#by scrunchies i mean when you smile real big and it makes your nose scrunch up a bit

[wildflowercryptid]

you know a ship / couple is good when seeing them together makes your nose do the scrunchies

[hargrove-mayfields]

Back when things were still easy, Billy and Max used to have sibling days on the weekends when Neil wouldn’t be home, setting aside their issues to have just one day that was meant for doing something fun together.

The tradition had been dropped after the move to Hawkins, and Max thinks that’s where a lot of the strain on their relationship comes from. Without those designated times to let go of some of the tension building between them, they fall to pieces.

There’s one day in particular where it’s just Max at home all by herself, her mother and Neil having gone on a trip to the city she opted out of, when Billy shows up much earlier than he said he would be back, ruining the calm when he slammed the front door so hard a picture frame fell off the wall.

Neither of them say a word to the other, all she gets is an apologetic and glossy looking glance for the noise as he storms past her like she isn’t even there.

She doesn’t see Billy again for a long time after that, just hears the angry music blaring in his room. By now, she’s wisened up enough to know that meant he was probably crying in there, and though she doesn’t know what happened, she feels bad.

It’d been far too long since they acted anything like real siblings, not that they were actually related, but they used to be just as close, so after her brother’s been brooding for literal hours, she knows she wants to do something.

Her opportunity to bring it up comes when Billy makes his grand appearance at her door, stopping by to ask if she ate dinner just so he, quote ‘wouldn’t get any shit for it.’ She nods in agreement and asks, “Do you know what day it is, Billy?”

He shrugs, “28th of June.”

“Well, doy, but it’s also Friday.” Billy raises an eyebrow, missing the point, and Max rolls her eyes. “Friday. You know, like, the one day we get to hang out.”

Too cool for that stuff anymore apparently, he scoffs and leans against the doorframe, and she just knows he’s going to say something snarky, so she turns the puppy dog eyes up a notch, “Please? It’ll be fun.”

It works, Billy sighs way over dramatic and steps into her room, throwing himself down onto her beanbag chair. She can’t contain the smile on her face when he asks with fake defeat, “What did you want, shitbird?”

“I want a makeover day. Like we used to do.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Why?” She crosses her arms, “Just because that’s what I want to do?”

He fixes her with a look that says ‘seriously?’, and explains, an edge of frustration to his voice, “No, because you know what’ll happen if I’m struttin’ around in nail polish and shit when Neil gets back.”

“They’re not supposed to come back until like, Monday though,” in response to her excuses, he mimics her in crossing his arms over his chest, so she tries harder to reason with him, “And we can always just take it off when we’re done.”

“That’s just a waste of your stuff, then.”

“Come on, Billy, please?” she’s out of actual arguments and he’s winning, so she brings out the big guns, the little sister privilege, the one surefire way she knows will always knock her brother off guard, “I miss you.”

He squints at her, seeing through the attempted guilt trip, but he can’t muster a frown, and he must know it wasn’t all fake, because he says, “Whatever.”

She knows that’s his version of a yes and he’s just too proud to admit he caved, so she squeals and claps her hands together, taking off like a shot to dig under her bed for the stowed away beauty kit. It’s a little wicker basket filled to the brim with nail polish and makeup, the same one they’d used years ago before everything went wrong, and it makes her happy, bringing the old thing back out.

She stops to put a record in her player, choosing Queen as the closest thing to a middle ground between their respective music tastes, they at least both weren’t supposed to listen to it, and drops down into the other chair beside Billy.

On the latch-hook rug in front of them, she starts to empty the basket, lining up all her brightly colored bottles of nail polish, slightly dried out after months of not using them. “What color?”

“Why do I have to go first?” Billy asks. All Max has to say in response is a know-it-all “Because I said so.”

“Fine. You pick.” The moment he says it he looks like he regrets it, Max is notoriously bad at making decisions, but she ignores him and starts holding up bottles anyways.

First, after few minutes deliberation, she chooses a pretty dark green, and he scrunches his nose and doesn’t say anything. She picks a purplish color, which he tosses away on the bed, a very firm ‘no’ that makes Max giggle. Then she gives him a bright orange bottle, and he holds in front of his face, studying it before turning that one down too.

“God, if I knew you’d be so annoying I would’ve just painted them all the colors.” She remarks, lining up her polishes so she could do just that.

“That’s actually probably not a very good idea, kiddo.” Looking a little panicked, he digs through the bottles himself, settling on one he pulls away and stares at for a second before handing it to her and telling her, “Just do ‘em red.”

It confuses her, but she agrees regardless, and makes him turn in his seat so he’s facing her and his hands are flat on the floor. His hands are a little shaky, so her paint job isn’t the best, she even drips some on the carpet, which she hopes her mother won’t notice, but Billy doesn’t say anything about the mess.

With his nails done she moves onto his hair, she wants to do double braids like how he taught her to do in her own hair, so she shoves his arm to get him to turn around. “Scoot.”

He lets her push him around until he’s in the right place that she can reach his hair, but once he’s facing the far wall he tells her, “Don’t you dare use that brush on my hair, Maxine.”

“Jeez, relax. I’m not gonna mess up your princess curls.” She mocked, but she still went for the comb to run through his hair instead.

She waited until she could get it through without catching on any tangles before bothering trying to talk to him. When Billy was upset, he tended to clam up, but she didn’t particularly like feeling awkward in the silence, leaving all the talking to the record player. “Can we talk about why you were mad earlier?”

“Nope.”

“Would you tell me if I told you about my day?” She tries, but he shuts it down again with an “Unlikely.”

“I’ll tell you anyways.” Max didn’t know what had happened with Billy, but she knew she hadn’t had the greatest morning herself either. “I had to ask Lucas to bring me home early because me and Mike got in a fight.”

Billy snorted, and spoke with just as much sarcasm as Max had used on him. She learned that from him anyways. “You and Mike? No.”

“Yeah. He was being a total ass about El, trying to like, own her or something, so I told him to lay off ‘cause that’s totally not fair.”

She knew that Billy, having graduated and turned 18 now, was probably getting a little old for this type of drama, but he was a good listener, no matter how much he pretended not to care, always giving little bits of insight and saying things to make her laugh.

She continues, “Well, anyways he like, totally bit my head off for sticking up for her, so then I told him he was just a miserable mouth breather who’s jealous of El being happy, and he tried to kick me out.”

Billy laughed at that, muttering a little ‘ow’ when the action made Max pull his hair, “But you left before he could kick you out right?”

“Duh.” She sighs a little, the fun part of the story over. “Then when we pulled up outside, Lucas said something stupid about it being my fault or whatever, so I dumped him again.”

