#but that just goes to show you how much I miss having diner breakfasts

[vitiateoriginator]

God I would kill for a late night snall diner breakfast rn

[pollyna]

It starts with "I don't like sex that much" and evolves, in the next two years and half, in "I'd like to have a child, would you like that?", in the same way that starts with "it's just for tonight Sli', don't get your hopes up" and evolves in "we're going to be dads!" the day Carole's first sonogram shows a little human who's growing in Carole's belly.

it goes all the way of Carole and Goose being twenty years old and in love to the point the elope the morning after Goose proposes. Mav is their only witness and the chapel they get married is so pretty Carole cries because it's absolutely perfect;

and it's not like Goose doesn't know Carole doesn't really like sex but loves kissing him and sometimes, when the mood strikes and she is giggling because her lips are puffy and a little red for all the kisses they exchanged, her hand finds her way under his pants and boxers and it's embarrassing how fast Goose cums the first time that happens. She may not like sex but Goose has always the face and the expression of a person who got laid for hours and everyone is every squadron Goose is, is envious because nobody has a wife who's better than Carole;

They talked about kids in the two years they were dating because they were already thinking about building a future so they talked almost about everything. "We could adopt" Goose has suggested to which Carole had answered "if we're going to have a kid I think I'd like to carry them. We're going to find the way Goosie, but now take my out to dance!" And the conversation pretty much died there. Until two years and half later and Carole gets down for breakfast and "it's time" to a still half asleep Goose. "Honey I get it, I really do, but we can't just throw him out!", "throw who out?", "Maverick! You said it time, but you should at least give the guy a warning!", to Carole laughing because "you silly Goose, I'm talking about having a baby, not throwing Mav out of here." The coffee stain on the floor is still visible, if one looks at the floor really carefully;

Slider is there before everything, before Carole's too and it's not like he's going to put himself in the middle or anything but when she invites him to a nice diner how can he say no? He misses spending time with Goose without all the deployment bullshit and the way Ice is a step away from snapping and biting (or kissing) Maverick. He chooses his best shirt, of a nice orange and Ice lends him his car. He pats him on the back and "see you in the morning" with the knowing look of who already knows it all, even when Slider is sure he knows nothing. But that's Iceman Kazansky for you, seven steps in front of everyone;

The dinner is chatty and Carole puts herself in the middle of the two of them when they change scenery to get a drink. "We need to ask you a favoure" Carole says, against his ear after ordering their drinks. Slider finds himself humming back because Carole is a magnetic presence and he would probably give her the moon, if they could spend enough time together for her to actually convince him to. "I need you to fuck Goose for a little while because he's a little out of practice and we want to have a baby". Now, rationally, Slider knows that's not what Carole said, word by word, but that's most of what his brain gets because Carole is sweet talking to him and Goose's fingers are playing with the hair his neck and the bastard knows that's his weak point. And so it's starts;

The first time they have the house just for them Goose says "it's just for tonight, don't get your hopes up" and Slider is a second away to leave because isn't it exactly what Goose said the first time they kissed, back in high school, when they were fourteen and scared shitless to be seen? But Slider stays, move towards Goose, cups his face and kisses him hello, goodbye and I missed you, all together. Goose kisses him back in the same way. Slider doesn't asks what's the deal between him and Carole and him being "out of pratice" because who gives a fuck when Goose's hands are under his shirt and the bed is soft under is back?;

It's not a one time thing, but Slider never stays after until he does and he wakes up with Carole cuddling between them, he face mushed against his neck and Goose arms around her and trying to touch him at the same time. It's the first time he stays over for breakfast and the first time Carole kisses him before going to work;

Ice asks if he should find somebody else, considering he's never around and Slider flips him the bird before nagging him to admit the house isn't as quiet or empty as he wants Slider to believe;

Then Carole throws her arms around Slider, a random night in a civil bar where nobodies knows she is married to Goose or who they are, and "Hey stud" and kisses him. She kisses him in the same way she kisses Goose and in which Goose kisses him. That night Slider discovers that sex has so many different forms and sometimes isn't as conventional as he thought it would be but plastered between Goose and Carole he doesn't really care;

They talk, the morning after and for most of the afternoon, about where they are going, what they want, about how they will fit and about so many other things they tire each other out to the point they falls asleep in a sort of cuddle pile and Ice and Mav find them on the couch, hour after, because they're late for they weekly dinner. Ice kisses Mav's cheek before closing the door behind him because "it's better if we let them sleep, but they will pay for the next one". Mav laughs because "next time we are going out for burgers and milkshake, the fancy shit doesn't really cut with me, even if it's only once a week."

It takes a while because after that it seems like life is trying to pull them in seven different direction all the same and they already almost sure it's going to take time because that's what all her friends tell to Carole and so they start trying, then they stop and start again and after six months is getting frustrating because it doesn't seem to work in anyway they try. Then they are going to separate deployment, half of Slider and Goose's stuff isn't ready yet, somebody passed Carole off that day and there's dinner to make, laundry to fold and they as ready to snap as ever will and it's probably when it happens or not. But the morning after they're still in bed, both Slider and Goose's back are stretch red and Carole is sporting two almost identical hitches on both side of her neck. Slider and Goose are shipped out and two months later Carole is calling them both, different hours and different carriers, to tell them she is pregnant. And then is Goose calling Slider to tell him "we're going to be dads" and Ice swears he never used so many tissues to calm Slider down. They all celebrate, in their own way, in different parts of the world. They don't know anything about this baby and they are already the more loved creature off the globe.

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, Season 2, Episode 15, Part 1 (Lost and Found, Aka The One Where Rory Loses Dean's Shitty Bracelet)

It has been over two months since my last TWWGG post. What has been keeping me from moving on, you may ask? What is the immovable roadblock that keeps slowing my progress? What has kept me from my adoring public (about 5 readers) for two months? It starts with Lor and ends with Elai. We open with a scene of said Annoying Roadblock nursing her bandaged hand, an injury sustained while trying to clean her gutters. Rory suggests they should hire someone, but Lorelai scoffs at the expense. About 10 seconds earlier we learned she was itching to eat some pancakes, presumably at Luke's, a money-costing ritual she likely repeats at least twice a day or more every single day. But no money to hire someone to muck the gutters or squash her termites. Well, I guess I'll let her off on this one because she never pays Luke for her food anyway. Let it be known that my mind is a steel trap and there are certain things I never forget...and one thing I never forgot is Lorelai's reaction to the horrifying suggestion that Jess might come to her home and alleviate the burden of performing some manual labor that she clearly is unfit to do herself.

Portrait of TWWGG thinking. We first learned about Lorelai's gutter problems in A Tisket A Tasket where she was fixing on some some teenage boys to win her picnic basket so theyd take care of her gutters instead ("Cleaning her gutters" is not a sexual euphimism in this case, however it would be if it were Dean). Suffice it to say, that did not happen, so she bypassed several other options (Luke? Dean? Kirk?) and went direct to the do it yourself route.

Now what does Lorelai say a short time later in this episode when Luke offers up a teenage boy named Jess to slop the muck from her gutters?

This kid goes to school (...sometimes), works four jobs (Walmart, Diner, Gigolo, and Full Time Cutie Patooty) and he's not even good enough to slop her damn gutters. We will resume our regularly scheduled broadcast of Grown Woman Holds A Lifelong Grudge Against A 17 Year Old Boy Who Was Rude To Her Once in just a moment.

If only we were so lucky.

I looked up "is gangrene contagious" to see if there was any possiblity she could pass it on to Dean too.

Lorelai complains that Luke is missing and she'll have to endure Caesar's cooking today. Ouch. How about you be quiet and go home and make your own damn pancakes, woman. It's not rocket surgery.

Tryna get a break from you.

Bless Amy Sherman Palladino and all her creative ways of getting masturbation metaphors past the WB censors. “Looking for my supply ledger” sure Luke, sure. 👊 💧

Yes Luke, why DO you have a sock on your shoulder? WInk wink nudge nudge. This wasn't the only masturbation joke involving a sock on this show either. Lorelai What are you doing here? Luke: Just trying to crank one out into my sock here. Can I get a little privacy? Lorelai: Rory and I are starving. I need you to cook us breakfast. God, woman. How about a "pretty please"?

Let's play a game of "What Belongs to Luke and What Belongs To Jess?" Who owns the red heart boxer shorts? Random sombrero? Random alien mask? The game of Connect Four? The Connect Four must be Luke's because Jess has no friends to play board games with. According to Luke this is all of Jess' stuff Liz shipped over, but I somehow doubt Liz ever bought Jess this much stuff or actually cared enough about him to send it . I better send my son his beloved sombrero, said Liz never.

"I'll help you shower if you cook me pancakes" KITTEN SHIRT WOMAN HAS NO CHILL DAMN

Masturbation With Sock Quips on Gilmore GIrls: At Least Two Luke Says Jess Was in The Bathroom For Two Hours And Jess Claims He Was Just Doing His Hair Quips on Gilmore Girls: At Least Two Barely Disguised Masturbation Quips Of Any Variety In The Last 60 Seconds, Total: Two, three if you lump In Lorelai wanting to soap up Luke's hot naked body in exchange for pancakes You can get rid of his alien mask and Connect Four, all this poor boy wants is his own room with four walls and a door.

He knows, this is why the both of you are so cranky and sexually frustrated. Jess "huh"'s cutely and replies that he learns something new every day before walking out. To which Annoying Kitten Shirt Woman replies:

Shut up. I'm begging you. Please. I'll buy you a lifetime supply of Luke's pancakes if you shut up for two seconds. I will stuff your mouth so full of pancakes that all you can do is smile and nod and everyone will be happy. Luke tells Lorelai to go downstairs and wait for him to make the pancakes. She badgers him to tell her how long that wait will be.

Well, if you didn't come upstairs and interrupt the first time, maybe he'd be done by now. Now he's gotta get rid of you, keep you and the child out, get comfy, take his pants off, and start "looking for his ledger" all over again. Then he's gotta try thinking about naked Lorelai but all he hears in his dreams is her whining "make me pancakes" and he goes all limp and he's even more frustrated. And now he can't even find the bed and you took his damn accounting book and in my gritty Gilmore Girls reboot titled The Hollow I would make sure Luke gets some time to himself to jerk off once in a while because he works hard and he deserves it.

Luke To Lorelai After He Gives In to Her Pancake Demands: You sure you weren't pushed off your roof today? It was me, I was the pusher. I regret that I failed and she only got a cut on her hand.

LOL, you're asking what Jess is doing alone upstairs? Want him to spell it out for you with crayons or something? I guess two hours in the bathroom "fixing his hair" just wasn't enough for Jess. He's got a lot of pent up frustration, I get it. Strap in buddy, it's gonna get a lot worse.

You ever think of mindin your own bizzness, woman? #Never However her butting in is sensible enough this time and she explains to Luke that his father's office is too small for two people to be living in it, and that he should think about the fact that Jess lives there too. Right on. We know Luke has $$$$ because he's throwing loan offers at Lorelai like they're Halloween candy. Maybe he could even put Jess up in his own damn apartment, but he's too stingy and stubborn. Ah, Luke and Lorelai, two people who refuse to compromise on anything ever. A match made in heaven, truly. A marriage destined to work. KittenShirt makes a quip about how Jess could be dead under a pile of boxes and no one would know or until his rotting corpse started to smell. But enough about your fantasies, Lorelai. And now we circle back around to Luke offering Jess to Lorelai to clean her gutters to which she replies with a "Jess?" with that tone of thinly veiled disgust that Miss Gilmore is known across the land for. Almost in one breath, Luke admits he doesn't pay Jess enough to work for him AND he "hates the thought of what else he might do to get money if you don't give him the work" AND "You don't have to pay him as much as you would someone else, you save money, he keeps busy." Alright, enough. We're only 7 minutes in to this wretched episode, so let's run down the recap of just minutes 5-6: We've heard implications that: 1) Jess' uncle outright admits he doesn't pay him enough for spending most of his free time after school working for him 2) Even though his uncle doesn't pay him enough, if he takes another job doing grueling manual labor like cleaning gutters, they don't have to pay him enough either, it only matters that he "keeps busy". He's almost 18 with a driver's license, he's not a fourth grader with a lemonade stand. 3) No one would notice or care if Jess was dead until his corpse was rotting under a pile of boxes for weeks 4) the only way Jess knows how to make money is by doing illegal, unspecificed things. You just readily admitted you don't pay him enough to do work that's (borderline) legal anyway so who can blame him? 5) For some reason Lorelai doesn't think he's worthy enough to slop her gutters This is where my Gilmore Girls reboot would take a turn into horror movie territory, something like The Hollow: Mariano's Revenge. Jess goes on a killing rampage. (Rory is fine and a few other select people may be spared) Jess doesn't go to jail because the judge and jury won't convinct his innocent face and the jury understands the people of The Hollow deserved it. Rory and Jess can go on to build new lives somewhere else. A bulldozer comes through and razes the entire town. End of show. Lorelai stammers and sputters at the suggestion that Jess could clean her gutters and makes up excuses that she has other people lined up for the job and scurries out of the diner with Rory. Please, I must know the reason Jess can't clean your gutters or visit your home, it's unclear where her discomfort lies because it's nonsense. What, are you worried he's gonna steal something if he visits? What's he gonna take? The clown pillow? An box of off-brand poptarts? No, it wil just be some Quarter On A String that Dean gifted Rory and that she doesn't even care is missing.

Lorelai says a lot of things she doesn't mean. "I'll give Jess a chance", "I'll stop sleeping with Dean", "I won't keep spending our meager life savings on pancakes."

I continue to feel pity for Rory that she constantly has to defend him against this exhausting nonsense. What makes my blood pressure rise higher? Any interaction with Dean, or a long exchange between Rory and Lorelai where Lorelai is trying to explain to Rory that Jess makes her "uncomfortable"? And Rory has to convince Lorelai to give Jess a chance. Again. Honestly right now I would welcome Dean parachuting into the scene and starting some different bullshit as only he can. I hate this.

Idk about that, you seem to have an awful lot of opinions on Rory liking him too.

Only if he can call you "annoying emotionally stunted woman-child who doesn't mind her own business and has a one sided grudge with a child". I think that's only fair.

"Because I'm still 17 years old and can't move out and until then I'm stuck under the same roof as you listening to your bullshit unless TWWGG calls Child Protective Services in Connecticut and gets me put into a nice foster home with a new Mommy." Rory goes on to explain that Jess lives with Luke and they're going to have to see him every day if they want to keep eating the pancakes at the diner so it might behoove Lorelai to be nice to Jess. Which is the same exact sensible, ignored advice that Rory gave to Dean when she asked him why he hated Jess and he said "because he breathes". Which is that you can't hold grudges against people when you live in a small town. I'm sorry no one listens to you Rory. I'm listening. I'm sorry for how I used to talk about you. You are the only logical and reasonable humanoid in this wretched pod called Stars Hollow. I've said it before and I'll say it again because why not: Whenever Lorelai boycotts Luke's Diner because there's some kind of discomfort between them (which is frequently) Lorelai won't eat at any other restaurant so Rory starves. I'm getting CPS on the line right now, Rory. Hold tight. Rory explains to her mother that she and Jess are sorta-kinda-not that close friends, a horrifying prospect that shakes Lorelai to her core.

Look at this sleeping infant? How could you hate this angelbaby snugglekins. I would notice if you were pinned under an avalanche of boxes and I would get you out before you could perish. And I would pay you fair wages if you were in my employ. And you wouldn't have to do unspecifed llegal things on the mean streets of small town Connecticut to survive. I promise. We learn that Jess needs loud music to sleep, which I admit was a comment that went completely over my head for many years until I finally realized the implication of that statement. Either he needed music to drown out some awful thing that was happening to his mother or it was to drown out what was happening outside his home (street violence?) and most likely it was both. At the very least, I think it was a distraction so he could fall asleep without thinking about all the turmoil going on around him. Instead he's now suffering in a different, quieter kind of hell called Stars Hollow where some witchy bitchy woman named Lorelai and her small town minions have put a target on his back for no reason. Luke goes on a frustrated rant about the messy state of the Danes Mariano home, waking Baby from his sleep. I do delight in a good Frustrated Luke Danes rant. It's one of the few things keeping me sane while trying to get through the wretched hell that is the 2nd half of season 2. He tells Jess that tomorrow morning they're moving out and finding a new place (lies). Part 2 idk when. Maybe in another 2 months.

[wonderlandleighleigh]

She spends most of her time posted up at the gazebo, with her guitar. She plays and people watches and she takes requests from strangers, though most of the good people of Stars Hollow look at her with something like suspicion.

The town troubadour wanders by for a jam session every now and then. He doesn’t ask questions or get pissy about some girl usurping his territory. He can spot a lonely girl when he sees one, and she even picks up some technique from him. Sometimes some girl will wander by and ask “aren’t you Ella Bruce?” 

And she’ll say no, and they’ll move along. Without a hair and makeup team she’s just another blonde with a guitar. It’s nice.

There’s a piano at Miss Patty’s, and she noodles sound on it, when no one is there. The older woman doesn’t seem to mind. Sometimes she even sings along to what Ella is playing. 

One day a boy pokes his head in and sees her. He’s cute. Dark hair and eyes. Crooked lip.

“Any requests?” she asks. 

“Not much of a piano guy,” he admits. 

“Crocodile Rock, then,” Ella jokes. 

He groans and they both laugh.

“By far, Elton John’s worst song,” he says definitively. 

“It’s not good,” Ella concedes. “But it is catchy.” 

“Catchy doesn’t mean anything,” he argues. 

“Catchy always means something,” she counters. “Catchy makes money.” 

“Yeah, but-” 

She makes a snorty pig noise at him and accuses him of being a snob, and she shrugs with a grin.

“Guilty. I’m Jess.” 

“Ella.” 

“Lenny and Midge’s granddaughter, right?” 

“That’s what they tell me,” she confirms. “Hi.” 

“Hey. Lenny says you’re spending the summer here because you chose the wrong song at your school talent show.” 

Ella huffs out a breath. “Apparently it is frowned upon to sing ‘you were giving me head on the unmade bed’ when half your school is sitting in the audience. 

“Leonard Cohen.” 

“Mhm. So I’m spending some time staying out of trouble.” 

“How’s that going?” 

Ella shrugs. “I haven’t knocked over the local liquor store yet.” 

Jess smirks. “There isn’t one.” 

“Wow, fuck, really?” 

“Really.” 

“There go my Saturday night plans.” 

He laughs a little. “I work at the diner across the way. If you wanted to stop by sometime.” 

She shrugs. “Sure. It’s something to do.” 

***** 

She goes for breakfast the next morning and Jess is there, alright.

Eating the face of a girl much blonder than Ella. 

“Wow, it’s like a real life face hygge,” Ella comments, louder than necessary. “Ew.” 

The two part, and Jess looks vaguely sheepish. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Ella nods, smirking. “Nice lipstick.” 

Lenny chortles at that and JEss glowers and wipes his mouth a little. “Shane, this is Ella. Ella, Shane.” 

“Hey,” Ella nods as she sits with Lenny. 

Shane eyes her. “Hey. Aren’t you-” 

“No.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” 

**** 

The Summer is long.

When Jess isn’t sticking his tongue down Shane’s throat, he’s hanging out with Ella, listening to music and talking about bands and books.

They’re friends. Shane hates her, but whatever. The one time Ella attempted to have a real conversation with her, the other blonde only wanted to talk about Jess. 

“Sure, whatever,” Ella responds apathetically as she walks off. 

In New York, she has friends who are girls, who want to talk about other things like music and politics and books and art. Her cousin Nora can wax poetic about fashion trends and the history of couture and Ella can listen to her for hours. 

Shane only wants to talk about whether or not Jess and Ella have ever kissed. 

They haven’t. Ella is bored.

***** 

The day of whatever carnival is happening in town (there have been many. Ella has no idea why. She assumes because there isn’t a liquor store), everyone seems to be buzzing for another reason.

Lorelai’s daughter Rory is back from a summer spent doing school-related things in DC. She’s taller than Ella with brown hair and doe eyes, and she looks completely livid that Jess is kissing Shane.

