#danny: but since I’ve had this look for so long it’s hard to change it

[that-one-weird-cloud0]

Batman: You need a new costume. That one provides no protection.

Danny: oh I cant.

Batman: You won’t owe me for it.

Danny: no I literally cant. Like if i remove it it just returns.

Batman:………. Explain.

Danny: look *takes off glove and explodes it into pieces*

*glove reforms on his hand*

Danny: see? Can’t get rid of it. It’ll just heal itself.

Batfam: …

[alwaysonthemend]

Falling, fallen | JTK

Author's Note: Hey guys! I’m so sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted. I have a full time job and I’m in school so sometimes I get a little behind. I hope the length of this one makes up for the wait. The next thing I post will be the next chapter of Light My Love. Thank you to all of you who have reached out about that fic and I’m so sorry it's taking so long. As usual, this is unbeta'd so sorry for any mistakes.

Summary: You’re the best damn manager that Greta Van Fleet has ever had. You’re always on top of things, you never miss a beat, and shows run smoother than they ever have before. In fact, everything would be perfect if one of the band members hadn't decided to hate you for no reason. Jacob Kiszka despises you. And no matter how hard you try to be nice to him, he’s always just dismissive and rude. After countless little instances of Jake being an asshole to you, you decide that it might be time for a career change. Little do you know, your choice might lead to some unforeseen consequences. 

Content Warnings: Arguing, swearing, p in v sex, unprotected sex, fingering, oral (f. receiving) oral (f. receiving) 18+ MINORS DNI

Word Count: 10573

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Being Greta Van Fleet’s manager is both the worst job you’d ever had and the best one. On the one hand, the boys are the most chaotic and hard to manage group of people you’d ever met. They were perpetually late to everything – becoming so frequent it was almost as if they were trying to not be on time. They rarely listen when someone else tries to tell them anything, preferring instead to always do things their way (no matter how many times it backfires on them). And each member was so incredibly particular about how they liked things – and were similar to frustrated little kids when things don’t work out. To put it simply: they’re exhausting. 

But at the same time, they were all some of the kindest people you’ve ever met. They took you in; Josh immediately doing his damn best to make you feel included, Danny always there to give you comforting words of encouragement, and Sammy always making you laugh when you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed. They’re practically saints; and despite being so hard-headed, they do their best to not make your job more difficult than it already is. Just last week Josh had comforted you for almost an hour after you had accidentally overbooked a weekend of interviewers, scheduling two within the same time slot. He’d reminded you that being human meant making mistakes and that it’s totally okay to make them. And he’d also made sure to mention that you’re damn good at your job and one little mistake didn’t change that. You’d been able to fix the overbooking pretty easily and you both had laughed at your panic after the fact. 

In fact, every single person you’d interact with that is a part of the Greta Van Fleet team treats you like you’re family – well, everyone except one. Jake. Jacob Kiszka had avoided you like the plague after your very first meeting. He’d walked into the conference room clad in a black shirt unbuttoned down to his stomach and a pair of white slacks with silver necklaces falling to rest on his tanned chest.. Dark sunglasses were covering his eyes (despite not needing them inside). He’d walked in with an air of complete and utter control, and you’d immediately bristled as he took a seat. After the introductions had been made and all the paperwork and business discussed, you’d approached him to try and introduce yourself personally. You’d managed to meet all of the other members right off the bat and you wanted to extend the same to him – despite how uncomfortable he made you feel. 

“Hi!” You’d stuck your hand out to him. “I’m y/n. I’m really looking forward to working with you!” You had plastered your most welcoming smile you could muster as you waited for his response. He looked you up and down before taking your hand in his. His fingers had been warm and you could feel the callouses on them as he shook your hand. 

“I know. They introduced you earlier. And you know who I am.” His words held no malice in them, nor anger or frustration. The only emotion he’d met you with was the absence of any at all. Indifference, complete and utter indifference. He dropped your hand and left the room without another word, and without so much as a glance back in your direction. You’d just stood there, jaw hanging open as you watched his retreating form. 

“Sorry about him.” Josh had said, coming to stand beside you. “He isn’t the best at meeting new people or small talk.” 

“No kidding.” You huffed, eyes still trained on the door he’d just left. 

“Give him time.” Josh squeezed your shoulder and gave you a smile. “He’ll come around.”

But he hadn’t. In fact, it seemed that Jake’s dislike for you only intensified as time went on – despite your best efforts to become at least slightly friendly with him. It seemed like the closer you got with the other bandmates, the colder he grew towards you. It frustrated you beyond measure. Everyone liked you. You pride yourself on being able to find common ground with just about anyone, and you ‘d be lying if you said that you weren’t damn good at getting people to like you – no matter who they are. But Jake remained untouchable. He was the only one that you knew practically nothing about. 

It didn’t take long after that first meeting for you to become very close with Josh. It was almost unbelievable to you that they’re twins. They’re so completely unalike. Sure, their mannerisms were strikingly similar and their facial expressions were one and the same – but beyond appearances, their personalities were like night and day. 

“Josh?” You had asked, about a month into working with them. 

“What’s up, y/n?” He’d replied cheerfully, glancing up from his notebook to look at you. 

“Why does Jake hate me?” You asked, dramatically falling into the chair across from him. “No matter what I do, he won’t give me anything. Not even his damn facial expression will change. I don’t get it.” You closed your eyes and laid your head back in defeat. 

Josh chuckled at your theatrics. 

