#and my old ones go on the shelf and the stickers are like little memories of the time i got them

[daftpatience]

if I could afford it I'd be buying sooo many stickers from all the artists I love for my journal you guys don't even KNOW

[adastrael]

Cod: mw ii characters and things they collect (pt.2)

Character(s): alejandro vargas, rodolfo "rudy" parra, valeria garza, kim "horangi" hong-jin, könig

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: mentions of gambling and anxiety

A/N: the second chapter is finally here! Hope you enjoy, as usual, don't be too afraid to share your thoughts :D

Alejandro Vargas

Alejandro is a sentimental man without a doubt, someone who likes to remember as much as he can from his past — be it the good or bad. A habit he has learned from his father when he was younger was purchasing a postcard and a coin or bill of the local currency whenever they visited foreign countries. It didn't happen often unfortunately, so this goal was a little difficult to accomplish, but with the years spent in the military and now as a Colonel, he gets more opportunities to visit places he has never been before. To this day, he still gets a card from every new city he goes to as a memory that he was there once.

Some things that tie back into his sentimental nature are the photographs he keeps. There is a box in his office back at home, heavy from all the pictures he has stacked into the available space. Some of them are very old, paper faded and jagged, but the people on them are still recognizable. These are from his younger years, a few go back even as far in time where he only just started hanging out with Rodolfo. Others are still shiny and new, a few even have that fresh scent the paper acquires when the picture is made. These are mostly of the team, 141 and other seemingly random sights Alejandro felt worthy enough to capture (this man is a sucker for sunsets, you can't change my mind).

Alejandro has a few keychains he has received during the years, mostly from distant relatives or members of Los Vaqueros. The key to his front door contains 90% of them, although he doesn't like when there are too many weights next to such important objects. His favorite is undeniably the little cowboy hat they bought together with Rudy once, just after Los Vaqueros became an official thing. It never fails to make him smile, and he has a saying that goes along the lines of "As long as I have this, Los Vaqueros will be a thing."

Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra

As a kid, Rodolfo was always looking for little trinkets to keep. From seashells, rocks, feathers and pretty leaves, if something caught his attention, it was going home with him in his pocket. His favorites were undeniably rocks though; there are still quite a lot of them he has kept from all the years and refuses to get rid of for one reason or another. As Alejandro teased him before, Rudy is like a crow in this regard — although it's not shiny things he collects, just rocks he finds fitting to join his heap.

Something that has always fascinated him was lego sets. As a kid he didn't have the chance to own any, but now that he has a healthy paycheck, nothing is stopping him from purchasing different sets for his own birthday and similar occasions. The model he loves the most is probably the Great Pyramid of Giza, which he built in a single afternoon when he was on medical leave once. Although most of them don't have enough space in his house, his favorite ones are displayed somewhere: either on his office table, or on a shelf in one of the rooms.

There is a habit he couldn't stop ever since he was little, but didn't really want to either to be fair. Like most kids, Rodolfo enjoyed getting stickers and sticking them somewhere he found fit, even when someone told him no. As he grew older, he didn't want to waste them anymore, knowing he wouldn't be able to make use of them again once you plastered them on a surface. That was the start of his collection — ever since, he doesn't like the idea of putting them anywhere, only collecting all the stickers he gets in one big folder. He gets way too emotionally attached to most of them and he knows, but Rodolfo tries his best. Besides, we all need something to be passionate about besides work, don't we?

Plus fun fact: Rudy often gifts his friends and family stickers. At first, most found it confusing and unnecessary, but now everyone just finds it adorable and thanks him earnestly when they receive any. It's an ongoing joke between the Vaqueros that you will know the Sergeant Major likes you if he gives you stickers. Not to mention, they consider you family and part of the team once you receive any. It's really great.

Valeria Garza

It's no secret that Valeria enjoys painting her nails; the brighter and more feminine, the better. During the years, she unintentionally started collecting nail polishes as one does: if she saw a color she liked, it was bought with little to no hesitation, no matter how many bottles she already had at home. Valeria makes good use of all of them though, her nails are always nicely done and the colors change almost week after week.

Valeria couldn't deny her love for house plants even if she tried. She would never let her men see the plant mom side of her, but Alejandro and Rodolfo had the chance to witness her home. The living room is filled with greens: different, often hand painted vases on the shelves, tall houseplants in front of the big windows and even some vine-like plants curling over her walls. She makes sure not to overdo them, but every room that isn't her bedroom has at least one little flower.

Something that understandably makes her even more intimidating is her enthusiasm for swords. Don't get the wrong idea, she can't handle one and isn't overly tempted to learn either, but she loves their beauty all the same. One of the rooms in her house is kind of like a calming area, her favorite plants, furniture and pictures all gathered in the same place. Above the door, there is a hanger with a sword replica on top of it, but it's only noticeable when you actually look for it. If she could, Valeria would buy a few real ones, but she doesn't see the need for them, above the fact that they look good and bring her some joy. In the future, she just might learn their tricks however.

Kim "Horangi" Hong-jin

It might be ironic considering his unlucky history with gambling, but Horangi likes to collect special and unique looking game tokens. Under this category he will never consider the non-physical ones like crypto and such, in-game ones are those he loves, the ones that are actually collectable. It's no surprise that poker tokens are his favorite to look for, there are even one or two custom made ones he has gotten as a gift from friends (König and other KorTac members). He won't ever consider getting back into gambling because he has learned his lesson, but it doesn't hurt to collect unique items related to the hobby.

Another thing that keeps him connected to games are cards. Sure, he's especially awful at card games, but there are a few decks that caught his eye during the years and just couldn't resist to leave. One of his biggest prizes is a deck with completely black cards that glow in the dark, and the numbers and designs are only visible then.

Call him a poser, but Horangi loves sunglasses. Of course, during missions he can't always wear them, but around base and usually even at home, there is one hiding his eyes from curious looks. It became a comfort thing very quickly for him, so the reason why he wears them everywhere isn't purely fashion motivated (honestly, none at all, only just when he is out as a civilian). Horangi doesn't own that many pairs, maybe around six or seven, and like three of them are regular black ones, but the rest are different; they help him blend in, not to mention that a few of them match his everyday clothes and just spice his outfits up a little.

König

As a kid, König loved reading comic books, especially if they were superhero ones. It isn't necessary to say he collected them, but the amount of stacks he used to have in his room would surely qualify as such. Financially, he wasn't much to deal with as a kid; he ate a lot, sure, and new clothes were constantly needed because of his fast growth, but he never asked for anything from his parents, only new comic books to read through. Most of them are still hidden somewhere in his childhood room, and one day he's sure to read them all over again when he has the time.

Another habit he started as a kid and somehow never really grew out of is collecting dinosaur figures. Don't think about the big ones people usually put on shelves as decoration, König was always enthusiastic about the small ones that came in packages, multiple dinos in one. He used to have a dinosaur phase back in grade school, and if you ask him about a species, he can probably still ramble about the topic for hours to no end.

Something that might seem a little strange to others, but is totally usual for him is the pocket sized magnets he carries with himself. König generally fidgets a lot, either from anxiety or just absently while thinking or doing something else, and magnets are easy and satisfying to connect and pull apart. The fact that he likes the noise doesn't hurt either, it usually helps him focus on the task at hand.

[7ndipity]

"Shadow"

Demon Hoseok x Reader (feat. Jin)

Summary: A mysterious music box leads to some unsettling activity and dreams. But what happens when your dreams become reality?

Warnings: paranormal/horror themes, swearing, injuries, stalking/yandere-ish vibes(I mean he's a demon so yeah) nightmares? Idk, lmk if I missed something

A/N: ngl this one came out pretty creepy. Thank you all for the support you've shown for Spooktober, the final piece will be posted later this week.

Spooktober m.list

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"Y/n, look at this!"

Jin was holding up an old cookoo clock, covered in tiny decorative leaves and swirling scrollwork. "It's cute, right?"

"Uh, it's not really my style." You said gently, trying not to offend him.

He was supposed to be helping you look for furniture for your new house, but so far, all he had done in every thift shop you two had gone into was get distracted by various knickknacks and old toys, leaving you to basically fend for yourself.

"Oh c'mon, you could hang it in the kitchen-"

You attention was pulled away from the conversation by a shelf of old music boxes. One in particular caught your eye, slightly smaller than the others, almost able to fit in one hand, with a simple diamond and checkerboard pattern carved into the surface.

Curious, you picked it up and gently wound the key, the gears stiff from age and lack of use. A soft twinkling melody began to play, causing a twinge of nostalgia to ring through you, but you didn't know why. The song sounded familiar, like an old forgotten memory come back to the surface, but you couldn't quite place it.

"-what do you think?"

"Hm?" You shook out of your revre, glancing up at your friend in confusion.

"Were you really not listening to me?" He pouted at you.

"I'm sorry, I don't what happened." You said absent-mindedly as you checked the box for a price sticker, but finding none. "I'll be right back."

You quickly made your way up to the counter, griped by a sudden need for the charming little box.

"How much is this?" You asked the lady at the register.

"Oh, that old thing?" She looked at it in surprise. "You can have it, no charge."

"Seriously?" You said in disbelief.

"Mh-hm." She nodded, "It's been here for ages, it doesn't even work."

"But, I just-" You were cut off by the sound of something crashing to the floor, making you both jump. Ducking back around a few shelves, you found Jin standing awkwardly over the busted remains of the cookoo clock.

"I'll take it!" He said, cheeks red in embarrassment.

. . .

You took the box home.

As you climbed into bed that night, you picked it up again, examining it carefully.

There were hinges along one side of the top, indicating that it could open, but the tiny lock on the front prevented you from doing so. You gave a small huff of frustration, about to give up, but then you remembered seeing a similar box in a movie once where the key for the music mechanism had also served as a key for the lock.

Turning the box over, you gave the key a gentle tug, it came free of its housing easily enough. Slipping it into the lock, you found to your delight that it turned and clicked.

Thrilled with your discovery, you gently lifted the lid and peered in. The inside was lined with a teal green velvet, in the center was a small spring that you suppose once held a figurine of some sort, but now stood empty, missing its miniature dancer.

Slightly disappointed, you closed it again and sat it in it's new home on your bedside table before shutting off the lights and going to sleep.

That night, your dreams were full of strange sights and sounds. Strange flashes of color. Someone was laughing, but the noise was foggy and muffled. Somewhere, distantly, you could hear the music box playing.

. . .

Over the next few weeks, you started to notice strange things around your new place. Creaking footstep-like sounds, doors that refused to stay open or closed, the scent of something like woodsmoke and rain that seemed to move about the house.

At first you tried to brush it off. It was an old house, old houses had weird noises and smells, right? You'd known that when you moved in. But then, there were more things that you couldn't find a logical explanation for.

Voices that seemed to echo down the hall from empty rooms. Shadows moving out the corner of you eye, peaking around doorways when your back was turned, catching sight of the flickering movement in the mirror while you were brushing your teeth or watching TV.

At night, it got worse. You were finding it increasingly difficult to sleep. When you did manged to drift off, you kept having the same recurring dreams of smokey figure slipping into your room through a crack in the window or under the door, the swirling and billowing mass drifting ever closer, watching you with eyes like burning coals.

Everything in your body said that you should be terrified, but for some reason, you weren't. In fact, you felt oddly serene as he gently reached out and took your hand, tugging you up out of bed and pulling you close, seeming to dance about the room with you. Everytime, you would wake up shaking and sweating.

. . .

"Y/n?" You jumped slightly at your name, looking across the table to see Jin eyeing you with concern.

"You alright?" Jin asked.

He'd noticed the recent changes in you and to say he was worried was an understatement. You were pale and jumpy, shadows under your eyes from lack of sleep.

You looked down, sighing. "I- I don't really know, Jin."

"What's wrong?"

"Promise you won't make fun of me?" You asked.

"I swear." He held up a hand in oath.

"I think my house is haunted." You started, half expecting he would think you were crazy. But if anyone was going to believe you, it would be Jin.

As you spoke, Jin had gone still and pale, his brow furrowed as he listened.

"And then, there's these." You pulled back your sleeve, revealing fingerprint like bruises littering your arms. They didn't hurt and they would fade almost as fast as they appeared, but you could still sense them, like invisible sootstains on your skin.

He swallowed hard, mouth pressed into a thin line

"Maybe we should call someone, like-"

Jin's voice faded out as you froze, staring out the glass front of the restaurant over his shoulder.

He was there, a faint, greyish figure, semi-transparent like a reflection, except that he standing outside on the sidewalk. He tilted his head slightly as he grinned at you.

"Y/n? What is it?" Jin turned to see what you staring at, looking back at you confused.

"He can't see me, Love, only you can." The figure mouthed, but it sounded like he was right next to you, sending a shiver up your spine.

"Nothing. It's nothing." Snapping your attention back to your friend, you spoke quickly, gathering your things. "Look, don't worry about it, I've got a handle on it." You turned to leave, but Jin grabbed your arm.

"'Got a handle on it?' Wait a minute, y/n, I don't get this. Are you scared or not?"

You stopped.

Were you? The same question had been plaguing you for days.

"I... don't know."

. . .

'It was a dark and stormy night.' You rolled your eyes at your own joke. It was Halloween night, rain pouring down outside with thunder and lightning as you finished washing up for bed. 'How cliché.'

As if to prove your point, there was a loud clap of thunder, and the room was plunged into darkness.

"Shit." You whispered, fumbling your way down the hall. Where the hell had you packed the flashlights?

Making it to your room, you stilled as you heard a soft twinkling melody floating through the air. The music box.

You were frozen, heart was pounding so loudly in you ear that it took you a several seconds to realize there was another set of breaths in the room.

Another flash of lightning illuminated a figure standing in the center of the room.

You fell back against the door as you let out a shrill scream.

"Don't be afraid." He spoke in a low, raspy voice. At that moment, the lights flickered back on, revealing the intruder.

He was tall, very slim, a mop of messy black waves partially covered dark eyes with deep shadows beneath them

"Please don't hurt me." You whimpered.

"Hurt you?" He tilted his head at you. "Why would I do that? You let me out."

"I-what?"

"My box, you opened it." He let out a small laugh as he picked it up and pointed to you. "That was impressive, you know? Not everybody can do that."

"I don't-" You stopped as you realized.

You recognized that voice, the angular face, those eyes, though usually they had a different glow than the playful glint they held now.

"Oh my god." You whispered, slumping against the door again.

"Not quite." His lips quirked up in a smile.

"I'm going crazy." You ran a shaky hand through your hair.

"Crazy looks good on you then." He said, taking in your features more closely. You were cute, weren't you? 'Lucky me.' He thought, watching you fidget nervously. If he had to be indebted to human, at least it was someone fun.

"What are you?" You asked

"I've been called a lot of things," he said softly, Cheshire grin on his face as he crept closer. "but you can call me Jay."

Everything felt jumpy and distorted, like an old, fragmented movie reel. The closer he came, the worse it got.

"We had such a nice time before," he breathed, as his fingers brushed your arm. "Imagine how much nicer it would be now that I'm real, that I can actually touch you."

"I-" You pulled back slightly, but you it was a like you were a rabbit and a viper. You couldn't look away.

He cupped you face gently, everything feeling like it was in slow motion.

"What do you say to another dance?"

[mays-grant]

Baby Box | Evan Buckley

Summary: in which after seeing maddie's baby box, you and buck decide to make one for your two year old.

Pairing: Dad!Buck x Mom!Reader

Warnings: Implied smut (but nothing explicit), fluff

based off of the episode ‘9-1-1, What’s Your Grievance?’ when Buck’s parents brought Maddie’s baby box

Word count: 0.9k

A/N: I’ve never written anything for buck so this is new to me and i’ve never posted my stuff on tumblr so again, this is pretty new and i’m prepared to this to flop LMAO also i didn’t proofread to good luck 👍

"So how'd reconciling with Maddie go?" You asked as your fiancé walked through the front door. You put down the sponge you had been using to clean the dishes and wiped your hands on the towel that was sat atop the counter.

Buck hung his coat up and slipped his shoes off before walking towards you and wrapping his arms around you, his head resting on your shoulder. You smiled at your cuddly fiancé and reached back slightly to thread your fingers through his hair.

"It went really well." He responded to the question you asked a moment ago. "She apologized and so did I. Then we were talking out her baby box. You know, it got me thinking."

"Oh really? About what?" You asked before turning around, his arms still around you.

"It's just... we don't really have anything special to put Eva's stuff in." The mention of yours and Buck's two year old daughter who was currently sleeping in your shared bed (because she claimed it was comfier) made your heart flutter with joy.

"What, you think we should make some sort of baby box for her?"

"Well, yeah. I mean a shelf in the closet isn't gonna hold for very long. One day she's gonna wanna see all that stuff from when she was a kid and we can't exactly hand her the shelf." He told you as you laughed at his words.

"I guess you're right. We could get one of those storage chests. I'm pretty sure they sell them in Ikea." You suggested, running your fingers through his hair once more.

Small thumps rang through the apartment as something made impact with your leg. You looked down to find your daughter staring back at you with her blue eyes she had inherited from her father. Buck's smile grew as Eva came into his view. He lofted her up with a faux groan before placing her on his hip.

"Daddy, I missed you." She mumbled, still sleepy from her nap. Buck kissed her cheek as she leaned into his touch. It warmed your heart that they had such a close relationship.

You still remembered the day that Eva was born and Buck had promised her that he wouldn't be like his parent. That he would pay attention to her and love her and care for her and never make her feel unloved or unwanted.