“All summer,” Ella tells her, sidling up from behind. “So gross.” 

“Seriously,” Rory agrees in disgust. “Wait, who are you?” 

“Oh. Uh. I’m Ella. I’m Midge and Lenny’s granddaughter,” she tells her. “I got in trouble at home, so I’ve been spending the summer here.” 

“And you know Jess?” 

“Yeah. We’re friends. Unless Shane is around and then…well…his happens,” Ella explains. 

Rory suddenly gets awkward. “O-oh.” 

“Anyways, welcome home I guess,” Ella shrugs. “I’m here for another week and then it’s back to the city with me. Maybe I’ll see you around.” 

“Sure,” Rory says. “Yeah. Maybe.” 

***** 

Grandma Midge makes Rosh Hashanah dinner a few nights later, and Ella helps. Roast chicken and potato kugel. Tzimmes and a sweet, rich honey cake for dessert, drizzled in a peach sauce. 

The attendees are eclectic. Jess and his uncle, the diner owner, and Jess brings Shane and that’s weird. Lorelai and Rory and Rory’s boyfriend Dean, who acts like he’d rather be anywhere else, and that’s also weird. Lane from the antiques shop. Morey and Babette, who have been nice to Ella all summer long. Miss Patty shows up, too. 

“I don’t see why we had to come,” Dean mutters to Rory before dinner starts. 

“Jews make you that uncomfortable?” Ella asks, because Dean isn’t as stealthy as he seems to think. 

“I don’t!” Dean squeaks. “I don’t hate- I don’t!” 

“Then why didn’t you want to eat nice food with nice people?” Ella asks.

“Because Jess is here, and I hate that guy,” Dean snaps. “And anyways, why do you care?” 

“Because my grandmother put together this nice spread,” Ella explains. “And I don’t want some shithead to ruin her dinner.” 

“Ella,” Rory snaps, unhappy with the blonde’s choice of words. 

“You’re dating a shithead,” Ella shrugs, and walks away before anyone can argue with her.

She manages to sneak a little wine, and Jess wanders over, tilting his head. “Enough for one more?” he asks. 

“What, you don’t want to share with Shane?” 

“She went home,” Jess shrugs. “She didn’t wanna be here. She doesn’t like you or Rory.” 

“I know,” Ella says, handing him the wine glass. “I tried to talk to her once and she only wanted to know if you and I were hooking up.” 

“We’re not.” 

“Of course we’re not,” Ella smirks. “I know where you’ve been.” 

“Funny.” 

“I come by it honestly.” 

“I saw Dean’s here.” 

“Yeah, he kind of sucks,” she shrugs. “He doesn’t wanna be here either, because he hates you.” 

“...Yeah.” 

“What did you do to him?” 

Jess shrugs. “Nothin’. He uh…got in my way one time when I got in a fight, and apparently my having too much momentum means I’m an asshole.” 

“You kind of are,” Ella points out.

“Yeah.” 

“Is it because you both want to have sex with Rory?” Ella asks. 

Jess turns an interesting shade of red and drinks more of the wine. “No.” 

“She was mad when she saw you kissing Shane the other night,” Ella points out. 

“Whatever. Just- I don’t wanna talk about this.” 

“If you say so,” she shrugs. 

“Why are you always so blunt about this stuff?” Jess asks, annoyed. 

“Because it’s dumb,” Ella shrugs again. “It’s needlessly dramatic, and I guess Rory is pretty and smart or whatever, but it’s not worth all the stress. The tsuris.” 

“What’s that?” 

“Drama. It’s not worth the drama.” 

“You’re jealous of Shane,” Jess accuses. 

Ella thinks about that for a long moment, taking the wine glass back and having a drink. “I don’t really know. Maybe. You’re cute, and smart. You’re not very nice, though. You’d probably be fun to kiss, but you just seem mad about stuff. And snobby. So maybe I want to kiss you, to see what it would be like.” 

“We could do that.” 

“And again: I know where you’ve been,” Ella smirks. “Anyways. Dinner’s probably ready.” 

She walks off, knowing he’s watching her.

***** 

She leaves for home the next week. Back to her mother, and school and songwriting and recording on the weekends. The new album drops the week after she graduates high school, and then she’s on tour for the summer, before coming home and figuring out what she’d like to do next.

She’ll meet Cory Drew in the fall, around her birthday, and when she turns eighteen, they’ll have sex, and she’ll spend the next handful of years high and making a ton of good music and fucking up her life.

But for now, she says goodbye to her grandparents, hugging each of them tightly, before waving to Jess, who is reading on a bench near the bus station. He nods back, and then, like she was never there at all, she’s gone.

[alizachan]

Xander celebrating Aliza's Birthday!

Mama Alexis' note: Happy birthday, angel!

🔥 Xander is so so excited!

🔥 I mean, that goes without saying. Xander is pretty much an easily excitable person already. But this was ALIZA'S birthday for crying out loud!

🔥 He wants to make very moment last with you, so his romantic and energetic side only doubles on special days, like your birthday

🔥 He wanted to take you out for a fun day around the town, but he also wanted to surprise you as well!

🔥 He was almost so close to spoiling the surprise himself, nearly blurting it out. He tried to keep his distance from you, but he also can't stand not being near you

🔥 He just had to try his best to keep his loud mouth shut

🔥 So while Xander was planning for his day with Aliza, he asked David and Teruko to plan one final surprise party for you two to come back to

🔥"Sure thing, Xander. Anything for you and Aliza,"

🔥"Do we seriously have to? You already have....quite a day planned with her anyways,"

🔥"It's not just any day, Miss. Teruko! It's Aliza's birthday! She never had many good experiences with them. But she's away from those horrible people that mistreated her! And I want to make up for it!"

🔥"By blowing your whole budget on her?"

🔥*Cue Xander blushing and just letting out a few stutters before leaving*

🔥Aliza's special day started with Xander shaking her awake, a smile on his face

🔥 "Happy birthday to be wonderful, amazing, precious, beautiful, and show stopping girlfriend, Aliza Saphree!!!"

🔥"H-Huh?! X-Xander, I--"

🔥Before Aliza could even say something, Xander shoved a new dress in her hands and grinned at her cutely and with a blush

🔥 "Get dressed, love! We got a whole day ahead of us!"

🔥 "J-Just for me? Xander, you shouldn't h--"

🔥"Oi! No ifs or buts about it, sweetheart! C'mon, get dressed! Let me spoil you for the day. Or I will carry you out that door, in your pajamas, if I have to,"

🔥Breakfast at your favorite diner? Check!

🔥The arcade and seeing that new movie you've been dying to go to? Check!

🔥Shopping and Xander blowing hundreds of dollars for you? (Don't ask how he got that money. He has his ways) Check!

🔥A picnic lunch at the park? Check!

🔥Istg, good luck trying to keep up with this boy's energy! Well, if you can't, he'll just carry you ;)

🔥The day was really special, and Xander went to great lengths to visit all your favorite places and do anything fun! Laser tag, ice skating, visiting gardens, museums, a cat cafe, etc.

🔥It wasn't even over until you got home. Seriously, how are you not asleep yet?

🔥"Thank you for the wonderful day, Xander. I loved it so much,"

🔥"It's not over yet, Aliza,"

🔥"H-Huh?"

🔥"Open the door to the backyard,"

🔥"Xander, you didn't,"

🔥"Just open it, darling,"

🔥 Creeeeekkkkkk

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALIZA!!!!"

🔥"X-Xander?!"

🔥 The red head just chuckle and wrapped an arm around your waist, kissing your cheek

🔥 "Happy birthday, angel. I love you,"

🔥 "You got all of our friends in on this, didn't you?"

🔥 Xander just chucked awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck

🔥 "Well, technically I only got Eden, Hu, Whit, David, and Teruko on board. Your mother had to invite Arei and Charles, but they're happy to be here. Oh, and Togo did the same with Ace. She promises to keep him in line,"

🔥"I also got Nico and Rose to come. Though, Nico was insisted on bringing his cat here. He said you loved them a lot,"

🔥"Teruko, you huge softie,"

🔥"Shut up,"

🔥 "Hey everyone is here now. Let's enjoy Aliza's birthday now. Together,"

🔥As if on cue of David's words, the final celebration went on. Everyone ate, chatted, and had a great time (though Nico had to make sure his cats wouldn't hide when Aliza wanted to pet them)

🔥"Thank you so much for helping me set up this party for Aliza, again,"

🔥"No worries, Xander. We all had lots of fun at the end,"

🔥"We sure did! Now go back and get your girl!"

🔥"Ew gross. Love,"

🔥"Now Arei, stop that. Let them have their moment" Hu sighed

=

🔥 When everyone left, there were only two ppl :)

🔥"Thank you for such a great day again, Xander. I can't believe you went out of your day just for me,"

🔥 "There's......one more surprise left for you,"

🔥"Huh?! N-No, Xander. This is too much--"

🔥"C'mon, it's truly the last one. I promise. It's in the bedroom,"

🔥"O-Oh?"

🔥"Not like that. I mean it's on the bed. It's something you've been wanting for a while,"

🔥"A-A new drawing tablet?"

🔥Xander smiled and nodded "That's the one,"

🔥Aliza rushed into the bedroom, to find said drawing tablet, along with mini cat plushie keychains as little bonus gifts :)

🔥Get comfortable Xander. Aliza ain't gonna stop hugging you for the whole night

AHHHHHHHVHJVGFHCMHV

AHHHHHH I LOVE THIS SO MUCH MAMA THANK YOUUU!!!

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Of something beautiful, but annihilating🚬5/end

Warnings: nonconsensual touching, fingering, deceptive behaviour, allusions to abuse, blood, violence/death, fucking.

This is dark!fic and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Note: Another finale! Hahahhaa, hope you like it!

Thank you. Love you guys!

As always, if you can, please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3

You went to bed with shame burning in your cheeks but the heat quickly travelled to your loins as you thought of the scene at the drive-in. When you closed your eyes, you felt Arvin’s weight on you and his hand between your legs. You rolled onto one side, then the other, tossing and turning as you couldn’t escape the memory or the lingering sensation of his touch.

He was already downstairs when you woke up, a lazy Saturday morning as the garage was closed for the weekends. He was at the counter, boiling water for the coffee as you came down in a plain peach dress and flats. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at you, urging you to sit.

“I’m gonna make you breakfast, honey,” he announced as he filled the coffee press, “you know, my ma was a waitress. Worked down at this greasy diner when she met my dad. Before she died…” he stopped and his throat bobbed, “I dunno, I just remember the smell of her cookin’.”

“I’m sorry, Arvin,” you said as you took a seat at the table, “about your mother.”

“Why? It was so long ago, I hardly remember,” he shrugged as he searched the cupboards and pulled out the cast iron pan, “you know, I can barely even see my pa in my mind. Even when I really think. I feel like I’ve lived a dozen lifetimes already.” He put the metal to the burner, “but I think I found the one I want.”

You ran your fingertips along your throat nervously as you leaned your elbows on the table. You felt the void left by your missing wedding ring. You clapped your hands together and lowered them to the wood.

You watched him work in the kitchen. When you tried once to get up and help, he bid you back down tersely and you obliged. You felt restless sitting there as someone else did everything. He put a cup of coffee before you and sipped from his own between flipping the eggs.

Finally, he presented you with a plate of hash, egg, toast, and bacon. You thanked him as he sat and you picked up your fork and knife. You weren’t very hungry, the anxiety squeezed your stomach as you watched his hand. He buttered a slice and you recalled the tingle as his fingers sank into you.

You dropped your fork and apologised for the loud clang. You picked it back up and pushed the potato around. You were trying to think of what to say. Of how to say it. Arvin wasn’t volatile like Roy but he showed glimmers of anger that troubled you nonetheless.

“Last night…” you began.

“You liked it?” he perked up and swallowed, “I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Arvin,” you uttered.

“I just… you’re so wonderful and warm, I never known a woman like you,” he ranted, “and I… I never been with a woman, you know? I hope I didn’t leave you wanting--”

“Arvin,” you said more firmly, “I’m married.”

His face fell and he leaned back in his chair. He looked down as he scooped up some egg and hash and shoved it in his mouth. He chewed tight-lipped. His steely silence was worse than any punch. You shoved some yolk in your mouth and chewed.

“I…” you began, “I’m not meaning to upset you but we can’t just pretend--”

A deafening bang sounded and shook the house. Your breath caught as you looked at Arvin with wide eyes and he cleared his throat as he stood.

“Where is ya, boy?” Roy hollered as another blast came and you heard the door jolt. You rose and looked down the hall as slivers decorated the floor below the holes peppered in the wood. “I heard about you and my wife…” footsteps clamoured up the steps of the porch, “you think you can pull a gun on me? Well, I got a bigger one, boy!”

“Shit,” Arvin pulled you back as another gunshot blew out the handle, “go, hide.”

He shoved you away and turned back to the table. He tossed the butter knife and hurried to the counter. He pulled out a drawer and took out a steak knife. He shook his head and glanced over at you again.

“Go on,” he snarled.

“No, you,” you ran to him and touched his arm, “go, I’ll talk to him--”

“He’ll kill you,” he whispered.

“No, he won’t,” you assured, “he woulda done it years ago, Arvin, go.”

You pointed him to the back door and he shook his head. You met his eyes as he glanced back at you and you nodded. 

“It’ll be fine, I’ll get him gone and come find you when he goes,” you promised, “Arvin, I can’t see you die because of me.”

His eyes searched your face and he touched your cheek. “Alright, honey,” he breathed, “you know I’ll do anything for you, don’t you?”

“Go,” you insisted as the door flew inward with a heavy kick.

Arvin scrambled away and the back door creaked in his stead as you turned to near the doorway and peer past the staircase. Roy kept the double barrel level as he pointed it at you. You quivered but tried not to show your terror.

“Roy,” you greeted through your tight throat.

“You whore,” he cocked the gun and you flinched, “I oughta shoot your fuckin’ head off too, but I just want the boy. Where is he?”

“I… I dunno, he just went out front, I thought you woulda seen him,” you lied as you filled the doorframe with your body, realising the table set for two would give away your deception.

“Don’t you be hidin’ him from me, you’re still my wife,” Roy snarled as you came closer, trying to keep him from the kitchen, “and I’m gonna put down that punk and remind you who I am. Who you are.”

“I am your wife, Roy,” you said evenly, “I can never forget that, now please, lower the gun, I’ll help you find him.”

“I ain’t believe you, you let him beat me--”

“What was I supposed to do?” you touched the metal muzzle, “he been keepin’ me here. He has a gun too, you know that.” You slid past the barrel and hesitantly reached to touch his chest, “I been so scared without you here, you’re my husband, Roy, and I love--”

He sputtered and flinched suddenly. The gun sagged and fired into the floorboards beside your shoes. The metal slid from his grasp and fell down smoking as a red splotch stained the dingy fabric of his shirt. The cascade spread as he staggered and you saw the wooden handle of the steak knife stick out from his side.

Arvin pulled the blade out as you tripped over the gun and toppled to the floor. Roy slumped to his knees as the younger man brought the knife down over his shoulder and sank it into his heart. Your lungs puffed with panic at the sickly crunch as the blade twisted between his ribs.

Your eyes widened and blurred with tears as bitterness filled your stomach. You opened your mouth and screamed as Roy fell onto his stomach and gasped out his last breaths. You felt a slickness on your cheek as a hand touched you and an arm wrapped around you. You blinked and Arvin came clear as he held the knife against your face and pulled you into his lap to cradle you.

“Wh--wh--wh--” you babbled as your eyes found your husband, completely still across the floorboards.

“He can’t hurt you no more,” Arvin cooed as he rocked you, “I heard him, he said he was gon’ shoot you. I told you, honey, I’ll do anything for you. Anything to keep you safe.”

🚬

The porcelain was cold against your body as you sat in the tub, the hot water slowly rose around you. Arvin shoved your bloody clothes in a bag and took off his own. He tied up the sack, his hands still tinged scarlet. He put the bundle in the sink and neared the wall of the footed tub.

You watched him step over the side, his stomach tightly muscles, his figure much more slender than Roy’s, though his arms were thick and his shoulders wide. He lowered himself across from you as he sat with his back to the flowing faucet. The water deepened and scalded your skin.

He took a cloth and scrubbed your face, your neck, your chest above the surface of the water. You were numb as you felt itchy, as if bugs crawled over every inch of flesh. He stood you up and finished washing you. He was gentle but firm, lingering around your curves as his brown eyes drank you in.

He took a new cloth for himself and after wiping off the droplets across his face and rinsing his body, he scratched the red from around his nails. You shivered as he helped you out of the tub and hugged you in a towel. He led you to the bed and laid you down under the quilt.

“Gonna drive out and find a ditch,” he said as he dressed. “Finish cleaning when I get back. Probably need another bath then.”

You said nothing as you stared at the ceiling, a searing white.

“Honey,” he neared and pressed his hand to your forehead, “I know you’re shook. He tried to kill ya. We both heard him say it.”

You looked at him and your eyes dampened. He bent and pecked your lips and retracted his hand reluctantly.

“I’ll try not to be too long,” he promised and pulled on his denim jacket.

He left you and you listened to his footsteps fade. You closed your eyes and saw Roy’s blood spilling forth like a tainted river. You could hear the scraping as he was dragged across the wood, Arvin’s grunts as you watched him struggle to roll your husband’s large body in a sheet.

Your lashes flicked open but the picture is painted vivid in your mind. You hear the car and the engine fades into the soft sway of trees and the noise of critters in the grass. You don’t have the strength to do more than lay there. Time passes by your stagnant eyes and the shadows set in from the corner of the room. The windows darkened and deepened your gloom.

Arvin startled you as he appeared at the door. You didn’t hear the approach of his car or his footsteps on the stairs. He neared and kissed you again. He pulled the chain on the lamp and it cast a yellow haze over you.

“You’re awake,” he said as he stood straight, “I needa wash up again.” You hummed and stayed as you were, “you want tea?”

You shook your head and he watched you. He clamped his thin lips together and backed away.

“Found his truck, just down the way,” he pulled his grey tee over his head, “looks like he drove out to the river, walked up here. Make sure it was seen so he can’t be traced up here. Smarter than he looked.” Arvin bent to untie his boots. “I left it in the water, put it into gear and let it drift off.”

You rolled onto your side and pulled the blanket to your ear. He quieted as you listened to the rustle of his clothing as he stripped it away.

“Anyhow, they won’t find him,” he said, “likely he told whoever, if anyone even cared, that he was goin’ fishin’.”

He waited for an answer but didn’t get it. He went into the bathroom and you heard the pipes rattle as he twisted on the faucet. You felt the dampness cross the hallway and seep into the room. When he returned, he gave a sigh and tossed his towel over the old chair sat by your vanity.

He folded the blanket back and you closed your eyes at his nudity. He slid in next to you and tugged the blanket over his shoulders. He circled his arm around you and brought your body against his. Suddenly, you felt everything as you were set alight by the heat of his flesh.

“Honey,” he said softly as he framed your face with his hand, “I’m here. You’re safe with me.”

You quivered and pushed your hands to his chest. You’d never been naked with another man, never seen another man naked. In the tub, you hardly figured what was happening but then, it was all too real as you felt his cock twitch against your thigh.

“Didn’t I save you? He would killed both of us,” he rasped, “honey, I know, I’ve met so many men like him…” he rubbed his nose against yours, “and killed every one of them.”

You winced and your fingers curled into his shoulders. He smothered you with a kiss as his hand trailed down and he cupped your chest. He groaned as he fondled you, tilting his hips to rub his dick against you. He rolled your nipple under his thumb as he dragged his lips down your cheek and chin.

His hand crept around your side as he slipped lower to nibble your breasts. Roy never touched you like that. Early on he was clumsy but impatient, and after a while, he was thankless and cruel. Arvin was gentle, doting and diligent. He suckled at your bud and the tugging plucked at your core.

“Mmm,” he left a path of spit down your stomach as he nudged you onto your back, “honey, you’re so beautiful,” he disappeared beneath the blanket and pushed your legs apart as he nuzzled your pelvis, his hot breath tickling your patch of hair.

