#and i’ll wash your dirty dishes and i’ll do the laundry and you’ll get mad about all the fucking ‘noise’ im making

[jieunoclock]

Love Your Feeling || Chapter five

- When JK meets Mom₊˚⊹♡

“Yun, you shouldn’t smoke,” he tries to discuss. “Neither should you, you look stupid,” I tell him,

Pair: jjk x femOC, college students, best friends

Word count: 4.2k

Warning: this chapter includes slight substance use⚠️

masterlist || taglist

!Friends to Lovers, Protective Brother, Secret Dating, Friends with Benefits, Angst, Mature content, Dysfunctional Family, Fluff, Smut, Mentions of Alcoholism and Abuse

——————————————————————₊˚⊹♡

Up, down. Up, down. Up… down… is the pace Jungkook’s chest goes at. It’s one of those moments where you’re mad that you woke up, so you keep your eyes closed in hopes you’ll go back to sleep.

Kinda like wanting to jump back into a dream, but it rarely ever happens unless you’re sleepy enough for it. In 1 out of maybe 10 scenarios you actually are sleepy enough, same goes for this instance.

I feel Jungkook move his arm, the tips of his fingers tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. His fingers fall to my shoulder trailing down before settling his whole hand on my upper arm.

It’s a Sunday, which usually consists of doing groceries and cleaning up the mess at home. So, if I can stretch this afternoon out as long as possible, I will.

I can already predict what awaits me at home; Beer bottles on the floor surrounding the couch, dirty dishes piling up in the sink, a load of dirty underwear and towels peeking out of the laundry basket, and probably a foul smell coming from somewhere you’re unable to locate.

Lost in thought, I eventually get sick of staying in the same position. I open my eyes with a soft groan, seeing there’s a blanket placed over us. That must mean Mingyu has seen us cuddled up on the couch, as he was probably getting his breakfast.

I slowly move my chin up to see Jungkook with his eyes closed, head slightly faltered to the side. My movement doesn’t give him any reaction, which must mean he’s fallen back asleep.

I untangle myself from his grip, careful not to wake him as I tuck him in with the blanket that was once lying over me, repeating Mingyu’s past actions of the day.

My clothes from the night before are still on his bedroom floor, crumpled up into a pile. I debate for a second if I should hop in the shower or not but I just know that if I don’t I’ll feel disgusting for the rest of the day.

Using Jungkook’s shampoo and body wash I now must smell just like him. He’s a sucker for good skincare so -with the little time I have for myself- I use his to wash my face and moisturize it.

Usually, I dry my hair with a hair dryer, it’s the best for the length of my hair. Letting it air dry takes hours and a hair dryer leaves an overall nicer finish. But since Jungkook is still sleeping, I pat my hair down with a towel and leave it at that. Too afraid that the noise will eventually wake him up.

Freshly out of the shower, dressed, moisturized skin, I’m now growing hungry. It’s a nice thank you to Jungkook if I’ll make him breakfast right? I know he likes anything containing literal flour, so that should be an easy task.

Compared to the fridge at home, this one is filled with food and ingredients. Milk and eggs in the refrigerator, flour found somewhere in one of his cabinets I decide to make him pancakes.

It checks off everything from the list; easy, tasty, great breakfast, contains flour. And I really don’t want to sound cocky, but over the years I’ve become a quite good cook. It was either, learning how to cook or living off of plain shin ramyun every single day. It’s the only ramen Yoongi would want to spend his money on, says it’s ‘without a doubt tasty, so it isn’t a waste of money’.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how to make them delicious, Japanese pancakes, like the lovely lady from the cafe does. But I do know how to make delicious crepes. Plus, they don’t require much effort.

Not even the smell of the crepes baking in the pan is enough to wake Jungkook again, which must mean he’s very tired. With his crepe now done baking, I top it with some sugar and lemon juice and place it on the counter.

Mine is now spread out on the pan, waiting to be flipped over. I walk over to the couch, placing a hand on Jungkook’s abs to shake him awake.

“Kook” a loud groan sounds from his throat, eyes sleepy trying to open them fully. “Smells good,” he says closing his eyes again and dropping the back of his head on the armrest ready to fall back to asleep.

“Yours is done already, come on,” that’s enough to get him up apparently, as before I know it he’s in the kitchen in front of his plate.

"What you wanna do today?" he asks me as he takes a bite off of his fork, humming in approval. I flip my crepe in the pan waiting for it to be done. "I need to do groceries and then clean up the apartment," I explain. he gives me a questioning look wondering why I'm the one who cleans at home.

"doesn't Yoongi do anything in the household?" I sprinkle some sugar on my crepe adding a bit of lemon juice before sitting down next to Jungkook. "Well, on rare occasions I guess,"

Jungkook disapproves, tells me that I need to protest by not cleaning anything. As if I havent thought of that. There was this one time I figured it wasn't fair for me to do all the housecleaning, which led to a huge fight between me and Yoongi. He told me he brought in the majority of the money within the household therefore it's only fair for me to do the shopping, cleaning, and cooking. even though I work as well. not as much as him since I still have school, but still I bring money into the household. more than mother ever would

"I'll help you" he then offers. Is he insane? nope, nu-uh. I tell him he's not coming home with me, to which he whines. and we eventually agree on just doing groceries together. Jungkook just has to get changed real quick and we’ll be off.

he changes into a simple white tee and blue baggy jeans, basic but stylish. he grabs his car keys and we make our way to the vehicle.

He drives us to a nearby store, one that I’ve never been to before. I don’t know what’s in the fridge at home if there’s anything really. But over the years I’ve picked up a kind of routine, buying almost the same kinds of things every single time.

Some kind of fruit, a family pack of ramen, eggs, milk, spring onions, a snack, and 2 packs of coke. It reaches just about our weekly budget and feeds us more than enough.

We walk inside of the store, trying to navigate anything that’s in my list. But the prices aren’t the ones that I’m used to, this store is far too overpriced.

I thug at his shirt, lowering my voice so none of the employees will hear me when I tell him I can’t afford it here.

“Uhm, Kook. This is far too expensive,” he looks at me as if I’m crazy, checking the prices for himself. “Where do you go then?”

I tell him it’s better to go to mine and drag him out of the store by his arm, buying nothing.

The one on my side of the city is a family-held business, I know the owners really well. The mother of the business used to be classmates with my mother, she’s always been nice enough to occasionally check up on me.

The products are far cheaper than whatever Jungkook’s store was, pointing out to him how much cheaper it actually is.

I send him off to grab me a pack of shin ramyun as I pick out some fruit, settling for a honeydew melon cause it’s probably one of my favourite fruits.

Gathering everything else and making our way to the cash register, I get greeted by the mother. She asks me how I’m doing and if my mom is okay.

I don’t want to bother her with the details by telling her she’s drunk at home so I just tell her she’s fine and been working hard, even though she doesn’t even have a job at this point.

She’s even so nice to pack the groceries up for me handing me a plastic bag whilst giving me a free bag of crisps.

However, after paying, Jungkook is still caught up in looking at the vitrine behind the counter. “One pack of cigarettes and a lighter please,” he says to her.

I’m certainly taken aback, I didn’t know he smoked. I mean I’ve seen him smoke before at parties but only rarely, never have I seen him buy a pack for himself.

I wait for us to be outside again before asking him about it, waving my mom’s friend goodbye. I load the bag of groceries onto the back seat of his car and want to sit back in the passenger seat but Jungkook just stands in front of the store.

I see him take a cigarette out of the packaging lighting it up between his lips. I stand next to him looking. At the big road that lays behind the parking lot.

“Since when do you smoke?” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“Today apparently,” he answers.

Unsatisfied with his decision, this just only asks for a new addiction. So to protest I hold out my hand, non-verbally asking him for a cigarette myself.

I hear him chuckle and he shakes his head. “No way Nayun,” he says with a big grin on his face. I try to force my hand in his pocket to just grab it but he’s stronger than me and pulls me away, telling me off.

With a big pout on my face, I decide this is unfair storming back into the store and getting another pair; a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Do I have the money for it? Not really but sure, I’ll survive, financially that is.

So now I’m standing next to him, smoking my own cigarette.

“Yun, you shouldn’t smoke,” he tries to discuss.

“Neither should you,” I look at him blowing the stupid cigarette smoke out of his lungs, it looks damn hot I’m afraid to admit.

“You look stupid,” I tell him, even though he doesn’t. Cigarettes taste like shit, I should invest in one of them stupid-looking disco vapes.

He just chuckles at my remark and stays silent until we’ve both completely smoked up the cigarette.

“C'mon, I should really get home,” I nudge at him back to the car. The drive is literally 3 minutes, I usually walk this route.

I thank him for driving me but as I slam the door shut, the car turns off and Jungkook gets out too.

“What are you doing?” I ask him with a nervous chuckle. “Helping you out?”

I told him off on helping me to clean up already but he seemed determined, though he could also just mean walking me to my door. That’s just stupid, he always just dropped me off at a bus stop so why would he walk me all the way to my door now? You can see my door from the car so it’s just stupid to do that.

“What do you mean helping me out?..” I frown at him in confusion.

“Yun I don’t care what you say, I’m helping you clean,” he says as he walks towards the stairwell. I try my best to stop him, yelling after him in protest whilst running behind him like an idiot.

Though he really stands his ground, doesn’t let my protests stop him from getting to my house. The first time he’s here, in our long seven or eight-year friendship. I decide to just give in, cause I can’t just stand outside all day.

As I open the front door, the first thing you’ll see is the bathroom door. It’s not big enough to conceal the sight of the living room next to it. You can see everything as soon as you open it; living room in front, kitchen to your left, bedroom door wide open.

Mom still hasn’t come back, as for Yoongi I wouldn’t know. Yoongi usually leaves early in the mornings and comes back home late in the evening or night, I’ve learned to stop worrying about it. most of the time he spends it with his friends, Seokjin and Namjoon, sometimes even Hoseok, doing god knows what.

Having my house on display like this is vulnerable there are absolutely no filters you can put on it. No fake smiles, no ‘it’s fine’, there are no excuses when it’s like this.

And it’s truly shocking how bad it can get in a week’s worth. The couch is empty aside from the empty take-out box, Dad’s blanket, and some beer cans.

I look at Jungkook trying to see what his reaction is, but it’s fairly normal. I can see the slightest bit of shock on his face, his forehead creased a little. But it’s quick to soften up as he notices me swinging my head around, acting as if it’s the most normal case in the world.

“Welcome home I guess,” I say nervously.

He doesn’t say anything and takes his shoes off after me following right behind me into my house. I set the bag of groceries down on the kitchen counter, unpacking it and crumbling the plastic bag to go into a bigger plastic bag that’s stored in one of our cabinets.

“Are there supposed to be shards of glass on the ground?” I look back at him to see he’s standing by the window, next to the couch where a bottle had smashed during a fight between Yoongi and Mom.

“Oh yeah no I haven’t had time to clean it yet,” I explain.

It leaves him with a bunch of questions; what happened? Why is there a smashed bottle on the ground? Did you hurt anyone? Did you get hurt? But he just leaves it be and doesn’t question it any further.

“What can I do?” He asks me. I wouldn’t want to bother him with a hard task, because he’s a guest and of course he doesn’t know where anything is here.

I look around the room to see what he can do, spotting the beer crate in the corner of the kitchen and the bottles gathered around the couch and coffee table. I think it’s the perfect job for him to do just that, not too difficult for a guest and it’ll keep him busy for a little to stop complaining.

I hand him the crate and tell him to put the bottles In there as I focus on doing the dishes.

I tell him to look good for any lost bottles until the crate is completely filled up with them and to then put them out in the hall.

Luckily there aren’t many dishes, mainly bowls and chopsticks stacked up in the sink. So when Jungkook has put the crate outside I’m already done with washing all of them.

Now there are two things left to do; taking out the garbage and doing the laundry. None of these tasks seem appropriate for Jungkook to do, I don’t want to bother him and he doesn’t want me to be bothered by doing these tasks on my own.

He pushes me onto doing the laundry, he’s gonna take care of the garbage. The laundry room is opposite the bathroom right next to my bedroom, completely closed off from the kitchen.

It takes me some time as I put some clothes in the dryer the other day and hadn’t had the time to fold them yet, so that’s included in today’s task. Taking the dirty laundry baskets out of the bathroom, my room, and Yoongi’s and turning on the washer to do a quick dark wash.

Would’ve been embarrassing to let Jungkook fold the laundry, worse, load the washer. There’s lingerie in here that I wouldn’t want him to see, no matter the fact that he’s seen parts of me that even my best girlfriends haven’t.

Since it’s only clothing of Yoongi and I, only rarely ever mom’s clothing. It doesn’t take me an awful long time to fold everything separating the clothes into two piles, one for Yoongi and one for me. Putting both of them on our beds.

The doorbell then rings, I’m not expecting anyone. Mom doesn’t ring the doorbell, neither does Yoongi. Jungkook is quick to open the door before I’m able to reach the living room, I immediately notice how neat it is. It doesn’t surprise me completely, Jungkook’s apartment is always spotless and super tidy. I have no idea how he was able to do it here in the little amount of time that I was gone.

Not a single piece of rubbish that’s lying around or a bad odour lingering somewhere, not even a speck of dust that’s able to be found at the moment.

Jungkook doesn’t take long at the door, greets the person on the other side, and receives a package from them. None of us ever order anything so it must be the wrong address, though Jungkook seems sure of it and places the box on the coffee table.

“Dinner!” He chimes, utensils already set on the coffee table.

He ordered a large box of fried chicken, one of those luxurious ones where they dress it up all nicely and stuff. I don’t think I can remember the last time we had takeout, probably at Jia’s house or something. Certainly not with my family, Yoongi will always say it’s too expensive.

“Are you insane?!” I yell at him. He’s being far too generous, cleaning up for me and ordering me dinner?

There are certainly four different flavours, sweet and spicy, extra crispy, honey butter, and soy garlic. I don’t know if we’ll be able to finish all of it.

I turn on the TV to watch something, nothing that’s on cable really catches my attention. And neither does Jungkook so I pout at him begging him a little to log into his Netflix account, it receives a little chuckle from him as he takes the remote out of my hand logging into the account.

He lets me choose whatever I want, and suddenly in the mood to rewatch Alice in Borderland. And even though he has seen it already, he attentively watches the show with his cheeks full of chicken.

We make it about 1/3 through the box before I’m already full, Jungkook’s appetite lays a little higher than mine, and continues eating a bit more than me but it doesn’t take him long to sigh at the fullness of his stomach as well.

I take a sip of my soda and hear the front door open, both Yoongi and Mom walking inside. She doesn’t look good, eye bags that are darker than my hair, hair all messy I swear there’s leaves in them. Yoongi looks tired too, in a different way than Mom though. Yoongi just looks sleepy as for Mom she looks sleep-deprived and lifeless.

Jungkook stands up from the ground immediately, bowing to greet my mother and Yoongi politely. He has never actually met my mother, he’s heard about her a hundred thousand times but never actually met her.

She tries her best to cheer up at the sight of jungkook, telling him how glad she is to finally meet him and how handsome he is. She quite literally squeezes his bicep and praises him for how strong he is. Shes acting like a fool, as if she’s a teenager again. It also doesn’t help that she doesn’t stop drinking, even if she’s already drunk.

Yoongi and Mom settle around the coffee table nibbling away on the chicken whilst Mom asks Jungkook a bunch of questions, asking about his parents and how he grew up and whatnot. Yoongi and I just stay silent, heads down.

It makes me sad seeing how much effort she’s putting into getting to know Jungkook, she never cares to ask anything about us. Whenever we leave the house for days, she doesn’t care. Whenever someone comes back injured or crying, she doesn’t bat an eye.

It just hurts knowing you’re the problem. Whenever she acts careless I’ll just brush it off as something she does, but seeing her act like this just puts a stamp on us being the problem.

It takes her a whole one-hour conversation to doze off, Yoongi drags her to the couch lying her down on it and she’s out like a light.

It’s nearly 9 pm now so Jungkook thinks it’s better to be off. Yoongi thanks him for the food and apologises for our mother’s behaviour, leaving me to walk Jungkook back to his car.

“Thank you so much for helping me out today, it means a lot,” I say as we’re standing beside his car.

“It’s no problem, it was nice to meet your mom. And of course, see where you live for once,” he adds.

“I guess I was always a little embarrassed about it but… I know I can trust you,”

He takes a step closer to me tugging me into a warm embrace.

“No need to be embarrassed about anything okay?” He says. I nod against his cheesy hugging his waist tightly saying our goodbyes.

I can’t hug him too long in case Yoongi might see and suspect things that aren’t there. He seems to be in a calm mood, I wouldn’t want to blow that up right now.

And then Jungkook drives off. It’s awfully quiet out, it’s almost dark leaving the air in an awkward grey color.

I release a big sigh before making my way back up to the apartment, where Yoongi is cleaning up the mess that was left behind at our dinner party.

“Where’d you find her?” I ask him, referencing him coming home with Mom.

“Found her on a bench somewhere near the city,” he explains. There’s no emotion behind it, the same goes for me. It doesn’t sound sad, angry, annoyed, happy or cold. Just, normal.

“I’m really sorry about what happened,” his voice changes, it sounds genuine and apologetic.

“I shouldn’t have said any of that,” he holds his head down whilst I’m trying to stay neutral before I break down in tears again.

But Yoongi doesn’t really go in on it any further, doesn’t talk about Dad or repeat anything that he shouted at me in the convenience store.

Instead, he tells me to wait as he disappears into his room, coming out with a rectangular box that’s wrapped in pink paper with a little bow in it.

“Here, I got you something,” he held it out for me to accept.

I take the package in hand unwrapping it eagerly, revealing the corner of a white box, and until it’s fully unwrapped I see he’s gifted me an iPhone. An iPhone 14 Pro Max to be exact.

I stutter in response, “What? Are you serious?”

A big grin appears on his face, proud of having such a reaction to his gift.

“This is far too expensive, are you crazy!?” I exclaim.

“I saved up, you deserved it. I smashed the other one anyways,” he acts nonchalant as if it’s nothing. I hug him tightly, still in complete unbelief.

“Thank you Yoongi,” I say as he gives me a small tight tight-lipped smile, he tells me to be careful with it and most of all enjoy it before he’s about to disappear into his room.

I remember seeing Dad yesterday and I should probably talk to him about it, it’s his dad too after all.

“Wait Yoongi,” I hesitate.

He turns around on his feet eyebrows raised a little, intently listening to whatever I have to say.

“I ran into Dad yesterday…” I can see his face drop instantly bombarding me with questions.

He’s worried, I can tell that whatever he said yesterday fades away just like that. He’s a softie deep inside.

I explained to him that I saw him in the elevator and that Jungkook saved me just in time, switching up the names cause I wouldn’t want to cause any more trouble.

“It hurts me too… I know you hate him and that you’re hurt, but I’m the person who had to live through all of it,” I sob softly.

He shushes me pulling me into a long hug, keeping me safe from anything and everything. “Be careful next time you go to Jungkook’s apartment okay, you don’t know what he’s capable of,”

“And call me if you see him, I promise I won’t lash out on you anymore,”

My tears are coming to a stop, leaving out water less and less. He asks me if he can do anything for me which I decline and then he really disappears into his room, wishing me a good night.

I feel so relieved. Things with Yoongi are good, Jungkook isn't embarrassed by me I think and I have a new freaking phone. It was time for an upgrade to be fair.

But I’ll set that up tomorrow, I’ll just watch a show and go to sleep cause I think I deserve some rest after everything that has been happening.

prev | next

[justtryingtobehappyc]

How am I feeling today? … Well, that is a difficult thing to express.

Right at this moment, I’m feeling very angry, at soooo many things, for example, my dad. Don’t get me wrong, I love him of course, he is my dad, but common, there are sometimes I just hate the things he does.

I hate that usually while my mom is doing everything, washing the dishes, cleaning the garage, giving food to my dog, doing laundry, and so much more, my dad is just sitting there watching videos like a stupid person waiting for us to do everything. I hate it, I mean, my mom always complaints about my dad never helping her in the house and that’s true, and I just hate it. i hate when my dad just gets up of the freaking table and leaves all his dirty dishes and trash for us to clean and everything. i mean like it isn’t that hard to just fucking get up, and leave your dishes in the freaking sink. I also hate when he actually leaves the dishes in the sink but with all the garbage there, his used napkins or banana peels, I mean the trashcan is literally to the side, common just throw it away, but nooo, he’s too lazy for that right? It’s too difficult. I also hate that he goes to the restroom and leaves all his pee there, in the toilet and even in the floor because he just doesn’t want to hit the toilet, and when me or my mom ask him to please be cleaner in that part, he gets angry, or when I fucking ask him like why isn’t he cleaner in that fucking part, I mean, If you don’t hit the toilet at least clean it you fucking bastard, Is your hand going to fall off or something? Are you gonna loose your fucking masculinity, just for being cleaner? On the contrary, you’ll be helping your beautiful wife, who has to go and fucking clean it every time, and don’t get me starting about the shame I feel when a visit comes in, omg.

I hate him sometimes, I mean I love him because he is my dad and is not like he’s abusive to neither my mom nor me but, I truly dislike that he always has to feel like he’s got the power, I HATE IT!! I hate it that when I ask him why isn’t he cleaner, because it would help my mom he’s just like “Because I don’t want to” YOU FUCKING BASTARD I HATE THAT!!! THAT IS NOT POWER YOU IDIOT THAT IS BEING A LAZY ASS PERSON WHO DOESN’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HOW MUCH OTHERS HAVE TO WORK.

I believe that what makes me feel or think like this is the thought of my dad being sexist.

Also, we aren’t talking to each other right now because, on Sunday, I finally got the courage to ask him why the heck he wasn’t helping my mom, I mean, I was nice, I said “with all due respect dad why, aren’t you helping my mom?” He just looked at me so mad and said “why are you asking me that question? why aren’t you helping her?” And I said “that’s what I’m going to do now to help her” and then he said “well, what if my answer is because I don’t want to?” And I said “Don’t you love my mom” and he was like “if you think I don’t love her then I don’t” OMG LIKE I JUST FUCKING HATE HIM SOMETIMES!! I JUST HATE HOW PROUD HE IS AND HIS FUCKING ANSWER OF “BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO” I FUCKING HATE IT !!! I’M SO MAD!!!

Maybe some will say I’m exaggerating, but right now, that’s just how I feel.

In other news, I am also pretty mad at myself, I dislike every time I do not get up early because I feel like I don’t keep the promises I make to myself, it makes me feel sad, angry, discouraged and much more, but well… I’ll try my best today.

C.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Pull

Sequel to Push

Warnings: noncon sex, oral, violence, abuse, and death.

This is Lee Bodecker (who is already dark!af) and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: The sheriff keeps coming around.

Note: Okay, so probably a three-parter. I didn’t intend for this to go beyond a one shot but same old story, eh.

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Love you guys!

Please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3

“Oh what the hell she says I just can't win for losing And she lays back down”

-Her Diamonds, Rob Thomas

🚔

You stared out the window. The trees along the edge of the yard were pale and barren, a sheet of frost laid over the ground. There was a wailing in your head. The tears blurred your vision and your fingernails curled into the lip of the sink.

"Goddamn it, girl," you flinched at your father's voice. "The kettle's fucking screaming."

