#The last conversation on his screen is the one from the day Sadie “left” ...

[kimmiessimmies]

Wistfulness (27/34)

- I really miss you, my girl..

[sporticus1234]

Catch Me if You Can-Laws of Attraction (Part 1)

Summary: After weeks of flirting, teasing, and close calls, Tessa is ready to take the plunge, but can Gabe overcome his own worse fears and join her?

Pairing: Gabe Ricci x Main Character (Tessa Michaels)

Link to my Master-List and Other works will be added once they have been re-edited and re-uploaded.

Perma-Tags and LOA Tags: @choices-addict @choiceskatie @lady-calypso @chemist-ana @kat-tia801 @chrissythadon @nishas-paradise  @blainehellyes @mm2305 @suitfer​ @thegreentwin @pixelnutrookie​ 

I hope you all enjoy it and see you soon for some...adventures...in part 2.

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Rather than clumsy words, it’s your action that I believe. Don’t stop. Go past the limit. Go faster. I’m going to find my heart. So catch me if you can.

-Girls Generation, Catch Me if You Can (Korean Ver.)

__________________________________

The once glittering ballroom filled with stimulating conversation, flowing bubbles of champagne, and decadent hor-dourves was now deserted and quiet, signaling the end of the extravagant weekend legal conference. As the last person Tessa was speaking to excused herself for the evening, she looked around the empty space littered with discarded champagne flutes and linen napkins, her spirits deflating at the sight. The conference ended as quickly as it began, and come Monday morning, she would be back in the office, the competition still at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

It may have been a short weekend, but Tessa was grateful for the time away from the office. The past few weeks were filled with nothing else but case after case coming one after another and nonstop talk about the competition, particularly from Martin. But for a tiny period of time, all of that vanished out of sight and out of mind. She laughed and joked with her colleagues and bosses like they were all good friends. She camped and ate smores in a beautiful forest, and she finally got her first full night of sleep since she started working at McGraw Byrne. She truly felt like she had been transported to a completely different world, one she found hesitant to leave behind for an entire year.

Stifling the yawn sneaking up on her, she left the ballroom behind, her spirits still thrumming with excitement from the evening, but her body yearning for a soak in a hot bath and some sleep in the oversized hotel bed. She was halfway across the empty lobby, gilded elevator doors in sight, when her feet came to a stop outside of the hotel’s bar. She didn’t even have to look to know exactly who was sitting in that dimly lit bar. He had a larger-than-life presence, no matter what room he was in, that was like a magnet, drawing everyone’s attention, even if he was just randomly passing by on the sidewalk.

Her tiredness completely forgotten, she hovers near the entryway and discretely watches him. He’s sitting by himself at the bar, nursing what Tessa knows is a glass of scotch on the rocks along with a basket of half-eaten chips and dip, his eyes occasionally flicking up to the large screen TV showing a basketball game taking place on the other side of the country. His jacket is discarded on the back of his chair, his tie loosened slightly and the buttons of his shirt rakishly undone at the top. Despite his disheveled, executive blowing off steam look, he is still just as handsome and attractive as he was just a short time ago when he was polished and buttoned up. Maybe even more.

A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips as she watches him. Gabe was such a surprise when she first came to New York, and she never expected to become so charmed by him. The man has such a lavish and lively personality on the outside, but on the inside is a man driven to be the best and passionate about using his vast knowledge to help everyone. His heart is as big as his office, a welcoming, refreshing contrast to the selfishness Tessa sees too often in this line of work. They have only known each other for a short time, but every time he came around, he put a smile on her face and made her stomach flip-flop. She couldn’t explain why he has such a pleasant effect on her. Perhaps it’s the way that when she flirts with him, he flirts right back with the same energy she gives him, maybe even more. Maybe it’s the way the two of them click when they’re together. Or maybe it’s the way he continues to keep her on her toes and excite her yet still make her feel a sense of comfort and familiarity at the same time. Regardless of the reasons, the one thing she was certain of was that she didn’t want this fluttering feeling to stop. Ever.

“Of course, you would be alone at a bar,” Tessa teases as she steps towards him.

Gabe swivels his head around at the sound of her voice, his eyes immediately catching hers as she approaches him. His lips twist into a grin, his spirits lifting like they always do whenever she is around. “Am I really that predictable?”

Tessa shrugs. “Maybe a little. But you wouldn’t be the Gabe Ricci we all know and love if you weren’t.”

Gabe chuckles. “Most people wouldn’t agree with you on that statement.”

“I’m not most people,” she fires back with a wink.

No, you are most definitely not Gabe thought. “What exactly are you doing still wandering around?” He glances down towards his watch, mildly surprised to find it still somewhat early. “The cocktail party ended almost an hour ago. I figured you would be in bed like everyone else.”

“I planned on it, but then I saw this guy sitting all by himself in this empty hotel bar and thought he could use some company.”

Gabe’s eyes twinkle with delightful mischief as he takes another sip of his scotch. He was hoping the two of them could spend some more time together before the madness hit them Monday morning. “I think I know who you’re talking about. And I, for one, know that he would love to have some company, especially if the company happens to be you.”

Tessa gives him a shy smile as she slips into the bar stool next to him. An electrical, buzzing warmth fills up the space around them as butterflies flutter in her stomach at the near closeness to him, the scent of his cologne invading her senses and tempting her to come even closer. As she peruses the small menu, the lone bartender comes over and places a napkin down in front of her.

“Anything to eat or drink?”

“A Manhattan please.”

The bartender nods before turning to Gabe. “Another refill for you, sir?”

“Please,” Gabe replies. “And put her Manhattan on my tab as well.”

The bartender grabs Gabe’s empty glass and heads down to the other end of the bar. Once he’s fully out of hearing range, Tessa turns to face Gabe. “You didn’t have to do that,” she says. “I am more than capable of paying for my own drinks.”

“I know you could pay for it,” Gabe responds before his lips curl into his trademark sly smirk, “or you could let Sadie pay for it.”

“Wait, what?”

Gabe nods, his smirk growing bigger. “Consider it another partner-only secret. This conference is one of the few events Sadie lets us have more…leeway…with the company credit card. Any food or drinks we buy at this conference gets covered by the firm.”

“And something tells me you’re taking full advantage of that offer,” Tessa says.

Gabe gives her a wink. “What can I say? A good attorney knows a good offer when they see it.”

“In that case,” Tessa flags down the bartender again. “I’ll do an order of the spicy fried pickle chips with that Manhattan.” The bartender nods and disappears into a back room. Tessa turns her head, seeing Gabe looking at her with an amused expression on his face. “What’s that look for?”

Gabe chuckles, shaking his head. “Just wondering if I’m going to regret sharing that secret with you.”

“Don’t worry,” Tessa grins at him. “Your secret is safe with me. But if Sadie cuts us off or starts questioning anything on the credit card bills, I’m placing the full blame on you.”

The two of them continue to make small talk until the bartender comes back a few minutes later. He places their drinks and her basket of food down before excusing himself and shuffling into the back room once again. Tessa grabs her glass and holds it up in a toast, prompting Gabe to do the same.

“To drinks on someone else’s dime,” she states.

The two of them share a laugh as they clink their glasses together. Tessa takes a sip of her drink, the whiskey a sharp contrast to the bubbly champagne of the reception. The liquid pools like fire in her stomach and flows throughout her body, warming her up and loosening her muscles. “Best Manhattan I’ve ever had.”

Gabe cocks his eyebrow. “Is it really the best?”

“Oh, not by a long shot. But since I didn’t have to pay for it, I consider it the best in my book.”

“You really are a woman after my own heart,” Gabe replies. Tessa tucks her gaze away from him, feeling her face grow hot at the combination of the whiskey and his spell-binding charm. She takes another sip of her drink before sliding the basket of pickle chips towards him. He throws her an appreciative “thanks”, taking a chip and popping it into his mouth before continuing their conversation. “How did you enjoy the conference?”

“I really liked it,” Tessa answers. “I never got the chance to do things like this with my old law firm.”

“What? Have free food and drinks on someone else’s dime with a devastatingly handsome senior partner?”

Tessa shoves him with a laugh. “No, you complete smart ass. I meant going out to events and connecting with other people.” She absentmindedly picks the coating off a pickle chip, her mind reminiscing. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my hometown, but there was no excitement in my life. It was the same boring routine every single day.”

“Sounds like you and McGraw Byrne are a perfect match.”

Tessa nods. “Honestly, I really have you to thank. If you didn’t recommend hiring me to Sadie, I still would be stuck in the same boring routine. It sounds really sappy, but you really did change my life for the better…in more ways than one.”

The raw honesty in her voice tugs at his heartstrings, his lips twitching into another smile. He��s used to hearing those words come from his clients, but hearing those words come from her just felt…different, and it made him feel something he couldn’t quite place his finger on.

“You’re very welcome,” Gabe earnestly tells her. “I wouldn’t have recommended you if I didn’t think you were a stellar attorney. You deserve to be here just as much as everyone else, and I truly mean that. McGraw Byrne needed someone like you. Hell, the legal world needs more attorneys like you.”

“What? Sappy and sentimental ones?”

“No,” Gabe says, stifling his chuckle. “I meant attorneys who are passionate about their job and passionate about connecting with people. So many attorneys don’t take the time to really understand or listen to their clients. Having someone like you, someone who actually connects with clients and goes above and beyond to help them, really does make a world of difference.” Gabe takes a pickle chip and pops it into his mouth. “But I really am happy you decided to take Sadie up on her offer to join us, even if the past few days have given you plenty of good reasons to quit.”

Tessa blows out a harsh breath, knowing exactly what Gabe was referring to. “Yeah, they have been quite…challenging.”

“I meant to ask you earlier, but how’re you holding up?”

Tessa sighs, dragging her fingertip over the rim of her glass. “Honestly, I’m still pissed that Beau stole the credit from me in front of everyone, but I should’ve expected someone to pull that stunt sooner or later.” She blinks back a tear trying to escape. “It just sucks to be the one it happens to.”

“I know, and I truly am sorry Beau pulled such a dick move on you.” He sympathetically lays a gentle hand on her bare shoulder, the touch sending comfort through her veins. “If I could’ve done something to make it better, I would’ve done it in a heartbeat.”

“I know you would’ve, but I do appreciate you not saying anything to Sadie.”

He shrugs. “Wasn’t my place to tell her. Besides,” he takes his hand off her shoulder, already missing the feel of her smooth, soft skin, “the only thing it would’ve done was make you and me look bad in front of Sadie.”

“Sounds like someone has personal experience.”

Gabe runs a hand through his hair. “Happened to me once back in my early legal days, but instead of getting the credit and respect that I rightfully deserved, I got told off for being a bad ‘team player’ and trying to take someone else’s credit.”

“That’s so unfair,” she practically spits.

Gabe lets out a bitter, humorless guffaw. “Preaching to the choir on that one. You’ll find that every group will have one person who will do none of the work or the one person that will take credit for anything and everything. Fortunately for us, Beau happens to be both of those assholes wrapped up in one, so we save a lot on payroll.”

Tessa laughs weakly at his joke, the sting of Beau’s betrayal still fresh in her mind. “Thanks for trying to make me feel better. It just sucks knowing that Sadie is always going to believe that Beau solved the case.”

“If it’s any consolation, I’m still incredibly proud of you, even if Sadie never knows the truth.”

“You…are?” she asks, surprise etched on her face as she turns her body towards him.

“Absolutely,” Gabe says, no hesitation in his voice. “Without you, we possibly would’ve never solved it to begin with, nor would Lydia have thought to make Joey sign a prenup. But what really impressed me was how you were the only one to step up and take initiative when needed. Not many of the senior partners would go to such lengths for a teenager like Lydia, but you did.”

“I guess,” Tessa mutters. “I just hope it will be enough come Monday.”

“It will be,” Gabe assures her as he steals another pickle chip.

“Really? I figured Sadie would shove Beau to the top of the rankings after he basically saved the firm.”

“Everyone in that room knows who really saved the firm, and it wasn’t Beau,” Gabe points out. “Even if Sadie believes he did, she’s also smart enough to know that one win, no matter how big it is, isn’t enough to judge how good an attorney is or will become. Beau may have stolen one win, but you’re still the one to beat.”

“I guess that’s true…”

“Plus, you showed her tonight how well you bounce back after taking a loss.”

“What do you mean?”

“Between moot court, the pro bono cases, the vaccine trial, and everything else we’ve observed, you had a major winning streak that Beau decided to snap. Most people would sulk in their losses, but you didn’t. You showed up tonight, looking incredible might I add, and managed to put everything behind you to impress the right group of people.”

“If you say so.”

“I know so,” Gabe confidently replies. He reaches out and covers her hand with his, trying to ignore the tingling buzzes on his skin. “You’re a wickedly smart attorney, Tessa. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.”

“Thanks Gabe,” she says, the goofy smile plastering on her face at his heartfelt compliment. “That…that really means a lot to me.”

“It should,” Gabe tells her, reluctantly pulling his hand away again. “I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t the absolute truth. Just forget about Vegas and the Rothswells and continue onto the next case.”

Tessa nods and takes another sip of her drink as the conversation between them dies down. She may have already forgotten the Rothswells and was slowly getting over from Beau’s stolen win, but Vegas was still on her mind. It wasn’t just the city that occupied her thoughts, but rather, it was the small wedding chapel and the night she played fiancée to the man sitting next to her. That night was an intense roller coaster of emotions, desires, and confusion; it was a night where lines became blurred and questions began to arise at the nature of her and Gabe’s relationship. It was one specific little interaction that made Tessa not only sense a shift in their relationship, but triggered her to start over analyzing and over thinking every little action from their first meeting up until now.

“Nothing but the best for the most stunning woman on the Strip.”

“Alvin’s gone, you know. You don’t have to—”

He raises a finger to her lips, laying it softly against them as he gives her a smoldering look that makes her throat dry up. “What if I want to, Tessa?”

Tessa truly felt at that moment they were no longer pretending. The things he said to her that night with such conviction in his eyes and voice. The way he softly caressed and touched her with such adoration and tenderness. The way his breath tickled her lips and sent shivers throughout her body at their near-kisses. They were not things done by someone just “pretending”; no one was that good of an actor. However, despite his actions in the wedding chapel, there was one moment that made her second guess herself completely. Just as she was about to admit her feelings for him, he brusquely cut her off and completely changed the direction of the conversation. What punctuated that gut-wrenching action was him dropping her hand quickly, as if he had been burned by her touch. The cocktail of mixed signals made her head pound in dizzying confusion, and it was becoming difficult to ignore for much longer.

She glances over at Gabe, worrying her lip between her teeth and mentally debating whether or not to step into that territory of complete openness. She has a nice, working relationship with him, and she doesn’t want to risk making it awkward to be around him if he truly doesn’t feel anything towards her. On the other hand, she wants to know for her own sake of mind; she has to know if Gabe’s confusing behavior and mixed signals mean anything. They’re off the clock, away from the office, with no interruptions coming between them. It’s the perfect opportunity to air everything out, and hopefully come Monday, there would be no more confusion or misunderstandings.

“Speaking of Vegas…” Tessa mumbles, carefully avoiding his eyes. “I think we should talk.”

Gabe’s spine stiffens in alert at the sudden shift in her demeanor. “About…what, exactly?”

She takes a deep breath, knowing it was too late to steer this conversation in another direction. “About what happened at the wedding chapel.”

“Ah,” Gabe interjects, “that was some brilliant thinking on your part, with the rat and all.”

“That wasn’t the part I wanted to talk about.” She turns her head to look at him. “I wanted to talk about the whole ‘pretend’ couple in love situation.”

“What was wrong with it?” he asks her, his nerves starting to creep up on him.

“Nothing,” she quickly replies. “I was just thinking…what you said…” She takes another deep breath, preparing herself to blurt it out before she lost her nerve. “Did you ever have a moment where…you didn’t think it was pretend?”

Depends on what your answer is going to be. “What do you mean?”

“I know the whole situation was supposed to be pretend in order to get a copy of Lydia’s marriage license, but…some of the things you said…and did…” her ears grow hot as a shiver races down her spine at the memory of Gabe’s gentle caress on her wrist, the pure intimacy behind it.

“Didn’t seem like pretend?” he finishes.

“Yeah.”

“And what do you think?”

Tessa sits there silently contemplating her answer. Up until this point, Tessa never had any reason to doubt Gabe. He is a man who never makes anyone second guess his true intentions or meanings. Every word he speaks is nothing short of the truth. But his reaction on the Strip was the first time she questioned his true intentions. If Gabe did mean what he said, then why did he quickly divert the conversation and act like he couldn’t stand to be around her? Her inner conscience was waving a massive red flag in front of her, but when Gabe gripped her chin and turned her head to focus on him, she caught herself slipping back into the warm pools of his chocolate-colored orbs.

“I really hope you weren’t pretending,” she softly says, voice barely above a whisper.

Gabe feels his stomach lurch at her confession, and the corners of his mouth tug up into a small smile at her answer. Gabe wasn’t going to lie. From the minute she stepped into the office, he became fascinated with her. She was beautiful, but what caught his attention was the way she introduced herself to the others. She was the only one who stood up and spoke with such confidence and conviction about winning the partnership that he would’ve given the spot to her immediately if his name was on the building.

“That’s because I wasn’t.”

Her eyes widen. “Wh…what?”

His thumb skates over her bottom lip, gently tugging it downwards, her breath hitching at the intense, smoldering look in his eyes. “I wasn’t pretending in the wedding chapel. I truly wanted to tell you that you were the most stunning woman on the Strip because you were, and I will always think you’re the most stunning woman I will ever come across.”

“And last night?”

“I still mean it,” he tells her, taking his hand away. “I really do enjoy spending time with you, and I want to spend whatever time I have with you and only you.”

“Good.” Tessa covers his hand with hers, the electric current running between them turning into tingling shivers chasing each other up and down her spine. “Because I really, really like spending time with you too.”

The smile on his face grows bigger, turning into the most genuine one he’s ever had with someone else. Their fingers tentatively move and twist together, the air buzzing with energy just waiting to be released. A sigh of relief floods through him once he sees their hands joined together. He feared he overstepped that night in Vegas, especially since he was sharply reminded of how Tessa flirted with the fireman a few weeks ago for her eviction case. But sitting here now, their confessions out in the open, their hands joined together, made all of it real.

“So where do we go from here?”

Gabe furrows his brow. “What do you mean?”

“We just admitted we like each other, Gabe,” Tessa states like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “The question is, what comes next? Are we together? Do we see where this goes?”

Gabe bit the inside of his cheek at her question, the bliss from earlier now getting replaced with dread and guilt. He knows exactly what he wants to do next. He wants to invite her to his hotel room tonight, spend hours tangled in the silk sheets together, then wake up and do it all again tomorrow morning. He wants to take her out to dinner tomorrow night and treat her to the most decadent food in the city while he teases and touches her until she can no longer bear it. He wants to be openly affectionate with her in the office…and maybe do a few more things behind the closed doors of his office. But he can’t, and he knew the exact reasons why.

The first reason was the more obvious one. She is currently in the competition for a junior partnership, and he is the one overseeing it and potentially making the final decision on who takes his former position. They are co-workers, and while Sadie has no real binding rule that co-workers cannot date or see each other outside of work, Gabe knows there will always be a cloud of doubt and speculation hovering over Tessa if the office discovers they are seeing each other and she wins the junior partnership. Gabe was already beating himself up for what happened between her and Beau; he would never be able to forgive himself if he was the cause of ruining her reputation and the potential she has at becoming the next great attorney. How could he look himself in the mirror every morning if this blows back up in their faces?

But the less obvious reason was a hidden secret, one that he hasn’t shared with anyone else. It was the one reason that stopped him from taking her up to his penthouse in Vegas and doing all the things he fantasizes about doing with her. It was the one reason for the walls Gabe built up over the years that no one else has been able to break down. It was the one reason that prevented Gabe from crossing the lines he wanted to cross. As easy as it would be to cross them tonight with nothing stopping them, he knows he has to make the tough decision, not only to protect her, but also to protect himself. He just hopes it doesn’t change anything between them.

“As much as I would love for us to be together,” he runs his thumb soothingly over her knuckles, already feeling guilty for what he was about to say to her, “I don’t think it would be wise to pursue it.”

“O…oh,” the smile on her face falters at his stinging rejection.

“It’s not that I don’t want you,” Gabe quickly assures her.

“Sure feels that way,” she blurts out with a bitter laugh.

Gabe sighs and scrubs a hand down his face. “You’re stunning Tessa, and whatever would happen between us would be so goddamn mind-blowing, because I know exactly what I’d do with a girl like you.”

As much as his rejection stings, the dark tendrils of desire twist and twirl together inside at the sound of that highly promising and exciting invitation, the rush of desire making her shift in her seat at the tingling sensation. However, his tone tells her he was about to say one little three-letter word that was going to take the invitation back and make the rejection even worse.

"But...?"

Gabe shakes his head and averts his eyes from the pain blooming in hers. “We can’t act on it. I can’t act on it.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

“I…can’t,” he relents. He untangles their fingers and pulls his hand back to his side of the bar, no matter how painful it is for him to do so. “You already saw how low Sadie’s own blood would go to push himself ahead. Just imagine how low the others would go if they suspected—”

“You and I were seeing each other?”

Gabe nods, a small twinge of relief pricking his heart at her understanding. “Opportunities like this bring the worst out in people.”

“Considering I just had firsthand experience on how shitty people can be, I do understand it.” She takes another drink of her Manhattan, the sting now turning into simmering annoyance. “What I don’t understand is why us being together is now such a big deal for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m just saying, you didn’t seem too concerned with people seeing us together or what they thought when we went to Hoi On and that business dinner you specifically invited me to,” Tessa shrugs. “I’m just curious about the change of heart all of a sudden.”

“I didn’t have a change of heart. Those situations were entirely different.”

“Different how?”

Gabe pauses for a second to gather his thoughts. He had to tread lightly going forward, or else any chance the two of them had with each other in the future was going to be destroyed. “When I invited you to Hoi On, the other associates weren’t in the office. I knew Aislinn wasn’t going to say anything to Sadie, so no one was going to question why I brought you there.”

“And the business dinner?”

“It truly was supposed to be a business dinner and an opportunity for you to network yourself,” Gabe admits. “I didn’t know beforehand that he was going to cancel on me, and as far as the office is concerned, no one knows that he canceled on me, so everyone still suspects the three of us had that business dinner.”

“But then…oh…” Tessa trails off, another wave of disappointment crashing into her chest. “I get it.”

“You do?”

She nods. “You’re embarrassed to be seen with me. I get it. The senior associate and the top senior partner being seen together would hurt your image with the other partners.”

A tinge of frustration punches his gut. “That’s not what I mean. I’m not embarrassed to be seen with you. If I was, I wouldn’t have invited you to join me at the lake.”

“Good point,” Tessa tells him. “You certainly didn’t mind taking me out to the lake last night with Sadie and the other associates sitting around.”

“That was different too,” Gabe bluntly responds. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Then help me to understand,” she sighs, exasperated.

“There’s no point in tell you,” Gabe shoots back. “You’re intelligent and observant, Tessa. You know exactly why we can’t pursue…whatever there is between us.”

“The only thing standing in the way of pursuing whatever is between us is you,” Tessa points out.

He runs his hands through his disheveled hair again. “It’s not that I want to stand in the way of us. There’s so many reasons on why we shouldn’t pursue this.”

“Well, so far, you haven’t given me one that we can’t find a way to work around. So please enlighten me, Mr. Ricci,” she crosses her arms over her chest and gives him a hard stare. “Is your reasoning really about the partnership and my reputation, or is it about something more?”

As Gabe sits there in silence, Tessa’s mind flashes back to their previous interactions. Last night was the most unguarded she has seen Gabe since she started working at McGraw Byrne. The business dinner was the first time the two of them ever got physically close to each other. Vegas was the first time the two of them were fixing to jump across those boundaries and become one. But each time, Gabe pulled back, and his action spoke volumes. And with the way Gabe was currently avoiding meeting her gaze head on and how his fingers are tightly gripping his empty scotch glass makes the light bulb go off in her head. There was another reason Gabe was hiding, one that has to do entirely with himself. She just has to hope that she is important enough for him to be honest with her.

“Well?”

Gabe sighs. “It really is about the partnership,” he lies, firmly keeping his gaze locked on the bar top. “The partnership is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and you shouldn’t waste it or throw it away.”

The air turns icy and frigid at his words. Tessa grabs her clutch off the bar top, knowing there was no more reason for her to still be around. “You may be able to bullshit other people, Gabe, but you’re not going to bullshit me. You and I both know this is more than just the partnership, and out of respect for your privacy, I’m not going to pry. Only you can make the decision to share it with me, but until you do, I think it’s best to forget whatever we feel for each other.”

Tessa gives his hand a soft pat before downing the rest of her drink and sliding off the bar stool. Before she could go far, Gabe’s hand reaches out and wraps around her wrist.

