#dad!brendan chat

[equallyshaw]

star crossed loves au | connor bedard x kailey hughes au ↳ fractured jaw. ↳ au masterlist.

warnings: none! word count: 910

it was all a blur for kailey. it was if she lost her voice, and her ability to move. the moment brendan smith make contact with connor, she knew it was bad. she'd seen that hit and play, plenty of times before. she was sitting on the couch with her best friend and roommate, becca and the two were watching the game together. as soon as connor clutched his jaw, becca looked over toward her best friend and saw the thoughts running a mile a minute. becca went to go grab her friend, but kailey was already off the couch sending a text towards connor. she began to pace the living room with anticipation and the fear that his jaw was broken. she was not naive, and the tweets that had flashed on her twitter were.

she was hoping a concussion, but was prepared for the worst.

it was about 10 minutes into the second period when she saw the tweet that connor was not coming back for the evening, and then a minute later connor responded it. it was in fact a broken jaw, and he was undoubtedly pissed at the situation and pissed that he allowed himself to look down. she appreciated the response though by the Blackhawks. especially (uncle/dad) nick foligno, who had taken him under his wing since the gecko and his wife, had welcomed kailey with open arms. even though the two had been just talking, and now- freshly together. she just did not like that it was over connor, and that it was his injury creating all of this. connor texted her throughout the rest of the game, more so venting and releasing his frustration with it all. and then once nick joined the injury list, he was filled with guilt. though kailey told him very quickly. then the third period came around, and sat with her mouth agape and somewhat pissed off at jack, who had injured himself. nobody touched him, nobody did a thing but his little clumsy ass. unfortunately, now would not be the time for her to say in the group chat 'you guys should get some extra lessons from mom again'. she texted her mom, to see how he was. he was obviously, very pissed at himself.

and then the game was over, and was somewhat sad over the fact that the hawks had lost - despite their grit and comeback. she was pissed off and angry for them at the devils- but it is what it is she said as she laid down for the evening. becca came to wake kailey around 3:45 am, when somebody came to the door for her. the front desk called becca's phone after nobody had answered the buzzer near the front door. apparently their was a guy that was under 5'10, dirty blonde, stocky and had something on his face. kailey quickly threw on her robe, and becca went back to bed. she opened the front door to their apartment, and there was a sad and exhausted-looking connor. "come here." she said barely above a whisper and pulled him in for a big hug. she could visibly feel the tension, stress, and anxiety leave his body as he adjusted to her warmth and smaller frame.

"hi con.." she whispered, pulling back a bit to look at him. her hands were soft and inviting as they gravitated towards his now longer locks, and her eyes pierced his blue ones. she took in his temporary jaw cast/brace. she saw the scary and somewhat gnarly bruising that had already formed on his cheeks, jaw and around his nose. she pulled him down a bit as she stood on her tippy toes and kissed his forehead softly. she did a second one for good measure, before settling her feet back on the ground. "come on, let's get to bed." she said taking ahold of his hand and leading him towards her bedroom. "what do you need?" she questioned as she turned on her bed side lamp, and he shrugged. she saw the carry on bag he had and she grabbed it from him. she opened it, to quickly retrieve his pajamas and handed them to him.

he headed into the connected bathroom, as she fluffed up her two pillows on the other side of her spot. she moved the comforter down a bit so now it was all ready for him. she also turned her string lights and opted to turn off her side bed, the bright light she concluded might be too much for him. she settled back into bed, and curled into her side, facing his side. he put his alarm on for the morning, not far from then, and then sat down before pulling his legs into bed. "what do you need from me?" she questioned softly, as she got into a somewhat comfortable position, sitting up. he pulled his phone from the bedside table and began typing before showing her his phone.

"you being with me is enough kails." she smiled at him softly and then he began to type my hand, "just hold my hand." and she nodded before grabbing ahold of it.

connor was scared, rightfully so about monday when he was going to be checked out. kailey rested her head on his shoulder as softly as she could, and connor met hers with his.

the two of them fell asleep rather quickly, savoring eachother's warmth and presence.

hope you all enjoyed (:

[just-dino-maggie]

Masterlist

I write nhl imagines sometimes and I thought I’d put them all in one spot to make it a little easier.

Prompts List

Matt Boldy

BC Parties - parties with Matt

Future - talking about the future

Fights - Matt gets into a fight and it’s hot

Tree - he’s a big boy

Hide and Seek - fluff, that’s it

Snack note - leaving a note on Matt’s favorite snack

Slow Dancing - dancing in the kitchen while the water runs

Opening Up - she’s never vulnerable but Matt might just change that

Trevor Zegras

Jealous - unwanted jealousy

Just Friends Part 2 Part 3 - he can’t force his feelings

Nantucket - brushing his hair after a beach day

The Intern Part 2 - they just don’t work well together, untill they do

Forbidden Love - Jack’s little sister has feelings for Trevor

Breakdown - Trevor is having a hard time dealing with the constant losing

Jack Hughes

Fixing the hurt - caring for jacks hockey injuries

Sick - taking care of Jack after a road trip.

Comfort - Jack helps her through a panic attack

Reconnecting - they reconnect after a hard breakup and work things out

Just like home - Nico and her share a language and Jack adores it

Housewarming - a misunderstanding gets resolved at the lake house

Zap Zone - two friends hanging out turns into more

Finally Yours - Jack can’t take being friends any longer

Cole Caufield

School Project - they aren’t friends but they have to work together.

Moritz Seider

Bad day - Mo has a bad day, she makes it better

Luke Hughes

Mutual Dislike - they’ve never liked each other, right?

Arguing - an argument turns sour and Luke decides to fix it.

Peaceful Mornings - they find ways to spend time together in their busy lives.

3am - Luke has a confession

Nick Blankenburg

Umich Party - they finally get a chance to talk

First Kiss - Nick gives her the best first kiss

Brendan Brisson

Rain - jealous briss kissing in the rain

Ethan Edwards

Back Home - visiting his family with an unwanted addition

Nico Hischier

Waking up - a morning with Nico after a road trip

Bath Chat - a cute talk in the bathroom

Andrei Svechnikov

Night Swimming - they meet at the pool and they do what they’ve always wanted to

Beard - Which is better Andrei with the beard or without?

Kirby Dach

Surprise - even with a busy schedule Kirby finds time to visit

Bowen Byram

Post Game - cute fluffy blurb

Ryder Donavan

Dad - ryder as a dad

[maestro-of-clockwork]

Have you noticed anything strange about yourself lately? Catching yourself reacting in ways that are perfectly irrational?

Those spikes in your adrenaline when you realise you're alone with a stranger, even when you know that they could be harmless...your mind locking up in panic at the thought of being in a cramped space...and even stranger, your muscles tensing and nerves fraying whenever you hear any sort of ticking sound...

Have you ever wondered why your mind does this?

Why it defies all reason, despite the fact that you know nothing is wrong?

You will, in time...first, allow me to paint a picture for you. Close your eyes and imagine it with me:

You are in a quaint and vibrant two-story house, living with your father, uncle and older sister, along with other curious people. Everyone treats you very kindly, they all love and care about you and your family...but your father and your uncle act oddly afraid of one them. You don't yet understand why, but all you know is that he is bad and that you shouldn't go near him.

One day, you do, though. You don't exactly do this on purpose. You want to watch television and he happens to be in the living room already. He looks right at you, smiling and greeting you...but it feels wrong. Everything feels wrong.

Is this sounding familiar?

No...?

Let's continue, then.

Although the man seems nice, your mind and soul are screaming out for your father to come upstairs already, the fear leaving you robbed of a single word.

He offers for you to sit by him, which you do - you are terrified of making him angry - and the two of you chat for a while, as little words as you have. Then, he tells you of a special power that he has...of course, being a child, you're curious and ask him if he could show it to you.

Smiling kindly, the man removes one of his gloves and reaches out to touch your arm when your older sister suddenly grabs your arm and hurriedly drags you with her as she runs into the kitchen. Hyperventilating, she makes room in the lower cabinets for you to hide in and urges you to get inside.

You do, terribly confused and afraid, your heart beating out of your tiny chest as she closes the cabinet door.

"I'm going to get Dad," she whispers, "stay here and don't move."

You hear her run off somewhere...and then someone else enter.

"Brendan, my boy, where did you go?" the man calls out to you, as friendly as could be. "Your sister didn't hide you again, did she?"

His footsteps start coming towards you, and at the same time, this ticking sound has made itself known to your senses. You don't know where it's coming from, but it's getting closer...and closer...and closer...

That look on your face...do you remember now?

Wonderful~...

It was a shame that your father and sister interrupted our conversation that day. I was truly looking forward to rotting you alive...

But, you know what they say:

'Better late than never.'

[dogwittaablog]

community note anon here. i didn’t insinuate to ‘know them so well’, my point was being from manitoba is not a write off for being a horrible human being. i pointed out that the way in which Steve was raised, socioeconomically, geographically, culturally, and family make up was very similar to my dads, and yet he and his friends are not like steve.

i moved away from manitoba for work but still keep close with all my friends from back home. i have never personally met nolan, or his dad or younger sister. i met his older sister once (at a friends graduation. very nice. literally just a hi, very pretty smile). but his mother several times and let me tell you that woman is a piece of work imo. a lot of people in town like her but i’ve never had a good experience at her store or seeing her around. my friends who have met her said she is a rude customer at their places of employment.

am i biased? hell yeah. there is a brand of “tough hockey mom” in manitoba that i do not fuck with. they make excuses for their sons behaviour, talk badly about their girlfriends and female friends, drink with the kids, and are so focused on the horrible

CP is openly conservative. no one is that family has ever hid how conservative they are. conservative where you live might be different from conservative here. Here, it’s anti immigration, anti social welfare/“govt handouts”, it’s anti tech or anything that impacts farmers, it’s anti urbanization or public transit. you guys keep talking about their daughters being progressive and our group chats are cackling. no, i’m not gonna air that laundry out because they were teens at the time and i believe everyone grows up. HOWEVER, if they decide to take nolan’s route then i’ll be more than happy to ask my hometown friends for specific stories.

for your last question was i shocked? ha. no.

the brendan liepsic group chat wasn’t even shocking my dude. most of the people i grew up with spoke that way. it’s not just the norm, it’s encouraged. my teachers used to make jokes WITH the boys. and the teacher would remind everyone that “so and so” was gonna be in the Chel one day and we’d all got to say we know him (none of the boys from my school made it. not one.)

almost every man from home that i am friends with/associate with/have dated, has played hockey. they all quit before 16 because of the culture. they loved the sport but realized they were hanging out with racist, misogynistic, homophobic, hateful, young boys who DIDNT WANT to change. they loved that people were disgusted by their behaviour. they loved that some girls thought they were bad boys for their behaviour. that egged them on. the 4 that i still speak with who stayed behind that and now work in hockey, are all the first to say how terrible the culture is. they do not want to be defined by that and have done so much work to try and undo the norms they accepted while playing.

tldr: only met older sister once, mom is a c u next tuesday, hockey celebrates misogyny.

(i wrote this on the bud to work so forgive the grammar and spelling errors i didn’t reread it)

.

[workingforitallthetime]

"pat brisson is intense and somewhat overbearing because he has such high standards" is all good and narratively fraught but personally i am enjoying picturing "pat brisson is intense and somewhat overbearing because he's always like brendan :D how are you :D i'm so glad you don't live in the midwest anymore :D let's have lunch :D" idk the expressions in that photo are making me laugh

the group chat reminded me the other day of that podcast where thom and matty made fun of pat's reaction when matty and brendan told their parents they were getting tattoos. doesn't matter how many of the nhl's contracts are on your books, you're still just a dorky dad to your kid and his friends.

[redseasurfer]

Day One; Log Four:

Found Brendan studying a pond over on the route. But before I got onto the route and entered Oldale, some store clerk from the nearby Mart pulled me aside, said he wass doing this out of “the goodness of his heart”, and tried telling me things I already know about Centers and Marts. I know what they are, you don’t have to patronize me. But I was nice, thanked him for his “kindess” (which he really tried to hammer in), and rolled my eyes once he left. You shouldn’t have to announce you’re doing something good, unless you’re Dad, who has to do that sometimes because his tone’s snarky all the time. I guess, don’t do what this guy does. 

Anyway, I met up with Brendan and we had a battle. His treecko’s pretty fast, but Keps and I managed to pull through. I’m proud of her! Even with that type disadvantage she’s headstrong! Meanwhile, I didn’t have much time to celebrate before that dimwit just started running! Yelling about how he’s racing me to the lab. Poor sportsmanship, he knows the routes and didn’t announce this until he was running! Tried to catch up but I tripped in the grass on route 101. 

Getting to the lab after that flub was easy enough, but I did have to assure both Brendan and the Professor that I’m fine, I didn’t get hit by a wild pokemon. The professor handed me a few things to clean myself up and when I was done, he went on some long long looooong ramble about pokemon behaviors and how he and Brendan are studying them and all. Then he handed me a pokedex and a pokenav plus. Guess I’ll be heading out around Hoenn and catching pokemon. I think my dads are aware of this, or else they would’ve up and grabbed me out of here if not. Hopefully I run into them while out, I don’t want to leave them worried. What, with my phone having no signal and all out here in Littleroot. 

I think I’m gonna have fun running around Hoenn. Most I’ve done has been a few trips to Mt. Chimney or around Sootopolis. I think I’ll also challenge the gyms too while I’m at it, test my hand at battling this time around. I always liked the one-off chances I got for battling as a kid. But for now, I’m calling it here. I mean, I’ll just wander around Littleroot and Oldale (with accompanying routes) for the rest of the day before fully heading out. Brendan said he was going to help out with more research and volunteered the idea of joining along. Nice offer, but I’d rather look at rushing water all day. I can’t do pokemon research, I’d rather study history or weather. 