“Good. I told you not to take any shit from them anymore.” Billy had been less than happy with her friends a lot recently, when she’d come home from school or from hanging out upset over something they said. They never meant to hurt her feelings, but Billy didn’t like it all the same, and made her promise she’d stand up for herself a little more. Like she did to him.

“Yeah, I guess.” It makes her feel light on the inside, to know Billy was proud of her for following his advice, in his own way at least. “So? What happened to you?”

He shrugs again, and blows her off, “It’s nothing.”

“You were crying.”

“Yeah, and it’s none of your business.”

“Maybe not,” she fumbles with the braid and loses it, Billy’s stupid uneven mullet making it way too hard to braid so many different lengths of hair, “But I’m like, an expert now. El says she likes my advice.”

Under his breath, Billy mutters, “‘Course she does.”

Max purses her lips and pretends she didn’t hear that before continuing her offer, “Anyways, I can always try to help.”

“Listen, it’s just stupid dating stuff. Nothin’ you need to be worrying about.”

“But I’m a girl. I can give advice about that.” She thinks about it for a second, “I mean, I know more about being a girlfriend than having one, but it’s probably about the same.”

“Maybe.” Billy mumbles, focusing all his attention on picking at the nail polish that had missed the edges of his nails, and just from the way he tensed up she can tell she’d overstepped Billy’s boundaries in some way or another.

She finishes of the braid she had already started over twice now and puts a blue scrunchie on the end of it, giving him a minute.

When she starts combing out the rest of his hair is when Billy speaks again, not a drop of his distinctly Billy attitude in his words as he admitted softly, “You know, shitbird, I never said anything ‘bout having a girlfriend.”

That’s confusing to her at first, because he had just told her it was a dating thing, but Max’d been hearing all the nasty things Neil said about Billy for years now, and while she might just be a kid, might be the clueless and annoying little sister, she still knew the weight of what he’d just admitted to her.

It had always made her sad, to know Neil didn’t really like Billy, all the mean words he used, ones she wouldn’t dare repeat, to describe Billy and his friends, all the lies he told about him behind his back. But she doesn’t buy it, what her asshole step-dad had to say.

Her brother was cool, and she liked hanging out with him, when he wasn’t being such a jerk. The fact that he had a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend didn’t change that in the least bit.

She hums, trying to gather words and, her voice strained against the outburst of happiness, says “See? I can totally help with boy stuff.”

[just-my-fandom]

One After Another (Cisco Ramon x Allen! Reader)

Chapter 1

Table of Contents

Part 1; Reader and Cisco meet their son from the future. Nora and their son admit to why they can’t go back to the future.

Request; Hi yes! Can I request a story? Or two long parts? Where the reader (Barry’s twin sister) and Cisco are married and reader is actually pregnant, and Nora shows up with a boy couple years older than her, and they reveal to be Barry and Iris’ daughter and the boy is reader and Cisco’s son, Dante? You don’t have to if you don’t want! Not forcing!

Tag list; None currently.

. . .

“Are you sure you dont want to know the gender?”

“I’m positive, Ralph,” You nod your head slowly, once, hands at your stomach and holding up your glass cup of (Favorite/Drink), “I mean, it’s not a big deal to me. We’ve already decided on names, Dante for a boy and Nora for a girl, simple,”

“But you guys could have a huge gender reveal party!” Ralph pleas, when Barry gets up to answer the door that was knocked on twice, “You could have party poppers, or have Joe dress up in a diaper!”

“I’ll kill you,” Joe threatens, and you snort, looking over your shoulder when two figures step into the living room, both darting their eyes around the living room as to scan each member of team Flash,

“I’m sorry,” Your brother rubs the back of his neck, brows pinched together as Cisco shifts in his spot beside you, arm along the back of the couch as his free hand held his wine glass- lucky, “Who are you guys?”

“I’m Nora,” The girl hesitates, hands wringing together, “Nora West-Allen,”

Before anyone can question on her last name, the boy next to her shifts, his eyes flicking to you, “I’m Dante,” You feel your chest tighten strangely, “Dante Henry Ramon,”

You feel Cisco cough on his wine, his hand behind you covering his mouth as he looks up at the young male, his brows pinched as his eyes then flicked to yours, “What?”

“I know this sounds super weird!” Nora tosses her hands in front of her, watching as her aunt and uncle stared at each other, before looking back up to her and Dante, “But we need your help,”

“I thought we were done with time traveling,” You sigh, tiredly, Cisco cocking his head in a “seriously?” motion, so you shrugged,

“What-what can we help you with?” Barry stammers, eyes narrowing slightly in thought,

“Dante and I were able to come to the past,” Nora explains, “Which is where we helped you destroy that satellite,”

“Wait, you’re a speedster?” Cisco points to Dante, your son forcing out a nervous laugh and a nod of his head,

“Great,” You murmur, so everyone looked to you, “I lose my speed and my son gains them,”

“Uh, you actually get your speed back after you give birth, Aunt Y/N,” Nora smiles, and watches as your lips pull upwards,

“Seriously?” You punch the air, free hand on your stomach, “Yes!”

“Okay,” Cisco shakes his head, standing up, “You’re telling me that the baby inside her right now,” He points to your bump, then raises his finger to Dante, “Is you?”

“Exactly,” Dante nods, “But I’m from 25 years in the future,”

“So you’re saying,” Barry runs a hand down his face, hand resting at his chin, “You’re my-our daughter,” He gestures to Iris, “And you’re my nephew?” Dante nods,

“I was named after both dads brother and Grandpa Henry,” He explains, looking to Nora, “Nora was named after Grandma Nora,”

“I see it as a win-win,” You grin, Cisco gesturing a hand out to you in disbelief,

“How are you so calm?”

“We’ve seen weirder things than this,” You remind, grasping the edge of the couch to stand, “Get me up, I can’t stand watching you drink wine while I’m stuck with (favorite/fruit) juice,”

“Why don’t we go to STAR Labs,” Iris speaks up, watching Cisco take your hand and raise you to your feet, allowing you to fully get a look at Dante, “We can figure all this out there, let you guys explain,”

. . .

“This is...”

“Weird,” Cisco finishes Barry’s sentence, looking to his brother in law who nods, both watching the two speedsters race around the speed lab, a mix of purple and yellow lightning blending with (favorite/color),

“Man I really miss my powers,” Your lips purse in a pout, hands curled under your stomach as your eyes easily kept up with the two speedsters,

“Can you really believe that’s our son up there?” Cisco murmurs, your eyes flicking to him, smiling at the grin on his face, “No matter how weird this is, it’s cool as hell,”

“I just can’t believe that we have a son,” You glance up to the running speedsters, “I was pretty sure Baby Ramon would be a girl,”

“Okay, we both know I was routing for a boy,” Cisco reminds, and you laugh, head tilting back with a grin.