“Tessa…”

“Don’t worry about it, Gabe,” she says, gently prying his fingers off her wrist. “I’m honestly a little hurt and disappointed that you can’t be honest with me, but I’m not mad at you.” She places a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I really do like you, Gabe, but I also like and respect myself too much to go after someone who isn’t as crazy about me as I am about them, nor will I go after someone who keeps pulling back when I want to get closer.”

“That’s not—"

She ignores his plea, digging into her clutch and pulling out a platinum-looking card. “You know where to find me when you make up your mind and have an answer for me, but don’t expect me to be waiting around forever for it.”

She places the card down on the bar top; with a sad smile, she brushes past him and heads out of the hotel bar, the tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Gabe watches her figure retreat until she disappears behind the gilded elevator doors.

“Dammit!” he slams a fist against the bar top. The empty glasses jump a little at the impact, but what catches his attention was the quick flash of light reflected on the platinum card as it jumped into the air. Gabe reaches out and slides it towards him, his spirits deflating even more when he sees what she left.

The spare key to her room.

To anyone else, it may be just a room key, but Gabe knows that it is so much more meaningful than that. It symbolizes the key to her heart and the key to their future together, a key that would only work for a short amount of time until Tessa closes both of those doors on him. The decision to walk through those open doors was entirely in his hands, but before he could do that, he has to make one other decision. The time had come for him to do the one thing he has avoided doing for years, the one decision he found easy to avoid until tonight.

It was time for him to confront himself and his fears.

__________________________________

This was going to go up a lot sooner, but because my job decided to go through some technology changes recently, it meant something that previously worked is now broken and no longer works. Unfortunately, that was me this time around, so my usual break times where I work on stories was used to help fix what someone else broke. 

Sorry about the delay, but I really do anticipate part 2 being uploaded soon, much sooner than LOA coming back from its hiatus.

For all of you who have read this story and made it this far, thank you so much for your support! It means more to me than you could ever imagine!

I love you all so much!

Second Chance Tagging in case Tumblr becomes Tumbroke again:  @choices-addict @choiceskatie @lady-calypso @chemist-ana @kat-tia801 @chrissythadon @nishas-paradise  @blainehellyes @mm2305 @suitfer​ @thegreentwin @pixelnutrookie​

[mvttsvn]

Useless [pt1]

Modern college!au

toxic Eren x gn!reader

warnings: angst, explicit themes, dubcon, embarrassment, manipulation, degradation, OOC, cussing, and typos

authors note: this has been sittin in my drafts for months I just haven’t had the motivation to finish. there will be a part 2 with smut I just wanted to get this out first.

part 2

Eren liked to think he was a pretty simple guy. He’d meet someone, use them for his benefit, lead them on till he didn’t need them anymore, then disappear. A sick trick that he used to manipulate all kinds of people. Life really can be easy with the right looks and a smooth voice. He and only ever got what he needed. He understands how selfish it is. But gotten him this far, so what would be the point in changing. 

Unfortunately, you had been one of the unlucky few to get caught up in his schemes. Let’s be honest it wasn’t a surprise, you knew of him before. A few of your friends pinned over him for being the cute nicotine-addicted guy who couldn’t care less about World Literature 1-2. But you believed each and everyone of of his sweet little promises. “No you’re so special, I think I’m gonna keep you around for a long time sweetheart.” Deception dripping from his lips as he gave you a sinful grin.

You should’ve known...

It’s been a few months now since Eren blocked and deleted your number for his phone, the last time you spoke was when he texted you to thank you for helping him pass his English final. You replied with asking if he wanted to get lunch the following day only to be left with your text never going through. That motherfucker. Of course you were angry, mostly at yourself though. You tried not to sulk about it yet every time you’d go out you’d dress up a little then you would usually just in case you’d see him. And luckily he wasn’t in any of your classes this semester either so it would be easier to forget him.

At this point you haven’t thought of Eren in weeks, you’ve focused yourself in uni and started taking assignments and things more seriously. That was until one of Eren’s roommates unknowingly took a seat next to you in your intro to ethics course.

You’ve been to Eren’s apartment a multitude of times. You knew who his roommates were, even after having a few conversations in the late morning with them after you would spend the night. Armin, who was too engrossed from whatever was on his phone plopped his books right next to you and took a seat not sparing you a glance. Once you professor started speaking he locked his phone slipping it into his pocket and glance around the room. Once he looked at you his blue eye widened and he sorta whispered “oh hey! y/n didn’t know you were in here”

You shrugged and gave a polite smile while turning back to look at the front of the room to stare through one of the windows above the projector screen. It’s not like you hated Armin, he was very kind and never judged you when you’d take the walk of shame in the morning through Eren’s kitchen, it’s just you know that this interaction would eventually lead back to him and that made you nervous.

A week or two passed and Armin continued to sit next you, you supposed it was more comfortable for him because it didn’t look like he knew anyone else in this class, neither did you. Nor were you complaining he’d give you notes and lend you his book when you would forget. Not much conversation would happen between you either, a simple hello and other small talk would occur nothing more. A very professional relationship.

Yet when your professor assigned a partner projects you and Armin both looked at each other like :| and silently agreed to work together. It was just easier that way. The assignment wasn’t due for another 2 weeks so you had confidence that you wouldn’t have to grind at the end of the this week to do it. Until Armin caught your arm as you were leaving.

“Hey sorry to ask but would it be ok if we could work on this after school? I have a lot of stuff due this week and I’m in a bit of a time crunch.” He shyly laughed hoping you weren’t busy.

You held in a sigh “Uhh sure, can I meet you at 5 tho..I have a thing-”.

“Yeah! That’d be fine, my place?”

You kinda really didn’t want to go to his place, “yea!”

You both continued listening to your teacher’s lecture while your mind was elsewhere, you didn’t have anything after school you just wanted to go home for a bit and prepare for who you may or may not see at Eren’s Armins apartment. By the end of the day you raced home, flopping onto your bed, this was a bad idea, why didn’t you just ask for him to meet at the library or something?? This situation could’ve been a whole lot simpler if you just offered your place instead. Hell you don’t have any unconventional roommates you sleep with him so it’s just unfair. At 4:45 you gather your things and drove over to Armin’s apartment. You knocked on the door, your nerves going haywire.

You’re greeted by Armin he smiled and opened the door for you letting you walk inside. You took a glance to the side and luckily Eren’s familiar beat up tennis shoes weren’t by the door. At least you could relax for a little while, hopefully he wouldn’t come home till you were gone.

Jean was sitting on the couch watching some action movie at a low volume with Connie who was fast asleep curled up with a throw pillow. The lights in the living room were dim with the curtains on the windows shut. Yet you could still see from the light in the kitchen that shone from above the counter. Jean gave you a nod, “welcome back” he half whispered as he tipped his drink at you. You smiled and waved and made your way into Armin’s room. You sat at the edge of his desk in a borrowed kitchen chair, as he joined you sitting in his computer chair in front of his desktop. He left his door slightly ajar letting you see right through into the kitchen and front door, which made you slightly on edge. Armin started going over the project, opening a document, and reading through a few paragraphs. You tried your best you to concentrate but you were too paranoid. Every so often a loud noise from Jean’s movie on the tv would make you whip your head towards the door. About an hour in you and Armin had crunched through about a few paragraphs and of your project, to Armin’s mistake you guys definitely weren’t going to finish tonight. Hopefully the next time you’d offer your place instead.

After another 30 minutes you and Armin gave up, eventually you guys made your way back into the living room. You went to the door to gather your things until Jean and Connie basically begged you to stay and watch another movie with them. You didn’t want to, you knew if you stayed any longer the possibility of Eren coming home would increase. But when Connie got up from the couch and handed you a drink, you gave in. As you sat down you began slightly regretting your decision. Why were you staying? You and Armin were finished you can go home.

You asked yourself this when you heard keys jangle outside the door and the click of the lock. It’s roughly pushed open and Eren moves into the room, swiftly locking it behind him. “Hey man” Jean calls, you immediately tense next to Armin and fix a stare at the tv. You’re too aware of your surroundings right now to know what happening but you need a distraction. You can see his movement in your peripheral, Eren saunters in to the dark living room to stand by the opposite of the end of the couch from you. when he spots you,  you can feel his blazing stare in your skull, he laughs out a scoff and the room goes silent, except for the low murmur of the tv. 

The air is tense and awkward and everybody can see your apprehension. your heart it beating in your ears and you can feel you palms starting to sweat. The sounds of the tv are immediately drowned out when Eren breathes our your name. “What the hell are you doing here?” He grips the arm of the couch and places his left hand on his hip. You slowly turn your head to look him in the eyes when Armin speaks up trying to lighten the situation “We had a project for sadis’ class” 

Your eyes dart between Eren and Armin when Eren snides, “hmm...well it doesn’t look like your working on it” 

“hey layoff man” Jean gives him a side eye. “Yeah we finished just a few minutes ago.” Armin adds. 

“It was just a question” Eren shrugs. You can believe him, he such a fucking asshole, you’re staring at him in disbelief when he meets your eyes again he laughs “what did you miss me or somethin?” His grin is sickening, you feel the embarrassment hot on your face yet what can you do in the situation? If you leave you’ll destroy your pride and yet if you stay what if you give in to him again?

Your frozen in your seat you nails digging shapes into you palms as you clench them together. You feel the stare of everyone one in the room and it makes you want to cry. He tilts his head “can’t you speak? what wrong?” the malice in his voice makes your ears burn. You want to scream, you want to run, but he slowly walks right in front of you and holds out his hand. “C’mon”

You can leave at any moment, the door is only a few feet away yet you cautiously place your palm into his as he hauls you up from your seat. No one says anything as you guys leave the room, what a complicated situation this is huh? 

As he opens his door you try to glace back at the others yet he roughly pulls your arm though and slams his bedroom door. You hope they don’t blame you too much for going with him. You stand in the middle of a very familiar room, one you’ve visited many times yet you’re too scared too move from the spot you currently occupy. He turns to face you locking the door behind him and takes a few steps forward. You look at the floor as you begin speaking “Eren I-” 

“ohhhh so you can talk?” 

“yes’ you puff. 

He fits his hand under your chin proceeding to squish your cheeks to face him. “I don’t like you hanging out with them when I’m not around” his hot breath fan your face and you widen your eyes. The audacity. “What do you mean, were not even together anymo-” you voice smothered by his grip. 

He tips his head back and see concern in his eyes, its almost like he was hurt by your words, “Yes we are” his eyebrows scrunched together. You go to spit out another sentence when his hand moves to cover you entire mouth, he brings face to your ear, “You wound me y/n, how could you think that? I thought you loved me?” Why does he sounds so genuine? Your mind is fuzzy with confusion, of course he’s lying, you would never in a million years utter those words to him during the short time you were together. Yet the pain in his voice and the grip on your jaw is making you dizzy, his hot breath on your ear and neck are causing goosebumps to raise on your skin.

 Your smaller hand goes to grip his forearm that's holding your face. He moved to look into your eyes. The dim light from the lamp in the far corner of the room casts a shadow upon his face, yet his deep green eyes seem to glow. He slowly moves his hand away placing it on your shoulder as his free hand moves to your hip. You want to yell at him, ask his why he’s doing this to you, but you place your palm softly onto his chest and drop your head in shame, “I’m sorry..i..I didn’t know” you whispered.

His warm hand goes to caress your cheek and moves into your hair lightly pulling to make you face him. “It’s ok babe, you just have to make it up to me” his chest rumbles underneath your hands as you eye widen. “You can do that, right?” You slowly nod your head and bunch his t-shirt under your fingers. He places a soft kiss on your forehead and lead you towards his bed in the corner of the room. He takes a seat on his dark blue comforter and your stand in front of him. Your hands lightly holding onto his index fingers as he carefully rocks them back and forth.  You take another look at his face and see the artificial softness slowly fade away into something dark, and conspiring.

“On your knees babe” his voice sounding rougher than before. You begin another protest but he takes his warm palms and encircles your waist to urge you down. You slowly fall to your knees, your hands on his thighs while digging your nails into his rough jeans. Your mind slowly starts to unfog and start realizing what your doing. Your shame and regret tug at your heart and you feel the tears begin to prick your eyes. You look up at Eren and see the distain in his eyes. He hums and caresses you shoulder. You wept into your chest as you feel the air being stolen from your lungs Eren moves his calloused hand to your throat and tugs to make you look him in the eyes.

Why did you have to be so damn proud?

[tefilovesreading]

It’s a match! Part. 2

Pairing: Charlie Gillespie x Fem!Reader

Word count: 2k

Warnings: None, language but that’s it.

A/N: LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANNA BE TAGGED. 

Edited by: @theamazingtomholland​ 

MASTERLIST // PART 1 // PART 3

“What do you mean he sent you a good morning text?” Jo asked, almost choking on her toast.

“He asked for my number last night,” Y/N explained, her hands shaking while she tried to unlock her phone, “and when I woke up, I had a text from him saying good morning and wishing me a good day.”

“Damn the boy is a keeper,” her friend whistled and winked at her after she read the message.

“He told me he wanted to FaceTime.”

She sat on the stool next to where her best friend was sitting and rested her chin on her hand. The butterflies in her stomach felt more like hundreds of bees buzzing fiercely in there. 

“And you?” Jo questioned with an intrigued look on her face, “do you wanna do it?”

“I think so,” Y/N answered, biting the inside of her cheek, “he’s really cute, and I had fun texting last night.”

“Well that’s a new one,” the ginger girl joked. All their friends knew how much Y/N hated texting, leaving messages on read for days, or taking absolutely forever to respond. She always felt weird texting, not knowing very well how to keep the conversation going over text.

“Tell him you have thirty minutes, and then you have to go do something else,” Y/N furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and Jo rolled her eyes, “that way if you don’t feel comfortable you have an easy exit.”

“And what if I’m enjoying it?” Jo looked at her as if she was trying to explain how the water cycle worked to a kid, “Jo I’m being serious!”

“In that case, my love, you hang up and call him again after you tell me everything.”

“Who said I was gonna tell you anything, uh?” Y/N smirked and blew her a kiss after her friend gave her an offended look.

“Whatever, Y/N,” Jo flipped her off, “just tell him your professor was sick or something like that.”

“You’re a lifesaver, did I tell you that?” Y/N kissed her friend’s cheek and then jumped off, “I’m gonna go take a shower, see you later.”

“See you later, babe,” Jo said, “don’t forget to eat!”

“I won’t!” Y/N yelled, on her way to the bathroom they shared.

Y/N: Good morning! Hope you have a great day too

She smiled satisfied at her reply and hit the send button.

Y/N couldn’t remember the last time she felt so giddy about a guy, it was exciting, to say the least. Charlie seemed like an easygoing person and really easy to talk to. Sure she was nervous talking to him, but who wouldn’t? The guy was super cute and so nice to her, she already knew she’d be crushing hard.

Thirty minutes later, she was on her way to class with time to go to her favorite coffee shop and have a quick breakfast.

Charlie: Didn’t think you’d answer me so early hahaha Y/N: I have a class in like 20 minutes, wouldn’t have woken up this early if i didn’t have class lol Charlie: So you’re not a morning person Y/N: Oh no, absolutely not!!

She smiled at the boy in the cashier and laughed softly when he asked her if she was ordering the same thing she always did.

“Oh, can you add a brownie please?” Y/N asked politely, while she looked for her card on her bag. After paying for her food, she went to one of the tables in the back.

Charlie: Noted! I swear i try to not wake up early but i can’t Y/N: I bet you’re the kind of friend that wakes everyone up with a lot of noise  Charlie: How did ya know that hahahaha Y/N: I was just guessing, but you do seem like a loud person Charlie: I am, i won’t try to deny it Charlie: What about you??  Y/N: Mmm Y/N: It depends Y/N: But my laugh is extra loud, so I can’t say I’m a quiet girl

“Vanilla latte!” Y/N put away her phone and stood up to get her order.

“Thanks, Dylan,” she thanked the boy and grabbed a few napkins before making her way back to her table. 

Charlie: I bet your laugh is really cute

Her cheeks were burning after that message, and it took her a couple of minutes to tame the butterflies in her stomach before she was able to type a response. Because as much as she wanted to laugh it off and change the topic, she knew he was flirting with her and if she didn’t flirt back, their conversation was basically dead.

Y/N: Guess you’ll have to find out yourself ;).

That was a nice reply, right? She screenshotted their chat and sent it to Jo. If anyone knew how to flirt while texting, it was her best friend.

Y/N: How does it look? Is it too much?? Too little?? Y/N: H E L P

Jo’s response was quick as always. One of the many reasons she loved her.

Jo: Girl it’s fine Jo: Stop worrying about it Jo: It’s mysterious and a good way to tell him you wanna FaceTime Y/N: Ok ok thank you love ya Jo: Love you more  

Checking the hour on her phone, Y/N finished her bagel and gathered her stuff. She waved Dylan goodbye and left the coffee shop. She spent more time than she expected to in there and if she didn’t hurry she’d be late for class. 

It was times like this one that made her regret not knowing how to drive because even if all her classmates liked the Lyft program they had for free, she still felt unsafe getting in the car without a friend.

Back in the day, when she was still dating Lance, he’d made sure to call her and talk to her during the whole ride to wherever Y/N needed to go just to make her feel safe. After all, he was never a bad boyfriend, their paths just went in different ways and they both wanted different things in life.

Charlie: Yeah i guess Charlie: What if i call you later when you’re done with your classes??Charlie: No pressure

She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks for the second time in less than an hour and had to bite her lip to stop herself from smiling. 

Y/N: Sure, i’ll let you know once i’m done Y/N: But i have to say bye for now Y/N: Gotta pay attention haha Charlie: Get that degree! Charlie: Talk to you later!

Focusing on whatever her professor was saying was a hard task, she just wanted to pull her phone out and text Charlie, see what he was up to and get home as soon as possible, so they could FaceTime.

Sitting on the edge of her seat, she couldn’t help but bounce her leg to relieve the eagerness rushing through her veins. She still had fifteen minutes left, and then she’d be sprinting out of the classroom and going back to her apartment.

“Dude, do you gotta use the bathroom or what?” Sadie, the girl she always sat with during class, whispered through gritted teeth.

“Sorry,” she apologized, crossing her legs to stop herself from bouncing her leg. Although the new position didn’t stop her from moving her foot. 

“What’s up with you?” Sadie snorted once she realized Y/N couldn’t sit still.

“Nothing,” she replied quickly, scribbling on her notebook the pages she needed to read for the next class, “I just wanna go home.”

“But you have never been this eager to leave this class,” the girl commented without looking at her, too focused on taking notes, “you love this class.”

“I don’t know,” Y/N let out a sigh and checked the hour on her watch, “I just don’t feel like sitting here right now.”

Her classmate didn’t make another comment about her eagerness to leave the classroom, she just nodded her head as if she was telling her she understood.

“I think that’s all for today, guys,” the professor mentioned, leaning on the desk, “have a good day, and don’t forget to read the articles I mentioned.”

Y/N hurried to gather her things and waved Sadie goodbye before walking as fast as she could to the door. She needed to leave before the halls flooded with students. Y/N considered taking the stairs instead of the elevator but knowing how clumsy she could be, she opted for the latter. Falling down the stairs wasn’t on her plans.

Twenty minutes and a mile later, she dropped her keys on the bowl next to the door of her apartment and kicked off her shoes. She checked her out in the full-length mirror Jo had in their living room and shrugged. Charlie knew she was a college student, and it wouldn’t be weird to see her wearing a hoodie with her college’s logo, also, she was comfy and didn’t want to change into something else. 

She fixed her hair and made sure she didn’t have smudged mascara under her eyes and then made herself comfortable on the couch.

Y/N: Just made it home

Y/N: That was one hell of a long class haha

She bit her nails, the nervousness kicking in while she waited for a response from Charlie. Maybe he was busy now that she wasn’t. God if their schedules didn’t let them at least FaceTime, she felt like she’d start crying and delete the app. It wasn’t like she was talking to other guys though.

Charlie: Finally!! Charlie: Wanna FaceTime?? Or are you tired?

“Fuck no,” she whispered to herself before she started writing her reply.

Y/N: Nah! Let's FaceTime

Her heart started pounding on her chest when the video call entered and the phone started vibrating in her hand.  

“Shit, shit, shit,” she cursed before putting a smile on her face and answering the call. “Hey!”

Holy shit. His pictures didn’t make him justice. 

“How you doin’?” Charlie said and her cheeks blushed.

“It’s that a Friends reference?” she asked trying to hide her smile.

“I swear I don’t mean it in that way,” he laughed, and the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled made her heart flutter. “But seriously, how was your day?”

“It was good even though I hate waking up early,” the way Charlie was looking at her with so much attention, even if it was through a screen it  made her feel so confident, “I had breakfast at this little coffee shop near my apartment and then went to class.”

“But that sounds like a nice morning,” Charlie mentioned, his sweet smile never leaving his face.

“What were you up to anyway?”

“Not much actually,” he shrugged and the gesture made him look young, “I went for a run, then I had to film some tapes for a few auditions, and now I’m chilling.”

“You’re an actor,” Y/N pointed out, not even surprised about the new information he just revealed. It was Los Angeles after all.

“I am,” he smiled, and she swore she could see a pink tint on his cheeks, “I started back in Canada when I was about fourteen or fifteen.”

“Any chances I’ve watched it?” Charlie scrunched his nose and shook his head.

“Maybe, if you are into foreign films,” Y/N tilted her head confused at his answer, “It’s in French.”

“You learned how to speak in French for the movie?” Y/N furrowed her eyebrows together when Charlie started laughing.

“I grew up speaking French and English,” he explained with a soft smile, “I’m French Canadian.”

“That makes a lot more sense now,” she laughed off her embarrassment, “I’m gonna blame the fact that I woke up early today. I’m not this dumb, I swear.”

“Don’t worry,” he said and the smile faded just enough for her to notice his intense stare, “I thought it was cute.”

She bit her lip at his words and tried to look away from the screen, but Charlie’s eye contact felt as if he was looking right into her soul and she couldn’t break that connection even if she wanted to. And she definitely didn’t want to do that.

tagged: @chevyimpala00067​ @samanthawilliamspring​ @searchingunderthestars @luke-patt @moneybagmgk @angisbr @happinessinthedarkesttimes @knitsessed @cordeliascrown @crybabyddl @phantompogues @the-romanian-is-bae @doaspeggy-says

[total-drama-disaster-gays]

What do you think everyone's regular outfits are (from your filming headcanons post)?

*cracks knuckles* why I’m glad you asked.

Alejandro: originally didn’t have a wife beater under his shirt and wore medium wash blue jeans.

Beth: she was wearing a sailor moon shirt with her pink pants when she first reached the studio. The costume team gave her the green undershirt but she brought her Girl Scout vest and the producers loved it. They also suggested the side pony for her, since Beth originally showed up with her hair half up half down

Bridgette: she was wearing a red lifeguard hoodie with a slightly shorter pair of shorts. they gave her the board shorts and but let her change into the blue hoodie she already owned.

Cody: he was wearing a Nintendo shirt and trademarks aren’t allowed so they pulled an early Freddie Benson on him and gave him those terrible striped shirts

Courtney: she didn’t have the sweater over her shirt and she was originally wearing flats. The costume team gave her the wedges because they wanted her to be taller on screen but Courtney picked the sweater herself.

DJ: he was wearing a jacket from his dance studio over his white shirt and shorts and a pair of sneakers. They did him dirty with that d shirt

Duncan: you think they’d let him wear a spiked choker in juvie? Nah they gave him that with the white undershirt. He didn’t have the eyebrow piercing before either, Duncan asked for it and the producers said “fuck it why not”

Eva: she was wearing a sweatsuit kinda like Jo’s but one of the producers told her the show would be a great way to get weight lifting coaches from colleges to notice her so she changed to her competition outfit so she could show off her biceps

Ezekiel: he was wearing a ripped black hoodie and a different pair of sneakers that had a hole in one of them. The costume team found a hoodie and new pair of shoes that matched his hat

Geoff: he showed up wearing a white shirt under his pink one and he asked the costume team if he had to wear the undershirt and they let him go half shirtless

Gwen: she originally looked like she had a shopping spree at hot topic. Skater skirt, fishnets, fake docs with stars and moons on them, and an “edgy” tshirt. The costume team found that atrocious top and got excited because it matched her hair; Gwen only agreed to wear it if they let her pick the bottom half of her outfit.

Harold: another victim of the trademark issue, poor harold showed up in a smash bros shirt with his jeans and sneakers. The costume team convinced him to wear the pink long sleeve by telling him it would bring out his soul patch and they threw him the Saturn shirt to go over it.

Heather: they left her alone mostly. She wore a crop top and similar shorts, but her color palette looked too similar to Bridgette’s so they asked her to change from something she had packed

Izzy: she was wearing a pair of shortalls and a pair of converse. Chris warned the costume crew about her, so they just told her that they’d like her in green and to find something she liked and she found her current outfit in like 3 minutes.

Justin: they left him alone because his modeling agent said they couldn’t risk changing his image.

Katie: they liked the schtick of her and Sadie wearing the same outfit so they left her alone

Leshawna: she was wearing her hair naturally and was wearing a cute halter crop top but the producers asked her if she could wear her hair in braids for the show and gave her the orange shirt because her halter top looked similar to Heather’s.

