#dad ace merrill

[80s4life]

Together At Last”

Word Count: 3,971

Status: Requested!

Ask: Can I have Chris Chambers x reader with the prompt  "You're different and I like that"

@: @micheleamidalajedi​

A/N: I absolutely LOVED this request because I was able to put myself into the Reader and prove that not everyone is the same, female, male, or nonbinary, or all of the girlypops!

Relationship: Chris Chambers x Merrill!Reader

Fandom: Stand By Me 1986

Summary: It’s been 5 years since the disappearance and eventual death of Ray Brower, and you’re each reaching graduation. However, another adventure arises and brings all 5 of you back to the woods to find Teddy’s dog. The problem? Almost all of you have either grown apart or split completely, and old feelings seem to resurface with unresolved conclusions. What could go wrong?

Warnings: mutual pining, adventure, confessions, AGED UP!, friends to enemies to lovers, some angst, nostalgia, lost friendships, gained friendships, Teddy is a brother figure to Reader, gun, unintentional intent to kill someone, strong language, Reader is Ace Merrill’s sibling, 

{gif is not mine, credits go to @awidevastdominion​}

Your landline rings, deriving you of your thoughts and current intensity studying for finals. Groaning, you shrug out of your seat at the kitchen table begrudgingly, answering the phone. “Hello?”

“Y/N? ‘S that you?” a familiar voice, deepened with maturity and hormones asks on the other side.

“Yeah, what do you want?”

“Nice to know you haven’t changed,” you can hear the voice taunt annoyingly. 

“It’s been years since I’ve talked to you, did you expect a ‘Hey, what’s up’?”

“I would have preferred that, yes, but no. This is serious, and I really need you on board with me this time.”

“This better not be one of your schemes, Teddy, I’m not up for anything right now,” you sigh, “I’m up to my neck with textbooks and shit with studying for the finals and stuff. Dad’s been on my ass about getting into a college since I’ve been able to hold a B+ to A average.”

“Damn. Sorry to say I can’t relate?”

You giggle, sighing as you’ve missed him. You couldn’t quite tell what happened to cause you to separate, but as if you had just blinked, everyone was gone and you were left to yourself and school. “Alright Teddy, what bullshit are we pulling now?”

“Glad you asked!” he all but yells in happiness, “My dog went missing a few days ago and I haven’t been able to find him all over town. I know this sounds childish, but I swear, I’ve walked the whole town everyday at dawn before school and haven’t been able to find him.”

“So, you’re guessing he’s in the woods?” you groan, remembering the haunting history you’ve witnessed first hand in said territory.

There’s a long pause before he lets out a low, “...Yes...”

“What did the others say?”

“What makes you think I asked them?” he tries to sound as if he’s not that easy to read; a “changed man.”

“Because I still know you, or some of you. There’s no way this is going to be a one night thing and we need more sets of dependable eyes.”

“Well, now you’re making me sound smart.”

You giggle, “I’m not gonna keep beating around the bush Teddy, I’m in as long as the others are?”

“Yes!” he shrieks.

...

A few days later, as instructed by Teddy, you carry your sleeping bag, flask of water, some snacks, and money (something you all collectively forgot last time) to the dumpsters behind the town’s cafe. Trudging around the corner, your breath catches in your throat as you lay eyes on the back of three familiar heads and a face, each people you thought you have grown so far apart from.

“Y/N!” the voice of the face coming from Teddy.

You nod silently, leaning against the brick building as you keep your distance. 

The three boys that are now men, turn around to take you in, eyes wide.

You wave nervously, age and distance having changed all of you and making you feel as if you don’t know these people.

Teddy still had his familiar square-shaped, black glasses, but his hair is cut to fit the army’s conduct, shaved short on the sides around the back, the top of his head a bit longer. There was just enough hair for Teddy to comb it back with gel just as he had as a preteen - before you all turned away to seek your own lives. He grew a bit taller, standing at 5′5″, but not by much. You giggle internally.

To the far left, you see Gordie and your heart breaks a little. He’s still lean in build, but he’s grown to be tall and confident, around 5′11″ - 6′0.” To you, he hasn’t changed a bit, except personality. He still had his longer hair, possibly longer than you remember it, with the same hairstyle and familiar baby face, though slightly aged. 

Next was Vern, and he was so big now. He managed to drop the weight, a lean build of muscle standing above 6′0″ and carrying his dopey grin with longer hair - a similar style to Gordie’s, though unintentionally. You smile at him. He’s still a sweetheart, but more like a big, lovable Chocolate Lab now.

Lastly was Chris, and he was still as gorgeous as ever. He came to be of above average height, 5′10,″ grew his hair out longer and adorned circular glasses that framed his face perfectly. His eyes carry no emotion, a contrast to his younger self, but they’re still that luscious deep blue. He looks you up and down in silence before staring you directly in your eyes. You can feel your heart break all over again.

You didn’t realize how long you were staring at each of them before Teddy clears his throat. “Shall we?” he tries to smirk, but the tension is thick. 

You hug your arms around your abdomen as you nod, plastering a smile of your face as you force yourself to stand beside the now men. Slowly, everyone starts to follow Teddy until you reach the tracks.

Some time later, as you walked on the tracks, you lagged behind. Now, with this view, you could see where everyone had changed, but not as much as you thought. Gordie and Chris got to talking amongst themselves far in front of the group, Teddy and Vern behind them. They’re all too busy catching up for them to notice your inner turmoil.

You almost want to cry. You don’t know any of them anymore. This was a fact that your younger self would’ve never expected or taken a liking to. You think of what your younger self would do, punishing yourself for what you allowed to happen. 

You would’ve called them repeatedly, tried to make plans or catch up to them in passing to classes. All of this you could pride yourself on saying that you did, but then Gordie went the way his father wanted him to go, Chris becoming an athlete while trying to follow Gordie’s brains, getting into law, Teddy trying to apply and reapply to the military, and Vern taking a liking in the construction trade. 

They all grew up, and though you couldn’t blame them, they slipped out of your hands far too quickly and suffered the backlash. Girls in school are bitches, and though you have friends, they aren’t like the ones before you. Even after all this time, they are still considered exactly that - friends, family even.

You went your own way, too, after giving up on them. You found an interest in engineering and found that it’s not exactly as you suspected. It wasn’t all math and physics and you deeply enjoyed the creativity and problem-solving it included. You have some fond classmates there, but they would never compare to these boys. 

You are ripped from your thoughts as you hear the loud blaring of a train’s horn. You smirk at the memory that crosses. Calling out to Teddy, your voice is loud enough for all of the boys to hear, “Sound familiar, Teddy? We’re not gonna go diving for you on the tracks again, right?”

“Fuck off,” you can hear him giggle, jabbing Vern in the side. 

All the way in the front, you can hear Gordie add, “Or have to break you and Chris up, huh?”

You giggle at the reminder. That was the time when you were all trying to figure yourselves out without guidance, restrictions, stereotypes, and parents. Teddy had a lot of trouble then. 

Your smile drops as the group goes quiet again, the nostalgia dying with the connection that almost rekindled. You groan audibly - unintentionally.

The boys look back at you curiously, surprised just as much as you were. 

You decide to take the initiative, “Is this what we’re going to do the whole time? Act as if we’re strangers and not speak to one another?”

“We are strangers, Y/N,” you hear Chris state with indifference.

You catch up to the group and walk between them, “There’s a reason we all came here and I know we all hoped to be together again. It doesn’t help when you don’t even try to speak to us though, does it?”

The group stops as Chris spins around on you. “Why would I? After this, we are all gonna go our separate ways and avoid each other again,” he growls and spits, “Just like last time.”

“Then, why did you come?” you ask, your curiosity getting the better of you and asking the question you were all wondering yourselves. “Why are we all here?” you look around at each of them. 

“Because I missed you guys,” Vern pipes up, the first words he’s spoken the whole walk from town.

“We wouldn’t have missed each other if we had just kept our promises, would we?” Chris asks, frowning with his eyebrows scrunched together and arms crossed tightly over his chest. It almost resembles hatred.

And it makes you livid. “You broke your promise, too, Chris,” you vividly remember the promise you made just short of town on your way back; the promise that meant the world and more to you - it still does. “We all did, but at least I can say it wasn’t intentional. I tried to reach out to you guys, but we were all growing and changing. I can’t blame you guys, except you, Chris.”

“Me?” his voice reaches higher as the time passes by.

“Oh please, we all know you went from a street rat like us to the high priest and prince of school,” Teddy adds.

Chris scoffs, crossing his arms, “Gordie?”

“I mean, you did drop us after you got with Stephanie Wheeler,” Gordie deflects, shrinking in size as he knows the blows coming next. He adds, “The rich bitch of high school whose daddy is the principal.”

“This is bullshit, I should’ve never decided to come,” he shoots daggers at you.

“You’re right, you shouldn’t of because we all know that you’re embarrassed of even being seen with us,” Vern adds, caution to the wind. 

Chris scoffs again as he takes up his bag, starting back to town. 

“So, you’re just gonna leave?!” you scream as he creates distance. 

“I fucking knew it!” Gordie screams, grabbing his bag as well to follow Chris on the opposite side of the tracks. 

You watch with pain as each of the boys start back to town. All except Teddy, who manages to stand there with teary eyes. 

“I just wanted us to enjoy the time, find my dog, and hopefully have one last high school hurrah before we are all forced apart,” he sniffles.

You look at him with matching sadness, “I-I’m sorry Teddy, I didn’t mean to act out like that. I just couldn’t stand another minute, let alone night, with no one planning on speaking to each other. It would have all been for nothing. Even if we had found your dog, we still would’ve hated each other. This is my fault, Teddy, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not, Y/N, it was gonna happen eventually,” his eyes watch them go, but the look in his eye is distant - his mind far beyond where they’re heading.

“We can still look for Butch together?” you manage to smile, tears brimming your eyes.

“I don’t feel like it anymore,” you can visibly see his body deflate.

“Well, can you at least stay? If there’s still some shred of them left, I think they’ll come around again. I still want to rekindle our relationship. I’ve missed you so much, Teddy,” by the time you’re finished, fresh tears are starting to roll down your cheeks.

