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thinkingaboutjaedyn · 19 days

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my heart over yours; part five | j.fleming x reader

prompt: jessie and you finally stop being oblivious idiots. finally getting together.

author notes: this series is finally coming to an end, this feels weird 😭 i had so much fun writing this actually. so enjoy all this fluff as a ty for all the love this series got 🩷

contains: ucla!jessie x reader, childhood bestie!jessie, lesbians that stopped being oblivious, so much fluff, jeff and reader are certified lover girls™, small time jump but i swear it's nothing crazy like they aren't married, chelsea!jessie x reader, covid doesn't fcking exist in this thank god 🙏🏾

credit to @/glimmerofawesome for the gif 😝🙏🏾

masterlist to the previous parts

playing best part by daniel caesar & h.e.r 🎵

"you taste like cheap liquor," is the first thing jessie says when she pulls away. it quickly changes the mood from semi-romantic to playful. you laugh loudly, unable to control your volume with the alcohol still in your system. good thing the party was still going strong and the music was still blasting so loud you're sure that someone could fall down the stairs and nobody would notice.

the canadian doesn't go too far when she pulls away, still holding onto you. partially because she wants to be close to you after everything that happened and also partially because the alcohol was really starting to get to you so you weren't able to stand that well on your own.

"you're supposed to say something way more romantic after a kiss, freckles," you say, moving your hand to cup one side of her face. she leans into your touch, giving you a smug smile. "you still tasted good though."

"gross! that's even less romantic than the last thing you said," you laugh loudly again. stumbling bit but jessie holds onto you so that you don't fall. you pull her closer, wrapping your arms around her waist with your face against her shoulder; suddenly feeling very tired.

"it's not gross, it's true," jessie laughs at your clinginess. drunk you weren't as messy as she thought, it's actually a really cute sight. "let's get you home," the canadian decides against going back through the party. not wanting to deal with having to push her way through a bunch of drunken people and a house that smells of a combination of sweat, alcohol, and cologne & perfume. she pulls you towards the front of the house by going through the small path that goes from the backyard to the front. quick to hold you by the waist with one of her arms, using her free hand to text hallie to come out so you all could go.

in the back of your mind is gabriela. you are sure she is somewhere in the house drunk making out with some girl, not even thinking about you. leaving without saying anything felt wrong but you just remind yourself to text her in the morning. even though you will probably be fighting off a bad hangover.

it takes ten minutes that felt like pure seconds in your drunken haze for hallie to come out. when you see her, you stumble out of jessie's arms and into hallie's. the blonde is a close friend to jessie since they both play for the ucla soccer team, so obviously you are quite close to her as well. it's only natural when jessie and you are that attached.

"hii halls," you giggle as hallie catches you. she giggles right alongside you, pulling you towards the car. jessie is following close behind. "i'm a cough medicine now?" the tall girl gives you a funny look that makes you giggle again. the alcohol was really starting to get to your brain. you don't reply, just smiling at her. once jessie reaches the car she opens the backseat for hallie to lead you into. after that's done, instead of sitting in the passenger seat like she had on the way here, the canadian sits in the backseat with you. claiming she had to make sure you didn't puke all over hallie's seats which wasn't entirely a lie. puking all over the blonde's white seats wouldn't have been a pretty sight, but also jessie just wanted to stay close to you. especially with you being so vulnerable. she has hardly seen you drunk before; only once or twice when jessie would bring beer for you two to try into the dorm.

"this tastes like piss," you would say after the first sips. coughing in a dramatic way to prove your point. then of course like always, jessie would find a way to tease you and say, "how do you know what piss tastes like?" then you two would burst out laughing. pouring the beer down the drain in the bathroom before going out and getting slushies.

jessie is taken out of her reminiscing by you slamming into her side. wrapping your arms around her waist and leaning your head against her shoulder.

