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halowritesthings · 2 years

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take a chance (break a leg)

Fandom: Thunderbirds

Pairing: Jeff & Alan

Word Count: 3198

Summary: It appears that Alan has been repeatedly sneaking out without anyone knowing. None of the brothers are brave enough to confront him about it immediately. Fortunately—or unfortunately, it was hard to tell—the last eight years Jeff spent in space was just enough to rip away any sense of tact he might have had towards stuff like this, meaning he was more than ready to do the talking-to himself.

@tagminibang2022 (@tagminibang) TIME WOOO

the artist i was given was the lovely @teapotteringabout! when i was given them i was SO STOKED to write something since all of their art is amazing!! i had a hard time picking, there were a handful of pieces that tickled my muse with inspo, but ultimately, this one here gave my brain enough imagery to create a fully-fledged fic

this fic can also be found on my ao3 under the same title, and as always, i hope you enjoy! :D

Jeff remembered a very old college acquaintance.

They had to write a paper for a psychology class, and they curiously picked the topic of parents. They wondered that once an adult received the title of “parent,” would their mind continue to gravitate toward parental instincts even if they began to believe they would never see that child again for whatever reason. A sort of “nature vs. nurture” topic, a question about humanity’s tendency to pick kindness over their previous survival-based inhibitions.

Jeff never got a chance to read that paper, but he’s got the feeling he no longer needs to do so to know the answer.

“Guys, Alan’s a good kid, he’s not gonna do anything stupid. I seriously don’t see why you’re all so up-in-arms about this.”

“Of course you don’t, Gordon. You just want Alan to overtake your record of ‘amount of nights snuck out’ so you don’t have it held over your head anymore.”

“Hey, it wasn’t just me all those times you know! You know Virgil helped me out occasionally!”

“He did what?”

“Thanks, Gordon.”

“You haven’t told them yet?”

“Well, unlike you, I prefer living to see tomorrow.”

“Guys, don’t make me come down from Five to help you sort this out. What has already happened is over and done, now we gotta focus on the currently happening.”

“Right, sorry. Now, anybody know-”

Jeff took that cue to leave the listening-in behind and go to his room. Shutting the door with his back to it, Jeff let out a sigh. Okay, now it was time for him to think.

Alan was sneaking out. None of his kids knew why or how or even when. They only figured it out when John did a regular camera check and found old recordings of Alan somehow briefly disabling security measures that warned them of movement in the hangars to nab a car to fly out to the Mainland for a few hours before sneaking back as if nothing happened. Jeff had to admit that it was difficult to imagine Alan doing that. Sure, he had his moments of being your typical child, but nothing that gave Jeff the impression that he would do this.

And that was the thing, wasn’t it? Outside of Scott and John, Jeff doesn’t know what his kids got up to in their later-teenage years. He was gone, basically good as dead, for some of the most important years of their life. Now, your life doesn’t peak between the ages of fifteen and thirty or whatever those high-school-college jock has-beens insist, he still had plenty of time with them (something not a lot of other families had the miracle of saying), but he would still feel a ball of sorrow in his chest for leaving them alone for a long time coming.

The fact that Virgil was just as guilty of being sneaky put a smile on his face, though. He knew that kid was too quiet for his own good. It was vital for a child to break the rules a little; builds character, you know?

Walking over to his desk, Jeff picked up the singular picture frame he chose to be what accented the piece of furniture throughout him readjusting back to Earth. He had plenty of other pictures of his family, but this one was his pièce de résistance, in a manner of speaking. Running his finger over the corner of the wood, he grinned at the memory.

The first time they all went over to the Mainland together once Jeff was strong enough to do so. Even Kayo, his mother, and Brains were in the pic, though MAX and EOS weren’t there. Mostly because EOS refused to come and no one trusted MAX to be in the general public. Regardless, all nine of them were grouped for a picture that was possible thanks to something Brains made for specific instances like that, and Jeff considered it his favorite. His entire family all together once more; a sign that said things that may be tough now, but they will get better.

A knock on his door brought Jeff out of his thoughts, making him put the picture back in its spot just in time for him to turn around and lean back against his desk to watch his mother walk into the room. She spoke with a grin, “Knock knock?”

“Hey mom,” Jeff said, “to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

She closed the door behind her like Jeff did earlier, concerning him somewhat. That was a tell-tale sign that she wanted to tell him something without anyone from outside hearing the conversation. She crossed her arms, leaning against the entrance to doubly make sure no one could barge in, “I’m assuming you heard the boys talking about Alan as well?”

Jeff had no idea where he got his eavesdropping habit from, why do you ask, “Yeah, and I have just as little of an idea as they do. Sure, it makes sense that I specifically wouldn’t understand Alan sneaking out, but the fact they don’t probably means we won’t know for a while. Confronting him will just make him squirrely too.”

His mom walked across the room to brush some lint and dust off the shoulders of his shirt, “And you’re saying you’re the type of person to give up, then?”

Ah, so that’s why she shut the door, “Of course not. You think I’m giving up after eight years of not doing so?”

“Atta boy,” his mother grinned, turning ever so slightly to glance at the photo on his desk as well. “That kid practically kisses the ground his brothers walk on. I think you might have a better shot at getting him to open up with what might be a lack of pressure, you know?”

Jeff sighed, not all-too-positive about that supposed “lack of pressure” he had over their youngest, “I sure hope that’s the case.”

---

Something Jeff found to be hard to do again was sleep normally.

You would think being trapped in literal space meant a lot of time to rest, but when one second of things going wrong meant your demise, you had to be on your toes no matter what. It took Jeff a little bit of work, but he managed to create a sleep schedule that gave him the least amount of shut-eye for the perfect amount of energy he needed to survive. It wasn’t optimal, but he was already lost in space, so he took what he got without crying about it.

Also, John couldn’t get mad at his crappy sleep once it finally helped them solve this Alan case; Jeff took smug comfort in that.

From what it sounded like, there was no exact pattern to his escapades. Most of the footage showed random times he chose to leave the island, ranging from when his brothers were all passed out after a rescue to straight up just leaving in the middle of the afternoon. Jeff supposed half the reason none of them confronted Alan about it yet was that they didn’t want to open the can of worms that was them not realizing they weren’t paying as much attention to Alan as they thought they were.

So the fact that Jeff could stay up for three-fourths of the day and watch the garage for Alan’s presence was a big factor in finally catching him in the act.

He was about to call it quits on the third night, but his brain was telling him to give it one more shot, especially since the rest of his kids had a long rescue on the coast of Finland that day and were conked out until practically next year. He had never been more grateful for his intuition, as he came out to the car garage right at the same time Alan was about to open the door to one of their cars. He quickly noticed Jeff out of the corner of his eye and yanked his hand back like the handle burned him.

“Je- Dad!” Alan stuttered, shoving something behind his back with both arms. “What, uh, what fancies you around here at this time of night?”

Stepping out from the shadows, Jeff crossed his arms in the hopes he looked more stern than he did threatening, “Just taking a stroll around the house. Sleep hasn’t been coming to me all that easily, you know. I have the feeling that’s not why you’re here, though.”

Alan nervously cleared his throat, “Eh, you never know what might be going through one’s mind. The night tends to bring mysteries with it.”

So Alan was definitely taking after Gordon in terms of deflecting. Gordon was easy to break through with a little bit of digging, but that didn’t make his nonchalance less, mm, irritating was a strong word, but when you spent ten minutes with Gordon and all he did was crack jokes, it got a little draining. Jeff opened his mouth to continue gently drilling his son, but then he noticed the object Alan was trying to hide. It appeared to be an oddly shaped plank of wood, a bright red plastic wheel attached to it sticking out from behind Alan.

Was… Was Alan sneaking out to go skateboarding?

That relieved some of Jeff’s worries. At least Alan wasn’t into anything (obviously) illegal, and he was an adult however young that adult status may be, so it wasn’t like any of them could tell him no to leaving and partaking in a sports hobby. It just left the question of why Alan felt the need to sneak out to do something so inconsequential as skateboard.

“Well, since we’re here, I think we should talk a little,” Jeff extended an olive branch, not so subtly stepping between Alan and the car. “I haven’t had that much time to hang out with you yet, and since we’re two young men that obviously can’t sleep, we might as well make use of it. What do you like doing in your free time? Any sports? Something like basketball, soccer… maybe even skateboarding?”

Alan tensed up, and Jeff knew he hit it right on the money.

Jeff hoped his smirk was as subtle as he wanted it to be, “Man, I remembered when I skateboarded as a teen. Was always visiting the rink every other weekend if I could help it. Not sure it did as much for my calves as I wanted it to, but I tried my best.”

Alan thankfully and reluctantly took the branch for what it was, “You skateboarded?”

Jeff nodded, leaning his butt against the hood of the car above one of the tires, “Oh yes, just ask your grandma. She has lots of pictures of me with porcupine quills in my face while sitting in the emergency room of a Kansas hospital one time.”

Alan abruptly laughed before bringing one of his hands from his back to place over his mouth, “Sorry.”

Jeff shook his head while moving to the driver’s door, “Don’t be. It was an incredibly stupid day for me, and I quickly learned my lesson about what is a ‘cool’ trick and an ‘idiotic’ one.”

“Uh, what are…” Alan started to ask as Jeff opened the door to the car.

Jeff raised an eyebrow, “Well, I always hated when I missed one of my skateboard weekends because the farm needed extra help. Don’t want to keep you. Plus, we technically can’t sleep, remember? And there’s no point in standing around all bored when there’s much more fun things to take part in.”

The way Alan beamed excitedly made Jeff think the cold eight years in space might finally become water under the bridge for him one day.

Virgil had recently been taking Jeff in the car to let him practice driving again, so he wasn’t going into it blind. He knew Alan was capable of driving—clearly, if the kid could sneak off the island so often without a single scratch—but since he was there, “By the way, who taught you to drive? I figured you all would eventually get behind a wheel, but there’s thinking about it and then there’s actually seeing it.”

As the shotgun's door shut, Alan winced, “Oh, yeah, that… Hah, what if I told you it wasn’t anyone from the island that taught me technically?”

Sighing, Jeff shook his head as he started the ignition, “Of course.” He was going to have a talk with Parker, because really, who else could it be?

Alan gave him directions as he flew the two of them to the Mainland, eventually landing somewhere in New York City. The two of them sat in the car for a few minutes, Alan noticeably fidgeting with his board as a million thoughts raced through his head. “Hey, I’m sorry to be rude,” Alan interrupted. “But do you mind, um…”

Jeff stayed silent, letting Alan get to his question on his own time.

Alan swallowed the spit in his mouth, “Do you mind staying out of sight of the skatepark? You can watch me if you want, I just…”

Ah, Jeff didn’t need to ask why Alan felt the need to sneak out anymore.

His mother wasn’t too far off the marker when it came to the “pressure” Alan had on his shoulders. He was the youngest of five (six if Kayo involved herself in the equation) very talented and popular siblings that were birthed to one of the most notorious men of this century, not that Jeff was bragging. You couldn’t utter the name “Tracy” without someone in the vicinity having something to say about it, positive or negative.

“No problem, Alan,” Jeff answered before Alan could finish. He wasn’t offended in the slightest. Jeff knew what kind of presence he carried with him, especially after constantly being in the news for “coming back to life.” He was about to offer to stay in the car for Alan even because he knew he could disrupt the entire night if someone recognized him, so he was happy to have anything more than that.

Jeff couldn’t fault Alan for wanting a slice of normality before he dug his toes into their world. He clearly wanted to make a name for himself like Scott’s Air Force stint or Gordon’s gold medal, but everyone needed their moments to kick back and relax. To be your everyday common man that went home to recline on the couch and watch cheap TV dramas.

Alan sighed in relief, “Okay, cool, coolio… Thank you.” Alan began to step out of the car, “Now then, let’s get going. We don’t have all night!”

Jeff didn’t need to be told twice.

Standing carefully at the sidelines, Jeff watched as Alan put his skateboard down and rode it into the dip of the ring, voices echoing out as he disappeared.

“Dude, there you are!”

“We were wondering if you were going to show up.”

“I’ve been working on that trick I showed you last time!”

“That’s great to hear!” Alan’s voice finally jumped into the convo. “It’s not gonna be enough to beat me still, but I’m glad to see you’ve been trying!”

Jeff couldn’t help but quietly laugh at the sound of a bunch of voices playfully objecting.

After about two hours of watching Alan pull off some relatively cool tricks with his friends, Jeff was brought out of his thoughts by Alan waving and yelling goodbye, him soon popping over the edge of the ring with a big grin on his face. Jeff started turning around to head back to the car as Alan got closer, “Have fun down there?”

Alan nodded, absentmindedly spinning one of his skateboard wheels, “Definitely.”

The drive back was quiet. Jeff turned on the radio at a low volume when he noticed Alan drifting off. If he remembered correctly, when Alan had trouble sleeping as a small child, all they needed to do was play some gentle music and he would be out like a light. Finding a station with that kind of music, Jeff quickly learned that was still the case almost a decade later.

Then they were home, Jeff pulling the car back into the garage like absolutely nothing happened. Turning the vehicle off, Jeff took a second to push himself back into the seat with the steering wheel and stretch his muscles. After, he carefully reached over to shake Alan awake.

“Hey, wake up,” Jeff nudged his shoulder. “We’re home, and while I’d love to carry you back to bed like old times, I’m sure Scott will have my head on a pike for picking up anything more than twenty pounds.”

Alan murmured, rubbing his eyes before using one hand to grab his skateboard from the floor and one to open the door, “‘m up, ‘m up.”

Jeff chuckled, nearly mirroring his son as they got out of the car, shut their doors, and went to Alan’s room. As Alan continued onward, Jeff took a moment to pause in the living area and take a deep breath. He might not be perfect, but it was nice to know that space didn’t make him forget everything.

He eventually got to Alan’s room, the door still wide open, and when he leaned inside to see what Alan was up to he almost jumped. Alan’s shoes were shoved in the corner by his door, his skateboard haphazardly shoved into his closest, and his own self? Was curled up on the floor and leaning on the edge of the bed, only using a tiny part of the mattress as a pillow.

Jeff wasn’t sure if he should find the situation funny or not, “Do you… normally sleep like this?”

Alan shrugged, “Gr’ndma may not be able to cook but she p’cks nice rugs.”

“I suppose so,” Jeff couldn’t argue with that as he looked around the room for a blanket, eventually landing on a navy blue one dotted with white stars. He brought it over to Alan, gently draping it across his son’s shoulders. “Goodnight, Alan, try not to cramp those muscles too much

Alan grumbled but otherwise did not acknowledge Jeff’s words.

Shutting Alan’s door once outside, Jeff took a moment to stand there with one hand on the handle and the other resting lightly against its flat surface. He could practically feel the tension ooze out of his body. Tonight went… well. Great even. Jeff couldn’t be happier that he still knew how to click with his family despite feeling awkward and out of place. He’s already stated this.

He couldn’t help but feel like there was still a lot to do in their family, though. Sure, tonight went relatively okay, but there were still some noticeable bumps along the way. Jeff was sure to disappoint his sons as sure as his sons were probably worried about disappointing him. Eight years of separation was not going to be fixed quietly if it could be fixed at all.

But Jeff knew they would try their best to get there eventually.

Jeff would take part in multiple midnight skatepark visits if it meant he wasn’t giving up just yet.

#thunderbirds #jeff tracy #alan tracy #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2015 #tag minibang #tagminibang #tag minibang 2022 #halo be writin #fandom: thunderbirds #fic status: complete

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rawliverandcigarettes · 2 years

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The Last Halfway There (probably)

So. Here we are.

This is probably one of the last posts on Halfway Home’s writing process before I actually release the beast.

I have spent the last month working on two things simultaneously: finishing up Halfway Home and locking most of the text, and reaching 100k words in The Empire of Preys.

Halfway Home

I’m going to begin this piece on Halfway Home, as I am passing through the tipping point: the text I have on my computer right now is probably 99,5% of what will be posted on the internet for all of you to read. It’s a wild feeling, one that makes me double-guess basically every single choice I made, because of course!!!

Rereading the whole thing (AGAIN, I am honestly getting a little sick of it) has brought back a lot of feelings. The story has accompanied me during very different times in my life: some happy, some very... precarious, let’s say. The interesting thing about it all is that it truly, absolutely feels like the story of my earlier twenties; the story feels young to me, in its themes and what it is concerned about, in a way that I still relate to but no longer fully align with. Which is fine! I always knew Halfway Home would probably be a great testimony to how my mind was structuring itself during the heart of my youth, and I still think it’s a worthwhile tale of self-definition, and a good reference point to the sort of human being I was, back then (and what it feels like to be broke and young and super vulnerable –which tends to get hazy once you get more financial security and the “please go ahead and project whatever bullshit you feel like onto me (I can’t really fight back anyway)” sign around your neck gets a little faded by time, and I did not want to forget).

I do not think it is a perfect story by any means, but it has reached a point where it’s as good as it could be. I do see, as the author, the staples holding together many, many, MANY versions of the same event mushed together in one final take, but I think any more adjustment would make the story reek of being overworked at this point –even beyond my own perception, which is obviously quite biased. I still made some final adjustments to certain scenes (I knoooow I’m stopping now it’s over I’ll never rework scenes again I *promise*), and I’m glad I did, as these were scenes that were technically functional but did not ring as true as other, similar scenes in the story, and verged slightly towards caricature. Given I feel like I did a fairly good job with the most difficult scenes and I don’t think they read as exploitative –I mean you tell me, but I feel fairly confident in their necessity after my almost-final reread (which wooo! I have tortured myself over the legitimacy of these scenes SO MUCH, like I had actual nightmares about them being torn apart by close friends for being trauma-porn garbage; so I feel very relieved to believe I can actually stand by them without shame, and think they are doing exactly what I wanted them to do and are both necessary and truthful)– it would have been sad to leave in just the one out of sheer laziness.

But beyond all of these feelings and accepting the story’s flaws for being what it is, aka years upon years of work and rework of my very first novel-length story written in English whose first draft I completed in December of 2 0 1 7 h o w, I still love this story and the characters so much. Even if I think some chapters are weaker than others, there are some I am so enamored with and I’m so glad to have written them. It feels good to reread your work and some of the sentences, succession of events or feelings expressed, and go fuck yes me.

Even beyond all that, I’m honestly very proud of myself for having stuck to the grind for so long; for having refused to settle for the first versions and pushed myself to get as far as I could without professional help. Honestly, it’s been hard sometimes. Working for so very long on the same project can feel quite isolating; not to mention that it demands sacrifices, especially in regards to your time. There’s a lot of things I have simply not done –either games to play, other projects to work on, or even hmmm taking care of my health or my sleeping habits– just because I was busying myself so much with the space frogs. And a lot of this work will be completely and utterly invisible in the end! But it’s totally fine. I know what went into this story, the buckwild amount of progress I have made on all aspects of my craft, and I love all these characters deeply and tenderly, which is it’s own reward.

I am like 97% done with the story (I actually am near that, I have an Excel sheet calculating my overall progress and everything –you are a game designer or you are not, what can I say); there is still some feedback I have to implement, thanks to my delightful beta-readers. Speaking of said beta-readers, I am sincerely humbled and deeply appreciative of the quality of feedback I received on my latest versions. It really helped me identify the points of contention I still have with the English language and push myself further where I was still a little slack –all the while helping me identify what was really important for me and my writing style, and what was stylistic fluff that didn’t contribute much (though I was deeply sorry to report I am going to insist and double-down on my bullshit on some aspects that got flagged, and live with the consequences :/).

