#also yeah the background is garbage leave me alone it was Late

[saturnsfather]

a golden boy

[bastillewolf]

Kinda Sketchy (II)

Pairing: Corpse Husband / Reader

Request: “Can you do a part two of kinda sketchy where they slowly fall in love?”

Notes: Sorry this took me so long, but I had zero inspiration as the request left a lot of questions hahaha. Still fun to write, I hope you like it!

Tag list closed.

Chapter II

You’d fallen into a routine for a while. You’d do groceries, he’d do the dishes. You switched cooking, though it was also fine if neither of you felt like it, which is when you’d just order takeout or eat leftovers. But what seemed like the normal thing for two roommates to do on a spoken terms of agreement, it actually appeared you did those things for each other because you wanted to. You’d find some left over dishes in his room which you’d clean, and the next morning you’d find the forgotten tea on your nightstand already back in the cupboard. If you fell asleep working, reading, or watching something on TV, you’d somehow always end up in your bed even though you couldn’t remember getting up to get there yourself.

It had grown into this wonderful friendship between two people who had found it convenient to live together. You knew he could just as well live on his own now, knowing how big his YouTube channel had gotten within the time you’d first seen it up until now- in only a few months, at that. You’d asked him about it, but he’d simply brushed it off, saying it was easier for him this way. He wasn’t sure if he would ever do a face reveal, and having you go outside so he didn’t have to was a great bonus to the shared rent and company. It had hurt you slightly to hear him talk about it so plainly when you had already realized you were starting to feel more for him than you were supposed to.

It had started gradually, to be honest. You hadn’t noticed it at first. You simply took for granted all the times he jokingly bumped his shoulder into yours, or when he hugged you tight when he saw you needed it, or when he even kissed you on the cheek while having a debate with you on what a ‘chef’s kiss’ meant when you’d cooked a – if you may say so yourself – sublime meal.

But now, you had to miss all of those things. It seemed, when you agreed to his basic explanation of how easy it was for him with you living here in order to hide your disappointment, he’d seen it as a sign to stop doing all of those things for granted.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, please. But it’s just easier. I’ve gotten recognized before in a drive-through and I don’t want to go through that ever again,” he said.

You shook your head, even though your heart was plummeting down a set of stairs. “No, I completely get it. We’re roommates and it’s what we agreed upon. That’s it.”

“That’s it,” he repeated.

And that was it. The cups of leftover tea on your nightstand had started to form a fort, and you suddenly found yourself waking up on the couch in the middle of the night, feeling cold and grouchy as you realized you had to walk back to your bed. If you did sleep there until morning, you’d wake up from the sound of the coffee machine with a mumbled ‘sorry’ from your roommate, but other than that, he never said anything about it.

You’d wondered if he was angry with you. You’d even made a peace offering by cleaning up the mess in his room. Even that he didn’t mention.

So, one night while you were waiting on him at the table to show up for dinner, he didn’t come. He wasn’t in the apartment, he hadn’t texted you, he hadn’t left a note. He was nowhere to be found. Of course, you’d think something happened to him. You called Sykkuno first, and luckily you’d chosen exactly the right person.

“Oh, yeah! We’re playing Mario Kart, and he’s staying over. I thought he’d told you?” he said.

“Eh, no, he didn’t,” you replied, rubbing your eyes. “It’s fine. You guys have fun.”

“Thanks! You should come next time too, if you’re not too busy. Corpse told me how much work keeps you up.”

“He did?” you ask, sounding as monotone as could be.

“Yeah, but I think it’s just because he doesn’t want you to meet us yet. We kinda make a crazy first impression on everyone, and I’m pretty sure he wants us to be on our best behaviour when you come over… He- He does talk about you, a lot.”

“He… what?”

“Rae started teasing him about it, but then he brushed it off saying he’d never cheat on me, which is kind of weird considering we aren’t-“

“What did he say about me?” For a moment you felt guilty cutting him off, but your curiosity and heart got the better of you and Thomas didn’t really seem to mind.

“Oh, you know, how you’ve been taking care of him more than he’s ever taken care of himself. I thought it was kind of sad, but he talked about it pretty fondly. Rae caught a hint of that and started asking very personal questions, like what’s going on between the two of you, and then he stopped. I think he just doesn’t want to throw things out there, you know? I think he- Oh, here he is now! Do you want to me to hand you over?”

“No. Thanks, Thomas.” You’d quickly ended the call, but it seemed to late when you’d still heard him ask with that raspy voice of his, “Who are you talking to?”.

So, you ended up eating your dinner alone. He didn’t come home until after midnight, when you were still sitting at the same table, this time with your laptop in front of you doing some last bits of work so you wouldn’t end up falling asleep on the couch again.

You didn’t even turn around when you heard him walk in. He seemed to even hesitate for a moment, judging by his footsteps, before he said ‘hey’. You muttered it back, pretending to be engrossed in your work.

He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, before leaning back against the counter, his face turned to you. “You know, maybe you should just work in bed. I highly doubt falling asleep with your face smashed against the keyboard is very comfortable.”

You suddenly stopped typing, leaned your elbows against the table and linked your fingers together, looking him dead in the eye. “Maybe I want to feel the pain in my back as a punishment knowing I fell asleep like this again.”

“Fair enough,” he sighed.

You let a silence linger just a bit longer, before you continued typing and said, “You could’ve told me where you were.”

He was probably staring at you, but you still pointedly ignored him. “I didn’t know that was in our arrangement.”

“Well, I didn’t know our arrangement was that unpersonal to you. Seems like all I am is someone who just gets your groceries for you.” It was a low blow. But you just needed to make him feel the stabbing, the way he stabbed you.

“Jesus, I told you not to take that personally. That’s not what I meant at all,” he said.

“I didn’t take it personally until you thought that conversation was enough to start ignoring me,” you lied.

“I think you know just as well as I do why I’m keeping my distance.”

You met his eyes. Nothing you could see in there, besides the frustration, gave you any answers. You couldn’t help it, you were glaring back at him just as hard even though all you could feel right now was confusion. He shook his head and sighed.

“Maybe it’s time this agreement ends.”

The thought had crossed both your minds, but he was the one who had said it out loud. And probably stung harder for you than it would have for him if you’d cut the cord. He left you sitting there, with tears now blurring your vision, slamming the door behind him for good measure.

***

He wasn’t home again. It gave you the perfect opportunity to quickly pack the rest of your shit up and leave, quietly. A cowardly move, perhaps, but you knew you didn’t have it in you to face him for this. You still hadn’t found a new place yet, since everything in Cali was way too fucking expensive and most ads looking for a roommate even sketchier than the one from Corpse you’d replied to. One of your friends had come to your aid, however, so you had at least a temporary place to say without having to suffer in this tension any longer.

You were just shoving the last of your books in a cardboard box when your phone rang. It was Thomas.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Uh… well, I was wondering if you could tell us that…” Sykkuno hesitantly asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh- give me the phone-“ “Hey!” there was an evident struggle, before Rae was suddenly talking to you, clearly having ripped the device from Thomas’ hands.

“Corpse is acting all weird! We know something happened between the two of you, but he doesn’t wanna talk about it! It’s like he’s gone back to his brooding old self and I’m worried! So you better start talking!”

“Unless it wasn’t your fault-“ you heard Thomas call out. He was quickly shushed by Rae.

“There’s nothing to say. He made it very clear that our living arrangement was just that; an arrangement, and he stopped talking to me. I confronted him about it, he started saying vague shit and asked me to move out.”

“Wait, what did he say?! I need specifics!” “Rae talks Corpse language, apparently,” you heard Toast mumble in the background.

“He said ‘I think you know just as well as I do why I’m keeping my distance’,” you imitated, your voice not nearly going as low as his.

“Wait, what?”

“I think he just figured out I have feelings for him. I understand how he wouldn’t want to be friends anymore.”

“Oh my god, you’re both such idio-!“

The call ended before you could hear the rest of Rae’s frustration. You shrugged it off, understanding why she would be mad at you by upsetting Corpse. He was her friend first and foremost, after all.

You stuffed your clothes in garbage bags, tied them up and pushed all of it into the living room. You’d dusted, vacuumed, and taken the bedsheets off. While balling all of the laundry up in your arms, you heard the door open. You immediately froze.

Footsteps were coming closer. Maybe if you didn’t move he would think you weren’t here. You didn’t want to do this. You didn’t want to see that he didn’t care. Your heart was pounding in your chest and your hands were wringing the fabric of the bedsheets. God, you should’ve packed quicker. You shouldn’t have been so organized, you should’ve just shoved everything in a few boxes altogether and made a break for it. You should’ve.

He was at your door opening. The footsteps had stopped. You still had your back turned to him.

Just keep walking. Please, just keep walking, you pleaded, closing your eyes. Waiting for the final blow.

However, it didn’t seem to land. Not anywhere near you, at least.

You simply heard his breathing, which seemed more erratic than usual, but perhaps you were just imagining things. Please, just keep walking. Please, I can’t-

“Please don’t go,” he rasped.

Your brows furrowed. If anything, your eyes squeezed shut even tighter. He had to be joking with you.

But then he said your name, pleadingly. He stepped behind you, and you could feel his warm breath against your neck. “Please don’t go. I don’t want you to go.”

“I think you do,” you tried to convince him, as well as yourself.

His hands found his way around your waist and across your stomach until his chest was flush against your back. “No, I don’t.”

Your hands felt numb, so numb you barely noticed them dropping the bedsheets. He turned you around slowly, and you opened your eyes.

“I… heard what you said to Rae.”

“Oh.”

You watched as he leaned in, the tip of his nose brushing against yours. You didn’t stop him- of course you didn’t want him to. His lips pressed against yours gently, in a question, which you responded to. It was still laced with a certain hesitance, but not one strong enough to make either of you want to pull back. It was tingly, warm, and comfortable as the stress of the past few days came washing over you.

He smiled shyly as he pulled back. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew about how I felt.”

“I’m sorry too. I think we need to set up some things in our agreement about communication.”

“Please, no more fucking agreements. I think Rae would definitely kill us.” You both laughed.

TAG LIST CLOSED!

@annshit @simonsbluee @majolittlemixgurl18 @redosmo @mythicalreader @gracehaileym @leikarinn @its-bootz @ollwinchester @thehatredofshiprrick @curlyhairedbrock @thatbandchick39 @reddeserths @mitseuul @potenzel @tanchosanke @tooturntashbash @stephn-prkr @missingpuzzlepiece @sweetasphyxiation @goldiefox1 @imrisaluk @chimchimsugakookies @helena-way07 @danny-devitowo @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @cherry-piee @artist-bby @bluewneptune @bratttyaphrodite @eccedxntesiaast @faithneko @thebootythrasher @bethpiercwhy @theeerealpunkin @heartbroken-writer @chisaikuki @realnicoleworld @candystoregirl @derpygiraffe43110 @rintomoj @phantomamethyst @helloitsmeamie203 @falcon-arrows @nvthvlyy @ellomellows @loraleiix @ladolcedea @lunaruss @princess00wifi @pennnyroyalty @cultofandom @easygoingtheatre @crpseclt @thatonefangirlbornonfriday @myherotrashbin @hufflepuff-always-and-forever @martinimom @gummybear123 @sparklingblacktea @lovelynervouskingdom @kingsuals @weeblyheaux @flightsandfantasy @chanelle-jackson @actual-spawn-of-satan @dixielumsden  @consumegods @mirandabarry @ikearandl @narwhalsaremagicalbroski @armycandy10 @chillininahottub-withaghost @mitchiesdungeon @yeolliedokai @alyofmusic @qatiee @dzzizzi @johnjacobjingleheimerschmidt @leilanixx @thefuckthesaurus @hughugh20 @thanossexual @moneybagmara @squintyangel @motheroffae @arossebyanyothername @vacaprincess @jinxedanxrchist @peterparkerspjsuit @chrysanthykios @wildflowerwhore @punkrainbows  @justalilsimpsometimes @bunniwritesx @sunnsettee @justxanotherxshipper @alilshit @dekahg @laugh-like-the-moon @sadness-babee @corpsie-bby @corpsesgirl @dead-boys-stuff @roses-and-grasses @sakusawife @byunniebaekhyunnie @lazy-little-me @phantomamethyst @letsloveimagines @polahorvat @sokkas-paintings @possiblyanxioushuman @a-dot-dev @aniyahsucks @choicesstan1 @error-loading-sorry @bi-andready-tocry @agustdpeach​ @xibrokensunriseix @genjicats​ @forest-rav3n @devilishducky97​ @alyss01​ @anacrcarvalho​ @siriuslystupid​ @bakugonua​ @n0t-a-simp​ @notmewrongb1tch​ @c00ln3rdz​ @rolls-and-rolex​  @namjoons-crabssss​ @laurenfangirlsout​ @lickmyleeches​ @and-claudia​ @netflix-imagines​ @bigdickdaddysatan​ @iambashfulperson​ @helloitsmeamie203​ @peachdoppi​ @easygoingtheatre​ @danielle143​ @kyky9103​ @tayloryorkscurls​ @v-kouya​ @jeezkiddo​ @smokeynaomi​ @lukoivichi @boiled-onionrings​ @nerdinthecorner​ @corpse-husbandsimp​ @ramdomtails​ @elebeleb​ @captainbuckyy @smile-its-psychotic​

[moreidsdaughter]

broken (2)

spencer reid x reader

genre: angst

tw: mentions of murder and kidnapping, crying, comments alluding to body dysmorphia or ed.. I think that's it! let me know if you want me to add any other warnings.

word count: 1.2k

summary: in which a broken girl tells her story!

a/n: thank you guys for being here! it was just my birthday and we hit another milestone! I love you guys so much and I am so thankful for you guys! thank you @haileyyturner and @obliviousreid for betaing this chapter

JJ waits silently, the nerves are evident on her face. She explains that someone is killing families; specifically kidnapping, torturing, and inevitably murdering them in St. Petersburg, Florida. Each family is kept over a two week period. Then after that period of time, the unsub would move onto a different family. So far, the unsub has killed two families over the course of the month. The local law enforcement called the BAU because the unsub clearly has a signature.

“What’s their signature?” Hotch asks. JJ looks at Hotch, then looking back at the screen to change the pictures. These pictures reveal that each parent had a four mark etched into their chest. The unsub was choosing families of four; one father, one mother, a daughter, and a son.

“Why would the unsub mark them like this? It has to mean something, but what does it mean?” Y/n questions.

“In Chinese culture, the number four is thought to be unlucky, but it also means death. It is more commonly known as a symbol of death, it just comes from that culture, but if our unsub is from that background, the four could be representing unluckiness.” Spencer rambles, quick to speak his mind.

“But why the mother and father?” Derek asks, looking puzzled as he continues talking. “What makes marking them significant and not the children?”

“Maybe he sees the children as innocent... However, then it’s a matter of what the parents did to deserve this in the unsub’s eyes.” says Y/n. “Maybe cheating or not taking care of their kids properly?”

“Garcia, look into the families and more into the murders. Also, check CPS reports, ethnic backgrounds, and marriage counsel records. Otherwise, wheels up in thirty.” Hotch said with his usual stern face. Hotch rushes to get his papers together and leaves the room.

------------

“Coffee, Spence?” you ask, trying to not seem out of it. You go out of your way to smile a little and change your body language, so he won’t notice.

“Sure, Y/n. All the sugar in the world,” Spencer laughs. Then he notices something, your eyes look like you haven’t slept in days and your skin has an ashen, dull look to it. Spencer looks away quickly, not wanting to make it obvious, but it was too late.

“Spencer, why are you looking at me like that? Do I look bad or something?” you blurt out. The fear is always present in the back of your mind. ‘You can’t let him know’ you thought.

“No! No, you look fine.” Spencer says, trying not to lie to you.

And you know that Spencer is lying because you can hardly take a look at yourself. All the mirrors in your house are covered with black garbage bags. You're afraid of what you’ve become to the point where you can’t see yourself, because all you see is disappointment. The only mirror not covered is the bathroom even though it’s where your most insecure moments happen. You have to see yourself before work, that’s the only reason it isn’t covered. ‘If you can’t look at yourself, how can you expect others to?.’ is a thought that goes through your head frequently.

“Thanks Spence, here’s your coffee.” you say trying to ignore the thoughts running through your head. You walk away before Spencer can respond and you know that it's a risk, you just need a few minutes before the team leaves.

You make your way to the bathroom swiftly trying to keep it all in, but you couldn’t. Luckily the rest of the team was in the bullpen getting ready, so your coworkers seeing you wasn’t a problem. You opened the door and walked in, the mirrors on the wall taunting you. When you walk to the mirror, you see the mess on your face; your fatigue is evident, mascara is running down your face, and your face is puffy. It was like looking at a complete stranger, you didn’t even recognize yourself. Your eyes stare back at you and another set of tears fall down your face as you whisper, “Get yourself together.” You wash your face and return to the bullpen, awaiting for the team to leave.

------------

Y/n left in such a rush. ‘I wanted to say that she looks beautiful no matter what, but she just left. There has to be something wrong. She wouldn’t do anything like this months ago, so what changed?’ Spencer thought. He walks back to the bullpen conflicted about if he should say anything. ‘I should wait. Maybe if I find out more, it will be easier to confront her based on her behavior. But is it too intrusive?’ Walking to his desk and picking up his go bag, he notices that Y/n is back.

Spencer didn’t want to ask, but he could never be too sure. He walks over to Y/n and says, “You okay?” with a slight pout.

“I’m fine. My eyes were just really itchy and I needed to put in some eye drops.” Y/n says, fiddling with her hands.

‘She’s nervous’ Spencer thought to himself. “Oh, it’s okay.” Spencer says.

“Yeah, allergies are shitty.” Y/n laughed.

“Come on lovebirds, we gotta go!” Derek interrupts. Spencer and Y/n are clearly flustered and head to the jet.

------------

The plane ride is something, there’s a lot of turbulence and is overall really rocky, so no one is sleeping. Hotch goes about his day in the corner, looking at case files and probably putting a theory together about the unsub. JJ and Emily are laughing and chatting about things in their lives. Derek is in his usual spot with Spencer bickering about something, but I’m alone. Sitting in my corner of the jet, silently observing my surroundings. A big rule for the team is not to profile each other, because we're coworkers, and most importantly, family. I’m not profiling anyone, I’m just sitting there in silence because there isn’t much to think about. Except the fact that I have to be more careful around Spencer; he knows something is up and I hope he doesn’t profile me.

When we landed in St Petersburg, we rushed to the police station. We were there for hours, getting no sleep as we worked the case. Everyone was exhausted, so Hotch told us to go to our hotel rooms, hoping the team would come back tomorrow morning with a clear head. We hadn’t figured out much about the unsub yet. Except, that the unsub was burning the “4s” into the mothers and fathers. The car ride to the hotel was silent, probably due to frustration. When we got there, Hotch pulled us aside and told us this.

“So, there aren't enough rooms... We have to double up.” He said, but not with his usual straight-forward stern voice.

“Well, I think we all know Rossi is on his own…” said Derek.

“Yeah, out of respect I hope.” Rossi joked.

“Haha, yeah of course. Okay, so Hotch and I, Emily and JJ, Y/n and Reid? That works right?” Derek said.

“Yeah, totally!” said JJ. I had no idea how she managed to have enthusiasm with no sleep.

“Well Y/n, I guess you're with me.” said Spencer hesitantly, trying to smile a little bit.

‘Shit.’

taglist: @criminalbaby @criminalmindsvibez @itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto @dr-spence-reid @thatsonezesty13 @i-wanna-be-a-mushroom

[thompsborn]

do you have any spare ironhusbands or sambucky headcanons?

ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY

oh my god okay i’ve been so fucking wrapped up in both ironhusbands and sambucky and absolutely nothing else for WEEKS because of tfatws (obviously if you have seen my endless spam of reblogs but can you BLAME ME) and the portal closed has ironhusbands so i’ve been just. oh my god i am happily drowning in this and them and i do not need nor want air. ok.

also these are all hc’s based just in canon not au, and lol warning this got so long help me, though my brain is so scrambled from tfatws finale that all sambucky thoughts are scrambled and jumbled so i wasn't able to coordinate them as well as ironhusbands so the ironhusbands section is definitely longer pfighf i'm so sorry i'm like this

ironhusbands:

when they met at mit tony didnt know shit. like. like nothing. he didnt know a single god damn thing about anything. like he was a genius he could solve any equation given to him and baffled professors when he was handed like two supposedly impossible equations to this fuckin fourteen year old and he just looked at them with like a mcdonalds burger or some shit hanging out of his mouth and just answered them no problem, but he was still such a hopeless idiot, and rhodey, also a genius attending as a sixteen year old, had to teach him the basics of life, like. making toast. tony how do NOT know how to make toast. its TOAST. you put it in the TOASTER. have you NEVER SEEN A—OH MY GOD HOW DID YOU FUCKING CATCH IT ON FIRE—

he does not perfect the clearly impossible task of making toast until he is 17 and rhodey buys him a cake to celebrate the momentous occasion even though tony went though 528 toasters

you are gold by the national parks. thats it. thats all i have to say. listen to the song and look up the lyrics. you’ll get it.

and also paper planes by jon bellion but specifically for after rhodey tells tony he’s gonna join the air force and tony is worried but doesnt know how to show it and they have like a chill night in and all tony can think about is how stupid he is and how he’s such a coward because he cant get himself to tell rhodey that hi!! i love u!! and im scared to lose u and that you’ll get hurt and maybe die or smth!!

when rhodey finds out about how tony was raised (going with mcu, where tony wasnt physically abused but more emotionally neglected and ignored by howard and always talked down to and compared to others and wasnt treated like he was worthy and never was told he was loved and everything like that) he gets PISSED. like he is MONUMENTALLY angry. and it takes YEARS for him to find out about this too. and it actually puts a bit of a strain on their friendship for awhile when they meet too

like rhodey knows about the starks obviously and he assumes tony is going to be this obnoxious arrogant rich boy asshole and is so not looking forward to being roommates but he was raised to have an open mind and give everyone a chance, but tony was raised to be wary of everyone and keep his walls up and his emotions in shackles because whatever he shows can be used against him, so they clash, you know? they dont fight or anything but theres tension bc it isnt right and they dont get each other.

rhodey tries to be nice and tony doesnt understand nice because his only example of nice is jarvis and his mom and even then his mom and jarvis are always off with his dad so he barely sees them so its still rare for him to experience the nice of them so he doesnt know how to be around someone nice all the time, and so he gets defensive and thinks about how howard drilled it into him to be wary and he thinks maybe rhodey isnt ACTUALLY nice but someone PRETENDING to be

and rhodey starts to feel justified in assuming the worst about tony stark because tony is all cold and distant and rude and is about to stop the keeping an open mind thing about a month into their first year but then he comes back to their dorm early from class one day and tony doesnt come in so rhodey is just standing there and watches for a minute as tony sits there staring down at his twenty sixth attempt at a letter he wants to send his mom becauss he knows his mom likes letters even though he could just call but they havent really called him (howards fault but he’s fourteen still and its hard to rationalize that howards busy life and controlling thumb extends past his son) and rhodey is just confused because tony just suddenly sighs and sniffles a bit and murmurs “this is so stupid” and crumbles up the paper and throws it in the garbage and rhodey cant help but peer into it and barely sees the words hey mom scribbled at the top and that. that. hm. okay.

so rhodey keeps trying because he wasnt supposed to see that but he did and now he kind of has a feeling that maybe tony isnt all that cold and distant and rude as he seems, maybe he just doesnt really know how to be any different, so he thinks about all the subtle little ways that his family has shown him they care about him and starts to invite tony to go get food or to study together even though neither of them really need to study or to help each other with assignments or just anything thats mundane enough to not raise suspicion but still starts to open the door and make tony relax around him just that little bit and then before tony realizes it the end of their first year is there and theyre like friends or something and it hits him that he’s gonna miss rhodey.

for the first time ever there’s someone other than his mom and jarvis that he’s actually going to miss.

rhodey grins at him and says that they’ll be roommates again next year because they have to be and that the summer will be over before they know it and the sentiment is nice but tony spends the summer alone wandering around a house too big and empty after being in a dorm that’s small and has a friend.

but rhodey doesn’t know this. like he knows that tony isn’t the kind of guy he originally assumed but he doesn’t know that he’s literally ignored and neglected and like emotionally and sometimes verbally abused so he’s kind of surprised when the next year begins and they DO end up being roommates again (because tony kind of asked his mom, on a rare day when he got to see her and howard wasnt around, to get mit to make sure they could be) and tony just HUGS him like its been years and they’ve known each other forever but he goes with it and hugs him back because maybe tony’s just more affectionate once he gets to know someone and rhodey is okay w that.

they get closer as the years go by and they graduate from mit together and they’re BEST friends and at the end of the year rhodey invites tony to spend new years eve w his family but tony cant bc howard is having some kind of gala starting at 5 because hes weird and dumb and tony hates it and he also isnt given the option of not going even though he doesnt want to but the entire way there howard drills into him about not fucking up and berates him for all the times he has in the past and when they get there tony is already just not feeling it so he’s like nope!! no!! i simply cannot!!

so he goes in and finds an exit thats in the back and he leaves and finds a fucking payphone of all things and he has rhodeys home number memorized for years now and he calls and someone he doesnt knoe answers and theres music in the background and voices and tony’s entire stomach is in his throat and his heart is sunken into his twisted gut because he just wanted one night where maybe he could smile next to his parents and feel like he fit with them but he couldnt have that and he asks to talk to rhodey and then he is and asks if its too late to accept his invite and rhodey is like yeah of course do u need my address bc its still only 5 pm and its a 2 hour drive between south philadelphia and manhattan so he’d make it with plenty of time before it got to midnight so yay

and tony is like. oh. hm. i dont know how to drive actually. that was a thing that no one ever thought to teach me even though i asked about it about ten million times. and rhodey is used to tony not knowing how to do things that most people their age can (see: the toast) and plus its not uncommon for people from new york to not drive anyway so he doesnt think anything of it and instead asks for tony’s address to come pick him up instead and they’d still make it back by like 9-9:30 so that would work too

and thats when tony is like. well.

about that.

he might be calling from a payphone.

on a random street corner.

and its kind of raining. and he’s cold. and he’s a bit dulled out from everything so he doesn’t really think about the fact that admitting this is going to lead to having to explain what happened and also why and that is happens often. but that doesnt matter because he kind of just wants to be with his best friend and not back at that gala with his dad right now.

rhodey is like,,, ok. ok. wheres a coffee shop nearby u can wait in. and tony thankfully is by a 24 hour one and tells him the name and the street corner its closest to and rhodey is like i’ll be there asap and tony goes and he waits.

a two hour drive turns into an hour and a half because rhodey is Worried™

but when he walks in tony goes from being all dulled out to being all HOLY SHIT because rhodey has a SPLIT LIP and he’s like WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED WHAT THE FUCK WHAT

and rhodey’s like no no its good my uncle was having fun and trying to wrestle with me and he accidentally elbowed me its all good man dont worry about it

tony isnt used to accidentally being hurt tho so he’s still like hmmm but he takes rhodeys word on it and they head out and tony wont say what happened or why he was calling from a payphone ?? which btw tony literally only was able to do bc there happened to be dropped change on the ground because boy would not have change on him ok, but rhodeys like alright lets go with this for now

so they gets to the rhodes house and it is in full swing with family and extended family and adopted family bc they are 100% the family that just adopts the neighborhood kids and the people who have no one else and like ex boyfriends and ex girlfriends even after the relationship ends bc they still are family despite not dating whoever it was they had been dating in order to be introduced to them so its a LOT of people and tony is like. this is semi familiar in terms a lot of people but this is NOTHING like what he has ever seen before holy fucking SHIT

rhodey is just like oh u have a small family then? so ur used to smaller gatherings?

and tonys like wtf are gatherings

and rhodey is starting to get a feel for what might be wrong but just takes tony inside to get him changed because he’s not spending new years eve at the rhodes house in a fucking expensive suit ok

tony is completely out of his element and like he’s not the only white guy there bc again the rhodes adopt people and those people are of every race and nationally you can imagine but he just isnt used to the vibe there are people laughing and sitting close together and playing games and theres music playing but not like classy music its music people can dance to and are dancing to and the food isnt the food he’s used to at galas and shit and nothing is what he’s used to and he just sticks to rhodey’s side like a fucking lost puppy and tries his best not to look like an idiot when rhodey introduces him to people and a lot of them know who he is but dont judge him or assume shit about him bc obviously if he’s friends w rhodey then he’s a good guy and they want to know him and thats enough

but tony is v overwhelmed bc what the FUCK IS HAPPENING this is nothing like anything he has ever experienced EVER

so eventually rhodey can tell he’s getting overwhelmed and takes him inside and lets him have a breather and then asks him about whats going in and thats when rhodey learns about what tonys life at home is really like and. anger.

SO MUCH anger

because not only has every single assumption he has ever made about tony been proven wrong, but now he knows that the best person he knows has never been treated the way he deserves and has never known a true home and comfort and love and safety and

and he’s gonna fix it

and this is the first step

so he takes tony back out and they’re still just friends but this is the day they both quietly realize they might kind of definitely like each other as more because tony is still so confused by the fact that what he knows isnt the normal and overwhelmed by how much there is and how different it is but rhodey holds his hand as a grounding point and whenever it might be too much they move off to the side where they arent completely gone but its less hectic and a bit more quiet and its just nice

tony goes to rhodeys house for every holiday despite whatever howard says

rhodey decks howard the only time they ever meet before tonys parents die and he has the most shit eating grin on his face afterwards that tony cant help but lose his shit laughing his ass off

anyway i didnt mean to ramble for so long about that specific idea so i’ll end the ironhusbands ramble with this one last thought, which is as follows:

rhodey gets hurt in the air force at some point, and it isnt that bad tbh but he does have to go the hospital and shit and gets stitches or whatever idk i dont know what specifically happens i just think it’d be just bad enough that it takes him a few weeks to be able to go back to work but he’s not like OH GOD HURT yk?

but like stated above tony was scared and worried when rhodey told him he was gonna go into the air force so he hears about this and they’re probably like almost 30 at this point because they’re dumb and it takes them forever to get their heads out of their asses (i say this even though in the portal closed it takes them even longer but i digress) rhodey has like his mon his sister his niece visiting him and they were worried but they know hes fine so theyre just talking and in a good mood and then—

door slams open. tony stark enter stage left. disheveled suit, fresh from a meeting he definitely was not supposed to leave, having flown in from maibu the second he heard and then had happy drive him and then got impatient because of traffic and ended up sprinting like ten blocks while happy was like what the FUCK

of course rhodeys family are well aware that these idiots are desperately in love with each other so they’re just like lol ok and just leave the room while tony starts fretting over him like he’s about to die himself if he doesnt know if rhodey is okay and rhodey is like tony tony dude tones stop tony im okay tony stop it

until finally tony just fucking breaks down like full on tears in his eyes voice cracking hands clasped as he leans against rhodeys bed and tells him that he was so scared and he is so scared all the time whenever rhodey is out there because all he can think about is losing him and him getting hurt or dying and it’s maddening and this is when they get their heads out of their asses and kiss for the first time

(irony at its finest bc later when they are married and tony becomes iron man rhodey refuses to not have a suit of his own because if tony is going out there in a metal flying tin can then he isn’t going alone and wow what a power couple)

sambucky:

firstly i’m going to go post tfatws, but i’ll make a bullet point before going into it so if you wanna read up until that point you can but most of this will be random little headcanons based post tfatws

also it isnt like a whole plotline thing like the ironhusbands ones ended up being these ones are more random and kinda all over the place but loosely connected

update from after writing this: i lied

let me start by saying my interpretation of why they are the way they are in civil war is because of steve

thats not saying steve is the bad guy i mean to say that they’re jealous of each other because they thought that THEY were steve’s best friend who the fuck is THIS guy i dont want him here go away

children. they are children.

which i find very funny to imagine from sams pov because he literally is a licensed therapist and would 100% recognize why he’s acting how he is but he’s petty enough to do it anyway

and also he literally was helping steve track bucky down but i like to imagine that sam didnt think they’d ever really find him again and it’d just make him and steve like super mega best friends or something because hes a CHILD

and then from bucky’s pov steve goes through all this trouble to find him and protect him and then this random guy is acting like steve’s best friend and gets to sit in the front seat ??? bullshit. absolutely bullshit. worst thing ever. so stupid.

its so funny to me okay its SO funny

its like that schoolyard thing where your friend makes another friend and you hate it so much that you do something stupid like color on their drawing or put gum in their hair or whatever but they’re adults with 1. super soldier serum or 2. a superhero reputation/avengers status and suit with wings. so thats a thing.

post civil war i dont think they get much yk. because bucky is out in cryo and team cap is on the run and i doubt theyre able to return to wakanda much, if at all, and then it’s infinity war and then it’s endgame and after endgame there’s the aftermath and the aftermath is a mess

i like to think they have some moments before tfatws though. not many but enough for that slight foundation thats we can kind of see in episode 2 yk.

okay NOW it gets into post tfatws so!!

SO post tfatws everything is different because now they not only have spent all this time together, but they understand each other in a way that they didn’t before. in a way no one ever has. not even steve, who may have known them before, but he isn’t here anymore and he wouldn’t understand who they are now vs who they were before and it’s different.

bucky finds comfort in sam’s home town. sam finds comfort in watching bucky find a home there and he doesnt know why.

also sam treats redwing like a puppy and lets him fly around on his own and gets pet and stuff and bucky acts annoyed but the longer it happens you can tell he’s like “oh my god why is this thing endearing”

bucky has nightmares and sam knows this but bucky doesnt know that sam also has nightmares until one night when they’re still in sams home town and they’re staying on the boat because sams nephews are having a sleepover with some friends and they didnt want to get in the way or smth idk i just want an excuse for them to be on the boat and somewhat secluded from people but bucky already woke up from his nightmare and is out on the deck to get some fresh out and then oop

sam havin a nightmare too

because fucking of COURSE sam has nightmares he has been through some shit too!! not being able to catch riley and everything that happened since meeting steve and thanos and he turned to dust alone in the bushes ok like yes everyone that died were traumatized undoubtedly (peter my baby boy baby im so sorry that you got the worst of it) but bucky was around people but sam was laying on the ground and probably just watched his hands as he disappeared and he was alone and like. jesus christ ok.

and then steve trusted him with every weight and everything that comes with the shield not knowing how much more the shield has when he gave it to a black man and just like he has nightmares everyone in marvel does its a fact

but bucky finds out like this and he is shocked even though he realizes he probably should have been able to guess that this is a thing and he knows so much more about sam now than he ever did but this is how he learns more. he learns about riley. he learns so much.

sometimes bucky has those like “oh shit” moments where he’s like “maybe i was kind of a dick to someone who didnt deserve it” and he already had one of those with sam about the shield but he has another one because he assumed shit about sam when they were being all childish and jealous about someone else being friends with steve but like fuck

steve and sam probably got it

the not catching someone. the way it felt to try and to reach out and to miss and to have to choice but to watch as they fell.

what’s different is that steve got bucky back. he got to have that relief, eventually, even if there was the pain of knowing bucky had been taken by hydra, but at least he knew bucky had made it.

sam didn’t have that. riley didnt make it.

therefore, bucky has his “oh shit”

and bucky was already going soft around the edges with sam (as clearly seen in the last two episodes of tfatws, ESPECIALLY the finale because like did tou SEEZ ALL THE HEART EYES oh my GOD) but it’s this that really makes something in him melt and he just. he loses the last remnants of whatever tension or resentment or whatever negative feeling he may have been clutching onto.

there wasnt much left. but now theres none. now its all washed away.

its gone, and he gets it.

sam is a licensed therapist and he knew the reason he was being all dumb and childish and jealous with bucky was because steve had another best friend but also because steve’s other best friend was the guy that had been a big factor in how him and steve understood each other and how they bonded and it

it had kind of felt like they lost part of that when they found bucky again in civil war and he kind of wanted to blame bucky for it even though he didnt actually blame him at all so all it translated to was that dumb kind of jealous thing instead

but now it’s just them. its sam and bucky and it isnt steve and it isnt about steve and it shouldnt be because its about them. its about the boat and the water and the way they sit and watch the waves while the silence settles over them and the way that bucky says, “im sorry.”

its the way sam says, “me too.”

and bucky says, “you dont have to be.”

its the way they stay there until sarah comes to get them for breakfast and sams nephews convince them to play with them and their friends and the world is still shit and there is so much to do but

but its this and its them and that can wait

it can wait

they can take their time if they want to

maybe they’ve earned that much, at least

(it isn't a fast development because they're a complicated pair and there's so much to the two of them that need to figured out individually before they can even realize how well they work together, but the steps are so much easier knowing that they have the other in their corner and bucky knows that sam's home town is a place he's welcome to go and sam helps him make his own dreary little apartment into something that feels real and tangible with a bed and a couch and when they've become something that resembles stable and they've found a balance and they're okay, that's when they realize that maybe they can try for the more that sometimes bubbles under their skin and that they started to think about the more they spend time together. the warmth that sam feels every time he sees bucky playing games with his nephew and the smile that bucky has to fight to hide and still can't fully suppress when sam stands tall and proud with the shield in its rightful place, and it takes time, it takes work, it takes carefully placed bricks to build the foundation they need, but they get there, and when they do...

when they do, they're already happy, and it just makes them happier, and that's what makes it so much better.

that's what makes it worth the wait.)

[lloydskywalkers]

the idiots’ guide to not despising your cousin

Determined to make the best out of the worst hand, Lloyd drags his newly-living pseudo-cousin on the road trip from hell in a desperate attempt to bond. Or get rid of each other for good, they’re not sure yet. 

(This requires...a tiny bit of background, part one being that a while back i received a request for “more lloyd and sharks”. Except i misread it as “morro lloyd and sharks” which was like, odd, but i went with it and somehow ended up with 12K words of...this fic, that’s definitely 90% crack. Which brings me to part two, which is that this takes place in an entirely hypothetical au where Morro made it through the rift in s7, or somehow he’s alive the details aren’t important shh)

In his defense, Morro never would have been caught dead in this situation if he hadn’t traumatized his sort-of-cousin by possessing him two years earlier.

…alright, that’s not really a defense, but it’s the only explanation he has.

“I’m just saying,” Lloyd is…saying, as he jabs his pointer finger at him. “I could’ve been a whole foot taller if you hadn’t starved me. You stunted my growth, listening to me for five minutes is the least you can do.”