Oh! I almost forgot, I’ll be toying around with my pokenav and seeing if I can find any way to contact anyone. I know I just recently “fell” into the chats with others, but I’d like to learn more about them. Also keep everyone updated on my progress. So if you’re seeing this one and all the other logs, know I did it!

[waitingformyfavoritesongs]

31 March 2023 Frrriday 1:07 am pdt

The incubus is intentionally making time run 🏃🏻‍♀️ out for me. No one seems to be making any moves to help me. Maybe he’s right . That I deserve this treatment from people that I deserve not to be helped. There’s an idea 💡 I have but I’m hesitant to say it. I thought 💭 of a reason to make me feel ok with it but I forgot what it was. I don’t remember (diarrhea 1:11 am pdt) if it’s contingent on something. I wonder 💭 if I’m being mislead by Wikipedia. Should I say it? Would everyone hate me if I said it? I had to wrestle with a lot of ugly feelings all my life. I’m not the prettiest person on the inside or outside. My mom used to tell me I had s*xy legs 🦵 that’s about it. 1:14 pmpdt maybe I could have been less selfish less greedy less spiteful. More understanding. 1:15 am pdt more careful? 1:15 am pdt I distrust the police 👮‍♂️ bcz of Oakland prostitution case and a lot of shootings such as breonna Taylor. Cops 👮‍♂️ could go in plain clothing and follow (pain right side below bellybutton to the right 1:20 am pdt) carjackings? Why do I feel fearful 😧 of writing ✍️ that? Is it going to bite me back? I guess it’s not possible? 1:23 am pdt what ever. People say god is in control of everything. I expire, and things continue the same as b4? 1:24 am pdt incubus is mocking me in every way. That he has control of everything and every one and whether I get help or not. This fuse YouTube video I think 💭 he’s mocking me. “Brendan” Said I sounded yummy 🤤 the first night we chatted 💬 online on aol after I described myself. In this video he says someone looks look 👀 delicious 🤤. He said he enrolled in five towns college in Long Island 🏝 New York. He said he failed the class even though he played the guitar 🎸 very well in karas flowers 🌸. He failed probably Bcz he missed most of the classes. 1:29 am pdt for some reason when I first watched it I thought 💭 it was clear he skipped most of the classes. 1:30 🕜 am pdt.

2:01 am pdt my dad is very picky about a lot of stuff like music and art. He told me I think 💭 b4 I made it official for señior project he said “you’ll never prove graffiti is art!” So I thought 💭 it was a challenge to prove it. After I did the final presentation one woman 👩🏼 at the end of my presentation, was probably a parent of a student 👨‍🎓 but I didn’t know of who, she basically was like duh 🙄 graffiti is art or like of course graffiti is art 🖼 and then it hit me maybe I chose a stupid topic a stupid thesis. 2:06 am pdt I suddenly felt dumb again. 2:06 am pdt my dad did some airbrush paintings 🖼 of women swimming 🏊‍♀️ under water and a sailboat ⛵️ and a hot air balloon 🎈 when I was a baby/toddler; but I guess that’s very different stylistically and compositionally and format. 2:08 am pdt even though it is basically same medium. 2:08 am pdt 2:09 am pdt

2:40 am pdt 2:41 am pdt I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ much about the Levine’s family. I assumed initially that he incubus’ dad grew up in Los Angeles. My dad lived there from his ≈preteens forward until he went to college. I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ who my dad was friends with. He seemed very lonely after the divorce. 2:43 am pdt right foot 🦶 toes tortured with heat and pressure. 2:44 am pdt maybe my dad didn’t have any friends in Los Angeles. I think I read that incubus’ mom went to UCB on Wikipedia around 2013. I saw a post that incubus’ dad had a guitar 🎸 with Berkeley? Labeled on the case? So they probably met at UCB. I forget when I saw a thing on tv 📺 maybe it was 2010, in the uk? 🇬🇧 there was a couple who after dating for a while or after getting married they discovered they’re fathers were best friends. (Top lip and anus sharp pain 2:47 am pdt) so during the summer of last year I hypothesized maybe my dad was friends with them and maybe he didn’t know it? Or maybe 🤔 he did and never told me? 2:49 am pdt but I dont know. I keep comparing myself to Q with her Marilyn Monroe sounding voice when she talks and how she seems affectionate 🤗 all the time. But I also try (pain tearing at my toes 2:51 am pdt) to remind myself of the pictures she probably photoshopped and my new hypothesis that she stole from me. Maybe she’s not as sweet as I thought 💭 originally? But is she excused in every way Bcz the incubus excuses her? Bcz he thinks I deserve it? I think 💭 about the times I have been not nice. Like when I verbally fight with my mom. I’m not perfect I have said/wrote here in this tumblr. Maybe he holds that against me and thinks I’m ugly Bcz of that. Maybe he’s excused Bcz he’s god/incubus/man. And that maybe it isn’t as possible as I had hoped originally to have family planning to control population growth like have one child per family for a few generations and then maybe ncrease when it drops below a specific total enough so that we don’t outpace in growth . I don’t think 🤔 I would like to grow old especially with the way things are going for me. Is this really the only way? Life feels so ugly now. People seem so ugly now to me. Animalistic. Am I capable of being better like I thought I accomplished becoming around 2016-2019? I slipped up 🆙 a few times I wasn’t perfect. 3:01 am pdt I don’t believe anything great will happen for me now. On entertainment tonight Instagram someone was quoted saying about life? We get what we get? So maybe this is it. Nothing is going (right eye 👁 stabbing sharp pain 3:02 am pdt) it doesn’t matter if incubus is killing me and that he’s throwing hints that he was the one I was having cyber s*x and phone s*x with in 2001 when I was age 15-16 years old. If he wants me gone he has the power to make it so. 3:04 am pdt and he will enjoy rubbing it in my face. 3:04 am pdt

3:11 am pdt incubus applied acid to almost my whole spine at once. 😞😖😭this whole thing is a trap 🪤. It’s not fair. 3:12 am pdt

3:17 am pdt I never relied on incubus or anyone to hide the things I have done. When I was probably 4? years old I once played Barbie dolls with a random girl about the same age and I borrowed the clothing without asking I took the clothing home 🏠 and tried it but I always brought it back. I think 💭 she realized partially what I was doing and then stopped playing with me. Incubus has been heating up my feet 🦶. Don’t like it. 3:21 am pdt

4:03 am pdt

4:06 am pdt I can’t upload photos from my phone on to tumblr. If no information ℹ️ has been tampered with online you can look 👀 at Jane Herman’s education on Facebook. It should say she graduated in 2002 from a college? University? In New York. 4:17 am pdt in fuse interview he misleads people about Jane Herman, saying she was going to college in oberlin Ohio. I read online around 2017 that he went with her to New York I thought 💭. I guess maybe 🤔 he went back and decided to do that road trip later? Or they both are lying 🤥???? 4:20 am pdt

4:45 am pdt I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ when the incubus is telling the truth. It seems he and his family have made up 🆙 an elaborate lie to mislead me about their intentions. I’m starting to believe he’s really friends with Nick carter like he’s friends with Justin Timberlake, maybe even more with Nick carter than Timberlake.😭🥵😤🥵😖😭 acid in throat. Too many acid attacks for me to believe anything else but death ☠️ Will happen to me soon. I wish I didn’t know it was coming. 4:49 am pdt I wish the incubus would kill me with his own hands 🙌 with a guillotine. Leave my mom out of this. I don’t want to see my mom being used in that way like a robot 🤖. 4:51 am pdt

4:52 am pdt if incubus lied 🤥 about Jane Herman being in oberlin Ohio for college maybe 🤔 then the whole cross country road trip was a(left shin pain 4:53 am pdt) lie. 4:53 am pdt don’t remember geometry 📐 postulates and theorems much. Only that it’s like if a is true then b is true type of stuff. 4:54 am pdt I’m afraid 😱 of what the incubus will do next to me and what else he will do sabotage investigations. 4:55 am pdt if he’s lying 🤥 about Ohio it’s like he’s trying to rewrite history. In 2017? He tried to say something like Jane could mean Jane doe, referring to the album 💿 title. 4:57 am pdt he covered up 🆙 his dove 🕊 tattoo he got ≈6 days after 9/11 Bcz he was in the area Bcz he was enrolled at five towns college in Long Island 🏝 New York. It is like he’s trying to rewrite history and doesn’t care. 4:59 am pdt incubus has putting thoughts 💭 and feelings in my mind that I’m a hypocrite? Hypo means under/low? Crite short for critical. If you aren’t critical of yourself do you let yourself off the hook 🪝 for actions such as child rape? Was it sperm found on Jon benet Ramsey December 1996? Months before incubus turned 18? Whose sperm? Not connected to the guy who confessed it said in Wikipedia who started becoming transsexual? I probably should watch it but when I randomly saw it on the news 📰 back in 2002? He didn’t seem normal. He seemed maybe... crazy? Was he a stand in for the real killer to make his getaway? 5:05 am pdt it’s weird to say and think 🤔 but they say anything is possible with god. 5:05 am pdt

5:29 am pdt incubus is making me too anxious and nervous Bcz I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ when he is telling the truth. I’m starting to believe all men are the same = wicked heinous. 5:30 🕠 am pdt 5:31 am pdt

5:46 am pdt incubus wants to guilt me still about my mom kicking 🦵 out my aunt in 2015. My mom gave my aunt another chance to talk it out with her but she was I guess gung ho? Definition? About saying I am bad bcz god told her, & that god is mad at me. 5:49 am pdt so she doesn’t mind trying to kill us. B4 she was fine living with us and only paying $500 + some utilities. But she tried to order me around. Maybe 🤔 she was trying to see how much she could control me. 5:51 am pdt I was taking accounting classes so my mom would not leave me. That took up 🆙 a lot of time. And she wanted to be a b*tch by being noisy while people are trying to sleep 😴. 5:53 am pdt

5:54 am pdt and I think 🤔 I admitted to my mom that I shouldn’t have yelled at her? And got that way about it. Maybe it helped change her mind to try and talk again about it with her in the park. But I guess she thought 💭 she could get me kicked out instead by saying what she said? I think 🤔 she didn’t realize that I was paying 💰 for most of the rent at the time. Recently she complained to me and made me feel guilt/sorry for her being kicked out Bcz she described her living situation to me after she got kicked out. But she could have prevented that if she was not a b*tch about being noisy when I was trying to sleep 💤 and realize maybe 🤔 that I m trying not to be bad? I was extremely busy with homework 📚 (idle hands 🙌 are the devil’s playground????) and if my mom felt like she could be honest with her she would have told her that I was paying 💰 the rent. My aunt woke my mom up to give her her share of the rent in cash 💰 is what it looked like so I think 🤔 she didn’t trust me? It’s ironic. 6:03 am pdt it really feels like now that the incubus really meant what he told my aunt. But it also looks like he excuses himself and men for anything they do including child rape. 6:05 am pdt I think 💭 that’s REALLY how it is. And it’s a harsh reality to face. Somehow child rapists are better than me? I don’t understand how. I NEVER raped anyone! 6:07 am pdt 6:08 am pdt.

6:13 am pdt I went to a party 🎉 with Q and a guy I only met that evening decided to grope me under my skirt. He was bigger than me and it was the first time aim that situation. The only people I have ever groped were probably the 4 guys I wrote about in this tumblr. 6:16 am pdt I m not proud of the things I did wrong. I wish I could take a time machine and not do anything except stop 🛑 myself from doing any of it. 6:18 am pdt some people seem to have foresight? Definition? Like they know the future but they I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ probably don’t try to do anything avoidant? Like try not to kill someone? A lot of things I didn’t realize that I’m starting to see? When incubus has started killing my eyeballs 👀 and making it harder to breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️ I’m feeling pressure in my chest. I’m not going to the doctor 👨‍⚕️ anymore. I see signs 🪧 but I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ if it’s a fake out sign 🪧 or a real sign 🪧. I’m afraid 😱 to say. 6:22 am pdt

6:26 am pdt incubus if you hate me that much kill me already with a guillotine. You had everyone be cruel to me. Please STOP 🛑. 6:27 am pdt do it yourself. Don’t make someone else do it. 6:28 am pdt

6:29 am pdt incubus is too lazy to do it himself. He burned my butt cheek. 6:29 am pdt

7:09 am pdt incubus/miñion comes to visit me to make it hard to breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️. He hurt my heart ♥️ again minutes ago and now I can’t breathe adequately a full breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️. Incubus miñion is a torturous murderer. My life was so unfulfilled. They sabotaged all my efforts to have relationships. They made it hard for me to be in a good mood and to be genuinely happy so I cannot attract or make a genuine connections. And now he hurt my heart ♥️ so I cannot breathe 🧘🏻‍♀️ it hurt a lot. I’m probably dying today now this moment. Hot air is coming out of my throat. They feel nothing for me. I’m not desireable or acceptable no matter what I tried. 7:14 am pdt I spent the last 5 years being called trash 🗑 by incubus and company. 7:15 am pdt

8:09 pmpdt so in the last 24 hours I saw 👀 Nick carter is in Vegas. Incubus is in Vegas. Coincidence? He is probably friends with him. He is not shy to go to where he is. 8:12 pmpdt

😵8:25 pmpdt Nick carter lives in Las Vegas! Didn’t know that until a minute ago.