You pushed yourself away from the sink and shook away the haze. You turned the knob and moved the kettle to the front burner. You took off the lid of the percolator and poured the piping water inside. You left the coffee to brew and turned your back to the stove.

"Are you alright?" Will asked as he cut up his eggs with his fork.

"She's fine. She just ain't wanna do her work." Your father growled through a mouthful. "Way she's been draggin' her ass lately like the rest of us ain't work a lot harder than rinsing a pan or sweeping a dang floor."

"I've been doing all that, daddy." You cringed after you spoke. Not just because you knew you're father wouldn't like it but because that word, 'daddy', tickled that memory in the back of your head.

"Try to do it without makin' a bigger mess," he snarled. "Your ma raised you better. She was still here, she'd be shakin' her head."

Not just at me, you thought but kept it to yourself. You turned and filled the four cups lined up with coffee. You set each before the men at the table. Your brothers thanked you, your father grumbled for the sugar. You set the dish in the centre of the table and backed away. 

You would eat after them. A bowl of porridge with cinnamon as your daddy went to his shed and the boys drove into town. Your only peace for the day although you hadn't had any since that night.

Six days. You counted each in your head. Laying in your bed, sleepless. Even after almost a week, you still felt the Sheriff's intrusion. You were still sore; bruises on your ass and thighs, a hole deep in your being. You closed your eyes and you were bent over the chair or the table. Your skin crawled and your stomach flipped. You couldn't shake the terrible shadow from your mind.

They left without ado, the boys in an argument over Mr. Calver's new car and what year it was. You cleared the table and sat to make yourself eat. It was hard but after a two day fast, you'd almost passed out against the burning stove. So you ate without tasting and washed the dishes.

You found yourself gazing out the window again. Snow began to fall and you shivered. You looked down, your hands mindlessly in the dishwater that had long turned cold. You pulled the plug and dried your pruned hands. 

The gravel crunched outside as the wind battered flakes against the window panes.

Your heart dropped. It used to be weeks between visits, sometimes a whole month. As of late, Sheriff Bodecker had taken to visiting more often. You were never very vain but you suspected it might be on your account. How could it not be?

You went to the door and peeked out the tall window beside it. It was him. The lights atop the cruiser and the emblem painted across the door. It was early but every visit was unexpected.

He looked at the house and you let go of the curtain. You pressed yourself to the door and listened. His footsteps trailed away and he knocked on the shed door. Your father answered in his usual gruff demeanor.

You felt brittle as you pushed away from the door. You walked to the stairs and looked up. The carpet was worn away by years of steps taken up and down. You leaned against the railing as you climbed. Don’t think about the man below and perhaps he wouldn’t think of you.

You took a cloth from the linen closet at the end of the hall and began to wipe down the plates that decorated the wall. Each was painted with a landmark; Niagara Falls, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids in Giza. You focused on cleaning each, even as your hands shook and your legs threatened to crumple.

His hands on you, his sickly sweet breath, his body crushed against you. You gripped the plate with the image of the Coliseum. You stared at the hundreds of windows, the falling facade. Your eye overflowed and the door below slammed.

You sniffed and set the plate back in the hooks. You wiped your eyes with the sleeve of your sweater and wiped the top of the side table. Thick soles climbed the stairs and a figure stopped in your peripheral. You turned as Lee peered down at you, fingering the heel of his gun as he neared.

“Your pa said I could use the facility,” he said.

“Behind me,” you said quietly as you picked up the vase and wiped the inside. 

“What’re you doin’? Tryna hide from me up here?” He tapped two fingers on the table.

You shook your head and put the pot down. You looked at the old sepia picture of your parents beside it.

“You know, I was wanting to come back sooner but… duty calls.” He lowered his voice as he leaned close, “There’s not much to do sittin’ around in the cruiser. I end up thinking of you. Wishin’ it was your hand down my pants instead of mine.”

“Sheriff,” you breathed. “Please, don’t--”

“You mad ‘cause I been gone, I get it. Not right of a man to be with a woman than just leave her waitin’,” he touched your cheek as you looked away. “You smell nice.”

“You better do your business and get goin’, sheriff,” you uttered. “I got laundry to do.”

“No point in actin’ all coy anymore,” his hand stretched over your jaw and he forced you to look at him. “And I can’t hold out much longer. You remember the river, where I take my break, you meet me there at midnight, after your pa’s asleep.”

“It’s snowing,” you argued.

“I don’t care if it’s a goddamn blizzard. You come find me or I find you,” he snarled and his hand slipped down to the top of your dress. He undid the top two buttons and squeezed your tits together as he watched them with a lewd leer. “I gotta pay more attention to these… but that ass is so nice.”

“My daddy--”

“Half drunk, as usual,” he huffed, “I could fuck you on his bed right now and he’d be none the wiser.” He purred and admired your tits as he bounced them. “Midnight… I’ll keep the car warm for you.”

He winked and dropped his hands, his palm brushing over the front of his pants and causing him to groan. He turned away and unbuckled his pants as he entered the bathroom. He kicked the door closed and you whimpered.

If your daddy found out what had happened, even if it was the Sheriff, he’d string you up by your knickers.

🚔

You found the flashlight under the stairs and waited until the house was filled with snores. The old standing clock ticked as you counted down the hours sat on the stairs across from the front door. The snow wasn’t thick but enough to make it slippery. With the night, the temperature dropped and seeped in around the windows. It would take you a while to get through the woods.

You opened the front door carefully. You wore the old hand-me-down coat and your heavy boots. You hated the forest after dark. When you were kids, your older brothers like to tell tales of grisly murders and other atrocious acts there. You’d since learn much of those were fantasy but it didn’t make them any less sinister.

You flipped the flashlight on as you neared the trees. You hit it twice to get the bulb alight. You pointed it ahead of you and followed the glow like a beacon. If your daddy knew what you were about, if your mama was alive to know it… you could hardly bear it yourself.

Your teeth chattered as the bitter wind swept under your skirt and you crossed your free arm over your middle. You hunched against the cold as flakes began to fall once more. You heard the river ahead of you and came out onto the dirty shore.

Bodecker’s cruiser sat waiting, his flashlight on the dash as it lit up the interior. You saw him in the yellow haze as you neared. He got out as he spotted you and rounded the car. His breath fogged before him and he rubbed his hands together.

“Got the heat on, not that you’ll be cold for long,” he said, “Come on,” he opened the back door and reached for the flashlight. You handed it to him as he waved you into the car. “On your back.”

He was out of pretense, out of patience. You sat and shimmied back on the seat. He got in behind you and pulled the door closed as he huddled on his knees on the seat. He was bent awkwardly as he grabbed at your skirt.

“Common, let’s get these off,” he reached up and grabbed the waist of your wool tights and jolted them down your thighs. “It’s so fucking cold. I don’t know we can keep to the car through the winter.” He left your tights at your knees and tore down your underwear. He pushed your legs up so they hung around him, the wool stretched across his stomach. “There’s a hotel in town. We can drive in…”

His voice trailed off as he fumbled with his pants. He grunted and planted a hand beside your head as he bent over you. He slapped the tip of his cock against your cunt as you turned your face away from him. You pressed your lips together. Better to have it done with.

“What’s the matter, girl?” He grabbed your chin and turned your head. “Open your eyes…” he rubbed his nose against yours and pushed against your entrance. “Look at your daddy, girl.”

“Please--” You opened your eyes and begged. “Please, don’t make--”

He impaled you and let out a long groan. You yelped and as you curled beneath him and he sank to his limit. It hurt just as much as before. He hit the same bruises as he began to thrust.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he said with each tilt of his hips, “You don’t know how I’ve been thinking about you.”

He pushed himself up as he continued to move against you. He unzipped your coat and unbuttoned your blouse with some difficulty. He ripped your jacket, shirt, and brassiere strap down your shoulder. He grabbed your tit as it fell loose and toyed with your nipple. He flicked with his thumb and circled the hard nub.

“You need to dress yourself up, girl,” He purred between thick breaths. “Show off what you got. Just for me, no one else.”

“I can’t-- I can’t--” You squealed as he sped up and sent a pang up your spine. “Ow, ow, ow.”

“I ain’t care about your pa,” he murmured, “I’ll buy you something nice, hmmm? Then I can fuck you in that.”

You blinked away the tears as they threatened. This man could use your body but he wouldn’t see you cry. You hadn’t truly done that since your mama’s funeral. 

The car rocked with him. He crushed you into the seat as his feet hit the door. He was too tall to be crammed in the back of the cruiser atop you but it barely seemed to matter. The leather of his coat squeaked as he hammered into you and the scent of his sweat permeated the air. 

He dropped down on you, smothering you as his hips kept going. He nuzzled your ear and gave a throaty grunt. He came and slapped the seat beside your head. He slowed and went limp over you, out of breath as he shuddered.

“Mmm, can I use my cuffs on you next time, girl?” He lifted his head and tickled your temple. “Hmm? You can be my perp?”

You stared at him, mortified. You nodded, unable to speak.

“Tomorrow,” he rasped, “I won’t wait another week.”

🚔

Your nights belonged to the Sheriff and the days had never truly been your own. Two weeks of his sick game, trekking through the dark, cold woods to his cruiser by the frozen river. Face down on his seat, cuffs behind your back, him behind you, on top of you.

That day, he’d been by to see your father. He found you in the kitchen before he went. “Forget the underwear tonight, girl.” That was all he said before he left you to dread him again.

The same path, the same bobbing light before you, the knot deep in your gut. You were as sick with yourself as you were with him. You let him use you. Maybe you didn’t have a choice but you didn’t fight. You just laid there and waited for him to finish.

As you walked through the woods, you still jumped at every snapped twig and every rustle. It all seemed louder that night. The wind was wild and the branches shook above, no leaves left to block the moonlight.

He took your jacket off that night. You shivered and he cuffed your hands behind your back. He bent you over the hood and hiked up your skirt. Your thigh highs began to sag as he entered you. Your cheek nearly stuck to the cold metal of the car as he pushed your head down.

“Fuck yeah, girl, you like when daddy fucks you?” He snarled as he slapped your ass. The open zipper of his jacket brushed your skin and his pants scratched the top of your thighs. “Hmm, you like being a whore?” He tugged on the cuffs as he fucked you harder. “That’s it.”

He snorted and slowed. You sensed a disturbance and he reached to his loose belt.

“Who’s there?” He called out as he slipped out of you.

“I fucking knew you was sneakin’ around,” Your father’s voice cut through the air. “Might be with a policeman but it don’t make it any better, you tramp.”

You tried to stand and Bodecker pushed you back down. “She’s a grown woman and times are changin’, Rhett. Why don’t you go back home? You know I’ll get her there safe.”

“Home? Uh uh, she can stay out in the cold. I won’t have no whore under my roof.”

“Now, let’s not be rash, Rhett, I’ll take care of her. You won’t have to. I was just--”

“Everyone knows about you, Lee,” your father barked, “This where you take your other whores?”

“I’m a changed man,” Bodecker insisted and you heard a subtle snap. You watched as their shadows got closer in the dark lit up only by the flashlight thrown onto the ground. “She’s--”

“You can keep her. Maybe you can find a man who will buy or sell her when you’re done.”

“Don’t be sayin’ that--”

“You fat fuck, don’t you--”

You were deafened by the sudden bang and your ears rang as your father’s body slumped to the floor. You stood with some trouble and stumbled back. You heard your father gasping as he twitched in the dirt. Bodecker turned and caught you before you could stepped away from the hood.

“I didn’t tell you to get up,” He growled as he bent you over the hood again.

“Daddy!” You cried out. “What did you do? Daddy--”

“I told you,” he pressed the gun to your head and poked around until he slid back inside you, “He ain’t your daddy no more.”

Your boots kicked in the dirt as he fucked you. The cold metal of the gun had you frozen, your eyes on your father’s body as the life slowly drained from him. You closed your eyes as his last, moist breaths escaped him. You bit down; you couldn’t cry, not even then.

You didn’t even notice as Bodecker finished and backed away. As his cum leaked from you and your legs folded. You fell onto the cold ground and he hauled you up into the back seat. He slammed the door and got in the front.

“Daddy…” You muttered.

“Pity. You never know what scoundrels are hanging out in the woods after dark,” Bodecker said as he started the car. “That’s some bad news to wake up to, isn’t is, girl?”

“Wh-why-why?” You stammered.

“Shhhh, you gotta be quiet, girl,” he coaxed, “‘Specially when drop you off. Better not wake any of your brothers, right?” He was quiet for a moment and cleared his throat loudly, “Right?”

“Right,” you whispered as your sticky thighs rubbed together, “Right, right, right…”

🚔

“Now, girl, you go inside and put your clothes in a bag and wash yourself up.” Those were Bodecker’s instructions as he dropped you off. 

You didn’t remember doing it but you awoke with damp sheets and a bag by your bed. You rolled over, stiff from the night spent tense and rolling back and forth. It hadn’t really been sleep. More shock.

You laid there. Numb. You heard the gurgling again. Saw the lifeless black form of your father’s body in the dirt. It wasn’t real. You’d go downstairs and he’d be there. Once you put on the coffee he’d get up and demand a cup. It couldn’t be real.

You sat up and kicked the bag under your bed. You wore the grey dress with the pleats, a black sweater over it, with black stockings, and your mary janes. You descended the stairs one at a time and put the kettle on the stove. You stared out the window. It had snowed more in the last hours of the night.

You got out the tray of eggs and the sausages. You searched for the large skillet and Will walked in with a yawn. He was always the first up. You stared at him as he sat at the table. You tried to say something, maybe you said ‘good morning’, and then you went back to your work.

Arn and Cal came shortly after. None of the three mentioned your father’s absence. It wasn’t that unusual. Sometimes he drank too much, sometimes he had been up for hours or hadn’t slept at all. You served them and added the bacon grease to the jar of lard.

Where was he? He couldn’t be there. In the dirt. In his own blood. Dead. No, he was going to come right through that door.

You heard the tires before the knock. Your heart raced as reality closed in around you. Arn got up to answer it and came back with the sheriff. He didn’t even acknowledge you as he nodded at the men around the table.

“Pa’s not awake yet,” Will said and chewed the edge of a strip of bacon.

“Well, I think…” Bodecker hooked his thumb in his belt, his stomach sticking out awkwardly, “I think we need to talk about your pa. Can I sit?”

“Course, sir,” Cal said, “Should be enough fixins if you want some.”

“No, no thank you,” Bodecker sat heavily and sighed. He was an effective actor. “Look, your pa… well, we don’t know exactly what happened but… we all agree he must’ve been drunk.”

“What’s goin’ on?” Arn snipped, “What do you mean? Pa is here--”

“You remember when he went to bed last night?” Bodecker asked.

“Well…” Cal frowned and looked at his brother. “Well, I think I laid down before him.”

“Me too,” Arn said.

“I’m always the first asleep,” Will added. “Same with my sister.”

You gulped as the sheriff finally looked at you. “Well, you know we had them flyers around town for the longest time about the woods. About the criminals we got hangin’ around these days and there’s really no easy way for me to say it but it looks like your pa ran into one of them last night.”

“All the way out in the woods? But why?” Cal asked.

Arn’s nostrils flared as he shook his head. “Because he got no sense. You remember last summer. We found him face down in a bog out there. Took the three of us to get him out.”

“Yeah, but so late…”

“You know how he’s been since ma.” Will intoned.

You were dizzy. You grabbed onto the counter as your legs turned to liquid and you cried out. “No!” You fell to your knees and touched your forehead. You knew it was real, you’d seen it, but you had wanted so badly for it to have been a dream. A nightmare.

Will was the first at your side. Bodecker helped him lifted you back to your feet and get you to a chair. Arn and Cal watched in concern.

“You sure it was our pa?” Arn asked.

“I’ll save you the sight. I can assure you it’s him.” Bodecker said as he rubbed your shoulder and Will stood over you. “She should be fine. Get her some water. It’s the shock. You know the ladyfolk and their temperaments. They aren’t so equipped for things like this.”

“Any idea who? Why?” Arn prodded.

“Don’t think your pa had the sense to take his wallet but his belt buckle was gone and we can’t be sure what else they took,” Bodecker took your hand and caressed the back of it, “Honey, you drink tea? You want your brothers’ get you some?”

“I-- I--- You--You--” You stuttered.

“Come on, boys, let’s get her laying down,” Bodecker said as he stood. “She’s just havin’ a moment.”

Will and Cal lifted you out of the chair and carried you to the sofa in the front room. You were stiff as a board as they angled you onto the cushion and you could only babble at the ceiling.

“Go get that tea going, Will,” Bodecker ordered, “Cal, you go get her something to keep her warm.” Arn stood in the doorway and watched. “And Arn, get some wood for the fire. We should get it going.”

The boys dispersed as you laid across the couch. Bodecker touched your shoulder and you latched onto his wrist.

“You--” You hissed.

“Shhh, I only did what I had to. What you made me do,” he whispered, “‘cause you weren’t careful.”

You turned your head back and forth and squirmed. “No, no, no! You raped me! You killed my daddy!’

He covered your mouth and leaned over you. “Shut up! Shut up!” He sneered and his other hand went to your throat. “Now you got your clothes in a bag.” You nodded with wide eyes. “Good. I’m gonna take your brothers into town and you’re gonna burn them. Got it?” You nodded again. “And you’re gonna shut up.”

He released you roughly and stood as Cal came in with a blanket and tossed it over you. Bodecker helped straighten it and looked around.

“Think y’all should come back with me. We can get you sorted at the station then see about the caretaker.”

“All that already?” Arn asked.

“I ain’t rushing. Bodies don’t keep long, though. Investigations neither. We’ll get some statements from you boys and you’ll be free to choose what you wanna do from there.”

🚔

Will stayed home from school to keep watch over you. You didn’t know what was wrong with you. When your ma died, you didn’t feel this empty. You had cried for her, mourned for her. But now all you could do was sit there. Was it your fault? Even if Bodecker had pulled the trigger, you had brought your father there. You had been so concerned with keeping the sheriff from telling your secret, you had failed to hide it yourself.

Bodecker stopped by almost daily. He claimed it was to ask more questions or check on the family but you didn’t miss the way he looked at you. The way he made the excuse to be in the same room when he talked to your brothers. The way he shifted on his feet and peered around the house in silent triumph.

On the fifth day, you made Will go to school. He shouldn’t miss class because of you. He was the only one out of the boys who had ever read a book full through. So you saw them off, a proper breakfast for them for the first time since that horrifying morning, and you went about the list of undone chores.

You looked out the window at the shed. Your daddy never said much to you but you were used to his presence; the noise of his activity just outside. You couldn’t blame him for his faults, he’d fought a war, he’d worked hard, and he’d lost a wife. And now he was dead because of you.

You were scrubbing the floor when you heard the engine and the rubber treads on snow. You didn’t stop as you tried to scour away the salt stains and layer of dirt from the hallway. Boots clambered up the stairs and you kept your head down. 

No knock, no warning as Bodecker opened the door. You looked up at him as he kicked the snow off his feet.

“You’re up and about today,” he said in a pandering tone.

You said nothing and focused on your work. He took off his jacket and hung it on the rack in the corner. He wiped his boots on the mat and watched you. He hummed as he tapped his toe.

“I like that. You on all fours.” He taunted.

You sat back on your heels and dropped the rag in the bucket. “I got cleaning to do, Sheriff, and if you don’t recall, my daddy’s gone… for good.”

“Oh, I know it,” he said as you lifted the pail and he followed you to the kitchen. “But do you? Do you really know it?”

You dumped the water down the sink and plunked the empty bucket on the floor. “I know it and I know who done it. I saw you. How could you?”

“Your brother Arn’s gonna get the house in the will. He’ll be lookin’ for a wife soon. Means Cal’s gonna have to get his own place, take Will with him or get a wife of his own. And you? Where does that leave you?”

“There’s jobs for me out there, I can clean, I can cook,  I’m sure I could waitress,” you argued as you crossed to him. You grabbed his arms and tried to shove him. “Go. You don’t need to worry about me. I’d prefer it if you left me alone all together. You got what you wanted, Sheriff.”

“Not all of it,” he smirked. “You gonna drive yourself mad with all this.”

“What do you care?” You slapped his chest with both hands. “You don’t care about no one but you. You killed him!” You hit him again, “You killed him!”

He grabbed your upper arms and shook you. “You shut up about that now. You say anything again and you’ll be lyin’ beside him. If that ain’t enough, I’ll put your brothers there first.”

You reeled as if he’d slapped you. Your lip quivered and you sucked it in to keep from sobbing. “What do you want from me? I never wanted any of this.”

“You can’t know what you want, girl,” he wrenched you back and turned as he dragged you through to the living room. “So let me show you what you want. What your new daddy can do for you.”

“Get off of me!” You wrestled with him as he angled you around the couch. He shoved you and you fell back onto the cushions. “Leave me alone!”

He forced you back as you tried to stand and grabbed your chin. He squeezed as he looked down at you.

“Take them bloomers off now,” he ordered. “And hush your mouth.” You gaped up at him. He turned his hand and rested it against your cheek. “There’s one sure way to knock some sense into a woman,” he slapped you lightly, “You can decide if this lesson is an easy one or not.”

You sat back as you shrugged away his hand. You winced and lifted your pelvis and slipped off your underwear. As you did, your stockings bunched at your knees. Lee watched you with thick breath and purred. He knelt down and pushed your legs apart.

“Put your arms up. Just across the couch. Relax.” He directed as he got closer. “I wanna show you somethin’ makes the girls happy.”

“What are you--”

“You stop asking questions before I make it so you can’t. Now,” he squeezed your knees and his hands slipped up your thighs as he urged them further apart, “Just don’t think. Just sit there.”

He lifted your skirt over your head, one hand still on your legs. His warm breath tickled your pelvis and you squirmed. He pinched you and you exclaimed. You stilled and he slid his tongue down your cunt and poked between your folds. You choked on air as he dragged the tip of his tongue around your bud and your legs tense as your feet tried to arch in your flats.

He delved more firmly into your pussy and you grabbed onto the sofa. Your heart sped up and you pushed your pelvis out without thinking. You looked down at his head draped in your skirt as his mouth made sloppy noises. You felt a strange tingle as he kept on and your neck was pricked as you filled with guilt. It should feel good, whatever he was doing.

“Stop, please, Sheriff,” you begged.

He lapped hungrily as he ignored you and his hands gripped your hips. He pushed you into the couch as he devoured you and drew your pleasure to a point on his tongue. Your breath hitched and you moaned without thinking. You wanted him to stop but more, you wanted him to keep going.

And he did. He seemed to enjoy it just as much as your core pulsed. Your fingers dug into the cushion and your toes curled. You cried out, a voice that didn’t sound like yours, and rocked your pelvis against his face as you were overcome with delirium. You’d never felt so delicious.

Every ounce of strength drained from you. You panted as you slouched against the couch and he pulled away. Your skirt slipped from his head and his lips shone with your juices. He rubbed your legs and watched you writhe as your nerves were overwrought.

He stood with a grunt and unbuckled his belt. He licked his lips and tilted his head. “I knew you wanted me and now you know it too,” he said, “Now you show me that ass. You know I can’t resist.”

