your shoulder.

“Flip to the back of the frame.”

Behind the picture frame was a sticky note attached. You plucked it off the back and squinted your eyes to read the small print.

Hey Y/N, I know you hate that picture, but it's my favorite, because the picture was taken on the day I met you. To continue our journey together, pull the back frame open, and insert the key inside to the orange door. Thank you, Y/N. Like I said earlier, we’ll get through this together, and I’ll see you on the other side.

Impatient to see Kai, you quickly, but carefully, pulled open the back frame, revealing a golden key. After grabbing the key and firmly wrapping your palm around it, you ran to the orange door and with shaky hands, inserted the key and twisted it. The door immediately swung open.

Behind the ajar door was a nervous Kai, still blessed with the same crooked smile as all those years ago. He was still rocking the same black pumpkin costume, and you were too mesmerized by his beauty to notice everyone else around him.

Soobin entered after you, and guided you to be right iinfront of Kai. You were now right in front of him, looking at his eyes, his gorgeous eyes, his presence, just, being with Kai. You couldn’t believe it. Your crush for almost a decade just confessed to you, in the most extra way possible. You loved it.

You looked up to see a huge banner that read: Y/N L/N, will you be myne?Around Kai was all your friends, all from different places:. Yeonjun and the gang, joined by Soobin, Haeun and your girls’ clique, the emo dude that you’re really chill with, the list goes on and on.

A beautiful voice broke you out from dreamland, to enter into yet another one.

“Y/N, will you be mine?”

You looked back at the boy you loved, and ran forward, practically throwing yourself onto him. You smashed your lips onto his, not caring that all of your friends were watching.

Kai was shocked at your sudden bold action, but quickly pulled himself together and kissed you back.

If you could describe the best feeling in the world, it was this. Fireworks erupted in your head, and all you could think about was those soft, plump lips and the boy who owned them. Kai put his arm around your waist, and the other behind your head, and you wrapped your arms around his neck.

You were doing it. You really were. You were kissing Kai Kamal Huening. In front of everyone, and you didn’t care.

It’s childish, one could say, to see two people dressed in child-like costumes practically making out with each other. However, in your opinion, that was what your love was. It was extra, childish, weird, and unlike any other typical highschooler’s romantic relationship. You wouldn’t change it for anything else.

BONUS

After the extremely extra confession took place successfully, the real Halloween party could finally commence. After all, Yeonjun hadn’t decorated his place for nothing. There was now an assortment of alcohol displayed everywhere, and suddenly the huge living hall didn’t seem so big anymore, as there were people from all over the town invited and it was getting quite cramped. Yeonjun, however, didn’t fail to notice the two of you at a small carpeted corner, just chatting. You had changed out of your pumpkin costume, and was now wearing Kai’s baby blue hoodie. Both of your hands were intertwined in his and they were being swung back and forth as you giggled about an inside joke that no one else would ever understand.

As Yeonjun quietly observed the two new lovebirds, a red object appeared in his peripheral vision. Looking down, he sighed in content. Her again.

“Yeonjun! Success, right? I knew we could do it!” She was crouching down, cutely looking at him in his eyes. She took his hand and smashed it against hers trying to imitate a high 5, while giving him a gleaming, enthusiastic smile. Yeonjun lifted the corners of his lips slightly, and squeezed her into a tight hug, earning a shocked gasp from her as she put her arms around his neck.

Choi Yeonjun better start planning out his confession soon.

© magicisland9-34. do not repost.

click here to return this book back to the library.

[calumance]

Love is electrifying - C.H.

Warnings: tooth rotting fluff, a sprinkling of cussing.

Word Count: 3k

Summary: First dates are terrifying, and they’re especially terrifying when you don’t even know who you’re going on a date with, but sometimes blind dates can end up being the best dates.

A/N: HELLO! This was originally a request that was sent to me, however I got incredibly carried away and ended up making a oneshot out of it. You can find the original request here. Also I apologize that it took me so long to get this posted. PHEW I hope this is worth the wait, I’m excited to share this with you!! Feedback and requests are always welcomed!!! (Want to be added to my tag list? Let me know!)

Masterlist

        The clock was ticking closer to the time your date was supposed to be picking you up. As you stood in front of the mirror, assessing the outfit you chose, you started to question why you ever agreed to go in a date with someone you’d never met before. Maybe it was for the thrill, the adrenaline rush, or maybe it was because Sierra literally begged you to give him a chance. You rolled your eyes and shook your head remembering that day.

        Sierra had been your best friend since middle school, it wasn’t until after high school the two of you split. She stayed in your hometown for college while you went north to New York for college. Even though you didn’t see each other every day, you made a point to talk to each other. Whether it was a good morning text, or a text ranting about the irritating professor you or she encountered. The distance between the two of you grew as her musical career started to take off, and so did your more nine-to-five career.

        It wasn’t until you received a transfer notice that you mustered up the guts to call Sierra. She squealed when she heard you were moving to Los Angeles, and babbled about how much she missed you and couldn’t wait to have sleep overs again. You had laughed and your stomach filled with excitement as you realized that even though the friendship was distant, nothing actually changed. When you landed in Los Angeles, she was the first one to greet you, her arms open wide and a smile spread across her face. When you wrapped your arms around her, you knew you were home.

        It took about a week for her to start bugging you about your love life. You were out getting lunch on a Saturday afternoon, her hair tied up in cute space buns, sunglasses covering her eyes. The way she dressed for a Saturday lunch made you look like you were dressed to be featured on the ‘People of Walmart’ website. Sierra dropped her fork to her plate and looked at you over the top of her sunglasses, “So you’re telling me that you haven’t dated anyone since high school?” The look on her face said there was no way she would ever believe you.

        You shrugged and stabbed mindlessly at the food on your plate, “I mean, there was a couple of meaningless things in college, but nothing serious.” When you looked up at Sierra, she had leaned back in her chair and pushed her sunglasses back up to the top of her nose. The wheels in her mind were turning and your furrowed your eyebrows. “What?” You asked feeling as if there was a storm brewing in her mind.

        She snapped her head back towards you as a mischievous grin spread across her lips. You reared back, terrified of what she was about to say. Before saying anything, she leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table and licked her lips. She wiggles in her chair as the same grin came back to her face, “What if I set you up on a blind date?” Your heart raced in your chest and you kicked your lips and stared at her like a deer in the headlights. “I have this friend, I think he’d be perfect for you.”

        Friend? Her friends were almost all A and B list celebrities, who in the hell did she want to set you up with? You shook your head and laughed a sarcastic laugh, “No, Sierra. There’s no way that I am worthy enough to date any of your friends.” The blood rising in your face finally reached the top of your ears as you looked around seeing if there was anyone around that you didn’t want to hear your next thought, “I mean you’re dating Luke Hemmings for fucks sake.” She shrugged and gave you a look that proved she didn’t see this as anything other than normal. Not wanting to explain how someone like you dating someone of her status was weird, you just sighed. “Will you at least tell me who it is.” She grinned in satisfaction and responded by raising her eyebrows and sticking a fork full of food in her mouth.

        It’s five minutes until your date is supposed to pick you up and Sierra has yet to tell you who she set you up with. The nervousness running through your veins starting to buzz the more the clock ticks. You had tried to call Sierra multiple times, but she never answered. Two days ago when you asked her how he was going to know your address she simply responded with “I know where you live.” Her voicemail answered again as your hands trembled, the nerves finally taking over the thrill of the unknown. You cursed at your phone just as the doorbell rang.

        The sound made your skin crawl, and your stomach jump into your throat. Slowly, you dropped your phone into your bag and made your way to the door. Your fingers pressed to the door as you stood on your toes and tried to peek out the peep hole. The peep hole was dirty and smudged so all you could see was the blurry outline of a person standing on the other side. Your fingers wrapped around the door knob as you took a deep breath and tried to calm your heart. The door creaked as you opened it, your eyes finally landing on the man on the other side. Immediately you recognized him, “Oh, fuck,” slipping off your tongue. Calum let out a soft laugh and looked down at his feet. If he said anything to you, the sound was muffled by the intense beating in your chest. You closed your eyes and placed your hand on your forehead, “That wasn’t supposed to come out of my head, I’m sorry.”

        Calum laughed again and raised his eyebrows, lifting his head slightly to look at you. “It’s good, haven’t gotten that reaction in a long time.” He lifted his head fully and tucked his hands into his pockets. His hair was combed back and to the side, giving him a slight pompadour style. His normal curls that you’ve seen in pictures being tamed by the gel. A black leather jacket was pulled over white button up which was loosely hanging over his black jeans. The outfit was topped off with a pair of old black high top converse. You snickered at the half effort he put into his outfit, but somehow he still looked more put together than you. “I made us reservations at a restaurant not too far from here, are you ready?” His brown eyes looked at you with a shimmer, a shimmer that told you that he was safe, safer than most blind dates. With a nod, you reach for the door handle and stepped out and shut the door behind you.

        The car ride was quiet, only glances were stolen. The butterflies in your stomach unable to calm down, making you feel more than nauseous. As you looked over at him, he looked at you, your eyes connecting. The heat in your cheeks caused you to turn away and touch your face to see if you’re were physically hot. Beside you, Calum cleared his throat and loosened his grip in the steering wheel. “You look very nice, by the way.” He said, causing you to turn your attention back to him.

        Again your cheeks felt hot as he smiled at you. Your stomach did a flip as you ducked your head and swallowed the lump that was quickly forming in your throat. “Thank you, you too,” was all you were able to choke out. Your eyes widened as you looked out the window, embarrassed that that was the only thing you could get out. Calum let out a soft chuckle, but didn’t say anything else.