8:31 pmpdt Depeche Mode was at T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas? The park mgm maroon 5 is doing their residency at looks like it’s across the street! 👀 8:33 pmpdt (diarrhea again 8:34 pmpdt)

9:29 pmpdt incubus/miñion attacked my gluteus maximas? Area with acid again and again and again (loud gurgle 9:30 🕤 pmpdt probably more diarrhea?) 9:31 pmpdt I’m woozy/light headed?/lil dizzy a lot recently. This looks like a witch’s 🧙 sorcery to make me prone to falling and hitting my head on the sharp corner of stone kitchen counter. Is anyone going to stand up 🆙 for me to the incubus? I think 💭 he’s really going to kill me. I don’t have any proof that he is going to keep me around. I think 💭 this is a con to make things go back (right eye 👁 pain 9:34 pmpdt) to the way it was. I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ much about anything. Am I a jack/yak of all trades? 9:35 pmpdt I feel like I’ve been duped and that I really don’t understand much. I wish I knew more science 🧬 stuff. I only took basic introduction to biology. All I have are probably misleading signs 🪧 to rely on. I missed out a lot on life. It really passed me by. I spent too much time at home 🏠. I formerly was able to recall (acid brain 🧠 skull 💀 pain 9:39 pmpdt) my head trauma pain like it happened yesterday. The incubus almost toook it all away. I remember it hurt extremely bad the pain was so strong. I think I remember it hurt a big part of my skull 💀 maybe the whole thing and my whole brain 🧠? 9:41 pmpdt he’s too skilled at taking memory away. He hurts me so much that it feels like everything he tried to make me believe in last year was a lie. 9:42 pmpdt brings me up 🆙 to fills me up 🆙 to let me down. 9:43 pmpdt I wish I had more good s*x! 😵😖😭😞😫 everything is disappointing! 9:44 pmpdt last 5 years was and is hell, & I was tortured all my life! 9:45 pmpdt 9:46 pmpdt

9:50 pmpdt is it actually 6 years now??? 2017... this celibacy biting my ass. I should have f****d in 2008! 2009, 2010. 9:52 pmpdt

10:26 pmpdt 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017? 10:27 pmpdt

10:32 pmpdt watching 20/20 I think 💭??? David Muir Et al. ABC? 10:34 pmpdt

12:57 am pdt 1 April 2023 Saturday sabado 🪐

12:58 am pdt New York is a fashion capital. I think I read Jane Herman’s family ran a jeans 👖 fashion boutique? Something like that. I don’t know 🤷🏻‍♀️ what is in Ohio. I think 💭 I read after college she worked for vogue? Was it vogue? A fashion magazine? 1:01 am pdt

[hugheshugs]

riri i just had this random thought for your daddy issues au. like you’ve been asking brendan to buy you something maybe a bag or a dress but he keeps telling you that you have enough but when hunter asks for something bren buys it immediately. so obviously you’re a little sad and you tell thom about it and he goes and buys it for you and places it on your desk so it’s anonymous and you go hug brendan who’s a little taken a back by your display of affection but he doesn’t mind it because you look the happiest you’ve been in a long time and it reminds him of a time before their mother left

i don’t know i’m just rambling rn

im in awe with this. the things thom does for his best friend.. and you, of course

i can so see her wanting a dress that really matches her vibe and bren being like "that dress looks the same as all your other ones." and you keep prying and trying to convince him but he doesnt break, saying something along the same lines every time.

one day after another unsuccessful attempt, thom sees you walking away, deflated with a pout on your lips.

"what's wrong?" he asks, stopping you in your tracks.

"it's nothing," you mumble, looking down at your feet.

"y/n, c'mon. what's got you so upset?" he insists and you sigh, glancing up at him.

"i wanted this dress," you reveal, opening your laptop to show him the exact one. he eyes it carefully as you continue speaking, lightly smiling to himself because it's so you.

"i've been asking my dad if he can buy it for me so long but he keeps saying no," a frown forms upon your face. "it would make me really happy. do you think you can convince him?"

he looks at you with a gleam in his eyes. "i'll see what i can do."

a couple days later, you wake up to a mysterious box sitting on your desk. upon opening it, you have to hold back a scream of joy, jumping in excitement as you see the dress you've been wanting for weeks.

you set it down and run downstairs to find your dad. he's with some of the guys in the kitchen, including thomas, but your head makes them blurry as you wrap him into a tight hug from behind.

he didn't see you coming so his eyes widen at the unexpected feeling, looking down to see your arms wrapped around his torso. "y/n, why are you hugging me?"

his question results in a snort from mackie, which results in a smack on the shoulder from thomas who had a hard time holding back the grin so desperately waiting to show.

"thank you," you say as you let go, causing your dad to turn to you.

"for what?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"for being the best dad ever! i love you," you pull him into a hug once more and again, he looks down at you in shock. he side eyes his friends, his gaze meeting thomas' whose eyes spoke hug her you dumbass.

so he did. his arms wrapped around you tightly as a feeling of warmth settled in his heart. a hand came up to stroke your hair before he leant down to press a kiss to the topof your head.

"i love you," he whispered for your ears only.

[smallestapplin]

I HAD THIS IDEA LIKE 4 DAYS AGO AND I MADE A MENTAL NOTE TO REMEMBER IT FOR WHEN YOUR REQUESTS WERE OPEN AGAIN BUT I FORGOT BUT I JUST REMEMBERED IT OK- red, n, sonia and wallace having an s/o who's like normans child or sum and their litter brother is brendan and one day their mom (i think her name was caroline? like in the games they never say it but yk) invites them with s/o for dinner and they need to make a somewhat good first impression?

The Hoenn region, my biggest weakness.

-

-

❤️Red❤️

- while your family was sad to see you move far away from them you still kept in touch with them. Your little brother demanded you call him at least two times a week and video chat once a week, though he texts you all the time.

- You spoke to your family about life in Kanto and how much you loved it. And that you met someone.

- Brendan screamed so loud you think he blew the speakers of your phone out once you said Red.

- You explained to your mom that, he is stoic and doesn’t speak, but he has subtle ways of showing he loves you, and that’s what suits you best. You did also mention he is more private with his affection.

- But your dad demanded to meet the man.

- You did remind a bunch that Red isn’t an expressive person nor speaks, but they told you not to worry.

- So you asked Red if he wanted to go to Hoenn to meet you family. He figured you two have known each other and dating a while so it made sense.

- Red was greeted by the world most excited kid, Brendan was vibrating in place at the sight of the legend.

- Then your mother who was nothing but kind.

- Red has met a lot of people who most would deem terrifying or intimidating. But your father Norman is at the top of that list for him.

- Red dreads messing this up.

- With a firm handshake Red is allowed into the house.

- Then the questions start.

- “What your intention.”

- You wanted to choke slam you father in the moment. But Red signed anyways.

- But what surprised you was your family knowing what he signed. You didn’t expect them to learn signed language for him.

- But Norman stares at the man “I see, I’m aware you’re a legend, my son wouldn’t stop talking about that, but what exactly does that entail for work.”

- “Dad please.”

- “Honey, as long as he treats them well and makes them happy I don’t see what the problem is.”

- “See? Mom gets it.”

- “Caroline this is serious.”

- “Dearest, our child isn’t a push over, I’m sure they would have his ass on a stick if he tried anything bad.”

- You snort before laughing at Red’s more subtle but shocked expression.

- Even more so when that seems to get Norman to back off.

- The night goes smoothly after that. This is the most you’ve seen Red sign, he isn’t a talk I’ve person even when using sign language. His hands must be getting tired.

- “Can I see your Pokémon after dinner?”

- “Brendan!” The boy flinches at the three loud voices.

- Red nods though, making the boy cheer.

- “He seems good with kids.” Your mom mentions, seeing Brendan playing and petting with Red’s iconic Charizard.

- “Mom, I’m gonna need you to not finish that.”

- “What? I’m just saying that-“

- “Mom no.”

- Red wins over your little brother with ease, your mom adores him, your dad eventually comes around.

- 7/10

💚N💚

- Unova is completely different from your smaller much calmer region. But that’s probably the reason you even met N.

- You moved to a much quieter town and away from the city. It gave you enough space to let your Pokémon roam free but they stay close to the house.

- You met N through them and have been close ever since.

- Someone has to tell the cashier he asked for no pickles.

- So when you were going to Hoenn for a visit and he freaked out, you asked him if he wanted to come with you and meet your family.

- Man picks his best outfit for dinner.

- Your mom agreed and was more than delighted to meet him.

- Brendan was enamored with N’s Unova Pokémon.

- “Are they friendly?” Your little brother asked all starry eyed.

- “Oh yes of course, Zoroark especially, well so is vanilluxe and Klinklang but with vanilluxe being so cold and Klinklang being more gear shaped it makes it a little difficult to give them affection.”

- Oh Brendan was soaking up all the information N was giving him while spoiling the Pokémon with as much affection as possible.

- N won your mom over just by how sweet and polite he was.

- Your green haired boyfriend was sweating bullet at meeting your dad. Norman stared N down before giving a hand shake.

- Dinner did nothing to sooth his nerve, but you made sure to make your knee touch his. Touch always calms him down.

- “So, what do you plan to do with my kid.”

- N is already panicking, he looked up advice in the internet and it gave him nothing but horror stories.

- “Well I plan to love them, they have always been so kind and loving to me, I want to give them the same in return.”

- Yeah N wins hands down.

- Every question Norman threw at him was met with just how much N loves you.

- Your dad quickly runs out of questions and your mom is living for it.

- “It was so nice meeting you and having you over! I hope we can do this again sometime.” Caroline waved you two off.

- “It was a joy meeting you all as well, and the meal was delicious, thank you.”

- One of the sweetest and politest of the bunch.

- 10/10

🍊Sonia🍊

- Sonia was the one to mention it.

- “Kabu always talks about his home back in Hoenn, and you’re from there too! Can we visit? I want to meet your family.”

- She instantly regrets it cause now she’s panicking about what to wear to make a good first impression.

- Despite you always gushing about her to your family.

- Norman doesn’t even have questions cause he knows so much about her just from you. Her being a professor helped.

- Though he does have one.

- But your brother and mom adore her, she’s so sweet, polite, and great at caring a conversation.

- “So what plans to you have with my child.”

- “Love them endlessly, they are my little helper and light of my life, I’m grateful to just have them with me.”

- Another win.

- Sonia helps clean up dinner and instantly found her spot amongst your family

- Another 10/10

🐬Wallace🐬

- everyone in Hoenn knows the flamboyant gym leader. Wallace is popular not because of how pretty he is, but because he is actually a nice person.

- So when your family found out you were dating the 8th gym leader they were losing it.

- After a while though Wallace asks if he could meet them. So you set up a date an time.

- Man dresses to impress and nails it. His charm is upped to the max, despite being so popular he is desperate for your family to approve of him.

- Brendan already said he’s going for the champion spot so he’ll beat the man.

- Wallace was more than happy to hear that “I can’t wait to see how far you’ll have come and see you and your team work in unison!”

- Norman has meet Wallace before at gym meetings, but now in a more casual setting it’s gloves off.

- “My intentions? I honestly am just grateful and happy they chose me to date, my star could have picked anyone in all of Hoenn, even the world, and they chose me, I’m forever glad about that.”

- Wallace knows exactly what to say without a second thought.

- Your dad is losing this mental battle.

- Your mom however is so happy you picked a sweet man.

- Wallace instantly helps put away dishes and left overs, goes above and beyond complimenting dinner.

- “I’ll have to make dinner next time to show my gratitude.” You have to drag him out of the house cause he can chat forever.

- 11/10

[huggybug]

don’t let me go (3) - thomas bordeleau

word count: 1.8k words

note: thank you for all the love on the first two parts🥰 i’m going to set a goal for 150 notes before the next part is posted <3

prev. part / next part

“Mack!” You grin when Jacob smacks his hand on the glass against Mackie’s big glove. Florida was in town to play Detroit and Mackie had forced you to come to his game since you hadn’t seen him play in almost two years, and never in the NHL.

“Yeah that’s Mackie” You said to Jacob. You made sure to be down at the glass for warmups because as soon as your son heard that Mackie was playing, he was talking non-stop about seeing him. Your three year old had grown into the busybody, chatterbox kid that you’d expected and as much as you loved it, you hated how much he reminded you of his dad.

You waited for the warmups to be over before heading over to your seats and Jacob was chatting the whole time. He was fairly advanced for his age so he was alert the whole game and knew what was going on for the most part. He watched hockey on tv with your dad all the time and he especially loved watching his uncles play but tonight was the first time he’d been to an actual game. The game went well and with a belly full of cotton candy, Jacob happily walked alongside you to go see Mackie in the tunnel.

“Can I run Mommy?” Jacob asks, practically bouncing up and down when he sees Mackie standing down the hall, talking to someone.

“Be careful” You warn before letting go of his hand.

“Hi Mack!” Your son screams, running down the hall like a madman and you laugh. Mackie bends down to pick your son up easily as he giggles away, excitedly rambling about the game and how cool it was when the horns blared for the goals. You finally reach them and Mackie pulls you into a hug, squishing you and Jacob in his arms which makes your son laugh loudly.

By the time you got home and put Jacob to bed, you were exhausted. You were about to head to bed yourself when you heard your phone going off like crazy. You dug around in your bag for it and you saw Brendan was calling you. You furrowed your eyebrows, you hadn’t talked to him in a while. The last time you actually talked was before he left Michigan for Vegas and ever since then, your communication was limited to ‘happy birthday’ texts and perhaps a Christmas message as well. You hadn’t kept in touch with many of the boys, especially the ones that were closest to Thomas, you figured it would’ve made your situation a lot more complicated.

“Hello?”

“Y/n? Hey uh… it’s me, Brendan” He sounded uncomfortable and you couldn’t help but wonder why he was calling you.

“Yeah I still have your number, what’s up?”

“I know we haven’t talked in a while but… the article” His voice cut out at the end of his sentence.