He purred as nosed your cunt and his tongue dipped between your folds. You murmured and reached down to grasp his damp hair. You brought your thighs against his head and arched your back as he tended to you, slow and scintillating as he filled you with a yearning you’d never known before.

You didn’t think as you tangled your fingers in his locks and tilted your pelvis against his lapping. You shouldn’t feel this way, should feel so good. Your husband was dead and there was another man in your bed. You were a whore, just as he said. But it felt good and he wasn’t there to tell you again.

Arvin moaned as he devoured you, his hands hungrily groped your ass as he lifted you slightly from the bed. He pushed a finger against your entrance and eased into you. You gasped and he dipped another inside of you. He moved his hand in time with his mouth, his groans rumbling through you.

You hooked your legs under his arm and cried out as you came. Your body spasmed and jerked and you rode out the shattering ascent. You shook as you stilled and kissed your thighs with his wet lips, smearing your juices across your flesh. 

You panted as he pushed himself up and the blanket fell down his back, leaving both your bodies bare to the soft glow of the lamp. His hands roved over your body and he bent again, kissing every inch his fingertips danced over first. He brought his lips back to yours and you tasted the sweetness as he forced his tongue into your mouth.

He pushed his thighs to yours so your legs bent around them, wide and welcoming. He parted and stared down at you, his deep brown eyes swallowing you up.

“The moment I saw you, I knew,” he said as he caressed your cheek, “and I haven’t stopped thinking of this ever since that moment.”

“Arvin,” you sighed and touched his wrist.

“I’ll take care of you, honey,” he reached down between your bodies as he planted and elbow into the pillow. He ran his tip along your wet folds and his jaw clenched. “I’ll keep you safe, I’ll keep you…” he pressed against you until his tip was inside you, “forever.”

“Arvin,” you gulped and gripped his muscled arms, “I…”

“He’s gone,” he sank further into you and kissed you again, “and you’re mine.”

You moaned and he bottomed out with a gasp. His body tensed and he shuddered as he wiggled his hips.

“God, you’re so perfect,” he groaned, “so warm, so… sweet. Oh, honey.”

“Please…” you croaked as your eyes watered.

You didn’t know if it was the bloodiness of the day or that you’d never felt anything so pleasant, so gentle, so caring. You didn’t know why you were crying or why your body buzzed like cicadas under the moon. You pushed your head into the pillow as he pressed his fingers to your clit and rubbed in time with his steady thrusts.

“Honey,” he droned and kissed your wet cheek between each stroke, “oh, you’re so nice.”

He tilted into you over and over. You brought your legs around him and hooked your arms under his as you clawed at his back. Your body contorted with his as your eyes rolled back and you succumbed to the stolid heat coursing through your veins. You cried out and let your hands fall down as you groped his ass, begging for more.

The bed quaked as he grew more fervent in his appetite, the pain was dulled by the sheer bliss and you sang out your delight. There was nothing but his body and that radiating pulse in your core. You came again and again as you whined ravenously and dug your nails into his flesh.

He jerked into you with a fluttery breath. His hips stuttered and he fell limp over you. His head hung over your shoulder as he huffed. His cum coated your walls in a salacious heat and you ran your hands up his back. He turned his head to kiss your temples, tears still rolling down to your lobes.

As your nerves stilled and the afterglow dimmed, reality shrouded you once more. The body over yours felt heavier as you were paralysed against the bed. Arvin drew you with him as he rolled onto his side and held you. It was nice but tinged with the horror wrought by his hands.

You didn’t miss Roy but you didn’t feel free either.

🚬

Arvin rolled out the rug over the bloodstain in the hall, the whole covered over  with a thin board of scrap. You watched and clutched your purse then checked the clock. He stood and neared to fetch his jacket from the small square corner table. He pulled it over the button-up that once belonged to your dad and the tie that was Roy’s.

His hair was combed back tidily and he wore a carefree smile. His eyes twinkled as he offered his hand and gestured to the door. The frame was curtained with a sheet as the shredded wood was removed and another would be ordered from Tim’s Hardware. He clung to your hand as he followed you out into the Sunday sunlight.

“We don’t have to go,” you said as he swung your hand and led you to the Chevrolet, “I know you don’t like it.”

“Nah, we should go to church,” he smiled and spun you to kiss you. He held your face between your hands as his lips lingered overly long. “Let the lord and all the other holy people see me and my girl.”

“Arvin,” you shied away.

He reached past you and opened the door. You sat and he gripped the metal as he looked down at you.

“I will keep my hands to myself before the lord,” he avowed, “I only ask his blessing for what I know to be his work.”

You considered him and wrung the short strap of your purse, “I thought you didn’t believe in God.”

“I didn’t, not before,” he said with a smile, “not ‘til I met you. His most precious angel.”

You chewed your lip and turned your face down. He chuckled and closed the door. He got in the driver’s side and the engine rolled over. His hand wandered over to your lap as he steered with one hand. You looked out the window and stared up at the pale blue sky.

You didn’t believe in God. You couldn’t. Just like your father said, a benevolent lord would not gift such suffering to his creation. There was no all-knowing being sitting in the clouds, no glorious purpose for you or any other. There were only devilish men and their dark deeds.

[iguessweallcrazyithinktho]

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 2

Part 1

Hiii I don't know if you take request but can i request like a chris evans x reader like the reader and chris are married and chris is having a bad day or something so chris go out to the pub and go home drunk and its been going for 3 days and the reader and chris has a 6year old and the reader have been doing all the work and taking care of they're daughter and they're daughter miss chris bc chris is never home and just go home until 12 or 2 in the morning or if chris is home he never play with her daughter and they're daughter is sad abt it bc they're daughter though chris doesn't love her anymore and chris miss her play in school even though chris promise so that day when chris miss her daughter's play the reader confront chris abt it and chris said he doesn't care abt his daughter and he said he didn't know why he married the reader bc she's clingy but chris didn't know that they're daughter heard what chris said abt her and chris didn't know also that the reader is 6-7 weeks pregnant and the reader and chris heard they're daughter sob and that moment chris realize it all his mistakes? and apologize to them idk if this make sense and im sorry if this is so longg, thank you in advance stay safe! <3

𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆: 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒕

𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝒄𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈

𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒙 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓, 𝒅𝒂𝒅! 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔

𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕

Chris paced back and forth as he tried to call you for the 10th time. It was the next day, he was sober and the images from last night clouded his brain. Seeing the pain and anger on your face as he said he wish he never married you.

Seeing isabella crying from his disgusting words. That hurt him the most, he regret everything.

The phone went to voicemail again making Chris groan. You had every right to not talk to you, but he wanted to know you and isabella was okay. You were still his wife.

Chris sighed sitting down on the couch. He rubbed his eyes with his palm, exhaling for the hundredth time.

The house phone on the table beside the couch rung causing Chris to quickly grab it. He thought it was you but no, it was your doctor.

"hi is this Mrs Evans?" Chris frowned, "uh no but this is Mr Evans." Chris said, he was deeply confused.

"oh well you tell Mrs Evans that have her next appointment date to check on the baby."

Chris stood up, he wasn't sure he heard right. "I'm sorry, the baby?"

The innocence lady on the other side of the phone phone gasped, "oh I'm sorry, you didn't know."

"no it's fine." Chris sighed softly, his heart picking up speed in his chest. "I'll tell her, thank you." He hung up the phone throwing it onto the couch. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He mumbled to himself. He really needed to find you and isabella.

*

You laid in the uncomfortable bed, isabella sleeping soundly beside you. It was around 8 in the morning and thoughts from yesterday filled your mind.

"I wish I never married you"

"Forget isabella, I don't care about her stupid play"

It hurt just knowing he thought those things. It took some time last night, but you managed to go to sleep around 3am. Now it was morning time, you were in a crappy hotel, and Chris was blowing up your phone like crazy.

You sighed pulling back the blanket. You walked to the bathroom. You looked in the mirror, your almost 3 month along bump was showing. You tore your eyes from it looking at your face. You were trying not to think about Chris in that moment.

"get it together y/n." You whispered to yourself.

"mommy." You looked back to the doorway seeing isabella. Her stuff bear was in her hands as she rubbed her sleepy eye with the other hand.

"good morning honey."

You walked over to her, "did you sleep good?" Isabella looked up at you. "Yeah, I slept great." You laughed, "that's great. Uh do you wanna go get some breakfast? We can eat some pancakes and waffles, what you say bug?"

Isabella started to think, it was almost like you can see the wheels turning in her head. "Uhh yeah. Can we see daddy too?"

Your stomach did a flip, you didn't think she'll be okay with what he said about her, but She was 6 so maybe that was the reason.

"umm... Yeah, yeah. We can see daddy." Isabella smiled, "okay, I watch TV now." She walked back over to the bed, hopping in it. You exhaled, running your hands over your face. Here goes nothing you thought to yourself.

*

Chris phone ringing interrupting him from his daze. He picked it up seeing your contact. His heart picked up as he answered it.

"y/n, are you okay?" On the other side of the phone you sighed, "yeah, I'm fine. Look um isabella want see you so can you meet us at the diner at (some street name)?"

Chris nodded even though you couldn't see him. "Yeah, of course." He walked to the foyer to put on his shoes. "Umm, I love you." Chris said. He wasn't expecting you to say it back, but you did. When you did, his heart skipped and a smile formed on his face.

You hung up the phone. You let out a sigh once again. Here goes nothing.

*

You sat in the diner, isabella beside you coloring in the booklet they gave her. You both were waiting for Chris to come.

Your mind was filled, you couldn't even figure out what you were thinking about at all at this point.

After waiting a few more minutes, you heard the diner door open. In walked Chris. In his hands was a bouquet of flowers and stuffed animal. You were guessing it was his apologize.

He walked over to you both, just like yours, his heart was beating pretty hard in his chest.

"hey." Chris smiled shyly at you as you got up. "Hi." You tore your eyes from his, looking down at isabella. She was looking up at her daddy with a soft smile on her face. Chris kneeled down to her height. "Hi baby." He said to her softly. "I'm sorry for yesterday, I didn't mean any of it, I promise. Can you forgive me?"

isabella's small smile grew to a bigger one. "Yeah." Chris smiled at her. "Okay, give me a hug."

Isabella giggled as she Wrapped her arms around his neck. Chris hugged her close. He felt relived she forgave him, he felt so bad for saying what he said to her and he's going to spend the rest of his life making it up to her.

He pulled away from her, he handed the stuffed animal to her before standing back up.

He looked back at you. "Uh these are for you. It's not an apology, I'll give you a sincere apology later, but for now I have these." He looked at you, he had bags under his eyes from his sleepless night, and tear streaks on his cheeks from the crying he did.

you quickly tore your eyes from His taking the flowers. "Thanks." You cleared your throat. "Uh shall we have breakfast?"

Chris inhaled, "yeah." He walked over to the opposite side of the table and took a seat. You did the same sitting back beside isabella. You all ordered trying to forget about the tension that was very much between you and Chris. It was nice that you both were talking, but you just couldn't wait for the much needed talk later that night.

*

It was around 8 pm. You and Chris decided to drop her off at his mom's house. You didn't want what happened the day before to happen again.

You sat on the couch fiddling with your shirt end. Chris was in the kitchen getting you both something to drink before you talked.

"so um.. I got you some water." Chris said walking over to you handing you the glass of water. You thanked him Taking a sip before placing it on the coffee table. Chris sat beside you with a sigh.

"I.. I'm sorry for yesterday. I didn't mean any of it. It just slipped out because I was drunk and tired, I wasn't in my right head space in the moment and I took out on you and Bella and I'm sorry." He breathed out. He scanned your face waiting for you to speak. You shook your head, you didn't look at him but you spoke.

"yeah you're sorry, but you really hurt me. I wish I was never, that's fucked up and it hurts so much. If you never wanted to marry me why did you?"

You turned to Chris, tears threatening to spill over. The look on your face hurted Chris, he fucked up big time and he knew it.

"no, I didn't mean that, I swear. I love you more than anything. I don't regret marrying you, it was just a stupid mistake... I'm sorry baby."

Tears were starting to form in chris' eye. He felt guilty, he knew no amount of words could fix what he done but he was sorry more than anything.

"you promise?" You looked at him. Your lips were trembling Because of your crying.

"I promise." Chris said. He cupped your cheek with his hand. He placed a light kiss on your nose, but it wasn't enough for you. You went way too long without kissing him, you weren't going to waste another second not.

You grabbed his chin kissing him. Somehow his chap lips felt soft. They felt like home to you, you missed them so much.

You pulled away looking back at Chris. "I have something I need to tell you." You said fiddling with his hands.

"I'm pregnant."

Chris gave you a sour look, you already knew why. "You know?" Chris nodded, "the doctor called. they have an appointment for you, they want you to call them back to tell you."

You exhaled, "well... Surprise." You laughed making Chris smile. He missed that sound. He's been gone for so many nights he totally forgot how it sounded.

"can I come to the next appointment?" Chris pouted his lip making you laugh. "Of course you can. You need to your little peanut. I'm thinking it's a boy"

Chris frowned, "no I'm pretty sure it's a girl."

"you haven't seen them yet." You said to him Rolling your eyes playfully. "I know but I want another princess."

"touche."

--

It's not that good but thank you for reading. I had fun breaking y'all hurts on the first part lol

@chris-butt @patzammit @bval-1 @raveviolet @mrsbbarnesrogers-reading @enn-j @london-dreamer71 @harrysthiccthighss @captianamerica-is-bae @la-cey @weirdowithnobeardo @baby-i-am-fireproof @denisemarieangelina @evans713 @smyfmj @thereisa8ella @rororo06 @keiva1000 @ughitsnic @adriannajackson123 @marvelnaturalock @notyourtypicalrose @dummiesshort @onetwo3000 @hhiggs @katiew1973 @andreasworlsboring101 @skepticnovak @funfickgirl22 @hxnesthxneybee @christhickevans @melchills-j @franchesca-791 @moonlacebeam @wallowsgirl14 @areamir

@thevelvetseries @chaoticfiretaconerd @chrisevansgirl34 @a-moment-captured @shookbeech @pamelalur15 @llamaproblem @jessyballet @hazeljean2 @ohbarracuda @mrspeacem1nusone @n3ssm0nique @youthought-iwasa-nicegirl @chrisevanisliterallysir @beautiful--blessing @coldmuffinpartycloud @mylittlecrazyworldofinterest @writingmeow29 @corrinez

[clarawatson]

It Only Takes a Taste

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x [Fem]!Reader (GN pronouns, fem coded stuff, but I’m not sure where this is going as a larger work so we’ll say Fem!reader to be safe) Summary: You work at a diner. Aaron Hotchner falls in love with you. We’re not kidding around trying to make us all sound like profilers, just accept the diner life, we love it here. W/C: 1498 Warnings: none yet!  A/N:  First chapter of that diner!au i was talking about here! AO3 ps. I forgot to tag people, so: @willowrose99 & @genevievedarcygranger my beloveds. If you want to get added to the tag list jump in my inbox and i’ll try to remember to add tags every time i post. Where am I in this series?  01 | 02 | 03 | 04 |

~

When you first meet him it’s 5am and raining. You’re switching over shifts for your friend, Rita, because she’s been doing night shifts at the diner. This late into her pregnancy she shouldn’t be working, not technically, but she needs the money and she’s got insomnia because of the baby, so she works nights now. There’s always someone working with her, be it Joe (who’s got far too much muscle for a chef) or Lola (who can beat anyone to a pulp with a pie tray). In the early hours of the morning a bunch of tatt’ed bikies come and sit and talk about their extracurricular activities (definitely not legal) because one time there was an armed hold up and the police didn’t turn up until two hours after it had happened. People don’t like holding up a diner full of men who eat their own motorbikes for breakfast.

But when he comes in, he’s not any of them. He’s not even one of Lola’s nightly hook-ups (she needs the money, you don’t ask). He’s too well dressed in a grey suit (or is it black? Maybe it’s black), trying desperately to shove his I.D. badge in his pocket. He has a look about him that says ‘I’m part of one of the alphabet soup agencies’. A smile on his face, dead in the eyes, and the weight of the world on his shoulders. He fumbles with his wallet as he squints to read the menu behind the counter. The rain’s stopped dripping from his hair, instead he’s got droplets like his woken with the morning dew upon him.

“Hi love,” Rita coos as she hangs her apron up. She has a look about her that says she’ll eat this man for her breakfast. It’s an effort not to curse those pregnancy hormones some days.

“Go home,” you tell her, swatting her arm. “Put your feet up, rest, sleep while the baby does or some shit.” Rita sticks her bottom lip out and pouts, but she’s making grabby hands for her purse, which is stored where the tea towels used to be. Far too high to reach even when one’s not pregnant. You grab it down for her, ignoring the showering of thank-yous.

The new guy (who is getting more and more handsome by the second) is still looking at the menu. He doesn’t look like he’s going to stop looking and order any time soon.

“Are you sure you’re fine to take the metro in this weather?” you check. She’s rubbing her swollen belly and looking longingly at the booths that haven’t had anyone sit in them for hours now. 

“Wait forty-five minutes and I’ll take you!” Joe yells. He’s slaving over something in the kitchen even though it looks like no one’s ordered in hours. “Wife gave me the car ‘cause of the storm!”

“Forty-five,” you repeat and point her towards the seat that she’s been eyeing off. Rita sighs, nods, then goes out to the seat. “What can I get you?” Usually when addressing the customer you’d add something gentle like ‘sweetheart’ or ‘love’ or ‘dear’ because the customers like it and they come back because they think you’re treating them like a long lost friend.

He bats his dark eyelashes and rubs at his forehead.

“I don’t know.” He sounds tired, balancing on the very edge of exhaustion. He might just fall off into a pit of sleep that he won’t wake up from. Been there, done that. “Do you guys do coffee?”

You laugh and point to the brewed pot beside you. There’s one for each table, free refills with a pie purchase. It’s written in decorative lettering right above you on the blackboard.

“We can put it in a take-away cup. It’s before six so it’s free anyway,” you offer. The last bits a lie, but Joe doesn’t care about a cup or two of coffee going missing. He’ll catch it up later when he flirts with all of the mom’s coming through after school drop off. The new guy nods and pulls out a ten dollar note and shoves it in the tip jar. You raise an eyebrow at him, but he nods anyway. He’s like a broken bobblehead.

“I know.” He goes to the sweets display and searches through it like he’s looking for something specific. Maybe he is. You’ve not seen him in the diner before, and neither has Rita, but maybe he’s one of Lola’s regulars. Maybe you’d judged him wrong. 

“Anything caught your eye?” you ask, leaning over the counter as if you could see it from his angle too. Maybe you do it to show off just that little bit of cleavage. He notices, then looks like he’s done entirely the wrong thing as he licks his lips and blinks like a school boy.

“S-sorry,” he stammers, and Rita giggles. You point at her and give her a stern look, but she just puts her hand over her mouth and lies down on the seat. She’s still silently giggling because her belly keeps bobbing above the table. 

“I just…” he has that exhausted look on his face again.

“Long day at work?” The answer is always yes for the people who work at the alphabet agencies. He nods. “Take a seat, grab some coffee, take a minute. It’s only just gone five, you’ve got time.” 

He nods. He looks like he’s gotten his words all mixed up and they’re just sitting in his mouth, refusing to leave. Tongue tied doesn’t exactly encapsulate what looks like is going on inside his head. He sits at one of the chairs in front on the counter, and takes the coffee cup gratefully as you pass it to him.

He’s definitely an alphabet soup man. He sits in this weird stance like he’s countering his weight against a gun. His shoulders are hunched forward as if he spends hours a day doing paperwork. He’s got a nervous twitch in his hands like sitting still is only going to bring the next case.

You think about making a joke about turning on the cellphone jammer, but last time Joe made that joke the whole place ended up swarming with cops. Absolute disaster. No one’s going to do that one again. 

“Cherry, berry or apple?” you ask, grabbing a plate.

“Sorry?”

“Cherry, berry or apple?” Rita repeats from her booth. “For the pie, sweetheart.”

“Uh, I didn’t—“

“Eat it,” Rita growled. You pull a face at her even though she can’t see you. The guy smiles.