"why don't you have a seatbelt on..?" jessie frowns, her eyes glancing down at your waist. you don't answer her. just letting out a soft sigh. the soccer player chuckles before snapping you into the middle seatbelt. the short dress you have put on has been riding up since earlier, but jessie somehow didn't notice. she pulls it down as much as she can; ever a gentle-woman.

the ride isn't long, with jessie and hallie talking quietly so you wouldn't wake up. even though jessie doubts you would awake at anything. she won't tell you, but you did snore a bit. just quiet, light ones. nothing crazy. she'll eventually tease you about later when you don't even expect it, but for now she'll leave you alone.

getting you from the car to the dorm once you three arrived on campus wasn't hard. you were half asleep, so you just let jessie and hallie drag you along; from hallie's parking spot to the dorm building then up the stairs and finally into jessie and yours actual dorm. hallie gently sits you down on jessie's bed before sighing, "that's enough chasing after drunk women for one night. good night."

"good night. hopefully you don't fail your exam in the morning," jessie says, it's more of a tease, as the blonde leaves out of the room. hallie lets out a sarcastic laugh before shaking her head, "whatever. don't let your girl throw up all over your sheets."

the implication of you being her girl, jessie's girl makes the freckled girl blush slightly. shutting the door behind hallie so that the blonde wouldn't tease her about the sight of her slightly redden cheeks. the taller soccer player would tease her about it anyways, knowing how her friend already is, but nevertheless.

jessie turns to focus her attention on you. she walks over to her bed where you're snuggling with her pillow. she lets out a small chuckle at the sight. were you always this cute? jessie decides in her mind that yeah you always been this cute. she just never wanted to admit it.

"y/n.. get up, so you can change," she mumbles softly. leaning in close to look at your sleeping face. the word babe almost slips out of her mouth, but she doesn't know if it's the right time. she's been wanting to call you that for a while now, jessie didn't really get why the urge was so strong but it was, and it has slipped out a few times, but you always just accepted it. teasing her by calling her some overly sweet petname back. you didn't notice the light blush on her cheeks back then or maybe you did and never said anything.

your eyes open but slowly you close them back, shifting so you can get more comfortable. jessie smiles but don't let you go back to sleep so easily. pulling you up until you're sitting up. a pout sits on your lips, "jess.. no.. i'll sleep in this."

"you won't be comfortable and will complain in the morning," she says. you would smile at how she knows you so well, but the sleepiness is really getting to you. "help me..?" you ask softly. the canadian doesn't even flinch at your request; she would always help out alongside your mom whenever you were sick, so she helped you change a few times before. she moves away from you to go over to the dresser, grabbing out one of her t-shirts. coming back over to you.

you're laying down again. jessie just pulls you up again and talks enough that you are now half asleep. sluggishly moving so she can help you take off your heels then your dress and finally slip the t-shirt over your head so that you can put your arms through the arm holes. now you can comfortably lay back down, snuggling up to jessie's pillow again. however you whine at the fact it doesn't have any warmth or a pulse.

"jess... where are you?" the words come out of your mouth. jessie stays silent for a moment, too busy changing after you laid down.

"just making sure you don't wake up with a horrible hangover tomorrow." she finishes with changing quickly. wearing one of your tank tops, having slipped off her pants to leave only her boxers. she grabs a waterbottle off of the dress before coming back over to the bed for you. it's room temperature but it's not like she's going to leave out of the dorm to get you a cold water. it's obvious you want her near you and obviously she's going to listen to you. again she pulls you up, holding you up with her free hand as she sits on the bed. shifting so that your back is resting against her chest. you whine, leaning into her.

"drink something. i bet you only drunk alcohol," she says. opening the bottle before handing it to you.