Teddy’s voice cracks as a tear slips down his cheek, too, opening his arms to pull you in for a hug beside him on the grass.

You smile thankfully as you lean in, sighing at the comfort and history.

“It ain’t going well with my Pops, as you’d assume. He’s still a crazy bastard, but I’m sticking with him. Just for a little longer, as long as I can.”

“Understandable. We can’t forget your ear, can we?”

“Whatever,” he smirks, “What about you?”

“Mom and Dad still fight. If they aren’t fighting, neither of them are home to ensure that they don’t have to fucking see each other. Ace is still a prick, too. I wouldn’t expect him to graduate and still stay in this bum-fuck town.”

“Guess he doesn’t want his reputation to be forgotten,” Teddy giggles.

“Guess so,” you trail off, noticing the sun starting to set and the sky change color. “You think they’re coming back?”

“No, but I can hope.”

You look up at him sadly and nod. “Wanna set up camp for the night anyway?”

He nods silently, taking up his sleeping bag and finding a soft spot to lay out in the grass. 

Silently, you follow his lead, walking down the side of the tracks to the opening of the trees, laying your sleeping bag just beside the first tree, hidden under the canopy of leaves. He decides to go in a little deeper, a few feet away from you, protected by the dimmer lighting in a proactive attempt to block the harsh sun that’ll come in the morning.

Sighing, you both settle in, staring at the sky. Before you know it, your miniscule, unimportant chit chat with Teddy dies down and sleep overtakes you swiftly. There’s no dreams as you toss and turn, but your glad there’s no deeper thoughts that’ll plague you and leave you wide awake.

You don’t know how long you’ve been sleeping until the soft snapping of twigs perk your ears, harshly throwing all of the sleep from your fogged mind and automatically putting it into defensive state.

Peaking around with your eyes, you catch a figure some ways to your left, walking away from your temporary camp. By the distance the figure has created and the direction of their walk, you can tell they were either walking through or around your huddle, no doubt near your camp regardless. 

You flip onto your belly as silently as possible, hand sliding slowly to the underside of your pillow, fingers touching cold metal. You pull the gun from under you, the uncomfortable and foreign weight of it settling in your hand, bringing more unease into your heart and bones. 

You lift yourself up slowly, noticing that Gordie and Vern have, in fact, returned and settled in a circle with you and Teddy. However, there is no sign of Chris, not even a bag.

You let out a slow breath to try and calm your racing nerves as you follow the figure, gun raised and aimed at the black figure. You gain on the figure silently, until your foot makes a horrible crunch as it breaks the branch beneath it. Cursing under your breath, you raise the gun in defense, both hands grasping and eyes trained.

The figure spins around, voice accusatory, “What the f-? Hey...” the voice lowers instantly, hands coming up to show they are unarmed. “Hey, Y/N, put the gun down,” the voice registers in your head as the figure emerges from the darkness and into the glow of the moon breaking through the trees.

“Chris?” you groan, lowering the gun instantly, shoulders dropping. “What the fuck were you thinking? Sneaking around in the woods? You know the way I sleep, man.”

“Knew,” he clarifies, “And, I was just going for a walk to clear my mind.”

“Why do you keep doing that?” you ask with a creep of annoyance settling in, pinching the bridge of your nose with your fingers. “Why do you keep acting like you’re camping with strangers? Like you have absolutely no knowledge of who we are?”

“Because I don’t; I don’t know the people you have all become now. Even if there are slivers of the people I knew that show every now and then, they are no longer the people they were nor who they are now,” he steps closer to you, enough to reach out to you if he wanted to.

“I can’t say that we are who we were because that’s impossible, but we are still those loving people we were. I’ve noticed that Vern still carries a comb and is a little sensitive. Gordie is still quiet and finds meanings in everything. Teddy still has such and undoubted devotion to his father and his infatuation with the army. I still bother the shit out of everyone and parent them as a way of care. But you,” you pause, assessing him as the sadness settles in your voice and heart again, a cold shock coursing through your veins, “I can only see a person in front of me. You look like Chris, you still have that leaderly inclination, but besides that, everything has changed. Even your eyes have a different look to them, yet they are still that same pair I last looked at 5 years ago.”

Chris says nothing, his mask fitting into place and revealing nothing to you - it doesn’t even look like any of your words are reaching him.

“You keep acting like everyone here is out to get you, but we are simply just being ourselves. You see us as enemies because we had a falling out, but that’s natural. We changed - you changed - and you want to blame us for something that was out of our hands. We are still here for you Chris, I’ve always been here,” your voice is cracking as you look down at your feet, kicking some leaves and twigs to divert your attention somehow. 

A hand reaches beneath your chin, tugging your head up to look into those sapphire irises once again. “You were never my enemy, you were my greatest fear,” Chris says, a pitiful grin pulling at his lips. “You know why I chose to become better? Why I went out with the cheerleaders, tried out for football, worked hard to get into the smart kid classes?”

“W-Why?” you look at him, pain and confusion streaking your E/C eyes like lightning in a storm. 

“Because I knew that if I stayed where I was, I would never be able to give you what you wanted - never been able to give you everything you deserved. At first, I distanced myself because I thought I would never be good enough for you; that distance was what you needed and for me to get out of your sights, so that that better man would show up and lift you off your feet. But, you were insistent,” Chris giggles sadly as his mask starts to fall, his eyes showing the same pain and suffering that reflects off of yours. “I chose to blame you for the pain of losing you, so you would never look at me with those eyes again; never show me this source of genuine love that was undeserved and unfair.”

“But, you promised me that we would be together forever?” you question, a tear slipping from your eye as you stare at him with the newfound information. Pain of losing him, sadness of bringing such turmoil and insecurity to himself, suffering from the rift that could’ve never been, and regret that if you had known, this would have all been avoided as a whole.

“I know I made that promise, and I’m the world’s biggest hypocrite and idiot. It doesn’t matter how far away we’ve become, you can still manage to look at me with that undeserved care?” he mostly questions himself as his eyes search all over your face, both hands cupping your face in his hands. 

Your hands go up to hold his wrists, looking at him with such longing. “You deserve the world, Chris. You always have and always will. You are too pure for the hand you were dealt, and yet you still push yourself farther above.” 

His eyes round and snap to yours with confusion and disbelief, searching you for some sort of trick. “I’ve always loved you, Chris. No one has ever made me so damn pissed off or more loved with just one look or action. It doesn’t matter who I’ve used or dated to temporarily distract me, I’ve always worried and searched for you. You’ve always been in the deepest part of my brain. I-I still love you...so damn much.”

“You’ve always been different and I like that. You’re the biggest pain in my ass, but my greatest mistake. I love you, Y/N,” Chris smiles, a genuine display of delight and content as tears slide down his cheeks with the relinquishment of pain and torture. He’s waited too damn long for this. “I’ve always wanted to do this,” he smirks devilishly, eyes delving to your lips and up to your eyes before he leans in.

Your chapped lips meet his fresh, plump ones, smeared with chapstick with the taste of lemon. Your hands goes up to tangle in his long, blonde locks as his arms reach down to your hips to keep you tightly trapped against him; like he fears that if he doesn’t hold you tight, you’ll slip away like every dream he’s ever had of you - his greatest happiness. 

You pull him in just as tight, arms around his shoulders as your hands tug, fearing the feeling of losing him again. When you part for air, you still never let go of each other, your head ducking in between the crook of his neck and shoulder. You breathe in his scent and save it to your memory as a smell you hoped to never forget or live without. 

“Well, it’s about damn time! God damn!” Teddy yells from his cross legged position on his sleeping bag. 

Gordie and Vern start to whoop and holler from their comfort of sleeping bags with deep pleasure and happiness. 

“I knew you guys would make up eventually,” Vern added with a soft giggle.

“I was starting to miss my parents,” Gordie chided with a roll of his eyes.

“Does that mean we can all be friends now?” Vern adds with a playful glint in his eye and you couldn’t help but giggle. 

“I mean, I guess I could, y’know, hang around a while,” you tease, earning a shove to your side by Chris as you both walk back to your seats on your sleeping bag. 

That night, you all stayed up late trading stories of what you’ve missed within the short time away from each other, and for once since the start of your adventure, you see the benefits of their changes.

They aren’t the same people you once knew because they are now their best versions, and will continue to change for the many years to come. It’s only up to you guys to keep that connection strong and adapt with them that will keep you all bound together forever. 

It was your greatest promise, but there’s been a few changes: “No matter how far away we are nor how different we become, we will always find a way back to each other. Friends forever.”

You and Chris made your own promise, too: “Whatever happens, we will learn to overcome together, forever and always, in love and sickness, at the best and worst moments. Lovers forever.”

[theaawalker]

Fandoms I'll Write For

Marvel (not Iron Man, Starlord, Loki, Thor, Doctor Strange, or Hawkeye, Drax, Victor Creed, Antman, Adam Warlocke, AG's Spiderman, or Cyclops)

DCEU (not Peacemaker, Killer Croc, JL's Joker, RP's Batman, or anyone from Gotham except Jerome/Jeremiah Valeska)

Scream Queens (not Chad Radwell or Pete Martinez)

American Horror Story (only Murder House, 1984, Freakshow, and Cult)

Hunger Games (not Gale, Maymitch, President Snow, or Cato)

The Maze Runner (not Ava Paige, Jorge, or Janson)

My Little Pony

Once Upon A Time (not Hook, David, Rumple, Neal, Peter Pan, or Zelena)

Pacific Rim (not the sequel)

Twilight (not Seth, Edward, Carlyle, or Jasper)

Stranger Things (not Will Byers, Billy Hargrove, or Jim Hopper)

IT (2017, 2019, and tv series) (not Henry Bowers or Pennywise)

Jurassic Park/World (not Owen Grady or Ian Malcolm)

Jumanji (1997 & 2017)

Zathura (not the dad or robot)

Stand By Me (not Ace Merrill)

Girl, Interrupted (not Jared Leto's character)

The Black Phone (not the Grabber or Mr. Blake)

Teen Wolf (the film & series)

Equestria Girls

Teen Wolf (not Peter, Jackson, Theo, or Derek)

The Office (not Jim, Ryan, or Dwight)

Now You See Me (not Dylan Rhodes or Merritt McKinney)

Descendants (not Chad, Harry, Ben, Jay, or Carlos)

Sky High (not Zach or Speed)

Percy Jackson films (not Luke Castellan)

The Umbrella Academy (not Five)

TMNT (live action ver. only)

Dance Moms (not the final season)

Ender's Game

Wednesday (not Xavier, Tyler, or the Dean)

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (not Mentor Peter Parker)

Unbreakable (not Hedwig or Dennis)

Big Hero 6

The Black Mirror

Dynasty (not Culhane, Adam, or Blake)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Spy Kids

Sharkboy & Lavagirl

Clue, Knives Out, & Glass Onion

Back to the Future (not Biff), Breakfast Club (not Bender), Sandlot, Stand By Me (not Ace Merrill), Mighty Ducks, The Outsiders (not Dally, Two-Bit, Randy, Bob, Steve, or Darry)

I’m willing to write imagines for underage characters so long as there's no romance (examples: hang out with the Losers Club at the barrens; go shopping with Eleven and Max; play baseball with Finney and Bruce). I’m allowed to deny any request and the longest I should take ever to write one is about 2 weeks. I’ll write smut, fluff, angst, poly relationships, LGBTQ+, etc. Generally most of my x readers are female unless stated otherwise.

