#austin lake i love you actually

[mediumgayitalian]

prev

———

For a moment there is absolutely nothing. No one moves, no one blinks, no one breathes. The rain stops, sunlight pouring slowly through the dusty room, but no one so much as twitches, cemented in position. Medusa could walk in and stare at them all and no difference would be made. There is nothing but the muffled chatter of the news program, and the sound of Will fracturing.

“—end of the rainy front! Nothing now but sunny days and warm fronts from the south, John, things are looking up —”

There is no sudden break where everyone jumps into movement, hovering over Will, clicking off the TV, running for Chiron. There is only silence. Silence, except the chirping of the birds from outside, hopping around for worms, and the upbeat chatter of the news anchor, and the rustle of Will’s shirt against his shorts as his entire body trembles.

“Will,” Nico says, except his voice is so hoarse he doesn’t say anything at all except a punched out exhale from his own chest.

In his head Nico stands. In his head he is calm, hands steady, voice clear, as he says let’s get to the hospital, as he guides him gently up, as he walks him out. In his head they make their way to Savannah General ask for Naomi’s room and find her recovering. In his head he handles things.

In reality Will makes a gaping, choking sound, like his organs have slithered up his throat and splattered on the floor. Like he has been flipped inverse. It is a sound like bone snapping, like scissors slicing, like thread unravelling fiber by fiber. He bends slowly over, until his knees touch his chest, until his hand-covered face hits the floor; he looks, startlingly, like the Algea, like the Statue of the Woman Grieving, hair curtaining his face, except for the speck of lint on the back of his shirt. A single little speck, that ruins the image. The Statue of the Woman Grieving, plus a speck. A chip.

“Mama,” he chokes out, and Nico flinches, a full, bodied thing.

Mama.

Ozone. Burning; burnt marble, burnt air, burnt flesh. Taste or pennies. Stale, frigid stillness.

Mama.

Father’s shimmering suit, quietly gaping mouth; Bianca’s wide, black eyes, blinking, blinking, blinking.

Mama.

Mama.

Mama.

Will makes the noise again, a horribly grinding groan, as a cry rips itself out of his chest, as air is yanked slowly through his vocal chords like the chain cranked around a tow truck. His eyes stay glued to the TV screen, hands fallen limp and open-palmed in front of him, turned to the heavens. His face is blank but the sounds don’t stop, they pour out of him, steady stream, rusted chain, beating heart. Nausea churns Nico’s stomach and saliva floods his mouth, like it did on the drive to the Lotus, when they passed a Nevadan slaughterhouse. Will sounds like he is being butchered.

“Mama,” he moans again, and this time there is a gag, this time someone jerks, out of the corner of his eye, darts out of the room. Retching echoes follows them, and then, quickly, clotting hooves, practiced and speedy. The doorframe creaks as someone hunches under it, walks through the threshold.

“…Children?” Children, children children; Mama, mamachildren, mothers, babies. “Will? What’s —”

The muscles in Nico’s body contract of their own accord, springing him forward. Upright. Diaphragm up, lungs in; out, inout. Quadriceps contract, release. Again.

“Will,” he tries, and this time it works. His tongue forms the word and it tumbles from his lips, bouncing off the floor, resting somewhere twisted in his hands. “Will, c’mon, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Will doesn’t actually move. He doesn’t shift or stand. Nico doubts that he can. But he lets Nico manoeuvre him, and manages to put one foot in front of the other as Nico guides them, hand on the small of his back, across the room. Chiron moves back as they approach, and when Nico looks there is something in his eyes, something he has seen twice, now; dancing along the reflection of the pyre’s flame. A simmering kind of grief, a stilted, shut-off beg.

“Kayla,” Nico murmurs, pausing at the door, “Austin, c’mon.”

He doesn’t wait for them to move, but hears them, joints creaking along with the couch, footsteps even and robotic as a metronome following him down the hall, through the meeting room, over the porch. Across the common and to the ancient garage in the back, to the wet gleam of the van.

Will doesn’t make any more sounds.

They pile soundlessly into the van, Kayla and Austin crawling into the back seat, legs hooked at the ankle, fingers clenched until they’re bloodless. Nico settles against the threadbare driver’s seat and adjusts the rearview before he realizes that Will hasn’t moved; stands rigid, hands twitching in front of him, one shoe sliding slowly into a mud puddle.

Nico climbs nimbly across the dash, pushing the passenger door open and staring, for a moment, at Will. His mouth moves, ever so slightly, but the blankness hasn’t shifted from his face, and staring into his eyes makes Nico feel like he’s small in the dead centre of the Grand Canyon. Like there is nothing for miles ahead of him but empty air and the memory of rushing water.

“C’mon,” he says quietly.

Will does not move. His shoe slips, slightly forward, and he jerks along without, knee slamming into the dented metal of the door. Kayla flinches.

Nico pushes the door open again and stretches out as far as his arms will let him, fingertips brushing Will’s knuckles. With a tug he has him stumbling forward, barely catching himself on the seat, twisting by memory alone to situate himself properly. His head dips, low, like a wind-up toy rattling to its end, like a marionette drooping from behind the final curtain. Austin untangles himself from the back, reaching over and stretching the seatbelt around his brother, clicking it into place. He holds his hand there, waiting a beat, before shifting it to rest over Will’s.

“We’ll figure it out,” he whispers. “I brought — some salves.”

Nico chokes back a sudden and violent sob. He is reminded, right then, that Austin is eleven years old. He is also reminded that Will was eleven, the first time he lost.

He peels down the hill fast enough the whole car jerks, and speeds onto the road.

———

next

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

If you are a movie fan and haven't read the book yet, here are some irrelevant details from the book

Henry owns a cardigan

Arthur and Catherine meet on a Henry V play (which they named Henry after), which Catherine went to see and saw Arthur playing. She "shook off her security to disappear into London and dance all night".

Pez listens to kpop, and he got Alex into it

Nora watches drag race and got Henry into it

Henry is an Elton John fan (actually relevant in the book)

Alex is a Hall & Oates fan

Alex wears glasses (actually relevant in the book)

Henry is described by Alex as having lots of moles

Bea is the rockstar girlfriend, at the end of the book she plays on a concert and everything. She plays the guitar and is always wearing a leather jacket. She also has a fat cat called Mr Wobbles. And the queen wanted her to learn violin “since it was more proper” instead of guitar. “Bea was allowed to learn both, but she went to uni for classical violin.”

During the turkey phonecall, Henry is wearing a peely face mask

Amy is trans and has a pansexual wife

(Actually relevant) Catherine was not off in another country the whole story, just battling intense grief for her husband's death, so she wasn't present in her children's life, so they felt as if they lost both parents.

There's no king, she's actually a queen, her name is Mary and she should die (she's so so much worse on the book than the king is on the movie)

David is a service dog

(Actually relevant in the book) June bought a teen magazine at 15 and 13 year old Alex would sneak into her room to stare at the magazine (and the picture of a blonde 14 year old British prince on it).

Bea is the middle kid, Henry is the youngest

Henry is canonically on therapy and on antidepressants (since the start of the book)

I don't remember if they mentioned it on the movie but Arthur was James Bond and died of pancreatic cancer.

Alex’s favorite Olympic sport is rhythmic gymnastics

Bea had an addiction problem when Henry was about 17 (as a way to cope after their father's death) and only got herself into rehab after Henry went to her and started crying about dad was dead and he was gay and scared so she couldn't kill herself. That's how he came out to her

Alex doesn't wanna be president at the end of the book, he starts law school

Henry favourite star wars is Jedi, Alex's is Empire

June is allergic to peanuts

Alex runs and runs to cope and clear his head

He did not know he was bi until after Henry kissed him. Yes, he had a friend with benefits relationship with his high school friend Liam, but he genuinely thought it was perfectly platonic and straight

Also he doesn't keep on touch with Liam after high school (their friendship just slowly fades away, with living so far and Alex being suddenly famous) but they reconnect at the end

Alex and Henry move in together on a brownstone on Brooklyn, eventually they marry (after Henry abdicates) on the lake house, they move to a farmhouse on Austin, they spend their honeymoon unpacking

Pez is lactose intolerant

Bluebonnet is June’s code name, Barracuda is Alex’s

Henry is a big Austen fan, and makes references to her books through the story

Amy knits

Zahra has a sister who recently had a baby

June forced Alex into dresses as a kid

Henry’s favorite food is a cheap falafel stand ten minutes from the palace

Henry really likes sailing

Shaan has a motorbike

Alex is allergic to dust

Henry keeps a copy of Le Monde, the newspaper from the day they were in Paris, on his room

Alex and Nora dated when Alex was 17 and Nora 18 but realized they were definitely better off as friends. When they are bored, they like to create rumors about their relationship

Alex makes tons of lists to organize

Alex wears chinos, and claims kakhis are for white people

Nora is very good at math

Alex grew up catholic

At the end of their e-mails, Alex and Henry quoted historical lgbt love letters

Nora’s one-bedroom is “full of books and plants she tends to with complex spreadsheets of watering schedules.”

Nora is bisexual and on the aro spectrum (not canon on the book than she’s aro, but Casey did mention it somewhere)

Arthur gifted Henry a telescope for his seventh birthday

The karaoke scene happens not while on Texas but in some club full of queer people. The whole group is there, Pez got them matching kimonos. Alex’s says Hoe Dameron, Henry’s says Prince Buttercup. Aside from Henry singing Don’t Stop Me Now, Bea sings Call Me by Blondie, and Pez sings So Emotional by Whitney Houston in a “shockingly flawless falsetto”.

The lakehouse confessions happens while at night

The Kensington fight (after the lakehouse confession) is much more dramatic, they don’t go to the v&a that night, but the next night. That morning Henry got up early, and brought Alex coffee when he woke up. They made up.

Also Alex takes his coffee with cinnamon

Alex, Nora and Henry are gen z, while June is a millennial

[brotherwtf]

Not sure which AU you want to put this in but this set of Austin in his swimming trunks got me gagged. I'm thinking Clegan are colleagues and they're on some sort of work holiday and it's the first time Jhon sees Gale shirtless and he's loosing his mind! He knew Gale was toned af just by the way his shirts hugged him and pants showed off his legs but Gale usually wears full sleeves and never show off his biceps. You never expect someone who's so lean to have such abs 🤣

https://www.tumblr.com/nextlevelstupidity/758353484416450560/no-comment?source=share

THOSE PICTURES?? holy shit banging on the walls actually

I think this would work well with my firefighter/detective au (which you can find here!!) bcs everyone knows John is huge and bulky, but Gale has kind of a sleeper build and John just goes so fucking nutty

inserting this awkwardly before they actually start dating but when they're pining for each other massively, and the firefighters convince the detectives to take a damn break and they bring them to the lake. John is prepared to show off his muscles, wearing horrifically tight swim trunks to show off his thighs, but his jaw literally drops when he sees Gale take off his shirt

of course, Crosby knows that John and Gale are not so secretly in love with each other, and convinced Gale to forget a baggy T-shirt, it's too damn hot for that, and Gale begrudgingly agreed and shirked it off, which caused Crosby to smile at John's eyes popping out of his sockets

John had planned on spending the day flirting with Gale and being a total disaster, but Gale just looked so damn HOT that John Egan, professional yapper, was rendered speechless. which of course led to some mess bcs Gale thinks John hates him or smth

John's brain just straight up short circuits bcs how the hell was this the body that was hidden under all of those suits?? it didn't make any damn sense and now John was playfully shoving Gale into the water and urging himself not to just touch his arms and lick up his stomach

anyway basically the whole day was both of them drooling over each other, but too fucking chicken to actually do anything about it lmao

[tsarinatorment]

Do you have any backstory headcanons for the other canon Apollo kids?

Not to the extent I did for Michael, but most of them I have at least something, yes!

Going in age order...

Will [disclaimer here that I do not consider TSATS canon; most of this contradicts the weird stuff TSATS tried to claim which didn't actually make any sense...] We know Apollo met Will's mother, Naomi Solace, in Austin, and I do headcanon that Will grew up there. Like most demigods, school wasn't fun for him, although Will was never actually in enough trouble that he got expelled - he was too much of a generally sweet kid for that, who got on well with the other kids in school. His home life was... fine. Naomi loves Will a lot, but trying to make ends meet with her music career whilst raising a son as a single mother was a lot (especially a son with ADHD and dyslexia) and Will often ended up not quite being given all the attention he needed at home.

However, we also know from canon that Will is an unusually powerful son of Apollo, so the monsters picked up on his scent much earlier than they usually do. His first attack was an entire hoard of snakes when he was seven, and with no-one else around close enough to intervene in time, Apollo snatched him away from the attack in person, before telling Naomi that it was probably time for Will to go to camp. She didn't protest, guiltily relieved that looking after Will wouldn't be on her shoulders anymore and that she could fully follow her music career again, and Will ended up at camp aged seven.

He remains a year-rounder because Naomi's career keeps her too busy to give him the attention and stability he should have, although they remain in frequent contact and Will has been known to leave camp for a weekend or even a week, occasionally, to stay with her while she's free between career commitments.

Austin Austin's mother, Latricia Lake, is a music theory lecturer (canon) who met Apollo while she was lecturing at Oberlin College (canon). I have her as being a guest lecturer, who moves around various colleges and universities on demand, which leaves her lifestyle rather an unstable one for raising a child. So instead of lugging around baby!Austin everywhere with her, Austin was mostly raised by his maternal grandparents (location not entirely certain but I'm kinda leaning towards Louisiana, maybe?) to give him a stable place to call home. He ended up at camp the same way most Apollo kids do - the snakes came crawling along and a satyr identified him as a demigod and brought him to camp. Austin got rather a nasty bite (or few) from the snakes on the way, which almost killed him, so his phobia of snakes is worse than most Apollo kids'. He arrived at camp in the period between BOTL and TLO, so he never knew Lee and was still a fresh camper for the Manhattan battle. He now stays at camp year-round because his grandparents are getting a little too old to really raise a hyperactive teenage boy, and Austin doesn't want to bring the added danger of monster attacks to them.

Kayla Kayla, as we know, has two fathers. She's one of the less common children of a male god who was birthed by their godly parent, but Apollo and Darren Knowles had several long conversations about it before she was conceived, because Apollo doesn't do the "drop random unexpected kids on partners" thing. Darren did really want a kid, though, and Apollo was more than happy to oblige. She calls Darren 'Da', while Apollo is 'Dad', and always knew that she had two fathers, and that her other father was an amazing archer. Darren kept her with him most of the time - Kayla's been around archery her entire life, has been shooting bows ever since she was big enough, and is well-known amongst the Olympic candidates in Canada, who are all eagerly awaiting her sixteenth birthday, when she can join their ranks - although they're a bit worried that now she's away at 'boarding school' in America, she's not getting as much training time (if only they knew!) She stays at camp all year because Darren's coaching career does take him across the country, and in some cases the world, to various tournaments, and it's safer and more stable for Kayla to live in one place. (Darren also tries not to let it reach her too much, but not everyone is particularly accepting of a girl with two fathers; she's also away from the bigotry in camp.) She will visit him as often as she can get away with, though!

Yan Yan is canonically from Hong Kong. As they're never given a gender in the books, to me they are nonbinary. They also don't have a canon surname, so I use 'Cheung', which has the same roots as Zhang and means archer! When they were twelve, their mother made the decision to evacuate them from Hong Kong due to the political unrest, and they went to live with a host family in England, enrolling in a local school. This was fine for a year, but then they found themselves being attacked by monsters and were forced to be displaced again, this time to Camp Half-Blood. Their host family knew nothing about them being a demigod - most of it was arranged by proxy of the mother of a kid the year below them in their London school. They later discovered that said kid was also their younger half-brother!

Jerry Jerry is a London kid (canon!). As 'Jerry' is usually a nickname, and considering the fact that he's British, I have his full name as being Jeremy (not that he ever goes by it) and gave him the surname Allen (meaning 'harmony'). Jerry's mum is a massive stress baker by the name of Gwen Allen. Her actual job is that she's a nurse - which is a stressful job, so Jerry was never short on homemade goodies as a kid! Jerry is a huge cricket fan, and grew up near Lords Cricket ground; his dream is to play for England one day. When he was twelve, he and an older kid at school were attacked by a monster and saved by the school's janitor, who was revealed to be a satyr. Jerry did not take well to the idea that he had to move to America for several years (not least because it meant he had to stop playing for the local kids' cricket teams, but also because it meant leaving his mum behind), but Gwen arranged everything with Chiron - and for Yan, too - and saw them off from Heathrow Airport. The pair of them were escorted by an adult demigod onto American soil, but unfortunately the last leg of their trip was rather eventful, culminating in the satyr guide that had picked them up at the airport being killed protecting them, and leaving both Jerry and Yan rather traumatised when they finally reached camp. The pair of them are thick as thieves.

Gracie I don't have much for Gracie yet - we know she's from Idaho, and at this point that's really all I've got, except the headcanon that she's a drum kid. Give her something to bash rhythmically and she's delighted! I'll work something out for her eventually, though! As for her name, like the rest of the TON trio we're not given one, so I gave her the surname 'Crowe' as an acknowledgement of corvids being sacred to Apollo.