“He doesn’t hate you. He’s just…” He trailed off, lightly tapping his chin with his forefinger. “I actually have no fucking clue.”

You groaned and rose from your place across from him and took a seat on the arm of Josh’s chair. 

“I hate it. Everyone likes me.”

“Look, y/n. Jake is just… Jake. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

You paused for a minute, watching as Josh absentmindedly doodled. 

“I’m gonna make him like me if it’s the last thing I do.” You declared suddenly, filled with a new sense of determination. 

“Oh, God. Here we go.” Josh sighed, placing his pencil down. “Why can’t you just let it go?” 

“Because everyone likes me. And I’ll be damned if I let Jacob Kiszka be the one to ruin my track record.” 

Josh just shook his head at you. 

Step one of your plan was to go out of your way to be nice to Jake, even when he would inevitably try to dismiss you. You’d seen him interact with his brothers and Danny and so you knew that he could be sweet. You just had to figure out why he wouldn’t act like that around you. 

Your first opportunity arose one morning about a week after your conversation with Josh. You had awoken early – far earlier than you alarm, and so you had some time to yourself before you had to start rounding up the boys from their separate hotel rooms. You’d gone down to the lobby to treat yourself to a quiet breakfast, away from the craziness that promised to fill the rest of your day. The boys had a show tonight and you had to deal with hotel checkout since they were flying out that very same night to a different city. You entered the breakfast area to see Jake sitting alone in the far corner, nursing a cup of coffee. He glanced up at you as you entered and you waved happily at him before making your way over to his table. 

“Morning, Jake!” You said as cheerily. “Do you mind if I sit here with you?” 

He glanced at you over his sunglasses, assessing your smiling face as you waited for his response. 

“If you’d like.” He said simply, looking back down at his phone. You frowned at his lack of interest but brushed it off and took a seat. 

“Did you sleep well?” You asked, giving him the most genuine smile you could. 

“Yes.” He answered, short and curt. You waited for him to say more – he didn’t. 

“Are you excited for the show tonight? I know I am.”

He sighed and looked up from his phone again at you. He looked annoyed, but you tried to not let your disappointed show on your face at his clear disinterest in talking to you.

“Mm hm.” 

The table fell into awkward silence. You couldn’t think of anything else to add. As you sat there, racking your brains for something else to say to try and get a conversation going, Jake rose from his seat abruptly. 

“I’m going back to my room.”

“Oh!” You said, taken aback. “Okay. I’ll see later!” But he was already walking away, again refusing to spare you even a passing glance backwards.

“Fuck.” You said to yourself, grimacing. That hadn’t worked at all. 

You kept trying as the weeks went by, trying everything you could think of to get him to stop acting like he hated you. You tried bringing him coffee to his hotel room, ordering his favorite foods for meetings, you’d tried asking him about his guitar, or what his favorite city to visit was. You had tried everything and were quickly running out of ideas. Everything you did was met with stony indifference and clipped responses. 

Things didn’t start to escalate until after you approached him after a show one night to congratulate him on a wonderful performance. 

“You did awesome out there, Jake! Like always!” You said as he walked into the greenroom, sweaty and chest heaving with the exertion of the night. Your eyes couldn’t help but to stare as a drop of sweat rolled down his throat and dripped down onto his chest. 

“Thanks.” He started to walk away but you called out to him. 

“Wait!” 

He turned to you sharply at your raised voice. You hadn’t meant to call out that loudly but you weren’t backing down now. 

“Why are you such an asshole to me?” You asked, sudden confidence flowing through you. You watched as his nostrils flared and he opened his mouth to say something before suddenly closing it again. He took a deep breath. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, y/n.” He said, voice calm and cold. 

“Bull shit.”

“Goodnight, y/n.” He said, turning his back to you and walking away. You stood there for a long moment, rage flowing through you.

“So,” Josh said loudly, startling you from your anger fueled reverie. “Operation Make Jake Not Hate You doesn’t seem to be going very well, huh?” He looked smug. He too was sweaty from the show and you could feel the warmth of him radiating from his skin in waves. 

“Oh shut the fuck up, Joshua. I fucking give up.” You threw your hands up angrily in defeat. “If he’s so determined to hate me so much for no fucking reason, fine! I hate him too!” 

And with that, you stormed off, blood pressure only rising more as you heard Josh laughing loudly at you as you stomped away. 

True to your word, Operation Make Jake Like You turned into you just trying to ignore him back. You still managed to maintain professionalism, managing his needs and making sure things were done correctly for him – but other than that, you tried to remain friendly with him without pushing for anything more. Instead, you took to hanging out with the other guys in between shows and during the day. And you started spending more and more time with Josh. The two of you had a lot in common, sharing many of the same favorite songs and artists and you both loved to laugh. Josh was so easy to be around and he quickly became your closest friend amongst the boys. You spent lots of time together when your schedules allowed for it, and your little obsession with Jake finally stopped consuming your every thought. He still gave you a cold shoulder, but you tried to stop letting it bother you. It still stung, everytime he dismissed you, but you grew used to it.

Life moved on and your job quickly became a whole lot smoother than it had been at the start. You knew the ins and outs of handling the boys and it took a lot to throw you off now. Things were running smoothly and efficiently – better than they ever had before with other management. Danny had told you as such one night, as you all had been relaxing at a small little downtown bar. You all had a free night and everyone wanted to take advantage of it. 