What I won’t write-

I won’t write anything to do with rape, bestiality, necrophilia, incest, romance with anyone younger than 18, gun play, anything about poo(sexually), anything about urine(squirting is fine considering it’s not technically urine), age gaps. See guidelines for more details.

Thanks for reading❤️

A.A. Walker

[poketnife69]

Hi :) can you do ace merrill x f!reader?

where him and reader are out with the cobras and ace won’t stop whispering in her ear, touching her and being clingy.

Totally get it if you don’t want to or if you can’t get the inspo for it

Broken Barriers

Ace Merrill x fem!reader

WARNINGS : Swearing, but other than that just full on fluff

NOTE : Hi it's me again! This is my second fanfic on this blog, and I just wanna say that I appreciated the people who heart and reblogged my first one, really means a lot to me more than anything even if only a few people followed me. Again if I missed anything ( grammar, spelling, etc. ) please let me know! Also yeah it's kinda short again so apologies for that!

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

It was a Friday afternoon, and you and the cobras were chilling out in the fields after a long day of causing trouble and chaos around Castle Rock, you sat on the car's trunk and took a sip of your drink as you watched the boys do their own thing. Ace sat beside you smoking a cigarette while having an arm wrapped around you and his thumb gently caressing your shoulder, you hadn't noticed his deep gaze on you until now.

"Hold on you've got a strand of hair on your face" he takes that same strand of hair and tucks it up behind your ear and places both hands on the sides of your face. "Beautiful.. " he whispers, this caused your face to turn a bright tomato red as a smirk spreads across Ace's face.

Normally he wouldn't have been this clingy and affectionate with you especially when he had to uphold his whole bad boy persona, I mean he did have a reputation to keep ( and by that I mean being a rebel or a menace to society ) . But since you guys were in an empty field with the whole cobra gang he didn't see it as much as a problem, they would've teased him for sure.. But they knew better than to mess with Ace.

The sun started to set and everyone had to go back to their humbled homes, and like the gentleman that he is Ace offered to drive you back just to make sure you 'didn't get murdered' or something, it was kind of funny but you knew he was just looking out for you.

Eventually, you both arrived at your destination and sat in silence, you turned your head to face him when suddenly he pulled you in for a kiss. He placed his hand behind your head as he pulled you deeper into the kiss, it was rough yet passionate, and it gave you a warm feeling inside.. Feeling of comfort and neediness..

You slowly pulled away having both your lips apart, staring into each other's eyes once more. "Can't you just stay at my place for tonight? You can make up some excuse to your folks about having a sleepover with a friend." Ace said as he still held your face, "You know I can't do that Ace, besides I got some chores to do, plus my dad is starting to suspect something." you said.

It wasn't a lie though that your father had started to get suspicious about you hanging out with Ace, you knew your dad hated him and at a given moment he would've marched out of the house with a shotgun. But Ace didn't give a shit, he wanted you and nothing else.

"Well that's a shame, we would've been able to cuddle up on my couch.. Or maybe a little more than cuddling.." He whispered out the last, you smacked his shoulder playfully as you scolded him "Ace you fucking perv!".

He chuckled and pulled you back in for one last kiss, though this time it was shorter as you pulled him away breaking the kiss. "Alright Romeo I think it would be best if you get going, we don't want my parents coming out of the door and seeing your car parked in front of our house, especially us making out in it. " you said as you pecked him on the cheek.

As you got out of the car and made your way to your front door you turned around one last time to see Ace giving you one of his charming smiles and drove off, it was a perfect timing though seemingly that your parents had sensed your arrival and opened the front door revealing you.

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

TAGLIST :

[hypocriticaltypwriter]

MORE MARY UPONE YE! (I swear I'll make a headcanon list and tag you eventually-)

A reason Mary is a lot more timid/quiet when compared to Ace, is due to the simple fact of: He wants to pass as Mary. Sure he pokes at women and girls, who doesn't in that town? But he happily observes and looks at them with a sort of secret admiration. Mary, is trying so hard to be lady like and sweet, she worries about passing and how she comes off, so she'd so much softer and quiet.

While yes, Ace is forever grateful to the fact Richard loves and supports him, and the fact he dresses as Mary, and helps her be her....he wants to kill him anytime the teasing starts. The teasing ranges from playful and harmless, to outright antsy inducing for him. Doesn't matter if he's Ace or Mary, the teasing happens.

Examples: "Aweee, your little princess wand getting worked up from the girl magic Ace~" "Aweee gonna pitch a tent in your skirt gorgous?" "Somone on their period?" "*cat sounds* Rawr rawr kitty kitty!!" "You could be my girlfriend for the night~ it wouldn't be gay since your dressed as a dame~"

"Richard shut up....Richard, i- Richard, RICHARD!!!" Mary hits him on the back of his head a LOT with her hand or slaps on on ocassion if it gets bad, otherwise it's just her getting her hand bad after him.

Mary offering Nancy things in her purse. "...I got cigarettes, a bottle of pain Killers, a flask, and then some candy....oh and cash, coins, oh that's where that went-" Her bags small but it's full of stufd, she can't fit SO much in there, damn things a void, the magic hats of purses, she can pull so much out of it.

Always offering cigarettes or other things to, "Wind down" and if asked for femine products she gets nurvous and says she forgets to pack them.

I bet once she was with Nancy and got all antsy, all shifting in her spot and it was asumed she needed the "Powder room" so Nancy offer her help, and it turned into the most awkard ting of, now she just has...a thing in her purse and the reason she was antsy was becuse her mind was wandering and she got excited and had to duck off to take a breather.

The amount of times Nancy probably thought Mary and Richard were a couple, especially wirg how she clings to him or holds his hand made her wonder if they wernt secretly dating, especially with how he's always ready to best somone up over her and she just gets so shy..

"Mary Mary, quite contrary~ how does your garden grow!!"

"(Laughing) Oh Nancy, I just tend to theses it's technically Ace's, or it was here when he got the house...whatever, yard garden remained.."

"Well jts beautiful and smells like paradise!!"

"...thank you💖💗💖"

Mary taking Nancy out for a "Girl's night" becuse I imagine Nancy's family likes Mary even if she's related to a Merrill, she's way better than Ace, so they allow it. The sheer awkwardness thst would be Mary being invited over however and hearing how much her brother snd dad HATE Ace and her brother saying how he'd beat him up, and Mary is just there like: "Oh god I'm gonna fucking die-"

FERAL CRAZY WACKY INSANE MAD EVEN OVER THIS

[mydisenchantedeulogy]

Blue Jeans [Chapter Seven] Menace [Ace Merrill]

A/n: I made a mistake in chapter five with the setting. The story takes place in the spring and the movie they went to see came out in the winter, so I changed it. My apologies.

Warning(s): family drama, realization, alcohol, anxiety, short chapter, OC, card game.

No Minors Allowed!!

“I'm dead serious,” Billy Tessio argued. He tapped his finger on the back of the two cards he sat down, then shot a glare at Charlie Hogan that said ‘Try me, I dare you’. 

The blonde, whose hair became more unkempt with every beer, curled his nose. He currently looked as though he had stuck a fork into a light switch. 

“I know for a fact you don't have a single ace.”

“I do have two, idiot. Come on, call me! This entire pile has your name all over it,” Tessio retorted. 

Elise hid her smile behind her cards. She was not sure if Tessio was lying or not, but it was entertaining to see the two argue with one another as though they were sixteen again. Had she known how competitive they were, she would not have suggested they play a card game. At the time there was not much else to do. 

Ace dragged her from her home to the field behind his farmhouse and soon the Cobras joined them, bringing cases of beer. They sat around and talked shit with one another while Ace tore apart an old Volkswagen DeLuxe. Elise on the other hand wandered around, searching the field until she came across a deck of playing cards on the seat of a Wards Twin-Row. It did not take much to persuade Eyeball and Charlie to play a game of ‘Bullshit’ with her - the two were bored - and when she suggested they shotgun a beer whenever a bluff was called wrong, Tessio agreed to join too. 

“What do you think, Elise? Bullshit,” Eyeball asked. 

“I think unless I know for sure, I'm not calling him out,” she admitted.

Not after she made a mistake herself and had to shotgun a warm beer. 

“I don't drink,” she tried to argue.

Ace leaned over the side of the rusted Chevy 3100 she was sitting in the bed of and nudged her arm with a can. 

“Rules are rules, babe.”

Elise managed to get more on her than she did in her mouth. But she earned a pat on the head from Ace when she finished it. 

“You're on your own, Chaz,” Eyeball stated with a grin. 

He thought for a moment longer, then backed down. 

“Bitch,” Tessio teased. 

“One 2,” Eyeball claimed. He placed a card face down on the growing pile, then turned toward Elise. “You looked a little down earlier.”

Ace mentioned the same thing when he picked her up.