[chrisgotitall]

Hi can you do one where reader and Mike share a moment on stage or smt? I just want to give you a canvas for inspiration so you can use your inventiveness :))

girl you read my mind, i already had this idea in my drafts

So reader is a musical actress, she acts, dances and sings. She was offered the chance to do a mini tour in theaters and auditoriums. So she was now traveling around North America, Canada and the UK. She was so excited to do this, she was having the time of her life and she was also having the chance to have her pop-star moment even if she was singing Broadway hits.

She already did 9 shows, she’s been in Atlanta, Nashville, San Diego, Los Angeles, Boston, Salt Lake City, New York, Seattle, Austin and now it was Columbus’ turn. 

Mike had come to 6 of her shows and he didn’t make it to the other three for work. She decided to call him. 

“Ehi, love” he greeted her.

“Hi, baby” she said back, smiling widely just by hearing his voice.

“What’s up? Is everything going well on the tour?” he said, he was clearly eating while speaking. 

“Yes, absolutely, everything is super great. It’s been the best thing really” she explained to him.

“Oh so… the best thing is the tour?” he said, sounding extremely disappointed but also sarcastic.

“Oh shut it. You know you’re my best thing above everything. Plus, I told you to come with me on tour but you took some extra work instead” 

She was actually grateful he was working and enjoying the projects he was in but she also thought he was putting too much pressure on himself and apart from that, she really missed him.

“You know I would have died if I had nothing to do,” he said, chuckling. She chuckled too knowing it was completely true.

“I need to ask you something and I would love for you to accept this, so say you’ll accept this even if you don’t want to do it” she had this idea in mind for weeks now and she was finally going to ask him now that the Columbus date was so close.

“Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice, does it?” 

She could hear the smile in his response.

“I’m coming to Ohio this weekend…” she said, lingering on the word “weekend”. 

“Mmh mmh” he said.

“And you’re there… so I was thinking.. you could come…” she was really stalling on the request. 

“I already told you I’ll be there in Columbus,” he said, reminding her. He did, in fact, tell her he was going to come to her show that week.

“Yeah, but I was thinking you could come and be my guest for this show…” she finally let it out, waiting for his answer even if she told him there was no refusing this.

“Baby…” 

But he was trying anyway to tell her no. And she tried everything to make it possible, she couldn’t wait to share the stage with him. It’s been a long time since their first job together and she thought it was time for a revival.

“Mike, please, it’s going to be so amazing! I want to sing with you!” 

She finally made him give in and she was so proud of herself but also happy that she was finally going to perform with him on stage after a long time.

“You know I love you like crazy, right?”

“You better, girlie” 

“You didn’t say it back!”

“I love you… not so crazy tho” 

“I’ll make it up to you”

She hung up the phone.

Saturday arrived and so did Mike. He showed up at her door with flowers and dinner, which they had very early before the show. 

“It’s gonna be fun” she told him when he stood there looking at her while chewing his burger. He responded with a not so convinced nod of his head. She sat on his lap and hugged his neck with her arms. 

“Told you I’d make it up to you” she said, kissing him sweetly. He hugged her waist and got lost in the kiss because he missed her so much. A knock on the door and a voice signaled them that the show was about to start. She kissed his cheek and got up.

On stage, she sang some songs alone first and then it was finally time to introduce him.

“Okay everybody, for this night I wanted to do something special… partly because this is already the 10th show…” 

A roar of applause welcomed her words.

“And partly because this is the hometown of someone really special to me”

This roar was way greater and louder than the one before. She smiled widely because she knew they already knew who she was talking about.

“Everybody please welcome on stage the talented… exceptional… remarkable… and outstanding… Mike Faist” 

The crowd did indeed welcome him warmly. He got on stage smiling politely at everyone. She took his hand and gave him a microphone.

They sang some songs together, mostly from Dear Evan Hansen or Hadestown. People enjoyed it so much, seeing them together on stage felt so intimate, it was their moment and they were amazing.

After their set of songs, she hugged him tightly causing another roar of applause from the crowd. She was happy she got him to sing with her on stage.

And as promised, when they got home, she made it up to him.

[tbyfandoms]

Against All Odds | Jake Pearson x Reader

Pairing: jake pearson x f!reader

Word Count: 14.6k

Summary: while on vacation with her best friends’ family, y/n gets a lot more than she bargained for when she encounters both love and…aliens!? (requested)

Warnings: descriptions of violence

Masterlist/Request Form | Ask/Tell/Request

A/N: dude someone tell me why this fic is SO LONG??? I knew it would be a little lengthy since I basically copied and then rewrote the whole aliens in the attic movie but ohmygod lmao?! anyways, even though this is apparently my longest fic to date, it was also one of the most fun ones I've written! although cheesy and mildly unrealistic, I love this movie so much and appreciate getting a request for austin's character, jake. I hope you all (especially the person who requested this) enjoy! as always lmk what you think! :)

The sunlight shines brightly on your face as you step out of the car. Your hand goes up instinctively to shield your eyes, and with what little shade it provides for you you’re able to take in the house before you.

It’s gorgeous to say the least. The Pearsons’ rented holiday house is unlike anything you’ve seen before, especially in person. There seems to be about a million different rooms from what you can tell, and if the house looks this good on the outside, you can’t wait to see what it’s like inside.

Bethany told you what the house would be like, but actually seeing it for yourself totally puts it into perspective. The lake looks like it’s sparkling and all you can see for miles is green trees upon green trees. The air smells crisp, fresh. This place is everything and more that you could want for a week long getaway.

Wow.

“Quite the place, huh?” Tom steps besides you and mirrors you in looking up at the house. “Too bad it’s in the middle of nowhere.”

You can see the agitation taking over the brunette’s face. It’s no secret he’d rather be anywhere else but here. Things have been tense with Tom and his parents lately, what with everything going on at school. It hurts you to see him like this, but you also wish he would just let loose and stop being so lost in his head for once.

“C’mon, Tommy, it’s not that bad. There are worse places you could be than at a beautiful lake house with your family and best friend.” You grin at him and feel a tiny sense of relief when you see his own smile start to crack through his facade.

The boy rolls his eyes before shaking his head and adjusting the strap of the bag on his shoulder. “Sure, whatever you say. Let’s go inside so I can pick the best room before my cousins get here.”

Laughing, you nod before going to get your own bags from the car. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson smile warmly at you as they hand you your stuff. They’ve always been the sweetest to you and you’re so grateful to them for letting you come on their little family vacation. The Pearsons are like your second family and you wouldn’t trade them for the world.

“Bethany, are you coming with me to go pick out our room?” You turn around to try and locate your best friend, and when you do it seems she’s already set her mind on heading straight to the pool.

“You go on ahead, I’ll be up in a bit! Just wanna get started on my…summer tan.” She winks at you before hurrying off towards the pool. You wish she was actually that excited about kickstarting her sun bath, but in reality she just wants to be out here when her new boyfriend, Ricky, shows up.

Bethany told you all about her plan to essentially sneak Ricky in on the family vacation. The guy gives you the total creeps and he isn’t worth half the trouble he and Bethany get up to, but if he makes your best friend happy then so be it.

You thought about telling Tom what Bethany was up to, but you figured it wasn’t worth the trouble. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson love Ricky and clearly can’t see how much of a tool he really is, so they wouldn’t believe anything Tom would say anyways. And besides, you don’t feel like it’s your place to convince them otherwise even if you are like family to them.

Whatever’s gonna happen will happen, and you just hope it won’t cause too much drama. You’re all here to relax, have fun, eat some good food, and make lifelong memories—so that’s all you plan on doing. Hopefully.

Catching up with Tom, you both make your way inside and take in the expansive foyer. The place is definitely dated and fitting for a house in the middle of Nowhere, Michigan, but it’s still nice nonetheless.

“Ugh, so lame,” Tom winces from beside you, and you turn to see him pointing at one (of countless) fish hung up on the wall. It’s huge and definitely does not do anything to tie the room together, but what else could you expect from a place like this?

Laughing, you steer your brunette companion towards the staircase. “Forget the fish, let’s go find our rooms!”

“Alright, alright! Y’know I don’t know why you’re so excited about this. All we get to do out here is go fishing or bake ourselves outside by the pool.”

“I don’t know why you’re not so excited about this. I know things have been tense with your parents lately, but maybe this vacation can be a good thing! Maybe you and your parents will find some common ground?”

Tom glances at you briefly out of the corners of his eyes as you make your way up the stairs, trying to decide if you’re being serious. You of all people know there’s a minuscule chance of that happening. He grumbles out, “Not likely.”

Not wanting to press him any further, you let it go. For now. Leaving Tom at the top of the stairs, you go off to find a good room for you and Bethany to share. You know she isn’t picky and most likely won’t even be sleeping there if her plan with Ricky works out. The thought makes you shudder so you pick a random room, throw your bags down, and quickly find Tom before your brain can make up any more assumptions.

Once you do find him, you can tell just by the look on his face that him being able to pick his room first didn’t help much. You’re not sure how Mr. and Mrs. Pearson found this place, but it’s extremely obvious it’s supposed to be for families with younger kids, much younger.

There are toys and little sports knickknacks all around the room, perfect for a boy, but definitely not one Tom’s age or even Tom in general. You fight your smile as he turns to you and groans weakly.

The pity party doesn’t last long though as suddenly loud music can be heard along with tires screeching. You and Tom make your way to the window to see who’s acting as if the roundabout driveway is a racetrack. Tom already knows, but you’re completely clueless. Even though you’ve been Tom and Bethany’s best friend for as long as you can remember, you’ve somehow never met any of their extended family. The only time Bethany and Tom ever really see them is during family vacations, and so since you’ve never tagged along before this will be your first encounter with them.

“Who is that?” You question as you watch a guy around Mr. Pearson’s age hop out of the front seat. There’s someone else that was in the passenger seat, but he moves too quickly to the trunk so you can’t make him out.

“That would be my Uncle Nate,” he says and then continues when an older woman gets out of the back seat. “And my Nana. The twins are probably still in the car glued to their Nintendos and my cousin Jake, well, he’s right there.”

You tear your eyes away from Nana as you watch her give Hannah some sort of candy. The sight makes you smile. Moving towards Tom more you notice instantly who he’s talking about. Jake, as Tom said, is tall and from what you can tell, decently tan. His hair looks like a mop of honey sand (if that’s even a thing) and the energy he gives off is palpable.

Something inside of you pulls towards him, interests you. But before Tom can catch on you pull away from the window, making yourself busy with helping him unpack.

The distraction only works for so long before suddenly you hear multiple sets of footsteps coming up the stairs. Your eyes jolt to the door and are instantly met with the blonde boy you were staring at just a few moments ago.

He’s saying something to the twins but instantly stops in his tracks as he takes in your presence. The way his blue, incredibly blue, eyes quickly trail up and down your body leave your cheeks feeling warm.

“Hi, I’m Jake,” he says, flashing you a smile as he rocks back and forth on his heels, hands nestled deep in his shorts pockets.

“Hi, I’m Y/N. I’m one of Tom and Bethany’s best friends. It’s nice to meet you!” You give a little wave and then instantly curse yourself for doing so. What was that Tom said earlier? So lame.

“You as well,” Jake says as his eyes flick from you to Tom and then back again. He can’t wrap his mind around how his cousins have kept you from him all this time. He’d definitely need to get more intel once you left.

“Don’t be modest, Y/N. You’re our only best friend,” Tom teases as he wraps an arm around your shoulder. You roll your eyes and nudge him lightly in the side with your elbow.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket, a message from Bethany popping up on the screen asking you to meet her by the pool. Thank God for that girl, even without knowing it she has impeccable timing. Now you don’t have to worry about being any more awkward around Jake. You’re sure there will be other opportunities later, but for now you have an out.

“Speaking of, Bethany’s waiting for me by the pool. I’ll catch up with you in a bit,” you say to Tom before walking towards and around his cousins. You smile at the twins and glance at Jake before quickly saying, “See you guys later.”

Once you’re out of earshot, Jake jumps into action, picking up right where he left off when he came in and more importantly getting information on you.

“Twins, get these out of here,” he says as he points towards Tom’s luggage.

“Woah woah woah, wait a minute. Why do you get the best room? I was here first!” Tom protests.

“Never mind that!” Jake urges, waving his hand as if Tom getting kicked out is nothing. “Dude, why have I never met Y/N before, and why have you never thought to tell me about her?!” The blonde races to the window, trying to get a glimpse of you as you walk out the front door.

Tom rears his head back in confusion, not understanding his cousin’s sudden interest in his best friend. The two of you spoke for a minute, not even. It’s not exactly a match made in heaven.

Meeting up with Jake by the window, Tom decides to answer his burning questions anyways. “Well, she’s never come with us on family vacation before. Every time we invited her she had other commitments or didn’t want to overstep. My mom and dad finally convinced her to come this year since she’s practically family, so here she is.” Tom spots you as you walk over to Bethany by the pool. Just from the looks of it his sister is losing her mind over something. He’s had a feeling she’s been planning some scheme but Tom still can’t figure out what it is. He shakes it off and continues. “And besides, why would I tell you about her? It’s not like you go to school with us or anything.”

“Unfortunately,” Jake mumbles as he locks his eyes on you. Tom looks from his cousin to you and catches on to what he’s so intent on watching. You’re pulling your shirt off to soak up the sun with Bethany by the pool, and the way Jake is ogling you is definitely something he didn’t need to witness. “Hey is she single by chance?”

“Ok first of all, ew, and second of all, never gonna happen! Nice try, though.”

“Oh, c’mon, Tom! What’s the big deal! She’s insanely gorgeous and she’s got this cute awkward thing about her,” Jake grins, peeling his eyes away from the window to give his cousin his full attention.

“The big deal is she’s my and Bethany’s best friend! She’s not some random girl you can just try to get with. Sorry, Jake, but it’s not gonna happen.”

Before the blonde gets a chance to reply, Tom’s dad calls from the foyer for him to come down and help unload. Tom shoots Jake a knowing look before heading out of the room.

“We’ll see about that,” Jake whispers to himself, intent on at least getting to know you better.

*****

To say you’re less than thrilled when Ricky pulls up in the driveway would be an understatement. What makes it even worse is the way Bethany quite literally throws herself at him. When Ricky tells her to “give papa some sugar” that’s what really throws you over the edge. You’re glad Tom says something before you ultimately had to.

Why, oh why couldn’t she have just gone out with the nice guy from calculus class you recommended!?

Witnessing his interaction between Bethany and Tom’s parents was unnerving and when Ricky brought up having car trouble, you knew it was all just part of the plan. You caught Tom’s eye for a second and the look he had on his face just further confirmed it. You knew immediately he’d caught on to what Bethany’s been up to.

When Mr. Pearson leads you all outside so he can try and fix Ricky’s car, your heart swells at his kindness even though you know the man has no clue what he’s doing, but on the other hand your brain starts sounding off alarms that make you wanna shake your best friends’ father until he snaps out of his usual parent obliviousness.

The only good thing that comes out of standing outside by Ricky’s precious car is that you’ve somehow ended up next to Jake. The close proximity of the blonde and you sends goosebumps shooting up your arm. It’s like tiny zaps of electricity are bouncing between the minimal space between your arms and for some reason you’d do anything to know what it’d feel like to actually be touching him.

You can feel Jake sneaking little glances at you while everyone else watches Mr. Pearson fiddle with things under the car hood. In a moment of boldness, you meet his eyes and smile at the redness that blooms on the apples of his cheeks.

Time goes too fast because in a flash Mr. Pearson is done being dumbfounded by the car and you’re being whisked away with Bethany and her boyfriend while Jake trails after Tom back into the house. You both look back at precisely the same time to spot each other and the moment leaves you feeling giddy all the way back to the pool.

While Bethany and Ricky settle into two of the lounge chairs, you decide instantly to move yours over as far as possible while still being by the pool. When Bethany questions it you assure her it’s just to give the two of them space so they can connect and she calls you sweet for it. In reality you don’t want to be anywhere near that infuriating man and would rather not have to listen in on their inevitable cutesy talk. Gag.

After a while you begin to contemplate just going back inside to meet up with Tom or maybe play a game with Hannah, but out of nowhere you catch movement in the grass not far off to the side of you.

You sit up and squint to get a better look, and when you finally realize what and who it is, you’re too late to do any questioning. Pops start to go off and you do your best to try and figure out what’s being shot, but you don’t have to wonder long because Bethany and Ricky both begin screaming. When you spot the orange splatters covering the both of them, the dots begin to connect themselves.

Bethany gets up and you don’t even think about interfering with her. When she’s pissed, she’s pissed. You watch as she goes over and rips the paintball gun out of Tom’s grasp and rips him a new one. Wincing at the sight of it all, you grab your stuff as well as Bethany’s and follow her and Ricky inside where you’re sure a spectacle is about to occur.

*****

To say Tom’s dad is livid would be selling it short. The lecture started practically as soon as he and Jake walked through the front door. You had to restrain yourself from laughing as you took in the sight of Jake. He looked like a literal shrub! Tom’s dad gave them both a few minutes to clean up before forcing them to sit at the dining room table. He played it off as giving them time to think about what they did before being reprimanded, but you know it’s because he wouldn’t be able to be in full lecture mode with Jake looking like that. You know you wouldn’t either.

As you stand off to the side, not wanting to insert yourself too much, you watch as Mr. Pearson goes in on them. He has some points, but if he knew what Ricky’s really like, he probably wouldn’t be as upset. It takes all you’ve got to not point out the fact Ricky is mocking him behind his back. Once again, that guy is such a tool.