[arabellaflynn]

For anyone who didn't catch it on other social media, I have finally moved out of the "temporary" apartment I was stuck in for 7 months, thanks to a lot of emotional and logistical support from friends, and a generous amount of financial support from the folks who gave to my GoFundMe. I am endlessly grateful to all of you, and if I weren't so goddamn tired right now I'd be more eloquent in saying so.

I've spent the past few weeks of unpacking and working out the bus routes around my new place trying to figure out how to explain what was so terrible about the last one. Most attempts devolved into page upon page of rage, which is not really what I want to be doing here. On the other hand, I also don't want to downplay how bad it was. 

Spoiler: The temp apartment was Very Very Bad.

The tl;dr is that I was offered someone's spare room on the condition that I help out a little extra with household chores and caring for their rats, because the pet owning roommate had recently had back surgery and was still mobility-impaired. What actually happened is that as soon as they realized I had any basic life skills whatsofuckingever, I was cornered into becoming the 24/7 on-call House Adult. I would have gone on strike, but the other two people in the apartment were so terrible at coping with absolutely any aspect of being alive that if I had, one or both of them would probably be dead now.

That is not hyperbole. I sat back at one point and realized that I had talked to 911 dispatch five times in the preceding four months. None of those calls were for me. To be clear, I ain't mad about other people having medical problems. All five of those calls were appropriate and necessary uses of emergency services. I just resent the hell out of being the default option for handling all of it, even though none of the medical emergency problems were mine, and there were other people in the house. Literally, Short Roommate had a catastrophic asthma attack one night, and when she was wheezing too hard to talk she passed the phone to Tall Roommate -- who immediately ran to the other end of the apartment, banged on my door, and handed the phone to me. It got to the point where I just told the operator what was up, went downstairs to unlock the door for EMS, stood in the corner answering the occasional question until they hauled someone off to the hospital, and then went right back to bed, because none of this was my problem. And that's just the 911 calls, not even counting the number of times I had to talk her down out of a dissociative episode, or any of the other shit I was not warned about and did not volunteer to do. They wore me down until my only response to "a fellow human can't breathe" is "fuck's sake, why am I even involved here".

They both needed a lot more, and a lot more professional, help than they could possibly have gotten out of a random civilian roommate. They both fought tooth and nail against actually getting any of it. Every time Short Roommate was dragged to the hospital, her discharge papers included a big fat packet full of social services, resources, and business cards for actual physical people to phone. I know this because whenever I cleaned the apartment, I found them on the fucking floor, whereupon I placed them on her fucking keyboard, and told her point-blank to call these people. As far as I know, she never did.

I am neither qualified nor equipped to be a live-in caregiver for anybody. There is a fucking reason I have never wanted children. I keep critters because if you give them food, water, toys, and boxes to sleep in, you can leave them to entertain themselves for hours while you work or sleep, and no one will arrest you.

There was a bunch of other stuff. Tall Roommate rarely if ever cleaned anything, including herself, unless directly ordered to do so and given a detailed list of instructions of what you meant by "clean". I only ever got her to wash her own damn dishes once, and I did it by messaging her from the other room 'I just found a mouse in the sink eating snacks off your dirty plates GO DO YOUR DISHES'. She had a laundry list of problems, but the relevant one here is that she was high-support-needs autistic with no support and zero inclination to find any. 

[Did I mention the mice? We had mice. All over. The rats murdered two of them when they got into the cages, looking for the free-feed bowl.]

Short Roommate clearly loved her rats but didn't actually do any of the rat care beyond petting and playing. One of them was tremendously sick at one point and needed meds q6h. She was supposed to be helping with that and didn't, which meant that I went several weeks on a maximum of six hours of uninterrupted sleep a night. I tore the fuck into her for that one, pointing out in exactly so many words that some of these meds were painkillers and if the rat didn't get them on time HE SUFFERS. Not doing any of the grunt work, Short Roommate evidently thought rats were so easy she should just keep getting more of them! She rescued two, one of whom was preggo, kept several of the babies, and started talking about waiting for one of the girls to grow up so she could breed him with one of her younger boys. 

Gentle Reader, I promise you the only reason I did not strangle her in her sleep that very night was that I knew, deep in my heart, that I could not move the body down two flights of stairs by myself, and if I left it up to Tall Roommate, the corpse would still be in the apartment today.

If I were inclined to any sympathy, it would have died when Short Roommate moved out to shack up with New Boyfriend and New Boyfriend's Mother. She initially took all the rats with her, which made them officially not my problem anymore, but I woke up one morning to a message that said something like "[New Boyfriend's Mother] says that if I show up to our new place with the rats she's not going to let me in, [Tall Roommate] is coming back with all the rats and everything they own". I found out later that this was because their new place was in section 8 housing, where you are not allowed to have pets that aren't service or support animals. Which Short Roommate had known the entire time, and just... made no plans for. At all. Unless "ignore everything until bitchslapped by reality, then panic and make unreasonable demands of other people" counts, I guess.

Eight rats. She dumped eight rats on me. Eight. I wound up taking care of them all without help; Tall Roommate was incapable of keeping anything in her habitat clean, including herself, and I wasn't willing to let her neglect animals. I was actually down to one rat of my own, having lost my two venerable old men, and was looking for a new friend or two for Tseng. Which I had to stop doing, because nine fucking rats is a lot of rats, and I couldn't in good conscience bring Rats nos. 10 & 11 into this shitshow. Naturally, none of the rats got along; two pairs of boys had to be kept apart, and both of them tried to pick fights with poor Tseng, and four of them were girls that had to be kept away from all of the boys for obvious reasons. It was exhausting and a catastrophe.

Once I had the rats she apparently made no further effort to re-home them, although she did keep telling Tall Roommate to come knock on my door and take pictures of them. (I put a stop to this. Tall Roommate did it because Short Roommate had broken up with her to shack up with New Boyfriend, and Tall Roommate had literally no way to cope with this other than try desperately to get her back.) I bugged her to do something about this until, predictably, I had to contact the local rat rescue people to find fosters less than a week before my moving crew was scheduled. When I told her, she replied "oh, I was just about to submit that". Sure you were. And while you're here, I have this nice bridge to sell you.

[The four girls and two youngest boys went to Mainely Rat Rescue. It looks like the boys have already found a home, but the girls are up for adoption. I kept the two old men, who both have special care needs; Garion has breathing problems that involve his own asthma inhaler and a steady diet of NSAIDs, and Errand has attitude problems that involve picking fights with any rat who isn't Garion. They're both just shy of three(!) and unlikely to find homes through a foster program, plus I'm already their third caretaker, so I couldn't send them off with a stranger. They are currently sulking because I wouldn't supplement their dinner with all of my dinner -- which is to say, they're fine.]

The point is, my brain just about died off. The only time in that apartment that I didn't spend cleaning up after three grown adults, two of whom weren't even me, were the weeks after Short Roommate moved out to shack up with New Boyfriend, which she had broken up with Tall Roommate to do, and Tall Roommate took it so badly she ended up inpatient before she ate a bottle of Tylenol. (I called 911 when I overheard her plans. It was about 50% "a fellow human is in need of help" and 50% "argh jesus fuck THIS IS NOT MY JOB please go talk to someone who is actually paid to deal with this".) I am slowly clawing my way back to the surface, so if you'll just bear with me, I'll be back on Twitch this Sunday 3-7 Eastern, and type out more things that have been on hold while I tried to retain at least some of my marbles.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/3tNUiEa via IFTTT -------------------- Enjoy my writing? Consider becoming a Patron, subscribing via Kindle, or just toss a little something in my tip jar. Thanks!

[puckinghell]

Only Once | Tyson Barrie

Plot: today, everything just goes wrong Word count: 1890 Note: I wrote this because I had a bad day but I have no Tyson Barrie. Sad life.

All things considered, you were a pretty good person. At the very least, you always tried to be. You were nice to waiters, even when they got your order wrong. You never cursed at people who cut you off while driving. You let people go in front of you in line at the grocery store if they only had a few products, while you were trying to get through a week’s worth of food. And there were a whole bunch of charities you supported regularly.

But you must’ve done something bad, because your karma today was awful.

It had started out as a fine morning. The sky was blue when you woke up to your alarm and you had slept well. But as soon as you got dressed, your day turned around.

First, you dropped the milk carton. With no milk, you were forced to have your cereal dry, and that really wasn’t a good taste. You were ready to get over it, but when you got into your car to go to work, it didn’t start.

Great. One of those days. You sighed, texted your boyfriend, who was currently still asleep, if he would please take a look at your car - not that Tyson was such a mechanic, but hopefully he’d get the hint and just take your car to the shop for you - and decided to walk to work, instead. When you got there a bit late, your boss threw a fit, because there was an important client there for you and now he had to wait. You were a people pleaser at heart and an ass chewing from your boss was just what you needed for your mood to drop to below zero.

You got through your talk with the client, who was an arrogant asshole, and when you went to send your boss the rapport, your computer crashed. It was at that moment that you considered going home to have a good cry.

But you pushed through, managed to get the computer working again, realized you’d forgotten not only your lunch but your wallet, begged some money of your colleague to at least buy yourself a sandwich, and when the clock finally struck 5, you were ready for the day to be over.

Except it wasn’t, because then, halfway through your walk home, the blue sky turned grey and it started raining like there was no tomorrow.

You stepped into your apartment soaked to the bone, incredibly annoyed, and on the brink of tears.

“Tys?” you called out for your boyfriend, and a “hey babe!” sounded back from the living room, where you found him behind the television.

“Had a good day?” he asked. You almost laughed with how ironic that question was, but decided you didn’t want to dump all your problems on him. The Avs were having a bad stretch and he had enough to worry about, besides, it was rare for him to have some time off and you bet he was exhausted.

“Did you look at my car?” you countered his question instead.

He answered without taking his eyes away from the television. “No, sorry, babe. Practice took a bit longer than expected because Gabe wanted to try a few new things.”

You felt your heart sink. That meant that you’d have to get up extra early tomorrow to walk to work again, and you also had no idea when you’d get time to get your car to the shop. To be honest, you weren’t even really sure how to get a car that didn’t start anywhere. Would you have to call a tow truck?

“Oh,” you mumbled, and sighed. Don’t take it out on him, you told yourself, feeling yourself get more annoyed. “I’m going to take a shower.”

But Tyson didn’t even really seem to hear you, and you couldn’t stop yourself from slamming the bedroom door behind you. Rumbling through your closet to find some comfortable clothes, you tried to push the tears back. You hated how easily you cried, how your first instinct when you were upset was to burst into tears.

Footsteps approached the bedroom door and you wondered, hoped even, that Tyson had noticed your mood and was coming to check up on you.

“Hey babe, have you seen my grey hoodie?” he asked, and disappointment washed over you as you realized he hadn’t noticed anything.

Hadn’t noticed, or just simply didn’t care.

“I don’t know, Tyson, maybe it’s in that pile of clothes on the bathroom floor that I keep telling you to put in the laundry,” you snapped, and his eyes widened in surprise at your outburst. “Maybe you can keep track of your own goddamn stuff, because I’m your girlfriend, not your mother.”

You stomped into the bathroom and slammed that door behind you, too. And that’s when you started to cry.

You quickly peeled off your clothes, still wet from the rain, and stepped into the shower. The hot water mixed with the tears on your face and after about 10 minutes, you felt yourself starting to calm down. And that’s when you started to feel guilty.

It was true that Tyson was a bit behind with his laundry, and he had a bad habit of leaving things scattered around the apartment, but he had just asked you a simple question, and you’d gone all out at him, unloading all your frustrations. It wasn’t fair of you. Especially because you knew that if you’d simply answered his earlier question, and told him you had a bad day, he’d be the most understanding, supportive boyfriend, like he always was.

You put on some yoga pants and one of his Avs hoodies, and searched through the pile of clothes on the floor. With Tyson’s grey hoodie in your hands, you walked towards the living room. Tyson wasn’t there, but you could hear water running in the kitchen, so you made your way there.

He was standing at the sink, putting dishes in the dishwasher. When he heard you approach, he sent you a sheepish smile.

“I figured I’d do that other thing you’ve been asking me to do for a while. I’ll get those clothes in the laundry after this.”

Of course he’d taken your snappy remark to heart. Now you felt even more guilty.

“I found your hoodie,” you mumbled, showing him the fabric in your hands. “Tys, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so…” you swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump in your throat that was already forming again. God, hadn’t you cried enough? “Bitchy,” you finished, and instantly, Tyson’s face fell even more.

“No, you weren’t being unreasonable. You did tell me to sort out my shit and I haven’t. I’m sorry.”

Fucking great, now your boyfriend felt awful because of you. That was enough to send you over the edge again, and when Tyson saw the tears spilling over, he cursed under his breath.

“Oh no, don’t cry! I promise I’ll never leave my laundry on the floor again.” He rushed over but stopped in front of you, one arm outstretched, silently asking you if you even wanted him to hug you, or if you were too mad at him. You dropped the hoodie on the floor and threw yourself against his chest.

Instantly his arms wrapped around your back and he pulled you in close, his thumb rubbing calming circles on your back as he hummed soothing words into your ear.

“It-It’s not that, I just had a bad day and I took it out on you and I’m s-sorry,” you sniffed into the fabric of his shirt, that was getting wetter with your tears by the second.

“Shh, it’ll be okay, hey, we’re fine,” Tyson whispered, squeezing you a bit tighter.

“It’s not f-fine, I’m really sorry, I feel like s-such a b-bitch.”

“Don’t say that,” he said, a bit louder. “You know it’s my job to be your personal boxing ball whenever you need to take out some frustration.”

That was so utterly untrue and yet, you knew he meant every word of it. You pictured yourself using Tyson as a boxing ball; with your small stature and his giant one, he probably would barely notice. Despite everything, you smiled.

Noticing that you were starting to calm down, Tyson pulled away, his hands cupping your face as his thumbs brushed the tears away from your cheeks.

“How about we go cuddle on the couch and you can tell me all about your bad day. Unless you prefer yelling at me a bit more.” His eyes were twinkling as he spoke and you lightly smacked his arm, which earned you a laugh. He wrapped his arm around your waist as he guided you towards the couch, pulling you down with him and tucking you into his side.

You told him all about your day and when you were done, he tenderly pressed his lips against your cheek.

“Hey, you know what?” he hummed. “I’m really proud of you.”

You frowned. “I literally just told you that everything I did today was a mess.”

“No, your day was a mess. But you dealt with it.”

“By yelling at you,” you protested. “That’s not a good way to deal with it.”

He shrugged. “Still counts as dealing with it. You had a bad day, and you lived through it. You know, that’s the good thing about bad days. You only have to live them once. Only once, and then you never have to live that bad day again.”

You’d never thought about it before, but when he said it like that, full of conviction, it actually made a lot of sense.

“I’ll drive you to work tomorrow, and then I’ll call someone to take a look at your car.” He chuckled. “We both know I would have had no idea how to fix it anyway.”

You knew he was tired and didn’t want him to get up early just for you, but when you opened your mouth to protest, he pressed a finger against your lips.

“Nope. I’m doing it and you can’t stop me.”

Knowing he was damn stubborn when he wanted to be, you sighed, then nodded. “Thanks, Tys. You’re the best.”

A cheeky expression fell over his face as he grinned. “Even when I don’t pick up my dirty laundry?”

“Even then.” You took hold of his face and kissed him, before grabbing the remote. “And you’ll be even better if you watch a Disney film with me.”

“Yuck, girly.” He pulled a face and then laughed as you elbowed him in the ribs.

“You promised you would watch them with me!” He had, earlier this year when you’d told him about your resolution to watch every single Disney film ever made.

“Yeah, but this is the third time you’ve put on Lady and the Tramp! I promised you I’d watch them with you once!”

You shrugged. “Yeah, but you love me, and I had a bad day, so you’ll watch it again.” Then you shushed him as he tried to speak again, pointing to the television. “Shh, it’s about to start.”

You felt his arms tighten around you and he pressed his face into your hair as you heard him whisper one last protest.

“Only once.”

[alessafalling]

A pre blight/post mold get together ft @thisdaringdanny

[ TEXT ]: Steve and I are missing you and Finn. [ IMG ] [ TEXT ]: Look at our pouts. Spend my last day off work with us?

[ TEXT ]: How could we say no to those faces?

[ TEXT ]: Do you want me to bring anything, need food?

-3 minute pause-

[ TEXT ]: So you know my dust is all good now. It’s back to normal. If that eases your mind x

[ TEXT ]: Steve’s back, love. I just needed to be sure I could get him back. [ TEXT ]: Food’s good. [ TEXT ]: We got a tonne of snacks, Finn’ll go mad for it.

[ TEXT ]: I know, I get it. I just wanted to be sure [ TEXT ]: Good as in bring it or good as in you have some? [ TEXT ]: I refuse to accept you think snacks are real food! [ TEXT ]: Finn is getting chunky

[ TEXT ]: You’re good, Ess. [ TEXT ]: Food is delicious and we would love as much as you want to bring. [ TEXT ]: They’re quite literally real food. [ TEXT ]: A gorgeous chunky sure to entice any other familiar ferret’s he may come across.

[ TEXT ]: Okay [ TEXT ]: Alright! Clear some space in the fridge!

[ TEXT ]: Fake food. FAKE food!

[ TEXT ]: Are you trying to get Finn laid? I…...don’t even know what to do with that.

[ TEXT ]: I’ll be there in ten?

[ TEXT ]: It’s pretty empty, you’re safe. [ TEXT ]: It’s unhealthy sure, but quite real. Touch it, you’ll get sugar on your fingers. [ TEXT ]: I am always trying to look out for the familiars of the land, if I could get Steve laid I’d work there but I’ve never met a wallaby familiar other than him. He’s a lonely fellow. [ TEXT ]: Long as you need, Ess.

Instead of texting back she decided to just head over. Finn on her shoulder like some sort of parrot she walks across town. It doesn’t take her very long to get there, she’s highly motivated to see her boyfriend and not to mention her eager attitude to seeing Steve home safely. 

She runs up the stairs two at a time coming to his door fast. Essie knocks and waits, a bright smile crossing her face once she sees the door handle move.

“Hi.”

         The home is a mess to say the least, he and Steve had spent time there quite consistently over the past two days to the point that food wrappers and half finished cans of drink were all over the coffee table, blankets and pillows were scattered over the floor and the television had been angled so they could watch it from where the laid. Even the kitchen was rather a pigsty with cups and bowls and plates all over the counter with various greases and sugar stains on them.           When finally Danny heard a knock at the door he bound up from the blanket he had wrapped himself in, wearing only some old sweatpants that smelled from his two days in them, and opened it. “Hey,” Danny beamed back upon seeing her, Steve rushing over as well and wrapping tiny arms around Essie’s legs as Danny wrapped his own around her middle. “God, you smell so clean,” Danny said, burying his face in her hair.

       Her nose wrinkles at him. Seems two days of the silent treatment was the fate of his shower as well. Essie doesn’t stop that from giving him a short cuddle back before pushing his arms off her. “You’re a second thought right now babe, I have real people to cuddle.” and as she says this she stoops, she’d been worried about Steve. Maybe she’d relished in the extra attention in his absence but she wasn’t an idiot. Him being missing had frightened them all, and she was incredibly glad to see him back.

       Giving the wallaby a good squeeze she smiles at him. “It’s good to see you.” she hums before straightening back to her full -if insignificant, in comparison to Danny at least- height. “You sir need a shower.” she says prodding his chest. “Or at least a change of blankets.” she teases hoisting her bag further onto her shoulder. 

             Steve laughed but, as usual, it sounded strange, like a cross between a sigh and a hiss, his vocal cords just not able to make the same laughing sound that Danny and Essie’s could. He cuddled Essie, poking a tongue out at Danny in the process as attention was lavished on him instead. Danny didn’t really mind and when Essie stood Danny just nodded. 

            “I’ve been telling him for days he needs a shower, he’s a very dirty wallaby,” Danny said, knowing Essie had actually meant him. The priority of cleaning himself just hadn’t come about yet, he figured he would that night, since he had work the next day. 

           “I don’t got a washing machine in here and I didn’t want to walk all the way down to the laundry. Just enjoy the musk of us,” Danny chuckled, waiting for both Finn and Essie to object as Danny and Steve stepped back into the apartment, dancing with a silly smoothness.

       Essie levels Danny with a pointed look. “Uh huh sure, musk is exactly how I would describe it too.” it’s got a hint of sarcasm but she didn’t want to fight him on it. It’s not too bad, she’ll manage, it’s a small price to pay to finally get some time in with him again. 

       “Maybe just open a window at least.” she suggests as they come inside. She sees the mess they’ve made and can’t help but roll her eyes. Like kids at a sleepover they’d wrecked the place. It wasn’t like she was going to go to cleaning up after them though, they were adults and she could clear her own space to sit if she wanted to. “I brought toad in the hole, and pasta and things” she tells them, ignoring the mess that also spanned the small kitchen as she opened the fridge to put the containers in there. “Toad in the hole is not for Steves, but the rest is.”

           Danny walked over to the glass door that lead out onto a tiny balcony where Danny had put up a fold out clothes hanger where he would usually dry his clothing, currently only his work uniform was there. “I can shower if it’s really that bad,” he offered, he figured it was not the best but he hadn’t been to the gym or anything.             “What is Toad in the Hole?” Danny questioned as he watched Essie move into the kitchen. Immediately he began to clean up after himself and Steve, rising some of the dishes off and loading them into the dishwasher. “Does it have toad in it? Is that why Steve can’t eat it?” Danny asked as she loaded up the fridge.

              “I kind of thought you meant food for eating now, and together, I don’t expect you to keep me eating the whole week, Ess,” Danny said, stopping her motions. It was a bad sort of impression to imagine that because she had kept him stocked while he was emotionally incapable of caring for himself that she felt it was her duty now. “Come on, you’re not my Mum, love. If you’re bringing food I want to share it with you.”

      “It’s not. I’m just whinging.” she lets him know. Truly, it was just a little stuffy, it was mainly food smells a little sweat never hurt anyone. But she does glance at him with a wink, “But maybe a little deodorant?” she teases. 

      “No toads, it’s just got sausage.” Essie replies. “It’s like a giant yorkshire pudding? Do you have those with sunday roast? And then baked into the pudding is a few sausages, it’s good with gravy. Not healthy per say but tastes really good.”

       An embarrassed flush crosses her cheeks. “I know I’m not your mother.” she says frowning at his fridge. “You said your fridge was empty so I took some things over….” she pauses a moment and adds “Overboard?” looking back at him biting her lip. “Just figured you’d be doing more important stuff than cooking now you have Steve back.” In a moment of uncertainty she takes the box back out of the fridge just to put it right back in again. “Well you’re keeping it now. I ain’t carrying it home.” she says shaking her head “Don’t eat it if you don’t want it.” 

         “Oh yes, Sunday Roast,” Danny said, immediately making his tone more elegant and refined, his posture straightening. “What a fine Sunday did we have Steve, church and then a wonderful Sunday Roast with pudding and Hole of Toad.” His sarcasm was as thick as his accent. Danny’s family was large and while they ate meals together, roasts and the like were reserved for Christmas and celebrations like graduation. “Roasts weren’t much our thing,” he said as his tone softened back to it’s usual state. “Whenever it was our birthday we got to pick whatever we wanted to eat, I usually went with a chicken and gravy sandwich but we’d just pick up a roast chicken or two from Coles and Mum would make the gravy from a tin of powder. Was roast like a typical Sunday meal in Scotland?” he asked.