        As Calum pulled into the parking spot, you started to grab your bag and take off your seat belt. “Stay right there.” Calum said, a soft smile spread across his lips. Your eyebrows furrowed as you released the seat belt and watched Calum jog around the front of the car to the passenger side. He popped the door open and held out his hand. Reluctantly you placed your hands in his, immediately a bolt of lightning running from your fingertips to your shoulder. He helped you out of the car then shut the door behind you. As soon as he let go of your hand, you looked at it and flexed your fingers. As he walked away from you, shooting you a quick smile and shoving his hands in his pockets, you couldn’t help but wonder if he felt it too.

        Calum opened the door and stood off to the side, allowing you to walk into the restaurant first. A soft ‘thank you’ fell from your lips before you stepped to the side and let Calum be the first to walk up to the hostess. She welcomed him with a warm smile, and he returned it before giving his last name. You continued to stand behind him, your arms awkwardly crossed in an attempt to hide in nervousness. As the hostess left the stand, Calum turned towards you and held out his hand. Afraid of what his touch would feel like, you hesitated. As you placed your hand in his, you flinched, but it didn’t stop to lightning from shooting through your whole body again. A sigh escaped your chest as the tingling dissolved and Calum pulled you to the table.

        Even though the waiter had just finished dropping off your glass of wine, the sound of Calum slapping the menu down on the table made you jump. He chuckled and apologized for scaring you, “Sierra has told me a lot about you.” He said as he folded his hands together. As he leaned forward placing his arms on the top of the table, he wiggled in his seat, readjusting his position.

        The smile sitting on his lips lit some sort of fire in your stomach. A fire that you haven’t felt in a long time, a fire that caused you to hastily reach forward for your glass of wine and wash the majority of the liquid down, hoping to give you some sort of liquid courage. You raised your eyebrows and made a face that was caused by the bitterness of the liquid in your glass, “That’s funny because up until the point I opened the door I had no idea who she set me up with.” You gulped, but you weren’t sure if it was because of the lump that was forming again, or if it was from the dryness the wine left. The glass made a quiet thump as you set it on the clothed table, “What exactly did she tell you?” You asked while using your pointer finger, middle finger and thumb to twist the stem, spinning the glass on the table.

        Calum cleared his throat as your gaze met his. From under the table you could tell that his leg was bouncing in nervousness. You tried your best to relax since it was obvious your nerves were wearing off on him. “She told me you two grew up together, and she also told me that you were one of the sweetest, polite, shy, beautiful people she’s ever met.” He grinned and the nerves in your body start to buzz again, but you composed yourself and swallowed everything down.

        A question sat in the back of your mind, a question that you weren’t sure was appropriate to ask someone you met only an hour ago, “was she right?” It slipped out, and almost immediately you regretted it. You could feel the bile sitting in your throat; you shook your head and looked down at the glass that you were still nervously turning between your fingers.

        A sly grin stretched across Calum’s lips as he sat back and copied your actions by turning his glass while it sat on the table. He glanced up at you and you felt your stomach jump into your throat. He slowly started to nod, “So far.” He said while dropping his gaze back to his glass. The butterflies filled your stomach and your cheeks flushed a bright red. You lowered your head to hide the flirtatious smile that was slowly starting to stretch across your face.

        As dinner played on, your nerves started to relax. There was nothing really to be nervous about, from what you could tell Calum was just as normal as you were, aside from the whole rockstar thing. He didn’t act like a rockstar, when you had asked him why he didn’t go out and party like most rock stars, his smile faded and he shook his head, “those days are in the past, the old me, you could say,” he said as a smirk pulled at his lips as he referenced his own song. A chuckle rumbled in your chest as you lowered you head and nodded in understanding.

        The car ride back to your place was less quiet than the one on the way to dinner. This time it was full of laughter and ‘get to know you’ questions. When Calum pulled up in front of your house, you swallowed. The night had gone so well that you didn’t want it to be over, you wanted this feeling to last forever. You ducked your head as you looked at your hands and fiddled with the strap of your bag. The thought of inviting him in crossed your mind, but you knew if he came in then it would lead to more, breaking your rule of no sex on the first date. It wasn’t because you think he would push for it, but more because you weren’t sure if you could control yourself. There was just something about him; he was sweet and polite, but at the same time of the most attractive humans you’d ever laid your eyes on. Calum cleared his throat jolting you out of your thoughts. “I had a really good time tonight.” He said sheepishly with a nod.

        Your heart raced as you nodded in agreement, “I had a really good time tonight, too.” Your hands trembled in your lap as you thought about the possibility of him kissing you. Instead of looking at Calum, you directed your attention back to your house. As you reached for the door handle, you felt as if everything were in slow motion. Your palms felt sweaty as you turned to Calum to bid him goodnight and saw the look in his eyes telling you how badly he wanted to kiss you. But there was something in your gut telling you to leave, so you popped the door handle and ran towards your front door, without saying another word to him.

        Once you were on the other side of the door, you let out a breath and pressed your back to the door. The chill of the door against your skin causing shivers to run up and down your spine. The feeling of wanting to burst into tears suddenly overcame you as you fumbled for your phone in a desperate attempt to call Sierra. When she answered, you broke, the tears started to fall, even though you really had no reason to cry. “Why didn’t you tell me you were setting me up with Calum? If I had known I never would have agreed,” you cried, “He deserves more than me, I made a fool of myself going out with someone as elite as him.” Your chest heaved, no matter how normal he acted and how normal everything felt, the fact of the matter was he wasn’t normal at all.

        For a moment Sierra was at a loss for words, giving you time to calm down. “Elite? What are you even talking about, darling, he’s as normal as you and I. So he has a successful music career, that does not change who he is, and it definitely shouldn’t change how you see him. When you were with him, did you feel like you were with someone famous, or did you feel like you were the only people in the world?” You thought about dinner and how you felt, really you hadn’t noticed the other people in the room. Once your nerves started to relax the only other person who made an appearance in your vision was the waiter. Before you could answer, Sierra continued to babble about how crazy you sounded, but what actually caught your attention was the sound of a light knock on your front door.

        The tears immediately stopped as your eyebrows furrowed. Without saying another word to your best friend, you ended the call then slowly made your way to the door. As badly as you wanted to peek out the peep hole to see who it was, there was a feeling in the pit of your stomach telling you that you already knew who it was. Your fingers delicately wrapped around the doorknob as you twisted it to open the door. Calum had his hand on the back of his neck, and the other dug deep into his pocket. Although your eyes were locked, neither of you said anything, but somehow you knew you were thinking the same thing. “I don’t want the night to be over,” Calum breathed out before lifting his hands to either side of your face and hastily pressed his lips against yours. The same bolt of lightning jolted through your body, this time much stronger, causing you to inhale a sharp breath. At first you hesitated to kiss him back, but when the reality of how badly you didn’t want the night to end either, you balled the material of his t-shirt in your fists and pressed against him. As his lips moved against yours, you couldn’t help but think that breaking your personal rule this one time won’t be such a bad thing.

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

Tag list: @mantlereid​ @notinthesameguey​ @viiirg0​ @wheniminouterspace​ @thinkofmehlgh​ @another-lonely-heart​ @limer-encia​ @itsmytimetoodream​ @babyoria​ @treatallwithkindness​

[queercultleader]

The Broom Closet Witch Guide

Hello, my dears! I’ve noticed since I’ve joined and also started posting, there’s quite a few witches who have to hide what they’re doing. The odd thing about me is that my family isn’t aware that I, y’know, dabble in witchcraft. It isn’t something we share at the Thanksgiving table. Living with a parent can make this difficult, though.

This short guide is mostly targeted at younger witches who are scared of their parents figuring things out or are in a dorm, however some of these tips can be used in other situations.

1.)

Altars

You may not be able to keep an altar in the open, but many witches use shoe boxes or old jewelry boxes to contain items. Mint tins have also been used to hold items or if you wanted to decorate the inside, you could use it as a way to pay respect to a deity. You could also use a suitcase to become an altar.

There’s some plane jane wooden boxes you can decorate at Walmart and Dollar General (that I’ve seen with my own four eyes, but obviously you can find them elsewhere). Also, I believe this is just a spring or easter type thing, at the Dollar Tree there’s currently decorative, small boxes of different sizes. The blue, glittery box at the end of this post is one I bought there.

I have an altar that’s out in the open but I also have a small travel altar I made from a mint tin. I have made a post about it previously where I discussed what I put inside of it and what the items’ purposes are-- that you can find right here.

2.)

Deities, Saints, & The Elements

It is not uncommon to use candles to represent deities but if you feel uncomfortable with owning many candles, you can get creative. You could gather rocks and paint them, draw a figure and cut them out, or use special items like coins or glass figures.

If you are wanting to have all the elements represented, there are ways to do this as well. In another blog of mine I mentioned that you could use fuzzy socks to represent fire because they would stand for warmth and comfort. You could use hand fans, small portable electric fans, or a feather to represent air. You can use a sea shell or a small spray bottle with water in it to represent water. For earth, you could collect rocks, dried flowers, or even make something from clay. Just like using rocks to represent deities, you could do the same for the elements by painting them with their symbols.

For my element rocks I created, they’re pictured at the bottom of this blog.

3.)

Resources & Books

If you’re scared of owning or buying physical copies of books, there’s still other ways of reading up and researching. Obviously, you have tumblr which provides so many ideas and tips. You can also find PDFs of books online through websites (example: PDF Drive). On eBay, there’s also very cheap PDFs of books.

Outside of this, public libraries still exist. You can read whatever book you’d like while you are there and then type in your phone’s notes what page you’re on. Continue where you left off when you return. There’s also normally library resources online where you use your library card number. Some of these sites are Hoopla, Freading, and Overdrive.

Lastly, there’s apps that can help inform you about astrology, moon phases, plants, oils, and crystals. I would suggest Plant Net, Spellcaster, Moon Calendar, My EO, Co-Star, Stone, and Picture This.

If you’re interested in tarot cards or runes, there’s apps also for this. I currently use an app called Rune.

4.)