“I’ve gotta say y/n, I think you’re the best manager we’ve ever had.” Danny said, catching the attention of everyone else. 

“I absolutely, wholeheartedly agree, Danny.” Josh said, giving you a grin. 

“A toast?” Sammy asked, raising his glass to the middle of the table.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.” Josh confirmed as he and Danny raised their glasses as well. 

“To the best damn manager we’ve ever had!” Josh yelled and the three of them clinked their glasses with yours. 

You laughed and blushed, touched by their kindness. 

“Isn’t that right, Jake?” Josh asked, turning towards his twin who had remained completely silent. 

“Oh yes. The best.” He said, his usual indifference melting away into plain bitchiness. 

Danny, Sam, and Josh stared at him, all taken aback by the sarcasm dripping from his words. 

“You know, if you have such a problem with me, why don’t you just come out and say it to my face, Jacob.” You said darkly, venom lacing your own words. 

“Hey, look guys. Why don’t we just-”

“Shut up, Sam.” Jake said, slamming his glass down. “Maybe I do have a fucking problem with you.” 

“Oh yeah? What’s the fucking problem, then?” You spat, rising from your seat to glare at him. 

“Y/n…” Josh hedged, sensing the impending blow out that had been months in the making. 

“Tell me what the problem is, Jake? I have been nothing but nice to you since the day we met. What could I have possibly done to make you hate me so much?”

Jake rose from his seat too, slamming his palms down on the table. Your raised voices were drawing looks from everyone else at the bar.

“My problem, y/n,” He said, and he spat your name out like it tasted terrible, “is that you’re fucking annoying. You won’t leave me the fuck alone. I’m so sorry that I don’t fall for your obnoxious need to always try and be fucking sunshine and rainbows all the god damned time. You can’t stand that I just don’t like you.” He said the last part slowly and cruelly, eyes blazing from across the table. 

“And I’m sorry that you’re so fucking miserable that you can’t stand it when the people around you aren’t!” You shouted, and Danny rose from his seat to put a placating hand on your shoulder. You jerked out of his grip angrily. “You are such a dick, Jake! All I’ve ever tried to be with you is nice. But you dismiss me like I’m a child! I’m sick of it!”

“Alright, enough!” Josh shouted, rising from his own seat. “Both of you, that’s enough!” 

Embarrassment over your outburst flooded you suddenly, making your cheeks grow warm. Jake seemed to also have the decency to at least look embarrassed himself. 

“I’m going to my room.” Jake said, voice cold and very clearly still angry. “Don’t fucking wait up.” And with that, he stormed away. 

You collapsed back into your seat and put your head in your hands, a headache slowly beginning to form behind your eyes. 

“Hey,” Danny said, placing his hand back on your shoulder, “just ignore him, y/n. He’s not worth it.”

“I just don’t get what I did to make him hate me!” You cried, hating the way your eyes were filling with tears. 

“You didn’t do anything. He’s just Jake.” Josh said softly, before taking a sip of his drink to calm his nerves. He hated seeing the two of you fight: his twin and his best friend. He hated it so much. 

“He’s just an asshole, nothing else to it. He likes being grumpy. I honestly think he gets off on it sometimes.” Sam said, and his statement made you laugh quietly despite yourself. 

“Thanks, guys.” You said, taking a large gulp of your bourbon. 

The conversation moved on and you allowed yourself to forget your argument with Jake, doing your very best to shove your hurt down into the deepest recesses of your brain. You weren’t going to let him ruin your night any more than he already had. 

Once you all had finished eating and goodbyes were said, you slowly trudged your way to your hotel room, wishing suddenly that you were back home in your own bed. You loved traveling all around with them, but the night's events were making you yearn to be home. You got ready for bed as quickly as you could, hoping to try and get some good sleep since the boys would be performing tomorrow – show days are always exhaustingly chaotic. 

But no matter how long you lay there, sleep continued to evade you. Your thoughts were swirling with Jake’s words, and you couldn’t get his angry face out of your head. Him calling you annoying had hurt – more than you would ever admit out loud. Normally, you’d usually be able to ignore someone else’s jabs at you; but for some reason, Jake’s dislike of you made your chest ache. Well… you knew why it bothered you so much – and you hated yourself for it. 

Despite the months of clipped words and cold glares, you’d unfortunately found yourself with a crush. More than a crush, if you were being completely honest with yourself. He was attractive of course, but you had also watched him interact with everyone else enough to see that he was actually a really nice guy. He was sweet and thoughtful, always going out of his way to make sure others felt comfortable. He was always humble, no matter how many sold out arenas he played in – and he would still blush when fans came up to him in public. You had fallen for the version of Jake that he never let you get to experience. And that’s what hurt you the most: the fact that he wasn’t really an asshole – he just truly didn’t like you. You were embarrassed for not realizing it sooner. All these months you had spent trying to get to know him and talk to him, you’d just been making yourself look like a fool. An annoying fool, apparently. You vowed to yourself, laying there that night, that you’d do your very best to stay out of his way. No more attempts at conversations, no more smiles or waves when he entered the room. Hell, you’d even try to start sitting out the aftershow outings with the boys. You’d continue being the best damn manager they’d had, but you’d keep your distance. 