But beyond that, I have some plot points to tie with The Empire of Preys, and some last-minute decisions to take on things I have left to the side (like some characters’ military ranks as this is so my favorite thing to figure out, the exact timeline of some backstory events, etc...), which really shouldn’t take more than a couple of days.

Then it’s all locked, and (mostly) ready for release! I just have some key art to touch up, and then… Then the release will actually happen.

I do not know how I will handle that reality, to be honest.

I will still have some stuff to handle, on-top of said reality: the release schedule, every announcement post, and I plan to work on a physical copy to justify the last almost-decade of work and have something nice on my shelf! But let’s not get ahead of ourselves on this front (because I will absolutely talk about this again in the future)...

The Empire of Preys

Thankfully for me, I will also not be completely stranded with nothing to work on after November, because: The Empire of Preys is well underway (The Empire of Preys being the sequel-prequel to Halfway Home, and the second tome in the series).

And honestly? It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever written.

Now, I fully realize there is such a thing as the honeymoon effect with a new(-ish) project, and it’s generally expected to inflate the actual quality of the work in relation the feelings of elation associated with it. But I am over 100k words in by this point, and I am still so bewildered with just how well everything is clicking together.

The thing is: it’s not coming from nowhere. Most of the time spent working on Halfway Home was time indirectly spent working on TEoP, as TEoP functions as the backstory and the crux of the plot, the mystery hanging in the background. But still! This is a *complicated* story, much, much more complicated than Halfway Home ever was (at least on the surface). And the pieces just fit together so well? Character arcs unfold with much more delicacy and complexity than I dared hoping for; the plot seems to make sense? Maybe? And there is a lot of energy on the page. It’s fun! We’re having fun!

I am not saying this is a perfect first draft by any means: I’m already identifying points that need to be smoothed up, question marks I left for myself to solve in the future, and I will have a shit ton of work making sure each narrative voice is distinct from the other while still being stylistically interesting (right now I am a little too forward and dry for my taste). But! I think I managed to recontextualize characters from Halfway Home without contradicting who they are presented as (I am *so curious* to have the reactions to some character heelturns, especially to those who are the most heavily judged by readers in Halfway Home overall, and end up being some of the most emotionally complex characters in The Empire of Preys –one of them in particular even surprised me).

When I mentioned earlier that Halfway Home feels like the work of my early twenties, The Empire of Preys feels (for understandable reasons) very relevant to who I am right now, and what I’m interested in –or tormented by, alternatively. While I will regularly whine that Halfway Home is political in an intimate way –and I believe that it is– The Empire of Preys is political.

What I mean by that is: it’s proposing ideas, defending ideas, and putting them to the test. The point of view characters are educated and savvy enough to develop philosophical perspectives on social organization, economical disparity, internal and external competition over power. This story is, very explicitly, about modern empires; more specifically about the cost of maintaining them.

To express just how awfully political it all is (beyond the plot on the financial crisis –which I am so dang happy about, I think it makes sense and says interesting things!!!): there is an entire chapter about a debate between candidates campaigning to win an election. It’s that kind of story.

There are a couple of challenges that come with this format: beyond the difficulty in making it thrilling and interesting for a reader that isn’t me, I need to make sense! When my characters begin to spew huge monologues on the nature of monetary value, or legacy, or the line between cooperation and assimilation, they need to be internally consistent –at least enough to convince the characters that are spewing them. So I need to think very hard about the characters’ philosophy; I need to actually devise what the electoral program of candidate X would involve in a concrete way, and I need to invent problems that can never truly be solved, or with complicated and imperfect solutions –all the while making them specific to how these alien societies would work.

In a related vein, one of my biggest hurdles right now comes with writing PoV characters with very drastically different political views to mine. The main cast of this story shares very different opinions, all of them more or less developed depending on their level of education and active interest in whatever is going on within the galaxy at that moment in time –and some can be difficult to map on the classic left/right spectrum, as the problems of these societies are not always equivalent to ours. I have also developed a philosophy as I wrote this project: I don’t want to write characters I believe to be wrong and/or actively dangerous with condescension. I don’t want the story to mock them, or have the world twist around them to make them sound wrong, ridiculous, or stupid. I want to take them at face value, and see where their ideas lead with as little judgment as I can manage. And it’s hard.

The character that is giving me the most trouble by far (it’s a little spoiler but an acceptable one I think) is dalatrass Linron. I expected to have fun writing her because she is so despicable in so many ways, and a completely dysfunctional mess on a personal level too; but the truth is, I might have made her too mean and dumb in my outline, which felt prescriptive and authorial in a bad way when I tried putting these ideas to the page. So now, I’m trying to compensate this first instinct within the text itself –making her narrative voice the most difficult to get right, by a long mile.

I think this story is challenging in the sense that it’s challenging me: how I think about the world, my biases on that fictional universe, but also the real one. I am not trying to be objective, as I do not believe in the concept of objectivity in fiction, but I am trying to be perceptive. While I am not going to shy away from my own beliefs and how I decide to identify the scourge of that fictional world, I don’t want this story to feel like a morality tale. It’s a complicated balance, and an extremely ambitious story on that front (and to be honest, on every front).

But I think I am doing fairly well for a first draft, and especially the first draft of this particular story (even if there still are way too many salarian characters, and I don’t know who to cut without breaking my story).

I am not writing linearly, so the chapters I have completed do not follow each other, and I have huge blocks of text of unfinished chapters hanging around –but to simplify, I have ten chapters completed at this point, and around five more who are fairly advanced. It’s going really well! I have scary chapters coming up (one of them is a heist, I have zero idea how to write that –and there is a romantic subplot that equally terrifies me), but while I don’t know if I’ll be able to accomplish my goal of having the first draft completed by the end of 2022, I think I’ll still be at least three quarters down if life doesn’t decide otherwise.

Conclusion

So yay! Here’s where I’m at, during the last moments of summer of 2022.

Expect way more posts from this blog until the end of the year (especially on thursdays); and then some more as Halfway Home gets released one chapter at a time. I still need to confirm everything will be ready by then, so I will reveal the exact release date later in October –giving myself as many exit plans as I can in case I have a last minute panic moment and realize I said something blatantly wrong that I actually totally disagree with and will keep me up at night for the rest of my life if I don’t fix it before release (GOD I HOPE NOT).

Until then, I salute you and wish you the best of days.

#halfway home #the empire of preys #fanfiction #writing #writing update #halfway there #salarians #mass effect

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spaceblobvoid · 2 years

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Twilight Steddie AU Chp 1

Turns out my wattpad is working again wooo! so this in there and also here cause why not anyways without further ado... (Updates every wednesday)

Steve’s Pov

I’ve never given much thought to how I would die, but dying in the place of someone I love seems like a pretty good way to go. So I don’t regret my decision to leave home. My parents are never home, always away on a business trip or vacation. It’ll be nice living with my family. I’m moving in with my uncle Jim, and his daughter Jane in Hawkins Indiana. When I was little my parents would send me there every summer. But then he adopted Jane and my parents deemed me old enough to look after myself at age 11. Living with them will be better than being alone in my parents big empty house. I doubt they’ll notice I’m gone. And I’m excited to meet Jane, and be in a new place. This will be a good thing. Right?

Hawkins is a lot smaller than California, population 3,809 people. The weather here is a lot colder already. I might not miss a lot about home but I will miss the heat. Jim says the weather here gets just as hot as California but only in the summer. My uncle Jim is the chief of police here. I remember when I was young he would sometimes take me on patrols for minor cases. I remember the summer before he adopted Jane, a kid went missing. Wonder if they found him.

The car ride to Jim’s cabin from the airport was long and mostly quiet. “Your hair’s longer,” Jim said. I lifted my chin off my hand to look at him. I then ran my hand through it. “Yeah I let it grow out more, at school kids called me Steve The hair Harrington” Jim chuckled. I smiled and went back to looking out the window as we pulled up to the cabin. A flood of memories from the summers I spent here came rushing back. The cabin hadn’t changed a bit. Only some aging had seemed to occur. I got out of the car and so did Jim. He opened up the trunk and We grabbed my bags. “Jane’s excited to meet you” Jim said as we made our way up to the cabin. “I’m excited to meet her,” I said with a polite smile. He unlocked the door and we walked inside. “Jane’s at the mall with her friend right now, she’ll be home soon. Oh and your old room is uh hers now but you got the guest bedroom now I hope you don’t mind” Jim spoke again. I smiled and nodded. I don’t mind at all, after all who am I to mind. I haven't been here in years. We walked up the stairs and he led me to my room. My old stuff from when I used to visit was in a box by the bed. There was also a dresser and desk and some empty shelves for books or records and tapes. The room was quite plain aside from that. Jim put my bags down and walked to the door frame. He stood in it for a moment. “Well I’ll let you get settled in and everything.” And with that he walked off. One of the best things about Jim, he doesn’t hover. I placed my bags down and unzipped the first one. I emptied it out on the floor and opened the dresser. I picked up my t-shirts and other clothes, folding them and stashing them away in the dresser as I did. I heard a beeping noise outside and looked out my window. A black Camaro was there and three people stepped out. A girl with a brown curly bob, a girl with long red hair and a guy. A guy with curly strawberry blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. The guy took out a cigarette and offered one to Jim. Jim refused and the guy lit one and took it to his lips. My cheeks flushed a bit at the sight of him. You could tell this guy had muscle because of the way his shirt hugged his body. I tore my eyes away from him and went down stairs. I walked outside. “Thanks for giving Jane a ride Billy,” Jim turned around to see me join the group. “Oh Billy this is Steve you remember him don’t you, you too would play together when you were younger.” I waved and held my hand out for him to shake. Billy looked at my hand and took it with his. “Nice to see you again” I said. He nodded and gave me a smile. “Steve this is Max, Janes and friend and of course Jane” Jim pointed to the red haired girl then to the brown. Max waved, hugged Jane and said goodbye. She climbed into the car and so did Billy. “Hi Steve,” Jane said to me. I took my eyes off the now far away car and replied. “Hi Jane.” We all walked inside the cabin.

We sat at the dinner table. Jim had grilled some chicken and Jane made a salad. It wasn’t much but it was better than the microwave meals I used to force myself to eat back home. “What’s California like?” Jane asked. “Hot” I said, taking another bite of chicken. We continued eating in silence for a bit. “My friend's son just moved away for college, they said they were gonna scrap his car but I offered to take it off their hands. It’ll be here tomorrow” Jim said and went back to focusing on his food. “Oh wow, thank you” I said smiling. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence.

It’s the first day at my new school. In the middle of the semester. Great. After stopping by the front office to grab my schedule and a map I wandered through the halls trying to find my classes. “Steve Harrington right?” I look up to see a pretty girl with a curly brown bob and big blue eyes smiling at me. “Yup, that's me,” I said. “Nancy Wheeler, here to show you around and ask a few questions for your feature in the school paper” “oh a feature I don’t need that I can just-“ Nancy shook her head and walked with me. “Nonsense, it’s school news, and don’t worry you won’t be in the front page.” I shrugged and agreed.

In gym class we played basketball. And it turns out Billy is in my gym class and he’s a really good basketball player. The band was also in the gym, rehearsing. I’ll admit I’m a little rusty with basketball. I’ve played before at school but that was last year. I also was team captain of the swim team but basketball isn’t swim. I threw the ball and hit one of the kids in the band. Maybe I’m more rusty than I thought. “Oh shit I’m so sorry” I said running over to them. “It’s okay, at least you apologized,” the girl looked at me and squinted her eyes. “You're the new kid right Steve?” I nodded. “Do you want me to get you ice or something?” I asked. She shook her head. “No it’s fine, I’m Robin”. From across the gym coach yelled, “Harrington stop lollygagging” I turned to see him waving me to come back. “See you around” I said and ran back to the coach.

At lunch I sat with Robin and her friends, Jonathan, Argyle and Nancy. “Me and my family lived in California for a bit before we moved back here,” Jonathan said. “Oh cool” I said. I decided I wasn't hungry and pushed my lunch away. The group talked about random things. My mind wandered and I looked outside to see a group of people walking towards the empty table in the cafeteria. There was a pale guy with curly brown hair. A couple of others and some kids, a scrawny tall pale boy with short dark curly hair wearing a shirt that read Hellfire Club on it. There were two other boys with brown curly hair that was sort of long and a cap that said thinking cap on it. And boy with bowl cut. Then the last one walked in. He was handsome, he had big brown eyes that seemingly sparkled. Long dark curly hair and wicked grin. He got tk the table and gestured something to the group which made them laugh. “Who are they?” I asked. “That's the hellfire club, they play dnd and are kind of freaks.” Robin answered. Nancy elbowed her. “Be nice Robin, Mike and Will are in the club” “Who’s Mike and Will?” I asked again. “Nance’s little brother Mike and Jonathan's little brother Will” Argyle replied. I nodded and looked back at them. “The leader is Eddie Munson, Hawkin’s Freak” I made eye contact with Eddie, he winked at me and smirked. I looked away a little pink and bit my lip. "Don't waste you time he just likes making a scene." Jonathan said. "Wasn't planning on it" I said. The group moved on the conversation but for the rest of lunch my thoughts were consumed by Eddie Munson.

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nilti-luck · 4 months

Text

Day 8

Honestly this is just becoming a daily "what did even do today blog" which is honestly helpful considering my shitty ass memory but anyway! did i create anything? not particularly! I don't really think of this as a fail though, because I cannot fail, only have slow days

I did do progress though! I did my laundry, went shopping, took my roommate on errands (very nice of me im proud of that one, it was out of my way cause we had to go to two more stores than I wanted to (cause i normally only go to the one I'm familiar with so new places for me wooo))

BOUGHT MYSELF AN AIRFRYER im very excited. I made my chicken nuggets using it for the first time! I'm not super sure if i did it right but they were scrumptious (read: better than when cooked in microwave) I still gotta figure out how to use it, i didn't grow up with one so this is gonna be a whole journey of self discovery

Also I'm feeling deeply betrayed over the whole duolingo performing the tried and true enshitification process (replacing parts of their translation team with ai is the straw that breaks the camels back for me) and it affecting japanese lessons the most so another productive thing i did today was go online and look for better resources for learning japanese :) and i found some and I think theyre gonna work great!

and i also read the entire wikipedia page on enshitification, and the origin of goku's kamehameha so you cant say i learned nothing today

Also i spent a lot of time typing today, something that usually happens when I'm upset and wanna talk about it, and tbh it calms me down, I love my new keyboard and typing a lot feels really nice (hence the longer post lol)

#Nilti's Resolution #fuck capitalism

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sugarandspice-games · 3 years

Text

Lucifer comforts an abused MC with a PTSD flashback

Wooo! Our first ever imagine! This one ended up being really long, so I’m sorry about that. If anyone else would like to request one, please read here!

[TW: PTSD, depression, allusions and mentions to past emotional and physical abuse plus quotes from abusers]

The week was... rough, to say the least. The blustering cold of winter started to encroach on the crisp air of fall, which meant that midterm exams were creeping closer. The lessons, which you had once found fun, started to get tiring since it was an endless slog of reviewing for the big test coming up.

Furthermore... you missed everyone. The brothers, Solomon, Simeon, Luke... Lucifer. It seemed that, because everyone was either studying (or preparing for the post-exam party) nobody had any time for you. You were lonely and depressed.

So, even though you wanted to do well on the test, your heart just wasn’t in your studies. It got to the point where you spent more and more time alone in your room, sleeping until you couldn’t sleep anymore. You even started zoning out during classes, which resulted in one or two teachers snapping at you. Some students also remarked that you were useless, as the only human student with no magic... a lot of them gossipped that you were only there because Lucifer liked you, which got back to him.

Eventually, enough was enough. The rumors compounded upon his worry, and he decided it was time to pay you a visit in your room on Saturday night.

You didn’t have any classes that day, so you were laying in your bed, scrolling on your phone, when you heard the knock at your door. It sounded... rather harsh compared to the usual rapping on your door, so you tensed. Something was wrong.

“Come in.”

The door creaked open. Lucifer stood in the doorway, his eyebrows knit together in a stern expression, and he sighed.

“Sit up.”

You groaned, pushing yourself away from the comforting warmth of your mattress, the heat tempting you to flop back down... but you managed, the blankets falling off of your shoulders.

“We need to have a serious discussion about your... lack of effort.”

Your heart and your eyes burned at his words, your face going pale. Luckily, your cheeks still felt dry, but you trembled as you spoke.

“I’m... sorry. I know I haven’t been trying as hard as I could have.” You fall silent, not able to say much more.

“Then why aren’t you making more of an effort?” He paused, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Really, MC. I don’t want you to be unprepared for your midterms, but it seems that I’m alone in that desire. You’ve barely left your room or touched your textbooks. You should study in the library instead of your room if you get distracted by the urge to sleep. I already have enough trouble trying to get my brothers to pay attention. I don’t want to have to worry about you as well.”

“I’m...”

“I don’t want you to apologize again, I want you to work harder. I’m very disappointed in you.”

You were already zoning out again, but that final comment was the nail in your coffin. Your grip on reality finally snapping as your eyes lost focus, your mind drifted off to a dark place from your past, and before you could understand what was happening, you could no longer sense Lucifer or your current surroundings, only the cruel words from others you loathed to remember-- the ones you couldn’t help but remember:

“You’re such a useless, clumsy moron! This is why nobody wants to be around you!”

“I wish you would just die.”

“Why can’t you pay attention to anything? Is your brain broken or something? Nobody likes broken people.”

“You disgust me. You make me want to hit you. Do you want that?! Do you want me to hurt you?!”

But the worst echoed in your head over, and over, and over again.

“I’m disappointed in you. I can’t believe I made the mistake of thinking you were better than that.”

Your lip trembled as you finally managed to speak, in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

“P-please... st...stop...”

Lucifer rambled for awhile, mostly giving you advice on how you could improve in your studies, but he finally paused when he heard you whimper. He came closer, but you didn’t react to his towering presence. Your eyes looked wild and unfocused, and he cleared his throat.

“Excuse me? I didn’t hear what you said.”

You didn’t respond, still caught up in the painful memories.

“MC? Are you paying attention?”

Still nothing. And that’s when he saw it-- your skin losing its normal healthy hue, looking slightly grey and your quivering fingertips digging into your biceps.

“Oh... what have I done?”

Lucifer’s mind screamed at him to do something, anything, berated him for being so harsh to you. He knew you had a history with abuse before you came to the Devildom; he took you to one of the counselors at RAD when you experienced a similar flashback before. What he failed to notice was how on-edge you had been the whole week.

And oh, he could understand. The harsh environment that his ‘Father’ provided him, the pressure to be heaven’s perfect angel... he had experienced similar, though not quite the same. But he often fell back into old habits, pressuring everyone else to be perfect as well so that they wouldn’t be punished, even if there was no risk of that here.

Finally making himself focus on the situation at hand, he tried to remember what humans needed to ground themselves. Since you couldn’t see or hear him, he’d need something you could touch, or possibly smell. He took his cloak from his shoulders and draped it over yours, placing some of the soft, velvety fabric over your fingers and letting the fur collar tickle your cheek. The spicy scent from his cologne drifted over your nose, and you could feel the comforting, warm weight against you.

You blinked. And for a second that seemed to last an hour, you stared blankly ahead, finally getting a grasp of your surroundings before your gaze drifted down to Lucifer, who knelt at your bedside. His hand clasped around your thigh to steady you in case you were dizzy.

“I...” you began, but he cut you off.

“Please, do not apologize,” he said, “I am the one who is sorry. I was the one who was not paying attention... to you, or anything else. I was... worried that you would fail, and irrational as it may be to fear that, I was afraid you would get hurt if you did. I should not have been so harsh.”