“It's nothing serious,” Elise assured him. Or so she hoped. 

She had to say goodbye to her dad when she woke up. He was not supposed to leave until the afternoon but he claimed that he had important things to do before the work week. Elise knew that it was a lie. She heard her parents arguing the previous night because of her; because of what she said to her mom on the drive home from South Paris. It was her fault she drove him away, she reckoned. Elise frowned. 

The truck jerked a moment as Ace got into the bed, sitting with his legs on either side of her. He did not say a word, looking through a ‘Car & Parts’ magazine, but she felt happier with him nearby.

“One 3,” she uttered, placing the card on top of the pile. 

Charlie was next, tossing down a 4. Her eyes grew wide.  

“Bullshit!” Elise exclaimed. 

Charlie raised a brow. 

“You sure about that?”

She was. Elise knew for a fact Charlie had no 4s. She shook her head in confidence, then snorted as he let out an irritated growl and turned his cards face up for everyone to see. He had put down a 5 card instead. 

“How'd ya know I was lyin’?” He asked.

“You laid your cards face up, bozo when you popped the top on your last beer,” Tessio answered. “Everyone here saw your hand.”

It was true.

Charlie growled again, sounding like a mad dog. He tossed his cards between his legs. 

“I want a new hand.” 

“Tough shit,” Tessio disputed. 

Charlie, with his lips pulled back in a snarl, tried to argue but Ace put his magazine down and interjected in a calm, threatening tone.

“You don't get a new hand. It's your fault for being a ditz, so quit bitching and play the game.”

“Ain't no fun anyway,” Charlie pouted. “Can't we do something fun? Take the car out and play a game of Mailbox Baseball or something.”

Elise did not miss the shocked look that Eyeball had given him, as though he had just tattled on the group. Was she not meant to know this? A warm hand on her hip drew her attention to Ace, who had tossed the magazine aside and sat up. His chest touched her back.

“Beer is in the fridge. Will you get me a cold one?”

She knew what he was doing, and honestly, she felt bad for Charlie. It was not a big deal, even though it was considered illegal. Elise shook her head and laid down her cards. Grabbing a hold of the top railing of the truck bed, she lifted herself and slid past Tessio, leaping down. She ignored the deflated expressions the group shared as she ambled to the farmhouse. 

To her irritation, it felt warmer inside than it did outside. Elise reluctantly shut the screen door behind her, cutting off the only source of cool air she had, and opened the fridge. The inside temperature was nice, but Nana always told her that if she did not pay the bills, then she need not waste the cool air. She grabbed the only beer available and quickly shut it. As she was turning around, the screen door opened and Ace walked in. She could hear the whirring of a car engine in the distance. 

“Are the guys leaving?” She asked, handing Ace the beer. “That was the last one.”

He nodded then hummed. “Means you have to buy the next pack. Those are the rules.”

Elise tightened her jaw. The beer was for Ace, so the rules should not apply to her. 

“I only had one.”

“Boo hoo,” Ace teased. He sat the beer aside on the table and brought her closer, sliding her arms around her waist. 

Her body tensed.

“It's a little hot,” Elise deflected.

Ever since their first kiss, Ace had been more intimate with her. She did not mind the hand holding or the lingering touches as he ran a hand up her back, but the personal space he seemed to care nothing about made her feel a little anxious.

“I can turn the fan on,” Ace teased. 

He leaned in and kissed her neck, then claimed her lips. Unlike their first kiss, he was a bit rougher with her this time as though he were a sixteen-year-old again with nothing else on his mind but sex. Elise parted from him and gave him a sheepish look. 

“Easy,” she uttered. 

Ace raised a curious brow. Was she nervous? For some reason, at this thought, his heart raced. She was more innocent than he figured. If he wanted her tied around his finger, then he had to be careful with her.

“You lead,” he proposed. 

Lead. Was he serious? Heat spread to her face. This had to have been a game. There was no way someone like Ace was letting her take the reins. He either liked her or he wanted something from her. Elise tightened her jaw. 

“What is this?” She motioned between them to emphasize. 

He did not expect her to be so inquisitive about this. The girls he pursued usually knew what he wanted, but Elise was different. She was setting ground rules to protect herself. Ace wondered what sort of relationship she had previously been in that made her so insecure.

“What do you want it to be?” He asked.

His question made her frown. On one hand, it was generous of him to give her the choice, but on the other hand, it felt like a clever ruse.

“I don't honestly know,” Elise answered. She tightened her arms around herself and averted her eyes to the floor. “I like you, I do, but if you're interested in me because you want to make this into something…strictly sexual, then I'm not comfortable with that.” 

For a moment, Ace was a little put off by her statement. He had never met a girl who was so nervous about sex before. It made him wonder if Elise was worth pursuing. She was sweet, much kinder than the casual friends Ace had at the snap of a finger. More so, she was the light in the darkness that he needed. It was like the universe was offering him a second chance, and like his drunk of a father, Junior Merrill had taught him, it was rude to look a gift horse in the mouth. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her short frame. What harm could starting a relationship with her do? There was always an out. 

“Slow. I can do that.” 

He had no idea what that meant to Elise. She softly smiled and wrapped her arms around him. There was no label on their relationship, but that was fine with her. It was just starting. 

The ring-ring of the blue wall telephone interrupted their moment, taking Ace away from her. He answered curtly, then leaned his arm against the kitchen wall.

“Haven't seen him, but if I had to take an educated guess, I'd say at the Tiger with the other barflies.” He paused for a moment, then sighed. “Busy…you could say that.” 

Elise had a feeling he was referring to her. She picked up the unopened beer can and put it back in the fridge, ignoring the conversation the best she could. As she closed the door, Ace put the phone back on the receiver. He ran a hand through his hair.

“I've got to run by my uncle's place.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Elise asked. 

Ace snorted. 

“You weren't planning to stay here alone, were you?”

Elise stuck out her tongue in a playful manner. Watching her saunter out the front door, Ace quickly washed his hands, then joined her outside, ushering her to the car. He turned on the radio, as she seemed to like, and drove into town. It was not until they pulled in front of the ‘Emporium Galorium’ did she turn away from the window.  

“Your uncle works here?”

“Yeah,” Ace retorted. He lived in a tobacco-scented apartment upstairs that he had only been in a few times.

Elise knitted her brows. 

“Pop Merrill is your uncle?”

Ace frowned. Did he let her call him Pop? Reginald Merrill only allowed certain people to call him by his nickname, certain business partners and loaners; he hoped that Elise was not involved with him. He did not want her near him, whatever the reason. 

“Stay here. I'll be in and out.” 

Elise nodded and waited for him to walk in before she visibly frowned. Ace was a Merrill. Why didn't he tell her? 

I'd advise you not to get roped in with them. I don't like to talk badly about people but if you see a Merrill coming, it would be best if you turned cheek and ran.

He could not have been as bad as Nana had said. She thought back on the time they had spent together and never did she feel as though he was a menace. Ace was thoughtful, he was–

Could it all have been a ruse? Elise chewed on the inside of her jaw. 

What should I do?

[goldenboy-lachance]

Hi Denny!!!!! (〃´▽`)

Uhh, it's Mary, I just...wanted to confirm, that yes, I do quite enjoy and adore your flowers!! I try to keep them alive as long as possible, i...I even put them in a little box when they're dried up, I like to try and press them, they're always so beautiful!!

I...uhh, h-how have you been? Busy I imagine, and...gather, I was worried I said somthing to put you off...or that maybe you got scared of me being a Merrill and all...

Ah, I hope your well Denny!! Miss you!

-Mary♡

Mary! Uhh Hi!

I mean hi, how are you? You do? Really? You like them that much? I didn’t know you kept them even when they died. That’s so sweet. You’re so sweet, Mary. I’ll have to bring you more so you always have fresh ones.

Yeah, I’m sorry I’ve been busy, kid brother, ya know, but poor kid needs someone who believes in him sometimes and my dad just doesn’t do that.

No, you didn’t put me off. I don’t think you could do that a sweet girl like you. I would’ve thought you’d have all the boys buzzing, found someone better than me to keep you company. Not that I want you to, but well I’m sure you could have any bloke you wanted.

Awe, you being a Merrill doesn’t scare me, don’t tell Ace, he’ll think I’m being overly sensitive, saying that I’m fond of him. We don’t always get along and I’m not one of his gang, but we’re sorta friends. So that’s nothing to worry about I’m happy to be seen with you, Mary dear.

[bornforastorm]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 🤍

oh gosh babe thank you. I have only within the past year or so become open about my fic writing and openly proud about it, so this is a nice ask to get 🥰🥰 This was hard to do because if I've posted it, I'm proud of it. So I'm actually basically very proud of everything I've published in the past 5 years, but here are some I'm extra pleased with

For the Birds Philip Marlowe/Terry Lennox, written in 2016!

I'm pretty proud of all my Marlowe fics, honestly, and really am tinkering at Marlowe/Terry fics all the time. Of the published ones, I like this one best. The slightly melancholic nature of it, the hazy romance, Marlowe looking at guys much younger than himself who aren't scared to be in love and opening up himself to try it too... I love writing in that period where Marlowe and Terry are having drinks and nothing has gone wrong yet, and this is one of those + fake relationship stuff (fun trope to write!)

And Back The Mummy 2017, Nick Morton/Chris Vail, written in 2017!

this fandom is small and niche but I (brag) do think I wrote the best fic in it. this movie was full of potential and I had a lot of fun unpacking some of the implications of that world. What if your boyfriend brought you back from the dead and now you're kinda fucked up and weird and he's VERY fucked up and weird but you're all you've got. The concepts.... 🤌🤌

Route 117 The Lost Boys/Stephen King's The Body, what if Ace Merrill was David, written 2017

This is just a concept and execution I'm really proud of, brought to you by Kiefer Sutherland being insane hot in the 80s, and me reading a lot of Stephen King and going... yes this disaffected, horrible boy who needs a dad could become a disaffected, horrible vampire boy with a dad

Crabapple Crabs MASH, Hawkeye/Trapper + Hawkeye/BJ, written 2022!