“We need to be responsible with this,” Barry speaks up, your smile faltering as you look to him, “We need to find a way to send Dante and Nora back, and fast,”

“Yeah, I kind of agree,” Cisco purses his lips, “Even though this did ruin the “find out the gender at birth” scheme we were going for,”

Two figures speed to a stop behind you, your body turning to look to Nora and Dante both grinning at each other, them then looking to their parents in front of them,

“Okay guys,” Caitlin steps up, ordering the two to give her a hand, where she pierces their finger with a needle, “This is gonna link us up with your biometrics,”

“And these scrunchy things,” Cisco nods, moving in front of Dante to clasp the device around his wrist, “Is gonna analyze your connect with the Speed Force,”

Both teenagers nod as they both in sync look at their devices, grinning at each other before sprinting back around the speed lab,

“And what does it say?” Barry asks Caitlin, who types up the screen in front of her,

“A quick analysis of their DNAs show patterns that are familiar to all of you,”

“I knew it,” You nod, pursing your lips, “They’re our kids,”

“Well of course, Dante’s got my amazing hair,” Cisco twirls a lock of his hair, grinning when you shake your head.

“What about them being stuck here?” Barry continues, watching the quick interaction between his sister and best friend,

“Everything’s normal,” Cisco mutters, his own eyes on his screen as you move next to him, “They both have the speed force in their systems, they’re just... not going fast enough to open up the portal back to their timeline,”

Barry nods as his phone vibrates, glancing down with a short huff, “Damn, I was supposed to meet Singh at CCPD an hour ago,”

“Be safe,” You demand, your brother nodding before he speeds off, allowing you to look back up at the two speedsters, smiling lightly before looking back down to Cisco, his eyes looking up to meet yours before his hand presses to your bump, winking,

. . .

“I can’t believe I’m wearing the same tachyon enhancer my dad used to meet Supergirl for the first time,” Nora grins in excitement to her cousin next to her, who allowed Cisco to make adjustments to the same advice on his chest,

“I know, right?” Dante nods, gesturing to the device, “Mom had one too. But just the thought of them meeting Supergirl- cool as hell,”

“Alright,” Caitlin laughs, stepping back from Nora, “You’re both all set,”

“Did all these suits shrink?” The team looks up to Barry pulling at the bottom of his old Flash suit, your nose scrunching, “And why does it smell so bad?”

“Because it’s the one you used when you swam against King Shark, Uncle Barry,” Dante snickers, Barry nodding in realization,

“We should get going,” Barry presses his lips together as Dante and Nora frown to each other, Nora nodding in agreement, sadly,

“Then this is goodbye,” Dante says, clapping his gloved hands together as he glances to you, where you smile, softly, “It’s good to see you again, mom. I guess I’ll see you in a minute,”

“It was great meeting you,” You nod, “Even if it was six weeks too early,”

Dante laughs, glancing to Cisco, who holds up a pointed finger, “Answer this for me. Do I keep my long gorgeous locks even when I’m in my fifties?”

Dante holds up a finger to his lips, Cisco’s eyes widening in terror as he looks to his wife, where you laugh and snort against your hand, watching as Dante moved to the side of Barry Nora wasn’t at.

You wait, patiently, when the three speedsters rush off, looking over when Wally speeds up next to you, his hand at your arm, warningly, “Did they already leave?”

“Yeah, why? What’s up?” Iris asks, Wally shaking his head as he releases you,

“We have to stop them,”

Your eyes flick in alert to Cisco, flinching in alert to the explosion heard from behind the doors,

. . .

“Sorry I was too late,” Wally leans forward on his elbows, looking up to Nora on the labs bed, Dante and Barry both holding ice packs to their heads, “We got their Gideon to scan Nora and Dante’s blood samples,”

“Whatd she find?”

“Negative tachyons,” Wally sighs, your brows pinching as you glance to Cisco next to your chair,

“Negative tachyons?” Cisco questions, “So what, instead of speeding you up they slow you down?”

Wally nods, warily, Cisco frowning and huffing, “Well damn I was just joking, that’s a real thing?”

“Yeah. Ava and her team at the time bureau have encountered them before, but no one knows where they come from or how they’re generated.”

“Like Dark Matter for the space time continuum,” Barry nods,

“Exactly. They’re keeping Nora and Dante from entering the Speedforce,”

“Okay. I’ll work on this, you guys go help Ralph with the Gridlock crime scene,” Barry demands, ordering Dante and Nora to stay at the labs,

. . .

“We have to tell him,” Dante leans against Cisco’s desk as he watches Nora stare at the group photo of their family, his eyes staring down at the floor, “Uncle Barry at least deserves to know,”

“Nora,” Barry speaks up, so both Dante and Nora looked up at him, “What happens to me? In the future?”

Nora, Dante and Barry all stand in front of Gideon’s screen, the bright words, “FLASH VANISHES IN CRISIS,” shining in their faces,

“How long?” Barry orders, Nora tapping the screen so a new news article shined, saying, “25 YEARS LATER- FLASH STILL MISSING,”

Barry clenches his jaw, Dante clearing his throat, “You never come back,”

Barry glances back to look at him, then Nora, “How old were you when it happened?”

“I was born a few years before you vanished, I was at the age where I don’t have memories, but Dante, was,” Nora answers, shortly,

“Youre not stuck here, are you guys?” Barry realizes, Dante glancing down at his feet before looking up at his uncle,

. . .

“So you’re not stuck here,”

“No, we’re not,” Nora glances up to look at Iris, who sits in the seat in the corner of the West living room,

“So the reverse tachyons in your systems?”

Dante looks to Caitlin, “Were put there because of us,”

“Are you kidding?” Cisco asks, leaning on the couch beside Ralph, “Do you know how many credit card points I just blew just trying to get rid of those negative tachyons? I just bought a brand new spectral tachyeometer when I could’ve taken Y/N on our Fiji get away,”

“Why didn’t you guys tell us about this before?” Iris asks, “And why tell us when Y/Ns not here? She will be thrilled to know Dante gets to stay longer,”

“We can’t tell Y/N,” Barry instructs, Cisco looking up at him with pinched brows,

“And why not?”

Nora lifts her wrist to show the hologram of the same news letter from earlier, Cisco sitting up to read it more clearly,

“Barry never returns?” Cecile gasps, looking over to Cisco,

“Y/N doesn’t even know I disappear,” Barry explains, “And she can’t know. Not now,”

“And why not?” Cisco repeats, “You just want to throw it at her last minute as if we don’t know it’ll happen years in advance?”