Your eyes finally filled with tears, and you sobbed. Lucifer pushed himself onto your bed, holding you tightly in his arms.

“I-I just... I was doing the best I could, but I can’t focus and I-I... everyone is too busy, and I can’t talk to anyone! A-a-and then you said you were disappointed... Do you hate me?” you cried, clinging to him and soaking his shirt with tears and snot.

He ignored the mess and gently stroked your hair, cuddling you against him.

“Of course I don’t hate you, and I’ll tell you that as many times as you need to hear it. I could never hate someone that I love, no... someone I adore so much. My heart belongs to you, as yours does to me.” He placed a sweet kiss to the top of your head, trying to stifle his own tears. He had really hurt you, hadn’t he? And yet, you were the one worrying if he hated you... “I am sorry. I love you so much. I will try to spend more time with you if you are lonely, and perhaps I can help you if you cannot focus on your studies. We could review together, if you would like.”

You nod, too teary and shaky to form words as you snuggle against him. You both stay like that for a long time, tangled around each other in your bed, before you spent the rest of the night in his room, listening to music together and relaxing while he stroked and kissed you.

Tomorrow, he would help you get caught up on your studies, but tonight, he cared about nothing but showing you how much he loved you, even if people in your life before you came to the Devildom failed to do so.

#obey me #obey me imagines #lucifer obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me: one master to rule them all #spice writes #imagines

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modern-inheritance · 3 years

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I don’t really know where I’m going with this but do you have any Oromis/Morzan headcanons? Before or during the fall, or Oromis’ feelings towards Morzan afterwards?

I have a few! More than a few apparently, I'm just finishing this up and uh...yeah that got longer than I thought!

I’m going to do my best to leave Glaedr and Morzan’s dragon out of these because while they’re large parts of each other's lives and even maybe personalities considering how deeply bonded Riders and their dragons can be, I want to be sure I’m keeping the characters separate. Kinda like how you shouldn’t constantly group identical twins together as a single entity, ya know?

Alright let's start off with Morzan. Time for some backstory!

Modern Inheritance!Morzan

Morzan was born into a family of low level nobles. By the time Morzan was about six or seven though, the family had fallen out of favor and was struggling to keep up appearances, spending money they didn’t necessarily have on lavish items and acting increasingly narcissistic in a desperate attempt to hold onto the standing and power they once had.

Morzan probably started showing antisocial behavior around this time, mainly impulsive petty theft, inserting himself in dangerous situations, and manipulation through charm with adults and intimidation and violence with other children. Due to his family’s last shreds of political strength and their long time in the area, most of these incidents were swept under the rug or outright ignored by his family. This generally left a very angry, disgusted-with-others, burgeoning narcissistic young Morzan to his own devices.

When Morzan was chosen by his dragon, his parents were quietly glad that he wouldn’t be their responsibility anymore. They didn’t disclose any of his troubling behaviors and Morzan was quick to understand that he would need to tamp the more obvious ones down and manipulate others into hiding his transgressions.

Despite all this, Morzan and his dragon do deeply care for each other. Due to Morzan’s mind linking with the hatchling, there was a sort of evening out of his behaviors as some were ‘shared’ do the hatchling and some of the hatchling’s personality was ‘shared’ with Morzan. This is what helped Morzan fly under the radar for so much longer until his eventual betrayal.

On a lighter note, Morzan shot up like a weed when he hit puberty, once growing nearly five inches (~12.7 cm) over the span of a year. It took a year or so for his muscles to visibly bulk up, so he was this tall gangly teenager for a while. His clothes constantly needed altering.

Initially Morzan doesn’t really know what to think of Oromis and Glaedr. His family was always distracted from giving him the attention and nurturing he needed, and suddenly he has not only this baby dragon who he can share his frustrations and emotions with but also parental figures.

Eventually he warmed up to them, but more in the sense that he became attached to their attention and the praise he got when he did well in magic and other lessons. He didn’t showboat as much, but would push himself to get more compliments, praise and attention from Oromis. Oromis saw this more as Morzan taking his training seriously. There were a few instances of Morzan and his dragon being pointed out as instigators of some scuffles or small acts of possible, unproven acts of sabotage harming or tripping up other Riders-in-training, but these were generally believed to be accidents or bad luck.

Morzan’s bullying and belittling of Brom was the result of Morzan feeling like his unfettered access to Oromis and Glaedr’s attention was being threatened. He knew he couldn’t get away with physically injuring Brom and Saphira I, so his physical actions never really went past ‘accidental’ full force hits in sparring and roughhousing. If Brom got praise or compliments from Oromis, Morzan would seethe quietly, eventually exploding in rage at some later point after it built up. Again, Oromis merely thought this was just adolescent growing pains.

Wooo! That is getting LONG, eh? I’ve got more, but for now I’m going to move on to Oromis and his feelings around Morzan’s betrayal and link you to whatever extra stuff I add later. I’m really unsure about the timeline of when Morzan betrayed the Riders and when it was known that he had, so I’m mostly going to skip that chunk. Let's go!

Modern Inheritance!Oromis

Even without 100% knowing/being sure of Morzan’s betrayal, I think there was a whirlwind of confusion and general chaos when Galbatorix murdered Shurikan’s original Rider. Who was a child. A Rider had murdered a child Rider and while everyone knew Galbatorix was unstable I don’t think anyone would have expected that. Oromis was swept up in all this and didn’t have time to really ask where Morzan was. I mean, Morzan was a grown man at that point and well beyond Oromis’s control.

Morzan’s involvement was probably confirmed without a doubt at the initial attack on Ilirea, and Oromis and Glaedr didn’t have time to process this until after their brief capture.

Oromis felt some really strong guilt. That’s putting it bluntly. Let’s expand it, shall we?

First off, I think Oromis felt some guilt over not being able to help in the sort of final big battle at Ilirea. He was previously quite powerful since he was on the council that refused Galbatorix a new dragon (that’s a whole other topic to look at later on btw), and despite his age and wisdom I think it’s safe to assume that any sudden event causing massive life changes can be pretty shocking. Oromis felt powerless and after the deaths that occured in Galbatorix’s initial attack with the Forsworn on the Riders, I think he knew that there would be more. And all he and Glaedr could do was hide in Ellesméra and tend to their wounds and new maladies.

As they healed I’m pretty sure Oromis spent a lot of time thinking ‘how could I have stopped this?’ Hindsight is...well, whatever-elves-have/20, and Oromis would have put all the signs together that were telling him that there was something off about Morzan from the start. He probably thought subconsciously that he was fixing Morzan and didn’t want to acknowledge just how dangerous that little 10 year old boy and scrawny hatchling he had met all those years ago had become as he grew. There was also a lot of guilt post-Ilirea’s final fall around not protecting Brom from Morzan enough, and feeling like a lot of Brom’s pain was Oromis’s own fault because of this.

Oh man, Oromis also has heaps of survivors guilt about the Riders that, while he does work through it and focuses on extending his life to train the next Rider, never really fades completely. He understands that he could not fight in his condition, but there’s always the nagging ‘what if’ questions that can rear up unexpectedly.

Once he learns of Murtagh and Thorn and their forced fealty to Galbatorix, I think Oromis’s guilt probably pushed him over to definitely join the fight at Gil’ead. It’s likely that he feels that if he had separated Brom and Morzan, had taken the signs of Morzan’s growing antisocial disorder seriously and gotten him proper help, and hadn’t been so blind during the Golden Age, then in some strange way he may have prevented everything from happening. Morzan wouldn’t have let Galbatorix into Ilirea, Shruikan wouldn’t have been stolen, the Forsworn wouldn’t have been influenced by Galbatorix and Morzan (who used his manipulative charm to sway some), and it all comes to, in the end, Murtagh and Thorn, both relatively innocent in this and dragged in only due to parentage and some situations which they have no control over, would have never been forced through torture and cruelty to join Galbatorix and fight people they once saw as friends and family.

Overall I think Oromis, while having processed/processing and come to terms with the Riders Fall and the hand he inadvertently had in it due to his connection to and, in some ways, his failures surrounding Morzan, he still carries this deep feeling of guilt. He doesn’t let it simply sit there though, as he pushes himself to be able to train the next generation, but it’s always there.

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH okay that’s what I’ve got for now. Holy shit that’s a lot of bulletpoints, huh?

I spent some time researching antisocial behavior and Antisocial Personality Disorder, but per usual I want to state that I am by no means an expert, and the behaviors and traits portrayed here are not the only results, symptoms, or scenarios that can occur when someone has antisocial behavior or ASPD. Mental health is a difficult subject to write about, especially when I have no personal or second hand experience with the specifics, and I’m always open to educating myself on these topics. I am doing my best to learn so that I don’t stereotype or offend. If there are comments/concerns/critique please please don’t ever feel bad about messaging me privately, via the comments, via reblog, or through the ask box point out what I got wrong or if you simply want to share your experiences or concerns.

I’ll probably have more Morzan specific backstory and ideas later on, but for now I need to make some dinner and get to work on the other ask. Cheers!

Thank you again to @siriusly-misunderstood-creatures for the ask! I always appreciate asks and comments, they make my brain work!!

#modern inheritance #modern inheritance cycle #inheritance cycle #the cyclists #eragon #brom #morzan #oromis #modern inheritance ask #modern inheritance asks #modern inheritance lore #glaedr #morzan's dragon

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jrueships · 2 years

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WOOO asks are back 🥳 anyways elaborate on you already writing Green and Gup stuck in an elevator???

YEAAAAAA BABY WE R B A C K 🦔‼️‼️‼️‼️ 🤼‍♂️ la la laaaaa ! 🤼‍♂️ 🤼‍♂️ 🤼‍♂️

Glad we fixed it YES i don’t know what i would have done without hearing from da gays 😭 speaking of da gays... let’s get right to it 🤧‼️

OKAY SO it was inspired from that one beavis and butthead episode where they were stuck in an elevator with this one lady and they kept trying to impress her until she got so annoyed she ended up like. Climbing out and dying because she hated them so much. Honestly me too. # girlboss. BUT ANYWAYS.

The basic plot is:

josh and Jalen spent all of yesterday at a big wild party. Cue them waking up in weird positions they can't explain and having to help each other get dressed and ready to leave because they Actually have an important meeting to attend to today that they TOTALLY forgot about. Something about the rockets who Knows! A shared commercial together maybe? Either way, being late would be unprofessional, and yea while they Are famous athletes which apparently makes their lives matter more than everyone else's, they're also kinda New to the business so they can't rely on their power and influence yet. Their phones are dead or almost dead and they're hurrying over to the building.

They both know little pieces from the party, but different things. Like Josh can recall jalen ditching him for some hunnies and jalen can recall Josh hanging out with some older woman that he didn't wanna get between. But also Josh was kinda shooting him glaring looks here and there... Either way, things are a Little tense.

They race into a skyscraper building with a Lot of floors, running into the elevator and jamming the button to one of the highest floors. But a woman is running after to Also get in the elevator, so jalen, being the gentleman he is, keeps the doors from closing and let's her in. He starts talking to her a little sweetly, just being a nice person in general. But that's the thing.. he's only talking to Her, not Josh. It'd be FINE if it was in a big room where Josh could find anyone Else to talk to then maybe try rubbing his new 'friendship' in jalen's face, but he CAN'T. So it just feels like a repeat from the party. The longer jalen and the woman talk, the more impatient josh gets.

He starts getting a little mean, button into the conversations or tells jalen an inside joke, anything to get his attention. Starts 'subtly' showing his hatred for this woman in the elevator. BUT.. he's not Really a 'hateful' guy. Just easily jealous and acts up without attention. So he TRIES to be like ' idek why I'm being so rude to this lady, like she's just minding her own business...' internally, but externally whenever he tries to apologize, Jalen keeps interrupting him to keep things light. And the cycle continues . Josh KNOWS he's being mean and doesn't Mean to be, but he won't like? Acknowledge why he's being mean in the first place: attention. Constantly tries to convince himself to hate this random stranger, but just can't Get himself to fully without feeling bad.

But he Has to pass the time Somehow, make himself look Busy, like he isn't the third Wheel here. His phone is on low battery, thank God because looking at the weather app and pretending it's someone texting you was getting kinda sad, so he has to do Something. He makes comments about 'man, doesn't this elevator feel Slow to anyone else, or is it just ME?' or 'ughhhh no one CARES about NAILS' or 'naw i swear it's taking like 50 years just to move up one floor bro.' Jalen just ignores him to be polite and that only makes Josh more mad, so it's like a constant input output of Annoyance.

EVENTUALLY tho... girl finally gets out the elevator and escapes from Josh bullying her LMAO and Josh is like 'thank God lol'. Jalen is smiling and waving bye at her all '😁 have a nice daay!! hopefully we can see each other soon! Thanks for giving me your instaa 😇😇🥰🥰😍 !!' But as soon as those doors close he turns around and is like. ' what was That about bro. ' the elevator starts moving up again as they argue.

Jalen moves closer to Josh in his lil corner and They str8 man banter smthin like 'why you actin like such a FEMALE bro.' ' how you callin ME female when YOURE the one wearing Nail Polish right now ? butterfly tattoo 🤚🙄' ' okay shortshorts.' ' YOU WEAR THEM TOO??? because of M E ??'

Jalen thinks Josh was trying to win the girl over instead or smthin, but he's not like.. mad about Josh tryna 'compete' with him, but the fact that he was so mean with it. Jalen doesn't fuck with that pulling on ponytails type shit. Josh goes with it because even HE doesn't really know WHY he was so mean... they argue etcetc. Things get heated, they step close to each other, and then the elevator stops moving.

ANYWAYS SO HERES A few SNIPPETS from the draft. Mainly just pre elevator stuck stuff. When it starts talkin about density is where I took a screenshot from another place in the story so if it doesn't make sense that's why 😍

BUT YEAH SO BASICALLY DURING THE ELEVATOR GETTING STUCK they get even MORE mad but slightly panicked. Gup is calling jalen hypnotized by the hooch for wasting the last of his phone battery getting that girls snap and Jalen is calling Josh thirsty. Eventually things get personal when jalen brings up Josh's love for Mature mature women and blahblah eventually josh says enough for jalen to realize 'oh my god. He's just being a clingy bitch. He didn't WANT the girl, he just wanted ME.' but it's not like. Romantic realization, though (Because it's a very toxic thought process btw communication is key yall!!!). Things get a little awkward. They try escaping the elevator. Josh tries using his curious George episode knowledge where they got stuck in an elevator once. They already signaled the fire department. It's just chaos basically. Eventually they give up and lay on the floor waiting for someone to come. Vague worry starts creeping in, Josh reminds Jalen how high up they are right now. . . panic sets.

Overtime in the elevator they start Slowly making up over their desire to get outta there. There's a heavy moment where jalen shifts away, hides his face, and starts curling up in worry. He's stressing about being late to the meeting and the people being mad. While GUP is like '???? Jalen we could literally DIE????? i think once we make it out, they'll be understanding, dude.' SO u know.. mandatory comfort... maybe gup cuddles jalen while they lay on the floor. They talk things out...

NOT A FULL CONFESSION THO... i think they Def the type who needs Time. More like... u know... best friends who kiss sometimes <3! In times of NEED!! this won't solve Everything and Def will cause some problems later on but like. Not everything can be a complete happy ending! Some things have to end ambigious for now until they're more ready...

EVENTUALLY they hear the fire department coming so the separate and recollect their manly Musks. Straightening clothes, puffing out chests. Who had an emotional breakdown in an elevator ? not THESE guys!!

but then gup remembers elevators have cameras.

#josh maybe tries convincing jalen to pry open the elevator doors and jumping down to the floor under them like life works like that #'like Whats Up daaanger #spiderman into the er #jalen actually contemplates it for a little while #best friends who are actually very smart until they get with each other and short circuit their braincells #like two magnets with the same charge #repelling the braincells away #ANYWAYS writing these two is really fun but like... not #LOL #its not as hard as writing keldon and luka buts its HARD #cus josh isnt like. kyle level of brat #he just has little things that can make him upset #and then blunt truth always ends up coming out n life tumbles from there #other than that hes a very chill happy guy #and jalen is like... a Get him but i Dont GET him #manic pixie dream girl but like.. not #toxic masculinity but also Not #he feels like those kinda people who think theyre yassified but arent Really? still has traits that he doesnt realize himself #that make him not completely '🥺🥺aww baybeee awwWWWw!! ' but ppl THINK he is cus his aesthetic #IDK if what im sayin makes sense but anyways him n ja have similar vibes just different? scales?#oh yea also there was a part in the draft where the lady tries doing the 'unicorn fam' symbol w/her hands and josh is like #'YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG 😒😠😒🙄.' even tho hes not even unicornfam IDK lmao hes mean to her. shes jus livin her life n gets attacked #FOR WARNIN THIS I S N T AN 'evil woman gets in way of poor perfect YA0I couple🥺🥺😭😭‼' fic LMFAO its like.. a mock of it almost #like being needlessly rude to someone bcus ure jealous n then getting ur way cus of it is Not healthy. joshs behavior is Not good here 😭#N LIKE.. HE K N OW. S that but just cant bring himself to stop n yaddayadda u know???? anyways tho THNKS 4 ASKIN. I LOVE TALKIN ABT DRAFTS #HOPED U LIKED IT! its kinda long blurb 😭 idk how yall actually read my 500 powerpoint slides. id give up ngl #gup #green #ted asks #ted drabbles

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fletchphoenix · 4 years

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The Calm After The Storm

Hey! so this is for Varigo Week 2020! Wooo! Day 1 - Cozy / Soft

I thought ‘why not start it where it all began for me?’ so boom! A small snippet of life for the boys after the coffee shop au! Hope you all enjoy!

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Mornings like these made it difficult for Varian to want to get out of bed and leave his boyfriend for his classes. It honestly wasn’t fair how Hugo’s arms wrapped around his waist and held him in a cozy embrace as the seconds kept on ticking by the longer he waited, his breath ghosting against the back of Varian’s neck in his deep sleep. It seemed like years since they’d met in that coffee shop in the winter, christmas relentlessly edging closer each day, but he’d met Hugo and they’d spent it together in perfect bliss.

Memories of dates and almost kisses flooded his thoughts as he shuffled further back into the warmth of his boyfriend to combat the coldness of the room. They really had been through a lot, huh? His favourite date by far was the ice skating - even though it had been a horrible night, for that one moment where it was just them, it was perfect. They twirled and danced over the rink without a care in the world as Hugo guided them in their own secret routine that outsiders didn’t notice - hands holding hands and fingers intertwined.

Also when they snuck out, streetlights and christmas decorations being their only company as they laughed and joked on the way to the park where Hugo presented him with his gift - the glowing necklace. Varian’s hand slid from its place on top of Hugo’s to play with the small vial still around his neck, it illuminating with a small shake. It really was beautiful. And when they got their tattoos, his eyes travelled now from the vial to the beaker on his right wrist that Irene had done for them oh so kindly as a gift for his twentieth birthday and Hugo’s small test tube on his left wrist peeked out slightly from under the covers. Wow.

Hugo had always been there to soothe him from his nightmares too, playing with his hair and placing gentle kisses to his forehead as he attempted to calm down. Like the night before trouble came, and they’d cuddled up with hot cocoa and snacks on a makeshift bed on the sofa to watch one of his dramatic teen movies to calm down. They’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms that night, his head on Hugo’s chest and legs tangled in their slightly awkward position, but neither cared. It was them and they were happy.