Items For Your Altar

Using an empty candle holder, a small glass/ceramic/metal bowl, or a soap dish can have different uses. The candle holder or bowl can be used as an offering bowl or be used to burn sigils to activate them.The soap dish can be useful to become a make-shift incense holder or to also hold offerings or burn items. I have a soap dish shaped like a sea shell that is bowl-ish almost in shape that could work perfectly. To make an incense holder, use some candle wax to keep the incense in place.

For an altar cloth, you could use spare fabric for sewing or from old clothes, towels, and bandannas.

If you’re to buy any candle, a white candle is all-purpose. You could also use birthday candles. A small lighter would be perfect and discrete.

I also made a guide on easily obtained wands (that I haven’t posted on here, just amino) but one that may work perfectly if you’re trying to not raise suspicion —is using wooden pencils (yes, with their lead!). Some magical uses of lead include: concentration, protection, banishing negativity, providing stability, promoting contact with spirits, and etc.

5.)

Book of Shadows or Grimoire

Afraid of having your book found? You can use a secret language or.. use google docs or writing websites (take advantage of drafts, they aren’t published for the public but you can view them!) Google Docs can be used online or off if enabled in the settings. Writing websites used could be Wattpad, PoetBay, Quotev, Movellas, and etc.

6.)

Hiding Items and Material

You can always hide items in large books or inconspicuous places like pencil pouches, socks, and drawers. If you want to hide pieces of paper, try hiding them in scrapbooks, behind pictures in picture frames, or inside movie cases. There’s also hollowed out books that may be of use!

On apps like Instagram and Pinterest, you may find images of useful tips or spells that you want to save. To hide those pictures, you can install apps like Calculator+. This is a secret gallery of photos disguised as a calculator. You have a password you type in on the calculator and bam you get access to those pictures.

7.)

Divination

Pendulums are easy to make and take apart! You can use keys, rings, nails, and etc along with thread/string. If you want to make a pendulum board or mat to go along with them, they’re also easy to create. Just look at images of boards and make your own version.

I already mentioned there’s apps for tarot and runes but you can also use an ordinary deck of cards to read tarot. There’s guides online! I mentioned one guide in particular on my “Broke Ass Witch Guide: Dollar Tree Items” post you can find here.

You can also use dice for divination. For my pocket altar, I didn’t have any dice on me but I did have clay-- so I made one. You can do the same or maybe make one from paper using a ruler or an already existing template. However, I’ve also seen regular packs of dice at Dollar Tree. 

Just A Note

Because I’m a sap.

You are still a witch with your current limitations and I adore you. Don’t threaten your safety if you’re in a strict household. One day you will be on your own and be able to do whatever makes you feel happy and complete. Witchcraft is not about expensive cauldrons, crystals bigger than Texas, rare herbs, and aesthetically pleasing photos for tumblr. Witches are crafty and adapt, they use what they have on them. Some items I would suggest as a basic kit would be: colored ink pens, a wooden pencil, paper, thread (for binding, for making a pendulum), a white candle (if possible!), a small lighter,  a spray bottle with a mixture of water and salt (for cleansing), and your creativity. You have a big brain under that pointy hat, I know it. 

[pinkykitten]

Shy Love

Neil Melendez x female! reader

Genre: comedy, angst, prompt, romance, fluff 

Words: 2,304 (ok where did she come out of ?)

Request: By anon Could you do a Melendez x reader oneshot where at the hospital he’s the most shy person he’s ever seen but he happened to see her out and she’s totally different like loud and reckless and stuff, and he can’t decide which side of her he loves more and confesses

and another anon hiii idk if you’re taking requests but if you could do a neil melendez x reader fic w/ angst prompts 7 and 11 I’d be the happiest!!! (like mostly angst but ending with fluff if that makes sense)

Prompts: 7 -  “you should’ve said that yesterday.” 11 -  “it’s over, it’s done, just leave it be.”

Authors Note: MiX iT aLl ToGeThEr AnD yOu KnOw ThAt It’S tHe BeSt Of BoTh WoRlDSs!!!!!!! if you didnt get by the song i mixed two requests cuz why not but this one has a lot to do w walmart and like its funny and silly but then super angsty and gets rlly in the feels,,like its a whole lot but i love my boo sm he is lemonade

“Y/N, how would you like to join us? We’re going to the bar when our shift is over,” Neil asked you with dreamy eyes. His hand resting on your shoulder. Neil was always trying to bring you out of your shell and make you associate with your coworkers. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to gather with your workmates its you were shy around them. With your friends from your hometown they knew how odd you were and would never judge you or dislike you but all these doctors you knew were way more mature than you. They had their life figured out and you were worried they wouldn’t like the real you and who you really are. 

You grabbed all your books that you were going to study that night for a patient of yours and carried your bag. “Thanks for the invite, but I think I’m going to call it a night.” You said with a small voice, thanking him with a kiss on the cheek. 

“You sure?” Neil smirked.

You waved, “bye Neil.”

Neil shook his head at you declining his offer. All he wanted was to have a night out with you. He wanted to get to know you better.

As you stepped out of the hospital your phone buzzed with a call. You chuckled as you saw the caller ID display your friend and roommate's name. 

“Yes, Janelle?” 

“Girl, meet me at Walmart! They got the good stuff you like so much on sale.” She was sparking with such enthusiasm for something so mellow. 

Giggling you put your friend on speaker as you started your car, “I think you’re the only person I know that gets excited for Walmart.”

“I thought since you’re always so busy-”

You rolled your e/c eyes, “here we go again! Always the same topic of conversation. I’m sorry I’m over here saving lives!”

“I’m just saying I barely see you anymore. I miss you. I want to know whats going on with your life. Any guys? Lets just hang out for a little bit, please.” 

You felt bad, your friend sounded lonely and you could go for some best friend advice and love at this moment. “Sure, why not? I’m coming over! Order me something from McDonald’s okay? I’m starving.”

Janelle laughed loudly on the other end.

The burger hit the spot of your hunger. You licked your lips and wiped your fingers. 

“Do you think we need more of this?” Janelle pulled out the coffee creamer from the milk aisle. 

“Yes,” you said with a definite answer. “You drank all of the other one?”

Janelle looked at you bashfully, “oops, that was me?”

“Oops, that was me?” You repeated sarcastically. “Of course that was you. I barely get to drink coffee creamers anymore. I now drink that dark stuff at work.”

“Right, work. So how’s that Melendez doctor?”

You almost choked right there. People were eyeing you as you playfully slapped your friend in embarrassment. “Janelle! What if he’s here?”

“Honey, he probably shops at Whole Foods not at some Walmart, okay. Besides why are you so secretive about him?”

You waved your hands in front of your face to try hide your bashful expression, “Because, he’s so handsome and more mature than me. He has his whole life figured out. I’m still living off of Ramen while he probably eats with Beyonce!”

“Oh, someone has a crush! And he’s rich!”

You put bread in the cart and almost knocked the cart into an old woman, “Just because he may be rich, Janelle, doesn’t mean that’s the most important thing. But yes, Neil Melendez may be rich.” 

Your best friend and wing girl squealed louder than a pig. “Oh my God! You like him! You like him! You like him! Why don’t you just ask him out then? You are so pretty, he’d probably say yes.”

“That’s the problem. He may say yes. It’s not definite. I’m, I’m too afraid. It doesn’t matter. We are just coworkers he’s my boss and we have a professional relationship, nothing more.”

“Alright, I won’t push it anymore.” Janelle grew a big, evil, smile on her face. She skipped behind you and pushed you in the shopping cart. 

You screamed loud and whipped your head around to her, “what are you doing Janelle?”

“You’re too stressed out Y/N. Let loose. It’s time we have fun.” Janelle didn’t even give you enough time to interject because she was already speeding down the shopping lanes. She pushed you faster and faster. 

At first you were afraid but then the adrenaline got to you and you started laughing. She poured chip bags and bags of marshmallows on you to replicate rain. She twirled the cart and your cheery cackles were heard through out the whole store. 

This is what you meant. You could be a silly willy with your best friend and people that knew you. But you were too shy and afraid to reveal your fun self to others but more to Neil. You were frightened he would say you were too stupid for him or that you were not serious enough. Neil meant so much to you that you were always shy around him. You liked him so much and you never wanted to jeopardize your relationship you have with him. 

What you didn’t know was Neil did indeed shop at Walmart and he was doing some last minute shopping. 

He was peering at a bag of pistachios when he could of sworn he heard your shrieks. He paid no attention to it at first until he heard your voice nearby. It couldn’t have been you! No, not shy, flustered, Y/N. Neil turned the corner and was met with the surprise of you dancing in the shopping cart. He was a bit confused. You were always shy around him when Neil would talk and hang out with you. It was a complete 180. Who was this person? He couldn’t help but smile. You looked so adorable and cute having fun. You were being a ball of excitement. So different than how he knew you or what he thought he knew. He loved how sweet you were when you were shy but you seemed more happy now. He loved the real you. Neil even found himself getting jealous. Why didn’t you show your true, inner self to him? Were you afraid of him? He wanted to know everything about you and he felt like he didn’t know you at all. His smile started to disappeared. Neil didn’t think. Before he knew it he was making his way towards you and your roommate. 

“Hello Y/N,” Neil created a fake grin. 

You were completely horrified. Your heart pounded vigorously. Was he watching you this whole time? He probably thought you were being absurd. At once all the nerves consumed you. You became speechless. You were so embarrassed! You quickly hopped out of the cart and sheepishly put your hands behind your back. “H-hey Doctor Melendez. I didn’t know you shop here?”

“It’s Walmart. I hope I can shop here.”

Your eyes bugged out of your head. 

“What my friend means is that you look rich and so handsome that we suspected you might shop at places like Whole Foods and what not.” Janelle saved your butt.

Neil chuckled, “no, I need my junk food.” He then eyed you. “Saw you having fun here.”

You looked down, scared for his talk. 

“Why don’t I ever see this side of you? I think you should let that fire out more at work in front of all of us. I think its cute.” He winked at you as he walked away. 