Undeniably proud of this one. Impossible not to be. My big contribution to MASHblr. This big fic that's really mean to BJ, is deeply HawkTrap Endgame, and is deeply steeped in MASH Goes to Maine. Ben Majorbaby, this one is for you and because of you and you made it better, and I'm very proud of the result. Someday I'll finish the prequel HawkTrap fic and that will be for you completely.

Hey Lover Won't You Treat Me Right Perry Mason/Pete Strickland/Hamilton Burger, written 2023!

It would be wrong not to include my big Perry Mason threeway fic. I do not really feel confident writing smut, so this was a big leap for me and I'm very proud of how it turned out! Perry Mason is everything to me and I am proud to have written the first threeway fic for our little fandom 🙏🙏

[rissa72]

Favorite Stories

None of these stories are mine

Ghoul

Nsfw alphabet

Darlin

Janeys dad

Rumors

Orange colored sky

Peachy

Not again

Can ghouls blush

All over again

Smoothie and the ghoul

Bout damn time

My heart is a sad affair

Sweeter than honey

Test subject (cat mutant)

End of the world

Rock a bye baby

Kiss me you animal

Faces of old

Feo fuerte y formal

Pretty thing

Atomic baby

Strangers no more

Masterlist 1

Photos

1

2

Eric Coulter

Nsfw alphabet

Headcanons

Try me

Run for your money

I hate initiates

This is what happens

Driving me insane

The lesson

Masterlist 1

Photos

GOT

Sandor

In The north

Die for you

Masterlist 1

Tyrion

After birth

Aamond

Lykir

Tywin

When night falls

LOTR/ Hobbit

Thranduil

Nsfw alphabet

Borimir

Princess

Masterlist 1

Masterlist 2

Headcannons nsfw

Haymitch

Moves and counter moves

Daryl Dixon

Against a tree

Blood ties

Unearthed

Desert rose

Don't mean I know

Never again

I like it long

Purring

Sleepy fun

Double trouble

Photos

Photos 2

Head canons

TWD

1

Severus

Secret lovers

The gift

Masterlist

Eddie munson

Jealousy, jealousy

Into the fire

Luca

Promts

Reassurance

Mics

Damian Preist

Saturn

After he wins championship

Masterlist

Raymond Smith

Let there be complaints

House M.D.

Wilson

Blue or pink

Ace Merrill

Ace keeping period products

Ace wanting to cuddle

Harvey Spector

Warm

Plan Ruined

Discrete not detached

Henry Cavill

Midnight activities

Sleepy snuggles

My favorite cardio

Benny

English class

Not built for this

Sweven

Caim

SOA

Your boyfriend's a bitch

Juice

Love me like you do

Happy

Eleven days

Miss me

Billy hargrove

Masterlist

Captain Jack Sparrow

Lost moment

Criminal minds

Spencer reid

Psych you out

Black cat girlfriend

Mr Reid

Pool

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

1

2

3 kinktober

4

5

[rivaindaisies]

some dragon age music headcanons bc it’s fucking late and i feel extra neurodivergent today

origins

morrigan is such a fucking edge lord in this game, she absolutely gatekeeps what she listens to but it’s pretty basic alternative stuff. arctic monkeys but only am and fsvorite worst nightmare, mindless self indulgence, a lot of joy division (she absolutely is the type of person to go up to someone in an unknown pleasures shirt and ask them to name three songs), some nirvana, pixies, etc. her favorite songs are arabella by arctic monkeys, back to the old house by the smiths, and probably mascara by deftones. she doesn’t listen to metal a lot but has a few deftones and lamb of god songs on her playlists.

leliana is trying to recreate her life in this game. she’s running from a lot of things, but also beginning to reflect. since she hasn’t been through as much as she has in inquisition, her music taste is much more relaxed here. i think she’d love dreamy shit, like the cocteau twins and the sundays especially. she listens to some lana del rey as well, mostly just nfr/lust for life. there’s a band called another sunny day i feel like she’d fuck with a lot too. her favorite songs are goodbye by the sundays and white mustang by lana del rey.

alistair listens to top 40 and nothing else

origins is my least favorite so i can’t think of much else for companions, i have the lowest time played as well so 🤷‍♂️

da2

varric has the most dad music taste you could imagine. all classic rock, nothing else. i can very clearly imagine him cruising around blasting ac/dc and kiss.

fenris doesn’t listen to music, he just sort of goes along with what the others are playing. he likes slower songs, they help calm him down. if romanced, he ends up listening to the songs hawke likes and developing the same music taste as them and i think it would be a connection for them

isabela has some rare genuine self awareness in the music she listens to. she listens to lana del rey and marina and the diamonds, and that’s about it. her favorite albums from lana are born to die, paradise, and ultraviolence. her favorite marina albums are electra heart and froot. her favorite songs are i’m a ruin/rootless by marina, ride by ldr, and the other woman by ldr as well. hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have is the only later lana song she like LOVES. basically 2014 tumblr taste but oh well

merrill listens to mainly instrumental music, either classical guitar or orchestral music. it helps her focus and calms her down quite a bit. she also really enjoys folk music. some of her favorite albums are shaken by a low sound by crooked still, someday we will foresee obstacles by syd matters, and dear wormwood by the oh hellos.

anders is also an angst fest. he listens to a lot of the smiths, mother mother (and hes very particular about being a “real fan” and knowing them before they blew up) and some nu metal as well. his favorite songs are this charming man by the smiths, 7 words by deftones, and you should all be murdered by another sunny day. calm me down by mother mother as well.

aveline listens to ed sheeran and coldplay exclusively. i don’t know why i feel this way but i do and im gonna leave it at that

inquisition

leliana has been through so much over the last ten years, and the music she listens to reflects that. she doesn’t listen to music much anymore, but has a couple songs that she listens to. her taste is a lot heavier now- deftones, lamb of god, and some death metal as well. no specific bands, just whatever is the loudest and heaviest. i hc that morrigan showed her a few smiths songs during origins, and the one that stuck with her most is that joke isn’t funny anymore. she listens to it a lot, and relates to it a lot. it’s her favorite song. a few honorable mentions to that are sextape by deftones, and blood of the scribe by lamb of god. sometimes, she listens to the songs she loved back in dao times and gets lost in the memories of that time. her favorite song for that is the greatest by lana del rey.

josephine is mainly a classical/opera listener. i cannot picture her listening to anything else. maybe sometimes she gets angry, or exhausted/fed up with her job, and listens to the things she considers to be “heavy” but it’s something like acdc which she considers to be basically death metal because it has an audible electric guitar.

the chargers just blast dad music 24/7, along with varric/sera/blackwell.

cassandra absolutely listens to love songs all the time. she falls asleep listening to a playlist filled with songs like video games/love song/without you/lucky ones by lana. i feel like she was absolutely a tumblr girl and never grew out of that music taste despite presenting as an absolute hardass.

dorian adores artists like kylie minogue, lady gaga, etc. his favorite songs are shampain by marina, aura by lady gaga, and 911 also by gaga lmao. he also for SURE owns a justice for artpop shirt.

i have a lot more but don’t want to type any more out if this gets any attention i’ll add more tho- if you’ve somehow read this far into my adhd rambles thank you 🙏🙏 and comment ur thoughts/ideas of what characters would listen to

[igotmyhashpipee]

im bored so here are people that my fam are often compared to (some r inside jokes lolll):

✨me✨: Pete from Disjointed, Stephen Mcdaniel (uhhh), Cosmo Kramer, Bill Clinton, Ace Merrill, and David Spade

my older sisterrrr: Violent J, Ray Toro, Brendon Urie (specifically in the Drunk History video), and Adam Sandler

my four year old brother: Jack Black, pretty much nothing else hes js a weird little mfer

my 10 year old brother: when asked the subject said "Willie Robertson or Ted Kaczinski". ????

my dad: Tech N9ne, Chris Farley, Brian from Family Guy, and Kuniva

my mom: Hypatia of Alexandria (?) and George Carlin

[lachambers-central]

@chaosiswhatkilledthedinosaurs inspired me ✨

[80s4life]

Not What I Had Planned

Word Count: 1,294

Status: Requested!

Fandom: Stand By Me 1986

A/N: This was an idea I had gotten from someone on Wattpad who had requested it on that platform.

Relationship: Ace Merrill x GenderNeutral!Reader (soon baby x Ace x GN!Reader)

Summary: As Ace was on his way home from a day out with the boys, he was caught by surprise as an unexpected bundle of joy was found on the side of the road.  In those very few seconds, his life flips, but is it for the best or the worst?

Warnings: language, more fluff, some angst (Ace gets in his feels)

Masterlist  Stand By Me Masterlist Part Two

{Not my gif, credits to @spinmidnight​}

Pulling out from the alley behind the diner, Ace stops at the stop sign right beside it, intending on making his way home.  As he turns the corner, making a left, he settles in his seat, now driving down the long, winding dirt road he usually takes with the boys when they’re racing.  The sun was starting to set and the cool summer air was a blissful calm to Ace.  Instead of speeding down the road, he decides to take it easy, enjoying the scenery, not really wanting to go home yet.

As he continues on the little cruise, he sees a road he’s never noticed before, branching off from the main road yet leading him to the same destination.  Deciding to take it, he makes a slight right, now continuing on the hilly detour.  Not so long after he made his way onto the road did he stop at another stop sign, seeing a bundle of blankets beside it. Intending on passing the mound of blankets, Ace soon stops altogether as he hears a slight cry.  Confused, he slows his car to a stop and listens closely.  

After hearing yet another quiet cry, Ace puts his blinkers on, parks the car, and makes his way around the front to get a better look.  Moving some of the blankets aside, Ace is shocked to find a small, infant baby huddled beneath the covers, crying and lonely.  For a second, all he could do is stare, wondering how or why the baby was there in the first place.

Looking around, he looks for any sign of the parents or caretakers of the child, quitting soon after he realizes there’s no sign of anyone actually looking for the kid. Whoever did this had obviously done it on purpose, having left a bottle, toy, and a small package of formula. Pacing now, Ace contemplates whether or not he should leave the baby there.  Deciding against his better judgement though, he scoops the baby into his arms, and snags the materials left beside it.