“What are you talking about?” You weren’t sure why an article would make enough of a problem for him to call you up but it must have been something big. You’re waiting for his response when you feel your phone vibrating in your hand and you pull it away from your ear to see Mackie was calling you. “Hey, can I call you back? Mackie’s calling me and he’s about to get on the plane so I should probably answer”

“Oh uh yeah I guess you should. Look, no need to call me back tonight. Maybe we can meet up next week? There’s some kind of event for Michigan that I’ll be back for, it’d be nice to catch up” Brendan sounded hesitant but you agreed before hanging up and switching to Mackie’s call.

“Hey sorry, you’ll never guess who I was just talking too” You say as soon as the call connects.

“Y/n-”

“Brendan! And he said-” You continue to ramble on, ignoring him.

“Y/n!” Mackie raises his voice to get your attention.

“What?”

“I’m assuming you didn’t see the article?” You start to get nervous at what this article could possibly be about. “Someone posted pictures of Jacob and I from warmup tonight and then also of us all after the game. They have your name and everything” Your heart stopped as you pull the article up on your own phone. There’s pictures which means even if they hadn’t figured out your name, people could recognize you and if Brendan’s already seen it, it wouldn’t be long before Thomas did as well. Your perfectly kept secret was out and there’s no way you can take it back.

“What the hell am I going to do?” You ask Mackie. The article claims that Mackie is the father and while it does look like it based on the photos that were shared, that wouldn’t hold up especially since everyone who knew either of you would know it wasn’t true.

“I guess you’re going to tell Thomas”

“I’m not ready”

“It doesn’t matter. You should’ve done it a long time ago Y/n/n but now you don’t have a choice. He’ll know about Jacob and it’ll only take some time for him to figure it out”

“The guys are going crazy, Briss thinks I’ve been hiding my secret family for years” Mackie sighs and you groan.

“How am I going to tell them? How do I explain that they’ve got the wrong teammate and I actually just never told Thomas because I’m a horrible person. God! Who keeps their child from their father? Jacob is going to hate me and Thomas- Oh my god what have I done?” You were officially spiralling. You knew there was no way to take back your actions and you could never give Thomas the time with his son that he deserved but now that you were second guessing everything, it seemed even worse of a decision that it had before.

“Calm down. We’ll figure something out, okay? Remember what I said when J was born?” You nodded, choking on a sob and then realized that he couldn’t see you. You think back to the moment he’s talking about and you smile. Mackie was truly the best friend ever, he endured the entire 12 hour labour with you and he stuck around until you were back home safe with Jacob.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?” You ask Mackie, your eyes wide as you take in your perfect newborn son.

“You’re going to be an amazing mom Y/n” He smiles while watching you. As far as he was concerned, you had already spent the past two years mothering his team so you were sufficiently prepared.

“What if I’m not? What if I can’t do it?” The doubt filled your head but Mackie knew you well enough to expect it.

“Hey- we’re in this together, alright? I might not be his dad but I’m your best friend and I’m not leaving you to do this alone. I’ll be here for whatever you need, Y/n, we’ll do it together”

“Promise?”

“I promise”

“My promise still stands. We’ll figure it out when I come to town next week alright?”

“Yeah, sounds good” You say begrudgingly before hanging up.

…

Thomas’ phone was blowing up when he got off the ice after his game. The boys were loud and rowdy coming off the win and he was just as excited until he got to his stall and pulled out his phone. The Michigan group chat was exploding, there were texts coming through one after another and he had to scroll up a ways to find what they were all freaking out over. He expected to find something to do with a player being injured or retiring, at least something hockey related… he definitely wasn’t expecting the article about you and Mackie.

Briss: [Link] Care to explain Mackie??

KJ: Y/n?? Y/n Y/l/n?

Nick: Must be her nephew or something

Matty: No way

Briss: Why is nobody freaking out?

Briss: A CHILD

Briss: HOW DID WE NOT KNOW

Matty: The kid looks 3 or 4 years old?

KJ: Where’s Mackie

Briss: Y/n/n said he was getting on the plane soon so maybe he doesn’t have service

Thomas: You talked to her?

Owen: He’s 3

Briss: Just did but she didn’t say much

Briss: Wait how do you know how old he is?

KJ: If he’s 3… that means she got pregnant during our last year at UMich

Mackie: Owen-

Dylan: Jacob looked so happy at the game

Mackie: DYLAN

Owen: Phone privileges should be taken away from Duker

Thomas couldn’t read any more messages. He clicked on the link and scrolled through the few pictures there, looking at you for the first time in years. You removed him as a follower on instagram as soon as he left and since your account was private, he couldn’t see anything anymore. You looked different, older really but not old. You looked like a good mother and he was happy that you seemed to be okay. Ever since he saw you the night of his debut in Minnesota, he couldn’t stop wishing that you’d be okay. It wasn’t like he thought you’d be in shambles without him but if you felt anywhere near as upset as he did, he made sure to keep you in his thoughts.

He floated through his post-game routine, mumbling responses if anyone talked to him but he wasn’t exactly present. He was too busy thinking about you and your child with Mackie, apparently. The timing would have meant that you got pregnant just after he left, or maybe before. He hated the thought of you with Mackie, especially if it was during the time that he was with you. The thought was equally frustrating and nauseating but he tried not to dwell on it. He had just gotten home when his phone started to ring.

“Hey, what’s up?” He answered, balancing his phone as he tried to get into his apartment.

“Dude, are you okay?” Matty’s voice crackled through the phone speaker and Thomas snorted.

“Why because she probably cheated on me with Mackie?”

“What? No! Do you really think that?” Thomas didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“I just… I don’t want to talk about it right now” All he wanted to do was get into bed and fall asleep praying that this was all a dream.

“You’re coming back to Michigan next week though, right?” The ProBlue event was the last thing on his mind and it was also the last place he wanted to be. Would you attend with Mackie? As his date? And if you were there, would your son be as well?

“I don’t know” Thomas said quietly.

“You’ve gotta come bro” A trip to Michigan meant potentially running into you, Ann Arbor was only so big. This would’ve been something he was looking forward to, finally seeing you after all these years, but things had changed. It was different because you were with one of his old teammates and you had a family now. Thomas wasn’t a homewrecker, he would never allow himself to do that which meant he most definitely had to stay away.

“I’ll think about it”

[written-on-the-trees]

Silver Linings In Winter Clouds - Machine Gun Kelly Fan Fiction

Prompt: Nativity Play (very, very loosely)

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2100 words (I know, okay, it got away from me)

Summary: High-school AU. Colson is almost one-hundred per-cent sure that there was no punishment worse than having to join the drama club for their Christmas play, even one of the other members is possibly the cutest girl he's ever seen...

Colson had thought he had experienced the worst of his school’s punishments for bad behavior, having been in detention almost every week since he could remember, but he had been wrong.

   So, so wrong.

   He stared in horror at the carnage unfolding in front of him, and wondered if the punishment for bailing on this punishment could really be any worse than what he was currently facing.

 Sure, he might get suspended or something…but he wasn’t really sure that was any worse than being forced to take part on the drama club’s Christmas play. His dad would absolutely flip his shit, but he’d be able to pick up some extra shifts at work, and he’d get out of the fucking nightmare that was this drama club bullshit.

 Colson was more than ready to take his chances, when Mr. Greene, the drama teacher, saw him frozen in the doorway to the practice room, and cheerfully called out to him:

   “Mr. Baker! So glad you could make it.”

   Too late to escape now.

   Unwilling to lose face by running (or even walking) away now everyone was looking at him, Colson curled his lip in disdain and stepped further into the room.

 He wasn’t a coward.

 Disgusted by all this theatre shit, but not a coward.

 It was exactly the kind of attitude they were expecting from him, so it wasn’t long before they were all going back to focusing on that they had been doing before Mr. Greene had drawn everyone’s attention to him. Knowing Greene, it was probably a deliberate way of irritating Colson - the guy was just like that - but unfortunately that didn’t mean Colson could avoid him. Greene was the only one who could sign off on Colson’s report that documented him actually being here…and he was also the only one who could give Colson a job to do, because Colson sure as hell wasn’t taking any initiative with this shit.

 The less effort he could put in, the better. It was bad enough that people were going to think he was one of the drama nerds (albeit unwillingly), he refused to give anyone even an inkling that he was enjoying or being proactive about being part of this.

 As it was, Greene sent him over to work with the group of kids working on the scenery, muttering something about putting his height to good use. Colson had never been so grateful to be a lanky motherfucker as he was right then, walking over to where four girls and two guys were leant over various bits of paper, arguing between themselves.

   “Hey…apparently I’m meant to be helping out over here.” Colson announced to get their attention, watching as all six of them looked up from the paper and had six different reactions.

   Brendan, always the drama queen, threw his hands up and stormed away while muttering about not wanting to deal with ‘the white trash kid in detention’. His twin sister, Ellie, smiled apologetically and went after him to calm him down. Willow looked a little nervous, which was understandable since the last time she’d seen him he had been kicking the shit out of her older brother. Cameron beamed friendlily and welcomed him to the team. Darren just smiled.

 And then there was Belle.

 Colson had to stop himself from staring as she smiled at him, the soft, somehow glowing expression one he’d never had directed at him before.

 She looked so gorgeous, standing there in her black denim dungarees and white t-shirt with the small splotch of pink paint on the shoulder and with the paint and ink stains on her hands, Colson felt like he almost swallowed his own tongue. She just looked so…soft, so sweet, like some kind of paint-stained Christmas angel.

 He was instantly in love with her.

   I’m so screwed…

      Being in regular contact with Belle was doing nothing to stop Colson feeling like he was doomed – because if their first meeting had been difficult, with Colson feeling like he was tripping over his words every time he spoke to her (although thankfully she seemed not to have notices his sudden incompetence when it came to speech), then the second was basically excruciating.

 The thing was, Belle was nice.

 Genuinely, altruistically, nice.

 Unlike Brendan, who sneered at Colson every time he spoke, or Willow and Darren who were still a bit jumpy around him, Belle always took time to not just say hello when he showed up, but actually ask how his day had been and then listen when he responded - however flippant his responses were.

 She laughed at his jokes, and shut Darren up when Colson saw a bit of scenery design so blatantly stupid he had to suggest it be changed - because even if he was going to be part of this fiasco, he wasn’t going to have his name associated with anything so dumb as the fake graffiti Brendan had drawn on the plans.

 Modern take on the Christmas Nativity scene or not, there was no need for that bullshit.

   Colson hadn’t really expected anyone to take his side, even when he explained why he didn’t like it, but then Belle had nodded and said: “That’s a fair point - what would you suggest we do instead?”

 “Like, speak to someone who maybe knows how to do that graffiti shit?” Colson asked.

 “I’m sure you have a whole list of degenerate friends to recommend - ” Brendan sneered, but Belle cut him off:

 “Great idea, Colson. I know exactly who to ask.”

      On the day of their third meeting, Belle walked into the room five minutes later than Colson, with a familiar face trailing after her.

 Dom was a kind-of friend of Colson’s in the same way he was a kind-of friend with everyone in this school; he just had one of those personalities. He went to the same parties as Colson and his friends, wrote stories that had him in good standing with the English Lit kids, and apparently spent a lot of his art classes working next to Belle.

 He also was well known for creating various pieces of artwork all over any walls he got get to without being seen. His fingers were constantly stained with spray paint.

   Colson was a little bit surprised to see him, but still happy to chat while the others were distracted: “Hey man, I didn’t know you got involved with this shit.”

 “I don’t, normally. Mr. Greene hates me.” Dom laughed loudly - and drawing a furious expression out of Greene: “But Belle’s sound, and she asked me to ‘consult’, so here I am.”

   Colson shouldn’t be surprised that other people thought Belle was a good person - or ‘sound’ as Dom put it - and, when he thought about it, he wasn’t.

 He just surprised at how in love he was with her after just two meetings.

   I’m so unbelievably screwed…

      After a week of planning sessions, Belle took Colson to the art cupboard to help her gather supplies for painting the scenery Willow and Cameron were currently drawing out back on the stage of the school theatre.

 He wasn’t much use; standing outside with a big cardboard box in his arms while Belle actually found everything they had been sent out to go and get, but Belle didn’t seem to mind all that much…

   “I’m just so glad I don’t have to lug it all back by myself, or with Darren.” she confided in him while putting some pots of brightly coloured paint in the box he was holding: “Don’t tell him I said it, but you’ve got a lot more muscles than he does.”

 Colson knew she was only being friendly…but that didn’t stop him from winking at her: “Thanks, I worked hard for them.”

 “And they’re very nice, too.” Belle laughed, clearly taking his response as a joke…but Colson didn’t mind her missing him flirting with her.

   He’d seen her looking at his arms.

 She hadn’t just been teasing.

 Colson wasn’t the only one

      On opening night, Colson was hanging out backstage, leaning against a wall and waiting for his cue to help move the scenery about on stage. They had to keep it down, as to not be heard over ‘Marine’ and ‘Joey’ dramatically bemoaning that there was no room at the inn – in rhyming couplets (Colson was seriously glad he hadn’t been put with the kids writing the script for this punishment, he might have actually punched someone), but it was still…alright.

 Brendan was still a dick, obviously, but Willow had warmed up enough to offer him some sour patch kids from the bag she, Ellie, Belle, and Cameron were sharing (which was more than she’d offered Brendan - which Colson was taking as a major win), and Belle was leaning against the wall next to him, dressed in a pair of black slacks and a black button-down shirt like the rest of them, with her chocolate-coloured hair smoothed into a sleek twist, and her skin free of paint.