The following day was filled with rushing around as you made sure everything was ready for the show. You were at the arena all day, checking with sound and the tech people, so it had been easy to keep your distance. By the time the show started, you were exhausted but proud with how smoothly things had gone. You watched them play from off the side of the stage, tucked into the shadows. Josh’s vocals were incredible – as always, and he’d sent you several smiles and winks as the show progressed. Sam and Danny were flawless, of course. They were the backbone of the band and they never failed to deliver. Jake was utterly transfixing on stage. It was hard to look away from him as he played, but you did your best to put your focus elsewhere. 

Everything was going great until the third to last song of the set when you noticed Jake frantically gesturing to one of the backstage workers. You squint your eyes to try and see what was wrong. He was gesturing wildly in a manner that’s so reminiscent of Josh that you almost smile. The rest of the boys are sending concerned glances back at him. He’s not playing the guitar. Sam starts a bass solo to try and cover for Jake, but you can tell that they’re growing more concerned. Finally, another tech person runs over to the back corner of the stage where Jake is with another one of his guitars in hand, He quickly swaps it out before running back to his place on stage. Sam finishes his solo – met with thousands of screams from the audience, and you think that it’s safe to assume that few of them noticed whatever just happened. The tech guy walks past you swiftly and you see the cause of Jake’s anger: a string had snapped on his number one guitar – on stage no less. You turned your eyes back to Jake to see him playing again, and this time you could see the anger oozing from him. His playing had turned downright nasty as he vented his frustration out through his music. You looked away, unable to watch his sinful movements. 

The rest of the show went great, and they closed it out to the screams of their fans as they walked off stage to go change. There was no doubt in your mind that they’d be going to a bar – Jake would probably insist. You went about finishing up all you had to for the night, and you made sure to go and find the worker who had brought Jake his other guitar so you could thank him for his swiftness. He’d given you a huge smile, shocked that you’d sought him out. 

“Hey, y/n!” You heard Danny call, just as you were beginning to gather up your things to leave. He had changed into a pair of black skinny jeans and a sleeveless band tee. “We're gonna go out for drinks. Coming with?”

You shook your head and gave him a sad smile. 

“Not tonight, Danny. I’m going to head back to my room.”

“Why? You always come with us.” He gave you a pout, and you wanted so badly to cave and go with them. But no. You’d made a promise to yourself. 

“Jake had a bad night tonight, Danny. I could practically see how mad he was up there. He deserves to go unwind. Me being there isn’t going to help that.” 

Danny sighed. 

“Y/n… come on.” 

“It’s true!” You insisted, slinging your bag over your shoulder. “He hates me. He thinks I’m annoying. And I have been annoying. I’ve been trying to force him to like me without thinking about how it must have been making him feel.  My job is to make your lives easy, not to make them more difficult.”

“I really don’t think you make his life more difficult, y/n. You haven’t done anything wrong.” Danny said, and the sympathy in his voice made you want to cry. You could feel your eyes welling with tears for the second night in a row. 

“Thank you, Danny. But I’ve made my decision… And I think it’s the right one.” You sniffed and swiped a hand under your eyes in an attempt to hide your tears from him. “You guys have fun.” 

You walked away quickly, leaving Danny to watch you go with sad eyes. 

The next few shows went about the same (though thankfully without any guitar mishaps for Jake). The boys would go out to celebrate, and you would politely decline to go with them. You’d asked Danny to keep your earlier conversation to himself, and he’d begrudgingly agreed to do so. 

“You can’t just shut yourself away because you think his opinion about you is the end all be all.” He’d said, eyes once again filled with sorrow for you. 

“It’s okay, Danny. Really. I was becoming too unprofessional with you guys, anyway.”

“That’s ridiculous, and you know it.” 

“Can we please just drop it.” 

And Danny did. The tour continued on, and you slowly distanced yourself from the boys. You kept things running smoothly from afar, and you did your best to stay away – no matter how much you missed them. 

Josh had grown increasingly more concerned for you, begging you to tell him what had changed. You’d just shake your head, telling him that you were just too tired or had work you needed to catch up on. It only took him a month to call your bluff though. 

“This is all about Jake, isn’t it?” 

The two of you were sitting in your hotel room after he’d insisted he follow you up to “catch up.” You’d allowed it, as you’d been missing hanging out with him terribly. 

“What’s about Jake?” You asked, trying to keep your voice as innocent as possible. 

He rolled his eyes. 

“You suddenly avoiding hanging out with all of us. It’s because of what Jake said that night, right?” 

You sighed. There was no way you could lie to him. He knew you too well and you were tired of putting on a brave face. You let your shoulders slump and your face fall. 

“I just wish I knew what I did wrong.” You said quietly, voice wavering as you fought back tears. You were so tired of crying over Jake Kiszka. 

“Hey, hey.” Josh walked quickly over to sit next to you on the bed. “Y/n, come on. Don’t cry.” 

Your face crumpled as the hurt that you’d been hiding for weeks finally bubbled to the surface, spilling over your cheeks. 

“I’m sorry.” You said through your tears, feeling stupid for crying like this to him. He was your best friend, sure. But he was still your boss at the end of the day. This was so unprofessional of you. 

“Don’t apologize, okay?” He wrapped an arm around your shoulders and you buried your face in his chest. He was warm and smelled good, and all you could think about was how much you wished you’d fallen for him instead of Jake. “Why are you letting him get to you so much, sweetheart? Normally, you’d kick someone’s ass for talking to you like he did.” 

You just shook your head, shame filling you as you thought about your stupid feelings. 

“It’s just different with him, Josh. I can’t help it.” You took a steadying breath, trying to get yourself back under control. You sat up from him and ran a hand through your hair. It was silent for a long moment. 