So far, two years later, he's kept his promise.

"I missed you too, E." Buck said to the toddler.

"You were late. Mommy said that you were doing something imporant." Her words slightly misspoken, as she was struggling with the correct pronunciation of words. You reached out and caressed your baby's face.

"I was with your Aunt Maddie. We're talking about some... family things." He explained.

Eva nodded slightly, acting as if she understood when you both knew she didn't truly know what he was talking about and that she was just happy he was home.

“Just one more sticker?”

Your pleading eyes met Buck’s as you held the butterfly sticker in your hand. Buck sighed and shrugged, knowing you wouldn’t listen to him even if he said no. You beamed as you placed the sticker, admiring your handiwork.

The two of you admired the bejeweled and sticker covered box with the name ‘Eva’ written in big letters on the front that had been sitting on top of the coffee table. The box only had a few things in it, seeing as Eva wasn’t exactly grown yet and had milestones that were yet to be made.

Her first onsie— the one she wore when you took her back from the hospital after her birth— was in it, along with her baby shoes and photos that Maddie and Athena had taken from her birth, photos Buck took of her (because if you were being honest he took a lot of photos of her) and even recent photos like the one you took at the park last week when let her swing on the swings and play on the slides.

The box hadn’t even been filled 1/4 of the way but knowing that one day your daughter was going to open this and see all the memories made you and Buck ecstatic.

“I think it looks pretty good.” Buck complimented as he sat back. You did the same, snuggling into him, both of you still looking at the box.

“I may have gone overboard on the stickers though.” You admitted as you scrunched up your nose at the sight of all the colorful butterfly and heart stickers. Buck laughed at you before agreeing.

“Just a little.” He replied.

The two of you stayed in that position for a bit longer, snuggled up together as you sat on the couch with his arm behind you in the classic faux ‘yawning’ position before Buck began to smirk.

You took notice of his facial expression and furrowed your brows in confusion.

“What’s that face for?”

He looked down at you as his smirk grew wider. “Y’know, Bobby and Athena promised to watch Eva until 8 and it’s only 4.” He informed you.

“Yeah, so?”

“So... I know a way we can pass the time.”

An invisible lightbulb formed above your head as you began to understand what he was getting at. Your expression mimicked his smirk before you stood up in front of him. You extended your hand towards him and cocking your head towards your shared bedroom

“C’mon.” Was all you needed to say before he put his hand in yours and you dragged him into the bedroom to kill time.

[forasecondtherewedwon]

Lucky Penny Benjamin

Fandom: Top Gun: Maverick Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin/Penny Benjamin Rating: E Word Count: 2534

Summary: Get over me already, her expression suggests. You don’t make it easy, his eyes say back. He might keep turning up here, but it’s her who never locks the front door.

When Maverick walks into the Hard Deck in a few hours, its owner will be sexy enough that he’ll wonder whether she’d still go for him, and familiar enough that he’ll be certain she’d never go for anyone else. One of these things will be true. Neither of these things will he connect with the arrogant young aviator across the bar, buying beers on Mav’s dime and flirting openly—harmlessly, Mav will think—with Penny Benjamin.

—

Jake tries the door and it’s not locked. That’s invitation enough. He’s never been inside the Hard Deck when it’s empty before and he likes it, being able to look around and take in this boozy corner of his old stomping grounds. Oh, the nights he’s had here. The pool table triumphs. The chill instructors who said yes when he naïvely goaded them into matching him shot for shot. The women who would practically strip their panties off right there at the bar and press them into his hand at the sight of a uniform and a smile. The ones who were a little harder to get.

He strides across the floor unhurriedly, taking in the gleaming mugs hanging from the ceiling, the peeling, overlapping stickers on the walls. I LEFT MY LIVER IN SAN DIEGO. SAVE A JET, RIDE A PILOT. Damn, it’s good to be back.

From the storage room, a voice calls out, “Jimmy? I told you I wouldn’t need you in ’til later.”

Now Jake moves with purpose, footfalls making the worn wood floor squeak and groan as he crosses the bar. Like the vain bastard he is, he pauses to touch his hair and smooth his shirt, and then he steps into the storage room’s doorway and leans his shoulder against the frame.

“Hi, Penny.”

She’s crouched, rearranging inventory, and flips her hair over her shoulder as she turns her head to look up at him in alarm. His eyebrows twitch upward and her expression changes from surprise to a fond of course it’s you look that widens his grin.

“Jake Seresin,” she says.

“As handsome as ever.”

“You don’t wait for compliments, do you?”

“Who has the time?”

“Help me up.” She sticks her hand out and he steps into the room with her, offering a sturdy grip and a smooth tug that brings Penny to her feet. He loves how she smiles and fixes her hair, still flustered by him. Still gorgeous. He doesn’t release her hand until she slips her fingers gently from his hold.

“Business on North Island?” Penny asks lightly.

“The one place I never mind being recalled to. We don’t need to talk about that. Tell me how you’re doing.”

He stands close to her, rests his elbow on a shelf loaded with bottles of rum. Penny crosses her arms and smiles.

“Things are good. This place is surviving.”

“You still enjoying the life of a barkeep?”

“It’s not so bad. It’s a good place to run into old friends.” She smiles meaningfully. “How long has it been?”

“Hard to say when you always look just as beautiful as last time. But if memory serves,” he goes on, blowing past the compliment without missing the way it makes her blush, “it was about eighteen months ago. I was on-base for six days—”

“Five nights,” Penny finishes.

“You remember.”

“How could I forget when, um…” She tilts her face down and shakes her head with sudden shyness.

Jake is happy to walk the rest of the way down memory lane on her behalf.

“When I told you that first night that I’d give you another orgasm for every night I was here.”

Penny tips her head back now, smiling at the ceiling. Her hair swishes again and he wants to bury his hands in it. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other.

“Night five…” she starts. She meets his eye with a conspiratorial smirk. “Night five was something.”

“Yes, it was. Although, night two stands out as well. Didn’t we… here? I recall a bathroom stall.”

Penny laughs and nods.

“Thank god for staff washrooms with doors that lock,” she says. “I went back out to the bar afterwards and one of my regulars said I looked rushed off my feet.”

“Your face wouldn’t have been that red if you hadn’t kept holding your breath.”

“I was trying to be quiet,” she reminds him, her green eyes glinting with challenge and mischief.

“You want me to apologize for being that good?” Jake smiles arrogantly. “I still am, by the way.”

“Pass along my congratulations to your girlfriend.”

She bends and hefts the crate of bottles she was counting earlier, sliding it back onto a shelf. Just when he starts believing he’s got her wrapped around his finger, she shows him it’s the other way around, shows him she’s not some easy conquest. He still remembers the very first time. Flirting with her all night and lingering beyond last call. The look she gave him when the bar was empty, how she left the door open behind her when she walked out onto the beach barefoot. The stiff zipper of her soft jeans, his fingers sinking into her over and over, her closed eyes and parted lips in the moonlight, coming so fast when she nudged him onto his back and blew him like a goddamn dream.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he says.

“You’ll find somebody one of these days, Jake,” Penny assures him. “Somebody closer to your own age.”

“I thought we were past the age thing. If you get to say that, I get to call you a MILF.”

“I banned that.”

“So put up a sign,” Jake volleys back, grinning.

“I would, but you wouldn’t read it.”

“Well, my learning style’s always been much more hands-on.”

Penny turns to face him. Does he need to ask if this is happening?

“Leave the door open,” she says, eyebrow twitching up saucily.

Apparently, he doesn’t need to ask.

“You always did like things a little risky,” he says.

She cocks her head knowingly and notes, “I’m not the only one.”

Jake goes to her and sneaks an arm around her waist. Locking their lips, he walks her back to the wall opposite the storage room door. She’s still fiery, biting his lip to make him groan, panting in his ear when he steps into her space and drops his mouth to her neck. Her hands find his hips with confidence and pull him against her. Soon, he’s grinding into her, and maybe he shouldn’t have worn his uniform because these pants feel a little cramped when he has a hard-on, but whenever he’s able to grace Penny with his presence, he wants to be unmistakable. When he leaves again, he wants to be unforgettable.

She undoes his pants and pushes her hand into his boxer briefs, stroking his shaft firmly enough to elicit a manly grunt. Penny doesn’t mess around. Jake grabs her ass and insinuates one of his thighs between hers. Though he’s never seen her out on the water, he’s heard her mention owning a boat; she rubs herself against his thigh like she’s riding the rhythmic swell of the waves out on the bay, smiling tantalizingly the whole time. God, he’s stiff. Leaking into her palm when she cups the head of his dick before swiping her hand back down. It’s amazing to feel her against him, her fingers so soft where his are always rough with calluses, the heat at the crux of her thighs—but he'd also rather that were his hand pleasuring her clit, his cock she were riding. Irresistible gentleman that he is, he came prepared with a condom in his wallet.

“Wrap it up, flyboy.”

Why would he want any other woman when this one can read his mind?

“Don’t you worry, Penny,” he tells her, feeling for his wallet, slipping the condom free, tossing the wallet to the storage room floor. “I know what I’m doing.”

“So far.”

Jake grins at her taunt, then begins undressing in a hurry. Systematic. Efficient. Shoes, pants, underwear—socks too, because he feels ridiculous leaving them on. Penny unbuttons her jeans and he hooks his fingers into her beltloops, sinking to his knees as he draws the denim down her legs. She forces her shoes off and steps out of her jeans, and he’s there, kissing the inside of her knees, nuzzling his face against her inner thigh.

“Jake…” she says with warmth and warning. “We can’t be long. The door…”

He kisses between her thighs over her underwear and flicks his gaze up to hers.

“If there’s no danger,” he reasons, “you can’t call it a risk.”

Penny moans as he licks her through lace. She’s always been deceptive like this—with her slouchy jeans and her fishermen sweaters and La Perla’s finest hidden underneath. He turns his head and bites down on her thigh, pressing his thumb up against her clit instead. Her hips press back. Jake gets to his feet, continuing to rub as he looks her in the eye with the only type of expression he ever wears in these scenarios: smug.

“You still want me?” he asks cockily. If he’s arrogant enough, she’ll never see him genuinely wondering.

Her hand steals into the front of her underwear, displacing his as she takes over from the other side of the delicate material, massaging herself with light, sure contact. Her sexy smile dispels any fear he may have of being redundant; this isn’t her demonstrating his superfluousness, it’s a little something extra. Penny knows—god, how she knows—that he has a special penchant for watching a woman touch herself. Jake swallows. A muscle in his jaw flexes as he refuses the call of his cock to be taken in a fast, rough fist. They both know he wants to, and they both know he loves this more: holding out. Being teased. Awaiting permission.

“Do it for me,” she invites.

Jake crowds close to kiss her, trapping his cock between them.

“Spoiled little rich girl,” he breathes.

“You’re slightly more fun than inventory,” Penny murmurs in response.

He can’t shrink his smile as he kisses her again and again, her wriggling her panties down, him swathing his cock in ribbed latex. For her pleasure. He hikes her leg up his hip and she folds her calf around the back of his thigh, guiding him close. Before Jake pushes inside, he brushes her hair back and cups her face in his palm. Get over me already, her expression suggests. You don’t make it easy, his eyes say back. He might keep turning up here, but it’s her who never locks the front door.

Jake slips the head of his cock into her, then returns his fingertips to her clit, rubbing as he edges further inside. Penny’s body welcomes him with a slippery heat that has him pinning her to the wall with his hips for his own support. He grips her thigh and widens his stance, then pumps upward in short jerks that make her huff out her breaths.

“J-Jake.”

“Fuck, you feel good.”

He keeps working, keeps pushing, and the pumping becomes pounding, Penny’s panted exhalations rising and shredding in the air. A jet punching through clouds. When he rolls his hips to catch her clit in the action, her hand shoots out to grip one of the shelves. For the rest of the time he’s fucking her, bottles rattle to his left. The reckless majority of him wants the booze to vibrate off the shelf and turn into a sticky, glass-flecked puddle on the floor. He wants to know how much he’s worth, what she’s willing to sacrifice to the sexual gratification he swoops in here to bestow.

“How we doin’?” Jake checks in, all but gasping the words because she’s squeezing him from all directions: clamping down around his dick, digging her fingers into his shoulder, tensing her calf as it climbs to his hip. It really opens her up to him and he takes everything she’s offering, driving deep. For her, he pleads with himself not to come yet.

“Close,” Penny spits out.

He grins, drawing back from quick, sporadic kisses up her neck, and sees her matching his smile. She’s always been so faithful about keeping her eyes open when she’s almost there. He never could’ve imagined the colour green looking boiling-hot before he saw the eyes of Penny Benjamin as she approaches orgasm.

“Come on, then,” he grits out. “Door’s open. Chop chop.”

She laughs and then she groans, clinging to him, clattering the shelved bottles, as he gives her a long stroke accompanied by the grinding of his pelvis against her clit. Her shoulders shimmy involuntarily and he holds her up, even more full of himself than she is.

Penny’s still moving through her climax—and it is a sight for his sore, California-deprived eyes—when he holds her close with his hands on her hip and thigh, thrusting hard.

“Don’t… know,” he pants. “…how… long… I’ll be here.” He switches to shorter, jerkier thrusts out of necessity; he’s damn close to the edge. “How’s about we reinstate the old pact? You wanna come like this again tomorrow?”

She must see the need in his eyes, the layers of it. But she’s so goddamn cool, eyelids lowered halfway, little smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth, loose-limbed in his arms.

“Twice,” she reminds him, gaze following the fingers she trails possessively down his throat.

“Twice,” Jake confirms. Sweating. Bucking. About to be overtaken by a sensation of tingly goodness.

“Permission granted.”

He lets himself fall forward into her, coming with a hot surge. He closes his eyes and takes deep breaths of the not-quite-forgotten scent of her hair.

—

It’s easy to be generous when somebody else is buying. Jake offers to go to the bar again and again, making sure every one of his fine colleagues has a beer in his or her hand at all times. He’s happy to tap this interloper dry—the older guy who came in and didn’t follow the rules and is now wetting the whistle of every person in this bar.

Didn’t follow the rules.

Speaking of, Jake’s assuming his agreement with Penny is out the window. The Hard Deck is filling up, and yet she goes back to that guy over and over. Probably with a smile, since Jake has a sightline on the man smiling at her. Jake can only see Penny from the back, except when he goes up to order more beers. She’s why he goes; it’s so fucking small of him to feel jealousy over his fuckbuddy’s wandering eye, but he keeps needing her to turn away from that other guy. Look at me, he thinks. Here I am. Remember?

Distractedly, he reclaims the beer he just put in Bob’s hand and tilts his head back for a long swallow, deaf to Bob’s complaints, deaf to Phoenix’s threats in defence of the WSO to whom she seems to have pledged immediate and thorough loyalty. Jake puts his back to the bar.

Yeah. It’s good to be back.

[dilexit]

Chapter 7: I’m Getting Tired of Editing

Previous chapter | Masterlist | Next chapter

✎ Wilbur x GN!Reader

✎Word count: 1.7k

✎Summary: Even tho they are counting the seconds they don't actually do a bucket list item

✎Warnings: Swearing (probably), Food (talks about eating and lunch time), probably some typos, not really a warning but Y/n is in AP Calc I’m in no way smart enough for AP Calc but I wanted to make Wilbur a LIT nerd and I liked the contrast

✎ So your girl is an idiot and though she posted this chapter 3 days ago so that's my bad I do indeed plan on posting the last three chapter over the next three days as they are mostly finished but yeah everyone get ready for my next book set it up coming soon

Y/n was sitting in front of their locker with their computer on their lap and their camera in their hand. Pressing down lightly on the blue-tinted piece of plastic, it popped out of place. Humming to themselves, they placed the memory card into their computer. Y/n knew they probably shouldn’t be skipping their history class to just work on this project but deadlines were coming up way too quickly and they needed this film to get done, well done enough before prom. They started picking at a sticker on the corner of their computer while their editing software was loading the 15 videos. Y/n couldn’t help but laugh to themselves seeing the old videos and how scrawny they both were as sophomores. M hall was quiet at this time besides the faint noise of theatre kids being theatre kids and choir kids being choir kids. Y/n reached into their bag to grab headphones so they could listen to the videos. They had already decided that the intro shots would be saved for last because they were indeed clueless on where to start with that. They only covered one ear with the headphones so that they could be semi-aware of the school day around them. They went to click on video one ‘Making S’mores on the stove’ when they realized how much of a pain in the ass the project was going to be. This video was only 27 minutes long making it the shortest video meaning all the other videos were well over 30 minutes. Y/n would have to watch hours of their old selves which was already unbearable but made worse by the fact that editing kinda sucks. Nevertheless, this was their future, already a scary thought but this film would make or break them. Wilbur had gotten into NYU months earlier and Y/n had been accepted as well but under an undecided major. Sure they had applied and gotten into other colleges, they even had made a plan to transfer schools if they didn’t get into the film school at NYU. They knew they were being dramatic but they had to commit somewhere and their future depended on them going to a film school. NYU was the dream because Wilbur had already fallen in love with the campus and music program plus he had already gotten in. The two never planned to be separated for college and hopefully with this film they wouldn’t be. That was if Y/n ever finished it. Halfway through cutting out all the poor angles and awful shots, the bell rang signifying the end of second period. Y/n groaned, they had barely made any progress and they couldn’t skip AP Calc without consequences. They closed their laptop with a sigh and turned around, opening their locker behind them and using the now open door to help them up. They shoved their laptop into their backpack and put their camera carefully back into the camera bag, which lived on the top shelf of their locker. Grabbing their bag and shutting the door and walking away from the safety of the arts wing.