 Honestly, Colson kind of missed the paint stains…but he had to admit he wasn’t ungrateful to be seeing the smokey eyeshadow and deep red lipstick she’d put on for when they went out on stage to take their bow after the play was over.

 After a month of spending anywhere between one and three hours a day with her, Colson could safely say he’d never wanted anyone more than he wanted Belle.

 She was…indescribable. Literally; he didn’t have all the words to describe her properly, and Colson prided himself on being eloquent. He adored everything about her: from the fact she was constantly sketching in a notebook just as he always had scraps of paper to write down anything he thought might sound good in a song, the way she was quick to laugh and even quicker to smile, and the fact that she was always willing to give someone a chance, no matter how disdainful they were when she met them.

 Yeah, he was talking about himself.

 Belle had been nice to him, even when he didn’t deserve it. Even when, to make sure everyone knew he was no coward, he’d acted like a dick.

 Well, Colson still wasn’t a coward…so tonight, after they’d all taken their bow and shit, he was going to ask Belle if she wanted to go out with him at some point over the Christmas break. Just the thought was terrifying, but if she noticed anything, she was kind enough not to mention it as they waited around backstage, or as they moved scenery as required, or when they went out and took their bow with the script writers, the kid who’d done the lighting and sound effects, the kids who’d make the costumes.

 She just…carried on making normal conversation, and didn’t seem to mind when Colson’s responses were a little halting and disjointed. She didn’t even say anything when they were heading out of the back of the auditorium after most of the audience had left, and Colson was trailing after her, feeling a little like a lost puppy…

 He felt like an idiot, so when she paused just before she was about to say goodbye, Colson blurted out:

   “Hey, Belle, I know we probably won’t be seeing each other much now my detention in theatre club is over, since if I stick around I might get kicked out for finally punching Brendan like he deserves, but I was wondering if…maybe you wanted to go out over winter break? Like, on a date?”

 Belle looked surprised for a few seconds, and Colson’s heart dropped…but then she grinned, fishing a pen out of her pocket and scrawling her number on the back of his hand, before leaning up to press her lips against his cheek: “I’d love to. Text me to work something out?”

 “I’d love to…” Colson echoed, feeling a little dazed from the kiss…but still overjoyed.

   Belle laughed gently, before ducking out when someone called for her.

 Colson waited a few seconds in the room, probably smiling like an idiot, before heading out too.

   Slim and Rook were waiting for him just outside the doors, the grins on the faces confirming that they had heard everything Colson and Belle had said, with Slim greeting Colson with a congratulatory grin: “So, bro, how do we sign up next year? I’m thinking I need a way to find me a hot girl…”

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for all the love.  Black Lives Matter.  I stand with those who are actively dismantling racist attitudes, behaviours, and systems, and want to remind you that you are always welcome on my blog.

October 31st, 2019

Aberdeen Bloom was dressing up.

Her hair, long and wavy and a bit frizzy on its own (thanks dad) was now teased, crimped, and made purposely frizzy.  She outfitted herself in a blazer embroidered with poppies, leaves, and other floral insignia, a pair of 1970s style black pants, and a ridiculously ruffled shirt.  She looked over at Kasha, whose own hair was curled and crimped then teased, a pair of skin tight light wash jeans, a plain tank top, and a Japanese cherry blossom-printed kimono-style cardigan left loose but tied around her waist.

They were Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin.  And they were going to the Leafs’ Halloween party willingly dressed like this.

The purchase of the exact replica blazer embroidered with the poppies was probably one of the most ludicrous purchases Aberdeen had made in her life, but she now had a Halloween costume for life.  It wasn’t exactly her parents’ proudest moment, but they made explicitly clear growing up that any money she made was her money and she was free to do with it whatever she wanted.  Did that mean buy an exact replica Jimmy Page blazer?  Probably not.  But Aberdeen didn’t hear it that way.  All she had to do for the rest of her life was find a friend or partner (or three friends or partners) to be the rest of the band.  That proved harder than she thought.  

“I can’t believe you’re bringing me to a party with the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Kasha said as she layered some mascara onto her lashes in front of the full-length mirror in her room.  

“I can’t believe you agreed,” Aberdeen said, applying her own mascara as she sat on the floor in front of the same mirror.  

“Hey, I only agreed for an hour,” Kasha reminded her.  “Then Evan’s picking me up and we’re going to his friend’s house party.”

Aberdeen didn’t want to think about the fact that Kasha would have to leave her alone with the Leafs after only an hour.  She should be thankful that Kasha was coming in the first place.  “What does Evan think of your costume?”

Kasha chuckled slightly.  “He dressed up as John Bonham.  Fake moustache and everything.”

Aberdeen swooned.  “That boy is in love with you,” she said.  Kasha stayed silent.  “But why doesn’t anybody ever want to be John Paul Jones?”

“Oh, one of his friends is being John Paul Jones.”

Aberdeen almost poked her eye out with her mascara wand.  “Okay, can I come to your party instead?  You guys obviously need a guitarist.”

“Um, no.  It’s not every day that someone gets invited to a Leafs party,” Kasha said, a devilish look on her face.  “Besides, I bet Will is looking forward to seeing you.”

Now Aberdeen rolled her eyes.  “Stop.”

“No way.  Do you know what he’s dressing up as?”

“No idea.”

“Maybe he’ll dress up as John Paul Jones.  He’s definitely got the hair for it.”

Aberdeen laughed.  “I don’t think he even knows who Led Zeppelin is.”

“I barely know who Led Zeppelin is,” Kasha quipped, making Aberdeen laugh.  “The only reason I know is because of you and your dad.”

“And thank God for that.”

***

“Aberdeen!  You made it!” Travis Dermott greeted her at the door dressed up in a unicorn onesie.  He didn’t move to hug her but he gave her a very obvious up-down to take in her costume.  “Are you supposed to be the seventies?” he asked.

“Jimmy Page,” she pointed at herself, then moved to point to Kasha, “and Robert Plant.  From Led Zeppelin.”

“Well, rock on baby,” he smiled.  “And this is…?”

“This is Kasha, my roommate.  Kasha, this is Travis Dermott.”

He led them further inside the venue, The Burroughes, before introducing them to his girlfriend, Kat, dressed in a matching unicorn onesie.  Zach Hyman came up to them as well, introducing his wife Alannah.  They were dressed up as characters from Stranger Things, which Kasha got a kick out of.  Morgan and Bee came to say hi too – Bee was dressed up like Bruce Springsteen, and Morgan as Courtney Cox from the ‘Dancing in the Dark’ music video.  Aberdeen got a kick out of that.  

“Where’s Jason?” she asked Morgan as he led them to the bar, looking around for him.  He was the one who invited her to be here, after all.  She thought he’d be running up to her to say hello.

“Jason’s trick-or-treating with his kids.  Where else would he be?”

Her face dropped.  That little bastard.  He invited her to the Halloween party and then didn’t even bother to show up.  She thought for sure he’d take delight in watching her squirm the whole night and interact awkwardly with the team.  “Oh, that’s nice.  He was the one who invited me.”

Morgan smiled.  “He was the messenger,” he said, almost underneath his breath.  She saw Bee try to discreetly elbow him.

“What does that mean?”

“What are you ladies having to drink?” Bee asked, changing the subject completely.  “Everything’s on the house.”

Aberdeen ordered a gin and tonic while Kasha ordered a Tom Collins.  A few more of the guys and their girlfriends came up to say hi, confused by their costumes until she explained them.  Their costumes were much cuter, much more couple-y, like Alex Kerfoot and his girlfriend, who dressed up as Curious George and The Man in the Yellow Hat, or Mitch Marner and his girlfriend Steph, who dressed up as Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo.  Even Nic Petan and Frederick Gauthier dressed up as Holmes and Watson.  Bee soon started chatting up with Kasha, which left Aberdeen sipping on her drink and vulnerable to Auston Matthews seeing her approaching her.

“I must say, I think you’re the only person in the world who would get invited to the Leafs’ Halloween party and not dress up in something provocative,” Auston said, a drink already in his hand.

She knew Auston was Auston, but she still rolled her eyes.  “I work with you people.  We have to see each other tomorrow.”

“And you’re not trying to impress anybody?”

“No!”  It was the most ridiculous notion in the world.  Most of them were married or in long-term relationships.  Plus, she was an employee.  Did he not read the MLSE Employee Handbook?  “In case you forgot I work for Brendan Shanahan.  You know, the president?”

“Whatever,” he rolled his eyes playfully at her.  “What are you supposed to be, anyway?”

“I’m Jimmy Page,” she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  It should have been, since he was dressed up as Freddie Mercury.  She assumed he would know his rock stars if he dressed up like Freddie Mercury.  

“Who’s that?”

“Led Zep—you know what, never mind,” she shook her head, trying not to laugh.  “Maybe I should have dressed up like Justin Bieber.  Then you’d know.”

“Is there something going on between you and Willy?” he asked suddenly.  

Aberdeen practically spit out her drink.  Was he already drunk?  “No,” she said firmly.  “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know,” Auston shrugged his shoulders.  “He’s always just kinda looking at you.  And when Kappy hit you in the face with the soccer ball…he was so red afterwards from being so angry I thought he was gonna murder Kappy.”

Aberdeen got defensive.  She couldn’t help it.  “Well, there’s nothing going on.  I don’t know why you would even think that.”

“I think he’s got the hots for you,” he tried to provoke her.  

“Oh, shut it, Auston,” she said.  “You’re just trying to get a rise out of me.  I’m just trying to do my job here.  What Willy does or does not feel is none of my business.”

As if on cue, William appeared behind Auston, dressed as Batman.  So stereotypical.  She wondered who was his Robin.  For a brief second, she wondered if he brought a girl.  “What’s none of your business?” he asked, throwing an arm around Auston but looking directly at her.

“What Kyle Dubas’s coffee order is,” Aberdeen thought on her feet, answering quickly.  “He’s got Peter for that.  Although I think he’s partial to a latte.”

She could see William giving her an up-down and briefly got self-conscious.  “Are you a rock star or something?”

“Jimmy Page.”

“Who’s that?”

Aberdeen rolled her eyes as Auston laughed out loud, turning to walk away to find someone better to talk to.  She felt a rush of blood flood her cheeks as William continued to look at her.  Kasha was still talking with Bee, and she wished to God either one of them would pull her into their conversation.  But they didn’t.  So she was stuck with William.  “Who’s your Robin?”

“Would have liked it to be you, but it’s Rasmus,” he said.  It made her head spin.  “Who’s your…I don’t know, partner?”

“Kasha, my roommate,” she pointed quickly to her.  “She’s Robert Plant.  The lead singer.”

“You got my texts that day, right?” he asked, changing the subject quickly like Auston had.

She gulped.  “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you text me back?”

“Did I have to?” she asked.

William shrugged his shoulders.  “Would have been nice.”

“How’d you even get my number?” she asked.

He smiled.  “Don’t worry about it.”  He looked down at her drink.  “Cucumber mule?”

“Gin and tonic.”

“Ah, that’s right,” he smiled.  “You’re more of a gin girl, right minskatt?”

Her heart fluttered in her chest at those words.  My treasure.  My treasure.  She’d told Kasha about it and Kasha almost teared up.  “Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t call you that?”

“At least not here.  Not in front of everybody.”

“So I can call you that when we’re alone?” he countered.

He was really dead set on making her heart fluttered out of her chest.  “When are we ever alone?” she asked, looking around the room at the team that surrounded them.

“We can find time,” he said.  “At least I will.”

“Aberdeeeeeeeeen!” she finally heard Kasha’s voice call out her name, tugging on the elbow of her blazer.  “Aberdeen, you have to see how cute Bee’s cat Bruce is!  Oh my God, he and Minerva can be best friends!”  When Kasha noticed Aberdeen wasn’t moving, too busy staring at William still, she looked at him.  He looked just as she remembered him from that night in June.  Blonde hair, blue eyes.  A total dreamboat.  A total hottie.  What she should have done is pat Aberdeen on the back for landing him.  “Hi, I’m Kasha,” she extended her hand to shake his.  “I’m Aberdeen’s roommate and best friend.”

“Nice to meet you Kasha,” he shook her hand, taking his eyes off Aberdeen momentarily.  “So, roommates, huh?”

“Mhm,” Kasha looked at him knowingly.  

“Here’s Bruce!” Bee intervened, bringing her phone up to Aberdeen’s face.  “Kasha tells me you have a grey ragdoll?  That is adorable.”

***

Kasha was too good a girl to break her promise to Evan, so over an hour into the party, she told Aberdeen he was here and she had to leave.  They had spent the first half of their time talking to William, who wouldn’t leave Aberdeen’s side, and the second half talking to Bee, Aryne, and Alannah.  But even when it was just the girls laughing and giggling, ordering drink after drink, whenever Aberdeen’s eyes left any of the women’s, she found William somewhere in the room staring at her.  

As Kasha hugged Aberdeen goodbye, Kasha held her in place to whisper in her ear.  “Okay, but listen.  He’s so sweet.  And he said he wants you, Aberdeen.”  When she pulled away, her eyes flashed and she nodded slightly, signalling that William was probably coming back.

“Kasha, don’t leave.”

“Evan’s waiting.”

“Kasha, if he’s coming, please don’t leave.”

“Leaving so soon?” Aberdeen heard William’s voice asked as he saw the two girls hugging.  

“My boyfriend is here to pick me up.  I’m going to another party,” she informed him.

“Boyfriend?  Auston’s gonna be heartbroken,” he smiled as he hugged her goodbye.

“Tell Auston there’s no way he’s getting near her,” Aberdeen said immediately, skeeving at the thought of Auston hooking up with Kasha.  Kasha would never, but still.  There was only one fuck up that was going to hook up with a Maple Leaf, and that was Aberdeen.