All of a sudden, Nana is banging her cane against the TV and complaining about it being broken. She’s the sweetest but obviously you don’t mess with her and her TV.

Of course Ricky’s the first to jump in and offer to help which leads to Tom being hassled into joining him on the roof. It doesn’t seem like a good combination, especially after everything that just happened, but off he goes. As he passes you, you reach out and squeeze his arm lightly, whispering a “good luck”. He smiles at you halfheartedly, clearly already feeling defeated and it hasn’t even been a full day. It’s not long before Jake rushes after him (but not before catching your eye and nearly running into you as he passes, which leaves you feeling lightheaded in the best way possible). Hopefully with the both of them Ricky won’t be too much of a problem.

With nothing else to do while Bethany complains to her dad about Tom, you wander over to where Tom and Bethany’s younger cousins and sister are. The twins, Art and Lee, are playing some sort of video game that seems cool so you watch them play for a bit while also keeping an eye on Hannah. She’s playing with her toys and it astounds you how immersed she can become in her own little world. Oh how you wish you could go back to that time.

The twins’ game starts getting intense and you find yourself locked in on their skills. You know being addicted to video games isn’t the best for them in the grand scheme of things, but at least it looks cool.

When you turn towards Hannah you’re startled to see she’s disappeared. She was right there just a second ago, but now she’s gone. Her toys being the only things left behind.

Loud banging starts to come from upstairs and you watch as even the twins seem interested as to what’s going on up there. They pause their game and look at you before it’s all silently agreed upon that the three of you should check it out.

By the time you get up to the attic you can hear screaming and even more banging around. You’re the last to reach the top, and you become confused as you notice Hannah seems frozen in place by the window and that Art and Lee are looking at each other as if they’re bickering about something.

You rush over to them and your heart rate picks up rapidly as you notice Jake banging on the window, begging for someone to open it. Reaching out, you unclasp the lock and step back as both Jake and Tom stumble inside.

You’re completely lost on what’s going on, confused as to why Tom is yelling at everyone to get downstairs when suddenly something is crashing its way through the window, shattered glass flying everywhere.

The room is dead silent as four small things stand before you all. The air seems to completely leave your lungs as you gasp at the sight. What are those things?

“Creepy crawlies,” Hannah squeaks out, obviously terrified over these newfound intruders. You reach for her, guiding her back towards you and away from whatever those creatures are. One of them starts to mimic Hannah and once they begin to advance, you all fly down the attic steps.

You get the twins and Hannah out first, you following closely behind. Tom and Jake are right behind you and as you go to help the twins bring up the ladder to try and stop the invaders from following you, you’re eyes go wide as you watch both the brunette and the blonde tumble down the steps, the two of them falling flat on their faces.

“Are you guys ok?” You rush out as you go to kneel by them, wanting to make sure they didn’t get knocked out. They turn around and seem okay but for some reason Jake grasps Tom by his collar and pins him down, demanding him to prove he’s not a zombie, whatever that means.

“You wet the bed until you were ten! A zombie wouldn’t know that!” Jake goes rigid and looks sheepishly at you before turning back towards Tom.

“Thanks a lot, man.” You giggle before your head snaps back towards the entrance to the attic, the door flying open again as the little gremlins try to make their way out.

Instantly, you, Tom, and Jake are up on your feet doing all you can to stop them from coming down. The twins and Hannah are freaking out and you feel bad for Art as he screams that he's been scratched.

With Jake’s help you’re able to slam the door shut, chopping off the nails of one of the martians in the process. Tom latches the rope tightly and for now it works, but something tells you it won’t last long.

Your best friend yells out that you all have to call the police and that’s exactly what you have in mind as you go racing to the boys’ shared room.

As soon as you get there you’re all checking your phones, but none of them work. The signal’s dead and the thought of not being able to call for help makes your heart sink.

You look to Tom in hopes he has something in mind, but the uncertainty doesn’t last long thankfully as Hannah finds a phone on the desk and says it’s working. Art hurries over to it but complains there’s no buttons.

“That’s a rotary phone, there are no buttons, you have to spin it,” you explain as you go over there to dial it for him. The phone begins to ring and you hand it over to Tom so he can explain exactly what’s going on to the police.

The call seems to be going okay from what you can tell, but then Tom starts saying “Hello?” over and over again into the phone and with that you know the line’s gone dead.

“We have to tell our parents,” he says as he hangs up the now useless phone. Everybody nods and heads towards the door when out of nowhere there’s banging on one of the windows.

Slowly, everyone advances towards the window. You watch as Jake reaches out and snatches open the curtain. You all jump back as Ricky’s face appears. He’s upside down and swinging side to side. As Jake opens the window and pokes him with one of Hannah’s toys, Ricky begins saying something, but it becomes clear he’s not talking to you guys. It’s the aliens and they’re arguing with each other and it’s all being relayed to you through him. Weird.

Tom explains to everyone that what’s happening with Ricky is like a bluetooth device. The guy’s a human speaker at this point. The aliens go on and on until Ricky’s body becomes too heavy for the rope he’s attached to to hold him up anymore. He goes flying down the side of the house and it does not sound pretty when he hits the ground.

Per usual Tom starts piecing things together. You’ve always loved how his brain could work like that, God knows it always helped you, him, and Bethany when you needed a good plan to get out of trouble. It seems he hasn’t lost his touch unlike how he’s been pretending he has.

Good news is apparently the mind control device the aliens are using won’t work on any of you since you’re all still considered kids. Bad news is, Tom’s parents, his uncle, and Nana are all at risk of being controlled. Also apparently Ricky’s a senior in college which is why the chip worked on him. Wonderful.

The twins want to go tell the adults what’s going on, and part of you agrees but also realizes it won’t help the situation at all. If anything it’ll make it worse because as soon as those aliens lock eyes on them, they’re done for.

Jake starts going on about practically bringing in the national guard which blows your mind on how someone can come up with an even worse plan. Imagine having armed alien zombies. At least he’s pretty, you think.

Tom takes command and starts telling everyone that you can’t tell any adults about what’s going on. It’s up to you guys to fix this and send these aliens back to where they came from. Everyone seems to understand but when you all look towards Hannah to make sure she’s got it, she’s gone.

Crap.

*****

After finding Hannah and narrowly convincing Mr. and Mrs. Pearson, as well as Nate, that everything was okay, you all regrouped and started to brainstorm. Jake took charge and essentially turned on his commander mode which was a little funny but also pretty impressive.

You’ll definitely decide on which one it is after you see the outcome of this plan he’s enacted. Jake’s brought you all outside to the side of the house and it’s apparent that he plans on climbing the vines and seeing what’s going on with the aliens in the attic.

You’re honestly just hoping he makes it there and back in one piece at this point.

Once Jake starts climbing, Tom decides he’s going up there with him. It’s hard watching Jake climb up there, but now watching the both of them? You squeak out to Hannah to tell you when it’s over, and she nods while calling after Tom to be careful.

They seem to be doing alright. The rickety wooden structure they’re clinging to is making you nervous but it should be fine, right?

Wrong, Jake loses his balance and both boys come plummeting to the ground. You swear you can hear a bone snap as they hit the grass. The three younger kids “ooo” and “ahh” over the harsh landing, while you fly over to them to make sure they’re alive.

“I knew this was a bad idea! Are you guys okay!?” You once again find yourself kneeling beside both boys. Tom shoots up from the ground but Jake seems to be taking his time so you lean into him, placing your hand lightly on his shoulder. “Jake, are you hurt?”

He looks up at you with clear blue eyes and a smile on his face that lets you know him being hurt is definitely not the reason he’s still laying on the ground. “I’m fine now that you’re here.”

You find yourself at a loss for words as a smile breaks out on your face. He’s so cheesy but man is it endearing. Tom scoffs from the side of you and you look up at him timidly.

“I’m fine, Y/N, thanks for asking!” He huffs while brushing off bits of leaves from his shirt.

“Hey I asked if you were alright! You shot up so fast I figured you must be happy and healthy considering you had all that speed! Besides, Jake was still laying on the ground, there could’ve been something wrong with him.”

Tom chuckles and nods his head. “Oh there’s something wrong with him alright!” Jake glares at him and you can tell there’s something between them you don’t know about, but before you can question it and before Jake can retaliate Tom is ushering everyone to get a move on. “We’ve got to get to the basement!”

Before any more bickering can ensue, you’re all rushing back to the house but get stopped short as Bethany rounds the corner asking if you’ve seen Ricky.

Your eyes dart quickly to his body that’s still laying on the side of the house from when he fell earlier, and you rack your brain trying to come up with a good excuse.

“I think he said he was gonna go sit by the lake to work on his tan!” You rush out as Bethany starts to turn towards Ricky’s body. “He told us he wanted you to meet him there so I’d definitely head on over, it looked like he wanted to talk!”

Bethany looks at everyone skeptically, finding it odd you’ve seemed to create this group when she never would’ve guessed for all her siblings and cousins to find common ground, especially with her best friend. But she appears to accept it as she shrugs and thanks you before marching off towards the lake. You all let out a collective breath before dashing into the house and heading down to the basement.

*****

Looking through all of these random items in the basement has you feeling a little squeamish. You swear some of the laundry that’s in these baskets has been down here for half a decade.

Moving a few tarnished boxes aside, you jump a little when you feel someone come up next to you. You turn and realize it’s just Jake and let out a small laugh, trying to settle your nerves.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says, smiling sheepishly. You shake your head to let him know it’s ok and you watch as he starts to mindlessly look through boxes around you. “So, how long have you known Tom and Bethany?”

“Oh practically my whole life! I met Tom in Kindergarten and I met Bethany after he invited me over to hang out.” You smile as you think back on the memory. “I’ve been inseparable from them ever since.”

“That’s really nice, they seem to care a lot about you,” Jake replies. The blonde seems to lose his usual cocky attitude for a moment as he continues, “I’m glad you came along with them.”

Your eyes meet and even in the shadowy darkness of the basement, you can still see all the sea blue hues his contain. “Me too,” you whisper.

Jake moves one of his hands at the same time you do to search through more of the boxes and it causes them to collide. Somehow neither of you jump back from the contact, instead you bask in it. Jake practically has his pinky wrapped around yours, warmth traveling every which way in your guys’ hands.

The feeling is incredibly comforting. You don’t know what it is that draws you to Jake, or why you feel it in the first place, you just know it feels good, right.

For a minute you feel like you could stay like this forever, but then Tom’s voice rings out through the basement.

“I’m telling you, their map led down here.”

You and Jake break apart, he grins at you before turning towards his cousin. “You sure about that?”

“Ssh,” Hannah says. “You hear that? Rice Krispies.”

Everyone moves towards the center of the basement and is dead quiet. You strain your ears to try and see what Hannah’s talking about and after a second you can hear it. Some sort of static.

Art pulls out his Nintendo DS and hands it to Tom. You peak over his shoulder and notice the screen is completely messed up. It’s like some other-worldly message has taken over both screens. Tom immediately confirms it’s the aliens.

The group disperses and you start to search again with Tom as Jake hurries towards a bucket of gardening tools. “Well whatever it is, we can’t let them get to it! Everyone, gear up. We move on my command.”

You and Tom exchange a glance before moving back towards Jake. Tom starts to talk about needing a plan, that just going after them with random junk will do nothing good. You hate to say it considering your feelings for Jake, but you agree with him. It’s too dangerous to go up there with nothing but a whim.

Jake argues with the brunette, set on heading straight for the aliens with what they’ve got. He motions for the twins and you notice they’re immediately on board with their brother.

“Y/N, are you coming?” Jake looks to you in solidarity, but you unfortunately can’t give it to him.

“I’m sorry, Jake. I’m with Tom on this one.” The look that flashes in the boy’s eyes, disappointment, makes you frown. But you won’t change your mind, having a plan is the best option in this case. Jake nods at you before racing up the stairs with the twins, leaving you with Tom and Hannah.

“Guess it’s up to us, guys,” you say, grinning softly at Hannah and Tom. Your best friend smirks at the two of you, a plan no doubt already forming.

“Hannah,” Tom says. “Hand me that tape.”

*****

It’s impressive how quickly Tom was able to come up with a…weapon? You wouldn’t necessarily call it a weapon considering what it is, but at least it’s something and you’re sure it’ll help in some capacity.

As you rush up the stairs to get to the attic, you already begin to hear yelling coming from the other boys. Tom looks at you and Hannah before suggesting you stay behind him.

Tom goes to open the door and as soon as he does the yelling intensifies. You can’t make out what the others are saying but the moment you step foot in the room, you get the idea.

Immediately you’re lifted off the floor, a weightless feeling settling over your body. In an instant you find yourself practically attached to the ceiling along with everyone else. You’ve never felt anything like this before and under any other circumstances you’d think it was cool.

Looking towards the attic you notice two of the aliens hop down easily to the floor. One of the twins yells out something about anti-gravity boots and in this moment you wish with everything you’ve got that you had a pair of those boots right about now.

Jake calls for Tom to use his weapon but before he even sets it off you know it’ll be useless in this situation. As soon as Tom pushes the trigger, the potato slowly flies through the air like everything else in the room and does nothing to stop the aliens. Yikes.

“Hurry, Tommy!” Hannah yells and you look around the room to find anything that might help.

You find your answer right next to your best friend. “Tom! Use the fire extinguisher, it’s right there!”

The brunette looks to his side and finds exactly what he needs. As quick as he can he unlatches it and sets it off, sending him flying across the room. Tom reaches the door, closes and locks it, before spraying the aliens with what’s left in the container. You cheer at the small victory.

“Jake, get the grenade!” Tom calls out and in no time his cousin is doing exactly that. In an impressive set of moves Jake is able to use the lack of gravity to his advantage and dive to the floor to get the device causing everyone to float. He throws it towards Tom and as if it was a baseball bat Tom uses the extinguisher to smash the anti-gravity device to pieces.

Immediately you find yourself falling to the ground, meeting a not so soft landing. You groan and turn to the side, finding Jake lying next to you. He sits up quickly and reaches his hand out towards you. Graciously accepting it he pulls you up and you stumble into him, finding yourself mere inches from his face.

“Thanks for the help,” you let out airily, suddenly finding it hard to breathe as you look in his eyes and feel his cool breath on your lips.

“Anytime.”

Hearing a commotion by the door, you notice Tom has started using the fire extinguisher for something else, this time to beat the aliens back. In no time they come to realize there’s no where else for them to go so they’re scurrying back into the attic. Before the attic door closes something falls from one of the aliens’ grip and clatters to the floor. You help Jake secure the door before going to investigate whatever it is.

The twins have a hold of it and are going back and forth on who gets to see it first. Something tells you that their tug of war with the device is doing more harm than good, but who knows?

Jake marches over and halts their bickering instantly, warning them it’s not a toy and that what’s happening is very much real. You look over and see Tom’s discovered something outside the window, so you walk over to see what’s caught his attention.

“Ricky?” You question, taking in the fact that controller must but what they were using to control him earlier. Tom smirks and nods his head. “Well this should be fun.”

“Get him before somebody finds him. I’ll stand on alien watch,” Jake says before handing the controller back to his brothers.

Tom and the twins make their way out the door, but you stay behind with Jake and Hannah. “Need a helping hand?”

Jake looks at you and smiles, lightly shrugging one of his shoulders before saying, “From you? Always.”

You try to hide the way he so easily makes you smile by busying yourself. “Let’s move this couch over, we can use it as cover incase the aliens try anything.”

The blonde moves to help you push the couch and as you set it into place he says, “I like the way you think.”

Softly biting the inside of your cheek, you look away so you don’t melt right here on the floor. When you turn, you’re met with Hannah’s mischievous grin. She holds her sock monkey close and gives you a look that lets you know she’s so onto you and her cousin.

The little girl doesn’t even have to say anything because she knows, as do you, that you’re falling for a certain lanky blonde and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

*****

As you stand guard with Hannah and Jake, you take in the fact it’s been really quiet for a while. You guess it’s better than the aliens actively trying to attack, but it’s definitely suspicious.

You and Jake haven’t spoken since you moved the couch, wanting to be on high alert, but even without talking he’s still distracting you. There have been countless moments since the three of you took cover behind the couch where Jake would accidentally bump into you or brush his shoulder against yours. Each time it sent a strike of electricity through you, and each time he wouldn’t make a move to scoot over. Neither would you.

It’s like a game of cat and mouse and even though there are clearly bigger things to deal with and stay focused on, it excites you and makes you feel giddy. Although the circumstances are less than ideal, you’re so happy to be sharing this time with Jake. He’s chaotic and a little unhinged at times, but you can tell he’s a softie underneath it all and is just trying to look after his family.

Turning to look at the boy on your mind, he feels your stare and moves to make contact, but before he gets the chance Tom and the twins are making their way up the stairs and into the room with you guys. You move over some and instantly feel the lack of Jake’s presence.

The blonde starts filling in his cousin and brothers and gets info on Ricky when all of a sudden you hear movement in the vents. Jake questions it and Tom rushes out that the aliens are using their map to try and get to the basement. All they need is the vents and they’ll end up right where they want to be. Oh God.