“We don’t know what the news will do to her,” Barry reasons, gesturing to Dante, “She could go into early labor, complications can happen due to stress,”

“When uncle Barry does vanish later, mom falls into depression,” Dante tries, Cisco looking to him, “The realization of her losing not only Grandma Nora and Grandpa Henry, but uncle Barry disappearing, it takes a huge effect to her,”

“That’s why you came here,” Joe points to Nora, “To see your father,” Then Dante, “And your mothers brother before he vanished,”

“Well,” Iris stands up, Nora glancing up to her, “Looks like Dante and Nora will be able to train some more, after all,”

Dante and Nora look to grin at one another, Barry announcing to meet at STAR Labs in the next hour, “We’ll make an excuse as to why Dante and Nora are able to stay longer,”

. . .

“Babe? We’re home,”

You look up from the stove with pinched brows, stepping in the entrance of the kitchen so you see not only Cisco, but Dante,

“We?” You question, Dante pressing his lips together with a wave, “Were you not able to get him and Nora home?”

“Actually, yes,” Cisco nods, setting down his jacket, “But, Barry has decided to let them stay longer, train them more on their powers,”

“Will it not affect the future?” You ask, glancing up at Cisco when he moves up to you,

“Barry’s got it all under control,” Cisco nods, “Dont worry,”

“Okay,” You sigh, hands at his torso as you look to Dante, “Well. Welcome home I suppose. Why don’t you go get settled in the guest room, since, you know. Your bedroom is still a nursery,”

Your son laughs, nodding, “Yeah. Thanks mom,” You watch as he disappears down the hall, glancing up at your husband of three years,

“Mom,” You repeat, Cisco smiling as your eyes flash with warmth, “I’m never gonna get used to it,”

“Two more months,” Cisco reminds, hands slipping from your waist to your stomach, hands under your shirt, “And we get to meet baby Dante,”

You laugh, nodding, hands sliding around his neck to tangle in his hair, “I love you,”

“Mm, not as much as I do,” Your husband teases, leaning forward so his lips met yours, hand sliding to your back to pull you closer, so your stomach pressed to his,

You release a sigh against his mouth, smiling as you lean back, “C’mon, I made your favorite,”

[thinger-strang]

Also: 22. "How do I tell him/her/them I want to tie him/her/them up and not fuck him/her/them?"

this took me so long I'm so sorry

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

Billy always pushes Steve away when they get too intimate. It's not really on purpose, kind of like a reflex thing.

"Like when the doctor puts the popsicle stick on the back of your tongue and you try to push them away," is how Billy explained it after flopping back onto the bed, frustrated.

Which is fine, he's basically relearning what love is and how to let himself be touched and how to trust the people he's around. Steve's not upset, would never get upset about Billy setting boundaries and trying to stay in his comfort zone.

But

Billy says he's ready to go, he wants to let himself be with Steve, to be touched and held and loved. He just can't get over that first bump, can't make himself take that leap.

So Steve has an idea. An insane idea, but honestly it might work.

How the hell do I tell him I want to tie him up and not fuck him though?

Steve's laying upside down on their couch, trying to figure out exactly how he's going to present this to Billy.

He's got the rope, which was a whole embarassing ordeal, and the general plan of what he's going to do once Billy's bound. But how to pop that question is a puzzle.

The cushion next to Steve creaks and jostles him around as Billy settles upside down next to Steve. Both of them are aware of the inch between them.

They both turn to stare at each other.

"What're we doin' upside down, sunflower." Billy knocks Steve's foot with his own.

"Thinking. Dustin told me it increases blood flow to the brain, which helps with the thought process."

"What are we thinking about?"

"You."

Billy smiles the scrunchie half smile that's only for Steve.

"I wanna try something?" Steve's breathless already. "Or maybe just lay it out and see what you think, because it's a little weird, especially for us, and you can totally say no, it's just a crazy thought I had a while ago and I can't stop thinking about it but--"

"Steve, honeysuckle, it's fine, just say it." Billy reaches over the links their pinkies.

"I wanna tie you up." Steve's face grows hot and undoubtable red as Billy starts to frown. "And not do anything sexy, I just wanna tie you up and kiss you everywhere, and I thought it might help with your reflex thing? But, I mean, you can totally back out if it's too much, obviously." Steve's twisting their linked pinkies around a little while staring at the wall.

"Okay."

Steve turns to face Billy again and smiles real big. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, I think that'd work. Should we have a safeword?"

"If you want? But you can just tell me to stop and I'll stop."

"Okay, I can do that." Billy hauls himself up.

Steve rolls off the couch and lets his brain stop spinning for a second. Billy reaches over and taps Steve's chin.

When they first started dating, after Billy got out of the hospital, they had a sort of made-up language for when Billy couldn't talk. Chin tapping meant asking for a kiss and one of the only signs they really kept using on all days.

Steve presses a sweet kiss onto Billy's lips before standing and leading the way to the bedroom.

He pulls the rope from a drawer while Billy sits down on the bed.

"Okay so take off as many clothes as you feel comfortable with while I explain what I had in mind and you can change what you want to."

Billy stripped down to his boxers and a tee shirt while Steve told him he wanted to tie Billy's arms behind his back and have him sitting up with Steve in his lap. Billy agrees and sits with his back facing Steve.

After a few minutes of tying silk ropes and testing knots and making sure nothing's too tight, Billy's leaning against the pillows stacked by the headboard with Steve straddling his lap.

"You okay so far? Anything uncomfortable?"

"For the hundredth time, yes, everything is great and no, nothing uncomfortable."

"Okay well humor me, one hundred and one--"

"Steve!" Billy laughs and presses his face into Steve's collarbone.

Steve reaches up to tangle his hand into Billy's hair. Feels Billy tense and relax and tense again.

"Just tell me if it's too much, okay?"

"Promise, marigold."

Steve starts at his hairline, pressing kisses while tracing circles around Billy's nape.

He kisses and kisses and kisses everywhere he can, runs his hands all over, listening and watching for Billy's reactions.

Billy has to stop Steve a few times, tells him to wait while he calms down, resting his forehead on Steve's shoulder.

They end up doing this a lot; on days when Billy's overwhelmed and just needs Steve to love on him, on bad days when Billy can't see how good he is, on random days, really whenever they want to.

Billy's tied up again as Steve's kissing him so soft and deep and sweet.

"Untie me, untie me, untie me," Billy says, rushed and still pressing kisses into Steve's mouth.

Steve lifts off of Billy's lap and starts taking out the knots, too focused on getting that done to feel Billy still kissing him, trailing them down Steve's neck.

Once Billy's loose, Steve moves to put distance between them before Billy pulls Steve back down and shuffles down the bed so he's more horizontal, still holding Steve in his place. He pulls Steve down into a kiss by the back of his neck, smiling into it as he lets his hands roam all over Steve.