"not true. i'm a responsible eighteen year old," you say. she chuckles, just nodding even though she doesn't really believe that you weren't just drinking alcohol all night. despite your words you still drink the water. almost dropping it out of tiredness, but jessie keeps your hand steady by holding onto your wrist. once you're done she takes the water from you, puts on the cap, and sets it aside on the window still next to her bed.

when you realize the water is out of your hand you try to lay back down in a quite awkward position as your waist lays on one of jessie's legs. she smiles at your cuteness, deciding to help you out as she moves around slightly so that your back is meeting her front again but this time you two are laying down. her arms hug your waist. the feeling must be comforting because you let out a soft hum of content. then just like that you drift off to sleep.

meanwhile jessie is laying there with her face against the back of your head, thinking.

thinking about what happened out there on that patio earlier. how you confessed, or is more like admitted since everyone else knew all along, your feelings for you. how she confessed her feelings for you. this wasn't nothing new, for jessie, at least.

jessie realized her feelings earlier than you did. around the time you told her that you got accepted into ucla. the fact you would choose the same college as her and upend your entire life to go to a country you have never lived in for jessie (mostly) touched her heart. you have given up soccer, so you weren't going to further your career. you never showed much interest or really any at all in heading to america before jessie said she chose ucla. it was for her.

of course, jessie is not someone who is ego centric. your choice to come to america wasn't entirely for her, but she's sure she played a big part. is it wrong to think this? the soccer player doesn't dwell on whether her thinking is right or wrong, as she slowly drifts off to sleep right alongside your already deep in sleep figure.

an entire week passes before you two talk about what happened. it wasn't like you guys were ignoring it, but life got in the way. your schedule was packed with classes and jessie was splitting her time between classes & the gym so she could stay in shape. you would always come home, exhausted, to an already changed jessie snacking on a huge bag of chips and she would always invite you to join her. with you two falling asleep right after whatever show jessie is watching is over, sometimes before.

it's sunday afternoon when jessie asks you about it. you're in the bathroom, trying to do your hair so you can go out and get some ice cream. she comes up behind you, wrapping her arms around your waist. making sure to not put too much weight on your back so that you can continue to do your hair comfortably.

"so.." her hand plays with the bottom of your shirt, "you said you love me. that you're in love with me."

your movements stop for a moment as you meet her eyes through the mirror. then you continue, allowing her to speak on.

"do you want to go on our first date as girlfriends?" jessie asks. hearing the word girlfriend leave her mouth makes you smile. oh yeah, you two technically are dating now. you didn't think about that part when you confessed. "you didn't even say the can i be your girlfriend part though," you tease.

that makes jessie chuckle. she pulls your hands away from your hair to turn you. now she is pressing you against the counter, her front touching yours. you smile, your eyes tracing the freckles scattered across her face.

"look me in my eyes," the soccer player uses her hand to hold onto your chin in a gentle grip. you don't want to look away once you two's eyes meet. you would drown in that gorgeous brown of her iris if you could. "i'm looking," you whisper out into the small space between you two.

"can i be your girlfriend?" she asks, leaning in close so that her lips almost meet yours. almost.

and you giggle. you fucking giggle right against her lips. mostly because your heart feels like it's going to burst and also because you can never take jessie too seriously. she is still your bestfriend at the end of the day after all. now she's also your girlfriend. the feeling of you laughing against her lips makes jessie giggles too. then your laugh is muffled as she closes that small gap and kisses you.

the kiss isn't really sudden, but you giggle even more. smiling so hard into the kiss, your hands scramble to grip onto her shirt. her hands are cupping your face.

and she's pressing and pressing against you and her lips are so soft against yours and she tastes like that stupid strawberry gum she was chewing earlier and she's so warm, so fucking warm you feel like you are burning and you never want this to end to end and dear god.

why haven't you done this before?

you are the first to pull away if you can even call it that when your body feels like it's about to become apart of the sink. your tongue peeks out to lick your lips. you can still taste jessie on your tongue.

the canadian is obviously waiting for some words from you as she just stares at you, panting slightly from all that oxygen is lost while eating your face.

you giggle, leaning in close to peck the tip of her nose.

"yes, you can be my girlfriend. can i be your girlfriend?"