“I did not stunt your growth, you were already going to be a shrimp anyways,” Morro counters, rubbing his right eye as he tries to focus on his book instead.

Lloyd’s eyes narrow. “A whole week. And all you let me eat was half a slice of bread and vodka shots.”

“Would you — shh, it was not vodka!” Morro hisses, his eyes darting wildly around for Wu. His shoulders slump in relief as he confirms that he and Lloyd are still the only ones in the room, and he turns back, glaring at Lloyd. “I told you, it was juice.”

Lloyd glares right back. “I could still taste, you know. I’m not that naïve.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Morro quips.

Lloyd’s green eyes flash a little too much on the neon side, and Morro backs down. “Alright, alright!” He shakes his head. “I’ll listen to whatever kiddie drama you want.”

“It’s not drama,” Lloyd huffs, flopping down on the couch across from him. “It’s a proposal.”

Morro sneers. “Oh, a fancy word.”

Again, Lloyd sneers right back. “Yeah, do you need a dictionary for it?"

In retrospect, it’s probably a good thing Morro possessed Lloyd at that particular point in his life. If he’d had to deal with this Lloyd, and all his newly-found confidence and sass, he’d have dropped him off a cliff much sooner.

“Listen here, you little punk—”

“Oh, now you want me to listen to you,” Lloyd interrupts. “Spoken like a true raging hypocrite.”

“FSM, what do you want?” Morro finally cracks, tossing his book on the couch beside him. It’s clear he’s not going to be getting anymore reading done until Lloyd leaves.

Lloyd beams, looking infuriatingly pleased with himself. “Again, I have a proposal,” he says. “For you.”

Morro already hates this. “No.”

Lloyd continues as if Morro hadn’t spoken. “You should go with me to the coast this weekend.”

“No.”

“The southern coast, so the one like eight hours away.”

“No, what the—” Morro stares at him incredulously. “Why in the world would I ever want to do that?”

Lloyd simply shrugs, as if he hasn’t just suggested the idea from hell. “Because.”

Morro’s going to kill him, tentatively-redeemed status be damned.

“Why, Lloyd.”

Lloyd gets a look in his eyes, the kind that makes Morro shift. “Consider,” he says. “A tornado.”

Morro, unfortunately, does consider that. “There is...merit, to the idea,” he admits, even if doing so pains him.

“Okay, okay,” Lloyd continues, like an enthusiastic salesman with a quota to meet. “Now, consider this: sharks. In the tornado.”

Morro loses any and all faith he’s ever had in Lloyd, which is impressive considering there was nothing there to begin with. “What.”

“Sharks, in the tornado. Like a sharknado.”

Something flickers in the back of Morro’s brain, snatches of a conversation he’d heard from the living room one evening, along with a lot of screeching laughter and pained groans.

“Are you trying to reenact an entirely fictional and entirely garbage movie,” Morro says flatly, mentally crediting Cole for that particular phrasing.

Lloyd’s lip juts out. “No.”

“That’s exactly what it is, isn’t it,” Morro rolls his eyes. “No. Find someone else to be stupid with you. Kai should be down, he always is.”

Lloyd narrows his eyes, but he doesn’t take the bait. “Will you just — at least hear my final point,” he pleads.

Morro stares into the vast abyss of the ceiling panels, and already regrets answering. “What.”

“The look on the others’ faces.”

Morro pauses again, desperately trying to stop himself — but it’s too late. The looks have been imagined.

Lloyd grins, sharp teeth poking out at the edge of his lip. “Now — the look on Uncle Wu’a face.”

Oh, curse everything. Morro’s coming dangerously close to being made a fool by an idiot shrimp who calls himself his cousin. He quickly backtracks.

“Noted, but that doesn’t explain why you’re asking me.”

“Because you’ve got the wind power for the tornado, duh.” Lloyd makes a face. “Also because the others will probably say something like it’s too dangerous, or a high risk, or some other nonsense like that.”

Morro highly doubts that Jay, or even Kai, of all people, would turn down the opportunity for such potent idiocy, but he does believe they’d tie Lloyd to a pole to keep him from rushing a shark.

“So you’re asking me, out of everyone else in this realm, to drive eight hours — eight — with you to some coast in the middle of nowhere — which includes water, by the way, so that’s already a strike — just so you can recreate some awful B-movie scene?”

“Yup,” Lloyd says. “And maybe drop the whole thing on my dad’s head, if we can find him.”

“Right,” Morro sighs. “Just being clear.”

He drops his head back, staring at the ceiling again. It’s the idea from hell, for certain. Morro would hate himself every minute of it, if he were to agree.

But the idea of hitting the road — of escaping the monastery — does sound tempting.

It has, admittedly, been rather boring at the monastery. Morro’s interactions with the ninja, while not as aggressive as they’d been originally, tend to be strained at best. On the better days, Morro finds the most entertainment in listening to the increasingly creative ways Kai threatens to end his existence with, should he either step out of line, or within a set boundary around Lloyd. Both of which Morro threatens to break by going along with Lloyd’s plan.

Actually, Morro muses, that’s more of a reason to go than to not. Kai’s head might potentially explode if he were to wake up and discover Morro had taken off across country with Lloyd, and Morro would get the added bonus of seeing him chew Lloyd out for being the one to suggest it. So there are definitely pros.

None of them, of course, override the fact that he’d be spending eight hours, in a car, with Lloyd and Lloyd alone. Both ways.

“Eight hours is a long time,” Morro finally says.

Lloyd’s expression drops, before his eyebrows crease stubbornly. “It’s eight hours you wouldn’t spend being hounded by Uncle Wu to train with us.”

Morro cringes. Lloyd has clearly prepared his arguments for this one with devastating accuracy. But still, eight hours. With Lloyd—

“If you do this, I’ll stop tying all your shirtsleeves together when they’re in the laundry,” Lloyd adds.

“That was you?!” Morro exclaims, indignantly. “Nya told me the dryer did that on its own!”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Lloyd shrugs. “You probably…shouldn’t take Nya’s word on a whole lot of stuff any time soon.”

“Now you tell me,” Morro mutters, sinking further into the couch and bemoaning the universe on the whole.

Lloyd scoots forward on his own couch, his eyes wide and pleading. “Please?” he says. “It’s just this once. Then I’ll leave you alone, I promise.”

Morro meets his eyes shrewdly, chewing on his cheek. He’ll regret it, for certain. Probably hate himself and the universe on the whole the entire weekend. But…he does, rather drastically, owe Lloyd. And he is trying to — ugh — make things right with him.

(As if that’s something that can be done.)

And at least there’s the promise of Lloyd leaving him alone.

Morro lets out a long, weary groan, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Fine,” he grumbles. “But you’re paying for gas.”

Lloyd gives a whoop of victory, before desperately trying to stifle his excitement. “You pay for stuff?” he cackles instead. “Lamest villain ever.”

“Get out,” Morro snarls, hurling his book at him. Lloyd dodges with ease. “Before I change my mind and murder you.”

***********

Lloyd secures a vehicle with a speed and easiness that almost makes Morro doubt which one of them is the reformed criminal. Then he remembers that, technically, they’re both reformed criminals, even if Morro’s ‘reformed’ status is still under hot debate (by himself included).

As it also turns out, Lloyd happens to have a not-so-reformed criminal friend as well, who Morro unfortunately recognizes when he hands the keys over to them.

Ronin abruptly cuts off in his lecture to Lloyd about engine safety as he spots him, his face paling. Morro pauses mid-step, mentally wishing he’d just made Lloyd carry the six packages of Oreos out to the car himself. Lloyd simply smiles, like the oblivious airhead Morro wishes he truly was.

He’s not, though, because the look in his eyes says he’s having the time of his life with this.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention,” Lloyd tells Ronin easily. “Morro’s the other person I was talking about.”

Ronin stares between the two of them, and looks as if he’s lost about five years of his life. “How hard do they hit your head in practice, kid.”

“Not hard enough, apparently,” Morro mutters. Ronin pins him with a glare, and despite his better judgement, Morro shuts up.

“It’s all good,” Lloyd assures him. “I know what I’m doing.”

“For some reason, I got trouble believin’ you, kid.”

“Well, you shouldn’t,” Lloyd huffs, snatching the keys from him. “I’m the Green Ninja. Also, if you tell the others about this I’ll start busting your Thursday night runs.”

Ronin’s expression sours. “Alright, alright, if you wanna go on a suicide road trip, go on a suicide road trip. Just keep me outta it.”

“Gladly,” Morro grouses, shouldering his way between them so he can dump the cursed cookies in the van already.

Ronin watches him through narrowed eyes, and makes a threatening gesture. “If you even try and come back alone…”

“He won’t,” Lloyd says, before Morro can reply. “Promise. I have it all under control.”

“That’s what you all say every time,” Ronin grumbles.

Ronin finally leaves them in peace, muttering something about ‘leaving his Thursday nights alone' before taking off. This leaves Lloyd and Morro and the incredibly hideous minivan, alone. They look at each other. There’s a moment of silence, before they both scramble wildly for the driver’s seat. Morro beats Lloyd out by a half-second, grabbing the steering wheel and shoving him back with a smug smirk. Lloyd glares at him.

“I’m driving,” he demands.

“As if you’re old enough to have your license,” Morro scoffs.

Lloyd narrows his eyes into slits. “At least I was born when cars actually existed.”

“Ooh, I’m old, how will I ever recover,” Morro mocks. “I got here first, I’m driving. Suck it up.”

Lloyd’s face screws up, and for a half-second Morro gleefully thinks he’s about to pout like a child.

To his disappointment, Lloyd blows his breath out, stands up straighter, and plays dirty.

“You take control of the car, you take control of my body, ” he shakes his head, crossing his arms. “I guess that’s just how it is with you, huh."

Morro’s hands grind where he clutches the steering wheel, and he resists the urge to smash his head against it. “Have you ever heard of abusing your power.”

“Have you ever heard of abusing me.”

“Oh for FSM’s — you can drive, fine!”

***********

They’re roughly an hour out from the monastery, when something strikes Morro as odd.

“By the way,” he says. “How did you convince the idiot quartet to let you go?”

“Don’t call them that,” Lloyd says sternly, glaring at him. “And, uh, I didn’t.”

Morro blinks. Then Lloyd’s meaning sinks in, and he lets out a long, pained exhale. “You do realize,” he says. “That they’re going to have multiple heart attacks, then hunt me down and murder me as prime suspect, right.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Lloyd assures him, cheerfully. “I left them a note.”

***********

Kai stares at the slightly-crumpled scrap of paper in his hands and wishes, not for the first time, that Garmadon or Wu or Misako had put in just a little more time in raising Lloyd, so he could blame them for this and not his own example.

Alas, Kai is only able to bury himself in so much denial.

“What’s that?” Cole asks, striding into the kitchen behind him. Kai hands him the note, wordlessly. Cole frowns as he takes it, trying in vain to flatten the edges.

“‘Hey guys, heading out with Morro for a couple days, going to’— something something…sharks?” Cole blinks at the note. “Geez, might need to look into Lloyd’s writing education agai— wait, he’s heading out with who for a couple what.”

“Read the rest,” Kai says, his eyes glazing over as he stares across the kitchen.

“Okay, uh… ‘—taking the van’— we have a van? — ‘shouldn’t go too far, don’t worry.’” Cole’s eyebrows shoot up as he reads on. “‘Also my phone’s dead and I forgot the charger. Sorry.’ He wrote this while he was still here, he could’ve grabbed it!” he exclaims.

“I’m going to slaughter him,” Kai states.

“Uh…which one?”

“Whichever one doesn’t run fast enough.”

***********

As it turns out, Lloyd’s plan consists of a little more than just driving six hours to some random beach in the middle of nowhere. This is unsurprising, as Morro’s been expecting Lloyd to spring nonsense on him at any given moment.

Having lived in his head for a brief stint, Morro also finds it unsurprising that Lloyd’s plan isn’t actually a plan.

“So the tornado thing is easy, obviously, unless your powers suck,” he’s saying. Morro shoots him a look he hopes conveys the depths of his annoyance from where he’s at the wheel. Lloyd switched with him back at the last gas station, having grown fed up with Morro’s lack of skill in reading maps.

It’s not Morro’s fault his reading comprehension rests around that of a nine year-old’s. Like Lloyd’s any better.

“Gonna take that as a ‘maybe’,” Lloyd mutters to himself, squinting back at the map under the above-head car light. “It’s the shark part that’s going to be a little more tricky.”

“I hear they like blood,” Morro says. “I can always skewer you a little, then toss you in. That should do it.”

“Har har,” Lloyd replies, drenched in sarcasm. “That’s obviously not the route we’re taking. Besides, it’d be mean to lure the sharks out and not actually have anything they can eat. I’d probably end up poisoning them or something, with my mutant Oni blood.”

Morro stares at him long enough to nearly run them off the road. He jerks the car back on track just in time, shaking his head and despairing.

“I was thinking, since there’s already an elemental master of nature, maybe there’s like, an elemental master of animals?” Lloyd continues. “Then we could ask them to help us out.”

“Oh, I’m sure some random master would love to help us out,” Morro drawls. “An undead criminal who tried to unleash hell on the country and the son of Lord Garmadon.”

“Speak for yourself,” Lloyd huffs. “People actually like me.”

“Shocker.”

Lloyd ignores him. “Plus, you’re not even undead anymore,” he mutters under his breath. “You’re just regular boring alive, now.”

Morro opens his mouth, because he’s got a lot to say about that, then realizes he doesn’t quite have the words for it, aside from hanging his mouth open like an indignant fish. He shuts it, and Lloyd plows on.

“Do you think we should look for the master of like, fish or something, instead?” he questions, frowning. “I mean, I don’t even know if there is a master of animals, but if there is, sharks are technically fish, and fish are…well, I guess they’re animals too, but what if there’s like, a distinction, and all the hypothetical master of animals can summon are mammals, and we drive out of the way for nothing?”

“I will pay you,” Morro says, pinching the bridge of his nose tightly. “I will pay you so much to shut up.”

“It’s too much of a risk,” Lloyd decides, ignoring him. “Plan B it is, then.”

Morro doesn’t want to ask. That would be inviting Lloyd to run his mouth again, and Morro doesn’t hate himself that much.

But he does, regretfully, want to know how he’ll be meeting his fate.

“What’s plan B?”

“So there’s this park,” Lloyd says. “For performing animals.”

***********

Morro and Lloyd are still arguing by the time they pull into the motel parking lot for the night.  That had been a different argument altogether, but as they’d had to sneak out around midnight to get on the road successfully, neither had really wanted to keep driving through the early morning hours.

“—no, no, I cannot make this clearer, no,” Morro growls. “I am not breaking into some — some stupid amusement park, just to steal their dancing sharks or whatever.”

“Oh come on, it’s stealing! That’s like, your favorite pastime,” Lloyd shoots back. “A shark is nothing compared to body-snatching.”

“That’s not going to work on me again,” Morro seethes.

“Oh yeah?” Lloyd taunts. “Why not? Did your morality meter run out?”

“My what—”

“I can never dye my hair black because of you,” Lloyd continues, eyes narrowed. “I will never know the teenage joys of horrifying your family by dyeing your entire head jet black, because of you.”

“It didn’t look that bad,” Morro defends.

“I’m talking about the trauma!” Lloyd snaps.

Morro pauses. “Your trauma, or theirs?”

Lloyd opens his mouth, then frowns. “Min—their— both, both traumas!”

While Morro wants to scoff back that having to endure the sight of Kai’s hair is equally traumatic for him, he also recognizes that Lloyd has a point. Which is inconvenient, because Lloyd’s beginning to use that point against him a little too well lately, but considering Lloyd also still wakes up screaming in the night because Morro’s given him chronic nightmares, he decides not to push back against that point.

Because he’s a nice person, like that.

He does, however, attempt to push for sense.

“Stealing a shark from a theme park is still theft,” he argues under his breath, as they make their way toward the motel check-in. “Isn’t that something you’re against?”

“Theft, yes,” Lloyd replies. “Freeing wrongfully imprisoned sharks from slavery, less so.”

“Oh, so stealing is an act of philanthropy when it’s you.”

“Wow, look at you, breaking out the big words.” Lloyd’s teeth grind together.

“Yeah, you need a dictionary?” Morro sneers back his words from earlier.

Lloyd looks as if he’d like to throttle him, but fortunately for Morro — or unfortunately, as he’d like to see him try — the receptionist at the check-in desk is staring at them with wide eyes now.

To be fair, Morro imagines they make quite a contrasting pair: Lloyd with his light hair in his green hoodie and green high top sneakers, and Morro with his black hair in his black shirt and black jacket and black jeans and black high top sneakers.

At least Lloyd’s basketball shorts are like, a grey color. For contrast, not that Morro cares.

He does care that they’re both wearing high top sneakers, but that’s only because it’s annoying.

Lloyd finally straightens, transforming instantaneously into a bright, innocent-eyed ray of infuriating sunshine. “Hi!” he greets. “Can we get a room for two, please?”

“Oh,” the lady blinks, clearly blinded by the intensity of Lloyd’s beaming smile. “Of course, sweetheart, one moment.”

Morro fights back the urge to inform the receptionist that Lloyd is actually a half-demon monster who could and would drag her on an eight-hour road trip from hell, with the sole purpose of stealing sharks.

He resists, though. Since he’s a nice person, like that.

The receptionist hands them the keys with ease, but it’s only as Lloyd struggles to get the room door open that the reality of their situation hits Morro.

Lloyd finally swings the door open, and Morro stares in horror at the small room. “Wait, we’re sharing a room?”

“Uh, yeah?” Lloyd shrugs. “Unless you’ve got the money for two, ‘cause I definitely don’t.”

Morro’s jaw creaks. Lloyd knows full well he has about three cents to his name. “Tell me there’s two beds.”

Lloyd scoffs loudly. “Please. I’m not completely insane.”

Morro would beg to differ, because he’s got them sharing a room, but he’s true to his word, at least. While the room is about the size of a glorified closet, there are two single beds, neatly arranged side by side. In silent agreement, the first thing Lloyd and Morro do, after tossing their bags down, is shove the beds as far as they can from each other against the opposite wall. The bedside table relocates nicely as a barrier in the no-man’s zone between the two. Morro would prefer, say, a five-feet thick vengestone wall between the two of them, but sure, the bedside table thing works.

They make camp on their respective beds after that, Morro skimming idly through his book while Lloyd flips through the little leaflet on the bedside table. He frowns, swinging his legs at the edge of his bed.

“D’you think we should just order dinner in?” he says.

Morro ignores him, continuing to thumb through his book. He hasn’t been particularly hungry since they finished an entire package of Oreos somewhere around the second hour in.

Not one to be discouraged, Lloyd continues anyways, mumbling to himself. “It’s a little late, but it looks like there are some pizza places that’ll deliver here…”

Morro frowns. “Pizza’s that cheese bread stuff, right?”

Lloyd goes silent. He stares at Morro, his expression frozen. “What.”

Morro shifts, uncomfortable at the stare Lloyd has on him. “What?”

“You’ve…never had pizza?” Lloyd finally gets out, as if the very idea is horrifying.

“No?” Morro offers. “You know I don’t eat dinner with you all. I certainly don’t eat your disgusting greasy junk food, either.”

“Disgusting — you’ve never had pizza,” Lloyd repeats, scandalized. “That’s what’s disgusting here. We’ve gotta fix this. Not even you deserve to go your life without pizza.”

“I’m touched,” Morro drones.

“Shut up, and pick out a topping.” Morro yelps as Lloyd suddenly materializes on the bed next to him, shoving the leaflet in his face. “So the standard go-to is cheese, ‘cause you can’t go wrong with that, but pepperoni’s pretty across the board, too. Kai and Nya like little peppers on theirs, so if you like spicy stuff that’s the way to go, but Cole swears by bacon bits, and Jay likes both. Zane likes the vegetable kind, but that’s just ‘cause he’s weird, so there’s that and pineapple, if you’re a mutant—”

“I’ll take the pineapple,” Morro blurts, in a desperate attempt to cut Lloyd’s babbling off.

Lloyd wrinkles his nose. “You’re not gonna like it,” he threatens. “But I’ll get us one of those split pizzas, so we can do like, two slices of pineapple, then the rest can be cheese and pepperoni, I guess, if that sounds good?”

“I literally could not care less.”

“Taking that as a yes!” Lloyd says, cheerfully. “You’re gonna love it.”

“Wonderful,” Morro grimaces. “Now get—” he shoves Lloyd, sending him sprawling to the floor with a yelp. “Back over on your side.”

It takes an unfortunately quick time for the pizza to be delivered, so Morro doesn’t have the chance to pretend he’s fallen asleep before Lloyd’s invading his space again, shoving the pizza in his face.

“Try it,” he demands. “One piece, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“That better be a promise,” Morro grouses, but he takes the slice he’s being offered, holding it gingerly between two fingers. He makes a face. “This is what you’ve been going on about? I can see the grease dripping off it.”

Lloyd rolls his eyes to the ceiling. “Just try it, geez. What are you, chicken?”

“What are you, five?” Morro retorts. He relents though, ever-so-carefully taking the tiniest of bites.

He pauses. Lloyd watches him expectantly. “And?”

Morro knows exactly what Lloyd wants to hear, and he’d eat rocks before he’d let him have it. Unfortunately, his tastebuds are arguing a different case.

Morro doesn’t reply, but he takes another bite, this one considerably larger. FSM be cursed, it’s good.

“Haha!” Lloyd crows, rocking back where he sits cross-legged on the floor. “You love it! I knew it.”

“I do not,” Morro argues. The mouthful of pizza he has doesn’t exactly sell his point.

“Do too,” Lloyd grins, taking his own slice.

Morro hesitates, then goes for another slice, giving in. “The pineapple stuff is pretty good,” he admits, reaching for the fruit-laden pizza. Lloyd chokes, his triumphant smile evaporating as his eyes go wide in horror.

“No. No, you can’t. I know you’re deranged, but you can’t be that far gone—”

“It’s good,” Morro shrugs, taking another bite.

Lloyd gags, looking as if he’d like to cry. He settles for a sigh of despair instead, reaching for one of the slices of cheese. The edges of the crust are a bit blackened, but Lloyd doesn’t seem to mind.

“When I was a kid,” he says, as he catches a trailing string of cheese with his fingers. “Burnt pizza was my favorite thing ever. It was super easy to get, if you hung out behind the restaurants. They’d always throw them out in boxes and stuff, so it wasn’t as gross to swipe outta the trash.”

Lloyd’s eyebrows furrow, and his expression drops. “Uh, I mean, sorry. The guys get weird when I talk about that stuff, ‘cause it’s…weird, I guess.”

Morro eyes him. Far be it from him to reassure Lloyd, but — “I don’t think it’s that weird,” he says. “I’d snag stuff from the trash all the time when I was on the streets.”

“Really?” Lloyd’s expression brightens. “That was how I always ate when I was hanging in cities! Smaller towns not so much, since you could swipe stuff from food stands easier there.”

Morro nods in agreement. “The bigger cities are a lot better for scavenging, but smaller villages are where it’s at for stealing. People let you get away easier there.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Lloyd exclaims. He shakes his head, muttering to himself. “I knew it wasn’t that weird. The guys just like to overreact all the time.”

“Tell me about it,” Morro snorts. “Wu’d always act like I’d kicked him in the shins when I brought that sort of stuff up.”

“Sounds like him,” Lloyd giggles, before lapsing back into silence as they both finish the pizza.

If Morro didn’t know any better, he’d call it comfortable.

***********

Sleeping, however, is not comfortable.

Morro stares up at the ceiling, his eyes wide open. Across the room, Lloyd does the same from his own bed.

“Go to sleep,” Morro finally says. “You’re creeping me out.”

“You go to sleep first,” Lloyd responds, after a minute.

Morro grits his teeth. “No, you.”

“What, so you can murder me?” Lloyd hisses.

“I’m more worried about you murdering me!” Morro hisses back.

“You’re the ex-criminal. Maybe I don’t wanna wake up to the Preeminent at my throat.”

“Well maybe I don’t want to wake up with the Serpentine at my neck.”

“Oh, shut up, you hypocritical jerk—”

“You’re the one with a blabber mouth, you stuck-up wannabe-martyr—”

***********

In the end, neither of them wake up with slit throats. Neither of them wake up with marker all over their face, or tied up in their own sheets, or halfway out the window, either. It is, quite possibly, a miracle.

***********

“Well, Lloyd charged a pizza to my credit card, so we know they’re alive, at least,” Cole sighs.

“He took your credit card?” Nya frowns. “I thought Morro was the one who— you know what, never mind, Lloyd makes perfect sense.”

“He redacted the location, too,” Cole taps wearily at his phone. “Wow, we really did raise a child criminal.”

Kai moans into his hands where he’s slumped over at the table, hunkering in the pits of anxiety-induced despair.

“Y’know, it’s not too late to chase them down,” Jay remarks. “Could be fun, we could all join in on whatever awful road trip they’re having.”

“Sensei Wu said we need to let them go,” Cole mutters. “So they can ‘work things out’. That, or he wants to collect on their life insurance early.”

Jay makes a face. “And we’re listening to him…why?”

“Lloyd disabled location services on his phone,” Zane says, dully. “And since the van was procured from Ronin—”

“We have no idea where they are,” Nya growls. “I’m going to slaughter him.”

“Morro, Lloyd, or Ronin?” Jay asks.

Nya exchanges looks with Kai. “Whichever one doesn’t hide well enough.”

***********

“So if we’re looking at this logically, I think our best bet is to just sneak in the park as tourists, so we blend in with everyone. It’s a pretty busy time of the year, so we should go unnoticed—”

“Next exit.”

“—and then we’ll be able to — huh?”

“Next exit. On the left.”

“The left? I thought it was the right. Are you sure you aren’t reading the map upside down again?”

The vein near Morro’s forehead throbs. “I’m not, now get in the — get in the left lane, Lloyd, or we’ll miss it!”

“I swear, if you make me U-turn in the middle of the highway again…” Lloyd grits out, but he sends them careening across the freeway, darting into the left lane just in time to make their turn. Morro clutches the armrest with white knuckles, desperately trying not to cover his eyes with his hands like he has every other time Lloyd’s driven.

“You drive like a maniac,” Morro finally gets out, as Lloyd pushes the car well over the local speed limit. “Whoever let you have a license should be jailed.”

“Wimp,” Lloyd mocks. “I don’t wanna hear it, with how you and your whack-job ghost pals would drive around.”

“That was different,” Morro grinds his teeth. “We had reliable vehicles and I was too dead to care. This is a bucket of bolts, and I’m unfortunately alive enough to not want to die in a fiery inferno because you crashed us head-on into a semi truck.”

“Seriously?” Lloyd rolls his eyes. “You sound like Uncle Wu.”

Morro turns to stare at him so fast his neck practically cracks. He continues to stare at Lloyd, his mouth half-open, too viscerally horrified to form a response.

He finally manages a croaked, “Take that back.”

“Nope.” Lloyd is grinning.

“Take it back, I sound nothing like him—”

Lloyd says nothing, still grinning. Dying in a fiery inferno is sounding better by the minute, if it means dragging Lloyd down with him.

“So anyways, as I was saying,” Lloyd continues, as they pull into view of the park. “I think we should slip in the park dressed like tourists—”

“Mm-hm.”

“—with tickets that I can buy on Cole’s credit card—”

“Classy.”

“—which’ll give our location away, ‘cause there’s no hiding that, but we should be clear out of here by the time he checks anyways—”

“Nobody cares.”

“—alright, alright, so we’re in as tourists, then we just…grab a shark and, uh, borrow one of their big moving trucks, I guess.”

Morro stares at him. “Borrow. The park’s semi truck they use to move sharks.”

Lloyd winces. “Well, we can’t fit the shark in here.”

They both give the minivan a once-over, and cringe in unison.

“So let me get this straight,” Morro rubs his temple as Lloyd pulls them into the parking lot, pocketing their tickets with the slightest expression of guilt and a whispered ‘Forgive me Cole’. “Your plan is to just…walk into the park, pretending we’re totally normal people, then somehow stuff a shark in a truck and — and what? Bust through the front gates?”

“I was more thinking we could swipe park uniforms while we’re in there, and sneak out like Star Wars,” Lloyd says, gesturing enthusiastically with his hands.

Morro buries his face in his hands. “I despise everything you are.”

“It’s a solid plan!” Lloyd defends, kicking the car door open. “It’s better than anything you have.”

“Planning for something this stupid would burn my brain cells to a crisp,” Morro grumbles, sliding out of the van. He eyes the vehicle, something occurring to him. “By the way. If we’re busting out of here in a park truck, what does that mean for this thing?”

Lloyd pauses, as if that thought hadn’t occurred to him. “Uh…” he sweats. “I’m, uh. I’m sure Ronin’s done something bad enough that he deserves us leaving it here.”

“We’re going to come out of this with so many people after our heads,” Morro exhales.

***********

Morro lets Lloyd snag them clothes from a nearby gift shop, which is probably the worst mistake he’s made in his life. Whether Lloyd is still aiming for a bit of revenge or his fashion sense really is just that appalling, the outfits he picks out for them almost succeed at burning Morro’s eyes out on the spot.

“What is this,” is all he manages to get out, staring blankly at the bright yellow, button-up shirt he’s holding in his hands. It wouldn’t be so bad, if it didn’t have ugly orange flowers and pineapples printed all over it as well.

“It’s what you get for liking pineapple on your pizza,” Lloyd quips, as he pulls a garishly orange t-shirt over his head. His shirt has “I Went to Oceanworld and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt” printed on it in bright pink script, which is at least better than the ugly flowers Morro gets. On the other hand, Lloyd’s stuck with a pair of truly hideous, neon blue running shorts, while Morro at least gets navy cargo ones, so there’s that tiny victory.

“Also, these were the best options they had,” Lloyd winces, having caught a glimpse of himself in a shop window as they head toward the park entrance, a crowd of people already starting to form around them. “Here, put these on.”

Morro stares at the purple sunglasses Lloyd’s handed him. “Absolutely not.”

“This too,” Lloyd ignores him, shoving a neon green baseball cap on him. “See, I’m letting you have the green one, ‘cause—”

“If you even finish that sentence, I’ll drown you in the first fish tank we see,” Morro grits out, shoving the sunglasses on. Lloyd just gives him a sunny smile, tugging a vivid pink baseball cap over his hair. He, at least, looks like he fits in here, with his idiot smile and the way he almost starts bouncing as they mingle in the crowds. Morro, on the other hand, feels much as if he sticks out like a sore, sweaty thumb.

“You know, I might actually take you up on that drowning thing,” Lloyd mutters as they drift further into the park, tugging at the collar of his t-shirt. “If only so I end up in the water. It’s so hot.”

“Makes me miss your grandfather’s tomb,” Morro mutters beneath his breath. Lloyd spears him with a glare out of the corners of his eyes. “What?” Morro defends. “It was at least cold there.”

“I remember. I almost died ‘cause of it,” Lloyd growls, his eyes flashing in warning.

“Pretty sure you were more likely to die of starvation by that point,” Morro remarks easily. “But you were already a twig to begin with, so—”

He cuts off with a strangled shout of pain as Lloyd shoves him face-first into a sign, his nose crunching against the metal. Morro pulls away angrily, only to come face to face with a truly hellish, grinning shark on the sign, pointing its deformed fin to the right. Just below the awful shark is a small, printed square that points ahead, reading Park Maintenance: Transportation.

“Just so you know, I’m going to roundhouse-kick your teeth out for that later,” Morro tells Lloyd calmly. “But I think I’ve found our stop.”

Lloyd’s expression switches from Oni hell spawn of doom to enthusiastic devil child in a heartbeat. “Oh, seriously? That was fast.”

“Aw,” Morro sneers. “Did you want to stop by the kiddie park before we left?”

Lloyd’s eyes narrow, but he doesn’t spare Morro a second glance. “Nah, but I wanted a picture of you in that shirt to immortalize. Kai’ll get a kick out of it.”

Morro pales rapidly. “No. No, Kai does not hear a word of this. This stays between you and me forever and then we die. Kai. Never. Knows.”

“I’ll keep it quiet if you give me your credit card.”

“Ha! You know this entire family’s broke.”

Breaking into park maintenance is laughably easy — or it would have been, if they weren’t dressed in the ugliest, most obvious colors possible. They make it through three different doors on the excuse that they’re “poor, lost cousins whose uncle left them to die”, but after that they have to start knocking people out. Morro debates arguing for murder, because witnesses and all, but covering their stolen uniforms in blood before they even have the chance to wear them is probably a bad move.

At least the uniforms are a decent combo of white and sky blue, instead of a criminal offense on the eyes.

“Just like Star Wars!” Lloyd exclaims happily, as they sprint for the truck.

It takes every bit of Morro’s willpower not to lock him in the nearby fish tank. He doesn’t, though, because Lloyd somehow manages to locate the one shark actually scheduled for transport, which means all they have to do is subtly distract a few more employees and steal the truck before the furious horde of security guards on their tail catch up and send them both to the Departed Realm in style.

“I said subtly distract them!” Lloyd cries, as Morro neatly finishes chopping his hand into the last employee’s neck, sending him into blissful unconsciousness. “Not that!”

“Do not take the moral high ground with me now,” Morro snaps at him. “I saw what you did to the other security guard, you absolute menace.”

“That was different, can we just— oh, good, the shark’s in the tank and everything,” Lloyd pants, flicking through the little camera view screen on the truck dashboard. “And there’s the exit gate, and there’s — oh, there’s security coming to kill us.”

“What?” Morro yelps, craning his head over. “They shouldn’t have gotten through the door that soon, we haven’t even found the keys yet!”

“Don’t need keys.” Lloyd slides down, prying the compartment beneath the steering wheel open, exposing a mass of complicated wires. “Strap the shark in and lock the back doors,” he orders, as he starts pulling at them. “I’m gonna hot wire it.”

Morro has about a thousand and two questions for why, exactly, Lloyd knows how to hot wire a car, but he immediately decides he doesn’t want to know. Well, he kind of does, because it’s possibly the only cool thing Lloyd has revealed about himself, but running for their lives from angry, underpaid park employees doesn’t seem to be the best of times.

Morro sprints around the truck, yanking the doors open fully and hoisting himself into the trailer. The shark appears to be whacked out of its mind on what Morro’s guessing is a tranquilizer, floating happily in its little tank, and Morro desperately hopes that’s not about to change with the chaotic horror that is Lloyd’s driving.

“Hang tight, fish,” Morro mutters, as he tightens the box straps. Satisfied it won’t come loose, he stumbles out of the trailer, his hands shaking with adrenaline as he slams the truck doors closed, before skidding around the asphalt for the passenger seat.

“Any day now, Lloyd,” he urges, watching the first of the guards come into view in the car mirror.

“Almost got it,” Lloyd hisses, the tip of his tongue caught between his teeth as he yanks at the wires beneath the steering wheel. “Drat, these things are so much more complicated than smaller cars—”

“Lloyd, believe it or not, I really don’t want to kill anyone today.”

“Got it!” Lloyd exclaims triumphantly, slamming the panel closed as the car hums to life. He slides back up into the driver’s seat, throwing the gearshift forward. “Buckle up, this is gonna be fun!”

“You and I have—” Morro swallows a shriek as Lloyd guns the truck forward, his head smacking back against the passenger seat. “Entirely different definitions of fun.”

“You just don’t know what fun is,” Lloyd accuses as he presses harder on the gas, angered shouts from the security guards echoing behind them.

“I know it’s not what you’re doing,” Morro shoots back, as Lloyd smashes them through several plastic barriers.

“What? How is this not fun?” Lloyd gestures with one hand, the other veering the steering wheel to the right and sending the truck careening through the park exit, narrowly missing the transport shuttle.

“Fun is me having control of this thing,” Morro grits out. “Or having control in general. You know, like how I controlled you.”

Lloyd’s head turns to him, his eyes narrowing. “You are not bringing this back up now.”

“What, it’s fun— eyes on the road, eyes on the road!”

***********

By the time they make it on the interstate, well out of the city traffic, Morro’s lost any doubts he’s ever had that Lloyd is the actual blood descendant of the First Spinjitzu Master. There’s just no other way to explain how they manage to evade the entire park’s security staff as well as the local police without trouble, other than divine intervention.

As all things do, though, even divine intervention runs out. Unfortunately, it’s at the same time that Lloyd and Morro’s adrenaline high runs out as well, leaving them both exhausted and heavy-eyed. And also considerably short-tempered, so when Lloyd fails to spot the pothole in the dark and punctures their front tire, Morro’s already dangerously close to his breaking point.

It’s never a good place to be, when he’s around Lloyd.

“I swear, it’s in here somewhere,” Lloyd says, his eyebrows furrowing as he roots through the glove compartment again. “This is an official park vehicle, they can’t not have a manual.”

Morro doesn’t comment, too busy trying to slide the tire jack in place. It’s his fifth attempt so far, and the failures aren’t exactly helping his rising temper. It wouldn’t be quite as difficult if the road they were on wasn’t in the middle of nowhere, perched at the edge of a steep ravine. But it is, and the tire jack clanks out of place as Morro misses yet again.

“Aha! Got it. It doesn’t look too difficult, actually.”

Morro grits his teeth. How no one has murdered Lloyd for his unfailing optimism yet is beyond him. Utterly beyond him. Especially when it’s his fault in the first place.

“All we really need is to get the spare out from underneath,” Lloyd muses, skimming through the manual. “Then we should be good.”

“Stop saying we,” Morro finally snaps. “We did not destroy the tire. You did.”

Lloyd blinks, then frowns. “You didn’t exactly help,” he murmurs beneath his breath, bending down near the flat tire.

Morro’s fingers clench around the tire jack, his knuckles white. He is not going to lose his temper. He’s not. He is stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a stolen truck and a flat tire, with no help in sight, with Lloyd Garmadon of all people, but he is not going to lose his temper. It’s a waste of energy.

“Look, just — no, you’re doing it wrong,” Lloyd sighs.

Never mind. Morro’s got energy to spare.

“Would it kill you to shut up? For five seconds?” he snaps, whirling on Lloyd. Lloyd flinches back in alarm, and Morro snarls. “This is your fault, would it kill you to stop making things worse for once?”