It's been months of Steve giving Billy all this touching and loving and suddenly he's getting it all back, full force. It'd be overwhelming if it didn't feel so amazing to have Billy trace shapes all over his hips and press kisses into his neck.

"Think I'll tie you up next time, daffodil, whaddya think about that?"

"Please? Is that a good enough answer?"

Billy laughs and Steve feels it in all of his ribs.

"It is snapdragon," Billy mumbles into Steve's chest.

Billy furrows his brow when Steve starts moving. Hides his face in Steve's neck when he reaches for the waistband of Steve's sweats.

Steve holds Billy's wrists gently and feels him let out a big sigh.

"Just because you're more comfortable with touching now doesn't mean we have to have sex. I wasn't lying when I said I'm okay not having sex."

"You were moving around, I thought you were asking."

"Your face was tickling my neck, I wasn't trying to grind on you!" Billy wraps his arms around Steve again and tries to bury himself into Steve's neck.

Steve tugs on Billy's hair to pull him from his hiding place and cups his face. "I would be okay if you did want to have sex, I'm pretty sex indifferent."

"I think I might be ace too."

"Yeah?"

"I mean, it took me forever just to build up to touching, if I do want sex it's not gunna be for a long ass time. Like am I sexually attracted to you? No but do I want to push you into the mattress and add some more hickeys to your chest? Hell yeah."

Steve snorts and peppers kisses all over Billy's face.

"Better get started then cowboy, pretty sure all the old ones are almost faded."

Billy scrunches up his nose while smirking and dives in.

[leejihoonownsmyheart]

First Impressions

“I just want Mingyu fluff sometimes bro”- @blayze-it​

-

“People are more than their first impressions. And even if someone seems like a lot, or seems this way or that way, it doesn’t mean they’re not a three-dimensional person, with a real life.”

-Mary Wiseman

-

Your first impression of Kim Mingyu wasn’t a good one.

It wasn’t a good one because you had been all alone and you had been minding your own business, settling yourself down outside in order to finally read a book that you had been meaning to read for ages.

You hadn’t really had the time in the past to get through it or anything, so free time at the beginning of a brand-new school year was the perfect time to get stuff done. You were so happy to be able to sit up on a brick wall, with the sun shining down on you, especially when the weather was so perfect out.

It was sunny, but it wasn’t too hot. It meant that you could look especially cute with your docs, and a shirt and a pair of shorts and still splay yourself out without worrying about sweating.

You pulled your book out of your bag and set it down beside you as you reached up to pull your hair out of your face with the scrunchie on your wrist. Once your hair was loosely out of the way you were finally able to get to work.

You were a page in.

That’s right, a whole page and you were determined to get even further in, and not to put it down until the lunch bell had rang when suddenly you felt someone’s fingers bury into your pony tail, and your hair was pulled smoothly from its scrunchie.

Your hair fell into your face and you jumped a little bit in surprise at the action. You looked over your shoulder at the perpetrator only to find that the person who had stolen your scrunchie was a tall boy you had never seen before.

He quite frankly looked like a nerd- a comment you would have made whether or not glasses had been perched on your own nose as well- with the large circular rim glasses he had on his face. His hair itself was dark and rose and fell over his forehead like that of a wave that was crashing down on a sandy beach.

He had a mischievous smile that was spread over his lips, one that didn’t really scare you, but did give you a wary feeling… Like you were suddenly treading in waters that you shouldn’t really be in.

You let your confusion show over your face as you stared at him from beneath your book, eyeing the boy in front of you.

“Who…”

He slipped your scrunchie onto his wrist, and then offered you his hand.

“Kim Mingyu,” he greeted, flashing you his teeth. “And you are?”

You stared at him blankly for a moment.

Did he really expect you to just give him your name when you had only just-?

He bent over your book a little while you were staring at him and smiled politely.

“Ah,” he stated, reading your name out slowly as if he had never read another name like it. Your nose scrunched in disbelief. Was this guy serious? Or just stupid? “Well it is nice to meet you.”

He plopped down next to you on the wall, tossing his bag down to the side. He sighed and ran his fingers through his raven hair, peering over your shoulder at the book in your hands.

“What are we reading?” He asked you.

You quietly murmured the name of the book and you swore his eyes actually lit up.

“Wait really?” He asked. “My friend was telling me I should read this book! Can I read it with you?”

You wondered where he had come from, because surely, he had not come from the same reality as you. After all, you couldn’t just walk up to somebody- steal their scrunchie and ask to read a book with them. But here this Mingyu guy was.

Your nose wrinkled and you stared blankly at him for a long moment before finally you sighed.

“Should I read it out loud or should I just wait until you tell me that your done with the page?” You asked. He wrapped his arms around your waist and rested his head on your shoulder, literally pulling you into his lap.

“Out loud please,” he requested. You glanced at him, wondering if you should tell him to let go of you. Stop acting like he actually knew you, and put the appropriate amount of distance between you two for two strangers.

Instead you started to read the book to him.

And thus, began the strangest relationship that you supposed you had ever formed with anyone.

You weren’t sure what Mingyu’s schedule was, honestly somedays you doubted he was actually a student at that University- his backpack was always light, and quite frankly you wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that he was lying about it, he was just weird enough to do that.

You never saw Mingyu before he saw you. No instead, you would be minding your own business- reading or studying or eating, and out of nowhere someone would come up behind you, snatching your scrunchie from out of your hair, and looking at you with a large shit-eating grin.

“Hi there sweetheart. What are we doing today?”

“Mingyu, those scrunchies aren’t cheap,” you grumbled back with a roll of your eyes. Mingyu pouted at the way you had mostly disregarded him, but you didn’t let yourself fall for his kicked puppy dog look. “Stop stealing my scrunchies!”

“But you look so cute with your hair down,” he insisted. He straddled the bench you were on and as if to make his point, brushed your hair out of your face. You wrinkled your nose at him but didn’t resist the touch.

Honestly, at first it had weirded you out how touchy he could be but after some time you had sort of grown used to it. You had learned quickly he wasn’t really the type of person who asked for permission before doing something that most people would be embarrassed to do.

If he saw you in the hallways, he wrapped his arms tightly around you and lifted you in the air, spinning you in circle after circle as some sort of hug. When he sat next to you while you read for too long, he would let his hand fall over yours, his thumb rubbing small circles into your knuckles as you spoke.

Sometimes it got a little bit too distracting, you would stutter over your words, and he would let his head loll over and look at you with a wide-eyed look.

“Are you okay? Do you need a break?” He’d ask.

He was sweet. A little bit too caring of a girl he had just approached you thought.

You remembered the day that you had cut yourself at work. It was nothing serious. Just a small knife cut when you were chopping some carrots. You had disposed of everything properly and washed your hands in the sink and worn a bandaid and gloves for the rest of the day.