"you can be whatever the fuck you want to me," jessie says. she doesn't add that you can do whatever you want to me too part, but you can feel it's there. you know it's there; because you know jessie like the back of your hand, like the air you breathe, like the studies you spend countless hours on. you know jessie like she's apart of your soul.

she is apart of your soul.

jessie moves away from you to leave out of the bathroom much to your dismay. a pout sits on your lips as you watch her, but you don't chase after her. turning to go back to doing your hair. she comes back into the room after a few minutes, changed into some cargo shorts and a compression shirt that definitely not hers but you don't say anything. your eyes lingering on the way the shirt hugs her body longer than they should.

"so back to that date. let's go right now?" she leans against the doorframe. "right now? i'm not even dressed," you say. of course it's bluff you are going to say yes anyway.

"yeah, yeah. hurry so we can go," jessie smiles at you. it's warm and adorable and you hate yourself for giggling at the cuteness of it. actually, scratch that. you don't hate yourself for that, why wouldn't you find it absolutely adorable?

it takes a little while but you get ready eventually and you two head off to get some ice cream. walking around a park near the ucla campus, just talking and playing around on the swings like the children you really are.

then you two went to a vietnamese restaurant. one you been wanting to go to, but again college was taking up most of your time. the pho was delicious and so was the duck soup, that was jessie's favorite actually. you two filled up on that flavorful food before slowly making your way to the beach.

the sun is setting and you're sure the beach is most likely closed, but you don't really care.

"wanna go for a swim?" jessie asks you as she starts to take off her shorts. you laugh at how quick she is to take them off. "skinny dipping?"

the freckled girl looks at you with a blank look. "no, what. someone could see us," she says. you already know jessie is pretty shy and would definitely not like someone else other than you or her family seeing her with a lack of clothing. she continues to slip off her clothes, leaving her in just her nike pros and sports bra.

you follow suit, it is hot in california after all. taking off your shirt but leaving on your shorts. jessie gives you a questioning look.

"what? i don't have on any boxers or whatever like you do. i would look like i'm running around the beach with no clothes on really," you shrug off her confusion. grabbing onto her hand before running and dragging her along with you to the ocean. she laughs loudly and yelps when the waves first hit her legs.

"why is it cold? this is la!" jessie shouts even though she doesn't need to. there is no one else around and the waves aren't that loud.

"i don't know, but guess what?"

"what..?"

the small smirk on your face makes jessie want to back away from you and run because she can already tell you're about to do something extremely mischievous but she isn't able to when you pull her down with you into the room.

she lets out a really loud shout of surprise before the sound is gone as her body goes under water. you two look at each other underwater, smiling. this scene feels nostalgic. reminds you of those summers when your parents and her parents would go camp by the lake, squished between right after the summer soccer season ended and before school started. you didn't realize how little time that was back then, it felt like forever, but now you do.

the moment elysse was put down for her nap or was too tired to swim, jessie and you would run off a little bit along the lake shore. she would dare you to jump in first, but of course you would refuse, not wanting to go alone so you two would hold hands and jump in together.

back to right now, jessie and you play around in the water for a long while. even though it was pretty cold, as cold as it can be in la.

then you two are laying on the beach and her hand is touching yours and you swear the sand is sticking to your skin and you are freezing but still a smile sits on your face because somehow jessie is still warm. she's always warm.

"i think you're so gorgeous," jessie whispers out into the comfortable silence between you two. you turn your body to look at her fully, she's smiling.

you about to speak but she cuts you off by saying, "wait. i don't think, i know you are so gorgeous. i think you are pretty like the moon with the personality of the sun and if i wasn't already in love with you, i would have fallen in love right now at this moment."

and you don't know what to say to that. curse jessie for being so good with her words; but one thing you do know is how to show your appreciation and so you kiss her. your hands trailing on her half dry half wet body. the mix of the warmth of her skin and the coolness of the sand feels so good under your touch.

you curse the human body for needing to breathe when jessie pulls away.

"i think you're so gorgeous too," you whisper to her and you think you just might marry jessie as she gives you one of those shy grins of hers.

jessie graduates a year before you do. when she walked across the stage, you were probably the loudest in the room alongside her family and yours. the embarrassed blush on her cheeks makes her mother tease endlessly as you all head to dinner to celebrate the end of her college soccer career and just college in general.