Lindsay: she originally showed up in the same outfit we see her in on the episode where they went to Boney Island, but the costume crew gave her some orange and brown to spice up the color palettes

Noah: he was wearing a blue button up with a pair of khaki shorts and boat shoes. When they sent him to costuming, he pissed off the crew with his snarky remarks so they turned him into a fashion disaster. Noah went along with it because of the free day mentioned in my last post, and because he was hoping to avoid the camera as much as possible.

Owen: they left him alone because they weren’t prepared to deal with plus sized contestants they wanted to represent Canada since the show wasn’t taking place in a major Canadian city.

Sadie: left her alone because they liked her wearing the same outfit as Katie

Sierra: left her alone because she was already known for her image thanks to Celebrity Manhunt

Trent: he was struck by the trademarks because he was wearing a Green Day shirt with his jeans. They gave him the green shirt because it brought out his eyes and to poke fun at his original outfit.

Tyler: also struck by trademarks as he showed up in an adidas jacket, a Nike shirt, and under armor joggers. They found a red tracksuit for him without a brand name on it and he was happy with it.

Let me know if you wanna see what the ROTI and Pahkitew casts originally wore!

[nialledfromfics]

The Dating Game | Chapter Three

~~

He couldn’t get her off his mind. Her infectiously bright smile, the sparkle in her hazelnut eyes every time they locked on his. The way her hair smelled like the sweetest apples ever grown. Her soft giggle, which played over and over in his head like a never ending carousel. They way his body nearly melted any time she got close to him. He barely knew this girl, but he just could not get her off his mind. 

Niall woke up early that Sunday morning after the festival so he could sneak in a small workout. But his concentration wasn’t on his squats or the thirty minutes of treadmill time he was required to do. No, it was stuck on her. On her voice, her hair, her lips, her skin. Every part of her made an aching warmth fill his belly, and his heart race like a goddamn horse in his chest. He hadn’t felt that way about someone in a long time, longer than he could remember. And he had no idea how she felt about him, or if she even thought about him at all, but he was determined to keep this girl, this girl he barely knew, in his life. Somehow.

Wiping the sweat from his browline with a small towel, Niall stepped off the treadmill and chugged back some water. He pulled his phone from the pocket of his shorts and switched off the music that had been playing through his earbuds before opening up his texts. His thumbs idled over the screen, almost like he was too nervous and didn’t know what to say and for Niall, that was something very new. He was usually a pretty confident person and had been so used to networking and meeting loads of people over the past ten years of his career, that talking to others always came easy to him. He was incredibly personable. So, sending a simple text to a girl normally wouldn’t stump him up. Normally. 

Niall ran his finger over his bottom lip in precarious thought, nervously scratching his nails though the side of his beard before he decided to just bite the bullet and...hit send.

Hey Joey , it’s Niall. Just wanted to see how your date went last night. no puke I hope .

The text sent and Niall stood there in the middle of the gym, staring down at his phone like an idiot. Was he waiting for those tiny little bubbles to pop up? He wasn’t sure but he knew he wasn’t moving a muscle until he was positive she had seen it. 

Joey, on the other hand, giggled like a giddy teenager as Alexis jumped up off the sofa and came bounding over to where her friend was standing. “Lemme seeee,” she whined, “what’d he say?” 

“He writes like one of the kids in my class,” Joey playfully teased, Alexis gasping and swatting the side of her arm.

“Be nice.” 

Joey smiled. “I’m only kidding. It’s cute actually.” 

Hooking her hand on her hip, Alexis urged Joey on. “Joey, c’mon, text back. You have to text back.”

“Relax,” she replied, looking over at her best friend, “I am. I’m just...figuring out what I should say.” 

Nipping at the inside corner of her mouth, Joey thought for a minute before sending a text back to him. 

Hi Niall! Date was okay, no puke, thank God. How was your night?

It wasn’t but a few seconds before another text from Niall had popped up onto Joey’s screen. 

N: We had a good Time. it was nice seeing ya . like talking to you .

Slowly flicking her eyes to her best friend as they both read over the text, Alexis tossed her hands up to her mouth to hold in her squeal. She was always a bit over dramatic. Joey smiled and sent him another text. 

J: It was nice seeing you too.

N: I’ve asked my agent and manager about gettin you those tickets . . they’re looking around to see what they can find . It shouldnt be too hard though

J: Oh wow, that’s awesome, Niall, I really appreciate it!

N: No problem , Joey , really. I’ll definitely let ya know when I get me hands on some.

Joey bounced happily on the balls of her feet. “This is too much, you think he’s gonna ask you out?” Alexis said. 

“Shhh…”

J: You are a Godsend, honestly. The best person I have ever met in probably forever. 

“Wow, Jo, way to inflate his ego.” 

Joey rolled her eyes at her best friend’s sarcastic comment, dropping her hands in a huff. “Shut up, he’s not like that. I’m just being nice, like you said.” She smiled big at Alexis and raised her brows.

N: Hahahahaha 😂

J: You think I’m kidding, Niall, but I’m serious lol 

N: Well . . . I can say the same about you .

J: Now you’re just trying to charm me, aren’t you? 

N: eh Maybe 😉

Running his tongue over his lips, Niall fought off the smirk that wanted to invade them as he softly chuckled to himself. He switched his music app back on, sticking his phone into the pocket of his jogger shorts and hopped back onto the treadmill, now having the focus to finish his morning workout. 

•

The texts left a blissful smile on Joey’s face that lasted for the next few days. She’d find herself thinking about them, about him, as she was applying her makeup in the bathroom mirror each morning, or drowning out the sound of her shoes on the sidewalk every time she took Sadie for a walk. Or while reading the children their weekly storybook, and fixing herself dinner every night. Her mind was so preoccupied with the fleeting, and foolish, thoughts of Niall, that she had almost forgotten about her date that coming Thursday. 

Joey would normally not agree to a date on a weekday given that she had to be at work early the next morning, but the guy she was meeting up with, Felix, was very adamant on seeing the premiere of some sci-fi movie that Joey, frankly, had zero interest in. But she decided that she should just suck it up and file it right into another one of her ‘experience’ folders. It was just a movie, right? She could live through it? 

Felix wasn’t the usual type of guy that Joey would go for. He had long unruly hair, seemed a bit unkempt in his general appearance and from what he mentioned, wasn’t very goal oriented; he was in between jobs at the moment but taking his time trying to figure out what he really wanted to do. He was a slacker by all definitions. But he was really sweet in their conversations back and forth, insisting on taking her out, and she thought that there would be no harm in going on a date with him. She didn’t get home from work until a bit after 4pm that Thursday night, and made sure to hop in the shower first thing. After blow drying her long red hair, Joey slipped on a pair of ankle length jeans and a black fitted top, Sadie already jumping at her legs to be pet. 

She let out a sigh and bent over to squish the little dog's face, giving her a sweet kiss on the top of her head. “You’re the only one I really need in my life, Sadie girl.” 

Joey was to meet Felix at the theater complex around 6:30 as the movie was to start at 7pm. Standing outside the front of the theater, Joey watched as people went in and out of the doors, and it was nearing 6:45 by the time a car had pulled up right in front of her. The passenger door swung open and a guy wearing ripped jeans and a raggedy worn old t-shirt, and matching the pictures she had seen on his profile, stepped out. He waved to the person driving, an elderly looking lady, as he slammed the car door shut and stepped over to Joey. 

“Hey, I’m Felix.” 

The young woman smiled politely. “Hi, I’m Joey.”

They shook hands, Joey fumbling with keeping the strap of her bag hooked on her shoulder as Felix peered up at the large marquee sign above the entrance. “Sorry for being late, I had to wait for my grandma to get done making my grandpa his dinner.” 

Her lips parted briefly and Joey pointed a finger at where the car had come to a stop. “That was...your grandmother?”

Felix nodded. “Yeah...I live in their basement. And I don’t really have a car right now, so she drives me.” Joey stayed quiet. “Should we go in?”

•

Joey was right about the movie, absolutely zero interest. And she had just about as much interest in Felix. That had to have been the longest, and most boring, two hours of her life. She was not just bored out of her mind, she was also well beyond annoyed. Not only could Felix not hold a conversation to save his life, but he dropped their only bag of popcorn into Joey’s lap when he got up to use the restroom and he also completely misread a polite lean in halfway through the movie to quietly inquire about a character and tried to unexpectedly kiss her. Totally unprovoked and very much unwanted. It did not go over well. 

Walking out through the theater doors in a huff, the night air hit with a gust and Joey felt like she could finally breathe again. She quickly yanked her phone out of her bag and, without saying a word to her date, requested a Lyft home. The driver was only three minutes out. Felix followed behind as she stepped closer to the street and paused to stand right next to her. “Thanks for paying, I really can’t believe I left my wallet at home.” 

Joey rolled her eyes, checking on how close her ride was. “No worries,” she told him with a forced smile. “It happens.”

He ran his hand through the front of his hair and chewed on the corner of his lip. Joey’s Lyft pulled up and she looked over at Felix. “Um...I guess I should go-”

“Hey do you maybe wanna go get something to eat? Nothing too fancy since you’ll be paying and all.” He laughed, as if what he was saying was an actual joke. It wasn’t.

Furrowing her brows, she just stared at him and shook her head. “No, thanks I’m-”

A text message coming through her phone interrupted her, the device vibrating in her hand. Joey glanced down and clicked open her messages. 

N: Hey Joey. . I know this is last minute , but I just got u some tickets to a Wildflowers show at the Echo on Sunset that starts in about an hour . u down?

Her heart nearly beat out of her chest as she read over the text Niall had sent and she quickly sent him one back. 

J: Holy shit, yes!! I can totally meet you there in 20?

N: yeah sure . see ya There

Clamping her teeth on her bottom lip to hold in her ever growing smile, she looked up at Felix. “Sorry, I gotta go,” she said, clambering into the backseat of her ride, “thanks for-...uh, yeah, have a good night!” She slammed the door shut and told the driver where she needed to go, the car pulling away and leaving Felix there alone to wait for his grandma.

•

The ride to the venue was one filled with giddiness and a tinge of nerves. Joey had no idea why she was nervous; seeing her favorite band live for the first time, maybe seeing Niall again, she really wasn’t sure, but she did know she was beyond excited. Coming to a stop out front of the club, Joey could see Niall already standing there waiting for her. He was wearing fitted trousers, a vintage t-shirt and a jean jacket. His hands were stuffed down in his pockets, his hair gently tousled to the side and he quietly watched people shuffling into the venue as Joey’s eyes stuck to him like there was no one else around. He looked incredible. 

Climbing out of the vehicle, Joey thanked her driver and it was then that Niall finally saw her. The smile on her face was brighter than he had ever seen before, her light brown eyes sparkling in the neon lights that laced the street above them and for a moment, as his stare locked on hers, he could have sworn that everyone else around them had vanished. His heart picked up its pace as she walked towards him, flicking her long red hair over her shoulder and before he could even register what was happening, Niall found Joey crashing her body against his in a hug. 

She wasn’t even thinking. She saw him standing there waiting for her, his cheeks rounding in a huge smile that caused the cutest dimple to crease his skin and for a split second, Joey lost all control over herself. Her breath caught in her throat the second her body touched his; her arms curling around his neck so tight like she was a drowning victim who needed rescuing and Niall barely hesitated before his arms wrapped around her middle. Closing her eyes as she inhaled along with him, she felt his splayed hand gently rub just a fraction across the span of her upper back before Joey clumsily cleared her throat and pulled away. 

An awkward giggle left her lips but Niall just smiled even bigger at her. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too,” she replied, biting her lip as she took a tiny step back and adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “You actually kinda saved me.” 

Niall’s brows wrinkled. “Yeah? How’s that?” 

Flicking her stare off of his, Joey dropped her chin down. “Well, I was on another date, a really shitty date actually and you texted me and-…” she peered back up at him, “you just have impeccable timing.” 

He laughed, his head tossing back a bit. “I’m glad I could save ya from another disaster.” 

“Me too.” 

Licking across his lips, Niall found himself locked in her gaze for a moment, unintentional but not surprising before he realized why he was there meeting her in the first place. He shook his head out of his daydream. “Oh…” he mumbled, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out two ticket stubs. “Here, these are for you.” 

Joey glanced down at the tickets held out towards her and she stared at them for a second, a slight disbelief coming over her. He really did it. He really got them for her. She gently grabbed the tickets and looked back up at him. “I can’t believe I’m really holding Wildflower tickets,” she giggled, not even bothering to fight the huge smile on her face, “it’s like a dream!” 

Niall chuckled, lowering his head as he carded his fingers through his hair. “Well, I hope ya have a good time.” 

“Wait…” Joey tipped her head to the side, her brows cinching in, “you’re not coming in with me?”

Locking his gaze on hers, Niall’s mouth gently parted. “Did...did ya want me to come in with you?” he asked, his brows raising. 

“Well...yeah,” Joey scoffed, “I-...I mean, I was hoping you would, if you don’t, like, have other plans. I wouldn’t even have these tickets if it weren’t for you.” 

Niall darted his stare with hers, Joey softly biting down into her bottom lip as she waited for his answer and he gave her a faint nod, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Okay...yeah, I’d love to.” 

“Yay!” she squealed, causing a chuckle from Niall. “We’re gonna have so much fun!” Handing him one of the tickets back, Joey stepped past Niall to lead the way into the venue and he followed behind her, staying as close as he possibly could. 

•

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was the prettiest, most alluring woman he had ever seen and the way she let go to the music, the way she felt it, singing along and smiling and laughing, it was all so...captivating. Her eyes gleamed every time he caught a glimpse of them, her body moving like a dandelion seed in the wind; effortless and free. She was beautiful. 

Joey did not stop smiling the entire night. Happiness seemed to come naturally to her, it lit her up from the inside and was nearly infectious. So much so, that Niall, keeping his stare on her as much as he could, found himself smiling right along with her. There was something about her that he liked, really liked, almost admired and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. But he enjoyed being around her. More than he had enjoyed being around anyone in a long time. 

The concert ended a bit before midnight, and Niall and Joey filed out of the venue along with the other concert goers. Stopping right out front, Joey eased her eyes up to Niall’s as she faced him. Taking in a deep breath, they both stood quiet for a moment before a few giggles broke the silence. Joey tipped her head down in shyness before peering back up at Niall. 

As his eyes fawned over her face, soaking in the beauty of the delicate slope of her nose and the fullness of her bare lips, he slowly reached out to her. Joey’s breath stalled. “May I?” he whispered. She nodded, unsure of what she was consenting to as Niall moved his hand closer and lightly brushed a few strands of her red hair from off her cheek to tuck behind her ear. 

Her lips gently parted and her eyes fluttered as the warmth of his skin touched hers and Niall froze just as his fingertip slipped down the shell of her ear. Swallowing hard, he flicked his stare over hers before quickly retracting his hand, hastily shoving it into the front pocket of his pants. Joey smirked at his nervous reaction. “Thank you so much for the tickets,” she softly spoke up after clearing her throat, “I feel like I should repay you but...I don’t even know where to begin.” 

“No, no...please,” Niall said, shaking his head as he attempted to run his hand through his dark hair, “no need, really. As long as you had a good time, that’s all

that matters.” 

She smiled at him again. “I did...thank you.” Letting out a short sigh, Joey peeked over her shoulder at the traffic buzzing past their intersection and grabbed her phone from her back pocket. “I guess I should be getting home.” 

Niall watched her click into her phone and start to scroll through. “Did you drive here?” 

“No,” Joey replied, catching his stare, “but it’s fine, I’ll just get a Lyft or something.” 

“I, uh...I’m only parked a couple blocks up,” he mentioned, pointing up the street from them,”if you don’t mind walkin’ a bit, I can take ya home.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Of course!”

A soft grin spread over her lips. “Okay, thank you.”  

They began to walk in the direction of where Niall’s car was parked, not stressing on time or needing something to chat about. There was no rush, there was no pressure and Joey slowly kept pace with Niall, their shoulders bumping every so often. It was a clear night out, a soft breeze kissing their skin as the bright lights from the storefronts and the blazing of car horns in the distance seemed to drown out between their harmonious giggles and easy flowing small talk. 

“By the way, that show was fucking amazing,” Joey commented.

“You enjoyed it?”

“Enjoyed it?” she laughed, “Niall, this was definitely one of the best nights of my life in, like,...forever. It was like a fucking dream.” 

Niall’s head tipped back in a laugh, his hand perching on the front of his stomach. “Good,” he managed to stutter out, looking back over at her, “I’m glad you had a great time.” 

She brushed some hair from her face and smiled at him. “The best time.”

“Better than your date earlier?” he asked, raising a brow.

Joey playfully narrowed her stare. “What, are you keeping score?” 

“No, no...just curious.” 

The young woman tilted her head down in a bashful smile before she peered back over at him. “A hundred times better than my date earlier.” 

Giving her a nod, he raised his hand up and motioned a checkmark symbol into the air. “One check for me.” 

Not being able to hold in her laugh, Joey pinched her eyes shut as the sweet sound left her lips and leaned her face over to rest against the peak of his shoulder. Niall slowed his steps as he flicked his eyes down, seeing just the top of her head. She quickly looked up at him, a smile still tugging at her mouth. “You are too funny.” 

“I try,” he shrugged with a half smirk.

“Hey, out of my own curiosity,” Joey started, crossing her arms over her chest as they continued walking, “do you think you’d ever...join one of those dating apps?”

His brows furrowed. “Tinder?”

“Yeah.” 

“Oh...fuck, no,” he scoffed, his bluntness causing Joey to cover her mouth in a giggle. Niall’s eyes went big as he caught what he had said and looked over at her, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. “I...I don’t mean that in a bad way, Joey, ya know, more power to ya and all, but, it’s just…with what I do, with who I am, I can barely trust the people I already know in me real life. No way I could trust some random strangers I met off if an app.” 

Nodding her head, Joey dropped her stare. “Yeah, I mean, I obviously don’t do what you do, so I can’t really even begin to know what that’s like, but...I do understand what you mean about trusting people.” 

Her tone had softened with that last bit and Niall instantly took notice. He licked across his lips as his eyes tried to read her face. “You have a hard time trustin’ people too?” he asked her.

Joey nodded and caught Niall’s gaze once more. “I didn’t before,” she began to explain, “you know, I was probably the most trusting person you’d ever meet, which...was probably a fault in the end. But my ex, Jake-...he was...not the greatest person. He was manipulating and controlling and just not a nice guy, and I wasted three years of my life on him. Even when I knew that I shouldn’t have.” 

“I’m sorry, that’s fuckin’ terrible.” 

“We broke up, like, two years ago, and it’s taken me that long to even think about trusting anyone again,” she lifted her shoulders in a shrug, “It’s pretty much why I haven’t started to date again until now.” 

“Yeah, that makes sense. I dunno, though, I just think datin’ is...too time consumin’, ya know?” Niall said with a short laugh, holding out his hands as he looked over at Joey, “I mean, gettin’ to know someone should feel more...organic, it should come easy and not feel so...forced. I dunno.” With a little shrug, he peeked down at the toes of his shoes, “Like I said, I don’t date much. I love the actual relationship part, that’s nice, ya know, bein’ with someone, havin’ all those experiences with ‘em, but the whole...meetin’ someone for the first time and goin’ out and gettin’ to know the person...fuckin’ hell.” 

He shifted his blue eyes over and locked his stare on Joey’s. “Kinda wish you could just...skip all that.” 

A smile pulled at her lips and she pushed out a tiny giggle. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” 

“It’s not like I never dated anyone or anythin’,” Niall went on, “Me last girlfriend...she was a great girl, don’t get me wrong, we were together for nearly a year but...it got to a point that I just wasn’t feelin’ it anymore and I had to end it. I felt horrible, ya know, ‘cause I did love her in a way, but...it just wasn’t right anymore, somethin’ wasn’t right.” 

There was a fraction of quiet that wafted between them as Niall’s words left his lips before Joey spoke up. “Well...at least you didn’t lead her on for years to the point that she was expecting you to propose or some shit.” 

“Oh…God,” Niall threw his head back with a loud groan, running his palms over the front of his face. “I can’t even think about that at this point in me life.” 

Joey giggled again. “I’m now picturing myself married to that guy from tonight and...wow, complete shitshow.” 

They both bowed over in laughter. “At least you can admit it.” 

“That’s the first step, Niall.”

After a few more laughs and about half a block, they finally reached Niall’s car. Yanking the keys from his pocket, Niall unlocked it before stepping over to the passenger side door to kindly open it for Joey. 

Her brows raised at the chivalrous gesture and she peered at him as she climbed in and settled into the seat. “Still trying to charm me?”

“Absolutely.” 

With a lopsided smirk, he gave her a playful wink and closed her door. 

Joey lived in Toluca Lake, which was about a thirty five minute drive through Hollywood from the concert venue. Not really unheard of for LA, but still out of the way from where Niall had mentioned that he lived. They had to literally pass his house on the way. If Joey had known that, she definitely would have insisted on getting a Lyft instead, the last thing she wanted to be was a bother. 

Despite the extra time in the car for Niall, he rather enjoyed the aspect of driving Joey home. It gave him more time to get to know her, to talk to her. To hear her voice and her laugh and see her smile. Joey was even more enthralled with Niall. Hearing him go on and on about his music and his many passions, seeing the way his face lit up with the mention of his favorite bands and athletes. The deep tone of his voice was so rousing, his accent so sexy, it sent shivers down Joey’s spine with every mention of her name. The way his stare stayed focused on the road ahead, his big hand perched up on the steering wheel as his thumb gently tapped along with the low hum of the music that was playing on the radio. 

She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. 

Pulling up to the front of Joey’s apartment building, Niall stopped the car and put it in park. Joey turned her head to stare up at the modest brick-front building, and scraped her teeth along her bottom lip. She almost didn’t want to get out of the car. Looking back over at Niall, she smiled. “I had a really great time, Niall, it was nice hanging out with you. No...weird expectations, ya know?

He nodded, dropping his hand into his lap. “Yeah, I had a good time.” 

“Thank you again for the tickets, seriously,” she said, “It was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to.” 

“I was actually pleasantly surprised, to be honest, I had never seen them live before.” 

“Now you know why I love them so much.”

They both let out soft chuckles and Joey peeked down into her lap. “Hey, um…” Niall began, causing Joey to flick her gaze back to his, “would it be weird if I, like, texted you some time? Just to, like, chat or whatever. I quite like talkin’ to ya.” 

Joey tucked her bottom lip into her mouth. “I like talking to you too, that’d be great. I’d like that.” 

“Cool,” Niall said, carding his fingers through his hair, “Maybe we can, um, go get some coffee or somethin’ this weekend, if you’re free or whatever.” 

“Yeah, sure, that’d be fun,” she replied with a nod, reaching down to unhook her seatbelt. 

Niall smiled. “Alright, well...I’ll text ya then. Have a good night, Joey.” 

Opening her door, Joey stepped out of the car. “You have a good night too, Niall,” she said with a sweet smile before giving him a wave and shutting the door. 

Niall watched with hooded eyes as she walked up to her building's door and put in the code, Joey sweeping her hair to rest over her one shoulder as she disappeared inside. Sitting there for a moment, Niall let his eyes fall closed and tipped his head back on the seat, a long and heartfelt sigh sliding past his parted lips

[monsterdoodles]

Thoughts on Steven Universe Future 3-13-2020

Together Forever: This episode was a lot less about Steven and Connie, and more about just Steven than expected.

Connie has some plans for college, but we don’t quite get to know what her career goals are exactly. She’s planning on getting into politics, but I’m not sure at what level or what branch. Not that that matters to the episode too much or anything. The University of Jayhawk is all the across the country from Delmarva. This is a distance that Steven cannot emotionally handle right now. Upon this realization, he sinks down into his bed, part of his “floating” powers.

It is good to see that he and Connie keep in touch at least over video calls. On a slightly more concerning note, Steven has memorized Connie’s schedule down to the minute.

Garnet says at the end of the episode, that there was no future in which Steven wouldn’t propose to Connie. I’m guessing had he talked to Garnet instead, he would have proposed to her out of spite or in an effort to prove Garnet wrong.

Instead of Garnet, we do get Ruby and Sapphire this episode. Steven doesn’t seem too surprised by their appearance in this episode, so I imagine that they have been teaching these classes for a while. Ruby is doing some kind of nature scout class, did she make those badges herself, or are they part of a nationally recognized scout organization? Either way she’s teaching some gems and Onion about the beauty of nature. Steven tells her about how Connie seems to really have her life together and knows what she is doing.

I can see a parallel here with Ruby and Sapphire, and Steven and Connie. In this particular case, Steven is Ruby. He doesn’t have the foresight that Connie does right now. He, in a way, lacks future vision.

Ruby, either lacking the knowledge of what might be socially acceptable or being too excited about prospect of Steven expressing his love, tells Steven that he should propose to her. Ruby’s logic here is that it worked for her. She ignores the fact that she and Sapphire had been together for over 5000 years and that they are adults.