And then there was his mother returning. Of course she hadn’t stayed long, but in the short time she was here, all hell broke loose between them all. Hell, he’d even broken up with Hugo! What was he even thinking? Even he himself wasn’t sure - he was just so angry and confused and betrayed, because his Hugo wouldn’t do that and he just let himself believe Ulla. He remembered the heartache on Hugo’s face as he’d screamed at him - the way he was clearly trying not to cry as he ran out of the apartment. Varian had wanted to go after him and pull him into an embrace, to kiss and wipe each one of those heart wrenching tears away, but he just couldn’t. Not with Ulla there.

But that was behind them now. All that mattered was them cuddling under the bedsheets in their room - even though Varian knew he’d have to get up soon anyway.

Varian wanted to shuffle out of Hugo’s grasp. To head out of bed while the other man was still soundly asleep and get changed and ready for college before Hugo tried to convince him to stay for the day and just call in sick, however something stopped him. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to leave today. He wanted Hugo to keep him in bed all day where they could cuddle with the bitter winds outside that seeped through due to the apartment’s shitty insulation and even worse heating units - it hardly even worked most of the time.

A groan left Varian’s lips as he turned to face his still-sleeping boyfriend, his blonde fringe barely covering the scar running through his right eyebrow and the slight tilt of his lip making it look like he was smiling in his sleep. He reached out - slowly, carefully - to push the fringe aside and tuck in behind the other’s ear. He always looked so at peace sleeping. It was adorable. He’d missed this during their break. Sighing, he pushed himself into sitting up, a slight smile creeping onto his face as his legs swung over the edge of the bed to rest on the blue carpet of his floor, a familiar heat moving behind him and wrapping his arms around his waist again.

“Yknow you could always just stay at home.” Hugo’s husky voice sounded absolutely heavenly at the moment - that alone making him want to sink back into the covers and fall into a sleep again. But no, he couldn’t just give up that easily. Not when it’s Hugo.

“Mmm...I could, couldn’t I.” he muttered, leaning back into his boyfriend who placed a kiss to his shoulder that made his stomach melt and heart soar. God, he loved Hugo so much when he was being soft and affectionate. Ruddiger bounded into his lap and curled up, purring and promptly falling asleep. Ah.

“Well, the fat bastard has decided you’re staying. So, will you relent to the Lord and Saviour Ruddiger Ruddiger’s laws or will you suffer a whole day of your son ignoring you?” Hugo questioned, and Varian could hear the smirk on his face. Sure, Nuru would probably scold him for not showing up, as would Isla and Eugene, but...with Ruddiger making his rules and Hugo being such a tempting person, how could he leave his two favourite fellas at home? That would be unjust torture!

“Alright, almighty cat lord. You’ve convinced me.” Varian relented with a grin as he flopped back into bed, Hugo moving to lay down as well and pull his boyfriend into another tight embrace as they did so. “But we’re gonna have to think of another illness to let me off. So what will it be? The flu?”

“I’m thinking something more along the lines of...I don’t want to leave my extremely attractive and loving boyfriend syndrome. Absolutely killer disease. Took the life of my friend Zander. Very tragic.” Hugo commented sleepily, his lips ghosting on the back of Varian’s neck, sending little tingles down his spine and making him shiver all over.

“Sounds like the perfect excuse.” He murmured back. “Hey Hugh..I love you.” Varian whispered as he slowly shut his eyes, Hugo merely making a small groan of agreement to Varian’s confession as they both drifted to sleep once again, deciding to neglect all their responsibility for the day and just...live in the moment.

Thank god for that coffee shop.

#varigo week 2020 #varigo #varian and the seven kingdoms #varian x hugo #varian tangled #tangled varian #hugo tangled #tangled hugo #alchemy boyfriends #varigo coffee shop au

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shnuggletea · 4 years

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More of the AWARD WINNING FANFICTION! Wooo I don't see myself getting tired of that. Thank you all for voting, reading, reviewing, and just being amazing people in general. Cause even if all you did was read, you still made my day. I write to share and to have you guys come back and say "we love what you're doing there" really makes me want to keep on. My ego is going to get so big guys, I'm not even kidding. Thank you @feudalconnection for hosting and to everyone that took the time to read, nominate, and vote!

Many of you expressed... interest in some loving between the lovely couple. This chapter has my response to that! Get ready for some heat!

Fanfiction HERE

AO3 HERE

Chapter Eleven

"So Kagome, how are things?"

Maten sat across from her, next to Inuyasha who had graced them with his presence for this meal. A rare occurrence and now Maten and his brother sat with them as well. Their table was getting so full.

"I'm fine. How are you? Your bones have healed nicely."

He chuckled and blushed slightly. Her eyes danced to Inuyasha just in time to catch him rolling his eyes. Hiten sat his elbows on the table and rubbed his hands together as if making up a master plan. "Have you been in the basement lately?"

She wasn't really sure what she was allowed to say about that, again glancing at Inuyasha who gave her a small shake of his head. "Yeah, a little."

"Naraku's going to be really gunning for you then. That prick, it's not like you have a choice." Maten growled.

"They still have you going into the basement? Why didn't you tell us, Kagome?"

Shippo's eyes were large and glistening as if saddened not to be in the loop. She quickly patted his head affectionately. "Oh, it's so… boring and gross down there. I didn't think it was a big deal."

The things one has to tell children to keep them appeased. Shippo smiled again and wagged his tail. It was so adorable, she couldn't stop herself from also giving him a fierce hug. Kagome just didn't understand why Inuyasha was frowning so deeply when she looked at him again. Miroku was grinning like the cat that got the canary. But that wasn't really anything new, he always had that face when Inuyasha was upset. A strange Ying-Yang the two of them were.

Miroku was still looking at Inuyasha out of the corner of his eye when he leaned his face onto his palm, his elbow resting on the table. "And Koga has left you alone as well, right? Since becoming my woman?"

Inuyasha cringed as did Maten. The two of them looked at one another for a silent moment but it was full of disdain as if sizing one another up. All of that was then turned onto Miroku, still grinning like a fool while two powerful demons glared down at him.

A distraction was needed big time. "So uh… do you guys celebrate Christmas in here?" That did it, all eyes on Kagome in shock before bursting into laughter. All except Shippo who, sadly, just looked confused. "A simple 'no' would suffice." She muttered.

"What's Chriksmas?"

They sobered at that, Shippo's small voice questioning made them all morose, Kagome the most. But then it made her determined, jumping up from her seat and pumping a fist up towards her chest. "I'm going to make Christmas come this year!"

"How? We all know you're 'magical' but unless you got a unicorn hidden up your ass…" Inuyasha started but then stopped and she realized it was because he was now staring at her butt.

Hopping over her chair, she only stumbled a little bit. "I have my ways! Just you wait and see!"

Storming away, she didn't stop until she was standing before the Warden's office door. She hadn't really thought up of a plan at all but Shippo's confused voice kept playing over and over in her head. Christmas was meant to be spent with loved ones. Full of joy and presents and cake and fried chicken… okay so she seriously doubted she could get all those things but it was worth a try.

The guards in the hall had barely noticed her existence so when they suddenly shifted and tensed, she noticed, only to get grabbed hard by her bicep and dragged away from the door. Even without seeing his wild, white hair, she knew who it was. Cause no one else dared to mess with her lately or as much as Inuyasha did.

"Are you NUTS?! Leave it alone, Kagome!"

"Did you see Shippo's face?!"

He stopped now that they were out of earshot of the Warden's door and the few guards nearby. "Yes. It's the same look on all the younger one's faces when you mention things like Christmas, holidays in general, or birthdays. But it ain't worth whatever the Warden is gonna ask you for in return for some shitty decorations and bullshit gifts!"

Bowing her head, she knew he was right. "It's just… not right."

"There's a lot of shit in here that ain't right, Mate."

She giggled a little, even though she was still sad. "You know, we don't share a cell anymore. We aren't cellmates so I'm not your Mate."

"Aren't you?"

Confused, she pulled her eyes from his chiseled chest to his face, finding him completely serious. They were really close, when had they gotten so close? Had they been like this since he stopped dragging her? She hadn't even noticed or cared. Inuyasha's attention was the only attention she ever wanted but it was rare and fleeting. This was the first time they had been alone since he showed her his weakness almost a month ago.

She studied his eyes, watching the golden color of them as they burned like coals in a fire. And he studied hers, dancing, twitching left and right. It wasn't until the pad of his thumb brushed her cheekbone that her heart picked up its pace, galloping inside her chest. He glanced down, right at her heart, telling her he heard it. It didn't deter or stop him, his claws gently scratching her scalp as he dug his fingers into her hair. Wearing it up, as he suggested, he couldn't get very deep. It forced him to place his paw on top of her strands, seeming irritated about it until he began rubbing the shell of her ear with his thumb.

"You are so… " He started but then stopped. "Koga isn't bothering you anymore, is he?"

With his face an inch or so from hers and his warm breath covering her skin as he spoke, the question felt so strange. Given the reason Koga left her alone was thanks to Miroku stroking her ass daily. "Y… yyeah."

"Good." For some reason, that caused him to drop his touch and step away. "Then the plan is working."

He was a foot away when two demons turned onto the hall they had been sharing, looking over the shell shocked Kagome with little interest and continuing on their way. Inuyasha kept on, not looking back with his hands shoved in his pockets. But she swore she saw him shaking.

oOo

Inuyasha was right, she couldn't go to the Warden for something as silly as Christmas decorations. But she could make some gifts.

No one took note of the silly White as she carefully scoured the yard, the early, cold December air not keeping anyone from their time in the open. She was pretty sure Demons weren't bothered by things like temperature. Kagome had to keep moving or freeze to death, which helped with her cover as she looked for anything worthwhile around the yard, the infirmary, even the shitty 'crafts' room that had more cobwebs than a haunted house. She was pretty sure there were some ghosts inside it too.

The few that looked her way didn't seem to care or find it strange that the yard was littered with teeth. It had freaked her out at first but since no one showed any interest when she picked a few up, Kagome had to assume they were shed naturally or something. They weren't very large, not much longer than the Kanine from a human's mouth. Most showed how little dental hygiene was taken seriously, the teeth porous and decayed straight through in places. But being a demon tooth, they all had survived past some damage and were strong as well as pearly white.

Using the odd things she found around; teeth, beads, pretty rocks, and surgical thread, Kagome felt pretty good about her offerings. They weren't anything special but they were better than nothing!

The 'craft' room also had a few scraps of pretty paper she used to wrap her gifts as well as make a handful of paper cranes. Which gave her an idea.

There were far too many children in the place but she was able to gather them all up. One of the benefits of being 'the doctor' she knew all of them when she made them come for a check-up. A few were still angry for the shots she gave them but they needed to be immunized with the runes making them susceptible to disease. The ones that had been inside since before they could remember, or who had an adult to ask for them, got shots. None of them had a parent in here with them and shivered at the thought.

Luckily, there weren't too many otherwise Kagome wouldn't have gotten approval for the drugs. And she would have probably gone into a depressed spiral if there were a lot of children who had never seen the 'outside' before.

She didn't dare think about the ones that weren't lucky enough to make it into this prison, taken by Shikon instead.

Now, surrounded by blue, their eyes were rapt with fascination as she taught them how to make paper cranes. Bright colored paper that matched their bright hair or eyes or skin. One little girl had pretty dark pink skin with beautiful golden hair. The 'craft' room was nearly overflowing with origami paper and she had to assume they used to use it as some kind of therapy for the more violent inmates.

Even with a few funky, Kagome and the children made long strands of cranes that they ran around to hang anywhere they could. If they didn't get ripped down by a Guard or pissy Demon, then she hoped the decorations would stay up year-round.

They really brightened up the place.

Down to her last strand, she slowly approached Inuyasha's cell, everyone stuck inside thanks to the rain outside. He sat on his bed, as usual, book in his hands. She crept up but she knew he was aware of her, his ears flipping back and dipping to his skull. She had to assume he did that to try and hide the small twitch they did, which he failed, the tips dancing ever so slightly as she carefully made it to the open bars.

Taking her eyes off him for a second, she got up on her toes and tied the bright, rainbow-colored strand to the top of his cell bars, making sure to knot it tight for when the door closed later that night.

When she fell back to her heels, there was no shock that his eyes were on her. She had felt them go to her as soon as she tipped up on her toes. They were wide and quivering. "Merry Christmas, Inuyasha."

Amber orbs shot back to the cranes then pushed back to his book. He said nothing and again she wasn't shocked. Nor offended. In the last eight months, she had learned how Inuyasha worked. And she knew exactly how he felt when he said nothing.

He was happy. And that terrified him.

oOo

It was interesting, now that Kagura had a small bump, how the crowds parted for her. It was as if the other Demons were enamored, the life that grew inside Kagura more than just a baby demon. Kagome could see it in their eyes as Kagura passed.

The baby was treasured.

And not just by its parents, Sesshomaru never showed emotion except when around Kagura now. It melted Kagome's heart, watching as Sess protected Kagura from zero threats, sat her down, and either made her eat or comforted her in some manner. Today, it was to rub her shoulders, sitting her in his lap while the others gossiped around the picnic table.

Using her shirt, Kagome had all the gifts she's made tossed into the 'bowl' she created. It made the frigid air waft up her belly and ribs so she was trying to hurry, tossing the crudely wrapped presents to all those who sat at the table. Kagome was glad the creepy teenager had stopped hanging out with Kagura's group, she didn't make her a gift.

It was seconds later that Jakotsu, Kanna, Kagura, and even Sesshomaru were holding up the strands that held one demon tooth and a few pretty beads around it.

"Oooooooh no one has given me jewelry before! Does it usually look this… dull?" Jakotsu wined but Kagome expected that.

Sesshomaru ignored the noise, looked sternly up at her, but that was how he always looked. "This is truly an amazing gift. I'm surprised you could pull this off in here."

He didn't say any more, putting his on quickly and fixing Kagura's on. The other two looked confused but given Sesshomaru's eagerness, they followed suit.

Crossing the yard, she gave Miroku, Shippo, Maten, and Hiten theirs. She put three teeth on Shippos just in case. The rest of the Demons didn't give a care, not receiving a gift. Which was why she felt the fire on the back of her neck, glancing behind to find Koga glowering at her. He couldn't seriously think she would give him anything after all he did to her and her friends?

Inuyasha was nowhere in sight, a usual occurrence as of late, but she wasn't going to give him his gift in public anyway. She understood his angry distance but that didn't mean she wanted his cruelty when she handed him the gift she worked hard on for weeks. Even if it was faked.

He would be stopping by the infirmary in a couple of days anyway, new moon and all.

After they put them on, Kagome insisted they all put the necklace under their shirts. She didn't know who in here knew the significance but if anyone knew it could spell trouble. Sesshomaru already had his crew hide them but not take them off. So he clearly understood and knew the value. He was an old Demon, that much was obvious. Kagome had no clue how many were as old as him in the prison. Or if the Warden was knowledgeable.

More than a gift, her presents were worth the risk in her mind. Especially if they worked as she hoped they did.

oOo

The hot shower had made her finger burn, getting so cold outside from handing out her presents it was a wonder she didn't get frostbite. As much as she hated the idea, Kagome was pretty sure she'd have to wait until Spring before she could go outside again.

It was still a few days away from Christmas but she knew she was going to freeze, going around handing them out. Freetime was her only chance and with everyone still heading outside, she hadn't had a choice. So she timed it with her shower day, planning to warm up immediately after.

Only getting the luxury three times a week, Kagome shared the shower with many other demons. Kanna stood next to her and Kagura was on the other side. The two didn't take as long as she did tonight, enjoying the steaming water more than usual. It warmed her all the way down to her shaking bones.

"I'm exhausted," Kagura moaned, looking over at Kagome, "you okay if I head out first?"

Kagome had no fears. "Of course! I'll see you tomorrow."

A few moments later and Kanna shut off her stream and wrapped a towel around herself. "I'm off," was all the quiet girl said and it was more than usual.

A female guard stood ideal, bored, while the rest either wrapped a little white towel around themselves tight or just walked around nude. Kagome was the former, covering her body from even female eyes but also caging in the residual warmth of the water on her heated skin. A few laughed oddly as they passed her, dressed again and out the door. It was weird, she was completely alone. Even the guard had left already but Kagome wasn't the one they needed to guard. All those that were in need of watch had left already.

She opened her locker and blinked a few times. Then quickly opened the one next to it. And the next. And then next. But they were all empty.

Her clothes were gone.

No one had gone out in White scrubs, she would have noticed that. Someone took them and did something with them. What, she didn't know but in her freaked out haze, she started searching all over the showers and in the lockers. But her clothes or the clothes of anyone else weren't there.

All she had was her towel.

The keys to the infirmary had been in her pocket so they were also missing. As much as she trusted running around all the other demons in a towel, she trusted the guards even less. They would probably take her infirmary keys away for good. Or make her do something terrible to get them to unlock the door. All of her clothes were in there as well. Kagome was well and screwed.

There was really only one choice and she wasn't sure it was all that good. Going to the door, she took a deep breath and the handle in her hand. Then she pulled with all her might and darted out. Not stopping, not even to look at the guards, Kagome moved as fast as her human legs would take her. It didn't help that she was wet and on her bare feet, it made cutting corners difficult as she slipped around on the tile floor. All the warmth she had gained from her shower was wasted, the jail not that warm to begin with and now she was running through it with nothing to speak of on her body.

She passed Demons, all stopping short of what they were doing to look at her. They were shocked. So was she, but she didn't stop. Especially when a few turned from what they were doing and started to follow her. She took a quick and panicked glance behind herself to see a handful of men creeping behind her. With their speed, they could easily catch her, they were just enjoying the chase.

Skidding around the last corner, she pushed her lungs and legs to their limit, grabbing the bars of the cell to swing herself inside. Inuyasha jumped upright and then to his feet, his book falling to the floor. "What the fuck?!"

"Clothes….stolen….shower…..no keys….." She panted.

Kagome wasn't sure Inuyasha could understand or if he was even listening, his eyes glazed over as he stared up and down her body. He shook his head hard and then shuffled towards the cell door. "And you came here?"

"Where else...could I go….?"

"I don't know, Kanna? Kagura? One of your female friends?! Hell, even Jakostu would have been safer!"

She honestly hadn't even considered it. Partly because she didn't know where their cells were other than on the other side of the prison from the showers. But mostly because Inuyasha was the one she trusted most.

Kagome tried to think of a reply, planning on just being honest when the gaggle of men following her appeared at the door. Inuyasha was the only thing between them and her and Kagome suddenly regretted coming here. It put Inuyasha at great risk.

Standing tall, he didn't hesitate to face the crowd, holding his head up high. He only moved if one of them tried to look around him to her, shifting his weight to keep her blocked from sight as much as possible. She stood still, frozen with worry and fear for her 'Mate' as he stood up for her in a very public manner.

"We saw her first." One growled.

"Doesn't fucking matter, cause I got her first," Inuyasha growled back.

Kagome felt like meat, the first time truly understanding how precarious her well being was here. All it took was some missing clothes and she was up for grabs. It was sickening and terrifying all at once.

A different one chuckled, "Then you should hand her over when you're done."

"Sharing is caring," another one mocked.

Stepping back, Inuyasha grabbed his cell door and slammed it shut in an impressive show of strength. It wobbled a little from the abuse, even with the runes in place, Inuyasha made thick iron shudder from his strength.

The group got the message and backed up. But stayed in eyesight, watching. It made her skin crawl.