"look at you, all grown up," your mother says to jessie outside of the restaurant after you all have eaten. she pecks the freckled face of the canadian, talking more and more about how she watched jessie grow up to be a beautiful young woman. jessie blushes throughout most of it and you fight the urge to tell your mom to stop being so embarrassing, but you let her have this.

after a long conversation with jessie's parents, you and jessie go to get in your car. you wave at your mother as jessie drives off. you're certain the two pairs of parents will be having a great time in la while jessie and you go back to you guys dorm. well, it's more of your dorm now.

"maybe i can go fishing with your dad one of these days, like this summer?" jessie says, giving you a glance. you give her a confused look before giggling, "why would you go fishing?"

"because your dad was talking about it and seemed so interested." she returns your confused look. why were you laughing?

"my dad is 'interested' in a thousand things. you know how indecisive he is."

"ohh. so just like his daughter?"

"jessie!"

the next two days were spent finishing up jessie's packing. she have opted out of the nwsl draft after getting having chelsea knocking at her door and you get it. the thought of long distance this early in your relationship feels like the key to trouble, but you already know you two will be alright. when jessie moved to vancouver in highschool you were devastated, but you lived on and still were so close to her. you can definitely survive this.

"hopefully your little superstar rookie soccer stuff doesn't get in the way of you coming to my graduation next year," you say, taping up the last box filled with jessie's things. she rolls her eyes at you being so over dramatic.

she smiles, coming over to you, "i swear it won't. i'll make the trip."

"promise? if you don't pinky promise then i don't trust it." you hold out your pinky finger. she links hers with yours, shaking your linked fingers for good measure.

she uses that connection to pull you into a hug. then she pecks your lips; once, twice, another, and another. "i would kiss you for how many days we will be apart but we would be here forever," she says.

"hm, when i come over to england then you can give me all the kisses you want," you say back. giving her another peck before pulling away from her to go sit on her now bare mattress. so memories here in this room now just stuffed into a box and ready to be shipped miles away.

jessie follows you, laying beside you. she cuddles up to her but stays silent and you do too. so you two just lay there in comfortable silence. counting down the minutes until you have to drop jessie off at the airport.

and when that time comes, you almost want to cry but you don't. you save that for later when jessie is already on the plane, flying away to her new life that you will join soon. just one more year and you'll be there in england with her. it isn't so bad to spend a year apart; at least that's what you try to tell yourself. jessie was pretty distracting with her cute smile and soothing voice and soft hair and stupidly annoying jokes. is that really a pro of this long distance situation? doesn't seem like it.

you spend the next year working hard on your studies, so you can graduate on time. jessie and you don't get to see each other as much as you want to with her being so busy and you being so busy, but it's okay because you two sit on facetime for half of the day anyways. even with the time difference.

the day she comes back to ucla for your graduation, alongside your parents and hers, you nearly cry. no, you do cry,

because your family is there and jessie's family is there and jessie is there and you feel so surrounded with love that you think you might suffocate. jessie kisses you at the end of the night after showing you the video of her shouting for you as you walked across the stage. "you know i'm proud of you, right?" she whispered against your lips as she held you. "i know," you whispered back. you could see in the way her eyes shined as she stared at you. you could see in how she held you so gently. you could see with how she spoke about you.

yeah, you know jessie is proud of you.

the first time you come to a chelsea game wearing her jersey and screaming her name as she played the best ninety minutes that jessie swears she ever played in her entire life, she becomes certain on one thing;

jessie is going to marry you.

author notes: and that's the end of this series 💔💔 the ending is a little rushed but i love so i hope you guys love it too! i'm going to be writing and posting a lot since summer is close so like keep your eye out for my work. ty for all the support like fr 💗

#jessie fleming x reader #jessie fleming #woso x reader #woso fluff #woso fanfics

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amongushq · 7 years

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Welcome (back) to Among Us, TILLY! VALENTINA HERNÁNDEZ ( with the faceclaim of SOFIA CARSON ) has found shelter in CAMP JUPITER, where we hope SHE will fit in nicely. Please make sure to check the “after applying”section of our navigation here!