Steven visits Sapphire as well, she is teaching a class on alternate timelines. I wonder what that entails exactly. I suppose that they do all of those equations that she explained to Steven, but with the understanding that the future still isn’t as predictable as one might think. She also encourages Steven to propose to Connie despite the fact that she is aware of the sociological implications of this, but she’s a hopeless romantic about it anyways.

Steven declare to the gems, that this will be his last day as Steven Cutie-Pie Demayo Diamond Quartz Universe. Interesting that that interaction with Garnet from almost 4 years ago left that impression on him. That is the same day that he learned about future vision, so I suppose that just stuck in his mind. Also, was he planning to take Connie’s last name or add Maheswaran to his plethora of middle names (that he thinks belongs on official documents for some reason).

He makes his plan. He gets jam, glow sticks and cake. On top of the world, he dresses his best and asks her out from outside her window. He says they’ll be back in 15 minutes (this reminds of an episode of How I Met Your Mother, but the season and name escape me).

At the beach, in the same place they first met, Steven has a picnic set up. Had this just be a romantic gesture or a proposal to date, not marriage, things probably would have gone a lot better for him. Connie responds well to all this. She has been shown to have romantic feelings for Steven in the past, she attempted to kiss him in An Indirect Kiss and she successfully kissed him on the cheek in the movie. Steven sings his song with the sentiment of “I want to be me with you”. The lyrics of which, like many love songs in my opinion, have a codependent quality to them. Steven doesn’t know his future, so he wants someone else to be his future, to be someone else.

Connie, very sensibly, says no. They are young, have never discussed this, and I’m pretty sure they aren’t even an item. She also tells him, “It’s a not now” because there is plenty of time. Steven is in his unending quest for stability, and he still hasn’t found it.  Throughout this conversation Connie and Steven occupy opposite spaces on screen. They are in different places in their lives right now, sure and unsure, stable and unstable.

I think if Steven were around more teens his age, he might not be feeling this way, so much at least. He would realize how many people don’t have their lives figured out at this age. Many people his age just want to graduate high school. He really needs to talk to Greg about this. Greg wanted to be a musician, but he was also a community college drop out. He didn’t have everything figured out. (I’m pretty sure this will be part of next week’s episodes in some way)

Connie is willing to stick around when her alarm goes off. Steven tells her to go, probably because he doesn’t want to burden her and because he won’t be holding it together for long. As soon as she leaves, he lies back and creates a crater. The shockwaves ruining the picnic. He lies there until dark.

When he gets up, Garnet is there. She explains to him the inevitability of this situation. She tells him that the hole he is trying to fill won’t be filled by Connie or Stevonnie. Connie is not his “missing piece”. In this scene, Garnet is towering and Steven feels almost as small as his younger self. I think this accentuates how young and foolish Steven was this episode. He holds a frustrated look during this conversation. He says he blames Garnet for making this all look so easy. Reminds me of Cry for Help/Friendship. Pearl had felt the same way about Ruby and Sapphire/Garnet. Steven and Pearl craved that perceived perfection.

Steven then eats his feelings.

Growing Pains: I was wrong in my prediction that Steven would either be stuck in pink mode or have a human ailment.

The episode opens with a scene from the newest instalment of dogcopter. In the movie, Dogcopter proposes to a dog named Drew. Steven laments the fact that “everyone else is getting married”. He continues to eat his feelings like at the ending of last episode, and then his body starts getting out of control. He keeps growing sporadically. He mostly ignores it because it doesn’t hurt him physically.

He wants to reach out to someone who isn’t Connie right now. He can’t reach the gems, so he calls Greg, who is on tour with Sadie and Shep right now. Greg is having a great time, and Steven won’t rain on that parade, even when Greg offers to call him back. He almost wants to call Connie, but she calls him instead. His shapeshifting forces him to answer her call.

He can no longer hide what’s going on with him, since it is manifesting physically. Connie suggests that he should see a doctor. He doesn’t want to bother anyone even when he is physically unwell. He even describes it as a waste of time. Connie persuades him.

Steven pays Doctor Maheswaran a visit, Connie escorts him in. As soon as Connie leaves the room for them to conduct tests, she calls Greg.

This episode really explores how both human and gem Steven really is. He has a human body and it is effected like a human body is. But he is also a gem, it makes his body react unusually and if he’s fractured skeleton is any indication, it is keeping him alive.

Dr. Maheswaran finds out about Steven’s physical traumas through his x-ray. She asks him if he had any particularly traumatic experiences. Steven basically recalls the entire show. Dr. Maheswaran goes on to describe the physical aspects of trauma and the way the body reacts in a way I don’t think I’ve ever seen in any piece of fictional media. Steven’s body is trying to protect him from danger that isn’t there anymore. Minor stress to him is now the equivalent to major stress. To make things worse, he feels as though his support system is gone.

When he thinks back to the proposal, things go haywire. As his body continues to grow in size, he takes up more and more of the room. He is almost too big to fit. There is nowhere left for him to hide. He yells “I can’t be around you right now” much in the way he yelled “I just want to fix it” back in Volleyball. His yell shatters the windows.

Greg finally arrives, revealing that Connie had called him. Connie still very much cares about Steven. He explains to Greg that everything feels like the end of the world to him now.

Receiving understanding and support from Greg is what gets Steven to go back to his normal size. At home he continues to explain his fears and worries. All of which, as Greg explains, are normal. Steven now knows what his problem is, or at least one aspect of it, but I don’t think his problems are solved just yet. From the way he “swells up” in response to stress in this episode, I think something big is about to happen in the show. Something so big, that for his body to protect him from it, he will grow into the giant monster from the opening theme song.

Predictions for next week:

Discussion of leaks ahead

Mr. Universe: Still no episode description for this one, but I imagine this is where Steven crashes the van. Steven is still not in a great place right now, and while he seems more willing to talk about things, his body is still reacting in a way that is unsafe for him and others. I believe that this will lead to the van crashing. As others have pointed out, this episode may involve Pearl because she played a big part in the episode Mr. Greg. I still somehow think this episode will be the story of how Rose decided to have Steven, if not it will be about how Greg made the decision to drop out of college and take on the rockstar persona Mr. Universe.

Fragments: This is where that first leak came from, the “leave me alone I need space one”. I’m still not 100% sure what “fragments” is in reference to. Others I have discussed with have suggested memories. I am not entirely sure the direction of this.

[moonlightstars16]

Birthday Kiss

AN: Happy Birthday Steven Universe!

And thank you @ponpasta who inspired a part of this story with her beautiful artwork.

Traveling long distances for some are not exactly ideal. For Steven? A golden opportunity. He loved the time to just sit and listen to music, take things leisurely if he wanted(going on the right roads to do so of course), see all the sites and make notes of where everything is, etc. At first it was an adjustment but he grew to love it in no time. However he this wasn't just some long drive to anywhere he wanted to go.

He was visiting his old hometown, Beach City. Always keeping his childhood home close to his heart. Though it was time to spread his wings so to speak. Going back every once in awhile wasn't so bad though. Especially since he almost hit every single state he planned on. This was a nice break. Greg asked him to come back to celebrate the old Car Wash being upgraded and loads more "wealthy" customers as regulars. One of them being Nanefua since she became mayor(though always a customer just a more richer one).

It was an odd thing to celebrate but he was still proud of his dad. Continuing to work even though he had the money, well a part of it. He gave three-fourths of it to Steven for his travels and expenses; until he found a place and use the rest to start a home for himself. In a strange way he felt like he owed him at list a weekly visit. Besides still loving his dad like he always did. That never changed.

Upon arriving back to the temple beach house, he sucked in a deep breathe. This home he lived in had been through so much.  Good and bad. It was like walking into a moment out of time. Nothing had changed since he left. Besides a few house plants on the front porch. Holding his hand up he flinched back as the door swung open. Garnet right there with a smile on her face.

"Steven!" She spoke in her abnormal tone of voice and opened her arms as he let his bag fall and embraced for a hug.

"Yo Steven!" Amethyst shouted as she slid down the staircase railing and joined in on the hug. Another loud gasp was heard as Pearl rushed up in tears.

"S-S-Steven!" She stuttered through her cries. Steven smiled as they stood there and he was embraced in their warmth and love. Something he missed while out on the road. His own tears brimmed his eyes as he blinked them back, pulling apart to look at them. Still being the most amazing people on the planet.

"I missed you all so much too." He spoke softly as they lead him back into the house. They told him his father was at the car wash and would see him when they got home later. Sitting in the open living room, Steven told them all of his adventures since last time they did a video chat.

How he had met Sour Cream one night surprisingly as he was DJing at a gig he had gotten through connections. The different cultures and the many different ways to save a flat tire and still use it in the middle of nowhere. Using his powers of course. Which he had gotten used to having again. Just using is sparingly. The gems told him all that was going on with the school and keeping him up on current events. Also how Pearl discovered emoji's recently. Which made Amethyst groan.

Greg came home soon after and hugged his amazing son. Steven relaying all he had told the gems to his dad. However when it came to asking about the car wash upgrade, certain questions were dodged in vague statements. Something in his gut told him it wasn't right. But after he literally just arrived, it probably wasn't the best to push it at the moment.

The gems and Greg insisted to Steven to at least take up his old room for the stay. To have a chance to sleep in a 'real bed' once more. After awhile he agreed just because he grew tired.  Once everyone went to sleep, Steven laid in the bed and scrolled through his next traveling game plan when he got a text from a certain Jam Bud.

Hey I heard you just got home! You asleep???

Nope, I mean I'm tired but apparently not enough to fall asleep. Lolz

Oh I'm sorry! We can talk later if you want.

It's okay I want to converse with you. I really want to. Steven added heart emojis for emphasis as Connie gave back a quizzical emoji.

Is that so...check out your window. With a sly smirk and glance emoji, a winking one and a blowed kiss, he got up, slipping on his old salmon-pink flip-flop sandals plus pink jacket, walked out to the balcony and smiled. There was his beloved girlfriend, his sweet strawberry. Dressed in what appeared to be a thin pajama top and shorts that came to mid thigh along with sandals and a thin jacket. Hair down as she smiled and held up a flashlight. Waving her hand to have him come down.

Which he did so by jumping off and floating down to the ground gently. Not a moment was wasted as they ran towards each other. Connie wrapping her arms around his neck as he held her waist and swung her around from the impact twice before setting her down. Letting their lips touch in a gentle but passionate kiss. Pulling back they sighed, with a slight muffled giggle, before gazing into each others eyes.

"I'm so happy to see you in person!" Her voice though in a whisper was full of excitement.

"Always a joy to see you face to face...not through a screen." He added with another giggle as she nodded in agreement. "Though what's with all the secrecy?"

"What? Can't a gal like me just sneak out to surprise her sweet boyfriend? On his special day no less!"

"So you snuck out of your parents house and came her to see me for my birthday?" He had thought of it in passing but not to much in depth when it came to his own birthday. Still he never forgot important dates like this one. Even if he didn't think of it so highly as others have. Still this was beyond a sweet sentiment.

"Yes" She smiled as her head tilted slightly with adoration. "I know your family is going to stick around almost at the hip and I just wanted some time to spend alone with you. So if you are okay, I want to spend the first few minutes of your birthday with you. Starting..." She looked at her phone as the clock changed to twelve midnight. "Now! Happy birthday Steven!"

"Thank you" he chuckled at the kind gesture she showed for him. "But you didn't have to sneak away."

"Steven I would do anything to make you happy or show you how much I deeply care for you. Speaking of which, I found out a fun fact! I found out that a tradition on someones' birthday, you punch that person the amount of years they're turning." With a sly smirk Steven gulped and raised his hands up in the defensive. Connie was strong and was at times unpredictable.

"So you want to punch me seventeen times?" He asked with a joking nervous laugh and smile. Which made Connie burst out laughing a bit and instantly covering her mouth from the noise.

"Oh my starts Steven! I wouldn't punch you like that, especially that many times for your birthday." She explained after catching her breathe.

"Oh.. well that's interesting to know." He said with a curious look in his eyes as she rolled hers.

"Yes it is interesting, but you know what else is too?" Stepping closer she wrapped her arms around his neck as he slipped his around her back and waist. Their faces a few inches away as he gazed into her twinkling eyes. Slowly her lips found his as her eyes were shut, his following soon after. The kiss was gentle, slow and full of love. Pulling back she placed her forehead against his as they smiled, eyes still closed but their warmth still lingering.

"So you want to...kiss me seventeen times?"

"Our boy grew smarter, 'cuz bingo!" She whispered, fluttering her eyes open once more. "Not just any kiss. But one where everything around us disappears and it's just me and you."

"Well since I have sixteen left, can I have another?" He smirked as she sighed slightly shaking her head.

"Like you had do ask?" Giggling she leaned in closer and kissed him once more as he pulled her closer. Hardly breaking apart except for air. They stood like that for awhile. Letting their love fill the aura around them both. Soon Connie had to go back but promised Steven to see him later to finish giving his gift throughout the day. Before leaving on Lion Connie hugged him tight and gave another quick peck on the lips (but that didn't count persay).

"Connie, thank you."

"Of course Steven, Happy birthday." With a smile he helped her get on Lion's back and held her hand briefly.

"See you in a few hours?"

"I'll be right back at your side before you know it." Connie promised as he kissed her hand to show gratitude before allowing her to leave and going back to his own bed. Finally having a full night's peaceful rest. Especially before the craziness of the next day. Birthday notes all over the house as he got ready and was surprised by the party his family and friends were giving at the Car Wash, which did have a make-over but Greg avoided it so he wouldn't want to go there just yet. Especially since all the party decorations were already put up.

Everyone in Beach City came as well as gems from Little HomeSchool to celebrate. At first it was a bit overwhelming, but then the small reunion of 'Sadie Killer and the Suspects' (Just for him) began to lighten his spirits. Just like it did when he was a child. His father had him dawn the old king's cape and crown for the photo album, he talked with everyone and caught up with everything human and gem related. Realizing just how much the difference hardly mattered here. Both sides were living together in harmony because of all he had done. To see just that was all he could've asked for.

Leaping up he sat on the edge of the stage he sighed, looking at Connie. Whom was sitting next to him as well, wearing a beautiful strawberry dress. Both drinking punch and watching as everyone was having a great time. She nudged his shoulder playfully as he did so back. Both caught in a middle shoulder battle until their laughter interrupted it all.

"So, are you having fun?"

"I'm happy to see everyone together like this."

"Well you did influence a lot of this."

"Like I influenced your outfit, Strawberry." he teased as she blushed and gulped.

"Yes... I'm only saying it because it's your birthday!"

"Well thank you my liege for your honest." He chuckled as she sighed.

"Speaking of which, do you want your fifteenth kiss now?" He turned to face her and brushed hair away from her cheek, allowing his hand to linger there.

"Please?" Her hand overlapped his. Without a word she complied and answered so with her lips once again on his own. Neither caring if anyone saw.

Steven was beyond happy to have Connie in his life. She brought him joy in a way no one else could. She stuck by him even when they were fighting. It was her to bring out the best parts of himself. Their love they shared. Without her, he didn't know if he would be the Seventeen year old he was today. he might've influenced human and gem culture, but Connie influenced his life. Changing it for the better.

That was the best birthday present he could have ever asked for.

[socialpracticegrouprca]

‘What do our publics look like now?’

Activity with Sadie Edginton June 16th 2020

‘Here is my lockdown publics diagram developed for a workshop session, which I led with a group of students for the RCA Social Practice Group. I led a session on this again afterwards with a group of art educators and artists for a practice sharing group. Called ‘Writing the Rules for Zoom’ started by Alex Parry it was kick started by Alex’s development of ideas around this topic for a session for the social practice group in May 2020.

The diagram asks questions about different networks, communities and publics that we are communicating with and are in connection with (in the context of the first 3 months of lockdown). I developed mine through a process of creating a few drawings, into this kind of Venn diagram overlapped series of shapes. It was interesting to think about who is ‘the public’ to me, are these people I just don’t know, the ‘unknown’? Or people in various roles, networks or spaces? The process of doing it explored which groups of people I tended to identify as being ‘the public’ or which different publics and communities I was aware of being in contact with, both virtually and physically, at this time.

Putting people into ‘categories’ can of course be problematic, so it was definitely a process of thinking through this. Do publics get reduced or expanded at this time? As the people we are in touch regularly has physically changed a lot, depending where you happen to ‘lockdown’ or which networks or communities you are part of, I wondered how we can analyse and unpick possible and potential new ‘publics’ or communities to interact with, to play with as an audience or to set artwork within, or to communicate with. The delivery drivers, the supermarket workers, the people who walk past your house, these are all potential collaborators, viewers or audiences. Memorable moments in the workshops were: people identifying making regular connections with dogs (not their owners) on the beach, wondering who the people are behind newsletters in email inboxes, having the unnerving ability to ‘select’ online communities and students commenting on the ‘outsourcing’ of care and being able to be in a position of selecting which people or networks they wanted to hear from, speak to, listen to at this time.

It was a process of conceptualising the connections and groups as new communities, to seeing potential works coming out of unexpected daily relationships created by the change in social networks due to the pandemic. To see who or how we communicate in terms of varying distances. One artist commented that it made her think about the varying distances of intimacy that she has now with different people, a shorter distance with a partner, then family members, growing to huge distances, from 1 metre to 2 metre’s, to online distances that stretch across the world.’

More about the session below:

Social Practice Group Session 6, Tuesday 16th June 2020

Notes written: 22/06/2020 by Sadie Edginton

We wanted the last social practice session to be different. After experiencing other practitioners work over the weeks, we wanted the emphasis to be turned onto the students, to create some have room for them to try out their own ideas and to experiment with the format. The group had grown to become a space which felt comfortable, some recognisable faces every week, although there was always a few new people which worked well. Everyone could potentially test out ideas within the safety of the online zoom session format. It seemed to have become important that the group had evolved into a sense of familiarity whilst maintaining the possibility for unexpected things occurring. One student said, that was what she like about this group, that it was one place she could go knowing something surprising might happen. With some students returning often and creating a general sense of being relaxed, the group had created a comfortable sharing space, where people could voice their ideas, share thoughts about where they were, and most seemed open to trying new things out.

We had been playing with this space for the last few months since the beginning of lockdown. This was the sixth session and last (official) session of the school year. We'd had sessions by Louise Shelley, a curator; about group listening and reading processes, Alex Parry led us through a playful workshop stretching the rules for zoom, and Tim tried out his laptop-synthesiser experiment creating collective sounds out of objects in our homes with students now based across the globe overlapping their object orchestras into a magical din.

I had missed a session two weeks before where the group had had an informal conversation about what they'd like to try out. We'd had some interesting feedback too where students had said they felt like this space for sharing and practicing was needed, and it seemed to open-up space for vulnerability (through sharing) and support.

I had planned a vague structure for the last session, I would introduce, do a check-in so that everyone had a chance to speak and do a half hour workshop about mapping the publics and communities we were connecting with now (and how this has changed during lockdown).

There was then time for three students slots; Sally's workshop on confronting the awkwardnesses of online communication, followed by a 5 minute break, then Kats workshop about the taste and other sense. Everything went over time-wise so there was only 10 minutes left for Yuka to play us her experiments with the spatiality of sound.

We started by going around the group using these two questions for a check-in.

'What does 'the public' look like, from where you are now?'

'How are you connecting to a community?'

These questions were borrowed from a recording of a discussion here: http://www.nowandthere.org/blog/2020/4/7/nt-asks-what-does-public-mean-right-now

It was interesting to hear about where the students were based, most in the UK, then China, Japan and Paris. We had seven students and Hannah and I, so altogether it worked well for creating a grid of nine on the gallery view on zoom. As we went around the group I was struck how each student shared with us a detailed picture of how they were in unexpected circumstances and feeling isolated. Some had just travelled to another place, and were stuck living mostly inside and with family, they were not sure about what a local community might look like. One had discovered new communities through volunteering for local mutual aid groups, Hannah mentioned working with existing connections to create networks of in different ways, new connections with animals and birds seeming to be important. Some international students admitted they didn't feel like they had a community, whether they were in London, or back home. One said she felt like there were layers of community, from those close by who were a local support system, then the online groups she was part of, and then her family members who were contactable by phone. Another student said that communities felt ‘chosen’ at the moment; that you could select who you wanted to be in touch with, and it was almost a way of ‘outsourcing care’. Another mentioned that new rituals had emerged in her local village neighbourhood, kicked off by the Thursday clap for carers, leading to local people creating other ways to come together in the street, such as VE day where they set-up tables outside. Another student said it was so long since he had been in Beijing, now that he was back there again, he had to try to find people again who he had known a long time ago.

Next we created 'What do our publics look like now?' diagrams. Attempting to get away from a formal 'pdf' presentation, I sketched out the questions and stages of the diagram drawing onto paper beforehand, and held them up to the screen. I asked everyone to draw a square or circle and inside it to list groups of people, categories of people that they were seeing in real life, in 'physical space'. 

I was interested in what different or new groups of people were identified, in the lock-down. For instance I was not staying where I usually live and discovered that I was coming into contact with; next-door neighbours, people who walk past the house, the vet, the nurse at the GP, dog walker friends and dogs who were our dogs friends, delivery drivers, shop-keepers and the public we see on walks. This changed again when I went back to London.

We drew overlapping bubbles and listed those we connected with through 'virtual' connections, then 'phone calls', emails, social media, and letters.

The idea was to then circle in a different colour, those categories of people who you didn't know. Or who you saw as 'the public'. I was intrigued as to if it could be used to locate a new audience/ public for an artwork, project or workshop.

Practice diagram by my mum, Sue Edginton

Holding up my publics diagram to the screen

Reflection: We did the activity a bit too quickly, as it turned out it takes a long time to think through all of this, and I did not have time to get proper feedback afterwards. I showed a few slides about this idea of the physical public becoming much closer, smaller and local, and then the opposite happening with the virtual public where it really expands to include an international community. The publics or groups I was working working with or had contact with still, had really changed too. From working in schools and care homes with lots of people and children face-to-face, this has changed. Now I was just in touch with people via zoom calls or colleagues via the phone, and all the work with children and elders had been put on hold for now. Where were all the people and how were they right now, what were they doing? A lot of people I talked to who work in the community found themselves asking similar questions.

Museum of the Street by Louise Ashcroft and her local neighbourhood, Walthamstow, London, May 2020

[dreamdaddydutch]

Desert Blooms

What can I say? This isn’t a happy one... I started this months ago, kept coming back to it and well it’s finally done. This is a Javier-centric piece set post rdr2, there’s a lot of reminiscing and it’s quite angsty, though kinda bittersweet (I mean there’s flowery, poetic language used. Standard). A fair warning - there’s references to suicidal thoughts and an implication to it at the end. 

Character: Javier Escuella   I    Word Count: 3,117   I  Category: Angst/Nostalgia  I  Warnings: Depression & Suicidal thoughts/implications 

I want to tell you a story. It’s about love and loyalty, family and betrayal. Most stories you find in the lost pages of old fairy tales and on your screens, they have happy endings, perfect endings. Stories designed to fill a void that nihilism has created, caused by modern living to make you believe in something that died long ago. God is dead. 

I want to tell you a story about a man who had everything and lost it, who knew what it was like to be loved before his dying days. It is a cautionary tale of hubris. 

He sits and watches the world go by, it isn’t like the old days when he had to worry about his next move, when things were timed and he had a purpose. Now he is free to idly watch as the sun moves across the sky, relentless, heat beating down on the cracked earth, parched and crying out for water. 

He shifts his weight a little, uncomfortable from where he has been sat for so long. An hour or four? He isn’t sure, it all feels the same now. The days they blend so easily into one, it reminds him of mirky soup… Being lost out at sea in a fog where you lose all sense of time and direction. 

His boots had once been one of his prize possessions, immaculate leather, polished daily, golden tips always gleaming in the sunlight, moonlight, by grace of day or night he always looked the part. Now his boots were beat up, worn leather, the gold had long since lost it’s shine. They were caked in dust after too many nights falling down drunk under the stars.

The only thing Javier cared about anymore was Boaz, Boaz had treated him well for so many years and now he poured all his remaining love into the old horse. Any spare money he had after the essentials and the odd woman or poker game, that went on Boaz. New brushes to brush out his mane and tail, the finest snacks and saddle rug. As long as his old boy was happy he still had some purpose. 

As they rode past a cluster of tall Cacti, he watched the flowers bloom with fascination. Yellows, oranges and pinks, bright beacons against a never ending wasteland. The flowers were honest, they knew their place. Javier contemplated how fragile life was, he plucked one of the flowers from a Cactus and held it close to his breast, he sighed, where had all the years gone? He was youthful once, wasn’t he?

Back in the cheap hotel he’s been staying in he looks at his reflection in the mirror, he’s looking old, scars more prominent now. He finds himself missing his longer hair and youthful charm. 

Downstairs in the saloon someone is playing the piano and singing softly. Javier closes his eyes for a moment and remembers the past, somewhere across the hills he can hear the gang sing round Horseshoe Overlook. 