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you sometime soon,” William said to Kasha as they let go of their hug.  Kasha raised her eyebrows at Aberdeen when she heard William’s words before turning on her heels and walking through the door.  

When Aberdeen turned around, she saw Kasperi and his girlfriend Saylor, dressed as what looked like the twins from The Shining, approaching her and William.  For a guy who apparently wanted alone time with her, tonight or otherwise, it looked like William wasn’t going to get it.  “You must be Aberdeen,” Saylor said, smiling at her.  “I’m Saylor.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Aberdeen shook her hand politely, but smiled awkwardly.  

Saylor grabbed her hand, leading her towards the bar.  “We have so much to talk about.”

“We do?”

“Did you know my boyfriend and Will used to be roommates?  Oh my God, it was a disaster.”

Saylor liked to talk.  Aberdeen didn’t know whether to chalk it up to the fact that she was a bit drunk or that she just had a lot of information and gossip to tell, but she did about 95% of the talking throughout their “conversation”.  Aberdeen would nod her head and laugh along at the stories Saylor would tell, but at the end of the day, they were just stories Kasperi told her of when he and Will lived together when they were like, nineteen.  She wasn’t around then, and so these were just second-hand accounts.  

It was 12:30 in the morning before Saylor stopped talking, and Aberdeen was finally able to realize she was tired and wanted to go home.   Everybody was quick to take the group picture, and when they finished, she began saying goodbye to everybody.  John and Aryne first, then Morgan and Bee, and then she saw that William was watching her give goodbye hugs and waves.  

He made a beeline towards her, like if he didn’t get to her quick enough, she would disappear into thin air.  “Are you leaving?” he asked.

“Yeah.  I’m exhausted.  Listening to Saylor took a lot out of me.”

“Can I walk you home?” William asked, his tone hinting on the side of desperate.

“Unnecessary.”

“Why not?”

“It’s only a twenty minute walk away,” Aberdeen explained.

“Are you joking?  All the more reason,” he defied her.

“Will.”

“It’s late at night, it’s dark, and there are drunk people everywhere from Halloween parties—”

“—William—”

“—Who knows if one of them will scare you or throw up on you or God knows what on the way home…I wouldn’t feel right knowing you’re out there walking alone and—”

“If I say yes will you shut up?”

William smiled.  Aberdeen rolled her eyes.  “Let’s go.”

They left the The Burroughes rather inconspicuously, beginning their walk along Queen Street.  If it was any other night, of course, they would have looked ridiculous – Robert Plant and Batman walking along the street together – but tonight nobody even gave them a second look.  William kept looking over at her, though.  The only pair of eyes on her.  

“So, you and Kasperi used to live together?” she asked, trying not to feel awkward with his eyes on her as they walked down the street.  

“Yeah,” William nodded his head.  “He’s actually one of my best friends because of it.”

“Does he know?”

“No,” he answered automatically, shaking his head.  “The only person that knows is my brother.  I told you I wouldn’t tell anybody on the team.  I don’t break my promises.”  He was so soft spoken that Aberdeen felt bad for insinuating she wanted him to shut up not even five minutes ago.  “Do any of your friends know?”

“Well, Kasha knows.  She is my roommate,” she said, suddenly nervous.  “And I told my sister Siena.”

“Are you guys close?” he asked.

Aberdeen nodded.  “Kasha’s one of my best friends but Siena is my sister and my best friend.  She’s the person I’m closest with in the whole world,” Aberdeen explained.  “I know I can tell her anything.  And I mean anything.”

“Sounds like me and my brother,” William smiled slightly.  “He’s the person I trust most in the world.”

“Yeah.  That’s Siena for me too.”

There was a moment of silence between them before William spoke up again.  “I mean what I say, you know.  I’m not going to tell a soul.”

“I believe you, Will,” she said, well, because she did.  When she really thought about it, he gave her no reason to think otherwise.  If he wanted to be vindictive, he would have told the entire team already, maybe even spoke to Brendan about it.  But he didn’t.  

“Why do you call me Will?” he asked.

“That’s how you introduced yourself to me,” she said.

“But you hear everyone else calls me Willy.”

“So?  You introduced yourself to me as Will.”

He smiled at her again.  “I like it.  I like it a lot.”

She blushed again.  She wished they had taken the streetcar because she didn’t want keep blushing in front of him because of his cute, stupid, adorable, dumb one-liners that made her swoon and his cute, stupid, adorable, dumb smile that made her swoon even harder.  “So your brother.  What does he do?” she asked.

“He plays hockey too.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” he giggled.  He thought she would have googled him by now.  “He plays for Chicago.”

“That’s pretty cool.  And then?  I remember Kasperi mentioning in Newfoundland there’s three others or something?”

“There’s three girls after us,” he explained, loving that she remembered that from all the way back in September.  “And my older half-sister before me.  So it’s Michelle, me, Alex, Jacqueline, Stephanie, and Daniella.”

“Oh my God, there’s six of you?” she asked.  William nodded.  “God bless your parents,” she said, causing him to giggle again.  

There was another moment of silence.  Aberdeen didn’t know if it was her or William that had slowed down the walking pace, but she noticed.  She wasn’t going as fast as she usually did.  God, it was probably him.  He clearly wanted to spend time with her.  He left his entire team to walk her home (in a Batman costume) and now he wanted to elongate the experience as much as possible, regardless of how ridiculous they looked.  He wanted to spend time with her.  He found time and got her alone, like he said he would.

“Has Ethan done anything else I should yell at him for?” William suddenly asked, taking Aberdeen away from her thoughts.    

“No no, don’t worry about it,” she said, shaking her head.  He’d made some comments here and there, but again, she wasn’t going to let William know about it.  The most annoying was that he kept referring to her as Girl Friday instead of her name.

“I told Mike about it, thinking that he’d say something to Brendan,” he explained.  “He decided not to.  But I can go to him if you want.”

“It’s fine Will, don’t worry,” she continued to shake her head.  The absolute last thing she wanted to do was cause a ruckus with an established member of staff.  “I know I’m like, the rookie around the office, and he’s just trying to test me.  I get it.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” Will said strongly.  “He still shouldn’t be doing that.  Rookie or not.”

Aberdeen bit her lip.  Clearly Will had a protective side that she hadn’t seen yet, and was only getting a small glimpse of now.  “Did you get hazed when you joined the team?” she asked.  

“If you count paying for an entire team’s meals and bar tab, then yeah.  But that’s the extent of it nowadays.  Harmless stuff,” he said.  “Anything worse is just bullshit.  Plus the media would pick up on it and it would become a shitshow.”

“Brendan tells me the media in Toronto is ridiculous,” she said.  

“They are.”

He didn’t say anything else.  Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about it.  Maybe something had happened to him in the past and that’s why he didn’t like them.  She didn’t really read about what they said about the team – she left that to Brendan.  When she got home from work, she didn’t really want to think about work.  She never googled articles about the team or anything like that.  She wanted to keep that portion of her life separate from the one she lived outside of work.  

She changed the subject, bringing it back to hockey and playing with Alex as they continued their walk home.  He was much more upbeat talking about his close relationships with his siblings, particularly Alex.  The endearing smile on his face couldn’t be missed – he clearly loved his family.  When she spoke about Siena and Camden, there was a similar endearing smile on her face, too – one that William wished would never fade.  He heard about the shenanigans she and Siena would get into as young kids, and she even recounted the day she went to the hospital to see Camden for the first time.  She and Siena had to end up sharing a room so the baby could get his own.  

Sometimes, their hands would brush against each other’s, and William would feel a jolt of electricity surging through his body.  

They stopped outside her condo building.  His smile was still on his face, as was hers.  Their walk was nice.  Their talk was really nice.  Aberdeen held her breath.  She didn’t expect to enjoy it so much.  She looked him in the eye, and suddenly, her word vomit got the best of her.  “You don’t regret that night, do you?” she asked before she even thought about what she was saying, or its implications.

“God no,” William said in less than a millisecond.  The notion was absurd to him.  “No.  Never.  Why would you even ask that, minskatt?”

She couldn’t think for a moment because he said that name.  Again.  “I don’t know…I just…”

He purposely reached forward slightly to brush his fingers against hers, like he was going to hold her hand.  He could hear the breath hitch in her throat.  “Don’t ever think that again,” he told her.  

Aberdeen didn’t say anything.  She couldn’t say anything.  All she could do was look into his eyes.  She was doing that a lot lately, apparently.

Then he moved closer.

And closer.

And looked down at her lips.

And licked his.

And then he leaned forward.  

“Will…” she whispered, moving back slightly.  He looked her in the eye.  “We can’t, Will.”

He bit his lip, sighing.  “I’m sorry.  I know.  Fuck, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“You just…I can’t help myself sometimes when I’m around you,” he confessed. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what you think it means,” he said, cocking his head to the side.

Aberdeen could only handle so much of William making her heart flutter in one night.  She felt like she was going to develop heart palpitations if she stayed any longer.  “I’m gonna go upstairs.”

“Aberdeen…” he said longingly.  

“Goodnight,” she said, turning away from him.

“Aberdeeeeeeen…”

“Goodnight Willy,” she said as she looked at him over her shoulder, walking into her condo building.  

William stood outside, watching until she disappeared down the hallway towards the elevators.  He brought his fingers up to his lips, rubbing them gently as he chuckled to himself, turning on his heels as he walked down the street.  

[gustafsnightangel]

Shattered Lives Ch 39 Pt 1

The noise that filled the apartment woke her up, the sheets cold on Gustaf’s side of the bed telling her he’d let her sleep in. In the few days since the visit from Uncle Elias the kids had hardly been home. Gustaf taking them out for lunch and the movies, Stellan and the boys going bowling, and the pajama party with Valter and Gustaf’s two youngest brothers last night. She could hear Gustaf chatting to Stellan through the ajar door, the boys settling back in after the overnight with grandpa. The happiness in their voices made her smile, far less grief than this time last year, not a hint of anger or sorrow. She heard Gustaf get them situated before he came in, smile wide, damn she loved that smile, the look of him.

“Hey there lovely lady.” He murmured sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning down to claim her mouth. God the man knew how to kiss.

“Hi.” She breathed out, wrapping her arms around him securing him to her. “Sounds like the monsters are back.”

“They are, and they’re excited that we leave for the cabin tomorrow.” His kiss lingered. “Time to get up, lots to do.”

“Yeah, I need to take them shopping later for snacks, I promised them one treat each for the trip.” She kissed him sweetly. “I’m starting to regret my decision as it means I have to take them out in public.”

He chuckled, those laugh lines crinkling at the corners of his eyes. “What were you thinking?” He said, the sarcasm thick.

“I wasn’t, that’s the problem.” She snorted, thumb brushing his crows feet. They both laughed at the squeak of dad dad as Lily padded her way into the room all excited, Gustaf picking her up and kissing her until she giggled. “Someone had a good time away.”

“Dad said she was running the house as soon as she woke up this morning, keeping the boys in line.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me.” She muttered. Just looking at him with her in that instance made her belly flip, the whole kids of their own thought sailing through her head like a bright neon sign. He placed Lily on the bed and she crawled over to Sildie for cuddles while Gustaf took a shower.

“He’s much happier today huh little lady.” She murmured as Lily snuggled in. She’d been worried, the days since Elias had been brutal on him. She’d phoned Elsa and dealt with more paperwork while Gustaf was shut up in his office laying down the law with his lawyers and security team. She’d never heard him so angry, the shreds he’d stripped off the building security, the anger and fury that had unleashed again as he made arrangements to have Dana’s entire family under surveillance. Especially when they were informed he’d made bail and the trial wouldn’t be until April 5th. Sometimes the system just sucked and so did the timeframe. She also knew that being away for filming over the next few months was making this whole situation far worse, she sensed his anxiety already poised to drag him under. It was a clusterfuck and added pressure he didn’t need.

“I’m going over to mums for lunch today, she wanted to chat about the whole Ana thing.” He said as he came out wrapped in nothing but a towel, setting all her wild fantasies aflame. “She’s... concerned.”

“That’s one way to put it.” She said softly. “Do you need us to be there?” Her voice was quiet, apprehension he thought.

“Not if you don’t want to be.”

“I do, I just don’t want the kids around when we’re talking about all that, about her.” She would protect them from it as much as possible. “They don’t need that in their lives.”

“I already told mum it would just be me.” He toyed with her wisps of hair at her face and kissed her tenderly. “For exactly those reasons, and I also know that Eija and Alex are there today too, family meeting about it really. I’ll get them up to speed. It’ll be fine.”

“You know the spiel as well as I do now anyway.” She trailed a finger along his jaw. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” His thumb brushed the dark shadows marring her cheek, it still made his anger flare. He tossed a shirt and jeans on and collected Lily from the bed. “Up you get love, I’ll make some tea.” He kissed her quickly and went to see why the boys were suddenly so quiet.

She could hear them play fighting as she dressed, and smiled. The beginnings of their family, fun times, happy memories, they’d build more tomorrow and over the coming weeks. The ruckus she came out to made her chuckle, three boys tackling the fourth freakishly tall one. He was a big kid at heart, that gorgeous smile plastered across his face, not a hint of anxiety or stress in him. They were both eager to be in the mountains away from everything for a while.

Leaning against the counter she watched, videoing what she could. She laughed as Lily came to the rescue of her dad dad, the boys laughing, so carefree and happy, just as it should be. Gustaf could never fully understand the precious gift he’d given them, stability, love, a family. He’d brought them together as a family unit. “I hope you’re seeing this brother.” She muttered under her breath. “He loves them as if they were his own.” Her smile went wide as Lily tackled Gustaf to the floor, the boys cheering. She fisted a hand and tapped it on the counter thinking. “He’d make a great father.” She whispered, her breath catching. Breathing out a steadying breath she saw Gustaf calm them down and leave them to play some Mario cart.