Charmspeak is a potent weapon: children of Aphrodite are aware of that because of how rare the skill is for them. Here though we have someone whose godly parent is all about the sweet words wrapping people around her fingers, meaning that Valentina's charmspeaking abilities are way above what we've seen before. The way she decides to use them (in defense of herself or others) or not at all (allowing the Roman campers to make their own minds about whether she should be welcomed back) shows us a great deal of her mentality. She's in control and appears cold, that much is true, but she has a moral compass which, even though not everyone could approve of it, is wired into her desire not to see innocents get hurt again. In that regard the exchanges between Val and others about the mole will be a bumpy ride, and we're counting on her to stand her ground and remain the confident young woman the horrors she witnessed led her to become.

TW: descriptions of rape / sexual assault, specifically in part III.

AND YOU ARE...?

Valentine’s Day came on a Friday in 1997. Juan Diego Hernández had always loved Fridays. Fridays were his day off, he’d met his wife on a Friday, and the day just held a generally pleasant atmosphere for him. What he did not expect, however, was a baby to show up on his doorstep that particular Friday, in the arms of the woman he’d cheated on his wife with.

He was a politician, one of Colombia’s finest, even. His wife, Gabriela Maria Hernández, was the perfect example of what a politician’s wife should be like, in the eyes of the press. They had been high school sweethearts, and finally decided that there wasn’t going to be any other partner as good for them as each other, so a wedding had been followed by two children and a cat to have a lively home when Juan was at work and Gabriela was at home.

But more had been brewing below the surface. Even the most faithful of husbands were tempted sometimes, and although the family appeared happy on the outside, the inside was just rotten. On Juan’s part, that was. Gabriela was living happily in the bliss of marriage, even after ten years of it. Her husband grew restless, unsatisfied with his marriage, so when a seductive, alluring goddess of a woman had tempted him with a walk on the wild side one night, he’d taken it. She’d been whispering in his ear for a while back then, distracting him at work with thoughts he never should have been having in the first place. That was why he’d wandered off to a less-than-proper place, where women danced and men supplied encouragement for them to keep dancing. She’d called herself Susie, and that was all he knew about her when she took him into the room at the back and made him hers. Nine months later, she was on his doorstep, depositing the baby into his arms with a satisfied, smug smile, like she knew more than him, before she vanished.

Of course, he’d explained everything to his wife. He was a good man, who made a mistake. She wasn’t angry with him, or even sad. She’d seen it coming, really, with his constant pressure to keep up appearances for the media. Instead, Gabriela was angry with the woman who dared to take away her husband, and the child she so conveniently dropped on her doorstep. No, she wasn’t angry; she was furious. To please his wife, Juan gave her the rights to do what she wanted with the baby. The little girl’s entire life belonged to Gabriela. He even named the infant after her, but, unbeknownst to her, also kept a little of the beautiful dancer in his life.

The baby was named Valentina Carmen Maria Gabriela Hernández, and she was not nearly enough to please her stepmother.

II.

Gabriela tried, she really did. She wanted to love this little brat as much as she loved her own daughter and son. She even hired a nanny to take care of the girl when she was too busy with her own children, but she just couldn’t do it. She was forever reminded of that woman who seduced her man every time she looked into her eyes, even when they were filled with tears. Three long years she tried her very best, but then she broke. Arguments ending in “you take her out, or I will leave” were becoming more and more frequent, and Juan finally made the decision to send his daughter away to America. He got Gabriela to at least agree to talk to the press about it. The world didn’t know the name of the little girl, nor whose child she actually was, but they now knew she’d died of leukaemia when she was only three years old.