When he’d first left Mexico and met Dutch he had nothing, Dutch had given him everything and then taken it away again in a matter of 10 years. Javier sipped his whiskey slowly, swirling the liquid round his mouth, taking in every individual note and remembering the late nights sat up with the others drinking. 10 Years and they had been the happiest 10 years of his life, until the end. 

Javier joined the others downstairs, sat in a corner watching handsome men and beautiful women in their charm, stumbling and stuttering and twirling in the candle light. 

It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. But with that comes knowledge, the knowledge of what life could have been. With it comes pain. 

In a mirror he sees the reflection of someone sat behind him, all smiles and laughter as their man recounts tales of their youth.

Oh what Javier would have done, what he would have given had he of known what path the gang were going to take. He was blinded by loyalty he knew that now and his chance of growing old with the others had slipped from under his feet. He had wanted to be free for so long so that when he got it he had desired more, coveted what others had and believed that under the guise of freedom fighters, Dutch would bring them more glory.

Hubris. Yes. How he should have listened to his mother and his older siblings. For a moment he had it all, the gang had it all, they just needed to run away to live free without the endless pull of gold. The unsatisfying unrelenting beat of the word ‘more’. As one delves into sin without remorse, but then why should one? Naked flesh against his own as windows steam up in the winter. He had tasted that sweet fruit that had turned now and twisted his cheeks, made them bitter. 

The threads of life were so fragile, like seedlings, they needed attention, care, if forgotten for more than a few days, life would be drained from their small foundations. And like a seedling he had been, so too were the others, all of them without the nourishment they needed to survive. 

At first he had been furious with Arthur, John, Sadie and Charles, he found himself hating them and wishing they were dead. But now he felt nothing but sorrow when he thought of them, he missed them dearly. He wanted to say ‘I’m sorry,’ wanted to go back in time to amend what had happened. 

He missed Sadie’s wild nature and attitude, John’s care with Jack, fishing with Arthur, telling tales round the campfire with Charles.

Small precious moments that he held dear now and never spoke a word of to anyone. 

Only fools rush in, and oh how Javier had done that before he met Dutch. Back in Mexico the woman he loved had been his world and to be so betrayed by her in the end, he would have laid out in the dessert ready for death’s cool embrace if it hadn’t of been for Dutch.

Something in Javier had always made him run, made him keep fighting one more day. And the following day he felt the same, and so there was always the option of sweet release and ending his own life. But every day he promised himself one more day and so like the relentless turning of seasons, so he beat on. 

He nursed the drink in front of him and thought of Mary-Beth, in particular one conversation they’d had one night.

He’d just finished playing Cielito Lindo and had walked off for a cigarette away from the group when he heard her voice, light and airy, inquisitive, caring…

“Hey Javier,” Mary Beth was sat on a log writing in her notebook.

He’d looked across at her, acknowledging her greeting without responding with words. 

“Wanna sit?” She was kind, too kind he often felt. 

“Sure,” he sat next to her and offered her a cigarette which she accepted with thanks, her thin long fingers curled round it. Javier lit hers first and then his own. 

It was silent for a moment, not an uncomfortable kind of silence, more the silence that comes when you’ve been friends with someone for such a long time that you can sit in stillness and it doesn’t bother either of you.

They watched small particles of ash rise from the campfire, tiny flames in the air like fireflies. Above them somewhere an owl hooted. 

“How you are?” She asked softly. 

He tried to force a smile but it didn’t come, he wanted to lie to her to say things were fine, but she was an intelligent woman who would have seen right through it.

He bit down on his lower lip considering his response, “I’m alive.”

Mary-Beth wanted to reach out then, thought on the correct response only there wasn’t one. In the end it turned out that the company of the other was enough to make him feel a little better. Moments, there had been plenty, when words would not suffice, but there was a unity that made them feel close. Just to sit in another’s presence, glance over at them occasionally to know you weren’t alone, so watch the rise and fall of their chest and hear their gentle breaths.

That memory was one of his fondest, it was the closest they had been. His hands either side of him, warmed by the soft earth, a blackbird in the trees that told them they were alive. Gossamer threads, an orb spider just feet away spinning a web on a holly bush. Bright red berries, the smell of damp earth, wild garlic and mint. The horses close enough to hear them. Stream running. A small moth that landed on Javier’s hand just as Mary-Beth had stretched her own fingers out enough that the tips of their fingers met. Contact. Human contact. Love. Devotion. A promise and prophecy in her words.

It was gone now, and he hoped she was well, that she had found a better life for herself, one that she deserved. 

Another night sat in the hotel saloon, drinking and Javier sipped the warm beer, barely enough to quench his thirst though nothing now truly satiated it. Nothing sunk as deep or warmed him in the way libations with his family could have. The taste of the barley hitting the back of his throat, took him back to a particular night when Jack was returned safely home.

The alcohol had flowed so freely, and he had danced, something that he rarely ever did. Even Dutch seemed happy and at peace. He could feel the warmth of the fireplace, hear the laughter that permeated the air and Jack, he was always there to make them smile. Like a mascot Jack had been the life of the gang, at its very heart and all of them would have done anything to protect him.

Javier had dreamt of having a child of his own, believed that one day he would settle down and live a simple life. That was not to be, he could not argue with fate.

The adrenaline that came with a shoot out and destroying enemies meant that parties would last long into the night, often until dawn broke. That was the unofficial end of such parties, the sky painted like a fields of forget-me-nots. There was no happiness like it, nothing even came close.

In the years that followed the fall out Javier had tried to recreate the feeling through new friends but none of them came close.

Javier found some solace in believing that maybe it was better he was alone, at least now he was incapable of hurting anyone else, of betraying his brothers or falling for the promises of a narcissist. 

He emptied his glass, smiled to the bar maid who winked at him in return. Maybe he could fall for one more night of company. Though the laughter of others was nothing like that of Tilly, Mary-Beth or the other girls.

If he sat still enough in the shabby room that he rented in the hotel on the outskirts of the desert, he would make pretend just like he did when he was a child. He would close his eyes and when focused could believe he could smell the outdoors. Hear a fresh stream running, birdsong, the bustle of the camp, home. 

Sometimes that home was with the gang, sometimes it was in Mexico with his parents and siblings. More often than not the two got muddled together, the sound of birdsong, of Pearson whistling, Dutch reading aloud entwined with the sound of a skipping rope scuffing across the dusty earth, his sisters singing… In the end he virtually stopped this practice, the mixture of sounds and images they conjured in his mind became more like a migraine, a picturesque and chaotic raging storm. 

He recalled with fondness one fishing trip with Arthur, the two of them had rode out a short while from camp, a rare moment they shared together where Javier experienced what some would call brotherhood. They had talked about the English language and how things were pronounced, the had laughed and Javier had shared some fishing tips with Arthur.

They had sat in a comfortable silence for the most part, a silence that was born of understanding and belonging.

Javier spent a lot of his days playing cards, drinking, riding out with Boaz, but he didn’t touch his guitar not anymore.

Life, Javier believed was sacred. Whilst he had lost those he held dear, he felt he had been blessed to have shared the most beautiful years with those who had made life worth living. To be human was to love, to hurt, to feel joy, to suffer… And Javier have lived at times deliciously. He had borne back against authority and control; he had been free allowed to be a player in a tremendous adventure.

Javier had known love thrice in his life, once as a child. He recalled his mother cooking stew, his sisters making flower crowns which they would try to place on both his head and the head of his brother from behind without them noticing it. Then there was a woman, as golden as the dawn in spring and finally his new found family. Some never get to experience love, but he got to know what it meant, got to feel it in his veins and that made him feel distinctly rich.

Rejection – he had rejected his past life, one that felt so distant like the first-time smoke swirled in his mouth. His family, they had set him free and he had abandoned them. He had consoled himself with the knowledge that this was for the greater good, with a lie that told him ‘I will come back for you.’

And he did. Too late, the years had wiped any trace of his siblings and mother from the earth.

Love was the remedy but also the poison.

Hunting, that had come before fishing, he had hunted often with his father so that when he joined the Van der Linde gang, it was too painful to recall. The rod instead became his comfort.

His hand stretched towards the sun, a hopeful orb in a desperate world.

He had liked fishing with Arthur, it was peaceful and reminded him of more simple times. He could hear Arthur’s humming, contently tapping his boots in time against the bank. The sparkle of the water at midday, the glimmer of water as fish swum underneath and the ripples spread out.

 He recalled picking daises with Tilly, it was something to pass the time, an easy distraction from a more difficult situation. Between them they must have picked 70 daises or more. Tilly had made herself a small flower crown from them and woven leaves in between, Javier thought it made her look like a goddess. They’d sat on the grass afterwards drinking wine and reading, back against back for support, for comfort, just to know that they weren’t alone.

He’d liked those days where there was time to read in amongst the heists and the chaos. Dutch had given them life so he believed, only now he realised it had all been a trick. Dutch had conjured such beautiful imagery, but now the veil had been lifted he saw it for what it was, cheap parlour tricks like the kind Trelawny would perform with his cards.

He remembered in Shady Belle sitting on the wooden decking with Jack and trying to reassure him after what happened. He’d allowed the boy to hold his guitar, and started to teach him how to play, simple cords at first, simple melodies for simpler times.

  More nights he reflected on the drinking and singing, his love of entertaining the others and the fact that his guitar gave him a role and a place among them. The days were long since gone where he believed in Dutch, his saviour. Even that word, saviour, now made him feel sick to his core. How could he have been so blind to believe such a man? Though he were certain in the earlier days Dutch was true, wanted freedom, equality and was not a bad man, no, but a selfish one who would allow harm to others to ensure he thrived. The hypocrisy of what Dutch became and those he was willing to sacrifice, that was what Javier couldn’t stand.

And the fact that he stood by him? The fact that he, after all he’d been through and who he was, he stood by and said nothing, he shook Micah’s hand and oh… Javier felt the bile rise in the back of his throat, he clutched at his breast, no more, he would beat himself up over this no more.

That was how a cult operated wasn’t it? He stared at his drink. It had seemed so appealing a moment ago, golden and cool, now the nectar had gone sour somehow looked more like unsightly bodily fluids left smeared on walls of unsuspecting victims. Javier was so tired; sleep had never been more inviting.

Now back in the desert, away from humans was where he spent several hours a day. As he stood and went to brush the dust from his clothes, he stopped. It didn’t matter anymore, the clothes on his back were old and torn, no amount of dust was going to make them look worse than they already were.

The leather straps of his sandals were worn, red sand underneath his feet, too hot now. 

Javier guided Boaz out to where the wild horses were and set him free, watched with a gleam in his eyes as he witnessed his old friend finally experience the freedom his master had longed for. 

He took one step, then another and another. He still had to pay the hotel, he had thought he would only be gone for an hour or two, he hadn’t planned for things to work out the way they did. 

But now after 100 steps into the desert, it seemed so irresistible to him. Sand dunes in the distance of a great wide no where. He imagines how the stars would look at night. Determined, loyal now only to himself, he continues to walk until he fades like a mirage. Watch now, look out onto the horizon, can you see him? He’s there if you look hard enough, search hard enough so he isn’t forgotten. 

No point turning back now. 

[searchingwardrobes]

Sadie Hawkins Dance

Yes, I know it is Thursday, so don’t worry, I will be posting chapter four of Until the Day Breaks and the Shadows Flee. However, I couldn’t wait to post this because I first got the idea months ago, and it is a gift for a wonderful friend. @snowbellewells is like my fandom twin. We have so much in common, and we’re constantly saying to each other “me too!” when we chat. Marta, you are one of the kindest people I have ever met, and I wish I could send you a handsome pirate to feed you Hershey Kisses, but alas you’ll have to settle for this fic. But, my dear friend, you deserve all the best!

Marta, this fic was inspired by our conversations about term paper season as English teachers. Remember when I told you about rewarding myself with Hershey kisses every time I finished grading a paper? I stopped classroom teaching when I had my oldest, and since Luke turns eleven next week, that means I’ve been away for over a decade! It’s hard to believe, and I know that things have changed tremendously since I taught. However, my mom, my sister, and my cousin are all still teaching, and I know from them that kids now do almost all their work on laptops given to them by the school. When I taught I still used an overhead projector! Anyway, I tried to make this accurate, but I may have made mistakes, and I also know here in the States things vary so drastically state to state and district to district. My point is, I tried!

Also based on the song by Relient K. My husband was cleaning out his nightstand a few months ago and found an old CD Walkman. Inside was my old Relient K CD, and I have been on a kick listening to them again ever since.

Summary: English teacher Emma Swan and her fellow English teacher and best friend Killian Jones use Hershey Kisses and a bet involving their school’s upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance to motivate them as they grade term papers. But will this lead to kisses other than the chocolate variety?

Rating: G for tooth rotting sweetness

Also on Ao3 and part of my Fandom Birthday Playlist

Tagging: @jennjenn615 @kmomof4 @kday426 @let-it-raines @teamhook @bethacaciakay @whimsicallyenchantedrose @welllpthisishappening @thislassishooked @branlovestowrite @delirious-latenight-laughs @resident-of-storybrooke @ekr032-blog-blog @nikkiemms @shireness-says @ultraluckycatnd @optomisticgirl @distant-rose @profdanglaisstuff @gingerchangeling @vvbooklady1256 @wellhellotragic @ohmakemeahercules @hollyethecurious @cocohook38 So many of us love Marta, go give her some birthday wishes!

She said, “You’re smooth, and good with talking. Will you go with me to the Sadie Hawkins?” The Sadie Hawkins dance, in my khaki pants, there’s nothing better. The girls ask the guys. It’s always a surprise. There’s nothing better. Baby, do you like my sweater?

Killian Jones slammed down his red pen, then slapped his hand on the term paper he had just finished grading. Emma Swan rolled her eyes at his dramatics.

“Hit me,” he said.

Emma grabbed a Hershey Kiss from the bowl on her coffee table and unwrapped it. “Open up,” she told him.

She tossed the candy through the air, and her best friend caught it perfectly on his tongue. He relished the chocolate with exaggerated pleasure, winking at her as he swiped his tongue across his bottom lip. Emma rolled her eyes.

“You’re full of it, Jones, and a complete drama queen.”

He chuckled as he slid another paper from the three stacks lined up in front of him on the coffee table. Emma sat with her back against her sagging couch, her legs spread out in front of her beneath the well worn table. Her stockinged feet rested in Killian’s lap. He sat cross-legged on the other side of the table. His neat stacks of papers sat on one end, and Emma’s laptop on the other. Killian cocked his head at her, his pen tapping on the dented wood.

“A drama queen? You wound me, Swan.”

She squinted as she searched the screen for where she’d left off reading her next student’s paper. “Well you’re the one eating chocolate like it’s a sensual experience.”

“It is a sensual experience - meaning pertaining to the senses,” he argued. “I smell the cocoa, I taste the milk chocolate, and I feel the candy melting on my tongue.”

As if to prove his point, his tongue made yet another appearance. Emma glared at him.

“Okay, you make eating chocolate seem like an orgasmic experience.”

He laughed, scratching behind his ear, and Emma grinned at the nervous tell. She’d won this round of their usual flirtatious, slightly scandalous banter, and she inwardly exulted. She was well aware that most of the teachers and half the students at Storybrooke High were wondering when the Freshman English teacher and the Junior English teacher were finally going to get together. She hated to disappoint them, but it was never going to happen. Killian had started out as her co-worker, then had wormed his way into the friend zone, and the next logical step would be a relationship. Emma didn’t do relationships. One night stands, yes. Casual dates, yes. Neither of those were in the cards for her and Killian since they were permanent fixtures in each other’s lives, hence the friend zone.

“So, are you chaperoning the dance?” Emma asked casually.

“I would love to, but it’s a Sadie Hawkins dance, and no lass has asked me.”

Emma glanced up to see Killian giving her his patented adorable pout. Nobody did puppy dog eyes like Killian Jones. Emma rolled her eyes. Nobody did eye rolls like Emma Swan.

“We’re talking about chaperoning.”

“A man still likes to be wooed, Swan.”

Emma barked out a laugh at his ridiculous antics. She saved what was on her screen, entered the grade into her online gradebook, and slapped her hand on the coffee table.

“Hit me!” she said.

A Hershey Kiss went sailing through the air, hitting Emma on the cheek and bouncing onto the floor.

“Apologies, Swan.”

Emma scowled as she threw the candy back at his head. “You did that on purpose!”

He laughed as he unwrapped another chocolate, and this time, he aimed for her open mouth.

“That’s 14 down, 76 more to go,” Emma sighed. “How about you?”

“Ten.”

“You could go faster if you did it all online. That’s kind of the point of the kids emailing the links to their papers? You know, teaching in the 21st century?”

“I prefer the old fashioned way, love,” he argued splaying both hands over his perfect stacks before him, “I need to print them out, to feel them in my hands. I can also grade them anywhere, whether or not there’s wi-fi. And finally, I have a system.”

Emma shook her head as she chuckled. He’d given her a long, rather boring overview of his “system” before, one that he swore kept him from being too harsh on either the best writers or the weakest. He tried to be fair and to bring out the best in each student, so really, how could she fault him?

She could, however, tease him.

“Well, old man, I guess someone has to keep the red pen factories in business.”

“There are factories that only make red pens?”

“Someone makes them,” she mumbled as she forced herself to focus on a poorly written introduction.

“I’m fairly certain the adult coloring book trend will protect the red pen market.”

“I never got that fad.”

“It’s supposed to be relaxing, Swan.”

“What’s relaxing about coloring the same damn flower with a million petals for half an hour?”

Killian laughed, the sound of it free and easy. Their conversations were always this way. Mostly ridiculous, brutally honest, and always fun.

“You know,” Emma told him, leaning back against the couch as she worked the kinks out of her neck, “studies have proven that students get stressed when they see the color red on their work. Why don’t you use another color?”

“Like what?”

“Anything, apparently, remember the adult coloring books? Use . . . I don’t know, purple or something.”

“Then they’d just get stressed when they saw purple.”

Killian scratched a C- across the stop of the paper he was grading with a flourish, then slapped his hand down on it. “Hit me!”

Emma tossed him another Hershey Kiss, and then the two of them fell into silent concentration. Killian absentmindedly rubbed the bottom of her feet with one hand as he ran the end of his red pen along the lines in front of him. He started to chuckle after a few moments and lifted the paper for Emma to see.

“Do you know what this is?”

Emma smiled as she leaned closer to the paper. “A list?”

“Aye. A list of every short story F. Scott Fitzgerald ever wrote. With the year each was published and in what literary magazine it appeared.”

Both Emma’s eyebrows rose. “And what point font is that?”

“18 in verdana.”

Emma laughed. “Do they think we’re idiots?”

Killian shrugged as he scribbled a note in the margin. Emma spun her laptop around for him to see.

“A list of every agricultural export from Costa Rica. 22 point font, comic sans”

Killian quirked a brow. “Looks like Nicholas Zimmer takes the prize for best padding of a term paper.”

Half an hour later, the floor was littered with an obscene amount of Hershey Kiss wrappers and the tiny paper tails that Emma knew she would keep finding in her carpet for at least a month. Her vision was swimming as she tried to focus on her laptop screen and Killian was stretching the fingers of his right hand with a grimace on his face. Emma stretched both arms above her head and her spine cracked.

“25 down. You?”

Killian rubbed at his forehead wearily. “22.”

“I told you it would go faster on your computer.”

“Technically, I went faster. You completed eleven in the last half hour, while I completed twelve.”

Emma waved off his argument. “Short term gain, Jones.”

“Oh really?” he replied, leaning over the coffee table towards her. “What about a little wager, Swan?”

“I’m listening.”

“If I finish grading my term papers before you, I get to pick out what you wear for the Sadie Hawkins dance. If you finish first, you get to pick out my outfit.”

Emma narrowed her eyes as she crossed her arms. “No way I’m letting you pick out my outfit.”

“Scared?” he teased with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Of course! You’re a man! I don’t want to get fired.”

He splayed a hand over his heart. “Swan! Do you not trust me?”

“No.”

He chuckled, setting her feet on the floor so he could come around the coffee table and settle in next to her. “I just have a need to see you as a stereotypical schoolmarm. You know, tight bun, glasses, a tweed skirt.”

Emma snorted. “Let me guess, tweed mini skirt with my shirt half unbuttoned.”

“Nope,” he argued, popping his p, “I mean, full blown schoolmarm. Maybe even a cardigan and a string of pearls.”

“Okay then,” she told him, giving his tight jeans and blue button up a once over. As usual, the top few buttons were undone on his shirt to let his chest hair breath. “And if I win this little bet, I want to see you go full blown nerd. Khakis, a sweater, bow tie, the whole nine yards.”

Killian gave her a smug grin. “You’re on.”

They shook on it, and then Emma’s head fell to his shoulder. “I guess this means we should get back to work.”

“I don’t know about you, but I need a break.” Killian picked up her Roku remote. “The Musketeers?”

Emma pouted. “You know too many of my weaknesses.”

He waved the remote in her face. “Just a few episodes, Swan, you know you want to.”

She scowled at him as she snatched the remote. “One episode, then it’s back to work.”

He flashed her a toothy smile as he rose and pulled her onto the couch with him. She curled up next to him, grabbing a blanket from the arm of the sofa. One episode turned into three, which turned into both of them drifting off. The next thing Emma new, sunlight was filtering through her curtains, and Killian’s chest was rising and falling beneath her cheek.

So much for getting back to work.

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

Emma stifled a yawn as she walked up and down the rows in her first block class as her freshmen clicked away on their laptops to identify the dependent clauses in the list of sentences on their screens. She had a cup of coffee on her desk, but she was pretty sure it was cold by now. Her neck hurt too because Killian’s shoulder apparently didn’t make a very good pillow.

She paused just as she walked past Violet’s desk. The normally quiet and studious girl was laughing behind her hand, and was that the ding of an incoming message Emma had just heard from her computer? Emma spun back around, and Violet’s eyes grew large and round. The girl slammed her laptop closed, her face turning red and Emma almost felt sorry for her. She couldn’t have looked more guilty if she’d tried.

“I . . . finished early,” Violet stammered.

Emma held her hand out, “Let me see.”

Violet slumped as she turned the device towards her teacher. Emma opened the computer, and Violet’s grammar work was there on the screen. Yet down in the corner was the icon for the Discord app. Emma pulled it up and saw that Violet had been chatting with Grace three rows over. But one of her best students chatting in class in an app that wasn’t even supposed to be downloaded onto a school computer wasn’t what shocked Emma. What shocked her was the content of the conversation.

whiterabbit: saw somethin this morning

camelotgirl: what

whiterabbit: know how ms swan lives across the street

camelotgirl: yeah

whiterabbit: i saw mr jones leaving this am they hooked up!!!!

camelotgirl: no way mayb he was just givin her a ride

whiterabbit: no his car was at her place all night

camelotgirl: she does seem tired lol

whiterabbit: you know he wore her out 😜

camelotgirl: O.M.G

Emma knew her face was ten times redder than Violet’s. Which was saying a lot because Violet was currently the color of a tomato. Emma took a deep, slow breath, then released it and told herself not to panic.

“Violet, I would like to see you and Grace after class. In the meantime, you are to concentrate on the assignment and that is all.” Emma arched a brow at Grace, who also slumped in her seat. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Ms. Swan,” the girls murmured in reply.

Emma pushed Violet’s computer back to her, and forced herself to lengthen her spin and keep her voice calm. She finished the lesson, feeling relief surge through her when the bell rang. Grace and Violet, with heads down dejectedly, shuffled reluctantly to Emma’s desk.

“How did you girls get that app on your computers?” Emma asked. “You know social media of any kind isn’t allowed on school devices.”

She tapped her fingertips on the desk as she regarded the girls. Actually, the laptops were set up with all kinds of blocks and security settings, so whoever got around it was smart. Grace and Violet were good students, but they weren’t the computer hacker types.

“Do we have to tell you?” Violet asked, her lower lip trembling. “We don’t want to get him in trouble!”

Emma forced herself not to smirk. Violet had been dating Henry Mills for a few months now, and she had a strong suspicion he was the him. He was a good kid as well, but also entirely too smart. Not to mention his mother was the principal, which meant he had free rein of the school after hours. She’d also noticed him spending a large amount of time with Graham Humbert, the school IT guy. Emma had assumed it was because his mother had briefly (and notoriously) dated him, but it looked like Henry had other reasons for seeking the man out.

“No, you don’t have to tell me,” Emma said, leaving out the fact that she would be having a private conversation with his mother later. Violet visibly deflated. “But, you will be deleting that app immediately.”

She had both girls pull up Discord, and when their chat once again filled the screen, Grace turned to Emma.

“I only told Violet, and I promise I won’t tell anyone else. Your secret is safe with us.”

Emma let out an irritated breath before smoothing her features into what Killian called her “teacher face.”

“I appreciate that, Grace, but this illustrates why you can’t jump to conclusions. Gossip can do a lot of damage. Mr. Jones and I were grading papers together, that’s all.”

“Teachers pull all nighters?” Violet asked as her brows rose.

Emma chuckled. “Yes, sometimes. Term papers take a really long time to grade, so this is a very stressful time of year. That’s why I’m tired all the time.”