         “Now that Steve’s back I got nothing to worry about cooking wise, if anyone is the homemaker of us it’s him. Best soup you’ll ever have, he’s a talent,” Danny announced. Honestly more so than how he felt he just hadn’t cooked because he would be waiting for Steve to bring him dinner and when he didn’t he’d get sad again. “I appreciate it though, we’ll definitely eat it over the next few days, but we should probably have some now, yeah, what is not Toad in a Hole, but also not any of those British things you just said, pudding is not the same for the both of us,” he teased. Pudding was chocolatey and delicious, not filled with weird veggies and meat. But Danny was heavily biased and a terrible sort of eater.

        Steve came into the kitchen, opening the fridge and observing. “You pick some stuff, I’ll spray some deodorant,” Danny said, running off as Steve pulled open one of the containers to look inside.

       Essie narrows her eyes at him when he starts to talk differently. “Sunday roast isn’t a posh thing.” she argues lightly, if anything it’s a cheap family meal. You can buy it frozen and stick it in the oven after all.” she points out to her obviously uncouth boyfriend. “But my mum loves roast dinner, so we were all forced to endure it. Eventually we started making our own meals instead of waiting to be fed and the tradition died. Even if we ate roast dinner on a tuesday we called it Sunday roast.”

       “Well, I’ve given Steve a few days off at least then. Let him have a little bit of respite before he’s back to whipping up the soup of the gods.” she winks at the familiar when he makes his way over to look through the small selection, she’d only brought three dishes, it wasn’t a very wide spread. 

       When Danny heads off to find some deodorant she addresses the wallaby. “I realize I didn’t ask you what kinds of foods you even liked to eat. There’s a black bean, avocado burrito bowl type thing in there.” she suggests “I eat that all the time and it’s vegan?” Finn off to the side with his commentary that it smelled awful to him. But then again the little carnivore was likely to say that about any vegetables presented to him.

             “Forced? Damn, Ess,” he laughed a little. It was very different back home. Roasts were expensive and while his family was by no means bad off there was just a lot of them. Enough roasts for eight people was just a bit much, especially because Turkey wasn’t a thing that was sold in stores back in Australia. “Well it sounds very posh, I’ll have to ask your sisters to be sure, see your home,” Danny insisted.

              Danny chuckled at her notion, glad that she was looking out for Steve a little and was in a good mood. He’d worried she might be upset with him about leaving when her dust was bad off. He knew he wouldn’t have if not for Steve, but it also likely didn’t feel very good to her.

               Steve looked up to Essie as Danny returned, grabbing some candy off the table, smelling of Axe body spray. At the suggestion of the vegan burrito bowl Steve went searching for it in the fridge practically climbing inside while Danny held candy out for Finn. “So what are we eating, Ess?”

       “Well when you’re a kid you don’t want turkey, and vegetables, and mash. You want Pizza, and chicken nuggets, and dessert for dinner. So I’d say forced is a pretty solid response.” She crosses her arms with a playful pout. This pout quickly dies as he speaks about meeting her sisters and a smile takes over, she doesn’t even try to hide it. “Believe me when I say if my mum gets to feed you we’ll be having a roast.”

       She had things to say about the last time they’d seen each other in person, but she didn’t feel it was right to ruin Steves return with such things. They should be happy, they should celebrate that he was home and all was well -or as well as it could be amongst the town chaos. She’d keep her comments in for later, not wanting to spoil the mood. Secretly a little hurt by the action still, but pushing through telling herself that it wasn’t logical.

       “What do you want to eat? We can share with Steve or you can try not many toads in a hole.” Essie lays out his options with a shrug. Watching Finn snaffle the treat away as if Essie hadn’t seen the action. “Your choice.”

        “True, but I always want pizza and chicken nuggets so I’m a bad example,” Danny grinned as he watched her pout, coming in close to kiss her cheek gently to get back on her good side despite all of his teasing. “If your Mum gets to feed me I’ll have my own roast and you lot will need a second one, it’ll be all mine,” he grinned, wrapping arms around her middle.

         Danny scrunched up his face gently, this was why he didn’t eat sushi, why he didn’t eat caviar and why he couldn’t handle patté. It sounded gross to him, he was infantile. “I will attempt to eat this dish,” he agreed, fingers clear of the snack he’d had for Finn. “Is it meant to be heated or is it a cold strange sausage sort of thing?” Danny asked as Steve was happily able to avoid it with the vegan burrito bowl she had brought.

      “I mean pizza and chicken nuggets are still good I’ll give you that.” she allows as he leans down to press a kiss to her cheek, her smile indulgent as he does this. “Well good luck with that, my dad will have your guts deep fried if he thinks you got a bigger portion than him, he’s a really gentle man, but boy is he not a sharing kind of bloke.”

       “Heated up. Cold sausages are not my cup of tea.” she makes a face pulling it out so he could look at it. It was already cooked, it just needed heated up in the oven for ten minutes or so. “It’s nothing nasty you big baby.” she laughs showing him. “It’s just pork sausage in batter, and the batter is crispy around the edges anyway.”

         Weirdly Danny had assumed Essie’s Dad wasn’t around, she hadn’t mentioned him many times, mostly her sisters and her mother, and in Danny’s experience it was strange for someone’s parents to be together, he was one of the only friends he had who regularly saw his father. Besides, Essie seemed like someone who had been rather surrounded by her mother for her short tales of her time back home, though he did recall her sharing that her father had taken her to jump for the first time. “Guess he’ll need his own roast too then, lot of posh-ness for whenever I meet them, so many roasts, your neighbours will be jealous,” Danny continued to play, squeezing her middle.

          Danny turned on the oven then, moving from Essie flicking it to a reasonable reheating temperature and leaning against the counter next to it. “It sounds nasty, why would you have toad in the title of anything delicious?” Danny asked her with a raised brow, it would be a minute or two before it was warm enough for them to put food in.

          “So your dust,” he began, still leaning as he did. “How did you fix it?”

      “I can’t believe you think you have any chance eating a whole chicken to yourself. Do you even know Finn? Have you met this little thief? There’s no chance you’re making it off with an entire bird no chance at all.” Essie laughs shaking her head. “Not to mention my mothers familiar is known for eating half of every meal prepared, whether my mum cooks it herself or my dad takes over.” 

      “If you don’t want it, we don’t have to have it.” she rolls her eyes leaning back against the fridge now that everything they needed was out of it, and Steve was off side with his own meal to be eaten cold. 

      Essies expression falls a little. Her fingers lifting to fiddle with the edge of her skirt idly. “It wasn’t a conscious thing it just sort of happened. I guess I used so much that it ran out? I ‘cleaned the pipes’ as my dad would say.”

        “A chance? I can eat a whole chicken easy,” Danny insisted. He ate more than a chicken in a day when he was in his final year of high school, becoming quite obsessed with his size and trying to bulk up he ate only chicken and rice for a few months before his parents were finally able to convince him that because he was fae it was all rather irrelevant, and the look him showed as much. “I will bring my own bird if it’s about sharing, everyone can have a bird. What familiars do they have?”

        Danny shook his head, “I want it, I’m just making a point,” he insisted. Besides once she had pulled it out of the fridge it looked fine enough, strange but fine.

        “Ran out? Hmm, that’s strange, can you feel any of it in you still?” Danny asked, wondering how on Earth it could have just...vanished from her. He hadn’t been affected by it, so he couldn’t know, and the mold was still definitely strange but he supposed nothing disastrous had happened to the town yet, perhaps it was all going to just fade away, her dust the start of it.

        “Oh I know you could but honestly Danny, unless you’re in the kitchen waiting for the very second it’s done you don’t have a shot in hell. It’s not sharing, it’s that it’s a game.” she explains further. “My mother has a fox, her name is Helen. Always so good to play with us when we were little. My dad has a robin, her name is Elise.”

       “It’s just got a weird name, if it was called something bring like sausage in batter kids would get bored of it too quick. Plus, even as an adult I think it’s more fun to say toad in the hole, than yorkshire pudding and sausages.” 

      “More like forced out maybe? I wasn’t having a very good day, I uh ...threw a bit of a childish tantrum.” she admits, colour in her cheeks and shame on her face. It was uncomfortable for her to talk about but she was honest as ever and didn’t want to hide from the truth. “I was hurting.” she adds on softer. “But I’m confident it’s gone. I got a blood test and everything, it’s definitely gone I feel much better.”

          “Well I’ll run home to my Mum and she’ll give me a whole chicken because she loves me,” Danny pouted. Honestly, it was kind of convenient for them that their families did live so far apart because it meant they didn’t have the pressure of either being around. Soapberry paid fine enough too that if they did want to go home for a spell they reasonably could. “Curious to me your father and you have familiars of the opposite gender, I’d never heard of that before. Are your sisters the same?”

          “That or you’re trying to trick me, trying to convince me it’s called something it isn’t ‘cause I’m a silly boy, I see your game, Essie,” Danny pretended, the oven beeping as it had heated up correctly and the fae opening the door so Essie could put the food in to be reheated.

          “A tantrum?” he chuckled, crossing arms over his chest. “What were you having a tantrum about. Damn, blood test? Didn’t you say they couldn’t tell anything was wrong while it was there though?”

       “I don’t even know if it’d be more or less of a journey if you wanted to go home from here or from Scotland. Would it take less time from here? Or more time from here?” she wonders idly. She then blinks at him, she’d never considered her and her dads familiars as odd. “No...my sisters all have female familiars.” she tells him. “I suppose it was never highlighted as odd, I guess because my dad has the same? I don’t know anyone other than us who have a non gender match, but… it’s never been a big deal, figured it was a thing that had to be around other places, not just us.”

       Sliding the dish into place she snorts. “You caught me, it’s toad sausage not pork. And that’s how it got its name. Us british people are real boring for naming things so it wasn’t hard to catch.” she jokes.

       Essie makes a face and half shrugs “I just...got mad about it all. I wasn’t having a very good week and Avi went and made it worse and then he was gone I just...I couldn't take it all at once so I had a meltdown.” She shakes her head “They couldn’t tell I just...it was comforting to know that blood tests came back negative you know?”

         “About the same, the difficulty with here is you have to land in one of three locations and then take another plane, where as Scotland it’d be like one plane and rent a car probably,” he reasoned. America was just so big. “Not a big deal no, but curious, I always wonder why our familiars are as they are. I feel like Steve is all the parts of me I don’t have enough of, like I need his boost of them to survive. How health conscious he is, how serious he is, that sort of thing. I just wonder what made Finn male, when did you get him?” Danny asked since he knew that was also different for everyone.

          “I mean, I can imagine all you British people eating things like toad and fish eggs and that kind of stuff, very off putting. The best thing that ever came out of Britain is pies and you don’t even eat them right half the time, don’t a bunch of you eat cold pies and sausage rolls?” he enjoyed playing, waiting for her to put the food in so he could close the oven.

          “Avi made it worse? How?” Danny asked, partially wondering if this was Essie reacting as she did to Ephram, and to himself when he’d observed something about Essie she hadn’t liked. Danny was quite protective of Avi, though with Steve missing he’d rather forgotten to get in contact with him. “Wait, he’s gone?” he pressed, voice growing louder.

       Essie nods along to his explanation. She’d never personally considered going to Australia so the distance was a mystery to her. “Finn and I are certainly different enough, I just feel like we used to be the same. He’s a part of me that I don’t get to be very often maybe, he shows it so I can still feel it time to time through him. You have to be more grown up as you get older, but not if you’re a ferret. Or a Danny I suppose.” she throws in to tease. “I’ve had him since I was seven? Can’t pinpoint a date, but we’ve been together since around then.”

       “Uhm, excuse you. Since they came from us, we can’t be doing them wrong.” she argues. “And pork pies are the best and you can’t tell me otherwise, there’s nothing better than a pork pie right from the fridge.” 

       “He scared me, and he lied to me, and then he just vanished.” and these were the emotions she’d been trying to get rid of when she’d run out of mold infected dust. She’d been angry at him, and hurt, and worried, and all these things show so clearly on her face never having mastered schooling her expression. “He jumped into the cellar I fell into and I went running for him, and he was just gone.”

            “I’m grown enough, I pay my bills, I go to work, I don’t suppose I need to be grown up in many other areas, but maybe that’s just my silly thinking,” he shrugged slightly. He was growing up, more and more lately, but it was hard for him to completely let go of his sometimes dismissive but mostly jovial sort of personality. Things were harder to share in an adult way and sometimes didn’t get you anywhere better, sometimes they made you feel worse.

           “Seven?” he asked with both brows raising. That was so late. He knew Freddie hadn’t had his familiar since birth but assumed it was more about how Freddie was raised, he didn’t have two fae parents to understand. “I’ve had Steve since I was a baby, Steve was just as little, Mum named him, said she and Dad always had a feeling as to what they were meant to be called, just like they did us kids.”             “You can invent something and have it be invented better by someone else, like the iPhone, it’s just better,” Danny teased, poking his tongue out. “Ew, no, fridge? The best pie is a curry steak pie on the train, hot as hell. You tear the lid off, eat it, then you put some delicious ketchup in there and eat the rest. So good.”

            “Avi ain’t no liar,” Danny insisted, disliking that his friend was being spoken of so poorly. “Did you report it to someone?” he asked, knowing he hadn’t been at the station it was likely Essie had reported it and Danny was none the wiser because he wasn’t around to have heard about it.

       “I like it, it wasn’t a criticism.” she says tilting her head to the side at him and flicking her eyebrows with an encouraging lift to her lips. “Being too worked up over trying to be more of an adult or more grown up or more fit for a role you don’t want isn’t you. And I like that about you. You’re fun, you’re an adult and you look after yourself and Steve and the town, but you still laugh and joke. I like it.”

        “It took a little longer for the second part of my soul to find me is all. He found me and that’s what matters right?” she looks lovingly at her familiar, she calls him a terror and a thief and maybe he is, but she loves and cherishes all he is to her all the same. “Everyone has a different story, maybe mine is just a little more odd than what you deem the usual.” 

       “Train food? No way NO way did you just tell me train food is good. I don’t know where your trains were going but train food is sucky and awful, and anyway if you’re on a train that sells pie, that’s bougie as hell.”

       Essie purses her lips “He broke a promise to me Danny, he lied.” she’s certainly losing her good mood now, all the emotions swirling back to the surface. “Of course I did Danny.” she says looking away from him. “I’m not an idiot. I was scared as hell when he vanished, I ran all the way to the station myself to take someone back with me to find him.” her arms cross in a motion of self soothing, one hand running up and down the opposite arm. 

          It actually rather was him, but he didn’t really show it to people. He figured Freddie was the only one to fully observe it and Ephram assumed but was never one to push someone to speak when he wasn’t exactly invested, he was Danny’s boss rather than his friend after all. “Guess that’s a way to look at it,” he smiled, because he didn’t want to get into his self doubt then, he wanted to focus on Steve being back, on having fun. Which was his whole issue, not that he wanted to have fun persay, but that he would rather ignore things that needed dealt with.

          “He found you,” Danny nodded, a curious thing. Freddie’s had been given to him, Danny suspected manifesting in some manner, whether inside the Chin given to him, or for the woman bringing him to Freddie, while Steve seemed to manifest too, just more literally. Finn searching for her was interesting. “Not odd, everyone’s seem different, I’m really just curious, I figure most of it has to do with lineage. Just different lines of fae.”

          “Train food is great, you’re off it if you don’t think train food is perfect. Not like the food they bring you if the trip is long but the cheap heated stuff you buy in the food carriage,” he insisted of his food. He’d only been on a train a few times, mostly for school but it was definitely good.

          “What promise did he make? Maybe he didn’t mean to break it,” Danny insisted, growing very defensive of the man who had lost so much. Avi was here to find his family, it was all the man cared about, and maybe that’s why he needed to break the promise. Would Essie not do the same for her kin? He was getting ahead of himself. “I should have kept in contact,” Danny sighed, feeling partially at fault for the man’s disappearance. 

       “I suppose maybe my dad and I are just a different breed.” she shrugs. Both her and her father had opposite gender familiars, and as far as she’d heard both their familiars had come to them late. She’d never been one to put it down to genetics or anything like that but perhaps that was indeed the case. If she had any real interest in her own familly history she’d look into something like this in her fathers family tree, but truthfully she was content just being as they were. Why look into why when it didn’t make a difference either way?

       “Scottish trains are not the same, nowhere near the same. Scotrail is so shit it’s unbelievable sometimes.” she complains lightly. This just being another cultural difference she supposed. 

       Essie just looked back at him, she had no words and she didn’t want to argue, lest she get mad at him again. “Your focus is on the wrong things.” she says bluntly however. She was all for defending a friend, hell she’d been defending him to Bella not a week prior despite it being through tears, but it was in the timing and there were bigger things afoot. “He’s missing Danny, I watched him vanish after Tommy. Just gone into the mold like he’d never been there.” it was still a chilling image and it made her shiver to know she’d fallen into the same patch before. 

           “Too unique for the rest of us to handle,” Danny grinned at her. Lately, since Steve’s return, Danny felt his history mattered more to him than he had previously assumed. He thought he was content but in reality he questioned a lot of why he was the way he was. Meeting his Grandfather had confronted a lot of that. His parents lived in such a unique way. Very human, strange for a fae, especially to have a whole family isolated from others. They didn’t have any fairie connections the way Essie’s family seemed to though.

           “I mean, yeah, they’re shit but like great? You know, it’s not like you remember the bad stuff and get mad, you remember the dumb stuff and laugh, right? Can’t be awful if you got some hilarious memories?” he reasoned.

           “What is my focus meant to be on?” he asked her, a sharpness to his words. He didn’t like her descriptor at all and had the immediate urge to go and look for Avi but he knew it was useless. If Avi had gone after his brother he’d have fallen down some rabbit hole. Right now was not the time. He’d need to ask some people at the station, see if they’d heard anything. They’d got out before, maybe Avi would get out again. “He and Tommy are out there, they’re just temporarily missing.”

       She smiles at him. It sweet of him to say, she’s glad he feels he can say those things about her even if she doesn’t feel any more unique than anyone else. She’d never put thought into what made her similar or different to other fae in particular, she’d just done what she’d done and that had been that. 

       “I suppose getting the last train home in glasgow will always stick with me, it’s a riot every time.” she allows with a small laugh.

       He snapped at her and she snaps back before she can keep herself in check. “Not on what I personally think about Avi. What does it matter what I think about Avi? Shouldn’t it just matter what happened to him?” her voice raises a touch and she brings a hand to fiddle with the hair at the nape of her own neck in frustration trying to cool off. She doesn’t like being angry during discussions. “I didn’t say they couldn’t be maybe found, I was just telling you what happened. You asked me.” this sentence comes out defensive and her eyes flicker to Finn who’s trying to ignore the hostility in the room and pester Steve like nothing is wrong. A distraction, always a distraction.

          “Not a literal riot, right?” he asks, checking in about that. It was possible, maybe the wrong soccer team was playing and their fans were mad. What was the team for Glasgow…?

           Danny frowns as she implies he doesn’t care what happened to Avi because he didn’t like her offending him. “Because you really think that talking shit about him is okay? He’s my mate, I don’t talk shit about your friends,” he said, even if he wanted to. He liked some of Essie’s friends, but that didn’t mean he liked them all. The point was it shouldn’t matter, they were her friends, not his, so even if they’d hurt him, that shouldn’t matter, what mattered was how they made Essie feel. “Okay? I was making an observation, not trying to contradict you.” Danny was growing more and more frustrated by Essie’s comments. 

           “Why do you get so upset when I have a different viewpoint? Am I meant to just side with you that Avi is a liar if I don’t feel he was?” Danny asked. They seemed to get into arguments often, like neither of them, not just her, could handle the confrontation of the other. “And I can’t do anything about him being missing right now, can I?”

       “No, like a good time riot, not a riot riot.” she agrees. But that seems to be the last thing they agree on. It gets her to sigh, from frustration mainly.

       “I didn’t shit talk him!” she finally gives in to the argument. “All I said was the truth Danny come on. I said he scared me. That’s true, he did. I said he broke a promise and lied. That’s true, he did that also. Whether he meant to or not isn’t the point to me. I was just telling you how I was feeling about it all.” she explains irate of how she’d felt. Why couldn’t they be more peaceful, it was just so easy to get riled up. “And it doesn’t matter what I feel about him, cool he’s your friend, fine, I liked him too when I met him. That doesn’t change what happened. I’m not trying to change your opinion of him at all. Did it seem like that?”

       She closes her eyes “No. I don’t want you to just throw away your beliefs for me, that’s not right. I just…” she gestures and lets her voice even out into something more normal. “You asked me, and I told you. I wasn’t pushing for you to do something, I was simply telling you what I knew. I was telling you how I felt.”

            “A riot riot sounds very Scottish,” he teased with a grin on his face. “Sounds Aussie too but not on a train, more like a train station waiting for them to start up again.”

            “How did he lie?” he asked since she hadn’t really said that. She’d said him disappearing had scared her, and it was easy to assume the promise he broke was staying with her or something similar when he went after his brother. “It’s not about changing your opinion, it’s about respecting mine. Avi is my friend, he needs to find his brother. That’s important, if I needed to find my sister or Steve I’d break a promise to.”

            “You called him a liar, Ess. Would you like if I said that about one of your friends? I get that you were probably scared, and he probably did break a promise, not because he wanted to be hurtful but because he cares about someone.”

            “It just seems like if he was my friend, and he obviously has something important going on with him, that you’d maybe consider those things before just saying a bunch of awful things about him. Sometimes how you feel isn’t as simple as that moment.” Danny felt pretty fucking shitty interacting with Maya, but whatever had triggered her wasn’t anythng he knew or could understand and she made Essie happy, so who was he to say that she was irrational and someone who sought out victimhood.

            Danny sucked in his cheeks before letting out a soft breath. “Avi isn’t a hurtful person and I don’t like the idea of people thinking he is because he’s trying to do something noble, something for his kin. Have you ever felt like someone in your life was just out of reach?” Danny asked, obviously quite connected to the idea of what Avi was feeling. He’d almost like Steve twice now and he knew that he’d do anything to get him. He didn’t mean to hurt Essie when he’d needed to keep himself safe for Steve, but he did and he couldn’t feel badly for that. Losing Steve was out of the question, Steve was him but better and he came first. Just as Tommy came first for Avi.

       “He promised me multiple times he wouldn’t jump. Multiple times he wouldn’t go into that cellar.” He’d scared her with that, but Avi had also grabbed at her, held her tight and not let her go, to herself thinking back on it it had been rather scary. It wasn’t just the emotional damage of him vanishing, it was the knowledge that she’d been scared of the man himself before he’d done it too even if in reality the fear had washed off her quickly. “I respect your opinion. But this is a two way street. Your pal had me scared of him far before he vanished, and I still did as he asked and took him where he wanted to go, made him promise he’d look after himself too and then he went and jumped anyway. I realize my own mistake, I realize I’m to blame for him vanishing.”

       “I didn’t even say he was a liar, I said he lied. Singular, that doesn’t make someone a pathological liar that means in this one instance he lied. And lie he did. Maybe for good reason but that doesn’t mean he didn’t. If one of my friends broke a promise I’d hope you would tell me and I wouldn’t just argue that they were a good person. Maybe they are maybe they aren’t but I’d let you tell me how you felt.”