She hadn’t died, though. She was put on a plane to San Francisco, where she was going to be raised by her nanny, an unattractive, old woman named Gloria, hired by the girl’s parents and personally chosen by Gabriela, obviously. Gloria was a kind woman, who raised Valentina like she would raise her own daughter.. They spoke Spanish, and the English the girl learnt in school, she taught to Gloria, so they slowly learned together. She was put in a good school and took ice skating lessons, paid for by her father. She did not behave in a good way, though. Before she turned twelve, Valentina was kicked out of three schools, all accusing her of theft and trickery. She never stole a thing, though, and people just did what she wanted them to do when she asked. She kept insisting that it hadn’t been her fault.

What had been her fault, was the dead giant that ended up on the sidewalk below their apartment that year. It had finally come for her after nine years of going unnoticed in America, waiting for her in the building. It had been so, so quiet when she came home from school, which, afterwards, regularly made her wonder how a creature that size made no sound at all. She’d taken the stairs that day, something she rarely did when the elevator was unoccupied, which had been a good decision; the thing had been malfunctioning because of the weight of the stinking blue creature trying to utilize it. Once she opened the door, the smell got worse, and the temperature dropped several degrees: Valentina was met with the sight of a Hyperborean Giant that had freshly frozen her nanny into a block of ice, after which he smashed the nanny-sicle apart with his bare hands. A horrified scream had made its way out of her throat, and in her rage, she told the giant to walk out of the window.

Their apartment was on the sixth floor, so it was safe to say that neither her nanny, nor the giant survived.

She ran away from the city after that, not wanting to be reminded of the site where the horrors had occurred. She was found by the she-wolf Lupa, who went through all the regular training any Roman demigod at her wolf house did with her, and it took the average amount of time before Valentina was deemed worthy and sent off to Camp Jupiter.

III.

Her journey to camp was a rough one. She was attacked by multiple monsters of many species, but that wasn’t the worst part. The fact that most of them looked human before she sent them to their deaths was. With just a single word, she killed every monster in her way, growing more and more terrified of her own power with every word uttered.

No, that wasn’t the worst part either. The worst part happened one single night, in a dark alleyway somewhere on the edge of San Francisco, Valentina stumbled across a young woman, a terrified look on her face. Instead of approaching her, she hid behind a dumpster, wanting to see what could frighten a mortal that much. A stupid mistake. She should have just talked to the girl, or grabbed her to go some place safe.

What she saw that night would haunt her forever. Suddenly, there was a guy, he’d seemingly come back for the woman. He tried to share his food with her - Thai, from the smell of it, mixed with alcohol, but she wouldn’t eat. He got angry. He was a violent drunk. The girl was slapped, multiple times, before he got down to what he really intended to do with her. Her clothes were torn off of her body, but she didn’t scream or scratch or do anything - she just… stood there. She let it happen.

So did Valentina. She couldn’t avert her eyes; her throat was dry so she couldn’t scream even if she wanted to. It was as if she and the girl both, were in trance. Rhythmic thuds filled her ears, until she finally found her voice and her common sense. “Stop! What are you doing?”

The victim’s eyes were filled with tears, the guy’s were filled with rage. She finally came out of her hiding place, her little hands curled into fists. She didn’t allow the guy to put his clothes back on before she saved the girl.

“I want you to take a dip and swim to the San Pablo Bay. And then I want you to drown yourself.”

Her charmspeak was still undeveloped, mainly fueled by rage and sadness then, and a little faulty, so she had no idea what eventually happened to the guy. The girl, Jenny, was taken to a hospital and cared for.

And Valentina continued her journey to camp.

IV.

The incident fueled her insecurities. The world was so evil, so scary, that it would only be a matter of time before something happened to her and her safe place. She got to camp eventually, a broken, crying girl; a camper on probatio at the start of a war. Determined to be in charge, in power. So she became strong.

Little thoughts started making its way into her head. “You are not good enough. You’re a cheat, a fraud, you don’t deserve to be here.” They weren’t her own, that was for sure, because she distinctly remembered the voice of an old woman saying them all. Most of them went without much of a reply on Valentina’s part, she continued her daily routines without any disturbances. But then, the whispers turned into “You are not good enough - but what if you were?”, which became “You are not good enough - I can make you good enough.”