She gave Grace a pointed look then, and the poor girl turned a bright shade of red. “We’re sorry, Ms. Swan.”

“Apology accepted. Now, erase this app because if I see it again, I’ll have to write you up and send you to Mr. Humbert to get your hard drive wiped.”

She was fairly certain the threat of a hard drive wipe was more motivation for the girls than demerits.

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

Emma jumped when a to-go bag from Granny’s was plopped onto her desk. She rubbed her eyes wearily and blinked to clear the sleep from them. How had she fallen asleep so fast? It felt like the bell just rang to dismiss her kids to go to lunch. She looked up to see Killian standing there with a pleased grin on his face.

“Grilled cheese,” he told her.

“With fries?”

“Onion rings.”

“Good,” she said as she grabbed the bag, “I was just testing you.”

Emma bit her lower lip as she watched Killian pull up a chair and set his own Granny’s bag on her desk. School gossip had never bothered her before, but after the chat she’d read between Violet and Grace, she was tempted to ask him to eat lunch somewhere else. But how could she when he’d bought her favorite meal? Besides, it wasn’t the first time he had spoiled her this way. She’d completely taken advantage of his coveted third block planning period, yet he’d never complained.

“So how’s it going?” he asked, gesturing to her computer screen.

“It’s not,” she sighed. “I told you The Musketeers was a mistake. I’ve barely been able to keep my eyes open all day.”

He chuckled before taking a bite of Granny’s lasagna. She studied him as she dipped an onion ring in ketchup. If he was equally exhausted, he showed no evidence of it. His eyes were as bright blue as they ever were, his black dress slacks, collared shirt, and leather vest hugging his frame in a tasteful yet fashionable way. His hair was tousled, but artfully so, and she knew full well he’d spent time in front of the mirror to get it to look that way.

“What?” he asked after swallowing a bite of salad. “Do I have sauce on my shirt?”

She shook her head and smiled. “You just don’t look as tired as I do, that’s all, and it’s completely unfair.”

He shrugged and waggled his eyebrows. “What can I say? I’m devilishly handsome.”

Normally she would roll her eyes and throw him a witty retort, but today she was more aware of his flirting than usual. She glanced over his shoulder at the door that led to the hallway.

“Something is bothering you, Swan,” he told her seriously, “and it isn’t your fatigue.” He leaned closer. “You know you look lovely as always, right?”

Emma shifted nervously in her chair. “You probably shouldn’t say things like that at work.”

Killian’s eyes widened, but he quickly covered it with his usual charming smile. “Then I’ll just save it for tonight. I was thinking you could come to my place, and I could cook for you because God knows you need to be eating more than Pop Tarts and grilled cheese.”

Emma kept her eyes glued to her sandwich. “I don’t know. I was thinking I might just grade on my own tonight.”

Killian was silent for such a long time, that she finally lifted her gaze to his. There were times she got the uncanny feeling he could read her mind. Her heartbeat picked up, worried he would ask for an explanation, but instead he quirked his lips into a half smile.

“I won’t force feed you broccoli, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I just need to focus, that’s all,” Emma muttered before cramming another onion ring in her mouth.

“Okay,” he said slowly, “then how about you come over tomorrow night?”

Emma suppressed a groan. He was really going to make this difficult, wasn’t he? “I actually think we need to stop . . . you know, spending so much time together.”

Killian narrowed his eyes. “Where is this coming from?”

She let out a long, slow breath before telling him about the Discord chat she had stumbled upon. When she finished, his expression was unreadable. He just sat there, lounging back on that stupid plastic orange school chair as if she was an open book.

Oh, who was she kidding? He could always see right through her.

“Okay, Swan,” he finally said with a long, slow nod.

He rose from the desk and stepped right into her personal space, balancing both hands on the arms of the leather desk chair she had saved up money to buy herself. It was an extremely fancy chair that spun and rocked. Emma currently had it leaning back as far as it would go, and still Killian leaned forward, his nose almost brushing hers. His eyes, a darker blue than they had been when he first walked in, searched her face. His gaze flickered to her lips, and Emma wondered if he would kiss her. When he spoke instead, she was surprised at how disappointed she was.

“But the bet is still on,” he told her, voice low.

“The bet?” she winced when it came out high-pitched. Damn, she wanted to kiss him right now. What? No, he was her best friend! It wasn’t like that. It couldn’t be like that.

“The Sadie Hawkins dance?”

“That is a sexist and antiquated tradition.”

“Be that as it may,” he quipped with arched brows, “Storybrooke High is having one, and if I finish my term papers first, you owe me a schoolmarm outfit and a dance.”

“The bet was we had to wear whatever the other one chose. We never said anything about a dance.”

Killian leaned ever closer, turning his head to whisper in her ear. “I’m changing the terms. I want a dance.”

Emma swallowed, his close proximity sending a chill down her spine. “I am disinclined to acquiesce to your proposal,” she shot back, quoting one of his favorite movies.

Killian released the chair and stepped back, a crooked grin on his face. “We shall see about that. Good day, Swan.”

She sagged in her chair, her heart racing. It was as if she had thrown down a challenge, and Killian decided to rise to the occasion. No Emma, she admonished herself with a quick shake of her head, poor choice of words! She wet her lips, trying to calm herself down, but there was no denying it.

She had a thing for Killian Jones.

Which meant she had just lost her best friend. She turned to her desk with a groan and dropped her head to the hard surface.

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

Emma smiled when she saw the little bag of Hershey Kisses in her teacher box. She pulled them out and read the accompanying note:

75 down and only 15 more to go! I sense a schoolmarm outfit in someone’s future! Love, Killian

Her smile widened to a full blown grin as she dropped the gift into her messenger bag and pulled out her cell phone.

Thanks for the chocolate, Jones, but I see a sweater and a bow tie. 78 down. *mic drop*

Emma chuckled under her breath as she sent the text. She tossed her phone back into her bag and fished around for her keys as she headed down the humanities wing. She was surprised to see Violet and Grace waiting for her outside her door.

“What are you girls doing here so early?”

The teens glanced at each other nervously.

“We, um, wanted to talk to you,” Grace explained.

“Ok,” Emma replied as she unlocked the door. A tiny part of her worried that their private Discord chat had somehow become public, but she quickly pushed it away. After all, she had avoided Killian for a week now; their only interactions texts and the frequent chocolates left in her teacher box.

Emma entered the classroom, flipped on the lights then dropped her bag beneath her desk. She plopped into her chair and spun to face her students.

“I’m listening, ladies.”

“Well . . . “ Violet began hesitantly, “you see, we’ve been thinking, and . . . um . . . I mean, we noticed -”

“We think you should ask Mr. Jones to the Sadie Hawkins dance,” Grace blurted out.

Emma’s eyes grew wide. “I’m sorry . . . what?”

“It’s all our fault,” Grace hurried on, “that you won’t hang out with Mr. Jones anymore. I mean, everyone knows you’re together all the time - “

“- until now,” Violet put in.

“Exactly!” Grace nodded. “And Mr. Jones just hasn’t been the same. He’s really sad.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Girls, I seriously doubt Mr. Jones is pining over me or anything. We’re just friends. And I haven’t stopped hanging out with him, we’re both just busy.”

She pulled her laptop out of her messenger back and opened it up on her desk, expecting that to be it, but the girls lingered. She glanced up at them with raised brows.

“You’re wrong, Ms. Swan,” Violet said softly, “he really is sad.”

“How do you know this? You’re freshmen, he teaches juniors.”

“Henry said so.”

Emma frowned at Violet. “Your boyfriend told you his teacher is sad?”

“Well, yeah. Henry wants to be a writer, and he’s always hanging around after school because of his mom, so he’s gotten to know Mr. Jones really well.”

Emma bit her lip as she regarded the girl. She was well aware of the bond between Killian and Henry Mills. The boy had even let Killian read a few of his short stories.

“And everyone’s noticed the yearning looks and doey eyes,” Grace added with a smirk.

Emma scoffed. “I don’t yearn.”

“But he does,” both girls said at the same time.

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

Killian Jones was well aware of his tendency to brood. He used to argue when his brother Liam would accuse him of it, but now? Now there was no sense denying it. He was brooding, melancholy, angst-ridden, and a thousand other synonyms for dramatic and pathetic. He was a grown man acting like a teenager in a Disney Channel movie.

He threw his red pen down on his desk in frustration, realizing that his mind was a thousand miles away from Emily Dickinson and her dash-filled poetry. He was so close to finishing his term papers - just five to go - and he’d never wanted to win a bet so badly in his life. He’d missed Emma terribly even though it had only been a week. If he won the bet, maybe he could at least get one dance.

How many synonyms were there for pathetic?

There was a knock at his classroom door, and he wearily called out for the person to come in. He was thinking of leaving anyway. It was past five, and he obviously wasn’t getting anything else done today.

Henry Mills appeared tentatively in the doorway, and Killian grinned.

“Good afternoon, my boy, or should I say good evening? It’s late for you to still be around.”

Henry came closer to his desk with a shrug, and it was only then that Killian realized he was carrying a large shirt box.

“I went home, actually, but Violet and Ms. Swan asked me to bring this to you. Mom said you were still here, so . . . “

The boy trailed off as he set the box on Killian’s desk. Killian narrowed his eyes as he stood and regarded the box.

“Ms. Swan in league with your girlfriend? What’s all this about?”

“Beats me,” Henry said, “I’m just the messenger.”

Killian lifted the lid on the box, and inside was a pair of khaki pants and a gray cardigan sweater with huge brown buttons. Resting on top was a red bowtie and a note. Killian picked it up and opened it to find Emma’s messy handwriting.

90 term papers graded, Jones. I win. So will you go with me to the Sadie Hawkins?

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

“It’s totally unfair, you know,” Emma told Killian as she entered the gym on his arm.

“What’s unfair?”

“That you still look hot dressed like a nerd.”

“I told you,” Killian quipped with a waggle of his eyebrows, “I’m devilishly handsome.”

Emma laughed and smacked him in the chest.

“I have to say, Swan,” he said giving her an appreciative gaze, “you cut quite the figure in that dress.”

She was dressed in a much softer, feminine way than was normal for her. Her dress was pink with an A-line skirt that hit her knees. She had pulled her hair up into a ponytail that she had curled with a curling iron. To be honest, she had never had a date to a school dance before. So maybe this former foster girl was indulging in a childhood fantasy; at least she knew Killian could understand that.

“Why thank you,” she told him, a blush staining her cheeks. “You’re not disappointed about missing out on your schoolmarm fantasy?”

Killian grinned brightly as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Oh, I have multiple fantasies, Swan.”

She was completely incapable of a come back when he looked at her that way. She bit her lower lip, her gaze drifting to his mouth.

“Oh for the love of God, just kiss already!”

The two of them jumped apart, faces flaming to see their boss Regina Mills standing there, her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. She had traded in her everyday sensible pantsuit for a sensible dress skirt instead. The two of them held their breath, worried they were about to get a lecture on school romances, but Regina just rolled her eyes at them.

“Just keep it PG, ok? Now get to the punch bowl already!”

Grace and Violet may have kept the topic of their Discord chat a secret, but they didn’t do the same about Emma asking Killian to the dance. All night, kids were coming up to tell them how cute they were together. Emma felt her face had turned as red as the punch.

Halfway through the evening, the DJ called them out by name to come out on the dance floor. The hoots and cheers of the students as Killian led her out to the middle of the gym floor was deafening. He rested one hand at her waist and clasped his other one with hers as Christina Perri’s “The Words” began to play. Emma breathed a sigh of relief when students drifted onto the floor as well.

“You don’t like being the center of attention, do you?” Killian teased.

“Not exactly,” Emma laughed.

“Well, unfortunately, you need to get used to it.”

Emma tilted her head. “Why?”

“Because there’s no one here as beautiful as you.”

As cheesy as the line was, for the second time that night, he had left her speechless. Emma’s only response was to release Killian’s hand so she could wrap her arms around his neck and pull him closer. He grinned in response, wrapping his arms about her waist. The song was winding down, and several of the students noticed how they had drawn closer together. The hoots and cheers from earlier filled the gym. Killian arched a brow at her, and Emma’s eyes widened. What was he up to? She let out a small yelp when he suddenly dipped her, winking down at her. The cheers of the students grew even louder, and now many of them were chanting, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Emma almost panicked when Killian pulled her closer when he lifted her back up. Yet the kiss he gave her was only a brief brush of lips against her cheek, and she sighed in relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to kiss him - God, did she want to! - she just didn’t want their first kiss to have an audience, especially an audience they had to see every single day.

So when the song ended, Emma tugged Killian through the crowd, away from the punch bowl. The dance committee had borrowed sets from the drama club’s last production of Oklahoma! for the night’s western theme. She yanked Killian behind a giant mural of a Conestoga wagon and beneath the bleachers.

“Making out under the bleachers, Ms. Swan?’ Killian admonished with an exaggerated frown. “I’ll have you know I’m a gentlem-”

Emma cut him off, yanking him forward by the front of his sweater, and crashed her lips into his. He was clearly surprised at first, but he caught up quickly. Kissing him was just as good as she had always imagined, his lips soft yet firm, and one of his hands tangled in her ponytail. Emma tilted her head, deepening the kiss, and she swore his tongue tasted like Hershey’s chocolate.

They could have stayed there behind those bleachers, kissing until their lips were swollen, but they both knew they would be missed. And getting caught making out would definitely not be PG. So she and Killian made their way back to the punch bowl, their fingers threaded together, sharing ridiculously sappy smiles.

The rest of the night was like one of those teen rom-coms Emma used to hate. Killian draped his sweater over her shoulders as they walked from the gym to his car, and her foot might have popped like Mia Thermopolis when he kissed her goodnight at her door. Despite kissing under the bleachers, he hadn’t been kidding. He was a perfect gentleman. And Emma literally swooned against the door after telling him goodbye. She waited for the fear to grip her. Fear that she’d let him in too fast. Fear that he wouldn’t stick around. Fear that their friendship would be ruined. But the fear didn’t come.

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

“Hit me.”

Killian Jones grinned, unwrapped a Hershey Kiss and tossed it into Emma’s open mouth. She ate it with an exaggerated moan, then licked her lips suggestively. He leaned across the coffee table and captured her lips in a deep kiss, tasting the chocolate on her tongue.

By the end of the night, there was an obscene amount of foil wrappers littering the living room floor, and Killian knew they would be finding those tiny paper tails in the carpet for the next month.

But that was okay. He and his wife did this every year. Kisses were the best way, after all, to get through term paper season.

[hollyoaksloversx]

Murder, Munchausen's and Mints...

Rounding up a week in Hollyoaks (22nd - 26th July 2019)

Another week, another murder, and this time it was poor Harry who found himself becoming murder victim 4737243288. Having missed his day in court, Harry realised he was in a whole heap of trouble and with Tony and James both washing their hands of him, Harry decided to flee the village. However, after going to visit baby Isaac one last time, Harry overheard Mercedes and Liam discussing the hit and run and realised that he was being set up. Harry secretly recorded the pair on his phone before contacting Tony, who had left a message wanting to make amends. However, as Harry left a message for his Dad, he was confronted by Breda in The Dog car park and stabbed.

Breda is obviously much stronger than she looks as she was able to move Harry’s body to the boot of her car in a prompt fashion without anyone noticing. Meanwhile, Tony and James both felt terrible for the way they’d treated Harry and desperately searched for him. Deciding to put Tony out of his misery, Breda sent him a message from Harry’s phone, telling him that he’d made it to France. This seemed to put Tony’s mind at ease initially but Breda soon realised she’d made a potentially fatal error when Diane pointed out that Harry’s text contained emojis, which Harry always refused to use. Realising that something was very wrong, Tony went to visit James and accused him of chasing Harry away. As the pair fought, they were interrupted by Breda, who told Tony that he had been so busy worrying about Harry, he was neglecting the three kids he had at home. Breda’s words hit home with Tony and he broke down. Breda was satisfied as Tony ended the week by spending more time with Ant and Dee Dee, however, she soon found herself a potential new victim when she went later went to collect the kids from Tom’s Turtles and discovered that Darren was neglecting his fatherly duties...

Meanwhile, still determined to get Maxine to confess that she was faking her symptoms, Levi invited her to the hospital to try a ‘revolutionary’ new treatment. Although clearly reluctant, Maxine wasn’t about to admit to her lies and swallowed the two tablets Levi gave her. Levi was astonished when Maxine took the tablets without questioning what they were and Maxine, clearly feeling the pressure of the situation, ran off, leaving her crutches behind. Catching up with her, Levi reassured Maxine that the ‘tablets’ were only mints then told her that he believed that she was suffering from Munchausen’s syndrome, and advised her to be honest with Damon before the wedding. Unfortunately, Maxine took no notice, and instead, told Damon that the Doctors had found a tumour on her spine and that she subsequently only had 6 months left to live! Although Maxine begged Damon not to tell anyone, Damon told Brody, who told Sienna, who told Liberty and Grace...

Elsewhere, Tom was on cloud nine as he launched his Summer camp, and had kitted out the folly with arts and crafts paraphernalia, games and soft play equipment. Unfortunately, Tom appeared to be minding a load of stereotypical 21st century children, who were of course far more interested in their screens than taking part in the activities. Feeling saddened by the scene before them, Peri, Prince and Romeo organised a ‘capture the flag’ game, which went down a storm with the kids and parents alike. However, later in the week, Tom had to contend with an angry Cindy when Hilton returned home covered in paint, and she accused Peri and Prince of being too busy flirting to notice the mess her son was getting himself into. Furious, Tom decided to split the pair up for the following day’s activities but Prince quickly grew tired of Tom bossing him around and quit. Still needing to pay the Deveraux’s for the damage to the shop, Prince was forced to stack shelves in Price Slice and when Peri called into the shop, Walter and Lisa noticed a spark between the pair...

In other news this week, Diane was delighted when she received news that Laurie was planning to plead guilty, meaning that Sinead wouldn’t have to endure a trial. Sadie and Isaac left the village to return to her family and finally, Sienna decided to use Maxine’s wedding to help get ‘her’ children back, and ordered a horrified Liberty to help her! 

5 Things We Learned This Week:

1. For someone who wouldn’t stop banging on about health and safety this week, Tom’s risk assessments are clearly lacking. For starters, he’s set up ‘Tom’s Turtles’ in the folly aka the meeting place for all manner of villains and weirdos. There’s bound to be a gun stashed away somewhere or a stray bag of coke lying around and that’s before we even got onto what’s going to happen if it should rain! Plus, nobody other than Hilton was dropped off by a parent...

2. Normal childhood events are now being written into the script. It’s been months since we last saw the Hutchinson kids, and whilst they’ve been off screen, Caelan Cobbledick-Manning has lost his two front teeth. Rather than just ignore this unexceptional occurrence, Hollyoaks decided to write it into the script, and Ant was said to have had his teeth knocked out. I could understand them doing this if Ant featured heavily and his lack of teeth was going to interfere with continuity, but as I said, we’ve not seen the kid for months! 

3. Some people DO have the brains they were born with! All too often I’ve watched in despair as a character has overheard an incriminating conversation, yet failed to whip out their phone and record the evidence. With this in mind, it was great to see Harry record Mercedes and Liam confessing to Grace’s hit and run! Unfortunately, Harry died before he could do anything with the information, and no doubt it will be forgotten about later, but well done for using your noggin, Harry!

4. Mitzeee once set fire to Maxine’s favourite Bratz doll. I remember Bratz dolls coming out when I was a child, and quick Goggle search tell me that they were launched in 2001. Is Maxine significantly younger than I thought she was or was she still playing with dolls well into her teens?

5. Don’t leave Dee Dee alone with a pot of glitter. Poor Tony’s going to look a right plonker down the chippy! 

This Week’s Cast:

Anthony, Breda, Brody, Cindy, Damon, Darren, Dee Dee, Diane, Goldie, Grace, Hannah, Harry, Hilton, Isaac, James, Jesse, Joel, Levi, Liam, Liberty, Lisa, Marnie, Maxine, Mercedes, Minnie, Mitchell, Nana McQueen, Oscar, Peri, Prince, Romeo, Sadie, Scott, Sienna, Ste, Sylver, Tom, Tony, Walter and Yasmine. 

Blasts From The Past:

Amy Barnes, Holly Cunningham, Lily Drinkwell, Tegan Lomax, Zack Loveday, Mitzeee Minniver, Ellie Nightingale, Dirk Savage.

[warletscitch]

Bad Things [ 3 ]

Pairing: Tom Holland x Harrison Osterfield x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, ANGST, like one sexual reference

Summary: Y/n is so hypnotized with Tom, it’s effecting her relationship with Harrison

A/N: Ok so Tumblr is trash and it won’t let me add a title for some reason so I had to do this weird huge ass font. But anyway, thank you all so much to those giving me feedback on this story. I hope y’all know I work so hard on my writings and to know that at least one person likes them means the whole world. Anyway, this chapter was hella fun to write. Also my taglist is growing which I’m super excited about! Just message me or shoot me an ask if you’d like to be added

Chapter 1, 2

Don’t forget to brush your hair, you thought to yourself as you scurried around the kitchen searching for something small and quick to eat. You were running behind because you slept in and now you had less time to get ready for work. The only good thing about waking up early at this moment was that Harrison and Tom were still sleeping. Haz didn’t have work until later and you didn’t know about Tom but you also didn’t really care. Whenever you slept at Harrison’s, you would set an alarm to wake up and go back to your apartment that was downstairs and you’d get ready for work at home but today was not working like that. So you wore the same shorts you did the day before and stole one of Harrison’s tee shirts and cinched it up, attempting to make it look cute. After grabbing a water bottle and a granola bar, you were finally in your car driving to the studio you worked at. You ran your hands through your hair in distress only to realize you completely forgot to brush it. Well, at least you weren’t going to be late.

—

“Y/n someone just came in, asking for you.” You whipped around to face your co-worker who tapped your shoulder. You worked as an assistant to a fashion photographer. Why would someone be looking for you? It couldn’t be Harrison because everyone in the studio knows him because of how often he stops by to bring you lunch, or pick you up. You gave your co-worker Laura, a weird look and then walked over to the front door. Standing behind the front desk was Tom. This fucking boy, you wished you could scream but you just smiled at him, “Hey?”

“I want some headshots.” His hands were stuffed in his pockets but he stood still with confidence. The confidence you’d find in a narcissist.

“Did you schedule a shoot?” He easily could’ve gone online and planned something or even called the studio but there’s no way he did. That would make your life easier so why would he?

“I figured our chat last night counted as a scheduling.” You look at him with anger and even though you want to yell at him for being so childish, you also want to give him everything he wants. His golden eyes shine onto you like sunlight and it burns, it hurts but it also feels good, warm and comfortable. But you don’t say anything, you just walk towards the back space of the room where another small studio is set up. It was a good thing you were friends with almost everyone at the studio or else you wouldn’t know how to explain yourself.

“My friend Sadie will take some pictures of you, just go over to her when she’s done with her client and tell her I sent you.” You pointed to Sadie who wore a bright yellow flowy tank top with flowers on it.

“She’s cute.” Tom said before slowly walking over to her. You just rolled your eyes knowing that Sadie wouldn’t even look twice at him since she had a boyfriend. You stood in the corner of the room, near a closet filled with props and clothes. Watching Tom walk and talk with other people was interesting. You could clearly see manipulation in his hand movements and the way he titled his head when he spoke. He was definitely attractive and that’s probably why he so easily got what he wanted all the time. He changed into a few different outfits at Sadie’s request. There was something about the way black looked on him that was enthralling. It matched his dark aura, but you liked it. Sadie took pictures of him and giving you looks after each shot, with an expression that basically said “What the fuck?” After she took the headshots she directed Tom to the changing room where he could put back on his normal clothes. As soon as he was gone Sadie was running right up to you.

“Is he your boyfriend? He’s an ass, but he’s definitely cute.” Sadie talked fast and you tried to keep up. Sad to see that Sadie could already tell he was a douche bag in the short amount of time she had to deal with him.

“No he’s not my boyfriend. He is an ass though and I’m sorry I just threw him at you. It’s a long story.”

“He said you slept at his place last night?” Of course he did. Of course he told some twisted truth just to start drama.

“No, oh my gosh, no! We both slept at Harrison’s last night. He’s calling it his place because he’s staying with Haz. Like I said, long story.” Sadie just gave you a nervous look and you told her you would tell her more later. Soon enough Tom came rolling out of the changing rooms and leaned against the wall, looking right at you.

“If you go on our website and type in this code, you can find your headshots there.” You handed him a piece of paper with the code on it. He smiled, taking the paper and shoving it in his pocket. It felt a little like Tom didn’t actually want pictures of himself and he just wanted to see you. You didn’t want to think like that, but that’s how it felt.

“What time do you get off?” You could feel his eyes on you and you wanted to look back, with your head high and shoulders back but you couldn’t so you just looked at his forehead, the space between his eyebrows. It was a stupid trick but it worked whenever you didn’t want to look someone in the eye. For you, it was risky business making eye contact, especially with someone like Tom.