       She wasn’t usually a frustrated crier but boy did she feel it. Her eyes close, she doesn’t want to make this about her, it wasn’t. It was about Avi.

       “I’m sorry Danny. I know he’s your friend. But I don’t understand and I don’t get it I’ve never been in that position so I can’t relate. And I don’t want you to stop feeling a way about your friend that you want to feel. But you can’t control how I feel either, I’m sorry he’s missing, and I’m sorry I said he lied. I truly wish he hadn’t, he’d still be around.”

           “If you were scared of him why did you do it?” he asked, it wasn’t like Avi would have made her do it and Danny tried to keep his mouth shut that this was how Essie reacted to people, she was a nervous person. It felt like she wanted to be afraid of people sometimes, because it meant...well, he didn’t know. He couldn’t grasp why Ephram had made her nervous, and why Avi did, and why if they did make her feel that why she stayed around them. “God, don’t do that,” he threw his hands up when she said it. That it was her fault, a pet peeve of his when people did that. Maybe Essie should have done more but it wasn’t her fault, she hadn’t contributed to his actions. Stupidly it annoyed him but he often did it too, perhaps why it did grade on him. “You know it wasn’t your fault.”

            Danny shook his head, because the difference was that when Danny didn’t like someone he didn’t extend his time with them. Essie stayed with Avi, noble in that she wanted to help him pursue his brother, but it wasn’t worth the expense of her own safety. “Ess, I’m not hanging around anyone who makes me feel scared or bad long enough to get to that point. Your girl Maya made me feel like shit so I said she could leave, I’m not going out of my way to spend time with someone like that. So I’m not going to come to you saying this or that about her, because I don’t need that exposure.”

            It was frustrating to stand there as she began to cry, because he didn’t want to concede, he didn’t like the manipulation of tears but he knew he would also be a dick if he didn’t concede to her feelings, if he continued and made them worse. “It’s not about changing how you feel, it’s about respecting your audience. You don’t need to say you think these things about him, especially if you continued to be around him despite it. You could have just said he went missing, that he broke a promise, that makes sense, but that doesn’t mean he lied. He probably believed it. People can believe what they’re saying in the moment and still do something else. Would you want someone to hold you to that standard?”

       “He had a hold of me when he made me say I’d take him. He wouldn’t let me go until I agreed to take him, okay. That’s why I agreed.” And it had shocked her at the time, it had shaken her, the lovely selkie she’d met before had been replaced by a man on a mission or so she’d felt at least in the moment even if reality hadn’t been so tense. She felt he’d take prisoners if that’s what he needed to do at the time. Danny felt it admirable to be so invested in rescuing your kin, and maybe it was, but being the prisoner hadn’t felt very good.

       “I took him there Danny. Of course I’m partially to blame, I’m not stupid. The fucking witness interviews I did once he was gone are proof of that. It’s not a pity party, it’s taking ownership of my part in him being missing. And that was the second time I’d ever met the bloke, how was I to know he’d get all weird with me? I was struggling all on my own already, without his stuff on top. And you asked me you wanted to know about my dust and I told you, and the start to that story is that Avi went missing, it’s not like it was out of nowhere.”

       She kept her eyes firmly shut. She wouldn’t let tears fall. This was not the time nor the place for shit like that. Home later was the time and the place. She felt like Danny was nitpicking. He was picking her apart for one singular word she’d said and that wasn’t fair, she didn’t pick him up on singular words he’d said. They’d had a misunderstanding in the past but this was blowing one little comment so far out of the water the original point was getting lost.

       “You’re holding me to that standard right now. I said one sentence, one truth you didn’t like about your pal and now you’re arguing with me about it. I didn’t say Avi was a bad person, I said he’d scared me and that he’d told me a lie. People lie. It’s not the end of the world. To me, this phrasing isn’t something to argue about. Clearly it is to you, and duly noted. I don’t know what you want me to say? I already apologised for saying he lied. I agree he’s not a terrible person for it.”

           Danny didn’t like the picture of that, far more violent than perhaps Essie had intended to make her experience sound but to say she had been held, forced into agreement, made it seem like she was threatened, like she had no choice in the matter and while Danny had a hard time imagining Avi holding anyone to the point that their no’s were ignored, that they’d been forced into an agreement, but why would Essie imply that if it wasn’t true? She said he wouldn’t let her go until she agreed, that was hard to hear.

            “You said he wouldn’t let you go until you agreed, if you had no choice how is it your fault?” he asked her. “And even if he hadn’t forced you, he made his decision to do what he did, taking someone to some place doesn’t make anything your fault. I could take you to a cliff and if you jumped off that wouldn’t be on me unless I pushed you. If Avi made the choice to go then he made the choice. Don’t be like that, don’t be someone who blames themselves for someone else’s actions. You’re...you’re better than that, Essie. You’re smarter than people who do that.”

            Danny was frowning but tried to lessen the muscle tension in his face. “Essie, you’ve basically said he endangered you multiple times, it’s - he’s - he’s my fucking friend? I don’t want to think my friend hurt my girlfriend, I want to believe he’s better than that. He needs to find his brother…,” Danny sighed, shaking his head. “I just find it hard to imagine he’d do any of that knowing you were scared because I want to hope he’d know better, that if he saw you were scared he’d step back.” Shamefully, he also worried Essie’s nerves had played a part, but he knew better. If Essie felt threatened then she felt threatened and deep down if Avi hadn’t left her be then he’d done something wrong. “But obviously he didn’t. He’s my mate, I just want to protect him.”

       In reality Avi had only held her for a moment or two, he’d been a little unreasonable but it had certainly spooked her. She didn’t realize Danny was imagining a much more violent scene than it had been. Speaking about Avis disappearance in such a disjointed way not to mention being in the middle of an argument was leading to quite a bit of misunderstanding from everyone, not that either of them noticed. “He just held me, he wasn’t rough, but being held against your will is scary when it’s someone so much bigger than you and I made a deal with him so he’d let me go. If I said I’d show him, he’d let go. And he did, so I did. I was wrapped up in it all too you know. Tommy being missing, he said he’d seen black dust figures like mine before I wanted to get some answers too, no one else had seen the same thing.”

       “He got me to take him back. He took me back to the cellar. He frightened me once and then did it again by vanishing. I’m mad at him, but I complied. I didn’t want to go back on my own word. But there were other options, I was just not thinking properly at the time. I should have called someone but I didn’t. It’s not like taking blame is going to undo him vanishing.” She was on a roll explaining herself now, she could only hope Danny would believe her, even if he didn't want to believe his pal as unreasonable as she felt he’d been.

       “He screwed with my emotions more than physically hurting me. And me saying he lied that’s neither here nor there. He was a man on a mission, I was spooked but convinced by the time we got in his car that he’d listen to me and not go too near. I’m not saying you need to have a bad opinion of him. He scared me twice, he broke his word to me once is all. I promise I’m not saying you should feel any which way. That wasn’t my point right from the start, I just don’t really have very good memories of him right now. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spark an argument, I didn’t mean to badmouth your pal.”

            Maybe Essie was trying to make him feel better about what he was imagining, explain things a little more but honestly he found himself set on the vision in his head, words like ‘frightened’ and ‘against your will’ making Danny feel quite ill, he wanted to throw up. He felt sick to his stomach thinking of Essie in the position that she described. To Danny Avi was small but that didn’t mean he was to Essie. Danny was big, he saw how Essie reacted when he got angry with his sheer size. Even if he didn’t intend to scare her he was.

             He wasn’t really sure what to say, he knew he realistically should be condemning Avi but he wasn’t quite there yet. So he internalized a lot of how he was feeling, inhaling deeply as he couldn’t keep standing there in his kitchen arguing with her. He’d reacted and didn’t know anything and now he felt like he knew even less. 

             Reaching out he took on of Essie’s hands in his and drew her to him slowly so she could resist if she desired. Even when he opened his mouth to say something he couldn’t. Every thought that came to his head was unsure and lacked confidence so his mouth just kind of hung open as he went to hug her.

*i don’t know how to insert a line on the app*

       Essie hadn’t meant to really go into a lot of details about her entire ordeal with Avi, she’d just lost control of her mouth when tempers on both sides had flared. She didn’t expect Danny to blindly take her side, and she hoped he would make his own decision. Just because she wasn’t a fan of the selkie didn’t mean she wouldn’t allow people to think whatever they liked of him.

       He didn’t respond and she wondered if maybe she’d upset him far too much, not her intention, not just after getting Steve back, not ever. 

       It took the woman only a fraction of a second to tuck into his chest when he reached out for her hand. She wanted the comfort as much as he might want the reassurance. She rests her chin on his chest as he struggles for words and gives him a faint apologetic smile.

       “Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay? We’re celebrating Steve being home after all. Rude of us to ignore him ...dinner? We should still have dinner, right?” she adds lightly looking into his eyes in hopes of sparking something other than the confusion that seemed to be swimming in them. 

            Danny felt a bit better when Essie curled up against his chest, the presence of her there always making him feel less like he was drowning in himself. She was a distraction of sorts, even if he justified to himself this was not true because he cared about her it was. He could care and still enjoy the distraction of her closeness from what he was feeling and he desperately needed it in that moment. His feelings always got the better of him.

            “Okay,” was all he really said, because obviously they’d need to talk about it eventually. Not so much what had happened but how he hadn’t believed her. That he’d defend someone who hurt her, that wasn’t right.

            Holding her close he was quite unconcerned with dinner and obviously he’d been celebrating Steve’s return since he had. “I’ve ignored you for a few days, I don’t think he’ll mind if he gets to spend some time with Finn,” Danny whispered, he didn’t mean to but speaking louder when he still felt sick was hard. “We can have your weird dinner though,” he teased, kissing her head as his arms held her close. His arms were loose though, intensely aware of how she might feel when it came to his strength after what they’d just spoken of.

*i can’t make fucking lines*

        She just wanted to forget all about it, she wanted a nice evening with her boyfriend and a lovely welcome home for Steve. Hopefully the familiar could forgive them for arguing within only ten minutes of the visit. 

        Danny agreed to move on from the little spat and she rewards him with a wider smile. Couples argued, couples fought and got past it. She was just glad neither of them burned quite bright enough to be one of those couples who broke up on a whim every other saturday over something dumb. They would be speaking about this again -she had no illusions about that- but in the moment, she was glad it was over. 

        She did notice he wasn’t holding her as close and she snakes her arms around his middle and hums gently “I’m not going to break you know.” but still she moves her chin from his chest and presses her cheek there instead squeezing into him tightly for a moment before moving back completely and reaching for the abandoned tray on the side. Finally slipping the food into the oven to cook. “You’ll like it, kids love this stuff.” she teases back sticking her tongue out at him, anything to draw a playful mood back to the room.

          “You’re basically a twig,” he teases back of her slender frame. “You are a lot tougher than me,” Danny acknowledged though, because she was. Maybe not in terms of fighting but bravery, jumping out of that plane was a one off for him, for Essie it was a fun afternoon. “But still breakable.”

         Danny chuckled when she said kids liked it, his diet basically was that of a ten year old. “It’s not even shaped like dinosaurs though,” he play whined. She’d stepped back to put it inside though and he was not as pleased with that as he was about the idea of food. He wanted food and her.

          Stepping forward now that the oven was closed, they had some time before the food heated up he took her hands again and wrapped them around his neck before wrapping his own around her waist. “I missed you,” he assured, even though Danny already had he needed to say so again. “Steve could feel it even over in that place.”

        “Oh wow excuse you, I have a lot of muscle under all this-” she gestures to herself with one hand up and down scrunching up her nose at him playfully. Her features smooth out into a prideful smile at the compliment “Damn right I am, I don’t even cry over spilt milk that’s how tough I am, I just pour another bowl, like water off a ducks back.” she winks letting out a short huff of breath and a shake of her head at his other comment. “Just because you’re mr strong, doesn’t mean I’m easily crushed.”

        “Focus on the funny name, baby.” she coos at him. “I’ll get you dinosaur nuggets next time.” Then she thinks “Or actually I think it’s very much your turn next time, you can bring me dino nuggets. Only the finest.”

        Essies’ face goes soft when he says he missed her. Arms get a good place wrapped around his neck and she bumps her nose with his. “I missed you too, I’m sure Finn got sick and tired of me these past few days. Especially after staying over so many nights, no one big enough to steal all the blankets I mean what sort of life is that?” she jokes lightly, laughing gently and giving him a short but sweet kiss.

             Danny continues to chuckle at Essie’s response, silly and ludacris with no sense at all to it. “I feel like it definitely means that. I can crush you, but feel free to pour all the milk you need,” he responded, licking his bottom lip as he tried to regain control of his laughter.

             “I will bring you anything you like,” he stated as he held her. Essie was better than dino nuggets, but Danny also enjoyed when she told him how things were, at least to some degree. Not concerning others, but concerning what she wanted, Danny liked knowing exactly what he could do to make her happy and he’d do whatever it was, within reason. No murder, least without cause. “I will try and learn something delicious to make just for you, maybe Steve can show me.”

             Essie had gone in with a joke, laughing softly and giving him a short kiss, but Danny had missed her. Missed being close with her especially. Like she said they had spent night after night with one another and even if they hadn’t been sleeping together they hadn’t been keeping one another at arm’s length. So when she pulled back Danny merely leaned down further, catching her lips again, deepening the kiss with his scruff against her chin and the small area between her lips and nose.

        “I’ll fight back, I don’t crush easy Danny I’m telling you. I bite.” she clicks her teeth together at him rolling her eyes as he throws her dumb milk talk back at her, she has no comment with a small aborted laugh.

        “Learn to make something easy first, make me tacos or something. Oh no no how about a pasta bake, I love pasta bake. Steve can do pasta right?” she asks growing hungry at all this talk of food, she’d glad he offered them to eat some of the stuff she’d brought she was definitely feeling like she could eat a whole box to herself. Eyes bright at the thought of it. “You’d have to do it proper though, like with crisps to make it crunchy.”

        She’d been missing this kind of attention, the clingy boyfriend she’d had before her whole dust thing had been a little upsetting to think about, but easy to lose herself in. Days without him after that had felt so empty, so now that she was all wrapped up in his arms again she was delighted to comply with his kisses. Pressing her whole body closer to him teeth catching his lip lightly if only to amuse him due to her biting comment before.

          “Steve can do pasta,” he agreed however when she said something about putting chips into pasta he pulled his lips back. That sounded terribly American for a Scotswoman. “We may have to look up how to make pasta in your weird way,” he teased her, he’d do it though. Pasta did seem simple so long as he didn’t have to actually make the pasta part itself. 

            Danny smiled in the grasp of her teeth, lifting her suddenly to shock her out of the act, part of his skin reddened from the hold she’d had on him. “You do bite, should I be scared?” he playfully asked as he held her up and against him, hands at her thighs keeping them around his hips as his lips found her jaw, running down her neck. He’d missed that, the feeling of her response to it. Essie was inexperienced, sure, but she didn’t seem nervous about her reactions, she seemed quite willing to show her enjoyment, or what she didn’t. Danny couldn’t quite place what part of it made her anxious. Perhaps trust, he didn’t know much about ‘almost’ as he’d been thinking of her ex. Maybe he hadn’t been trustworthy, he didn’t know.

             “You smell delicious,” he noted, lips against her neck and nose buried in the spot between it and her soft hair. He’d missed smelling it every night on her pillow, able to keep his nose buried into the back of her neck as he slept. Still pressing kisses to her neck he stepped forward, placing her on his counter so he didn’t have to keep holding her weight.

        “I’m sure I can dig out some sort of recipe, don’t know how vegan it’ll be though.” she says with a slightly apologetic tone towards the familiar if he was even still around, selfishly she only really had eyes for Danny at that very moment. 

        A squeak of surprise leaves her mouth when she’s lifted, her arms tightening and her legs hooking around his hips. “Be very afraid.” Essie huffs a breath at him with a brief look of seriousness before it dissolves into a breathy giggle. She tilts her head back a smile gracing her lips when his start to travel. She certainly enjoys when he lavishes her with attention, even if she’s still a little too nervy to go so far, she’s glad he’s still interested enough to do this and that with her.

        When she’s sat down on the counter, her arms move backwards to steady herself. Her legs don’t move however, if anything they try to draw him even closer now that she’s not in his arms. “I smell delicious? Just how hungry are you?” she wonders with a small laugh, a little impatient she moves a hand to the back of his neck to guide him back up to kiss her properly. “Bet you can’t guess todays lipgloss flavour.” she challenges him lightly, just simply wanting to goad him into more kisses.

           Steve had taken Finn off to his room, intending to show Finn the bed he had bought for the familiar and the blanket that he had knit for him. Steve did not want either of them involved in the arguing. Unlike Danny and Essie, Steve and Finn rarely fought. Steve couldn’t remember ever arguing with Finn beyond trival things like which sweet taste best. Steve was rather proud of his blanket too, wrapping Finn up in it.

            When Essie’s head tilted back, on Danny’s view of things, he compensated for the movement of her and groaned quietly at the gestured, it was far more exciting for Danny to feel this reaction in her than to go further and get none at all. Essie wasn’t resistant to enjoying herself, and even if she made him work for it didn’t enjoy making him feel unable to meet her needs the way previous experiences had.

             Her legs pulled him, calves pulling at him so he stayed close. “Very,” he answered, the softness of her hand at his neck, drawing him back up to her lips. He didn’t need telling twice, his mouth finding hers and making sure his tongue moved over her bottom lip, tasting the shimmering gloss on them that made her sweet lips taste as they were. Danny barely wanted to guess, intensifying his actions as his lips parted further, hoping to get the same reaction from her.

              Still he focused, wanting to be right, though not sure he’d care if he was wrong if it meant having to keep trying. His hands at her thighs moving up to her hips, fingers crazing beneath the hem of her shirt as he pulled back slowly, sucking on her bottom lip. “Watermelon?” he asked when he pulled away, not far though, only an inch or so, some of the shimmer on his lips.

        Finn was overjoyed at the sight of the bed, and incredibly excited and flattered that the other familiar wrapped him in a handmade blanket. Finn always felt it an absolute treat to be around Steve. Maybe the wallaby was odd about sweets -a usually inexcusable offence to the little ferret- but his friendship was becoming irreplaceable in this town. The ferret was also incredibly happy to have Steve back safe and sound.

        Perhaps she’d set him on a task, but Essie truly just wanted the kisses. He parts his lips and she lets herself have a go, her tongue flitting out to battle with his if it’s willing. Her own hands shifting to take a hold of the only article of clothing he actually had on. Her fingers grasp at the hem of his sweatpants at his hips, fabric bunching under her hands a little as they kiss.

        His guess isn’t right and she smugly shakes her head at him. “Uh uh, think smaller and more fruity.” she gives him a hint. Her peach lipgloss a favorite of hers, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t exactly peach flavour. These things tended to be a little bit odd and artificial, so his guess was likely a very fair one.

        She leans forward and presses another few kisses to his lips. “You know this one, you can do it.” she teases.

            Steve happily shared his food with Finn, enjoying that someone else actually fit in his room with him, entirely absorbed by the company he had to really concern himself with the thoughts of his fae. His head had been nothing but Danny for the past few days since he got back, and while he didn’t want to be away from Danny he didn’t want to be clinging to him anymore either. So Steve set up his iPad with a movie for the two of them, curled up in their own blankets.

            The way Essie grasped Danny made him smile as he kissed her, testing what she tasted like. He missed the way she clung to him as strongly as he did her. Essie was nowhere near as obviously clinging but when it showed Danny was gleeful he was not alone. He took her clinging to mean he could cling back and when she shook her head his hands moved beneath the fabric of her skirt to her waist, drawing her close enough that her chest was pressed to his own.

             Essie leaned forward after her hint, pressing some shorter kisses to his lips, leaving more marks of her against him. Maybe he did know, so rather than think on what her lips tasted like he tried to think of what lip glosses she owned, that he’d seen her apply, and he had watched her. It was weirdly beautiful for him to watch, maybe he wasn’t alone in his thinking, but it was strangely appealing to watch her pout her lips slightly, make them look wet. It brought his mind to other things, which was probably why it was so hard to remember what the actual gloss’ container had said.

           His hands at her waist held her still, thumbs running softly over her ribs, as he craved moving up to feel the soft flesh of her - “Peach,” he announced suddenly, licking his lips to be sure. “Peach gloss.” He wasn’t proud as to how he had remembered but he was proud he had. “What’s my prize?” he asked, nuzzling his nose into her cheek, kissing the edge of her mouth.

        Hands moved up under her shirt and she found it odd how little she cared. Thinking back to their first date, how suddenly the reaction and need for him to not get under her clothes had been, it was odd to compare the situations. Yet at the same time it only made sense to her, they’d breached the clothing barrier before, and it had certainly been a little terrifying but oh so worth it. Her mind flitted over this memory and her cheeks grow pink, her stomach fluttering slightly.

        She watches him closely as he licks his lip trying to figure out the flavour, thanking herself for such an incredibly smart move. She shifts her hips side to side a little, shuffling right to the very edge of the counter, her skin moving under his hands as she goes. She encourages him, spurring him on with little nods as he tries to figure out just what the flavour could be. 

        Essie lets out a surprised breath when he finally guesses right. “That was only two guesses? You must really know your fruits.” she jokes prodding him gently in the chest. Looking up into his eyes she pauses and then asks the dangerous questions. “What would you like your prize to be?” maybe she was feeling brave, or maybe she was just feeling all too hot and bothered. Never the less, there’s a tone to her words, a hand resting on his chest, and the other still bunching the hip of his sweat pants. What would he want hm?

            When her hips rocked he felt the movement through the thin fabric of his sweatpants, his length stirring but not quite growing. He was still pretty distracted by the thought of her gloss and going beyond that was going to take a lot of his mind that he just didn’t quite have with the obvious goal in mind. Once he achieved it however that was another story.

            Essie prodded his chest, a slight sway to his shoulders that came back to their initial position immediately after. Her large eyes rose to look up at him, a pause that he didn’t quite know well. Neither did he know the tone that followed with her own question. If she’d used it before he’d forgotten it but that brought his attention, his length pressed to her twitching as his mind wandered, fingers doing much the same, though not quite reaching anything.

            Danny was not quite sure how to reply, he didn’t want to say anything to would make Essie uncomfortable or draw away. He wanted to keep her close, he wanted to not have to part until he had to leave for work the next day. If that meant merely holding her the rest of the evening he would. That didn’t mean he also didn’t potentially want more, just he didn’t want less.

             So he leaned in and kissed her, softer this time, but prolonged, his lips parting partially, his hands large and warm as his thumbs ran just beneath her breasts he could feel pressed to him. They felt so soft, even with the fabric of her shirt separating them he could feel how tender they were, and as his gaze shifted down for a moment when he drew a breath from their kiss he could see how the rose and fell with her own. “I want you to tell me what you did when you missed me,” he whispered at her lips, thumbs rising the caressing the softness of her breasts, still separated by her bra but thumbs latching over the edge of the fabric, waiting to see her reacting before he actually pulled it away.

        She could feel a slight interest from him and lets her reactions do the talking for a moment. She shifts her hips precariously onto the very edge of the counter space, closer to him with absolutely no more space, her legs around his waist so far that her skirt was riding up criminally far on her legs. 