She was strong. Lupa hadn’t chosen her without a reason. That’s what she kept telling herself as she struggled to ignore the voice in her head, which became harder and harder to resist. She finally cracked when her life and her new safe haven were threatened to be destroyed. Along with her family in Colombia. She couldn’t just let innocent mortals suffer. She certainly didn’t have any idea that that was exactly Gaea’s plan.

She fought with her campers in the war, of course. But the Giants and Gaea needed information, which she supplied under duress, never sure of what Gaea needed with her information. She provided the number of able-bodied campers, the chances of winning, the state of mind of the Romans.

The demigods won the war, and Gaea was put back to sleep. No one found out about her betrayal, so she didn’t have to confess. But her guilty conscience was eating away at her, and she did reveal her secret. No charmspeak was used to weasel her way back into camp; she never tried to convince anyone to let her stay or to do anything at all. It was decreed that she should stay, albeit on probatio. Two years later, at age fifteen, Valentina was claimed as Suadela’s daughter, which didn’t come as a surprise to most people. Claiming generally happened at the wolf house, of course, so the only surprise of her being unclaimed previously had already passed. But Valentina had been seducing and convincing people of all genders ever since she arrived, because she swore to herself she would never feel helpless again. People would bend to her will, and not the other way around. After her claiming, there was the matter of her cohort left. She had no one left to write her recommendation letter for her, and obviously the gods weren’t fooled by a silver tongue, so she was to be judged on her skills alone. She’d developed a talent for the whip; that combined with her charmspeak abilities and general demigod fighting skills, made her a valuable addition to the Fourth Cohort.

Making friends wasn’t supposed to be too hard when one could make people feel and do whatever one wanted. But Valentina only used that particular power of hers when she actually needed to. The trick that helped her make friends was her general mysterious, seductive air. People were drawn to the beautiful girl with the intriguing words, almost like she was a Siren, drawing sailors to their deaths with her songs. She didn’t use her songs. What she did do, was follow in ‘Susie’s’ footsteps; she danced: tried her hand at most styles, but never picking a favourite, never mastering any. She danced, and took up ice skating again in the little ice skating rink in New Rome. People started calling her the ice queen, because she broke hearts left and right like it was no big deal. And it wasn’t - not to her. As long as she stayed in charge, she would never get hurt again. No one she cared about would get hurt like the girl in the city.

The mole situation actually worked out quite well for her. With them lurking about, dropping clues and terrorizing the campers’ thoughts, people are less worried about her. Some Romans never got over her betrayal, even after she spilled all her secrets without having to. She was welcomed back, yes, but not with open arms. But thanks to the mole, their thoughts are elsewhere: the general focus is not on her anymore. She understands why they did it, too. Something like this, hiding an entire species, it was bound to get out sometime anyways. They just sped up the process. She didn’t ask to be a fighter, or a soldier. Just because she was a demigod, demigoddess, or a demi-daimon, or demi.. whatever she was, she had to fight wars. It was unfair, and she was sick of pretending to be someone she wasn’t. So her inner seductress was let out, and never caged again.

VI.

“And you are…?”

“Aw, please. Don’t be so mean, hermoso. There’s no need for that! We both know you hate this job. You’re only asking us what you already know anyways. So why not have some fun, hm?”

“…”

“Don’t be like that. I know you saw me. I know what you’re thinking. What you want. You’re not that much older than me, you know.”

“I don’t know-”

“Yes, you do. Did you know lying is a sin?”

“Miss Her-”

“So you do know my name. Fine. Have it your way, then. You’ll let me sit here in silence and let me go after the appropriate time has passed. You will then tell your boss you had a nice chat with me, but you didn’t get anything out of it. They shouldn’t worry about me, and they should move on to the next camper.”

“…”

“Alright, time’s up, miss Hernández. You can go now. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Thank you, darling.”

#accepted #valentina hernández

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