Throwing the things in the back, he moves to strap the baby into the passenger seat, soon failing as the baby flops and flounders around, unable to safely sit in the seat. Annoyed, Ace almost screams at the kid, but overall knows there’s nothing it had done wrong besides being completely helpless. Instead, Ace scoops the baby up once more, taking one of the blankets and wrapping around the baby.  

Going back to the drivers seat, he secures the baby against his chest with his left arm, driving to Y/N one-handed, deciding to not go home now. It’s not like he’s usually there anyway. Y/N’s house they owned on their own money had become Ace’s refuge.  Their shared paradise.  And that’s where he felt comfortable most.  That’s why he’s going there.

Knocking on the door to Y/N’s small log cabin, Ace stands nervously, bouncing on foot to foot, not exactly knowing what he’s going to say or do or how Y/N was going to react. He didn’t have time to overthink it, unfortunately for him, as the person in question opens the door with a bright smile that always made Ace weak.  The smile soon falters though as Y/N catches glimpse at what is being held tightly to Ace’s chest.

“What did you do?” is the only question they ask, looking Ace in the eyes questionably.

“Well I- I- I- It’s a long story babe,” he stutters out, “Can I come in please?”

Sighing, Y/N gives him one of their special looks, the one where they act annoyed but truly aren’t, and quite frankly, very amused at that. Ace sits on the couch, giving Y/N the whole rundown on what had happened, how the baby was left, and what led him to Y/N’s doorstep in the first place. 

Y/N simply smiles adoringly at Ace though, completely lost in their own mind. The whole time since Ace had walked in, he had kept the baby tightly in his arms, as if any second, the baby could be taken away from him.  He was the perfect father figure, and Y/N couldn’t help but fall even more in love with Ace at the moment.

“So what are you planning to do with the baby?” Y/N asks softly, knowing the idea of a child in Ace’s care was one of his biggest fears and a very touchy topic.

“I don’t know, probably just put it back where I found it. You know how I feel about kids, and I ain’t turnin’ into my father.  It’s better this way.  And I know you’re about to lecture me about this, but this decision is final,” Ace answers gruffly, getting into a defensive mode, as if the world was against him.

Y/N doesn’t answer, instead lightly takes the baby from Ace’s arms, going to change it upstairs, away from Ace’s eyesight. It gave him time to cool down. Y/N, being extra careful, changes the baby with the little materials Ace had picked up from beside the baby on the street, soon discovering it’s a baby girl. Someone left a baby girl behind. 

Going back to the living room, Y/N watches Ace, taking in his posture. The way he stares at the floor with such guilt. Silently taking their seat beside him once more, Y/N gives his hand a squeeze, lightly taking his cheek in their hand, tilting Ace’s head lightly in order for him to meet their eyes.

“Baby, you are not your father. And, listen to me. I can see the look in your eyes, I know you don’t want to dump that baby back there just as someone else had. Your better than that. That makes you twice the man your father is.  You are a strong, kind, generous, determined, stubborn, and protective man. Your my man. And I know you’ll be an amazing father.  I understand if you don’t want to keep the baby, but she’s not going anywhere until I find her somewhere where someone will take proper care,” Y/N speaks in a hushed, caring tone, one they use when they calm Ace’s panic attacks or outbursts.

Ace sniffles a little as some tears threaten to fall, “Did you say ‘she’? As in a little girl? Why...” he whispers in disbelief. Y/N simply hugs him, kissing him on the head. “We’re keeping her,” he says firmly, sitting straight almost simultaneously.

“Babe, if you don’t want this, we don’t need to do it right now-” 

“No! I want this! I want you, I want the baby, I want us. You’re right, I’m not my father, and I’m sure as hell not gonna pussy outta this right now. I never back down from a challenge, and this is a challenge I’m proud to tackle with you.  We can be a beautiful family, you and me. And now with her too,” Ace cuts them off sternly.

After taking a breath, Ace calms himself, giving Y/N a chaste kiss to the lips before finishing with an ‘I love you.’ Taking Ace by the hand, Y/N leads him up the stairs where the little girl is found sleeping peacefully on their shared bed. The couple, now holding each other, stare adoringly at the little bundle of joy. 

“This was not what I had planned,” Ace says after some time.

“I know baby, I know,” Y/N answers in just barely a whisper.  

Little did they know that this little girl would’ve brought the couple even closer together, their bond strengthening through the years to come. Their little girl being their pride and joy, the family they never thought of, soon becoming the best thing that’s ever happened to them.

[theaawalker]

Quick query do you have a list of who and what you write for?

Fandoms I'll Write For

Marvel (not Iron Man, Starlord, Loki, Thor, Doctor Strange, or Hawkeye, Drax, Victor Creed, Antman, Adam Warlocke, AG's Spiderman, or Cyclops)

DCEU (not Peacemaker, Killer Croc, JL's Joker, RP's Batman, or anyone from Gotham except Jerome/Jeremiah Valeska)

Scream Queens (not Chad Radwell or Pete Martinez)

American Horror Story (only Murder House, 1984, Freakshow, and Cult)

Hunger Games (not Gale, Maymitch, President Snow, or Cato)

The Maze Runner (not Ava Paige, Jorge, or Janson)

My Little Pony

Once Upon A Time (not Hook, David, Rumple, Neal, Peter Pan, or Zelena)

Pacific Rim (not the sequel)

Twilight (not Seth, Edward, Carlyle, or Jasper)

Stranger Things (not Will Byers, Billy Hargrove, or Jim Hopper)

IT (2017, 2019, and tv series) (not Henry Bowers or Pennywise)

Jurassic Park/World (not Owen Grady or Ian Malcolm)

Jumanji (1997 & 2017)

Zathura (not the dad or robot)

Stand By Me (not Ace Merrill)

Girl, Interrupted (not Jared Leto's character)

The Black Phone (not the Grabber or Mr. Blake)

Teen Wolf (the film & series)

Equestria Girls

Teen Wolf (not Peter, Jackson, Theo, or Derek)

The Office (not Jim, Ryan, or Dwight)

Now You See Me (not Dylan Rhodes or Merritt McKinney)

Descendants (not Chad, Harry, Ben, Jay, or Carlos)

Sky High (not Zach or Speed)

Percy Jackson films (not Luke Castellan)

The Umbrella Academy (not Five)

TMNT (live action ver. only)

Dance Moms (not the final season)

Ender's Game

Wednesday (not Xavier, Tyler, or the Dean)

Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (not Mentor Peter Parker)

Unbreakable (not Hedwig or Dennis)

Big Hero 6

The Black Mirror

Dynasty (not Culhane, Adam, or Blake)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Spy Kids

Sharkboy & Lavagirl

Clue, Knives Out, & Glass Onion

Back to the Future (not Biff), Breakfast Club (not Bender), Sandlot, Stand By Me (not Ace Merrill), Mighty Ducks, The Outsiders (not Dally, Two-Bit, Randy, Bob, Steve, or Darry)

I’m willing to write imagines for underage characters so long as there's no romance (examples: hang out with the Losers Club at the barrens; go shopping with Eleven and Max; play baseball with Finney and Bruce). I’m allowed to deny any request and the longest I should take ever to write one is about 2 weeks. I’ll write smut, fluff, angst, poly relationships, LGBTQ+, etc. Generally most of my x readers are female unless stated otherwise.

What I won’t write-

I won’t write anything to do with rape, bestiality, necrophilia, incest, romance with anyone younger than 18, gun play, anything about poo(sexually), anything about urine(squirting is fine considering it’s not technically urine), age gaps. See guidelines for more details.

Thanks for reading❤️

-A.A. Walker

[bulltruearchive]

[  .  .  .  ]  chris didn't talk much about his dad, but we all knew he hated him like poison. chris was marked up every two weeks or so, bruises on his cheeks and neck or one eye swelled up and as colourful as a sunset, and once he came into school with a big clumsy bandage on the back of his head. other times he never got to school at all. his mom would call him in sick because he was too lamed up to come in. chris was smart, really smart, but he played truant a lot, and mr. halliburton, the town truant officer, was always showing up at chris's house, driving his old black chevrolet with the no riders sticker in the corner of the windshield. if chris was being truant and bertie (as we called him--always behind his back, of course) caught him, he would haul him back to school and see that chris got detention for a week. but if bertie found out that chris was home because his father had beaten the shit out of him, bertie just went away and didn't say boo to a cuckoo-bird.

it never occurred to me to question this set of priorities until about twenty years later.

the year before, chris had been suspended from school for two weeks. a bunch of milk- money disappeared when it was chris's turn to be room-monitor and collect it, and because he was a chambers from those no-account chamberses, he had to take a walk even though he always swore he never hawked that money. that was the time mr chambers put chris in the hospital for an overnight stay, when his dad heard chris was suspended, he broke chris's nose and his right wrist. chris came from a bad family, all right, and everybody thought he would turn out bad  .  .  . including chris. his brothers had lived up to the town's expectations admirably. dave frank, the eldest, ran away from home when he was seventeen, joined the navy, and ended up doing a long stretch in portsmouth for r*pe and criminal assault. the next eldest, richard (his right eye was all funny and jittery, which was why everybody called him eyeball), had dropped out of high school in the tenth grade, and chummed around with charlie and billy tessio and their buddies.

[hypocriticaltypwriter]

As the local reserver, (and obsesser) I'm here to tell you things about Book! Ace Merrill!!

NOTE!!!!!! Abuse mentioned! Please note this!

In the Book, The Body, which stand by me is based off of...Ace rides a motorcycle with the Cobra gang! He's also just as calm in the book as he is tbr film, cocky too.

It's implied he's a drug dealer however, and horribly abusive to all his girlfriends, tending to slap them around and such. It's also noted that he, and the gang, aren't much older than Gordie and his gang of friends.

Gordie and his friends are ment to be right at 13, or defiantly 12 going into 13, it is a coming of age film after all...so Ace Merrill and the gang are maaaybe 16-18...is what it's implied. (Denny lachance however, was a week away from turning 20 when he died poor boy)

The age thing is so weird, becuse it's implied Ace sleeps with a bunch of girls, and it's just like...okey?? Steven King can you lay off the weird obsession with teens sleeping together- (I'm not sorry)

Also the dug part: it's implied he deals in week since it's right st the turn of the 60s, but I'm sure he gets his hands on cocaine to.