*****

“So you’re sure this is gonna work?” You question as Tom turns up the heat on the thermostat. It seems like a solid plan, but from what you’ve seen so far these aliens can handle pretty much anything.

“Let’s find out shall we?”

Hustling back up the stairs the twins inform you all that the aliens seem pretty mad. As you head back into the room with the attic door you can hear the intruders rushing back to where they were hiding out. It worked!

Everyone celebrates the victory but it doesn’t last long as Mr. Pearson calls for everyone to go downstairs.

He questions why the heat is on and you all try to convince him it’s freezing in the house but he doesn’t seem to believe it. Tom fights him on it and tries to come up with more excuses, but you can tell things are starting to get escalated.

Mr. Pearson starts bringing up Tom’s misbehaviors that have happened since you all arrived, but what really snaps the chord is when he brings up Tom’s failing grades. What Tom says next shocks you.

“I failed them on purpose! Yeah I tanked my grades, okay? I’m tired of getting picked on because I’m a brainiac!” The comment makes your heart ache. You knew Tom had been struggling lately, you saw what went on at school but never knew he would resort to this. Everyone around you is silent, their own thoughts on this confession coursing through their heads.

Tom’s dad speaks up first. “I was a brainiac. It worked for me.”

“I don’t wanna be like you. I wanna be cool!” If you thought the room was quiet before, it’s nothing compared to now. Even Mr. Pearson’s gone silent and you can see the hurt on his face clear as day.

“Don’t touch the thermostat,” he says before turning to walk away. The younger kids start to go back upstairs and you, Jake, and Tom go to do the same.

“Is that true?” Jake asks. “You really fail on purpose?”

“Nobody likes a mathlete,” Tom sighs, and before he can get any farther up the stairs you stop him in his tracks, wrapping your arms around his neck and holding him close to you.

“Your intelligence is one of the most special and unique parts of you. Never let anyone make you feel less just because they don’t understand that, okay?” You say into his ear, and the way he squeezes you in return lets you know he appreciates the sentiment. Letting go of him you continue up the stairs and say, “Now, what do we do? We can’t fight these things with your guys’ parents around.”

“We can’t just make them leave,” Jake replies, a stumped look on his face. This whole situation is hard to deal with and with only you guys to figure out a plan, it makes it even more challenging.

“Maybe we can,” Tom says looking between the both of you. “Here’s what I want you to do.”

*****

It blows your mind, even to this day, how Tom’s able to come up with the craziest and yet most genius plans. He takes Art to go track down Ricky because he’s going to somehow use him to get all the parents to leave the house. Meanwhile you, Jake, Hannah, and Lee create a type of spy camera out of some old Barbie toys. You connect everything and are able to see exactly what the car sees on a laptop, it’s perfect.

As you watch the screen, so far there’s nothing around. There’s a small part of you that hopes the aliens retreated and are giving up but there’s another part of you that knows there’s a slim chance of that happening.

Your thoughts are further confirmed as the camera gets flipped over and a squashed looking face pops up on the screen. Before you know it the lavender Barbie car is flying out of the open vent and smashing into pieces on the floor. Well, so much for that.

“C’mon, I have an idea,” Jake says as he rushes out of the room. You look at Hannah and Lee and you all shrug your shoulders before heading after the blonde. You and Hannah go straight for her cousin while Lee goes off to continue his part of the plan.

When you get to the hallway, you find Jake kneeling in front of the vent on the stairs, he has it open and appears to be throwing something inside of it. You get closer and realize he has some firecrackers. Must be more reinforcements he brought with him on vacation. You know, to go along with the paintball gun.

“Hey, not to question your plan or anything, but you’re not gonna set the house on fire, right?” You’re mostly joking…mostly. You kneel next to him and he laughs before throwing in another.

“Of course not! I just wanna wish those little space maggots a happy Fourth of July!” Jake smirks before taking out another firecracker from his pocket, this one looking a bit bigger than the last.

You just sit and hope Mr. and Mrs. Pearson have insurance…

Next thing you know Tom comes up the stairs with the twins and lets everyone know the coast is clear, the parents are gone. Jake revels in this and tosses in the larger firecracker he took out. The sound is loud and from the screams and fast footsteps you hear in the vents, you can tell it works to draw away the aliens.

Tom urges you and Hannah to go hide and although you can handle yourself, you agree to go along with the girl so she won’t be alone. Who knows what else these invaders have up their sleeves.

As soon as you and Hannah reach the room she’s staying in, you usher her under the bed, you sliding in after her. It’s not the best hiding spot but at least it’s something.

You can hear the aliens running through the vents and more firecrackers going off. It goes quiet for a second but then you hear some sort of clatter and feel something drop on the bed above you.

Both you and Hannah slowly slide out from under the bed a bit to try and see what it is. You’re met with a green face popping up from the top of the bed and it leads you and Hannah to start screaming. What’s weird though is that the alien starts screaming back!

He falls off the bed and lands right in a slinky that’s laying on the ground, he gets wrapped up in it and if you’re being honest the way he struggles with it and is mumbling to himself is kind of adorable.

The two of you feel bad for the little guy so you and Hannah each take an end of the slinky and begin to untangle him. The way he cowers and whispers that he comes in peace lets you know he’s completely harmless. As you remove the last ring of slinky, Hannah notices he has a cut and bandages him up.

It’s adorable in a crazy, weird type of way. So be it, though!

Once he’s all fixed up, the alien takes in his surroundings. He notices the toy instruments scattered on the floor and begins to play around with them a bit. Before you know it he’s a complete one man band and has a whole show going! It amazes you and Hannah and ends up with the two of you laughing and dancing around.

After he’s done Hannah begins to show him a bunch of her toys and even tells him about her bubble gun that’s been broken for a while. What stumped Hannah’s dad on what to fix is no problem for the alien and he has it fixed in practically seconds. It’s incredible.

While Hannah and the alien begin to talk about it, you see the boys rush into the room, immediately going into attack mode.

“Enemy armed! Enemy armed!” Jake starts to yell as he looks around for something to defend himself with.

“Hannah! Y/N! Step away from the alien!” Tom approaches the two of you while Jake grabs a bat, and Hannah instantly goes into defense mode at the sight of it.

“No! Leave him alone! He’s our friend!” She demands as she holds her arms out, doing what she can to stop the guys from advancing.

“He was just holding a ray gun to your head!” Art calls out and to prove him wrong Hannah picks up her bubble blower.

“It’s my bubble blower. He fixed it for me.” She holds up the gun for them to see and continues. “He’s not like the others.”

The four boys look to you for confirmation and you nod your head. “She’s telling the truth. He’s harmless and actually pretty sweet. Look!��

You motion for everyone to look under the bed where the little guy has retreated in fear. The moment you all lay on the ground, you can tell he’s unsure what to do. The alien cowers back towards the wall and looks more stressed than you during exams and that’s saying something.

“First sign of aggression I’m taking him out. With extreme prejudice,” Jake says, holding the bat he picked up close to him.

“Jake! I’m telling you, it’s fine, he’s fine! He’s not gonna hurt us. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.” The boy looks at you and it’s obvious he trusts what you’re saying. He gives you a tightlipped smile and a nod but you can tell he’s still on guard. That’s fair, at least he’s backed off a little.

“It’s okay, Mr. Snuggle Lump,” Hannah coos from beside you. The name isn’t the best and you advised her not to name him considering he is an alien and definitely not a pet, but she insisted.

The boys question the name and Tom reiterates the fact she shouldn’t name him. The alien introduces himself amidst all his anxiety (his name is Sparks) and Hannah waves at him. Sparks returns her wave but immediately pulls his hand back, still unsure of his safety.

“Awh,” Jake smiles and you nudge him in a “See?” manner. He blushes and nudges you back, trying to recover by saying “I mean, ugh!” You just roll your eyes in response, smirking.

Tom asses Sparks’ tools and demeanor and suggests that you guys are right. He definitely doesn’t seem or appear like the others. He and Hannah coerce him out from under the bed and Sparks humors everyone by using some sort of static device to make Hannah’s hair stand up. It sends you all into a laughing fit.

Before long Tom and Jake want to jump into interrogation mode. They pull up a chair and a bright light and shine it on Sparks as if they’re in an episode of Law & Order. It’s a bit much but considering you’re all trying to save the world, you let it slide.

Tom and Jake shoot a million different questions at Sparks and he gets a little overwhelmed, but after a while he figures out the best way to explain it to everyone is by showing it. Tom gives him some paper and crayons and in no time Sparks has drawn a full diagram of the house and the objective they’re looking for.

What they’re after isn’t in the basement, it’s under it!

As Sparks continues to build diagrams out of Legos of what they’re after, Jake continues with quips about him. He goes on about how they can’t trust him and that Sparks is a freak. Hannah’s getting pretty upset about it all and honestly so are you.

Tom tries to convince Jake that Sparks is different from the others, but he’s still not having any of it. Tired of the back and forth, you pull Jake aside while Sparks continues to talk to everyone else.

“Look, blondie, you’re cute when you’re sarcastic but the straight up mean jabs towards Sparks is getting to be a little much! Hannah’s clearly upset about it and even though I know it’s insane to think we should trust this alien, I’m telling you we should! I mean even Tom, the brains, thinks we can trust him so I’m gonna need you to as well at least just a little bit!”

Jake peers down at you and that smirk you saw earlier returns to his pretty pink lips. “So you think I’m cute?”

You scoff as heat rises to your cheeks, the confidence you had a few seconds ago faltering a little as you look into the boy’s sparkling eyes. “That’s seriously all you got out of that?!”

The blonde shrugs and leans in a little closer to you. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Taking a daring step closer to Jake, you place your pointer finger on his chest, poking at it to annunciate your words. “All I’m saying is, if you’re not gonna trust Sparks at least trust me and your cousins. And stop throwing out insults to the alien! You’re hurting Hannah’s feelings.”

“Alright, I will.” Jake’s comedic tone disappears, a look of genuine understanding and trust passing through his eyes. The next second he’s back to his usual self. “You know, it’s kinda cute when you’re snappy.”

Humming, you tilt you head up towards the boy, finding yourself closer to him than you’ve ever been before. “You’re something else, Jake Pearson, you know that?”

“I get that a lot,” he cheekily replies. You roll your eyes and laugh before pushing him away from you lightly and walking back towards the rest of the group.

*****

“Woah!” You awe at Sparks’ work as Tom holds up his new and improved potato gun. You don’t know how he did it, the little guy works so fast, but he took something so simple and turned it into something amazing! You’d definitely want him as your electronic repairman—er, repairalien?

Everyone’s heads shoot up as beeping can be heard from outside. You and Jake hurry to the window and the first thing you see is a brown squad car. Great.

“It’s the po-po, be cool,” Jake urges and you stifle your laugh at his weird sayings. As if it couldn’t get any worse, though, someone starts banging on the bedroom door.

You listen in and realize it’s their grandma. You guess they weren’t able to get rid of everyone.

“Crap! We forgot about Nana!” Jake moves away from the window and goes to stand by Tom. From the look on your best friend’s face, you can tell he’s not convinced it’s his beloved grandmother. From the way she’s talking, you aren’t either.

“I may not know her extremely well, but I’d bet money that isn’t your Nana,” you say, jumping back a little when she knocks particularly loudly.

“Are you sure?” Jake questions. Not a second later and the door is flying forward, completely off it’s hinges. Nana growls at you all and if you weren’t one hundred percent sure before, you are now!

“Yeah, I’m sure!” You cry out. All of you start to take several steps back as Nana makes her way forward. She heads straight for Hannah and Sparks, so you, Tom, and Jake do all you can to prevent her from reaching them.

Nana throws Tom off to the side and then once she gets to Jake she’s sinking her teeth into his arm, leaving her dentures hanging on his arm as she pulls away. Gross! The horrified look on Jake’s face says it all.

Before Nana can reach Hannah, you plant yourself in front of her, doing your best to try and guide her away without hurting her, but it’s no use as she easily tosses you aside just like with Tom. You land on the floor with a thud.

“Do something, Tom!” Jake calls out as he tries to recover from the Nana-sized bite on his arm.

Thinking fast, Tom pushes a skateboard out in front of Nana and it sends her flying back. One of the aliens pops out from under her and lands on her chest. It’s doesn’t take him long to recover though and in a second he’s got Nana back up on her feet.

You try to think of something to stop him, but you don’t even need to as Hannah’s way ahead of you. She blasts the alien with her bubble gun and it sends him in a frenzy. Art gets ahold of Nana’s controller and in the chaos Tom’s able to trap the little thing in a fishing net.

Jumping to open a chest near the bed, you urge Tom to put him in there. You leave Jake to lock it and head over towards Hannah and her suitcase where she’s hidden Sparks. It’s obvious the aliens know he’s in there, so you have to do something to throw them off.

You help Hannah unzip the pink suitcase quickly, and lead Sparks to a mountain of pillows on the bed where he blends in perfectly. You do it not a moment too soon because when you turn around, the other aliens are running into the room looking to retrieve Sparks.

One of them gets their hands on Jake’s paintball gun and suddenly you’re all being shot at. You hit the deck along with everyone else and just like you thought they would, the aliens get away with the suitcase.

Tom turns towards you and Hannah, feeling disappointed in the loss of Sparks. “I’m sorry, guys. I’m sorry they got him.”

You and Hannah glance at each other, smiling, before you step forward and take the top pillows off the mountain you hid Sparks under. The two of you high five in excitement at outsmarting the aliens.

Per usual, every victory is met with a new challenge. The “po-po” as Jake likes to call them, starts speaking into his megaphone demanding for someone to open the door. It’s pretty doomed from what you can tell but you’re sure Tom will come up with something.

“You guys get rid of the cop. I’m going after the aliens,” Jake says as he starts to back out of the room. Immediately you’re not having any of it. No way he’s going alone.

“Wait!” You call after Jake and he stops in the doorway. You turn towards Tom before following the blonde. “You got this? He shouldn’t go alone.”

He nods his head. In the back of his mind he takes in the worried look on your face, the obvious signs his best friend is starting to care for his rambunctious cousin. He doesn’t fully love it, more-so because of Jake and his antics, but he accepts it. “Yeah, you go, I’ll handle it, don’t worry.” With that, you trail after Jake, stepping out into the hallway with him.

“Did you really think I was just gonna let you go after them on your own?” You look up at the boy and tilt you head, giving him a look of coy disbelief.

“I should’ve known better. My apologies,” he grins.

“I’ll accept it just this once. As long as you know we’re in this together. It’s you and me.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” Surprising you, Jake intertwines one of his hands with yours, a flurry of butterflies erupting in your stomach instantly. “Let’s do this.”

And with that, the two of you race up the stairs, heading straight into whatever comes next.

*****

“Jake! He’s over there! He’s about to shoot someone!” Carefully stepping higher on the roof, you point off to the right, showing Jake exactly where the alien is.

“Not on my watch!” In a flash Jake throws a rake he found up on the roof. It successfully knocks the alien on his side, making him miss his shot.

The martian’s back on his feet in no time and you and Jake rush after him. He begins to repeat everything the boy says and it irritates the crap out of you. You really need to get these things out of here, now!

Leading you both back to the window to get inside, Jake’s the first to reach it and as he leans in, his body is instantly thrown back.

“Jake!” You race towards him and take in the paint splatters all over his face and chest. He’s almost completely knocked out. The boy reaches a hand out and tries to hold on to you, but it’s too late. As you turn back towards the window, you’re met with the male and female aliens, who strike you with the paintball gun, knocking you out cold.

*****

When you come to you almost get knocked out yet again. For some reason your head keeps getting thumped against something over and over and it feels as if you’re heading down a hill.

Opening your eyes fully and trying to get your bearings you realize you’re being dragged down the stairs. Each time you get pulled forward your head flies back onto the steps, causing an unbearable ache to start to bloom there.

You go to open your mouth to say something, but panic fills you as you realize you can’t. Your mouth has been stuffed with cloth and taped over, and the panic only intensifies when you go to move your arms and legs and note you can’t move them either. It’s as if your whole body has been bound together, leaving you no room to try and escape.

Heartbeat pounding in your ears, you find yourself unable to concentrate on anything, feeling as if you’re underwater and everything is being drowned out.

Your head lolls to the side and in doing so you come face to face with Jake’s head. You take in the fact he looks like he’s trying to say something to you, but you can’t make out any of it as he’s in the same situation you’re in. Tears fill your eyes as the feeling of being trapped sinks in. The ropes around your body start to rub as you become more awake and the feeling makes you feel like you’re on fire.

For such small aliens it takes them practically no time to drag you and Jake down to the basement. The trip down there is no easier than the one down the main stairs and you’re sure you’ll have splinters all over if and when you get out of here.

The thought of maybe not even surviving this whole thing only heightens your current emotions. Your breath becomes more ragged and you find it hard to even keep your eyes open as the aliens begin to dig in the ground and throw dirt towards you and Jake.

Noticing your obvious stress and wanting to do anything he can to try and help, Jake inches himself closer to you. He takes in your tear stained cheeks and rapid rise and fall of your chest as he turns his body and immediately feels an ache in his chest at the sight of it. He’s terrified, but the fact you have to go through this too makes it even worse. Part of him wishes he would’ve urged you to stay with the others so you wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Hey, Y/N, look at me!” Jake tries to grab your attention, but his voice comes out muffled due to the tape and cloth. The boy tries again, doing his best to try and talk to you.