“They’re ready to go when you are, they’ve had breakfast.” He chuckled, that gorgeous smile lighting up his face as he stopped in front of her, fingers reaching to toy with the soft waves of her hair she’d left down.

“I love seeing you this happy.” She said, hands cupping his face and kissing him sweetly.

“You make me this happy love, so do they.” He kissed her, sensing something had knocked her off kilter a little. “I love you Sildie, the five of you are my world.”

“You’re ours sweet man.” She smiled, her kiss lingering. “Go have a good lunch with your mum, we’ll get some snacks and shopping for the trip. I need to get Lily another jacket, she’s grown out of her other one and the twins need new boots.”

“Fun times.” He grinned.

“Joyous.” She said sarcastically at his chuckle. “Go on. Get going.” She swatted his ass and took a sip of her tea. His arched eyebrow at her butt slap had that mischievous smirk tug her lips.

“A very dangerous game to play kitten.” He growled and devoured her mouth thoroughly.

“Text me your dinner order, I’ll pick something up.” She said changing the subject as her body melted at his touch.

“Mmmm hmmm. Will do lovely lady.” He purred. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

He could tell something was bothering her, more than her usual grief and the shitstorm that Ana had created, the way it had dragged Elias and Dana’s side of the family into the mix. So much going on in that wicked smart brain of hers. He knew she was piecing something together but there was something else she was chewing on. Walking across the street to his mothers he thought about the conversation they were all about to have, the steps he would take, had taken, to protect them all, those measures Sildie had already put in place. They would rally around him, protect him, protect Sildie, the kids, like a family should. It still irritated him that he had to resort to such drastic measures of security and legal restraints but he was out of time, options, and patience.

Sildie and the kids hit the mall, John, their shadow as she like to call him, following their car and staying a respectable distance from them as they shopped, eyes ever watchful. She felt bad for dragging the guy out on a chilly afternoon for them to go shopping, but if this was going to set Gustaf’s mind at ease while he wasn’t here with them she wasn’t going to argue. He was already under enough stress and pressure, he didn’t need anymore. She didn’t think Ana would blatantly harm her or the kids, but there was always the what if, the maybe. Those thoughts that raced through her head a mile a minute. Just look at Elias, she thought bitterly. Not in a million years did she see the connection between him and Ana coming.

Her lawyer brain kicked in as she helped the twins find shoes. How did he fit into it? How did he know her? Was he just a junkie? Was Ana just his supplier? Something more? Had there been a relationship between them? Was Elias part of the syndicate? Was the rest of Dana’s family involved? How far did Ana’s claws dig in? Questions she hoped would be answered when the law finally caught up with her. After that, it wouldn’t take long for Elias to sing, to rat on her to save his own ass.

With a new coat for Lily and new boots for the boys, Brendan included because his toes were already touching leather from the pair she’d bought a few months ago, they stopped in for ice cream. It was their weekly thing, an after shopping treat that had carried over from Dana that she didn’t have the heart to stop, especially when mint chocolate chip was involved and it kept a part of their mother with them.

With groceries in hand they headed back to the car, John helping with the heavier stuff, boys laughing, and a chattering Lily in her arms playing with the zipper on her new coat. As they neared the car the happiness of the afternoon turned to ash and vinegar in her mouth as she looked closer.

“John take the kids to your SUV please.” She said quietly and handed her bags to him. “Brendan, take Lily please and get everyone in the car with John, stay with him ok?” She saw the shock on the teens face, the questions of, who and why echoed there. “I’ll explain later.” Was all she heard herself say as she approached her vehicle slowly.

The windows had been smashed in, seats ripped, red paint covered every surface inside as if a paint can had exploded. The vulgar messages on the doors, the paint splattered and shattered windshield. She felt the panic attack surge up, the nausea and lightheadedness threatening to consume her. “Breathe.” She whispered and sucked in a breath. “Just breathe, the kids are ok, it’s just a car.” A car Gustaf had bought for her, for the kids. He’d bought it to take care of her. Pulling out her phone she took photos of it all and texted them straight to Detective Holmberg, her phone rang a moment later.

“Sildie it’s Leon. I’m on my way. Are the kids somewhere safe?” He said hurriedly. She could hear him moving as he spoke. “Are you safe?”

“Yes they’re with John our security detail, in his car.” She didn’t like how pathetic and shaky her voice sounded. “I’m fine.”

“Don’t touch anything.”

“I haven’t, I just took pictures.” As she was speaking to him she noticed a blonde woman watching her a few cars over. It took her a second to recognize her through the haze of adrenaline and anxiety coursing through her system. “Ana’s here, a few cars down from me.” She snarled, an overwhelming urge to cut a bitch slammed into her so violently the anxiety flipped a one eighty into full on lethal rage.

“Don’t approach her, pretend she’s not there. We maybe able to box her in, I’ll have the parking lot cordoned off.” Which she could hear him relaying that order as he drove. “I’ll be there in two minutes.”

“Ok.” She would not crumble and give Ana the satisfaction, and she would not retaliate. She wanted to though, oh how she wanted some divine retribution right here, right now at her own hand. Everything she’d done to get at Gustaf, to cause him more pain, more grief. Yes, she thought, I’d like to have a knock down drag out with you, you vindictive bitch, she thought as her gaze flicked to Ana and then back at the car.

Calming the rage her thumb hesitated over Gustaf’s number. She knew she had to make the call or he’d be more furious at her for handling it on her own, especially after what went down with Elias. But part of her wanted to spare that sweet soul of his any further pain. She choked back a sob as she knew this would hurt him, cut into him so deeply. Her rage gave way to anxiety once more as she stared at his number. All that peace he’d found these past few weeks was ebbing away. “Together.” She breathed and hit dial, the sick feeling in her stomach growing with every ring.

“Hey lovely lady.” She could hear the joy in his voice and she was about to shatter it.

“Hey handsome.” She breathed, anxiety rising.

“You ok?” He went on full alert, he knew that tone, something had happened.

“I’m fine, so are the kids, the car not so much. Not an accident.” She blurted out quickly and held back the sob.

“Ok, good to know.” His gut threatened to abruptly launch his meal out via his teeth. “Talk to me love.” He said gently at her sudden silence.

“Ana’s here, she vandalized the car and is sitting a few cars from me. I’ve called Leon, and he’s just pulling in.” The lawyer had surfaced to take care of the situation, he could hear it in her voice, but it shook.

“God fucking damn it!” He roared, his temper snapping out. She could hear the chair he was sitting in get pushed back explosively, crashing to the floor. It was the last straw for him, she knew it would be and felt sick for it.

“Gustaf, take a breath, please.” She stayed calm, her voice quavering with the tears that threatened to fall. She was only just holding it together. “Were fine, the kids are in the SUV with John at my request. I’m not in any danger and Leon is here.” She willed her voice to not shake. “He just pulled up.”

“I’m on my way to you.” He seethed, he would fucking murder the bitch.

“You won’t get in they blocked the car park so she has no where to go.” She tried for calm, her voice betrayed her as the anxiety surged forward again.

“The hell I won’t.” He spat and she heard the unmistakable slam of a car door. “I’m on my way.” The line went dead.

She’d never heard him this angry, never had him be so short with her. New Year’s Eve was one thing, confronting Elias another, but this? This was an entirely different level of anger, explosive, reckless, and violent.

“I take it that was Gustaf?” Leon asked coming to stand beside her.

“Yes. He’s on his way and rather angry.” That was the understatement of the century.

“Quite rightly.” Holmberg muttered. “Where is she?” He asked, paying particularly close attention to a spot on the drivers side door as he spoke.

“Your eleven o’clock, four cars down, blue...” She said softly, only flicking her eyes to make sure she had the details correct.

“I see her.” He texted the location to his team and let them handle it. Before Ana could tear her eyes away from Sildie and the mayhem she was gloating over, her car was boxed in and police were hauling her out.

Sildie wasn’t interested in the takedown, or the profanity spewing from Ana’s mouth as they cuffed her. She turned her back on Ana, not giving the woman another moment of recognition. It was difficult not to retaliate, because she wanted to, she wanted to March right over there and lay her out cold for what she’d done to Gustaf. Rarely did Sildie want to get into a physical altercation but she was certainly ready to make an exception in this case.

She peered into the car once more, her focus drawn to the rear view mirror and what was no longer hanging there. “She took it.” Her choked tone had Leon turning sharply.

“Took what?” He asked, but she couldn’t answer him, her voice had ceased working as the grief swallowed her whole. Silent tears tracked down her cheeks and she felt her world bottom out. As they placed Ana in the back seat of the police cruiser she felt familiar arms around her, turning her slowly until she was breathing in that familiar scent.

“Sildie.” Gustaf sighed, the relief that she was ok flooding into him. Eyes searched for John’s car and landed on him a moment later, the respectful nod saying the kids were fine setting his mind at ease.

“Sildie, what did she take?” Leon asked again softly as she buried her face in Gustaf’s chest and wept.

“Something missing?” Gustaf asked flatly looking at Leon with ice cold eyes.

“All she said was she took it.” Leon shrugged.

Gustaf leaned down to peer into the car and his temper went nuclear. “I will fucking murder her.” He snarled, holding Sildie tighter to him. “The charm from her rear view mirror is missing, the one her brother gave her.” He said evenly, barely able to contain the contempt in his voice.

“I’ll need you to check the rest of the vehicle to see if anything else is missing.” Leon’s voice had turned flinty.

“Give us a minute ok?” Gustaf asked, he had to talk Sildie off the ledge of a panic attack and stuff his violent fury back into its box.

“Take your time, it’ll take us a while to process this mess.” Leon said and moved away.

Gustaf stood there, soothing her as best he could when he knew all she’d be able to feel would be the waves of anger rolling off him. “You’re ok love, I’m here.” He murmured. “I’m here.”

“I’m sorry.” She sobbed. “I’m sorry... the car.”

“No, no, you’ve done nothing wrong, look at me.” He said tenderly trying to get his anger under control. “Look at me love.” When she did it crushed him. “I’m the one that should be sorry for dragging her into your life.”

“But the car.” She hiccuped.

“Is just a car. It’s insured. I’m more livid about what she took from it.” His rage banked as he wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs, she needed him to be calm. They were both stressed and him letting the anger gain the upper hand wasn’t the answer. He’d have time to unleash later.

“It’s gone.” She sobbed.

“It is love, I’m so sorry.” This was tearing her apart and cleaving his soul into pieces. That charm wasn’t something he could replace. He couldn’t fix it.

“Oh shit, the kids, they’re still with John...” she said hurriedly swiping the tears from her face, realizing she didn’t have the luxury to fall apart. “And I just left...”

“They’re perfectly fine, look.” He pointed to the SUV and the kids waved back.

“We have to get them home.” She sniffed pulling it together, it was a stupid charm, it wasn’t like someone had died, she berated herself.

“How about you hang here for a little bit and help Leon out while I go and grab a new car seat for Lily? Because we can’t take anything from the car and her seat is trashed.” He said softly.

She let her gaze drift over to the items already being bagged, spare shoes, sweaters, and Brendan’s hockey gear. “Leon? Can you open that bag real quick.” She asked pointing to Brendan’s gear.

“Paint in the bag too.” Leon said sharply.

“And his mask.” Sildie sighed, before another sob broke free.

“I’ll have another made love.” Gustaf said softly.

“It’s not the same.” She sniffed. “You had that made for him, your first gift to him. You have no idea what it means to him.”

“I know it’s not the same love.” He pulled her into a hug while Leon was trying his damnedest to wipe the paint off the teens hockey mask. “I might be able to take it back and get it cleaned and refinished. I’ll figure it out, I’ll fix it. Somehow I’ll fix it.” He kissed her temple and lingered, willing his system to calm down so in turn he could soothe hers. “Are we able to get this stuff back at some point?” He snapped at Holmberg and immediately regretted his tone. It wasn’t Leon’s fault, Gustaf was just on a razor thin edge.

“I’ll get them back to you as soon as I can.” The detective looked at Gustaf, yes, he thought, Leon was pissed too, good.

“Appreciate it.” He kissed Sildie softly. “Go sit with the kids a moment ok? I’ll get Lily a new seat and we can go from there ok?” She just nodded and walked to John’s car. The slump of her shoulders told him this had kicked her hard.

“I knew her brother.” Leon said quietly. “My wife was close friends with Dana. I’m doing everything I can Gustaf, but I have to stay within the confines of the law, so do you. Don’t go doing anything crazy, get a good attorney and take the spiteful bitch down.”

“Do me a favor.” Gustaf said bluntly. “Search Ana’a car real quick for that charm, or her pockets. The rest of this I can replace, that I can’t, and it will destroy Sildie if it stays missing.”

Leon nodded. “Go get Lily a car seat, I’ll look myself right now and call it in for when they process her at the station.”

“Thanks.” He huffed and scrubbed a hand over his face. As he started to walk away he turned. “I’m sorry, for snapping earlier.”

“Not necessary, I’d be a little snappy too considering the circumstances.” Leon said, a tight smile gracing his lips.

“Well regardless, I’m sorry. There was no need for it, you’re only trying to help.” He wasn’t that person anymore, to rage without reason, without sucking it up and apologizing like the man he was trying to be.

“All good.” Leon said, clasping a hand of Gustaf’s shoulder and squeezing it in support.

He knew he could be an insufferable prick when he put his mind to it or the rage swamped him, that wasn’t him anymore. “And that’s what you’re hoping for isn’t it you fucking bitch.” He muttered as he walked to the baby store across the street. “You’re hoping to get me so riled up I’ll snap. Well I’m way past that. Coming after me was one thing, going after Sildie was the biggest mistake you ever made. By the end of this you’re going to wish you’d never fucking met me.” He said with conviction.