Inuyasha stepped up to her, towering over Kagome and she simply looked up. Maybe he expected her to back up or cower but she had absolutely no fear of him even as his eyes glowed red in the dim room. Without saying a word, he pulled off his shirt and handed it to her. Kagome tried to take it without fumbling but Inuyasha's naked chest was before her. So close she could feel the heat of his skin on her arms and cheeks.

And he definitely had the body to support his show of strength.

"Put that on and get in the bed." She nodded, carefully getting her arms and head in while dodging the tucked end of her towel when she pulled it over her torso. "Under the sheets and don't come out."

She had the wet towel off and on the floor when she tiptoed to the bed. Inuyasha growled and took deep breaths behind her before she ducked under the sheet as ordered. When she rolled over to look at him, his eyes were still red and on her. He soon turned and stood by the door instead.

Watching his back, she was happy his hair was up on top of his head because his taut muscles were rolling with tension. It made her warm all over. But not enough, the cold bleeding through the walls. Kagome was cold on a regular evening with all her clothes on. Tonight, she was freezing.

It wasn't long until her shivering body had Inuyasha's attention again. "Goddammit." He fussed before turning on his heel and climbing into the bed next to her. "Face the wall!"

She had been watching him, unable to take her eyes off of him. At his harsh tone, she turned and looked at the white-painted cinder blocks instead. As soon as she settled, Inuyasha's arms surrounded her. There was no control, her body so cold she snuggled as deep as possible into his hold.

The lights went out and she knew the rabble after her was long gone. Warm and relaxed, she took in her situation completely. Inuyasha had one arm under her head between the gap of her neck and the mattress. The other hand rested on her belly, splayed fingers making it cover her from her belly button to her ribs. And she was naked, nothing other than Inuyasha's shirt on her skin. The shirt that he never replaced with another, his bare arms and chest pressing into her. It had their arms skin against skin.

All that and she felt nothing but safe, cocooned in the only person she truly and deeply trusted enough to be like this with. And Kagome didn't just mean inside the prison. Inuyasha was easily the only man she trusted in the world.

But he was still tense and she could tell it was more than just the situation that had him upset. She was about to ask, wiggling a little to get more comfortable when he whispered hard in her ear. "Be still!"

Stopping any and all movements, he sighed heavily and dropped a little of his anger. It probably wasn't going to get any better than this. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I know I put you at risk…"

"You're damn right you did. Why the hell did you come here?!"

"Because I…" she hesitated, not sure how he would take what she felt but he had to know it already, "I trust you."

His hold tightened, pressing her harder into his hard body. "I'm still a man dammit." She was very aware of that fact, feeling his manhood press into her backside currently. A very large manhood at that. "Of all the crazy stunts… this has to be the most emasculating thing anyone has ever done to me. You trust me? Great. Do you even see me as a man or just a fucking demon? Cause either one could and wants to do very bad things to you right now and I'm struggling to keep from doing all of it."

A shiver ran up her spine and she was anything but cold. Not with his body pressed to hers and his so-called threats in her ear. "I do think of you as a man…" He scoffed, making her bounce so he then groaned. "I do! Just because I trust you doesn't change that fact…"

"You are naive and stupid, Wench. You shouldn't trust anyone this much!"

Looking down, her human eyes could just make out the shape of his hand as it rested on her stomach. The muscles flexed and jumped with the tiny movements he made, trying to control himself. This was why she trusted him because she knew he wouldn't do a damn thing to her. And even if he did….

"I came to you because I trust you but also… because anything you could do to me would be… wanted."

It took him a second, either out of shock or confusion, but soon the hand on her belly fisted, taking fabric in with it. His claws scratched but didn't break her skin, once again showing the amount of control he possessed.

His head fell to the back of hers hard, pushing and nuzzling at the same time as he cleared away her damp hair and pressed his lips heavily to the back of her neck. She grabbed his hand, squeezing it just as tight as it gripped his shirt on her. A small shift and he had a hand on her shoulder, wrapped around from under her neck, holding her still against him as he continued to layer her neck with kisses. Each was slow and thick, coating her skin with warm wetness. Kagome closed her eyes to it, her spine shaking along with her heart.

Inuyasha made his way back up her neck, his mouth pressing to her lobe and pushing out a hard shiver from her. "This isn't… this isn't what I want for you and me… for us."

She didn't understand but then she did. Releasing her hold on his hand, she waited for him to let her go in return. "I understand."

The hand on her shoulder squeezed hard. "Do you? This is fucked up. So fucked up Kagome! Meeting you like this? When we aren't terrified of one another, we're terrified of what will be done to us!"

"How else would we have ever found one another? I don't believe in fairy tales. I'm not some little girl looking for an asshole on a white horse. I can take care of myself in any situation and I never needed you, Inuyasha…."

"I know that…"

"But I want you." He was silent, and his grip was unchanging. "I want you… as a friend and as more… as someone dear to me. You're a good person, Inuyasha and you deserve more than this life."

Shifting so quickly, she was breathless when Kagome found herself on her back, Inuyasha holding himself over her and his glowing red orbs piercing her. "Why are you saying this?! What are you going to do?!"

She hadn't meant to give herself away but as the days to Kagura's due date slipped away, she was running out of options. Kagome would have no choice if Inuyasha found out beforehand, he would take any means necessary to stop her.

So she reached up, cupping his cheek and he leaned into it, closing his eyes tight. "Nothing. I just think you need to hear it."

He fell back beside her, pulling her in tight to his side again with a heavy sigh. "I should get a Sainthood after this or something."

"You get Sainted after death. How about Knighthood instead?"

He chuckled, pressed a kiss to her temple, and she used his arm and chest as her pillow for the rest of the night. Because, even though friends, it would likely be the only night they had like this ever.

#inuyasha #inuyasha fanfiction #inuyasha fandom #inuyasha x kagome #prison AU #sharing one bed #some heat #award winner #faulkner writing #shnuggletea

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camillemontespan · 4 years

Text

ten years from now [AU. drake walker x camille montespan] [part one: sun cream and peaches]

I’ve missed writing a Drake x Camille focused series! I was hit with inspiration and had to get this down. While I was in Japan, I spent an hour each morning writing this while having coffee and demolishing chocolate bread. As a result, this got quite long. As this chapter is setting things up, I guess it has to be long but I still apologise.

On a personal note, I realised while writing this that it has actually been ten years since I broke up with my previous boyfriend so I met one summer and really fell for. Maybe it was on my mind subconsciously? We ended with no closure. I actually ended up meeting him again three years after - let’s say it was a weird experience. What happens in this chapter is inspired by that.

ALSO, @burnsoslow has a series coming out soon that is similar in terms of Drake & MC meeting again. We have messaged each other recently, panicking that it looks like we’re copying each other, but I must stress that we are absolutely not. It happens when everyone gets similar ideas. Burnsy, I’m excited to read your new series!

Taggin’ those who like Cake: @ibldw-main @moonlightgem7 @jovialyouthmusic @pug-bitch @emichelle @loveellamae @mskaneko @sirbeepsalot @katedrakeohd @dcbbw @argylemnwrites @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @simplymissjulia @kingliam2019 @saivilo @rainbowsinthestorm @gardeningourmet @walkerswhiskeygirl @drakesensworld @pedudley

Let me know if you want removed from the tag list or if you want to be added :)

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

Their feet were tangled together as they lay side by side on the jetty. The sun was setting low in the sky, casting a golden glow over their skin. The scent of sun cream and peaches bloomed in the warm air.

‘Drake, stop tickling me!’ Camille squealed, giggling and snorting as Drake’s fingers tickled her ribs.

'No way, Montespan,’ Drake teased. 'Not while you’re snorting like that!’

Camille snorted again, making the two of them descend into giggles.

They had been best friends since they were toddlers. But lately, they had gotten closer, more intimate as the summer began to fade, making way for fall. Maybe it was the thought that soon they would be separated that had made Drake and Camille progress their friendship to one that involved kissing and holding hands. They were no longer just best friends. They had defined their relationship.

Camille was due to start Brown in September while Drake was going to Berkley. They had a whole future ahead of them, one filled with opportunity and hope. Even though they were excited, they had promised that they would Skype every day and visit each other whenever money and time allowed. This would be the first time in their 15 year friendship that they would be apart.

Right now, they were keen to soak up the last days of summer with each other. That was all they needed.

Drake rolled over to suspend his body above hers. He was starting to build muscle now after spending more time outdoors at his summer job and he looked more self assured and confident - Camille was used to seeing him retreat into himself so to see this change in him made her feel so happy. The way he was looking at her now, with a twinkle in his eye and a confident smirk, was enough to make her body react in the most exciting way.

They hadn’t gone the whole way yet. In fact, they hadn’t actually discussed it but Camille was hopeful. She had never been with a boy before. Spending every day with Drake, watching their friendship change to something more, had been eye opening for her. She wanted him and only him. It was scary and terrifying and bewildering and delicious.

Camille reached up to graze his jaw with her hand. Drake smiled down at her and kissed her softly, making her lips tingle. She decided to take the plunge. Her hand slowly reached down to unbuckle his belt. Drake drew back and regarded her with a curious expression.

'Someone feeling feisty?’ he asked her.

Camille raised an eyebrow. 'Maybe.’

Drake chuckled. He let out a hiss as he felt her hand touch him.

'Are you sure?’ he croaked.

Drake had never been with a girl in this way. He had never had much luck with girls in the past. He could feel his heart hammering against his chest now as he realised that if Camille said yes, then that was it.

He hoped she would say yes.

Camille nodded. 'I want to do this with you,’ she whispered. 'Nobody else.’

Drake’s breath hitched. He studied her face that was so beautiful. Her brown eyes flecked with gold. Her high cheekbones and mouth with its gorgeous cupids bow. Drake knew she was going to be a gorgeous woman when she was older.

Drake leaned down to kiss her again before gently pulling away to look down at her. 'I..’

He stopped, taking a breath. Camille smiled. 'Yes?’ she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Drake turned pink but soldiered on. 'I love you,’ he finally told her, his voice shaking. 'Always have, always will.’

Camille turned pink too. 'I love you too, Drake Walker,’ she murmured.

They kissed again until Camille broke away from him.

'Promise me that we’ll still be together ten years from now,’ she said, her voice steady. 'No matter what happens at college or in the future, promise me that we’ll be together in ten years.’

Drake laughed softly. 'Are you proposing marriage to me, Montespan?’

Camille squeezed his hand. 'Drake..’ she whispered. 'Be serious.’

Drake leaned down to kiss her neck, making her gasp. His hands gripped her hips tightly.

'I promise,’ he murmured in her ear. 'Ten years from now, we’ll still be together.’

Drake meant it.

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

ten years later

'There’s a good girl. That’s it..’ Drake murmured, coaxing Lone Star to leave the stable. The apple he held in his hand acted as a way to get the horse to do his bidding. Drake managed to successfully get the horse outside so she could exercise out of the confines of the stable. Smiling, he let Lone Star munch on the apple.

He had been working since 6am. The sun was high in the sky now and his body was shiny with sweat. This was his life. Up at dawn to manage the ranch then at 9am, he would fix breakfast for him and his mom before getting back to work.

Speaking of..

Drake rushed back to the house. He found his mother sat at the kitchen table reading the paper. 'Hey mom,’ he greeted her, pressing a quick kiss on the top of her head.

Bianca smiled up at her son. 'Morning, honey. Coffee is ready for you.’

Drake grinned and poured himself a cup of coffee. 'So, bacon and eggs for breakfast?’ he asked.

'I was thinking pancakes,’ Bianca mused, turning the page of the newspaper. 'And fresh OJ.’

Drake rolled his eyes. 'You’re so demanding.’

'Can it,’ Bianca retorted. 'I’m your mother, I’m allowed to be demanding.’

She gave Drake a wink to show she was teasing. Drake smiled and sat down opposite her to drink his coffee. He looked at her paper to see she was studying the marriage announcements.

He swallowed. Drake knew Bianca had been hoping for her only son to get married and have lots of babies. All she wanted was for him to be with the girl of his dreams. But Drake hadn’t found her yet. Or maybe he had, he had just let her go without realising.

Bianca cleared her throat and pushed the newspaper towards him. Well, it was the Applewood Gazette, not exactly a broadsheet. It was a paper he didn’t read but one his mother adored because it meant she could have all the county gossip without looking like she was a gossip herself.

He noticed that she was pointing to an announcement. 'Baby..’ she whispered.

Drake frowned and took the paper. His eyes scanned the words.

'Applewood’s former resident, Camille Gabrielle Montespan, would like to announce her upcoming marriage to Mr Liam Anthony Rhys from New York. The happy couple will be visiting Applewood on 5th June to invite Camille’s friends to the wedding, which is confirmed to be being held in New York at the beautiful Metropolitan Museum of Art in three months time. Camille looks forward to seeing everyone again.’

Drake pushed down the bitter taste in his throat. Bianca’s eyes glistened. She had always loved Camille. She had really hoped that Drake and Camille would have gone the distance.

'How nice for her,’ Bianca said tightly.

Drake sipped his coffee, refusing to comment.

'Are you going to see her?’ Bianca asked, her voice slightly hopeful. 'Maybe you could invite her round for dinner? We could all catch up -’

'No, mom,’ Drake interrupted. 'We’re not friends anymore. I barely know her.’

'But-’

Drake sighed. 'I said no. Now, pancakes and OJ?’

Bianca took the paper from him and carefully folded it up. 'Sounds fabulous,’ she said, clearly disappointed.

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

Camille rushed through the foyer of her work, cursing herself for sleeping in. She hadn’t meant to. Usually, she was the first one in the office but not today. Drinks the night before with Olivia and Hana had escalated from 'a glass of wine’ to 'shots and dancing on the bar at 2am! WOOO!’

Camille had decided that she was a fucking idiot.

Camille got to her desk and switched on her computer, hoping her boss hadn’t seen that she had arrived 20 minutes late.

'Morning bitch.’

Camille looked up to see Olivia standing over her with two cups of coffee in her hands. She was looking smug.

'Here,’ Olivia said, handing her a cup. 'Made it specially for you.’

Camille took the coffee gratefully and sipped it. She eyed Olivia.

'You look fresh,’ Camille said. 'How is that fair?’

Olivia smirked. 'I don’t get hangovers. Hangovers are for weaklings.’

A small voice came from opposite Camille’s desk. 'I am not a weakling..’

Hana had her head in her hands. Camille held in laughter when she saw that Hana was also wearing huge sunglasses to hide the evidence.

'Hana Lee, you are wearing sunglasses at work,’ Olivia said. 'You may as well just run through the office screaming that you got off with the bartender last night.’

'I DID NOT GET OFF WITH THAT BARTENDER!’ Hana hissed.

Camille giggled. 'You did, Hana. We saw you.’

Hana groaned. 'I’m trying to forget my bad decision making. Stop making me remember.’

Olivia rolled her eyes and was about to speak to Camille about the 10am meeting but was interrupted by one of the admin assistants who was holding a huge bouquet of red roses.

'Um, Camille..’ the assistant said, clearly nervous to be standing next to Olivia. 'These came for you this morning.’

Camille’s eyes widened as she took the flowers. 'Oh my..’

'They’re beautiful!’ Hana cried.

'Are they from lover boy?’ Olivia asked.

Camille blushed as she read the little note attached.

'I know you’ll be feeling rough this morning. Thinking of you always and forever. Li x’

Olivia dry heaved. 'I swear, he finds any excuse to give you sickening declarations of love.’

Camille rolled her eyes and held the flowers close to her chest. Hana was up from her desk and studying the flowers with a mournful expression on her face.

'How does it feel to be loved that much?’ she asked sadly.

Camille smiled. 'It’s really nice, Hana.’

Olivia sighed. 'And Liam does it again. I swear he’s like a robot that’s come from the factory of perfect fiancé’s.’

'Are you guys still going to Texas?’ Hana asked. 'Is Liam excited?’

'Yeah, he is!’ Camille told them. 'I’ll introduce him to my grandma and if I see Bianca -’

'Who’s Bianca?’ Olivia asked, wrinkling her nose.

'My ex boyfriend’s mom.’

Hana and Olivia stared at Camille. 'Ex boyfriend?’ Hana repeated. 'Um.. you still talk to your ex?’

'No,’ Camille replied. 'I’ve not seen him in.. God, ten years. He won’t be there. He was going to California for college and planned to never go back to the ranch -’

'The ranch..’ Olivia said, unimpressed. 'You dated a fucking cowboy? Really?’

'He was eighteen!’ Camille protested. 'Not a cowboy!’

'What was his name?’ Hana asked.

'Drake,’ Camille said. She hadn’t said his name in ten years and the way her voice cracked as she did so betrayed her. 'Drake Walker.’

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

'Are you gonna talk to her?’ Savannah asked Drake. She was balancing her toddler, Bartie, on her hip while making herself a cup of coffee.

'Talk to who?’ Drake asked, gesturing for Savannah to pass Bartie to him so that his sister could get on with coffee making. Savannah placed her son in Drake’s lap. Bartie shouted with glee. 'Dwaaake!’

'It’s Drake,’ Drake corrected his nephew. 'Drake. Not that hard.’

Savannah cleared her throat. 'Actually it’s Uncle Drake. And you didn’t answer my question. Are you going to talk to Camille when you see her?’

Drake sighed. His arms held Bartie close. 'If I see her, I’ll say hi,’ he told her. 'But I guess she’s gonna be really busy with her fiancé. Besides, we’ve not spoken in years, we might not even talk.’

Savannah shook her head. 'Drake, you were best friends for years. You dated. How could you not talk?’

'Because we’ve got nothing in common anymore,’ Drake replied bluntly, wishing she would just stop talking. 'We’re not friends.’

'You loved her,’ Savannah reminded him.

'Yeah well, look how that ended up,’ Drake bit back. 'She’s getting married, Sav. No point in even looking back, it’s done. Now can we please stop talking about Camille?’

Savannah stopped talking after that. Thank god. Drake didn’t want to be reminded of how things were left between him and Camille. It brought back too much to the surface.

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

Camille got home after a long day. All she wanted right now was her bed and Netflix. Letting herself into the apartment she shared with Liam, she hung up her trench coat and padded through to the living room.

She stopped short.

Rose petals decorated the floor, making a pathway across the living room to the balcony outside.

'Uhh.. Liam?’ she called out.

'I’m outside!’

Camille wandered through the living room, following the roses. She could hear Miles Davis playing from speakers and she could smell tomatoes.

Liam was setting the balcony table. Candles were lit up on the balcony and the view of the New York skyline glittered in the distance.

Liam turned to give her a wide smile and held out his hands for her to take. 'Darling!’

Camille smiled and kissed him. 'Hey you. What’s all this?’

Liam grinned. 'What? I can’t surprise my fiancée with her favourite dinner?’

'You’ve used rose petals,’ Camille said. 'This is next level romance. Oh and thank you for the flowers. The girls at work were jealous.’

Liam chuckled and handed her a glass of wine. 'Do they want me to send them flowers?’ he asked. 'Because I could, you know. Complete with a romantic card.’

Camille giggled and wrapped her arms around him. 'No, you’re mine,’ she told him. 'I like getting flowers from you.’

Liam pressed a kiss on the tip of her nose. 'I’ll give you flowers every week until death do us part.’

'How morbid,’ Camille teased.

'Well we are getting married,’ Liam said. 'I plan to spoil you for as long as I live.’

They sat down to feast on spaghetti alla puttanesca. They talked about their day before discussion turned to their upcoming trip to Texas.

'So, are you excited to see your grandma?’ Liam asked.

Camille nodded,sipping her wine. 'Of course. To be honest, bit nervous. I mean, grandma hasn’t met you yet. We’ll, I guess over Skype she has but that’s not really the same..’