“Oh.” Josh said, a sudden sadness coming over his face. “Damn it, Jake.” He sighed, pinning you with sad, sympathetic eyes. 

“What?” You asked, confusion written clearly across your face. 

“All that time you spent obsessing over trying to get him to open up to you, the way you made it your mission to become his friend… I can’t believe I didn’t realize before.” 

Your heart was pounding with dread. There’s no way he’d just figured it out, right? There’s no way you’d been that obvious. 

“What are you talking about?”

He was looking at you like you were a tragedy. You hated it. 

“You like him, don’t you? Like, as in more than a friend?”

You turned away, face burning with shame. Josh reached out and turned your head back to face him. A fresh wave of tears leaked from your eyes. 

“I can’t help it. I tried to make it stop. But I just can’t help it.” You cried, and a loud sob worked its way through your chest. You were shaking. 

“We can’t help who we fall for.” He said quietly. “I’m sorry, y/n. I don’t know what to tell you.” 

“There’s nothing to say, Josh.” You muttered, wiping your eyes with the back of your hand. “I’ve been thinking,” you hedged, suddenly afraid to tell him what you’d been planning for after the tour, “after this last leg of the tour, I’ll probably ask my boss to have someone else transferred to you guys to take my place. I don’t think me staying is a good idea.” 

“Y/n, no!” Josh exclaimed, and the sudden rise in volume made you startle slightly. “The rest of us love you! You’re our friend!” he cried, gripping your shoulders tightly. “And you really are the best manager we’ve had. Things have been going so amazing since you joined us!” 

“Josh, I’m sorry but I just can’t do this. Jake’s unhappy, I’m unhappy. It’s best if I leave.” 

“You’ve been thinking about this for a while, then?” He asked, voice falling quiet again. 

“I have.”

“There’s nothing I can say to change your mind.” It’s not a question. He knows there isn’t. 

“No. There’s not. I’m sorry.” 

He sighed, and for a moment you’re afraid that he’s angry with you. But then he reaches over and pulls you into a tight hug. 

“I understand, y/n. It’s okay.” 

You could sob at the feeling of relief that washes over you. 

“But you have to stay in contact with the rest of us. You have to.” He said, pulling away from you and pinning you with a serious look. “Promise me.”

You giggled. 

“I promise.”

Time seemed to fly by as the end of the tour drew nearer, and before you knew it, there was only one show left. Emotions were high in the greenroom backstage as they all prepared to go out one last time, and there was a lingering sadness in the air as you had let Danny and Sam know that you wouldn’t be coming back for the next tour. They’d both been crestfallen at your choice, but hadn’t pushed you to give a reason why. Deep down, you were pretty sure that they already knew. 

“Good luck guys. You’re gonna kill it, like always.” 

“Thanks, y/n.” Sam said, wrapping his long arms around you tightly. You gave him a squeeze before letting go. 

“It’s all for you tonight, y/n! Thank you for everything.” Danny said, also coming up to give you a hug. You smiled and buried your face in his shoulder, breathing in his scent. 

“Thank you, Danny.” You said quietly as he pulled away. 

Josh came up next. He stared at you for a long moment, a sad smiling gracing his lips. He finally hugged you too. 

“You deserve to be happy.” He whispered in your ear, just loud enough for you to hear. 

“Thank you.” You said, “For everything.” He gave you a grin. 

“Well, boys,” He said, turning to the guys, “We ready?” They all nodded in excitement and you watched them go with a proud smile. Your smile quickly dropped though as you realized that Jake was still standing there. You looked at him, confusion and trepidation clear on your face. 

“Good luck, Jake.” You said quietly, dropping your eyes to look at your feet. You couldn't bear to look at him.

“Y/n,” he said, taking a step towards you. 

“Two minutes!” You heard someone call. You didn’t say anything as you waited for him to finish. 

“Could we… talk? After the show tonight?” He asked, and his voice was the softest you’d ever heard it directed to you. 

“Um. Sure?” 

He nodded his head curtly. 

“Good. Perfect.” He walked towards where the rest of his bandmates had gone, stopping momentarily to look back at you. “Thanks.” 

It felt like your entire nervous system was on fire. Jake’s words had been so unlike him – soft, unsure. You felt like your head was in a washing machine, spinning around in all directions with no end in sight. You knew he probably felt guilty. Despite not liking you, you know that he’s a nice enough person to feel bad for being the reason that you’re leaving – any decent person would. And you know that Jake is far more than just decent. You just wish that things had been different. 

You stayed in the green room, doing your best to distract yourself with your phone. You scrolled through every social media feed you had and still time seemed to drag on. You got up and wandered around aimlessly, cleaning things that weren’t your job to clean and tidying things that weren’t untidy to begin with. You tried humming to yourself and singing songs, but your stomach was in complete knots. By the time the show was finished, you were already exhausted. 

It wasn’t long before Jake entered, and you rose from where you had collapsed onto the sofa. 

“Hi.” You said, taking him in. He was sweaty – his usually soft hair was damp and messy. He’d changed from his stage outfit into a pair of dark jeans and a cream colored button down (with his signature look of only having two buttons actually done up). His silver coin necklaces rested against his tan chest. 

“Hey.” His voice had that softness to it still – completely unlike the Jake that you had come to know. “Can we go somewhere? To talk? Preferably somewhere where the others won’t barge in on us.”

“There’s a work room down the hall that no one’s using. I ate lunch there earlier.” 