“Oh my God Janelle,” you fell against the cart, leaning against it. “I think I just died. That was so embarrassing!”

Janelle danced around you, “are you serious? He said you were cute! Agh, I wish a guy would say that about me!”

“I’m so glad that’s over.”

It wasn’t over. Far from it.

Neil couldn’t sleep that night. He was angry and jealous. He wanted to start a relationship with you but he didn’t even know who you were. How was it going to work? He didn’t understand why you kept who you were away from him? Do you hate him that much?

Neil paged you and texted you that he needed to discuss something with you, asap the next day at work.

Your bones shook like a tree. You were more than nervous, you were petrified. Was this about the fiasco at Walmart or was this something more? Neil meant so much to you, you didn’t want to ruin what you two already had. 

You knocked on the door to a vacant room. You saw Neil sitting at the table through the glass windows. 

“Come in,” he said loud for you to hear. 

You walked in slowly. 

“Please sit.”

You sat, biting your lip. You played with your fingers awaiting the blow. 

“I just want to say I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with me but I wanted to discuss something that’s been bothering me.”

“Yes.”

“I thought I knew you. I don’t know why but when I saw you having fun yesterday my heart hurt. It’s weird to explain.” Neil rubbed his temples, clearly this was effecting him. “I fell asleep that night thinking about you.”

“About me?” You felt flustered. 

Neil heard how that sounded and quickly tried to save himself from the grave he dug himself, “please, let me rephrase that. What I mean is, I know you for being this quiet, shy woman and who I saw yesterday was this outspoken, fun, burst of fire. Why is there such a change?”

You were afraid he was going to bring it up. You felt hot. You weren’t really sure how you were going to respond. “I don’t know.” You became shy. 

“I just don’t understand why you are so...afraid of me? Have I done something to scare you?”

“It’s not you okay,” you were becoming overwhelmed. Why did he have to bring up something you were insecure about? Why couldn’t he just let it go? “It’s me. I just I don’t-”

“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I just want a complete honest answer. I don’t want you to dislike me. Please tell me what happened.”

You wanted to shut out everything. You were self conscious of your personality. You felt like crying. You stared at your hands and wanted to be sucked in a hole. Your lips trembled as a tear fell.

Neil saw that and felt like a monster. “I’m sorry Y/N. I didn’t mean to-”

You wiped your tears away and stood up, “You said enough. It’s over, it’s done, just leave it be.” You were about to leave but entered the room again. “I’m insecure about myself and I don’t like the real me. I’m afraid you won’t like who I am because I really like you Neil. I hide because who I really am is this crazy, reckless person. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I’m sorry I’m weird.” You walked away leaving Neil feeling defeated and hating himself because all he wanted to do was tell you how he truly felt. 

It was the next day and you were swallowed up in your blanket, eating ice cream and watching rom cons that were too good to be true. You felt hollow. You thought you maybe had a chance with Neil but he hated you and found you unattractive. 

Janelle came in with a guilty look on her face, “it’s okay babes.” She hugged you tight. “If he doesn’t love you then he doesn’t deserve you because you are a gorgeous thing.” She smiled trying to make you laugh. 

You chuckled weakly and cried into Janelle’s shoulder feeling like a glob rather than a person. “I even told him how I felt.”

There was a knock at the door. “I’ll get it.” You slipped on your slippers and walked around the apartment gloomy. You opened the door and standing there was Neil holding a bouquet of roses. “Oh its you.” You threw the door in his face. 

“Please Y/N I really need to talk to you.”

Janelle turned you around like a mother, “go talk to him. Now.”

You groaned as you met with Neil’s body. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to apologize for the way I acted towards you yesterday. It was wrong and I am very sorry. I was being stupid. I was jealous because I wanted you to be yourself around me. I wanted to know how adorable you act and I want to push you in a cart. I want to have those fun moments with you because you are special Y/N. You have this beautiful, amazing personality that lights up the room and that makes me feel giddy. I’m a complete idiot for treating you like how I did but Y/N I like you. I like you a lot. I would love to take you on a date like a gentleman because you deserve the best. These are for you.” He handed you the roses. 

You were speechless, mouth agape as you stared at this man completely smitten with you and confessing. You smelled the roses and smiled, “they smell amazing. Thank you.”

“Phew, I’m glad you liked them because I was really nervous you were allergic or something-”

You pulled Neil’s collar and gave him a big kiss. It was sensual and perfect. It wasn’t too quick but not too long. Both lips moved in perfect sync. “You should’ve said that yesterday.”

“I really should of if I was going to get that outcome.”

Janelle started clapping in the background like a victorious warrior. “Amazing! So when’s the wedding?”

(ENDING A/N: i’m not sponsored by walmart sAdly i swear hhhhh)

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[trillian-anders]

grilled cheese

pairing: chef!bucky x plus!reader

warnings: fluff, fluff, fluff, a little self-depreciation. mostly fluff.

word count: 2746

Description: chef!au; you can tell a good chef by how he makes his grilled cheese.

for @captainscanadian​;; the cbc 1k writing challenge 

just a taste masterlist

“May I have the… king burger and a side of the Parmesan truffle fries please?” This food truck was your favorite in the city, it just so happened to be parked right outside of your job, and definitely served up some spicy creole flavors. It had gumbo and jambalaya by the cup, a burger that shouldn’t work as an ode to kings bread but it did and fresh beignets straight from the fryer if you had a sweet tooth. 

“Would you like something to drink?” The men who worked it were just a plus, the two of them both terribly handsome, the one currently taking your order was smooth. Impossibly smooth. The gap in his front teeth was incredibly endearing, but the wedding band on his finger and the sweet tone he usually used with you led to you believe his marriage was a happy one. 

“We’ve got the Big Shot Pineapple back in,” A sweaty bottle placed on the ledge, “I know that’s your favorite.” And you did love some pineapple soda, but you’d been trying to eat healthier, and ignoring the fact that you were ordering a burger and fries you fought yourself for a moment on whether or not this soda would be too much. 

“Stop pressuring her, Sam.” The man behind him joked, “She’ll get the soda if she wants it.” A smirk on his lips. Your heart skipped a beat. It was no secret to your coworker behind you, Nat, that you had a crush on Bucky Barnes. His strong jaw and bright blue eyes, that tight bun on the back of his head and his fucking biceps. Those strong arms that were wrapped in colorful tattoos. You’d sat near the food truck every Friday since it’d started parking here two months ago and watched him work. 

The kind smile he’d give people, the funny remarks as he cooked their food. The sweat dripping down his face as he lifted the lid off the pot of jambalaya to spoon out a portion. You’d drool over whatever you’d ordered that day watching him work. 

“You should ask him out,” Nat popped a fry into her mouth. “He likes you.” You rolled your eyes, taking a sip of the cheap pineapple soda that was just so fucking good. 

“He’s nice to me because I tip well,” You wiped your fingers on a napkin, watching him powder beignets and hand them to a sweet little boy, icing sugar still on his fingers. You sighed, looking down at your burger. “Maybe once I lose some weight.” The burger was half eaten as you stare at it with despair. You had been doing so well today, but the sign on the side of the truck said they were only making it the week of Mardi Gras so they wouldn’t have it next week so you HAD TO get it. 

It was a very good reason. 

“What’s wrong with you right now?” The red headed goddess asked, being someone who hadn’t been a pound overweight her entire life. You rolled your eyes, “No seriously, you’re the same person whether you’re overweight or not. And I can tell when someone likes you and he likes you.” 

“I know I’m the same person,” You took another sip of soda, “I’m just….” How do you say it? “Guys have to be into my body type, I guess. I can’t just go out and approach anyone for a date.” You popped a fry in your mouth, “They have to like fat girls.” 

“I hate when you say that.” Nat shook her head.

“Say what?” You licked the parmesan truffle flavoring off your finger. 

“Fat.” You laughed, rolling your eyes.

“Doesn’t mean I’m ugly.” You took a glance over at the subject of the conversation, Sam must have said something funny to him because he was laughing. That head thrown back, grab your belly laugh. Fuck he was so hot. His eyes met yours across the pavilion. And he winked. He fucking winked. 

“Just go ask him.” Nat stole another fry. “He always gives you extra fries, he practically pays for your lunch,” There was always something they ‘forgot’ to charge you for after they swiped your card. 

“No big deal.” Sam would say, he would elbow his buddy, “It’s on the house.” It happened more often than would be normal. 

“I’m just saying, instead of thirsting over him, at least go give him your number.” Maybe next week. This week you’d spilled some juice from your burger all over your blouse. 

“Next week.” You agreed, “New week I’ll give him my number.” 

You’d been on track with your diet all week, the salads, protein smoothies, healthy snacks. That way, you reasoned, on Friday when the ‘Connect Nola’ food truck parked on the pavillion you’d be able to treat yourself with something good. 

And something better than good. 

He was wearing a black t-shirt today, his hair in a high bun on his head, strands framing his face. A clear plastic poked out of the back of his shirt on what looked like fresh ink he’d gotten since last time you’d seen him. The special was a boneless fried chicken breast and red pepper jam on a biscuit. 

“That’s what you should get.” Bucky said from his place over the flat top. Two fryers working hard next to him. “It’s my recipe, so it’s good.” 

“As opposed to mine?” Sam smacked his friend, scooting himself around him to pluck the pineapple soda from the cooler. Bucky laughed. 

“I’ve got some fried green tomatoes for you too if you want them.” He winked. Your mouth watered. 

“You’re going to kill me.” You sighed, “Of course I want them.” Bucky smirked, 

“Good cause they’re almost done.” He was stirring some kind of sauce in a metal bowl that after he placed the four thick slices of fried tomato in the paper container he poured over top. The two paper containers were placed on the counter, pineapple soda sweating next to them. You pulled out your card, flipping it between your fingers when Bucky stepped in front of Sam to hand you your food. 