The next day you still had the band-aid on because who had the time to remember to take it off? And when Mingyu had done his classic steal-your-scrunchie bit, he had almost lost his mind.

“What is this? Did you get hurt? Who hurt you?” You could still remember the way Mingyu’s fingers had dug angrily into your arm as he fathomed the thought of someone actually trying to hurt you. You pressed your lips together, trying not to wince.

“Well, right now you are the one who’s hurting me.”

His grip on you had relaxed immediately, and once you had explained to him exactly what had happened, he had returned back to his normally goofy, kind of idiotic self.

“Y/n!”

You looked up just in time to watch the guy who had called your name slam into a pole. You snickered, trying to hide the action beneath the back of your hand. A guy walked right over to Mingyu, rolling his eyes as he smacked him on the back of his head.

“Dumbass, this is why I told you to grab your glasses before you left today,” the guy stated bluntly. Mingyu pouted, holding his head as if he was really hurt.

“But Jeonghan,” he whined. The man crossed his arms across his chest. “You aren’t getting any pity from me.”

That cued Mingyu to look over at you, his pathetic eyes trained on you. You rolled your eyes and beckoned for him.

“Come here you big oaf,” you mumbled.

You swore that you had never seen a grown man look like more of a puppy as he rushed over to you. He moved his hands so that you could feel through the strands of his hair to make sure that there wasn’t a bump on his head. It was an action that had Mingyu smiling.

“See, someone cares about me,” he boasted to Jeonghan. Jeonghan looked at you, his eyes squinting somewhat suspiciously at you. You smiled and nodded your head as a greeting. He let his lips spread out into a pressed smile and nodded back.

“I just don’t want you crying about this all day,” you murmured teasingly. “I don’t feel any bump. I think you’re going to survive.” Mingyu looked up at you, his lips still pouting.

“But it hurts,” he stated. “Won’t you kiss it better?”

You laughed at him and pushed him away before he could say more.

“Kim Mingyu don’t try your luck with me.” Despite the fact that after that very first fateful encounter you spent quite a bit of time with Mingyu, he never really invited you to hang out with him and his friends.

It wasn’t like he seemed opposed to such a thing, and no matter who he was with he always said hello (though you noted he never introduced you to any of the people he was with) but he had never asked you to spend time with him, or to even spend time with his friends.

So when finally you ran into him hanging out with a group of thirteen other boys, in the cafeteria, and he called you over with the enthusiasm of a toddler seeing his mom for the first time in an hour you were feeling a lot of emotions.

And yet, you managed to swallow them all as he practically dragged you over to the table.

You were stared down by 26 pairs of eyes, all of them taking in everything about you.

You regretted the shirt, the shorts, the shoes the makeup you had done that day. You knew you probably looked like a child too, oh god, these were Mingyu’s friends.

You felt your heart pounding in your chest as you peered at them, wondering what impression you could possibly be giving off by just standing there like an idiot. You felt Mingyu’s fingers raise to your head and he ripped your scrunchie out from your hair. You pulled away from him defensively, despite the hundreds of times he had done this exact thing.

“Mingyu I swear I will hurt you,” you threatened defensively, adjusting the backpack that was now hanging off of your shoulders and brushing the hair that was now in your face out of your eyes. “Give me back my scrunchie! I’m trying to make a good impression on your friends.”

“You look cuter with your hair down,” Mingyu repeated for what felt like the millionth time as he slid the scrunchie down over his wrist. “Besides, what are you gonna do short stacks?”

You scoffed and cracked your knuckles.

“God you-” You rushed towards him and hit him in the chest. He laughed at the touch. “Jerk.”

“Anyone feel a nice breeze drafting into the cafeteria? Or is that just me?” He said teasingly. You were about to yell at him again- first impressions be damned- who cared if they liked you anyways? You weren’t anything to Mingyu, just some girl he liked to tease. There was no reason to be nervous, or to worry about how you two came off standing next to each other. It wasn’t like you were a couple.

It wasn’t like you had grown to enjoy the way that he sat too close to you, or the times that he had literally fallen asleep in your lap despite the fact that he was a giant and you… Well weren’t a giant. It wasn’t like somedays he would stare at you, and brush your hair out of your face and thumb your cheekbone tenderly and murmur something under his breath that sounded like him saying that you were beautiful, and your heart would skip.

Nope none of that happened because you didn’t like Mingyu and that meant that it didn’t matter what Mingyu’s friends thought because it wasn’t like one good impression from them meant that you two were going to going to go on a date anyways.

“So, this must be who you won’t stop talking about,” one of the boys at the table said. You remembered seeing him with Mingyu one time.

“Seungkwan, we’ve met,” you stated. You scrunched your nose after a second. “Well sort of.”

Seungkwan seemed surprised that you remembered the instance- even more surprised that you had called him out on it. His cheeks turned pink and he started to defend himself- geez weren’t you supposed to be making a good impression not making fun of his friends- but before he could say much one of the boys started to laugh.

“I like this girl. Want to sit next to me?” He suggested, patting a seat next to him. You were going to take it, you even took a step towards the stranger, but before you could, Mingyu had his fingers around your wrist and was dragging you to the other end of the table.

“Excuse me, she will be sitting with me thank you Jihoon,” he stated stubbornly. He pushed you down into one of the seats and then sat down next to you.

You thought that you meeting his friends and getting along with all of his friends would be a good thing and make Mingyu happy… After that day you were invited to hang out with them often. His friends really clicked with you, but honestly somedays you thought it annoyed Mingyu more than anything else…

“I’ll see you around Sol,” you called over your shoulder, giggling as you waved goodbye to the lanky boy. Mingyu grunted beside you and you turned around to look at him.

“What?” You asked. He pursed his lips.

“Nothing,” he stated and suddenly his sunny personality was back. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders and drew you close. “So, I was thinking… We should get burgers this weekend!”

“With the guys?” You asked. “Seungkwan has been craving burgers…”

“What?” Mingyu blurted. “Seungkwan is always craving burgers. I meant us.”

Your heart skipped a beat and you stopped walking. The sudden loss of momentum made Mingyu trip over his feet. He turned over his shoulder and looked at you as you processed his words.

“Us, as in you and me?” You asked him. He smiled.

“Uh, yeah,” he agreed with a chuckle and an unspoken duh.

“Just the two of us?” You asked next. He laughed again and nodded.

“Yes.”

Again, you felt like you weren’t really processing everything correctly.

“Like…” God you hated to say it. “A date?”