Lloyd’s face pales. “I just—”

“We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you,” Morro steamrolls over him, not even giving him the chance to speak. He’s done, he’s so done with this. He’s held it together pretty well this whole time, gone along with Lloyd’s stupid trip for a reason he doesn’t even know, but this is it. Being alive is not worth the effort, at all.

“You dragged me on this, you and your stupid, selfish obsession with pretending everything’ll work out fine, like you’re some little kid,” Morro stabs his finger viciously at Lloyd. “Well guess what? Nothing is fine, and neither of us are kids! We never got to be kids, and we’ll never get to be kids, because your horrible family screwed up and you came along and made things so much worse!”

Hurt flickers across Lloyd’s face, and his eyes look oddly shiny. Morro’s too far into his rant to care.

“It’s typical,” Morro spits. “Absolutely perfect. This is all your fault, I mean it. Everything’s your fault, every single stupid thing that’s gone wrong in my life, if it wasn’t for you—”

Lloyd punches him square in the mouth.

It’s not even the hardest hit he’s ever received, but it’s hard enough to send him staggering back a couple steps. Morro reels, so flabbergasted that he’s unable to form words for a good half-minute. He blinks back tears of pain, staring at Lloyd in indignation. “You — you hit me!”

“And I’m not sorry about it at all!” Lloyd yells, fists clenched tightly by his sides, as if gearing up for another hit. “You deserved it!”

He punctuates this by hurling the tire block at him. Morro dodges easily, his own anger flaring back to life.

“You call that a hit?” he scoffs. “Pathetic. This is why you were so easy to possess, you know—”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Lloyd cuts over him, kicking a rock at him this time. “FSM, what’s your problem? I don’t even know why I try with you!”

“My problem?” Morro snaps, true and properly angry now. “My problem is that some pint-sized brat stole my whole life from me, and now he’s out here—” Morro grunts as he throws the tire jack at Lloyd. “Trying to pretend we’re cousins!”

“Oh, your whole life,” Lloyd echoes, derisively. “What is it about the green gi that makes you so entitled? You’re like — you’re uglier than some stupid runner-up in a beauty pageant about it!”

Morro’s teeth clack together like a steel trap. “A beauty pageant?!”

“Yeah!” Lloyd shouts. “You’re like a screaming toddler! Who runs onstage and attacks the winner because they didn’t get first place in a contest for a stupid outfit!”

“It’s not! Just! An outfit!” Morro roars.

“I know that!” Lloyd snaps.

“Then why didn’t you give it to me!”

“Because you don’t deserve it! You’re a jerk!”

“You don’t even want it!” Morro yells. “You get the green gi and you don’t even appreciate it! This is why we’ll never be cousins!”

“Good! I don’t want you as a cousin! I hate you!” Lloyd screeches, throwing the car manual at him. “I hate you, I hate you so much!”

“I hate you too!” Morro howls, throwing the tire wrench. It spirals wildly off-aim. “Gods, you’re the worst—”

“Drop dead, Morro!” Lloyd screams.

“Make me!” Morro screams back. “Bet you don’t have it in you, you sniveling little—”

Lloyd, clearly determined to prove that he does have it in him, neatly cuts Morro off by tackling him around the waist, sending them both flying over the edge of the hill and rolling wildly into the ravine.

The screaming that follows is a lot less angry this time, and a lot more like the terrified screeching of two year-olds on a roller coaster.

***********

“D’you think...hospitals will take..the green gi as insurance?”

“S’worth...a try. Not sure, think…my head might’ve cracked.”

“I think I heard my spine snap.”

“Pretty sure that was my knee detaching.”

Morro winces, closing his eyes briefly before opening them, staring up at the starry night sky. There’s a shifting noise near his head, before Lloyd curses, moaning in pain as it stops abruptly.

As it turns out, the ravine went a bit deeper than either of them had been prepared for. The end result is Lloyd and Morro both sprawled at the bottom of the ravine, staring into the void of space as they rethink their particular life choices up to this point. There had been a brief moment where they both attempted to shove themselves back up to continue their fight, but that dream had rapidly died as they both collapsed back into the grass, groaning in pain.

It did kill his temper rather effectively, Morro will admit. It’s difficult to keep screaming when your ribs feel like they’ve been used as a drum by a baseball bat. So they continue to lie there in silence, before Lloyd finally stirs.

“So that, uh,” Lloyd finally breathes. “That was. A lot.”

Morro winces. “Yeah. That was — I haven’t yelled like that in a while.”

“Aw, man,” Lloyd laughs humorlessly, still staring at the sky. “I don’t think I’ve yelled like that since I was like, eight.”

The crickets around them buzz loudly as they lapse into silence. At least the sky’s stopped spinning, Morro thinks.

“I think. Um. I think I probably crossed a line.”

Lloyd’s voice is so quiet, Morro almost misses it. He doesn’t miss the apologetic tone, though.

Morro’s lips press together as something in his chest twists that better not be guilt. “I..might have, as well.”

Lloyd hums. “I probably shouldn’t have compared everything you went through to a toddler.”

“Well,” Morro pauses, thinking back on it. “I mean. That crack about the beauty pageant was kinda funny.”

Lloyd gives a breathless little laugh. “Wanna know something awful?”

Morro cranes his head slightly. “Hm?”

“I actually stole that from Nya. And she was, uh, talking about Kai.”

Morro’s eyebrows shoot up. “No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah, I did,” Lloyd giggles. “It was after the whole thing with Chen — you saw that, right, in my head?”

“Uh...kind of. Sorry?”

“Nah, I don’t care as much about that one. Anyways, he was a mopey mess after it. Nya was kind of bitter. I might have been…a little bit, too. In secret.”

Morro smirks despite himself. “The Green Ninja, secretly bitter.”

“I’ll never be as bitter as you,” Lloyd retorts.

Morro’s smirk fades. “That’s fair, I guess.” He looks back at the sky, scrubbing a hand across his eyes. “Sorry I brought up possessing you again,” he mutters. “That was…probably uncalled for.”

“Yeah,” Lloyd says. “Pretty uncool that you keep doing that.”

“Yeah, well.” Morro sighs. “I’m a work in progress. But still. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I get it, I think. Not the bringing up the possession part, but the work in progress part.”

“Oh.” Morro chews on the edge of his lip. “Then, uh, I’m also — I’m also sorry I said everything’s your fault.” He closes his eyes tightly. Curse it, the feeling twisting his chest up is most certainly guilt. “That was definitely uncalled for.”

“No,” Lloyd says, quietly. “That’s…that’s fair, too.”

Morro’s eyes blink open, and he cranes his head back to stare at him. “What? No, it’s not. Blame your grandfather, or your dad, or even Wu. Or that, um, giant snake thing, that kept popping up—”

“The Great Devourer?”

“Yeah, blame that.” Morro briefly squeezes his eyes shut again. Oh, this hurts to say out loud. “You’re…you’re still a kid. You’ve been a kid, even if life sucks enough to make it feel like you’re not. S’not fair to blame it all on you.”

Lloyd is silent for a moment, and Morro hopes he’s heard the apology in his words. That’s a new hope for him to have, but it’s genuine.

“Same goes for you, then.” Lloyd’s voice is still quiet, but it’s got that painful sincerity — the kind Morro’s heard before, but never directed at him. “I mean, possessing me wasn’t good, but… everyone deserves a chance to make things right. You’re a kid, too.”

“Lloyd, you know I’m technically like, forty.”

“Yeah, in ghost years. Being dead doesn’t count.”

“Like you’d know.” Morro breaths a humorless laugh. “Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that I went after a kid for getting slapped with the green gi.”

Lloyd inhales sharply. “Could you maybe go at least five minutes without bringing that up? Just this once?”

Morro blinks at the sudden frustration in Lloyd’s voice. “W-what?”

The grass rustles as Lloyd shakes his head, but he blows his breath out, the anger seeping from him. “I just — I’m sick of it. I get that you hate me, but you could at least have the decency to hate me for me,” he says, wearily. “Hate me for like, my obnoxious habit of repeating stuff, or my annoying voice.”

Morro is quiet for a moment. “Your voice isn’t that bad anymore,” he admits.

Lloyd snorts. “You don’t have to lie.”

“No, I’m serious. It doesn’t do that squeaky-toy cracking thing anymore.”

“Well that makes me feel so much better,” Lloyd huffs.

“You’re welcome,” Morro grins. They lapse into silence again, and the grin slides slowly off of Morro’s face. Oh, curse everything, why is his chest still twisting up in knots.

He finally puffs out a weary breath of defeat. “And I don’t…entirely hate you.”

Lloyd is quiet, digesting that. “Huh. Really?”

“Yeah. Hate your stupid gi, though.”

“Oh, same. You have no idea.”

“Starting to get that, I think.”

“Heh. I guess I don’t…entirely hate you, either.”

“Really.”

“Yeah.”

“Disgusting.”

***********

The tire is surprisingly easy to change, when they’re not trying to bite each other’s heads off. There’s no damage to the actual truck or trailer either, so they’re back on the road before daybreak. Lloyd fretfully checks on the shark a minimum of twenty times, but it’s fine as well, peacefully floating in its little tank. He lets Morro drive, in what may or may not be a peace offering, so Morro lets Lloyd choose the music, which is definitely a peace offering. It’s the only way he’d ever willingly listen to the amount of acoustic music Lloyd plays them.

Well…that he’d admit willingly listening to.

They don’t talk much, but it’s a surprisingly comfortable silence, and by the time they pull up to Lloyd’s beach, half finished with the horrendously cheap coffee they snagged from the gas station, Morro doesn’t feel quite as annoyed with the world on the whole.

In fact, he feels dangerously close to being at peace with it, which is obviously unacceptable, so he makes sure to stub his toe at least three times as they maneuver the now-awake and incredibly annoyed shark into the waves.

“Hey, hey, c’mon buddy,” Lloyd soothes, waist-deep in the water as he coaxes the shark toward him. “It’s okay, we’re setting you free. Don’t eat us when there’s much more tasty seafood in the ocean.”

“Maybe Oni is a delicacy for sharks,” Morro suggests, his feet firmly planted on the shore. He’s been assisting with his wind, floating the shark down gently, and that’s already more than enough. “I bet seafood pales in comparison to demon flesh.”

“You’re disgusting,” Lloyd says, but his lips quirk up. “In that case, maybe I should just drop him on my dad.”

Morro snorts, watching as Lloyd finally gets the shark to deeper water, where it swishes its tail happily, clearly overjoyed to be free from its tiny tank.

“There we go,” Lloyd smiles as it swims around him. “Much better, huh?”

Morro watches the shark swim a moment longer, wrinkling his nose as sand digs between his toes. He stifles a yawn, but the coastal winds are picking up around him, gently tugging through his hair and leaving him less tired as his element ghosts over his skin, as if whispering his name.

He’s missed wind like this. The gentler kind.

He finally turns his attention back to Lloyd, and his eyebrows furrow.

“You know this is just one shark, right?”

“Mm-hm,” Lloyd hums happily, letting the shark nose against his hand.

“That doesn’t bode well for your shark tornado plan,” Morro reminds him.

“Eh,” Lloyd shrugs. “I guess freeing a shark is as good as that. I can always get my dad back later.”

“You could dye your hair, that might do the trick.”

Lloyd gives a wry smile. “It wasn’t really about that, anyways,” he murmurs, so quietly Morro almost misses it.

Morro doesn’t know if he wants to try and guess what that’s supposed to mean, so he averts his gaze instead, looking across the quiet, empty beach. It’s removed from the busier parts of the coast, almost abandoned. Certainly not the kind of place Morro would’ve seen Lloyd picking out for a weekend trip.

“So why this beach, in particular?” he finally asks. “Seems pretty out of the way, just for this.”

Lloyd is quiet for a moment, his hands creating tiny eddies in the water around him. His face falls a fraction as he watches the shark swim off, deeper into the ocean, and he dips lower into the water.  

“I came here with my dad, once,” he says, quietly. “After he was… back to normal. Without the venom, and all.”

“Oh.” Morro blinks. There’s a lot of meaning behind those words. For some reason, he’s almost frightened to try and decipher it.

Lloyd saves him from it, straightening up where he stands in the water. “So, are you gonna get in, or what?”

Morro blinks, then violently shakes his head. “No. Absolutely not. Water and I are not compatible. You know that.”

“You weren’t before,” Lloyd insists. “You are now.”

“What was that you were saying earlier?” Morro reminds him, snidely. “About traumas, and stuff?”

Lloyd’s brow furrows, in what could almost be concern. “You don’t have to,” he says, slowly. “But this is a nice place to start.”

Morro stares at the sand before him, a mere three feet from where the waves stop washing up on shore. He makes a face. It’s not like he’s scared of water. He takes showers, and he’s not afraid to sprint out in the rain if he’s left a book or something outside. But those are just — water in small doses. This sparkling blue hellhole of toxicity is different. It’s saltwater. Saltwater brings back…less than pleasant memories.

Granted, this particular body of toxic seawater doesn’t seem to be quite as deadly at the moment. Lloyd’s skin hasn’t slid off his bones yet, and he’s floating up to his neck in the stuff.

“I’ll pass,” Morro finally says, stiffly. “It’s, uh, a little too rough for me out there.”

Lloyd looks pointedly at where the gentle waves barely lap the shore. Morro grits his teeth. Drat. That makes it rather difficult not to admit that he does, probably, look like a coward. Lloyd tilts his head to the side, studying him with the eerie red eyes he gets sometimes. Morro doesn’t like the look that forms on his face.

“Why,” he says, with a gleam in his eyes. “Are you scared?”

Even though Morro’s seen that coming a mile away, he still reddens. “No.”

Lloyd raises an eyebrow. “Kinda looks like you’re scared.”

“I am not.”

Lloyd squints at him. Then, without warning, he splashes the smallest bit of seawater up toward him. Morro jumps back, with what he’ll die before he admits is a high-pitched shriek, skittering away from the tiny droplets.

Lloyd bursts into giggles, and Morro feels his cheeks blazing. “That was low, you little insect—”

“Chicken, chicken, Morro’s a chicken,” Lloyd taunts over him.

“I’ll kill you,” Morro threatens.

“Oh yeah?” Lloyd flashes his teeth at him. “How’re you gonna do that when I’m in the water?”

Morro’s hands clench into fists as he seethes. “I am not scared of the water.”

“Yes, you are.”

Morro takes a threatening step toward him, brandishing his fist. “I am not a chicken!”

“Yes you a-are,” Lloyd repeats gleefully. “Chicken, chicken—”

“Shut up—”

“Bawk, bawk—”

“I’ll break your spine—”

“Not with your chicken arms you won’t—”

“Enough with the chicken!” Morro roars, shaking Lloyd by the collar of his soaking t-shirt. “I am not scared!”

Lloyd presses his lips together, barely holding back what’s either laughter or another one of those infuriating smiles. “Okay, geez. You proved me wrong.”

Morro blinks. Lloyd looks down, and Morro follows his gaze. He blinks again.

He’s standing waist-deep in the saltwater with Lloyd, waves swirling gently around him. His flesh is not melting off. He is not dying an excruciating death. It doesn’t feel like corrosive acid. It feels like…regular water. Kind of cold, regular water, that smells a little like fish.

Morro stares at the water, letting Lloyd’s shirt go as his arms hang limply by his sides. He didn’t even notice putting a foot in.

“Hey, look,” Lloyd says, brightly. “You’re not dead."

Morro should strangle him for this. Lloyd’s tricked him into the toxic death water by annoying him, and Morro didn’t even notice. He should celebrate this new accomplishment by holding Lloyd’s head under the water until he drowns.

Oddly enough, all he can find it in himself to do is stare at the water with the tiniest of smiles. “I’m not dead,” he echoes, quietly.

Lloyd beams at him, and he doesn’t even want to strangle him for it. Morro stands waist-deep in the water, completely at ease, and feels something odd bubble up in his throat. It’s light and easy, like his chest is filling up with a balloon, and for a brief second, he meets Lloyd’s beaming smile with one of his own.

Naturally, that’s when the beach blows up.

***********

On second thought, the ocean can die.

Morro immediately changes his mind about seawater as he’s knocked beneath a large wave, swallowing a mouthful of disgusting salt liquid. Panic twists around his heart as he flails briefly, before a hand locks firmly around his arm and yanks, pulling him to the surface and dragging him forward.

“—can’t believe this, again?!” Lloyd’s yelling in his ear as Morro splutters out saltwater. “What is it now, someone whose got aunt we got fired?”

“Don’t be ridiculousss, you know your own worth,” a hissing voice laughs across the water, and Morro struggles to find his footing as Lloyd drags them both onto the beach. “Imagine my delight when I realized the Green Ninja was lounging on the beach!”

Morro finally manages to push his sopping hair from his face, and he blinks saltwater from his eyes as his vision clears. Several paces down the sand from them stands a scarlet Hypnobrai, an admittedly intimidating weapon held in its scaly hands.  

“Oh, of course!” Lloyd spits. “Stupid green power, would it kill you to let me get five minutes of—”

He cuts off in a yelp as the Serpentine fires at them again, dragging Morro to the sand with him as the grenade blast streaks over their heads, exploding somewhere further down the beach.

“It’s okay,” Lloyd pants, as they scramble to their feet. “This is — it’s all good, it’s just one Serpentine. We can handle this, easy.”

Morro whips his head across the beach. “You do see the other four, right?”

“The other—” Lloyd swears. “How did they all get grenade launchers?”

“That’s what you’re worried about right now?” Morro shouts, as they narrowly avoid another three blasts. The lead Hypnobrai cackles wildly at them, waving his weapon like a war flag.

“How did you even find me?” Lloyd yells, as he and Morro sprint around the jetty for cover, stumbling over the protruding rocks. “This is the middle of nowhere!”

The Hypnobrai grins, sharp teeth flashing. “Oh, we wouldn’t have! But I recognized the name on the credit card used at the gas station. To be honest, I was actually expecting the earth ninja.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Lloyd cries. “What kind of karma—”

Morro grasps him firmly by the shoulders and yanks him down, just before another streaking blast of flame can take his head off. Morro cringes as the ensuing explosion rocks the ground beneath them, his ears ringing.

Lloyd crouches lower beside him, muttering frantically. “I’m sorry, okay, I’m sorry,” he’s saying in the vague direction of the sky. “I’ll never steal anyone’s credit card again, I promise, I’m sorry—”

“Are you — apologizing to your grandfather right now?” Morro gapes at him.

Lloyd throws his hands in the air. “This has gotta be someone's fau—alt, move!”

He yanks them to the side as another blast narrowly misses them, almost knocking them clear off their feet. Morro grits his teeth, frustration spiking.

“This would be a great time for a plan, oh ninja leader,” he snaps.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it,” Lloyd’s hands flash green. “Just follow my—”

He gasps, his eyes going wide at something beyond Morro’s shoulder. Morro has a split second of confusion before Lloyd shoves him to the ground, bright green energy blazing to life in a makeshift shield—

Just in time for the next blast to hit him dead on, sending him flying back into the jetty.

Lloyd gives a single, sharp cry before his head strikes the edge of a rock, abruptly going silent as he tumbles to the edge of the jetty, inches from being swept away by the water. He doesn’t move after that.

Morro’s stomach bottoms out, his blood running cold as he’s hit with a sudden rush of terror so strong he almost loses his balance.

Then the rage hits.

Morro turns on the Hypnobrai who fired the blast, his eyes flaming. The snake swallows, suddenly looking pale as he clutches at his weapon.

“Um—”

Morro roars, and the wind turns sharp and vicious, swirling around him in a vortex of fury. The Serpentine shriek in terror as they’re swept up in the gale, Morro’s wind howling as it tears the weapons from their hands. Morro barely hears them, his mind still stuck on the single scream before Lloyd had fallen silent. Anger blazes hot in his chest, and the wind grows bitterly cold, flinging water from the ocean higher and higher. Saltwater splashes against his cheeks, but Morro hardly feels it. He lets the water power his wind instead, sweeping into a furious storm.

He could easily kill them right now — happily, even. But Morro’s been an entire mess of conflicting emotions this weekend, and he’s got more pressing things to worry about, so he sends their weapons flying far out into the ocean instead. He narrows his eyes on them in fury, before hissing out, “Get. Lost.”

They don’t need any help fleeing after that, but Morro still launches them a good thirty feet away. For good measure.

He lets the wind die bit by bit, water splashing back into the ocean. Morro suddenly becomes aware of how his hands are trembling, shaking in the aftermath of adrenaline. There’s a moment of crushing silence in the absence of his howling wind, and his stomach drops.

He whips around, his eyes searching the empty beach desperately. He wasn’t — he hadn’t been thinking of Lloyd when he’d kicked the storm up, but what if—

“Lloyd,” Morro rasps, his throat closing over in fear. “Lloyd, where are you, please—”

“M’here.”

Lloyd stumbles from behind the jetty, coughing up a mouthful of saltwater as he sways dizzily, rubbing his head. “Ow, ow, ow. I’m gonna feel that for—”

Lloyd cuts off in a yelp as Morro grabs him forcefully, pulling him in and wrapping his arms around him. Lloyd goes painfully rigid, his breathing uneven for a beat before he gingerly reaches back, awkwardly patting Morro’s shoulder with his one free hand.

“Uh, M-Morro?”

He clutches him tighter. “Shut up.”

“Mo’o, yer crush’n me.”

“Shut up. You’re terrible. You’re horrible. I get why Kai’s so grumpy all the time. How does Kai not have grey hair. How.”

Lloyd makes a muffled sound of indignation as Morro refuses to let go. He probably looks ridiculous, but he can’t find it in himself to care. A host of realizations are hitting him at once, and it’s making him slightly nauseous.

For a second, Lloyd had been quiet. He’d been still and unmoving, and he could’ve been dead. Which would have been bad, apparently, for Morro, because Lloyd can’t die. Because if Lloyd dies, then Morro won’t have a pint-sized blond cousin to yell all the angsty stuff out with, and if Lloyd dies then who’s gonna drag him out of his self-induced isolating depression and make him try gross food and break the law and actually interact in the world? Morro can’t lose that. Lloyd’s the only person who’s genuinely made Morro feel like a person, he can’t go die before Morro makes at least some attempt to apologize for being horrible in general to him.

It clicks, finally, like getting hit in the face with the blunt end of a shovel. Morro is, without a doubt, terrified of the idea of losing Lloyd. Oh no. Oh, this is awful. Because if Morro’s scared of losing Lloyd, that must mean—

“Aw, you do care,” Lloyd croaks, his voice watery.

Morro, soaking wet and holding the one person he’s wanted to see dead most like an over-sized teddy bear in need of love, wants to die.

***********

“You tricked me.”

“Huh?”

Morro shakes his head, pulling the edge of his blanket up around his shoulders, shifting on the uncomfortable sidewalk that lines the parking lot. They’re both bundled up in emergency blankets they swiped from the truck, shivering in their wet clothes even as the sun climbs higher in the sky above them.  

“You tricked me,” Morro repeats. “You tricked me into tolerating you long enough that I somehow got duped into liking you as a person. You irritated your way into my life.”

Lloyd breathes a laugh, before wincing and pressing his hand to his forehead again. “You should talk to Kai, I did the same thing to him.”

“You dragged him on a road trip from hell, too?” Morro wonders if he’s been too hard on Kai.

“Not exactly,” Lloyd says. “I did get him stuck in a volcano though.”

“Typical,” Morro mutters. “I don’t even have trouble believing that. You’re a menace."

“Aw, c’mon,” Lloyd grins. “Didn’t I hear you saying that you liked me as person?”

Morro bristles. “No,” he says, firmly. “That’s your concussion talking.”

Lloyd rolls his eyes. “I don’t have concuss— ow, Morro, stop!”

“Huh. Your head isn’t gushing blood, so that’s good,” Morro remarks, pulling his hand away from the back of Lloyd’s head. “That’s still gonna be a bump, though.”

“My hair hides it though, right?” Lloyd’s expression is slightly panicked. “You can’t see it, right?”

“The bump? No.” Morro gestures to Lloyd’s face. “The black eye? Yes.”

“Oh, no.” Lloyd buries his face in his hands. “That’s it, then. I’m toast.”

“Oh, you’re toast,” Morro scoffs. “Kai’s gonna wring my neck.”

Lloyd lifts his face from his hands, shaking his head. “No. I’ll tell him you saved me. That’ll buy you points.”

“Kai’s gonna love that,” Morro snorts.

“Yeah, well.” Lloyd sighs, pulling his blanket around his shoulders. “What’cha gonna do.”

Morro scoffs, pulling his own blanket tighter over his shoulders. The ocean breezes are still a bit chilly with their damp clothes, but the wind is as peaceful as it was earlier, lulling them both into a sleepy kind of haziness. Morro feels disgustingly at peace with the world again, soaking wet and sitting on a sidewalk in the middle of a half-destroyed beach with Lloyd, but he can’t muster up the energy to make himself feel otherwise. Being at peace for five minutes won’t hurt, he reasons.

“By the way, remind me to check the truck before we return it,” Lloyd suddenly says, yawning. “I think I left Kai’s apology present in there.”

Morro frowns. “His what now?”

“Apology present,” Lloyd sighs, scrubbing at his eye. “For putting him through hell.”

“Him?” Morro gapes at Lloyd. “What about me? Where’s my apology gift for getting dragged through hell?”

“Your apology gift is me not hating your guts,” Lloyd huffs, pulling his blanket fully over his hair, like an incredibly ugly veil. “And like, forgiveness and stuff.”

Morro opens his mouth, then abruptly snaps it shut as Lloyd’s words register. He stares at him, feeling a bit dizzy all of the sudden.

“You — what — forgive—?”

“You heard me,” Lloyd yawns again. He perks up, blinking. “Oh, hey, speak of the devil. There they are.”

Morro just catches the familiar hum of Bounty’s engine before the anchor crashes into the parking lot before them, splintering long cracks in the concrete. Lloyd and Morro stare up at the figures on the deck. Morro swallows.

“You’ve, uh, you’ve written up your will, right?” Lloyd gulps.

Morro shakes his head, wordlessly.

Lloyd gives a nervous laugh. “Okay, good. I haven’t either.” He watches in trepidation as a red figure begins sliding down the anchor chain toward them. “Maybe should’ve done that sooner,” he whispers to himself.

***********

Kai doesn’t murder them, but it’s a near thing. In the end, Nya comes nearer to committing homicide, followed closely by Cole.

“Why mine?” he wails, shaking Lloyd by the edges of his blanket the minute Kai hauls them both onto the Bounty. “Why couldn’t you have snatched Jay’s credit card? He’d at least deserve it!”

“I’m sorry,” Lloyd wails back. “I learned my lesson, I promise, I’ll never do it again—”

“For crying out loud,” Nya mutters, watching them both before turning narrowed eyes on Morro. “Well, I was going to murder you, but somehow Lloyd’s still alive.”

Morro’s too tired to even fight back. “He’s like a barnacle,” he says, hazily. “Like — like those parasite things. You let them get to close and you’re stuck for life, those things, you know?”

Nya presses her lips together tightly, but her eyes sparkle in amusement.

“He got you too, huh?” Jay remarks, studying one of the grenade launchers he fished out of the water. “Join the club. Ooh, nice, this has got some real firepower…”

Morro buries his face in his hands. “Just put me out of my misery.”

“Happily,” Kai snaps, his eyes slightly manic from what’s either sleep deprivation or extreme stress. Zane catches him gently, tugging him away from Morro.

“Welcome to the team, I suppose,” Zane tells him, with an easy smile.

Morro groans. He wants to—

Well. He doesn’t exactly want to die. It’s close, but he doesn’t. Not really.

It’s an odd feeling, whatever leaves him off-kilter as he steps below the deck with Lloyd. Maybe that’s just his own sleep deprivation, but still. He snags Lloyd by the elbow before he disappears into his room, and Lloyd pauses, staring curiously at him.

“What you said,” Morro begins, hesitantly. “In the parking lot, about— forgi—that thing.”

Lloyd’s eyes dart to the floor, but he sets his jaw. “That thing. I, uh, yeah. No take backs, right?”

Morro blinks wildly, his tired brain barely able to digest that. “You know you could’ve gotten rid of me out there,” he tries, desperately reaching for sense. “You missed your chance.”

Lloyd meets his eyes again, shaking his head. “Oh, Morro,” he sighs. “Don’t you know the best way to defeat your enemy is to make them your friend?”

Morro stares at him. Lloyd gives him a sharp-teethed grin. “Besides,” he continues. “What’s the point in holding a grudge, when getting you to care about me is much better revenge?”

Morro stiffens. “I don’t care about you,” he protests.

“Nuh-uh, too late now,” Lloyd’s grin widens. “Before you know it, you’ll be calling me cousin. Eating dinner with us. Calling Kai buddy.”

“I would never,” Morro hisses.

Lloyd’s grin is positively sinister. “Oh, you will,” he says. “Because you care now.”

Morro is horrified, truly horrified, to find that saying no to Lloyd’s claim would be a lie. “You’re a monster,” he whispers.

Lloyd smiles brightly. “I’ll see you in practice tomorrow!” he calls cheerfully, before slamming the door in his face.

Morro stares after him blankly, the ugly Oceanworld blanket still hanging limply from his shoulders.

“I hate him,” he finally tells the door, wearily.

Oh, curse everything. Morro can’t even convince himself the door believes him.

[midnightsnyx]

Consequences - Matthew Tkachuk: part 2

summary: you absolutely hate Matthew Tkachuk so it's just your luck when you wind up pregnant with his child.

a/n: so here is part 2!! i was hoping to have it posted the weekend but i just wasn’t happy with it so i wanted to tweak it a little. 

this is 1.7(!!!!)k so much longer than p1.

i hope you guys like it! 

Consequences - part 2

“There she is!” Johnny shouted, stumbling to where you were seated at the bar. There was another guy trailing behind him and you recognized him immediately as Matthew Tkachuk, right wing for the Calgary Flames and one of Johnny’s friends.  

“Y/N, this is Chucky.” Johnny said, tossing an arm around your shoulders. Your best friend was very drunk but you knew the look in his eyes when he grinned at you.  

“Chucky, this is Y/N. I think you two will get along.” He winked at you before stumbling away but not without embarrassing you by shouting, “use protection!”

You could feel how hot your face was when you turned around to look at Matthew who was leaning against the bar casually. You’d heard stories from some of the girls about how he slept with girls and the tossed them out the next day like garbage so already, you disliked him and it only got worse when he leaned towards you and smirked.

“Do we have to do the whole get to know each other thing or can we just head back to my place?”

Maybe it was the fact that you drank more than normal or because you’d just gotten dumped by your boyfriend of two years but Matt’s comment made your blood boil and without thinking, you tossed your drink in his face.

It’s been a week and a half since you told Matt you were pregnant and since then, you hadn’t heard or seen him. Part of you is relieved because you’re not sure you can handle him right now when you’re still trying to process the fact that you are pregnant. A quick trip to the doctors and some bloodwork confirmed what the seven pregnancy tests showed. You’re seven weeks and five days along.  

The thought scares the life out of you because you feel like you can’t possibly be a mother. You can barely keep a plant alive, let alone a child. But you have to and you’re not sure what made you not even consider taking the easy way out but just the thought of getting rid of the baby made you sick to your stomach.

The only problem is Matt.  

Matt, who you haven’t heard from since you dropped the baby bomb on him. Part of you isn’t surprised because it’s exactly what you were expecting but another part of you is upset because despite some things you’ve heard about Matthew, you’ve also heard that he’s a decent guy so you thought there might be a chance he wouldn’t leave you to raise the baby alone.

But you also know that you don’t need him. You have your family and friends and you’re surrounded by people who you know would do anything for you but there’s still the part of you that doesn’t want to have your child grow up without a father.

And it breaks your heart thinking about it.

Matt doesn’t exactly know how he ended up in the baby isle in Walmart but what he does know, is that there are far too many things that a baby needs. Diapers, formula, clothes, pacifiers, cribs, the list goes on.  

He knows that he’s an ass for not going to see Y/N yet but he just needs time to process it. It felt like someone slapped him in the face when she showed up and told him she was pregnant with his child. It’s not something he ever thought he would hear until he was settled down with a wife and a house – not with the woman who despises him for reasons he doesn’t know.

He’s aware that the entire world thinks he a pest and he knows that he can be an asshole but Y/N has a hatred for him that he doesn’t understand and he’s not sure he ever will.

His head is spinning by the time he leaves but he’s carrying a bag with a bottle of prenatal vitamins and a Calgary Flames onesie so that’s something, he supposes.

“Hello, favourite brother.” Taryn says when she answers the phone. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m telling Brady you said that.” Matt chirps. “Is dad home?”  

“Yeah, why?”  

“Can I talk to him?”

“Yeah, why?”  

“Because.” Matt says sharply. “Jesus, you sound like that talking snowman from Frozen.”

“Chill out,” his sister mutters. “something crawled up your ass.”

“Taryn.”  

“Okay! Okay! Here’s dad.”

Matt mutters a thanks before preparing himself for the lecture he’s going to receive from his father. He can avoid it by just not telling him, but he needs advice and he doesn’t know who else to go to that he knows will keep it a secret.

“Hey bud.” Keith says, “What’s up?”

Best to just get right into it.

“You remember Johnny’s friend, Y/N?” Matt asks, hoping his father knows who he’s talking about so he doesn’t have to explain more.

Keith hums and Matt can picture his father nodding.

“Yeah. Nice girl. Hates your guts. Can’t say I blame her.” Keith jokes, letting out a loud belly laugh. “What about her?”

Matt hesitates before sighing. “She’s pregnant.”

“Wow! Good for her.” His dad says earnestly. “Tell her congrats from me and your mom.”

Did I sound this fucking stupid?  

“Um...”

“Oh, don’t tell me it’s Gaudreau’s kid. That boy has a girlfriend!” Keith scolds and Matt has to stop himself from tearing his hair out. How has his father not picked up on it yet?

“Yeah, no. It’s not Johnny’s kid.”

“Well whose is –” Keith stops mid-sentence and Matt cringes, waiting for the fury.

“You didn’t.”

“I -”

“Didn’t what?” Taryn pipes up from the background and Matt groans, knowing his sister was most likely listening.  

“You did not get a girl pregnant.”

“It was a mistake.”

“Dear Lord, help us.” Keith mutters.

“Matt knocked somebody up?” Taryn squawks and then Matt hears a voice that makes him wish he was never born.

“Matthew Tkachuk,” His mother shrieks. “You did not get a girl pregnant.”

Matt sighs and looks up at the ceiling in regret.

“And don't you think for a second that I won’t be calling her to make sure you actually go see her.” Chantal says firmly and Matt knows that she will so he nods even though she can’t see him.

“Yes, ma’am.”  

She mutters something under her breath before sighing. “Your father wants to talk to you.”

Matt doesn’t get so much as a goodbye before his mom hands the phone off.  

His father doesn’t say anything for a moment but lets out a deep breath.

“You fucked up.” He says in a tired voice.

“Yeah, I did.” Matt agrees.

“I had a friend when I was in my twenties who got a girl, he was dating, pregnant.” His dad says. “They were only seeing each other for a few months when she found out, and you know what he did?”

“What?”

“He left.” Keith tells him. “He ran away and left the poor girl alone and pregnant. Two years later, I heard that he showed up and wanted to be in the kid's life.”

“What did she say?” Matt asks, never having heard this story from his dad but knowing now why he’s telling him.

“She told him to fuck off.”

Matt chuckles. “Good for her.”

Keith lets out a small laugh. “She was tough as nails, that girl.” Then he sighs. “you know why I’m telling you this, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you know what you have to do.”

“I do.” Matt says, already looking for his keys and a jacket. “I’ll call you tomorrow, dad.”

“Good luck, bud.”

“Thanks.”

It’s late when he shows up at your apartment and you’re absolutely furious at him, not because he’s standing at your doorstep 11 o’clock at night but because he made you wait long enough that you were scared that he was never going to show up.

“I uh... I read that you’re supposed to be taking these.” He says, offering what looks like a bottle of prenatal vitamins and although you already have them, it still makes your eyes water and your heart warm and you blame it on the stupid hormones when you reach out and pull him in for a hug.

“I’m really sorry.” He whispers into your hair and even though it’s not, you still tell him it’s okay and if his shirt is wet with your tears, well, you can blame that on the hormones too.

The two of you stand there hugging until your neighbour, Ms. Walters. opens her door, making you pull away from him.

“Hello dear,” she says kindly before looking at Matthew with a raised eyebrow. She doesn’t look impressed with him when she notices you tear stained face but there’s no way you can explain that they are happy tears so you just shoot her what you hope is a reassuring smile.

It must be enough because she smiles and walks away, leaving you and Matthew standing in your doorway.

“Can I come in?” He asks gently and you nod, stepping back to let him walk past you. He kicks his shoes off and walks to the living room with you trailing behind him, trying to think of how to start the conversation.  

But he beats you to it.

“I’m sorry, for how I reacted when you told me.” He says. “I should have handled it better.”

You nod, sitting on the couch and motioning for him to sit as well.  

“You should have, but I also should’ve broken the news better.” You say. “We both could have done better.”

He nods. “I just want you to know that I support whatever you decide to do.”

“I know.” You tell him, waiting a minute before smiling. “I’m keeping it.”

You’re not expecting the wide grin that crosses his face and it makes your eyes water again, making his eyes widen.

“I’m sorry!”

“No, it’s not-” your face turns a light shade of red and you look at the ceiling. “I’ve been crying a lot lately. Hormones, I guess.”

“Yeah, I read something about that.”

You raise an eyebrow and grin. “Read it, huh?”

His face turns red now and he shrugs. “I had a bit of free time.”

You just smile at him again but don’t tease.  

“Did you want to watch a movie?” He asks and you grin.

“As long as it’s not What to Expect When You’re Expecting.”  

[atlafan]

My Everything - Part Nine

A Take it Slow Sequel

What happens with Harry and Y/N after he proposes? How will the two navigate the engaged life while also continuing to juggle their jobs, friends, and families? Let’s find out.

Warnings: Fluff and Smut! Get your tissues for all the feels! 

a/n: not proofread fam, I didn’t have the strength. This is 8900k.

Masterpost

Your bachelorette party was at a nice Air BnB up north. You wanted a simple, secluded weekend with your friends. It was just you, Rachel, and Sarah.

“Okay, so what are you most excited for, like, to be married?” Sarah asks. You were all sitting on a floor of blankets and pillows.