“How much do I owe you?” Your voice was breathy, heart racing at the sight of him so close. He leaned over the side, crossing his arms on the counter. 

“Dinner, tonight maybe?” A charming smile, almost bashful. Your heart skipped a beat. 

“I was going to ask you out.” You laughed. His smile widened. 

“Well now you don’t have to… so?” His number had already been scribbled on the take out container next to him. “I’ll see you later.” Nat elbowed you to respond. 

“Yeah… yes!” You took the warm containers from him, his fingers brushing yours. “Yes, later. Okay.” You bumped into Nat as you stepped backwards. “Bye.” 

He smirked in response, “Bye.” 

“I have nothing to wear.” You groaned over the phone. Nat laughed from the other side, 

“What about that black dress with the flowers?” The one you’d bought from the flea market in the summer. “Wear that.” 

The doorbell rang and your heart dropped. “Fuck, he’s here. Hold on.” You quickly shifted through your closet finding the dress she was talking about. “Just a minute!” You called to the man behind the door. “I’m so fucking disorganized.” You said to your friend on the phone, “Where are those heels?” 

“The black ones with the thick strap? They’re under your bed. You kicked them off when we got back from brunch last week. I’m sure.” She was right. The dress was soon slipped over your head, heels buckled. “Use protection, be safe, and if you need anything call me.” Your face flushed with the thought. 

“Hey,” You panted, opening the door. Bucky stood on the other side, nice slacks and a dark blue button down. “Sorry, I was just…” You gestured behind yourself, catching your breath. 

“It’s okay,” He laughed, “I uhh…” He raised a brown paper bag he’d been holding. “I figured I’d cook you dinner, if that’s okay?” So you put on the shoes for nothing, he laughed, “I’m sorry, but yeah, you put on the shoes for nothing.” 

“Shit,” You covered your face with your hand, not realizing you’d said it out loud, “Sorry.”

“You’re fine,” Bucky lowered the bag, “Can I come in?” You stepped to the side,

“Of course, I’m sorry.” Being an adult you’ve taken a lot of time perfecting your living space enough that you didn’t need to go out if you didn’t want to. You were fairly proud of your home, the apartment you’d spent the last couple years in slowly collecting items to finally make it yours. From the soft velvety throw down to the little knick knacks that didn’t make it too minimalistic. 

“You’ve got a really nice place here,” He put the bag down on the kitchen counter, he pulled out a bottle of wine and what looked like the ingredients to, “Grilled cheese,” He shrugged sheepishly, “You can always tell a good chef by his grilled cheese. I hope you don’t mind.” 

“Not at all,” You dug through the silverware drawer, pulling out the wine key. “I love grilled cheese.” Two stemless glasses joined you on the counter as you poured the red wine, Bucky opening two different cabinets before finding your pans. 

“We’ve got to get you better pans than this.” He joked, waving your cheap Walmart nonstick pan in the air. 

“That pan does exactly what I need it to do,” You laughed, “Sit and gather dust.” He rolled his eyes, quickly rinsing the pan out and drying it. You took a sip of your wine as he started. 

“Have you always wanted to be a chef?” You asked, stealing a piece of cheese off the cutting board. It was a sharp cheese, tangy on your tongue. He cut another slice. Three different cheeses he had for this sandwich. Along with sun dried tomatoes and a slab of uncut bacon. 

“My Ma was a really good cook,” He begins, “When I was a kid I would always be in the kitchen with her, cooking and baking.” A thick bar of chocolate, eggs and other baking ingredients had been set off to the side for later. A dessert he was going to make that he said would be a surprise. 

“Cooking has always been love for me. It’s a good way to bring people together and a good way to show someone you love them.” His fingers stopped slicing the cheese, looking up at you through his lashes he backtracks, “Not that I love you, not that I don’t care about you because I care about you, but I don’t love you, but not like—“

“I get it.” You laughed, taking another sip of wine, the red in his cheeks in a full flush. He took a steady sip of wine, 

“Have you always wanted to work for Stark?” The cheese was set aside, the thick crust bread sliced, he lay the slab of bacon on the cutting board, working your knife that he’d very expertly sharpened, down the slab, cutting thick slices. 

“Not always,” You mused, “I kind of just fell into this job. My roommate from college, Natasha, had done an internship there during our last year and I originally wanted to go to graduate school, but I haven’t quite decided if I wanted to stick with my major or not, so she helped me get a job just doing clerical work and overtime I’ve just worked my way up a bit. Now I run my own department. So I guess I’m not going anywhere.” He nodded, laying the thick pieces of bacon on a baking sheet, the oven already preheated. 

“What did you want to do?” He asked, placing the bacon in the oven. You sighed, 

“It’s dumb,” He turned to you with an incredulous look, 

“Try me.” He started making a batter for the dessert. 

“I wanted to be a writer.” You shrugged, “Like books.” You gestured to the small library you’d collected for yourself. Stacks of books in your living room next to the shelves of books on your walls. “I have drafts of things, but nothing serious.” 

“You should pursue that.” He poured batter into two medium size ramekins he’d brought himself, tapping the bottom against the counter. “You seem like you’d be an amazing writer.”

You scoffed, rolling your eyes. “Not good enough.” To tell the truth you’d sent out a couple chapters to some publishers and had nothing but rejection letters, you’d all but given up on it. 

He told you more about his family, his sisters, how his parents were still very much in love. “Sam and I with our buddy Steve had all enlisted at the same time.” He flipped the grilled cheese revealing a perfectly crisped brown bread. “Steve decided to have a military career so he’s working in DC right now, Sam and I decided to own our own restaurant, right now we’re going the food truck thing until we have enough to buy our spot in the city, then hopefully we will have the truck and the home store.” 

The grilled cheese was fragrant, the three cheeses melted together on a spread of the sun dried tomatoes, thick cut bacon in between. He took his chefs knife and cut the sandwiches down the middle, plating them with ease. “This is so fucking good.” You moaned, the first bite, the crunch, the cheese, the tang from the tomatoes, the bacon perfectly cooked and melty in the middle. Bucky smirked at you from across the table, finishing off his first half. 

“I’m honestly surprised you asked me out.” You popped a piece of crust that had fallen onto the side of the plate. Bucky looked at you confused. 

“Why do you say that?” Fuck it was the wine, making you feel a little shitty. You were a little drunk to be fair. 

“You’re just…. You.” You gestured towards him, “So fit and handsome and like… I don’t know.” Bucky shook his head. 

“You’re gorgeous,” He scoffed, “You’re literally the whole reason we even started coming to the pavilion every week. I don’t want to hear that shit.” You sat back in your chair watching him take another sip of his wine, stunned. “Guys really fuck me up because someone probably treated you like you needed to be a certain way to be loved and it’s just not true. I’m attracted to you, you’re kind and funny and smart.” He wiped his fingers on his napkin, “Doesn’t matter to me either way.” Your weight. Didn’t matter. “I like you.” 

His eyes were intense and sent a shiver down your spine. “I’m sorry.” You said quietly, “I didn’t mean to—”

“You didn’t.” His hand gently grasped yours, pulling it up to his lips. “I just wanted you to know I like you, no matter what.” Okay. Okay. He leaned in, shifting in his chair to lay an arm over the back of yours, taking the hand he held and placing it on his cheek he softly pressed his lips to yours. 

Your lips parted and met again. And again. And the timer went off on the counter. His phone shrill and loud letting you know dessert was done. “Hold please.” He whispered against your lips. You felt cold when he removed himself from you, puttering around in the kitchen you heard the stove being turned off and he returned a moment later. “Careful they’re hot.” Two perfect chocolate molten cakes, icing sugar and white chocolate sauce drizzled on top. 

“Thank you for tonight.” The two of you stood in front of your open door, his shoes had been slipped back on, hair no longer in a messy bun it hung loose around his shoulders. You were sure it had been your fingers that had worked it loose, but you couldn’t be sure. 

The hot and intense make-out session you’d just had on your couch, tongues mixing and tasting of chocolate. Heavy breaths and soft moans melding together, and just the appropriate amount of wandering hands. 

“No,” He said, twirling a strand of your hair around his fingers, “Thank you.” A breath away he pressed his lips to yours again, slowly. Savoring it. “Breakfast tomorrow?” He breathed, resting his forehead against yours in your doorway. You grinned, running a hand down his arm, 

“Same place?” He grinned before taking your lips once more,

“It’s a date.” 

.

.

.

taglist//  @bookish-shristi​ @saturnki​ @jennmurawski13​ @geeksareunique​ @the-soulofdevil​ @tinmunky​ @captainscanadian​ @albinotigerpython​

[growntolovesecrecyfic]

Grown to Love Secrecy - Chapter Two (Petekey)

Can be read here.

Summary:  Mikey Way hates Oscar Wilde but Pete Wentz convinces him to read The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Chapter Two: Walking on Fire

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Pete spent a lot of summers in cramped vans, and hotel rooms with sweaty dudes and expensive musical instruments and this summer is no different. The slight homoerotic tension between Pete and almost every dude he’s ever met is strong, not that Pete or any of his friends minded.

They all kiss sometimes and most of the time the press pays not mind as it’s not that big of a deal and other times tabloids have him and his friend kissing on the front cover everywhere with the F-slur painted across in bright red telling the world, “Hey, look! Pete Wentz kisses dudes!”

The tabloids have a lot to say and quite frankly, he doesn’t care anymore. All press is good press, right?

Pete spits into the sink of the Walmart bathroom that other bands from Warped have occupied that morning. Today was Patrick’s day on the bus bathroom.

He rinsed his mouth and stepped aside, letting Andy take the sink for his own routine. He walks over to the wall where Joe is and leans against it. The eggshell-colored wall was cooled against his hot skin after being out in the Dallas heat.

“Hey, man.” Joe greeted Pete to which he responded with a nod, “so any plans for after our set?” Pete thought for a moment, remembering that he did in fact have plans with Mikey tonight. Not that anybody in the band needed to know that.