        Essie herself knew her limits, perhaps it would be considered cruel to some to know that she egged him on so much and yet gave away nothing very much in return. But Essie believed all her friends, believed Danny himself. If she was ready she’d go for it, and anything less was absolutely fine, she didn’t have to push herself for something. Danny himself had said it. And it was as if the thought of this spurred her further than she expected every time. She felt like he respected her, and as such she felt like giving him more each time the moment arrived.

        “Well when I missed you during the daylight I made myself busy doing this and that.” she respond, taking a deep breath when she notices him looking down never one to give up an opportunity to tease him any way she could. Her voice grows softer and she carries on. “But when I missed you at night, well I got busy doing other things.” a soft blush rises to her cheeks, she’s never one for words, always feeling at any moment she could say the wrong thing. But she shifts her body, pushes into the fingers hooked on her bra, eyes willing him to take the leap with her.

                 She was blushing, even when she had said very little. Her gestures were enough though, chest lifting so his fingers were already pulling at the fabric of her bra, eyes looking at him with their own sort of intensity. So Danny allowed himself to continued, fingers pulling the fabric down, straps falling off her shoulders in the process, her shirt still covered her breasts but Danny’s hands were able to pull the bra low enough that he could run his thumbs over her nipples as his fingers and palms cupped her breasts.

                He groaned like it was caught in his throat, hips rocking as he pressed his lips to hers. Immediately his hands stopped their movements, like he’d forgotten they wouldn’t just continue without thought. Danny became focused once more on her lips, kissing her tenderly. Her answer was not what he expected but her encouragement was something wonderful…

                 Until the timer on the oven beeped and the scent of food hit him, reminding him there was more than just the sweet fruit scent of Essie but other things in the room. Danny partially wanted to ignore it, kissing still, but the beeping felt like it was growing louder and he reminded himself that if Essie was egging him on, then he wanted it to be done well. Not when he hadn’t showered in a few days. “This food is going to be delicious enough I don’t regret not letting it burn, right?” he asked, still close to her, forehead pressed to Essie’s own.

        She loved it when he made noise, her eyes usually closed for focus, or simply because they were kissing, so sight was usually ruled out but it was oh so hard to miss sound. She couldn’t being herself to care as he brushed over her exposed skin. Enjoying the kiss much too much.

        So intent to hear him, even just slightly laboured breathing had her jump a little when the timer started to go off so suddenly. Essie almost drew back, but Danny was still sweetly kissing her she wondered if they’d just let it burn. The idea of that sending another round of fluttering in her stomach.

        Her nose scrunches up and a disappointed expression takes over her face when he pulls away from her however, still absolutely terrible at hiding how she’s feeling. “Oh I don’t know.” she says with a small sigh tilting her head to press a quick final kiss to his lips before she shuffles her hips back onto the counter properly, letting go of his pants the flush on her cheeks increasing in the knowledge that she was doing horribly hiding her disappointment. 

        “Depends if you have gravy or not.” she adds tucking some of her hair behind one ear and shrugging a shoulder slipping the bra straps back up into place.

          Danny could practically feel the disappointment in her aura, her scrunched up nose and the sigh that escaped when she answered was more than enough to let him go. She scuffled off still, leaving him to step back and open the oven, grabbing some mits and pulling the food from it. The baking tray’s contents looked very foreign to him but that was rather the point. “I do have gravy, we’ll just have to heat it up in the microwave,” he answered, pointing to the fridge as he placed the hot tray down on the top of the stove.

             Throwing the mits down he closed the oven and stepped over to Essie, pushing back some of her hair. “We can eat, and then we can make-out in bed until our lips are dry,” he insisted, wrapping his arms around her middle from behind. He still wanted to be close and hoped the reminder of the food wouldn’t get rid of that.

             “Besides, I think I need to like man up my bedroom, get rid of some posters, hell, maybe get some real side tables for the lounge,” he said, as currently they were milk crates. Danny did not want Essie telling her friends things had gone far in a room where he had half naked women on the walls, or where upside down storage crates had been tables, she deserved something more befitting a girlfriend, not just a hook-up.

              Squeezing her he released and went to find plates. “Plus I want to try your toad food, if I like it then maybe your parents’ll like me and I’ll get to keep you around, yeah?”

        Shifting off the counter she moves over to look for the gravy, there was no way they’d manage without some sort of sauce, and yorkshire pudding almost demanded gravy. She tugs her skirt down and fixes her shirt as she makes her way over before setting about the task, still feeling a little put out, an odd feeling for her considering she was usually the cock block in situations like these. 

        Essie wanted to make a comment that they could just share her lip gloss some more but felt a little lacklustre about it, it was so odd for her to feel this way she presses back into his chest with a small frown, willing the feeling to be gone. “Sounds good.” she hums instead trying to sound more upbeat than before.

        Unsure of what ‘manning up’ his apartment had anything to do with anything she glances at him over her shoulder, finally locating the gravy and reaching for it a moment later. “Uh, alright. If you want. If this is your way of getting me to assemble furniture we both know I’m not the one to go to, I still have four screws missing from my bed, who knows where they’re supposed to go.” 

        “Toad food.” she repeats quietly to herself, a small laugh escaping her lips and lifting her mood. “Honestly my Dad already likes you enough from what he’s heard. So it’s parent singular. My mum never trusts my account of people, she needs to see you with her own eyes. But it’s not like they have any say though, they can get teh hell if they think they have a say.”

               “I’m not going to make you do anything,” he said in response, shaking his head gently. He’d have happily helped with her furniture if she had wanted it, they’d have got to spend time together they otherwise wouldn’t have. “I just know you were kind of sad when I bailed, I don’t want that to be a regular thing. For me to just bail on doing right by you, if it wasn’t about Steve I’d hope maybe I wouldn’t have, can’t say for sure, but I know it’s ridiculous I’m older than you and my place looks like I’m in college.” Danny shrugged, taking the gravy off her and putting it in the fridge. “Manning up is probably a bad way to put it, just need to grow up a bit.”

             For all the inexperience Essie had sexually Danny had when it came to life. He was doing good at the station, he was doing good in lots of areas, his place needed to reflect that and it wasn’t like it couldn’t, he just hadn’t card up until Essie. He cared, he wanted her to not feel like she was entering a smelly dorm whenever she came over.

             “Your Dad likes me? Isn’t it like a parents job to dislike their child’s partner?” he teased, definitely shocked. “What could he even like about me? Telling him lies?” Danny nudged her as the microwave counted down. “If your parents genuinely hated me you wouldn’t consider why?” he asked more genuinely, because if they were then she should. Maybe not actually break up with him but consider it. They were older, they knew things. Depending on their reasoning maybe they’d have a point. “If you Mum hates me you should consider what she says, I’ll fight tooth and nail but she’s your Mum.”

        Thoughts of a few days ago weren't her favourite. She’d thought about it a lot, she had things she wanted to say but she also knew from his words that he likely already knew what she’d be thinking. “I understood you had Steve as top priority. I don’t blame you for that, if it were Finn I don’t know if I’d be consolable at all. I don’t know I just...like to at least feel considered,” she shrugs again, she’s not really in the mood to discuss that too far. If he could just acknowledge that much she’d be happy. 

        “You think your apartment needs growing up a little?” she echoes looking around the place. The appearance of it had never bothered her and she didn’t imagine it would spring to mind at all if ever brought up. It was admittedly a little grimmy at the moment but she once again gave reprieve for Steve being missing. They’d done nothing but hang out from what she could gather so truthfully why bother cleaning if you weren’t doing anything other than creating more of the same?

        “I don’t think so, I’d like to think my parents wouldn't just dislike someone on principle but then again maybe that is a little bit of wishful thinking. I tell him stories, he likes stories, so I tell him about this and that about my day, dates you know, things.” she shrugs, it’s not odd to her to share much with her dad they just always had. “I’d want to hear why and decide from whatever extra information they’d gathered but...well honestly my mum has been wrong about people before so I take things with her with a pinch of salt.”

         Danny could sense Essie didn’t really want to talk about it, perhaps because she worried they would fight again. He needed to get better at that, grow up in more ways than just his apartment. Fighting wasn’t just on him, sure, but he contributed, he egged it on by being unable to handle his feelings. “I should have considered you, reacted more appropriately,” he acknowledged.

          “Maybe it and me, guess only time will tell,” he answered, looking about the place as the microwave beeped. “Show me what I need to do now?” Danny requested, holding the gravy out to her.

          “Not on principle but maybe they sense something,” he shrugged. “I’m not trying to encourage you to dump me, just like trust your Mother if she hates me for a second, maybe.” Danny laughed, running a hand over his face as he knew he couldn’t explain what he meant well. “You tell your dad about our dads? Your parent? He probably wants to deck me.” Probably her Mother too if her Dad passed on the message. “Who was she wrong about?”

        She wanted to say more but felt it’d be rude. Danny had agreed with her that perhaps things could have gone down better, that should be enough. To say any more would be cruel, they couldn’t change what had happened so why waffle on and on about it? Honestly the situation had made her appreciate Bellamy all the more for her part in comforting Essie, she could have done without it but she was glad she had the chance to appreciate a friend even more -even if at the time all she’d really wanted was Danny to come back and tell her it was alright.

        Essie lifts the gravy from his hands and moves over to find some plates, she’s been in his place enough to know vaguely where things are. Sliding the toad in the hole gently onto a plate she hums in thought, usually when eating one of this size you’d cut it in half and put half and half on a plate each but she couldn’t help but feel the makeshift bowl was meant to hold the gravy. Pouring it in she rifles around in search of some cutlery. “You don’t mind sharing sharing do you?”

        “Oh I don’t know Danny you sound convinced she won’t like you, whatcha gonna do to achieve that huh?” she teases before turning around with the meal in her hand, cutlery grasped in the other. “I do tell my dad about our dates, should I not? He really doesn’t want to deck you I promise, we were both charmed by 3am beer and waffles.” Whether her father had ended up telling her mum didn’t even cross Essies mind. “One of my oldest sisters boyfriends, a kid in school with Sunny, Craig. You know, she’s just not always got the best eye for these things.” 

            “What is ‘sharing sharing’? Is it not actually sharing?” he didn’t quite understand what she was implying as he watched her handle the food, he wasn’t really sure what she was doing but kind of laugh at the idea of a sausage going in a bowl. He was juvenile and it was only funny to him because it wasn’t common.

            “Keep you here forever,” he grinned back in response. He had never considered whether or not Essie might want to go home, or intended to. The woman had only just moved to the states, every chance she had only intended to stay the year. “I’ll never give you back to her and she will loathe me forever.”

            He still couldn’t understand how she could tell either of her parents about their dates, especially the dates that involved him trying to get beneath her clothes, which admittedly he attempted more frequently than he didn’t. “They weren’t like ‘he tried to grab your what on a cliff? Should have pushed him off?’” Danny asked her, shaking his head. “Maybe she was right about Craig,” he muttered to himself.

        “There’s sharing, where you both get some of the food. And then there’s sharing sharing, where it’s not really sharing and is more a fight to eat more than the other person from the same plate.” she explains with a laugh wiggling the plate with the yorkshire pudding bowl full of sausages. 

        “Oh kidnapping, what a choice.” she jokes. “But hey, I don’t find that too big of an offence, so even if that is her reason I’d say she’s not going to sway me at all with that kind of argument. I did move here myself after all, animal magnetism or none drawing me to you.” With that she moves around him and heads for the couch, she’d rather sit up properly than dirty his and Steves nest with gravy by accident.

        Cheeks pink she looks at him. “I might share things with my dad but I don’t share everything with my dad. I’m not that crazy Danny honestly.” she giggles awkwardly “There are some things left unsaid, he could read between the lines but I hardly give him the chance.” Settling onto the cushions she adds “No no, she was wrong. She liked him...honestly far far too much.”

           “I have five siblings, you think you can beat me at a fight for food?” he asked, but she probably could. Danny’s sisters were pretty polite and when they did buffet style, serve yourself eating it was when they were out at all you can eat, otherwise it was what their mother dished up and they got what was given to them and if they wanted more it was fruit or get a job to buy it yourself. Reasonable enough...Danny had got a job, he needed to be able to buy as many zappos as his heart could want. “Let’s see who ends up full,” Danny tried to playfully threaten, opening his mouth as wide as he could to show how well he could do.

           “All the animal magnatism,” he joked, following her into the lounge area, taking a seat next to her, very closely so he could get to the food and remain near her.

           Danny squinted, like he was playfully testing the truth of that statement, he’d spoken to his Dad. Not intriquises but generally, to ask his advice. His parents were both smart but his Mother would no doubt worry about him, she was always worrying about him. None of her other children, and it wasn’t a gender thing, it had never happened until he’d got sick. She worried because she knew Danny was the most emotionally weak of her children, he couldn’t handle much thrown at him and if she knew he was internally concerned about something she’d want to fly over here, it had only been the immediacy of helping Steve that she hadn’t come because of that. His Dad knew even though Danny was weak, not letting him try on his own was worse.

            “Well then I hope she does hate me, if she liked him, I want to be the most hated of all your exes,” Danny declared, intending to sound playful but his tone too thick for that. He might not have wanted her mother to hate him but it was hard to hide that he didn’t like Craig, mostly because he knew nothing at all about him. Essie had been so vague, and they’d fought over it. Danny didn’t want to fight again but he wanted to know why she wouldn’t tell him more, what had happened that she would only shrug and say it was on and off and nothing went very far?

        Essie wished she’d had a piece of the dinner already cut off so that she could have popped it into his open mouth but alas, they hadn’t even sat down yet. “Well you’re a lot bigger than me, but I bet I can eat faster if not more.” she challenges, always one to playfully escalate.

        She shuffles right into his side, offering up a fork and a knife as she settles the place on her lap. “If you get gravy on me it’s over.” she jokes playfully pointing the fork in her own fingers at him. “I’ll demand something cute from you and you’ll never get it back.” she warns before lowering her threatening fork and starting to cut some of the pudding into pieces. 

        It’s a bit of a sore spot. It might be her own fault for mentioning his name but she didn’t like putzing around a topic very much, it was Craig that stuck in her mind over all the other folk her mother had made mistakes about so why not mention him? 

        “She loved my last girlfriend and Claire was indeed a gem.” Essie points out to him. “Just because she made a mistake about one doesn’t mean you need to go so far in the other direction. I’d really rather not have you try to be hated, could you please promise me you won’t make an attempt at that?” she requests of him looking up after taking her first bite of food. Chewing at him as if waiting for him to object.

           “I will happily give you anything cute I own if it means seeing you in it, gravy or not,” he said, quickly kissing her cheek. He liked seeing her in them more than he needed them, Freddie would happily take him shopping again if required. He did miss Miles being around to go with because Miles understood why he liked op shops, Freddie didn’t even like standing in them, but it was what it was, bloke had kids. “Besides, if I’m getting anything on you it’s going to be something sweet that I’ll have other ways to take off,” he taunted, nuzzling into her cheek. Of course, all of this had given her the chance to get further ahead of him when it came to actually eating any of it.

           He took the knife and fork, unsure how to actually eat the food that she had put before them but figuring so long as he could get it on his fork he figured that would work. So Danny began to scoop it up as she moved on from Craig - of course, he thought - and speak on one of her girlfriends. She didn’t talk so much about them and he was kind of amazed that, having had girlfriends, that her first experience with some things had been with him, surely they’d have known more? Maybe because they were younger not but Danny tended to assume he could never quite know as much as he needed to, Essie would always know more about her body than he would.

           “I’m not going to make your Mum hate me,” he assured with a mouthful of food, unlike Essie not waiting until he was done speaking. “I just don’t want to be akin to Craig,” Danny shrugged his shoulders as he continued to chew. “If I’m liked I’ll be the most liked, obviously.”

        “I’d offer to trade clothes with you, but I don’t know how far you’d actually manage to get into anything of mine.” she jokes, patting his knee. “I doubt you’d even get half of my dresses over your thighs.” she grins. “Plus, I don’t know if sundresses are your style, maybe off the shoulder something, but not much more than that.” The quip about something sweeter draws a laugh from her, soft and sweet was her style. “We’ll see, we’ll see if I let you.” she jokes, though knowing if he was serious about it she was likely going to be willing to try not too far in the future.

        “Good. Please don’t. I’d rather you just acted all normal, no need to try and sway her either way I doubt she’ll be any trouble at all honestly.” she informs him. Danny always seemed to swing back around to Craig and her smile fades a little. Eating another piece she lets that comment sit for a moment, she didn’t understand why he was so focused on her only boyfriend other than him. Was it a rivalry thing or was it simply a topic he was interested in. She didn’t know and she found herself sighing and trying not to care.

        “You’re nothing like Craig. Literally nothing like him. It’s not a competition, and no one is comparing you. It doesn’t even matter about him anymore.” she draws in a short breath. “He’s still dead.” and it hurt, no matter how good or bad he’d been for her, death was never fun nor easy.

          “I do have tree trunk like thighs, anything too slender might not go over them,” he agreed, looking down at his legs as he took another forkful of food. “I would rock an off the shoulder look, show off my beautiful chest hair. Everyone would be envious of the way it flowed in the wind in time with my dress.” Danny chuckled. He’d worn skirts before, mostly to sports carnivals at school and various silly things for the houses they were in. Paint on the face, tutus and glitter on their shirts with whatever house they were in. It had been fun, until he realised those kinds of guys could turn on you in a moment.

           “Definitely wouldn’t be fun if you didn’t want to do it,” he assured her, especially after all she had said of Avi. “I’m thinking peaches though,” Danny stated, tasting his bottom lip. It was all gravy and pastry and sausage at this point.

           Danny didn’t want to agree or disagree with that, he didn’t know Essie’s mother but mostly when Essie reminded him that Craig was dead Danny felt a little poorly for his behaviour. He didn’t like the idea of Essie having this person in her life she wouldn’t talk to him about but the guy was dead, to be so crude about him was hurtful. “Well I’ll just have to compare myself to your ex girlfriends,” he teased, trying to keep her happy. “I have far softer skin, yeah?” he joked since his was all rough and calloused from the gym and from driving a carriage.

        “Something not demin then maybe.” she suggests lightly looking down at his legs. “So it’ll have enough give to get over them. I think I might have something bodycon that we might manage over your chest.” she was kidding, she highly doubted anything she owned wouldn’t rip in an attempt to get it on his body, but it was fun to talk about. “Oh definitely, something floral or more simple? I feel like I have an off the shoulder something that sort of looks like one of your button down shirts.” she hums chewing away.

        A softer expression crosses her face. “Well we don’t know unless we try right?” it was a positive reinforcement thing. She wanted to speak about things like they were reachable, and given how much she’d been wanting more in his kitchen things were finally starting to feel within her grasp. “And anything peach is my all time favourite. Until then we can keep sharing my lipgloss how about that?” she offers with a wink.

        “You want to be compared to Claire?” she laughs, the idea certainly increasing her mood. Any topic but Craig, any person but him. “Oh you definitely have much softer skin.” she indulges him with a beaming smile at the silliness of this turn in conversation. “Though I think she might have been taller than you.” Essie throws in turning her head to give him a once over, eyes sweeping up and down his body. “I don’t know if you could beat her impressive 5’7 height.”

          “I have worn a floral suit or two that has done me justice, but I like florals when they’re clinging to me, my muscles show off the flowers so well,” he proudly proclaimed. “Sundresses are too flowy, the flowers wouldn’t capture how wonderfully strong I am, plus they’re very Ruby,” he shrugged. Danny didn’t much like thinking about Ruby, which was why he was always taking Essie’s jackets off her at work or putting her in his. Her work clothes were how Ruby used to dress to work and Essie had her own cute style he wished she showed more when she was there. He liked her high waisted shorts and cropped shirts - clearly ridiculous enough to imagine this was appropriate for work. They would disappear when summer ended and winter came though, Danny would be counting down the days until summer returned. “I need something floral but definitely bodycon,” he concurred of what he should wear.

            “R-Right,” he kind of jumped over his words. Essie had been so forward that evening, with her actions and with her words and Danny was kind of shocked by it still. He didn’t want to press if she was just being flirty but he definitely needed to make that trip to IKEA soon. “Yeah? I didn’t know that, peach,” he nodded, trying to commit that to memory. Her birthday was in the new year, sooner than his, so he definitely needed to start preparing.

            “Depends, is Claire better than me? Because if she is cuter I think I may cry,” he dramatized. “Taller? Who is taller than me?” Lots of men, Ruby in certain heels, Faye in certain heels, there was a weird amount of very tall women in town. “I’m 6’2”!” he objected, standing, fortunately the bowl of food on Essie’s lap and not his. “How is she taller than me? Maybe, in heels but not regular flat feet.” 

        “I don’t think I have floral and bodycon you might have to end u shopping for yourself anyway.” she points out. Any mention of Ruby was no fun to her, but she was slowly letting it slide by her without having a bigger impact. The woman worked at the station, they were friends, it only made sense that Danny would speak about her -history or not. “Hey I wear floral! I’m not Ruby.” she points out with a playful pout, trying to mask her discomfort with humour. Throwing in the womans name herself just to prove to herself that she could and it wasn’t a big deal.

        Essie bites her lip when his word fumbles. Was she being too much? She couldn’t tell for sure but she hoped it was a positive fumble rather than a negative one. Danny worked hard to try and stay in her comfort zones, but she was also very conscious he might have them too. She just hadn’t made it far enough to really hit any thus far. “Peach is a great flavour, I wear peach lipgloss as much as I can. I have peach body scrub even. The smell is just too good. I’m obsessed.” the fairy confirms.

        “Oh god no, you’re the cutest man in all the land baby.” her voice light and teasing “No need to cry, she’ll never be on your level.” The clear outrage about his height had her dropping her cutlery on the plate and covering her mouth with both hands to stifle the bubbling laughter. She hadn’t realized it was such a serious topic. “Oh I don’t know Danny, are you really 6’2?” she squints at him as thought sizing him up, although completely unable to hide her grin, she was playing with him. She takes another bite of food to try and stifle herself. 

          “Yeah, but Ruby wears like sundresses when she’s not at work, you wear like cute little flowy crop tops, I like the ones with the big arms,” he grined, letting one of his arms move out to like act like it had extra fabric to sway in the wind. “It’s hard to explain the difference, I like your floral dresses and your outfits. I like when your shirts match your tiny tops too,” he grinned. There was no way for him to explain it because he didn’t know any of the names for the things.

          Danny hadn’t given much thought to what her scent was made of, he mostly just liked it. She smelled delicious, he knew that, so he had known it was a food, just hadn’t thought too much beyond him enjoying it. “But you like to smell that way, so if I bought peach shampoo you wouldn’t want me to smell that way? Or would you?” he asked, trying to find out what might work, especially since he smelt badly right now.

         Unable to help it a large grin appeared across his face, even if he was outraged that she felt he was shorter than he was, chest puffing up as he straightened his back. “I am, if I’m any shorter it’s only because I’ve been to the gym and I’m pulled down by how heavy everything is,” he too was teasing now, himself partially. A humble teasing brag. “You’re cute too though, definitely the cutest, especially with your nose,” she had the most fae nose of all. He loved how adorably like their kind she was, without really meaning to be.