“To be able to call him my husband. Like he’s been my partner in life for almost three years now, but once it’s legal, no one can dispute it.”

“How soon after you get married do you think you’ll start trying for a baby?” Rachel asks. It was the question a lot of people had been asking you.

“Literally, the honeymoon.” You chuckle. “I swear he’s been counting down the days to not have to use condoms anymore.” You roll your eyes. “He acts like he still hasn’t stuck it in without one. I know it’s not as often, but still.”

“You know how guys are.” Sarah says. “They wanna feel every bit of it. You must be excited for the honeymoon though. Disney plus going to a little beach house?”

“I’m beyond ready!” You squeal. “I haven’t been to Disney World since I was like four.”

“We went on a family trip when I was in high school.” Rachel says. “It was so much fun. The food is like the best part, I swear. And the dole whips??? Holy shit.”

“I know! Harry and I have been watching a ton of videos on YouTube to prepare. We’re staying at the Port Orleans resort, we had seen that less kids stay there so it’s a little quieter. We watched a video of someone walking through the resort, it was so cool. We get to choose our fast passes soon, and all of our dinners have been reserved. It’s really cool.”

“Are you getting those bracelets?” Sarah asks.

“The arm band things? Yeah, they’re gonna come in the mail soon I think. Harry got a pink one, and mine’s blue.” You giggle.

“What do you think the beach house portion of your honeymoon is going to be like?” Rach asks.

“I have a feeling we won’t be leaving the bedroom much there. I truly think his main goal is to get me pregnant.”

“And he won’t try to do that in Disney?” Sarah asks.

“He might…think of Disney as like foreplay. It’s going to be really romantic and fun while we’re there, but he’s really going to give it to me at the beach house.”

“Do you think you guys like won’t have sex before the wedding just to build it up?”

“We may not have a choice. I was looking at my period tracker, and I’m supposed to get it like legit a week before the wedding. I know he doesn’t care, but I do. Besides, he mum and sister are going to be staying with us, so that’s a cockblock right there. We’re going to be busy running around getting last minute things together. We won’t have time for it.”

“That’s the biggest load of garbage I’ve ever heard of!” Sarah laughs. “The two of you have been like rabbits since you met. Niall and I have sex like once a week, maybe even every ten days. I feel like you and Harry fuck every night.”

“We do not! Maybe like twice a week.”

“If you’re not fucking you’re doing something else.”

“Is that a bad thing? Why do you and Niall only do it once a week?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “Just sort of how things fell into place. I’m not complaining, that’s plenty of sex for me. Although, if it were up to him we’d probably do it every night. I’m just not always in the mood, you know?”

“Me either.” Rachel says. “Like, sometimes when I go to bed, that’s all I wanna do. I’m not looking for any funny business.”

“I think that just happens when you live with someone for a while.” You say. “Before Harry and I lived together-“

“Don’t even start. You two were living together before you were even living together.” Sarah giggles.

“All I was going to say was that when you don’t live with someone you probably can’t wait to jump their bones because you haven’t seen them in a while. Once you do live with someone and the option’s always there it probably gets less exciting. I love having sex with Harry, but I’m not always in the mood, and neither is he. We’re both happy to just cuddle.”

“Yeah, but you two are one of those touchy couples that likes cuddling all the time. Sometimes if I’m on the couch just chilling, like, I may not even want to be touched.” Sarah explains.

“I think we can all just agree that we are all in very different relationships and that’s okay.” Rachel says. “We’re all happy, right?” You and Sarah agree. “Alright then.” She shrugs. “Nothing more to it than that. I’m glad you ended up with a guy that likes to kiss and touch you in public, Y/N. Everyone around you can feel the love.”

“Y/N…I don’t wanna be a Debbie Downer, but remember how much trouble Kate had when she thought her and Kev were gonna get pregnant right away?” Saray says.

“I know…” You sigh. “I’ve thought about that. I mean, it could easily not happen on our honeymoon, and I think that’s okay. If anything, it’ll just be the start of things, you know? It’ll happen when it’s supposed to happen.”

//

While you were having a peaceful weekend away with your friends, Harry had taken a little road trip to Mohegan Sun to do some gambling with Niall and Louis, yes, Louis flew in for the bachelor party. Harry had other friends he knew would have fun, but he also just wanted to do something sort of small with his friends.

The three of them enjoyed the bit of gambling they got to do, and the outrageous amount of alcohol they got to consume. Harry hadn’t drank much since you started your pills those couple of years ago, so he took full advantage of not having to worry about you.

The three went to some nightclub in the area to cut loose a bit. Harry usually didn’t like dancing like this if you weren’t there, but he was so beyond gone he didn’t really care. He was having a good time with his friends.

A group of girls had noticed them and kept coming closer and closer until they finally bumped into them.

“Do you guys wanna dance?” One of them says.

“Married.” Niall points to Louis. “Engaged.” He points to Harry. “In a fully committed relationship.” He points to himself.

“Sorry ladies, this is actually his bachelor party.” Louis tells the girls who were all frowning.

“S’not like he’s wearing a ring yet, right?” One of the girls says a little too cheekily for Harry’s liking.

“Right.” He scoffs. “As if I’d cheat on my fiancé with any of you.” He looks them all up and down. “Find some other idiots to pester, we’re here to have fun.”

He walks away from the group and goes towards the bar to grab some water. Louis and Niall follow him.

“Yeh could’ve sad that a bit nicer mate, they’re probably just drunk.” Louis says to him.

“I don’t care. I’m twenty-eight years old, do these girls think it would be so fucking easy to get into my pants?” He rolls his eyes. “M’too old for that shit.”

“What did you think was gonna happen when you wanted to come to a club?” Niall laughs. “We’re pretty good lookin’, in case yeh forgot.” He jokes.

“M’just sayin’, it’s annoying.” He sighs. “Do you think they’re all havin’ fun on their trip? Maybe I should call her, make sure they’re alright all alone.” Harry takes his phone out of his pocket, but Louis snatches it.

“She wouldn’t even be able to hear you in here, I’m sure they’re fine.”

“But I miss her.” He pouts. “Give me my phone!”

“You’re supposed to miss her.” Louis laughs. “You’ll see her tomorrow night.”

“Don’t care, gimme my phone.” He snatches it back and walks towards the men’s room where he knew it would be quiet. The boys follow him. He taps his phone to FaceTime you.

//

“What the…Harry’s FaceTiming me.” You show the girls.

“Answer it! It’s super late, I bet he’s drunk.” Rachel giggles.

You shrug and answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey! There’s my pretty girl.” He beams. There’s a slight slur to his words. You can faintly see Niall and Louis in the background.

“Are you in a bathroom?”

“Mhm.”

“Why?”

“So it wouldn’t be too loud to talk to yeh.”

“Where are you?”

“At some club near the casino. Some girls tried to pick us up, but don’t worry baby, we got rid of ‘em. I wouldn’t let anything happen.” You look at your friends who were trying really hard not to laugh.

“Just play along.” Sarah whispers. You look back at Harry.

“Oh good, I didn’t think you would, Harry.”

“I mean really, the nerve.” He scoffs. “You know what she said to me?”

“What did she say?”

“She said it’s not like I’ve got a ring on yet. Can you believe tha’?”

“Harry, I think your friends are waiting for you.” He looks behind himself and sees Niall and Louis about ready to drag him out of the bathroom.

“But I miss you…”

“I miss you too, but you’ll see me tomorrow night. It’s only been a couple of days.”

“I know, but I haven’t been able to sleep.”

“That’s fuckin’ lie and you know it!” Louis says. “If you don’t hang up that phone, I’m gonna tell your little fiancé about whose bed you’ve been sleepin’ in.”

The girls start laughing, and so do you.

“Seems like you already did.” Harry punches Louis in the arm.

“He’s right Harry, go enjoy the rest of your night.”

“I’d rather enjoy your tight cu-“

“Harry!” You blush. “Please…Niall, take his phone from him!”

“Can do!”

You hear rumbling and then the screen goes dark.

“Jesus, I’m so sorry.” You pinch your nose.

“No, it was cute.” Rachel assures you. “It’s sweet he misses you.”

“He’s certainly your first baby, that’s no mistake of that.” Sarah laughs.

“Between him and Buster, I’m gonna be a pro by the time I have an actual baby.”

//

Having Anne and Gemma in your home was less stressful than you thought it would be. They could watch Buster if you needed to run out and take care of something quickly. The wedding was only a few days away now, and you’d be going down early for the rehearsal dinner.

“So what’s the plan exactly, are you and Harry having separate rooms the night before the wedding, or did you say nuts to that?” Gemma asks you one morning.

“We have separate rooms, and then we have the honeymoon suite the night of. It’s really nice. We got to tour it when we first went to the inn. I have a room with the girls, and I’m pretty sure Harry is staying with Niall.”

“That’s sweet of you all to do that. He’s very excited.” She blinks away a few tears. “I can’t believe my little brother is going to be someone’s husband, it’s wild to think about. You sure you’re okay with havin’ another sister?”

“Aw, Gem.” You give her a little hug. “Lily, my brother’s wife, is the best sister in law, and I get along way better with her than I do my actual sisters. I’m very much looking forward to having another sister in law.”

“Good, it’ll be nice for me to have one too. I cannot wait to see your reaction to all of our suits when you walk down the aisle.”

“You’re wearing one too?”

“Mhm, I wanted to look the part. I’m pretty sure all the girls in Harry’s party opted for the suits, they were too pretty. Not that your bridesmaids dresses aren’t pretty. It was nice to have the option.”

“Suits are way more comfortable anyways.” You shrug. “I’m not offended in the slightest.”

Later that afternoon you make sure everything’s all packed up so you can head down to the inn. Harry drives your car with you, and gives the keys to his own car to Anne and Gemma. He wanted to just have time in the car with you and Buster before you’d be separated for the night.

“Tomorrow at 3PM, can you believe it?” He says to you as he grips your hand a little tighter.

“Was it worth the wait, baby?”

“Do you mean the nearly two years of planning the damn thing, or my entire life? Because either way, yeah, it was worth it.” He gives your knuckles a kiss. “What about you?”

“Same goes for me, either way, worth it.”

“You’re like calmest bride I’ve ever seen.”

“Harry, we’ve had so much of this planned, everything’s in place. Now all we have to do is get through this rehearsal, and the dinner. Tomorrow is going to be so much fun. I’m getting mani/pedi’s at the spa with all the girls, then we’re going to have our makeup and hair done. It’s all going to be great.” You look down at his nails peach colored nails. “I see you got yours done this morning.”

“Mhm, and don’t let the color fool you, it may not even match the suit.”

“I didn’t think it would.” You laugh. “It looks nice though. I love when you do the peach color.”

“I know you do.” He grins. “So, how do you think tonight’s gonna go?”

“I feel like I’m already going to tear up watching your mom walk you up to the gazeebo.”

“You better not cry already because then I’ll start crying, and you know how that goes.” You both laugh. “You know you still haven’t told me if you plan to take my name or not. The DJ’s going to announce us Mr. and Mrs. Styles…”

“I don’t know what I wanna do yet. I have time to decide, it’s just a matter of going to town hall to legally change my name. The process is just annoying. I’ll need a new passport, social security card, and then I’ll have to fight with IT at work to get my email, changed… guess in the grand scheme it’s not a big deal.” You sigh. “I also feel like I’m giving up part of my identity…I suppose I could hyphenate, but I’d still have to change everything.” You look at him for a moment. “Would it bother you a lot if I legally didn’t change it? I don’t mind people referring to me as Mrs. Styles, I won’t correct them…”

“I get where you’re comin’ from. I suppose if the shoe was on the other foot I wouldn’t wanna go through all the trouble either.”

“It’s not really anything personal either, I love your name.”

“I understand the identity thing too. It’s a lot to ask of someone. A lot of people don’t change their name nowadays. I guess I was just wondering out of curiosity.”

“Who knows, I may wake up one day be like yeah I wanna change my name.” You shrug. “Our kids will have your name.” You smile.

“God, I can’t wait to start makin’ babies with you.” His hand leans yours and slides over your stomach. “Just wait until I get in there, you’re not gonna know what hit you.”

“Harry, Jesus.” You pinch the bridge of your nose.

“I think I’m just excited we won’t be using condoms for a while.” He chuckles and moves his hand to your thigh. “You’re sure you feel ready for all that?”

“Yeah, definitely. Three years ago I wasn’t ready, but I’m almost twenty-seven, I’m ready. I want everything with you, babe.”

//

Harry was reluctant to leave you at your room with the girls when you got to the inn, but Louis and Niall were able to pry him away. Around 5PM everyone involved in the rehearsal showed up outside. It was odd practicing the very thing you’d be doing for real the next day. Your cantor stood next to Niall and went over what blessings he’d be reciting, and you tell him you’ll be the one stepping on the glass.

Once it’s all done, you all go inside to the restaurant of the inn to eat a nice dinner. Harry’s friends and yours were getting to know each other, which was really nice to see. Your parents were sitting at different tables so things seemed stable at the moment.

Both of your parents make a small toast, as does Anne. Once the dinner is over you realize you and Harry won’t be seeing each other again until tomorrow afternoon. He pulls you aside briefly while people are still mingling.

“Hey.” He says, cupping your cheeks.

“Hi.” You wrap your arms around his waist.

“I feel like a baby for sayin’ this, but I’m gonna miss you tonight.”

“Don’t feel that way, I’m gonna miss you too. Think of how nice it’ll be when we finally see each other tomorrow, though.”

“I know, I can’t wait to see you walk down the aisle in your pretty dress.” He presses his forehead to yours. “I think I’m gonna grab some drinks with the guys tonight. Is that alright?”

“Of course! You didn’t get to do the bachelor party stuff with all of them, please, go. Just invite my brother, dad, and brother in law, please.”

“I can do tha’.”

“And don’t FaceTime me when you get too drunk. I don’t need my family hearing you become vulgar with me.” You giggle.

“Oi, I resent that.”

“Y/N!” Sarah calls for you. “It’s time, girly. Say goodnight.” She smiles. You turn to look at Harry again and give him a good kiss.

“Time for what?”

“Oh, I know you didn’t think you’d be the only one having fun tonight. We’re having a party in our room for all the girls. Have fun with the guys.” You kiss him again before walking away.

A few hours later, and Harry was ready to call you, or text you, or something. He wasn’t even that drunk, he just hated the thought of sleeping by himself. Even though he was sharing a room with Niall, he’d still be left to snuggle alone. Buster was staying in your room with you. Louis had made sure to take Harry’s phone the second they got to the bar because he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away from you.

“I just wanna text her.”

“Why?” Louis crosses his arms.

“I wanna see if it’s okay to come give her a goodnight kiss when we get back.”

“What if she’s asleep?”

“She’s havin’ a party of her own.” Harry gets frustrated and tries to find someone that’ll help.

He knew Niall wouldn’t be helpful in the same way Louis wasn’t. He finds Seth with Isaac.

“Bingo.” He says to himself and darts over to them. “Seth, can I borrow your phone. Lou won’t give me mine, and it’s an emergency.”

“Um.”

“Don’t listen to him!” Niall says. “He’s trying to call Y/N.”

“Harry, you can’t go one night without talking to her?” Isaac asks, half laughing.

“I think it’s sweet.” Seth says, pulling out his phone. “I’ll call her.” He grins. He finds your contact and taps to call you.

“Give me the phone.”

“Nope, I’ll talk to her…hey Y/N!”

“Hi! Is everything, shhh everyone I’m on the phone, sorry.” You giggle. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh sure, everything’s fine. Harry just had a question.”

“Okay…what is it?” Seth presses the phone to his chest.

“What’s your question?”

“Ask her if I can come give her a goodnight kiss later.” Seth makes a face like he’s about to cry because of how sweet Harry was.

“He wants to know if he can give you a goodnight kiss when we get back.” Seth hears you chatting with everyone in the room.

“I’ll allow it. Just have someone text me when you guys are on your way.”

“Can do.” He hangs up the phone. “You’ve been granted your kiss.”

“I don’t understand why I couldn’t have just asked her.” He rolls his eyes.

“Because yeh would’ve spent the rest of the night babblin’ on.” Niall says. “Now, can we go back to drinkin’?”

Around 11:30PM, everyone decided it would be best not to stay out late, so the guys head back to the inn. It was just you, Rachel, and Sarah in your room now. There was a knock on the door and you all giggle. You tie up your robe, and look through the peep hole to see Harry, Niall, and Louis in the hall. You open the door and slip out.

“If you two wanna wait inside while we say goodnight…” You gesture to the door, Niall and Louis moving to go inside. “You know you can just snuggle with Louis tonight if you miss me.” You laugh.

“No, he’s got a room with his own wife and child, remember?” He scoffs.

“So snuggle with Niall.”

“But I wanna snuggle with you, you’re so cute.” He grabs your hands and intertwines your fingers.

“You can snuggle me all you want tomorrow night.” You whisper.

“I’ll be doin’ a lot more than that.” He grins.

“You came here for a kiss, so let’s kiss.”

He leans down, and you can’t but smile as his nose brushes yours. His lips meet yours and you taste the beer he was surely drinking. His tongue peeks out to swipe across your bottom lip. You open up for him slightly. As he licks into you he pushes you up against the wall next to the door.

“Oop, we better get out there before he carries her off to our room.” Niall kisses Sarah quick before Louis opens the door. The second his does you push Harry off of you. “Alright, enough of that. You got your kiss.”

“You two are kill joys. Why’s it so wrong to be in love?”

“It’s not, mate.” Louis chuckles. “But it’s time to go to sleep. You two have the rest of your lives to love on each other.”

“Night, baby.” Harry pouts.

“Goodnight, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

You wave them off and go back into the room.

“Nice kiss?” Rachel asks.

“A very nice kiss.” You smile and get back on the bed with Buster. “I’m gonna be his wife tomorrow, I can’t believe I got this lucky.” You all giggle and squeal.

//

Somehow you and Harry were both able to get a goodnight’s sleep. You eat a quick breakfast and head down to the spa to meet everyone to get your nails done. Eleanor has a funny look on her face when she comes over to you.

“Everything okay?”

“Oh sure.” She chuckles. She adjusts Eliza May on her hip. “My hubby just got a booty call around 2AM last night.”

“You’re kidding!” You gasp.

“Seems as though his ass was the next best option to yours.” She sits down in the pedicure chair next to yours and cradles her little girl. “Lou’s thirty years old, I swear to god they act like teenagers around each other all the time.”

“It’s sweet though.”

“It is. I suppose it’s nice to see them breaking down toxic masculinity from the inside out.” She laughs.

“Harry’s a very cuddly sleeper, I should have let Buster go with him last night, but we were afraid he’d cry for me.”

“Like father like son.” She jokes. “Where’s the little guy now?”

“My brother picked him up the morning, he’s to stay with them for now.”

“Miss, what color for your toes?”

“Peach, pastel peach, please.”

Once your nails are done you all make your way over to the bridal suite. You were getting anxious. You wished you could just call Harry, even to hear his voice.

“I just need to pee before we get into the hair and makeup.” You say and go into the bathroom. You lock the door and turn the fan on. You call him. He answers on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hi, honey.”

“Y’alright?”

“Mhm, just wanted to hear your voice.”

“You’re cute.”

“Can’t wait to see you in a little while.”

“Me too, I miss you. Missed yeh last night.”

“I heard you found a replacement.”

“I couldn’t help it. It was either that or break into your room.”

“You definitely did the right thing.” You giggle. “How’s everything on your end?”

“Pretty chill so far. My sister’s gettin’ her hair together, so is my mum. Think your dad’s more nervous than I am.” He chuckles. “Must be weird givin’ his youngest away.”

“But at least he knows I’ll be in good hands.”

“Oh, at the least.” You both laugh. “Uh, actually, she called me, so fuck off. Sorry, Mitch is givin’ me a tough time. Did you know what I’m clingy?”

“You?!” You fake gasp. “This is the first I’m hearing of it.” You both laugh. “I better go, they probably think I have like diarrhea or something.”

“Thanks, babe.”

“Sorry.” You laugh. “But seriously, I better go. I love you, I’ll see you soon.”

“I love you too.”

You hang up and go back out to everyone. You sit down in the chair so your mom can start doing your hair.

“Alright, so we’re pulling some of it up, and leaving the rest down, and you want to have bouncy kind of waves on the bottom?”

“Mhm. And remember to leave some pieces out on the top and make them look wavy, like how we practiced.”

“You got it.”

Once your hair was done, Rachel started doing your makeup. You made sure just to wear a zip up sweatshirt so you wouldn’t have to worry about lifting anything over your head when it came time to put your dress on.

You had picked out this beautiful grey for the bridesmaids dresses, and you told the girls as long as it was that color they could pick out whatever dress was most comfortable for them.

“You ready to put your dress on?” Erica asks.

“Yeah, um, Rachel and Sarah were going to help me get into it I think.” You didn’t want to risk your family seeing your nipple piercings.

Nannie comes over with the dress bag, and she unzips it to show you something.

“I had a slight alteration made, I hope you don’t mind.” Inside the dress, where your right breast would sit, was a blue t-shirt material sewed into the shape of a heart. “It was one of Papa’s shirts. I did the same thing for Erica. Now a piece of him will be with you all day.”

“Oh, Nannie.” You hug her and try to cry since your makeup was just done. “Thank you.”

Rachel and Sarah go into the bathroom with you to get you into your dress.

“You both look so pretty.” You say to them. “Great choices.”

“Your sisters looks nice too, and I love the one Eleanor picked out for herself.” Sarah says.

“It’s nice that everyone listened to me for a change.” You laugh.

“Alright, step into it.” Rachel says.

You step into the dress and put your arms through holes. The girls help button up the back. Rachel grabs your veil and puts it on you. They both step back to look at you.

“Holy shit.” Rachel says. “You’re a bride.”

“You look so beautiful, Harry’s going to lose his mind.”

“Really?” You turn around to look at yourself in the mirror. “Oh my god.” You whisper. “This really was the perfect dress, huh?” You giggle with them and leave the bathroom.

Everyone tells you how beautiful you look. Next up was for you to take all of the bridal photos. You wanted to get a good chunk of this done before the weddings so that the pictures afterwards wouldn’t take too long. Harry and the groomsmen should have already taken their pictures together, and he should have pictures with his mum and sister.

It was a beautiful day out, thank God. Mariah gasped when she saw all of you walk out. Rachel blew her a little kiss. You had a small bouquet of sunflowers and baby’s breath in your hands. She snapped a ton of pictures of you, the wedding party, you with your sisters, you with your mom, and you with Nannie, basically every combination of photo. It took over an hour.

“Okay, now we just need to go back in and wait.” You tell them. You take a deep breath as you walk back to the bridal suite. You just wanted to see Harry.

Guests were starting to arrive. Family, friends, you name it. Harry had invited a ton of his past clients that he was close with. Some of the ladies from work came as well. You were all waiting in a hall way. Niall was first to go out, and he wanted to see you beforehand.

“Hey.” You beam at him.

“Oh my god, you look stunning.”

“So do you.” You look his suit up and down. It was a solid baby blue. He had a floral pocket square. “It’s simple, I like it.”

“Just you wait until you see everyone else’s. We did something really cool.” He winks at you and makes his way down the aisle to the gazeebo.

He stands with your cantor just as they did during the rehearsal. Music starts to play. You smile at your brother who is about to walk your Nannie and mother down the aisle. You see all of the groomsmen walking towards you, lead my Louis, to line up with your bridesmaids. They each had a solid colored suit on, but each color was different. You were thoroughly confused, but you loved the concept. You wondered if each color was inside the suit Harry would be wearing.

“You all look wonderful.” You whisper as they line up. You look up at your dad and smile. “Almost our turn.”

Louis and Rachel walk out first, hooking their arms together. Then was Gemma and Sarah, Isaac and Eleanor, Mitch and Erica, and Sarah and Bridget. It all worked out perfectly. As they were making their way down, you see Lily walking up with Michael.

“He’s very excited.” She had Buster’s leash in her other hand. “I’m honored that I get to walk the dog.” She giggles.

“Thanks for doing it. Michael, you’re going to be the best flower boy ever.”

While all of this is happening, Anne walks up to the gazeebo with Harry. They hug and kiss before she goes to sit down. His suit was gorgeous. It was an interesting floral pattern, and it did have all of the colors each groomsmen was wearing. Lily walks Buster down the aisle as Michael walks down putting out flower petals. It was really very cute. Harry bends down and takes the rings from Buster’s collar, and hands them to Niall. He takes a deep breath. He knew Mariah and all of her helpers were getting great pictures, and every moment the two of you wanted would be captured. He looks over to where you’d be coming out next.

“Ready, honey?” Your dad says to you as he hooks his arm around yours.

“Mhm.” You smile.

The music changes, and everyone stands up to watch for you. Your eyes widen the second they fall on Harry. He looked incredible, beyond incredible. You were happy he kept his suit a secret. It was so very him. He immediately started crying when he saw you. He thought you were the most beautiful, breathtaking thing in the world. You both smile and laugh as your dad continues to walk you down the aisle. Harry steps forward to lift your veil, and you both beam at each other. He looks at your dad and then to you. You give your dad a hug before he goes to sit down, and you take Harry’s hand as you step towards the gazeebo. Niall wipes a few tears away himself before beginning.

“You both good?” He asks, making the two of you laugh. He hands Harry a tissue.

“She looks good, doesn’t she?” Harry jokes.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re both a work of art, okay? Let’s get this started.” You both laugh again. Neither of you knew what Niall was going to say, but it still had to wait. “Cantor?”

Your cantor says the few prayers you wanted him to. You and harry were facing each other, holding hands. You had told him what the prayers meant and why they were important to you. Once your cantor was done, it was Niall’s turn to speak.

“Love is a really weird thing. I honestly wasn’t sure what it was until I saw these two progress together. There are good times and bad, but the good always outweighs it. I’m not sure what it was, but I saw two people who I was very close with, living these separate lives, when I just had this feeling that they should be together. So, you two are more than welcome.” You hear people laughing. “Every relationship is different, and I think that’s the beautiful thing about love. It’s growing with some, and just becoming comfortable with how your lives are molding together. You two were pretty comfortable with that early on, how soon was it when you moved in? Four, five months?” You swat an arm at him. “None of us even thought to question you on it. There’s a gravitational pull between the two of you, there’s no denying that. Y/N, when Harry told me he was bringing you to meet his mum and sister that first Christmas you two were together, I knew he was going to marry you. I saw it all very early on. We went on a camping trip and he confessed to us that you were his soulmate.” You look at Harry. You couldn’t tell if he wanted to smack Niall or not, but he looked at you and nodded. “Basically, no one was going to get in his way on this. I had never heard my brutish friend speak so highly of a lady in his life before. And you. You had a new light in your life again. You came back into yourself. Needless to say, you make each other whole.” He clears his throat. “Now then, they happy couple would like to exchange their own vows before we get on with the rings.”

“Y/N.” Harry says after taking a deep breath. “In my wildest dreams I never thought I’d be standing here, marrying someone like you. From the very beginning I knew this was destined to be forever. There’s just no way I’d ever be able to let you go. I promise you that going forward, I’m never letting you go. I want every day with you, even if every day isn’t perfect.” His hands were shaking in yours. “I’ll be your partner no matter what. I know we can get through anything as long as we’re getting through it together. You’re my everything, always.”

“Harry.” Your voice nearly cracks and then you giggle. “When we met, I didn’t realize how much work I really needed to do on myself. You were so patient and understanding with so many things. I’ll forever be grateful for that. You allowed me to have that room to grow, and not everyone gets that kind of patience. I always want to give that to you in return. I feel like I’ve been able to become who I’m supposed to be because of you. I promise to always be your partner no matter what. Through the good and bad, through thick and thin, you’re my everything, always.”  

“Alright, I’ve got these rings here.” Niall hands you each one. You slide them on each other’s fingers. “M’not even gonna ask if there’s anyone here that doesn’t think these two should be wed because you’re crazy if yeh don’t.” You both laugh. “By the power vested in me, and the state of Massachusetts, I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride!”

You step on the glass under the small cloth just as Harry grips your waist to pull you in for a kiss. It felt so good to have his lips on yours again, even if it was brief. Everyone was cheering for you. You walk back down the aisle together, and the wedding party follows. Harry gets his lips on yours again the second you’re away from the crowd. You were down at the private area where more photos could be taken.

“You’re my wife!”

“You’re my husband!”

“Technically you both got married when you signed the marriage license last night.” Niall says.

“Shut up.” You hug him. “What you said was so beautiful, thank you.”

Mariah takes every picture possible. A ton of you and Harry, more of the wedding party, family photos, literally, every picture possible. Once all of that is done you and Harry go inside to wait for the receiving line to begin. You both knew you’d be jumping around to different tables, but you also wanted to enjoy your reception. The receiving line was an easy way to make sure you actually say everyone. It takes a little while to get through everyone, but you were happy you did it.

The DJ starts announcing the wedding party. You hold Harry’s hand when it’s your turn.

“And now, for the first time ever, Mr. and Mrs. Styles!”

You both come in and everyone cheers for you. Your song starts to play, You Make Me So Very Happy, and you dance with Harry. You were so impressed with him. The two of you had gone to get dance lessons together to make sure everything looked nice. He was the one that suggested it. He twirls you around a few times, and the two of you just have fun during your dance. Next up was Harry’s dance with Anne. You beamed as you watched them together. Her eyes were glossy, and she was radiating pride. You danced with your dad next. It was a really nice moment for the two of you.

Once all of that was out of the way, you and Harry were able to sit at your lone table to enjoy some salad for your first course. You had decided to have a plated meal instead of the buffet. It cost a little extra, but you thought it was worth it, and Harry wasn’t going to fight you on it. His business was booming and you had gotten another small pay bump, so you put it to good use. You guzzle down some water, you were so thirsty. Dancing was sweaty work. You also knew this would be the time where some of the speeches would start. Glasses started clinking as Louis stood up to give his speech.

“Right, so, Niall got to do all the sappy stuff before, thanks for gettin’ that out of the way, mate.” Harry sits back in his chair and crosses his arms. His grin forming. Louis loved when he had a microphone to speak into. Harry had given a really good speech at Louis’ wedding, so he had been waiting for this moment. “Harry’s been my mate and brother for what? Like, ten years? Has it been that long? We’re gettin’ old, lad.” Everyone in the room laughs. “Now, I’ve seen Harry through some ups and some downs. I’ve seen him at his worst and I’ve seen him at his best. I’ve seen him take his shirt off his back for someone, and I’ve also seen him absolutely pissed with his head in the toilet. He was there for me when both of my kids were born, hell, he held Eleanor’s other hand when Eliza May was born. I had to grow up pretty fast, and as much I loved Harry, I was sort of wonderin’ when he was gonna grow up, find a nice girl of his own. I met the lovely Y/N at a Halloween party. These two came in dressed like Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Not only was this girl extremely polite, but she could throw a drink back.” Everyone laughs as your face flushes. “Needless to say, I could tell right off the bat that Harry was smitten. I was shocked when he told me he had a girlfriend, and I was even more shocked a month or so later when he told me he was in love. He’d send me pictures of the two of you all the time and tell me about these little things that you’d do. He really did think you were cute, I have the receipts to prove it. When you’re close with someone, all you want is for them to be truly happy. You make Harry happy, and that’s all I could ask. I wish the two of you a wonderful, long life together.” He raises his glass as does everyone else. Harry gives your hand a squeeze.

“That was pretty good.” He says to you.

“Mhm.” You smile. Rachel clinks her glass next and stands up.

“Sarah and I wrote this together, just so everyone knows.” The room laughs. “Y/N, we were eighteen when we met. Yikes, we’re getting old too. Even though we were friends, I didn’t really get to know you until we spent that semester in California together. That was when I realized how special you were. Sorry it took me a year and half.” You both smile at each other. “Like any other girl in college, Y/N went through some wild phases, but she always kept her priorities straight. Sometimes it was hard to related to her since Sarah and I were both becoming teachers and she was going into the world of business and marketing. If there was something she wanted, she got it. There were a few weeks Sarah and I hadn’t seen Y/N so we called her up and told her it was time to have a girl’s night, so we did. That was when we found out she was sort of seeing someone. This guy, Harry.” You can’t help but giggle. “So, this guy Harry FaceTimes her, not even calls or texts, he makes the boldest move of FaceTiming her while we’re out, and she convinces him and his friend Niall to come out and join us. We weren’t able to get to know Harry that well right away, but we could tell something special was there. It took me some time to warm up to Harry. Believe it or not, it’s not always love at first sight with him. We had a really nice heart to heart. I’ll never forget that. Our friend group merged into one, and I truly feel like I could lean on Harry for anything. You’re one of my best friends now too. There’s no one else I’d want to see Y/N with.” She raises her glass and everyone follows.

“I’d like to just say something.” Harry says. “Thank you all so much for coming and supporting us. I love this woman with my whole heart and it was great to be able to stand up and say all of that in front of you all today. Dinner’s about to be served, so we hope you all have fun celebrating with us tonight.”

Everyone clinks their glasses, which is the signal that they want you two to kiss, and you do so. Dinner was delicious, just like how you knew it would be. People were going back and forth to bar and mingling.

“Are you done, babe?” Harry asks.

“Mhm, yeah.”

“Now might be a good time to make some of the rounds before we do the cake and all that. I know once you hear a song you like you’ll be on the dancefloor all night.”

“You’re right.”

You both start making your way around the different tables to say hi to folks a little longer. One of the serves comes out with your cake. You two delicately serve it to each other. Now was not the time to make a mess. You kiss each other and you both smile at the lemony taste. Everyone loved the assorted cupcakes as well.

The music started to pick up and more people started gathering on the dancefloor. You got right out there with your friends and family. You and Harry had worked closely with the DJ to craft the perfect playlist. You take turns dancing with Louis and Niall, while Harry dances with Mariah, then Sarah, then Rachel. He dances with his other friend Sarah and Gemma, and even makes the rounds to both of your sisters. You have a nice dance with your brother as well. Eventually you two come back to each other for a much needed slow song. You had just finished the Cha Cha Slide and you were pooped.

“Having fun?” He smirks.

“Tons, you?”

“Loads.” He leans in to kiss you quick. “You really do make a beautiful bride. I hope you know this won’t be the only time you’ll be wearin’ this dress. I’ll probably ask you to wear it a ton.” He pulls you a little closer.

“Same could be said for this suit. It’s gorgeous, and I love how you had everyone wear a different color that falls in it.”

“Thanks, I thought it would be different and fun. Noticed you got your nails painted the same color as mine.”

“I couldn’t help it, I wanted to match. It was like you were there to hold my hand while you physically couldn’t be with me, you know?”

“God.” He presses his forehead to yours. “When can we go to our room?”

“Harry.” You swat an arm at his shoulder. “We have like three more hours, easily, until we can do that.”

He groans just as a faster song starts to play. You gasp and run over to your friends. It was Yeah by Usher, you were long gone. It was a really fun night. People slowly started to filter out. The girls said they would bring all the cards and gifts people brought up to the room you slept in last night. Your friends had helped out to get everything into the honeymoon suite that you’d need. Buster would be sleeping with Niall and Sarah tonight. You were so grateful.

“It was perfect.” Harry says as he walks hand in hand with you to the suite.

“Mhm.” You cling to his arm.

“Oh wait.” He hoists you up so he’s carrying you bridal style. “Okay, stick the key in.” You giggle and does as he says. He gets the door open and carries you in. “Okay, now, I think this means we’re officially married.” He jokes.

“I don’t think that happens until we consummate.” You yawn as he sets you down on the bed.

“You tired?”

“Yeah, you?”

“Mhm.”

“I think after some sleep it’ll be better.”

“Agreed. Let me help you with all those buttons and what not.”

You stand up as he unbuttons the back of your dress. You catch the top so it doesn’t fall to the floor. You gracefully step out of it and hang it back up.

“These are cute.” He says, pinching your bum which was covered with white lace.

“Thanks.” You giggle, and go into the bathroom to take all of your makeup off.

Harry gets out of his suit and uses the toilet after you. You both crawl into the comfy bed and settle in together. You rest your head on his chest, and the both of you just feel at peace.

“Missed yeh so much last night, baby.” He squeezes you.

“I missed you too. M’glad we’re together now.”

“Me too.” He kisses the top of your head and yawns.

It didn’t take long for the two of you to drift off. However, you woke up around 4AM feeling very well rested. You had both gone to bed completely naked. You roll over to see Harry on his back, fast asleep. His lips parted and light snores coming out. You shift under the blankets and reach for his dick. This was something he had given permission for you to do. You could wake him up like this any time you wanted. You stroke him and you feel him start to get hard in your hand. His eyes flutter open and he looks over at you.

“So early.” He says with that thick morning voice you loved so much.

“I know, I just really wanna fuck my husband, would that be alright?” You tug at him a little harder.

“Fuck.” He groans. “Yes.”

He reaches for your hips and he pulls you on top of him. You grind down on him and his head rolls back.

“Jesus, did you wake up wet like this?”

“I must’ve been thinking about this in my sleep.” You kiss on his neck gently. The two of you promised not to leave marks until you were on your honeymoon.

“I can’t wait to get my hand around your throat in just a couple of days. And then I’m suck little marks all over your body.”

“Harry, please.” You groan as you grind against him again.

“Do we need to use a condom?”

“I’d like to until we’re in Florida, is that okay?”

“Course. They’re in my bag.” He points to it and you get off him to go grab one. You rip the blankets away and tear the foil open. You roll it onto him for him. “Love it when you do that. Showin’ me who’s boss a little bit?” He smirks.

“As your wife I just know there are things I need to do to please my man, but sure.” You shrug. “I’ll be the boss.” You grin and straddle him.

You line his tip up with your center, and you slowly sink down on him. You both moan from the contact. It had been almost two weeks since you two had been intimate with everything going on and you had just gotten over your period two days ago. You both needed this.

“How are you still so tight after all this time?” He grunts as his fingers press bruises into your hips.

Instead of giving him a verbal answer, you lean down and suck his bottom lip into your mouth. You grind up and down on him. He thrusts up into you, getting in nice and deep.

“Fuck, Harry.” You groan against his neck.

His hands slide around to your ass to move you faster on him. Your chest was rubbing against his, and you snake a hand between the two of you to rub your clit.

“Y/N.” He moans, his head rolling back into the pillow.

“I’m so fucking close, oh my god.”