Amidst your racing heartbeat and choke-backed sobs, you notice the movement beside you and can hear Jake’s muffled voice. You tilt your head and are met with his dirt-caked face. Even with all the mud, paint, and dim lighting coming from the alien’s tools, his eyes shine bright. The familiarity of them soothes you a bit but not enough as more dirt gets thrown your way and the aliens’ delighted voices reach your ears. It’s clear they’re getting closer to what they’re looking for.

You drop your head back to the ground, feeling defeated and so tired. The ache at the back of your head is starting to dull but it’s still throbbing, making you miserable and feeling like you can’t concentrate on Jake.

“No, c’mon, Y/N, keep your head up! Look at me, it’s okay!” Jake wishes with everything he’s got that he could somehow rip off the tape and cloth wrapped around his mouth. He’d give anything to just be able to talk to you clearly and try to ground you during this crazy experience.

Moving your head up and struggling to get closer to Jake, you do your best to try and stay focused on him. You can see the desperation on his face, his concern and empathy. It makes your heart swell that he cares so much about you and your well being when he’s going through the same exact thing.

The blonde tilts his head down and leans his forehead gently against yours. The warmth and light pressure of it allows you to focus on him and him alone. “It’s okay, I’m right here. I’m right here.” Jake’s muffled encouragement is hard to understand, but the intention is clear. You push back softly against his forehead, doing what you can to let him know that he’s helping you more than he could ever realize, that you’re here for him just as much as he’s here for you.

A bright light begins shinning from the ground and excited cheers follow. The aliens found what they were looking for. It’s actually happening, more aliens are going to invade planet earth.

As the aliens start grabbing what they need, it becomes clear they have no use for you and Jake. Before they leave to begin their invasion, they shove the two of you into the hole they created in the ground and that’s the last thing you see before everything goes dark.

*****

When you wake up it’s to the feeling of a decent sized weight being dropped on you. Dirt and rubble fly everywhere and you push yourself backwards, wanting to distance yourself from whatever it is.

A light flashes across your face and you’re sure it’s the aliens before suddenly everything comes into focus and your met with your best friends, Hannah, and the twins. Relief floods your body and you nearly burst into happy tears at the sight.

The group lifts you and Jake out of the rubble and you’ve never felt more grateful than you do in this moment, especially once Bethany and Hannah get the tape and ropes off of you. As soon as you’re able to move freely, you wrap your arms around them both, holding them close and thanking all your stars that you made it out of that situation alive. There’s still much to do, but in this moment you’re safe.

After getting intel from Jake, Tom comes over and hugs you as well, telling you he’s glad you’re okay. Once letting go of him, it’s no brainer that you lunge towards Jake, wrapping your arms around him and holding him as close as possible, taking in his warmth and tight grasp.

The blonde nuzzles his face into your neck, trying to get his brain to understand you’re both safe, you both made it, that it’s okay now. He rubs his hands up and down your back soothingly, almost using it as a technique to convince himself you’re here and in his arms.

“Thank you,” you whisper into the side of his head. Those two words holding a meaning so much more than anyone could ever understand.

“-your stupid brother and your dumb little cousins!” The snarky tone and comment has you shocked and causes you to turn out of Jake’s arms. It’s no question who the voice belongs to and when you see it’s being directed at your best friend, anger bubbles under the surface of your skin.

“Don’t talk about my family like that,” Bethany retorts

“Well you don’t have to worry about it anymore cause we’re done. I knew I should’ve stayed home and hooked up with Annie Filkins, she’s smokin’ hot and she doesn’t like talking about feelings all the time! I’m going straight to Annie’s.” Ricky starts to retreat back upstairs but you’re done with his crap. No one gets to talk to one of your best friends like that and get away with it. Especially not after the day you’re having.

“Hey, dirt bag!” You call out, stopping Ricky in his tracks. He turns towards you, a bored look on his face, and it takes everything in you not to smack it right off of him. Walking over to him you continue, “I don’t know what your problems is—actually I can think of about a million, but no one treats my best friend and her family like that and gets to walk away!”

Ricky scoffs at you and rolls his eyes, clearly not caring for anything you have to say. This only makes you more defensive of your friends. “Bethany is the greatest girl you ever had and ever will have! There’s absolutely no one out there who will ever put up with you the way she has, and I know for a fact she deserves a thousand times better than a guy like you! You’ve got some nerve acting all high and mighty when you’re nothing but a selfish jerk that likes to pick up girls half a decade younger than him. And honestly, Ricky, that’s all you ever will be.”

Ricky’s face heats up at this, not feeling as cocky as he was a second ago. “You know what? I don’t have to take this from you! I’m out of here!”

The guy turns around, starting to head back upstairs, but not before you can get one final jab in. “Have a nice trip!” Leaning forward, you kick your foot against the old wooden steps, causing Ricky to trip over his own feet. Unfortunately it doesn’t trip him up too bad, but the stumble you get out of him is enough to satisfy you for now.

When you turn away from the stairs, you’re met with Bethany’s tear-rimmed eyes and bright smile. Before you can even get a word out she has you wrapped in her arms. “You’re my best friend in the whole world, you know that?”

“Forever and always,” you say as you squeeze her in return. “I’m sorry things turned out like this between you.”

“I’m also really sorry,” Tom says as he comes up to the both of you.

“Don’t be, you guys were right all along,” Bethany says, a defeated tone evident in her voice. The sound breaks your heart.

“If it’s any consolation,” Tom says pulling something out of his pocket. “He’s not going straight to Annie’s or anywhere for a while.”

Looking closer at what the brunette has in his hand, you smirk as you realize what it is. A piece from Ricky’s car. It won’t start without it. Good job, Tom!

“Wow!” Bethany exclaims, clearly impressed with her brothers skills, for once.

“Guys, enough with the bonding, we’re at DEFCON one here!” Jake says as he comes over and ushers you all towards the back window.

Once you get a look outside, you know things are only going to get harder from here. The aliens have their whole set up going and you can tell it’s only a matter of time before their whole fleet of other aliens arrive.

“This is so bad,” you mutter, backing up from the window along with everyone else.

Bethany starts questioning things and Tom seems at a loss for answers, as are the rest of you. The boy urges everyone that you all have to stop them before it gets any worse and Hannah demands that Snuggle Lump (Sparks) be rescued. You honestly can’t blame the girl, from what you could see from the window, Sparks is getting treated even worse after his “alliance” with the humans. You worry about what they might do to him.

Lee helps Bethany understand what in the world a Snuggle Lump is and how he’s actually a good guy and once that’s settled, Tom insists everyone gets outside. Before anyone can get far, Jake’s calling out for you all to wait.

“Not so fast, I have a plan.” The look everyone gives him makes it obvious they’re already not so sure about this, Jake picks up on it immediately. “Work with me here! Did Nana give anyone mentos?”

Confused glances travel around the group and you catch Jake’s eye for a second, raising an eyebrow, before Tom asks, “Why?”

“Hand ‘em over!” The blonde rushes out, holding open his hands for everyone to drop their mints into. Without questioning it you all begin to empty your pockets, having enough pieces each to last all week. Nana sure does love to give out her mentos.

“What? We’re gonna throw candy at them?” Bethany questions, not understanding what kind of plan her cousin could possibly have in mind.

“No,” Jake says before looking over at you and from the look on his face you can tell he’s got something good up his sleeve. “My own little science project.”

The blonde moves fast, getting all of his supplies and setting them up in record time. At first you don’t understand what he’s up to, but once you get a good look at everything he’s grabbed, you get the idea, and you’d be lying if you were to say it isn’t incredible.

“Mentos bombs,” you whisper beside him, excitement starting to course through your veins over how this plan might actually work. “You’re a genius!”

It’s like an instinct the way you so easily jump into Jake’s arms. He spins you around, feeling his own sense of pride over his work, and when he puts you down you don’t miss the suspicious glance from Bethany. It completely slipped your mind the fact she essentially missed the whole day with you guys, having been totally oblivious to what was going on until just a little bit ago. She has no clue as to how quickly you and Jake have become close, but from the teasing smirk on her face you can tell she’s more amused than angry. She’d definitely be asking you details later. A part of you can’t wait until then.

Grabbing all of the bombs and any items you can use as weapons, the eight of you take your places. If this works you might only have a small window to do what you need before the soda bombs fizzle out but hopefully it’ll be enough. It has to be.

Before anyone even has a chance to second guess the plan, the bombs are being thrown. Soda goes everywhere and from what you can tell, they’re working!

The aliens get disorientated and before they can regroup you and everyone else rush out into the backyard, the boys going one way and you, Hannah, and Bethany going another. You and Bethany cut off the female alien as Hannah meets up with Sparks. Bethany latches the bin you used to catch the alien and when she’s done you head over to Hannah and her alien companion, wanting to make sure they’re both okay.

An enormous flash of light surrounds the yard and you turn around to see one of the aliens being zapped by their own machine. Everyone starts cheering as he gets flung into the air, but from the look on Sparks’ face you can tell this isn’t anything good.

He tries to get the attention of the others but they’re so wrapped up in their presumed victory that they don’t hear him. You and Hannah rush over, trying to get them to listen to Sparks’ anxious ramblings, but it’s only when the giant alien smashes his way through the trees do they understand.

Oh my God.

The alien starts talking to everyone, clearly convinced he’s won. You find yourself clinging to Jake’s side in fear and you don’t miss the fact he holds his arm out in front of you, acting as some sort of shield. The action makes your heart soar, even under the circumstances.

As the enlarged alien starts to walk away, everyone begins to freak out. Hannah starts questioning Bethany about what’s gonna happen to their parents, the twins look towards their big brother for answers, and Tom stalks forward towards the machinery, no doubt trying to think of something to do.

“Everyone, listen! We don’t have much time,” Tom says as he rejoins the group. “Sparks, can anything go on that machine?”

“Theoretically,” Sparks replies, and the satisfied look on Tom’s face tells you all you need to know. He has a plan and knowing him it’s a good one.

“Art, Lee, I’m gonna need a controller, Bethany and Y/N, I need you to keep the other aliens on lockdown.” You and Bethany look at each other, nodding, ready to take on anything together.

“Okay,” you both tell Tom and after that he’s moving to grab something from the grass.

“Jake, c’mon, this battle’s not over yet!” You’re not sure what Tom’s plan is, but you know it’s definitely not gonna be anything easy, or safe for that matter. As Jake starts to follow Tom towards the machine, you lightly grab onto his wrist, pulling him back.

He turns and looks at you a little confused, but you waste no time in letting him know why you stopped him. Reaching up, you quickly kiss Jake on the cheek, reveling in the warmth you feel there as your lips make contact. “Be safe out there,” you say, taking in his bright smile before rushing off back to Bethany, ready to take on some aliens.

*****

It’s no small feat taking down aliens, even if in fact they are…small.

You and Bethany tussle hard with the female alien and successfully knock her out after she escapes from the bin you trapped her in earlier. Of course there are a few words exchanged and some nails broken, but you and Bethany come out practically unscathed and feel pretty awesome in doing so.

The feeling is fleeting though as you realize the other male alien has become bigger as well. You hurry over to Hannah and Sparks, wanting to do what you can to make sure they’re protected. They seem fearful but thankfully it appears that Tom and Jake have successfully enacted their plan and have gained control of the alien in charge!

The two aliens battle it out, the twins controlling the commander. They seem to be doing a pretty good job, but it’s unclear how long they’ll be able to hold the other one back, especially at his size.

“Sparks!” Tom cries out while running towards you guys. “Reverse the machine!”

In a flash you, Sparks, and Hannah race over to the glowing otherworldly device. Sparks immediately gets to work on reversing the effects of the machine and his hands move so fast you can’t even keep track of what it is he’s doing exactly to complete it. You just sit with Hannah and hope for the best.

In no time Sparks finishes what he’s doing and gives you and Hannah the thumbs up. “Reversed!” Yes!

“Tom! He’s done!” You call out towards your best friend, and with a nod of understanding he uses the controller to push both of the aliens into the improved machine.

Taking several steps back with Hannah and Sparks, the three of you take cover as you watch the aliens’ machine collapse. The female alien narrowly saves her partner but leaves the commander behind. In a flash the whole thing explodes and it’s almost as if it was never there.

Feeling a rush of relief, the three of you get up off the grass and hurry over to the others. You reconnect with Bethany first and then meet up with the boys. You all breathe out words of praise and sighs of relief at seeing everyone’s okay and that the plan worked.

You go to move towards Jake, but Bethany’s worried voice cuts through, causing you to turn around.

“Tom? What about the others? There’s so many.” Looking up at the sky you feel your heart sink at the sight. Dozens of spaceships take up the night sky, no doubt hundreds of aliens aboard them and ready to invade. You’re too late, they’re already here.

“Retreat! Retreat! The machine is destroyed! We have been outsmarted by the hu-mans! The invasion has failed! Retreat to Zirkon right away! Retreat! Retreat!” Sparks’ voice rings out across the backyard and just as soon as they appeared, the spaceships are gone.

“It’s gone. It’s over, it’s all over. We won!” Tom says as he takes it all in. You all move forward, meeting up with Sparks. The smoke is still clearing but the evident relief and happiness on not only your guys’ faces but Sparks’ as well is refreshing. “Thanks, Snuggs, for everything.”

“You’re alright for a space maggot.” Jake tells Sparks and you nudge him softly in his side for it, rolling your eyes at him teasingly as he smiles down at you. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“Miss him? He’s staying here, with us!” Hannah exclaims as she goes to crouch down in front of her newfound friend. “Please don’t go, you can be part of our family.”

The sight warms you heart and you find it cute how Hannah’s taken such a liking to him. Honestly who wouldn’t? Sure he’s an alien, but he’s so kind and he protected people of another species he hardly even knew. You have a feeling there aren’t many other aliens who would do the same.

Sparks pulls something out of one of his pockets, and when he hands it to Hannah you can see exactly what it is. It’s a photo of Sparks and three other aliens, a female and a little boy and girl. It’s his family! Sparks is a father!

“Han,” you say lightly, kneeling down next to the younger girl. “I think he’s already got a family.”

*****

It’s a sad sight, all of you saying goodbye to Sparks on the roof. You nearly lose it as Hannah hands him her sock monkey and the two of them hug.

After a final goodbye, Sparks is off, back to his home planet. The air is still and the only thing you can hear are the crickets and cicadas in the trees surrounding you. Another moment passes before you all look at each other, grins breaking out on your faces leading everyone to erupt into cheers.

The twins are high-fiving each other, Bethany and Tom are hugging Hannah, and you turn towards Jake. When you do, you’re taken by surprise as he rushes towards you, nearly knocking you off your feet as he connects his lips to yours.

The action is sudden and slightly startles you as you weren’t expecting it. Feeling your stiffness and apparent shock, Jake breaks apart from you and takes several steps back.

“I-I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that! I just got excited I wasn’t-!” Cutting him off you take back the distance he made between you, grab onto his shirt, and pull him down towards you, connecting your lips once more.

This time he’s shocked, but Jake quickly recovers and takes your face between his hands, moving his lips perfectly in sync with yours. Even after being piled on with dirt and grime, somehow his pink lips are still soft to the touch and you don’t ever want to know what it’s like to not be able to kiss them.

Needing a second to catch your breath, you reluctantly break apart from the blonde, giggling as he quickly sneaks another peck in. You look up into his blue orbs and smile as you say, “It’s you and me, remember?”

“Ugh, get a room!” Looking over Jake’s shoulder you laugh as you see the “disgusted” look on Tom’s face. He smirks at the both of you before saying, “I should’ve known Jake wouldn’t give up on you.”

Looking over his shoulder, Jake laughs and retorts, “That’s on you, cuz! There was no way I was giving up that easily on this girl. Not even with your threatening best friend warning.”

“Tom!” You cry out, mock disbelief spreading across your face over this revelation. Of course he’d try and block his cousin from getting to you, he’s so protective.

“I think it’s cute!” Bethany coos and you smile at her in return.

“Yeah well just make sure you don’t continue to make out in front of everyone for the rest of the trip. I for one would like to get through the week without throwing up. Plus, there’s children present.” Tom glances towards Hannah and you laugh at her obvious look of irritation, clearly feeling insulted.

“Hey!” Hannah interjects, crossing her arms. The little girl starts to go in on her older brother over the clear level of maturity she has and the sight makes you smile. You’d never get tired of the Pearson family.

Chuckling and shaking his head, Jake turns his attention back to you. He leaves one hand cupping your face as the other grabs onto your waist, gently bringing you in closer to him.

“Anyways, you and me, huh?” He questions, referring back to your comment. He uses one hand to point up at the sky, referencing the aliens, and then points back at his difficult cousin. With a smile on his face he asks, “Against all odds?”

“Against all odds.”