“No, not that I know of. You?” Pete asked while fiddling with the drawstrings of his clandestine pajama pants. Joe shrugged before responding, “Just regular life on the Warped, you know?”

Pete nods and they exchange some more small talk and soon enough, Andy joins them, and they’re ready to take on Warped.

As they exit the Walmart, they pass families whose kids stare in adoration and parents stare in disgust. It’s not that uncommon for people to recognize them. Fall Out Boy was getting big fast and it did stress them out as they felt the pressures from their record label to push out a new album as soon as possible to keep the momentum going. Warped is their salvation for that summer. No record label, you’re constantly busy doing the thing you love and sometimes you’re in bumfuck nowhere and nobody knows who you are, those are the best kind of places.

After walking out into the parking lot, the trio realize that they’ll need to find some place to eat before their set that morning. They have three hours to kill before practice and without a car and Patrick still on the bus, it is their civic duty to fuel up now and get Patrick something he’ll like, like oatmeal or something.

And later that morning when Pete met a fan who was uncontrollably crying and threw up on his shoes, he could tell that it was going to be a painfully long day.

And he was right. After their set, they met with some fans and he had some run ins with some reporter asking about Jeanae or whatever her name was. He chooses to forget those years in his life. He ignores her texts, fake pregnancy positives and whatever sexual favor she asks of him that day. It’s been pissing him off that entire day and he wanted to let off steam. The only positive that came from that day was Patrick buying him some new underwear for a late birthday gift and his new fuckbuddy, Mikey Way. He promised to meet with him tonight and Mikey told him that the bus was empty. Pete feels that he’ll finally cop a feel tonight.

Laughter and The Smiths fills the My Chemical Romance bus however the guys were nowhere to be found except for a pair of boys at the back of the bus on the floor, “Rusty? Really?” Mikey asked and Pete just responded with grin and nodded enthusiastically.

Mikey shook his head, “Nuh-uh, I don’t believe it one bit. You don’t even look like a Rusty!” Mikey accused.

“Dude trust me! I would have been Rusty Wentz!” Pete cringed a bit at the thought but turned into a fit of laughter after seeing Mikey clutch his stomach and roll over on his side, hand covering his mouth trying to contain his laughter.

After a few minutes, the laughter finally died down. Mikey removing his glasses to wipe his eyes and Pete coughed as he tried to catch his breath before something caught his eye.

“What’s that, Mikeyway?” Pete asked. He points at an object to show to Mikey where it is.

Mikey turns to see where Pete was point at, “Oh, that’s some book that Gerard has been trying to get me to read but never did.” He answers as he gets up and gets it from his bunk. He sits on his bed and goes through the pages, “I have beef with Oscar Wilde.”

Pete chortles at Mikey’s last statement as he sits on the bed next to him, “Yeah? I love him. He’s one of my favorite writers.”

Mikey looks up at older man, furrowing his brows and slowly handing him the book, “Really? Never thought you were the type.”

“To what? Read?” Pete joked.

Mikey was quick to defend himself, “No! I never thought you were into this type of literature. It’s darker and like a horror, I guess? I think that’s why Gerard likes it so much.” He moves closer to Pete, hesitant to lay his head on his shoulder but swallows his doubts and gently place his cheek against his right shoulder.

Pete smiled, eyes moving from the book and on Mikey now, “Do you mind if I read this to you? Maybe I can learn you a thing or two.” His grin was wider now, and Mikey couldn’t help but smile back at him. He loves this. He loves that it’s them. Them alone. And with him.

“Sure. Maybe you can teach me how to love Oscar Wilde at the end of this?” Mikey asks. Pete only laughs, “I can’t teach you to that. It’s up to you if you want to love him. You chose to hate him so why not choose to love him?” Pete asked, his eyes back on the book.

“Well, we can’t choose who we love now, can we?” Mikey asked. It was more of a question for himself rather than Pete. He’s had this struggle within himself for a long time. The first boy he’s ever kissed was his best friend in 8th grade and they haven’t talked since. He’s been quiet about their whole fight and why he came back home with a black eye (and broken heart).

Pete stilled at Mikey’s question then resumed to his reading. He turns to the preface, “Do you wanna start here?” Pete asks Mikey in a whisper. He nods and Pete continues, “The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.”

Mikey raises his head from Pete’s shoulder, raising his eyebrows, “Hm, wow. That’s kind of deep?” He readjusts himself, “Do you mind if I put my head on your lap?”

Pete smirks, “I mean… What do you plan on doing down there?”

Mikey didn’t get it immediately but lightly smacks Pete on the arm when he does, “Dude! No! I’m not that type of guy.” He exclaimed, his cheeks and nose turning pink. Pete laughs in response, rubbing his arm.

“I don’t believe that, Mikeyway. I’ve heard the rumors about you.” Pete shook his head and set the book down, placing a hand on Mikey’s thigh.

Mikey froze up a bit. What rumors? Why is his hand there? Why is he feeling so lightheaded? The warm knot in his stomach is forming slowly but surely. That can’t be good, right?

“Uhm, wh-what rumors?” Mikey asked. He’s genuinely confused, being behind Gerard’s shadow for most of his life he didn’t know that people cared enough about him to start rumors about him.

“Oh, you know.” he grinned at Mikey, moving closer to him. He put his other hand on Mikey’s other thigh, moving them both up slowly. Mikey’s breath hitched and Pete took this as a ‘yes’.

Mikey shook his head. He didn’t know.

“The ones about how you’re always willing to fuck after a show and your tight jeans no underwear combo,” Pete stops when his face was inches away from Mikey and whispers, “I just wanna know if it’s true.”

He leans in closer, capturing Mikey’s lips into his own. Mikey let out a small gasp in shock before Pete does so. He didn’t know what to do with himself. Yes, Pete and he kissed before but not like this. He couldn’t.

He moved his head away from Pete and pushed him off.

Pete was confused, Mikey never did that before. He looked at him and tried to read his face, but it was confusing him.

“Uh, did I do something wrong?”

Mikey’s heart was pounding so hard and fast, he didn’t really know what to say. He wanted to kiss Pete but he’s so confused. What rumors? Who’s saying those things? Nothing could leave his mouth. It was all different thoughts racing through his brain that day.

He shakes his head and brings Pete’s mouth back to his again.

[let-me-write-shit]

Somebody To You: 1

A/N: It’s finally here! The first chapter of my second Harry Styles fic! We’re starting off with a LOOOONG, heavy one. I want to thank you all for patiently waiting. Most of the characters in this story is based off of some of YOU! Zoey, Nancy, Aurora, Andy, and Katie - Thanks for reading and being apart of this story. I’m sorry if I didn’t get your personalities right, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. I’ll be posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! Enjoy. 

<3 Shannon

To Read My Previous Story, Click Here

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CHAPTER ONE

Never in a million years did Zoey think she’d move across the country on her own. But here she was, driving down the interstate in her dingy 2010 Toyota Camry, car filled to the brim with her belongings. LA had always been a far fetched idea. Actually, if we were being honest, it was never her idea to begin with. It was Jessica’s. Moving to LA alone was never a part of the plan. Jess should have been here. They should have been blasting music through the stereo, complaining about the shitty A/C in the car, road raging together, and dreaming about all of the things they would do when they arrived.

Instead, Zoey drove in silence, briefly passing through all of the tourist spots and monuments they had always talked about visiting along the way, pulling into walmart parking lots for bathroom breaks or cat naps, alone. The only noise disrupting the silence was the hum of the engine and the occasional whisper under her breath as she spoke, in vain, to her best friend.

Jess was a force. Anyone who had the pleasure of knowing her would say the same thing. She lit up a room. She was the outgoing one. She’d talk to anyone and everyone that passed her, striking up random conversations that only she could come up with. And her laugh was infectious. Zoey always made Jess laugh and it got them in a lot of trouble over the course of their fifteen year friendship. 

Jess always had her platinum blonde hair straight, never putting it up - something Zoey always did out of habit, rarely letting her hair down because she didn’t like how it looked. Jess always had a knack for the dramatics, which is why she wanted to move to LA since she was little. She had dreamed of becoming an actress. Zoey saw her in every high school and college play. And she was good. Really good. Honestly, she had potential to make it. But, to Zoey, all of the long talks of moving to LA was just that: talk. She could never let go of the comfort of being close to family in her small, Pennsylvania town with her best friend and boyfriend. Besides, how could they even afford it?

But all of that changed on June 9th of last year. It was Jess’ 26th birthday and the two girls went out to celebrate with a few friends at the bar they worked at together. Zoey and Jess were the last to leave and had drunk a little more than they intended, so they had Zoey’s boyfriend, Michael, pick them up. Not even 3 minutes into the car journey it happened. A drunk driver ran a red light and had rammed into the rear passenger side door at 50 mph. The car flipped and Zoey hit her head against the window, sending her unconscious. 

She woke up in the hospital the next afternoon with a broken wrist, a few fractured ribs, and a concussion, surrounded by her parents who were crying, her little sister, Katie, who sat timidly in the corner of the room, and Michael who only had a few scrapes and cuts, but was ultimately fine, squeezing her leg that was tucked under the heavy white blanket. When her eyes fluttered open, her mom gasped and both of her parents hovered over her, her dad stroking her cheek. The first thing Zoey managed to croak out was, ‘Where’s Jess?’. Her mom lost it, uncontrollably sobbing. It was her dad that had to break the news to her. Jess didn’t make it.

It’s weird. You’d think hearing the news of your best friend’s death would send you into a fit of rage or hysterics, but that didn’t happen for Zoey. She felt numb. It could have been the shock, but it didn’t feel real. Jess couldn’t have been gone. She was here only hours ago, laughing her infections laugh and smiling her gorgeous smile. And even so, when Jess’ parents came to visit her at the hospital to discuss the funeral, it still hadn’t set in. She wanted to laugh at them to stop being so dramatic. That everything was fine. That Jess was still here, she was just sleeping. She couldn’t just be gone. Not Jess. She was too full of life to just be gone. But the bags under their eyes told a different story. They had lost their only child. How do you recover from that?