You press your forehead further into his shoulder as he thrusts faster into you. You bite down on his collar bone, and you end up coming at the same time. You rest on him while you both catch your breaths. He cups your cheeks to pull your face back to his. He kisses you, pressing his lips hard to yours.

“Okay, now we’re really married.” You both giggle as you pull off him.

“I’ll let you take care of that.”

“Oh, so you can roll it on, but you can’t take it off?” He smirks as he sits up.

“Nope, that’s your mess, my doll.”

You both clean yourselves up and get back into bed. You had a couple more hours before you needed to be up, after all. Harry spoons you, and you both drift back off.

//

Later that morning everyone cheers when you and Harry come down for brunch. You can’t help but giggle, and Buster comes running towards the two of you.

“I feel so bad, he’s not gonna see us for like…two weeks.” You pout as you pet him.

“He’ll be in good hands.” You both sit down with your friends.

“Yeah, he’ll be with us for a few days, and then with Rachel and Mariah, and then with Seth and Isaac.” Niall says. “Lots of family time.”

“When do you two leave for Florida?” Eleanor asks.

“Tomorrow morning.” You smile. “Our flight’s at like eight. You can check in on your phone so you can get your room a little ahead of time. And we’re doing that thing where we’re letting them take our bags so they’ll be in the room for us by the end of the day. And we’re taking the bus to the resort. They have it down to a science.”

“I feel like that would be a really fun friend group trip some time.” Sarah says.

“Please, these two are gonna start poppin’ kids out the second they can, it’ll be years until we can do that.” Niall jokes.

“Louis and El have kids, we’ll probably be next, maybe that just means you all need to catch up.” You smirk.

“I have plenty of kids at school.” Sarah puts her hands up. “But maybe Rachel could be next.” She giggles.

“Plenty of kids in homes that need adoption.” Rachel says as she smiles at Mariah.

“So with you two on vacation does that mean you won’t be pestering me for photos right away?” Mariah laughs.

“You better send us some or you’re fired.” Harry jokes and the whole table laughs.

You look up at him and smile; you never felt luckier.

For reference: Here is what I imagine Y/N’s dress looking like: 

And here’s photographer!Harry’s suit:

[wonderrdies]

fine line

summary: Boy and girl meet. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl live happily ever after. Except boy is Harry Styles and even when love comes easy, it doesn’t come simple.

disclaimer: this is my first harry fic ever so... how terrifying. also, it is pure self-indulgent garbage and I Frankenstein-ed the shit out of it a dozen times so y’all are gonna have to forgive me. let’s do this. (btw thank you to @hsogolden​ for this challenge; there’s nothing quite like a goal that makes you force yourself to write)

warnings: some fluff, some angst, a tiny bit of smut and a whole lotta nonsense. 

word-count: about 6,000 words

“Come on,” She yells up the stairs. “Daddy’s here!”

“Coming!” the four-year-old yells back, sock-clad feet hitting the stairs with a muffled thud. 

“Jamie,” Harry calls, not as loud as they are. He knows his son can’t see him, but surely he can hear his voice; it’s not the biggest of houses. “Don’t run down the stairs. It’s dangerous.”

A quiet and frustrated okay, Daddy is heard in the background, and both the adults smile softly. Jamie’s a cute kid. 

“I’m dropping him off at my mum’s and I’ll be back in a couple of hours, okay?”

She raises an eyebrow. “It’s Tuesday night. Don’t you have a song to write or whatever?”

“Can’t really miss my girl’s birthday, can I?”

She laughs, surprised, and the sound of it reminds Harry of the shy girl he met at a bar all those years ago. “It’s not my birthday yet, H.”

“Still,” Harry takes a second to look behind her and check on their son, who’s putting on his shoes while his backpack and a few toys are scattered around him. “Need any help, mate?”

Jamie mutters an agreement so She shifts in the door to let Harry in, and his own face stares back at him from a bunch of family pictures all over the shelves. He kneels beside his child and starts mindlessly tying his shoelaces, turning his attention back to her.

“You should dress up.”

“Harry,” she scoffs. “Is that an insult?”

“Nope,” he pops the p just as he finishes with Jamie’s shoes. “Get your stuff, Jamie. Let’s go see Nana.”

“Can we get milkshakes?” 

“Sure, mate,” but She’s glaring at him. “Tomorrow, when it’s not so late, though.”

“But Daddy—”

“Tomorrow, baby.” She interrupts. With a kiss on their son’s brown curls, she says: “Go wait for Daddy in the car. And behave at your Nana’s. I love you.”

Jamie walks away with a “Love you, Mommy”, stuffed kitten under one of his arms and his half-closed backpack hanging on the other. Harry bends over to pick up his other toys but She stops him with a gesture. “Don’t bother, H. I’ll clean it up once you’re gone.”

“I was gonna take them with us.”

“It’s just one night, he won’t miss them,” She pauses. “Too much.”

“Guess mum will just have to entertain him, then,” he drops the toys on the couch and smiles at her. “Be ready, huh? I’ll text you when I’m near.”

“Okay. Where are we going?”

“Let’s get a drink. For old time’s sake.”

She nods, looking suspicious. Then his fingertips brush her cheek and her eyes soften.

“Let’s just not get wasted on a school-night, okay?”

“We’ll be alright, love,” he says, kissing the soft cheek he just touched. It feels like home against Harry’s lips. 

                                    ------------------------------------------

7 years earlier…

Harry doesn’t notice her for a while. They’re both sitting at the bar counter, only one empty stool between the two of them, but the lighting is dim and the girl looks as closed off as one can get; stiff posture and hair hanging over her face while she stares straight ahead into the liquor shelf behind the bartender. Up until that point, she could be furniture for all he cares. 

Tonight, up until that point, he had been reveling in his loneliness. Harry wasn’t one to enjoy being alone much, but after months of touring, family holidays, and being surrounded by more people than he can even imagine at any given time, he got the appeal of listening to his own thoughts for a while. Even if it made him a little restless after a few weeks of it. Even if he caught himself with his mouth open, about to make a random remark on the cute bartender or the questionable music at least twice. Even if he bounced his leg nonstop and grabbed his phone every five minutes, pondering on who to call for company. 

So maybe he wasn’t reveling in the loneliness anymore. But he had dressed as ordinarily as humanly possible without wearing jeans (there were no pearls or high-heeled boots in sight) and was drinking beer instead of a Cosmo, blending in. He had to make the most of it. What could he tell himself that he didn’t already know? Maybe, Harry thought, I’m just not that interesting. If he couldn’t stand to spend half an hour hanging out with himself, had people been lying to him? He could feel the spiraling begin. 

And then his song starts playing.

At the sound of his voice coming from the speakers, she turns her head. Her hair moves away with the movement, the corner of her lips twitching as if she’s about to smile. She doesn’t, but that’s when Harry notices her. The girl’s mouth moves and he’s pretty sure that if he were just a little bit closer, there’d be a faint whisper of stop your crying, baby, it’s a sign of the times. He wishes he could hear it. 

He continues to shoot sideway glances, not wanting to make her uncomfortable by staring. He’s not sure he wants to be noticed, either. She’s a pretty girl singing along to one of his songs; there are many of those. He doesn’t really want to make a scene. But then again, what’s the chance that this woman won’t turn her head at all for however long they’re there?

Before he can worry about that answer, it happens. The bartender is cleaning the end of the counter to Harry’s right, and she shifts to order another drink. As soon as she does, their eyes meet. It doesn’t matter that he’s wearing a baseball hat or a beige knitted sweater and black slacks, she knows he’s Harry Styles. The more the thinks about it, the more self-conscious he becomes. Of course he’s hiding something; who wears that kind of outfit to a bar?

“Hey,” he softly says. He’s not sure how this will go, but so far it feels better than trying to entertain himself. Better than wondering.

Her hand shakes around the glass, empty except for the lime and melting ice, but her voice doesn’t quiver. “Hello.”

“Can I get your drink for you?”

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s fine,” he calls over the bartender. “Can we get another of what she’s having? And a Cosmo.”

What the hell, he figures. It’s not like any of the few middle-aged people in tables around them will see a pink cocktail and suddenly wonder “Isn’t that…?”. Either they recognize him or don’t. When the bartender nods, he turns back to her.

“You’re not from here, are you?”

She shakes her head no. 

“America?”

“Not the United States, no.”

He’s about to guess Canada, even if her accent doesn’t sound like that at all, and make a fool out of himself when she says: “I’m not a native English speaker. I teach English back home.”

“Really!” his excitement is the first thing to get a smile out of her. It kinda throws him off for a second; it comes and goes quickly, but her whole face changes around it. Looking away for a second, he notices that their drinks are about to be ready. “Can I —” Harry gestures to the stool between them.

The girl nods, and he comes closer. Their knees touch when he sits. 

“Are you here for work?”

“No,” the side of her mouth twitches again. “What about you?”

“I’m home. Just taking some time off.”

“At this time of the year? Sounds like a cool job.”

It’s a bad joke, but he plays into it anyway. “Meh,” Harry shrugs. “It pays the bills.”

“Good for you,” she laughs quietly. “I got this trip for my birthday.”

“Well, happy birthday!”

“It’s not today.”

The bartender places their drinks on the counter, the liquid sloshing around a bit, and a little bit of her gin and tonic spills over her hand. “God,” the bartender says. “Sorry, I’ll get—”

“Don’t worry,” she smiles as if to say it’s okay. Then she licks the back of her hand and then her lips. Harry moves uncomfortably in his seat.

“So,” he says once the bartender leaves, taking a sip of his Cosmopolitan. Way better than that shitty beer. “Am I the first or last person to wish you a happy birthday?”

“First. I’ll turn twenty-two in two days.”

“It was an honor to get it wrong, then.”

“Not very subtle, are you?”

He blushes. Actually blushes. 

There’s a silent beat where she seems torn between laughing awkwardly or just straight up bolting out of the room, but the girl settles on chugging her cocktail while Harry stutters. 

“I’m —” they start at the same time. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t —” he stops himself from saying he didn’t mean to flirt. He did mean to flirt. Harry just didn’t mean to be so shit at it. So he settles for: “I just noticed you singing along.”

She brings her drink back to her lips, as if asking for some time to think of what to say, but half a cocktail isn’t enough to hide her smile. He’s staring so intently that she tips the glass towards him and genuinely asks “Do you want a sip?”

Harry just shakes his head no.

“Um, yeah,” the girl starts. “I’m a big fan of yours— your work, I guess.”

“Did you go to any of the shows last year?”

“I couldn’t,” she admits. “But I’ve seen some videos. You looked like you were having fun.”

The comment makes him smile. “I really was. Where are you from? Didn’t I go to your country?”

He realizes then that he sounds pretentious. Maybe she just didn’t want to go to the fucking concert; why is he questioning this stranger as if she’s missed his sweet sixteen? Maybe she’s not even a fan and just heard his single on the radio once. God, what a disaster.

The girl looks embarrassed, like she can’t believe she’s telling him this but won’t shy away from speaking. She tells him the name of her country and explains that she doesn’t live anywhere near the big cities where he played, so she couldn’t afford the trip.

“But if you’re ever passing by again…”

“I’ll let you know,” he says. She laughs quietly, but Harry isn’t really joking. He can see himself texting a nice girl and asking her to come and watch him sing. He’s certainly more impressive up on the stage than here, doing whatever it is that he’s doing right now. “Are you traveling by yourself?”

She hesitates to answer and it makes him cringe. “I sounded like a creep, didn’t I? Jesus. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”

“Don’t worry about it,” and there it is again, the wide smile that changes her face. Out of all the things Harry Styles could do to charm a woman, acting socially inept isn’t the one he figured would win over a foreign English teacher that hangs out at random London bars for middle-aged couples on awkward dates. But here they are and the more he fucks up, the more she looks relaxed. 

Harry decides to take what he can get. “I guess I haven’t been getting enough practice talking to strangers lately.”

She’s still smiling, not as wide but just as bright. “I’d probably want a break from people too if I were you. I got here yesterday and I’m already done talking to strangers. I knew it’d be hard to get around in another continent but this is a whole other level; I can’t walk two meters without asking someone for directions.”

He raises an eyebrow, teasing. “Is Google Maps not doing it for you?”

“Shut up,” she chuckles. “Data is expensive abroad, y’know? But to be honest, I’m so fucking obtuse when it comes to maps. The thing is pointing one way and the next I know, I walked miles in the opposite direction. It’s much easier to have an actual person telling me where to go.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, licking his lips after finishing his drink. He sees her eyes flicker down to his mouth for a second, just like his did a few minutes ago. “You have a point.”

“I do?”

“Not really. I just didn’t want you to feel bad about being a confused old lady.”

That makes her laugh, and Harry feels his heart skip a beat. It’s nice to know she thinks he’s funny.

“But you can’t really be a confused old lady, right? Being a teacher and all.”

Like she said, not subtle at all. But he wants to know more about her.

“Bold of you to assume that most teachers are not confused old ladies, but,” she too finishes her second cocktail, pushing her empty glass away from her and closer to the one Harry just left on the counter. “I’m just a confused masters-student trying to look less confused so my students won’t give me shit about it.”

“Do you like it? The whole academic thing and teaching.”

Her smile is soft around the edges, and he can see the drinks catching up to her. “They have their moments, both working hard to understand the things I’m interested in and helping people learn another language. It’s all hard but worth it,” she’s quiet for a second. “Like most things in life, I guess. What about you?”

“Do I like being an academic?”

She rolls her eyes. “Your job, silly. Is it hard but worth it?”

“I guess it’s like yours in the sense that it helps me understand the thing I’m interested in, too.”

“Music?”

“Me,” he answers, and there is that laugh again.

“God,” she says, voice dripping with good-humored sarcasm. “I hate rockstars so much.”

“Don’t we all?” he sees her staring at their empty glasses, so he offers to buy her another drink even though she looks sleepy. Harry figures he’ll drop her off wherever she’s staying so she doesn't have to walk around alone and drunk. 

“I don’t think I can do another one,” she says. “But maybe we could share it? I can definitely deal with half a drink. And I’ll pay for it.”

Before he can say anything, she calls the bartender over and orders another Cosmo on her tab.

“You didn’t have to,” he says, referring both to paying and asking for a cocktail she knows he likes.

“Don’t worry about it,” he thinks it’s probably the fifth time she’s said that in not even an hour. Huh. “God, isn’t it stuffy in here?”

He doesn't think so, so it’s probably the alcohol, but he agrees while she shakes off her coat. When the girl turns so she can hang the fabric over her bar stool, Harry can see, among other quotes and drawings on her arm, the words sweet creature above her right elbow.

“Nice tattoo,” he comments, feeling weirdly proud. It’s not like he doesn’t know hundreds of people get the words he sings on their bodies, but this is different. It’s like trying to know more about someone and realizing, somehow, you already do.

“Which one?” she asks. He reaches out and brushes his fingers over it. It gives her goosebumps. “Oh. It’s a nice song.”

“Why did you get it?”

It makes him feel like an annoying interviewer, trying to get a meaningful answer that isn’t necessarily there. But he’d still like to hear what she has to say.

“I’ve heard I’m not one of those,” is her answer. His hand drops from her elbow.

He frowns. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been told I’m not the sweetest creature,” the smile is gone. She shifts in her seat as if just realizing an old bruise is still tender to the touch. 

Before he can decide between asking more about it and risk her thinking he’s a nosy asshole or just give his uninformed opinion and claim that’s bullshit, a Cosmopolitan is put on the bar between them. 

“Thank you,” she says to the bartender. He’d thank them too, but he’s staring at that suddenly serious face, wondering what else is there to know about that tattoo. About her.

“Doesn’t it become a reminder, though?” Harry asks, and she looks back at him, not understanding the question. “The tattoo. Doesn’t it remind you that someone feels that way about you?”

“Yeah, I guess” she takes a sip of the drink and slides it over to him, their fingers touching in the process; it’s only for a second, and her hand is gone before Harry can understand why he wishes it wasn’t. “But I got it so, when I think of how he saw me, I would know I’m the one who gets to say what I am or am not.”

Harry is curious but doesn’t really know what to say to that, and it shows. She cringes.

“I always do this, you know? I drink and start getting all sad and telling people about all sorts of stuff no one wants to know. I’m sorry, Harry.”

It’s the first time he’s heard say his name. It sounds good on her accent.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says, and it makes her smile because she realizes he’s been paying attention. 

They share one more drink, and Harry pays for the third Cosmo of the night. By the time they’re finished with it, both of them are giggling and he has one of his hands on her bare knee. After the slightly-awkward oversharing, she proceeded to point out how a couple on the dark corner of the bar seemed, judging by their uncomfortable silence and resentful faces, to be on the brink of divorce. Harry asked her, mostly joking, if she had been around a lot of divorcing couples; she chuckled and then commented on how a dude sitting by the restrooms was probably fingering his girlfriend under the table. She never said no or proved to know about his family by asking him the same thing back. 

But now the whole divorce thing was long forgotten. She and Harry had spent the last hour making up the most obnoxious stories about other customers and whispering them to each other, bodies getting closer and closer every minute.

“You know what I want?” she mutters. Between being shorter than Harry and slouching on her seat, her lips don’t reach his ear, so he can feel her breath on the side of his neck. He shivers.

“What?” he asks in the same low tone, eyes glittering with mischief and tipsiness. 

Her left hand grips his bicep while she practically purrs: “I really want a milkshake.”

From the way his drunken-self gasps and moans God, yes, she might as well have said that she really wanted to suck his dick.

They pay for their drinks, shared or otherwise, and leave the bar. There aren’t many people out on the street at 1 a.m, but Harry still pulls his hat down a little. 

“So,” she says. “Should I get us an uber? Where do British people get milkshakes? Is it far?” 

“I’ll just call a driver.” 

She looks taken aback. “Like a private one?”

Harry nods. “He’ll be here in a minute.”

And he is. She stumbles into the car along with Harry, sluggishly laying her head on his shoulder after closing the door.

“You didn’t tell me your name,” he murmurs against her hair.

So she does.

                                   ------------------------------------------

Between dinner, a few drinks and all the talking, they had already broken the not-staying-out-too-late rule. Turns out that rehashing a few days’ worth of parenting, teaching and music producing is time consuming even when you’re not having this much fun.

“One more?” Harry asks, pointing to her empty gin and tonic glass, the shadow of laughter still on his lips after a solid fifteen minutes of her getting progressively more aggravated about a student that “couldn’t, to save his own life, make anyone believe he read The Color Purple”. 

“Yeah,” she says. “Share it with me?”

“Sure, love.”

He orders another cocktail, and She smiles at him even while thanking the waitress. 

“What’s that look for?”

“Nothing,” She replies, still staring shamelessly. It’s easy after all these years. “You just look really good.”

“So do you.”

She shrugs, and before he can say that she really does look beautiful and that he wishes he could prove to her just how much he thinks so (which is a cheap but sure way of making her blush), the waitress places the new cocktail between them.

“God, that was fast,” She mumbles, impressed.

After She takes the first sip, they both start at the same time. “So—”

They giggle, but since She begins sipping again, Harry speaks.

“We’ll both have a couple of months off during the summer, so I was thinking… You could go home.”

“Yeah, I should start planning once the semester ends, I’m just so—” She sighs, and Harry understands. 

“I figured you could go and spend the first few weeks, or even the first month, back home while Jamie and I do our thing.” She looks like she’s about to interrupt him, so he holds up a hand as if asking her to wait. “Hear me out. You go home, spend time with your family or your old friends or, y’know, yourself, because — and don’t even fight me on this — I know you need your alone time. And after you’ve had your break, we’ll meet you there and hang out until you need to get back to prepare for next semester and I need to sort things out for the tour. You can even go somewhere else by yourself before going home or we could do a family thing before coming back to the UK if you and Jamie want to. How does that sound?”

She doesn’t say a thing, doesn’t even smile. She just keeps looking at him while sliding the gin and tonic glass across the table so he can have his share. Harry takes two big gulps and waits for her to speak.

“I don’t—” She stops herself. “You thought of it all, didn’t you?”

“I tried,” he laces his fingers through hers. “So you wouldn’t have to. But, y’know, it’s just an idea. And I thought it’d be better if I brought it up early so we could plan everything properly and, in case you didn’t want help paying for them, the plane tickets wouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg.”

Still silent, She looks down at their joint hands.

“Thank you, H.”

“I didn’t do anything, love.”

He touches her chin so that She’ll look him in the eyes.

“I love you,” Harry whispers. 

She doesn’t have to say it too. He knows. 

                                   ------------------------------------------

6 years earlier…

“Hey, love,” Harry whispers from the other side of the phone call. “How are things?”

She smiles a tired smile up at her dark ceiling at the sound of his voice. “Things are…” The smile fades, replaced by a shaky sigh. “Things are fine, H.”

She means things are like they have been for as long as she can remember. Difficult. A shit-paying job where she feels like a failure most of the time, too much school work, family drama and all sorts of friendship insecurities. There are good days of course, but today just isn’t one of them. She didn’t want to ruin his call, the only silver lining of the night, by complaining. So things are fine. 

“What about you? Is everything good over there?”

“Everything’s great. Had some really good wine earlier today, reminded me of you. You would’ve loved it.”

“Bet you were in a villa, feeling the breeze on your hair, staring at a gorgeous canal or some fancy shit like that,” she jokes.

Harry laughs. “Yeah,” is his answer. 

Oh.

“I kinda wanted to talk to you about that, actually.”

“About what?”

She sits up on the bed, her room quiet except for the shifting of her body over the clothes she took off but didn’t bother to fold before laying down after work.

“You should come,” he answers on the phone. 

“What?”

“To Italy.”

“Baby—”

“Come on, love. You always wanted to travel here. Come meet me.”

“Harry,” she sighs. “You’re insane.”

She can picture his face falling just by the sound of his voice. “Why?”

“It’s the middle of September; I’m working, I’m studying. I can’t even afford it. Do you need any more reasons?”

Harry sounds frustrated when he answers, and it brings tears to her eyes. So much for a silver lining. “You can take a day or two off, right? Or just stay the weekend. You know I’ll pay for your flight.”

“Baby,” she takes a deep breath, trying to not let her annoyance show. “I’m almost finished with my master’s; I won’t get it done by missing classes. And yes, you’ll pay for my flight, but that’s not the only expense that goes into traveling and I won’t depend on your money. You know this. We can go when there’s a holiday here. Or mid-December, when the semester is over. I’ll have saved some money by then. I love you for thinking of me but… I can’t, H. Not now.”

He mumbles something under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“I didn’t hear you,” but she knows he did it on purpose. “Can you say that again, please?”

“I said you’re making up excuses.”

‘You can’t be serious.”

“Of course I’m serious! You won’t even try.”

“How am I supposed to try? Either I can or can’t go. And I can’t.”

“You won’t even consider it,” his voice is filled with disappointment. It makes her blood boil.

“Harry, you sound like a child. Listen to me. Even if I went only for the weekend, I’d waste almost an entire day flying back and forth. We wouldn’t even have twenty-four hours together.”

“Don’t you think that sounds better than not being together at all?”

“I bet it does sound better for you, sitting your ass in a gondola, eating your rich-people cheese with your snobby friends, thinking of lyrics about fucking a girl that second-guesses putting you before herself while said girl is out there, flying to you so she can have a hug and a kiss and pretend that everything is fine.”

She’s crying by the time she stops talking, and she knows he can hear it. While she sobs, mostly angry but also starting to regret saying anything at all, he doesn’t say a thing. He could have stopped breathing altogether, considering how quiet the other end of the line is.

“Harry?” she half-pleads, half-scolds. “Talk to me!”

“I’m sorry,” his voice is uncertain, like he can’t quite figure out what to say and how to say it. “I guess I— I miss you. I’m being a prick.”

The weigh on her chest doesn’t go away with the apology, because she doesn’t know if he understands. And she just called his friends snobby and said she pretends to be happy. God. But she can’t say she’s sorry too because she won’t stop crying. She’s just so tired.

“Love,” Harry says, firmly this time. “Don’t cry, it’s okay. Have some sleep. Drink some water. We’ll talk properly tomorrow.”

“No,” she hiccups into the phone. “Wait. I’m—”

“We’ll talk, I promise,” she thinks he’ll hang up then when he hesitates, but he speaks again. “I’m sorry. I love you.”

The line goes dead. She cries herself to sleep.

                                   ------------------------------------------

"God," he pants against her bruised neck.

“What?” She teases. “Are you getting too old for this?”

“Shut up,” Harry laughs, still breathless. “I’m barely in my mid-thirties.” He pushes the sheets away and gets up, looking down at her naked body sprawled across the bed; if he wasn’t so tired, he’d be horny again. “Want some water?”

“Yeah. Thanks, baby.”

He walks out of the bedroom wearing absolutely nothing, which is one of the perks of a child-free house. By the time he’s back with their water, She’s wearing his teal button-up and brushing her teeth, messy natural hair framing her face.

“H,” she calls from the suite’s bathroom, speech slurred because of the toothbrush. She spits before continuing, “Can you sing me a song?”

Harry chugs his water and lays back on the bed, waiting for her without saying a word. 

“Can you?” She asks again, climbing on the bed in all fours, hovering over him. “Can you?” A whisper against his mouth. But when he leans over for a kiss, she falls to the bed, suddenly grinning, and hugs his side. “Come on.”

“Such a tease,” he mumbles, already hugging her back and tangling his legs with hers.

Harry starts singing quietly, voice still a little rough even after the water, and he can feel her smiling lips against his chest.

Wise men say only fools rush in

But I can't help falling in love with you…

“How romantic,” she says quietly once he’s done.

“That’s me, only doing the best for my girl” he says smugly, which makes her laugh, but then he turns serious. “I love you, you know?”

“Love you too, H.”

Harry takes a deep breath. “Can I ask you a question?”

                                   ------------------------------------------

5 years earlier…

The paparazzi call her name on screen. There are not many of them, but it disturbs Harry nonetheless; three or four photographers outside a restaurant, just waiting for her and yelling at her once she walks out the door. She looks nervous in a way Harry can imagine other people not noticing, fidgeting hands and a fast walk. But her face is serious and dismissive while she walks straight ahead.

“Are you Harry Styles’ new girlfriend?” one of them asks from behind the camera.

Harry pauses the video, telling himself he needs to ask someone on his team how the hell they found out who she is just by a blurry picture taken through his car window a few days ago when she’s not even on social media, which is true. But he’s also not sure he wants to hear her answer. He checks the time under the video; it was posted less than an hour ago. He should call her and ask if everything’s okay, but he just presses play again.

“No,” she answers right away. Harry feels like he’s sinking.

Why the fuck did they not discuss this before she moved to England? What was he thinking when he resisted PR’s involvement? They should’ve planned for this, coordinated answers, made up their minds so he wouldn’t feel sucker-punched and she wouldn’t be thrusted into the spotlight with no warning.

“You were in his car last Monday!” someone says, as if telling her she’s a liar.

She doesn’t bother responding to that. They keep calling her name.

“What are you and Harry, then?”

She’s almost down the subway’s stairs and there’s not many seconds left in the video, so he’s not too worried about what happens next. Harry looks at his phone, expecting her to disappear from the frame so he can text her and ask her to come over so they can talk, so he can hold her and make sure she’s not freaking out. But she slows down, considering the person’s question. She turns her head to a camera somewhere to the right of the video he’s watching, curls falling down the side of her face. 

Matter-of-factly, with amused eyes but no smile, she says: “Soulmates.” And then she’s down the stairs and the video ends.

Harry stays very still. Text notifications appear over and over, more than one person saying the same thing: apparently they found her on her university’s website, where she’s listed as a doctoral student. He doesn’t open the messages, though; doesn’t even breathe until there’s a knock at the door.

Everyone else just rings the bell or asks to be buzzed in. It’s her.

Harry walks to the door, bare feet sliding on the wooden floors, and opens it. She’s standing in front of him dressed in the same black skirt and pink sweater from the video, hair messy around her serious face.

“H,” she starts. The sound of her voice relieves most of the pressure in his chest. “I—”

He doesn’t let her finish; just kisses her like he would kiss a soulmate. She steps forward, dropping her bag and closing the door with one hand while the other busies itself holding onto the soft cotton of Harry’s worn T-shirt, the feeling of his tongue against hers making her dizzy. 

They stumble into the couch, her hips sitting on top of his, breathing heavily against each other’s lips. Harry takes longer than necessary stripping her of her sweater, gripping every inch of exposed skin as if he could keep it to himself. “Harry,” She whispers, asking him to hurry. The pink fabric falls to the floor and his right hand instantly pulls at her hair, her back arching so he can get one of her nipples on his mouth. “Harry,” She breathes out again, tortured, and a careless move of her hips makes them both gasp. The hand that’s not tangled in her hair squeezes her tight so hard they’re both sure it’ll bruise.

“Lay back,” he says before sucking on her other nipple, teeth grazing her skin and making her grind into him with more purpose. Despite his words, Harry doesn’t move so she can do what he’s telling her to. “I want to—” he bites her shoulder, hard, “see if—” sucks a mark into the side of her breast, “you can move like that on my face.”

She moans at his words, his mouth, his hand on her hair, tightening by the second.

“No,” she licks her lips, but never finishes the thought. Her hand drops to the one he has on her tight and squeezes it. “Can you—”

“Yeah,” he mumbles, letting go of her thigh. His hand disappears beneath her skirt, and she can feel him pushing her panties out of the way. He swipes a finger against her so lightly she can barely feel it. “Is that what you want?”

“More.”

She lifts her hips, trying to get more friction on his hand. “Come on.”

Harry slides one finger into her, then another. Her mouth falls open in a silent gasp, and she feels like she’s stopped breathing altogether once he fucks into her fast and hard, thumb brushing against her clit.

“Kiss me,” she whimpers, riding his fingers frantically, the sweat dripping down her torso sticking to Harry’s T-shirt.

Their mouths meet at the same time he squeezes a third finger into her. She moans against his lips and holds his waist under his clothes, seemingly undecided between tugging at his shirt or his belt.

“H, let me,” she murmurs the words into his lips, still pulling at his clothes. 

“No,” he sounds as wrecked as she does, which is saying a lot. “Cum for me first.”

Harry stops moving his hand, tries to tease her, but she barely seems to notice, moving so desperately that he hits all the right places without even trying. With a sob, she squeezes tight around his fingers and rides out her high while clinging to Harry for dear life.

Her head falls to his shoulder, face hiding behind her hair and in his neck.

“Good?” he asks, voice raspy, wiping his soaked fingers on the side of his pants. 

She doesn’t say anything for a second, just breathing hard into his skin, then sobs again. Not with pleasure. 

“Love?” Harry questions in worry. “What’s wrong?”

Her body starts to shake in his arms, tears mixing with the sweat on his T-shirt’s collar. He calls her name, scared out of his mind with what this could mean. Did she come here to say she couldn’t do this anymore? He didn’t let her say a thing before kissing her. He should’ve listened, should’ve waited, should’ve asked her what ‘soulmate’ meant when it couldn’t mean ‘girlfriend’.

“I’m sorry,” she hiccups, hugging him closer even though there’s not any space between their bodies. 

“What are you sorry for?” he asks quietly.

“I know this is freaking you out. I just—” and then she’s sobbing again.

“Talk to me,” Harry begs.

“I love you so much, H,” he could feel the but at the end of the sentence.

“I love you too…” he swallows before asking, “Is this about the photographers? Are you upset they were around? ‘Cause we can fix that.”

She looks up at him, the tip of their noses touching. With furrowed brows and swollen eyes, she mumbles, “You gonna have them killed or somethin’?”

He’d laugh if he could. “Not really. I’ll do something, though. Whatever it is you need me to do.”

She rests her chin on his shoulder so he can’t look her in the eyes. In a whisper, she asks: “Can you freeze us in time?”

“What?”

“I’m scared we’ll lose this,” She confesses. “I’m so in love with you, Harry and I— I don’t want us to be boyfriend and girlfriend the way I’ve learned it, owing each other and the world explanations and parts of ourselves. I want us to choose to love each other every day because we can’t help but do so — a forever that looks like the way you offered me a drink, the way you flew out to meet me after our fight and promised we’d do better, the way you kissed me today; like it’s not simple but it’s easy. ”

Harry stays silent for a while.

“I’m sorry if it makes no sense,” her voice shakes. “I think I’m just desperate not to lose myself in you while getting to keep you and— I don’t know, it doesn’t sound as reasonable as I thought it would.”

He whispers her name.

“Yeah?”

“Being with you forever, one day at a time, sounds reasonable to me.”

                                   ------------------------------------------

“Do you want to marry me?”

“What?”

“Marry me, love,” he laughs softly. “Do you want to?”

She’s silent, tear-filled eyes staring up at him.

“You know how I knew it was time?” Harry asks, still in a low voice like they’re somewhere sacred. Home. “We built a family out of a promise we didn’t even have to make. A while ago, even before Jamie, you told me we shouldn't owe each other, and it’s true. I won’t ever ask you for anything you haven’t already given me, because that’s how you love me too. But I’ll ask for this because it’s ours and I know it’ll stay this way.”

They’re both crying, and her shaking hands try to wipe away his tears.

“I want to,” She says. 

That sudden bright smile takes over her face like it did both years and minutes ago. It doesn’t take him by surprise anymore. 

[flywolfwriting]

Ok hi, I love your stuff! I was wondering if you could write a fic where teen Dean is being protective of little Sam (no incest!). Like, Sam came back to the hotel that they were staying at after school and he was all sad and stuff, and Dean managed get him to tell him why, and Sam told him it was stupid, but Sam admits that some kids were messing with him. John thinks that it's a normal part of life and laughs. But Dean got mad and protective. I would also love if you'd put some fluff in there!

Hi, and thank you, both for the compliment and the prompt! Also agreed, incest is not my shtick.  Hope you enjoy!

It had been a long day.  Sometimes Dean regretted dropping out of school; it wasn’t that he didn’t like learning, but dealing with all the normal people and watching them live out their lives completely oblivious to what was out there took it’s toll. It got worse after his stint in the boy’s home, when John abandoned him there.  Leaving was hard, but he couldn’t let Sammy grow up with their dad alone.

Now that he wasn’t in school anymore though, John would either drag him around hunting or leave him to babysit Sam. The latter usually meant he was at the library, staring at books until the words floated off the page – and then a little bit more.

At least at school he got breaks in his reading.

By the time Dean got back to the motel John had chosen for the boys he was bone tired and wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower, drink some stolen beer, and pass out.  Before he could do any of those things, however, the motel room door opened and Sam slipped in. His backpack thunked to the floor and he shuffled into the kitchen to rifle through the fridge.

“Hey Sammy,” Dean greeted, immediately putting on a smile for his younger brother.

“Hey,” Sam grunted.

“How was school? Did you pass your test?”

Sam dragged a soda and leftover mac ‘n cheese from the fridge and shrugged. “We won’t get them back until Friday.”

Dean’s alarm bells started going off.  Sam was refusing to make eye contact, instead staring at the floor while he heated up his dinner and kicked off his shoes. Rather than tuck them under the table he left them sitting in the middle of the floor.

“What’s wrong?” Dean asked, dropping onto the couch next to Sam.

“Nothing,” Sam said.

The older Winchester nudged him. “C’mon, Sammy.  I know something’s up. Did you miss an assignment or something?”

Sam shook his head.

Dean waited another moment before poking him. “C’mon,” he urged.

Sam wavered for another moment before slumping back.  “Some kids at school were giving me a hard time.  It’s not really a big deal though.  I can handle it.”

“What, were they hitting on you? You know how to fight.”

“No,” Sam said, still not looking up.

“What was it?”

Sam stayed quiet, poking at his food and twitching one shoulder. “They were just saying some stuff.  It’s stupid. I’ll be okay.”

“You know you can tell me,” Dean hedged, but Sam finally looked up only to glare at him.

“I don’t want to talk about it.  I can deal with it.”

Dean held his hands up in surrender.  “Okay, okay. But if you want to, you can talk to me.”

“I know,” Sam said.  He turned the TV on and sat back to eat his dinner in sullen silence while Scooby Doo played in the background.

His own day now far from his mind, Dean made an excuse and slipped outside to find a payphone.

“Hello?” John’s gruff voice answered after the second ring.

“Hey Dad,” Dean said, relieved their father had answered for once.

His voice instantly tightened. “What’s wrong? Do you need me to come back?”

“No, we’re okay, it’s just-”

“You know not to call unless it’s an emergency, Dean,” John scolded, and Dean flinched even though his father wasn’t there. “I’m trying to work.”

“I know, Dad, but Sam-”

“Is he okay?”

Irritation prickled up Dean’s spine.  He wanted to snap that if John would let him finish his damn sentence he would find out so much sooner, but years of drilling obedience and respect shut that thought down.  “He’s having some trouble with kids at school.”

“He knows how to fight.  He can take care of himself.”

“They didn’t beat him up; they’re picking on him. He won’t tell me what they said but he’s pretty upset.”

John snorted.  “You called me for a couple of middle school bullies? Dean, bullies are part of growing up. Sam’s fine.”

“But-”

“Enough, Dean,” John said, voice returning to drill-sergeant mode. “Don’t call me again unless somebody’s dying.”

The line went dead and Dean grumpily slammed the phone back on the hook.  “Not like you’d pick up if we were,” he muttered.

Sam was at the tiny desk scribbling in a workbook when Dean got back.

“I got ice cream,” Dean held up a grocery bag. “Your favorite!”

Sam glanced up and offered him a weak smile. “Thanks.”

Dean peeled the lid off and snagged a pair of spoons before leaning against the wall by the desk and offering his brother the carton and a spoon. Sam accepted, and the pair shared the ice cream in silence for a while.

“I was thinking maybe I can walk you to school tomorrow,” Dean said, going for nonchalant.  “I could use the break from research, and-”

“I don’t need you to look after me, Dean,” Sam said irritably without looking up from his homework.

“’Course you don’t,” Dean said, “but I’m still going to.”

Sam rolled his eyes.

“Hey,” Dean lightly thumped the side of his brother’s head with his spoon. “Don’t give me that attitude.  I’m your brother.  It’s my job.”

“Yeah yeah,” Sam leaned back in his chair with a sigh and met Dean’s gaze.  “I’m just being stupid.  I can deal with it.”

The brothers stared at each other for a few more moments before Dean shrugged and dropped his spoon on the table.  “If you say so.” He pushed off the wall, ruffled Sam’s hair around the younger boy’s attempts to ward him off, and headed for the bathroom. “I’m going to shower and go to bed.  Wake me up before you leave.”