She explained it as much as she dared to the boys, the plea in her eyes to Brendan to just go with it so she could explain more when they were away from the twins. His tight nod all she needed to have some measure of relief. She watched Gustaf walk back to his car and fit the new seat. This will destroy him, she thought, all that peace he’d found obliterated in the instant she’d phoned him. Destroying another life, just like she’d destroyed the boys. It was a spiral, she knew it was happening yet she was powerless to stop her thoughts diving so deeply out of control. It was all too much and she’d reached her tolerance level of bullshit.

She hopped out of the car as he approached and went to him.

“Load the kids up and head home, love. Take care of them and let me worry about all this ok?” He said gently, he would be her calm now as he knew she was far from done today. “You ok to drive?” A nod was all she could give him. “You sure?”

“Yeah. I need to get them home before Lily implodes.” She said trying her damndest to pull it together, she had shit to take care of not wallow in self pitty.

“I’ll stay here with Leon until the car’s towed and then go hire one for our vacation. I’ll send John back with you to help with the groceries ok?” He watched her carefully and was concerned.

She nodded and leaned her forehead against his chest, breathed him in, his scent soothing her jagged emotions.

“That’s it love. Breathe a minute. It’ll all be ok, you and me, we’ll fix it.” He murmured and stroked the nape of her neck tenderly.

She let herself just exist for a moment, collect the shred of composure she was clinging to and pulled it together. Drying her eyes she kissed him softly, the grief he felt already echoing in his eyes.

“There’s my girl.” He said softly, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. “I’ll be home a little later. Do you need me to send mum over, or dad? A sibling? I have plenty to spare.” His attempt at humor got the chuckle from her he was hoping for.

“No, I’ll be ok.” You won’t be, he thought, but nice try.

“I love you Sildie. Together love.” He kissed her tenderly.

“Love you too, not letting her win, it just knocked me a bit.” She sniffed.

“I know, me too, but we’ll knock back harder.” He kissed her brow and looked at her. “Come on, I’ll get Lily bear settled, because I can hear her starting to ramp up for a full on I’m tired and hungry meltdown.”

Gustaf helped her get the kids settled in the car, fielding questions from the twins as vaguely as possible. “Text me when you get home.” He said softly.

“I will.” Her voice was that eerie quiet he didn’t like. It only got like that when she retreated into herself and it killed him to see her like that.

She seemed to be on auto pilot as she drove home, aware enough to drive, but not really caring about what was happening around her. John helped her get the kids inside, the groceries for their trip piled on the counter. With the kids occupied she sat in her office, the process of writing notes about the incident clearing it out of her mind as the words appeared on paper. Gustaf’s text tone interrupted her asking if she’d got home and she swore, she’d forgotten to text him.

We’re home. I’m so sorry I zoned and totally forgot.

It’s ok love. You’re all home safe that’s what matters. I’m headed to hire a car, be home soon. Is John still there?

He left a little while ago but he said they have someone watching the building. He stayed until we were settled.

Ok, that’s good.

I love you.

Love you too lovely lady. I’ll be home soon.

He came home an hour or so later and could hear Sildie reaming someone on the other end of the phone in her office, door shut tightly.

“She’s been in there for nearly an hour.” Brendan said quietly.

“You know who she’s flaying?” He asked carefully and the kid shook his head.

“I haven’t seen her this mad since she yelled at grandma after mum and dad...” He stopped suddenly and shook his head not wanting to voice the rest of the sentence.

“Well she’s super upset about the car so I’m not surprised.” Gustaf said carefully, he wasn’t sure how much he should divulge.

“Why would someone do that?” Brendan asked as he walked with Gustaf to the kitchen out of the twins hearing.

“I don’t know B.” Gustaf sighed, he was beat to hell and he knew he’d have to talk Sildie down before she imploded. “The short version ok, because I’m beat to hell.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and tried to collect his thoughts. “It’s an ex girlfriend, the ex girlfriend, the one that screwed me up. They arrested her and things could get a little messy. Your mum has had to bust ass on making sure you guys are safe and it’s all just a little too much for her today.”

“Is that why we have John and Andrew come with us everywhere?” The kid was a quick study.

“Yes. I promised Sildie I’d keep you all safe too.”

“Oh.” The teen looked a little shocked.

“I love you guys, you’re my family Brendan and there’s absolutely nothing I won’t do to protect you, to make sure you’re safe, that Sildie’s safe.” He said softly as the teen hugged him tight. “Absolutely nothing.” His head came up at the sharp shout from Sildie’s office and he decided he needed to get in there and deal with it. “It’s getting late, you guys eaten yet?”

“Yeah we got something on the way home, there’s some here for you too. We weren’t sure when you’d get home.”

“Thanks. Can you get the twins in a bath or shower, I need to go see if she’s ok. Did the cold groceries get out away?”

“Yeah they’re away.” He said and started to unpack the rest.

@hausofobsession @ill-skillsgard @grandpa-sweaters @authentic90skidd @tuckersgirl @fairlyfallacy @flowers-in-your-hayr @raewritesfiction @stinkerbelle007 @kamie-b @mrsaugustwalker @skrsgardspam @loliwrites @trippedmetaldetector @lihikainanea @fay-walden @nandadb

[chilly-me-softly]

Watching the game at home with your daughter and the little girl asks why her daddy isn’t playing and when you explain Ben is injured for this one she gets sad and the minute Ben arrives home she is all “daddy are you hurt? Can you walk? Let me help you”. Just because Ben and his daughter are giving me major feels 🤩

Ben had gone out that morning not knowing if he would be included in the starting XI, a knock during training for which he would be tested in the morning.

You follow the preparation where they give the line-ups but Ben had already warned you that he wouldn't even be on the bench. They thought it was better to rest him for one game than lose him for six more, and you tried to comfort him from a distance knowing how hard it was for him to just watch. He had done that in the beginning, and now that he was a regular in the starting XI, resting was more of a punishment than a pleasure.

Your little girl comes running in, positioning herself at her favorite spot to watch the game. The blue jersey from the home kit already on, ready to cheer on her daddy. Only when the camera frames all the players, she doesn't see him and she frowns.

"Mommy, where's Daddy?" she asks confusedly, turning to you for a moment.

"Dad's leg is still bothering him a bit, so he's sitting there with the others" you explain.

"Look, there he is" you point the screen when they're looking right at Ben since they're talking about him, the boy is wearing his normal clothes and is chatting with some staff member as usual.

The little girl looks at him carefully until the camera returns to focus on the game, "But it's not the same when daddy isn't there" she grumbles and in fact, a game with Ben is a thousand times more interesting. 

Anyway, in the end the little girl is happy because the team wins, but she looks forward to Ben's return home. And when it happens, she runs straight towards him but stops just in time not to stick to his legs and hurt him.

"Daddy, you're back!"

"Hi, my little girl" Ben went to bend over and pick her up, but she pulls out his duffel bag and drags it across the floor with all the strength she has.

Ben looks at her softly but amused, "What are you doing?"

"You're hurt, I'll help you" murmurs the little girl as she continues to pull that bag, concentrating and pulling her tongue between her teeth for the effort. Without being seen he helps her by pushing the bag forward with his foot, until you stop her and tell her to take care of Daddy and that you would take care of the bag.

"Can you walk? Come" the little one takes him by the hand dragging him onto the couch and climbing up to sit on him. Ben helps her get comfortable so that no knees end up in the wrong parts.

"Does it hurt that much, Daddy?" she murmurs looking him in the eye and he smiles, stroking her hair.

"No love, Brendan just wanted to be cautious"

"Like when I don't have the fever but Mommy makes me stay another day at home?"

"Exactly" Ben giggles, and then the baby stretches out to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Is that better?"

"I don't know... try with another one" and when you get to the living room, you find them laughing and kissing each other on the face. And you smile, glad that Ben can get anything about the injury out of his head.

Tag: @emwritesfootball

[theblogchelor]

The Bachelorette Week Eleven Part Two aka Lowest Budget, Highest Stakes

Here’s What Happened Tuesday

It feels like an eternity ago that Clare said Dale’s name so many times the word started to sound wrong, and now here we are, the finale of an entirely new Bachelorette ready to accept a proposal from whoever is willing to put a ring on her finger so they can finally check out of the La Quinta.

The Rose Ceremony

Last night we witnessed the great 2020 B Swap: Brendan for Ben, turtleneck for wide-neck crew. Ultimately, Tayshia pulls a Tayshia and defers her decision on Ben to the Rose Ceremony because, if he’s going to be here, she might as well make him sweat through a full suit one more time.

Ivan and Zac do not appreciate the appearance of Ben at the rose stand – especially not Ivan, who, moments later, is summoned by Tayshia and given the Bachelorette version of being taken out back and shot.

Goodbye, sweet Ivan, you civil rights-advocating, ice bath-surviving, eggroll-burning aeronautical engineer and future king of Paradise.

Ben Meets The Fockers

Ben is the first up to meet Tayshia’s family and there are a few immediate strikes against him. First, he is an Army man amongst a Navy family, and as we all know our branches of the military revile each other. Second, Tayshia has already dumped him, which technically makes him her ex-boyfriend. And third, Ben is aggressively sweaty and feels the need to verbally draw attention to it at every opportunity.

Ultimately everyone succumbs to Ben’s golden retriever-esque sincerity wrapped in the body of a Greek god. Except Tayshia’s dad, who will approve in public and quietly sabotage Ben’s chances later.

The Adams Family // Zac C Collab

Zac arrives at the family meet and greet dressed in black from head to toe, looking like something between a restaurant host and an undertaker. In his conversation with Tayshia’s parents, Zac fluctuates between diving into intense and serious assertions of love and flashing his disarming boyish dimples. Zac’s is a consistently perplexing, damp energy.

For no reason I can explain, the producers make the entire family eat cold, congealed pizza before Zac is allowed to leave.

Zac’s Final Date

Tayshia has devolved into a full-blown existential panic in the wake of her father’s surprise visit to gently request that she rethink all her choices to this point. She gets roughly ten minutes to mask her cranky, cranky mood before heading out to meet Zac, a man she has to appear to love despite the fact that he is sweating through every stitch of his clothing.

After a brief chat near a scenic waterfall that we are only now seeing at this point in the season because it’s an audio nightmare, the two proceed to a ballroom dancing class. Their tango is stiffened by Tayshia’s stress, setting a chill in the air chill reminiscent of Ivan’s genitals mere days ago.

Later, at candlelit snuggle time, Zac and Tayshia have a chance to address the tension and reaffirm their love. Zac vows to love Tayshia even if she becomes “a stay-at-home mom or a waitress,” which are clearly scenarios he has made his peace with.

Ben’s Final Date, In A Sense

If there are small mercies in this show, they may be that Tayshia never lets any of the big guys get blind dumped at a Rose Ceremony, and the producers never let them leave without at least one shirtless bathroom hairstyling moment.

And thus, this is how it ends for Ben, freshly showered, sitting in his hotel room practicing cursive T’s in his journal. Tayshia shows up – importantly, as my friends pointed out, in the same dress she spoke to her father in – to tell Ben her dad is making her break up with him.

Ben, dumped for the second time in two episodes, leaves to fall into the arms of the internet’s loving embrace and steady stream of sponsorship income.

The Final Rose

One of the most special traditions in the Bachelor Franchise is when the lead allows two finalists to pour their hearts out in proposal, only to step over the one’s dead body to accept the proposal from the other.

Tayshia gives us no such satisfaction. We know the ending before Zac even steps out of the limo – blue suit, black shoes, red flags and all. He shows up to the desert’s Allergy Forest, complete with all the dry kindling needed to burn the La Quinta down for good.

After ten full minutes of uncomfortable whispered speeches, Zac slips a ring on Tayshia’s finger and she magnets the final rose on his lapel. Then they climb into their cardboard taxicab and shuffle off to wherever it is two people go when recently engaged but still imprisoned at a La Quinta. Congrats, lovers.

Until Matt James!

[hugheshugs]

What about Brendan accidentally forgetting y/n’s birthday

daddy issues au !!

oh my god. thom remembered. he remembered and you woke up to his texts telling you he was coming to see you later.

you started your day off nicely but you got out of bed and no one was home. instead of a present on the dining table you got a note that said both your dad and your brother would be home late today. tears welled up in your eyes but you tried your best to hold in your sadness for the day.

and when thom came in with hands full of bags, the house was silent. immediately, he understood what was going on and made his way to the living room where he heard the tv going. he set the bags down before he saw you curled up into a ball while watching your favourite tv show all by yourself, a lollipop sticking out of your mouth.

"hi thommy," you mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

"hi, mon amour," he gave you a small smile, stepping towards you. "where is everyone?"

his hand came up to stroke your hair as you spoke with your cheek resting on your knees. "dunno. they weren't home when i woke up."

he sucked in a sharp breath at your words, in shock that you confirmed his suspicion. "i'm sure they didn't mean to."

"didn't mean to forget," you chuckled dryly. "it's okay. at least you didn't."

"i'd never," he bent down to kiss your head. "why don't we do something fun now, hm? it's your day after all."

--

and then he'd get soooo pissed at bren. he wouldn't scream but bren would know he was incredibly angry. he'd still be at your house when the pair come home and he'd try his hardest not to glare at hunter but he'd pull bren out of the house and just start scolding him for forgetting his kid's birthday, telling him how crushed she was when he saw her at first. no matter what bren says, he wouldnt have any of it. he'd just leave. like literally, bren would try to defend himself and say he'll make it up to her but thom knows better so he'd just walk to his car and drive away while bren's still talking