In the book, Ace isn't actually the leader of the Cobra gang, Richard "Eyeball" Chambers is! And Ace is his right hand man, which in the movie, well I get why Ace was the leader yeah, but it implies he has pretty boyfriend private from Richard who loves him I bet.

He has a looong history of stealing, and gets caught trying to break into the safe at the general store and they send him the juvenile prison for a few years at the end of the novel the body.

Also he has at least 4 other siblings. He's the second oldest and there's an infant? And then a kid kinda?? Nesr Gordie and their age but younger?? Kinda??? But he's the second oldest and hates his home life....he's named John Merrill after his uncle or dad?? And he hates that name so much he gets violent over it because he can't stand his family or to be John, and then his uncle runs that junk yard..

Not much is diffrent, other than he and the cobras ride and work on their motorcycles a lot, AND own the cars.

Then he gets mentioned in another book, and has yet ANOTHER where it's about his death.

The other book he gets mentioned in a few times, and hes an adult now, but it's vaguely mentions he's a violent alcoholic, and horribly abusive to his current life? Girlfriend? So much so she's like...missing teeth...and brushed up when another character sees her. Ace is also very much addicted to coke, and his alcohol, and it's implied the Cobra gang went separate ways and some are more functing members of society others died.

It's implied Richard like...has a steady job and wife now?? Yeah, anyways, Ace is unbearable still...but he works at a mechanic shop and a factory too I think? Just mentioned, vaguly that he works in those places...he could have been fired as well.

The next book, and then later movie, (which doesn't have kiefer..) Ace is an older adult, and it goes into more detail on him. He wound up homeless, and inherited a massive house along with a bunch of debt, he finds a tressure map in the house and much like the young biy he still is at heart I supose(or greedy desprate adult) he rushes off to try and get the money in hopes of saving his ass from debt and becoming rich.

Only to be slowly, brutally murdered by...weird??? Native american??? Burial ground ghost?? Haunted ass lands and they kill him becuse he's bad??? Okey???

Like Steven king please change it up some, all that man knows is nature American haunted land, underage sex sceans, and sad endings....CHANGE IT UP SOME!!!!!

But that's book Ace!! ...yeah🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

I'm sure you can see why I like my fan version of Ace, even film Ace more...I think you can see why I made him also be Mary at times.

Also accidental thing: Deadname/hates the name John, chooses the name Mary instead~ (accidental...Bible thing, you tell me please-)

NOOOOOO NOPE THIS ISN'T REAL NONE OF THIS IS IM IN DENIAL

IDK WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS TOTALLY DOESN'T HAPPEN WDYM

[No but on a fr note I'm definitely stickin to the movie and my thoughts on movie Ace more than the books 😤 I honestly feel like- as much as I wanted more of him in the movie, you can work with redeeming or changing up his character for later events if you'd want. YEAH. Thaaats right. Fixing him and making him try to be a better person for his GIRL and his BABIES 🫵💪💥💥]

The only thing I did keep that I researched about in the books is that he works at a mechanics shop- and that he has a motorcycle later on too.

STEVE HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO MY BOY?? ME AND MIKEY gotta write him his own story smh. If he ain't gonna give Ace a shy little girlfriend to protect and be all sweet with OR make him genderfluid and be happy as a shy darling gal like Mary she deserves to be WE WILL

[mydisenchantedeulogy]

Blue Jeans [Chapter Six] Fission [Ace Merrill]

Warning(s): family drama, horror movie lore, OC, 21 questions, first kiss.

No Minors Allowed!!

The malty scent of fresh warm bread permeated the air as Elise rose out of bed on Saturday morning. She groaned in discomfort, feeling sore, and trudged down the stairs to the kitchen where Nana stood, looming over the stove. 

“Morning,” Elise somnolently said, holding back a yawn. 

“I didn't expect to see up til noon,” Nana admitted. “Not after Nan ran you about damn near ragged.” 

It wasn't her fault. 

“Comes with the job sometimes,” Elise stated as she sat down at the table. 

Nana snorted. “You sound like your father.” 

Speaking of which. Elise smiled widely. She felt like she had been given a second wind. 

“Is Dad awake?”

“He came down a few minutes ago, but went back up to wake the dragon,” Nana replied. She was referring to Madeline. “I told him to let you sleep for a bit longer, but since you're awake now, you should go on and freshen up before breakfast.”

Elise nodded and stood up, hurrying up the stairs. Before she reached the bathroom, she heard the muffled voice of her mother through the bedroom door. She sounded irritated. As often as she had been told not to eavesdrop, that it was rude, she could not pass up the temptation. 

Silent as a mouse, Elise listened in. 

“I have had all I can take of that woman. She's insufferable,” Madeline caterwauled. 

“You know Mom, hon. She's just…blunt,” Oliver defended. 

Elise tightened her jaw. They were talking about Nana. 

“Blunt is an understatement,” Madeline fumed. “She has been givin’ me nothing but shit since I got here. Look, I know I fucked up but I don't need it to be thrown in my face every time we make eye contact. My daughter won't even come to my defense.”

A low noise like a sigh came from Oliver. 

“You can't blame Elise for not saying anything. She…she needs time too. I'll talk to her about it, and I'll ask Mom to lighten up on you.” 

“I'd fucking appreciate it,” Madeline retorted. 

Elise turned up her eyes. Was he serious? He took so much crap from her; it was him after all who should feel the most betrayed by her. She gave up on the conversation and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door a bit harder than she meant to. As she was washing her face, she heard the bedroom door open, and then close. Assuming that her parents were headed down to breakfast, she quickly finished and hurried downstairs herself, but all she saw seated at the table was her father, the spitting image of an overworked Public Defender. 

Oliver looked defeated. His blue eyes, accented by a pair of round acetate reading glasses, were dull and half-lidded as though he had not slept in a week. But upon seeing Elise in the doorway, he forced a smile. 

“Mornin’, Sunshine. I heard you worked hard last night.” 

Elise hummed. 

“I got a job at the diner in town.” 

She was sure he knew that already, but she had nothing else to say about it. Venting to him about her issues, when he had his own, seemed insignificant. Elise tightened her jaw and sat down at the table across from him. 

“I also heard you had a date planned,” he brought up with a teasing smile. “A week in Castle Rock and already I have to shoo people off the front porch looking to woo you.” 

It was only one person. Elise pouted and tossed a glare at Nana who most likely told him. 

“He was just being nice,” she deflected. “We were supposed to go to the drive-in with his friends, but I agreed to work a double.”

She opted not to mention that a jealous ex of his played her like a fool, or that Ace drove her home last night after her shift. 

“And see what?” Asked Oliver with a raised brow. 

“A science fiction horror flick; The Cabinet of Caligari,” Elise answered with a grin.

Her dad was a big-time horror movie fan, even more than her; he was the one who introduced her to the genre with “The Monkey's Paw”.

“That movie Roger Kay directed?” Oliver chirped. 

Elise was not sure who directed it, but it was no surprise that her dad did. She shook her head. 

“Estelle Winwood's torture scene from the trailer looked groovy, right?” Oliver asked. 

Before Elise could answer, Nana tutted him. 

“No nasty talk before breakfast.” She brought a loaf of fresh bread over to the table. “I don't know how you two can watch those scary movies. They're too much for me.” 

Elise smiled. She liked the genre because it explored the unknown and the absurd. Creature features and slasher films were her favorite, but she understood Nana's dislike for them. Not everyone liked to feel scared. 

With breakfast being done, Elise made herself a plate and sat back down at the table to eat. Her father and Nana joined her, but her mother did not seem to be coming down. She was neither thrilled nor disappointed.

“What do you plan to get into today, Sunshine?” Oliver asked.

Elise swallowed a bite of bread with strawberry jam. 

“I'm going out later this evening with a friend.”

Nana raised a brow. “Mister Hunk again, huh?”

The blonde felt her face turn red. She ignored the curious look from her dad and nodded. 

“He's just a friend.”

Nana hummed, obviously not buying it. 

“I haven't met this ‘friend’ yet,” Oliver pointed out. “Is he picking you up later?”

“I'm meeting him at the pool hall,” Elise responded. She was happy that she asked Ace not to come by the house. It would be awkward. “I thought I would spend the morning here though.”

She was deflecting the conversation away from her, which seemed to work. Oliver snorted. 

“Groovy. I thought we could go see that movie before your big date.”

Was he serious? Elise ignored the obvious jest he made toward her and grinned. 

“Cool.”

–

After the movie, Elise was in a sour mood. It was not the film that deflated her - it was as campy and fun as she had imagined - but what happened after the theater in South Paris let out.

She was already on edge, finding out that shortly before they were meant to leave, Oliver asked Madeline to go with them.

Grin and bear it, hon. Grin and bear it. Advised Nana, seeing them off at the door.

Elise did her best. She tolerated the car ride; the awkward and silent tension. She even tolerated sitting between her parents at the theater, overhearing her mother sigh in disapproval every time something was said or done in an over-dramatic fashion that did not entertain her. That was tolerable. What happened next, though, pushed her over the line.

The car ride back was as quiet as it was on the 18-mile drive to South Paris. Elise stared out the window in boredom until her father broke the silence; she almost wished that he hadn't. 

“What was your favorite part about the movie, Sunshine?”

Elise grinned. 

“It's hard to say. I liked the corridor scene.” 

Madeline snorted. 

“That was ridiculous. I mean, was it even necessary to the movie?”

“It was a transition scene,” Oliver explained. “Not everything is straight forward in movies, dear."

No kidding, Madeline thought.

“I would have rather stayed at your mother's house and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's. That Paul Varjak is a hunk.”

So was Mr. Holbrook at the Derry Town Dump. It was not because of his money that she had an affair with him. Elise snorted an action that did not go unnoticed. She didn't realize that her mom had seen her and had given Oliver the ‘talk to your daughter’ look until he spoke up.

“I know this move hasn't been easy, Sunshine, but we came here to start anew. I think it's time we became a family again.”