“Yeah. Goodnight, Dean.”

“Goodnight, Sammy.”

 ----------

Dean waited just long enough for Sam to get around the corner before throwing on the first set of clothes he could find and following him.  He was careful not to let his little brother catch wind of him, but close enough to hear Sam saying good morning to a little old lady sitting at a bus stop.

“Hey!”

Dean flung himself against a brick building, hiding behind a trash can, but the voice wasn’t talking to him.

“I said hey! Samantha!”

Dean ground his teeth and forced himself to wait.  He peeked around the garbage and saw Sam at the far corner of the building, shoulders hunched and head down as he picked up his pace. Three kids surrounded him, coming from the side of the building Dean couldn’t see.

“Where’s your mommy, Samantha?” One of the boys taunted, jabbing him in the ribs.

Sam said nothing.

“Don’t you know?” another boy, the one who’d called out first, sneered.

Sam still didn’t reply.

“Bet his daddy’s downtown getting’ drunk while she’s off screwing an entire-” the kid didn’t get to finish his sentence, since Sam’s fist got in the way.

There was suddenly a lot of shouting and scrambling and Sam’s backpack ended up in the middle of the street while the first boy pinned Sam against the sidewalk and the other two started kicking him.

“Hey!” Dean shouted, sprinting down the sidewalk.

The kids scrambled back before he even got there, their leader kicking Sam once more in the head as a parting blow.

Dean managed to catch him and twisted his arm behind his back so he couldn’t escape while he helped Sam up.  “You okay Sammy?”

“Sammy?” one of the other boys, who were both standing a safe distance down the sidewalk, snickered.  

Dean pulled his captive’s arm a little tighter and the boy cried out.

“I’m fine,” Sam sniffed, wiping blood off his face and avoiding his older brother’s gaze.

“What are you kids doing ganging up on my brother?” Dean asked his captive, twisting his arm.

“Ow ow ow!” he shrieked, standing on tip-toe and leaning forward to try and escape.

“I said,” Dean pressed harder and the kid screamed, “why are you picking on my brother?”

“He started it!” the boy wailed.

“Try again.”

“Let him go!” one of the other boys shouted, taking a brave few steps back towards them.

Dean only had to shoot him a glare to quell the moment of bravado and the kid shrank back.

“Mighty brave of you, taking on a small kid three vs one,” Dean said.  “Don’t think you can beat him on your own?”

The kid squirmed.  “I can take him with my eyes shut!”

Dean surveyed the group.  All three bullies were sporting bloody faces and it looked like the first one Sam punched had a broken nose. He smirked.

“Let him go, Dean,” Sam pleaded. “We’re going to be late for school.”

“No,” Dean said.  “I have a better idea.”

He spun his captive around and shoved him towards Sam.  “You can take him with your eyes shut, huh? Go ahead and do it, then.  Just you two.”

The boy rubbed his arm, glaring at Dean and his brother. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Prove it then.”

“Dean…” Sam said.

Dean took his brother’s backpack.  “They’ve gotta learn not to mess with you,” he said.

Sam grimaced but lifted his hands into a half-hearted fighting stance.

The bully snickered and lunged forward.  Sam danced to the side and caught the other boy in the shin.  He yelped but spun around and swung a fist at Sam’s head. Sam easily blocked it and landed a firm blow to the kid’s ribs.  Dean heard a distinct crack.

The boy’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he doubled over, wheezing and cursing.

“Bryan!” One of the other boys shouted. “Kick his ass!”

Sam looked up at Dean, who shrugged. This was up to the kid now.

“Get over here and help me!” the bully Bryan snarled.

The other two boys charged, and Dean folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Sam smoothly ducked around their attack, tripping one and sending the other careening into his downed friend. They bounced up and came again. Sam’s face set in determination, and within a few swift jabs and no small amount of crying, the bullies were backing off, trying to catch their breath and one holding the side of his face.

“Freak,” Bryan called over his shoulder as they ducked around the corner and vanished.

Sam slumped. “I’m going to get in trouble,” he said as he shook out his hand.

“Let me see that,” Dean said instead, snagging his brother’s hand and examining his knuckles. One had split and was oozing blood.  “Not bad,” he smiled.  “Why didn’t you lead with moves like that?”

The younger Winchester tugged his hand out of his brother’s grip.  “They insulted Mom,” he said.

“I heard.”

“The school is going to be mad.”

“Why? We’re not on school property, are we?”

Sam shook his head.

“Then they can suck it. Dad will be back soon and we can move again. Besides, those kids had it coming.”

“Yeah.” Sam picked up his backpack and brushed it off.  “I gotta go.”

“Hey,” Dean grabbed his brother’s shoulder.  “You did good, Sammy.  I’m proud of you.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Sam’s lips.  “Thanks Dean.”

Dean pulled Sam into a hug.  “Any time, Sammy. See you tonight.”

“Yeah,” Sam said again, waiting one more moment before pulling away and waving as he ran off.

“Love you kid,” Dean murmured as he watched him go, then headed off to find those kids and teach them a lesson of his own.

AO3

[liluyes]

LILUYE NARVAEZ ( SIVAN ALYRA ROSE ) is a 18 year old SENIOR student at Broadripple Academy. THEY are originally from FLORENCE, AZ but moved to Broadripple 4 YEARS ago. THEY are INTUITIVE and EMPATHETIC but can also be VAGUE and IDEALISTIC. –– penned by sam / 23 / aest / she/her

BASICS

Name: Liluye Narvaez

Nickname: Lu-ye, Lu

Age: Eighteen

Grade: Senior

House: Fenwick

Cabin Room: Senior Cabin Room 5

How long have they been at Broadripple: technically four years but spent their junior year interstate in Florida for Track

Where are they from originally: Florence, Arizona

Extra curricular: Cross Country, Track, and Soccer

Pinterest

lil note: i will probs be sticking entirely to they/them pronouns for liluye because that’s easier for me but sivan uses she and they, therefore liluye’s pronouns are also she and they

TRAITS

Positive Personality Traits: intuitive, empathetic, trusting, loyal, kind-hearted, adaptable, passionate

Negative Personality Traits: vague, idealistic, meek, closed-off, loner, brittle, dishonest

FACTS

when they were young, liluye would never have pictured a place like broadripple being a part of their life. they grew up in the deserts of arizona, living between the outskirts of phoenix and the san carlos apache indian reservation, between two family homes. the thick forests of rural massachusetts felt like an entire world away, something they might never see.

they were always an active child, always moving. either to something or away from. and they thrived in a team, really the only way an otherwise shy child ever made any friends. they tried out all sorts of sports but nothing ever really compared to running. they loved to stretch their long limbs out on different trails and feel the wind through their hair.

when they were nine they pulled their track and field team through multiple meets, and realised what a focus in athletics could do for them. it quickly took over their life, rising early and going to bed late each day to train and study. and they started to feel alone, solitary in that focus. a feeling that is still stuck with them, even though they’re just about twice as old now

they attended a private middle school in phoenix for grade eight and there liluye and their family were encouraged to apply for athletic scholarships to private schools for high school. and so they did. and that’s how broadripple came into the picture. liluye didn’t want to move so far away, not from their home or their family or the very few friends they had. but broadripple offered a full scholarship for all four years, and connections to universities that they could only dream of from claypool az.

so they shipped themselves across the country for school, feeling like a total outsider and completely out of their depth so far from home. during their freshman and sophomore years they tried their hand in just about every extra curricular, trying to find a crowd they could relate to. friends like they saw everyone else making. but they struggled. shyness and unintentional coldness preventing those solid connections from forming

eventually, they stopped trying so hard. refocused their energy on what they knew they were good at and why they were there in the first place. sports, athleticism. those were simple. they could understand those far easier than they would ever understand their classmates.

they have just spent the past year in florida on a sports exchange, only just returning to broadripple when they were sent to the retreat

HEADCANONS

they try to live very very minimally. part of the reason for that is they are so far from home. carting things back and forth quickly becomes a hassle if they have too much. they dont want to be too attached to anything material at broadripple or arizona, so they keep their belongings to an absolute minimum that way the things they are attached to can always travel with them. the only thing they keep that is not especially minimal is a small decorative box of keepsakes.

back in florence they have a pair of pet rats, both females and affectionately named alex and piper (after alex vause and piper chapman from orange is the new black ....... liluye is garbage u heard it here first) – they share them with their younger brother which very much eases the pain of leaving them behind for most of the year. when they facetime, a huge portion of it is their brother giving updates on their rats.

they’re an avid podcast listener, but they have an absolutely awful habit of pressing play and then not listening to a single word. more often than they would like to admit they just like the sound, using it as background noise. they’d really like to focus more on it, and actually listen to every word, but it’s hard to turn off

they struggle to make and keep friends, they always have. over time a soft childhood shyness became unintentionally harder, more cold. it’s defensive, thinking if they are soft but also such a loner, people will think something is wrong with them. and while liluye can’t say for certain whether or not something is wrong with them, they’d rather people think they’re alone because they choose it. just below the surface they are warm, kind, friendly, and whenever given the opportunity those traits show themselves

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RETREAT

What do they think about The Retreat? the place itself? liluye thinks its super fucking weird. doesn’t like the energy of it one bit. they dont mind the forest, before retreat they ran through lorehill trying to improve their trail running instinct and sense of direction. but there’s something different about the retreat, they feel as though they’re being watched there in a way they cant quite explain.

Do they have any previous experience with camping or other outdoors? yes but in arizona, camping and being outdoors in general in massachusetts is incredibly different. but that being said they dont really think the retreat is “camping”. there’s cabins, tables, a functioning toilet, a bus to and from campus? yeah, it’s not really camping and it’s really not that bad apart from the creepy vibe.

What does their cabin bunk look like? How will they decorate their space? as mentioned in headcanons, they are very minimalist or at least try to be. and their space in the cabin reflects that. they have an orange and white crocheted blanket over their bed. a small poster of the claypool rock tunnel (a4 size) and an old sun tarot card stuck to the wall over their bed. besides those things, their stuff is kept neatly in their suitcase and backpack and as much out of the way as it can be in the cramped space.

Do they believe in the supernatural? To what degree? yes, they do believe but it’s not something they talk about a lot. in fact, they probably actively avoid talking about supernatural things. they don’t like to invite any sort of negativity into their life and they fear disrespecting the spirits by discussing them. they’d rather a quiet and respectful relationship with the things they don’t quite understand.

Are they easily spooked? not really. at least not in a way that is obvious to others. a quickened heart rate, becoming more aware of their surroundings, those sort of things would happen if they were scared but overall, no. it takes a lot to genuinely frighten them.

AND FINALLY,

A very dumb but (hopefully) fun quiz made by your admins, please share what result you got

liluye got “you will sacrifice yourself for someone else” which probably dumbass

[l1ana]

Dating Peter Parker while being Eddies' younger sister would include...

Dedicated to @gaynessnyoom for giving me this idea tysm bb

———

You had moved in with Eddie, claiming that you needed a place to crash at for some time

Which was odd since you were in college

Whatever, Eddie loved you with his entire being. Obviously, he let you in without hesitation

To be quite frank, he was getting tired of being alone accompanied with a blood hungy parasite every day

You staying at his place clearly made days much more brighter

You both loved exchanging stories about one another during your time apart and laughed it up

When Venom came into the picture, things didn't really change much besides you and him having constant arguments on which sort of sweets were better

Venom made an oath at the moment he saw you to protect you from whatever harm may come your way with the same amount of force that he protects Eddie with

They both loved you like a daughter — In spite of Eddie being your older brother

Your pictures of different monuments and various attractions served as good fuel for his career

Photography was your more proficient skill

One day while you were walking around the city, snapping a few pics, you saw it— Or rather, him

Spider-man, the hero of Queens

Lounging in an alleyway, sat in a hammock made of spiderwebs with a pair of headphones on

His red and blue color pallet immediately caught your eyes and you took a picture with no second thoughts

While you were fawning over catching a picture of someone so famous, the camera flash had caused the spandex-attired male to turn in your direction

Oh dear how he felt his heartbeat speed up three times than usual

Good lord you were a goddess in his eyes

He was stammering and tripping over his own words, unable to get anything out

There goes his spiderman charm

“So you're the real deal, huh?” You asked, stepping into the alleyway while looking up at him

“M-mhm, yup. In the flesh— whoa!” He stood up in his hammock but immediately lost balance, slipping and falling into the dumpster besides you. His head popped up from the pile of garbage bags

“More like in the spandex...” A gag came from your lips. “...And rotten foods.” You giggled, plucking a half-eaten banana from off his head

‘Im in love’ He thought then and there

From that point on, a beautiful relationship formed between you and Spiderman, the both of you meeting up in secluded areas of the city and exchanging joyous words every day

The time you and his geeky self -aka Peter Parker- met up was when you and Eddie paid a visit to the Bugle, in search for some juicy news to cover and report on

Peter had intentionally bumped into you in hopes to start up any sort of small talk. It was then that he found out that you wanted to dig deeper into Spidermans background and find out more about him

He promised to take you out, claiming that he had some “interesting spots that Spiderman likes to hang out at”

Of course, you took his words and set off with him

Eddie and Venom were definitely cautious of Peter

‘We should bite his head off.’ “Venom, no.” ‘What if he takes advantage of her?’ “He seems like a nice guy. Besides, [Name] can take care of herself.” ‘He's checking her out, Eddie.’ “...” ‘Exactly.’

Eddie sighed, speaking up to call your name. “Hey, uh, [Name],” You whipped your head around, grabbing Peters hand to stop him from walking off without you. “Yeah? What's up?” Eddie sighed again, probably anticipating you to feel offense to what he said: “I know that you're, uh, grown and all but... Y'know, be safe out there. Don't wander into the unknown, kay?” But instead you laughed at him in the most innocent way possible. “Don't worry, don't worry. I can stand my own.” And smiled so brightly it made his worries wash away.

And just like that, you were gone

‘We should follow them’ “Can you not? I'd like to respect her privacy as a grown woman, thank you very much.”

Sightseeing new places was definetly checked off of your bucket list

Peter practically dragged you everywhere he found to be a great site for dates

Yes, he was trying to find a way to turn this into a date

And yes, he was worried on whether you'd catch on to it or not

Most of the places he went to, he was commonly known in

“Hey Peter, who's the lucky girl?”

Que the blushing nerd

“She's, uh, new in town. I'm just taking her to some places Spiderman likes to stop by to. A-also, we're just aqquantices.”

“Haha, yeah. Well try not to confuse where the line ends at, okay?”

You and him were pretty much already talked about to be a couple

It was extremely embarassing for Peter, whilst you displayed no problem with what they were saying

Soon enough, you earned a spot in the Bugle as a worker, right in the same position as Peter

“[Name]? Wh-what are you-” “Guess who found a new job?~” He swore his heartbeat could be heard from miles away

You and Peter poking fun at one another

When he first grew the balls and finally asked you on a date, your affirmation had him absolutely ecstatic

Him taking you to one of the places he told you that his alter-ego liked to hang out at, which to say was spotted at a high-up place where you could see the city sparkle beautifully

“D-dude... This is awesome...!” “Not as awesome as you.” Peter would whisper under his breath, to which you'd clocked your head round and ask him to repeat what he said. “Nothing.” He replied with a sweat

A devious grin grew on your face. “Peeeeeettteeerr~” You sang. At that moment, the brunet knew he was screwed. “You like me don't you?”

Welp

Time to jump off the building and hopefully land into another dumpster ans roll away never to be seen again

“I-I-I mean, well, I guess if you mean by having a strong sense of attraction towards you then... M-maybe I...” “Awww, you totally do~” You have him a quick peck on the lips, then ruffling his hair. “Well, I like you more so don't start thinking that I don't!” Poor boy fainted on the spot

Eddie and Venom getting a tad bit worried of you whenever you claimed you were going out late at night

‘Where is she going?’ “To mind her own business, much like you should be doing.”

Most of the time when you did do so, you'd be skipping to Peters apartment

q̶u̶i̶c̶k̶ r̶e̶m̶i̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ t̶h̶a̶t̶ y̶o̶u̶ a̶n̶d̶ p̶e̶t̶e̶ a̶r̶e̶ a̶d̶u̶l̶t̶s̶, l̶i̶k̶e̶ i̶n̶ y̶o̶u̶r̶ 1̶9̶s̶

Whenever Eddie heard you enter the apartment at such a late time at night, he'd just start fearing that you would walk right back out

He loved you so much and really didn't want to see you leave his life again

The concern on his face when he'd found out you brought your own appartment room had mortified you

“You're honestly... Gonna go?”

“Oh chill out Ed. I'm just down the street, okay? Nothing bad is gonna happen to your little sister so quit whining.” You'd reassure with a light kiss on his forehead. “You too, Venom. I know you're worried about me and as flattering as that is I'd appreciate it if you saw me capable to take care of myself, thanks.”

Of course, you paid visits to them every now and then just so that neither would get this feeling of loneliness again

Peter helped spruce up your apartment room with some of his own decor

“You sure this okay?” “Of course, I've always wanted a part of me inside you—” He mentally slapped himself to stop something he knew was inevitable. “I-I-I mean, like, I uh.... I...”

Quick and steamy makeout sessions to stop his stammering

Very gentle™ when having sex

Like, neither of you are virgins and are aware of what goes on during intercourse but still

Also, he made sure to put a condom on so dw

Remember kids: You can't make love without a glove

Don't be a fool, cover your tool

Don't be silly and wrap your willy-

You loved running your fingers into his hair w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ h̶e̶ r̶e̶a̶r̶r̶a̶n̶g̶e̶d̶ y̶o̶u̶r̶ i̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶s̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ h̶i̶s̶ d̶i̶c̶k̶ because of how soft and curly they were

Apparently he was sensitive to you tugging his hair cuz the moment you did he was melting into your body

G̶u̶e̶s̶s̶ w̶h̶o̶ f̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ a̶ w̶a̶y̶ t̶o̶ t̶u̶r̶n̶ P̶e̶t̶e̶r̶ P̶a̶r̶k̶e̶r̶ i̶n̶t̶o̶ a̶ s̶u̶b̶?

Eddie would drop by your job sometimes just to check in on you, and would usually catch you in mid-talk with Peter

‘Is this the guy she's been going out late at night with?' “Can you at least try to be supportive of her decisions?” ‘You're worried for her... WE'RE worried for her.’

He always came in unnoticed and left unnoticed, much to his relief because he didn't want to seem like a stalker in your eyes

When you finally decided to let both Eddie and Venom into your house, they had devoured a quarter of your food that was meant to be for Peter for tomorrows dinner

Not like you told him that you and Peter were a thing

“We're sorry for eating all your food...” “It's okay. I understand. We all get hungry sometimes.”

Later that same night after Peter dropped by, you both setteled for pizza with a side of takeout

“So do I wanna know about the how, where and why a majority of your food is gone?”

“No,” You took a bite of your pizza “No you do not.”

Romcoms were tonights theme

“Do you think we'll ever be like those guys on TV?” “Peter, we're even better than them.”

Smothering him in smooches whenever he's feeling down

Lots of snuggles

Always coming through the fire escape part of his apartment and greeting him from there

Too bad big brother Venom and Eddie were stalking you

“When were you going to tell us about your male companion?” A familiar voice asked as you unlocked your apartment door and walked in, the lights clicking on

Oh fuck

Okay I've reached the limit, time to make a part 2

[harristarrkey-blog]

Evermore: Chapter One

Summary:  Some believed the town was cursed, as it was the only place where winter was always present, others believed in the presence of a beast, lurking away in the forest and stealing children from their parents and killing farm animals. Ritchie didn’t particularly believe in any of those stories, but as a lot of people, he felt uneasy to enter the forest.

Pairings: George Harrison/Ringo Starr, John Lennon/Paul Mccartney

Also on AO3 by SpaceRavioli

The day was cloudy and windy, with no sign of the sun to be seen. The water was freezing cold and exuded a strong, salty scent that blended in with the smell of fishes’ guts and ashes from the town. The cacophony of fishermen grunting was his background music, and he joined while lifting a bucket full of fishes to the shore, where the sand was raspy and full of garbage.

It was all in all, a normal working day.

Ritchie’s joints screamed and his lungs burned, but he didn’t stop walking until he was in the store. He was ready to finally end this day and to finally return home to his parents and rest until next morning and repeat everything again.

Once inside the store, he dropped the bucket in the backroom and closed the door. He hated the way the fish felt through his worn-out gloves, but he despised the way the fish guts smelled, so he left them all for Bobby Thompson to mutilate.

“Leaving already? But you are gonna miss the best part!” Bobby said, already surrounded by a gory fest. Ritchie wrinkled his nose, clearly disgusted even after years of working there.

“I’d rather just leave now” He responded, taking his gloves off and putting them in a bucket full of sea water. He then continued stripping his work clothes and changed into his normal ones, just a simple long-sleeved shirt, some baggy pants, a coat that belonged to his father and his age-worn boots. “But you can ask me again tomorrow, maybe I’ll change my mind over night. “

“Hope you do” Bobby sliced open a fish almost joyfully. “See you later, Ritch”

“See you”

Ritchie left the store and started walking down town whistling. All his limbs felt tired and wanted nothing more than a good night rest, but he didn’t want to return home just yet. He enjoyed walking through town, looking into the nice little shops and meeting new people. Besides, he hadn’t seen his friends since ages ago and was dying of knowing what was happening with their lives.

“Oh, Ritchie, again so soon?” Maureen casted him a quick glance and smiled. She was fixing some gentlemen’s hair with fast, talented hands, with her own hair in a nice, tight bun and dressed in a long, pink dress and a black apron.

She looked beautiful.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Mo.” Ritchie stood awkwardly under the door and shrugged. “It’s been a while now”

“You were here yesterday, silly”

“I certainly do not remember”

Maureen sighed and returned her attention at her client, smiling. She lifted a big mirror behind his head and asked what the guy thought of his hair. When he seemed satisfied with everything, he paid and left. Ritchie just watched everything unfold in silent, curiously probing at the tools.

“It must be the age” Maureen joked once they were left alone. Ritchie let go of a pair of scissors when she glared at him. “What are you really doing here?”

“Nothing, just the usual”

“You mean, annoying me?”

“No, I meant the just passing by part”

“Ritchie” She said sternly, and Ritchie just froze in place, comb in hand. With a frown, he avoided her worried eyes and pointed at the tools with the comb.

“You know, I still think you should teach me one day”

“Yeah right, because I need another reason for your fiancée to hate me”

Ritchie winced immediately.

“I’m sorry, Ritchie.” Maureen spoke softly, like she was talking to a kid and he hated that kind of baby talk, well knowing what she was gonna say. Still, he let her finish. “But we have to stop pretending she doesn’t exist every time you walk through that door.”

And he knew she was right, but he still asked in a small voice and grabbed a couple of scissors: “Not even a little bit?” But he already knew the answer.

You see, Richard Starkey was going to marry Bethany Shaw next month. The marriage was arranged between the two families in hope of survival, and so the date was unmovable and their fate unavoidable. Bethany Shaw was Ringo’s age, but appeared younger with her beautiful, long, golden hair and a chubby face that looked like it didn’t belong in her minuscule body. She was tiny, but her presence was not. She carried the confidence that Ritchie lacked and talked like everything she said was right, and still, nothing she had said made Ritchie love her.

But who loved someone that they barely knew, and was supposed to marry in two weeks?

“Ritch…” Maureen warned, but Ritchie ignored her in favour of playing around with the scissors. Because he didn’t love Bethany Shaw and wasn’t even sure he liked her enough to tolerate a lifespan with her for the rest of his surely short life, but he did like other things. His dream was to be a stylist, like Maureen was, but he also enjoyed things like spending time with her, painting, dancing and hearing the music at Pete’s bar and for now, that was enough. Things that helped him pretend that he wasn’t going to marry some girl he didn’t like soon.

“Are you going to come with us next weekend?” Ritchie changed the conversation, not wanting to follow that thought anymore.

“Oh, I don’t know, Ritchie. Not sure how it will look that just one lady is hanging with all of you guys”

“I can tell Rory to invite his wife, if that’s the only thing you are worried about” But he knew that wasn’t the only thing she was worried about. She surely was worried about a lot of other things, like Bethany, but Ritchie couldn’t care less.

“But--“

“It’s probably going to be the last time before I marry” He blurted before she could refuse him again. His eyes looked for her gaze, and when they found it, he smiled a little. “Please, Mo. For me?”

He saw the way her lips trembled a little, and his stomach felt empty. He never liked when she felt sad, and lately it looked like it was the only thing he could make her feel. He wanted to hold her hand and tell her everything was going to be alright, but that was lying, and he hated lying to someone he loved.

So, he settled for just waiting.

“I—I—” She stuttered, but after long, painful minutes, she sighed. “I’m gonna ask Isaac”

“Maybe he can come. The more, the merrier” Ritchie smiled and pushed her shoulder gently with his own.

“I’ll ask, I’ll ask.” She finally smiled again and pushed him back. “Just don’t get to excited yet, okay?”

“Oh, I promised I won’t” Ritchie crossed his heart and Mo laughed a little. “There’s just one last thing I need to do.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll ask everyone else about it” He said, fleeing from the store before she could process the words.

“Oh my— what?! Richard!”

 The bar Ritchie hang around all the time wasn’t his favourite, but it was the one Rory worked in.

The bar in question was the biggest one in town, with shows every night and a lot of people around it. It also served food, which was a big plus, but that didn’t take the owner’s personality away. Mona Best was a well-known character between all the townsfolks, with her ostentatious way of being and management of the place. In Richie’s point of view, she was one of those mothers that never let her chicks fly away. And just a quick look to Pete Best, one of her chicks trying to handle his waiter work, confirmed his beliefs.

He shook his boots before coming in, Mona would bite his head off. The bar was crowded, since a lot of workers had finished working like Ritchie. He swam in the sea of people before making his way to a lonely stool at the bar and sat before anyone else could take his place. It wasn’t long before he was attended.

“Ah, Ritchie, s—still don’t know how t—to cook?” The barman joked. Richie just snorted.

Rory was a tall lad, with blond hair and a charming smile, but the clothes he wore at work didn’t favour him and sometimes he would stutter, specially when he was nervous. Still, the ladies didn’t seem to care about all of that since he was being asked out all the time. He was handsome, and charismatic and Ritchie could see that. And agreed.

“Why? I already decided that you will be doing all my meals”

“Ah, e—even when you are getting ma—married?”

“It’s fine, we’ll find you a place. Do you mind the floor?”

Rory laughed, laying on the bar.

“What can I—I offer you t—today?”

“The usual, please”

Rory winked at him and disappeared behind the kitchen. Ritchie took advantage of this time to look around the bar, the sound almost overwhelming without anyone to drown it. His eyes fixed on a guy comforting a woman in the corner of the bar, but Ritchie could barely hear the words they were saying.

“Fish and ch—chips for the good sir” Ritchie jumped a little on his seat. “Anything else?”

“Eh, yeah” He looked down at his plate and then at Rory. “What is going on there?”

Rory followed his thumb to the scene before, and his face sobered up. He bended a little, just enough to be within Richie’s hearing and Ritchie’s only.

“They were mugged, just this morning. “

“Oh”

“Yeah, around the forest. They were blabbering about some beast following them before they collided with the wrong people, asking for help.”

“A beast?”

“Yeah, remember?” Rory’s voice was just a whisper now. “The legend about a beast living in the forest. I don’t believe it though, I think they were just scared of wolves or something.”

“Or a bear…”

“Yeah. Anyway, they are waiting for his son to come and help them return home.”

“Poor people, what an awful thing to happen.” Ritchie gulped, thinking what he would do in a situation like that. But how could he know? That was just bad, bad luck.

“Yeah” Rory sighed, clear pity in his eyes. “Anyway, I got—tta attend some other clients before Mona notices me just hanging here. If you need anything else, you call”

Ritchie nodded and looked at the poor couple one last time before starting eating. Later, he would ask Rory about meeting up in the weekend.

When Ritchie returned home, he was expecting to take off his clothes and disappear within his sheets, succumbing in a well-deserved sleep.

But he was wrong.

“You finished packing?” Her mother, Elsie, asked from the kitchen the moment he crossed the threshold. Ringo froze in place and winced, because of course he had forgotten about packing, or the trip altogether.

Tomorrow he had to travel with his fiancée, Bethany, first hour at dawn to find some stupid wedding dress because she didn’t like any from the shops in town. And of course, there was, supposedly, the best tailor in the next town over. Ritchie didn’t even remember his name.

“Uh, something like that” He answered, taking off his coat and boots in a lazy manner. He could hear his mother’s sigh from all the way to the kitchen.

“You had been planning this for days”

“You mean she has been planning this for days…”

He hung up his coat, hearing his mother’s steps from the kitchen to where he was. And finally lifted his gaze from the hanger to his mother when she was standing next to him.

“I know you don’t want to go” She started, searching his gaze. Ritchie preferred to watch her grip on a wooden spoon, though. “But it’s something you gotta do, baby”

Ritchie pouted. He didn’t want to go, as he didn’t want to marry Bethany, but knew his mother was right. If he weren’t to go, then Bethany would never forgive him, and it would be a worse start to their premature relationship. So, he sighed and nodded weakly to his mother.

“I understand, mum.” He whispered against her skin when she hugged him comfortably. When she let him go, and smiled at him, he felt a little bit better. Ritchie remembered that everyone was making sacrifices around him, not just him, because sacrifices were meant to happen if they wanted to live.

Even though now his mother was with someone she truly loved, at first she married his dad, a guy she didn’t loved. Just like Ritchie, she was arranged with someone they could afford to marry, And now she was trying everything she could to assure a future for his son. And, if Ritchie was lucky enough, maybe later in life he would be able to find someone he truly loved like his mum.

“I hope we arrive before sunset, I don’t want to go through the hassle of finding everything closed”

Ritchie sighed while lifting the last suitcase in the carriage, wondering why on earth they needed so much luggage since they were supposed to stay only three days at most. Bethany was already on the carriage, covered from head to toe with every coat she owned to prevent the cold. Ritchie, on his part, was only wearing his father’s coat, two pair of long-sleeved shirts and some old scarf he found in the closet.

“Winter came earlier this year, huh.” She whispered, almost naively. Everyone knew that in that part of England, winter seemed almost eternal. Ritchie himself didn’t remember a warm day since he arrived there with his mother.

When everything was ready to go, he hopped on after giving his horse, Tiger, a few pats on his powerful neck. “The sooner we leave, the sooner we will arrive”

Even though dawn was just starting, the town was already giving signs of life. The baker had his window opened just a crack, letting the smell of fresh bread bled through it; Mona Best was sweeping the front yard, cleaning everything the drunkards that had just stumbled home left behind; fishermen were already leaving home, preparing themselves for another day on wild and freezing waters. Ritchie was usually one of them, but today he had a free day.

More or less.

At least, for now, Bethany wasn’t in the mood to run her mouth. She preferred to lay down as far as she could in her seat and close her eyes a little bit, squeezing in some sleep before the sun was completely out. Ringo envied her a little, he too wanted to rest but someone had to take care of the road, especially in the forest.

Not a lot of townsfolk leave town, and Ritchie was one of them. He was more of exploring open waters, not the surrounding trees, but he did if he had to. Contrary of that, everyone was always a little nervous to get beyond the road in the forest, where it was always snowing for some reason, even in summer. Some believed the town was cursed, as it was the only place where winter was always present, others believed in the presence of a beast, lurking away in the forest and stealing children from their parents and killing farm animals. Ritchie didn’t particularly believe in any of those stories, but as a lot of people, he felt uneasy to enter the forest.

As they entered, leaving the dim lights of the houses behind, everything became more difficult to see, with the sun slowly coming out behind the horizon but quickly hiding behind the clouds. There was only one road to follow, as one could easily get lost in the forest, but with the snow covering every bit of soil available, it was hard to keep track of where they were going. And the deeper they went, the feeling of nervousness augmented.

Were they really following the right track?

The wheels of the carriage were squeaking with effort with every step Tiger gave, the snow under them crunching noisily. Beside him, Bethany was sleeping, hugging her own arms while her head dangled in front on her. Richie almost desired for her to be awake, since he was getting nervous.

What if they were getting lost?

“Nonsense” He whispered, face hidden behind the scarf. Still, small puffs of air escaped through the clothing. “We are still following the path, it’s below us. You just can’t see it well because of the weather.”

Ritchie looked far ahead, and he could see patches of road. But the path stretched on forever, or so it appeared like that, and it was getting on Ritchie’s nerves.

“I’m just tired, that’s all. Yesterday was a very tiring day and you haven’t recovered completely from that” He started chanting, breaking the silence surrounding him. “Think of the yummy food you will eat once you get there.”

But that just made his stomach growl. Maybe it had been a while since they left town.

“Are you hungry?”

“God!” He jumped, not expecting Bethany to be awake. She looked startled, but only laughed a little.

“Sorry, you woke me up with all the talking.” She said, not sounding sorry at all. Reaching behind her, she grabbed a basket full of homemade food they had prepared for the trip. It wasn’t much, but enough to not die of starvation until they reach the town. From the basket she put out two pieces of bread with cheese and extended one to Richie. “This is yours. Without onion, right?”

Ritchie nodded, surprised she remembered he was allergic to onions. Grabbing the leash with one hand, he grabbed the bread with the other and thanked Bethany before he started eating his lunch.

“Do you know how much longer it will take to arrive?” She asked through mouthfuls of food, picking the crumbs that fell to her dress with her index finger. Ritchie looked at the sky, still cloudy, and then the road, still full of snow.

“Not much, I hope. But we may take longer than necessary because of the snow.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. Plus, we need to give Tiger some time to rest, water and some food.”

“Oh”

She sounded disappointed, so Ritchie tried to cheer her up.

“Still, we will be there before sunset, and then we can rest and tomorrow we will look for your wedding dress.” Ritchie smiled at her. “I promise”

She smiled too, and after swallowing a mouthful of bread, she spoke livelier. “I will look for the dress. You can do whatever you want”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, silly Ritchie!” Her laughed filled the void in the forest, echoing through the leaves. “You can’t see the dress before the wedding”

“Why not?”

“That’s just bad luck!”

“Bad luck? I don’t believe in bad luck!” Ritchie exclaimed, his voice reaching the deepest parts of the forest. With another bite to his lunch, he felt better, more joyful. And Bethany laughed beside him, because maybe not everything was gonna be awful forever. Both needed this, Ritchie thought, they just needed to know each other a little bit better. Maybe he really didn’t have bad luck, maybe it wasn’t going to suck.

But he was proved wrong, when an arrow flew next to his head to the tree in front of them.

“OH MY GOD!” Bethany screamed, flailing her arms wildly. Ritchie let go of his sandwich, not having much time to think what to do, and grabbed Tiger’s strap and hit the horse with it, urging to go faster.

That’s what happens when you scream in a fucking haunted forest, Ritchie vaguely thought, as another arrow flew, hitting one of the carriage’s walls.

Their whistling sounds would be forever in his mind.

“Can’t we go faster?!” Bethany cried, her eyes full of panic and tears, and honestly? Ritchie was just as panicked as her. He vaguely remembered the couple from yesterday, feeling so stupid for going out when he knew there were muggers running around the forest.

He pushed her head down, trying to protect her from the flying missiles and the chaos everywhere. He couldn’t see past the snow, and his ears were filled with shouting and Bethany’s cries, but he still knew enough that they were getting surrounded by them. His lungs started to burn, cold air filling his lungs in an uneven way, his eyes watered, and he almost didn’t feel the arrow piercing his right ar—wait.

“FUCK!” He screamed, letting go of Bethany to grab his wounded arm. Warm liquid escaped through his fingertips quickly and Ritchie panicked, not knowing what to do.

Tiger gave a sharp turn, grunting and panting loudly, and Ritchie fell, his fingertips just grazing Bethany’s arm.

“Ritchie!” She screamed. Ritchie lifted his arm, begging for her to stop Tiger and to return for him.

But she never did.

Quickly gazing back and forth, Bethany grabbed Tiger’s leash and urged him to go faster, rapidly disappearing between the trees and the snow.

He couldn’t believe it.

“Come on!” Ritchie heard someone shout over the white noise in his head, but when he turned to face the muggers a white, shimmering light emerged from the snow, blinding everyone in its wake. He couldn’t see anything, but only hear the surprised screams of the robbers and the grunts from the horses. Ritchie stumbled, covering his eyes.

“It’s the beast! Everyone run!” Was the last yell Ritchie heard before falling backwards and hitting his head with a tree.

[therandomfics]

Convalescence: 5

Sonny picked you up just before seven. He arrived still in his suit from the day's work, and you still wore your clothes from work, too - but you'd just freshened up some. You admitted to yourself long before he had arrived that you'd be nervous to ride with him, but he was a cop for God's sake, could he be that bad? Had he given you any indication that he wasn't a good person? No - you told yourself that adamantly, but quickly reminded yourself that no one from the past had, either, until it was too late. Still, in spite of your anxiety, you decided to ride with him to wherever you were going.

"How do you feel about sushi?" he asked, shifting into drive and merging back into traffic from the street.

"I love it!" you said quickly, almost too excitedly. Truth be told, you did love it but you didn't have anyone to go eat with.

He laughed at your excitement. "Well, I hate it, but this place also has a really good teriyaki chicken. If you're okay with it?"

You nodded and shifted in your seat, turning to face him as he drove. "Yeah. But I don't want you to be off put, you know?"

"By you? Never."

You cringed at how quickly you felt your face heat up. Sonny was clearly the Devil - a handsome man disguised as everything you needed.

The restaurant was amazing - candle light on the tables and soft music in the background without being too cliche. It seemed like a good date spot, but really you weren't sure. You weren't the romantic type. You didn't know what it really meant to be wined and dined. In fact the idea alone made you uncomfortable. Sonny ordered his favorite dish and you ordered an array of different pieces of sushi. When the meal was said and done, you were contentedly full and impressed with your company. Not once had he said anything inappropriate or made you feel like you wanted to run away. That, if nothing else, was more than you'd gotten in the past few years.

"Are you up for one more adventure?" he asked, arching his brow at you. You hesitated, but took a leap of faith and nodded. "I think so. Nothing dangerous right? No ride alongs?"

He laughed and placed his card back in his wallet after paying, then stood up and offered you his hand. "There's somewhere I want to take you. If you hate it, let me know."