Zoey was stuck in the hospital for a little over a week, causing her to miss her best friend's funeral, which didn’t help in her denial. The day she was released, her boyfriend picked her up from the hospital and drove her to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis’ house. The walk up to the front door felt different. Over the past fifteen years, Zoey never knocked on the front food or rang the doorbell, she just walked in. She wasn’t sure if that would be appropriate now. Unsure, she knocked, hesitated, and cracked the door open where she was met by the exhausted couple who gave her a warm hug and led the two towards the back, past the pool where she had so many fond memories of laughter with Jess, the glistening water seeming so inviting on this warm afternoon, towards the pool house where Jess stayed.

Some had questioned why Jess still lived with her parents if she was 25 and worked a well paying job. But, to put it lightly, Jess’ family was very well-off. Her dad had built and owned a business from the ground up and it became a major success practically overnight. She had her own space, rent free. Besides, the pool house was big enough to fit three of Zoey and Michael’s apartment into it. Why would she not stay there?

But when they walked in, it hit her. Everything was exactly as they had left it, nothing had been moved. Except this time, the room did not feel full of life like it always had. It felt cold and empty. And Zoey broke down.

She felt stupid for crying in front of Jess’ parents. How could her pain feel compared to theirs? But they didn’t judge. Instead, they held her in an understanding and loving embrace. After all, Zoey had been a part of their family for fifteen years. With every sob, the pain from her still-healing ribs hurt more and more. Michael stood off to the side and let the three have their moment, and when the tears settled, they began going through some of Jess’ things, letting Zoey take whatever she wanted, which included a hoodie, a dress, a pair of converse shoes, the other half of their friendship bracelet that they had made in 10th grade, and finally a note that she had written in middle school to Zoey, stuffed with the hundreds of other notes in a shoebox under her bed.

The year that followed was tough. Zoey found herself lost for a while. She quit her job at the bar her and Jess used to work at, because working without Jess was too much for her to handle. She didn’t go out anymore, and hardly talked to anyone except for her younger sister, Katie. Growing up she didn’t really get along with Katie. It’s not like she didn’t like her, but Katie was eight years younger than her, plus Zoey was so focused on friends and boys that she didn’t make any time or effort for her younger sister. But after Jess died, Zoey got to know her sister a lot better. She learned that Katie, aside from appearance, was almost exactly like herself. Katie took after their Irish dad in the way of looks with long, dark brown hair and adorable freckles, compared to Zoey’s pale skin and dirty blonde hair. You wouldn’t think they were related by looking at them. But, in personality, they were almost identical. Both were afraid to take risks, shy at first keeping a very small group of friends, but very caring. The complete opposite of Jess who was care-free and miss positivity. Katie was essential in her grieving process.

Anytime someone brought Jess up in conversation, they always skirted around certain topics or words. They always used her name in past tense or said things like, ‘no longer with us’ or ‘passed away’. It was infuriating. One night, Zoey’s parents had invited her, Michael, and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis over for dinner nearly three months in. Her mom had brought Jess up for the fourth time in two hours and said something along the lines of ‘I’m still finding it hard to process Jess not being here anymore.’ And Zoey lost it.

“She’s dead, mom! She died! Okay?” Zoey shouted, pushing away from the table, causing her glass of wine to spill, and darting up the steps to Katie’s room that they used to share when Zoey lived there.

She collapsed on the bed, breathing heavily with tears streaming down her face, angry, when there was a faint knock on the door. Her fists clenched in annoyance, half expecting it to be her boyfriend as Michael had been extra clingy since Jess died, almost as if he was scared of what Zoey would do if she was left alone. Which was stupid. What good would it do anyone if she wasn’t here either? But to her shock and horror, it was Jess’ mom who walked into the room. 

Zoey shot up straight and wiped the tears from her face, instantly regretting the outburst she just had. “Mrs. Lewis, I’m so sorry, I-”

“Don’t,” Jess’ mom cut her off, motioning for her to sit down beside her at the edge of the bed. Her expression was warm and not at all angry, “I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of times I wanted to say that over the past three months to anyone who mentions her. I know it’s hard, and I understand.”

Zoey nodded, twisting Jess’ bracelet that was now tightly wrapped around her wrist, a strand of her dirty blonde hair had fallen out of her hair tie and she pushed it behind her ear as Jess’ mom continued, “I only came up here because I thought it’s be a good opportunity to talk to you in private before we go.”

“What about?”

“Well, Mr. Lewis and I were going through some more of Jess’ things last week and we came across a bunch of old ‘Dream Journals’ the two of you wrote in over the years.”

Zoey felt the heat of embarrassment rise to her cheeks, remembering some of the things they wrote in there. The ‘Dream Journals’ were more of a fantasy bucket list than anything, but there were definitely a few inappropriate things involving Jared Padalecki and Jeremy Sumpter in there that she wasn’t too keen on the idea of Jess’ parents reading.

She continued, “Mr. Lewis and I noticed nearly every page was filled with things you two wanted to do in LA.”

It sounded more like a question than a statement. Zoey cleared her throat, “Yeah. We always talked about moving there one day.”

Mrs. Lewis nodded, “I know how much she wanted to go. And I know it probably always seemed out of reach. But, Zoey, I don’t want this to stop you from going. Jess worked hard to save up so you both could go. And I don’t want that to be for nothing. Mr. Lewis and I talked about it and we decided. Jess had managed to save up $18,000, and we wanted you to have it. And we know how expensive LA can be, so we wanted to add an extra $7,000 on top of it. Hopefully that’ll be enough for rent for at least a year.”

Zoey’s mouth fell open, trying to process everything Mrs. Lewis just said. So many questions ran through her mind. How did she manage to save so much on the same salary that she had? Stupid question, she had no bills. She twisted a little too hard on the bracelet, causing it to pinch her wrist and snap her back to reality, “$25,000? To move to LA?”

“It was her dream and she never got to fulfill it. We want you to live your life and hopefully bring a little bit of our baby girl to LA with you in spirit. All that we ask in return is that you try to find peace out there.”

That was the moment of revelation for Zoey. The turning point. The moment that made her get off her ass and stop the pity party. She didn’t want to take Mr. and Mrs. Lewis’ gift for granted. So, Zoey worked her ass off. She got three jobs as a warehouse worker, waitress, and got her old bartending job back to save up even more money. She had eventually even found a room that two girls were renting out in a beautiful skyrise condo on the nicer end of LA, and had got a bartending job lined up and waiting for her when she moved. Zoey vowed to herself to start adapting some of Jess’ personality into her own. She wanted to be more outgoing and try to say ‘yes’ more often, to learn to let her hair down (figuratively speaking), and she wanted to try and be more adventurous. It wouldn’t be an overnight success, but she would try. Baby steps. 

Finally, almost a year later, it was time to move. Zoey had finished saying goodbye to her and Jess’ parents. Even Michael had come to see her off. The two of them had broken off their nearly four year relationship a couple months ago, but still remained close. Zoey could tell that he was heart broken, and so was she, but she also knew that things had changed between them after Jess died. They weren’t the same people anymore and it seemed like they were holding on to each other to force the fraction of normalcy they had left. They didn’t deserve that. They deserved to be happy, not just content, but genuinely happy. 

They gave each other a tight hug and Michael sweetly kissed her cheek, whispering her a farewell. Saying goodbye to him stung a bit more than she had anticipated. Not because of some kind of lost love, but because he was the only other person in her life who she could talk to about Jess and who would actually understand. He knew Jess in almost the same sort of capacity that Zoey knew her. Poor Michael was forced to be the third wheel so often that he saw sides of her and Jess that no one else could possibly know about. And that sense of understanding comforted her. Now that she was letting that go, it was a little harder for her to leave.

Katie stood off to the side, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, twiddling her fingers together and avoiding her older sister’s gaze. The freckle faced teenager bit the inside of her cheeks, trying to focus on anything other than Zoey leaving. As horrible as this past year has been, she knew that the bond they built would not have happened otherwise. Katie had become just as reliant on Zoey as Zoey had been on her, and for her sister to be leaving was heartbreaking. She held back her emotions, but all Katie wanted to do was cry.

A frown formed on Zoey’s face. Her sister looked like a shelter puppy who’s owner had given up on them and knots formed in her stomach. Should Zoey really be leaving now, just as things started to come together for her? But as Katie’s demeanor cracked and she embraced her sister with a loving and understanding hug, she knew that this was the right move. Zoey still had some healing to do and Katie would always be there. Jess would have wanted this for her. 

The silent journey to LA was full of self reflection and internal pep talks. Not only did Zoey want to adapt a little bit of Jess’ personality, but she knew that this move gave her the opportunity to start over and live the life she always wanted. But what was that exactly?

As she neared her destination her heart began thumping faster, nervous for this new chapter. She looked at her surroundings of the bustling city, gorgeous people on every block, recognizing some buildings from her sleuthing around Street View on Google Maps after speaking with Nancy about moving in.

She’s been talking to Nancy via text and facetime over the course of a month since they met online and made plans for her to move in. Nancy seemed like one of the coolest people she had ever talked to. Tan, with the curliest, raven toned hair, she had nine ear piercings and the most interesting eyes-one brown and the other a deep green. She styled herself more on the rocker chic side, but somehow made it look so feminine and fitting. She could be a bit intense at times, but somehow made you feel comfortable and constantly laughing. 

Zoey didn’t know much about her other roommate, Aurora, or Rory, as most people called her. She only knew that Nancy had met Rory when she first moved to LA when they were 18 and they were best friends. The two of them just recently moved to their new condo and since Rory was gone most of the week for work and they had a spare bedroom, Nancy felt more comfortable and safe if there were another roommate there so she didn’t have to live on her own.