He nodded, turning towards the door. You followed swiftly, your purse clutched tightly in your hand. You passed the other guys as you made your way towards the spare room and your cheeks flamed as you and Jake walked by them. You ignored their questioning eyes as they watched you and Jake, no doubt shocked to see the two of you walking together. Your eyes met Josh’s briefly as you left, and your cheeks flamed an even darker shade of crimson as he gave you a knowing smirk. 

You pointed towards the door of the spare room and Jake nodded, walking up to it and pushing it open. Sure enough, it was completely empty. The sign on the door said “Staff Only,” and you had only stumbled across it because you had wanted to eat somewhere where the others couldn’t bother you. You had needed some time to just exist by yourself, and the spacious room had been perfect. 

Now, standing there with Jake, it felt suffocating. You felt like you couldn’t breathe. His presence was overwhelming. You could smell him from where you stood – a blend of his natural musk and a hint of vanilla. You wanted to cry. 

“You’re probably wondering why I asked you to talk to me…” Jake finally hedged, breaking the silence that has descended over the two of you. 

You scoffed. 

“Yeah. I’m shocked, honestly.” Your words came out sharp and you winced slightly. You weren’t trying to start another fight with him. But he’d hurt you. Badly. 

“Yeah.” He sighed and looked down at his feet. “The guys said that you aren’t coming back for next tour.” 

“I’m not. I don’t really feel all that welcome here anymore.” You bit out, and Jake was the one to wince this time. The anger from that night at the bar was suddenly coming back, and you wanted so badly to slap the shit out of him. “I’m sure you were happy to hear the news.”

Jake looked away. 

“Not really.” 

“You don’t have to lie. I know you fucking hate me.” You huffed and took a seat on the sofa that was shoved into the corner. 

“I don’t hate you.” He sounded defeated, and there was a small, mean little part of you that was delighted to hear that tone from him. Like he was finally feeling how he had made you feel for all that time. 

“Could have fooled me.” 

He sighed again, and suddenly he looked so much older than he had a moment ago. His shoulders were slumped and you almost wanted to reach out and comfort him. But you didn’t. You crossed your arms and stared at him expectantly. 

He seemed to sense that you weren’t going to say anything else. 

“Can I sit?” He gestured at the empty spot next to you. 

“Sure.” 

He took a seat. You could feel the warmth radiating off him. It was silent for a long moment. You, unwilling to say anything else and Jake unable to find the words. 

“Well?” You asked, pinning him with an impatient glare. “I’m here. If there’s actually a point to this conversation please say it so I can leave.” You know you’re being unfair. He’s clearly working up to trying to apologize but you can’t find it in yourself to care. You’ve spent so long letting him make you feel like you’re less than, and for once you finally have the upper hand. 

“I’m sorry.”

That stops your thoughts in their tracks. You’d expected him to beat around the bush, to give an excuse, to say you’re overreacting. A straight up, no nonsense apology had been the last thing you were expecting. 

“What?” You couldn’t help but to ask, incredulity evident in your tone. 

“I’m sorry for being such a dick.” You stare at him – searching for any traces of a lie. You find none. There’s only a sad truthfulness reflected in his brown eyes. “You haven’t done anything to deserve how I’ve treated you. I’m sorry. I don’t have an excuse.”

You let his words sit heavy between the two of you for a moment. You’re at a loss. He doesn’t have an excuse, and you have no idea what to say back to him. 

“Thank you.” You finally breathe out, voice quiet and unsure. 

“You don’t have to leave.” He says, voice equally reserved in the odd tension. “I’m sorry I made you feel like that’s the best choice. You’re a good manager. It’ll be hard for us to find a good enough replacement.” He looks down at his hands. He’s fiddling with them, picking at the skin of his thumbs the way he often does when he’s lost in thought. You’d watched him do it on numerous occasions.

“I don’t really know what to say to you, Jake. You really hurt me. I…” You stop yourself, unwilling to let him see how deeply his words and actions had cut you; unwilling to show him how weak he had made you. 

“You don’t have to say anything. You don’t owe me anything. But I do want to ask you to stay.” 

Rage fills you suddenly, so sudden and sharp that your vision seems blurry as your blood pressure rises at his words. 

“How fucking dare you.” You seethe, teeth clenched as you think about all that he’s done. “I tried so hard to be nice to you. I wanted your approval so fucking badly. I let you make a fool out of me. How fucking dare you to ask me to stay now?” Your voice got louder and louder as you spoke, and Jake’s eyes widened at your sudden change in demeanor. “Fuck you, Jake Kiskza. That’s all I have to say.” You rose suddenly with the intent to get the hell out of there when he too rose to his feet. 

“That’s not fucking fair, y/n!” He yelled, hands clenched at his sides. “I’m trying to apologize, here. You don’t have to throw it right back in my fucking face!” 

“Hurts doesn’t it. Trying to be nice, only for the person to throw it back in your face?” 

Jake rolls his eyes and scoffs. 

“I’m getting the fuck out of here. Jesus Christ.” You cry, turning back towards the door. 

“Yeah. Go cry to Josh, like you always do.” 

His words feel like a bucket of ice water has been dumped on you.

“What?” You ask lowly, turning back around to look at him. He’s got his shoulders pushed back, defiance glittering in his eyes. 

“I said, go cry to Josh. Just like you always do.” 

“What in the ever living fuck,” you growl, stepping back towards him so that your chests are flush, “is that supposed to mean.” 