Sonny parked the car on a side street and exited the vehicle quickly to open your door. The fact that you stayed continually mind blown with him was beginning to make your head spin. He was so patient, and smart, and kind - and attractive."So.. again, if you hate it..." he said as he helped you from the car.

"I won't," you insisted as he shut your door and locked the car.

"Eh.." he swayed slightly and held his hand out to you. "We'll see."

You obliged and walked hand in hand with him up the street and around a corner, reveling an older building with dim lighting and pleasant music drifting into the street. You wished the walk were longer as you realized that you were comfortable holding his hand, but the trip was short when you saw the destination. It was an old bar that had been turned into a hang out, more or less you figured, where people could get together and relax, drink a little, and dance.

It wasn't your idea of a great time, but you knew that Sonny was excited to share this experience with you, so you felt it wasn't in your best interest to let your anxiety get the best of you and dip out before you'd even had the chance to see what the place was like.

When the doors opened and he guided you inside you were flooded with the sounds of music and people talking. There were more people than you expected; some were dancing, some were drinking, some where in booths chatting casually with their friends. Overall it seemed like a place you'd enjoy if you'd only let yourself relax.

You sat together in a booth that was closed off by three walls, leaving the entrance to the booth open. It was intimate even in spite of the business that was going on around you. You sat close together after ordering drinks and admired the dancing couples on the floor, shoulders nearly touching in spite of the ample space in your sitting area.

"I can't tell you how long it's been since I've been here," Sonny admitted and took a sip of his drink when it arrived.

You laughed and nodded knowingly. "I can't tell you how long it's been since I've even been out."

He turned his attention to you and the colorful drink in your hands. "Why, Y/N?" You shrugged a shoulder and glanced down at your drink, busying yourself by admiring the pink paper umbrella on the rim. "I.. mean. I don't like people."

"You don't like people?"

"Most people are garbage. Most people... they're not good."

He nodded knowingly.

"I don't mean to sound so negative," you added quickly, feeling as if you were being rude suddenly. Social anxiety at it's finest, to be sure.

He shook his head quickly and tentatively placed his hand atop yours. "Trust me, I get it. I see it every day."

"I guess so, being a detective. What kind of detective are you, anyway? I don't think I've asked."

The smile he had faltered slightly, as if he were hesitating to tell you something - as if it were something you'd not want to hear.

"You can tell me," you insisted.

He patted your hand and picked his drink up, taking a long pull before setting it down and nodding firmly to himself. "Special Victims Unit."

"Special?"

"Meaning... child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault..." he trailed off, gauging your response.

Your face fell when you suddenly realized that Sonny could have been someone who knew you from your past if you'd have reported anything. It wasn't rational because you'd been so far away, but just knowing that he dealt with those things all of the time was more than enough for you. You suddenly felt guilty for taking up his time, as if you were a victim he was protecting. And at any rate, didn't he already have enough on his plate? Surely taking on a relationship with someone who was a victim would be more than he needed.

"I'm sorry, I don't bring my work home with me if it's a consolation," he added. It was meant to make things better, but instead it made you feel worse. It was a subtle reminder that you were broken - damaged merchandise - you needed a safety recall on yourself.

“I get it,” you murmured and pushed your drink away, letting the vibrant slush of alcohol and sugar splash around. “I don’t mean to cut this short, but I’m really not feeling well.” It wasn’t a lie, at least. Your stomach was sick, your head suddenly hurt, and you just wanted to be home and alone in your room where it was safe and no one could see you to judge you.

Sonny’s face fell, realizing that it was something that he’d said that was causing you grief. “Sure, I understand. Are you gonna be okay? Can I do anything?”

You shook your head and offered a weak smile. “I’ll be okay.”

“Let’s get you home then. Let me pay the tab. Give me two minutes.”

When he got up from the table you felt your eyes stinging, on the verge of tears. You fought it back as long as you could but as he approached your table again, you wiggled your way to the end of the bench and stood up, heading for the door. Everything was suddenly very wrong.

“Y/N?” he called out, following behind you closely.

You waved him off as you burst through the doors and onto the sidewalk, taking a deep breath of the night air. “I’m fine,” you choked, turning on your heel and heading in the opposite direction of his car.

“Wait,” he insisted, reaching out and touching your shoulder.

“I just want to go home,” you whispered, slowing to a stop. You were full on sobbing by that point, trying to keep yourself together.

He sighed, stepping around so that he could see your face. “You’re not okay.”

You shook your head, agreeing with his statement.

“Did I hurt your feelings?”

You shook your head again.

“... Can I.. just...” he sighed again, before opening his arms to you and pulling you into an embrace. “I’m sorry, for whatever’s hurting you, Y/N. I’m sorry for your trouble.”

You sniffed gently and returned the affection by locking your arms around his middle. “It’s not you, Sonny. It’s me. I.. just... I can’t explain right now.”

He shushed you and kissed the top of your head in the most protective way you’d ever felt. “Let me drive you home.”

“Okay,” you whispered, letting him lead you back to the car.

On the ride home, he kept his hand protectively on your knee. It was such a sweet sentiment that when you pulled up to your apartment building in what felt like two minutes you didn’t want to get out of the car.

“I’ll walk you up.”

“Wait...” you murmured, biting your bottom lip apprehensively. “Can we just sit here for a few minutes?”

Sonny smiled and nodded his head. “Anything you want, love.”

[tetrakys]

Five Songs - Chapter 4: Quit Playing

I looked around the place trying to decide where to start first. Luckily, food had been cooked elsewhere by the catering service so the kitchen was clean and all the dirty dishes had been taken away once they left. What I had to do was to collect the garbage lying around the room and clean the floor. I could have easily done it in the morning I guessed, but I knew that the moment my head was on a pillow I was going to sleep for the next 12 hours straight.

I came back from the kitchen with a big rubbish bag and a broom. I paused for a moment and looked at my phone, cleaning up was always easier with some background music. I accessed my music app and selected a random playlist. 

I had just started swapping the floor when a thought crossed my mind. I was very visible from the outside, with all the lights on in the café at this hour of the night, anyone could see me being alone in here. I went to the light switches and turned off all the lights in the room except for the ones in the kitchen and the lamps that Nina had lent us. The room was now lit enough that I could see the furniture and avoid tripping every two seconds, but it would have been almost impossible to spot me from the street.  

I started collecting all the rubbish I could find. Someone had lost an earring, I put it in a drawer by the till in case they came back looking for it. There I also found my keys lying on the floor, thank god I hadn’t gone back to campus, I would have ended up spending the night on the floor locked out of my room.

I had been cleaning for an hour or so when one of my favourite songs came up on the playlist. I started singing along while brushing the floor pretending the broom was a microphone. I got really into it headbanging and twirling around the room when, suddenly, I caught something in the corner of my eye. I stopped immediately with a frightened cry, there was someone sitting in the darkest corner of the room, someone who… was laughing his ass off!

“I’m sorry Candy” Hyun said with tears in his eyes “I didn’t want to frighten you” he kept laughing “you didn’t hear me coming in and I thought I might just…”

“You thought you could just sit and enjoy the show, right?” I said annoyed, ashamed but also a little bemused.

“I’m sorry, really. It was just too funny!” he went on “I swear I have only been for like… well… most of it.”

I was mortified, that really wasn’t the image I wanted popping in his head whenever he thought about me. “What are you doing here, anyway? You left ages ago.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, my parents sent me a text asking me to call them. I was worried but I shouldn’t have, it was nothing serious. I was just about to go to bed when I had the terrible thought that Clemence might have ‘asked’ you to stay and clean the place. I came back to make sure it wasn’t the case but, apparently, I was right.” He looked around the room “You are basically done, sorry for being late. At least it seemed like you were having fun” and he started laughing again.

“Hyun!” I cried stomping my feet on the floor and puffing my cheeks like a child.

“Sorry, sorry!” He raised his hands looking at me apologetically “It’s just that… you are just too cute.”

I felt myself starting to blush a little when I noticed that he was still grinning like an idiot and realised that he was just trying to appease me, as if I was a child or a puppy. I knew in my heart that it wasn’t exactly the case, I knew that he liked me, at least a little. We had been flirting every now and then for a while now, but he had never stepped up. Could that be because he only saw me as a girl and not as a woman? He had seen me being a klutz at the café many times, and even though he was also a bit of a dork sometimes, I really didn’t want that to be the only impression he had of me. Suddenly an idea came to my mind, it was risky and could totally backfire but I was willing to try, he had just seen me at my lamest so I had nothing to lose.

“You know what Hyun” I said with fake confidence crossing my arms “since you apparently like to watch, you can give me your opinion on something. A while ago a friend and I prepared a small choreography for a contest which we never ended up performing, she broke her leg a week before. I have always wondered what people would have thought of it.”

That really got his attention, he sat straight on the chair and looked at me intently. “I’m not an expert but I can definitely give you an honest opinion.” He said blushing a little.

“Thanks” I replied and pulled a chair in the middle of the room. “Please sit here.”

He complied while I headed to my phone and selected the song I was looking for. During my third year I became good friend with a girl who was a huge K-pop fan. She was so passionate about it, that she begged me to enter a contest together to attend a famous boy band concert in Seoul. She was devastated when she fell from her bike right before we could perform. The first notes of “Quit Playing” from U-Kiss started and I headed towards the centre of the room, a few feet in front of Hyun. I saw a surprised and somewhat embarrassed look crossing his face, he must have recognised the song. K-pop was usually more cute than sexy, but this song… it really hit it out of the park, it had an upbeat but sensual rhythm and the MV showed a 2 boys/1 girl threesome… between other things. I briefly pictured myself squeezed between Hyun and another man who looked suspiciously like Mr Zaidi… Nope, nope… it was not the time to go there… I came back to the present and let the music lead me.

The choreography was purposefully as sensual as the music, I raised my hands and let them slowly run down along the curves of my body. I turned around and let my hips swirl while I slightly bended on a side. I looked him right in the eyes and I saw him quite affected by the show. He was staring at me with a hunger I had never seen him display before. He looked at me from top to bottom, and I felt his gaze caressing my skin, my calves and the length of my legs. I was still wearing my Charleston dress, which proved to be quite fitting in these circumstances as the fringes jumped around at the smallest movement of my hips, leaving my thighs mostly bare. He seemed to be painfully aware of this since, even though he looked at me all over, his gaze kept slipping back to that particular spot.

Once the song reached its peak I slowly started heading towards him. I bent down leaning on the back of his chair while looking at him straight in the eyes. I saw him swallow, appearing completely bewitched. Once my lips where just an inch away from his I smirked, got up again and moved at his back. I hugged him from behind and run my nose along his neck leaving a small kiss on his chin. Stop messing with my mind said the song, I twirled again and landed on his legs, straddling him. On the last notes of the song I put my hands on the back of his chair so that he had to tilt his head up to see me and I let my lips hover over his, just a few inches away and… stopped. Panting heavily just a breath away from his lips.

“So?” I asked once I caught my breath “What do you think?”

He looked at me pensively “That I am really glad you ended up not performing” then he added “Do you know the meaning of the lyrics” I only had a general idea so I shook my head to say no. “The guy is basically pleading the girl not to mess with his head because men are simple minded and easily bewitched” he stared me straight in my eyes and added “Is this what you are doing?”

I cocked my head on the side “I don’t know… is it working? I can’t tell.”

At those words he put his hands on my hips and pushed my lower half closer to his and a breath escaped my lips. Oh, it was working indeed… “I’m not that cute then…” was the first thing that came to my mind.

He smiled timidly and raised his head leaving a feather-like kiss on my lips “Always.” I felt his hands moving slowly along my thighs while he added “You are cute, sexy, funny, smart and passionate… and I am simply crazy about you.” I looked at him surprised, had he just… confessed? I quickly got up from his lap and pretended to straighten my dress from some invisible wrinkle. How could I feel shy… now? When two seconds ago I was grinding on him with my ass basically in his hands? We started rearranging chairs and tables. The atmosphere was now heavy and I didn’t know what to do or say. I like you too? No, too ordinary… and he hadn’t exactly say that, had he? I was going to spend the next several days analysing his words and reactions, God… I was trying to act like a femme fatale but I really was a klutz! Once we were done, we turned on the alarm, locked the door and headed towards the campus. I tried unsuccessfully to make same small talk but we were still really embarrassed.

Once we reached the dorms entrance I said goodnight and tried to quickly run towards my room.

“Candy wait” he said. I turned around and saw him stopping in front of me. “I know you were playing and I freaked you out, but…”

“No, Hyun” I tried to explain but he stopped me.

“Let me finish, please.” He said, looking at me sweetly. “I really do like you. A lot. I wasn’t kidding.” He put a hand on my cheek “One day soon I am going to ask you out, and I really hope you say yes.” He leaned and left a sweet kiss me on my forehead. “Goodnight” he said smiling, and headed towards his room.

I stayed there looking at him walking away, a smile also on my lips.

Soon.

[chancellormatt]

Voltron Rewrite Episode Six - Far from Home

“There’s another what!?” Shiro exclaims.

    He looks on a screen displaying an image of Keith, with the other Paladins in the background.

    “Another...Voltron.” Keith repeats with a sigh.

    “And...Zarkon and Lotor are piloting it?” Shiro asks, uncertain.

    “Not just those two. Pidge and Hunk thought they were battling Haggar and Sendak as their counterparts. We’re not sure about the pilot of their Blue Lion, maybe someone we haven’t seen before.”

    “That’s...not good to say the least.” Shiro says, looking disturbed. “Are we sure this isn’t some kind of trick?”

    “We’re sure.” Keith says glumly.

    “We sure didn’t get beaten up by an illusion, I can tell you that.” Lance puts in.

    Pidge elbows him in the arm.

    “Hey!”

    “Read the room.” She scolds.

    Lance’s only reply is a sour expression.

    “Did they say anything that might tell us how Zarkon and Lotor were both able to come back?” Shiro asks.

    “Allura said she heard Lotor say some strange things...but I think maybe it’d be a good idea to discuss this later. Right now we really should get headed back to Earth. Not exactly a short journey back. Especially since we had to leave the teleduv behind.” Keith cringes at that. “Really hope that doesn’t come back to bite us.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, we’re sending you the footage of the fight. Maybe you guys will be able to notice a weakness or...something.”

    “Understood, we’ll look it over. Get back here safely Paladins.”

    “We’ll try.” Keith says weakly.

    The image of Keith disappears. Shiro moves to turn off the screen but accidentally reaches with the arm that is missing a limb. He sighs and clicks off the scree with his remaining arm. He sits back in his seat staring at the blank display.

    “Another Voltron...that’s just what we need right now.” He rubs his eyes.   

    “I concur, that is highly concerning.” A voice says from behind.

    Shiro stiffens as he turns to see Admiral Sanda standing in the doorway to the room, just behind.

    “Funny, I thought I locked that door…” Shiro ponders.

    “This is my base Shiro. None of these doors are locked to me.”

    Shiro sighs. “I take it you heard everything?”

    “That enemies you thought were dead are back and now they have their own Voltron? Unless I missed more, then yes, I caught it all.”

    “Does that...help or hurt our case for Earth joining the Coalition?” Shiro asks.

    “I honestly have no idea. An even bigger threat could push the council to seek protection in numbers. On the other hand it could strengthen their resolve not to get even remotely involved. But from what it sounded like, your Voltron lost…”

    “All the more reason to bring in the Atlas into the fight as soon as it's ready. Might make the difference next time.”

    “Hm.” Is Sanda’s reply to that.

    “Sanda.” Shiro says pointedly. “Can you at least try to spin this for us? Whatever you’ve said in the meetings I know that you think Earth should be in this fight.”

    “What I think doesn’t matter.” She says solidly

    Shiro gives her a skeptical look.

    She seems to chew on the inside of her mouth. “...fine. I’ll do what i can. But that isn’t a promise Shiro, so don’t expect anything.”

    “Thank you. Really.”

    Sanda scoffs. “Honestly. You know I was supposed to be retiring soon? Like hell that’s going to happen before we finish dealing with this fiasco. This is a thousand times worse than when we lost the kerberos mission.” She narrows her eyes at Shiro. “Funny how you always seem to be around whenever all this goes wrong.”

    “Sorry. Guess I’m just bad luck.” Shiro shrugs apologetically. “Remind me to get you a bottle of scotch when this is all over.”

    “Make sure it's the good stuff.” Sanda replies, turning away. “None of that bottom shelf garbage you got me for my promotion to Admiral.”

    “Understood.” Shiro allows the slightest smile grow on his face.

    Sanda stops just before walking away. “This battle...there were casualties?”

“Unfortunately.” Shiro nods.

“...did the Holt boy make it through?”

“Matt’s alive, yeah.” Shiro says.

“Figures. Not even a giant evil robot from space can get that nuisance out of my hair.” She shakes her head.

“Careful.” Shiro says. “If I didn’t know better I’d think you cared.”

Sanda only grunts at that, and walks away.

***

Lance sits in the cockpit of the Red Lion, floating in space. In his mind, the scene of him missing the shot on Raimon’s lion plays again and again. He grips his throttles tighter, as if he could take the shot again, and and hit it this time. But of course, he could not.

“Lance? You there?” Keith asked over the comm. The Black Lion flies up next to Red.

“Huh?” Lance replied, blinking. “You say something?”

“I must’ve said your name five times.”   

    “Sorry I was...distracted.”

    “Well get undistracted. Everyone else is ready.  It’s time to go.”

    “Right. Home.” The word sounds hollow in Lance’s current tone.

    Keith flies off in The Black Lion, and Lance follows in his own. They meet the rest of the Lions, along with the remains of the Coalition fleet. Lance notes that even the Blue Lion is there.

    “Allura is back to flying already? Is that...a good idea?” Lance says.

    “I’m fine, Lance.” Allura replies curtly.

    His expression falls.

    “Alright guys.”  Keith says, addressing the group. “We’ve got a long way back so let’s get started. Everyone ready?”

    The remaining Paladins give a chorus of unenthusiastic replies.

“Yeah that seems about right…” Keith says more to himself than them.

The Five Lions start flying at speed, and the Coalition ships follow. The Lions fly for some time in silence. Inside Red, Lance is visibly uncomfortable. After several minutes of uncomfortable shifting in his seat, he finally gives up.

    “...are we just not going to talk about what happened?” He says, breaking the silence.

    “What’s there to talk about Lance?” Keith replies. “We got beat. End of story.”

    “That is definitely not the end of the story! First of all how the heck did all our old bad guys come back with their own Voltron!?”

    “I don’t know Lance. Your guess is as good as mine.”

    “Well...even forgetting that, what about our Voltron?”

    “What about it?”

    “Don’t give me that Keith! Our bayard abilities! A bunch of them didn’t work!”

    Keith doesn’t reply to that at first. Hunk and Pidge both look glum.

    ...my sonar cannon failed also.” Allura finally admits.

Keith sighs. “My Lion’s wings...didn’t come out either, when I needed them to.”

    “So, how could something like that just happen?” Lance asks. “Did they do it? Did the other Voltron interfere somehow?”

    “I don’t...think so.” Pidge says. “I didn’t get any readings of interference or anything like that. I did diagnostic on my lion after the fact and there wasn’t anything wrong there either.”

    “...what if it's us?” Allura says suddenly.

    “What do you mean?” Keith asks.

    Allura chews on her lip, reluctant to continue. She does anyway. “Our lions, and Voltron itself are all based on connections. If we are divided or out of sync, it could be affecting Voltron as a whole.”

    “We aren’t...divided.” Keith says. “...are we?”

    No one replies.

    “Guys?”

    Lance hesitates. “...Allura?”

    She sighs.

    “What?” Keith asks.

    “Lance and I had an exchange that ended...rather poorly, just before leaving. Maybe a little worse than poorly.” She admits.

    “Hang on, what happened here?” Pidge interjects.

    “Nothing.” Lance says quickly. “I’ll tell you about it later…”

    “Wait was that about….the uh advice I gave you? Was that my fault?” Hunk asks. “Lance did I give you bad advice?”

    “No it...look let’s just talk about this later?”

    “Seems like it might be pretty important.” Pidge says testily.

    Keith sighs. “Well whatever it was I don’t really think one conversation alone would completely throw off Voltron...unless…”

    “What?” Allura asks.

    “It's probably nothing.” Keith shakes his head.

    “Well it's not like we’ve got anywhere to be…” Hunk says.

    Keith sighs again, more exhaustedly. “I’ve...also been dealing with some stuff. So...what if it's not just Lance and Allura? What if it's all of us? What if we’re all dealing with things that are making it harder for us to pilot our lions, and command Voltron?”

Everyone seems to think on that.

“Anyone else want to volunteer something that’s been going on with them?” Keith asks.

No one says anything at first.

“Pidge has been in a mood lately.” Lance offers.

“Lance!”

“What? It's true…”

“I have not been in a mood!” She practically yells.

“I rest my case.” Lance says.

She folds her arms. “Fine! You know what, yeah! I’ve been really mad at some idiot for a while now! Maybe that’s what my problem is!”

“Really? Who?” Lance asks.

“Take a guess!”

Lance looks hurt. Pidge also looks like she regrets the words, but doesn’t say anything further.   

    “Well that answers that question…” Keith says. “So next would be…”

    Hunk swallows. “Uh...can we skip me?”

    The silence that follows is it's own answer.

    “...alright fine.” Hunk says reluctantly. “...but you guys really aren’t gonna like this.”

    “Oh come on, how bad could it be?” Lance asks.

    “I’ve...been thinking about leaving Voltron.”

    “WHAT!?” The other Paladins reply with shock.

    Hunk sighs. “Okay I really should have worded that better. I just meant...well yeah I did mean that. But I didn’t mean immediately!” He adds the last quickly, before anyone can speak up. “I meant that this war...it's been going on for a really long time. Every time we think we’re done a new bad guy suddenly appears. Battle after battle, bad guy after bad guy, It never seems to end. I just...don’t know if I can do that forever.”

    Everyone is quiet. Lance and Pidge seem to think on his words. Allura only looks sad.

    “...being a part of Voltron is a great honor…” Allura says halfheartedly.

    “I know.”” Hunk nods. “And it’s been an honor to do all of this with you guys. But...I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. Do any of us really? Do you guys honestly want to fight in a space war until we’re all dead?”

Keith had his eyes clamped shut, and appears to be processing. When he does open his eyes, they are hard as stone.

“...there are people that need us. That need Voltron, now more than ever. ” Keith’s word start out quiet, but gradually grow in heat as he continues. “People that are dying. Are you just going to abandon them!?”

Hunk waits before responding. “...No. I’m not planning on abandoning anyone. Before we returned home...I had this fantasy. We’d come back to earth, after the war, and we could all go back to our families and the people we cared about. And then, eventually, It’d be the next generation’s turn. I’d pass the Yellow Lion off to a new Paladin, and they could be the one to be the hero. I still don’t think thats such a bad idea. Maybe let somebody new do what I couldn’t anymore.”

“Wishing someone else was doing all the fighting instead. That just sounds like cowardice to me.” Keith says coldly.

“Hey!” Lance breaks in. “That's not fair! Weren’t you the one that left not so long ago, Keith!? What does that make you then?”

“I…” The fight seems to go out of Keith. “...think I’m going to go scout ahead.”

    Without any further warning, the Black Lion boosts forward, leaving the other Lions behind.

    “Should...someone go after him?” Pidge asks.

    After a moment, Allura throws her throttles forward and tails after Keith.

    “Well that...could have gone better.” Lance says. The other two mumble in agreement.

    ***

“Keith wait up!” Allura says over a direct comm.

The Black Lion slows only a hair. Enough for the Blue Lion to catch up, but still an accelerated pace.

“...are you...alright?” She asks, pulling up next to him.

“Did I sound alright?” Keith replies. “I’m...I’m such a bad leader. Shiro never would have gone off on Hunk like that.”

“We’re all a little high strung at the moment, so I think you can be forgiven.” Allura points out.

“Maybe.” Keith says unconvinced. “You know what the worst part is? Lance is right. I did leave. I did exactly what Hunk was talking about. I stepped aside, and let Shiro do what I couldn’t. Because...I’d rather be with the Blades, than defending the universe. I’m worse than a coward, I’m just...just a selfish jerk.”

“....Is that really how you see yourself?” Allura says after a moment.

Keith blinks.

“Because from where I was sitting, leaving Voltron was one of the hardest decisions you ever had to make.” She goes on.

“And it was the wrong decision.” Keith retorts.

“Part of leadership is making bad calls.” Allura shoots back. “You spread yourself too thin, and tried to do everything yourself. My father used to say that was the first mistake every leader makes.”

“Well I sure fell into that one…”

“-He also used to say that that the second mistake was not forgiving yourself for past missteps.”

Keith doesn’t reply, so Allura goes on.

“Like it or not Keith, you are our leader now. And for what it’s worth, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. You’re going to make mistakes. We all are. It's part of being in a team.”

    Keith smiles. “...thank you Allura.”

    “Thank me by being the leader I know you can be.”

He lets out a chuckle. “After everything you’ve been through lately, I’d figure you’d be the needing to be cheered up, not the other way around.”

    Allura shrugs. “Learning that Lotor was back...it was hard. I…I really did care for him so that betrayal… well finding out he was back, it was like I was reliving it all over. I think I ended up hurting Lance’s feelings for that reason. One of my own mistakes, I suppose.” She considers that for a moment, then continues. “The strange thing was,  Lotor didn’t even seem to recognize me during that battle. But however it happened, he is back. And as terrifying as that is, at least now I have something to fight. He’s not just some hollow myth for my people to idolize. He’s a man, and we can beat him. Maybe we can even show them what he really is in the process. So in a way I’m a little bit relieved. As impossible as it seems now, I have a clear goal. An obstacle to overcome.”

    “Guess...I didn’t think about it like that.”

    “I’m making it sound easier than it is. Really I’m terrified.”

    “Aren’t we all?”

    “I guess so…”

    They sit in silence for a moment. After a moment, Keith quirks an eyebrow. “So...just out of curiosity what did happen between you and Lance?”

“Well…”

***

“...I kinda told her I was in love with her.” Lance admits.

“You WHAT!?” Pidge exclaims with shock.

“In love!?” Hunk says, equally surprised.

“Well I got cutoff, but I’m pretty sure she got the gist…”

“I thought this was just about a date?” Hunk says, confused.

“I got caught up in the moment alright…” Lance says defensively. “Anyway she kind of freaked out and left immediately. Guess I can take that as her answer...

“How do you get caught up in the moment and just tell someone you’re in love with them!?” Pidge asks.

“I’m a passionate guy, alright!?”

“Well now I’m really mad!” Pidge says crossing her arms.

    “At what? Me telling Allura my feelings!?”

    Pidge sighs longsufferingly. “No Lance, I’m mad because you aren’t really in love with Allura!”

    “Excuse me?”

    “You heard me.” She says, putting her chin up.

    “Uh maybe we shouldn’t-” Hunk cuts in.

    “And how would you know if I’m in love with Allura or not!?”

    “Lance, what do you actually know about Allura? Without using the words pretty brave or princess?”

    “She...she really cares about her people! And...and Voltron! She loves being a Paladin of Voltron!”

    “...is that really it?” Pidge asks after a moment of silence.

    “Well I mean, if you gave me a minute-”

    “What’s her favorite color?”

    “What?”

    “Her favorite color. What is it?”

    “I...uh...her armor is pink so...although she’s always wearing that blue dress-”

    “What does she like to do for fun? When she’s not piloting Voltron?”   

    “I don’t...that’s just weird trivia stuff! I don’t need to know that to-”

    “What are her fears? Her desires? What is she really like underneath that lion, and those prim dresses? Can you honestly answer any of those questions? Can you seriously tell me a single thing about her deeper than the most basic stuff!?”

    Lance is speechless.

    Pidge lets out a long sigh. “...my problem, Lance, is that everything you seem to like about her is surface level. It's all stuff anyone could tell you even without really knowing her. If you really loved her, you’d be able to answer those questions.”

    Lance doesn’t say anything for a while.

    “...I think Keith had a good idea. I’m gonna go check out the fleet’s rear.” He says finally. He turns his Lion to go.

    “Lance…”  Hunk says, as if he could salvage the situation.

    He flies off.

    “Was that really necessary?” Hunk asks.

    “He needed to hear it.” Pidge says, not managing to sound very convincing.

    “Still, think you could have put it a little nicer.”

    “Hm.” Pidge says in what might be agreement. She sits back and bangs her head against the back of her lion’s seat.

    The two sit in silence for a while.

    “So...you really might leave Voltron?” Pidge asks after a time.

    “Maybe...probably.” He admits after a moment. “Are you mad?”

    “Nah. If you’ll recall, I was the one talking about leaving Voltron before it was cool.”

    “Oh yeah you did do that.” Hunk gives a light chuckled. “Still that was a long time ago. We hadn’t been through half as much stuff back then. I kind of get why Keith is so angry. It almost feels like I’d be turning my back on you guys. On our friendship.”

    “Well if you do decide to leave, I’ll support your decision...but I will be sad to see you go.”

“I’ll be sad to go...but nothing’s official at the moment. I wouldn’t count me out just yet.”

“Still, it’d be too bad.”

“Hm?”

“No one on the team is half as good as cooking as you.”

“Oh, I’m glad that’s the reason I’m so indispensable from this team.”

They both laugh. After a few moments the laughter dies down to silence.

“...you should really go apologize to Lance.” Hunk says.

Pidge cringes. “...I know. It's just that...he can be such and idiot sometimes!”

“I think he’d say it’s part of his charm.”

“Yeah he would wouldn’t he…hold that thought.” Pidge says noticing something on her display. She  grows more concerned as she he studies it. She opens the comms.

    “Hey Matt are you getting this same sensor reading?”

    “Sure am.” Her brother replies. “Was just about to ask you about it.”

    “Wait, what’s happening? What am I missing here?” Hunk interjects.

    “There’s a cloud of...something is approaching.” Pidge explains.

    “Might be nothing.” Matt points out.

    “After what just happened? I’m not about to take a chance on that. Everybody come in, do you read me?”

    ***

    At the far back of the Coalition fleet, Lance flies in the Red Lion, firing off shots from the mouth beam at asteroids.

    “Dang Pidge.” He mutters under his breath. “Doesn’t know what she’s talking about…”  He fires again, completely missing an asteroid. “Dang it!”

    He lines up on the asteroid again, but fires at the wrong moment and misses again. His eye twitches and he fires another few times, to no avail. Eventually he sighs and gives up.

    “...maybe she’s right.”     “Everyone  come in do you read me?” Pidge voice suddenly comes over the comm.  Lance blinks with surprise.

“We got a dark cloud out in space heading for our location now.”

    “This is Keith, I read you. Is it possible that its just be debris or something?”

    “...Don’t think so. It seems to be changing its trajectory to follow our course. Whatever it is, it's coming for us, and fast.

“Whatever it is, it sure has fantastic timing.” Allura says with a sigh.

    “Understood Pidge.” Keith says. He takes a deep breath. “Paladins...regroup. This might be something Zarkon sent after us, or some Galra weapon. Either way it looks like we gotta deal with it.”

    Lance hesitates only a moment before pushing his lion into gear.

        ***

The Black and Blue Lions Fly up to meet Green and Yellow. Red is the final arrival.

    “So what’s this  bout a space cloud?” Lance asks.

    “Unidentified object moving fast. Probably some kind of mass inside it, but I can’t get any reading through the thing.” Pidge says quickly, as her fingers fly across a virtual keyboard.

    “I understood some of those words.” Lance replies.

        “Take a look outside your viewport…”

    Sure enough a large cloud of what looks to be dust is approaching the fleet. The dust gets thinner and a shadowy outline can be seen inside the cloud.

    “Hang on the cloud’  dissipating. The dust must have just been some kind of camouflage...guys, there’s something alive in there. ”

    The smoke continues to disperse and the outline grows more clear. The creature has a long body, that thickens in the middle, with six total limbs down it's length. On its head what appears to be a mouth opens, and the creature seems to breath, despite the vacuum of space. The remaining dust blows away, revealing the creature entirely. It is dark grey, with scales covering its body, claws at the end of each limb and a massive toothed mouth, that hangs partially open. It gazes at the fleet with six eyes on it's head.

    “What the heck is that!?” Lance exclaimes.

    “It's a Drigmaw!” Ryder cries with shock.

    “A what!?”

    “A Drigmaw.” She repeats. “It's a space-dwelling creature that preys on Balmeras.”

    “It preys on Balmeras!?” Hunks says with shock. “As in eats them!?”

    “In a manner of speaking. It burrows into the Balmera itself and feeds on it's crystals. Eventually this kills the Balmera, and the Drigmaw produces offspring in its husk. It's probably after us for the crystals powering our own ships.”

    “How horrible…” Allura says.

    “For us.” Pidge puts in.

    “Alright guys, let’s stay calm.” Keith says. “We need to-”

    Without warning, the Drigmaw lunges for the nearest Collation ship. The creature’s massive claws clamp down, and it wraps its body around the length of the cruiser. It opens its mouth to bite down on the ship. Lance quickly lines up to fire down the creature’s throat, but hesitates the instant before. Before he can act Keith flies past, and blasts the creature in the side of it's head. The Drigmaw seems to shrug off the hit and completes its motion of biting down on the ship. The metal warps where it's teeth dig in.

    “It's penetrating the hull!’ Ryner cries.

    “We’ll get it off. Paladins open fire on that thing!” Keith orders.

    All the lions begin to blast the creature’s head limbs and back, but to little effect. The most the Drigmaw does is shift its position slightly, then digs it's teeth and claws in even deeper.

    “This isn’t working!” Pidge says.

    “No it's not…” Keith admits. He seems to be thinking of an alternative solution.

    Allura takes a breath and closes her eyes. “Please Blue...let this work…” When she opens them, her eyes are set with determination. Allura moves to activate her Lion’s weapon and it works. The Blue Lion’s sonar cannon appears on it's back and fires at the Drigmaw. Waves of energy beat against the back of the Drigmaw, and it finally reacts. It shudders with what looks like pain under the sonar blast, and unclamps itself from the cruisers. Then it turns around and tries to eat the Blue Lion. Keith fires quickly, hitting the creature in one of its eyes, and diverting it's jaws to close on empty space. Allura uses the opportunity to get well away from the Drigmaw. The Lions draw together.

    “All ships stay away from this thing. We’ll try to handle it, so don’t provoke the thing.” Keith orders.

    “Fine by us. I don’t wanna be anywhere near that thing…” Matt replies.

The Drigmaw however, apparently no longer interested in the cruiser, starts moving towards the Lion.

    “Well we got it's attention...now what?” Lance asks.

    “Good question…” Keith replies.

    The Drigmaw lunges at them with its front two claws. The Paladins scatter, each lion flying in a different direction. Lance and Pidge pull around to one side, to blast it in the side. They get sent flying from a slash of its claws for their efforts. Allura uses her sonic cannon again, but this only seems to make the Drigmaw angrier and she nearly gets eaten for a second time. Keith flies up and down the creature, blasting it with mouth beam and tail laser relentlessly, while dodging it's clawed limbs. Despite his efforts however, the Drigmaw seems uninjured, and he is forced to pull back when the creature tries to constrict him.

    “Our normal weapons don’t seem to be working!” Pidge points out.

“I can tell…” Keith replies, thinking. “Lance, the cannon on red working?”   

    “...no.” Lance admits after trying to use the weapon.

    “Of course not.

    “Pidge? Anything?”

    “Nothing.” She says helplessly unable to use her lion’s ability.

Hunk...claw armor?”   

    “No.” Hunk replies quietly. “Not working.”

    “Great…” Keith sighs. “Guys I think we gotta form Voltron.”

    There is a series of uncertain agreements.

    “Let’s do it then…”   

    The Lion all form up, and begin to fly upwards. Despite their formation and the flight, nothing seems to happen.

    “Come one...come on!” Keith urges. But the lions do not join. The Drigmaw tilts its head curiously, then flies up to cut off their path.

    “Evasive maneuvers!” Keith yells.

    But none of the Paladins have time to avoid the massive swing from the Drigmaw’s tail. All Lions are struck and go flying.

    The Drigmaw lunges for the nearest Lion. Red. Lance eyes widen as the creature’s mouth nearly closes on him.

    “Lance!” Pidge cries, as her lion slams into his. The mouth closes on empty space. Both fly out of it's reach as it tries to strike again.

Hunk watches the creature move towards the Red and Green Lions. Hunk narrows his eyes and moves his lion into gear. He blasts the Drigmaw along it's back, and when that doesn’t work he slams the body of his lion into its side. That finally makes the Drigmaw whip around to grasp at the Yellow Lion. Hunk tries to pull back, but he isn’t fast enough, and gets caught. The Drigmaw, now with Hunk’s Lion in hand, rockets forward. It slams Hunk’s Lion down into the face of an asteroid. Hunk groans in pain. Then the Drigmaw, opens its mouth and moves to place the Yellow Lion inside.

    “Hunk get out of there!” Allura yells, firing her sonar blast. The creature ignores the blast, focusing on trying to pull Hunk’s Lion down it's gullet. Hunk struggles, firing in full reverse, but he cannot break from it's grip. Lance and Pidge fly up and unleash their own blasts, but this does nothing.

    “I….can’t get free!” Hunk says finally.

    “N, you aren't’ giving up that easy!” Keith snarls, suddenly swooping in. Before the Drigmaw’s mouth can close over the Yellow Lion, Keith slams the Black Lion into the creature’s throat. The Drigmaw is thrown off balance, and Keith continues to fire full thrusters to keep the creature’s head away from Hunk.

    “Keith you can’t keep that up for long!” Hunk says. “Just get out of here before it gets you too!”

    “No!” Keith barks. “ I don’t care if you want to leave, or if you’re done with all of this! You’re my friend, and I’m not leaving you behind! None of you, not again!”

    Hunk looks on with stunned silence, as Keith continues his struggle against the gargantuan creature. The Drigmaw starts to overpower Keith’s burst, and it's head gradually lower.

    “AAAH!” Keith bellows, throwing all his force into the Lion’s throttles. Suddenly the Lion’s wings appear.  The Drigmaw’s head snaps back as it is thrown from the force of Keith’s incredible burst of speed. Even Keith is shocked, and tumbles out of control for a second, free of the Drigmaw’s pressure. The Drigmaw sees this and lunges towards Keith with an open mouth.