“I have a lunch break in five minutes actually and then I’ll be home around 3.” You looked at the clock on the wall behind Tom, 11:55.

“Lunch break. Let me get you lunch. Since you got me pictures.” Tom was leaning closer and closer towards you, his smile widening. You leaned further away even though you didn’t mind being close to him. His energy was somehow soft, but in a dangerous way. Danger. Tom wasn’t anything dangerous, just a fuckboy with a rude attitude. You had to stop thinking so badly of him. There’s no reason for you to be afraid, right? The walls around you and him were getting smaller and it was like you were in this tiny space with only Tom. You moved backward, your shoulder hitting the wall behind you before calmly saying, “You don’t have to.” He touched your shoulder, moving it away from the wall. His grip on your shoulder was strong but his hands were soft on your bare skin. It was...nice. His touch was cooling, as if it relaxed all the tense muscles in your arm.

“It’s okay love, I want to.” And you couldn’t say no to his honey dripping voice, so the only word left was yes.

“You can leave the building for your break right?” Yes.

“Do you like coffee?” Yes.

Tom’s car was surprisingly clean, it even smelled nice. He drove pretty fast and you clung onto the leather seat below you, trying to look collected. So you opened your window and relaxed, letting the wind toss around your hair. The conversation in the car was small and short. He asked you about how long you worked at the studio and how long you knew Harrison. It wasn’t until the ride was over that you noticed he was only asking you questions and you didn’t get to learn anything about him. You hoped that would change though as you entered the small coffee shop.

“So, what’s your story?” It may have been blunt but you wanted to know so you figured you would just ask instead of trying to dance around certain topics in conversation.

“Don’t really have one. Just your average guy, living life the best he can.” He sat right across from you, his arms crossed. He was lying.

“Everyone has a story. Why’d you get kicked out of your apartment?” You said, pretending that you didn’t hear what he said to Harrison last night about how people didn’t like his lifestyle. Well what the hell lifestyle was that?

“Wouldn’t you like to know. Don’t worry, it was nothing illegal.” You just frowned wishing he’d tell you more.

“How was sleeping with Haz last night? You guys have any fun?” Tom grinned, propping his elbows up on the table.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” You mocked him, laughing. The rest of the time spent at the coffee shop was actually good. He payed for everything like he said he would, he even opened the car door for you. It wasn’t until you finally made it back to the studio that you pulled out your phone to see 6 texts and 3 missed calls from Harrison. You read the first one you saw.

You still wanting pizza for lunch? Cuz I was thinking about sandwiches tbh. I’ll be at the studio around 12.

Shit. Harrison was going to pick you up for lunch today. How could you forget about the plans you two had made yesterday? You both wanted to go check out that new pizza place down the road from the studio. Although Harrison apparently wanted a sandwich now. The events that happened last night seemed to throw you way off. You honestly couldn’t even remember what happened yesterday, you only remembered last night when your high school dreams of kissing Harrison were about to come true, only for Tom to ruin them. But how could you be so forgetful and irresponsible?

“Everything okay?” Tom’s voice took you out of your thoughts as he opened the door for you. You walked into the building of the studio.

“I was supposed to get lunch with Haz. Ugh, he’s gunna be wondering where I am.”

“You don’t have to tell him where you are or what you do. He doesn’t control you.” Tom started slowly walking away and you just looked at him with your jaw dropped. It wasn’t like that with Harrison at all. Why would Tom say that? You went to say something but your phone screen lit up with another text. You looked down to see Harrison’s name on the screen.

Wow. Thanks for telling me. Hope you had fun with Tom.

How did he know you were with Tom? You looked up from your phone to ask Tom if he told Harrison, but he wasn’t in sight.

Taglist: @johnmurphys-sass @lemirabitur @noodleboylester @nerdy-devil @slut-for-fandoms @ironspydey @hifriendssss @sighspidey @foodlyhallows

[quirklessbunny]

A Prescription for Love

Rating: T

Warnings: None

Relationship: Promptis

Summary: Dr. Caelum has been pining for the x-ray technician, Prompto Argentum, for a long time. He had no idea that Prompto felt the same way.

Full fic under the readmore

Happy Birthday @terrestrialtooru !! I hope you like it!

Noctis is sitting in the back office when a familiar blond head pops around the door frame. He has to hold back a smile as he welcomes him in, nodding to him. “Something I can do for you, Argentum?” he asks, standing and stepping around around his desk to take the envelope held out to him.

“These are for the kid who swallowed a marble. He actually has like eight or nine that he swallowed, so you better watch that one. Or make one of the interns watch him, like usual.” He laughs a little, then leans back on the wall. Prompto is just trying to extend the conversation. “Anyway, you know where I am if you need another one,” he says, blushing a little as he leaves. That was stupidly embarrassing, he tells himself.

Noctis laughs a little. “Yep, in the x-ray room. As per usual. See ya, Argentum,” he says, waving as he leaves. He sits down and looks over the x-rays, then hands them over to an interns. He had hopes Prompto would stay just a little longer, but he never seems to stick around. It's no matter, he's sure, kids are always in need of x-rays it seems.

Noctis stands up, heading through crowded hallways to his next patient, smiling as he steps inside. “Hello, Sadie. My name is Dr. Caelum, but you can just call me Noct if it's easier,” he says to her, wanting her to calm down. He can tell she's in immense pain, and having her panicking isn't going to help anything. “What hurts most?” He makes sure to keep a respectful distance from her, because he's noticed most kids seem to calm down more when they're not cornered.

Sadie looks up at him. “My arm hurts. Mommy says she thinks I broke it,” she whispers, looking at Noctis fearfully. “Is it going to hurt to fix it?”

Noctis hums in thought. “May I see? I won't touch, but if you can hold it out to me, I'll take a look. Then we'll go get some x-rays, and if it's broken, I'll give you a really cool cast. You can have all your friends at school sign it,” he tells her. “It might hurt a little bit at first, but it'll heal up really nicely, and then it'll stop hurting, alright?” Noctis looks over her arm then nods, standing up. “Let's head down to the x-ray room, and if you sit still for it, I'll give you a lollipop.”

Sadie smiles at that. “I'm gonna be really good, right mommy?” she says, holding her mom's hand as they walk down the hall to the x-ray room. Noctis smiles at Prompto as he walks in, then comes over to him.

“This is Sadie. I need an x-ray of her arm. I suspect it's broken in a clean break, but a confirmation is good. She's ten,” Noctis explains, looking down at her sheet. “Make sure not to move her arm too much, she's afraid for it to be touched.”

Prompto greets him, blushing a little, then smiles at her. “Nice to meet you, Sadie! I'm Prompto. I'm just gonna get a quick x-ray of your arm, alright? I promise I won't touch it,” he says, gently leading her over to the machine. He helps her get the protective shield over herself and lets her move her own arm, then steps back with her mother to take the images. Noctis is standing close behind him. Too close, almost. He blushes a little more as he looks at the screen.

“Alright,” Noctis says, heading back out and gently removing the lead vest once more. “I'm going to have these developed. I'll have a resident take you back to the room while I look them over, then I'll come talk to you both about it. And of course, bring Miss Sadie a lollipop for doing so well.” Noctis calls a resident in and has them led back to the room, then closes the door to the x-ray lab.

“I have a question,” Noctis says, leaning against the counter. “Do you want to get a drink after work today? I'm buying.” He gives Prompto a small smile, living for the blush that spreads across his cheeks at the question. “What? You seem like a cool guy and I'd like to be your friend.��� He turns, stepping towards Prompto until he's backed into the desk, effectively trapping him. “Plus, I don't miss the fact that you bring everything to me yourself. You don't do that with any of the other doctors, I've asked around.”  

Prompto blushes even more, sitting back on the desk. “Yeah, well...that's because I might like you more than I like them,” he responds. He's been in love with Noctis for a while, because he's always so kind and when he smiles, Prompto's heart pounds. “Yeah, I'll get a drink with you, Noct. You're buying, so I have no reason to say no, right?” He grins, jumping down and moving around Noctis.

“You know, I really admire what you do, Noctis. I'd really like to get to know you more. Maybe spend some time together, some nights,” he says with a flirtatious little smile. “But right now, you have more important things than me.” He grabs the developed x-rays and hands them over to Noctis, smiling. “I'll meet you out front after work. Don't make me wait too long, it's cold outside.”

Noctis' cheeks turn light red. “It would absolutely be my pleasure to get to know you more, and even to spend some nights with you.” He pauses, then smiles back at Prompto. “You're an utter tease, Argentum. Want a lollipop, since you did so good?” he teases. Prompto laughs a little then gets closer to Noctis once more.

“You got cherry?”

“Sure do,” he says, pulling it out of the pocket of his coat, then holds it out to the technician.

“Thanks, Noctis. I have such a sweet tooth,” Prompto says, pulling the plastic off. He leans up, face mere centimetres from Noctis', then pops the candy into his mouth and turns away, sitting down at his desk. “Have a nice rest of your day, Dr. Caelum. I'll see you after work.” He doesn't even look up from his computer as Noctis leaves the room.

Prompto is a little anxious for what seems to be a date at this point. He's been trying for weeks to hint to Noctis that he's interested in him, but it didn't seem to be making a difference. Noctis drops in sometimes, when he doesn't need to, but Prompto had spent a very long time convincing himself that it was nothing. Until Noctis had practically shoved him against the desk. It felt like Noctis would have gone even further if he hadn't ducked away.

After his shift ends, he stands up and heads to the lounge, changing into more comfortable clothes. He pulls on his winter coat and heads outside, bag slung over his shoulder. He blows into his hands then rubs them together, trying to ward off the absolute cold. Prompto bounces from foot to foot, glancing at the front door every once in a while. He moves and sits on the bench, bouncing his leg. His ass is cold and a little wet now, but it's better than standing around.

Prompto crosses his arms over his chest, staring at the clear glass doors, then sighs softly. How long is Noctis going to take, he wonders. He isn't sure, but he knows he'd wait quite a while, even in this cold. Prompto leans back on the bench, biting his lower lip. Time passes, and he worries that Noctis isn't going to show. A quick check to his phone tells him he's been waiting for about an hour. He puffs his cheeks out and rubs his hands together, then sighs.

Prompto stands up, feeling a little like someone who got rejected in the worst way. Noctis didn't show, and Prompto just waited outside in the snow like a fool. Of course Noctis isn't actually interested in him. Why would he be? He feels his eyes sting, which is dumb. He knew this was going to be the result of agreeing to this date.

He hears the sliding doors open behind him, but after waiting and perking up each time, he doesn't even bother. Just another family member leaving after a visit or someone else is off duty. Nothing to really be excited about.

“Prompto!” Noctis shouts, pausing when he sees that it's snowing, and there's ice. He can't run to catch up to him. “Prompto! Wait!” He dashes out through the slush, feet sliding. He hits his knees and mutters a curse, then stands up quickly, rushing the rest of the way.

Prompto turns at the curse words, then gasps when he sees Noctis coming towards him so quickly. “Noctis! Careful, there's ice! I'm gonna be so mad if you end up in my lap!” he tells him. Noctis tries to slow, but he slides on a piece of ice and slams into Prompto, and they both go down. Prompto groans in pain, laying still as Noctis rolls off of him.

He looks over at Noctis, grabbing his hand softly. “You okay? Why did you run when you knew it was icy?” Prompto asks.

Noctis huffs out a laugh. “I left the most beautiful man in the hospital on the steps for an extra hour, and I thought he was about to leave without me. Of course I'm okay. I had a nice pillow to cushion my fall,” he says, smiling brightly. Snowflakes are landing on Prompto's pale hair and eyelashes, making Noctis fall even more in love. “Let's ditch the bar, huh? I have a few nice bottles of wine at home. We could order a nice dinner, make a proper date of it,” he says, leaning over.

Prompto meets him in the kiss, smiling happily. “Well, I'm going to need to borrow some clothes. Somebody decided to knock me into the filthy slush,” he teases, pushing himself up.

“Alright, I'm sorry, Prom. But you have to admit, it was funny. Plus, I finally got to kiss you,” Noctis responds, standing up as well. He pulls Prompto into a second kiss, smiling softly. “Let's go get you all nice and dry, alright?” Noctis holds Prompto's hand as they make their way through the parking lot. He opens the passenger door for him, smiling softly.

Prompto thanks him and gets in, watching the buildings pass by on the drive. “What do you want to order for dinner?” he asks, looking over at Noctis, who just shrugs. “Fine, if you leave it up to me we're getting pizza.”

Noctis laughs. “Sounds great to me, honestly. I'm just glad I didn't ruin my chances with you. I had a last minute meeting.” He gets out and opens Prompto's door for him. He holds his hand on the way up, only letting go to unlock his door. Noctis heads straight to the back and gets them both a change of clothes. “I'll run your clothes through the wash so you can take them tonight,” Noctis says as he hands over some casual wear.

Prompto thanks him and ducks into the bathroom to change. When he comes back out, Noctis' breath catches in his throat. If he thought Prompto looked beautiful at the hospital, then he's ethereal now, the black clothes baggy on him, contrasting with his beautiful blond hair. But Noctis knows that what makes it look so good is that they're his clothes.

Noctis changes, then comes out to the front, opening his laptop. “What do you want from the pizza place?” he asks, bringing up the website for the closest place. Prompto smiles and tells him what he likes, then sits down beside him. He leans his head on Noctis' shoulder, looking over the order. He turns his head and kisses Noctis' shoulder softly.

“So where's the wine I was promised?” he teases, smiling softly. Prompto runs his fingers down Noctis' arm to slides their fingers together. “We're going to get all drunk and eat some pizza and then what?” he asks softly.

Noctis smiles at him, turning and catching his lips in another kiss. “Well...I have a lot of video games.”

Prompto perks up. “Dude, you know how to make a guy really happy.”

[givemedahoran]

My Kind Of Crazy

Inspired by this song

Special thanks to @wdmsusie for being an absolute gem and reading over this for me and giving me some advice as it is my first piece of writing. I hope you all enjoy!

••••••••••

Sadie and Niall’s relationship was one people wrote songs about. Hell, Niall wrote a whole album about it. The two were madly in love practically from the day they met. And despite the fact that Sadie could be wild and crazy at times, it made Niall love her even more. She was the perfect kind of crazy for him.

“Love, what are you doing? I’m trying to watch the game!” Niall said trying his best to sound annoyed, but he couldn’t stop the smile that was threatening his face.

Sadie was stood there in one of Niall’s old Led Zeppelin t-shirts that was far too big for her small frame. “Come on Ni,” she pleaded, “You have been watching these damn games all day long!”

“It’s the World Cup Semi-Finals babe, what d’ya expect? I promise this is the last game, and then we can turn on any movie you want and maybe even order some takeout.” Niall pleaded with her whilst trying to maneuver his head around her to see the screen.

Sadie huffed, not happy with the answer, and walked off into the kitchen. A few moments later an idea came to her, and she immediately headed to Niall’s in-home studio and grabbed one of his guitars. She padded down the hallway and back out to the living room where Niall hadn’t moved an inch since she left.

“Look baby,” Sadie said, grabbing Niall’s attention as she walked further into the room, “I’m a rockstar, just like you!”

Niall couldn’t hide it any longer. He busted out laughing as he watched Sadie hold the guitar upside down and tried to play it as a “rockstar” would.

If it were any other person tearing Niall away from one of the biggest footie games of the year, he would have been extremely annoyed but it was Sadie and he was so in love with her that he couldn’t possibly get mad even if he tried.

Giving up on watching the game, he sat back as she not only held the guitar upside down, but attempted to play chords that didn’t even exist and danced around in front of their television singing the words to one of his songs. Niall pulled out his phone and turned the flashlight on, waving it around as if he were at a concert which made her chuckle, but she carried on with her performance. At the end of the song she strummed the guitar quickly a few times before yelling out “THANK YOU LOS ANGELES AND GOODNIGHT EVERYBODY!”

Niall jumped up off the couch giving her a round of applause, shouting “Yeah, rock on baby!” Sadie burst into a fit of giggles as she removed the guitar from around her neck and placed it on the coffee table in front of her. Niall rounded the table to come up behind her as he wrapped his fingers around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. “Hey love, when you are done with your little concert can I come backstage and get ya to autograph that t-shirt of mine you're wearin’?”

Sadie bit her lower lip to keep in the giggles as she nodded her head, “I suppose so,” she said, turning around in Niall’s arms so she was now facing him. Niall smiled wide, “Great, promise I’ll never wash it again.” He said with a wink. This time Sadie couldn’t keep in her laugh as she leaned forward to press a giggly kiss on his lips.

Later that afternoon once the game had finished Niall hollered out to Sadie letting her know that she could come down so they could watch their movie. Moments later she entered now wearing a pair of jean shorts and slip on sandals with the t-shirt of Niall’s still on. “Whatcha doin’?” Niall asked, “You’re dressed like you’re goin’ somewhere.”

“Well I was thinkin’, since it is such a nice day and we have been cooped up in the house for most of it, why don’t we go out and just take a drive down to Malibu like we used to. We haven’t done that in forever!”

As much as Niall just wanted to relax and spend the rest of the day on his couch, he couldn’t resist that look on Sadie’s face where she would poke out her bottom lip and look at him with her big brown eyes. “I suppose a little drive wouldn’t hurt.” He said, causing Sadie’s face to light up. Before he knew it, she was pulling him up off the couch and ushering him to their bedroom so he could change into proper clothes that he could leave the house in.

The drive to Malibu from Niall’s place in Hollywood Hills was a little less than an hour which meant there was plenty of time for Sadie and Niall to have one of their car jam sessions. Niall had created a playlist on Spotify that was titled “Just for Sadie” and it was all of their favorite songs to blast in the car and sing along to. As soon as they got on the open road of the Pacific Coast Highway, Sadie would roll down the windows and turn the radio up loud. She would slip off her sandals and rest her bare feet on the dash.

Niall watched as she danced around in the passenger seat, not able to keep still for even a second. Suddenly the volume lowered and Niall turned to look at Sadie. He knew that devilish look she had on her face which meant she was up to something. “What is it?” He asked suspiciously. “I was thinkin’, can I drive on the way back?” Niall barked out a laugh and shook his head, “Love, you do know that this is a stick shift right? Remember what happened last time?” Niall’s mind flashed back to the first time Sadie insisted he teach her stick shift in case there was ever a situation where she needed to drive his car. They went to an empty parking lot and within 10 minutes Sadie had gotten so frustrated over the fact that the car stalled nearly every time she pressed the gas, that she gave up and refused to ever try again.

“I know, but I feel like now I am more prepared and I’m ready to try it again.” She said with a hopeful look in her eyes. Again, it was one of those looks she could give Niall that would make him cave in to anything. There wasn’t a single argument they could have that she wouldn’t win if she pulled out that look. “Alright fine, but how about we just stick with a parking lot again today? Not quite sure if you are ready to drive on the highway.” Sadie seemed satisfied with that answer and turned the radio back up as she laid her head in Niall’s lap for the rest of the drive.

They finally arrived to one of their favorite little beaches in Malibu that was away from the main beach and quite secluded. Niall had yet to be recognized there as not many people knew about it and were hardly ever there. The two headed down to the water’s edge just as the sun began to set over the ocean. Niall laid out the blanket he always left in the trunk of his car for their impromptu beach visits. Sadie sat in between Niall’s outstretched legs and rested her back against his chest. Despite his not wanting to go at first, Niall felt himself relax and enjoy this time he had spent here in peace with Sadie. His life was so fast paces that he often forgot to just sit back and enjoy the little things in life like watching the sunset on the beach with the girl of his dreams.

The two sat there for a while, even after the sun had set, just having mindless conversations and enjoying each other’s company.

“So tour’s starting soon...” Niall said, his words trailing off as he subtly tried to introduce the subject. He knew how much Sadie hated talking about him leaving because while he was off traveling the world, meeting fans, and performing his songs, she was in their big house all alone doing the same work every day.

“Yeah, just another month or so right?” She spoke, trying not to sound too sad as she knew it would upset Niall, but she couldn’t help it. Niall’s 2017 tour was far shorter than this one would be and she already found that as a struggle.

“Hey gorgeous, you know we will be alright. I have a few weeks in May and June where I will be able to come back home. And you will come out and visit me a few times, ya?”

She sighed, “I know, it’s just I have gotten so used to you being home that it’s gonna be hard to be without you again.”

Niall’s heart broke and while he wished she could just come on tour with him, he knew he could never ask her to give up her job and life in LA for that long. He didn’t know what to say that could make her feel any better so he just did what he knew best and held her to his chest, pressing soft kisses to the top of her head as they listened to the waves lap up on the beach.

Their hunger began to set in, so they decided to hit up a little café before heading home. It was nearing 11 o’clock by the time they got back and both of them were exhausted. They decided to call it a night and head to bed. Sadie was out as soon as her head hit the pillow, but you wouldn’t know it based off all the moving and shuffling she did in her sleep. When the two first started dating, Niall couldn’t stand it. For the first hour after she was asleep, Sadie would not stop moving. She would steal the covers off Niall’s side and on a few occasions she had rolled Niall off the bed. However, over time it became one of the the little quirks he had learned to love about her. And although he wouldn’t admit it, when he was on tour and in a big hotel bed all by himself, he missed her movements that would keep him up because without them it reminded him she wasn’t there. At this point, they had been together for so long that Niall learned to just sleep through her restlessness.

The next morning Sadie was up before Niall which was not unusual at all. She was a total morning person and was usually up with the sun, whereas Niall would sleep until noon everyday if he could. Sadie quietly slipped out of bed, changed into some workout clothes, went for a run, and cooked the two of them breakfast all while Niall stayed fast asleep. She entered their room and set the tray of breakfast down on the dresser, heading over to Niall’s side of the bed. Her fingers gently brushed his brown locks off his forehead as she whispered, “Wake up sleepyhead.” Niall moaned and groaned but finally opened his eyes, a lazy smile forming on his face. “Mmm, good morning gorgeous. What time is it?” He mumbled, his raspy morning voice clearly evident. “Half past ten. I made you some breakfast.” The smile on Niall’s face expanded as he sat up further in bed and pressed a kiss to Sadie’s lips, “Thank you my love.”

“Of course darling, and happy anniversary.” Sadie said with a smile.

“Happy anniversary Love.” He said, finally taking in what she was wearing. Sadie was still in her running shorts but had taken off her top so she was just in a sports bra. Over top she wore one of Niall’s aprons that he had gotten as a gag gift for Christmas from Deo. It read “May I Suggest the Sausage?” with a cartoon hand pointing downward.

Niall busted out laughing at her attire and she immediately broke out into giggles as well when she followed Niall’s eyes to the apron. “Uh love, I don’t think it was intended for you to be wearing that apron.”

“Hm, well if you were the one wearing it, let me just say I would gladly accept the sausage.” She said with a wink.

Niall’s mouth gaped open, “Come here ya nutter,” he chuckled before reaching his arms out and pulling Sadie down on top of him, her screaming out giggles.

The rest of the morning, the two lounged in bed eating the breakfast Sadie made and sharing sweet kisses every now and then. Sadie got up to grab the two more coffee and Niall sat there thinking about how insanely lucky he was to have her in his life. Although she tended to be extremely energetic and at times drove him crazy, she was his type of crazy that he wouldn’t change for the world.

[master-of-the-boot-blog]

Lars’ Cornhole Christmas Catastrophe

Author’s note: This story is graphic as fuck. It features Lars from Steven Universe being sexually assaulted by a homicidally insane vampire from the Hellsing franchise. Reader perversion is encouraged. 

Lars Barriga was jerking off when he heard his phone ring. Normally he would have ignored this because the porn video was getting to the good part, however this was Sadie’s ringtone and there was a very good chance that Sadie was going to be able to give him sex. So very reluctantly and with much anger, Lars took his hands away from squeezing his dick and answered his phone with sticky hands. “Yeah!” he said in a voice that was angrier than he meant it to be.

“Hey, Lars,” said Sadie Miller, Lars’s long suffering girlfriend. “I was wondering if you were good for tonight?”

Lars panted and took a drink from the energy drink next to his laptop. “Uh, yeah, sure I’m good,” he wiped the sweat from his brow and glanced at the paused image on the computer screen. He licked his lips and was nearly tempted to hang up on Sadie; but then he remembered that sex was better than five finger shuffle.

“Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?” Sadie sounded disappointed and miffed over the phone; more than she usually was.

“Uh, sure, I do,” Lars tried to bullshit his way through this conversation. “It was all about the . . . thing tonight. Okay what the hell was going on tonight?”

“I asked you if you’d come to Christmas dinner with me and my mom,” she said with her usual sense of trademark defeat and exhaustion. She became more hopeful for a moment, “Mom made your favourite, pizza rolls.”

Lars had a real dilemma. If Sadie’s mom was going to be home then there was a reduced chance she’d be comfortable enough to give him sex, but then again the prospect of pizza rolls was very tempting. “Uh, yeah sure I can try and be there, just make sure your mom doesn’t embarrass me.” He scratched the back of his neck.