“Apple, please.” Well mannered. Sweet. He looks elated as you slide the apple pie to him and hand him the canned cream.

“Not as good as fresh, but it’s better than nothing.” 

He puts a generous amount on his plate. You half think he might like it more than proper cream. Rita leans up just enough to look at him as he digs in, fanning herself playfully before sighing and collapsing back down.

Joe brings out his tray of caramel salted cookies. They’re thick enough to look like cakes with a gooey caramel center, and they usually sell out pretty quickly. The new guy watches them intently.

“How much trouble am I going to get into if I give those to my son?” 

“How old is he?”

“Ten.”

You smile. That’s a good age. “How much do you hate his teacher?” 

He considers this with a gentle tilt of his head. “Not a lot. I’ll give it to him after school.” He pulls out his wallet again and Joe looks like he’s just hit the mother lode as he grabs one of the cardboard boxes. 

“If you really want to spoil your kid, y/n here can write really pretty on top.” You glare at Joe. He shrugs. He’s covered in cake batter and cookie dough, and smells like pancake batter. He’s always smelling sickly sweet, and like a well lived in home, despite looking like the living embodiment of Gaston. “She does it for my wife all the time.”

The handsome man’s phone buzzes. He checks it, then shovels the rest of his pie in his mouth like a starved man. 

“I have to go,” he says. He gives Joe another ten and tells him to keep the change. Joe looks like he’s about to break into a song and dance. You pour a fresh cup of coffee into a take-away cup and slide it across the counter to him. He thanks you a thousand times over then goes. With his cookie.

“Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?” Rita screeches the moment the door shut with it’s little jingle. “I’ll-show-him-my-cleavage-but-I-won’t-ask-his-name?? No wonder you can’t get a date!”

“I’ll do it next time.” Not that there’s ever a ‘next time’ for these alphabet soup agents. They’re always looking for the next place to go to so they don’t have a ‘regular place’ that can be ambushed. 

But in a perfect world... you’d see him every day.

[fa-headhoncho]

Untitled TFATWS Fic: Part 3

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Prompt/Background: After turning yourself in to the government following the events of CA:TWS, they lock you up for the crimes you committed during your time at Hydra. Spending years there until Captain America got you on parole during the blip to help fight Thanos. Now, after doing community service acts and helping the broken society, when they give the new Captain America the shield, you’re thrown back into a life you didn’t want.

Word Count: 2058

Reader: Female

Warning: parole officers? canon level violence, john walker

Author’s Note: im being lazy and not writing rn but i have a stock pile of fics so get ready for shitty posts :p

Masterlist

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4

=====

Once you get onto the plane, you don’t hold back your emotions. The fight was enough but how Walker talked to Sam and Bucky on the car ride over sent you over the edge. You had to admit, the kid had good intentions but there was something about him that was off.

You don’t even wait for his private jet to lift off before turning to him and pinning him against the nearest wall. Your forearm was laying across his chest while the other was hovering over the knife clipped onto your hip. His managers and friend stand up, rushing to try to pry you off of him but he raises a hand to stop them. “Who the hell do you think you fucking are, huh?”

“Captain America.” He simply responds, looking at down you with a cocky smile. You let out a scoff, the audacity of this man. “Look, I didn’t know that you knew them.”

“Yes, you did.” You exclaim while your forearm digs into his chest, “You read my parole reports, it shows where I spend my time and who I talk to, Bucky and Sam being the main two who I interact with. They’re my friends and you’re using me as a pawn. Steve wouldn’t have done that, Captain America wouldn’t have done that.”

“You talk about looking up to him but you’re nothing like him. You throw around ‘brother’ like it means nothing, you have no idea what those two have gone through with Steve. You hold the shield like it’s a toy and using it to get what you want.” Your voice is menacing low and you knew if you still had your parole officer that he would be scolding you for it.

“Captain America stood up for the little guys but you’re just using it as a title, abusing it to act like the hero you tried to be before. You’re a fucking joke.” You release him and walk away. The air in the room felt tense as you plop down on the chair closest to the exit, furthest away from his management team who didn’t know what just happened.

“If you think I’m going to stand by your side after how you just treated my friends, you’re dead fucking wrong.” You shake your head and lean forward in your seat.

He lets out a chuckle, taking a step towards you with his hands fisted by his side. “You’re going to help me if I say you are. I say the words and you’re locked back in the goddamn cell where you belong. Remember who brought you here in the first place.”

“Hey, John, calm down.” Hoskins finally buds in. Walker scoffs and shakes his head, following him to join the rest of their team.

You shift your eyes to the floor, knowing he’s right. The power the government is giving their new Captain is a desperate attempt to give hope to those after the Blip. It’s going straight to his head and you knew it was going to get worse in the long run.

The rest of the flight is awkward. The tension never settling even if Walker acts like nothing just happened. Hoskins was keeping a close eye on you like you were going to bounce back to your Hydra days and take out everyone on the plane. To be fair, you wanted to but you weren’t stupid and you didn’t want to give him another reason to send you back.

Once the plane touches down, you’re out the door. The group was barely out of the seats before they could see you disappear into the airport. Haling a cab and taking it back to the apartment they were renting for you, changing out of your gear and plopping down onto the bed.

The events of the day finally collapse down onto you. This situation was going to be a lot harder than you originally thought. Walker explained it as just one mission to see where the Flag Smashers were taking the stolen vaccines and you would be on your way. “Free at last” to use his words but now you were roped in for the long haul.

You couldn’t stop thinking about the look of betrayal on Bucky’s face either. He had confided in you about how he felt about the new Captain and how lost he felt. If Steve wasn’t right about Sam then what the hell was wrong with Bucky?

Before you realize it, tears were streaming down your cheeks. You knew it was too early to try to reach out to them so you decide to give them time. They were still processing their interactions with the new Captain and the new information about the Flag Smashers being super-soldiers.

If you were going to have to work with Walker, you were going to have to figure out a plan. Racking your brain for ideas, one comes to mind that would be risky. It would be worth it, though. Staring up at the ceiling, you start strategizing a way you could pull this off. You were one of Hydra’s best agents so hopefully, this would be easy. After going against your original thought and shooting Sam a quick text, you slowly drift off asleep.

=====

Your leg bounces under the table as you stare at the clock above the door. It was half-past seven and the breakfast rush was winding down. The diner was slowly emptying, leaving a hand full of tables with families and friends enjoying their meal. The waitress comes up to your booth, standing there until you notice her.

“Ready to order yet, hun’?” The nice older lady questions, breaking your gaze from the entrance to her. You shake your head no before turning back to the door. She gives you a sad smile before looking down at her watch, “It’s been almost twenty minutes, sweetie, are you sure your friends are still coming?”

You nod quickly, no matter what kind of circumstances the two soldiers would never stand you up. Their hearts were too kind for that. “I was just a bit early, I’m kind of nervous.” You shyly admit, sending her a smile.

“Well, I’m bringing you something to eat at least,” She commands, you open your mouth to reject but she cuts you off, “on the house.” She gives you a firm look before walking off to the back.

Right as she disappears into the kitchen, the bell of the diner dings. Your head snaps to it and you can’t help the large smile that appears on your face at the sight of the duo walking in. The two immediately see you since you placed yourself right near the door.

Sam sends you back a smile while Bucky just eyes you down. You were wearing a simple sweater and pants while they were in their usual civilian gear, a ballcap and jacket. You couldn’t help but ogle at how good Bucky looked in the blue Hently you two bought when he first came to Brooklyn.

They slip into the booth, their broad figures barely fitting on the small seat. Sam elbows Bucky as he tries to get comfortable but he doesn’t acknowledge it.

“Morning.” You try to make conversation. “How was the rest of your day yesterday?”

“He got arrested.” Sam bluntly says making your jaw drop. “He missed his check-in with the shrink.”

“I told you not to tell her.” Bucky makes out through clenched teeth, he just shrugs in response. You go to scold him but he holds a steady hand out, “You can yell at me all you want later, what do you want? We don’t have much time.” Your heart drops with how aggressive he’s being towards you.

“I want to help you.” You announce, ignoring Bucky’s eye roll as he remembers who you’re working with. He goes to tell you off just like he told Walker but you start rambling before he could utter a word, “I know it’s not the ideal situation but Walker wants me on his team. If I could earn his trust and figure out what their plans are, I can report back to you two.”

“And how do we not know this is a setup?” Sam points out, leaning forward on the table as Bucky looks around the diner for any sign of said Captain America, “They could be listening right now, they still have you under lock and key.”

You gleam at the mention of that, realizing that you haven’t told them the good news. “Not anymore.” You extend your leg out from under the table for Bucky to see your naked ankle. “Walker pulled some strings to get me off my parole earlier.”

A look of realization comes across Sam’s face once he pieces everything together. He knew how mad you were about the new Captain America, how you helped him and Bucky against the Smashers instead of the other two, and how you didn’t know anything about Bucky getting arrested made sense.

“So, you made a deal with the devil.” Bucky snarkily questions, a look of disappointment on his face.

You let out a scoff at his words, “I did what I had to do, James. Not all of us were lucky enough to get pardoned.” You spit back, tired of how he was acting. “He tricked me, told me it was just one simple favor to repay him. Now, he wants me to be a part of his team to take down the Flag Smashers. Told me if I didn’t help that he would send me back to jail and it would reset everything I had accomplished in the last five years.”

Bucky’s eyes soften at your confession, hanging his head in embarrassment at his assumptions. The waitress comes up and sets the small plate of food down in front of you, giving an awkward smile to the boys before walking off.

You let out a sigh, feeling bad for yelling at him. He was being a dick but that didn’t mean you had to be one back to him. He was going through a lot and this was the last thing he needed.

Grabbing the fork, you stare down at the pancakes. “You don’t have to forgive me or anything but just understand where I’m coming from, please.”

They share a look as they silently communicate. Bucky narrows his eyes and Sam tilts his head at him. You look between them as you try to figure out what’s going on.

“I can’t read your mind, cyborg. Use your words.” Sam finally spits out then elbows him one more time, “Will you please scoot over? I’m suffocating over here!”

Bucky sighs and rolls his eyes at his friend. He gets up out of the booth and slips in next to you, using his larger form to push you closer to the window. Your eyes widen in surprise as he slings his arm to rest behind your head. He then takes the extra fork and stabs it into your hashbrowns.

Sam lets out an awe as he watches the two of you eat from your plate, “Don’t you two look so cute.”

“Shut up, Sam.” You both demand at the same time. He raises his hands up in defense, leaning back in the booth with a smug smile on his face. The two of you easily fall into conversation, catching up on things and giggling at the little jokes he was making. Suddenly, after a few moments of silence as the two of you enjoy the meal, you remember what Sam mentioned earlier.

Bucky lets out a little yelp when you send a swift smack to the back of his head, making the hashbrowns he was about to eat fall off his fork. “What the hell was that for?”

“For getting arrested, are you kidding me, James? Do you know what could’ve happened to you? I swear to God, James Buchanan Barnes, you will be the death of me—“ You continue to scold while Sam lets out a booming laugh. Mad at him for being so careless, you poke and prod at his chest but stop when you notice the expression on his face. Your heart can’t handle the way he pulls out his puppy dog eyes and his pouted lip. “Oh, don’t pull that shit with me.”

_____

untitled tfawts fic: @crowleysqueenofhell @mischiefmanaged71 @thewinterrbucky @lizajane3 @ahahafudge @spookycereal-s @a-girl-who-loves-disney @kittengirl998 @ sebby-staan

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Here’s another thought based off this blurb I wrote. 

Reader Insert. 

CW: Smut adjacent. 

_________________

You’re just on the couch, feet propped up on the edge of the coffee table still scrolling through TikTok. Calum’s taken resident up in your lap, head resting on your thighs and his phone is preoccupying him too. That TikTok keeps coming back to your head, the sudden change from the soft voice over to Corpse’s voice. It looks some lurking, and lots of Googling on how to actually make a TikTok, but in the search you come up with a plan. It in some part requires Calum to trust you. 

“Babe?” you start, running your fingers through his hair. 

“Yeah?”

“Can I make a TikTok of you?”

He looks up, tearing his gaze from his phone. “What-what you are you thinking about?”

“Using the same sound off the same video I showed you. Just tickles, really,” you say. 

“God, I hate tickles. But sure, I guess.”

You kiss his nose, “Thanks, babe.” 

“Do I need to do anything?”

“Nah, just say comfy,” you encourage, kissing his forehead. 

He nods, turning his head just a little to kiss at your tummy. “I can do that.” As the countdown starts, you drag your fingers over his scalp. The song plays and your fingers move into his armpits and he giggles. His natural reaction is to squeeze his arms to his side. It ultimately keeps your hand trapped but you laugh just a little at his response. 

As the bass drops and Corpse’s voice filters through, you’re able to wriggle your hand free and slide it over his chest. He settles, peering up at you to see if you’re done. In this action, you’re able to slip your hand up to his throat and give it a small squeeze. The surprise isn’t missed as Calum gasps for just a second before a tiny tiny moan escapes him. His eyes flutter for just a moment. You’re positive the audio is done by now but you do lean down to press a kiss to his lips. 

Calum’s not one to usually submit, but it’s there. He does like to be taken care of sometimes and it tends to happen when things get stressful with work or when he’s got a lot on his plate. And it’s not that he can’t take care, it’s not like he can’t take care of things, but sometimes it’s have someone else do it. It’s nice to have someone else please him. 

And truth be told, the action should shock him. He should recoil given that you just tickled him, but there’s a gleam in your eyes when you leaned into him. You looked so proud to see him respond that way, to see him trust you, so he pull himself into a seating position and cups your cheek. “You didn’t tell me that was part of the bit.”

You’re acutely aware to save the draft, but your phone is the last of your worries. “Wanted it to be a surprise.”

The distance between you two is short, and grows even shorter as you push up and Calum leans in. His nose brushes over yours. “Considered me surprised.” The pad of his thumb strokes your cheek before he drags his whole palm down and cups your throat in return. 

You push forward to seal his mouth in a kiss, peeling his hand away from your flesh. The kiss is short before you pull away. “I don’t think you get to call the shots right now, baby.” 

Calum can only let out a shaky exhale as you kiss over the side of his neck, “Okay.”

Calum’s head rests on your chest, the blanket draped on the back of the couch thrown over the both of you. His fingers trace over your sides slowly. Your fingers are scratching over his scalp. “Do you remember if we got Oreos last trip to the store?” you ask quietly. Your fingers move down to the muscle of his back, scratching just a little at the flesh.

“We did. But I can’t say any is left,” he laughs, sitting up. “Which might entirely be my fault, but that’s neither here nor there.” He redresses but drapes the blanket back over you, even goes as far as to tuck the ends around you. 

“I am not prisoner to the couch,” you tease.

“You must certainly are.” While Calum checks the kitchen for Oreos, you redress mostly but rewrap yourself in the blanket. 

“Huzzah, a full sleeve is left,” Calum declares from the kitchen and then rushes back into the living room. He plops down behind you, resting the package in your lap. You feed him the first one and the voice from the TV surround the two of you. The two of you enjoy the sleeve and then eventually move into the bedroom to wash up and retire under the sheets. 

The next morning when you check your phone, as you open the Twitter app your notifications are absolutely flooded. You check to see what happened. Normally, there’s a tweet about you here and there, but you turned off notifications just in general to be safe. But you still checked it periodically. As the tweet loads, you pull your brows down into confusion. Didn’t know they got it on like THAT!

When you scroll up in the chain, you spy the TikTok. You could’ve sworn you had only saved the draft not published it. But when you change to the TikTok app, you realize at the top of your profile is the video. “Holy shit.” You climb out of bed and scurry to find Calum. You’re already trying to get your fingers to stop shaking so you can delete the video. But at this point it is too late, you realize. “Babe?” you call out into the house. “Babe?!”

“Outside,” comes his reply and you spin around and hurry down to the open backyard doors. 

“Babe, I’m so sorry,” you rush out. 

Calum takes in the panic in your eyes and how your phone is wobbling in your hand. “Hey, hey, whatever it is, we’ll work through it, okay?” But all you can seem to do is just apologize. He nods, guiding you into his chest and rubs his hand up and down your back. “Ssh, take a deep breathe.”

“I-I thought the video was just a draft,” you say more but it gets slightly muffled as you press your face deeper into his skin. 

Calum can deduce the problem though. “But you published it by accident?” he asks. You nod. “And I can only assume it only took a matter of time before fans found it huh?” You give another nod. 

A sigh leaves his chest and you pull back, “I-I deleted it once I found out and it’s a throwaway account. It’s not even my face as the profile picture you know? I-I thought I was being safe.”

“Shit happens,” Calum returns, using his fingers to wipe away the tears. “It’s out there now. What else can we do?”

“I’m so sorry.” 

He kisses your forehead. “I accept your apology. Let’s get some waffles, want waffles?”

You’re not sure how Calum can be so calm about this. “You’re-you’re not mad. After everything?”

“You posting something by accident isn’t the same, okay? Besides, that video is the most harmless thing that’s come out. You know, none of us are saints, nor do we pretend to be saints.” He shrugs. “Besides, what a way to confirm a relationship, you know?”

The two of you had been dating for a while, two years and some change. You had popped up occasionally in an Instagram posts and you two got spotted here and there hanging out. But you were pretty good at keeping your face hidden or turned away from paps when you could spot them. One picture of your face had surfaced, really early on. But not much since then. 

Of course, the fans still speculated after all these years that you two were still together but neither you or Calum had done anything to confirm it. It didn’t bother you, you kinda liked the secrecy. It was easier to ignore the occasional tweet about your relationship but most fans had a feeling nothing would ever really be said. 

Until now. 

And sure, Calum is right on some front. You can’t really do anything about it now. The video is out and no doubt making its rounds. “I’m just going to delete the account, but yes to waffles.”

“If you want to, then I won’t stop you. But really I’m not mad.” 

You take a moment to look at him, study his gaze. It’s steady, he looks more concerned than anything else. “Sorry,” you say one last time. It’s clear that there’s not much else that he can say that will ease your fear. 

He presses another kiss to forehead, rubbing his hands over your arms. “Let’s go get dressed and eat waffles.”

You nod and it finally dawns on you that Calum had been out with Duke and you spy him laying your and Calum’s feet, completely content to stretch out the rest of the day. You kiss Calum’s cheek and then pick up Duke to nuzzle your nose into his fur. “Oh, buddy, bath time soon for you,” you laugh, but Duke just nuzzles into you. 

You settle onto the edge of the bed and Duke rests on your lap. You delete the TikTok account. There’s thousand of tweets it seems, so many comments and you can only imagine that Instagram is going to look the same so you take point not to look at it and to stop looking at Twitter as well. It’s not going to do anything good for you at this point. 

As you pull clothes from the dressers and closet, Calum returns to the bedroom. He walks pass you but takes a moment to squeeze your elbow three times. You turn to watch him disappear into the attached bathroom but smile just a little. Three squeezes, always a way to say I love you without necessarily saying it. You two use it most often when you and Calum go out into public, or at parties. Two squeezes means let’s go/there’s a problem. But three, and no more than three is your secret way to say I’m always there with you and for you. 

The car ride is quiet, but you hold Calum’s hand like always. It’s easy enough to slip into the breakfast diner. You pick at the corner of the napkin the utensils are wrapped in. The waiter is quick to get your orders. But you’ve stayed silent still. “Look, if waffles don’t fix this, I will go to extreme measures,” he teases after trying to gain your attention. 

You roll your eyes, but smile. “God, let’s not do that either.”

He laughs and takes your hand. “I mean, I would always go to the extreme measures for you.”

“Thanks.” The waitress comes back around to refill your water glasses and assure you your food will be coming out soon. “Wanna go to Lowe’s after this? Still gotta find materials for those shelves in your music room.”

He nods. “Yeah we can check them out. But if you stop me from buying my string of pearls, I will riot.”

“I want one just as much as you do, but we need a place for it first.”

“Nonsense. No plan. Just buy.”

Your food is brought out a couple of minutes later and the waffles do make you feel a little bit better, but right in the back of your head is the morbid curiosity to check what is happening on social media. You struggle against it continue to eat on. The sun’s a little brighter as you and Calum leave the diner. You keep your head down and walk a little behind him, but he reaches back, wiggling his fingers for you. 