He looks down at you and you can practically see the anger radiating off him. 

“It means that I’m tired of watching you following him around like a kicked puppy. He’s not interested by the way, in case you were wondering.” A smug smirk paints its way across his lips and you want so badly to slap it off him again. 

“What on Earth makes you think I want anything like that with Josh?”

“Oh please,” he rolls his eyes, “I’m not fucking blind. You want him – you’re always hanging out with him, hugging him, touching him. It’s pathetic.” 

“And so what if I do want him?” You ask, blood practically boiling. “Why do you fucking care what I do with someone else?”

“I don’t. I don’t give a flying fuck what you do, y/n!” He shouts. The two of you stare at each other, both of your chests heaving as you practically square the other up. His face is twisted in anger – but there’s something else there, hidden in his eyes. It’s not anger. 

Holy shit. 

“Are you fucking jealous?” Your voice is high and shaky, and you watch as his eyebrows shoot to his hairline at your question. 

“Are you insane? I’m not jealous. Jesus, what the fuck?” 

There’s a defensiveness in his tone now, and he’s suddenly looking anywhere on your face but your eyes. 

“You are. You’re jealous. Jealous because you think I want Josh.” You don’t pose it a question because you know. You can see it all over his face. He’s been jealous this whole time. Sure, maybe your first meeting had just been a result of his poor small talk skills… but everything else? Pure jealousy. 

“Fuck you.” He spits, but he knows he’s been caught. 

“You are a fucking idiot, Jake. Holy shit. I don’t want Josh, dumbass! I wanted you!”

His jaw drops and he stares. There’s a part of you that’s embarrassed for admitting it out loud, but the panic that flashes across his face is worth it. 

“What?”

“You heard me. I never wanted Josh, Jacob. I wanted you. But you were so much of a dick that I gave up.”

“Wanted?” His voice is suddenly small, empty of the anger that had filled it just moments before. 

“I don’t know.” You answer, and it’s the truth. After everything, you’re not sure the two of you could ever form a normal friendship – let alone anything more. 

“Fuck.” He breathes out, before sitting heavily back down on the sofa. You sit back down next to him, the fight drained from you at your confession. Neither of you know what to say. 

“I thought you and Josh slept with each other… or were going to. This whole time.” 

You don’t say anything. There’s nothing left to say, really. 

“I wish you had just asked. Instead of assuming.”

“Me too.” He turns to you, and his eyes look so sad it makes your chest ache. You don’t want to look at him when he looks like that. 

“Would you still?” 

You look at him confused. 

“Want me?” He clarifies. “If things were different.” 

You take a moment to answer. At this point, there’s nothing left to lose. 

“I think I’ll always want you, Jake. No matter how much I try not to.” 

“Can we…” He stops, takes a breath. You can practically see the gears turning as he tries to work out what to say. "Can we try?" 

You stare at him, afraid you're reading into his words wrong. 

"Try what?"

"Try again?" His words are small, quiet. He's not looking at you anymore and you suddenly wish you hadn't been so angry with him. "We can go slow. Like we're starting over." 

You ponder his words for a long moment. There's so many thoughts running through your mind and you can barely grab hold of any of them. 

“I don’t know, Jake. You really hurt me.” 

He hung his head, his dark hair framing his face. Even now, you can’t help but to admire him. 

“I’m so fucking sorry.” He says, before finally bringing his eyes to yours. There are tears there, and your heart aches at the sight. “I was jealous. I really thought you were interested in Josh.” 

“Why didn’t you just ask me? Instead of assuming and then treating me so horribly?”

“Because… because I can’t compete with someone like Josh, anyway. Didn’t think there was a point.” He shifts where he’s seated next to you and turns his eyes down to the floor. You don’t say anything, afraid to scare him back behind his walls. “We may be twins, but he’s got all the charm.” 

“Jake,” you say quietly, “look at me.” 

He does, slowly turning his brown eyes to you. 

“This isn’t a competition. I only ever wanted you.” You tell him, and he can see that there’s no lie in your words. “And even if it was a competition, I still would have chosen you, Jake.”

“So I’m just a fucking idiot, then.” He says, and this time the anger in his voice is directed at himself. 

You giggle. 

“A little bit, ya. But I still want you, Jake. Despite trying so hard not to.” 

“Let me show you I can be different. Please. Let me make it up to you.” He pleads, but you already know that you’d have let him do anything he wanted. Despite everything, you’d still fallen for him. And now here you are, with the chance to finally have him after months of thinking it was impossible. 

“Okay.” You breathe out. “Okay, Jake.”

Faster than you can blink, his lips are on yours – soft and warm. You gasp, and Jake takes the opportunity to slide his tongue between your lips. His hands grip your shoulders tightly – like if he lets go you’ll run away. You bring your hands up to cup his cheeks as you kiss him back. The kiss is desperate, needy. All those months of want finally spilling over into this moment. You whimper quietly into his mouth and he pulls away. His eyes are blown wide with need and there’s an almost feral look to his face – his eyes are practically devouring you. 

“I’m not making love to you for the first time on a shitty break room couch.” He says breathlessly and you quirk your eyebrow at his choice of words. He flushes but you let it slide, instead rising to your feet. 

“Hotel?” You extend your hand to him and he laces his fingers with yours, allowing you to pull him to his feet. 

“Yep. Yeah. Just quickly.” He shifts on his feet and you laugh as you realize that he’s painfully hard and trying to figure out how to walk normally. 