……Lunch……

“Y/n you need to eat something darling,” Wilbur said waving a fork in their face

“No, not yet I have fifteen minutes of shaky biking footage to figure out. It’s making me a little nauseous, how did I not figure this shit out yet.” Y/n groaned with their head resting in their hand while the other hand was typing away trying to figure things out. “You see,” they started looking up at Wil for the first time this entire lunch period, “Some of these videos are fun to watch because like 12 year old Tommy screaming like a girl is funny, but signing our names on the slide is a horribly boring 43 minute video. And half of it is just us biking. I didn’t even put the camera down to film the wheels to get a good transition, man I was a dumb child,”

“You know Y/n there's this thing called lunch, and during this thing called lunch we do this thing called eat lunch, so please for the love of this checklist at least put away your computer,” Wil begged pulling their computer away from them

“Wilbur you ass,” Y/n shouted half-heartedly. Instead of fighting back, they grabbed their water bottle taking a well-deserved drink from it. “You know how sad this is?” Y/n asked laughing softly

“What do you mean,” Wilbur had an eyebrow quirked and his head tilted making him look almost like a lost puppy.

“I mean it’s sad watching us grow up on a screen. Do you think I should have spent less time filming us and more just living in the moment?”

“Love I’m not sure why you’re getting all existential on me but you didn’t waste any time filming us because that’s how you lived in the moment, now please eat and get some sleep tonight so that your brain can work on some of the most important days of our lives,” He softly took Y/n’s hands in his silently letting them know that he would be there no matter what crisis closing this chapter of their lives would cause.

……7 pm……

“But it’s like I understand but don’t,” Wilbur said grabbing another slice of pizza from the boxes sat in the middle of the kitchen table, “ I mean I thought the sadness came after it was over not the anticipation,”

“Have you ever thought that the list ending is what’s bothering them?” Techno asked which made Wilbur stop and think

“From what you’ve told me it seems like it wasn’t Saturday where this intense mood shift came in… Did anything maybe happen that night?” Philza asked He and Techno had been dancing around the thought that maybe Y/n was disappointed that they weren’t going to prom together.

“I guess but that's probably because the only fun task we have left is drinking energy drinks then it’s just 17 and 18 one of which requires Y/n to edit an entire short film before midnight,” Wil said before Tommy butted into the nice talk the other three were having

“What is number 17 anyway? I get you don’t want to tell us because you’re a prick but I don’t think that’s very nice of you,” The youngest brother complained with pizza in his mouth

“Oh no Wil now you need to tell us, Tommy called you mean,” Techno mocked

“You all will just have to wait until prom,” Wil said picking up his slice of pizza as a subtly way of trying to move onto a new topic

“Speaking of Y/n how are they handling all the pressure of editing?” Phil asked taking the bait

“They are doing ok, they are really blocking out everything else though. I help when I can but I really only know music mixing software. I wish I could do more,” Wilbur confessed and he felt the butterflies that had come to show up every time he mentioned Y/n

“Looks like the best thing you can do for them is support them,” Phil advised and Wilbur nodded at his father

“Well in other less sappy news I got an A on my English paper,” Deciding he had had enough of seeing his brothers lovesick yet oblivious face Techno change topics again

“Very nice Techno, I’m proud of you,” His father said and everyone at that table knew he meant it

“Oh I did pretty good on an algebra test,” Tommy added, “Thanks for helping me Wil,”

“Anytime little brother,”

“Is anyone gonna eat the last piece of pizza?” Tommy asked but without missing a beat grabbed the piece from the plate as the playful banter of the Soot’s dinner filled the room

……8 PM……

“So I actually did pretty good work during cinematography and then when I got home I finished stringing together the sophomore five especially because number 5 and number 15 were super easy to do as it was just a shit ton of speeding up clips” Y/n said over a video call, Wilbur knew they were still working as the clicking sound of their keyboard could still be heard. “If you want I can send it over to you so you can sit through the abridged version of my suffering and point out any careless mistakes I might have left in,” That’s how they had always been Y/n did the hard work editing and Wilbur made sure it wasn’t just filled with fancy editing skills and was still a followable project.

“Yeah I can check it out,” The boy replied happy to watch the forgotten memories

“Great but this is all you get. I want the rest of it to be a surprise for you.” Wilbur faked an overdramatic frown when subtle yelling could be heard in the background of Y/n's room. They pulled one ear out from under their headphones and shouted back to their parent. A large grin spread across their face. “I’ll be right back,” They quickly rushed down the stairs to then be seen with a hanger and a bunch of F/c fabric running into the bathroom. When they emerged Wilbur had felt something he hadn’t felt so strong in a while. He knew Y/n was the one. He knew he was far from over them and he had completely fucked up. In true twin fashion Techno had stood up and sat down on the floor next to Wilbur with a hand on his shoulder. Techno was not a physical affection type of person so Wilbur knew that his face was readable. Y/n was having the time of their life in their prom outfit.

Tags:Tags: @daninotfound-alt @chlorofume @reverse-iak @kiritokunuwu @boiled-onionrings @momo-has-a-gun @boyleanti @luluwinchester @sad-t-an @angelicaschuyler-church @victoria-a567 @veratiserum-amore @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual @lionsfandomsandbearsohmy @liawhite3 @wtfwriter @moonscastella

[fiddlepickdouglas]

Viva Las Vegas, Pt. 17 - With Him

Summary: Sunset Curve Alive AU, Willex, how will it go in the end?, 4.8k

@trevor-wilson-covington is the bestie who makes these lovely edits, we stan supportive friends

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16

One finger tapped on the strap of his fanny pack as Alex listened for the right bus stop to be called. If all those months since he’d seen Willie had been long, this past week had been longer. Especially since the news about Caleb had hit hard and every minute in the studio now felt like the band was precariously teetering on the edge of a cliff. He was going to try not to let any of that get in his way today, though. He’d made it to Saturday and Willie was only a few streets away, and he didn’t care what happened for the rest of the day - it was going to be good.

Finally he heard the next stop announced for where he needed to get off and he pulled the cord that told the driver to make a stop. Stepping onto the sidewalk, his heart bounced around in its chamber like the Tazmanian devil from Looney Tunes. He was glad that Willie lived in the basement of the apartment building he occupied because it would’ve been the worst if Alex forgot which room he was in and spent hours frantically knocking doors.

It was hard to tell if he was moving quickly or if his mind was just racing, but in either case, he eventually found himself at the door. For a second, he simply took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, trying to get a visual of Willie immediately pouncing on him the moment the door opened out of his head. It wouldn’t exactly be unwelcome, but Alex was realizing how desperate he was to be with him and was amazed at how it affected his imagination.

Lifting a hand, he made sure he knocked loudly. Soon after, the door opened, and Alex was greeted with shining brown eyes, silky, gorgeous brown hair styled into two braids, and a smile he could make home in. Willie.

“Hey, come on in!” Willie was saying, standing to the side and gesturing for him to enter. Crossing the threshold, Alex gazed at the humble space, taking in the details with heightened interest. “This is mi casa!” He began showing Alex around. “We’ve got the main living space, very cozy. The kitchen to your left, but no dining room so it’s all criss-cross applesauce on the floor - makes it extra chill. Bathroom through the back. The sink and shower handles will sometimes shock you, so don’t mind all the electrical tape.”

It was surprisingly accommodating for a dingy basement, and Willie had already made little additions that spoke volumes about him without words. A king size mattress sat in the corner of the ‘main living space’ on the floor with a small bookshelf beside it. The bookshelf only had a handful of cassette tapes and a Walkman lying on top, with a few sketchbooks on the middle shelf. Next to that, the dresser had a small collection of vintage soda bottles and a camera sitting on its surface. Glow-in-the-dark star stickers covered the ceiling above the bed. Even a couple cat toys could be spotted on the floor. Immediately, Alex approached the area where Willie’s desk sat surrounded by sketches hung on the wall.

“So these are your drawings?” he asked, although the answer was obvious. They were so good. Willie followed him over, the squinty smile still in his eyes.

“Yeah. Some are new. Most of them are attempts to recover what Caleb tore up.”

Alex looked at Willie apologetically, even though the loss of Willie’s previous work wasn’t his fault. Without warning, a pressure on his leg and the sound of loud purring announced Sheldon’s presence. The cat looked up at him and blinked slowly, already begging for attention. Heart melting, Alex bent down to pet him.

“Hey, Sheldon,” he said. “I forgot how cute you were!” He smiled as Sheldon rubbed his head against his hand with more affection that he’d likely seen from any other creature on the planet. Well...maybe there was one other that matched it. Alex had heard about how pets could take on the temperament of their owners, and suspected this was a clear example. “He’s gotten so big since I last saw him.”

“Yeah, he’s supposed to be almost two years old, if Escobar guessed his age right.”

Standing again as Sheldon pattered off, Alex returned his attention to the wall of art, looking at the pieces more closely.

“So which one is your dad?” he mused.

Willie untacked one of them and held it out for Alex to examine. “This one.”

Holding the edges carefully, Alex gazed in amazement at the detail Willie had caught. The edges were certainly less defined, but the scene inside the truck was so easy to visualize that Alex could almost feel the leather of the seats and the windchill from the window. He wasn’t sure what began burning in his chest as he peered down at the image, but it was profound and complex.

“I’ve thought about seeing if I could find him, but I think with my memory it’s kind of impossible,” Willie told him.

“He looks so happy here. I don’t get why you would end up as a foster kid.”

“Yeah, I wondered that too. Maybe he didn’t have a choice?”

Alex looked at Willie’s face, and he could tell half of him was lost in a world of what-ifs and other questions. He was always trying to seem so easy-going, and to an extent he truly was, but he couldn’t hide the constant sense of upheaval that rested on his shoulders. At least, Alex was picking up on it more, now that he knew the things he did. He may have been biased, but he couldn’t imagine anyone not fighting their hardest to keep Willie.

Suddenly his gaze was drawn to the unfinished work on the desk, and recognized it as a portrait of himself.

“Wow.” The word fell out of his mouth.

“Oh,” Willie started with a hint of shyness. “Obviously that one isn’t done, so…” He reached to put it away.

“You got that far off of memory, though,” Alex said. “I’m impressed. And you make me look good.” He offered an encouraging smile. “Maybe some time today I could be a model for you?”

Willie cocked his eyebrow, surprise and playfulness making an adorable combination on his face. It made Alex’s smile grow wider.

“Well, we’ve got a whole day ahead,” Willie said. “Your wish is my command.”

“Okay,” Alex said, leaning onto his back foot casually, one side of his lip curling with intrigue. “Well, I wanna see where you go around here. You seem to have a knack for finding the best spots. We can play it by ear.”

“What’s that one song with the one phrase?” Willie asked. “‘Any way the wind blows?’” He sang shyly, clearly playing down what Alex could tell was a nice voice.

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” Alex smiled. Willie’s job at the record store was at least giving him a good taste in music. “Don’t worry, you’ll know everything about the classics once you hang out with me enough.”

An emotion flashed in Willie’s eyes and after a moment Alex realized what those words were actually saying. He held his gaze, hoping he could communicate his intentions clearly, unlike the last time they’d seen each other. Willie swallowed, and his expression remained excited as he loaded his backpack and led them out the door, board in  hand. Alex followed him, deciding not to question which direction they were going.

First, they made a stop to buy a bunch of apples. In classic Willie fashion, he went to a bodega, and this time he communicated with the cashier in rough Spanish. Alex knew he was showing off, and smirked at the notion that Willie enjoyed impressing him.

“So what do we need these for?” Alex wondered as they left the bodega. “Besides a ton of apples for lunch.”

Willie’s secretive smile made Alex raise an eyebrow.

“It’s a surprise.”

A little while later, they stood before the most unlikely place in all of Los Angeles: a horse barn. Staring at the building as if it loomed fifty feet above him, hands in his pockets, Alex gulped and a lump of dread landed in the pit of his stomach.

“Oh no,” he muttered apprehensively.

“Oh yeah,” Willie said, turning to him with a thrilled grin on his face.

Alex wasn’t exactly afraid of horses...he just had no idea what to do around them and therefore was not sure what to expect from them. Also, he would’ve worn different pants if he’d known this was on the agenda.

“I promise, they’ve got some really chill horses,” Willie tried to ease his nerves. “I’ve gone on this trail enough times. Don’t worry, you’ll know everything about riding once you hang out with me enough.” He winked as he threw back Alex’s line with a sly smile.

Unable to argue, Alex shook his head and used the hand in his pocket to gesture forward, signaling to Willie he was up to the challenge. He watched him practically skip inside and he had to jog to keep up after him. They signed in and then were led to two stalls.

Willie immediately gravitated toward a tall golden-colored mustang stallion with a dark mane, apparently both already familiar and happy to see each other. Alex watched him gently greet and essentially coo at it while comfortably stroking its nose and then feeding it an apple. He longed to have that sort of talent with other creatures, and simultaneously realized that he yearned to receive that same tenderness.

Once the horses were tacked up and one of the instructors had given Alex some brief pointers on how to ride, he found himself following Willie on a trail while mounted on a painted mare. The only philosophy he could adopt out here was to be gentle and not get lost.

“Not so bad, your majesty,” Willie called over to him.

An extremely nervous laugh elicited from Alex’s throat involuntarily, only making Willie laugh in return. Alex rode a little closer so they were nearly side by side on the trail.

“I’ve been here once,” he said. “I think I was about twelve? My mom thought that it would make me change my mind about taking ballet classes. We rode for maybe fifteen minutes before I got so nervous we had to turn back around and go home. Never made it through the full trail.”

“Man, that sucks,” Willie commented. “I didn’t know you did ballet.”

“Yeah, that and a few other types of dance. I was forced to quit a little couple years ago. That’s about when we got serious as a band, so I just found something else to bother my parents with.”

He could see the gears click into place as Willie came to a few conclusions about his parents and gave an emphatic nod.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to learn how to dance. That was the one thing Caleb had promised to teach me. He’s the worst, but he definitely knows how to dance.”

Suddenly, Alex remembered watching Caleb’s movements when he’d served him and the boys at the diner. Of course he could dance; everything had been fluid and smooth. All he could say to that thought was “huh,” at first. Then after a few moments: “I’ll have to teach you one of these days then.”

Willie’s eyes crinkled at the corners, happy at the prospect.

“Yeah, okay! Add that to our to-do list.”

Alex chuckled. They had a to-do list now. He bit his lip as he continued following Willie along the trail. It was a gorgeous day and in this area the sky was so clear compared to further inside the city. Greatly contrasting his experience from years ago, Alex felt himself become much more at ease and felt confident enough to take greater control of his horse. Willie pulled out his camera and snapped a few scenic photos every once in a while.

Eventually, they stopped at an outlook and Alex had to take in an awed breath. The view was clear for miles all around them. Green hills spanned the landscape in every direction with patches of city speckled in between. Even the ocean line was visible from there. How did Willie know how to find these?

“Hey, Alex!” Willie called, lifting his camera. “Say cheese!”

Turning to face him, Alex flashed a genuine smile as Willie captured him atop his horse against the scenery. He was usually pretty camera shy, but this time he really didn’t mind. Keeping memories like this actually felt important to him, unlike the many times he’d been forced to pose with his family at functions he’d also been made to attend. Those occasions had always felt so insincere - less about enjoying the memory and more about trying to prove their status as the polished, functional family everyone aspired to.

He saw Willie dismount for a moment and stretch his legs. Gripping the reins and looking around in uncertainty, Alex realized he’d gotten on before ensuring he could properly get off. Thankfully, Willie noticed and came up to him, hands raised.

“Okay, so just...carefully lift your foot out of the stirrup and swing your leg over toward me,” he instructed. Sucking in a breath hesitantly, Alex did as he said. “Alright, then...here.” Willie offered a hand for Alex to grab so he could slide off with ease. Landing on the ground, he leaned into Willie to gain his balance, and felt a congratulatory pat on his back. It took more restraint than Alex anticipated to not simply wrap his arms around him and sit like that for an indefinite amount of time. They had all day ahead of them; he didn’t need the sudden fear of losing him to derail things out of nowhere.

“Sorry if I look like a wimp about all this,” he said, letting go of his hand.

“Nah, don’t sweat it,” Willie assured him, shaking his head. “This is...this is new.”

His eyes seemed to take Alex in from head to toe and Alex could’ve sworn the charge in the air between them would buzz if they got closer, spark if they made contact. It was almost like that moment in front of Willie’s door the week before. For a few seconds they remained locked in that trance before Willie took hold of the horse’s reins and handed them to Alex.

“Technically this trail could take hours, but I’m guessing this isn’t all you’re interested in today,” he said. “What do you say we stretch our legs a bit and then ride back?”

Looking from the reins in his hand back to Willie, Alex nodded.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

Opening his backpack, Willie handed him an apple and then bit down into one of his own. Taking a bite, it was one of the most refreshing apples Alex ever eaten. They walked the horses a little ways and tried to get good pictures of the different views around them. Alex asked to try his hand with the camera and get a few good shots of Willie. He didn’t consider himself a photographer, but he doubted when the photos got developed that they would turn out badly. The way Willie smiled made him seem like he was made of sunlight from the inside out.