“You sure?” you whisper. 

“What are paps going to get now that’s news?” There’s a devilish grin on his face and you give in, catching up and taking his hand. You’re pretty sure you can spot a pap or two but you don’t think too much about it as you stride side by side with Calum. 

In the Lowe’s you keep close to Calum, finding the right size planks that would be needed. He drags you over to the plants and allow yourself to be dragged over.  “You’re the one that got me hooked on this. This is your fault,” he teases. And you’ll admit it is kinda your fault. You wanted to bring in a few house plants, which Calum admitted to avoiding because he wasn’t home a lot. Though you weren’t sure how that logical applied to a dog, but never the less, your interest in house plants has rubbed off on Calum. 

You steer the pallet around with the planks you’re going to use for the shelves, long with the brackets and screws. You might’ve taken over a corner if the garage with some power tools and a small saw for some home projects you’ve wanted to take on. And so now, you tend to take up to some handy projects around the house and Calum’s always there to help hold whatever you need him to hold. 

“There are already three plants on this things, let’s slow down,” you tease. 

“Never,” he replies, placing another one down. “Kitchen window?” 

You nod. “Sounds good to me.”

When you two get home, you unload the planks into the garage and Calum finds his gardening gloves to move the plants into some pots. You watch him settled onto the steps that lead up from the garage into the house, gently pat some extra soil around the plant. “Want some help repotting?”

“It’s only two more,” he returns but does look up pushing his lips out for a kiss. You laugh and kiss him but check the soil on two he’s finished potting to see if they need water. “Can you add a little water to that first one for me?”

“Of course.” It’s not long before you add a little water to the plant and you settle in front of him, snapping a photo of the concentration on his face. It’s slightly obstructed by the baseball cap, but you angle it well enough.

“Cutie,” you whisper and pinch his cheeks. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he laughs. The last plant potted, he turns his attention back to you. “How’s it going? You okay now?”

You shrug. “Better, I guess. Still feel bad.”

“That’s valid. It’s okay if you still feel bad. But all in all, we’re okay. If you’re worried.” You nod, fingers rubbing over leaves gently. “Check my Instagram.” That’s all he says before turning around and head inside with one of the plants. 

You stay seated and pull up the platform. When you find Calum’s profile, you a new post. It’s a series, indicated by the white square icon in the top right corner. The first one is hardly a photo of you from years ago but the other two in it are more recent, the last actually a video of you struggling to get some of the planks from the display in Lowe’s. Calum’s voice floats through your speaker and the camera bounces a little as he moves in to help. “Let me help. You’re going to kill yourself trying to do all that by yourself,” he laughs. 

“In my will, I will leave you everything then,” you counter and hoist the plank up. 

The video is still rolling and captures you grinning as you pointing just off screen, “To plants for my good sir?”

He giggles. “To plants!” and the video ends. 

Here’s a very short collection of two years and 3 and a half months, reads the caption and that’s all. 

“Calum,” you call out, grabbing the string of pearls and head inside. He shuffles to a stop having been coming around the corner. “I love you. Your post is sweet. Now where do we locate the newest plant baby?”

“Kitchen window. Other will are going in the office.” You go to step past him but he squeezes your elbow-- three times. 

[jay-and-dean]

Until Halloween

Dean x reader ?

Summary :  You promised to stay out of Dean’s life, but Sam calls you to tell you he needs your help…

Warnings : Angst, Swearing (I never not use swearing), a hint of Fluff, mention of sex, pregnant reader.

Wordcount : 3.3k

Note : I just woke up one morning needing to write that. Thanks to @roonyxx​ for helping with the aesthetic.

Jay’s Masterlist

___________________________

           It’s not noon yet, and it has been months. You look at the phone in your shaking hands. Why is Sam calling you ? That can’t be good.

“Sam ?” you answer the phone with a worried frown on your face, looking at the falling dead leaves covering your small yard in orange and red. “Is everything okay ?”

“Not really, Y/n…” he sighs, making your heart fall on your stomach instantly.

You lean on the kitchen sink and take a deep breath, your hand protectively going to your round stomach, as tears of fear fill your eyes.

“Is it Dean ?” you ask, your voice almost breaking on his name already.

“Yes.”

The world starts spinning and big burning tears fall down your face. The hand on your belly comes to your mouth to cover it. After a few seconds, you’re able to speak again.

“Please, don’t tell me…” you let out in a sob. “Sam please…”

“What ? No ! No, Y/n” he assures you when he realizes you’re crying. “He’s not dead, Y/n… He’s just… It’s… a spell.”

Your heart instantly calms down a little, and the tears stop soaking your shirt. He’s not dead. Dean is not dead, echoes in your head.

“A spell ?” you repeat. “Can’t you handle it ? With Cas maybe ? Jody ? Garth ? Anyone ?”

“No” he states. “It has to be you.”

You nod slowly, like he could see it, and look down at your eight months pregnancy bump. Dean can’t see you now, nor Sam. You can’t afford that talk when you’re already barely holding yourself together.

“I’m sick” You lie. “I can’t drive to Lebanon, Sam. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“Sick ?” he asks concerned. “Sick how ?”

“Nothing bad, but I can’t come.”

“Then I’ll come !” he insists. “I’ll take him to you… Y/n… He lost twenty-five pounds, and he’s slowly losing his mind.”

More tears fall on your grey shirt. You need some air, so you slowly walk to your front door, and stand in the door frame, looking at the neighbor’s kids happily bringing a huge pumpkin home to prepare Halloween.

Prepare Halloween…

“You know I can’t see Dean, Sam” you sigh. “He said he never wanted to see me again. He… He said never.”

“I’m begging you now, Y/n. I’m begging you… Please. I lost you, I can’t lose Dean.”

You wipe the tears on your cheek and turn to look inside your tiny house. It’s nothing like the bunker, it’s unbearably lonely, and there is work to make it suitable for a kid but… You can do it.

“Y/n ?” Sam calls you out of your silent thinking.

“Yeah…”

“Please.”

So now is the time… You knew Dean would hear it, eventually ; you could imagine him somehow showing up at your door in a few years -with the same coldness in his eyes than when he told you to leave- because no one can hide anything that long to the best hunter of History. But now… You’re not ready, you’re far from healed, and you totally can’t hide your child.

But if Dean is in danger, then nothing is more important.

“I live in Salem now.”

***

           You barely slept. Lately, your little Pumpkin is moving a lot, he knows Halloween is coming soon, and he knows he’s expected for that festive night… But with his dad on his way, everything just got overwhelming.

           Every single noise makes you jump, because you imagine it could be him already, and nothing can prepare you for the face Dean will make when he realizes that the woman he kicked out of his life hid a child from him.

           After taking a breakfast without hunger, and a labored shower, you sit at your kitchen table, watching the alley from your widow, stroking your belly to calm the little one in here that is obviously feeling your stress.

           When the hour you had counted they would arrive comes, time slows, until becoming a torture. Your eyes stay glued to the tiny garden and the falling leaves, and each time a car passes, your heart misses a beat.

           But the second the shiny black hood of the Impala actually appears and the car parks in your tiny yard, taking almost all the space of it, then everything feels hasty.

           You get up, closing the oversized flannel on your body, like it could hide anything. You can’t go back now. They will know, he will know and you will have that talk. It will probably hurt your already broken heart more than anything, but right now saving the man you will always love, and protect your baby are more important than any emotional torture life can come up with for you.

           You get up, shaking like one of those amber leaves desperately holding to the tree in your humble garden, and walk to the window, to watch the love of your life get out of his beloved car.

           A sharp pain hits your chest at the sight of him. Sam wasn’t lying when he said the spell was bad. Dean is leaner, his cheeks hollow and the contours of his eyes dark, his skin is pale, scruff messier than usual. He almost looks older. When he gets out of the car, he has to lean on the hood for a second before he can walk.

           What happened to him…

“Where are we ?” you hear him grunt through the slightly open window. “If you made me drive twenty-five hours for a hunt that isn’t one, I’m going to kill you.”

A hunt ? Oh… Sam didn’t tell him. You rub your face, that will make it even harder, you thought that he at least had agreed to see you.

“Dean” Sam sighs, stopping his brother who was walking to your door. “There is someone you need to see.”

“Someone I…” he repeats, annoyed, before his eyes widen. “No, Sam, you didn’t !”

The tall hunter nods looking down.

“No, Sam ! Are you fucking crazy ! I said I didn’t want to see her ever again !” Dean says, walking back to the Impala. “I’m out of here.”

You wipe your tired eyes again, wetting your hands with more tears.

“No Dean ! Look at you” Sam stops him. “You’re a wreck ! You don’t eat, you don’t sleep ! You scratched the Impala’s door while driving drunk and never fixed it, she- she’s starting to look like a trash can ! Nothing matters to you anymore ! You need to see Y/n !”

“I don’t !”

“YOU” Sam starts to yell but looks around and lowers his voice. “You can’t live without her !” he yells in a whisper.

           So, there never was a spell, and there never was a hunt. Sam planned this because Dean is depressed. But how could seeing you help him ? He’s the one who dismissed you after all, he’s the one who said Leave, and never come back.

“I’m going home” Dean groans, pushing his brother.

           He can’t leave, not now, not like that. Too late for your secret, and too bad for your heart…

           You walk to the door and take a long breath before opening the door.

“Dean ?”

           Sam is the first to see you, his eyes widening when they fall on you, hand going to cover his mouth…

           Then Dean turns around slowly, and lifts his glare going up on your body. He turns even paler, his red eyes wetting instantly.

“You drove all the way” you say low. “Take a coffee and a snack before you drive back ?”

“You’re pregnant ?” he asks even if the answer is obvious, you nod. “Me ?”

You look around and take a step back inside the house.

“Can we talk about it inside ?”

           Both brothers follow you in the house, acting differently : Sam is looking around at your pretty empty and depressing home, Dean can’t take his eyes off of your huge belly.

“Coffee ?” you offer in a weak voice.

“Is it mine, Y/n ?” Dean asks coldly, making your heart ache.

“He is not yours” you grunt. “But yes, he has your genes.”

He sucks his white lips in a thin line, making him look even leaner.

“What were you thinking ?” he groans, ignoring Sam’s protest.

“What was I thinking when you were fucking me in your bed and cumming inside of me you mean ?”

“When you decided to keep it !” he almost screams.

“Fuck you, Dean” you cry now.

He rubs his face in a sigh, and you put both palms on your stomach protectively.

“Sorry… I…” he can’t talk, but nothing he can say could hurt more now anyway. “So you… You knew ?”

“No. I found out after you kicked me out” you state.

“I didn’t ki-“

“You did, Dean” you sigh. “You literally told me that I had to forget you and leave the bunker before diner.”

“Well I was right” he grunts pointing at your stomach. “I, at least, avoided that this child is raised into hunter life.”

A little dark chuckle leaves you mouth.

“What makes you think my child will grow away from hunters ?” you say coldly.

His whole body language suddenly changes, and goes from angry to scared, his hands move up a little in supplication.

“What ? No…” his eyes are pleading you now. “You can’t do that. Y/n you… You can’t do that ! Tell me you quit hunting !”

“I WON’T RAISE MY BOY IN IGNORANCE !” you snap, pointing a threatening finger to his father’s face.

“Y/n… Sam starts but your finger turns to point at him.

“Excuse me Sam but you don’t have a word either” you state before you try to swallow the lump in your throat. “My child… Is the son of a Winchester, even if his dad won’t gave him this name. My son will be raised in a world where monsters, but also magic exists. And there is NO WAY I will ever lie to him.”

“So what ?” Dean asks. “That’s the life you want for him ?”

Rolling your eyes, you sigh. They don’t understand, they are blinded by their own experiences of life, like only they had known suffering, like only they knew what horrors this world holds. But they just ignore the cruelest things in life are not monsters, it’s helplessness, sickness, human cruelty, extreme poverty, abuse and meaningless accidents.

You know how much they suffered growing up, and they were dragged in it violently. But this doesn’t have to be a rule.

“I won’t…” you stop, bending a little when a little contraction hits you, sweat breaking from your lower back skin.

“Y/n” Dean worries, coming closer.

“Don’t touch me” you stop him. “I won’t choose a life for him Dean, that’s the whole point. My child will know so he can protect himself, he will know so he can learn to use magic if he wants, because normal life can be so cruel Dean. He will growing up knowing my past, that angels exist and that uncle Garth is a werewolf. And he will know who his father is ! Even if he wants nothing to do with him… And you know what” you say lower. “I’m pretty sure that’s what is going to hurt him.”

“It’s not a life for a child, Y/n” Dean pleads again. “I know what I’m talking about…”

“You know nothing” you cut him. “Your childhood wasn’t horrible because of that, it was horrible because your dad was an obsessive careless father that drank too much, treated you like shit and made you a child soldier !”

You know how much what you’re saying is hard to hear for him, but you intend to make that kid as happy as possible without lying to him. Mary did that before you, she hid her past and it didn’t go so well…

“My kid will go to school” you continue. “He won’t move out every three days, he will have friends and do sports or learn music or anything he wants. It won’t be easy because I will be alone, but I have friends. And when he grows up, if he wants to go to college and stay away from all of this, I will support him but at least he won’t be blind and helpless.”

“You make it sounds so easy” Dean shakes his head.

“Well it is pretty easy Dean” you state. “No lies, no tricks. Growing up having werewolves little cousins will be fun, knowing magic… It worked before, for the twins raised by their witch mother we met at Asa Fox’s funeral… Books are filled of stories of kids growing in special family or with heroes.”

“This is not a book” he sighs.

“I know, believe me I had time to think. I’m not stupid Dean.”

“I know you’re not ! But this is serious” he tries to come closer again.

You take a step back and look away, unable to face the eyes of the man that broke your heart so bad. But you continue, determined to say everything you have to say, before the love of your life disappears forever again.

“And Cas promised to check on him from time to time… An actual angel watching over him.”

“Cas knows ?” he gasps.

“Are you even listening to me ? You think normal life is so peachy, Dean ? Many kids fall sick, they are abandoned, abused or bullied… Mine won’t, he will live with the privilege of knowing the loopholes of life and how to fight the risks. He will grow in diversity…”

“But without a father…” Sam sighs.

“His father doesn’t want anything to do with me” you state.

Dean turns to his brother, his back on me, and rubs his pale face with both trembling hands.

“Can you leave us a minute ?” he asks him, and Sam nods, turning to get out of the house.

           Once we’re alone, the love of your life turns to you, his red eyes full of tears, his bruised and scratched hands flattening on the kitchen table for balance. His breath is shaky and his chest seems tight.

“I was terrified” he says. “Still am.”

You nod in silence, not knowing exactly what he means.

           You were good, you were even happy. Hunting with your best friends, living in the bunker you loved so much, surrounded by books, finally free from loneliness and, above all, with the man you loved more than anything making you feel like the most precious person in the Universe.

           But after one more night of making love, cuddling in his bed with his lips on your temple, his arms forbidding you to leave his side for the seventh night in a row, you let it slip.

I love you.

           And your world collapsed. Dean asked you to leave his bed for the first time, and before breakfast, he was ordering you to leave his life.

“I’m dangerous, Y/n” he says.

“Dangerous” you repeat without any conviction, tired of hearing the same chorus for years.

“People around me die” he says and you shake your head.

“They don’t Dean. Garth, Jody, Donna, Alex and many others… The people who die are the people getting involved in the war you had to fight” you say. “They died because of the war against Lucifer and Hell, not because of you. You saved thousand people, millions, billions actually. People make choices, they join the fight. You think the hunters that don’t know you live longer ?”

“And you still want to raise our child into this life.”

A dark chuckle escapes your mouth again.

“Stop saying our child” you groan. “My son will not be raised a hunter, he will be raised with them, knowing they exist and he will make his own choices.”

“We have to protect him” he says, tears filling his eyes.

“I have to protect him, if you want to visit him, nothing would make me happier than him having his dad in his life.”

You realize you’re crying when tears tickle your chin, and for the first time you really look at him. His face is full of emotions, so many that you can’t really recognize all of them.

“Nothing ?” he asks making you frown.

“What ?”

“Nothing would make you happier than the boy having me in his life ?” he asks, a big round tear dying on the corner of his mouth.

And you suddenly understand what he means. He means you : the only thing that would make you happier would be if he was in your life. A strangle sob makes you cover your mouth for dignity.

“Why are you doing this to me, you bastard ?” you frown, your hurt taking control of your words.

“I love you” he says.

“What are you doing ?” you sob.

He’s lying to protect your child or something.

“No, no, Y/n I’m serious” he walks to you, ignoring your hands trying to push him when your words are too drowned in tears to do it. “I love you… I… I thought pushing you away was the best thing I could do for you but… Sam is right, I’m fucking dying without you, look at me…” saying that in a deep low voice, he cups your face to make you stare into his eyes. “You felt it… You felt my love that’s why you said those words.”

Sobbing, you nod. You felt so loved indeed, the two of you were so close. Tenderness, friendship and desire all mixed together in the most perfect bubble of love…

“I know… I felt your love too” he says. “I’m sorry. Now I can leave but… What do you think would be the safest for our son ?”

Our son.

“To have you in his life, and his uncle S-Sammy” you whisper. “To live in the safest most amazing place on Earth, surrounded by knowledge, and go to that little school in Lebanon, to be babysit by Jack sometimes and Cas, and to go camping during summer holidays with Garth and his boys, l-like he offered…”

“That won’t be easy everyday” he states, wrapping his arms around you, his stomach against your big belly. “Maybe one of us has to stop hunting, but you’re stubborn… Or…” he thinks out loud.

You put your head on his shoulder, his smell is overwhelming.

“D-don’t…” your voice breaks and you finally hug him tight, clinging to him. “Don’t l-leave me alone here, Dean… P-please.”

His hands travel down your sides, not daring to touch your stomach, but his nose pushes your face up to kiss your mouth.

“I love you” another kiss. “I love you. I’m incapable of seeing the bright side of anything without you… and I can’t sleep. I want this baby Y/n, he wasn’t planned but the best things are not, right ?”

Taking his big bruised hands, you look up to search his face. For the first time since you saw him again, a little smile appears on his pale features. You gently tug at his hands to put them on your round stomach, watching torrents of tears fall from his tired eyes to your shirt.

“My child” he whispers, his lips trembling.

Your fingers go to the back of his head to touch his short soft hair, the wind opens the window a little more and caresses both of you.

“I love you” you dare again in a shy murmur, even if you had promised to never say those words again. “I spend my nights hoping he will be like you, and look like you.”

“I’m taking you home, both of you. How long do I have to get ready ?” he asks, putting his forehead on yours.

“Until Halloween.”

_______________________________

FEEDBACK IS MY FUEL

Tags : @parinarain​​ @mogaruke​​ @masterof-agony​​ @rainflowermoon @tftumblin​​ @deans-baby-momma​​ @roonyxx​​ @thefaithfulwriter​​ @vicariouslythruspn​​ @emeow1496​​ @daryldixonandfrogs​​ @holylulusworld​​  @cocklesbelli​​ @sandlee44​​ @screenchingartisancashbailiff @donnaintx​​ @stormchasingchick32​​ @akshi8278​​ @magssteenkamp​​ @sister-winchesters99​​ @neii3n​​  @lyss-dw79​​ @im-a-shrub​ @sadwaywardkid​​@hopelesslydevotedtoyou1912 @slyqueenj​​ @i-love-superhero​​ @waywardsisterandpie @sunsetsandbooks​​ @fangirlxwritesx67​​ @mrspeacem1nusone​​ @stylesismyhubs​​ @deanwanddamons​​ @jawritter​​ @peridottea91​​ @chelsea072498 @chocolateheart​​ @vicmc624​​ @teresa-67​​ @jessie-michael​​ @doctor-hp-mcu​​ @hawkerz12​ @mariaenchanted​

[electronicgrowth]

Can’t Get Enough Chapter 1

AN: Actual chapter 1. This is already smuttttty. I format shitty. Sorry. Let me introduce you to Miss Billie. I love her and I stole both parts of her name from my different ancestors. 