    Hunk grips his controls, and telling, he thrusts his Lion upward. The armored claw blades form on The Yellow lion, and dig into the Drigmaw’s tail. Seizing the creature, Hunk drags it back doward to slam it into the asteroid.

    “Thanks.” Keith says, pulling up next to Hunk.

    “Just paying back the favor.” Hunk shrugs. “Besides, for the moment...I am still a member of this team.”

    Keith smiles. “In that case, you guys want to try forming Voltron again?”

    “Yeah!” Lance agrees.

    “Might as well.” Pidge shrugs.

    “On option it seems we have.” Allura puts in.

    “Let’s do it!” Hunk says with a grin.

    “Everyone...from Voltron!”

    The lions fly in formation, and this time, begin to glow. The five lion join together, becoming Voltron.

    The Drigmaw, for it's part, rises from the cracked asteroid, and flies at its new enemy. Voltron tears out it's sword, and meets the Drigmaw’s charge. The creature makes as if it’s going to try to bite Voltron, but instead, pulls back and swings its tail.

    “Shield!” Keith orders.

    The Shield is thrown up, and the Drigmaw’s attack is easily blocked. Voltron then swings it's sword, slashing the Drigmaw’s side. The creature recoils, pulling back to hide it's gashed side, that glows with the energy from Voltron’s blade. Voltron pushes forward, hammering the Drigmaw with sword strikes. For a while the creature seems to only be able to duck and dodge Voltron’s attacks. But as it's narrowly dives below another swing, the creature puffs up it's chest, and vomits out a new cloud of the dust cloud around Voltron. The Paladins are instantly blinded.

    “Where is it?” Keith asks.

    “I don’t know!” Pidge replies. “This stuff blocks my sensors!”

    Voltron is slashed by a sudden claw strike. It is slashed again, when another claw hits from the other side. Voltron swings around the sword in random arcs, but doesn’t hit anything. Suddenly Voltron is struck again, from behind, but this time the Drigmaw uses the opportunity to writhe its body around Voltron. It holds down Voltron’s limbs with its claws, and squeezes it's serpentine body around the robot, constricting it.

    “Lance...sword?” Keith utters, struggling to get Voltron to even move.

    “Can’t..move.” Lance replies.

    The dust starts to disperse, not that the helps the Paladins. They are only able to better see the Drigmaw open its mouth, ready to bite down on Voltron’s head. The Paladins are helpless.

Then, the bayard port in Hunk’s lion begins to glow. His eyes widen with surprise, but he grins.

    “Chew on this!” Hunk yells.

    The cannon forms at the same time as the Drigmaw lunges. Rather than bite down on Voltron’s head, it gets a mouth full of cannon. The cannon fires.

    There is a blinding flash of light. When the Paladins can see again. The Drigmaw has no head. The limp body slides off Voltron, to drift off into space.

    “Good...good job team.” Keith pants. He smiles. “Especially you Hunk.”

    Hunk only shrugs. “All in a day’s work.”

***

    The Lions of Voltron pull into one of the Coalition ship’s hangar bays to rest. They all get out of their lions.

    “That was awesome Hunk!” Pidge exclaimes.

    “Yeah the way you blew that thing’s head off!? Never saw it coming…” Lance adds.

    “Well I just…did what I had to.” He shrugs.

    Keith clears his throat. All eyes turn to him. He takes a breath, mumbles something to himself, then looks them each in the eye.

    “Paladins...guys.” He sighs. “I know...I know I’m not the best at this. Leading the team, I mean. To be honest I think I’m really bad at it. But It's the job I’ve got. And I’m not going to run away from it. Not…” He looks down. “...not again.”

    Lance’s eyes also fall at that comment. Allura, meanwhile, nods with approval, and urges him to continue. Keith looks back up, with more resolve on his face now. His gaze falls on Hunk.

    “Hunk...I’m sorry man. I...I’m just trying to keep this all together. But I shouldn’t have attacked you like that. I’m gonna screw up. A lot, probably. And If you want to leave Voltron...well that’s your decision. I can’t, and won’t try, to stop you. You’ve fought this fight with us for a long time, and no one has any right to call you a coward, especially not me. I just hope...I just hope that even if you leave, we keep being friends...I don’t have many of those.” He adds the last reluctantly.

    Hunk looks at Keith with watery eyes. “Oh come here you edgy lone wolf!” Then he grabs Keith up in a bear hug. “We all know it’s just an act and you’re just a big softie deep down!”

    “Oh! Alright we’re hugging now…” Keith says clearly caught off guard.

    “If I ever leave I’m making you all a giant cake!” Hunk says, sniffing. “However big your imaging, make it five times bigger!”

    “Looking forward to it big guy…” Keith smiles, hugging him back.

    “Looks like it all worked out in the end.” Lance says.

    “Hm.” Pidge agrees in a reserved voice.

    Lance glances over to see Allura. She smiles at Keith before heading back to her own lion. Pidge takes note of his gaze. After a moment he turns away and glances down to see Pidge looking up at him.

    “Hey.” He smiles weakly. “You kinda saved me yourself back there. Thanks.”

    “Don’t mention it.” She looks down. They’re silent for a moment.

    “...sorry. For what I said before. You...you didn’t deserve that. I was being a jerk. I know I’ve been...kind of high strung lately, so I’m sorry I ended up taking that out on you.”

    She waits patiently for his reply.

    “...forget about it.” He finally says with a shrug.  “You were just being honest. Maybe you were right too...guess however I feel about Allura doesn’t matter considering how she reacted. Don’t think she really wants anything to do with me after that.”

    “Lance.” Pidge says seriously. “...what I meant to say back there -what I should have said back there- was just that you didn’t understand what Allura was going through when you told her that. It wasn’t just you, it was what it reminded her of.”

    “What do you mean?” He asks, with a quirked eyebrow.

    “Well she had just found out Lotor had returned.”

    “And?”

    “And then you told you were in love with her.”

    “I’m failing to see the connection here.”

    Pidge rolls her eyes. “Lance, how did Allura feel about Lotor?”

    “Well I guess she kind of...well they sorta...oh...OH!”

    “Yeah…”

    “And I just...just made her think about the last guy she was with, who turned out to be super evil jerk who killed her people...quiznak. I really am an idiot.” His shoulders slump.

    “I...think you just caught her off guard, and she ended up reacting strongly. It doesn’t mean that she hates you or wants nothing to do with you now. She just needs time.”

    Lance chuckles and shakes his head. “When did you become an expert of love Pidge?”

    “I”m not-I don’t...listen this is just common sense stuff!”

    “Well be that as if may, thanks for telling this idiot what he did wrong.”

    “S-sure. Anytime…” PIdge stammers, cheeks growing hot.

    “You alright there Pidge?”

    “Fine.”     she says quickly. “Just fine.”

***

    Haggar stands on the bridge of a Galra cruiser, overlooking dozens of other Galra ships. Commander Sendak walks up to stand next to her.

    “Is there any word of my son?”

    “None.” Sendak replies. “No one has seen anything since…”

    “Since?”

    “...since he fought Voltron.”

    “Just what are you implying Commander?”

    “Nothing.” He says quickly. “...but it may be time to consider that he is not coming back.”   

    Haggar whirls around to look the Commander in the eyes. She crackles with violet energy. “Emperor Lotor is not dead!”

    “I...of course.” Sendak says, lowering his head.

    “Continue the search. I want every planet, every asteroid, every rock searched until he is found.”

    “Understood.” he nods, carefully.

    “Commander! We have unidentified craft approaching! Definitely not one of ours.” An officer shouts from his station.

    “Who would dare attack us?” Sendak muses. “Is it Skriel? Maybe Maroffa? Or did that pathetic Coalition finally grow the spine to attack us?”

    “These readings...they look like Voltron, sir!”

    Haggar looks over sharply. “What?”

    Before the officer can even reply, Dark Voltron suddenly bursts into view. It deactivates it's booster wings, and for a moment, only hangs there in the rough center of the cluster of Galra ships. Then an image appears on all the ship’s screens: Emperor Zarkon, sitting in the cockpit of the Black Lion.

    “Zarkon.” Haggar gasps.

    “To what remains of the Galra Empire: Your eyes have not deceived you.  Your emperor has returned. And as you can see...”

    Dark Voltron tears out it's sword, as if to emphasis.

    “...I have my own Voltron. And I assure you it is stronger than the one those pitiful children of this ‘Voltron Coalition’ are piloting.”

Beside Zarkon’s image, a new image pops up, and begins to play a video. It is an abbreviated version of Dark Voltron’s fight with the other Voltron.

“...I trust you will all understand what this means. This empire is now mine, as is rightfully so. You are now mine. There will be no discussion. I am in charge once more, and forever.”

    Sendak swallows hard.

    “...ma’am?” He asks gingerly.

    Haggar does not reply.

    “Haggar.” Sendak says, firmly.

    She finally nods slowly.

    “Only one thing to do: Bend the knee.”

    Sendak lets out a sigh of what might been relief. He nods to an officer.

    “This Commander Sendak, the leader of this small fleet.” Sendak says over the comm. “We are yours to command Emperor Zarkon. Vrepit Sa!”

    Zarkon goes silent for a moment. “...I accept your allegiance, Sendak. Prepare to be boarded…”

    The image of Zarkon disappears. A moment later Dark Voltron splits up into Lions.

    “How could he be alive ma’am? He...he died at Lotor’s hands did he not?” Sendak asks.

    “I don’t…” Haggar doesn’t finish the sentence.

    A flash of violet light appears on the bridge. Haggar’s eyes widen and she throws up a barrier of energy. A fraction of a second after she does this there is an exposition of violet lightning that tears the bridge apart. In an instant, everyone on the bridge is dead save for Haggar and Sendak. Dust and debris rains down. Haggar lets her shield drop. Two new figures now stand on what remains of the bridge, shadowed by the dust.

    “I told you Sendak.” A voice says. “I wouldn’t die from such a simple attack. I’m smarter than that…”

    Honvera steps forward, along with another Sendak at her side. Haggar gasps, and takes an involuntary step back.

    “What witchery is this!?” Sendak exclaims at seeing his twin.

    Honvera only smiles. “Now let’s see how long it takes me to figure it out…”

Haggar is only silent for another few moments.

    “...alternate reality.” She finally says. “They are us from an alternate reality. It's the only explanation for them, Zarkon, and that Voltron being here. Voltron itself was made from a trans-dimensional comet...no it is not such a stretch at all.”

    Honvera claps lightly. “Excellent. I was worried I’d have to lead you to that solution, but well...you are me after all.”

    “So they are...us?” Sendak asks.   

    “Indeed.” The other Sendak replies.

    “And they intend to…”

    “Kill us and take our places, most likely.” Haggar says simply.

    Honvera shrugs. “It's necessary, I’m afraid. We’ll fill in for you two. It seems the rest of the Paladins no longer have alternates, so that won't be a problem for them. The story will be that Zarkon’s death was meer Coalition propaganda. We’ll say he’s been away constructing his own Voltron this whole time. That way we don’t have to try to explain all the intricacies of interdimensional travel. It's just cleaner like that.”

    “I understand. I’d probably do the same.” Haggar says, her hands begin to crackle with violet energy. “Sendak...try not to die. It seems we have a fight on our hands, and I’d prefer to live through this day.”

    “Fighting myself…” Sendak muses.

    “It should be interesting to see who is stronger, if nothing else.” The other Sendak replies.

    With no other warning the fight begins. Haggar throws a bolt of crackling energy at her alter. Hovera passively knocks the bolt away with a swing of her hand. Her own hand crackles, as if to fire a bolt, but at the last second she teleports inches away from Haggar. Haggar only barely manages to teleport out of the way in time, the bolt flying through where her body had been moments before.

    Meanwhile, the two Sendak’s charge. Commander and Paladin each throw out their artificial arms, the two clashing in mid air. Both reel their arms back in to strike out again. The Commander Sendak ducks below the other’s rocketing fist, to fire off his own. Paladin Sendak however, activates his bayard, forming it into a shield, blocking his opponent’s attack. The Paladin Sendak then charges forward, bashing his shield into the other Sendak’s chest, sending him stumbling. The Paladin follows his blow up with a punch from his artificial arm. The Commander Sendak stumbles, almost falling. He pulls his arm back in, this time in a guarding position.

    “I can see one major difference between us now.” The Paladin Sendak says.

    “And what is that?” The Commander replies.

    “I was the one that was strong enough to become a Paladin of Voltron.”

    The Paladin Sendak charges.

    Haggar and Honvera fire off twin blasts of crackling energy at each other. The two women struggle, neither seeming to gain the upper hand. But then, Honvera drops a hand, and Haggar’s blast takes the lead. But Honvera dropped the hand, not from weakness, but to fire a second bolt of energy at the ceiling above Haggar. Haggar quickly teleports away, but is met with a bolt of energy flying right for her new location. She throws up a shield just in time to block the blast. Haggar then teleports behind her alter, and throws a blast that forces Honvera to throw up her own shield.

    “This fight could go on for days. We are too evenly matched.” Haggar says plainly.

    “Oh I don’t know about that…” Honvera says. She starts peppering Haggar with short quick bursts of energy. Haggar teleports away, but is forced to teleport again as the energy blasts strike at her new location. She is forced to do this several more times.

     “Who will outlast whom, I wonder?” Honvera asks. “All that jumping around has to be taking its toll.”

    “Perhaps you are right…” Haggar says, teleporting again. She keeps one arm behind her back, where violet glyphs begin to swirl around her hand.

    Hoverva smiles. “I always am.” She pulls out her own hand covered in the same glyphs. A blinging blast of energy tears across the bridge right for Haggar. At the last moment, Haggar teleports out of the way, to stand right beside Honverva.     “-You weren’t this time.” She throws out her own hand.

    Honvera’s smile never wavers. A thick beam of violet energy slams into Haggar’s side sending the woman crashing into the far wall.

    “I wasn’t aiming for you.” Honvera chuckles. Across the room, Paladin Sendak stands, holding out his shield, crackling from where he used it to reflect Honvera’s earlier blast back towards Haggar.

    Commander Sendak tries to use the opportunity to attack Paladin’s exposed back. Moving fluidly, Paladin Sendak spins back around, leg sweeping the Commander, sending him to the floor. Paladin Sendak then swings his massive arm down once, twice, three times. The Commander Sendak does not rise.

    Honerva waves her hands and a series of glyphs appear. She throws them and they surround Haggar, and disperse into crackling energy. Haggar, ragged from the blast, tries to teleport away, but the crackling around her prevents her from going anywhere.

    “Warded. You can’t escape I’m afraid…” Honvera explains.

    Haggar gives up struggling. Honerva turns away, back towards the two Sendaks. She walks over and kneels down, touching the beaten Sendak on the forehead. Energy crackles from his forehead to her fingertips. She then touches the hand to the Paladin Sendak’s forehead.

    “There. I took just the basic memories. Enough for you to get by as him. Passphrases, names of subordinates and the like. The rest should be easy enough to figure out.”

    “Thank you mistress.” He gives a slight bow.

    “Now finish it.” Honerva nods to the other Sendak.

    Paladin Sendak steps over his fallen alter.

    “W...wait!” The beaten Sendak pleads. “I’m you! You don’t want to do this!”

    “I’ll admit it's...philosophically troubling. But orders are orders. And besides…” The Paladin Sendak shifts his bayard into an axe. “...this is what you deserve for being weak.”

    Sendak swings the axe.

Honerva turns away from the grisly scene. She looks back at Haggar slumped on the ground, but still looking in her direction.

    “What about her?” Sendak asks, turning away from the corpse.

    “We won’t kill her...yet. Her mind will be far harder to extract knowledge from.” Honerva smiles slightly. “Let’s find somewhere safe to keep her. I think I want to have a talk with myself…”

[sachigram]

Infinity, With Coffee Rings Chapter 2

Click here to read on ao3!

The coffeehouse is quiet so early in the morning. Tweek actually enjoys it and always has, despite the fact he's technically working. There's something special about the late night and the early morning hours. When the rest of the world is asleep, there's no one to impress or hide from. Tweek is alone with the coffee, his most favorite audience.

Only a few customers trickle in, doctors from Hells Pass, fast food workers off to open their stores. Tweek wonders what it would be like to have another job sometimes, but he knows better than to think anyone else would actually ever hire him. All it would take for his applications to be thrown out would be his medical history, and then he knows the employers would go running for the hills if they had any sense.

“Whoa—dude!”

Tweek looks up from the counter to see Kyle Broflovski in the doorway, though it's hard to recognize him without the ushanka on his head. Then again, Craig wasn't wearing his chullo, so Tweek supposes he's going to have to rethink normalcy.

Kyle bounds for the counter, startling Tweek, who finds himself being hugged tightly for the second time in twenty-four hours by an old childhood friend.

“This is crazy! I never thought I'd see you again!” Kyle says. Tweek snorts incredulously.

“I guess I wasn't really aware I was so popular back then,” Tweek mutters, patting Kyle awkwardly on the back.

“Well—yeah we were kind of jerks as kids.” Kyle pulls back with a smile. They weren't really friends. Tweek hung out with Kyle's group of friends off and on, and he remembers being picked on mercilessly, even worse than he was picked on when he hung out with Craig's group. Tweek remembers Craig punching Cartman in the face once for cornering Tweek and trying to make him eat dirt. Kyle had found the punching hilarious.

Kyle is a little taller than Tweek, eyes still bright green and hair still wild and red. Tweek can tell Kyle puts a lot of work into his hair now, probably expensive work.

“It's pretty early. Do you work at the hospital too?” Tweek asks.

“Oh, no, I work in private practice,” Kyle says.

“But you're a doctor?”

“No, I'm a child counselor.” Kyle grins, and Tweek finds himself thinking that Kyle grew up to be cute. “I'd love to be a doctor, but that'd be four more years of school.”

Tweek notices the ring on Kyle's finger.

“You're married?”

“You remember Stan, right?”

Tweek's eyes nearly pop out of his head.

“You and Stan?! I mean—wow. Wow. Congratulations! It's just—fuck, I'm really bad with words, if you remember, so...”

“Hey, it's okay,” Kyle says. “Just slow down and say how you feel.”

Tweek recognizes therapy when he hears it. He shoots Kyle a glare, then feels bad about it.

“It's just like an alien planet, man. This place was supposed to stay the same. Nothing ever changes here, except things did change. It's like that 'you can't go home again' feeling but I never thought that shit was real,” Tweek says.

“Life happens fast, dude,” Kyle agrees, and Tweek is grateful he's dropped the counselor talk.

“So, uh, how long? Were you guys together when we were kids? Did I miss that?” Tweek asks.

Kyle laughs. “God, no. It didn't happen until we were teenagers. We've been together thirteen years, now, married for three.”

“Jesus.”

“Tell me about it. Stan would be super happy to see you, too,” Kyle says.

“He would?”

“Stan loves everyone.” Kyle grins fondly as he says so.

Tweek takes Kyle's order and is busy making it while Kyle chatters in the background about some other people Tweek's been curious about. Butters supposedly railed against his parents after high school and ran off with Kenny, though they recently moved back at Kenny's insistence. Kyle talks about Kenny's supposed “spiritual marriage” with South Park with a tiny scowl on his face, and Tweek wonders how many times Kyle's tried to convince Kenny there's no such thing to no avail. Kyle always did get pissy when no one saw his logic as the right answer. Tweek is so busy thinking this he almost doesn't hear what Kyle just said. Almost.

“WHAT! Cartman and...and Wendy?!”

“Yeah, that was Stan's reaction, too,” Kyle says.

“Holy... How is that even possible? Wendy isn't... Did she get stupid when I was away?”

“Ha! Sorry it's just that she was Valedictorian and she makes these snide little comments about it sometimes because she beat me for it. She's good at everything but dating, I guess. Cartman's calmed down a lot since he finally landed her, though. Really he needs someone who isn't gonna take his shit, and she fits the bill,” Kyle says.

“God. None of that makes any sense. None of any of this does, dude. Cartman was a fucking—ugh. And Clyde has cancer and I had a fucking dinner party with him and Bebe and Craig—“

“Craig Tucker?” Kyle asks. “He's in town?”

“Yeah, he was here yesterday. And he was nice to me. I mean I guess he was never mean to me before but he didn't like, smile and shit. He wasn't like that before. He didn't care about anything when we were kids except his guinea pig and cartoons.” Tweek runs a hand through his already disarrayed hair. “I'm in fucking—Chinatown. I can't process any of this.”

“Craig's still a dick. He sent Stan and I a collection of dildos for our wedding present with a card that just said 'Take it Jew'.”

Tweek barks out a laugh, then feels a little bad about it. Kyle just smiles though.

“Yeah, so see? Some things are still the same.”

Kyle gives his number to Tweek and then hurries out of the shop to work, leaving Tweek alone with the coffee again. He's busy stacking sugar packets into a tower when Craig stumbles into the shop looking like death itself.

“You look rough,” Tweek comments.

“Yeah. I feel like shit,” Craig says. He strides to the counter and leans against it, glaring at the menu.

“Are you sick? Dude—you shouldn't be here if you're sick. I could catch it. I hate being sick! Argh—I'll have to take more pills than I already do! That's a lot of pills!” Tweek is already counting in his head.

“Chill. It's sleep deprivation. Clyde's couch is lumpy and I don't think I slept at all last night.” Craig's still reading the menu. He squints his eyes. “Is it unhealthy to just drink straight espresso? In a large cup?”

“It's probably not healthy. Not like I'm a health expert. I think I read that you'd have to drink a lot of coffee for it to kill you though but sometimes those reports aren't accurate. I could just pull some shots for you and see if it helps.”

“Sure, why the fuck not,” Craig says.

They're in a companionable silence for a bit. Tweek takes his time readying shots for Craig, who downs them with an awful expression. Craig is on his third when he holds his hand up.

“Okay, no. First of all, this is disgusting. Secondly, I don't feel awake. I feel like I'm vibrating.”

“That's a step up from sleeping,” Tweek says with a grin.

“You're the worst. You peddle me this garbage in a tiny cup and say it'll help just to watch me suffer.” Craig gives him a stern look. “You aren't even sympathetic to my zombie state.”

“Not really. I never sleep and you don't hear me complaining.”

“Smartass.”

Tweek smiles innocently. “Guess who came in earlier.”

“I can't believe anyone ever comes in here,” Craig snarks.

“Ha. You're here. And you were here yesterday, too, okay, so you can shut up,” Tweek says, making Craig grin. “Kyle was here today.”

“Gross.”

“He told me about his marriage and stuff.”

“Extra gross.”

“And apparently you gave him dildos for a present because you're an awful person.”

“It seemed like the most useful thing. Broflovski has a stick up his ass, but I'm sure something else would fit up there with enough effort. And Marsh is dickless, so.”

Tweek laughs. “That's awful! You're awful!”

“I'm right, though.” Craig grins again, and Tweek thinks if Kyle grew up to be cute, another adjective fits Craig entirely. Handsome, maybe? Would gorgeous be offensive to another guy? Probably. Tweek offends people easily without meaning to, since it's easier to blurt everything out than to process it first.

Has Tweek ever found another man gorgeous before? Honestly, he can't remember ever thinking anyone was, gender aside. Craig definitely is though, with his black hair and light blue eyes. He always looks either bored or up to something, which also describes Craig very well actually.

“Is Cartman still fat?” Tweek asks suddenly, thinking about it.

“Probably. I try not to see him. Or anyone, really, aside from a handful of people in this town,” Craig says, shrugging.

“Am I—I mean, I guess I am in the handful, right? Since you're here.”

“Clearly.”

Tweek smiles down at the counter.

“Do you ever think about alternate realities?” he asks, blurting again.

“Frequently,” Craig says without a moment's pause.

“Okay, so like, do you think the old South Park fell into a black hole or something and was replaced with a new one? Or—or maybe I was? Oh, God!” Tweek grabs at his hair and pulls. It's a bad habit he's been working on breaking.

“What makes you ask?” Craig asks, still calm. He frowns and smacks Tweek's hands out of his hair. “Stop that. Clyde's bald enough for you both without you pulling your hair out.”

“Just...everything changed? And Kyle said some stuff that was true, I mean, life does happen fast but to think of things changing here? Am I the only one who thinks this place is in some kind of void where things should always stay the same?”

“You aren't the only one. Things did stay the same, to me. I guess it's just because you weren't here while things were changing, so you came back to everything being different than it was.” Craig starts messing with the sugar packet tower Tweek was making before.

“I guess. Well. You left, too. Do you ever feel this way?” Tweek asks.

“Kind of, but I guess it doesn't get to me because I hear firsthand from Clyde and Token about any changes in their lives. I don't really come back and get surprised. But this time I did, since you were suddenly here.”

“Surprises are good sometimes. One of my therapists said that to me—hey. Hey!” Tweek squawks as Craig knocks over his looming tower of sugar packets. “I had those color coordinated!”

“Sorry. Hey, when can you leave?” Craig asks, clearly not sorry at all.

“Whenever my dad gets here. He likes to sleep in now that I can watch the store in the mornings. He doesn't like getting up early,” Tweek explains.

“Cool, so around lunchtime?”

“Yeah, did you want to go somewhere?”

“You're upset,” Craig says simply. “I have things I like to do when I'm upset.”

About an hour later, Tweek's dad comes in. He smiles at Craig and pats Tweek on the shoulder, looking as serene as he always does after he takes his morning medication.

“Hello, boys. It's a wonderful day today,” he says.

“Dad, do you mind if I go somewhere with Craig?” Tweek asks.

“Mm. Where is this 'somewhere'?”

“The pet store,” Craig says before Tweek can answer.

“Oh. That's fine. Just don't bring anything home, Tweek. You know what your mother would say.”

Tweek's climbing in the passenger seat of Craig's car when Craig speaks again, so he almost misses it.

“Huh?” he asks.

“I said why can't you bring anything home? Your parents don't like pets?”

“Oh. Well, I'm not supposed to have anything to take care of. My parents think I'm...not ready for that,” Tweek says glumly. He hates having to admit things like that, but it's easier to tell the truth than to have to keep track of a lie.

Craig's jaw is set as he starts his car and pulls out of the parking lot.

“So they just decided that? Your doctors never said you couldn't have a pet?”

“A couple of my doctors thought it'd be good for me to have...you know, like a fish or something small. My parents were always against it though. They don't really think I can even take care of myself, much less a defenseless animal.”

“That's really—uh,” Craig pauses. “That's super shitty. That's what they think your limitations are, but have you tried testing your own?”

“No,” Tweek says quietly. Craig looks over at him.

“I'm not saying you have to. You should, though. No one knows what you can do better than you.”

“I feel like I'd kill something. Or hurt it. I don't want to have that on my shoulders,” Tweek says.

“Do you remember to brush your teeth and shit like that?” Craig asks, and Tweek nods confusedly. “Okay, well it's the same thing. You brush your teeth in the morning and then you give the fish some fish flakes. It's like a routine. And fish die sometimes but that doesn't always mean it's anyone's fault.”

“Do you have a pet?” Tweek asks to get the focus off himself.

“Nope. I'm hardly ever home, and when I am home, I'm asleep. I could get a fish, though. They're pretty low maintenance.”

“I'm surprised you don't have a guinea pig,” Tweek says.

“I had one. He died,” Craig says.

“Recently?”

“A couple years ago. I didn't buy him, someone gave him to me. He died pretty young. Do you remember Stripe?”

Tweek smiles at the name of Craig's old beloved guinea pig. He nods.

“Yeah, he lived to be nine. That's older than they usually get. I haven't bought one since he died. There won't ever be another one like him, you know?”

The rest of the ride is spent in silence, aside from Craig's music, which is some kind of heavy metal music Tweek doesn't listen to. He snorts when they actually pull into the pet store parking lot.

“I wasn't sure if you were serious,” he admits.

“I'm always serious,” Craig says. “Unless I'm not,” he adds, waggling his eyebrows.

They journey through the cold into the warmth of the store. Tweek's never been to a pet store before, since he always knew he wasn't supposed to have one. He sees bird cages as soon as they enter, but Craig pulls him to the side, towards some glass containers where there are mice, hamsters, and—of course, guinea pigs.

“See, look? Don't you feel better already? De-stressed? I know I do,” Craig says.

“They're cute,” Tweek admits. A tiny black one catches his eye. It has a cute twitching nose, and it doesn't take its eyes off Tweek.

“That one likes you,” Craig comments as Tweek moves his finger along the outside of the glass just to have the little ball of fluff chase after it.

“Yeah, it's so...” Tweek's eyes fill with tears. “It's so little. I think I'm gonna cry, just 'cause it's so cute.”

“Hang on,” Craig says. He shuffles away and leaves Tweek to play with the guinea pig for a moment. He comes back with an employee Tweek recognizes.

“Well, hey there, Tweek!” Butters says jovially. He pulls Tweek into a hug, and Tweek is starting to think he'd better get used to this. “I almost didn't believe Craig when he said you were here! How have you been, buddy?”

“Good,” Tweek says, his eyebrows raised. “I'm just, you know. Here.”

“I'm here, too! Craig said you wanted to hold one of the guinea pigs?”

“What? No! I can't hold one! I'll drop it!” Tweek practically shouts.

“He wants to hold it. I'll supervise and make sure he doesn't drop it,” Craig says.

“Okay, good. We have to be careful about who we let hold things around here. Kids like to be mean sometimes!” Butters starts to open the cage, and Tweek seriously considers running for it. “Which one of the little fellas did you wanna hold?”

“The black one,” Craig answers.

“Oh yeah, I've been callin' him Midnight!” Butters scoops the little guy up and holds him out to Tweek, who twitches.

“I—I can't, man! That's too much! I'll hurt it!”

“Hand him here, Butters,” Craig instructs. He takes the little guinea pig and pets him gently before holding him out to Tweek.

“Craig, I can't,” Tweek says.

“You can do it. Come on, trust yourself a little. You won't hurt him.”

Nervously, Tweek lets the little fluff ball drop into his hands. He quickly pulls it to his chest and cradles it, staring down at it with wide eyes.

“Is it a boy?” he asks.

“Yep!” Butters says. “He's about three months old!”

Tweek pets him carefully, and feels emotional again as the guinea pig twitches its nose and whiskers at him.

“He twitches like I do,” he says softly. He doesn't pay attention to Craig's and Butters's conversation as he plays with the guinea pig, who really does seem to enjoy being held.

“Well,” Craig says after a few minutes. “He's yours, if you want him.”

“Huh?” Tweek asks lamely.

“I'll get him for you. It'll be good for you to have a pet, and I can tell you love him already. He can stay in your room.”

“I... My parents would kill me. And what if I forget to take care of him? Or...” Tweek starts.

“I'll personally text you every day to remind you if that's what it takes. Just buy him food and clean up after him and your parents won't even really know he's in your room.”

“I can give you guys a discount!” Butters says happily. “You should get him, Tweek, he likes you! Better you buy him than some little kid who really doesn't wanna take care of him.”

Tweek thinks of the poor guinea pig being ignored by a snot nosed kid and he finds himself nodding his head.

Somehow he ends up back in Craig's car with a new guinea pig, a giant cage, some food, and some other supplies. He feels overwhelmed as he holds the little box carefully in his lap.

“You really didn't have to spend all that money,” he says.

“It wasn't that much,” Craig says, though it was over one-hundred dollars. “I'll just live vicariously through you since I'm not home enough to have my own.”

“He'll be okay while I'm working, right?” Tweek asks worriedly.

“Yeah, he'll be fine. Are you changing his name?” Craig asks.

“I don't really like Midnight,” Tweek admits. “I think he needs a cooler name.” Tweek thinks about it for a minute. “What about Espresso?”

“You would name him after coffee,” Craig says. “Yeah, I like it. Espresso did wake me up today, a little. It's worthy.”

Luckily, both Tweek's parents must be at the shop, because the house is empty. Craig helps him carry everything upstairs to his room, and then puts the cage together while Tweek holds Espresso, still marveling at the fact he has a pet now. A pet that likes him.

“Is Clyde working today?” Tweek asks, wondering why Craig wants to spend time with him when he came to see Clyde.

“Yeah, till five. He only works part time, so I wasn't gonna ask him to take the weekend off. I knew I'd have something to do.”

“Do you think I offended him yesterday? About the, uh, phallic head comment?” Tweek asks guiltily.

“Definitely.”

“Oh, no!”

“Relax, Clyde gets offended about everything,” Craig says with a smirk. “Did you forget he's a crybaby? Trust me, you can't offend him more than I usually do. He's already over it.”

“It was still insensitive of me. I have a bad habit of blurting things out. It's just...so sad he's got cancer. Poor Clyde... I can't imagine.”

“He's gonna be okay,” Craig says, his voice soft. Tweek notices the change in Craig's expression, and he knows to change the subject.

“Well, good for me and Espresso you're here this weekend! Now he gets to have a home,” Tweek says, petting Espresso, who he's letting roam around the bed while keeping a close eye on him.

“I never noticed how rodent-like you were until I saw you next to one,” Craig says. “They say people look like their pets, but this is a whole new level.”

“I'm not rodent-like!” Tweek huffs.

“Small, twitchy, easily frightened. Totally rodent-like.”

Tweek grumbles and wills Espresso to leap off the bed at Craig's face, but it doesn't happen.

When the cage is done, Tweek puts Espresso inside it and readies his food and water. It's easy enough, and Tweek thinks it should be simple to incorporate it into his daily routine, like Craig said.

“You promise you'll remind me every day?” he asks.

“I won't have to, but I promise,” Craig says.

They hang out and play with Espresso until a little after four. Craig says he has to go pick up Clyde from work and spend quality bro time with him, which Tweek understands. Tweek really wants to stay with Espresso and make sure he gets settled in anyway. Also he wants to make sure his parents don't find Espresso on their own and freak out.

“I'll see you tomorrow,” Craig says, and Tweek blinks dumbly up at him.

“You want to hang out again tomorrow?”

“Clearly you don't recognize how friendship works,” Craig says. “I just bought you a guinea pig. I've bought your affection. So tomorrow you have to hang out with me and Clyde again.”

“Oh my god, fine. My affection isn't cheap, though! It'll cost more than a guinea pig!” Tweek teases, then he blushes. Did he just flirt? Was that flirting?

“Be off tomorrow,” is all Craig says before he leaves.

Tweek has a hard time explaining the new guinea pig and an even harder time convincing his parents to let him off the next day, but they relent when Tweek tells them Craig is leaving and won't be back for a while. He hurriedly picks at his dinner and then goes back upstairs with Espresso, who seems to be making himself quite at home.

Tweek spends the rest of the evening writing in his journal, one of his many coping mechanisms. He fills three pages with his worry over his new pet, and also his excitement over doing something he was always told he shouldn't do. It feels liberating, in a way. He wants to do his best to take care of Espresso, and he doesn't want to let Craig down, either. No one has ever believed in him before. It's something he doesn't want to lose.

The next morning he finds himself in the backseat of Craig's car. Craig still looks like he hasn't slept, and Clyde is eating a fast food sausage and cheese biscuit blissfully like it's the best food he's ever had.

“So where are we going?” Tweek asks.

“To see a movie,” Craig says.

“It's not scary, right?”

“Clyde is with us,” Craig scoffs. “Clyde can't watch scary movies.”

“Fuck you!” Clyde says. “I can watch them. I just think they're stupid.”

“He'll cry. It's best to avoid the headache.”

They end up watching some comedy that has Tweek laughing loudly, and he'd be embarrassed, but everyone else is laughing too. They don't notice him, and Tweek finds himself thinking it's so nice just to blend in, even if it's in the darkness of a movie theater. He shares popcorn and Skittles with Craig, and Clyde has what seems to be a lap full of candy on Craig's other side.

“I just feel bad for him since he never gets to have junk food at home,” Craig had said at the concession. Tweek thinks it's probably good for Clyde to have some calories, since he's gotten pretty thin.

By the time they're walking through the parking lot back to Craig's car, Tweek has forgotten Craig is leaving soon. That is, until Clyde mentions it.

“You could hang out a little longer. Leave after dark. You'll be up all night anyway.”

“I won't. I'm planning on crashing since your lumpy ass couch didn't let me sleep at all this weekend,” Craig says. “Besides, I've gotta do laundry and shit. Tomorrow starts a long week.”

“Feels like you just got here,” Clyde mumbles petulantly.

“Well, I'll be back soon enough. Try not to eat too much candy while I'm gone or Bebe will blame me.”

They drop Clyde off first, since he's the closest. Clyde gives Craig a tight hug that makes Tweek's ribs hurt in sympathy, and then they're driving back to Tweek's house.

“I forgot you had to leave today,” Tweek says.

“You gonna miss me?” Craig asks.

“Yes,” Tweek says without pause. “You're easy to get used to.”

“I'll take that as a compliment.”

“It is one!”

Craig pulls in front of Tweek's house and puts the car in park.

“Ugh, my dad's gonna ask me to work the night shift. I know he is. Oh well. I guess I should play with Espresso while I can.” Tweek looks over at Craig. “Be careful, okay?”

“I'll text you when I get back,” Craig says. “You aren't planning on leaving town before I come back, are you?”

“No. I promise. And even if I did, you have my number.”

“I'll probably text you a lot,” Craig says, nodding to himself, and Tweek doesn't bother asking why. “You'd better respond.”

“I will!”

“And send me pictures of Espresso.”

Tweek laughs. “I will!”

“I want updates on every thought in his guinea pig brain,” Craig says seriously.

“Okay, okay! I promise!” Tweek says, laughing harder. He stops when he notices Craig looking at him with a strange expression on is face. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Craig says quickly. “I'd better go. But first.” He leans over the glove box and pulls Tweek into a hug. Craig smells like cigarettes and movie theater popcorn. Tweek leans into him and hugs him back. It's the easiest hug he's had to return.

“Take care of yourself. And Clyde, if he needs it,” Craig murmurs. He pulls back and the strange expression is gone, replaced with his usual neutral one. “And don't hang out with Kyle or Stan too much. They'll turn you into a douche.”

“I guess your only option is to come back soon and make sure I'm not their new BFF,” Tweek says, and Craig snorts.

“You are such a smartass. Fine. I'll be back before you know it.”

Tweek exits the car and walks up to his front door before he turns around and waves to Craig, who waves back before driving off. Tweek sighs and goes inside. He's climbing the stairs to his room when his phone buzzes in his pocket. It's from Craig.

I missed you Tweek

Tweek manages to type back that Craig shouldn't be texting while behind the wheel after he gets done blushing and smiling like a loon.