As they rode back to the barn, Alex kept replaying those moments where he’d refrained from making a move over in his head. This had been strike two. If he continued on like this, he was going to hate himself for the rest of eternity, he was pretty sure. Was it some weird kind of side effect of the whole ‘Willie come back to life’ thing? Watching him affectionately say goodbye to his horse once they were ready to leave, Alex looked at his own horse and raised a tentative hand up to her nose.

The mare gazed back, patience gleaming in her eyes. He finally set his hand down on her nose and gently rubbed it up and down, smiling a little to himself. This wasn’t so bad. He could do this - it was just a matter of getting through all the barriers he made for himself in his head. Moving his hands from the horse’s nose, he stroked along her neck, and caught Willie smiling at him from the corner of his eye.

“You wanna try feeding her an apple?” he asked.

Thinking for a few seconds, Alex nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

Pulling one out of his backpack, Willie placed it in Alex’s palm.

“Alright, so hold it out in front of you like this…” He positioned Alex to offer the apple. “And keep your palm flat.”

Alex uncurled his fingers and after sniffing at it a little the mare ate it out of his hand. He could ignore the sensation of her mouth touching him because Willie still had his arm around his shoulder to hold him steady. They looked at each other, and Alex wished he could get a proper shot at Willie’s face at that angle with the camera.

“Looks like you’re gonna get the hang of this,” Willie commended.

Alex looked back up at the horse, a little bit of pride swelling in his chest. “Yeah, I think I will.”

Later, they went to the beach at Alex’s suggestion. He was perched on the surface of a picnic table, posed as if he were looking off into the distance. Willie sketched with great concentration, having taken his hair out of his braids so he could run his hand through it. The late afternoon sun brought out all the best color contrasts in their surroundings - one of the things Alex loved about coming to the beach at this time of day.

“So I have a question,” Alex started, trying not to move too much. His tendency to talk with his hands kept getting him in trouble.

“Shoot,” Willie prompted him, not looking up.

“Did Caleb let you go to school or anything? Or did he provide any sort of education at all?”

Squinting, Willie looked thoughtful for a moment.

“So, after the accident, he told me that I’d had to be taken out of school,” he began, continuing to sketch. “Which makes sense, I guess, if I forgot everything. I remember some basic things, like math wasn’t hard to pick up again. Once I was recovered enough to go places, he just let me go to the public library and find whatever I wanted to read. But he always insisted on not having reminders of who I was before and said it was supposed to be helping me ‘become my own person’. He got rid of things like my school yearbooks and old journals and things. I didn’t think anything of it at first because he’d just called it useless clutter and I believed him. As soon as he decided I was fit enough to work in the diner and help out at the hotel, he told me to forget about school. Anything else I picked up was from watching TV, or listening to the radio, or something. Sometimes I’ll just remember I know something after hearing about it and it’s like it was just always there.”

Listening intently, Alex marveled at the whole thing. The fact that Caleb was not only negligent, but actively discouraging Willie from knowing anything, made him wish he could take down the man’s whole career. However, he figured Willie probably had a lot of his intelligence still untapped. If he’d been able to get away from Caleb and somehow create a life for himself in the span of a few months, Alex wondered what else he was capable of.

“What’s something you remember?” he wondered.

“I guess I used to be really obsessed with space. Just planets and stars and all that. I can spout off facts about Jupiter’s moons and stuff like that. Did you know that the moon Europa has a saltwater ocean under a layer of ice?”

Alex shook his head. “No, I didn’t. That sounds really cool though.” He thought of the stickers on Willie’s ceiling and smirked a little before reassuming his pose.

“I sort of wish I could remember being in school,” Willie was saying. “Everyone else seems to just share all of those memories and understand each other that way.”

Alex saw his brow furrow, and could tell he felt left out. He pondered on his own experience growing up in public school. There was almost no other way he would’ve met Luke, Bobby and Reggie if they hadn’t all attended the same schools. While he could easily critique and complain about it to no end, he knew it was a privilege.

“School is definitely hard,” he told Willie. “But I did get my friends out of it, and I guess that makes up for it. If it’s any consolation, you could just complain about Caleb like he was your horrible English teacher who thought he knew more about the subject of your essay, but you cited all of your sources and they proved him completely wrong.”

Willie laughed. “Why? Did that happen to you?”

Alex bobbed his head from side to side and feigned looking thoughtful . “Maybe.”

“I kind of like reducing him to a loser English teacher. He just sounds petty and sad.”

“That’s high school,” Alex confirmed.

Leaning back from his work for a minute to take it all in, Willie brushed a hand through his hair.

“Here, you wanna take a look at it?” he said. Alex hopped off the table and went to stand over Willie’s shoulder at the drawing and was immediately rendered speechless. The detail was impeccable, but Alex was more impressed by the feeling he got looking at it. Willie had managed to make him appear...handsome, and pensive, and fascinating, like anyone else could look at him and create a million unique ideas of who he was. However, it wasn’t anyone else looking at him, it was Willie, and what he’d captured felt like the truth. Alex couldn’t really explain what that meant, only that it was an honest representation.

“Okay, I know I said the one back at your place made me look good, but this is...this is unreal.”

He could see Willie trying to be modest, but the corners of his lips couldn’t stay down. Funny enough, he appeared even more unable to find words, and simply beamed as he looked back and forth between his sketch and Alex’s face.

A sudden impulse came over Alex, and he kicked off his shoes and pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it on top of Willie’s skateboard and backpack. Willie sat looking flustered for a moment.

“Wanna swim?” Alex nodded toward the waves, bidding Willie to follow. He didn’t wait for him to catch up as he immediately began running into the waves up to his knees. Alex knew his pants would be even more ruined the second he hit the salty water, but he didn’t care. Now the sun was beginning to set and the chill of the waves was refreshing, and he couldn’t express what he felt just then in any other way.

Willie tackled him from behind, climbing onto his back and nearly knocking him over into the shallow tide. Clambering back to his feet, Alex splashed water at him. They began a playful water fight back and forth, until they were both drenched. Eventually, Alex tried to catch hold of both Willie’s hands in an attempt to prevent being splashed anymore. He had the advantage of longer arms, but before he could get a tight hold of the second arm Willie’s leg swept under his and they both fell just as a large wave washed over them.

As the water pulled back, they sat in the sand in a tangle, laughing. All Alex could think of was how pretty Willie was in this light, hair swept back off his face with tendrils resting over his shoulders, sun gleaming in his eyes and constantly shining from the inside out. The laughter died between them and he caught a look in Willie’s eye that made him wonder if he appeared to him to be just as perfect in that moment.

This time his mind and body worked in sync as he lifted a hand and gently pulled Willie into a short, tender kiss. All the self-flagellation from earlier was washed away in one pure moment, and exhilaration moved into its place. It felt soft and sweet, just the way he expected it should. Just as quickly as he’d let go, Willie went in for another one, a little longer and a little deeper. One hand remained caressing his cheek while the other wrapped around his upper back. Alex couldn’t help smiling into another kiss; he was too happy to care about anything else. Hardly a week ago, this had been impossible.

As they let go, their hands came together and they looked into each other's eyes, both releasing a relieved chuckle. Willie looked at the rest of the beach behind them and Alex’s eyes followed, but at this hour there were too few people around and no one paying attention to them. Turning back to Alex, Willie sighed and shook his head with a smile.

“Wow,” was all he said, biting his lip.

“Yeah, I’d definitely do that again,” Alex smirked, until the joy in his chest converted it into a full grin.

A wave washed over them again and they both stood, shaking out their hair and trying to wipe off whatever sand they could. Heading back up the beach, Willie grabbed Alex’s hand so they could make their way up together. The sun was nearly set but Alex was sure it had just gone into his chest, bursting with excitement. Once they reached the picnic table, they gathered their things and Willie offered to carry Alex’s shirt inside his backpack on the way home. Thank goodness there were a few patches of grass so Alex could try to get a little more sand off his feet before putting his shoes back on.

“So how long have you been sitting on that?” Willie teased as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and they left the beach.

“Shut up,” Alex laughed, knowing he was being called out.

“No, really!” Willie bumped his side jokingly. “I want to know!”

Tilting his head back to try to remember, it didn’t take Alex long to give him the answer.

“Since day one,” he told him.

Surprise swept over Willie’s face as he looked at Alex.

“Seriously?” he asked.

Alex nodded.

“Me too.”

It was Alex’s turn to look surprised. Without saying another word, he took Willie’s hand in his and then kissed it before continuing back toward his place. The whole way they talked about all the different things they needed to do together in the future. Riding on more horse trails, dancing lessons, skating lessons, art modeling sessions, going to band practices and gigs, visiting the record store while Willie wasn’t working, etc. They both agreed that the entire day technically counted as a date, and all further plans would as well. Alex was reminded once again that he didn’t have a notebook to write things down in, and vowed to have one for the next time he saw Willie. Once they reached Willie’s door, they had already put their shirts back on and it was completely dark outside.

“Are you free any time next week?” Willie asked, still holding onto Alex’s hand.

“I wish I could say yes, but probably not. And as much as I’d love to give you my number, it’s really not the best idea.”

“Well, I could give you mine,” Willie said.

Alex shot him a confused look. Holding up a finger, Willie dug into his backpack until he found his sketchbook and tore off the corner of a page, quickly scribbling one down and handing it to Alex.

“It’s actually the one for work,” he said. “But if it’s what we can do for now, I’ll do it. Kyle won’t care.”

Looking at it for a minute and then stashing it in his now-dry pocket, Alex took hold of Willie’s chin and went to kiss him again. It was really hard to stop, but they soon broke apart.

“I gotta go,” Alex murmured.

Willie only nodded, squeezing his hand before letting go and slipping his own into his pocket.

“I’ll call you.”

“Okay.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Once again heading up the short set of stairs to the sidewalk, Alex rubbed his lips together, relishing in the taste of what he and Willie had just done. He couldn’t imagine anything sweeter.

[woahitslucyylu]

Parents’ House.

GIF credit to @pantherclawz​ who makes dope shit regularly. 

Author’s Notes: Here is Smut Sunday’s post starring Coco Loco as voted on by my frands. Enjoy this slight smut, slight humor trip with Coco! 

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“Mami, fuck. This is your house?” Coco kissed his teeth as the SUV slowed in the circle drive - the hulking Spanish house casting shadows over the manicured grounds.

“Um, weekend house, vacation house - whatever you want to call it. We didn’t stay here all the time.” You slid your arms around his waist - missing the weight of his leather kutte. Coco had been adamant that Johnny the mechanic was going to be present this weekend and Coco the Mayan was tucked away in his suitcase. “Damn, ma. You had it like that? Next time, we go to Wendy’s, I’m ordering two four-for-fours.” His smirk melted you as you kissed him gently. 

“Come on. Let’s go inside. Everyone is out riding. We have the house to ourselves for a bit.” You pulled him through the double doors - your sandals clicking against the marbled floor. Coco’s eyes were wide as he scanned the entryway. Two staircases framed an open floor plan - tiled arches opening to a dining room, living room, and another hall. Coco knew you had been raised differently, but this was a different level of different. 

“Shouldn’t we get our stuff?” Coco lingered in the doorway as he heard you move from room to room - your steps against the tiled floor giving you away. “Oh no, they will get it,” You waved your hand dismissively, speaking of phantom people, as you pulled him onto the stairs, “Come on.” Your fingers intertwined with his as you walked up the carpeted stairs. 

“That’s my parents’ room, my brother’s room, and the office.” You rattled off as if it were a sight-seeing tour until you paused in front of double French doors. “This is our room.” The our rolled off your tongue as you pushed yourself into him before opening the door to a space larger than his first apartment. 

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

You slid off your sandals as you padded across the carpet - pushing back the drapes and letting sunlight spill into the room. Dust danced in the bright rays as you opened the balcony doors, an attempt to air out the old memories and teenage awkwardness that filled the room. 

“Fuck, I haven’t been here in ages.” Your fingers traced the knick-knacks lining the bookshelf - mementos from a life left behind and forgotten. “Oh shit, I was so weird. Look at this.” You held a framed photo of a brace-faced pre-teen holding a Harry Potter book so proudly. Coco’s laugh was real as he took the dusty frame from your hand and studied the picture - the cherub cheeks and full smile were still recognizable in the baby-fat face. 

“Damn, mami, you was nerdy as hell. How old were you?” He studied the picture intently - drinking in all of your past he could. “Oh, I don’t know - maybe 11, 12. I was such a lame kid. I didn’t have many friends. I was awkward. Thank God for puberty.” You took the frame from his hand and dropped it on the desk - discarding the memory of who you once were. As far as you had come from the lanky girl in the photo, coming home made you feel like the same awkward little girl, seeking approval and trying her best to fit into her cookie cutter family. 

Coco scanned the room - seeking glimpses of your past self. He studied the homemade collages of horse pictures, adorned with glitter stickers and silly speech bubbles. His fingers traced the riding ribbons that hung above a shelf of trophies. He felt like he had opened your book and couldn't stop reading. 

You dropped to the bed - bouncing on the soft mattress as you watched Coco pause on a framed portrait of a long forgotten prom date and held it up with glee. “Yo, is this you?” He tried hard to contain a giggle as he stared at the poorly posed picture. “Yeah, he was one of my dad’s friend’s sons. He needed a date. My mother so willingly volunteered my services.” You rolled to your side, propped on your elbow, as Coco licked his lips as he gazed at your curvy frame laid on the bed. “I never went to another prom after that.” You laid back - your shirt rising up as you stretched - the hours of travel beginning to wear on your body. 

“So, no sneaking boys in after the dance?” Coco’s signature rasp was evident as he kneeled on the bed and shook off his flannel, exposing a tank top and his tattooed chest. You swallowed thickly as you shamelessly oogled him - your body already anticipating his touch. “Did you see me in those pictures? No one was trying to come back to my room.” Your hands slid over his waist - your fingers hooking in his belt loops as you pulled him close. 

Coco hovered over you, watching your breasts rise and fall with each breath. “You never had sex in here before?” He pulled his bottom lip through his teeth as he waited for your reaction. The air felt electrified as his slender fingers trailed down your chest - his hands enveloping your breasts through your shirt - teasing your nipples into hardened buds. The feel of the rough lace rubbing against your tender skin made you wiggle for more as Coco smirked, “The key to having sex at your parents’ house is you gotta be quiet. Can you be quiet?” 

“Hm, I didn’t hear you. Can you be a good girl and be quiet?” He slid two fingers into your parted lips - a moan caught in your throat. “Yeah, I think you can.” Coco’s wet fingers slid into your panties - achingly rubbing against your clit - each turn of his fingers was met with your eager hips. His jean-covered thigh pushed your legs open - the wideness pulling your lips apart as his fingers sunk into you. His lanky frame bent over you as he scissored his fingers against your velvet walls. Breathless curses slipped past your parted lips as Coco’s thick thumb pressed against your clit. “Fuck, baby.” Your hands tangled in his loose curls, pulling his face to yours as your lips crashed together. Coco smiled against your lips as your walls clenched him, “Do you want one more?” You nodded weakly as he slid another finger into your wet heat. 

Your knees fall slack as your head tips back against the pillow - your senses overwhelmed by Coco and the sound of your wet pussy against his palm. “Johnny…” You whine as you grab his forearm, holding him against you as you rock against his hand, “Don’t move, don’t stop, please.” Your pleas are whispers as you flood his hand - your orgasm wetting your shorts as you ride his stilled fingers. 

Coco laughed as you flopped against the floral comforter - your breath in pants as stars danced across your eyes. You raised your hips weakly as he pulled your wet shorts down - dropping them to the floor. He stood, dropping his jeans to the floor, as he pulled your thick thighs closer - your legs hanging over the edge. “Remember, be quiet, querida.” His tone was mocking as he slid the tip of his dick against your sensitive slit watching your arousal slicken him. Coco leaned back, pulling his t-shirt under his chin, as he watched himself disappear in your wet folds - your body fluttering around him as he stilled. 

“Goddamn.” His voice hoarse as he watched your lips grip his length as he slid in and out of you. Your eyes flashed at the sight before you - Coco entranced at your connection as he shallowly thrusted, a poor attempt to disguise the squeaky mattress. You leaned only your elbows - watching your hips meet his in a slow burning thrust. 

“You like watching me fuck you?” His voice edged out as you squeezed him tightly - your body holding him inside you. “Damn, ma. Do it again.” His head lulled back as you wrapped your legs around his slender waist, pulling him into you. 

 Coco leaned into your body - buried in your guts as you kissed him hard, letting him swallow your moans as you creamed on him - another wave of pleasure rushing over you. “Do you have one more?” His words stuck to your skin as he licked a stripe across your exposed neck - his teeth sinking into the soft skin. Weak moans spilled out of your mouth as he pushed into you. 

Faint sounds in the distance stilled him - Coco the Mayan never too far removed from any situation. “Baby, keep going. Please.” You whined the ‘e’, rocking your hips against him - begging for another orgasm that only he could deliver. “Sshh, mama, I think we have company.” Coco’s finger pressed against your lips as he waited for more. 

Your name echoed through the house - your mother’s shrill voice singing it like an alarm as you sat up wildly, pushing a laughing Coco away and out of your throbbing pussy. 

“Shit, it’s my parents.” 