“Yeah, fine,” said Sadie in a very resigned, defeated voice. She hung up and Lars was left nude and reminded about his throbbing boner. Frowning, the boy’s stretched ears flopped about as he sat back at the computer desk. On the computer was a video of a young, slender man being mercilessly pounded by a much larger, harrier man was paused in doggy style. The uncreative title of the video said everything; it wasn’t like Lars watched these things for the story.

Lars grinned as he began to start up the video again, his hands going back to squeezing his pickle. His pulse began to quicken and the climax of the video was nearing. He’d seen this video before; he knew where and how the money shot went. Still, there was a problem that was preventing Lars from enjoying his porn video.

The young man with stretched ears and stylized Mohawk hair glanced over at the picture of him and Sadie at last year’s Video Game Convention. It was one of their few happy moments, unmarred by couples fighting and a severe inability to communicate or express feelings in a healthy way. Lars knew that he’d fucked up, just forgetting his promise to Sadie like that. He knew that her mom was a big, loud, weird woman who embarrassed them both; but Sadie cared about her a lot. Lars wasn’t nearly kind or thoughtful enough to straight up apologize to Sadie and make it up to her; but he definitely could still show up and kind of save Christmas.

The young man shut the laptop. He would spank it to porn later; his boner was already dying from his conflicting and confusing teenager emotions. Throwing on his pants, coat and Jacket, Lars opted to go commando this cold December day in case Sadie gave him a blowjob or something.

Winter in Delmarva was crisp, clean and magical. Something in the air was sweet and the winter air felt invigorating. Lars of course hated everything about this day. The cold weather made his metal ear plugs freeze up and the shaved sides of his head were vulnerable to the freezing winds. He fucking hated winter and thought it was shit. Old man winter could suck on his uncut cock for all he cared.

It was halfway to Sadie’s house that Lars realized something. “Oh shit!” he cried in these empty streets on the night before the night before Christmas. “My charger!” He cried as he searched the pockets of his jacket and pants. The jacket, embroidered with the logo The Big Donut should have had his phone charger. He reacted with horror as he realized that the power bar on his phone was turning into a red sliver. He had to do something about this!  

Lucky for Lars, the Big Donut was halfway between his house and Sadie’s house. He could sprint over there, grab the phone charger from the office and be at the Miller house in time for Pizza rolls and a blowjob and/or hand-job.  

Deserted and cold were the best words for the old donut place. Part of a larger chain of donut places, there was something about the workplace that rubbed Lars the wrong way. He wasn’t sure what the hell it was, but it wasn’t going to fucking stop him. Looking at it a certain way, Lars figured he’d just run in and take what he needed; maybe even grab a few unsold donuts destined for the garbage bins. Frost coated the stairs leading up to the back door. Lars cried out as he nearly fell.  

Turning his employee key, he quickly disarmed the building alarm. He laughed as he locked the door behind him in the pitch black donut shop. He figured he had the cat in the bag when he slipped from the snow collected in the treads of his shoes. Screaming, Lars went down like a felled tree and banged his head against the floor.

He saw and felt no more . . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

Until—

Head head hurt like a mother fucker! “Oh Jesus Christ!” Lars shouted as he put a hand to the bump on his forehead. He groaned and swore. There was no way he could go to Sadie’s now. He’d be too embarrassed to be seen in public with such a big, angry, red lump on his head.  

Stumbling like a zombie, Lars shakily got to his feet. Groaning and cursing, he ambled over to the staff lounge. There it was, his phone charger Soon, no longer would he live in fear of the dreaded low red bar. There was something rotten in the state of Denmark. Or in the State of Delmarva. Or Delaware. Or whatever.  

Somebody was in the donut shop with Lars. He could hear them talking through the rusted metal door that led to the front area. Lars wasn’t sure who it could be, maybe burglars or homeless people; but he knew that the only way out was past that door.

Treading quietly, Lars didn’t want to alert the potential thieves. He could overhear what sounded like two of them arguing. “Come on Luke, you gotta let me fuck the bitch!” the first voice was nasal and reedy, like a crackhead.  

“Jan, you’re such a disgusting sack of shit,” said a more refined, erudite voice, “For starters I don’t want to see my brother on the job.  

Tiptoeing, Lars made his way towards the exit. His heart pounded and his palms grew sweaty. He was only a few steps away from leaving.

“Come on Luke!” begged this character, Jan, “The bitch is dead, she wont’ raise any noise! Nobody will know!”

The other one, Luke groaned, “I swear, this is why I bought you that flesh light. If you can just wait, we can head to Empire city and just grab a random tourist if it’s so bad for you.”

Lars was halfway through the mudroom when he felt a tickle in his sinuses and a sneeze that he couldn’t stop.  

Achoo!

And just like that, Lars’s perfect escape was fucked.

It was like a light switch, the two burglar/break in guys were on to him. The door to the front area opened up and Lars got a good look at two of the weirdest guys he’d ever seen. One man, dark skinned with multiple piercings looked at him with an evil expression. The other, pale and dressed all in white just frowned at him, while also carrying the dead body of the district manager for The Big Donut.  

Like a rabbit before a snake, Lars froze; his expression filled with horror as he started into the dead, cold eyes of Ms. Palahniuk. True she was always a cunt and a corporate tool, but seeing her limp and with multiple holes in her neck just did something to him.

The pale one, Luke narrowed his eyes at Lars. “So how much did you hear?” he spoke, drawing attention to the stream of blood running down his chin; as if he wasn’t holding a dead, pale body.

The darker one, Jan burst out into laughter, “Well fuck my ass and call me Britney! Spider just caught himself a fly, Zed!”  

Trying to speak for himself, Lars began to slowly back up. “I-uh-I swear I didn’t see anything. You guys were never here.”

He bumped into something and a strong arm held him around the waist. Jan yelled into his ear, as if he’d run across the room so fast that Lars’s eyes hadn’t been able to see it. “You got a nice little ass, nigga!” He laughed most unpleasantly, “Be a shame if somebody were to fuck you!” Jan laughed even louder, his breath reeking of rotting meta and fangs peeking from his upper jaw.  

Luke dropped the dead body of the district manager and zoomed in, too fast for the human eye. With one gloved hand he took Lars’s chin, who whimpered with fear as he stared into Luke’s red, inhuman eyes. “Well obviously we have a witness and we can’t let him but; but I think you’re onto something for once, Jan.”  

The dark skinned man whooped with glee, “Alright! We’ll double team this little bitch and then drink all his fucking blood!”

Luke blanched even more than he already did, his red eyes flashing with irritation. “Jan, that’s absolutely disgusting. There’s now way I’m sharing with you or risking touching your sloppy seconds. Hold him down so that I can go first.”

Lars began to cry as the gravity and horror of his situation began to sink in. “Please,” he whimpered, “I have a family, I have girlfriend. You don’t have to do this.”

Disdainfully, Luke slapped Lars across the face, earning howls of laughter from Jan and comments about slapping bitches. “We have to kill you to prevent the truth of vampires from coming out,” Luke pontificated, “However, taking out our frustrations on your still warm body is purely optional and you have nothing to offer us to change our minds.”

One of Jan’s rough, calloused hands caressed Lars’s neck; pinching him and feeling him up like a farmer picking out a suckling pig for supper. When Jan turned and licked over Lars’s major arteries, the boy shuddered as he felt like his soul wanted to leave his body from revulsion.

Once more the dark skinned vampire laughed, “Boy tastes like donuts! For fucking real, Luke! Whoa! It’ll be like fucking and eating a mega sugar maple sprinkle donut!”

His brother rolled his eyes, “Shut up, Jan, just hold him down so that I can fuck him. After that you can do whatever you want to him.”

There was no warning as Jan pushed Lars forward onto his face. As he tried to run away, he felt a boot come down onto the small of his back. Limbs thrashing, Lars was powerless against the inhuman power of the two vampires. Like a fly in a web, there was no escape for Lars; though this fate was infinitely more cruel.  

He shrieked when he felt a pair of rough hands grab his loose jeans and start to pull them down. Full on crying, the humiliation was more than he could bear. He bleat like a lamb at the slaughter, “No! No! Please!” One last attempt at seeking humanity in those who had none.  

He felt a cold breeze over his bottom and he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about what was going to happen next. For the first time since he was a little boy, Lars prayed to God and asked to be saved, the hot tears dripping down his face.

Somebody was listening.

“Do you boys like Rick and Morty?” asked a deep, musical voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Jan and Luke spun around, hissing and baring their fangs. In their ensuing panic, they let go of Lars, who began to crawl as best he could along the cold tile floor; one of of his hands frantically struggling to pull up his pants and cover himself best he could.  

Then he showed up.  

The cackling, maniacal, joker laughter preceded him as he entered the mortal plane. To Lars it looked like Slender Man’s mental cousin jumped out of the shadows to go completely ape shit on these vampire thugs.

His long, red coat billowed out behind him like bat wings, his long black hair moved like a living thing and his inhumanly long limbs were extended like a grabbing predator.

The newcomer didn’t waste time as he kicked Luke in the balls as hard as he could with his fine leather boots. He laughed like maniac possessed, spraying snot and saliva everywhere. His big, wide, red hat fell off as he punched Jan in the face; a dozen bloody teeth flying out of his mouth in a horizontal line.

The psycho stranger grinned from ear to ear, flashing not fangs but rows and rows of shark like teeth. Overfilled with glee, he grabbed Jan by the shirt collar and started pummelling him like he was starting a chainsaw without gas.

Luke charged at the inhumanly tall stranger with that vampire speed, but the newcomer was faster. His body dissolved into shadows and reformed behind Luke. Whooping and hollering, the man put Luke into a choke hold and began raining blows into the pale vampire’s torso.

Brass coloured claws sprouted from the tips of his white, mickey mouse gloves and he slashed across Jan’s face when he tried to defend his brother. Not pausing for once second, took a gigantic, hungry bite out of Luke’s head. Luke screamed in agony as the man in red ate part of his skull like a fucking apple.

It was like watching a train wreck, seeing bit of bone, blood and skull fly everywhere. Lars shivered and watched, even when he should have run like hell. Maybe it was because he knew that he’d never really outrun these two legged crimes against God.

Luke shrieked in violation as the tall, non-human shoved a finger into his brain and started feeling around. “How’s this, fuck-o!” he laughed as the pale vampire screamed for mercy.

Throwing Luke over him in a judo through, the man used his insanely long legs to lunge at Jan. Grabbing Jan’s crotch in a testicle popping grip, he just looked so damn pleased with himself. “There’s never been a vampire sexier than me!” he bellowed ecstatically. Thrusting his knee up, he hit Jan on the chin and sent him flying backwards into a wall.

The man in red pirouetted like a ballerina. “Thank you! Thank you!” he bowed and kissed to an invisible crowd that only he could see. Then with the flourish of a magician on stage, the man in red produced an unknown device from his jacket. Lars couldn’t tell what it was, except that it had a circuit board, part of a cell phone interface, it leaked oil and it was held together with electric tape and staples.

Making like a linebacker, the man charged forward and through a wall. Drywall dust flooded the area and its acrid, sooty taste made Lars choke and hack. He was so consumed by coughing a lung up that he didn’t see the man in red activate the detonator on his device and throw it into the donut fryer.

It was like the fourth of July as the incendiary bomb detonated inside a vat of fryer oil. The entire inside of the donut shop was sprayed with flaming canola oil. The blast of heat struck Lars like a fist and he stopped coughing long enough to realize that his sneakers were on fire.

He was luckier than Luke and Jan. The two vampire brothers screamed and writhed as the stood directly in the blast of weaponized kitchen oil. Each one twisted and thrashed, burning like dry christmas trees in July.

Lars kicked off his shoes and started to look for a path to the exit that didn’t involve walking through pools of flaming oil. Then to his utter surprise, the tall vampire in red went tearing out of the flames like a bat out of hell; his jacket and hair on fire and his face and shirt smeared with drywall dust. “You think this hurts? THIS hurts, sweetheart!” he bellowed hysterically as he started punching Luke and Jan.

The two vampire brothers screamed even louder as they were burned to death and beaten to a pulp at the same time. The red coated man’s gloves were blackened by fire and smeared with blood as his knuckles got the perfect workout.

“That is hurt, darling!” he cackled like an abusive boyfriend, punching Luke’s jaw right off. “That’s pain, schnookums!” he giggled as he punched a hole right through Jan’s chest and out his back.

“How’s this, son of mine?” he asked as he kicked Jan’s legs from under him. For a very brief moment, Jan thought that he’d found his long lost father right before the more powerful vampire stomped on his head like a teenager vandalizing a jack-o-lantern.

Lars didn’t stay to find out how it ended. It ended with him burning to death inside the big donut. He turned and ran, his feet blistering from the hot tile floor. He was almost at the exit when the man in red teleported right in front of him, stopping Lars from getting to safety.

He tried to say something to Lars, but all he did was mumble as he chewed on Luke’s severed head like a dog with a treat; blood and drool ran down his sooty, drywall dust coated chest. Lars screamed as the edges of the man’s jacket rose up like bat wings and wrapped around him.

The young boy of Philippine descent screamed as he woke to blackness one more time. “Mom! Dad!” he screamed, “Someone! Help!” he banged on whatever pitch black enclosure held him. Trembling hands went into his pocket, searching for his lighter.

A weak flickering flame cast light on Lars’s situation and it was getting darker by the minute. From what he could tell, having seen it in various movies and TV shows, he was in a coffin. Lars had been buried alive.

Panicking, Lars started to pound on the lid of the coffin. “Let me out! Someone, please let me out! I'm not dead!” he began to sob and cry uncontrollably.

Then like before, his prayers were answered, just not by God.

The coffin lid flew open and the bright, harsh light blinded Lars for a moment. In the time that it took his eyes to adjust he fluorescent light, he realized he’d been looking at the crazy vampire who accidentally saved his life and was now probably going to end it.

“Hey there,” he said in a not totally friendly voice, “We never got properly introduced last time. Alucard is the name and sexual pleasure is my game.” He flashed Lars what he thought was a winning smile but looked more like something out of a Sam Rami film.

Lars looked back up from the coffin, totally frozen; his trembling hand still holding his lighter.

Alucard cocked his head, “Well, aren’t you going to say anything back to me?”

“Get your junk out of my face!” Lars shouted at Alucard. It wasn’t just that he’d kidnapped Lars and held him against his will inside a fucking coffin, but he was half naked while doing it. In the harsh light, Lars could make out that Alucard was nude from the belt up. His hairy body was grotesquely muscular, with oversized pecs and shredded abs that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Dragonball Z.

Alucard shifted, his tight leather pants doing nothing to hide his boner and his erect pink nipples peeking through his carpet of chest hair. “So, what’s your problem?” he adjusted his stance so that standing over the coffin, Lars got a better look at his hard cock and his tight, muscular ass. These leather pants weren’t exactly comfortable but they did do a good job showing off the parts of the sexiest vampire alive.

Lars was appropriately disgusted by the view presented before him. Dropping his lighter he shouted up at the literal sexual predator, “I’m getting the fuck out of here!”

Like Harvey Weinstein on a catastrophic acid trip, Alucard had other plans. “Oh no, you don’t, mother fucker!”

Suddenly his white gloved hands were all over Lars like big, horny spiders. The boy thrashed, struggled and swore. After being manhandled, groped and forced out of his clothes like a disobedient puppy, Lars got a good look at what he was wearing and shrieked with horror.

Sitting in the open coffin, Lars was now wearing nothing but a pair of tight, tight pink panties with a sprig of mistletoe tied over his dick. Other than two nipple pasties shaped like hearts, Lars wasn’t wearing any other stitch of clothing anywhere on his body.

Alucard flashed that shark toothed grin once more, deliberately putting his hands on his hips and flexing his muscles. “Now that’s impressive!” he commended the terrified lad, “Look at you, nice firm ass, clean, hairless limbs and those cute floppy ears that are all the latest craze with young people these days.” He sucked in his breath like he’d been talking about a delicious slab of meat instead of a person, “Yes, you’re definitely a looker, son. While you’re here, you can just call me Uncle Touchy.”

Alucard guffawed at his own terrible joke, failing to notice the fear and confusion on Lars’s face. “Or if you like, you can call me daddy,” he winked at the boy, causing him to turn green with disgust. “Think about that the next time you see your father in the shower. Now come give Daddy Alucard a kiss, Larsy boy!”

Lars did the only sane thing and ran. He jumped out of the coffin and began to run through a spacious, well lit dungeon made of damp stone. There was a large wooden door with no obvious locking mechanism or door handles. Alucard scowled at this.

As Lars was about to reach the door to the dungeon, a freakish thing materialized out of the ether.

“I’m Puppet-Rebeca Sugar,” the thing said. Lars stopped and fell on his ass, mortified by the life sized creepy puppet that looked like it came out of Jim Henson’s worst nightmares.

Puppet-Rebeca looked at Lars with plastic eyes while lewdly feeling up her felt vagina. In her free foam hand, she clenched a large, rusty butcher knife.

Grabbing him with more strength than something made of foam rubber should be, Puppet-Rebeca stopped feeling up her crotch to grab Lars by the throat. “I’m going to butter your bread, honey. I’m going to sit on your face with my big Muppet ass.”

“That’s enough, Becky!” Alucard commanded. “You’ll get your taste only after I’m done with that sweet thing.”

Bowing to her dark master, the creature who’d summoned her from the fiery pits of hell, Puppet-Rebeca let Lars go and stepped back.

“I don’t want you!” Lars protested, trying to cover himself with his hands; the panties were starting to ride up a lot. “I don’t want either of you, I want to go home!”

Alucard laughed at the boy’s emotional anguish, “Why? So you can fuck that fat girl, Sadie? You’re better off without that pasty cumbucket. I swear, she looks like a blob fish with hair.”

“Sadie’s my girlfriend!” Lars shouted at Alucard, “Nobody gets to talk about her that way, I don’t care who you are or what you can do!”

The master vampire laughed, “Well Laramie, assuming I care what you think; stop and take a moment, take a deep breath. Your parents don’t give a damn about you, as of now they think you’re dead and they’ll have an easier go mourning a dead son than caring for a sack of shit like you. Sadie thinks your dead and I’d give her a day before she finds a new fuck toy. Everyone else in Beach City hates you and thinks you’re full of shit. The Cool Kids laughed at you and think you’re a douchebag; no matter how you spin it, I’m all you’ve got. I’m the only one who can tolerate a miserable cumrag like you and you should get on your damn knees and thank me for it.” He took his belt off and then gave a most lecherous grin, “How come here and show Daddy Alucard that big mouth and fast hands of yours.”

Lars pointed a skinny finger at the mad vampire, “You don’t get to touch me! I’m a person, not your boy and you’re not my daddy!”

The lad turned around and started banging on the wooden door as Puppet-Rebeca looked on with her ping pong ball eyes. He had to get out he had to get out he had to get . . .

===============================================================

Lars woke up in his own bed, naked and screamed. Trembling, he looked over his body and felt everything. He had no cuts, no bruises and nothing broken. Feeling over his ass and crotch; he felt whole and untouched.

The phone began to ring and he yelped. It was Sadie calling him. Looking over his phone, he glanced around and saw that his computer had the same porno video on as this morning; the same video of a twink being dominated by a hairy muscle man. It was all the same. Had he really been dreaming?

“Sadie!” he nearly shouted into the phone, answering the call.

His girlfriend winced on the other line, “Lars, what’s going on?”

“Sadie I was—actually it’s nothing,” he managed to slow down, “Uh, how are you? Are we good for dinner with your mom?”

“You remembered? I mean, of course you remembered,” she couldn’t hide her shock, “Yeah, my mom still wants you over for dinner. She even made pizza rolls.”

The boy could hardly contain his glee, “Yeah I love her fucking pizza rolls. I’ll be there!”

Sadie was taken aback. Normally she and Lars brought out the worst in each other, but this day, this day before day before Christmas day he was really giving her what she wanted. “Thanks for remembering, Lars. See you there, Player 2.”

“See you there, Player 1,” Lars said goodbye, showing his love in his own way. She hung up and Lars knew that there was no time. His phone was dying, running low on power but he had no interest in getting his charger from the Big Donut.

The first thing that Lars did was throw on some underwear before tossing on his customary tight jeans. Next came on his favourite scorpion T-shirt and sneakers. He was almost good to go; he just had to get his jacket.

Lars opened the closet and there he saw a tall man in red overcoat and big hat. Alucard grinned at Lars and threw a punch through the coat hangers.

The blow completely cleaned Lars’s clock, sending the boy flying backwards and slamming into the desk. Groggily, he spat out one of his front teeth. The head trauma meant that he really didn’t feel all the pain right away, but he felt the fear when Alucard’s twisted mug loomed large over him.

“Happy Christmas, cunt!” he jeered at Lars, picking up the boy by the front of his shirt and lifting him off the ground. “Did you have a good sleep? Any good dreams?”

Lars could only manage a numb shock, that this living nightmare—Cthulhu’s diarrhea in a human shaped bag—was very much real and not a figment of some fever dream.

“Well that’s nice,” Alucard sneered, “I’m happy to hear all of that from you.” Violently, he threw the boy onto the bed and pointed a long, clawed finger in his face. “Because I’ve got a message for you. This year you get a Mulligan from me, but next Christmas and every other Christmas until you die I will find you wherever you are and fuck your ass and face. If you’re eighty and living in a cave on Mars, I’ll find you and make your asshole look like a burrito filled with sour cream.”

The insane vampire lord trembled with rage and sexual energy as his hair and jacket floated around. “Don’t think of hiding from me, I have control over space and time. I have powers you can’t possibly imagine.” he turned and grabbed his junk, “So Happy Christmas, Laramie Bariga; next year I expect you to be waiting naked for me, bend over a table!”

He began to laugh like a hyena on crystal meth as his body dissolved into bats which then dissolved into shadow and fire. Just like that he was gone and Lars knew that he’d gotten a gift that was way worse than coal.

===========================================================================

Epilogue

Lars of the Stars slept in his Captain’s chair. Becoming an undead pink zombie was in hindsight one of the least shitty things to happen to him. If nothing else it gave him command of a group of ragtag rebels on the run from a totalitarian government and allowed him the chance to tool around the galaxy in a top of the line gem cruiser.

His calm time was interrupted by Steven Universe and his buddy Connie Maheswaran coming out of the portal in his hair. It was a pain in the ass but he honestly missed those two kids. He appreciated them way more than he had before his death.

“Hey, Steven! Connie!” Lars shouted, “Rhodonite figured out how to synthesize tequila, we can all drink and your parents won’t be able to stop you.”

Connie looked at him warily but Steven was just full of smiles. “Thanks Lars but Connie and me will do the responsible thing. We came here to drop off a care package from your parents and weapons from the Crystal Gems.”

Lars did a fist bump, “Sweet, little guys!”

Then a monitor started beeping, and the ship’s grandma caterpillar fusion, Fluorite announced the danger . . . very very slowly. “There’s a . . . ship approaching . . . our vector.”

On Screen appeared a gem who looked like she was Cosplaying for Code Geass. “Captain Lars! This time you will truly meet your end!”

Lars laughed haughtily at this enemy who’d dogged him across multiple galaxies. “Bring it on, Emerald. You can’t out-think me, you can’t out-fight me or out-drink me! You’d need the devil himself to beat me!” Admittedly all the anime he’d watched over the years was getting to his head.

And speak of the devil, a deep, music voice rang out behind Emerald. “Get out of my way!” snapped Alucard as he elbowed the fierce looking gem away. “Lars! Thought that travelling to another galaxy would save you from my wrath and my cock?” demanded the loopy vampire.

Steven looked at the insane vampire in his Carmen San Diego outfit, confused. “Lars, who is that guy?”

Alucard snapped, answering Steven’s question, “Who am I? Who am I! I’m the greatest vampire who ever lived! I’m the head pimp at Yellow Diamond’s personal Whorehouse; and it’s now my job to deliver Lars of the Queers to her Yellowness!”

He jabbed a finger while Lars stood speechless, honestly scared shitless even after all he’d grown and learned. “When I start, I’m going to fuck you until you love me! I’ll video tape the whole thing and send your parents a copy, along with a lock of your hair and a set of cum stained panties! Finally you’ll be albel to feel every night Yellow Diamond’s python sized tongue up your ass!”

“He’s the guy who molested me last Christmas,” Lars said, nearly on the verge of tears.

The tiny defective seer Padparadscha stepped in front of Lars, wrapping her tiny arms around him. “I’ve had a vision where Lars is threatened by a rapist. I will defend him with my life!”

Steven and Connie hugged Lars as well, “You fuck off, you two-faced mutant!” Connie yelled, “Go back to sparkling in the sun or whatever the fuck it is you do!”

Alucard’s eyes widened as he realized they went there, “You will all pay with your asses!” before Emerald punched him in the face and knocked him off camera.

“Stop stealing my spotlight, you fucking deviant!” Emerald snarled. She glared at Lars and his little friends. “Give up now, Lars of the Stars; or I’ll screw you, kill you and bring you back. I’ll do it over and over until you love me!”

Was Lars afraid? Oh fuck yes, he was. But he wasn’t about to take any of of it lying down. “Let’s dance,” he said to both Alucard and Emerald.