Summary: The two most stubborn people in Knockemstiff, Ohio have eyes for only each other. Lee Bodecker is determined to become the town’s next sheriff. He knows that image is everything. Billie Dechswaan doesn’t care about her image at all. All she wants is to leave Knockemstiff and never come back. But Lee has other plans for her. Both are far too stubborn to give up their own plans. What happens when they can’t get enough of each other?

Word Count: 2.7k

The first time Lee saw her, like really saw her, was at one of the high school football games. She was cheering on the sidelines. She did a high kick and Lee couldn’t help but stare at her exposed thighs. From there his eyes traced up her body. Her cheer sweater was thick and the neckline was high, but he could tell that her curves were pressing the confines of the sweater. Next he noticed her smile. It was bright and genuine. During the football games he would watch her. Watching her joke around with the other girls. When she would laugh, he swore that his world stopped. He wanted to be the reason she laughed and smiled. 

Sometimes when he watched her, she would look up directly at him. Did she sense him staring? She would smile at him. Was she smiling to be polite? Lee couldn’t figure her out. At church on Sundays he would stare at her sitting with her large family. His mind would wander, wander to places that it shouldn’t be going during church. Between the services she would help serve lunch. She paid special attention to Lee, always making sure that his glass was full of sweet tea or coffee. She often encouraged him to try the dessert she would make. Sometimes she even sat with him and asked him questions about what being a police officer was like. Lee was sure that he bored her, but she always appeared to be engaged and interested. Lee often wondered if she enjoyed toying with him. And Billie wondered if Lee paid any mind at all to her flirting. She was  enamored with young Deputy Bodecker. His jaw was sharp and his eyes were the most beautiful blue she had ever seen. She could tell he was strong, even if he was softer around the middle than most boys her own age. He was a man, and she liked that. She was positive that he didn’t feel the same. The only hint Billie ever got was that Lee slowly started to visit her at her job. 

Billie worked at the diner after school and on the weekends. It was relatively common for the Ross County deputies to stop by the cafe for breakfast or lunch on Saturday. But slowly Lee came in more and more. By April of that year, he ate there for lunch every Saturday. He sat at the countertop so he could talk with Billie between her other customers. He learned that she loved to read, she wanted to be an English teacher. She wanted to go to school in a big city and then teach for a few years before having kids of her own. She learned about his mother and sister. His mother had passed years before. She learned that he owned a house. He always commented that it was a nice house but he didn’t know what to do with all the space. Hinting that it needed a woman’s touch or a few babies to fill it.  

Billie tried to ignore the thrill that gave her. She had a plan and she couldn’t let Lee distract her from it. No matter how handsome she thought he was. Plus, there was no way someone ten years older than her cared at all. And yet, she always caught him staring at her. He looked like a hungry wolf surveying its prey. The thought of being Lee’s prey made her weak in the knees. Billie went on dates with boys from school. None were talented with kissing. They fumbled too much for Billie’s liking. None of them made her feel what Lee made her feel. At night she would think about what it would be like to let Lee kiss her. She would clench her thighs at the thought. Sometimes her hand would slip between her thighs. She imagined that it was Lee touching her. 

Lee did the same. Every time he went on a date and they would jerk him off, he imagined it was Billie. Although, if he got Billie in the front seat of his cruiser he wouldn’t just have her jerk him off. He would touch her and she would be soaking for him. He would be gentle at first, but he would ruin her for all other men. He thought of what Billie would sound like moaning his name when he touched himself. Thinking of Billie always made him come quickly. He started imagining what it would be like to bring her back to his house. What it would be like if he came home to her every night. Lee knew he would probably marry Billie if he was given the chance. He prayed that he would find an opportunity to get her alone. If he was vigilant enough he was sure he could catch her on a date. Separate her from whatever boy she was with. Drive her out to another abandoned location and take what he wanted. 

He caught her once, just before he was elected Sheriff the first time. It was right after her graduation. She was kissing on some old football player after the graduation ceremony, he was sure they’d been drinking. They were parked on a deserted side street. Lee was out patrolling that night, but really he had seen Billie get in the car with the boy, Ralph was his name, and followed them. He saw them pull down that street and park the car. He was quick to walk over to the car, flashlight in hand. He could see them kissing. The boy was clumsy. Billie wasn’t. She moved languidly. She was a little vixen. She opened her eyes and saw Lee before he could knock on the glass window with a flashlight. A mischievous look flashed in her eyes. 

“Open the window, this is Deputy Bodecker,” The window was quickly rolled down.

The boy was nervous, but she just smirked. Almost like she was excited to be caught. Lee watched her make a big show of adjusting her dress. She adjusted it so even more of her breasts were showing. Ralph was focused on Lee, so what was the point of her doing that if not for him?

“Alright break it up. Boy, I’m gonna let you off with a warning. I don’t want to catch you doing this again, or I’ll let your daddy tan your hide. You just get on home.”

“Yes sir.”

“You missy” he points, “you’re coming with me.” 

She rolled her eyes before getting out of the car. Ralph drove away quickly. Billie watched him drive away before speaking.

“What? You gonna run me in or something?” She asked.

“Just wanna make sure you get home safe with your honor intact,” he responded, shoving her into his car.

“What makes you so sure it is still intact?” She inquires as he settles himself into the driver’s seat. 

“Girlie, I know everything that goes on in this town.” She slid over on the bench closer to him. She was practically pressed up against him. Lee’s body was vibrating in anticipation. But he knew he had to keep himself in check. 

“Right, cuz you’re gonna be the sheriff one day, right Lee?” Her hand went to his thigh. 

He raised an eyebrow at her. What was she doing? 

“Careful girl.” 

“Or what?” She teases, “You gonna punish me?” She skated her hand up his thigh and started to palm his crotch. 

“You sure you wanna start that, sugar?” Lee asked skeptically, biting the words out from clenched teeth. 

“I see the way you look at me. I see you getting all hot for me in my cheer uniform.” She whispered in his ear. Her hands go to his belt and she undoes it and his pants. She pulls his cock out, curling her hand around the length and pumping him up and down. He nearly veers off the road in shock. He clears his throat, trying to stay calm. He maintains control until he pulls over into the abandoned gas station parking lot. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” He’s shocked by her actions. He never imagined that she would come on to him. 

“Oh please. I’ve seen you at the drive-in before with those girls you take on dates. I know what you do in your cruiser.”

“W-what?” He asks in a panic. How does she know? Do other people know? 

“Calm down. I only know because I pay attention to you. Just answer me this deputy, have you thought about me when you touch yourself or when those hussies at the drive-in touch you?” She kept pumping him. “I bet you think about really taking me don’t you?”

“You have quite the mouth on you, sugar,” he tells her through gritted teeth. 

She was right. He did think about her. Every time he touched himself he thought of Billie. Every time one of this dates jacked him off he was really thinking of Billie. Lee didn’t answer her, he decided his best course of action was toy with her just as she was with him. He pushed his hand up her leg and to the apex of her thighs. He moved her soaked panties to the side so he could plunge into her with his fingers. She moaned loudly, biting her lip. 

“You didn’t answer me,” she pouts, slowing her hands. 

“You’re right. I think about you all the time. God you’re tight.” 

Lee caught her lips in a desperate kiss. She moaned into his mouth. Lee was spurred on. Fucking her with his fingers. She was pumping him vigorously. The hand that wasn’t between her legs went to her breasts palming them. She had great tits. Lee always thought so. She ran her tongue against his. He could feel her wetness pool into his palm. She grabbed his tie and pulled him down on top of her as she laid down across the front seat. 

He pulled her panties off and tossed them onto the floor, flipping her dress up so he could see her pussy glisten in the moonlight. He couldn’t take her like this. Not in the front seat of the cruiser. He shoved her hands away, but kept his fingers inside of her. With his other hand he rubbed his cock along her pussy lips. Thrusting so his length bumped over her clit, and was soaked by her slit. 

“I won’t fuck you tonight, baby. You deserve to be taken in a bed. But God, you feel so good,” he grunted. 

“Lee,” she gasps. He keeps curling his fingers inside her, she’s obscenely wet. Lee is dying to get inside of her, but he knows he has to wait. 

“So wet,” he murmurs, “You always get this wet when boys touch you?” 

“No,” she whimpers. 

“What’s got you so worked up this time, darlin’?” He smirks, he knows the answer. 

“You.” Her pussy tightens as she answers. She thrusts her hips against his cock. The head doesn’t enter her only because his fingers are inside her. 

He continues his assault of her until she comes with a shout. Her pussy flutters around his fingers. When she’s fully come down from her high, Lee shoves his fingers into her mouth, continuing to rub his cock up against her lower lips. She sucks on each of his fingers with relish, as Lee continues to thrust against her slit. She lets each finger go with a loud pop of her lips. Then she gets a mischievous look in her eye. She pushes her hips up again. This time the head of his cock slips down and rests just against her entrance. Lee raises an eyebrow at her. He knows he could get inside her easily, she’s so wet. Her dainty hand reaches between them, she grips his cock and pushes it inside her so just the tip rests inside. It takes all of Lee’s self control not to thrust the rest of the way in. But he doesn’t want to take her and have her regret it. 

“We can’t,” he huffs, trying to catch his breath. 

“I just wanted to know what it would feel like to have you inside me, just a little bit,” she whispers. 

“Not tonight, baby,” Lee tells her. He tries to pull out, but her legs cage him in. 

“Just put a little more in,” she begs her hips thrust up trying to force the movement, “It won’t even count.” 

“Not tonight,” he repeats, “You deserve to be fucked somewhere better than a car.” She lets her legs drop, and Lee pulls out. The head of his cock is soaked with her. 

“Finish in my mouth,” she pants. Lee goes wide eyed. Sure, he didn’t date the most reputable of women but never had one offered to do that. He sits back up and nods at her. She happily gets down on her knees. She eagerly licks her essence off of his length before taking him into her mouth, slowly, bit by bit. Finally she take him down her throat. She groans around Lee, he doesn’t even have to direct her. She’s already hollowing out her cheeks and bobbing up and down. He’s trying not to thrust up. He doesn’t want her to gag. But he can’t control himself. When she gags around his length, more salvia runs down to his balls. She looks up at him, then forces herself to gag around him. She starts to do that slowly, but speeds up. Lee can’t take the vision in front of him. His little angel on her knees, his whole cock in her mouth. And she’s trying so hard to please him that spit is dripping down her chin. 

“Oh fuck,” Lee growls, grabbing the back of her head and holding her in place while he cums in her mouth. She swallows all of it down, only a small drop appearing at the corner of her lips. She wipes it away with a finger before sucking the remaining cum off of said finger. 

“You taste so good, deputy,” she smirks. Lee is utterly gobsmacked. This little minx has him wrapped around her little finger. She rights her dress as Lee tucks himself back into his pants. She joins him on the bench. Snuggling into him. Lee wraps one arm around her and drives her home. Upon arriving back at her house she hops out of the car. 

“I’ll see you around Deputy Bodecker. Thanks again for the ride,” she teases. She starts to walk away but turns around as if she’s forgotten something, she comes right up to the driver side window. 

“I’m sorry,” she begins, an innocent look on her face, “I almost took these, and they belong to you.” She shoves her soiled panties into the pocket of his leather jacket and winks at him. 

“Goodnight Deputy.” Lee watched her walk up the steps and into the house before recovering enough to drive away. Lee managed to drive himself home, albeit in an intense daze. He was already thinking of how he would court Billie. Make her Billie Bodecker. She was supposed to leave for college in the fall, but he couldn’t let her leave now. She would get a job in town for now. And after the appropriate amount of time he would marry her. Or maybe he would just knock her up and keep her. It didn’t matter how he did it, as long as he got her. He had already made the decision by the time he laid down in bed that night. 

[glowingspence]

34, morcreid? (Is that how you spell it? Ahhh. Derek/Spencer/Penelope) mmm… lol yeah okay sorry bye.

[It's okay! I confuse shipping names all the time too.]

"Please tell me that is ice cream in your bag?" Penelope questions with pleading eyes when Derek walks inside their house, holding the white bag with the logo of the store that is on their road from work to home and is often the source of late night snacks. "If so, don't blame me for stealing some."

"That's okay, I bought two." With a smile he places the bag down on the table and walks over to the kitchen to grab spoons.

"What about Spencer?"

"What about him?"

"You didn't bring him one?"

"It's our first night back home. He is probably long gone in his book." He places a kiss on her lips, "It's good to be home, I missed you."

"Missed you too" She opens the first package and looks at Derek again, "Maybe we should get him?"

"So he sits here and is snappy? I love him okay? But if he isn't getting his alone time he gets unbearable. We just came home from a case, we can spoil him tomorrow." To Derek's luck Spencer doesn't hear that, he only heard the conversation from on when he walked in to him calling him unbearable before he sneaks back up the stairs.

He wanted to go down to them because he felt guilty for locking himself away when he got home but now that he felt okay and wanted to see what Garcia is doing.

Quickly he pulls over a sweater and gets into his shoes before running down the stairs, passing them in the kitchen,

"Where are you going?" Derek questions worried and gets out of his seat when Spencer doesn't answer while putting on his jacket, "Baby?"

"Hotch's" He mumbles and pulls the zipper up.

"What are you doing there?"

"Finishing our model, the missing pieces got in." He lies and grabs his keys. "Bye" Without a kiss, without anything, he hurries out the door and starts walking down the path.

"Let me at least drive you! It's cold." Derek calls after him but he gets ignored and walks back inside, "That is a surprise"

"Did he seem okay to you?"

"Probably got too excited." With a chuckle Morgan sits back down, "More icecream for us then."

"Earlier he didn't seem like he wanted to get out again." She points out. "What if something is wrong?"

"You know how he gets and you know how excited he was to build that model ship with Hotch. Hotch probably just came home, saw the pieces and called him." He places a hand on her cheek spending comfort, "I don't think he could be anywhere more safe than with him." He calms her before adding, "After with us of course."

"Someday he is gonna realize that Hotch loves him more than anyone else on the team." She jokes and takes another spoon full of ice cream,

"Jack is not his only son that's for sure."

They both leave their ringtones on but already expected him to just stay over at Hotch's so when Hotch walks into Derek's office the next day to get some files he is quick to ask, "How is the ship model coming?"

"We haven't had time in weeks. I am just waiting for the day Jack accidentally breaks it, believe me if he does his inheritance gets smaller." Hotch tells him with a smile picking up the files.

"What do you mean you haven't had time in weeks?" Derek asks anxious.

"The pieces just won't come. Maybe we got scammed." They are quiet for a moment while Hotch studies Derek's puzzling expression, "What is it?"

"Spencer was with you last night, right?"

"No, why would he?" With that Derek can feel his heart starting to beat faster, "What's going on?"

"He rushed out of the house last night claiming to go to yours."

"I was at my apartment all night, he wasn't there." Concerned Derek reaches for his phone just for it to get straight to voicemail,

"Hey it's me Derek, I know you weren't with Hotch last night, we are worried about you, I am not mad. Call me when you get this. Love you."

"What could have brought this on?" Hotch questions.

"I don't know, everything was fine. It's normal for him to lock himself away after a case."

"Maybe he went to one of the others? Maybe something worried him that he couldn't speak out." Hotch tries calming him, "I will check with them."

"Spencer didn't went to Hotch's last night." Derek brings out when he reaches Garcia's office.

"What do you mean?"

"Hotch never called him." Worried he looks down on her, when she already starts tracking his phone, "It's probably at home anyway-"

"He is at the university Gideon used to teach at."

"Was he there all night?"

"I don't know." Guilty they look at the screen, "Why would he not tell us that he goes there?"

"Maybe something about Gideon?"

"He would have told us that." They stay quiet for a moment both silently thinking about what they should do, "Oh god"

"What is it?"

"What if he heard you last night?"

"Heard me?"

"When we were talking about him. When you brought the icecream. He left shortly after." She points out, "How did we not notice?"

"He is not with one of the others" Hotch barges in.

"We know where he is." Derek points at the screen, "I am gonna get him."

"If he really left because of that, you shouldn't." Penelope reminds him.

"Because of what?" Hotch questions, "What happened?"

"We think he could have left because he overheard a conversation we had about him being sensitive when he gets home from cases. And we may have not said it nicely." Garcia admits while she gets scold by Derek with his eyes.

"I am gonna get him." Hotch decides, "Send me the address."

"I am Special Agent Aaron Hotchner, I am looking for a man. Almost as tall as me, blond-brown hair, very thin-" He brings out when he enters the building and reaches the security guards desk.

"Agent, do you mean Dr. Reid?" The security man asks.

"Yes, yes I do."

"Is everything okay?"

"We believe he is here? He didn't show up for work, that's why I am checking."

"He was here all night. Probably in the library down the hall, you turn right and then walk to the last door. There is a room looking like a conference room, if you pass that room there is a door leading to a library." The man tells him and hands him a key, "A few years back the kid would sneak in there using another agents keys, he got caught but the boss couldn't bring it over his heart to take the keys from him for some reason." He tells Hotch.

"Were the keys Agent Gideon's?"

"I don't know his name but he would always come in with Dr. Reid."

"It's okay, thank you. I will get this back to you."

"No hurries, Sir. The library is not accessible for anybody and honestly no one ever asks for the key. I don't know whats in there that has him so fascinated."

He finds the small library and after some

time finds Spencer crouched down on the floor, leaning against one of the shelves as he reads a book that is laying in his lap, "Spencer?"

The younger man doesn't react so Hotch slowly walks in front of him and crouches down, placing a hand on the book. It's the saftest way to get him out of his thoughts when he is reading. Touching him is not an option.

Spencer keeps looking down but after some time nods.

"Have you been here all night?" He nods again, his hair falling into his face. "Can you talk?" Spencer shakes his head and grips the book harder, "No problem, come on, we place this back and then get you to a restroom and afterwards we will grab some breakfast okay?"

Hesitant Spencer nods and places the book back at it's place, "Do you know where the restroom is?" Hotch questions assuming that Spencer had been lost in books all night, probably forgetting everyone around him and even himself. "Come on, we go there okay?" Gently he grabs Spencer by his arms and helps him up, holding him a moment longer to help him through the black dots blurring his vison for a second, "You okay?"

Spencer shakes his head, his fingers tapping against his leg, "Is it okay if we do what I just suggested?" He nods and leads Hotch to the bathroom while the man waits outside to call Morgan.

"Is he okay?"

"He is. I am gonna take him to eat something and for him to have some time to talk before we come in."

"Was he there all night?" Derek questions, his voice filled with guilt.

"Yeah, listen I gotta go, I will bring him to the office when he feels ready."

"Thank you, man"

"It's alright. Get a head start on those files for me please." With that he hangs up and smiles at Spencer who walks back out of the restroom. "You up for some pancakes?"

Shyly Spencer nods and when they arrive at the diner and Hotch orders him a cup of coffee and pancakes he quickly realizes how much Spencer needed something to eat.

"Are they good?" Hotch questions with a smile while he drinks his coffee, watching Spencer stuff the pancakes in while he taps the table with one hand. He nods and grabs his own cup to drink some more, "Eat slowly you are gonna make yourself sick."

For a few bites he slows down but then fastens again until everything is gone from his plate, "Do you want more?"

He shrugs, placing his cup back down.

"We can take a break and then can decide okay?" Hotch offers while Spencer grabs the newspaper that someone forgot at their table and starts reading it, folding his hands and pressing them against the table, pushing them more against it everytime he rocks forth. "Morgan and Garcia were really worried about you when they found out you lied." Hotch starts and sees Spencer hitting his hands against the table with more force as he speaks, "They are not mad, I am not either and you don't have to tell me why you left but you can. I won't tell them anything."

The hits continue for a moment before he gets up from the table and walks around it towards the side of the booth were Hotch sits and points at the seat next to him and the older man understands, moving to the side for him to sit down there and the moment he does, he wraps both arms around him, placing his head against him so he can look out of the window while Hotch takes his hand up to his head, starting to play with his hair.

"I ears-dropped" He admits with a whisper, Hotch almost missed it, so softly it was spoken.

"You did?"