[beomgyushighlights]

Circus {H.K}

Day 4 (IX)

"all eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus"

in which the first words Nari's soulmate says to her are "free britney"

or

in which two idols find their soulmates in each other after thirteen days of little comments without knowing who the other was

-a short story soulmate au-

©beomgyushighlights 2021

do not translate or repost without permission

(can also be found on wattpad and ao3 under the same username)

masterlist

The next day, something seems off about Nari. She's dancing fine and her singing is fine but every once in a while she'll wince as though she's in pain, alarming her fellow band mates. At first, it wasn't obvious but as they practice more and more the sounds become more and more frequent. "Nari? Are you okay?" Osamu asks. "I'm fine." She replies, continuing to practice despite the fact that everyone stopped for a break.

"Nari is your foot hurting again? You told me you'd stop dancing on it when it hurt." Yejun asks, reminding Nari of the promise she made to them. "I'm fine, I don't know why you guys keep asking." She replies, continuing to run through the dance. After Yejun brought up her ankle, Hyejin started paying more attention to her footwork.

   Due to Nari being made a trainee for the band while Osamu and Yejun were serving their time, Hyejin and Eun were the ones who watched her practice on her foot when it was at its worst. "Nari, stop before you make it worse." Hyejin tells her. "I'm fine!" She exclaims, her foot giving out as she finishes.

Osamu quickly catches her to ease her fall. "Have you not been wearing your brace after practice?" Eun asks. Nari is silent, her hands covering her face. "I'm taking her to the dorm, you guys order lunch for yourselves, we'll eat at the dorm and i'll be back in like fifteen to twenty five minutes." Osamu says, picking Nari up so she doesn't put weight on her ankle.

   "Hyunggggg!!!!!" Someone yells down the hall. "What!?" Someone else yells back. "We're resuming practice!" The first person yells back. Nari looks but she doesn't see anybody in the halls to give away her soulmate.

"No walking, your crutches are still in your closet so I'll grab them. I want you to keep weight off of it until tomorrow because management isn't going to be happy if they get word that you haven't been taking care of yourself like you promised you would when you joined, they've already given you a warning once." Osamu tells her.

She just nods, trying not to focus on the pain. "From now until we finish preparing for the release I want your brace on all day unless you're showering or sleeping and I want you off it as much as possible, no practicing through water breaks, no walking around the dorm because you're bored, none of that. If it gets worse, tell management and go to a doctor." He says. Nari nods again, committing all the rules to memory.

   Osamu makes her a sandwich and brings her her crutches and brace before he makes a sandwich for himself, saying bye and eating it while he's on his way out. Nari puts on music and just stares at the ceiling. A knock on the door gets her attention. She makes her way to the door, looking outside she sees a few familiar faces. She sighs, turning the lock and moving back.

"It's open." She says. The door opens and the boys walk in, greeting her and going to the living room. Jimin is the last to enter and he locks the door behind him. "I'm guessing Yejun sent you guys?" Nari asks, sitting on the couch and moving her crutches out of the way.

"Yeah, they didn't trust you to actually stay off your foot so they sent me over and when the maknae line heard they wanted to come with and Hobi came because he adores you and then Joon and Jin didn't want to be left alone so everyone came." Yoongi says. "Fun." She says. Airplane comes on and everyone vibes while Hobi sings along.

"What playlist is this?" Jungkook asks after the song finishes. "My liked songs, it's really long and I was planning on sitting there for a while." She says, the boys replying with nods, knowing about her hatred for silence. "Let's play some games!" Taehyung says, walking to the shelf in the living room.

"Why is there a Felix photo card up here?" He asks. "Thats where Hyejin put it! For easter we hid photo cards like they were easter eggs and I couldn't find Felix, thanks for that." Nari says. "Easter was months ago." Jimin says. "Yes, and we're still finding some, mostly ones that Eun hid because she couldn't remember where they were." She replies.

"Hobi, can you please get my photo card collection, it's the blue binder on the top shelf of the first bookcase, the left corner. The spine is labeled it says 'back off bitches' so it should be easy to find." She says. He nods and brings it back to her. She looks through it for the IN LIFE section. After a while of flipping she notices something.

"Uhh, Hobi can you bring me all the binders on the top two shelves and the black marker next to them?" She asks. Confused, Hobi nods and walks off, coming back with many binders. "I have to start labeling these..." Nari mumbles. On the blue ones she writes twice edition, continuing to label each binder with the proper band until she gets to Stray Kids.

She labels it and then flips to find where Felix belongs. "Okay, pass the Felix." She says. Taehyung hands her the Felix card and she places it back in its proper place. "Do you know how many more there still are left around?" Jin asks.

"Yes, we only used my photo cards because I have the most and I made everyone write who they took and which album it was from." Nari says, flipping to the back of the Stray Kids binder to find the paper.

   "All the butter Namjoons, Dark and Wild Jimin, IN LIFE Hyunjin, Twicetagram Momo, all of my Taehyung, Bang chan, Sana, and Jake, and BE Hobi and Yoongi." She answers. "How many does that total out to?" Jungkook asks.

"Too many, wanna have a scavenger hunt? Whoever finds the most photo cards gets a free hug?" She suggests, knowing that everyone loves her hugs but she rarely hugs people. The boys agree and she sends them off, asking that they refrain from the bedrooms as they've all been searched extremely well. Jin brings back peaches and cream Joon after five minutes. "Where was he?" She asks. "The cereal cabinet behind the chex." He answers, going off to find more.

She writes a one next to Jin's name. When the other members come home, the BTS boys are still searching for photo cards. "What is going on?" Yejun asks. "They're finding all my photo cards that we couldn't find." Nari says. "How many are left?" Osamu asks.

"Peaches and cream Taehyung, Dark and Wild Taehyung, Twicetagram Sana, NOEASY Bang Chan, IN LIFE Hyunjin, and BE yoongi." She answers. "Oh wow so they found a lot." Hyejin says. "Mhm, who hid one behind the chex in the cereal cabinet?" Nari asks. "Me..." Eun answers. "How did this even happen?" Yejun asks.

"Taehyung wanted to play a game but instead he found IN LIFE Felix on the top game shelf and he asked me why there was a Felix photo card up there and then I brought up how many where missing and so they went to find them and whoever finds the most by dinner gets a free hug." She says. "Well, how long has this been going on?" Osamu asks.

"Since about fifteen minutes after you left." She replies. Osamu left three and a half hours ago. "They've been doing this four three hours and fifteen minutes?" He asks. "Yeah, but they're having fun and they like to tease each other when they find a card." She says. "HA! I found the last Sana!" Jungkook brags, presenting the card in a very extra way to Nari.

"Thank you very much." She smiles. He smiles back and goes back to trying to find more. "Five more minutes then I'm ordering dinner for everyone!" Hyejin yells. "You guys can check my room if you want to, I couldn't see on top the shelves where my old song books are!" Eun says.

"Feel free the check mine too because I'm short and couldn't find any in my room so there's probably at least one in there." Nari adds. Immediately Hobi and Yoongi go into the two rooms. When the food gets back there's only one missing photo card left.

"Who's missing? I cant eat knowing there's only one left." Jungkook asks. "IN LIFE Hyunjin." She says. He nods and immediately goes to the fridge. He climbs onto the counter and looks on top of the fridge. "Is his sleeve holo?" Jungkook asks. "No, mine are always in plain sleeves." Nari replies. "Well someone's got a Hyunjin pc up here in a holo sleeve." He says.

"Okay, mine are plain, Yejun has stickers on his, Eun uses colored sleeves, Osamu and Hyejin, who has holo?" Nari asks. "Mine." Hyejin says. "How did it end up there?" She asks. Jungkook hands it to her before he continues looking for the missing Hyunjin card. After Jimin finishes he goes to help Jungkook.

"FOUND IT!" Jungkook yells. "Thank you!" Nari replies. He brings it to her on the couch where she hasn't moved. She puts him in his place in the IN LIFE section of the SKZ binder. She adds the number to Jungkook and counts them up. "Jungkook wins by one photo card." She says. He does a happy dance and claims his free hug. "Free hugs for all Bangtan boys because they found all my missing photo cards." Nari says, giving each boy a hug before giving Jungkook a second one.

"You won so you get two." She says. After Jungkook eats, the Bangtan boys go home. Nari showers and then lays down on her bed, feeling content knowing her photo cards are safe in their respective places.

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

🖤 how long have you known you're asexual?

🤍 what ace-spec microlabels, if any, do you identify as?

💜 do you own an asexual flag?

🖤 are you out as asexual irl?

🤍 are you on the aromantic spectrum?

💜 are you transgender or on the nonbinary spectrum?

🖤 what's your favorite asexual stereotype?

:)

Heya Nuni!

It's been a couple of years since I stated questioning. I think as I grew older and people around me had all these crushes and seems so mystified and kind of obsessed with the the concept of sex, I realised I approached it a different way. I knew about it, but I didn't really care. At first I thought it was a phase, but during the last year and a half, I've been exposing myself the the real world and the diversity of sexuality. And I found such a kinship with the ace community sometimes I cry about it. I realised there was a name for what was going through my head. And I'm so glad I found it.

I definitely tried different microlabels, not trying to put myself in a box, but trying to gain a deeper understanding of myself while going through a hard time with my independent and being a puppet and a speaker for my parents. In particular I tried demisexual but it was just a little wonky for me. Then I stumbled over this little thing called greysexual. And it fit. And it felt like greeting an old friend. Like realising something you were searching for was there the whole time. It's cheesy, but it just clicked. Slid into place like book on a shelf with its series.

No. Sadly. My parents are religious freaks. One day I came home during pride month with a rainbow heart shaped sticker on my lapel. My mother ripped it off and stared screaming at me. I don't really remember what (My brain does that. Suppresses traumatic memories till I forget my entire life), but it was along the lines of tell me now if your one of them or I'll tell your father. I went to school that morning on the brink of a mental breakdown. I broke in history class. I left for the hall and I hear Freddie Mercury on a radio. I think it helped a bit. Then being the petty nerd I am wrote a 8 page long essay on the rights and discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community. Hopefully I can save up some money and buy so subtle pride merch. I'm still hopeful, which is unusual for me.

I'm out to a couple of close friends (like super out, I love it and I love them) and am open about it at school. I don't think I'll ever come out officially to my parents but if they find out after I've moved out sometime in the future I won't give 2 shots about their opinion. I might even give them a piece of my mind. As an ace person, I get the advantage of being able to straight pass relatively easy. I guess the best way to explain it is by saying "I was never really in the closet, I was always looking at it put of the corner of my eye think, should I be in there?"

Huh. I don't really know. I haven't thought about that. I know I feel like basic affection and some form of romantic attraction but I'm not sure. Who knows maybe this will be another adventure, another journey for me.

Oh remember remember, gender gender. I am everything and nothing. I am a God, I am filth. I guess I'm just gender non-confirming. I don't really identify as anything, use any pronouns you like, as many and as diverse as you wish! Even neopronouns. They're all valid and all applicable to me.

We love cake. And dragons. Those 2 are really true for me. And that we have a pretty good fashion sense, are either really innocent or down right dirty minded, we are the rationals getting shit done while others are being horny, we give really good relationship advice, we're magical, mythical and rare, WE ARE GODS.

[sweetfuse]

God Only Knows What I’d Be Without You

AO3 link

Rating: Teen & Up

Words: 3,521

Former high school sweethearts Mulder and Scully have a chance encounter almost 20 years later

______________________________________________________________

Sometimes he still thought about her. Not too often, but often enough that he allowed himself to wonder, to ponder all the “what-ifs”. Maybe, if they stayed together, he wouldn’t feel so damn lost.

Being back in the Vineyard was something new enough. D.C. hadn’t worked out, not the way he’d wanted it to, and there was something kind of comforting about the house he grew up in. Still, he felt lost. Imagining where his life would be now if he’d just said something different, or done something different was a constant pastime for him. If he'd just changed one thing, where would he be now?

…

Dana hadn’t been back to Massachusetts in, oh, how long had it been? Two years? Her parents had moved to Florida, Missy to Washington state and her younger brother Charlie had landed some big finance job in New York. Bill and his wife were the only ones who had stayed. He’d called her last month to announce the birth of his third child, a baby girl. She was sorry that she wasn't able to be there sooner, that she couldn’t get away to fly out when the baby was born. Better late than never, she figured as she packed a wrapped baby gift in her suitcase.

…

Mulder was starting to regret that he had grabbed such a small basket. That old adage about never going shopping while hungry was proving true as he continued to stuff more and more frozen dinners into the already full basket. Heading to the front for checkout, he noticed a woman, petite, standing on her tiptoes with arms straining to reach a can of formula. “You need some help?” he offered.

“Mulder?” When the woman turned, smiling awkwardly at him, he was flooded with emotions. Scully. He hadn’t seen her in what, almost twenty years? Had it been that long? It sure didn’t feel like it. He could remember it all like it was yesterday. “Scully!,” he said, a little too loud, “You come here often?” He grimaced at his own horrible joke, but she let out a soft, genuine chuckle anyway. That was him alright. “I’m just here visiting. Bill and Tara just welcomed a new baby last month. I’m the only one in the family who hasn’t met her yet. I hear that she’s adorable though. Well, I know she is. They’ve sent me a ton of pictures and-“ She was rambling. Shut up, Dana, shut up! “Anyway, I was just here to get a few things for them. Baby formula and uh, chocolate, I think it was? But as you can see,” she gestured up at the baby formula. “I can.” He smiled at her and set his basket down before easily reaching up and swiping a tin down from the top shelf. “So, uh, how ya been?” He tried to smile but it didn’t seem right. Had he forgotten how? “Good. I’ve, um, I’ve been good. You?” She was rocking back and forth on her heels, fingers fiddling with the hem of her blouse.

...

When she noticed that the car parked next to hers in the lot had a SETI sticker on the back windshield, and another sticker proudly proclaiming “MY OTHER CAR IS A UFO” on the bumper, she smiled to herself. There was only one person she could think of who would drive something so ridiculous. Just when she turned around, she was met with a familiar face. “Ah, and just when I thought I’d finally escaped you!” “Shut up, Mulder.” She laughed, showing a more genuine smile this time. He could never forget that smile. Taking their second encounter of the day as some sort of sign, she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and cast her gaze down at the asphalt. She spoke slowly, deliberately. “Mulder, would you like to grab some lunch?” “Why, Scully, how forward! I thought you’d never ask.”

...

The diner was the same. The plate of fries, the glass of iced tea, the decor, the menus -- even the company he kept today were all the same. He could remember them coming here all the time when they were younger. After sports games, before and after prom, for lunch on weekends, anytime they wanted something to eat, it seemed. “So, Mulder, what brings you back to the Vineyard?” she asked, stuffing a fry into her mouth. He had been expecting her to ask, he just didn’t want to answer. “Just, uh…just visiting. Just wanted to see the house before we sold it.” This was a lie, Scully could tell. Still, though, he would tell her in due time, just like he used to.

Eating lunch with Dana Scully was like some sort of dream. He had wondered what it would be like, almost two decades later, to be with her, spend time together like they used to. She smirked at him from across the table, and he was suddenly struck by a vision of her, of how she was then, being swallowed by an oversized Smiths t-shirt, eyes wide and playful, looking at him from across the booth. She had changed, sure, opting to wear clothes that fit her and had since grown into her babyface. That look, though. He would still do anything for her as if he were the same sweaty-palmed teenager, head over heels in love.

The waiter came over to hand them their checks. "Fox? Dana?" A tall, stocky bald man stood before them, eyes wide in surprise behind his wireframe glasses. "Skinman?" the two said, almost in unison. They had been such frequent customers in the past that they were on a nickname basis with the owner. "I always told you not to call me that! It’s Skinner," he groaned, though any annoyance he felt quickly faded back into a huge grin. "The two of you are still together, right? Mr. and Mrs. Mulder?" Scully surprised everyone by reaching across the table and grabbing Mulder's hand. "That's Mr. and Mrs. Spooky to you." She smiled at Mulder, silently telling him to play along. "Congratulations! How many years has it been?" Mulder took the lead this time. "It'll be fifteen years tomorrow, actually! We got married on Lake Okoboji. She'd always wanted to go. Spent our honeymoon driving around the country to different UFO hotspots. Can you believe Dana is still into all that crap?" He laughed, proud of his lie. Scully glared at him and threw a fry at his head. “Treat your wife right or I’ll charge you double, Mr. Spooky,” Skinner said, winking at Scully.

...

“I have to get back to Bill and Tara soon but--” Scully said, lingering next to the entrance of the diner. “No! Of course! I’m sorry I kept you so long. I’m sure the baby is getting hungry.” She lingered next to him, a bag of groceries in one hand. This was surreal, almost, like some kind of dream sequence. He even smelled the same. “Can I stop by your house first? If that’s okay, I mean. Since you said you were going to sell it and all. I’d just like to see it one last time.”

…

The house was just like she remembered it being. The (now peeling) paint was the same, the furniture, everything. It smelled the same, too, like Mulder. She hadn’t been there since she’d broken up with him. Pushing the memory down, she allowed herself to go deeper into the house. Kitchen, living room, dining room, before stopping at the door to his room. “May I?” she asked. “Sure. It’s the same as it was when I left. My mom left it as it was and I haven’t really been through any of it yet.” He hadn’t been joking. “You still have the magic eye poster?!,” she laughed. She was sure she had spent hours as a teen staring at it as they lazed around in his bed. “This whole room is like a time capsule, huh Scully?” He poked his head in the door and pulled a few sunflower seeds from his pocket. Great, she thought, he still eats those, too. She traced her hands over spines on the bookcase next to his bed, taking note of the dusty magazines and hand-labeled VHS tapes. “Hey, hey! Don’t look too closely at those!” he rushed over to try to pull her away. She picked up one of the tapes — Busty Blondes BJ Bonanza. Classy.