[clovis-enthusiast]

What other Clovis ships do you enjoy? 🤗

(Other than Clovico)

AH HI YES HELLO i always forget to check for asks (and actually answer them as well. so sorry ares cabin asker one day u will get ur post... one day....)

i actually am a huge multi-shipper so the list of characters i ship clovis with is quite long! there are some i prefer and flesh out/explore way more than others for sure, but generally i think they're all very lovely 🫶

ANYWHOOZLE HERES A LIST OF ALL THE SHIPS THAT I LIKE(D) THAT I CAN THINK OF ATM!!

pollux

lou ellen blackstone (i prefer queer platonic partners for them but including anyway)

will solace (by himself or in a poly relationship with clovis AND nico)

jake mason (originated from one of my cosplayer friends apolloshalfblood who duets me as jake!!)

michael yew (originated from one of my cosplayer friends theturtleking72 who duets me as michael! i actually have a WHOLE lore/story behind this ship if anyone would like to hear abt it someday!!)

drew tanaka

mitchell

leo valdez

valentina diaz

butch walker

malcolm pace

dakota

octavian

damien white

jason grace

katie gardner

miranda gardiner (originated from a fanfic by mew-tsubaki!! note: that person also ships lacy and clovis which i do NOT condone. lacy is too young to be in a romantic relationship with clovis.)

sherman yang

nyssa barrera (originated from a fanfic by akheilos and delphin inc and inspired slightly by my cosplayer friend whatami.doing2!!)

alabaster c. torrington

piper mcclean (this was before she got together with shel so while i still like the ship, i feel cautious abt it just bc piper said she doesnt know what her sexuality is and since shes currently woth a woman, i dont want to disregard her potentially having a sexuality that woukd exclude clovis for one reason or another)

austin lake (originated from the artist baylx!!)

ethan nakamura (this is the most recent ship i got into actually! from a rlly good fic called even if you run away, you still see them in your dreams on a03 by mondtstadtlover6000)

and im probs missing a ton of others but these were the ones i could think of off the top of my head!!

(and then i also ship him with some of my own ocs :3 one is named marty diaz from the ares cabin, one is a daughter of hecate who doesn't have a name just yet, and one is a child of hecate named miles/miley!)

my personal favorites (besides clovico) are niclovill, pollovis, and (atm) ethan x clovis!!

and for reference, i hc clovis as somewhere between bi and pan but not rlly caring abt labels. also i hc him as being nonbinary/gender fluid if that adds anything to these ships lolol)

[cricketnationrise]

Congrats on 500 followers! Going Platinum is one of my absolute fave RWRB fics 😘

For Ficlit Fest:

Time: 14:28

Location: the music room at Kensington Palace

Character: June Claremont-Diaz

Song/lyric vibe: I'd scream at the wind but no one would listen (U Deserve - Wasia Project)

My username is the same on Ao3 as here 😊

thank you so much!! the ficlet fest continues to introduce me to absolutely AWESOME music, so thank you for your prompt I am obsessed. enjoy your ficlet feat. angry big sister energy 💜🦗

read all the ficlets from this fest on AO3 here

❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

2:28pm, kensington music room

Most of the time, June can put the fact that Henry is an actual honest-to-god prince, fourth in line for the throne, and all-around big deal out of her mind and think of him as her friend, a fellow Austen-enthusiast, and her little brother’s boyfriend. Most of the time, June can set aside the fact that his sister is a literal princess and their brother is going to be king one day. Most of the time, June can look past the notion that Henry’s mom is going to become queen in her lifetime.

Sitting in goddamn Kensington Palace, in one of the best-appointed music rooms June’s ever seen, is not one of those times. 

Aside from Bea and Henry’s bedrooms, it’s the most casual room she’s seen so far. It’s suffused with a sense of family and laughter, unlike the more public spaces of the palace that seem to sag under stonework and tradition and a persistent phantom dampness. Even the guest suite she was shown to earlier feels coldly formal. But the lingering sense of chill falls away here. 

There’s half-drunk cups of tea on the side tables, notebooks scattered on the grand piano, Bea’s leather jacket slung over a squashy-looking armchair that wouldn’t look out of place in a thrift store in Austin. All of the instruments, while of obvious quality, look like they’ve been played often, and well-loved. While the collection of electric guitars is gorgeous, June’s attention is drawn toward the older acoustic guitar propped up in the far corner, half-hidden behind a fern.

She pulls it out and sits with it, strumming idly, echoes of lake water lapping at the dock in her ears. Her fingers pluck out simple chords, adjusting to the new instrument before the music swirling around her head takes over her hands. She’s flying through John Denver and Selena and Dolly Parton and Fleetwood Mac and Patsy Cline, lost in memories of easy summers at her dad’s lake house. But then June’s thinking about last time at the house, and Henry, and how devastated Alex was to wake up with him gone. How he’d been a shadow of himself for a week before taking off across the Atlantic to scream some sense into him. And then the leak, and the election, and suddenly there’s furious tears streaming down her face and she keeps harshly playing the same bit of Johnny Cash over and over, like a skipping record, the lyrics in her head drowning all other thoughts: 

And I went down down down

“June?”

And the flames went higher

“June?”

And I went down down down

“June!”

And the flames went—

Bea pulls the guitar out of June’s hands and it’s all June can do to not curl up in a ball or let loose a scream—anything to mitigate the swirling anger that she’s been shoving down for weeks. Her hands ball into fists as she half-sobs, trying to get a hold of herself but then, Bea’s hands are covering hers and June lifts her blurry gaze to Bea’s face.

“Just let it out, love, you look like you need it.”

And June tips forward and buries a scream in Bea’s shoulder, lets Bea pull her closer and cage her in as the scream turns to sobs. It takes a long time for June to calm down again, fighting for each gasping breath while Bea rubs her back and murmurs soothing nonsense. Eventually she calms down enough to sit up properly again and wipes her face with the cuff of her sweater.

“S-sorry about that, Bea. I just—”

“If you think you’re the only person who’s had a breakdown in this room, you’re sorely mistaken,” Bea says. “Christ knows I’ve had more than my own fair share. But my sponsor says they’re good for me so…”

June sits with that a moment then—

“I’m just still so angry.”

“About the leak?”

June nods. “About all of the shit they dealt with. That they’re still dealing with. And like, officially, everything’s fine now, right? My mom won and Richards is going to be punished and Alex and Henry are happy but—”

“They shouldn’t have had to deal with that in the first place,” Bea finishes grimly. “And because everything’s “fine” now, we have to be fine, too.”

“Yeah. Like I just feel like screaming at the injustice of it all, but no one would listen. ‘They got their happy ending, so can’t we just move on?’” June mocks. “I saw some rando post that on Twitter this morning and couldn’t get it out of my head.”

“Maddening, isn’t it?”

“Understatement of the century.”

“Next time, text me. Odds are I’m feeling the same way.”

June does grin at that. Bea’s probably the only other person who gets what it’s like being the older sister to such a potent force for good in the world. Who gets wanting to fight anyone and anything that threatens her brother’s happiness. 

“I will.”

[rmd-writes]

Sending an ask for nice ask day!!

Noticed we have a lot of similar fandom interests -- if David, Patrick, Carlos, TK, Alex, and Henry were to meet, where would it happen? who would get along the most outside of the pairing?

hello! What a great ask! I love finding people who share multiple fandoms, so hello new friend!!! 💖

Believe it or not, this is something I’ve thought about previously, so strap in.

A while back @blackandwhiteandrose wrote a fic (about how David and TK were friends (if you love both characters, you should read this fic, it’s so good) back when David still lived in NYC. Having read it and discussed it with BWR later, I wholeheartedly agree that they were friends who lost touch after TK moved to Austin. Not immediately though - you know in s1 of SC how David is always on the phone texting? We know that his NYC friends were mostly assholes, so who was he texting? TK.

TK probably got a new phone or deleted all of his NYC contacts when he moved to Austin, so he lost David’s number then too. But maybe he’s scrolling Instagram one day and comes across Alexis’ account or the Rose Apothecary account, or maybe Nancy is laughing hysterically at Moira’s accidental live stream of the conversation about David’s oopsie-daisy and eventually TK gets back in touch with David. They’re both happy now, really happy. Deeply in love, safe and content with who they are as people, happy.

Patrick suggests that he and David make the trip to Austin and David can catch up with TK while they’re there. (There’s probably some kind of sportsball game Patrick would want to watch, idk).

I’m taking liberties now, but bear with me. While they’re in Austin, they go to a restaurant and there’s a fire. Please go read @missgeevious’s absolutely hysterical fic to find out what happens.

Once Patrick gets over his mortification (it’s short lived, David won’t allow it, there are food trucks to visit and proper bbq to be had), they go with TK and Carlos on a tour of Carlos’ favourite food trucks and end up at Franklin’s BBQ, which David wanted to go to because he read about it in an article about FSOTUS.

Carlos raises a brow at David’s seeming insistence on wearing sweaters in the Texas heat, but he’s glad it’s not actually summer or TK might need to put his paramedic skills to work on his friend. There’s a moment when Carlos catches Patrick’s eye as their respective husbands are chatting loudly and gesticulating wildly and there’s a fond resignation in Patrick’s expression that he recognises. One that says, “sometimes I can’t believe that I chose him but I’m so glad every day that I did.” Carlos feels that way about TK too.

When they make it to Franklin’s the line is long and Carlos notices the presence of private security officers in suits - unusual for somewhere like Franklin’s. The reason for it becomes apparent when they realize that Alex, Henry, Nora and June are ahead of them in line. They’d come to Texas for a long weekend at the lake house. It’s David who recognises them first - Alexis used to have a giant crush on Prince Henry, she’d met him once before at a party on a yacht (Pez dragged Henry to the party), and in the way that only Alexis can, had come home and huffed that Henry must not be interested in women, “because, David, he, like, barely even looked at me and I was wearing that sparkly Balenciaga!” (Little did she know that she was correct. “I knew it!” she proclaimed when news broke of the emails, before she’d gone all teary eyed once the enormity of what had happened to Alex and Henry had hit her).

Turns out that the world is both too big and ridiculously small - Carlos and June had taken a class together at UT, even worked on a group assignment together. When June comes over to say hi to Carlos, they end up all sitting together: David, Patrick, TK, Carlos, Alex, Henry, June and Nora. They share their food and laugh so much and more than one other patron does a double take at the ridiculous level of hotness sitting at their tables.

David gets along surprisingly well with Nora - she reminds both him and Patrick of Stevie, in a way. Carlos and Henry become fast friends and it’s not long before he and Alex are talking in Spanish about their favourite foods as well. David, TK and Alex - in an uncoordinated attack - separately try to steal food off their respective partners’ plates only to be met with loud protests, followed by triumph, because their partners never really say no. There’s laughter when they realise what’s happened simultaneously around the table.

They sit there talking and laughing and eating until they realise that the sunlight is fading and they’ve been there for hours now, simply enjoying the company and revelling in feeling happy, and safe, and free.

[hollowhearts-and-espresso]

just little solangelo thoughts

im just chilling going through the solangelo tag so heres some lil thoughts that have been provoked from such activities

-parallel between percy and annabeth standing/sitting back to back in tartarus when they finally can rest bc they have each others backs to nico and will in tsats fighting back to back bc they've both been stabbed in the back enough already

-nico is a literal fucking sewer rat kind of (in the most loving way ofc) but also hes not he literally glows with alt and gothic beauty and has a beautiful accent and an amazing smile and smooth, milky skin and will (who is kind of a beautifully groomed golden retriever) is actually a fucking dumpster dog who jumped out at him when nico was hiding in the alley and hasnt left his side since

-will watched nico let an anemic fucking loser launch himself into the atmosphere and immediately and immensely fell in love and nico took one look at the hand that still has amniotic sac fluid on it holding his and thought 'holy shit i wanna kiss him'

-apollo literally saying 'i dont care if my son has a boyfriend. i've had a lot. and compared to some of mine, holy SHIT could will be doing worse' and i think thats great

-nico and will are not achilles and patroclus they are apollo and hycanth and apollo literally mentioned the similarities he saw in the relationships and im POSITIVE hades sees it too and is so so scared for his son because he saw what losing someone he loved that much did to apollo

-even tho they're not quite achilles and patroclus their love and wrath for the otehrs death would still be enough to shake the gods and im fully convinced zues sat hades down one day and was like 'listen dude you gotta protect the little blonde kid. i dont wanna go through that again' and hades was like 'lol pussy. gotchu tho'

-william andrew solace who is the LITERAL son of sunshine and has magic glow powers and is the best medic the camp has had in years would and probably has poke an infected creature of unidentified species and decide that it’s probably maybe not poisonous and bring it to his bf because why not

-also he definitely has/will have full sleeves of tattoos on both arms and a bunch on his legs and back and they will have absolutely no specific meaning or reason or order (other than the star on his shoulderblade for his first and only love and the sun on his chest for himself)

-nico would get a lot of tattoos but they’d all mean something to him (things bianca used to like, the groups initials, etc)

-william andrew solace was born and raised in fuckin texas with his single rocker mama (who was ALSO born and raised in texas) and is an overworked med student and has gone through all that shit he’s been through by 15. that bitch is a fucking DICK. he will cut you for touching his stuff and if you’re a dick he will absolutely NOT treat you (‘i havent sworn under oath yet as a doctor, chiron’) and he has absolutely pulled a gun on someone back home for the dumbest shit

-nico is a fucking softie don’t lie. he spends one third of his time crying, the other third waxing poetic about his boyfriend will doing normal day shit, and the last third convincing his dickhead sunshine boyfriend to treat the guy with poison ivy because ‘he called me weird, will, that’s not even that insulting’

-kayla and austin have definitely thrown them in the lake. multiple times. it’s a past time at this point. leo has helped on a few occasions and lester did once only to be fucking decked by his son in law for messing up the snack he made for will while will lost his shit laughing in the back

[applesforthis]

Deadloch-specific ask if you’re keen to play! No worries if not.

1. Favourite episode?

2. Favourite scene?

3. Favourite quote?

4. Favourite joke or bit?

5. Favourite character?

💕💕💕

EEEEEEEEE I will gladly squeal about my show. Thanks for the ask! <3

Fave episode:

Hard question! In some ways Deadloch feels more like a movie to me than like a series, I forget where one episode ends and the next begins.

Probably E6. I loved how Abby acts while poisoned, and I loved her breaking up with James. I loved Eddie continuing to care about Dulcie: how protective Eddie gets, how concerned Eddie is when Dulcie is obviously really not okay (during/after the confrontation with Skye, and during their boat ride). I loved Dulcie acting...a bit more casual, with Abby; I loved their dialogue on the island ("James said I was out of my mind." "You are not, Abby, you are entirely in your mind"). I loved Holly Austin's performance as Skye, her anger and hurt when she's being questioned.

And I LOVED Cath and Dulcie's fight, and how it feels like we finally see both of them clearly, we finally understand why they each are the way they are at this point in their lives. We see how deeply miserable and frustrated Dulcie is in this town and in her marriage, and why she's been trying so hard to make it work anyway. We see how Cath has been in an anxious spiral for so long -- on some level, since the affair -- and we start to understand that this is how she got to this point, where she really is completely disconnected from the reality of Dulcie's job.

Also this is a bit weird but I actually loved the final scene in E6, when Dulcie finds the bobbing bodies in the lake, because the music was so beautiful and the way it was shot was weirdly so pretty and dreamlike. It's a scene about discovering corpses and it's...gorgeous? Oops?

I also just loved E8 so much because it gives us the payoff of Eddie, Dulcie and Abby truly working together, the way it always seemed they could. And because I SO DEEPLY LOVE the happy ending where Eddie and Dulcie and Cath end up together in Darwin, and I LOVE the subtext that they're in some kind of triad or throuple or vee or whatever else they might call it.

2. Fave scene:

I loved the end of E5, where we see Abby and Dulcie and Eddie each thinking alone about the murders and trying alone to solve the mystery: Abby with her arsine, Dulcie spotting the newspaper photo of Jimmy on the cross, Eddie noticing the speeding ticket Mike gave to Skye (and then the Doorbell bathroom stall graffiti). We see that each one of them is smart and is working on solving it, but that they're working separately still: Abby goes alone to the high school, to test her theory. Dulcie hasn't yet told Eddie that she suspects Skye, even though the clues are really piling up in her mind. The three of them aren't yet communicating well enough to really be a team.

I loved the way this was shown because it really had me rooting for them to realize that they'd be smarter together, that they needed to lean on each other more and communicate better and brainstorm together. This montage made me really invested in that arc, in them learning to work together.

I also loved Eddie confronting Dulcie about that, really taking her to task for it -- but then also having so much compassion and understanding about why this is hard for Dulcie, to consider one of her closest friends as a suspect. I love that Eddie really gets what a terrible situation Dulcie's in with this, and hates to see her in pain, even though Eddie's still committed to doing what's right and pursuing Skye as the most likely suspect.

3. Fave quote:

"Do you not know my name?"

4. Fave joke or bit:

How Eddie and Cath are both so nonchalant about mentioning sex, and how uncomfortable/flustered this makes Dulcie, and how Eddie immediately clocks this and leans into it harder. My favorite moment is when Cath texts Dulcie a pic of her boobs and Dulcie accidentally opens the image while at work and can't figure out how to close it again and is super flustered...and Eddie obviously sees the pic, is totally unperturbed and seems, if anything, mildly amused by Dulcie's reaction.

5. Fave character:

I can't choose between Dulcie and Eddie.

I'm most similar to Dulcie; I relate to her the most. I love her secretiveness, her shame. I love how ethical she is and I love how it shows up at work as a willingness to let minor/harmless crimes slide where possible. I love that she wants to be gentle with people, even when they're behaving badly. I love her shyness, her hesitation to be herself with people. I love the person we start to see emerging in the last few episodes and in the epilogue. I love her bravery and I love her fear.