"You did? I ears-dropped on Penelope and Derek." He admits, his eyes focused on what happens outside at the traffic stop.

"Did you hear something that made you want to leave? Was that why you ran away?" He nods ans then climbs over Hotch's lap, crossing his arms on the windowsill and places his head on it and Hotch figures that it is his clue to stop touching him. "Do you wanna tell me what it was about?"

A few men walk pass them, eyeing them but the last one nods towards Hotch, having recognized him and Hotch curses himself for picking this diner when it's actually known for law enforcement coming here.

"Why don't we talk in the car?"

"I don't think Penelope and Derek love me anymore." He suddenly brings out making Hotch freeze in his actions.

"What do you mean?" Hesitant Hotch scoops closer and places and arm around his middle but not leaning down to him. Just reminding him that he is there for the conversation and that he is willing to listen. "Why do you think that, buddy?"

"Because I know it."

"You know it?" Hotch questions, his eyes wander around the room as he feels Spencer shaking under his hand, "What makes you think you know it?"

"They are different than me"

"Different?"

"They like loud, and spontaneous, and chaos and much. They like when things are very full and it's just chaos and all fuzzy and I like things quiet and organized and I don't want things to be so full I like- I- they make me feel all jittery." Hotch has to admit it makes hardly sense to him what Spencer just told him but he didn't expect it to.

"Sounds like you are the one that has a hard time loving them right now."

"I love them"

"But?"

"I don't feel good with them anymore." He admits and Hotch leans over him, wrapping his second arm around him to and placing his chin on his shoulder, "Last night was the final straw I think."

"If that's what you want I am gonna be there for you, you will have a place to stay with me but I think they both love you very much and I think that it would be good if you would talk."

"We have done enough talking. I don't want to go back there." He brings out. "It was enough"

"Alright, then we are gonna drink the rest of our coffee and then you can speak to them okay?"

"Stay like this."

"Stay like this?"

"Just a few more minutes."

"Of course, kiddo."

[Prompt list]

[autumnleaves1991-blog]

Day 11: Walk the Dog - William ‘Ironhead’ Miller

Day 11: Walk the Dog- William ‘Ironhead’ Miller 

This story was requested by @oldstuffnewstuff​. Thank you so much for the request! I love writing for requests! Thank you for all the rebloggs, comments, and likes. :)

Also gonna tag @myathleteeggspizza​ for our love of William Miller. 

November Writing Challenge Masterlist 

Day 10: Used Tea Bags - Javier Pena 

William ‘Ironhead’ Miller liked numbers. His whole life since leaving the military was run down to the exact second the way he wanted it too. He would wake up at 0600 daily, stretch for eight minutes, down his first cup of coffee, and go for an eight mile run through the park. Then he would return home, take a five minute shower, get dressed, drink a smoothie, fill his tumblr with coffee, and leave for the base at 0730 sharp. 

Every single day was the same. But, that’s what someone with as many demons as he had needed. The structure and security of the same routine. Not one minute unaccounted for. Until the day he met her.

It was a chilly November morning when he first noticed her. She had on a black leggings, a maroon crewneck sweatshirt, black ankle boots, and hair in a messy bun atop her head. She was sitting at one of the unoccupied benches near the Veterans statue, reading aloud a book to a golden retriever lying quietly with her head in her owner's lap. 

He faltered for a moment, and one minute became two, became three and when he looked down at his watch he cursed to himself. He was behind schedule. When he looked back up they were gone. He turned each direction frantically looking for the girl and the dog but they were nowhere to be seen. He wondered for a moment if he had only imagined it before the beeping of his watch drew his attention and he picked up the pace to make up for the lost time. Lost time, what a novel concept for a person who counted everything in his life. 

The next morning when he entered the park he couldn’t help but look for them as he ran around the path. Keeping his eyes open for the golden retriever and her alluring owner. Will couldn’t help the pang of disappointment at missing them again. The routine remained the same day in and out for another week before Will began to give up hope about seeing them again. On Saturday after his run he came home and left at exactly 0730 again but this time he was meeting his old army buddies for breakfast at a diner across town. 

The diner looked old fashioned amongst the new and shiny chrome buildings that had begun to pop up around town but it wasn’t the outside that mattered. Will walked in and the bells tinkled on the door to notify the wait staff, and he nodded at the familiar faces before finding his friends. He slid into the worn, cracked leather of the booth next to his brother, shaking the other two men's hands across the table. 

The waitress came over and brought him a steaming mug of coffee, two packets of sugar, and one creamer before going back over to her other customers. Frankie pointed to the cup before back at Will, “you come here way too often if they know exactly how you take your coffee.” 

“Every Saturday,” Will tells him smiling as he prepares his coffee, taking a sip of the liquid gold, “Gladys knows just the way I like my coffee, and my breakfast. Why ruin a good thing by going somewhere else?” 

Frankie laughs at him, “Some people actually like to go out and try new things. Are you still doing the same routine every day and doing that counting thing?” 

Will only nods before he’s interrupted by Gladys who takes their orders, not even bothering to ask Will before she goes off to put their order into the kitchen. “Thank you Glady!” Will shouts at her and she raises a hand in acknowledgment. 

“So how the hell have you guys been?” Santiago asks over the rim of his mug. 

Benny fills them in on his training, and his new girlfriend he met at a fight a few months ago. Frankie tells them all about the house he just bought and is slowly renovating and shows them some new pictures of his daughter Juliette, who just turned three the past month. Frankie made the single father life look flawless. Santiago was in town for the next two months on break from down in Columbia where he’d been helping the local military take down a drug lord. All of them had something new to share, something exciting, except Will. 

“So what about you Will?” Santi gestures to him as they all dig into their breakfast. 

Will cuts himself another piece of pancake off for himself before running it through the syrup, “The same shit as usual, run, work, eat, sleep. On Saturdays I come here for breakfast and on Tuesday and Thursday I help Benny with training and Friday night is usually fight night. Besides that nothing is new.” 

“Youshouldgetadog” the words jumble together out of Benny’s mouth as he tries to talk through the French toast pouring from his mouth. 

“Damn it brother chew your food and then talk,” Will laughs. 

Benny swallows before trying again, “I said, you should get a dog.” 

“A dog? Why the hell would I get a dog?” he asks. 

“Just hear me out brother, you love routines right? You run every morning and it seems to me that your a little lonely, a dog could go running with you, and keep you company.” 

Will contemplates the idea for a moment and his thoughts can't help but go back to the beautiful woman from the park with the golden retriever. “Yeah, maybe… do we even have any pet shops around here?” 

“Fuck pet shops,” Frankie tells him, “you need to go to the humane society and get a rescue dog, they are the best. Juli and I will even go with you, she would love to see all the dogs. How about 1300 today?” 

Will thinks for a moment before agreeing, “ok...but just to look. I don’t know if I am ready for a dog yet.” 

“Ok I’ll meet you there with Juli and we can go look at the dogs, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you go and fall in love with one and take it home today.” 

Will scoffs, “Sure.” 

When Will pulls his black 2014 Ford truck into the parking lot he feels slightly overwhelmed by all the animals running about. There is a large fenced in yard with exactly fifteen dogs of various shapes and sizes. When Frankie pulled into the spot next to him, he began to feel more at ease with a familiar face and when Juli came running full speed at him he couldn’t help the smile that broke across his face. 

“Uncle WIll!!” Juli screamed tackling him into a hug. 

He swung her up into his arms and she squealed, “hello sunshine! How’s my favorite girl doing? Are you keeping your daddy busy?” 

“Of course! Daddy told me we're gonna help you find a puppy today? Can we get one too daddy?” She leans back in Wills arms and pouts at her father who crosses his arms. 

“I get the impression you and her had this discussion before you came today?” Will asks laughing at the exasperated expression on Frankie's face. 

“More than once,” Frankie nods to him before taking the toddler back, “Sweetie we talked about this, we are not getting a dog today, just Uncle Will.” 

Her face morphs into a pout and both men can feel the beginning of a tantrum coming so they deflect, “Let’s go sunshine! Don’t you want to see all the dogs?” Will leads the way into the shelter and when the bell dings as he crosses the threshold he stops. Frankie runs into his back before pushing the rest of the way inside. 

Sitting at a worn desk is the woman from the park. She’s wearing overalls with a white shirt covered in pink and yellow flowers. Her hair is pulled into a bun on top of her head but three long strands have slipped out and are dangling in front of her face. She’s wearing dark rimmed glasses, and has her nose buried in a book. On the ground under the desk, sticks out a wet black nose of a golden retriever snoring. 

Will coughs lightly to draw her attention and she snaps her head up and seems slightly startled. “Oh hello! I-” she puts her bookmark in her book and the dog rises to its feet, noticing the new arrivals, “Welcome to the Dog House, uhm how can - how can I help you today? She stumbles over her words, and a blush rises up her neck. 

“Hhh-uhm hi,” Will’s arm rises up and he scratches the back of his head, “Dog...I’m looking for a dog.” He can’t keep his eyes off her. The girl he had spent the last couple weeks thinking about, was right in front of him. 

She giggles, “Well then you’ve come to the right place, I’m Andy, you can follow me.” 

Will follows her like a lost puppy...no pun intended. Frankie just watches the two of them, smiling to himself. It’s obvious that Will likes this girl the way he’s acting if only he could see her looking at him the same way. Frankie keeps his thoughts to himself and follows behind the two. 

“What kind of dog are you looking for? Something big? Small? Athletic? Lazy? We have all kinds here.” she asks, gesturing around to the cages as she leads them to a small enclosed area outside. 

“I like to run, in Aveley Park over on 140th street, and I would like a dog to run with. I’m Will by the way,” he offers her his hand. When they touch they both feel a surge of electricity and they don’t let go, continuing to shake hands until Frankie not so subtly clears his throat.

She blushes deep red, and quickly drops his hand smiling shyly at him, “That’s where I like to go with Benny! We go almost every morning for a walk and then I usually read. My sisters have been in town the last couple weeks so we’ve been going in the evenings lately but they’re gone now so maybe I will see you some morning.” 

“Oh uhmm, whose Benny?” Will asks, he didn’t notice a boyfriend last time he saw her. 

“Oh my dog!” she gestures to the dog that has been slowly following between them. 

From behind, Frankie lets out a snort. Will glares at him before meeting your confused expression. “Benny is my brother's name…I guess he and the dog have some things in common. My brother is kind of like a lovable golden retriever.” 

She laughs out loud, and it’s the most beautiful sound he’s ever heard and he’s desperate to hear her laugh again. “Well maybe your Benny and my Benny should meet someday.” 

“I would like that,” Will tells her, smiling. 

The two just stand there smiling at each other like two lovesick fools when Frankie puts down Juli who's been squirming in his arms. She toddles over to the dog and begins gently petting his head, his eyes close and his tail wags and everyone laughs watching the adorable toddler and the dog. 

“Ok,” she slaps her hands together, “athletic dogs, good for running…” 

“Maybe one a little older?” Will hesitantly asks, “I don’t run as fast as I used to.” 

“You know I think I have the perfect dog for you,” she walks over to the kennel and comes back with a gorgeous chocolate lab. Will drops to his knee and gestures for the dog to come and sniff him and he does so without a second thought. 

“What’s his name?” Will asks looking up at her. 

“Tom.” 

Will freezes and in his peripheral he sees Frankie frozen too, both of their eyes are on the dog. “What’s his name?” Will whispers. 

“His name is Tom, they found him wandering around six months ago, they think someone left him. He’s house trained, and very well behaved. We-what’s wrong? You both look like you’ve seen a ghost…” She looks between Will and Frankie. 

Frankie sniffs, “our old army buddy, he passed away a few years ago...his name was Tom.” 

“Oh...oh I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories.” 

“I’ll take him,” Will tells her quickly, “how do I adopt him?” 

“Oh that’s wonderful! Come inside with me and we will get the paperwork all filled out, you can pay the $25 fee and he’s yours,” she places a leash around Tom and hands him to Will. When their hands brush he burns from her touch and she pulls her hand back. It’s not one sided. Juli and Frankie follow behind. Juli is more excited then everyone when Uncle Will tells her the dog is coming home with him. Just thirty minutes later and Will is the proud owner of a new dog. Frankie takes Juli outside to strap her into the car seat and head home. 

“I hope I’m not too forward, but maybe one morning we could go running together...I go for a walk there every morning like I said but for the right partner I could be persuaded to start running in the mornings.” 

“Actually...I would like to walk the dog with you tomorrow morning if you're free... it’s hard to get to know someone when running...then maybe I could take you out for breakfast?” Will feels as nervous as the first time he gave a speech. 

“Yes,” she doesn’t hesitate, “yes, I would like that very much.” She slips a piece of paper from her back pocket with her phone number on it, “I was kind of hoping you would ask. I wrote it as soon as you decided on the dog.” 

He laughs before taking the paper from her fingers, sliding the number into his pocket. He gently grasps her hand and presses a light kiss to her knuckles. “I can’t wait till tomorrow morning,” he tells her before walking backwards out the door. 

Frankie has already left with Juli and he loads Tom into the front seat of the truck, before getting into the driver's seat and buckling his seat belt. He pulls out onto the road and sits at the stop sign, Tom crawls across the seat and places his head in Will’s lap. He puts his head gently, before pulling out to go home, thinking about tomorrow with one beautiful girl, and two dogs. 

Day 12: It evaded me- 

[clumsyclifford]

OKAY. how about "This wasn’t meant to be a date, but we’ve had such a good time and now it’s 2 a.m. and I should really go home…" with ur teacher alex/ambiguous office job jack? (or any version of jalex) (we just love jalex in this house)

well hello, she said casually, nine months later. thank you for the excellent prompt, sorry it took me so long to get to it, but you can thank yourself for that too considering going to ssf is what inspired me to finally write this one. bellawritess clumsyclifford pictures is proud to present: the tshirt jalex meet-cute :)

read here on ao3

-

Later, Alex learns that the boy at the barricade who’d elbowed Alex in the face trying to snatch the thrown guitar pick out of the air is named Jack.

“I’m so sorry,” Jack says for the millionth time, even though Alex has laughed it off every other time. He laughs it off this time, too.

“Seriously, it’s fine. And hey, you caught it.”

Jack holds up the guitar pick, triumphant. “I did catch it,” he says. The blink-182 logo flashes its dead and frozen smile at Alex. Alex finds himself smiling back, though not so much at the pick.

The leaving crowd parts around the two of them. Headlights flood the night, filling the street before them with light and noise. There’s a line of cars backed up further than Alex cares to imagine. Those at the front must have left the show significantly before the set was over. Quitters.

“What I didn’t catch was your name,” Jack adds. His lips quirk, like he’s proud of such a smooth line.

“Alex,” says Alex. “We should probably get out of everyone’s way. Are you waiting for someone, or…?”

“No, no, I came alone.”

“Yeah, me too. Was supposed to have a friend but he bailed on me last-minute.”

“Seriously? Bailed on a blink concert?”

“I know, right?” Alex grins. “Eh, whatever. If he’d been here you probably never would have elbowed me in the face and then we’d never have met.”

“But I would’ve never elbowed you in the face,” Jack says. “Don’t you think you’d have preferred that?”

“Not if it means we’d have never met.”

Jack’s smile slowly grows. “Fair enough. Did you know there’s a 24-hour diner literally five minutes from here?”

“Oh, man, I like the way you think,” Alex says, shoving his hands into his pockets to protect them from the cool late-night breeze. “I didn’t want to sit in this traffic anyway.”

“And I don’t blame you.”

“Well, lead the way,” Alex says, nodding down the sidewalk, and he falls into step with Jack as they both start to walk.

-

The Tastee Diner is charmingly diner-y — neon lights, stools at the bar, the whole nine yards — and, more attractively, it’s mostly empty at this hour. It’s past midnight, later even than Alex’s usual bedtime, but between the buzz from the concert and Jack the attractive stranger across from him, he’s not really feeling tired. If he’s going to flush his sleep schedule down the drain, a post-concert Friday night seems like the best time to do it.

And Jack is really cute. So that helps.

“Breakfast,” Alex says reverently when they’re seated. “Oh my God, a fucking giant waffle.”

“Wow, everything you say makes me like you more,” Jack says, leaning his elbows on the table. Alex glances over the top of his menu but Jack’s eyes are focused on his own menu on the tabletop. He’s smiling a little. So is Alex.

“It’s a giant waffle, Jack! How the fuck do I say no to that?”

“You don’t. This table is pro-giant waffle. At the exclusion of anything else.”

“You’re damn right it is,” Alex says. “Do we also happen to be pro-chocolate milkshake?”

“We’re pro-vanilla milkshake.”

“Ew, seriously?”

Jack rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know, how can I like vanilla when chocolate is right there—”

“Yeah, how can you?” Alex reaches over the table and covers Jack’s hand with his own. Their eyes meet. Very seriously, Alex says, “How do you look at yourself in the mirror, you monster?”

A beat. Jack chews his lip, clearly trying not to smile. “With great difficulty,” he says. He’s humoring Alex, but sincerity sparkles in his deep brown eyes. His earnest gaze holds Alex’s and he doesn’t pull his hand away. After a moment, Alex does.

“Well, if I looked like you I’d never stop looking in the mirror,” he says instead, and brings his gaze back to the menu. A laugh escapes Jack.

“You can’t turn it off, can you?”

“Turn what off?”

“Your flirty brain-to-mouth pipeline?”

“I could,” Alex says breezily. “I choose not to.” It feels like a subtle rejection, a quiet dig, but it’s hard to be sure. Jack’s smirk seems to suggest otherwise.

The waitress comes by to take their orders of two giant waffles and two milkshakes — chocolate for Alex, vanilla for Jack, though Alex is sure to give Jack a judgmental look as he’s ordering. When she goes, Jack laces his fingers together and leans back in the booth. “So,” he says. “Your name is Alex, you’ve got fantastic music taste, and you seem to be more or less my age, but that’s about all I know about you. Are you from around here? What do you do? Likes, dislikes?”

“Are you trying to build me a dating profile?”

“That wouldn’t be very opportunistic of me, would it?” Jack smiles innocently. Alex’s heart gives a little leap. “I’m trying to get to know you. You know, like any normal stranger would if they found themself at a diner with another stranger.”

That’s fair. They are effectively strangers, although Alex can think of a shorter word to describe what they’re doing right now. He glances around at the jukebox-esque machine bolted to the wall next to their booth, at the empty swivel stools at the bar, at the marble tabletop where Jack is absently tapping his fingers. The decor of the diner is very classic, and he and Jack, both dressed in blink merch and black jeans like the perpetual emo teens they’re no doubt trying to emulate, stick out like sore thumbs.

However unintentional, it sure as hell feels like a date to him.

“I’m from Baltimore,” he starts. Jack lights up.

“No shit! Me too.”

“Really? Whereabouts?”

“Well, I work by the harbor.”

“No shit, I work in Highlandtown,” Alex says excitedly. “Highlandtown Middle. I’m a teacher.”

Jack whistles lowly. “That’s fucking awesome. What do you teach?”

“Music,” Alex says, and Jack groans, although he’s smiling as his hands move to cover his face.

“Of course you do,” he says.

Alex tilts his head. “What, are you not a fan of music teachers? That’s insane.”

“No, no, it’s not that, it’s just.” Jack laughs. “Of course the hot guy I meet at a blink-182 concert is a middle school music teacher. I feel like God is punishing me for refusing to play anything but bad drums in middle school band.”

Alex also laughs. Being called a hot guy by a hot guy is making his stomach do gymnastics. He’s too old for his stomach to be doing things like that, but his stomach clearly doesn’t care. “Well, if I’d been your teacher, trust me, you’d have been playing solidly mediocre drums. But I’m sorry you feel that way.”

Jack’s hands fall to his lap. “I’m sure I’ll get over it,” he says with a slanted smile.

Alex swallows and grins. “So did you look up surrounding diners before you came, or are you just…inexplicably familiar with Silver Spring geography?”

“I come to a lot of concerts here,” Jack says, nodding in the general direction of the venue they’d just vacated. “Venue’s awesome.”

“Yeah, it really is. Honestly, I’m still amazed that you caught that pick.”

“I have a lot of practice. From aforementioned many concerts.”