Liam and Camille had been dating for a year. They had been too busy with their jobs to visit Texas and Camille’s grandma was too frail to travel to New York herself.

Liam gave Camille a sparkling smile. 'Well, I won you over right?’ he asked. 'I’ll just have to use my charms on Gisele!’

Camille smiled. 'I’m sure she’ll love you.’

Liam grinned and helped himself to more wine. Camille pushed down the unsettling feeling in her stomach. She was excited to see her grandma again - but she was nervous to see the Walkers. Applewood was a small place and it was a guarantee that she would bump into Bianca. She wouldn’t see Drake. He had always told her that as soon as he could, he would leave the ranch and live in a city far away from the stifling environment that was Applewood.

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

Liam helped Camille lug her giant suitcase down the street towards the taxi that was taking them to JFK. 'We’re only visiting for two weeks,’ he huffed, panting from the exertion.

'True but Applewood is a really social place,’ Camille told him. 'There’s always an event happening. We’re a close knit community and we always get together for events.’

Liam smiled. 'Like what?’

'Like.. Apple bobbing. The summer fairground. The Beaumont Bash.’

Liam’s eyes widened. 'What’s a Beaumont Bash?’

Camille grinned. 'Bertrand and Maxwell Beaumont host their annual summer Bash at their house. It’s huge. They go all out for it. Think fireworks, champagne bottles in bathtubs, DJs..’

'Are they friends of yours?’

Camille nodded. She opened the taxi door and settled inside. 'Maxwell has been my friend since high school,’ she told him. 'He’s amazing. Really kind and so fun. You’ll like him. Bertrand is the older brother. He’s a bit more serious but when he’s partying, he changes. Like, he becomes more camp and extravagant.’ She eyed Liam. 'Yup, Bertrand is definitely going to flirt with you.’

Liam chuckled and gave her a wink. 'Well I am dashingly handsome.’

Camille giggled and snuggled into him as the taxi took them across the bridge.

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

The town of Applewood was a small place twenty miles outside of Austin, Texas. The summers were long, too long for high school students who dreamed of moving away as soon as they could.

Drake and Camille had always talked about their dreams. Sat on Camille's grandma's porch with a pitcher of ice cold lemonade between them, they would look out at the fields beyond and make plans. They would go to college and end up in New York. Because they were best friends, of course their plans included each other. There was no other alternative.

Camille couldn't help but be reminded of Drake Walker as the cab drove her and Liam from the airport towards the rural roads that led to Applewood. If Liam thought she seemed quiet on the drive, he didn't say anything. He assumed she was just nervous to see her friends again - and she was. But being back in Texas just reminded her of everything she had left behind.

The cab passed the burger place where she and Drake used to go every Saturday for lunch. They would eat burgers and use the drinks straws to throw spit balls at each other.

The cab passed the park where she and Drake would walk his golden retriever, Clover. Camille had adored that loveable dog. She wondered if Clover was still around. Not that she would see her, Camille reminded herself.

Camille had to keep reminding herself to stop thinking about Drake. He wouldn't be here and even if he was, it wasn't like they would have anything to say to each other. In fact, Camille knew that she had absolutely nothing to say to him.

The cab rolled up the dirt road leading to Camille's grandmother's house. Camille kept her eyes ahead so she could avoid seeing the sign for Walker Ranch. Camille and Drake had been neighbours too. They had a history here, one Camille wished she didn't have to face.

Gisele was waiting for them on the front porch as Camille had texted her when they arrived at the airport to keep her updated of their movements. Camille smiled when she saw her grandmother. Gisele was dressed elegantly, as per usual, in a white trouser suit and comfortable sandals. She always wanted to look her best.

'Mon petit chou!' Gisele squealed, rushing down the steps towards the cab. Camille and Liam clambered out to greet her. The taxi driver deposited their cases and exclaimed when Liam tipped him generously.

Gisele held Camille tightly before stepping back to look at Liam. She raised an eyebrow. 'He is very tall.'

Liam laughed. 'That I am, Miss Montespan. It’s so good to meet you in person at last.’

Gisele positively melted at Liam's politeness. 'You're also very handsome..' she purred.

'Grandma!' Camille scolded her, laughing. 'Stop flirting with my fiancé!'

Gisele waved her hand and took Liam's arm, guiding him to the house. Camille rolled her eyes. 'Uh, help with the suitcases?' she called out.

'In a moment!' Gisele called back. 'I need to show Liam my flowers!' she looked up at Liam. 'I've been growing my own roses. They're beautiful if I do say so myself. Magnifique!’

Liam looked back at Camille and gave her a shrug. He and Gisele disappeared into the house, leaving Camille outside to deal with the luggage.

'Camille Montespan, is that you?!'

Camille turned to see Bianca Walker walking towards her with a huge smile on her face. Camille swallowed and fixed a grin on her face.

'Mrs Walker!'

Bianca held out her arms to pull Camille in for a hug before standing back to study her. 'Well, aren't you a beauty?' she whispered, cupping Camille's cheek. Camille blushed.

'So I hear you're engaged,' Bianca said. 'Where is he?'

Camille blinked. 'Grandma has kidnapped him.. But, uh, how did you know?'

Bianca chuckled. 'The announcement in the paper, silly!'

Camille was very confused. Announcement in the paper.. Oh no. Her grandmother must have done it without consulting her. Masking her realisation, Camille squeezed Bianca's hands. 'Of course!' she cried. 'The announcement. So excited.'

Bianca studied Camille for a long moment. 'You have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?'

Camille sighed. 'No. I take it grandma got carried away and wanted to make it public knowledge? What did it say?'

'I'll show you!' Bianca said, taking her hand to pull her up the road. 'You can tell me all about New York while we walk to the ranch -'

'I really should be getting the cases inside,' Camille tried to say. But Bianca ignored her, chatting away about how she had never been to New York and that her late husband, Jackson, had always wanted to go.

The ranch hadn't changed. The oak tree that Camille had fallen out of when she was six years old was still standing strong. She remembered Drake had tried to fix her arm while crying his eyes out, panicking that they would get in trouble from Jackson. They hadn’t. Instead, Jackson had driven them to the hospital and promised Camille ice cream when she was better.

Bianca pushed Camille inside. The scent of familiarity cloaked Camille's senses. Bianca's favourite paintings were hung up and family photos decorated the sideboard. Camille avoided stealing a glance at them.

'You must be thirsty,' Bianca said. 'Lemonade? OJ? Water?'

'I'm okay -'

'Baby, drink something,' Bianca replied sternly. Defeated, Camille asked for water. Bianca had her sit down at the wooden kitchen table and continued to talk without pausing for breath.

'Ah, here's the announcement!'

Bianca passed Camille the newspaper for her to read. Camille cringed. She hated this sort of thing. She didn't like attention. And it looked like she was bragging, which was even worse.

'What's he like then?' Bianca asked.

'Liam is amazing,' Camille told her. 'He's smart, loving, kind. He works on Wall Street.'

'Very nice,' Bianca murmured. Camille didn't realise that she was comparing Liam to her son.

Camille continued to talk, every word like word vomit. When she was nervous, she over compensated by talking too much.

'He's 28 and he's so nice to everyone, really warm and genuine. Such a generous man -'

'Mom, I'm back!'

Camille stopped talking instantly when she heard a male voice call out from the hallway. Oh god. Oh dear god.

Bianca jumped up and rushed to the kitchen door. 'Drake, guess who's here!'

Camille winced, waiting for impact. She could hear heavy footfall cross the floor and stop at the door.

'Camille?'

Camille looked up to see an older but familiar face staring at her in disbelief.

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

Drake stared at Camille who was sitting in his kitchen like she always had when she had been his friend. His heart began to hammer inside his chest and his throat constricted. His mouth felt dry. Very dry. He needed whiskey.

'Hey Drake..' Camille murmured, her eyes wide as she stared at him. 'How are you?'

She looked beautiful. She had always been beautiful but now, she was a woman who had grown into her features and wore them like she was a portrait. Her dark hair tumbled to her shoulders in waves and she was wearing a silk peach blazer on top of a white top and cigarette trousers.

Camille looked elegant and sophisticated. She looked like a New Yorker from the Upper East Side. Drake knew because he had visited New York three years ago. He had wandered around the Upper East Side before realising that it wasn’t the place for him.

'I'm good, you?' Drake replied, his voice tight.

Bianca took this moment to leave them alone. Drake ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat.

'I'm good,' Camille said softly.

This was so awkward.

'I, uh, read you're getting married,' Drake mumbled. 'Congratulations.'

Camille turned red. 'Thank you. Are you.. Seeing anyone?'

Drake shook his head. 'Nah.'

Another silence. Drake wished he could put a fucking gun to his head and end it all now.

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

Camille's eyes roamed over Drake. He was a man now. Of course, she knew he would have been but seeing him like this, older and looking more like Jackson Walker now that he had aged..

His body was solid. His shoulders had broadened and Camille could see the muscles through his denim shirt. He was a little taller now - six foot four it looked like - and the sheer masculinity he conveyed was enough to make her speechless.

But his eyes were the same. Brown that shone green in the light. And his hair was still tousled and hid some of his left eye, almost deliberately as if he wanted to hide. He still stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets. Drake the boy was still there, deep down.

'Have you moved back to Texas then or just visiting your mom?' Camille asked.

'I live here,' Drake said. 'I went to college for a semester but uh.. it didn't work out.'

He shifted on his feet. Clearly, he wasn't going to go into detail. But then, why should he? It wasn't her business.

Camille swallowed. 'I should get going,' she said, her voice cracking.

Drake nodded. A hint of relief passed over his features. Camille stood up, aware that Drake was watching her like a hawk. He looked like he was seeing a ghost. Perhaps he was.

They walked together to the front door. 'Good to see you,' Drake said unconvincingly. 'How long are you here for?'

'Two weeks,' Camille replied. 'So I might see you around.'

'Yeah, you could introduce me to your fiance,' Drake suggested, instantly regretting his words.

Stop talking, Walker. As if you want to meet the prick.

Camille nodded, her lips set in a tight line. 'Yeah, you will have to meet him. I bet you guys will become best friends by the end,' she said, trying to be light. She instantly regretted her words.

They are not going to be friends. They couldn't be more different. Get away from the door and go home.

'I'm sure Maxwell will be organising something for all of us to get together again,' Camille said. 'We can catch up.'

Stop fucking talking. Word vomit.

'Yeah, sounds good Montespan,' Drake replied, keeping his voice neutral.

Why the fuck are you calling her by her last name? Do you want to look like a chump?

Camille smiled weakly. 'Okay. Well, see you soon, I guess.'

Drake raised a hand and watched her turn to leave the porch. He continued to watch her as she walked briskly back down the road to her grandma's before he shut the door with a click.

He needed whiskey.

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

Camille rubbed her wet eyes fiercely as she strode back to her grandma's house. Why was she getting upset? It had been ten years. A decade. Why was she crying over something that she never really had?

She was tired from the flight, that was all. She would make her excuses and have a quick nap and she would then feel better for dinner and catch ups with Gisele.

Camille could curse Drake Walker. Even after ten years, he still managed to make her feel things. Even after everything he had put her through, he still made her wish things had been different. Even if they weren’t together, she wished they could be friends.

But she couldn't think like that. She was with Liam now. The love of her life. Her fiancé.

Get a grip Camille. You can't cry over something you never really had in the first place.

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

Camille managed to steal half an hour to nap. When she awoke, she didn't feel much different.

Maybe she was just hungry.

Gisele had made jambalaya which had been Camille's favourite dish growing up. Pure comfort food. It beat chicken soup in Camille’s unbiased opinion. As Liam exclaimed over how delicious it was and Gisele giggled and blushed, Camille drank wine. Lots of wine.

'So, have you heard that Maxwell is hosting your welcome home brunch tomorrow morning?' Gisele asked, breaking into Camille's thoughts.

Camille blinked in surprise. 'I didn't know that. That's nice of him. Who's all going? Kiara? I need to catch up with her-'

'Yes, Kiara and Penelope will be there,' Gisele confirmed. 'And Madeleine -'

'Ugh, spare me,' Camille interrupted. Liam's eyes widened at her sudden change of tone.

'Who's Madeleine?' he asked.

'A bitch from school who made mine and Drake's lives hell,' Camille said without thinking.

Liam frowned. 'And who is Drake?'

Camille sipped her wine, taking a deliberate moment to gather herself. 'We used to be friends,' she told him. 'But we're not anymore.'

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

That night, Drake sloped down to the jetty by the lake and got drunk on whiskey. He needed to dull his mind and get rid of thoughts about Camille.

As the stars twinkled down on the water, Drake tossed back the amber liquid, grateful when the reflections of the stars began to shift and blur.

Seeing her today had only confirmed that they were way past the point of return. Sure, he had never expected to find her sitting in his kitchen, but he had known she would be visiting with her fiancé soon. He knew he had been bound to see her.

He just didn't expect it to be so.. awkward. And different. Stilted. But looking at her today, he had felt his chest tighten, his heart beat a little more rapidly and his breath catch. She made him nervous and unsure, two things Camille had never made him feel before.

God she was beautiful. Stunning, actually.

Was he mourning the loss of their friendship? Absolutely. Was he regretting the way he handled things ten years ago? Of course he was.

Drake tossed back more whiskey and closed his eyes. His mind flashed back to that incredible night on this jetty where he and Camille had laid themselves bare to the other. Drake had lost his virginity to Camille that night. He had told her he loved her. Everything had changed in that one moment.

He wished he hadn't broken her heart. If Drake had one regret in life, it was ruining what they had. He couldn't help but wish that he had done it differently. Maybe they would have stayed together. Maybe he would have been her fiancé instead.

Stop it, Walker, he scolded himself. Don't think like that.

Drake spent the rest of the night drinking until he dragged himself back to the house to bed. He threw himself on his bed, fully clothed, and slipped into a dreamless sleep.

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

'Honey, get up! We've got places to be and people to see!' Bianca called up the stairs. Drake groaned and pulled the pillow over his head.

He had a headache and his mouth felt like something had died in it.

Drake could curse himself. He hadn't been hungover for a long time.

' DRAKE!' Bianca shouted.

' Alright ma, I'm gettin' up! ' Drake shouted back.

'Don't give me cheek!' Bianca replied, her voice rising.

'I'm not giving you - fine, whatever, I can't be fucked..' Drake muttered, rolling out of bed. He took a moment to steady himself before dragging his body out the door towards the bathroom at the end of the hall.

The reflection in the mirror showed how shit he looked. His eyes were red rimmed and his skin grey. What. A. Catch.

He heard Bianca come upstairs, whistling to herself. 'Now, Gisele and Maxwell have very kindly invited us to brunch this morning!' Bianca said, stopping at the bathroom door to talk to him. 'It's for Camille. A welcome home brunch! I'm going to get ready, wanna help me pick a fancy dress? I don't have many but I have this gorgeous floral one I've been saving for a special occasion.. We got to look our best, I mean it's the Beaumont’s for crying out loud.. '

Drake closed his eyes as his mother kept talking. She really had no pause button. Bianca loved to talk - she was loud, opinionated and the human equivalent of a bulldozer.

'Mom, I'm not going.. ' Drake muttered.

Bianca stopped talking. For once.

'What do you mean you're not going?' she asked, her eyes wide. 'Drake, you have to go. It would be rude if you didn't. I know you and Camille aren't exactly friends anymore but you grew up together, you could at least wish her well and congratulate her. And Maxwell is your friend -'

'He's not,' Drake cut in. 'He is more Camille's friend than mine.'

Bianca sighed. 'Nonetheless, you should go. You can give her your well wishes and meet her fiancé. I've heard the Beaumonts throw incredible brunches, I'm curious to see what it's like. Please, baby.'

Drake sighed, knowing he was defeated. His mother never went to these kinds of events. She had always wondered what they were like and now she had an invitation, extended to her by Gisele who had been friendly with Bianca years ago. He couldn't burst Bianca's bubble.

'Fine. What do I have to wear?'

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

He had to wear a suit. The suit Bianca forced him to wear had been relegated to the back of his closet. It was slightly too small for him now, considering the last time he wore it was ten years ago at prom. Drake reluctantly wore the suit, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Savannah had jumped out of bed as soon as she heard there was an event happening. She had always been on the fringes of society at school, wishing she was part of the popular girls. She had idolised Madeleine, despite the fact that Madeleine often bullied her brother. Savannah had been insufferable as a teenager. She and Drake had become ships in the night at one point and only now were they close again.

'I wonder what Camille's fiancé is like!' Savannah crowed as she dressed Bartie up in a knitted sweater and trousers. ''Bet he's really rich if he works on Wall Street..'

Drake ignored her to help Bianca get ready.

Bianca wore the floral dress paired with nude kitten heels. She teased her hair into a chignon and deliberated over which handbag to use. Drake could tell she was nervous.

'You look great, mom,' he told her softly. 'Like a movie star.'

Bianca blushed and took Drake's arm. 'Let's go show them what the Walkers are made of.'

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

Camille and Liam stood at the door of Beaumont Manor with Maxwell and Gisele, waiting for guests to arrive. Maxwell was dressed flamboyantly, wearing a blue glittery suit with blue glitter sparkling in his dark hair.

He had been so excited to see Camille again. They had been close in school, having sat together in English class. Maxwell had had dreams of writing a novel and had often neglected his actual studies to write more of his book, much to the annoyance of his teacher.

When he had met Liam, he had clapped his hands in excitement and pulled him in for a hug. Liam had laughed in surprise and complimented his suit. Maxwell had preened.

As their first guests trickled in, Liam and Camille shook their hands and thanked them for coming along. Many people had told Camille that she looked beautiful, stunning, ravishing, chic, all of the adjectives that made her want to throw up. They had all clasped Liam's hand as they greeted him, their eyes widening as they studied his good looks.

Liam looked and smelled expensive. That was the one word everyone who knew him described him as. His suit was always pressed, his hair immaculately quaffed and he wore expensive shoes that were always scrubbed and polished.

And he was a gentleman. Kind, polite and generous. He welcomed everyone with a smile and a 'pleased to meet you', confidence shining from him.

'Ah, the Walkers!' Gisele cried, breaking into Camille's thoughts. She looked down the steps and saw with shock that Bianca, Drake and Savannah - now older and with a baby boy on her hip - were climbing up the steps to greet them.

'Bee, you look stunning!' Gisele cried, reaching out to take Bianca's hands. Her eyes slid to Savannah. 'And Savvy! It's been so long! Who is this handsome boy?'

'This is Bartie,' Savannah replied, smiling.

Camille could feel eyes on her. Drake's eyes. She gathered the courage to look at him now.

He was wearing a suit that was too small for him, she noted with a pang in her heart. She remembered Drake used to hate dressing up. His hair was mussed up and his eyes were red rimmed. Drinking? Lack of sleep?

'Liam, this is Drake Walker,' Camille finally said, her voice steady, looking up at her fiance. 'We were friends at school.'

She could see Savannah narrow her eyes. Ignoring her, Camille smiled up at Liam who was grinning at Drake.

'Pleasure to meet you,' Liam said, holding out his hand to shake Drake's. Drake blinked and held out his hand - the sleeve of his suit jacket rode up his arm, exposing his wrist, showing to everyone how ill fitting the outfit was.

'Likewise,' Drake mumbled. 'Uh, congratulations.'

'We'll chat as soon as we're inside,' Liam told him easily. 'I'm sure you've got lots of stories about my fiancée that will embarrass her!'

Drake cleared his throat. 'Oh I got stories, alright.'