Nancy and Aurora had an interesting dynamic because they were practically polar opposites. Rory was born and raised in both Paris and a small town in England. She was new on the modeling scene but apparently making her way up the ladder rather quickly. And from the pictures that Nancy showed her, it was no wonder why. She was beautiful, with long brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and the sweetest, freckled baby face that reminded her of her little sister.

The GPS announced that she had reached her destination as she pulled up to the parking garage of the skyrise condominium. Zoey plugged the code that Nancy had given her into the keypad to enter the parking structure and drove in, finding a spot two rows in. She took her phone off of the car charger and checked the time. 3:14 PM, Thursday, April 23rd. It took her almost 4 full days to get here and it almost felt surreal that she had finally arrived. She stepped out of the car, legs buckling a bit from being sat in one position for so long, before stretching and calling Nancy’s phone.

“Are you fuckin’ here?” Nancy’s loud voice boomed excitedly.

Zoey laughed, stifling a yawn, “Yeah. In the parking garage.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you down in the lobby. Same code as the parking structure to get in.”

The call ended and Zoey felt her nerves settling as she glanced down at her wrist adorning Jess’ friendship bracelet. Everything will be fine. She grabbed as many things as she could manage to hold, realizing she’d have to take several trips to completely unload her car, before bounding towards the door. In order to put the code in she had to set some of her bags down, and as soon as it was unlocked, she yanked the door open, scooped up the bags, and headed down a hallway towards the huge, modern lobby. The walls were light gray with twelve foot ceilings lined with abstract black and white artwork and industrial light fixtures, a huge water feature right in the center. It seemed so extravagant that she almost felt silly for wearing the same gray sweatpants, matching small t-shirt layered with a long, white cardigan and white flip flops that she had worn since she left Pennsylvania, her hair now in an insanely messy bun, and not in a cute way, desperate for a shower. She could hear her flip flops echoing throughout the room along with the chime of the elevator door reaching her level. 

Nancy stepped out, curly hair framing her face, barely any makeup on but maybe some mascara, and so naturally pretty. She wore an oversized aerosmith shirt that had been splattered in bleach and barely covered her black shorts. Nancy’s eyes widened at the sight of Zoey and she ran over, smiling.

“Hey!” Zoey giggled, hiking up a bag that was slipping down her shoulder.

Nancy gave her a careful one-armed hug so as not to knock down the tower of belongings in Zoey’s arm before grabbing two bags to lighten the load a bit as she was led towards the elevator. Nancy talked her ear off about her day so far and what she had planned for dinner tonight when they reached the twenty second floor and got out. There was a small lounge area in the center of a large landing with a single door on the other three walls, each leading to three separate units. Nancy led her to the unit on the far left - 2201. 

“Okay, so the code is pretty easy. It’s all four corners of the keypad. So 1,3,7, and 9,” Nancy punched in. A green light appeared and Nancy pushed the door open, stepping inside. “Zoey’s here!” she called out as Zoey readjusted the bag that was slipping down her shoulder again. 

She looked around as she made her way past a small bathroom and suppressed a gasp when she reached the beautiful, modern kitchen that opened up into the living room, the wall lined with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the city. Seeing the apartment in person was a completely different experience than virtually. The pictures didn’t do it justice. How could she afford to stay here? Jess would have lost her mind if she saw this. Zoey was so distracted by the view that she almost didn’t notice the two figures on the couch until they both stood up and started making their way over.

“Zoey! It’s so nice to meet you,” a sweet voice called. Aurora’s accent was an odd mix of French and British, only adding to her appeal.

“Hello!” A soft, deep voice greeted her.

Zoey smiled kindly, feeling overwhelmed by the amount of beauty in the two. Like the apartment, Rory’s pictures did not do her justice. She was more beautiful in person, almost making her feel inferior. And as for the guy beside her, he was scruffy with tousled brown hair and dark green eyes. His perfect white teeth could be seen through his smile and his dimpled cheeks made him even more discernible. 

“I’m Harry,” he spoke.

Zoey blinked, so exhausted from the long car journey that she was unable to decide what emotion to feel and unsure of how to respond. Her arms trembled from the weight of her luggage. The trembling caused a shoe to fall out of one of the bags, making a thump on the floor. Harry let out a startled gasp and quickly bent down to grab it, “Here, let me help,” he offered, grabbing the stack of bags out of Zoey’s hand, leaving her with just two on her shoulders. “Where would you like these?”

Before she could answer, Nancy spoke up, “Her room. Come on,” and led the way down another hall, Harry en suite.

Aurora smiled brightly at Zoey, “You must be exhausted,” she said, motioning for Zoey to follow the other two, “I hope the ride in was okay.”

Zoey tightened her bun and wiped beads of sweat from her forehead, glad that Aurora was being nice to her. “Yeah, lots of traffic as soon as I hit the city, though.”

Aurora laughed as they reached the doorframe, “You’ll get used to it.”

As the bedroom came into view Zoey saw Harry gently placing her things at the foot of the full sized bed. Thankfully the room was already furnished with the larger items. He huffed as he stood back up, dusting his hands together before pushing back the strand of hair that had fallen in front of his face. It was only a split second of realization. What the hell was happening? Was this just another dream? How could she be in LA, in a beautiful skyrise condo, with a gorgeous model and the coolest girl she had ever met as roommates, and Harry-fucking-Styles was standing in her bedroom? Surely she was still in her small one bedroom apartment back in Pennsylvania.

“Is this all you brought?” Harry asked, his accent snapping her back to present. 

“Oh, uh, no. I have more in my car.”

“Let me help bring your things up,” his eyebrows raised as if he was waiting for an answer, but his tone was more insistent.

Zoey hesitated, still in shock from the whole situation. Thankfully Nancy spoke up again before the silence got awkward, “Yeah, let’s go.”

She led the way out of the room followed closely by Harry who smiled nicely at her before his glance shot to Aurora. Zoey was sure he had meant to be more discreet, but she could have sworn he had winked at Rory. And the coy smile on her face seemed to confirm the hunch. Zoey kicked herself for being so awkward, mentally reminding herself to channel Jess’ sociability.

The four of them made conversation while they took a few more trips from the car to the apartment until all of her luggage riddled her room and her arms felt like jello. They all sat lined up on the large, pewter sectional with Zoey on an end cushion, Nancy sat cross-legged in the corner, and Aurora and Harry on the other side, close but with safe distance between them. She found out that Harry was in the middle of a U.S. tour and had a few days break, so he flew here to hang out and would be leaving again first thing in the morning. She also found it interesting to learn how they met each other a few months ago at a charity dinner event that Aurora had attended with Nancy as he plus one. They had all been sitting at the same table together and this was only their third time seeing him in person due to his tour.

“And now I have another friend,” Harry grinned, motioning towards Zoey.

“Yeah, until you scare her away with your horrible dad jokes and eating habits,” Nancy snorted.

Everyone laughed as Harry lightly nudged Nancy’s leg with his foot, “Just because you can’t beat the master at jokes doesn’t mean they’re horrible,” he shook his head in mock disappointment before turning his attention back to her, “So what made you move out here, Zoey? Work?”

Zoey gulped, not wanting to bring up Jess. She knew if she had, she would break down and cry and they didn’t know anything about Jess yet. I mean, how would everyone feel if she blurted out, ‘my dead best friend’s parents insisted I make their daughter’s dream come true and paid for me to move here’? 

She quickly composed herself, “Change of scenery. Thought I’d try out a new time zone,” she joked, causing them to chuckle. “I’m trying to be a bit more independent and adventurous,” she admitted.

Harry noticed her hesitation and looked at Rory and Nancy to see if they noticed it, too, but they seemed to be oblivious to it. He shrugged it off. He respected her desire to be more independent; something he understood all too well. The singer listened,  impressed as she revealed how many jobs she had been working in order to save just to come here and how proud she was of herself for taking the leap and coming here. Zoey didn’t seem braggy about it, in fact she seemed humbled, crediting her family and even her ex-boyfriend for the support. It wasn’t often you met someone down to earth in LA. It could be because she was so new to it. But Harry thought she would make a great fit with Aurora and Nancy. They had been here for seven years and the Hollywood Bug hasn’t bit them yet. He had his fair share of friends on the west coast, but it was nice to be close with ones who made him feel more grounded like these two.

The four ordered postmates and continued talking and laughing over Nancy’s stories as the sun began to set, casting a beautiful orange and pink hue over the city. As soon as she was done with her chinese food Zoey quickly excused herself to call her family. Once out of sight the three friends turned to each other.

“I like her,” Aurora decided.

Nancy kicked her feet up on the couch where Zoey had been sitting, “Yeah, thank god she’s not like any of the other crazies that messaged us to live here.”

Harry smiled, looking over at Aurora who laughed and he felt a little flutter in his stomach. She was obviously beautiful and fit every characteristic of his type. He could relate to her from living in a small English town but also found her intriguing that she had also been raised in Paris and spoke fluent French - a language he was always attracted by. Aurora and Harry were clearly attracted to each other, but the timing wasn’t exactly right. They met right as Aurora’s modeling career started to take off and just before Harry left for tour. They hadn’t even been on a first date yet, or even kissed for that matter. Just shameless flirting via text. 

In an effort to make an excuse to come back again, Harry spoke up, “Well, next weekend I have off. I don’t know what Zoey’s new work schedule will be, but if she’s up for it, how about we take her to Secrets as a little welcoming party? My treat.”

Secrets was a popular bar in the area that had private rooms you could rent for karaoke. Most of the club-goers were known to be gay, though a lot of straight people went with friends if they wanted a fun clubbing experience without any unwanted nuisances. It was always a good time whenever they went.

“That’d be lovely,” Aurora grinned.

“Yeah, sounds fun! I’ll talk to her about it and find out her work schedule,” Nancy agreed.

Harry nodded, excited about another opportunity to hang out with Rory. And honestly, he was excited to get to know Zoey, too. She seemed easy to talk to. And his instincts in people were pretty good.

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