She'd found his keepsake box in his closet and was leafing through notes -- drawings his sister had done, an old class schedule from high school, a photograph of the two of them. They'd looked so young, him with his shaggy hair and giant headphones around his neck, her with her long auburn hair braided in two pigtails with over-sized glasses, Mulder's arm wrapped protectively around her middle. She found another picture with him in a tux and her in a handmade mint green prom dress with an a-line skirt falling a few inches below her knees, both smiling widely with eyes sparkling. Next was a slip of paper with the words, "Call me, Spooky," with a heart and her old home phone number written neatly next to it. She couldn't believe he had kept the note she'd slipped him in the cafeteria in 10th grade. She was about to say something when she heard her phone ring. She glanced at the screen for a moment. “I have to take this, sorry!” she apologized as she hurried out of the room. He could hear her out in the hall.

Hey, Ethan! How are you? I’m doing okay. I’m sorry I forgot to call, I went to the store to pick up some things for Bill and Tara and I ran into someone. Oh, just an old friend. Just, uh, just a girl I went to high school with is all. We got caught up talking and I guess I just got distracted. Yes, yes, sorry. No, no, I love you too. Goodbye.

She walked back into the room, smiling as though nothing had happened. “Sorry, Bill called. He was wondering where I was.” Two lies, he noted. Lying to him and to whoever Ethan was. Mulder flopped onto his bed. “Put some music on, Scully! I’m sure there’s some great stuff in there.” “What are you in the mood for, Mulder? Looks like you’ve got a little Paul Simon, The Cure…The Waitresses? Dear God, Mulder, this room makes me feel old.” She picked up an LP and took out the worn record, remembering how many times they must’ve played Thirteen by Big Star and how many times Mulder had quoted the lyrics to her. “Don’t be silly, Scully! You don’t look a day over…,” he took a moment to count on his fingers, “thirty-five!” he finished, triumphant over figuring out her age. She glared at him as she put the record on to play and he gave her a cheesy fake grin in return. She snorted and affection swelled in his chest, thrilled that he could make her laugh the same as he used to. He had to stop the urge to kiss her. She fell onto the bed next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He drew a sharp breath before asking, “Scully? Who is Ethan?”

She didn’t seem disturbed that she was caught in a lie, instead opting to remain where she was, still leaned against him. “Oh, you heard? Sorry. He’s my, uh, he’s my boyfriend. We’ve been dating for a couple years now. He actually proposed to me the day before I left.” “Oh, congratulations. When’s the wedding?” He did his best to mask the disappointment he felt. “I didn’t say yes. I didn’t say anything, really. I said I wanted to think about it.” “You hadn’t thought about it before?” “No, I guess I hadn’t. We moved in together last fall and things have been…they’re good. They’re, um, they’re really good. I have no reason to say no, but….” “You have no reason to say yes, either?” “Something like that.” She smiled sadly. He understood her. The understanding and compassion he showed her then felt unparalleled to anything Ethan or any other man she’d been with had ever shown her. “I just feel like maybe he’s as good as I’m going to get, you know? I’m thirty-five. He’s nice, handsome, has a good job. He loves me. That should be enough.” “But it isn’t, is it?” She only shook her head in response.

Scully stood suddenly as if trying to break free from the feeling of discontent. She started rooting through his closet and pulled out a sweatshirt and pulled it on over her clothes. “I remember wearing this when we used to ride our bikes down to the beach. Remember the night we built a fire and ended up falling asleep and how worried my mom was? I was wearing this then, too.” Mulder was surprised to hear that she remembered just as much, if not more, about their time together than he did. Truth be told, in her time with Ethan, time with Jack, time with other men who had left her unfulfilled, she would think back on summers spent with Mulder eating ice cream on the pier or exchanging gifts at Christmastime or going to the prom. Rationally, logically, she knew this was nostalgia and that everything she remembered was tinted with a rosy hue. Statistically speaking, high school relationships don’t last. The odds of finding your soulmate at sixteen are slim to none. If she hadn’t ended things with him then, they would’ve surely broken up for another reason, right? But nothing beats the magic of first love.

“Mulder?” Her voice was soft, quiet. “I wish I could go back and live it all again.”

“Scully?” “Yeah, Mulder?” “I love you.”

She buried her face in his chest for a moment and allowed him to hold her. Holy shit, holy shit. Mulder wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not. “I want to go down to the beach,” she said. “I haven’t been to the beach in years.”

The night air was cool and crisp and the water was calm. Scully hiked up her skirt and waded in the sea, laughing and waving at Mulder as he watched from a blanket a few feet away. She seemed so young still, like the same person she was back then. Mulder watched her and felt young again, too. She came up and laid down next to him and rested her head on his chest. He moved to put his arm around her and rubbed small circles into her shoulder with his thumb. “I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to Bill. I think he still hates you. Remember when you got into a fistfight at Thanksgiving?” She laughed at the memory. “Hey! He threw the first punch, and all I did was defend myself. I stand by that!” “You had that black eye for a month! I couldn’t take you anywhere, Mulder!” She was all smiles and laughter until suddenly her face turned somber.

“Do you think I made a mistake? Nothing feels the same as it did with you. Every other relationship has felt empty.” She remembered how small she felt all those years ago when she told him she was leaving him. Mulder shook his head. “You did what you thought was right at the time. I know what you mean though. I feel like I’ve been searching for it this whole time, whatever it was we had. I think you’re the only person who’s ever really seen me.” “Mulder?” “Yeah?” “Can I kiss you?” He said nothing and stayed stock still, staring at her with wide eyes. She nodded. “I mean it.” He didn’t answer, only moved in to kiss her first. He was slow, unsure at first. When she reciprocated he allowed himself to go in deeper, to savor it, to allow his hand to rest ever so lightly on her waist. When he finally pulled away, he laughed. “What’s so funny, Mulder?” His laughter was infectious. “Remember our first kiss? When I dragged you out here to watch for UFOs?” She nodded. “I lied about expecting to see UFOs though. I just couldn’t think of a better date than arguing with you about aliens.” “You wouldn’t’ve seen anything anyway," she protested. "You were too busy staring at me.”

“You’re more spectacular than any UFO I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s only because you haven’t seen any.” She playfully punched his arm and he grinned. “Mulder? I think that-” She was interrupted by her phone ringing. “Ethan?” Mulder asked, disappointment audible. “No, no,” she said, “it’s Bill. I think I need to go. I think that I might do something I’ll regret if I stay.” She rushed to her feet and turned towards the house. It was already dark and she was starting to get herself in trouble. He grabbed at the hem of her skirt. “Scully, wait. I want to say something.” “Mulder, I don’t think—“ “Scully, I love you.” “Mulder, that isn't true.” “Yes, Scully, it is! I always have. It’s always been you.” “That’s not true. You haven’t seen me in almost twenty years, Mulder! You don’t know me anymore. You haven’t known me since I was 17. You haven’t known me since I left. Do you have any idea how much I’ve been through, how much I’ve changed? You don’t, Mulder!” Her voice was soft and shaking, despite the power of her words.

She was right, he couldn’t refute it.

“Why did you come here then, Scully? Just to jerk me around?” His voice was pleading. She sat back down next to him. “No, Mulder. I was happy to see you. I still think about you. But that’s just how brains and memories work. I’m only remembering the good parts. If I still love you, it is only the idea of you as you were then.” She was always so damn rational, always scared to show her emotions, less God forbid someone mistook them as a sign of weakness. That much clearly hadn’t changed. Still, though, she had always been unusually open with him and it seemed that she still was. Some things don’t change, he figured. “You’re the only one I’ve told,” she said. “About what?” “About Ethan. I haven’t even told anyone he proposed. I just feel like it’ll be too embarrassing if I turn him down later. My family loves him, my friends love him. Everyone loves him but me.” “Well, I guess I gotta make it even then, Scully.” “What do you mean?” “Back in D.C. I had a girlfriend. A fiancee, actually. Diana. My mother gave me a family heirloom to propose with. She was saving it for Samantha but I guess since she’s not here she figured I was the next best thing. Turns out, she was having an affair with a guy from my work, of all places. Came home early one day and caught them. It’s crazy, you know? I’m way more handsome than that guy. He had some stupid ass haircut and the most punchable face I’d ever seen. Like, what did that guy have that I didn’t? But he had Diana.” “Mulder, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.” “Don’t apologize, Scully. Better it happened before we tied the knot, right? Plus I was able to get most of my deposits back so all's well that ends well I guess.” He still had that carefree attitude. “Come on, Scully, I’ll take you back to your car. Bill and Tara are waiting.” He took her hand and led her back to the house.

...

“Mulder, thank you for tonight. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I’m sorry about...” She fished her keys out of her purse to unlock her car. “Don’t marry him, Scully. Don’t marry him if you aren’t sure.” “Well, Mulder, there’s nothing he has that you don’t.” She gave him a playful smile and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek before getting in her car and driving off, leaving him there, stunned.

He had a lot on his mind as he trotted back to the house. He thought about her, about Diana, about himself, about where he was going. He spent the whole walk home in a daze that was only broken by a blaring car horn and an angry driver yelling at him to watch where the fuck he’s going. He unlocked the front door and made his way to the bedroom where he returned the forgotten record to the sleeve before noticing a slip of paper sticking out where she’d taken the record out hours ago. She’d always done that, marking the place where she’d taken an LP out in an effort to keep things organized. He grabbed at the slip of paper and started to crumple it up before he noticed something written on it.

“Call me, Spooky” in the same neat print and a new phone number with a heart next to it.

[nika-the-hunter]

House of Mist [Ch. 12]

Central Seattle Ruins. Pacific Northwest House Mist Territory +158 Days

 Nicole walked the short distance between the old art museum and the nearest market. Despite the heavy rainfall that drenched everything, Nicole headed down the overgrown street with a pep in her step. Her brand-new House Banner was proudly wrapped around her belt, showing where she had pledged allegiance, and Rykis had painted the House sigil onto her breastplate that morning. Also, the night before had been nice, there were no complaints from the neighbors in the morning. It was not the first time they had been together, nor would it be their last. 

As she approached the market, she saw that the House of Mist had strung up massive tarps, creating a shelter from the torrents of rain that came down over the old city. Nicole could tell the area it was in had been historical back before The Collapse; the brick buildings around her appeared far older than the steel and glass towers that surrounded the low open air market. Mist had been maintaining the area; the vegetation that had taken back almost every inch of the rest of the city had been cleared away, and the road visible enough that one could tell that this street had been paved with brick.

In the middle of the market street, House Mist had erected barricades around the hole in the road she had emerged from five months prior; but they did little to hamper the creek that flowed down the center line and into the old metro tunnels. Flanking the road on both sides, the market stalls were mostly all situated beneath the building's overhang. The architectural term that described the structure had randomly appeared in her memory after giving it a curious glance... It was an arcade, a covered walkway with a bunch of stalls. 

The distinct lack of any real memory, but still being able to remember what things are, had consistently been disorienting. However, since the discovery of her cause of death had yielded no answers, there was nothing that could be done. It might even just be her Ghost beaming definitions and words directly into her mind without telling her. Maybe it was the Great Machine itself providing guidance on a whim. 

Nicole walked through the market for the first time, and with the intent to actually buy something as well. Her Ghost had been stockpiling Glimmer on almost every outing they had been on; the strange glowing chunks seemed to just fall out of the pockets of the House Devils’ Eliksni whenever they went down. It was supposedly valuable stuff.

There were plenty of stalls selling old Human technology, but she was interested in some home-grown Eliksni gear. As she stood, without a ship, her Ghost was just about out of storage space in the weird digital realm that existed in her so-called 'backpack'. She needed one of those spheres that Rykis had.

Nicole window shopped for a bit, glancing through the various stalls, and still not finding anything she was looking for. Eventually, she approached an Eliksni sitting at a table near a pillar towards the outside of the market. A sign on the table said Information in English and scrawled beneath it were the words: I speak Human.

"Excuse me." She addressed the Eliksni in their own language. "Is there somewhere where I can buy some of your equipment? All that I see here is old Human salvage."

The Vandal glanced up at her. Their gaze going up and down over her armor. "Mm, you're that Guardian Viraks was talking about, aren't you? You speak well. If you are looking for our things, there are shops down below. Just follow the signs."

She looked back and could not spot the difference between a sign naming a shop to one giving directions. Bringing her attention back to the Vandal, "I don't yet have a good grasp on reading your language yet."

"Oh, well that sign there." They pointed off towards a sign with a few small arrows pointing every which way. "The bottom entry leads to a shop that might help. It's down the stairs."

"Okay, thanks for the help." She grabbed a small cube of Glimmer from a belt pouch and set it on the table. She was not sure if that was what she was supposed to do, but the Eliksni took the cube and pocketed it with a nod.

She headed down the stairs, going deeper into the old structure, and the building got stranger the further she went. The layout was almost organic with twisted side passages and walls. Old, abandoned shops occupied small nooks and crannies; most were truly original installations with their contents looted and shelves long emptied in the past. She guessed that not much down there was actually used by the Eliksni in the present day. Once Nicole passed through another doorway, she found an area that was much better lit. Big open windows lined the passage, looking west through an active shop and overlooking the former bay and crashed Ketch that sat in its salty water.

The shop she found was large, occupying three of the original suites on the west side of the floor. There were tables upon tables of Eliksni goods and technology. And she was not the only one there to shop. A group of young Eliksni were browsing the selection with bags of scrap, likely to trade with.

There were a few of the flying machines they called Shanks hovering around near the ceiling. They seemed to be keeping watch over everything.

Nicole walked into the shop and scanned across the tables. Her earpiece crackled slightly as her Ghost spoke into her ear. "Hey, need another eye?"

Glancing across the many tables and variety of pieces before her, she nodded. "Yeah, you'd know best what's compatible with my backpack thing."

Without a reply, her Ghost appeared with a flash of his trademark light. The Eliksni younglings seemed surprised at her Ghosts' existence. They chittered to one another in hushed voices Nicole could not understand. Ghost went right to work at scanning over every bit of machinery on the table, while Nicole broke off to wander the shelves.

She was finding that not being able to read the language was quite the hindrance lately. Many of the parts were labeled and she had no idea what they were. There were plenty of portable lights around shelves she was at, but those were the only things she recognized.

Getting reading and writing lessons from Rykis would be her next priority.

Across the shop, her Ghost let out an excited beep. "Found one!"

She turned around and headed back towards his position. Sitting on the shelf behind a few pieces of armor was a cluster of spheres in a variety of sizes. The largest was about twice the size of her fist. Nicole plucked one of the machines off the shelf, it fit nicely into her palm. "Will this one work for what we need it for?"

His eye gave a nod. "Yes, Nicole. We should be able to store pretty much anything besides a vehicle for the time being."

"Great, now... just to find the one who runs the shop." She headed up to the front of the shop and looked around for an Eliksni in charge. There were plenty of others here, but none seemed to fit.

One of the Shanks descended from the ceiling and approached her. This model was unarmed and where the gun would usually be was a container. A speaker on it snapped on and it spoke. "Ah the Niakin. Looking to trade for that now?" The voice sounded old and gravelly. Then the lid on the container opened “What have you got?"

She looked the Shank up and down. “Do I just put it in the box?”

“Let me get a look at it first.” The Shank tilted down to get a look at whatever Nicole was planning to give him.

Reaching into one of her belt pouches, she retrieved a solid chunk of Glimmer about the size of her hand and showed it to the drone’s camera. “Five of these?” If her math was right, compared to what she spent on that wood sheet a few months ago, this was an exceptionally large sum. Close to thirteen thousand units of the stuff. The rest was stored in her Ghost.

The Shank sat there for a moment, and its camera sensors blinked. She could hear the small servos inside whine and adjust for a moment. “Mmm that is fair. Not much for haggling are you Niakin?” They trailed off into a laugh. “Just deposit your Glimmer into the box, and I’ll process the trade.” Nicole nodded, getting curious as to what Niakin actually meant, and placed all the Glimmer she had into the box beneath the Shank. Her Ghost floated over and spawned some more to match the amount agreed upon. With the box filled, the Shank flew off and disappeared into a vent embedded high on the wall.

Another Shank with a different object where its gun should be descended from the ceiling. The shopkeeper's voice extended from the new Shank, and a small actuator extended a sticky slip of paper with a few small Eliksni glyphs on it, “Take this and place it on the sphere. It shows that you legally purchased it from my shop. None of the security of the market will bother you if they see it.”

She took the sticker and applied it across the side of the machine in plain view. "Thank you, I'll be back here in the future for sure."

"Sure thing, Niakin. Good trading with you." The Shank zipped back up to the ceiling, leaving her just as confused as to the meaning of the name with no time to ask about it.

Nicole glanced up at the cluster of Shanks and shook her head. Whoever ran this shop was strange. But she had what she was looking for and she placed it into the pouch that had once contained the glimmer. Heading out of the shop, she headed back towards the stairs. "So how long do you think that it'll take for you to integrate the device?" Nicole asked her Ghost, who had remained in her orbit.

"Not long, do you want me to work on it now?" He blinked his eye and flew closer to her hip.

"Mm, maybe later. Once we're out of the market for sure."

The stairs up to street level were different from the set that she used to get down into the lower market. She was now on the other end of the street from where she went in, on the other side of the hole she had emerged from when she was rezzed.