Elise narrowed her eyes. She was not an outspoken person when it came to matters that irritated her. A time when she was a senior attending Derry High was a good example of her laid-back nature. Caroline Rourke, a mirror warmer was sore about her also being nominated to represent the drama department in the Homecoming parade.

Do you even own a dress? She asked, cornering her in the hall after class. 

Elise was furious, but in the end, neither of them won. The vote went to Ella Thurber, someone who deserved it more; someone who ate, slept, and breathed Drama Class. She could have been a bitch, she could have stooped to Caroline's level like a chided five-year-old, but it wasn't in her nature to lash at someone. 

Oliver Kensington's ‘turn the other cheek’ statement pushed her over the edge.

“A happy family,” Elise restated in disbelief. “We stopped being a happy family when Madeline decided we weren't good enough for her.”

“Elise Josephine, you know that isn't true,” Oliver argued.

He did not raise his voice, nor did he scold her, but he used her name. Elise Josephine. It was always Sunshine, never Elise Josephine unless she upset him. But why? Did the truth unnerve him? More than the lie he was asking her to commit to.

A stiff apology is a second insult... The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt. G.K. Chesterton said this. She felt comfort in it.

“It is though. You know it, Dad. Just because you want to go on pretending like it isn't bothering you, doesn't mean I have to,” Elise stated. “Somebody should be mad - it might as well be me.”

Madeline did not say a word. Her shoulders were tense. Her face was red like a child about ready to have a tantrum, but she did not say a word. The rest of the trip home was as silent as the grave. 

When it came time for her to meet up with Ace, Elise did not even utter a word to the Kensington family as she stormed out the front door and down Willow Street toward the pool hall. 

By the time she arrived, she recognized Ace's Ford Classic in the nearby lot and stopped outside Irby's to take a deep and uneasy breath. Her heart was racing, partially because of the walk and partially because of the heated back-and-forth argument she had with herself on the way. It felt like there was an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. 

You should apologize, Angel Elise insisted. A proper lady should not act like a scorned child. Forgive and forget.

Fuck that, Devil Elise snorted. You thought it yourself; somebody has to be mad.

In the end, she just chose to ignore them both. She would deal with it later. Like Ace had said, the rest of the day, you'll be mine. Elise intended to make good on his statement. It was the least she could do. 

Patting her warm face, she walked into the pool hall. There was a crowd of adults and teenagers alike, roaming around. It reminded her of the first time she walked in, only this time, there was no Eyeball or Charlie. There was only her and Ace. The latter, she saw, was looming over a pool table, dressed in a tight-fitting black shirt and jeans. 

He did not seem to notice her as she approached, watching him a moment as he took a shot, sinking a striped 11 ball into the center-left pocket. Elise clapped.

“Wow! It's hard to believe you lost that one time.”

Ace peeked over his shoulder and grinned. 

“Can't win ‘em all.” 

She knew he was lying. He could have one. It mattered not, at least not anymore. 

“Have you been here long?” Elise asked. 

She felt a little bad if he had, but fortunately, Ace shook his head. 

“What matters is you came,” he stated. He offered her the cue in his hand. “Wanna play with me?” 

Elise narrowed her eyes. “You know I'm no good.” 

She said the same thing when he first met her too.

“I'll make it more interesting for you,” Ace proposed. “If you win, I'll do whatever you want, and vice versa.” 

“Within reason, right?” Elise pressed.

Ace grinned, then nodded. He positioned the billiard balls in the rack, then took a step back, setting the triangle aside. 

“Cue up.”

“You can break,” Elise interjected. She was not confident in her ability to do so. 

Ace wet his lips, then positioned the cue and took the shot. He sank the striped 10 ball, then went again, missing the second time; Elise was almost certain that he did it on purpose. She took the cue when offered. 

With an uneasy breath, she aimed for the solid 1 ball but missed. Ace snorted in response, earning a playful glare from her.

“I told you so.”

She just needed to loosen up a bit.

“What type of music do you like?” Ace asked.

Elise hummed. The question was so sudden that it took her off guard for a moment. Her face heated up. 

“Um…rock, R&B, and country mostly.” The Temptations and Johnny Cash were two of her favorites. “Is this what we're doing? 21 questions.”

“Figured we'd continue our game,” Ace retorted. 

Elise did not see why not. She watched him sink another shot and huffed. “Do you have any siblings?” 

“I'm an only child,” Ace answered promptly. 

He rested his hand on Elise's lower back as he walked around her, grinning as she tensed. Lining up his next shot, he missed; this time for real. 

“Are you friends with any of your exes?”

She frowned. His question was a little personal, but she allowed it. Elise leaned in and aimed at the 5 ball, sinking it. She beamed. 

“There was one - Billy Collins. We started as friends, so after the relationship ended, we decided to stay friends.” 

Ace thought about asking her whether the two had fucked or not but opted against it. He doubted that Elise would tell him. She seemed a bit prudish when it came to things like that. He was almost certain that she was a virgin. 

Elise took her second shot, also sinking it much to her disbelief. She gave Ace an ‘eat that’ smile. 

“I thought you weren't good at pool,” Ace brought up. 

She seemed determined not to let him win for some reason. He assumed that she was nervous about what he wanted from her. She should be. 

“Lucky shot,” Elise retorted with a grin. 

Unfortunately, the third time was not the charm; she missed the shot and groaned, leaning against the table in defeat. The purple 4 would have been an easier shot, but she second-guessed it. She watched Ace sink the 13 in the corner pocket and stuck out her tongue when he returned the ‘eat that’ look she had given him. At this rate, she was going to lose. 

Elise sighed, “If I lose, what are you going to ask from me?”

Ace did not expect her to ask. He grinned. Perhaps he should tell her to wait and find out. A part of him, however, wanted to gauge her expression.

“I was gonna ask for a kiss.” Would she throw the game knowing this? Or play harder?  

Elise felt her heart begin to race. He wanted to kiss her. She did not know what to say. 

I had a feeling he might try, but I didn't know it would be so soon.

Did she want to kiss him? Elise swallowed hard.

“It…it's still your turn.” 

For the remainder of the game, she took each shot more seriously. It was not because she didn't want to kiss Ace, it was because she was a nervous wreck. There was no way in the state she was in that she would be decent. It was embarrassing. 

Luck seemed to be with at least. Elise managed to nearly even the score. She had one solid left. Ace had none; he had won. All he needed to do was sink the 8 ball. Easy peasy. And it was his turn. 

“What was the question again?” Elise asked. 

She hardly heard him.  

“What was your nickname as a child?” Ace repeated with a grin. 

She frowned. Another kiddie question. He might as well have asked what her favorite color was - purple. Elise knew what he was doing. Since he told her that he wanted a kiss, he had toned down his questions, even when she continued to low-key ask him about his life. Either he was doing it to ease her appreciation, which was not helping, or he was toying with her. Elise clutched her cue. 

“Sunshine. My dad still calls me that.” Unless he's upset. She frowned for a brief moment, recalling the events from earlier; the events that led to him calling her by her name. Elise Josephine. 

Ace looked at the 8 ball, at Elise briefly, noticing the frown, but choosing to ignore it, then back. “Sunshine, huh?”

It suited her. She had a sunny disposition that chased away the dark clouds over his head.

After losing the Brower kid's body to Lachance and his friends in the summer of 1960, Ace had a plethora of bad luck befall him. It was a breath of fresh air, after two years, for something to go right for him. 

It conflicted him, so when Ace took his shot, he purposely sunk the solid.

“Hey!” Elise exclaimed. 

“Bad luck,” Ace lied. 

He had the upper hand. This was almost the same underhanded tactic he used when she first met him.

“Play fair,” Elise grumbled. 

“Who says I'm not,” Ace argued. He motioned toward the table. “Your turn.”

She tightened her jaw. What game was he playing at? Elise stepped into position and studied the table. A win was too easy. She considered fouling, just to be a brat, but she was not like that. She was not like Ace, who sacrificed for a bigger game. No. She was honest. 

Elise took the shot and won the game. She was irritated. 

“The ball is in your court, darling,” Ace declared, meaning she got to ask something of him. 

He leaned against the table beside her, shoulders touching, but Elise did not look at him. A dusting of red covered her cheeks. 

“You could have won,” she pointed out.

“Yeah,” Ace agreed. 

Elise knitted her brows. So, why didn't he? She had a hunch, but she wasn't sure.

“An answer…that's what I want from you.” She faced him. “The truth.” 

“That was the deal,” he assured her. 

Elise was hesitant, but she asked anyway. 

“Why did you throw the game?”

Ace grinned. His blue eyes seemed to twinkle.

“To give you a choice.”

A choice. To what? The answer suddenly hit Elise like a bucket of cold water to the face. He was giving her a choice on whether she would allow him to kiss her or not. He could have won and asked for the kiss, but he wanted her to want it too. Her heart began to race.

Before she could figure out what to say or what to do, Irby announced the hall was about to close. It was Elise, Ace, and a group of friends who remained; she hardly noticed them roaming about. 

“Go on outside to the car and I'll clean up,” Ace commanded.

“Are you sure?” Elise asked in uncertainty. 

He shook his head wordlessly. Handing him her cue, she walked outside and leaned against the with a huff. What the fuck was she supposed to do? She did not want Ace to think that she was not interested, because she was. By the time he sauntered out, she had come to a decision.

“You ready?” Ace asked. 

Elise shook her head. “For what it's worth, I was rooting for you to win.”

He stopped short of the hood of his car and raised a curious brow; he was not expecting her to say that. 

“Yeah. Before or after I told you what I'd ask for?”

“After,” Elise answered with a grin. 

He was almost certain that she was lying, but he decided to roll with it. Walking around to the side of the car where she stood, he took her arm, feeling how tense she was, and leaned in to kiss her. 

Goosebumps littered her arms. If asked, Elise would say that kissing Ace was like listening to an instrumental, or a song whose lyrics and music raised an intense, but brief reaction of excitement. When they parted, she almost whined.

“I guess we both win,” Ace stated. 

Elise shook her head. “I'm still gonna tell everyone I wiped the floor with you in a game of pool.” 

Ace grinned and poked her nose, hearing her pout in protest, then leaned in and kissed her again.