Mingyu rolled his eyes and closed the distance between you. He stood before you and combed his fingers back through your hair, pulling it up into a ponytail. He secured it with the scrunchie he had stolen from you that day and then stepped back to admire his handywork.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “A date. Just you and me. You know why?” You didn’t ask why. God you could barely breath much less ask why as he closed the distance between you two, bringing himself to be level with your eyes.

“Because I like you,” he mumbled.

You stared at him. You stared at him in silence for so long that Mingyu actually cleared his throat, reached forward and rubbed the pad of his thumb over the corner of your lip.

“Uh, this is the part where you tell me that you like me too and want to go on that date with me,” he prompted softly. You still couldn’t bear to speak, so Mingyu laughed nervously and backed away from you. “Unless you don’t-”

For some reason that kicked you back into action.

“Mingyu, you’re lucky you’re so pretty because you’re dumb as bolts,” you mumbled. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll go out with you okay? But only because you practically forced my hand.”

Mingyu laughed and held his hand out towards you, clearly waiting for you to put your hand in his.

“Aren’t you glad?” He asked you before you could put your hand in his. You gave him a confused look.

“Glad?”

“Glad that I stole your scrunchie that first day? Glad that I saw a beautiful totally unapproachable girl and… Approached her?” He asked.

Your confusion melted into a smile and you plopped your hand in Mingyu’s.

“Let’s go, idiot.”

You were glad that Mingyu had approached you. You were glad that he didn’t seem to get boundaries and that he had given off such a bizarre impression when you first met.

Maybe, first impressions weren’t that important after all.

[gothpanda]

A Little Bit of Attitude Chapter 2: I Was Only Half Joking

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WORD COUNT: 2.3K 

A/N: I forgot to mention in the first chapter. You can imagine either The Dirt guys or the real Motley Crue! any way Enjoy! Feel free to leave any comments! :3     

Read on Ao3

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        Sammi bounced into the breakroom running her fingers through her hair as she took off her scrunchie. “Since when did you hang out with Vince Neil?” Sammi jumped with a scare as she turned to see her friend Amanda sitting and eating lunch. “Since when did you know what Vince Neil looked like?” Sammi asked annoyingly punching out her job card turning to the straight-haired blonde.

             “I asked you first. Please tell me you’re gonna be the next Lily?” Sammi scoffed grabbing her things from her employee locker. “No, I’m definitely not the next Lily. He’s friends with my brother Tommy since high school. They live together now I think.” Sammi swung her backpack onto one shoulder, “Again, how did you know that was Vince? Lily never said his full name.”. 

           “I know him because not that long ago Britney tried to get with him. It was pretty gross. I don’t know what anyone sees in him. Or his friends” Sammi rolled her eyes at her friend thinking of her brother. “You do know Tommy is one of Vince’s friends right?” “Still doesn’t make him appealing in any way. Besides I thought you and Tommy weren’t even that close. I always say stuff about him.” Amanda said as she started getting up. “Seriously though, just avoid him and you’ll be perfectly fine. If Tommy was such a good brother, he would keep you away from guys like Vince or that punk guy next to him.” Amanda gave Sammi a pat on the shoulder before walking out of the breakroom. “Yeah you’re probably right”  Sammi mumbled grabbing all of her belongings and leaving for the day. 

              “Tommy, what does it mean when your sister wants to be called Samantha?” Nikki asked sipping on his soda as he sat on the edge of the indoor fountain in the center of the mall. “It means she hates you,” Vince said chewing on his straw as he eyed passing girls. Tommy rolled his eyes and kept turning to see if Sammi was actually going to come. “Man it’s been 30 minutes. I freaking knew she’d ditch us.” Tommy said with an annoyance throwing his empty soda cup at the trash can. “Cool it, T-Bone. She might be talking to her manager or somethin’ ” Nikki said moving towards the drummer holding him by the shoulder. Tommy turned to Nikki with a pout and sighed sitting back down on the fountain, “Sorry, man but Sammi bails on me every chance she gets. It’s nothing new for her to do it to us.” Tommy said waving his hands over his hand looking at his bandmates. Nikki huffed looking around hoping to find the redhead in the sea of teens. 

              Nikki didn’t get Sammi (or in his case Samantha) at all. From a first impression, she was nothing like the stories Tommy would say about his sisters. Tommy would talk about all the trouble they would all get into growing up from sneaking into closed-off baseball parks to riding dirt bikes at night. Athena was exactly how Tommy described her, a calm personality who liked being a performer like her brother. Sammi was just something completely different.  “Tommy man, what did you seriously do to Sammi? I haven’t seen her since she was 15 and smiling at everything.” Vince asked looking over to Tommy who had his head turned towards the direction of Contempo Casual. “Dude I’m telling you it’s her freaking friends. Especially that Amanda chick she mentioned. Ever since I met them, I’ve always had a bad feeling about them, Athena too!” Tommy said jumping up when he finally spotted Sammi. 

                 “You guys ready to go?” Sammi asked as she approached the misfits with the car keys in one hand. “Yeah but the hell took you so long?” Tommy asked attempting to take the keys from Sammi with an annoyance. Sammi yanked her arm away from her brother frowning up at him, “I’m fucking driving, Tommy. You don’t even have a license anymore remember?”. Tommy rolled his eyes snatching the keys up and tossing them to Nikki. “You’re right I don’t have a license, but I know that all three of us are a way better driver than you.” Tommy grinned as Sammi shot daggers at him then to Nikki. Nikki shrugged his shoulders to Sammi and spun the keys on fingers. “You know Samantha, it is a better idea if I drive so you don’t kill us,” Nikki said walking up to Sammi with his classic smirk plastered on his lips. “I wouldn’t kill anyone, you don’t even know how I drive!” Sammi said trying her best to wank the keys out of Nikki’s hands. Nikki stretched his arm above his head making it impossible for Sammi to grab. “Sorry sweetheart but you’re not gonna drive but you can still call the front seat,” Nikki said as Sammi rolled her eyes up to him. “Whatever let's go before I end up walking home,” Sammi mumbled turning around walking ahead leaving the guys behind. 