I admire Eddie the most. Not as much during the first 3 episodes; I see them as someone who, at that time, was in too much pain to notice much else. But after that: I love their anger, how they're not too afraid to stick up for other people, and for themself. I love how loyal they are, and how protective of the people they care about. I love their rudeness and how selectively they deploy it; even though they don't seem to be taking much care with that, they really are. I love their frankness and I love how perceptive they are about people. I love their honesty and I love how ethical they are -- they break the rules sometimes but they really care about doing the right thing. And I love the way they look at Dulcie, particularly in episodes 6-8: it's so intimate. I see Eddie as someone who's extremely warm and loving, when they feel close to someone.

[mrsniallhoran505]

Good Morning Austin Girls!

Smutty Sunday theme: sweats (ps there are so few pictures of this man in sweats. It's a shame really!)

Warnings: oral: male and female receiving, grinding, dom sub dynamics, use of the pet name princess, premature ejaculation, light bondage, mommy kink, whiney sub austin (yes this is a warning) 

It's never happened to him before, not even when he was a teen. Sure, he knew it was possible but to actually experience it himself had him feeling a bit… small. 

It was his first vacation since he started working on Elvis. He wanted to spend it with you, locked away in a private paradise. So he booked Summit Chalet, a cabin up at Big Bear Lake. It wasn't small, given only you and him would be there, but it was private and it was cozy. 

After checking in you both found which room you'd want to sleep in, choosing the one with a king bed. Unpacked your bags, got into bed, and slept for a good portion of the day. 

When you woke up you both went into big bear town to get some food for the cabin. You also wanted to map out a few activities to do together. Such as skiing, fishing, and maybe some ice skating. Austin wasn't the best on ice but he loved to watch you spin and twirl like a pro. At least in his eyes you looked like a pro. 

"Austin, babe? Did you pack the pink silk bag?" You asked while putting away the cereal you bought. 

"Can you be more specific?" He asked while he started a fire in the fireplace. 

"You know… our fun pink bag?" You gave him a suggestive smirk knowing what the bag contains. 

"Oh that bag!" He chuckled and walked up behind you. He wraps his arms around you and kisses your neck. "What kind of vacation would it be without the pink silk bag?" He smirked and gave you a light smack on the ass. 

"I hope you didn't look inside and ruin my surprise." You warned. You finish putting away your shopping then go to change into something a bit more comfortable now that the cabin was warming up. 

Austin changed into sweats and a zip up hoodie. While he waited for you, he watched some baking show on TV. He must have dosed off because suddenly you were in his lap. Nothing but a dark blue lace covering his favorite parts of your body. 

"Austin," you moaned. Your hips rock against his giving you both a bolt of pleasure. 

"Y/N, fuck angel, you look so sexy." He groaned, moving one of his hands from your hip to behind you. He quickly undid the clasp on your bra and took it off, tossing it aside. Sitting up he started to kiss and suck on your breasts, focusing on the nipple. 

"Austin," you gasped and tugged on his hair. 

"Fuck, baby do it again." He moaned, bucking his hips up against you. 

"Austin." You moaned repeatedly. It started to sound less like pleasure and more like annoyance. 

He pulled back and looked at you, frowning when he saw the annoyed look on your face. 

"Austin!" You yelled. 

Austin jumped and sat up, looking around a bit confused. 

"What? What happened?" Austin asked, looking you over. You weren't in the lace set,you had on one of his shirts and… he wasn't sure since it looked like you had nothing but it could just be the length of the shirt hiding panties or shorts. 

"You were saying my name, sounded like you were in pain. But nothing I did woke you up… so I sorta smacked you." You bit your lip hoping he wasn't mad or hurt. 

Austin could feel a bit of a sting on his face but it wasn't bad. He rubbed it and it went away so he just smiled and pulled you down on his lap. 

"I'm sorry baby… I was just having a nice dream." He kissed you softly, running his hand up and down your thigh. Getting closer to where your legs meet on each pass. 

"Yeah? And what was this dream about?" You ask while running your fingers through his hair. 

"You." He hummed. 

"Me?"

"You were in that blue lace set from our anniversary." He closed his eyes and thought about what you did that night. 

It was the first time you took control in the bedroom. You did a strip tease for him, keeping the lace on. He thought that was the extent of the 'kinky' activities. But before the night ended, he had been tied to the bed, edged through four non-ejaculatory orgasms, and learned what a rim job was. All before you properly rode him and came on his cock a few times. Since then, your sex life has really been spicy. 

"Austin.. you ok?" You asked, feeling his cock harden against your ass. 

"Yeah, just remembering that night." He shifted a bit causing you to rub against him. He moaned softly and gripped your leg a bit tight. 

"Which part? The cock ring? The magic wand? The rim job? Or the no touching rule?" You smirked listing his favorite ways to play. 

"All of it." He groaned and shifted again. You quickly got off him and moved to sit beside him on the couch. 

"Well then baby… let's see if you can be a good boy." You reach under the hem of the shirt you're wearing to take off your panties. "Stand up and put your hands behind your back. Turn." You instructed him before grabbing the scarf you discarded on the couch when you got home. You quickly used it to tie his hands together. 

"Face me, on your knees." You smirked and laid back. He looked at you with wide eyes. 

"Ba… mama, why are my hands tied?" He pouted looking at your smooth thighs, his hands flexing with the itch to touch. 

"Because baby…" you cooed, leaning up to kiss his pout. "you're gonna have to earn using your hands." You lay back and pull the shirt up before spreading your legs. 

Austin watches you, his mouth watering at the sight in front of him. He could feel his cock pressing against the edge of the couch and it takes everything in him not to grind against it. 

"Can I taste you mama?" He asked, not looking away from your center. 

"Not yet, baby." You told him before licking two of your fingers. When they are slick enough you reach down to tease your clit. Moaning softly at the relaxed pleasure you brought yourself. 

Austin whined like you were somehow hurting him. He kept squirming, pressing his hips to the couch as he watched you play with yourself. He wanted to do that. He wanted to make you moan.  

"Mama, please? I haven't been bad." He whined and tried to keep from moving so much. 

"I know you haven't, princess." Is all you said before slowly sliding a finger inside your pussy. You pumped it slowly before pulling it out and holding it up to his mouth. He quickly takes the digit into his mouth and sucks moaning around it. You push your finger a bit deep, just past his gag reflex. 

"Such a good boy." You hummed and pulled your finger out and went back to fingering yourself. Austin whimpered and sat back on his calves to watch you. It was torture. 

You got yourself close to a climax, ignoring the whimpering boy kneeling in front of you. He was sweating from holding himself back, his cock ached for attention, but he'd be good for you. 

"Mama, can I make you cum now?" He whined and fought the urge to just lean forward and dive in. 

You sat up and brought your fingers to his mouth. He wrapped his lips around them and started to suck and lick them. You pushed them deeper, slowly inching towards finger fucking his throat. 

"My pretty princess." You cooed, making him blush. You slowly pull your fingers from his mouth and kiss him softly. "Make mama cum and I'll think about taking the binds off." You lay back and spread your legs. 

Austin leans forward so fast he nearly tipped over but you caught him. Once he was steady again he started to lap at your wet pussy, moaning against you. You laid back and relaxed, letting him do what he wants. He wanted to grip your thighs and pull you closer to him, giving him full access to do as he pleased, but he couldn’t get his hands loose. 

“Mama, please untie me.” He begged before pushing his tongue into you and thrusting it. He seems to get pleasure from eating you out so he was a moaning mess. He pressed more against you, allowing him to grind against the couch and get some relief for his cock. 

“You haven’t earned it.” You say trying to hold off a moan to sound stern. 

He groans against you and uses his nose to rub your clit as he tongue fucks you. He couldn’t do everything he wanted like this but he was gonna give it his all. He dragged his tongue from your entrance to your clit. He circled it before wrapping his lips around it and sucking. You reach down and tangle your hand in his hair and pull him closer. 

“That’s it princess, make mama cum.” You moaned and gave in to him. 

He let out something that sounded like a growl before placing his tongue flat on your clit and shaking his head side to side. It was the closest he could get to rapid strokes without the use of his hands. 

When your legs started to close around his head he dipped lower to push his tongue into you and use his nose on your clit. You cried out his name and came on his tongue. He moaned and lapped at you till you started to push him away. 

“Such a good boy.” You pant and look at him. His lips are red and swollen, his face covered in your juices. “Look at my pretty princess.” You cooed and leaned up to kiss him, sucking on his tongue and making him moan. 

“C’mon on, stand up.” You waved your hand in an up motion. He managed after a false attempt. You looked him over and decided he was good enough. “Turn around.” 

He did as he was told and you untied him. “Thank you mama.” He turned to you and cupped your cheek. He kisses you softly, pulling you closer when you tried to pull back. 

“Ah ah baby… be good. Take a seat.” You nodded to the couch. He sat so fast you were afraid he hurt himself with the twist.  He looked at you before shifting awkwardly. His sweats were loose and he didn’t wear boxers, but now the sensitive tip of his cock was rubbing against the material and it was toeing the line between pleasure and pain. 

“You ok baby?” You smirked seeing how hard he was. He nodded but shifted around a bit. 

You looked at his cock before leaning forward and wrapping your lips around the head through the material. Austin let out a shocked moan and quickly gripped your hair. 

“Oh fuck mama, feels so good!” He tensed up to try and hold still. You sucked lightly and swirled your tongue around the tip, leaving behind a wet spot. You pulled off and looked up at him. He had his eyes closed tight and the vein in his neck was popping out. He looked so… fuckable. 

Before he could ask why you stopped you tilted your head and sucked on the side of his shaft, making his moan again. By the time you were done teasing him his sweats had multiple wet spots all over the crotch. 

“Mama, please.” He whined and tugged on your hair. You chuckle and straddle his lap. He quickly grips your hips and kisses you deeply. Trying to distract himself to calm down. 

“Breathe baby.” You cupped his face and kissed him softly as you start to grind against him. You barely started before he tried to push you off.

“Fuck, fuck! Oh god no!” He groaned and actually teared up at what just happened. You look at him for a moment before looking down where you were seated a few seconds before. The wet spot where his tip was was now much bigger and Austin was red all the way down to his neck. 

“Baby? Did you… Did you just?” You look down and immediately he covered his face and you swore you heard him sniffle. 

“I’m sorry mama, I’m so sorry… I tried… but it felt too good.” He looked at you with red eyes, tears falling down his cheeks. 

“Hey hey, it’s ok baby. You didn’t do anything wrong.” You cup his cheeks and kiss him softly till he relaxes. 

“But… I wanted to make you feel good mama, I wanted to fuck you.” He sniffles. You smile softly and kiss his forehead, then each cheek, tip of the nose, and finally his pouting lips. 

“Baby… You can still make mama feel good and when you’re ready to go again, you can fuck mama.” You reassured him. His eyes lit up at that and he smiled. 

“Pink silk bag?” He asked. 

“Pink silk bag.” You confirmed. 

GMAG! Tag List:

 @pearlparty @xxindiglow @crackerbarrelslut @katsukis1wife @purejasmine @jojam10 @introverisms @pennyroyalcreep​ @woundmetender​

[wrongcaitlyn]

heyy! can you make an apollo time line?? like until before talk your talk starts. i'm so confused

YES okay so i have a very detailed outline in my docs (aka for all the stuff i want to eventually cover in the memoir) but those contain a lot of spoilers so i'm going to give a brief outline of all the main events, just so that the timeline makes sense bc i totally get it - i, too, was very confused by my own timeline when first writing this fic. the amount of shifting and adjustments of it... yeah it was very confusing bc i kept putting off *making* a timeline for apollo and instead just throwing random bits and pieces of lore at him😭

SO here's the official talk your talk apollo timeline

1979

April 8: Apollo is born

1995

July (age 16): Apollo's debut album is released (at this point in time, he has already been in the film industry for years as a child actor, as well as various other smaller gigs/singles. He, before this, has also signed a 5-album contract with his father's record label.)

1998

October - December (age 19): Naomi/Apollo relationship (bonus fun fact: the billboard music awards were on december 7, 1998. This is about nine months before august 23, 1999. do with this information what you will.)

1999

August 23 (age 20): Will Solace is born

2000

June (age 21): at some point, a one night stand with Latricia Lake September 15 - October 1: Sydney Summer Olympics, Darren and Apollo first meeting (they continue to have an on and off relationship from 2000-2003, not really a committed relationship though)

2001

February 28: Austin Lake is born

2003

July (age 24): Darren and Apollo start dating officially

2004

January: Apollo's fifth album is released early March: Apollo and Darren break up mid March: Apollo's tour for the album starts April 1: Kayla Knowles is born late April (age 25): Apollo calls off his contract, doesn't extend his contract, and publicly breaks ties with his father's record label/management. The tour is cancelled, and Apollo disappears from the public eye - but not before "coming out" (this was largely seen as speculation/rumors, not an actual confirmation of his sexuality, and largely forgotten by fans) August 13 - 29: Athens Summer Olympics, Darren and Apollo final meeting (until 2019)

2007

March (age 27): Naomi Solace dies of a stroke before a concert on her tour May (age 28): Will moves in with Apollo

2010

November (age 31): Apollo meets Leo December: Kayla moves in

2011

March: Apollo meets Nico

okay i THINK those are all the important dates/events - hope it all makes sense!! if there are any questions abt apollo's backstory, or just general questions about this timeline (or, if there's an inconsistency that i somehow missed- for some reason, the first time i wrote this timeline, i wrote that kayla was conceived at the 2004 olympics. which makes. zero sense. seeing as she was born in april of that year. so yeah.) but anyway!! i love talking abt apollo and i realize there is a LOT of lore/backstory around him that i haven't gotten around to explaining, and i love rambling. thank you so much for the ask!!

[rockyroadkylers]

Year In Review: Favorite Lines

@littlemisskittentoes and @happiness-of-the-pursuit tagged me in another end-of-the-year game! This one is about my favorite lines I've written, so this should be a really fun one!

Fair warning, this gets long! I put most of the post under a "keep reading" cut.

From It's Nice to Have a Friend:

From chapter 3:

God forbid men acsecorize acesorise how the fuck do you spell that word?? Whatever. GOD FORBID MEN WEAR BRACELETS. There. That works.

From chapter 4:

Alex feels like crying, suddenly. He blinks back tears and says, “Henry, I’m so proud of you.”

and

“Why’m I the little spoon,” Alex mumbles, even as he tucks his head under Henry’s chin, speaking directly into his t-shirt. “Because you’re short,” Henry deadpans, earning a weak kick to the shin.

From chapter 6:

Keep your filthy American mitts off my Jaffa cakes.

and

He hasn’t really stopped smiling since Alex woke him up. Alex is determined to keep him smiling all day.

From chapter 7:

“Here I am,” Henry repeats, tilting his head back to see Alex grinning down at him. Even upside down, that smile makes his heart skip a beat – goofy and happy, with his dimple popping out.

and

Alex studies the peaceful look on Henry’s face. The way he practically melts into Alex’s arms makes him want to pull Henry in as close as he can and never let go, but he settles for lifting one hand up from his hip, smoothing his fingers over Henry’s sleeve before resting his hand in the crook of his elbow.

and

Henry smiles when Alex looks up at him, gently teasing. “That’s remarkably emotionally mature of you.” Alex rolls his eyes, picking his drink back up. “I’m gonna give you a fucking wedgie, how’s that for emotionally mature?” he grumbles into his mug, and Henry laughs.

From chapter 8:

“If I told MI6 that my APGOV teacher made threats against your family and they took him out, do you think I’d still have to write this paper?”

and

“If you think I’d actually be able to enjoy a stupid fucking holiday, knowing you’re 5,000 miles away with a broken heart, I love you, H, but you’re the biggest moron I’ve ever met.”

and

“Guess he just needed a cuddle buddy.” “He needed you,” Arthur corrects softly, and Alex feels his cheeks heat up.

From chapter 9:

“I want you to have this, because I want you to remember that… no matter where you go, no matter what you do, I will always be with you.” [Arthur] reaches out to take Henry’s free hand. “And when the time comes, perhaps you’ll be able to give this to someone who loves you the way you deserve to be loved.”

and

“What I’m hearing is, you’re an emotional support animal.”

and

Alex tucks his arms around Henry and kisses the top of his head, rubbing his back until he relaxes fully. “It’s okay to cry now, baby,” he murmurs. “You’re safe here. It’s just us.”

From chapter 10:

They’re at a red light, so Henry gives in to the urge to look at Alex. He’s looking right back, his eyes soft but determined. He’s wearing one of Henry’s hoodies, and a pair of Austin High athletic shorts, and he hadn’t bothered putting shoes on before following Henry out of the palace, and Henry loves him so much it actually hurts. He lets himself lean in to that feeling, just for a moment, lifting their joined hands and pressing a kiss to the back of Alex’s knuckles. He just catches a glimpse of the smile that mingles with the surprise on Alex’s face before the light turns green and he has to return his attention to the road.

and

Over the last eight months they’ve become a bit like a pair of feral cats at an animal shelter that have been labeled, “DO NOT ADOPT SEPARATELY.”

and

But that’s all in the future. For now, he’s here, at the lake, and it’s the Fourth of July tomorrow, and he has Alex asleep in his arms, and they kissed for the first time less than an hour ago, and Henry can feel sleep tugging at the corners of his mind. Henry closes his eyes, pulls Alex close, and lets sleep take him.