        Danny describing what he liked on her was something she’d never considered before. She dressed for herself mostly, that’s why she’d had to put so much thought and effort into getting help when she was dressing to tease him. But apparently it didn’t matter, he liked how she dressed anyway, and she fully took a moment to appreciate that he did. Sitting back on the couch with a small smile on her face. “Big sleeves huh? I like those too.” she comments lightly. 

        “You want to smell like me?” Essie wondered. “If we both smell the same we won’t be able to smell it after a while you know. I swap to mango for one week a month just to make the peach smell that much sweeter when I get to switch back, my nose gets too used to it. But if you want to smell like peaches too you should. It’d be a nice change to have it on someone else for a change. I’d be able to actually get my nose right in your hair since I can’t do that to my own.” it was up to him, it might make the scent dull more quickly, but she just couldn’t get enough as it was. “We can match.”

        She lets her laughter burst forth when he puffs up. Brining one of her legs to tuck her her holding onto it as she laughed. “I know how tall you are Danny I’m just playing.” she admits finally. “I took all your measurements for our skydive remember? Even if you are lifting as heavy as you are.” Her eyes widen a little and her laughter halts “MY NOSE?” she’s almost as outraged as he was, though she’s definitely tipping more towards amused than offended then he had been. “Of all the things and you like my nose the best?”

          Danny liked when Essie dressed to tease him but she would have been equally as capable in her regular clothing, probably not her usual work attire, but what she was wearing now? He was quite capable of being taunted with because he didn’t really concern himself with what women wore, so much as they felt and looked pretty in what they wore. Essie always seemed like she felt pretty, it was merely when she teased him she felt like doing that and if it worked for her he was quite willing to be teased. “Swoosh them all around,” he chuckled, sitting back down to eat some more of the food, it wasn’t great but it was good. He wouldn’t exactly seek it out but he was enjoying eating it.

           “I want to smell a way that would make you like smelling me, I know I either smell like my deodorant or sweaty,” he explained of his question. He was content to keep smelling as he did but he wanted Essie to be happy more, it would add all of two seconds to a routine that was lazily done as it was. “If you want to match we can, if you like another smell then I can smell like that too,” Danny shrugged.

           “Oh, yeah,” he laughed, totally forgetting she had taken his height for that. He still had his wings hidden most of the time around Essie, not on purpose, more out of habit. Danny needed to remind himself to take them out and half of the time they saw each other when they just suddenly became free, rather than with any sort of preparation. “Yeah? Is that weird? Should I have just said your eyes, because they are pretty too, they’re real doe like, but I don’t know, you have a cute little up turn to your nose and when you smile it makes you look adorable. I like your wings too but I figured my obsession with your wings was pretty obvious.”

         She wouldn’t be angry if he didn’t like the food, she knew it was just bland. She’d had a craving for yorkshire pudding is all and didn’t want to do all the fixings for a full roast dinner, so toad in the hole it’d been. She was glad he liked it enough to keep eating it however, she had brought one other thing for the two of them to eat, but she was glad they could save that for the next night instead. Would be a waste to try and eat the entire thing herself, as much as she’d talked the talk she’d have never managed.

       “Is this you giving me free reign to buy you new deodorant?” she asks him. “Because I will. I’ll find something really nice. Maybe you should smell like pears, I’ll smell like peaches and we can be some sort of weird fruit salad.” she offers the idea with a shrug and a small exhale of amusement at the idea.

       “I mean I guess you can like anything you want about me, but I didn’t expect the nose to be so high on the list. No one has ever commented on my nose, I didn’t think it looked any which way.” Already getting full -yorkshire pudding being a pretty thick batter on the bottom of the makeshift bowl and all- she hands Danny the plate as he sits down. “Yeah, the wing thing is definitely very clear.” she hums to show she didn’t mind little bit. She wished he was confident enough to have his own showing more often, but wouldn’t ever push, personal preference was something she respected about wings. Some fae liked to flaunt what they had, and others were more reserved, given Dannys story she didn’t for a moment want to make him feel oddly about his choice.

             “If there is anything you want me to buy then I’ll buy it,” he shrugged, quite content for whatever would make her happy, not to any kind of ridiculous degree but he could look nice in any shirt. Sure, he’d prefer his bland ones to have football players on them, and his fancy ones to be brightly coloured with a ridiculous pattern, but if Essie wanted him in a black button down he’d wear that, he’d look just as good either way. “Point to whatever you like and I’ll buy it,” he stated. He knew her money situation was good now that she’d settled but no point spending it when Danny had a good amount of savings. 

              “I like the idea of smelling like a pear, pears are kind of musky still but definitely very complimentary to peaches, feel free to pear me up with a nice deodorant,” he grinned at his ridiculous joke.

               Danny kissed the tip of her nose. “What do they usually compliment?” he asked, curious as to what they enjoyed, perhaps it was similar to him. If it was he might need to deck a few people. “I am creepily into your wings, I’m amazed you didn’t tell Ephram in your interview that I’m a weirdo and he needed to fire me.”

       “No no I’ll get it, I’ll get you a nice brand and you can decide if you want to keep buying it or not.” she insists. She had no idea his offer was stretching to clothing as well. Honestly she was already absolutely  happy with how he dressed, just because she liked to dress a specific way didn’t mean he had to make changes about his own choices to match. The way he’d changed to match her for their first date was evidence to her that he had good taste, and she trusted that enough to not want to meddle.

       An unladylike snort leaves Essies nose at the joke a hand coming up to smack his shoulder gently. “Oh wow that’s a joke and a half.” she comments shaking her head. “But I will, I’ll find something good, something mild so you’re not attracting all sorts of attention.” something hopefully only she would selfishly get to enjoy. 

       It’s incredibly sweet to her when he kisses her nose, although she can’t help the involuntary reflex to scrunch it up a little at the contact. A shoulder lifts in response to his question, she didn’t really tally up compliments she was paid, she relished in them until her mind flitted to other things and promptly forgot. “I guess like...my hair, outfits sometimes, sometimes my legs, my ‘curves’ one time whatever he meant by that.” Essie smiles at him and shakes her head. “I was so new to town I didn’t realize it was an odd request, it made sense to me at the time, that people in a magical town like this would be so open about such things. Turns out it’s just you.” she teases. 

         “Curves?” he asked with raised brows. Essie was definitely beautiful but cruvy she was not. There was nothing lacking, she just was very up and down. If someone was commenting on her curves then that is by no means what they were actually talking about. “They definitely meant they were staring at your chest and that’s my job,” he teased, kissing her quickly.

          “Everyone loves wings, just no one else would make you take them out to look at them, but not everyone have complied, I got lucky,” he assured Essie.

 ~Fin~

[four-loose-screws]

Makalov / Brom C-A Support (PoR Lost Supports #31)

This is an original support written by me, not a translation.

Very similar to Devdan and Makalov, as both Brom and Devdan play similar roles as teachers for the youth/dad type characters. And since Makalov never changes so he can keep playing the comic relief guy, the gag and general plot of this support set is also the same...

Enjoy!

Brom / Makalov C Support

Brom: Ike said to meet my partner for weapon polishing duty here… But the guy’s nowhere to be found! Well, I’m not complaining! Off for a day of doing nothing!

Brom: Excuse me sonny, are you Makalov?

Makalov: Hm? Me? Oh, no of course not! I’m, uh… someone else! Sorry to waste your time sir, I’ll be on my way now…

Brom: No… You look just like the person Ike described to me. You must be Makalov. You’re coming with me!

Makalov: Um, b-but I have a very important thing to do today! Yeah! It’s so important, that I have to go do it this second!

Brom: Oh, you do? What is it, if you don’t mind me asking?

Makalov: It’s… uh… well…

Brom: Don’t remember? That’s fine, then. We can get started, and you can always leave and come back when you do.

Makalov: I… uh… Blast! I should have known Marcia was tricking me again when she told me this guy’s a big ol’ softie… I didn’t stand a chance without any good excuses cooked up in advance…

Makalov / Brom B Support

Makalov: Sniff…. Sniff…

Brom: What’s the matter, sonny? Got some soap in your eye?

Makalov: N-No… I just… what’s happened to me!? I used to avoid nearly every job given to me! Now I’m on dish duty like some new recruit! I’ve totally lost my touch.

Brom: Don’t say that. This army ain’t like any regular one. Everyone here does their fair share of the chores… even the Princess! You just hate workin’ ‘cause you don’t seem to know how to do it! Nobody would want to work if they had to wash a big, greasy pan with a regular cloth! You need to use this one. It’s tough, and will scrape off the old food bits in no time.

Makalov: Oh, really? Well, might as well try it, since there’s no way out of this… Hey, you’re right! This cloth does work!

Brom: Told ya. Now keep at it!

Makalov: …Ew! Soggy food! Don’t let it touch me, don’t let it touch me!

Brom: Just let it fall into the dirty water. You’re doin’ fine.

Makalov: Ugh! C’mon! There’s got to be some other job we can do! Anything!

Brom: Well, the chamber pots need to be cleaned…

Makalov: Eeeek! H-Hey! Look at me! See? I’m practically bathing in all this soggy food! It’s the best feeling ever!

Brom: That’s the spirit!

Makalov: …And with all this extra I’m doing, I’ll surely get some overtime pay. Right?

Brom: Of course! With debt the size of yours, it won’t do much, but in time, you’ll pay it off! …Hey, are you listening?

Makalov: Once I get everything paid off, first I’ll play some cards, then hit the roulette table, then…

Brom: You’re gonna be here all afternoon if you wash the utensils one-by-one! Unless they are particularly dirty, just soap off a bunch at once. Afterwards, give them a quick check to be sure you did a good job. Easy-peasy.

Makalov: Huh? …Oh yeah, you’re right! This is actually pretty easy! …Say… can I ask you something, Brom?

Brom: Sure, sonny. Anything.

Makalov: Well, I asked around, and everyone said the same thing. You’re a real sweetheart to them! A picture perfect, nice old man! But with me, you’re even stricter than the captains of the Begnion knights! What gives?

Brom: You think I’d really be that easygoing? I’ve got eight kids at home! Just bein’ kind and lovin’ doesn’t make ‘em all perfect little angels. Sometimes, even the best kids do things you don’t want ‘em to, and they might even make you pretty mad. Those times are really hard… but if you focus, all you have to do is find out what they need help with. When I saw you, I was reminded of one of my son’s teenage years, and knew exactly what to do! It’s not easy… but with the right help, anyone can turn their lives around!

Makalov: …Gosh, thanks, old man. That’s a lot of thought to put into someone like me!

Brom: But it’s always worth it, even if I only end up helping a little bit.

Brom / Makalov A Support

Makalov: Here’s the laundry, Mr. Brom! All dried and folded, too!

Brom: Huh? Wow, what a surprise! I had no idea the dirty laundry basket had even been moved!

Makalov: And the weapons are all polished, so if you need a new lance or two, don’t hesitate to replenish your stock!

Brom: Wow, you really are outdoin’ yourself lately, sonny!

Makalov: My life is changed forever, and it’s all thanks to you! Now I can do chores ten times faster! Ike even noticed all my hard work, and I got a raise! Yahoo!

Brom: Well, I’m glad to hear it. You’re doin’ yourself a lot of good.

Makalov: You said it! Soon enough, I’ll be paid off and ready to compete at the medium stakes table! It’s all uphill from here for Makalov!

Brom: Yeah! …W-Wait, medium stakes table? Oh cow plop, you haven’t changed your ways at all!

Makalov: Aw, try not to be too jealous! Lady luck will come around and bring you some green too one day!

Brom: …Yeah, but how much green? You can leave the gambling parlor with a single measly coin and still say that.

Makalov: Details, details. Well, nice chatting with you. I have to count my cash before heading out for the evening!

Brom: …Sure enough, nobody changes fast. But he has learned a lot! I’m proud of him for that much.

[blacksunradiance]

Nurarihyon no Mago Sennen Makyō Character CD Series # 3: <Special Drama> Great-Great-Great (abbreviated) Grandpa is a Butler! (ひいひいひい(略)じいちゃんは執事!, Hihihi (ryaku) jiichan ha shitsuji!)

Summary: Hidemoto has some advice for fighting a Nurarihyon, but can Yura withstand the training?!

Translation was a commission done by @kairosity!

Translation before.

Special Drama: My Great-Great-Great(-etc) Grandpa is a Butler!

Yura: Isshiki Issei! Yura Max! Yura Max! Yura Max!!!! (sound of someone clapping as she breathes heavily) Hidemoto: Hey, that was great! Nice job, Yura-chan! Isn’t that pretty good? Yura: It’s still not enough. I should be able to up both my speed and accuracy…! Hidemoto: Nothing good’ll come of you pushing yourself too hard, though, I’d say? How about taking it a little easier? I know! We can go and get some anmitsu! Yura: Hidemoto! You say stuff like that, but I bet you just want to go strolling around in the city! Hidemoto: Eh? That’s not true. I’m just worried about you, y’know? But it seems like I may as well take the good old opportunity to enjoy the world of 400 years in the future while I’m at it. Yura: “Seems like”? The heck’s that! Hidemoto…how about you spend more time with me when I’m training, being my shikigami and all! Hidemoto: Meh… Yura: “Meh”!? What! You should just go on and teach me stuff! Hidemoto: But if we train any more than this…what if you collapse, Yura-chan? Yura: I won’t die from losing consciousness two or three times! Hidemoto: I don’t really want you to push yourself too far… Ah, then why don’t we do this kind of preventative training? Yura: Eh? What kind, what kind? What’s it like? Hidemoto: Tactics for dealing with Nurarihyon! Yura: What? Hidemoto: This is a secret art to use when fighting him – the ultimate youkai commander. Yura: Amazing! Seriously amazing! So you had something like this up your sleeve! Hidemoto: In order to fight with him, you must first become able to withstand his mental attacks. Yura: Mental? He can do that? Hidemoto: It only works on certain people, though. To phrase it another way – on women. Yura: What does that mean? Hidemoto: I’m going to try mimicking Nurarihyon’s mental attacks now, so try to endure them, okay, Yura-chan? Yura: All right! Ready when you are! (saxophone music plays) Hidemoto: Yura-chan. You truly are beautiful. Yura: Wh…wh…what are you saying, Hidemoto? Hidemoto: Hm? This is Nurarihyon’s mental attack that I was talking about. Yura: This? Hidemoto: Yes? He makes his opponents go like rubber when he uses them. Yura: Like rubber… Hidemoto: I’ll continue, then? (sax plays) Yura-chan. I want to continue gazing at you forever. Yura: Ahhhhh!! No. No. I have to endure it. Hidemoto: No matter what pain lies in their depths, your eyes remain utterly pure without nary a hint of shadow. I’ve never met anyone like that until now. So, would you focus those eyes of yours on me and me alone? Yura: Ahh…ahhh….g…gotta endure… Hidemoto: You are strong, sublime, and simply beautiful. You alone are my sun, my stars. My universe. Je t’aime. Mon amour. I love you! Yura: Aaaaaaaah…!! Hidemoto: My, you sure do give things all that you’ve got, Yura-chan. Yura: Is…is it over…? Haaa…my heart was beating so hard, I thought I was gonna die… This sure is some hard training… Hidemoto: Hahaha… There’s no way that this kind of thing is training! Yura: Wha…! Hidemoto: You sure are funny, though! All bright red, blushing from top to bottom. Very cute. Yura: (wails) Hidemoto!! Guys like you are just – Hidemoto: Oh no, don’t get so mad. We were taking a break. A break! Yura: I don’t need one! Hidemoto, if you’re not going to help with my training, then go and be useful by doing something else! Hidemoto: Being useful with…what, for example? Yura: Like… Like…like…like…... Hmmm… Ah! Helping take care of things around me! It’d be a huge help! Hidemoto: Around you? Like…this? (imagine spot music plays) (sound of a bright morning as birds chirp, while someone knocks on the door before entering and wheeling in a cart) Hidemoto: Excuse me, Yura ojou-sama. It’s morning. (draws back the curtains) Yura: Mmn… Nn… Hidemoto? Morning. Hidemoto: Good morning. (sets down plates and cutlery) This is the menu for today’s breakfast: grilled salted salmon, miso soup, cooked beans, and egg on rice with soy sauce. Yura: Mn, got it. I heard a lot of katakana phrases in there, so I’m gonna guess that it’s Western breakfast today. Hidemoto: That is correct. After you finish, I will take you to school via ox-pulled carriage. (sound of mooing in the background) Yura: Okay. Get it all taken care of, please. Hidemoto: Yes, ojou-sama. Yura: Oh, that reminds me, Hidemoto. Hidemoto: Yes, ojou-sama? Yura: Is that a letter over there I see? I bet it’s from Ryuji nii-chan. Read it to me? Hidemoto: Yes, ojou-sama. (sound of pages flipping) “To Yura. Your brother has discovered something amazing. If you put egg on top of tokoroten (TL: a kind of Japanese noodle made from seaweed gelatin), it tastes just like egg on rice. You would do well to learn this, Yura. Egg on tokoroten. I’m telling this to you and you alone. Try it, Yura. From your brother.” Yura: Then I guess we should prepare tokoroten and egg for dinner tonight. Heh, Ryuji-nii-chan sometimes does know a good thing or two. Hidemoto: Ojou-sama. I regret to say that this is but one of the jokes that are Ryuji-sama’s specialty. Yura: Eh!? Really? Hidemoto: Tokoroten and egg is well known for being a combination of foods that go poorly together. Yura: Ngh… Is that so… How dare he… I can’t believe I was fooled again! Hidemoto: That was a close call, if I may say so myself. Yura: Hidemoto, thanks for telling me. Hidemoto: Not at all. Everything is as you wish, ojou-sama. I am but your butler, after all. (imagine spot end music plays) Hidemoto: …Or something like that, right? Yura: Yeah! Exactly! Just like that! You’re super useful, Hidemoto! Hidemoto: Super useful, you say… Yura: What, something wrong with that? Hidemoto: How you put it is just so…rough. I mean, there’s nothing tasty about it for me. Yura: What, you mean you want to eat those breakfasts, too? Hidemoto: Not quite… I mean that I’d like to make some tasty memories, so to say… (imagine spot music plays) Hidemoto: Is the bath to your liking, Ojou-sama? Yura: It’s just right! Hidemoto: Is that so? Then, if you’ll excuse me. Yura: Hidemoto? Hidemoto: Yes, ojou-sama? Yura: Since you’re here and all, can you wash my back for me? Hidemoto: …Excuse me!? (sound of the door sliding open) Yura: Come in already. Hidemoto: I mustn’t, ojou-sama! We are of different classes, and there is a line that we cannot cross – ah, but…well… (imagine spot end music plays) Hidemoto: Juuuust kidding! You’ve got such a dirty imagination, Yura-chan! Yura: Why’s that? Why the need to raise a fuss over washing someone else’s back? Hidemoto: …Er? Yura: If you’re gonna help with things, then it’s easier for me to ask directly. Nothing to get mad over, right? Hidemoto: Yura-chan… Are you serious? Yura: Why would I lie about something like this? Hidemoto: Ha…hahahaha! Yura: What? Why are you laughing all of a sudden? Hidemoto: No, sorry, sorry. You really are pure as snow. Yura: What? You making fun of me? Hidemoto: Nah, I’m complementing you. You’re so pure that I can’t leave you be. I finally understand how Ryuji-kun feels. Yura: What? Why d’you have to bring him up now of all times? Hidemoto: No need to worry yourself over it. It’s good to be this pure. Yura: Geez… I don’t get it. Hidemoto: Well, basically... I’ll be your own exclusive butler. Yura: …? Hidemoto: I can’t just leave you as is, Yura-chan. Well, I’m done for. This is my utter defeat. I mean this in many ways – you’re the strongest, Yura-chan. Yura: Sure doesn’t feel like you’re complementing me… I don’t really get it! Hidemoto: But I am, you know. Now then, what shall we do next, ojou-sama? Please, list anything at all. Yura: Eh? You sure? Hidemoto: I am your butler. Yura: Then…do my homework for me! Hidemoto: …Excuse me? Yura: And after that – take care of the laundry and the dishes, and clean my room! Hidemoto: Eh…uhm…Yura-chan? Yura: It’ll really help me out! It’s all been piling up since it’s such a pain to do! Oh and then if you could do tomorrow’s wake up call and breakfast prep for me! I’m counting on you, Hidemoto! No, my butler! Hidemoto: Yep, no can do! Yura: Eh? Ehhhhhhhhhhh!? Why not! You said you’d do anything! Hidemoto: I did, but there are things that I can and can’t do. I can’t touch physical objects, after all. Yura: Eh? Hidemoto: I mean, shikigami are kinda like ghosts or spirits. Even if we try to touch something here, we’ll just pass right through it. Yura: Wh…what did you just say…? Then, my homework…? Hidemoto: Well, I might be able to give you advice while at your side. Yura: And the laundry? The dishes? The cleaning? Hidemoto: Mmn, don’t think I can. Yura: Then…my wake up call? Hidemoto: I disappear when you’re not conscious, so...impossible, I’d say. Yura: Ooh, I can’t believe it… Hidemoto: Being a butler is sure rough, I’ll say. Haha. Yura: Man! Hidemoto…you’re so freaking useless!!

[gold-from-straw]

From Eden (5)

For the @fantasticbeastscalendar​. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, AO3. TW for past child abuse, and bed wetting as a child.

Just To Hide Outside Your Door

Credence woke up wet, and felt his heart sink. He should have known this was all too good to be true, now Tina and Queenie were going to find out that he really was a dirty, bad boy, and they’d hate him too. He didn’t think they would beat him but…what if they sent him back to Ma?

His heart beat faster and faster and he could feel his pulse hammer in his own throat, under the skin. The monster that lived in his chest was swelling and he imagined grabbing it with both hands, trapping it behind the cage of his ribs. Letting that out would probably be enough for even Tina and Queenie to throw him out for the coyotes.

Maybe he could wash the sheets. Queenie and Tina need never know. He leaped out of bed and stripped everything off as quickly as he could without being loud. He dragged them behind him out of the door and into the narrow kitchen. The washing machine door was stiff and he feel backwards, bumping the back of his head on the crockery cabinet when it gave way.

At last he managed to cram the sheets into the machine, but when he looked for the laundry powder the panic came back in full force. There wasn’t any. There was a bottle of liquid under the sink, and he thought he might have heard Tina cheering that there was laundry liquid - maybe that was it. But how were you meant to use it? How much? Did it go in the body of the machine with the clothes, or in one of those drawers? Credence whimpered and sat on his backside for one panicked moment, his hands pressed over his eyes.

He scrubbed his face and pushed himself back up. He would wash it by hand! He could use the dish soap Maybe he’d even be able to get it back on the bed and the sisters would never know the difference. He pulled a stool up to the sink and started dragging the sheets up into it.

“Credence?”

Queenie pushed the kitchen door open, rubbing her eyes. Credence startled so hard he fell off the stool, and his heart thundered so loudly he could hardly hear her. “I’m…I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“What is it, honey?” she asked, stepping forward and holding her hands out for him.

“I’m dirty,” he whimpered, flinching back. “I’m…you’ll get dirty, I’m sorry, I’ll make it right, please—please don’t send me back?”

“Oh, sweetheart.”