There was a group of Humans bartering with Some Eliksni at a cart across from the market. From the look of it, it was the Humans that were the people doing the selling. She approached when the Eliksni group had finished up their trades and left the cart. Colorful fruits and vegetables were piled high in wooden crates, all of which she knew of only in the vague shadow memories of words, and none of which she had seen since she had been resurrected.

“Hey, good morning Guardian!” The man at the cart gave her a wave. “Looking for some fresh produce?”

Nicole looked over all the crates with all the greens, yellows, oranges, and even purples. “I don’t know, where did this come from?”

“Oh, those ancient greenhouses up by the old university have really held up through all the shit.” He picked up one of the oranges. “My family has been tending to the site since The Collapse wiped out most of the local farms.” “I see... how much for... do you have a box with some of everything in it? I’ve not had any before and I want to give it a try.”

He gave her a nod. “Yeah sure. I can have Sam whip up an assorted crate for you. What do you have to trade for it?”

“I have some Glimmer, name a price.” Nicole returned the nod. The guy looked back at the other person behind the cart, Sam probably, and exchanged a few words. He picked up a crate they had been working on and set it before Nicole. “Ah, probably a hundred units.”

Since her pockets were empty, she looked up at her Ghost and gave him a small nod. He flew over and spawned a large chunk of Glimmer on the table they had extending from their cart. “That should be a hundred.” Nicole leaned down and picked up the crate.

“Sounds good,” he picked up the Glimmer and placed it in a machine. He was satisfied with whatever the machine displayed and smiled. “We’re headed up to Fort Discovery later. Been there yet?”

“Yes actually, I was just there yesterday.” Nicole readjusted the grip she had on the crate. It was not that heavy, just a bit awkward to carry. Her mind wandered ahead, plotting the best route back to the museum.

“Ah alright, I figure I’ll hear all about it from Athena when we get up there." He shrugged. "If you need more produce, we set up here almost every other day."

"I'll try a bunch and see what I like. Then we will go from there." Nicole gave a goodbye nod and headed off back to the museum.

Leaving the market, she left the safety of the tarps and stepped back out into the downpour. The path south was dark and grey, and the sunlight that made it through the clouds was diffused and dim. It was also still morning, so it was mostly blocked by the ancient skyscrapers.

Nicole left her hood down despite the rain drenching her hair and face. It felt good, it made her feel alive. Surrounded by bright green ferns and trees that stood out even in the dim rainy morning.

With a shove of her shoulder, Nicole pushed through the museum's double doors and raced up the stairs to Rykis' space. She dropped the crate just inside the work area and took a look around. Rykis had gone back inside his home pod and was asleep on his bed. They had been up late the night before, and the morning had started early.

She placed the sphere machine she had purchased outside on the worktable for her ghost to work on and headed back into the pod.

Unclipping her armor's straps, Nicole stripped down to her underclothes and slipped into the cocoon of warm blankets that surrounded Rykis. She wrapped an arm around him and nuzzled his shoulder. She was happy, things were looking up compared to the last five months under Acskis' scrutiny.

Maybe now she should go see other parts of Mist's territory, like that one Baron asked.

[geekeryandsentiment]

I remember you telling us, you know quite a bit about all the kiddo’s rooms. Can you describe them for us? And why did Liz wanna rearrange her room? (as mentioned in the silent treatment) Also, You had mentioned chalkboard paint once, and I found that idea so cool😍

Hey there! You send this in about four years ago and I just didn’t have the time to answer when you sent it in and then idk, I just got lazy and let it sit in my inbox for a while...however, here’s your answer, sorry about that. This one is below the cut and I’m warning you it’s loooooong. Sorry lol, I got a lot carried away. I hope it was worth the wait lol. Sorry again.

Before I forget...Lizzie just wanted to rearrange things. Sometimes moving the direction the furniture is facing can help spice things up a bit. If i remember correctly she was 11/12ish during the silent treatment and around that age Arthur pulled out his old desk from storage and put it in her room, so possibly she thought of a better way to rearrange her furniture to put that desk in the place she wanted it? 

Liam’s room is like his happy space. There is no theme or reason to anything. It’s all completely random. He’s still got posters and trinkets from his first year attending school and even before that. Alby’s art is plastered on his walls and he has old birthday cards and little notes that he and Alex used to pass back and forth in lessons tacked up on his walls as well. He has repainted it 4ish times since he was eleven and his parents repainted one of the other rooms (the one that would eventually become Alby’s room) and he decided it looked fun and wanted to try it. One time, when he was sixteen, he endured his room being pink for almost three months over the summer because Elizabeth dared him to do it when he was discussing possible color changes and he didn’t have anything else to do that next day (and has absolutely nothing against the color pink) so decided to take everything off his walls and paint them pink just to show her that he would. His room is currently green and the wall that had chalkboard paint on it is accented a darker brown (the green did NOT properly cover up the chalkboard with only two coats and he didn’t have any more green so he had to improvise). For several years he had a whole wall of chalkboard paint (the around his door) and he and Alex were entertained by that for many many hours in their preteen years. He is the only one of the kiddos to have a TV in his room. He didn’t get it until he was thirteen and he had to practically trade away his soul to convince Waverly to allow it, but he and Alex also had a lot of fun playing video games on that throughout the years. He has Theo’s old room, and Theo is very crafty with his hands. When he was younger he installed bookcases into the same wall his two windows are on, so William has bookcases surrounding his two windows that go from his ceiling to his floor. They are covered in books, some of which he will never read but owns anyway simply because he likes the cover and think they look cool. The other furniture in his room doesn’t match all all. Like at all. For the most part that is because he has broken a lot of the pieces that used to match and instead of doing what Waverly wanted to do and reordering the pieces or even picking something that matches the remaining stuff, Liam just picked out things he liked as replacements, even if they clashed with the other things in his room already.

Alex’s room is a bit more themed and put together, but it’s also always messy. It’s not dirty. It’s regularly cleaned and he makes his bed every morning (and if he dared leave food wrappers or any food in his room Waverly would have his head) but it’s cluttered most of the time. He doesn’t really mind if things are on the floor or if his desk is stacked three feet high with different files and textbooks and Lord knows what else. He knows where everything is. He manages to stay ahead with his schoolwork and keep everything straight, so Arthur and Waverly don’t hound him too often to make sure his room is as neat as they would like. His room is pretty typical. It’s painted a dark, navy blue and he has a whole lot of red (his curtains and bed sheets) and grey (his comforter and bean bag) accents. He does have a giant beanbag in the back corner behind his bed that Alby loves to fall asleep in sometimes, though. His bedroom used to belong to Beatrice when she lived in the palace when Arthur was younger, but her pink walls were painted over when he was about one years old and Arthur and Waverly decided to stick him in the room beside William’s. It’s nothing too fancy. William’s room is definitely far more interesting with the built in bookshelves (and wait until you hear about Lizzie’s room...🤭) but it’s his home. That’s his safe space. When he feels like the whole world is against him, the only place he wants to be besides maybe on his piano bench, is his own bedroom. 

Elizabeth’s room has changed colors a few times throughout the years too, but it’s stayed purple, just different shades. Her room is across the hall from Liam and Alex’s and on the same side of the quarters as the sitting room, meaning her windows overlook the palace gardens. She has a large, three window set up with a small cushioned seating area that extends out from the wall a little bit. When she was younger she had a few cushions and a mattress pad there and her and Alex would have sleepovers in her room all the time. They would look up at the stars and she would try to point out constellations. Now, that mattress pad is used every once in a while for Alby if he wants to spend the night in her room, but more often it’s tucked away and she just uses the area to sit on her laptop or read. In the corner she has a large corner desk with a desktop computer with two monitors. She doesn’t have a TV, and she doesn’t really need one because she has a pretty sweet set up there. Her desk belonged to Arthur when he was younger (no, none of the children are in his old bedroom. Too many unhappy memories. That’s used as a guest bedroom now, and only if there are too many guest to fill up the other two rooms) and still has his initials carved into the corner from when he got bored and engraved them one day when he was about twelve with an old key he found. Her room is more themed than Liam’s, her furniture matches, even Arthur’s desk fits in really well with the other black pieces, but there isn’t really a color scheme or anything. Lizzie doesn’t really care about that. She just fills it with things she likes. Oh, she also has a blacklight in her room and an epic solar system hanging from her ceiling as well as markers that she can draw all over that massive window with. When she was home full time it used to be schedules and count downs until special dates and to do lists. Now it’s not quite as busy as it used to be and more often than not the windows can actually be seen out of because they aren’t covered in marker...but every once in a while she’ll feel a sudden urge to draw on them again and fill them with chemistry or math or biology...or even music. 

Alby’s room is stand alone and surprisingly the farthest away from Arthur and Waverly’s because he was born last. He is on the same side of the hall as Lizzie, but he does not have the room connected to hers. He’s actually one more down. ((Oh, this is actually relevant so let me talk about it for a moment...The room that is connected to Lizzie’s is currently used as a lab or sorts for her. She has all kinds of old technology in it that she tinkers with a lot, it’s pretty empty and none of the others are jealous that she has the extra room or anything. They do call it Lizzie’s “lab” though sometimes, and there is a proper key to it that she has and she regularly locks it when she doesn’t want Alby to go in and touch anything she’s working on.)) His room is still really kid-ish. He has toys and a little chair that hangs from his ceiling that he can sit in when he reads. His room doesn’t have the same bay window that Lizzie’s does. He doesn’t spend a lot of time in his room. He’s almost always in one of his siblings’ rooms or he’s lugged a handful of toys down to the sitting room/Arthur’s study/wherever someone else is to sit and quietly play near them. He doesn’t really like to be alone, and his room reflects that. There isn’t a lot of personalized things in his room, instead he likes to leave an impression on the other rooms of the house (leaving drawings on the walls in Liam’s room, pictures on Lizzie’s windows when she lets him use her markers, and leaving stuffed animals and small toys on the shelf where Alex’s stuffed crocodile spends his lonely days now that he’s a teenager and he doesn’t play with him anymore). No one seems to mind, in fact, William regularly tells him when he’s away at school that he wants a whole new set of pictures hanging in his room for him when he gets home to help keep the baby busy. Alby has his own shelf full of books that has slowly started to overflow as his siblings slowly hand the boy more and more books to read. His favorite toy when he was younger, and to this day, is trains. He looooooves trains. So if his room has any theme in the chaos it’s definitely trains. He has those stickers on his walls of little cartoon trains and he almost always has some giant town built with the little wooden train sets across the back half of his room on the floor. His parents gave up trying to make him clean those up every night a long time ago. Some battles just aren’t worth fighting, especially when one little town of his creation could keep him occupied for days. 

I don’t know if you meant Elaina too but you’re going to get her because I’m on a roll at this point, lol. Elaina’s room is...well kind of boring. And she hasn’t had too much freedom to change anything either which kind of stinks. She has Brielle’s old room and it is exactly how you would expect a princess’s room to look. Light baby pink walls. Her furniture is white. It’s adorable. She HATES it. I mean, I shouldn’t say it like that, it’s her room and she likes it because it’s her space. But she doesn’t like how it looks. She doesn’t really like how it looks like a nursery (because it kind of does) but her parents aren’t really feeling the whole re-painting thing and her furniture belonged to her grandmother and so it’s staying in the family and she can’t get rid of that either. She really loves all three of the English kids’ rooms. They all are a little darker and the paint and the colors are cooler and not as bright and blinding as her pink and white. She is just a touch jealous that despite Arthur and Waverly’s dictaror-ish tendencies, they let their kids decorate their rooms how they want. She’s an artist, as you all know and she loves to sketch and paint and draw. At one point when she was about 11 or 12, I forget exactly but it’s written so perhaps I could share it one day, she used a sketching pencil to draw this really pretty floral design down the side of her nightstand and her parents saw it and lost their shit (old family antiques are not for drawing on, Elaina. You know better!). She hasn’t dared try to do that again, but she’s also always wanted to get all new white furniture and paint over it and cover it in her own drawings. One day she promises herself that she will. In the meantime, she has one single poorly shaded drawing on her nightstand that she managed to convince her parents to let her keep and not erase. 

That was a LOT. However...sprinkled in there is a few really relevant pieces of information. The story arch I am currently working on directly involves some of this information and you know how my brain is...I can’t think of anything without figuring it out for everyone...so you’ll see some of this brought up in the actual story again too, eventually. 

[mirclealignr]

Home?

(Perspective of cecilia)

My Novel - Chapter 2

Any and all feed back welcome <3

A/N: I’d love to know what you think (theories and feedback) about this and whether I should continue with it <3 likes, comments or reblogs or anything really are super appreciated 🤍

Word Count: 1899

My train arrived in the city at around midday. I wasn’t hungry, I’d eaten a little on the journey. And besides, I was so nervous to see Daisy and Albert again that I couldn’t have eaten anything. I barely ate what I bought for myself. I had half of my sandwich and picked at the crisps, the remnants of which were on the seat next to me which hadn’t been booked. I was glad for that, I was very fidgety, and anyone next to me would have become very frustrated with me. After everyone in my coach had stood up and retrieved their luggage, I too did the same. I collected my sandwich and crisps and put them neatly into my bag, careful not to spill any of it. I stood up and walked to the end of the carriage and pulled my two suitcases from the second shelf of the rack. I rolled each of them to the door and set them down on the platform in front of me before stepping onto it myself.

I looked around for Daisy and Albert but I couldn’t find them. No doubt they had managed to get themselves lost. They were both terrible with directions. Nearly five years ago when they were taking me to the train station instead of away from it, we got so lost that I nearly missed my train. I walked to one of the benches lined upon the platform and sat down, pulling my possessions close into me.

I turn to look at the clock, ten minutes has gone by. Perhaps they got the time wrong. I reach into my bag, and pull out my book. I attempt to read it, but none of the words are going in. I’m so nervous. I glance up from my book and see a woman, frantically looking around on the platform. She has shoulder length, golden brown hair, and it’s swaying behind her as she moves. She’s wearing a wonderful dress, it’s vintage, yellow, with a brown belt wrapped around her waist, and a blue denim jacket about her shoulders. It’s Daisy.

I stand up, anxious at what she might think of me. When I was younger, and living with her, my hair was very long and a dark brown, almost black. I had very pale skin and I was very skinny. Now, I had very short, light brown hair. Where I lived in Germany was always very sunny, so I was naturally tanned. I had grown into myself, my hips had broadened and I wasn’t so skinny anymore. I was slender, I had a fit physique. I was wearing a corduroy pink skirt with tights and a white Tee-shirt underneath my oversized leather jacket. We locked eyes, she saw me. She knew it was me. I looked a lot like her now. I looked a lot like my mother.

She rushed over to me, and crashed into my body, wrapping her arms around me. Oh how I have missed daisy. Her embrace was so intense, I thought I might cry, but I held it in. She was crying. She pulled away and took a good long look at me.

“You look so beautiful. You look exactly like your mother,” she says, tears in her eyes.

“Thank you. You look wonderful as well, you haven’t changed,” I say. I’m glad she hasn't changed. She’s still my Daisy. The Daisy I always remembered.

She doesn’t know what to say, I can see it. I don’t know what to do either. But it doesn’t last long, Albert comes running in after her and as soon as he sees me, his eyes widen. He walks over to me, he’s not running but he’s walking at a pace. He stops in front of me and takes me in, and then leans forward with his arms out. I lean into his embrace. Albert has been Daisy’s partner since she was nineteen. They married shortly after I turned eleven, putting them at twenty-one. And here we all are, nearly six years later.

“Hello Albert,” I say, smiling.

“Hello, Cecilia. You look great,” he says to me, patting my shoulder. I nod my head. Daisy begins to babble, all about my old room, the house, the village. I love her voice, I love hearing her talk. I almost forgot how it sounded. The voice in her letters gradually faded into my own. I’ve missed Daisy.

I don’t look out the window much in the car journey. I want to see it all for myself when I walk. I walk a lot, it’s one of my favourite things to do. The scenery in Germany where I lived was wonderful, but it held no memories for me. Walking here, back home, that would be different. Daisy asked me lots of questions about how I had been, what Germany was like and all sorts of extras. I had talked about a lot of it in my letters but I knew it wasn’t the same. So I answered them all. When we arrive at the house, I step out of the car and look at it. It’s the same. Made from stone, it stands tall and proud, the large windows allowing you to see into the wonderful interior. The garden was lovely as well, Daisy must have kept it up. It was a wild garden, tamed to her liking. There were dozens of buttercups and forget-me-nots and little bluebells. It was quite a sight to see. Towards the back she was growing three sunflowers. I always remembered telling her that I wanted sunflowers. I suppose she eventually got around to it. The bay windows were lined with fairy lights and the shutters had been repainted a lovely pale green. My bedroom was in the back of the house, so I couldn’t see whether any of it looked the same. I’m sure it did.

Albert took my suitcases from the back of the car.

“Bloody hell, what have you got in here?” He says, straining to lift them up.

“About the last five years of my life. I couldn’t leave anything behind,” I say. Daisy rushes over in front of me to unlock the door. She opens it and beckons me in. I was right, nothing had changed. It was still all very modern looking. All very sleek. There were photos and paintings on the wall in the landing and the living room. The cream sofa had been kept very clean over the years, as well as their cream chair. The kitchen was bigger than I remembered. The countertops matched the sofas, but the cupboards were a dark brown, contrasting very nicely.

“Are you hungry? No I suppose not. Would you like to see your room? Well I mean nothing has changed,” she gushes.