From chapter 11:

Soulmates, what the fuck? How long is this speech? Alex needs Henry to stop talking, so he can kiss him about it.

From After Everything, I Must Confess I Need You

Alex looks… small. That’s the first thing Henry notices. Hospital beds aren’t large, but they have a way of swallowing up whoever occupies them, shrinking them down and making everything else look that much scarier, that much bigger. It’s a phenomenon that Henry remembers all too well from his father’s time in the hospital, and if he never saw it again it would be too soon.

and

“You broke my heart, Henry. ... The thing is, though, I think you broke your own heart, too.” Henry’s eyes snap back to Alex’s, and Alex is taken aback by the pure anguish in them. “Of course I did,” Henry whispers. “I don’t think I know how to do anything else.”

and

“Baby, I think your armor might be suffocating you.”

and

“I wanna love you more than I wanna be mad at you.”

and

“I want to be braver,” he whispers. A secret just for the two of them. “For myself, and for us.”

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

Well, that was probably more than strictly necessary, but at least I limited myself to favorite quotes from published works! If I kept going with quotes from WIPs, we'd be here until next December 😋

I'm not sure who's done this and who hasn't, so I'll go ahead and tag @hgejfmw-hgejhsf, @read-and-write-, @inexplicablymine, @affectionatelyrs, @firenati0n, @matherines, @anincompletelist, @songliili, @wordsofhoneydew, @saintlynomenclature

[lol-jackles]

I love your insights and agree that Jensen’s deal with Amazon seems to fit more like a actor’s holding deal. If I understand how those work, it’s where the studio pays the actor a salary for a year to hold them to try and find a role for him/her in a tv show or movie. Is that correct?

You’ve said Amazon doesn’t pay actors very well, so what is your guess to Jensen’s salary that Amazon is paying him? (Is that how he was able to afford a $10million mansion in Connecticut?)

Do those work like typical salaries (weekly/monthly) or because it was also tied to his production company, was that annual salary paid to him in an upfront sum with hopes the ackles would use the money to develop a project?

given the strike, the ackles cannot develop anything, do they have to refund any money back to amazon?

Thank you and yes, in typical holding deals the actor will receive a salary for at least one year while the studio finds a suitable project for them. Similarly, Jensen would get paid X amount of dollars for the term no matter what. He would get a check every month that comes out of the millions in his deal, this will go to pay for overhead of running Chaos Machine, including employee salaries., office space, etc. So any advanced money the Ackles received is their's to keep even if there are no project(s) for Amazon's original programming.

With that said, I highly doubt that the CMP received the typical starter $10 million for production overheads as the deal was to hire Jensen for his acting (and his fandom). Jensen may have received $1 million in retainer fee instead.

As for the Ackles' ~ investment in Connecticut, he's going to sell that house in a year or two to an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, then use the “sale” and the equity in the CT house to buy another house, just like he did with the Colorado house that was brought when he sold the Austin lake house (at half the market value) to the same trust. For example, if the Ackles put down at least 20% for the lake house, when the property’s value goes up by 20% (and it will), the Ackles have now made a 100% ROI and that’s before considering rents and tax write offs. Then when the houses like the lake house is sold for real in 10, 15, or 20 years, it will be sold at it's actual market price. It's a classic use of these types of trusts to make money by reaping the actual profit from the real sale and on top of the previous profit when the house was first sold into the trust. 

Jensen can easily never work again in his life just by living off his net worth, which I’ve speculated to be 20-25 million dollars and if he invest conservatively his net worth will double in ten years. While he's ~investing in real estates, I suspect his main source of passive income comes from investing in target-date funds, they’re a mix of stocks, bonds, and alternative assets and probably in a collection of mutual funds. If Jensen keeps to the common rule of withdrawal limit of 4%, he’ll have at least $1 million fuck-you money every year, more than enough to cover property tax and he and his family will be comfortably wealthy for the rest of their lives without working. But men need to work, hence why he pitched to WB the ideal of continuing SPN after Jared leaves.

@supernaturalconvert techically the trusts own the houses, and the people currently living at the lake house are paying rent to the "beneficiaries", which are the Ackles.

[ezekielbhandarivalleros]

Learn to Ride

Paring: Austin Steele and Kit Jackson

Summary: A Teen Kit teaches his best friend Austin how to horse ride

This is a Fic made for @Choicesmlm (on Insta) for the Fandom Secret Pal Event

Taglist: @choicesficwriterscreations @princess-geek @aesthetic-aag

A young Austin Steel had always loved horses. Or, at least he had loved them in theory. He'd had books, yellowed, musty books with loose bindings and bent covers which had seemed to give them a sort of authority – that had depicted horses of all shapes and sizes, their manes trickling down past their shoulders and their coats glimmering like the stars. It hadn't taken long for him to become infatuated by them. Numerous afternoons he had been spent skipping through the halls and imagining a riding horse, or sketching them, or talking about them. He had been enchanted.

However, none of this had prepared him for the awe that came with meeting an actual horse, or having the chance to ride one.

"Are you ready?"

It took a moment for Austin to tear his gaze from Kit's horse – a Friesian mare – in order to meet his eyes. Austin nodded, his throat now dry.

It'd been Kit's idea, of course. He'd insisted that Austin would need some form of transportation that wasn't walking or driving and when Austin had realized what he'd been implying he'd been almost embarrassingly enthusiastic in agreeing with him.

However, as he eyed the horse's hooves, which were as large and round as dinner plates, and fringed by long black feathering, he started to wonder if he'd made a mistake. He'd known horses would be large in person, but Kit's mount was a beast. Kit who was nearly a head taller than he was already seemed dwarfed by the mare, though Austin seemed to take no notice Kit handled the horse with the ease as if like handling a sword.

"Yeah, of course," Austin said finally, suddenly becoming aware of the sweat that coated his palms, in spite of the cool air.

He swallowed, and then looked at the mare again, reaching out a hand shyly and feeling the horse's nose brush his palm, the feel of it surprisingly soft, like velvet.

"What's her name?"

"Betty," Kit said, glancing at the mare fondly, and then turning to scan around the field in which they stood. Austin followed the gaze. The area wasn't particularly large – perhaps an acre at most – but it was clear enough, with lengthy, golden grass carpeting it, and a throng of trees at its perimeter, forming something like an arena. Kit had told him that most of the people in the town such as his family learned there, since it was quiet enough to focus in, but still close to town.

Austin looked back at the mare, who flicked an ear in his direction, peering at her past her long, curling forelock.

"What's her name mean?" he asked, hoping it wasn't too obvious that he was stalling.

"Oath," Kit said, turning to meet his eyes. "It's not particularly imaginative, but it fits her."

Austin couldn't help but agree the mare's coat was as dark as coal, apart from the areas that caught the sunlight, where instead it shined like the surface of a lake, rippling as the mare shifted. He had seemed to move like a shadow, as well, as Kit had led her across the field earlier that day, her strides incredibly graceful for such a large animal.

Kit looked at Austin questioningly after a minute of silence had passed, with Austin remaining rooted where he stood in front of the mare.

"Is something wrong, Buddy?"

Austin quickly shook his head. "No, I just I haven't actually been around a horse before, you know?"

Kit lifted his chin, examining his best friend's face for a moment, and then nodded in understanding.

Taking a breath to steady himself, Austin took a step toward the horse, and then hesitated once more when he noticed that the mare's back was bare, only an expanse of dark, smooth coat where a saddle should have been.

"Isn't there supposed to be a…"

Austin hesitated, uncertain of what the grounders would call a saddle. It took a minute for Kit to catch his implication, but then he shook his head.

"When our cowboys learn to ride, they do so with nothing between them and their horse but their clothing. Proper balance is essential – once you have it, the rest will follow."

Though it didn't make him feel any better, Austin decided there was no point in arguing with Kit.

"Okay," he said, drawing in a deep breath. "That's fine. So, should I just… get on?"

"That is usually how one starts," Kit replied, his tone so utterly deadpan that Austin almost wondered if he was teasing him.

Biting back a sardonic remark, Austin strode up to the horse's right side and stared up at its back. He could just see over its withers, even when standing on her tiptoes.

"That's the wrong side, Austin," Kit commented from around the horse, his tone lacking judgment, though Austin's cheeks colored all the same. "You mount on the left side."

Austin groaned quietly, and then walked back around the horse's front to join Kit.

When he hesitated once more, Kit eyed him questioningly.

"Would you prefer it if I gave a demonstration first?"

Austin nodded, trying not to appear too relived. "Yeah, that'd be great, Kit."

Kit wordlessly stepped to the horse's side, and Austin moved back to give him room.

As Austin watched, Kit fisted a hand in the horse's mane and kicked off the ground, vaulting up onto the mare's back with ease. He straightened up immediately, taking up the slack from the reins, and then pressed his calves into its sides, encouraging the horse on.

Austin observed as Kit set Betty on a large circle around him. Though the posture was always proud on the ground, upon the horse Kit seemed even more regal, shoulders back and chest out, chin lifted, frame tall and poised, matching the horse's arched neck and forward stride in their elegance.

Austin didn't want to admit to how much the image stole his breath.

"You must remember to communicate with your horse," Kit called, distracting Austin from his admiration of his best friend temporarily. "A horse wants direction, not just a passenger."

Kit moved the mare forward into a trot with a firm press of his legs and a cluck, sitting easily as the mare sprung forward, legs moving in long, striding pairs as he continued to orbit around Austin.

"Once you've formed a connection with your horse, you'll only need to think what you want from them. They'll listen."

After trotting a few more increasingly large circles, Kit deepened his seat and encouraged the mare into a steady canter, his hips following the motion in a way that Austin found incredibly distracting.

The longer he observed Kit ride, the more he noticed just how connected to the horse he really was. He seemed to communicate with the mare with his whole being, hands in a constant, gentle game of give and take with the reins, controlling the horse's energy, while his legs seemed to bring it to the surface. Sometimes he would cluck to the mare, or speak to her in murmured whispers. His body seemed to play a role all its own with his frame tilting back when he went to collect the horse, or twisting with the horse's shoulders when he turned her. The whole thing seemed to be a dance between horse and rider, fluid, elegant, and controlled, a constant exchange of information and direction.

All of Austin's books had described riding in terms of a craft, talking of things to do and those to avoid. However, Austin thought, none of the books had ever described it as such an art.

Kit looked strangely at ease, Austin realized, as he observed the look of concentration and contentment on Kit's face. Though he rarely seemed truly nervous, he never seemed entirely comfortable either, tension seeming to simmer just beneath the surface of his skin, showing through in the way he held himself, in the subtle tightness of him expression. However, as he rode, he seemed entirely relaxed, hands soft on the reins, with motions fluid and graceful as he guided the mare around the field.

In Austin's eyes he looked almost beautiful.

Austin was so busy trying to understand where that thought had come from that he almost didn't notice where Kit was guiding the horse until the mare was suddenly going airborne, her knees tucked up to her chest as she cleared the trunk of a fallen oak, which was so large Austin doubted he could have wrapped his arms around it. Kit rode the jump with ease, holding himself up off the horse's back, hands pushing forward to give the mare the freedom she needed to clear it. Once over it, he pushed the horse into a controlled gallop around the edge of the field, his body tilted forward to encourage her on.

Show off, Austin thought. Kit was actually showing off.

Eventually, Kit collected the mare back down and brought her to Austin, drawing her to a halt beside him.

"Wow," Austin said, a breathless laugh escaping his throat. "That was impressive."

Kit tilted his head in acknowledgment. "You can learn. You'll only need practice."

Austin nodded, watching as Kit slipped from the horse's back and gathered the reins in his hand beneath its chin.

"Have you had her for long?" Austin asked, watching as Kit smoothed a hand down the mare's glistening neck.

"Not really," Kit said. "My parents were the ones who trained her."

The pride in Kit's voice caught Austin's attention, and he couldn't help but notice the small smile that lingered on his best friend's face as he stroked the mare's neck. There was so much affection in the small gesture, as understated as it was. It made something in Austin's body twist though he wasn't sure why.

"Would you like to try now?" Kit asked, turning to meet Austin's eye. His expression was soft, the absence of his normal dirt and dust leaving him looking younger than he normally did, and Austin held his gaze for a moment longer than necessary before responding.

"Yeah, alright, I'm ready. I just hope she listens to me as well as she does to you."

"She will," Kit reassured him.

When Austin went to mount, Kit cupped his hands beside the mare's side, offering Austin a leg up, and helped to push his up onto the mare's back.

"Remember to keep your knees relaxed," Kit told him as Austin straightened himself up, trying to adjust to the feel of the horse's back beneath him. "Keep them loose, like water. You don't pinch, just touch."

Kit touched Austin's calf, encouraging him to press it lightly into Betty's side. Austin swallowed, and then nodded.

Kit left him sitting on the horse while he strode to the tree line, returning a moment later with a length of rope with a clip tied to the end. This was attached this to the horse's bridle, and then stepped back a few yards, leaving the rope slack between them.

"I'm starting on a leash?" Austin asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I learned by riding around a field like this entirely on my own for a week until I stopped falling. We don't have that sort of time, Austin," Kit replied sharply. Austin could tell that Kit didn't want to waste his time teaching him how to ride, but also didn't want him to feel left out.

Austin tried not gawk at him. "No one taught you?"

Kit hesitated. "My father explained the basics of it, but I was otherwise left to figure it out on my own."

"How old were you?"

Kit considered it. "Nine."

Austin had a sudden mental image of a even younger Kit astride one of the hulking horses they rode, dwarfed by it even more than he already was. He imagined him falling all that way to the ground again and again, and getting back on each time until finally mastering the art. The idea was somewhere between amusing and pitiful, and Austin snorted quietly, shaking her head dismissively when Kit raised an eyebrow.

"So, what do I do?" Austin asked.

Austin looked at him for a moment, his eyes thoughtful, and Austin realized he was going to be in for an interesting afternoon.

They started with walking. Austin had thought he couldn't screw that up, but he had been wrong.

"Soften your hands Austin," Kit called, Austin's name falling sharply from mouth, clicking at the 't.' "Think of it as talking to her with your hands, rather than shouting."

Five minutes later, Kit was telling him to pick up the slack from his reins.

Austin discovered that the trot was similar to the horseback equivalent of heavy turbulence. He spent a good twenty minutes desperately trying to avoid being bounced right off of the mare's back, Kit coaching him all the while, a hand resting on his hip while the other held the mare's rope, his brows furrowed in concentration as he observed.

Austin liked cantering much more, the motion of it akin to a swaying, rather than a jolting. However, the wind rushing past his ears made it hard to hear Kit's critiques from below.

Eventually, Kit took him off the lunge line and let Austin make his own circles around him, still calling out directions as Austin learned to master the new controls.

"Sit back if you want her to slow down, Austin. Use your weight."

"She's not stopping—"

"Order her, Austin! Don't be afraid."

And later:

"Am I falling? I feel like I'm going to fall."

"Stop thinking about it, and think about relaxing."

And then:

"Wonderful, Austin. Keep doing that."

"What exactly am I doing—"

"Never mind. You just stopped. Square your shoulders."

And so on.

While he learned quite a lot that afternoon about horseback riding, he learned even more about Kit. For example, he learned his best friend was a strangely effective and patient teacher, who liked to using metaphors to explain things – "Imagine your hips are a pail of water. Keep them level and relaxed, so nothing jars and spills." – and who seemed to approach riding in the same way he approached everything, with a relaxed air of authority. He also learned that Kit chewed at his lip when he was focusing intently on something, and that he was terrible at hiding his exasperation when he did get impatient. And, finally, he learned that Kit was never satisfied until everything was perfect.

By the time Kit had decided that Austin's riding was satisfactory, the sun had sunk behind the trees, and twilight had descended on the field, bathing the world in a faded periwinkle, the crescent moon hanging in the sky like a sideways smile.

"How'd I do?" Austin asked breathlessly, as he slid down from the mare's back, landing on shaky legs on the ground beside him. His legs felt like lead, and sweat left his shirt clinging to his back – he hadn't realized staying on a horse would be such a workout.

"You did pretty well," Kit said, and when Austin met Kit's eyes he was certain he saw something there, and in the set of his mouth, that he thought just might have been pride.

They held each other's gazes for a moment, and then Kit glanced up, as if suddenly becoming aware of the time of day.

"We should head back," he said. "They should be expecting us."

Austin nodded in agreement, too exhausted to bother forming an actual sentence.

"You can ride with me," Kit said, remounting the Betty with ease, and then offering a hand down to Austin. Austin hesitated, the onset of soreness in his legs making him reluctant to get back on, but he eventually took Kit's hand and scrambled back on behind him.

"Thank you," Austin said suddenly, as he felt Kit move the mare forward into a trot. "I – your help means a lot."

He saw Kit nod. "It's fine… Clarke."

Kit sent the mare into a canter, and Austin wrapped his arms around Kit's waist loosely to keep balance. For a moment, he thought he felt Kit's breath hitch, but decided that he had imagined it.

As they traveled back to the ranch, the world silent around them apart from the rhythmic drumming of the mare's footfalls, Austin rested his chin on Kit's shoulder. Though it was dark, Austin could have sworn she saw Kit smile.