“I can see that.”

“Trust me, it’s a very specific skill. I’ve got awful hand-eye coordination,” Jack says with a chuckle. “My dream of being the youngest Oriole inducted into the Hall of Fame was crushed at a young age.”

Fizzy champagne fills Alex’s chest. He can’t stop smiling. “Fuck yes, you’re an Orioles fan?”

“That’s my team,” Jack says, looking excited. Possibly at the prospect of meeting another person who’s equally interested in both music and baseball. That’s why Alex is excited, anyway.

“It’s my team,” he says enthusiastically. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, they fucking suck—”

“Oh, no, yeah, they’re the worst—”

“But I’d take a bullet for them. I happily go down with ‘em every year.”

“Yeah, they’re my boys,” Jack agrees. “Here’s hoping this season is better than every single other one.”

“Yeah, all my fingers are crossed, but between you and me I don’t have a lot of faith.”

Jack shrugs and nods. “It’s good for my ego to be so loyal to such a bad team. Keeps me humble.”

“That’s the best attitude I’ve ever heard,” Alex says, and Jack’s smile is so radiant Alex could swear he can feel the glare off the shiny marble tabletop.

-

“Between ‘All The Small Things’ and ‘Going Away To College’ how the fuck am I going to choose ‘Small Things’?”

“Yeah, but it’s such a classic! ‘College’ is, like, emo and…emo.”

“No more emo than ‘I Miss You’ —”

“That one is a classic—”

“I’m not saying it’s not, I’m just saying ‘College’ is their best song and it deserves its spotlight.”

“That’s ‘Feeling This’ erasure and you know it.”

“Besides ‘Feeling This,’ but they always play ‘Feeling This.’ I stand by what I said. I’d swap ‘Small Things’ for ‘College.’ Deal with it.” Alex tongues his milkshake straw into his mouth. “Your turn.”

Jack glares at him for another long moment, like he has to properly make his point about it. “Fine,” he finally huffs. His gaze shifts sideways, off into the distance like he’s thinking, and he swirls his own straw around his milkshake cup. Alex can kind of see his reflection in it. While Jack is thinking, Alex quickly checks his phone.

(21:47) Rian Dawson: How’s the concert? Fuckin bummed I couldn’t make it :/

(21:48) Rian Dawson: Hope you’re having a good time anyway. Text me whenever you get home so I know you didn’t die or get trampled by a mosh pit or whatever the case may be.

Alex smiles and turns off his phone again.

“I feel like I can’t choose a song off Enema now that you did,” Jack mumbles.

“You can,” Alex says. “It would just be kind of a lot of Enema.”

“No, but Enema is a legendary album. I’d go to a show that was literally just all of Enema.”

“Why were you complaining about ‘College’ then!”

“I’m not complaining about ‘College’ itself, I just would never trade it for ‘Small Things’!”

Alex scoffs. “They play ‘Small Things’ all the time. I’ve never seen ‘College’ live. I’d literally kill.”

“Oh my God, I know what I’d do,” Jack says. “‘Shut Up’ instead of ‘Down.’ That’s the only thing that could make this set list more perfect.”

“Ohhh,” Alex says, “that would be fucking sick. Imagine two thousand people just shouting ‘shut the fuck up, she said’ at the top of their lungs.”

“I cannot think of anything cooler than that.”

Alex hums thoughtfully. “So you went with Take Off Your Pants instead of Enema in the end.”

“Alright, don’t get it twisted. If I could add the entirety of Enema to the set list, I would. But if I only get one song, it has to be ‘Shut Up.’ More Enema is never a bad thing.”

“Why wouldn’t you trade ‘College’ for ‘Down’ then?”

“Because that was your set list move, and this is mine,” Jack says. He slaps the table. “Yeah. This is the answer. Someone get Mark Hoppus on the line, stat. I have to tell him I’ve figured out the formula for the perfect set list.”

“‘Shut Up’ live would be awesome,” Alex concedes. “Good move.”

“What can I say, I have extremely good taste,” Jack says airily.

Alex snorts. “Okay, Vanilla Milkshake.”

“You’re just afraid to taste it because you know deep down that it will be better than your chocolate one,” Jack says, pointing his straw accusingly at Alex. Drops of milkshake fall onto the table. Alex sweeps a napkin over the mess.

“You had an advantage over me, though,” he observes. “You said your favorite blink song is ‘Feeling This,’ which was already on the set list. My favorite song wasn’t, so my hands were kind of tied.”

“It’s among my favorite blink songs,” Jack says. “I have many. Most of which are set list staples, yeah. But that’s on you for only having one favorite song.”

“Wait, what? You can’t have many favorites, that defeats the whole point of having a favorite.”

“I can have multiple favorites, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“No way, man. You only get to have one favorite. You can have second-favorites or close favorites but there’s always one that’s better than the rest.”

“Sorry to burst you bubble, Al, but I have more than one favorite blink song,” Jack says, shrugging. “I also have more than one favorite color and more than one favorite food and more than one favorite song.”

Alex shakes his head through Jack’s speech. “I reject this out of hand.”

“You can’t.”

“Well, Clearly Enema is your favorite blink album.”

“Tied with Take Off.”

“Seriously?” Alex narrows his eyes. “Come on, there must be one thing you have just one favorite of.”

“Yeah, there is,” Jack says. “My favorite movie is Home Alone. No other movie comes anywhere close.”

Of course it is. Alex grins and inclines his head in accordance. “That…is extremely good taste.”

“Thank you,” Jack says graciously, and slurps loudly from his milkshake.

-

The next time Alex checks his phone, his brain takes a moment to catch up. “Holy shit, it’s already one a.m.?”

“Oh shit,” Jack says, checking his phone as well. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

That adage has never felt more true. Slowly working through giant waffles and milkshakes while exchanging questions and random conversational topics with Jack has been the most fun Alex has had in a long time. Diners, he muses. There’s something about diners. Time feels frozen within these walls, and Alex kind of wants to stay in the time bubble forever, laughing with Jack until the sun comes up.

He could do it. Tomorrow’s a Saturday. Nobody works on Saturday, not even Jack at his “boring office job” (his words).

But he knows there’s a reason that nothing gold can stay. It wouldn’t be valuable if it lasted forever. The night will crystallize as something special in Alex’s memory, but it can’t do that until it ends. And it has to end eventually.

“We should probably go,” Alex says reluctantly. Jack nods once.

“Yeah,” he says. He signals for the check and looks back at Alex. “My treat.”

“Uh, no way. I’m paying.”

“Nope, not happening. I will elbow you in the face again if I have to. I’m paying this check.”

“Jack—” Alex wavers. Jack looks so insistent, eyebrows raised like he’s daring Alex to argue, and there’s nothing to do but smile. “Okay. If you insist. We’ll call it even for you assaulting me earlier.”

“Exactly,” Jack says, and he happily accepts the check when the waitress hands it to him.

“Did you guys get everything you need?” she asks the two of them.

Alex glances at Jack, but Jack’s scanning the check. “Pretty much, yeah,” he tells the waitress. She leaves them with the check, and they vacate their table to go pay it at the front.

Alex wonders what someone might think if they saw this table. Whether anyone could even begin to illustrate the story of the night using only two empty milkshake cups and two plates that formerly held waffles. It would be impossible. Not even Sherlock Holmes could work this one out.

Alex smiles. They’re a fossil in amber, preserved in memory. Even if it turns out not to be a date, Alex knows he’ll look back on tonight fondly, and he can count on this exact same smile every time he does.

Jack finishes paying and turns to face Alex. One arm outstretched, he says, “Shall we?”

Alex links their arms. “After you, good sir.”

They’re laughing as they leave in a glow of neon light.

-

“This is me,” Alex says, gesturing half-heartedly at his car. They both stop short behind it.

“Ah,” Jack says, nodding. “So I guess this is where I leave you.”

Alex swallows. “I’m glad you elbowed me in the face,” he admits, which sounds strange to say out of the blue. “I had a good time tonight.”

“What, at the concert?”

Jack is obviously teasing, but Alex doesn’t mind being more clear. “Actually, I think I had more fun after the concert,” he says, smiling a little. “You’re good company, JB.”

Jack smiles, and if Alex isn’t mistaken, he’s also blushing. “Same to you,” he says. “Despite your wrong opinions about the set list.”

“I hate sounding like a cliché,” Alex says, ruffling a hand through his hair. Jack cocks his head. “But, um, I’d like to see you again. If that’s okay.”

“So okay,” Jack says. “And totally plausible, considering we apparently live within twenty minutes of each other.”

“True,” Alex says. “The universe really wanted us to meet, I guess.”

“Thank you, Universe, for putting Alex in harm’s way,” Jack says solemnly, looking upwards. Alex laughs. “Can I have your number?”

“Yeah, yes, of course.”

Alex recites his phone number for Jack to enter into his contacts. “I promise I’ll call,” Jack says. His gaze flits around Alex’s face like it can’t find a good place to land. He drags his index finger diagonally over his chest. “Cross my heart and everything.”

“I have to ask,” Alex says, shifting on his feet. “Were you— was this supposed to be a date?” He hesitates; maybe that’s the wrong question. “Was it a date?”

“For the sake of anniversaries, let’s say yes,” Jack says. Immediately his face puckers in regret. “Pretend I didn’t say that. I’m— my brain gets ahead of me.”

“No, it’s all good.” It’s more than good; there’s a horde of butterflies in Alex’s ribcage that won’t fucking quit, not now that he knows Jack is thinking of anniversaries when this is only maybe their first date. A person who is not only anticipating a future for them but preparing to celebrate it. So far, so fucking good. “You’re a practical thinker. I can appreciate that.”

“And I appreciate that you aren’t deleting your number from my phone even after I just said that to you,” Jack says, grinning. His grin melts away when he sighs. “I should go. It’s late.”

“Yeah,” Alex echoes. “Late.”

“Please drive safe,” Jack says seriously. “If I’m the last person to see you before you die, that’ll make me look really bad.”

Alex laughs. He likes that Jack keeps making him laugh. His friends make him laugh, too, but Jack makes him laugh in a different way, like he can’t stop himself. Like the delight refuses to stay trapped.

“I promise to drive safe,” he vows. “I owe you a date. I would hate to lose the chance to impress you.”

“Oh, wait, that reminds me.” Jack reaches into his pocket and presses something into Alex’s hand. It’s the guitar pick, warm from Jack’s pocket. “You’ll probably use it more than me,” Jack explains, ducking his head. “You know, being a music teacher and all.”

“Oh,” Alex breathes, flipping the pick in his palm. “That’s, um…thank you. Thanks. I’m…”

“Yeah,” Jack says, licking his lips. “Of course. Um, okay, now I really should go. But like I said, I’ll call.”

Alex nods, still staring at the guitar pick in his hand. His head snaps up and he breaks from whatever trance he’d fallen into. “I’m counting on it,” he says, stepping closer to Jack. He hears Jack inhale as he leans closer, brushing his lips to Jack’s cheek.

When Jack speaks, it’s a hoarse whisper. “I had a good time too, you know.”

Alex leans away and starts walking backwards to the driver-side door. “Good,” he says, smiling warmly. He’s not really trying to smile so warmly but he can’t help it. “Get home safe, Jack.”

“Yeah,” Jack says. “You too, Alex.”

[shirtlesssammy]

5x12: Swap Meat

At a bar, a woman sits alone, enjoying her margarita, when one Sam Fucking Winchester wanders over and asks the barkeep ---NOT at all awkwardly--for a banana daiquiri. He’s either deep undercover or something is seriously hinky. There’s a lot of sugar in banana daiquiris, Sam. Crystal introduces herself and Sam introduces himself as Gary! She then propositions him, much to his cluelessness. 

The poor dumb boy puts it together and “would love to have the sex with [her].” We then pan over to see Sam REALLY isn’t Sam at all.

Housatonic, Massachusetts

36 Hours Earlier

Sam and Dean visit Donna, an old babysitter --well, she was a maid at a motel they’d stay at while John went hunting. She looked out for them. It seems that her family house has a poltergeist problem. Bumps and broken items have led to the thing attacking their daughter, Katie. 

Katie lifts her shirt to reveal “Murderd Chylde” carved into her abdomen. I'd get some serious vaseline on those wounds if you don’t want scarring, Katie. Yeesh. Sam and Dean tell the family to skedaddle while they take care of things. 

They stop at a diner for food next. Dean picks up their order from the counter from Banana Daiquiri Gary! He’s not impressed with Sam’s salad shake, and neither is Dean (but when is he ever?) 

They talk about Donna and how she’s got a good thing going. Dean asks Sam if he’d want to settle down at all and have a family, and Sam answers, “no.” Dean looks contemplative about it. 

Sam finds lore on the house. A Samuel Pickett owned the house in the 1700s and hung a woman, Maggie Briggs, there for witchcraft. As the brothers talk, we watch Gary hyperfixate on Sam. 

Sam goes to check out the town’s archives for where Maggie Briggs was buried. As he’s walking back to the motel, he hears a noise and then gets shot in the neck with a dart. Lights out, Sammy. 

He comes to later, wearing Gary’s work uniform. He starts walking but the cops pick him up claiming his family is worried about him. “My brother called you?” Sam asks, incredulous. 

No. The cops take him to a suburban house where a worried couple pops out and hugs Sam in relief. He asks who they are and in return they want to know if he’s drunk. 

They keep calling him Gary. It’s then that Sam looks in the window of the cop car --and sees his reflection. He looks like Gary!

Meanwhile, Gary is checking out his hot new bod. Dean shows up and wonders where he’s been. Gary placates him with food. He also tells Dean that the maid saw all their weapons and they better get out of there. While Dean uses the restroom, Gary gets rid of all Dean’s phones. 

THEN he has the NERVE to ask to drive. He doesn’t get far. And quite frankly, Dean’s spidey sense should be spiking through the ceiling at this point. 

Sam keeps trying to reach his brother, with no luck. He calls the motel to learn that the two dudes in room 102 left in the middle of the night. So, Sam starts digging through Gary’s stuff and discovers items of witchcraft. Before he can dig too much further though, he’s called to the family breakfast. 

His “dad” starts grilling him about getting drunk the night before. Sam’s got better things to worry about than placating some dude he doesn’t know. He also needs to learn more about Gary, so he starts interviewing the family about what they've noticed in him lately. 

The dad wants to know if Sam’s “smoking drugs”. Sam then asks if they’ve ever seen him with a black book recently. His sister, Sydney, reacts to that question. The mom reacts to him eating toast --his allergy to wheat gluten!! 

Sydney later reveals to Sam that there IS a book.

Gary and Dean are still working the case. Dean informs Gary that they have to search graves for Maggie’s body. Nerd of Nerd’s Gary knows exactly where Maggie Briggs is buried: Isiah Pickett’s basement. He also reveals that he murdered her and her unborn child before burying them in the basement. Dean connects the ‘murderd chylde’ clue. 

Once in the car, Bob Seger starts blasting, and Gary tells Dean to turn it up. 

Sam continues to leave messages for Dean. He ALSO has to navigate the tortures of high school again. Sam meets two of Gary’s friends and asks where his locker is (he’s still drunk, after all). 

For This is a Look TM Science:

(And let’s pause for a moment to enjoy Sam’s striped hoodie. Definitely one of the top 5 wardrobe choices on this show.) 

He finds the book in the back of Gary’s locker. 

Gary and Dean find the grave in the basement of the Pickett house. Dean gets to digging while Gary aims his gun at Dean. Before he can shoot, the ghost comes out to play. It starts beating up the both of them but Gary’s able to burn the bones.

Gary’s extremely nosy friends follow Sam out of the school. While it looks like we’re gearing up for some good ol’ Ferris Bueller shenanigans, Trevor shoots Sam in the throat (GAH) with a sedative dart. 

Meanwhile, at a bar, Dean orders a burger with extra bacon and a fried egg on top. Excuse me...I need to go eat an entire branchbouquet of kale in retaliation. Mysteriously, Sam orders the same thing. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” Dean asks. But it’s just a lighthearted comment and they raise a toast to a successful hunt.

Gary’s over the moon overabout the day he just had. His joy makes Dean suspicious the way nothing else has. Oh, you sweet sad sunflowers. Gary lays out Sam Winchester’s happiness list: 1) gun 2) getting drunk 3) looks like Sam Winchester.

“You ever feel like your whole future is being decided for you?” Gary asks. OH YES, Dean tells him. I forget for a minute that I’m watching a season 5 episode as the Dean-Winchester-feels-trapped-in-the-narrative-sorrow threatens to overwhelm me. But there areis no time for FEELINGS when the narrative must go on! Cut to later in the night, when Gary gets picked up by the woman in the bar from the cold open. Dean puts his thinking face on while Gary ecstatically leaves the bar. 

Back at Kid Kidnapperz clubhouse, Sam’s tied up. Trevor calls Gary and asks him if he’s killed Dean yet. “I’m working up to it,” Gary replies while sitting shirtless under a leopard print bedspread in the cougar’s lair. (Just...no on SO MANY LEVELS.) Sam listens to this with great alarm.

Sam demands to know how these rando teenagers know Dean. “Everybody knows Dean. He’s Hell’s most wanted,” Trevor retorts. Sam puts two and two together and comes up with a coupla dumb kids who took a deep dive into witchcraft and started talking to demons. 

“You’re just kids,” Sam laments. Trevor and Nora fill in more blanks. They were messing around with a Moste Dark Booke of Witchcraftery, as one does, and suddenly Gary went into a trance and drew a fairly decent picture of Dean. Gary also heard a voice - it was setting a bounty on Dean’s head, and apparently broadcast through the witch trance network.

Gary heard a voice in his head - it was setting a bounty on Dean’s head, and apparently broadcast through the witch trance network. Nora now has second thoughts, so Trevor ups his stupidity game and starts to summon a demon. 

That night, Gary creeps into the motel room and grabs Dean’s gun up from a nearby chair. He cocks the pistol. . He aims it at the shape under the covers...and Dean grabs him from behind and demands to know who he really is. (Silly Gary, Dean stopped sleeping under covers after he got back from Hell.)

Back in Trevor’s basement, he finishes the demon summoning. Nora looks up with black eyes.

She’s very interested to learn that they’ve got Dean Winchester in their sights. Trevor tells her where Dean is immediately. She absorbs this and swings her attention to Sam. She realizes it’s Sam “Boy King of Hell” Winchester sitting there and is suddenly VERY interested. Trevor asks her where his reward is, and when he pushes for it she first taunts, then kills him. (All the while Sam is in the background GRINDING HIS TEETH.)

Gary weeps, tied up in the motel room while Dean listens to voicemail after voicemail from Sam. Gary babbles about Sam’s whereabouts but it’s too late. Demon!Nora saunters in and lobs Dean across the room. Wherps. She offers Gary a powerful future but first he’s got to meet “the boss.” All he has to do is say “Yes” and they can have a nice chat together! Very sneaky! Dean attacks her while she’s cooking up her big plan and then Gary and Dean tag team an exorcism, freeing Nora of the demon. Later, Gary performs the incantation to swap bodies with Sam again. (I shake my head yet again that THIS is the ONLY body swap episode we got in the whole fifteen season run. What a goddamn waste of comedy potential.

With Sam restored to normal (or as normal as a Winchester can get), Dean confronts Gary. He tells him that if he were just a little older, he’d be dead right now. With those comforting parting words, they bring Gary and Nora back to their lives. Sam tells Gary to quit his whining about his life. It’s possible to rebel in a “healthy, non-satanic way.” Furthermore, he tells Gary that he wishes he had his life. Once the kids are out of earshot, Dean comments on Sam’s kind words. “Totally lied. Kid’s life sucked ass.” The apple-pie family crap is stressful, Sam decides. 

Maybe they just don’t know what they’re missing, Dean rejoins, and I calmly tie an anvil around my ankle and drop it off a cliff into a dramatically large canyon. 

They head out into the rainy night...to fight another day!

Doppelquöter:

You ever think that you'd want something like that? Wife, rugrats, the whole nine?

No matter how much you fight it, you can't stop the plan. The stupid, stupid plan

Um, I wouldn't exactly call praying to our dark overlord “goofing around”

 Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!