She fell to her knees beside him and pulled him close, didn’t she hear? He was a dirty, disgusting little boy, she mustn’t—he must not have told her clearly enough. Tina followed behind her, rubbing her eyes and yawning, and Credence knew they both needed to be told. “I wet the bed,” he whispered, and hugged his knees, tense and waiting for the blows.

“Oh, honey,” she started, but she was crying and couldn’t speak. He’d made Queenie cry! He was so filthy. Credence hated himself.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” said Tina. She was talking in her usual businesslike tone, all evidence of tiredness gone. “It happens, Credence, we’re not mad, OK?”

“You forgive me?” Surely it couldn’t be true.

“There’s nothing to forgive,” she said firmly. “I used to wet the bed when I was little too, it’s just a little bit of pee.” She shrugged. “People get het up over the smallest things, but all we need to do is set the washing machine, maybe get a pack of Dry-Nites. No biggie. C’mon, let’s get you out of those wet clothes and give you a bit of a bath. Don’t you mind Queenie, she’s just sad that you’re sad.”

“Really?”

Queenie nodded and wiped her eyes, then made hot chocolate for them while Tina bathed Credence quickly and set the washer. His head spun. “You really forgive me? It’s really OK?”

Queenie made a funny noise, but Tina turned and bent down in front of him, holding onto both his shoulders. “There is nothing to forgive, Credence, y’hear? It was an accident, that’s all, I promise. Your body’s just not ready to go through the night sometimes, and that’s OK. We’ll make some changes. We’ll drink less water before bed, maybe. Sound good?”

Credence felt his bottom lip start to wobble and tears welled up and over, spilling down his cheeks before he could stop them. “B-but why…why did Ma say—“

“Because she’s not very nice.”

Both he and Tina turned to Queenie, red eyed and angry looking. “Queenie,” said Tina.

“No, I’m sorry, but she wasn’t. I ain’t making apologies for her. He has to know that’s not what good people do. That’s no way to treat a person. Credence, your Ma didn’t treat you right, so whatever lies she told you about yourself, we’re gonna make sure you know they’re just not true.”

Credence flung himself into Queenie’s arms, clutching her waist and pressing his face tight to her. The monster that lived in his chest seemed to have been replaced with pure light and joy, and he felt Tina hugging both him and Queenie. Sandwiched between them he smiled even as his eyes leaked a constant stream of tears. He closed his eyes and let the joy fill him like white light.

“Oh!” said Queenie, and he opened his eyes.

The little kitchen was filled with flowers. Roses, forget-me-nots, cornflowers and jasmine grew from the walls and hung from the ceiling, twisting and twining towards the three of them.

“Well. This is different,” murmured Tina. “I didn’t think cornflowers grew on vines.”

“Credence, did you do this?”

His initial reaction was a flinch and a cower, but Queenie was caressing a white rose with a look of wonder on her beautiful face. Had he done it? He thought so, but the monster had never done anything so beautiful. It had only ever come out to stop Ma from hurting him. Not that that ever worked, it only made her madder and she beat him worse.

Queenie turned, her eyes widening in surprise as if he’d said some of it aloud. Maybe he had. “That’s what you’ve been hiding?”

“What?” Tina frowned.

“Credence, you’re magic. And so powerful, too, to be able to hide it, and control it, and block me out at such a young age.”

“He can block you out?”

She nodded. “I think he hides the memorise of his magic without even knowing he’s doing it.” She looked back at him. “Sweetheart, you’re amazing.”

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader - “Smarty Pants”

He takes you everywhere with him; you sure come in handy and you have an impeccable reputation when it comes to your skills. But why would he think that a nerdy girl can’t get wild?! Well, you are determined to prove him wrong.

Your reading is interrupted by the commotion going on outside your bedroom: gunshots, screaming, cursing and doors being kicked opened.

What now?! you think, turning the page, continuing your book when you hear:

“Nyx! NYX!!!!!!!!! Where the hell are you, you son of a bitch?!”

You look down at Nyx’s dead body under your feet, a bit startled. That’s Mister J’s voice looking for the jerk; he’s probably not going to like this. Dammit! Your door gets kicked opened and you lift your head from your book, adjusting your reading glasses and look at The Joker, who’s now standing there, not very happy to say the least.

“Doll, I didn’t know you’re here,” he frowns, stepping inside. “Still working for the…ass..hole…” he notices Nyx’s corpse with the chopstick in his eye and your feet resting on top of the body.

“Not anymore, Mister J,” you close your book, hoping he won’t snap. “This was the second time he tried to rape me, so I had to defend myself,” you say, pulling out the chopstick, wiping it on your shirt and placing it back in your messy bun.

J narrows his eyes and lowers his gun.

“Can’t say that I blame you then, but I sure wanted to blow his brains out myself. What are you reading, Doll?” he exhales, still annoyed.

“Quantum Physics and Applications,” you show him the cover, smiling.

“Any good?” he squints his eyes, intrigued.

“Pretty boring actually but interesting enough,” you lift your shoulders and take your feet out of the high heels, getting up the couch. The shoes are left on Nyx’s chest since the hills are buried deep in his flesh.

“You’re such a smart Doll; I like clever girls…” he grins, analyzing you. “We’re going to blow this place up, care to get out of here?” The Joker sniffles, signaling you to move and you do so. You quickly cram a few books and all your reading glasses in your backpack and head out the door.

You probably seem very disappointed noticing all the blood on the hallway since you don’t have any shoes on.

“Yo, Frosty!” J yells and Jonny pops his head from the next room.

“Yes, sir!”

“Be a gentleman and help the lady out,” he orders, starting to walk away.

“Of course, boss. Hi, Y/N,” he comes in front of you, waiting.

“Hi, Frost, I didn’t see you in forever,” you genuinely grin, surprised. He lifts you up in his arms, carrying you over the soiled hallway while you’re both chit chatting.

“Hey, Doll,” The Joker interrupts, “ wanna come work for me? I assume you’re unemployed for the moment.”

“Really?” you inquire, kind of excited.

He turns and snaps at you: “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t sure, OK????!!!!!”

Shit, he has such a temper, you think, but you are used to everything by now. You worked for so many messed up people.

“OK, Mister J. And yes, I will come work for you,” you sweetly smile and his sour expression diminishes.

“Good, I always wanted you to work for me. I like smart girls.”   Didn’t he say this already?

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

He takes you everywhere with him; you sure come in handy and you have an impeccable reputation when it comes to your skills.

“Y/N, am I getting a good deal out of this?” he taps his cane on the floor, getting you attention at the meeting and you lift your eyes up, gazing at all those men in the VIP room that devour you with their eyes. Creeps! You sure are wanted by a lot of them and you know it, but you have the right to decide who you’ll work for so… yeah, here you are.

“No, Mister J, the price of diamonds went up with 15% on the black market since last week. You need to get at least 1 million more in order for this to be a good deal.”

“Ahhhh, did you hear that boys? I’m getting screwed over! Make it two millions for trying to trick me,” he snarls, giving them a crazy look. “I don’t like it when people try to cross me, got it?” he grins his silver teeth, panting. They Know better than not to agree with The Clown Prince of Crime. He gets what he wants.

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

After the meeting, he sits in his armchair, keeping an eye on the club and staring you down also.

“What are you reading, Pumpkin?” he addresses you, biting on his lower lip.

“Dark Matter and Black Holes,” you reply, wondering why in the world he keeps on calling you all these pet names, but you know better than opening your mouth to protest about it.

“Care to elaborate?” J lifts himself up and comes on the couch, nonchalantly placing his head on your knees and lifting his feet up on the pillows.

“Are you sure?”

He rolls his eyes and you start talking and gesticulating because you sure don’t want to make him mad. The Joker finds himself interested in your little presentation; you sure put a lot of passion into it since you love the subject. He even asks a few questions that you are more than happy to answer, blushing when he takes your glasses off and you instinctively reach for your chopstick.

“Don’t you dare using that chopstick on me, Y/N,” he cracks his neck, growling.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry, old defensive habit, I swear I am not going to stab you in the eye; I really love your eyes!” you blur out fast, hoping his not going to kill you for your transgression. Shit, your cheeks are burning when you realize what came out of your mouth.

“Do you now, Kitten?” he snickers, putting your reading glasses back on.

You nod a fast yes, hoping you’re on steady ground. You wouldn’t know, but The Joker felt like he was taking a piece of lingerie off when he took your glasses away. It made him feel so strange and now he wonders if he found himself a new kink. Like he needs another one. But he sure loves all the colored frames you have to match all your sexy enough outfits (as he refers to them). You’re pretty and nerdy, not a bad combo.

“Tell me something in French, Doll,” he requests and you start talking, intrigued on why he’s taking your glasses off again. Weird but, hey, whatever.

“That sounds so sexy, what does it mean, huh?”

“Last night I washed dishes and did a bunch of laundry,” you chuckle, taking your glasses from his hand and placing them on his face. J doesn’t stop you and you gasp while he laughs at the translation; he sure thought it meant something naughty.

“Wow, Mister J, you look so good with glasses,” you utter, mesmerized. The thin green frames sure match his hair and shirt perfectly.

“You think so, Doll?” he winks and you get flustered, upset at yourself for saying such sweet nothings; you’re not the type. Stupid hormones! you scold yourself in your head, aggravated.

“U-hum,” you mumble and take your glasses back. Jesus, why do you feel so warm? It sure felt like you were undressing him just now when you took his glasses away. My God, please don’t let this be a new kink, you don’t need it, thank you.

The Joker traces your jaw line to tease you more because he’s a jerk:

“Tell me something in Italian, Y/N,” he pleads, biting his tongue. You can’t help but glare at his lips and start rambling.

“I like the way it sounds, Princess. What does it mean?”

“All the dirty things I want you to do to me tonight.”    Did this crap just came out of your mouth?!

“Ha-ha-ha, that’s better, finally something I wanna hear,” he cracks up as you squirm, uncomfortable as hell.

“No, no, no, no, Mister J, that’s what it literally means, not that I want you to…Christ, this sounds terrible,” you try to defend yourself and J decides to give you a break. He gets up from your lap, still snickering and you so want to cover your face but you don’t. It would make it worse.

“I guess we had enough foreign languages for tonight, right? Let’s get back to the Penthouse, it’s getting late.”

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

“Y/N, am I getting a good deal out of this?”

“No,” you promptly answer, closing the book you’re reading. “The price of guns and explosives on the black market went up 17.2% this week. You need at least $500.000 for this to be a good deal.”

“Well, I’ll be damn,” he passes his fingers through his hair, snarling towards the other business partners in the room. “How did I get this rich on my own without her?! Make it 1 million boys, just for insulting me with your stupid offer!”

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

After another successful meeting (for The Joker, that is), he becomes interested in your book.

“And what are we reading today, hm?” he points towards the covers, coming over to your couch and placing his head in your lap again.

“The Science of Interstellar,” you hover over him, excited to share.

“Care to elaborate?”

“Oh, yeah, I love this book, “ and you keep on talking and talking and J finds himself immersed in the subject, not even being bored. He takes your glasses off again and inhales deeply, listening to the sound of your voice. Why does he keep on taking your glasses off?!

“Oh!!!” you suddenly jump a bit, ending your speech. “I love this song!”

“Huh?” The Joker asks, getting up because you bounce your legs, impatient. He never saw you show any interest in anything like this and you sure accompany him at his meetings a lot. Since he’s a complete jerk, he decides to wear your glasses and you gulp when seeing how good they look on him:

“Wow, Mister J, you look soooo stunning with glasses!”

“Yeah, I know, I was told before by a nerdy girl,” J licks his lips and you get up from the couch, take your jacket out and toss it in his lap, starting to swing your hips to the rhythm of the song. (which is Madonna & David Guetta- “Revolver” by the way).

What is she doing?! J asks himself, since you never did this before. You sure didn’t have any alcohol. It’s the hormones, but he wouldn’t know.

 “My love’s a revolver, my sex is a killer,

Do you wanna die happy,

Do you wanna die happy?” you sing along and start giving him a lap dance he didn’t expect in a million years. Jeez, who thought you had it in you? But he likes it, oh yeah, he likes it because you are actually very good at it. He runs his hands on the side of your legs and you reach your hand for your chopstick. J sure wants to grab his gun but you stop him and lean over to whisper in his ear: “I’m not gonna use it, I told you I like your eyes…yes?” and you kiss him, euphoric, throwing the chopstick on the table to let your long red hair loose.

Holy shit, the Joker thinks, completely surprised by the whole thing. Who would have thought you are so naughty?! This is turning out to be a nice night, especially since he learned about Interstellar stuff also. He doesn’t remember a word you said earlier right now because you sure grind against him, ready to kiss him again.

“Ohhh, Daddy likes it,” he grins, smacking his lips and you straddle his lap, pulling on his bottom lip.

“Really?” you stare at his eyes again and…the song is over. “Ah, too bad,” you pout and get up, fixing your hair like nothing happened. “Shame is over, I sure love this song, it drives me wild,” you signal for your jacket and J hands it over, intrigued. WTF, are you the same person?! He’s sure aroused as hell.

“I didn’t think you could do such a thing, Doll,” J admits, attempting to cross his legs but he can’t so he gives up.

“Why, because I read books and I’m smart?!” you suddenly feel offended.

“A-ha,” he is fast in replying since he sees an opportunity there.

“You have no idea how crazy I’m in bed; don’t generalize things just because I’m a bookworm Mister J!” you sulk, furrowing your eyebrows.

“If you say so…” he rolls his eyes, reaching for your book.

“What, you don’t believe me?!” you kind of yell, even more annoyed.

The Joker just lifts his shoulders up, pretending to dismiss your words.

“You want me to prove it to you?!” you almost shout, antagonized at his attitude.

“If you insis..” J doesn’t get to finish because you yank his glasses away, pissed and wanting him in the same time, crushing his lips and tearing his shirt off while he struggles to be the dominant one (without success)for the first 15 minutes. That didn’t happen before but he admits he doesn’t mind it.

Thank God the music is deafening so nobody hears your moaning and screaming and his grunting because it would be very loud.

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

You watch him tuck his shirt in and you are just finishing up buttoning your tight capris.

You are panicking because now you realize what a bad idea this was. Sleeping with your boss?! Dammit, stupid hormones!!!

“You were sure telling the truth, Pumpkin, Daddy loved it,” he purrs, satisfied.

“What’s wrong?” he wants to know when he realizes you’re talking to yourself.

“I don’t sleep around, Mister J,” you whimper, upset.

“You’re not sleeping around, Doll, you’re sleeping with me, ok?” The Joker huffs, not getting the picture.

“Oh my God, stupid hormones!” you mutter, massaging your temples.

“What was that, Y/N?” he asks because he can’t hear over the music.

“I said it was awesome!” you raise your voice, mad at your stupid nerdy ass. But it was really awesome, can’t lie about it.

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

The next day he took you over to Jax’s hideout for a meeting, of course.

“Doll, am I getting a good deal?” J lifts your chin from your book, a bit vexed you are not paying attention. You were actually thinking about how good he looks naked and it sure bugs you.

“No, the price of gold went up 12.3% since last week. You need at least $750.000 for this to be a good deal,” you sigh, watching all the dudes staring you down.

“Mister J, I’ll give you 2 millions more if you let Y/N work for me for a month,” Jax is fast to negotiate and since J believes it’s a good deal, he agrees:

“Done!”

You look up at him with your mouth open, not excited at all: “I don’t want to  stay here, Mister J, I work for you,” you complain, hurt he is giving you away like you’re a thing.

“It’s just a month, Doll, you’ll be fine. Plus, I wasn’t asking, got it?” he shoves his finger in your face, irked because he hates insubordination. You sniffle, wanting to cry with anger but you keep it together and start reading again, not really seeing the words.

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

The Joker starts missing you after two days and it annoys him sooooo much. He keeps on looking at the books and reading glasses you left behind. You didn’t take everything with you since you will be gone for only four weeks. How hard can it be without her? he thinks. It’s not that he didn’t manage without you before you came to work for him. Piece of cake, he decides.

He brought one of the girls from the club, dressed her with your clothes and gave her a pair of your glasses. He even takes her to a meeting and she is sitting on the couch like you used to, reading a book she doesn’t understand.

“Doll, am I getting a good deal?” he turns towards the girl and she freezes.

“Ummm… I don’t know Mister J… “ she honestly replies, scared.

“How can you not know?!” he screams at her. “Y/N would know!”

“I’m sorry Mister J,” she apologizes and starts crying.

“Oooh, shut up!” he cuts her off, wanting to strangle her.

That didn’t go well.

After everyone left, he goes and places his head on her knees, aggravated she’s not smart like you.

“Which one of her books are you reading?” he questions the girl and she shows him:

“Quantum Physics and Applications,” she manages to articulate, almost shaking.

“I know that one,” he smiles for a second then he gets grouchy again. “Care to elaborate?” he barks at her and the poor girl start bawling, stammering her words: “I-I don’t k-know, M-Mister J, I c-can’t understand a-anything.”

“My god, you’re so stupid!” he elbows her with murder on his mind. “Do you know French?”

“N-No,” she keeps on weeping, scared for her life.

“Do you know Italian?”

“N-No.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here, huh? GET OUT!!!!!!” he shouts, getting up and pushing her away. That didn’t go well.

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

“Y/N, Mister J is here,” Jax lets you know and you don’t lift your eyes from your book because you don’t want to see him. What is he doing here after 3 days he basically sold you for more money?! You don’t want to work for Jax, you don’t like him. You only pick employers you like. And right now you don’t like J either. Big problem I guess.

“Mister J would like to drink a…”

“I know what he likes!” you lift yourself from the couch, aggravated, slamming your book to the side, still not glancing his way and go to mix his drink. When you bring it back and hand it over, The Joker touches your fingers with his, holding them for a few seconds and you finally glare at him. What the…? He’s wearing your purple reading glasses to match his jacket and cane. Your mouth opens with surprise and he just blinks slowly, pretending he doesn’t care about anything. What kind of strategy is this?! you think, puzzled. What is he up to?!

You turn on your hills and head back to your seat when he addresses Jax:

“I want my employee back; I’ll give you 5 millions!”

“Done!” Jax is fast in agreeing before J finishes the sentence because how can he refuse such a deal?! He doesn’t know what’s going on but he doesn’t need you that badly. He’s getting so much more than he paid for you so it works for him.

In the meantime you just watch them, perplexed, hating your life: WTF, am I cattle or what?!

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

He’s been driving for 20 minutes and you didn’t say a word to him.

“So what’s the last book you’ve read, hm?” J starts the conversation, squeezing the steering wheel so hard it hurts.

“How to Deal With a Shitty Boyfriend!” you grumble, crossing your arms on your chest and looking out the window. (It really is the name of the book. Sometimes you read fluff like this).

“Sounds like an award winning one,” he snorts, amused you’re so feisty. “Care to elaborate?”

“NO!”

“Do you even have a boyfriend? Why would you read such nonsense?” You bite on your cheek, moving away from him more.

“Well, then, do you care if I listen to music?” he asks because he has it all planned.

“I don’t care!”

“ ‘kaayyyy,” and he turns on his stereo. Sure enough, Madonna’s “Revolver” starts playing.

“Really?! Really?!” you get even more worked up, and finally turn towards him.

“Wha’? You said you don’t mind so…” “Pull over!” you demand, impatient but he can’t notice it yet. “We’re in the woods, I don’t wanna pull over,” he argues, sucking on his teeth.

“Pull over I said!” and you take your seatbelt off, making him yank at the wheel and park on a small, dusty road. “Jeez, are you trying to…”

But you don’t let him finish. You crawl in his lap and start kissing him roughly, unbuttoning your shirt in the same time.

“God,” you moan,” this song drives me wild!!” You bite his ear and he starts purring, delighted. It worked, he thinks, horny as hell, unhooking your bra.

Stupid hormones, you think, mad at yourself again but eager to get him naked as fast as possible.

Also read: MASTERLIST

http://diyunho(dot)tumblr(dot)com/post/153664676321/joker-x-reader-masterlist

[randomassshitthatishare]

A Lesson in Love

I found this comic on Facebook and thought it gave a pretty good lesson. It’s in Chinese, so please read the translation below to understand it.

It’s gonna be a bit of a long post, so bear with me and read till the end

I heard a story from one of my friends that left a long impression on me:

A husband comes home from work everyday feeling super tired

And yet, the wife would come up to him and wouldn’t stop talking and clinging on him

-Honey, what shall we have for dinner? You know, today I...

And after a long day’s work, he could reply her very briefly

-Oh, whatever is fine~

-....

Slowly but surely, the previously passionate and jolly wife started becoming cold and distant, and no longer initiates conversations with the husband

In fact, she gets mad and/or frustrated at even the slightest issue

-HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO THROW YOUR DIRTY LAUNDRY AROUND!!

The old understanding and gentle wife was no longer there

That made the husband feel rather frustrated as well, even had thoughts of divorce

One day he was talking to his buddy:

-You know, I slave away everyday at work, my wife doesn’t even care, she always have something to fight about with me! I’m sick of this life!

-Yo, lemme tell you a secret~

-From now on, no matter how tired you are, try and perk up and have a chat with your wife. Don’t have to be much, even if it’s 10 minutes, it’s cool

Following his friend’s advice, since that day, no matter how tired he was, he would come home with a smile on his face

-Honey, I’m home~

-What yummy stuff did you cook today?

-Just go set up the table~

At first it was just simple replies from the wife

-You’ve been at it all day, lemme help too

-What can you do? Just help me wash the veggies

-You know, today I got the weirdest customer, it was pretty interesting...

At dinner, the wife somehow helped the husband scoop a lot of food for him, unlike before

-You had a long day yourself, eat some more

The husband somehow felt his heart surprisingly filled with a nostalgic warmth

After dinner, when he was about to clear the table, his wife quickly stopped him

-You go take a bath and take a break, I’ll do the dishes!

The sound of running water filled the kitchen, but unlike before, the wife was actually humming a merry tune

Since that day, after work, the husband would always come and have a small chat with the wife

After carrying on for quite some time, he realized that not even 10 minutes, his wife would kick him out of the kitchen

-Get outta here, don’t disrupt me~

What made the husband felt even more surprised and heart-warming was that she has become more and more loving towards him

-Lemme give you a massage...

Yes, when two people are together, the more you care about them, the more you notice your spouse’s every move

Anything that doesn’t strike your fancy, you’d get a little frustrated

-All you do when you get home is play your phone! Can’t you hang out with me more?

The more you care about your spouse, the more you nitpick about everything they do

-So what if I’m playing my phone?

Such rifts between you two would end up unintentionally hurting each other’s feelings

-Stop bothering me!

Men prefer women to be more mature and understanding about men’s situation

Women, on the other hand, prefer men to show them that they care about them, even if it’s just a few words

When you fight, anger is all you have in your mind, and you would end up saying things that hurt your spouse the most

-GET OUT!! I DON’T WANT TO EVER SEE YOU AGAIN!!!

-YOU’RE CRAZY!

When you end up ignoring each other, in truth, you’d feel bad, and you wouldn’t want to lose each other

-He’s actually worked his butt off out there...

-I shouldn’t have said those things to her...

In the end you’ll end up missing each other because... Once you’re used to having each other, neither of you can leave each other

To all the men out there, don’t neglect your woman no matter what, even if it’s just to spend 10 minutes to chat with her

Women, in truth, don’t need much, they just want to know if she still has a place in your heart.

That’s all there is to it