                  As Sammi pushed through everyone, Vince caught up next to her being the only brave on to talk to her. “So Sammi, how’s life been to ya? Going to college is a real big deal!” Vince said stuffing his hands in his pockets with a happy smile. Sammi chuckled as she eyed Vince remembering what Ashley told her. “Life’s been good to me so far. Working to get some money for an apartment with my friends. Gonna start my second year of school already.” Sammi said turning to see if Nikki and Tommy were still following them. They both looked at Sammi and Vince perplexed on how they seemed to be getting along. “You trust that Nikki guy right?” Sammi whispered to Vince who scrunched his eyebrows at her. “Yeah, Nikki’s cool. He is like the brain of our new band. A whole lot better than my last band Rock Candy.” Sammi giggled at the name as she pushed the entrance door to the parking lot. “Rock Candy sounds like a strip club!” “Hey, it would’ve been a cool strip club though!” Vince laughed following Sammi’s lead. “Okay Nikki, you better drive carefully because this is my dad's car,” Sammi said leaning on a black 1967 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport that looked almost completely brand new. Nikki and Vince gawked at the beautiful car before Tommy interrupted their thoughts. “I still can’t believe dad let you have the freaking Impala,” Tommy said opening the car and jumping into the front seat. Sammi rolled her eyes sliding in the backseat with Vince next to her. Nikki slid into the front seat looking back at the shaggy blonde and redhead through the rearview mirror. Vince got comfortable in the backseat putting his arm on the seat behind Sammi. Vince scooted a bit closer to Sammi as Nikki started the car with an eye roll. “Buckle up kiddos because this is gonna be a bumpy ride!” Nikki said almost flooring the gas pedal completely. 

                  Once rolling up to the Lee House, Sammi busted out of the car ready to yell. During the majority of the car ride, Nikki was speeding, making fast turns, and yelling at others through the window. Vince and Tommy were laughing the entire time while Sammi wanted yank Nikki by his hair to stop him. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?” Sammi yelled as Nikki got out of the car slamming it behind him. “What? I thought it would be fun to have a joy ride!” Nikki smirked at the redhead who was ready to push him to the ground. Sammi screeched with annoyance walking to the other side of the car. “You really think I would’ve killed you compared to that fucking porcupine?!” Sammi yelled at Tommy as he got out of the car. Tommy could only laugh along with Nikki putting his arm around him as they leaned on the hood of the car. “Oh come on Sammi! You have to admit it was fun!” Tommy chuckled. “No, it fucking it wasn’t! What if we got pulled over by a cop?” Sammi said looking over at Vince staying quiet. “Well, then we would just blame it on you, sweetheart!” Nikki said with a devilish smile. Sammi paused walking up to Nikki with a look of irritation. Nikki’s smile immediately fades once Sammi got closer to him making their chest hit together. Sammi looked up at the darkened haired bassist meeting eye to eye, faces so close their noses almost touched. Everyone was quiet for a moment scared of what Sammi was going to do. Tommy and Vince could only watch and hold their breaths. Tommy never saw Sammi get frustrated or angry with someone she just met. Vince knew Nikki could be an asshole a majority of the time to girls, but they would just run with it no questions asked. This was different for all three of the men. “Never call me sweetheart again. You understand me?” Sammi said looking straight into the hazel eyes and for a moment Tommy could’ve sworn he saw Nikki swallow nervously. Nikki only nodded and said nothing more. Sammi backed away yanking the keys out of Nikki’s hand before walking towards the front dark wooden door. “Only Vince gets to come inside, Tommy,” Sammi said as she unlocked the door walking inside the two-story home. 

               Nikki followed Sammi with his eyes, not being able to voice a word before she disappeared into the house. Vince went by Nikki and Tommy with wide eyes at what he just witnessed. Vince weakly chuckled turning his head to the door “Damn when I said she hated you, I was only half-joking.”. Nikki huffed at the blonde before turning to Tommy “T-Bone what the hell is wrong with your sister?”. Nikki wasn’t annoyed by Samantha stepping up to him but he was intrigued by what she was. Tommy just shrugged his shoulders looking at the ground a piece of his hair falling on his face. “We’ll be right back, Man,” Tommy patted Nikki on his shoulders peeling himself off the hood “Come on Vince let’s go before I’m banned from entered.” 

                Tommy closed the front door behind him as Vince slowly took in the open living room. “Damn still the same from the last time I was here,” Vince said as he looked at all of the photos on the fire mantel. As he was seeing the photos of Athena and Tommy he stopped to see a photo of Sammi when she was 6 years old. Vince fondly smiled as he saw Sammi smiling big with two missing teeth and wearing an oversized baseball cap. Her dark short curly hair poking underneath the hat. Before Vince could think of anything else, he was snapped out of his thoughts as Tommy handed him a soda. “I think you’re braver than me to go up to Sammi’s room,” Tommy said sipping on his orange soda. Vince scrunched his eyebrows together confused by what Tommy just said. “You sure Sammi is okay with me going to her room?” “Yeah, Man. You saw how she was out there. Just go upstairs, make it quick, and I’ll wait outside with Nikki.” Tommy said patting Vince on the back on getting out of the house. Vince rolled his eyes and made his way upstairs. At the end of the hall, you could hear blaring Jessie’s Girl through the white door. Vince nervously rubbed his hands on his pants just before knocking on the door. “Hey, Sammi. It’s Vince can I come in?” abruptly the music stopped only being able to hear the pitter-patter of footsteps come closer to the door. Sammi opened the door ajar for Vince to see a glimpse of her bedroom. He was only able to see a pale lilac color wall with polaroid photos hung up in four straight down columns. Sammi peered up at Vince leaning on the doorframe “I don’t can you?”. Vince rolled his eyes with a chuckle as he pushed the door completely open and walked in. “Look Sammi while I love to joke around, I gotta make it fast and get that stupid bedsheet.” Vince asserted before sitting on the white bed in the corner of the room. “Fine. stay here while I go get it from the laundry room.” Sammi replied walking out giving Vince the chance to fully look at the girl’s room. It was completely different compared to Tommy’s old bedroom. He had posters covering an entire wall and a mess of drum equipment smashed into a corner. He barely had proper bed sheets on his bed compared to Sammi. Sammi’s room was organized and showed her personality. On a desk in the corner by the window showed her high school volleyball photos of her teammates with her college textbooks stacked up next to it. All of her polaroids were either of her family or her friends. Vince got up when he noticed one of him with Sammi and Athena sitting in the old van. 

            “Found it!” Sammi yelled from down the hall. Sammi walked back in throwing the big sheet at Vince’s face. “Thanks and hey look,” Vince folded the sheet underneath his arm. “we’re a couple of nice guys. Nikki just doesn’t know how to talk… in general.” Sammi smiled at Vince’s attempt at fixing things. “Why don’t you come by the apartment tomorrow and see our practice? You haven’t met our guitarist yet and you’ll get to hang out Tommy!” Vince suggested as they walked down the stairs towards the door. Sammi opened it up for Vince and considered for a moment. “Alrighty, I’ll go. I don’t have work tomorrow so I’m free all day.” Vince beamed with excitement hugging Sammi. “Awesome! I’ll tell T-Bone to call you so you know where we live!” walking out Vince turned back waving goodbye with a big smile. “The fuck you smiling, Vince?” Nikki asked stepping on his cigarette butt. “I got the keys to the van, let’s get out of here, Man.” 

As the boys piled into the van, Sammi closed the front door with a sweet smile on her lips.