“Yes, actually I’d love to see my room,” I say. I can remember it as clear as day, but that’s not the same as seeing it. She leads me up the stairs, the wall beside them is filled with photos of her and Albert, me and her friends. And my mother and father. I hesitate next to their photo, but quickly regain my composure and continue up the stairs behind Daisy. She opens the door to my room and waits in the landing.

“I’ll leave you alone for a while, Albert will bring you your things,” she says smiling, and leaves. Just like that. I would imagine that she doesn’t know how to talk to me anymore. Talking to an eleven year old is very different to talking to someone who is nearly seventeen. I’ll admit, I’m not sure how to talk to her either. So, we don’t.

I look at my room. The walls are painted white and filled with posters, art and photos from my eleven year old life. The bed is barely two feet from the ground. I sit on it and it creeks under my body weight. I think a new one is in order. I gaze at my room, all the stickers on the furniture, all the childish books scattered across the room and and on the white bookcase. The little TV with a curved screen. I was not getting rid of that, it looked amazing. My vanity desk, made to look vintage. That would stay too.

Though it was my first day here, and I had only been back in the country a few hours, (including the train journeys) I wanted to clear it out and make it new. I wouldn’t be able to sleep with all these memories starring me in the face and suffocating me. It had to go. I start by ripping the posters of Olly Murs and JLS off of the walls. I hadn’t listened to them in a long time. I much preferred older music, or very unpopular modern music that no one had heard of. The wall stickers had to go too, and all the old art. I leave the pictures of me and my family up, they were staying exactly where they were. I walk up to a chest of drawers and open it. It’s full of all my old clothes. I pick out a few items I want to keep for sentimental reasons, and put the rest of them in a pile. A charity shop could make very good use of them. I walk over to the vanity and get rid of some of the brick-o-brack I had on top of it. In the drawer were old brushes and combs and hair ties. They would probably all go, I had all of that in my suitcase. I gather all my books and go through them. I decide to keep the Harry Potter series and The Lord Of The Rings. The rest would go. I should probably get The Hobbit as well, I’ve never read it.

I’d managed to keep much of my feelings in check since I arrived back at the house. But all that came crumbling down. I sit on my bed looking at old photos of me and my friends. Tears are streaming down my face, remembering them, remembering us and how happy we were. Who would’ve known that it would all come to end, and so soon after many of these photos were taken. There’s one picture of all of us down by the river that we used to go to all the time. It’s heartbreaking. There we all are, Alex, me, David, Evan and Bailey. I run my fingers across the print and linger on the figure of David. Poor poor David.

It was the summer of 2015 when David died. It was right before his twelfth birthday. They said he’d ‘had an accident’, and fallen into the river, banged his head and drowned. But we never went to the river alone. We never did that. We agreed never to do that, it was our place. We would never go alone, especially at night. And we were eleven, the thought of going to the river alone at night scared the living daylights out of us. We tried one summer to sneak out and go, but we got too scared and ended up turning around. We were all grounded for nearly a month. He would never have gone alone. They said the time of death was around midnight. He definitely wasn’t alone.

I wanted to go back. I wanted to see it.

Tag list: @chaotic-fae-queen @teenagereadersciencenerd @reallyreading

[onceuponaloonatic]

Nico going the supermarket for the first time? —🍊

“nico-chan the supermarket is super fun!” saya told her baby sister as she held her. nico was ten months old now and even though mina wasn’t always comfortable letting the triplets hold their baby sister but it was better than when nico was younger.

“saya!” nico giggled, squirming in her sisters arms. nico could now say all her sisters names along with calling all her moms.

“come here give her to me.” sana picked you nico from saya’s arms. “aww look at my cute little baby. you are fourteen pounds of cuteness.” sana tapped nico’s tiny nose and nico giggled.

“mommy can i sit in the cart this time saya got it last time?” saki asked.

“sure honey. tzuyu babe can you go get you go us a cart please?”

“sure.” tzuyu nodded and left.

“no fair!” saya protested.

“you got it last time!” saki answered.

“girls it’s saki’s turn to ride in the cart.” mina nodded, helping sae into her jacket.

“fine.” saya pouted, before hugging sae and engaging her in conversation.

“oh nico let’s make sure we have clean hands.” mina smiled at the baby and took a baby wipe to clean them off before nico could stick them in her mouth. nico was at the age where she put practically anything in her mouth. mina then grabbed nico’s pink pacifier and put it in her mouth.

“alright got the cart.” tzuyu yawned when she returned with a red shopping cart. sana put nico in the baby part, of course after mina had wiped it down, and tzuyu lifted saki up to put her in the main part.

“mommy can we get cereal?” saya skipped besides the cart as the walked into the store. sae was holding tzuyu’s hand and sana was pushing the cart.

“sure darling but cereal is close to the end of the store.” sana explained. “we need to get fruit and veggies first. yummy yummy right nico-chan?” sana giggled and chanted at her daughter. nico giggled and clapped her hand together at the statement.

“ew.” saya stuck her tongue out.

“you can get some peaches saya.” mina rolled her eyes.

“okay!” saya instnatly brightened. when they were at the fruit display all of them pretty much ran off, leaving sana to watch the cart and the baby. while sana was looking over some bananas she didn’t notice her baby reach over and grab a pink flower from the flower display next to the fruit.

“nico? where did this come from?” sana giggled when she looked at the pink flower. she looked over to the flower display and noticed it was missing from its arrangement. “let’s put it back okay?”

“mine!” nico refuses to let it go and sana sighed.

“please?”

“mine!” nico held the flower tighter.

“okay.” sana sighed. “we have to grab the whole arrangement though.” sana picked up the whole floral arrangement and put it in the cart. she then returned nico’s stray pacifier to her mouth and let her suck on it.

“why did you grab flowers?” mina asked when she returned with sae and a bag of vegetables.

“someone wanted the flower.” sana pointed to nico, who was still holding onto her pink flower.

“aww nico is so cute.” sae giggled.

“yeah she’s pretty adorable.” mina smiled. “no putting this in your mouth okay love?” mina told the baby, pointing to the flower to try and get her to understand it. nico of course didn’t but she was okay with her pacifier in her mouth.

“mommy look peaches!” saya smiled and held up a bag of peaches. “i got the sticker all by myself.”

“and i have avocados!” saki giggled. “i also got the sticker all by myself.”

“that’s great girls.” sana smiled at her daughters, watching them put them in the cart.

“nico this is a peach. they are super yummy but mommy says you are too little to eat them. i’ll give them to you when you can!” saya showed her baby sister a peach.

“yeah and nico-chan this is an avocado. it’s really good when ka-san puts it in poke.” saki explaiend, snowing her sister the avocado.

“and this is an onion! it makes you cry when you cut it.” sae, feeling a bit left out, showed the onion.

“this is a very educational moment for nico girls but we need to move onto meat.” tzuyu told the triplets, who all put their foods back into the cart.

“meat!” saya cheered.

“meat! meat!” saki joined. the two chanted the whole way to the meat section and their parents were all slightly embarrassed by them. once in the meet section they picked out what they wanted for the week, while nico sat in the cart and played with the tiny pink stuffed poodle sana carried around in her purse in case nico needed a toy.

“nico-chan this is beef. it’s super yummy when it’s cooked.” saya showed her sister the uncooked package of beef. “and look it’s super squishy.” saya demonsrtated by poking the beef.

“nico this chicken. it’s super yummy when cooked too. chicken nuggests are especially good.” saki giggled, showing her sister the chicken they had picked out.

“and this is salmon. ka-san puts it in poke and sometimes when they feel like it sushi! but making sushi can be kind of hard so mommy and ka-san don’t make it a lot.” sae added, poking the salmon once before putting it in the cart with the other meat.

“okay let’s go to the bakery.” sana smiled at the girls and lead them to the bakery. once there when sana wasn’t looking nico grabbed a cookie shaped and frosted like a pink butterfly from the shelf.

“where did she get that?” mina asked when she noticed nico with a wrapped up cookie.

“i don’t know i didn’t give it to her.” tzuyu shrugged.

“me either. she must of grabbed it.” sana giggled. “okay nico let’s put it back.”

“mine!” nico whined when sana tried to take it away.

“honey no cookies are bad for you.” mina tried to get the cookie out of nico’s hand but she just pouted.

“mine!” nico screamed, on the verge of a meltdown. mina knew better than to push nico further, she didn’t want to deal with a crying baby in the middle of the supermarket.

“okay okay. ever since you learned that word you have abused it.” mina sighed. “she’s only getting a tiny piece of that though.”

“i know babe.” sana giggled. “we may as well grab two more. each of the girls can have one that way.”

“nico-chan got us cookies! your the best nico-chan!” saki pointed out when she noticed what her parents were doing.

“i think she wanted the cookie for herself.” tzuyu nodded, watching nico try to put the wrapped cookie in her mouth. she stepped in before nico could and got nico’s pacifier in her mouth again. sana grabbed two more cookies before they moved onto the dry foods. saya went and picked out her favorite cereal and nico entertained herself with her poodle. they were just happy she wasn’t aware enough to notice all the things her tiny hands could grab in that section.

“nico this is cereal. you like this too! it’s one of the only foods mommies let you eat.” saya explained to her baby sister.

“she lets you eat that gross baby food stuff too.” saki added. “who likes mashed sweet potatoes ew.” saki stuck her tongue out at the thought.

“she likes applesauce.” sae nodded. “applesauce is pretty good.”

“yeah but most of what she eats is super gross.” saya stuck her tongue out.

“you loved that stuff at her age saya.” tzuyu nodded. “you loved mashed carrots and sweet potatoes.”

“ew.” saya whined.

“saki you loved mashed peas.” mina giggled at the memory. “and sae you loved some mashed green beans.”

“i’m happy those days are over.” saki spoke. “chicken nuggests have been my favorite food for a long time and they will be forever.”

“forever huh?” sana giggled. “come on let’s get moving we still need to get to the frozen foods.

they didn’t eat much frozen food in their household. mina was a fan of healthy fresh food for her children so they rarely needed stuff from the frozen section. but it was where saki always fought them about chicken nuggest.

“please? they are shaped like dinosaurs!” saki pointed out.

“saki they aren’t good for you.” mina nodded.

“they are my favorite food!” saya whined. “pretty please?”

“fine.” mina sighed.

“nico these are dinosaur chicken nuggests. they are the best food in the whole wide world.” saki smiled.

“next to ice cream.” sae spoke up.

“oh yeah ice cream is pretty good.” saki nodded. “ka-san why can’t nico have ice cream? it’s close to liquid like all the other stuff she eats.”

“she can’t have too much sugar.” mina explained. “she gets enough sugar from cereal and applesauce, she doesn’t need ice cream too.”

“huh than can we get ice cream?” sana asked.

“nice try.” mina ruffled her hair.

“yeah you girls know no ice cream allowed unless it’s a holiday or someone’s birthday.” tzuyu nodded. “or mommy’s pregnant.”

“and that’s never happening again we made sure of that.” sana nodded. “so sorry girls. let’s go check out and if you are good you can have your cookies.”

“okay!” nico was silent the rest of the trip, busting herself with her stuffed poodle and her pacifier, her pink flower and butterfly cookie laying next to her until check out. when sana notices nico is getting a bit sleepy she picks up the baby and trusts the others to put the groceries on the counter to check out. by the time they get back to the car nico is dead asleep, sana putting her flower in her car seat next to her and taking a quick picture before leaving to join mina in the front of the car.

[thatmultifandomhoe]

A Missed Stop

Word Count: 1,402

Pairing: Taehyung and Reader

Genre: Idol AU - Angst

Warning/Rating: None - G

Master List

A/N: This is the long awaited Part 2 to Late Night Bus Rides!

Late Night Bus Rides - A Missed Stop

©thatmultifandomhoe 2019.  Do not repost, translate, or use my stories without permission.

Giggling stole your attention for the tenth time since you came home. Kasey and Ali had been sitting at the kitchen table painting their nails when you first walked in, their conversation immediately dying out. The room reeked of the acidic nail polish remover and tomato sauced cooking on the stove leaving your stomach rolling at the combined smells.

“Okay, what gives?” You asked, hurrying to open one of the windows.

Ali raised an eyebrow, glancing at Kasey.

It wasn’t that you disliked your roommates, they were the best friends you could have ever asked for, even if you sometimes wondered if they had been dropped on their heads as children. You loved them and worried for society when they graduated in two years.

“I found something the other day of yours,” Ali casually answered, dipping the brush into a teal color.

“Well, I do live here.” Standing on your toes, you stretched to see if the sauce was boiling. When it was clear it wasn’t, you joined them at the table and picked up a pack of nail art stickers. This one had silver stars of all sizes.

Kasey shook her head, not even looking up as she painted Ali’s nails. “Yes, but we’ve never seen this before. It looks old too.”

Frowning, you held onto the star pack, inspecting the pile for any other interesting stickers. “I need more information than that.”

“We wanna know who gave you the stuffed panda bear!” Ali blurted out, her baby blue eyes widening as she smacked her free hand over her mouth.

Her words hung in your mind and all it took was a second for you to know exactly what they were talking about. There was only one stuffed panda bear that you ever owned and even though it had been years, you just hadn’t been able to part with it.

“Oh,” you softly spoke, dropping the heart nail stickers you had found. Leaning against your chair, you chewed on your bottom lip while staring at the stars. For a moment you remembered staring up at another set of stars except you had been outside, sitting on a bus bench with Taehyung by your side, waiting for the bus.

Clearing your throat, you ignored the worried looks they were sharing with each other. “It’s just something from an old friend.”

It had been years since you last saw Taehyung, at least, in person. All you had to do was search his name on any form of social media and he popped up. Thousands of results came up actually, and while you were so proud of him, it saddened you. You always wanted him to follow his dreams and be successful, but you never realized that you’d lose him along the way.

“An old friend,” Kasey gently asked, resting her hand on yours. “Or an old flame?”

You laughed but the humor was gone from it. How could you possibly explain to them that the person who had given you the panda was one of the most famous people in the world? They loved you yes, but the three of you were quick to call each other out on bullshit when you saw it.

Then there was the million-dollar question. Was Taehyung an old friend, or an old lover?

You had loved him greatly as a best friend and then you were in love with him, and the night he had given you the panda bear you had wanted to tell him so badly, but you were so scared that he never felt the same. So, you chickened out and when arriving at the Dorms that night, you immediately went to sleep and took a taxi to go home the next morning.

He had sent texts and called you to see where you had gone, worried something happened to you, but you had lied and said you weren’t feeling good. Like you had expected, he believed every word because why wouldn’t he? When it came to you, he always trusted you to tell the truth. He never thought you’d outright lie to him.

Not long after that Taehyung had gone on tour, they kept putting out albums and music videos and at first, the two of you were able to keep in touch. Video chats and phone calls were common, along with the promise that once he was back that he’d be taking you on another adventure.

“Where are we going Tae?”

“To see the world!” He exclaimed.

You laughed, rolling your eyes. “I’m serious Tae. Where are we going?”

You softly smiled at the memory, remembering how easier it had been back then. But as his group grew more popular and in addition to their music, they put out a YouTube Red series, a documentary of their lives, several games, the video chats became quick texts. Then the texting slowly puttered out until one day you realized you hadn’t heard from Tae in three months.

Three months turned to six, and then a whole year had passed.

It had hurt that you lost your best friend but you had accepted that life had changed the two of you. He was busy with his own life and you with yours. There had been a period where it felt impossible to get out of bed knowing that your friendship had died, but then one morning you got out of bed, showered, made some coffee and drank it while sitting on the kitchen counter looking out the window.

The windchime hanging in the tree closest to your apartment hand been gently swinging in the breeze. Opening the window, the smell of fresh rain had entered the kitchen, surprising you because you hadn’t realized it rained. You couldn’t even recall hearing it rain.

A few days after that, you bought a wooden box with a lid that had flowers carved into the wood and carefully filled it with the things that Taehyung had given you over the years. Small tokens and pins that he had given you, letters he had written, little drawings he did, a few rings and necklaces, and pictures of the two of you. It had been a trip down memory lane filled with hours sitting on the floor as you reread each letter, laughing and crying when a certain piece sparked up a memory. Being friends with Taehyung had been its own type of adventure.

When you finally closed the lid of the box, you put it on a shelf in your closet. The only thing that hadn’t been able to fit inside was the stuffed panda bear, so you had set it on top of the box and closed the door to your closet.

It wasn’t that you wanted to pretend your friendship with Taehyung never happened – you wanted to tell your best friends about him and things you did – but it simply wasn’t possible. Especially when they were avid fans of the group and made inhumane sounds when Dispatch released new pictures.

Even if you showed them the pictures, you knew that’d want to hear all about Tae and would be filled with endless questions about him, his life, if the two of you still talked. You just…weren’t ready yet. One day you would be, but just not yet. Not when it still hurt, and your heart still longed for him.

Lifting your head, you smiled at Kasey and Ali, seeing their worried expressions. It wasn’t something to worry about, it was a stuffed panda bear filled with memories.

A part of you still regretted never telling Taehyung that you loved him. Maybe if you had, things could have gone differently. Maybe there’d be a chance of still being in contact with hm. All thoughts and possibilities that you had considered a thousand times before, but there was nothing left for you to do. It was too late.

“He is from an old friend,” you softly spoke, licking your lips. “Who never knew, because I never told him. And last I knew; he’s living his best life possible and is happy.”

That’s what you hoped at least. That at the end of the day, he was happy and doing what he loved most in the world. The two of you may have taken the same bus together, but you were both destined to get off at different stops.

Taehyung had simply gotten off the bus earlier than you had expected.