Camille felt her cheeks burn. Drake's eyes flashed to her. She took a chance to look at him; his eyes betrayed no indication of his thoughts.

'Montespan,' he said, bowing his head. She looked away as he took his mother's arm and lead her and Savannah into the Manor.

Liam squeezed Camille’s hand. ‘Well, he seems nice!’

#drake walker #drake walker x mc #the royal romance #trr fanfic #trr au #maxwell beaumont #liam rhys #choices the stories you play

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yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy · 4 years

Text

Magic and Miracles and BEYOND Chapter 13

ok, I didn’t mean to take...(doesn’t bother to look at how long since it’s been since I’ve posted anything for this story because the guilt will kill me) however long (feels longer than forever) to update this story. I literally had it all planned out in my head. And then when I went to write it my brain went “fuck you, I am on fumes, I need a break, I’m done.” and it didn’t matter how much I tried to restart or jump it- no go. So I moved on. I went back to school, I’m getting my licence to be a massage therapist, I’ll be doing that until July of next year which I’m currently on break with until Tuesday. But GOOD NEWS. I was going through my tumblr and I still find all these RaeLena pictures and when I went back to this- I found, lo and behold, FUEL. So I started this back up and this baby is running! Wooo! @the-immortal-marshal and @warnjai-17 hopefully you’re still here to enjoy this

AO3

Magic and Miracles and BEYOND

Chapter 13

The morning of Crowe’s wedding day was bright and brisk and the trees around the farm seemed to have come into spectacular color just for her. The sunrise was especially beatuiful and Prompto and the photographer got some outstanding pictures of it.

The horses had been washed the day before and kept in their squeaky clean stalls so they didn’t get dirty right before the ceremony. Crowe woke up feeling so happy and excited because today was the day her and her best friend were getting married and Chelsea had worked overtime in making sure every detail was perfect and to make sure Crowe only had decisions to make in a timely manner but no actual work to do through the whole process so it had been a breeze. The girls had all stayed at Sylva’s house and she had had another caterer come in and make everyone breakfast and a team of hair and makeup artists to make sure each girl shined like the jewel she was as Luca and Lilly and all the other little sisters of the those in the wedding party got to get glammed up too.

Meanwhile Libertus woke up with the worst hangover and felt like death warmed over. He had stayed up half the night, him and his friends around a campfire on Craig’s farm and drank and just talked, some of it was casual, most of it was deep though while Tredd did manage to keep his mouth shut about Ada being pregnant. But he sure did hint at it to Luche which Ravus and Nyx picked up on as Ravus was suspecting that the reason his mother favored Tredd as much as she did was because he had the gift too.

Craig Sr. and his wife Charla were already hard at work making a mountain of food for the boys and they chuckled to themselves as they watched all of them wake up to the smell of food and come in, each one’s hair crazier than the last as they all did the zombie shuffle to get the food before sitting down at the table as the guys downed pot after pot of coffee and ate in relative silence as bottles of Tylenol, Advil and Aleve were passed around.

“You boys alive over there?” Craig asked before there was a chorus of groans as an answer which cracked Craig Sr. and Charla up.

Meanwhile Hazel was sleeping blissfully away in Titus’ bed before the smell of her own breakfast woke her up only moments before Titus came in with their breakfast on a tray.

“Good morning Beautiful.” Titus cooed to her as her eyes fluttered open before she smiled adoringly at him as she stretched.

“Good morning, what do you got there?” She asked as she sat up, keeping the blankets up to cover her nakedness but moved the pillows to the headboard so she could sit up comfortably.

“Breakfast.” Titus beamed.

“Aww,” Hazel fawned as he gave her the tray and then got back into bed before they cuddled together with the extra large tray over Hazel’s lap.

“This is really sweet,” Hazel gushed as she started to dig in to the bowl of berries before she pulled the lid off of the plate to see an engagement ring sitting on top of some french toast and gasped as Titus’ heart beat so hard in his chest he thought it was going to break his ribs as his mouth felt like it was full of cotton all of a sudden.

“So, I was thinking, I know you really like your apartment and I really like the peace and quiet and space of the country, but I thought we could find a happy medium if we built a house together, Oak Creek Estates still has a bunch of lots available and if…” Titus was cut off by Hazel quickly attaching her mouth to his and kissing him as deeply as she could from her spot under his arm as his arm curled around her before his other hand went up to gently caress her gorgeous face, hoping she could understand what he was trying to say because words were failing him but actions never would.

“Yes, that’ll be perfect, a fresh new start for both of us.” Hazel beamed happily as she had already slipped the ring on before Titus moved the tray over to the floor before he really got to enjoy his fiance for breakfast which is what he really wanted.

As the clock ticked down Libertus went from hungover to happy to nervous and by a surprise, Luche was too.

“Cut it out, they’re all gonna think you’re playing with yourself.” Tredd teased as he sat down next to Luche after he came back into the house from helping the firework guys set up all the fireworks for the night before he sat down on the couch as Luche frowned over at him.

“Cut what out?” Luche tried to deflect.

“You keep fingering that engagement ring thing in your pocket, it looks like you’re trying to jack off.” Tredd chuckled as Luche frowned.

“How…” Luche began as Tredd gave him an unimpressed look.

“Really? You really wanna play dumb? Come on, let me seee.” Tredd questioned as Luche humphed before he pulled it out and handed it to Tredd.

“I do, I will marry you.” Tredd gushed in an overly feminine way.

“Oh my God, stop.” Luche rolled his eyes as Tredd opened the fancy slim ring box to see a paper flower fold out holding the ring.

“Aww, this was one of Victor’s rings for Ravus wasn’t it?” Tredd asked as Luche sighed deeply.

“Yes, I bought it off of him.” Luche admitted.

“Of course you did, you spent what? A whole dollar?” Tredd teased.

“Ravus gave me a price and I paid it, no negotiations needed.” Luche defended.

“A whole five dollars because you don’t cary singles anymore blue blood.” Tredd grinned triumphantly.

“I hate this about you.” Luche sarcastically quipped as he tried to take the ring back but Tredd pulled it out of his reach.

“Hey, hey, don’t get all huffy. I think it’s nice- a whole 20 carats just on the center diamond and that has to be...another 5 carats in the bezels and blue diamonds are coming back into fashion again, platinum?” Tredd appraised as Luche just frowned deeper and deeper.

“Since when do you know anything about jewelry?” Luche asked.

“Since mom adopted me too and has been taking me under her wing and teaching me the same shit she’s teaching you but I get the super fun hands on versions, and she is paying me in stock options now and recognizes that I have a good eye and can spot a fake a mile away.” Tredd answered casually as he gave it back.

“Wait paying you? Paying you for what?” Luche demanded.

“You didn’t think you were her only eyes and ears did you?” Tredd grinned smugly.

“How much is she paying you?” Luche pressed.

“Eh, it started off as 5k here, 10k there, now it’s stock options and percentages and 401ks and trust funds and all that which I find I like much better, especially since I’ve been reinvesting that money in said stocks. Project Recovery alone has quadrupled my money in just the last couple of months alone and Sylva says I have the same gift she has in that oracle shit. I see things with my special eyes that you don’t.” Tredd teased as he poked his finger near Luche’s ear as he batted his eyes suggestively at Luche.

“Stop,” Luche batted Tredd’s hand away. “What do you see that I don’t?” Luche questioned.

“I knew before anyone else did that Crowe was pregnant.” Tredd grinned.

“You got lucky.” Luche countered.

“Did I? Did I also get really super lucky when I knew Ada was pregnant over the summer on the cruises?” Tredd revealed.

“What?” Luche blinked.

“Yeah, I saw that before Sylva did, And that fifteen grand? That was to keep you two from fucking so you wouldn’t lose your mind when she lost that pregnancy. Which sucked by the way, but hopefully it doesn’t happen again.” Tredd revealed.

“You…” Luche didn’t know if he should laugh, cry or just go bang his head against a wall. “How? How did you know?” Luche demanded.

“There’s just a lot of subtle changes that most miss but to me they just all add up for some reason.” Tredd shrugged. “But looking back, aren’t you happy you didn’t fuck her senseless on the cruise?” Tredd asked.

“...yeah.” Luche ducked his head with a sigh.

“Well I knew the moment those two got together that it was gonna crash and burn in a matter of months. She’s always been your girl, she was just the last one to realize it.” Tredd offered which made Luche and Tredd both grin lopsidedly at each other.

“Thanks.” Luche thanked him.

“You’re welcome. By the way, I want to be a groomsman.” Tredd insisted which made Luche snicker a laugh.

“Oh do you?” Luche returned.

“Hell yeah, am I or am I not the Bro who was purposefully a douche to save you from that clusterfuck?” Tredd prodded.

“You are that douche.” Luche laughed.

“So I’m a groomsman?” Tredd prodded.

“You are the douchiest of my groomsman.” Luche chuckled.

“Good,” Tredd grinned victoriously as Ravus and Nyx came up.

“Oh is that Ada’s ring?” Nyx asked.

“Yeah, I was thinking I was gonna pull a Rae.” Luche admitted as he handed it to Nyx as Ravus smiled proudly. Happy that the ring was going to go to a “brother”. Besides that still left a few to save for his children to use when they would get engaged.

“Awesome,” Nyx smiled happily before he gave it back.

“Shower is clear.” Craig called out after he got out of his since every shower was being used on the property to get all the boys ready as Luche got the ring back as he got up and claimed the empty shower.

“So what else do you see with your special eyes?” Ravus asked Tredd once Luche was well out of earshot.

“Jesus, you have the ears of a rodent Beavus.” Tredd rolled his eyes.

“Ada’s pregnant again isn’t she?” Ravus grinned.

“Sssshhhh!” Tredd shushed him as he quickly looked around to see if anyone else had heard that.

“See? Told you.” Ravus put to Nyx who gave him an unimpressed look.

“Does he know?” Nyx gestured to where Luche went.

“No, absolutely not, and none of us can tell him either, we gotta let Ada find out on her own and have her be the one to tell him, we can’t spoil this for him. I mean you know me, I’m all for spoiling shit but that’s the special shit you don’t spoil.” Tredd urged them.

“So what do you think it’s gonna be?” Ravus put to Tredd curiously.

“Pppfff, boy.” Tredd snickered. “Watch they’ll name him something super British, like London or Oxford or something so English the Royal Family will be like ‘calm it down now’. “ Tredd predicted.

“London.” Nyx and Ravus grinned.

“Any other girl preggers?” Nyx asked Tredd.

“Right now? No. About to be? Oh yeah,” Tredd laughed.

“Who?” Ravus and Nyx asked as Tredd looked at them unimpressed before he looked over to Gladio pointedly before turning back to them.

“No way,” Nyx shook his head.

“A hundred bucks, they’re going to be expecting in the next say...four months?” Tredd offered as he offered his hand for a shake.

“Deal.” Nyx agreed as he shook Tredd’s hand as Ravus just shook his head, knowing Tredd was right and knew that Tredd had the same gift he had. Which instead of denying it or downplaying it or getting jealous, he felt a sense of relief that he wasn’t the only one with it.

Once all the girls arrived the boys got the horses saddled and ready to go as the guests started to arrive and take their seats. The weather couldn’t be more perfect, small, almost cartoonish puffy clouds rolling in the sky, it was warm enough to be comfortable but not chilled enough to be cold but that message didn’t seem to get to Libertus who was sweating buckets so much so that everyone thought he was going to lose 10lbs in sweat alone and Chelsea was grateful she had extra shirts for Libertus to change into and basically bathed him in deodorant and antiperspirant and loaded him up with anti-nausea meds as his own mother and Crowe’s mothers gave him the pep-talk of the century as Chelsea was copying that down for future use.

When it finally came time for the actual ceremony, the horses suddenly decided to shit where they stood at the back of the aisle before Chelsea and her team tried to hurriedly clean it up, the horses then tried munching on the flowers on the sides of the aisle, there was practically a whole hive of bees there to collect the nectar from all the flowers even though Sylva had a case of Epipens which thankfully didn’t need to get used but thankfully, at least- there were no mosquitoes and Libertus was thankfully laughing too hard at the horses being horses to cry too much because the sight of Crowe in a wedding dress coming down the aisle to him was overwhelming to him.

Because Crowe’s smile shamed the sun. She was radiant and beautiful and practically glowing and Libertus had never seen her look so beautiful in his life. It was perfect and after the vows, Libertus finally seemed to ease up and become himself again.

At the reception Sylva went ahead and practically glued herself to Linda, Luche’s mother as Luche was slow dancing with Ada because she had caught the bouquet in the bouquet toss, thanks to Sylva organizing her girls to guarantee it and thanks to Sylva also organizing her boys- Luche caught the garter belt and now they were dancing together, the rest of the world falling away.

“I really like the fairy lights.” Ada noted at all the twinkle lights around them.

“Would you want fairy lights at our wedding?” Luche asked and Ada didn’t give a second thought to his choice of words before she began telling him all about what she would want for their wedding.

Meanwhile on the sidelines-

“Linda, you better get used to the idea of them being together.” Sylva urged as Linda gave her a side eye.

“Look, it’s very simple, it’s either Ada or this cum guzzling gutter trash.” Sylva continued as she pulled up a video of Beth on a porn site that had Linda choking on her winecooler and looking particularly aghast. “That could have been your daughter in law who by the way flirted and eye fucked before she actually did fuck Chinese billionaires trying to get the best deal possible while Luche was sitting right next to her and would have been way more unfaithful to him than Ada ever will be again, Ada is allowed to sow a wild oat or two in her youth, and now that she’s done that and seen that the grass is indeed not anywhere near as green as it is with Luche and I can tell you that she won’t be making that mistake again.” Sylva assured Linda. “Now, count your blessings as you read this.” Sylva furthered before she pulled out a prenup and it had Linda grinning from ear to ear as she read it.

“You see the line we have to walk as mothers is to let our children enjoy life and live it how they want to, but that doesn’t mean we can’t put them in some safety gear, I’ll have Ada sign this before we go wedding dress shopping but here’s the deal-” Sylva lowered her voice. “You and Luke will be nothing but nice, happy and supportive of Luche and Ada from here on out. I have already talked with Luche and he’s ok with me paying for a bulk of the wedding expenses, all I’m asking you and Luke to pay for are the invitations and Ada’s parents will be buying Ada’s veil, fair enough?” Sylva put to her.

“That’s more than fair.” Linda nodded in agreement with a thankful smile to Sylva.

“Good, now, watch your son propose and be happy about it.” Sylva nodded to the dancefloor where Luche had gotten down on one knee and proposed to Ada as Sylva was smiling brightly while Linda plastered on a smile, happy that her son was at least protected and grateful that Sylva had adopted him and cared for him as her own because the Lord knew she wasn’t willing or ready to pay for much of anything else as Sylva offered her own winecooler over to Linda to clink with a knowing smile when Ada said yes.

After that, that’s when the party seemed to get into full gear, the moment the sun began to set they lit the fires in the fire pits inside the bale circles so people could sit on the bales and make smores since the wedding had been catered by a competition BBQ joint that had all the BBQ and steaks anyone could ask for. There was a mountain of throw blankets to keep the guests warm as they did this and then at the finale- that’s when Tredd- being a fireman and pyromaniac- set the fireworks off which everyone fully enjoyed before the party sent Crowe and Libertus off on their honeymoon which Sylva got them a cabin and a hunting excursion out in the northwest.

Luche and Ada barely made it home and in the door before they were on each other and removing the remainder of their clothes and made it to the bottom of the stairs before Luche had pinned her to the wall and started fucking her hard up against it, Ada’s engagement ring nearly getting snagged in his hair as Ada scratched his scalp roughly as the loudest and longest pleasured moan left her throat.

“Oh Luche!” Ada keened as the back of her head hit the wall behind her, knocking the picture of them hanging next to her head slightly askew as Luche’s hips pounded into hers.

Luche proposing to Ada after she caught the bouquet came as a surprise to Ada but not really to anyone else, but that was all that mattered to Luche. Ada was completely wrapped up in wedding fever and the joy and excitement of the moment to notice anyone outside of Luche. Their relationship was better than it had ever been since she came back to him and together they both worked exceptionally hard to make the other happy.

Ada was blown away by the drop dead gorgeous ring Luche proposed with.

Luche had wanted his proposal to be more eloquent but in the end, he just went for simple and straight to the point.

When Ada had said that she liked something about the decorations for the wedding, Luche found himself asking her what she would like for their wedding and Ada had answered it without a second thought and before Ada realized it she revealed what she had always wanted and fantasized about as a little girl and Luche was grinning ear to ear and when she was done Luche didn’t hesitate to just get down on one knee and offer to give her everything she had just said and pleaded for the chance to make all her dreams come true as everyone quickly gathered around them with eager eyes and ears to hear her answer and Ada didn’t even get to see the ring before she said yes and when she did see the ring, her eyes nearly popped out of her head and her jaw fell and rolled away on the floor. But she readily had him put it on her finger.

From there, it was like they were velcroed to each other and receiving all the congratulatory wishes before Chelsea made a point to make sure they had her business card and to give her a call when they wanted to set a date and get things in motion before Luche repeated, almost verbatim what Ada had just said to her as Chelsea quickly made notes, using up the last half of her notebook since the first half was already full of notes for Hazel and Titus’ wedding plans that she had gotten earlier before she left Luche and Ada to enjoy more congratulations since Ada was the last to be engaged and didn't notice how Chelsea had then gone to Sylva, Linda and Luke as well as Ada's parents who Sylva had gathered together to force a congratulatory toast between them all before Sylva informed them that she would be paying for the bulk of it if Luche's parents were willing to buy the invitations and if Ada's parents would pay for Ada's veil since wedding dresses could be so expensive, that she would take care of the rest since Luche was like another son to her and brother to Ravus which she received very little argument to.

Luche felt he smiled more that night than he had in the previous year combined. But he was so happy. Finally things were coming together. He had the dream job, had fantastic friends, supportive family and the girl of his dreams and everything was perfect and he couldn’t ask for more.

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ryan-the-whisk-taker · 5 years

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New Mission Chapter 17

(Like chapter 5, this chapter will be longer than most other chapters in the story. But this one does not contain any possibly triggering content.)

Big City Livin’

A few months later, Jade, Greg and Steven were on their way to Empire City, so Jade could get a surprise for Garnet. “So, what’s this place like?” Jade asked Greg. “Loud, busy, crowded, fun.”

“Like Homeworld?” Greg shrugged. “I dunno. I’ve spent most of my time here on Earth, but if that’s how you’d describe your home planet, then sure.” Jade looked out the window at the bright lights and sighed. “What’s wrong?” Steven asked. “Well, I guess I’m just a little sad. This place is so much like Homeworld, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I kinda miss that place.” Steven looked at Jade with a concerned look on his face. “I understand. Pearl misses space, too.”

“It’s not just space, it’s the entire Gem empire I miss. Sure, Garnet’s here, and so are you and my other friends, but I had friends back there, too… I might’ve even had a Pearl of my own!” Jade took a deep breath. “But, I’m happy here. I have more friends here than I had back there, and I don’t have to listen to a tyrant Gem like Yellow Diamond.” Greg laughed. “I’m glad you like it here. I’ve been here forever, but Homeworld doesn’t seem like a good place to live.” They continued to drive until Steven said, “Ooh! There’s the jewelry store! Didn’t you need some rings or something, Jade?”

“Oh yeah, I did. Um, if I tell you what the rings are for, do you promise not to tell Garnet?” Steven nodded. “I’m planning to propose to her, so I need to buy rings for Ruby and Sapphire,” Jade whispered. “Cool! I’m sure she’ll be surprised, as long as she doesn’t use her future vision to see it.”

“I sure hope she doesn’t see it coming,” she said as Greg parked the van in front of the store. Greg got out of the van and opened the door to let Steven and Jade out. “Thanks for taking me here, Mr. Universe.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jade opened the door and let herself into the store, Steven and Greg following. “Welcome! Are you looking for anything in particular?” The woman at the front desk asked. “Actually, yes I am. I’m looking for two engagement rings, for my girlfriends.”

“Oh! Well then, you should look over here.” Jade followed the woman over to the display case filled with rings. “So, were you looking for any specific stones?”

“Stones?” Jade asked. “Right, I hadn't even noticed that you're a Gem. These are gemstones made here on Earth, but they don't have projected forms like you. We have almost all gemstones here for rings.” The woman handed Jade a list of gems, cuts and ring styles. “Hmm… Maybe, two cubic zirconia rings, circular cut, and this style. Could you do that?”

“Of course! Let me just see how much that'll cost you.” The cashier punched a few numbers into the register, and the price $100 appeared on the screen. “Wow, that's cheaper than I thought it would be,” Jade said. “Would you like to pay now, or after we fit the rings?”

“After. Oh wait, how are we gonna fit the rings if Ruby and Sapphire can't find out?” Steven looked up at Jade. “Can't you just shapeshift your hands to look like theirs?”

“Oh yeah!” Jade proceeded to shapeshift her left hand to look like Ruby’s hand. “I forgot Gems could do that…” the cashier said. “You know a lot about Gems, it seems,” Greg replied. “Yeah, my ancestors were friends with a Green Opal.”

“Cool! I don't know if I've ever met a Green Opal,” Jade said thoughtfully. “So, are you ready to fit the rings?”

“Yep!” Jade held out her left hand, still shapeshifted to look like Ruby’s, and the cashier measured her finger. “Okay, I have the measurements for Ruby, now I just need Sapphire’s.” Jade shapeshifted once again, this time making her hand the same size as Sapphire’s. The cashier measured again, and wrote down both measurements. “Okay! And can I have a phone number? If you have a phone, that is.”

“Um, Steven? Would you mind if I used your phone number for this?” Jade asked her friend. “Of course not! Go right ahead!” Jade gave the cashier Steven’s number. “Thank you! We'll call you when the rings are ready for pickup.” Jade smiled and summoned a stack of money from her gemstone. “Thank you!” She said before she left, Greg and Steven behind her.

“That was easier than I expected.” Jade said with a sigh of relief. “Yeah. By the way, where’d you get all that money?” Steven asked. “Um… Amethyst gave it to me. But I’m not sure where she got it,” Jade answered. “Oh, okay. So, should we head home, or do you want to spend some more time here? I mean, it’s a pretty fun city.”

“I guess we could spend some time here, if you want,” Jade said to Steven. “Okay! Dad, where should we go?”

“Hmm… Maybe we could go to the hotel we went to once with Pearl? I still have plenty of money left over from that,” Greg said to his son. “Okay! Jade, you’re gonna love it there! The room we got last time was huge!” Steven said with a big smile. “I’m sure I will,” Jade said and ruffled up Steven’s curly mess of hair.

Greg pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the hotel he stayed at last time he had been in Empire City. “And, we’re here!” Greg said as he parked the van in front of the hotel. “Woah…” Jade said while looking out the window at the massive building in front of her.

The three of them walked into the hotel, and the man at the front desk recognized Greg as soon as he saw him. “Mr. Greg!” He cried. “Welcome back! I see you brought your son with you. Oh!” The man noticed Jade standing behind Steven. “And who’s this lovely lady?” Jade blushed. “Um, my name is Jade. We’re just in town looking for some rings for my girlfriend,” Jade explained. “I see. Well, I hope you three enjoy your stay!” The man said after Greg handed him a stack of bills and walked away. “Thank you, sir!” Jade called. “Just call me ‘Ricky’!”

“Okay! Thank you, Ricky!” The three of them walked into an elevator and went up to the top floor.

“Steven, this place is amazing!” Jade exclaimed when they exited the elevator. “Yep! It even has a pool!” Steven replied. “A pool? What’s that?”

“Well, it’s a big pit-like thing filled with water, and you can swim and play in it! It’s really fun.”

“Cool! I think Blue Diamond has something like that on Homeworld. Although, no one except her, the other Diamonds, or their Pearls have seen it from the inside,” Jade said thoughtfully.

“Huh. Oh, you also have to wear this thing called a swimsuit, and it’s pretty waterproof.” Steven pulled out his phone and showed Jade a picture of a girl in a swimsuit. “Hmm… Like this?” Jade started glowing, and when she stopped, she was wearing a lime green, one-piece swimsuit with circular cutouts on the sides. “Yeah! Just like that! It’s a good thing I packed my swimsuit, too. I had a feeling we’d be staying here for the night. I’ll go get changed!” Steven said before running upstairs with his hot dog duffel bag.

When he came back down, he was wearing a pair of yellow swim trunks. “Ready!”

“Great! Now what do we do?”

“Well, we can either jump or climb in, or… We could use the water slide!” Steven ran over to the large slide leading to the water and climbed up the ladder, Jade hesitantly following behind. “Are you sure about this, Steven?” She asked. “Yeah! It’s really fun. Do you wanna go before me?”

“Um, sure…? But can you tell me what I’m supposed to do first?”

“Okay! First, you need to sit down, then you push yourself forward and then, you slide!” Jade followed Steven’s instructions, and sat down. “Now I just, push myself?” Steven nodded. “Yep!”

“Okay…” Jade slowly pushed herself forward, and suddenly got caught by the water. Then she slid down the slide into the pool. “Woah! That’s cold!” Jade shouted after coming back up. “Yeah, it takes a little bit to get used to. But it feels nice after a while,” Steven said before he went down the slide. “Wooo hooo!” He slid down into the pool, and swam over to his friend. “You seem to really like this!” Jade said and Steven nodded in response. “I guess it is pretty fun,” she agreed.

Jade and Steven stayed in the pool for about half an hour more, then got out and changed. Steven changed into his pajamas, and walked back out to the main room. “I see you’re ready for bed!” Jade said to her friend. “Yep! I know you’re a Gem, so you don’t need to sleep, but are you going to?” Steven asked. “I’d like to. I mean, I did have a bed in my house on Homeworld. But where would I sleep? From what I’ve seen, there’s only one bed.”

“Hmm… I’m sure you could sleep on the couch in the bedroom, if you wanted to. Dad and I were gonna sleep on the bed.”

“I don’t mind sleeping on the couch. Besides, you two need to sleep and I don’t. So if I wake up in the middle of the night, I hopefully won’t wake you guys up.”

While Steven and Greg slept, Jade sat on the couch, thinking about her home planet. She sighed “Why do I keep thinking about her? I’m a Crystal Gem now, I shouldn’t think about her.” Then she stood up, and walked over to the balcony. “I shouldn’t miss her. She was cruel… Alexandrite is right-She probably just replaced us…” Tears started forming in Jade’s eyes. “She doesn’t care about us… She probably wishes I had never even been made!” Jade yelled and slammed her fist into the wall. The sound of the impact woke up Steven, then he slowly and quietly walked over to his friend. “Jade? Are you okay?”

“N-no… I’m not okay…” Jade said to Steven. “I woke up, and I was thinking about her… Y-Yellow Diamond…”

“I understand. Peridot used to be like that. She still felt loyal to her. I know why you’re thinking about her-You’re still not used to being on Earth, and you still feel kinda loyal to Yellow Diamond. I’m sorry, Jade,” Steven said. “I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but I’m not sure if it’s gonna work. Like I said on our way to the jewelry store, I really miss Homeworld. It’s, where I was made. The first time I had left Homeworld, was for the war…”

“You fought in the war against Mom?” Jade nodded. “Yeah, I did. I was one of the soldiers fighting on Homeworld’s side. I got poofed a few times, and I was nearly shattered by a Bismuth, but everyone said I was a tough fighter.” Jade chuckled. “It was actually kinda fun, fighting all those rebels. I never thought I’d be on the other end of the fight. I was actually there when your mom, y’know, shattered her own Diamond. I didn’t meet your mom, but from the day the war started, I was taught that I should never trust a Rose Quartz. But now, I can.” Steven smiled. “Yes you can. I’m glad you’re my friend, Jade.” He then hugged Jade’s waist tightly. “I’m glad you’re my friend, too, Steven. You’re a better friend than Emerald or Diamond were. Although, if I had completed my mission, I might’ve gotten my own Pearl, like the elites. I had a dream where I got a Pearl, the day before I accidentally, poofed myself…” Steven thought for a moment. “You said a Bismuth almost shattered you. Do you remember what that Bismuth looked like?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I know a Bismuth, who wanted to shatter Homeworld Gems. We might be talking about the same Gem.”

“Did she look like this?” Jade began projecting an image of a Bismuth. She had tattoos of stars, and rainbow dreadlocks. But most importantly, she had her gemstone in her chest. “Oh, my, gosh… We are talking about the same Bismuth! She made this weapon called ‘The Breaking Point’, and she wanted to use it to shatter Homeworld Gems, especially Pink Diamond. She and Mom got in the fight, and Bismuth ended up getting poofed, so Mom bubbled her away in Lion’s mane. Then, I accidentally popped her bubble and she reformed. She stayed with us for about a day, training, watching tv, cooking pizza. But then she showed me the Breaking Point, and I told her that shattering Gems was wrong. She starting saying I lied to her, and that I was actually my mom. I ended up poofing her again, and I told Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl what happened. She’s been in the burning room ever since. I didn’t know that Mom had shattered Pink Diamond at the time.” Steven noticed Jade staring at him. “Wh-what?” He asked.

“You, took down a Bismuth? I could never do that! The closest I’ve ever been to a Bismuth, was when she almost shattered me. You’re amazing, Steven!”

“Heh… It’s nothing, really… I was just defending myself.”

“Still! Although, you are half Quartz, so I guess it shouldn’t be too shocking. But I still can’t believe such a young Gem could take down a Bismuth who fought in the war!” Steven blushed. “Well, she did try to shatter me, but I understand why- She thought I was the one who bubbled her. I’d be upset too, if the mother of my new friend lied to me.” Jade yawned. “I think you should get some sleep, Steven.”

“What about you? You seem sleepy, too.”

“Y’know, I think I will get some sleep. We have a long trip home tomorrow, after all.” Jade walked Steven back to the bed his father was still sleeping on, and gave him a hug before walking back to the couch.

The next morning, Steven and Greg were ready to go by the time Jade woke up. “Good morning, Jade!” Steven said when Jade walked into the main room. “Hmm? Oh, morning, Steven…” Jade said groggily. “Did you sleep well?”

“Not really. I wasn’t too comfortable on the couch.”

“I’m sorry. Maybe we’ll get a second bed if we come here again.” Jade smiled weakly. “Thanks, Steven.”

“No problem! That’s what friends do, right?” She nodded. “Yes, it is what friends do.”

A few minutes later, Jade, Greg and Steven checked out of the hotel and walked to the van outside. “This was nice. Thanks for taking me here, Mr. Universe.”

“No problem! I haven’t gone on a trip with a Gem since I came here with Pearl, but this was fun! By the way-” Greg looked at Jade. “Good luck with Garnet. I’m sure she’ll be really happy when you propose to Ruby and Sapphire.” Jade smiled at Greg. “Thanks. I hope you’re right.” They got into the van and drove back home to Beach City.

#gemsona jade #gemsona blue topaz #gemsona pink coral #steven universe story #rhites stories #new mission story

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kiruuuuu · 6 years

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Sledge/Maestro oneshot in which they go shopping and Maestro is panicking not very secretly. (Rating T, fluff³, ~1.5k words) - written for @kapcan as a continuation of my aggressively pleasant streak >:|

(Also, this is set after Maestrom and contains a major spoiler that should be obvious from everything else that I’ve written so far because I’m a big softie and would never, ever write a longer fic with a sad ending. So yes, there’ll be a happy ending. Wooo!)

“You wanted kiwis, right?”, Sledge asks while squinting at his own chicken scratch on the note with which Maestro has entrusted him. “Or what does this say?”

“Yes, kiwis, but the golden ones, as bright and marvellous as your smile, caro mio”, comes the easy answer. Maybe a little too easy. He’s reminding Sledge of a flustered bird, fluttering to and fro, forgetting things left and right and unable to concentrate well. It’s a good thing Sledge is in charge of the shopping list or else Maestro would lead them up and down the aisles entirely too many times.

“Get the onions in the meantime, we don’t have many left at home.”

“Onions, yes, they seem biting and sharp at first but add a little heat and they mellow out and turn lovely and sweet – just like you, tesoro.”

As Maestro hurries off, Sledge tests how ripe the kiwis are with a small, secret smile to himself. It’s rare enough to witness the Italian lose his countenance in public, even rarer when it happens without him noticing, and watching him flail both verbally and physically never fails to entertain Sledge. If it were serious, he’d immediately try to reassure him but right now, he’s enjoying himself too much, especially since Maestro’s anxiousness usually manifests in a flood of exaggerated compliments – a quirk which he steadfastly denies. He’s already squinting suspiciously at Sledge now and then, probably guessing his mood, suspecting Sledge knows what’s up better than Maestro himself. The only missing piece is a reference to how much Maestro suffered during the three years they spent apart and Sledge will have a bingo on his ‘Maestro is both troubled and in denial about it’ card.

“What else? Don’t just stand there, amore, we have places to be and they’re not here.”

His impatience is almost endearing. “We need brown sugar for the chutney.”

“The only sugar I’ll ever need is standing right here.” Maestro’s palms come to rest on Sledge’s cheeks and he presses a few quick yet loud kisses to his lips before running off again. It’s cute, hilarious and heartwarming and Sledge shares a grin with an older couple standing a few metres away before shaking his head and setting out to gather a few other groceries on the list. When his lover returns, Sledge asks him to go get dark chocolate to which Maestro wistfully replies: “I completely lost my taste for it after we parted, vita mia, did I ever tell you? One of my sisters bought me some to try and cheer me up and only made it worse. I’m so glad that now I get the chance again to smear it all over -”

“Adrianito, please, there are children present”, Sledge gently scolds him and is pretty sure Maestro would’ve flipped his hair in indignation as a response if it’d been long enough. Also: bingo. He should intervene soon before Maestro fully self destructs. For the moment, he seems content in likening the food they’re buying to various parts of Sledge’s body or to personality traits of his.

“Puff pastry as pale as your beautiful British skin, caramellino, basically begging for me to mark it.” This one isn’t even an exaggeration, he ensures there’s plenty of lovebites covering Sledge at all times.

“Get some clotted cream while you’re at it.”

“As thick as your thighs, carissimo, you really have been training hard though I fear my cooking will eventually fatten you up like an elephant.”

Apparently, Maestro has witnessed this one too many times in his own family due to his mother’s excellent cooking. Regardless, Sledge can’t help but laugh at the unexpected comment. “Very smooth. I’m flattered.”

“Just as smooth as clotted cream. Which, incidentally, is just as smooth as your juicy -”

“Adrianito. Stop talking filth and grab the cayenne pepper.”

“No cayenne pepper is nearly as hot as you are, luce dei miei occhi, though just as titillating as your company. I’d eat handfuls of it if only it meant we’d never be separated again.”

“You were the one who left”, Sledge reminds him politely which Maestro waves off with a dismissive ‘details, fiorellino, details’ before stalking off once more.

By now, they’ve reached the point where both of them make jokes about it since their frankly ridiculous contentment has healed any wounds, pushed the painful time so far from their minds that it’s barely more than a distant memory. Maestro being the first thing Sledge’s eyes focus on each morning has become the norm though he makes sure not to take it for granted, wakes the love of his life with affectionate touches and takes the time to savour their embrace for a few minutes before getting up to walk Diana and returning to a full fledged breakfast. It’s bliss and Sledge regularly reminds himself of this fact, refuses to let habit take over or lose that special something which makes it seem like Maestro radiates pure delight.

When he returns, his lover almost trips over his own feet and Sledge decides to address the elephant in the room (which isn’t him, thank you very much, he’s begun jogging with Diana by his side to counteract the number on his scale which is slowly creeping upwards). “You’re nervous”, he states and grins as Maestro nearly drops the cayenne pepper.

“Don’t be ridiculous. What would I be nervous about? I’ve made the chutney before and -”

“You’re nervous about my family”, Sledge clarifies and simply stops walking when Maestro threatens to book it with their cart to avoid the conversation. He gets to the end of the aisle, halts, visibly braces himself and hesitantly approaches the Scotsman with empty hands.

“We’re leaving in two weeks, carissimo, that’s plenty of time, it’d be completely stupid to be nervous already.” Sledge stays silent but lifts a mocking brow accompanied by a smile. “Two weeks, tesoro! I care, but even I don’t care that much.”

“Mark mentioned earlier how his family would probably eviscerate James before he can even set foot inside their home”, he points out and watches Maestro deflate in defeat. Despite the Italian being the one who’s a master at reading others, Sledge is finely attuned to his moods by now – besides, the panic in his lover’s eyes was visible for everyone who happened to look at him right after Mute’s offhanded remark. And Sledge looks at him a lot. “Come here.”

Maestro allows him to pull him into a hug with a sigh yet doesn’t miss the opportunity to grab two handfuls of Sledge’s backside. He never does. “What if they don’t like me?”, he mumbles against Sledge’s shoulder and earns a snort.

“Then they don’t like you. It happens. Not much you can do about it.”

“You’re supposed to tell me everyone likes me.”

“Being universally loved is unattainable, Adrianito. Please stop groping my ass in the middle of the supermarket.”

“Curse you and your unshakeable realism.”

“It doesn’t matter what they think. We barely speak as it is, therefore they have no say in my life choices whatsoever. I know you’re hoping to expand your already excessively large family but if you don’t get along, so be it. None of it will influence my love for you and you can’t lose what you never had, so don’t worry about their approval.”

“And what if you were forced to choose?”

Sledge laughs softly and kisses his temple. “Now you’re being overdramatic, luv, they would never. I’m not going to entertain your wild what-if scenarios because that’s how you end up asking whose leg I’d eat first in a pinch, Mark’s or my own. We’re going to visit them and it’s going to be awkward because you’re going to compliment my mum and anger my dad simultaneously, they’re going to take a while to get used to everything that is you and my brother is probably going to endlessly mock you for personifying all Italian stereotypes he knows of. And afterwards we’re going to go back and nothing will have changed. Alright?”

Maestro basks in the embrace a little longer but the sigh he heaves indicates he’s relenting. “I can compliment your father too if you like.”

With a low chuckle, Sledge kisses him before withdrawing and leads them back to their cart. “We can talk more about this later, the puff pastry is thawing.”

“Were you not nervous when I invited you to meet my family?”, Maestro wants to know defiantly and seems to actually be pouting.

“No, not really.”

“You could at least lie so I’d feel better, amore.”

“We just have one thing left on the list now”, Sledge switches topics and turns to his companion, “gherkins.”

Maestro looks at him and opens his mouth before closing it again at Sledge’s amused, expectant expression. “I’m not going to go there”, he eventually grumbles, “I’m not. It wouldn’t even be true.”

“Suit yourself.”

“Alright. You know what? They’re fucking sour. Just like your attitude.” And yet he laces his fingers together with Sledge’s once the Scotsman is done laughing.

#rainbow six siege #sledge #maestro #sledge/maestro #fanfic #maestrom #i will flood tumblr with sledge/maestro content and if it's the last thing i do #also when will you give up kapcan #*shakes fist*

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