Hands still clasped together, the two of you practically sprint towards the back exit of the venue. It’s mostly empty now, with everyone else having cleared out as soon as possible after the show ended. The two of you make it all the way to the back foyer without anyone seeing you. 

But in your haste to get out, you almost don’t see Sam and Danny standing there gawking as they watch you drag Jake towards the door. 

You stop short upon seeing them, causing Jake to bump into you from behind. You both look like deer caught in headlights or like little kids who have just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. 

“Um.” You say eloquently and Jake snickers from behind you. 

“Alright, you boys ready to g-” Josh turns a corner, and stops in his tracks too. You watch as his eyes sweep from yours and Jake’s flushed faces to your hands that are still interlocked. 

“Howdy, guys,” Jake finally pipes up from behind you. “Fancy seeing you all here.” 

They all nod to the two of you, and each of their faces are filled with complete shock. You’re so embarrassed you wish the floor would swallow you whole. 

“We’re um… heading out.” Jake says and you want to facepalm at his lack of imagination in coming up with some sort of excuse. 

“And I’m sure it’s totally not what it looks like, right?” Josh asks with a shit eating grin and a raised eyebrow. 

“What exactly does it look like, Joshua?” Jake snaps, eyes blazing at his twin. 

“Oh nothing.” He shrugs, lifting his hands up in defense. “Right?” He turns to look at Danny and Sam who are still standing there with their mouths open. 

It’s Danny that manages to fix his face first. 

“Oh, yeah. Doesn’t look like anything to me.” He says with a smile, and you can practically see the teasing that he’s going to give you after this.

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like you’re going to have sex at all.” Sam says, the little brother shittiness finally coming out. 

“Oh fuck off, all of you. We’re leaving.” You start to walk again, yanking Jake’s hand so he follows you. 

“You guys have fun not fucking each other!” Josh calls as you and Jake step out onto the street. Jake just shoots him the bird the two of you take off, giggling like kids. 

The hotel you’re staying at isn’t far, just over a block away from the venue. But it feels like it takes ten years for you to make it to the lobby, and Jake doesn’t once let go of your hand. 

The walk to the elevator is silent, and your mind is working a mile a minute. Your heart is racing and you feel like you’re in a dream. Out of the corner of your eye, Jake stares resolutely ahead, watching as the little screen above the elevator doors counts each floor. 

Finally, they open on your floor and you pull Jake towards your room. 

“Hold on… key card.” You say, extracting your hand from Jake’s to reach into your purse. You swipe the key card and open the door, hesitating only a moment before stepping over the threshold. The reality of what you came here for sets in suddenly, and you stand frozen in the middle of the room as you watch Jake shut the door behind him. 

“You okay?” He asks, walking towards where you’re standing, stopping just close enough that if you wanted, you could reach out and touch him.

“I don’t know.” Your admission is quiet, spoken to the floor and not really to him. You don’t know how to feel. 

“I’m sorry.” He repeats, his own voice soft. “We don’t… we don’t have to do anything, y/n. I wasn’t expecting,” he waves his hands between the two of you vaguely, “this. Like at all.” 

“Me neither. I don’t- I don’t know how to feel, Jake.” 

He sighs and wrings his hands together. You stare at them, remembering that you now know what they feel like in your hand. Calloused, rough – but still gentle somehow. 

“I’ve really fucked things up, haven’t I?” Jake asks. You don’t answer. 

“I never meant for things to get as far as they did.” He continues, walking over to sit heavily onto your bed. “I was jealous and I acted like an asshole to you.” 

“Yeah, you did. But I was annoying, too. I should have just left you alone.” You say softly. “I shouldn’t have tried so hard.” 

Jake shakes his head at you slowly, his soft hair – finally dry, swishes across his shoulders. 

“You weren’t annoying. You were just being nice. You have nothing to apologize for. Come sit?”

You comply, sitting down next to him – making sure to leave some space between the two of you. 

“You know, I heard you talking to Danny that night after my guitar string snapped.” 

You turn to him sharply, brain racing trying to remember if you had said anything embarrassing. 

“You stayed in that night because I’d had a bad night and you thought you would make it worse…” 

You nod. 

“You were so angry. I didn’t want to cause another fight.” 

“I did get angrier, though. I was angry at myself for making you think that I hated you. But I didn’t know how to fix it.” He looks away and you take the opportunity to watch him. There was only one lamp on, and it cast shadows across his jaw. “Let me fix it. Please.”

You sit there for a long moment and just think. You let yourself feel the hurt and the anger. You think about every rude word or dismissive glare. You think about that night at the bar when you screamed at each other. You think of earlier in that break room. You think about all of it before finally turning to him. 

“There’s nothing to fix, Jake. I forgive you.”

His eyes widen comically at you and his jaw drops open. 

“What?” 

“I forgive you.” You say simply, shrugging your shoulders. “I fell for you a long time ago, Jake. And those feelings aren’t going to go away – believe me, I’ve tried.” 

He huffs a laugh. 

“But I’m tired of this animosity between us.” You continue, pinning his gaze under your own. “I just want to be with you. No more arguing, no trying to make up for what’s already happened. Let’s just… be.” 

“I don’t deserve you.” He admits, lacing his fingers with yours. 

“Yes, you do. So let’s let it go.”

“Okay.” 

You squeeze his hand in yours. He squeezes back. 

“Now would you please kiss me already.” 

Finally, a real smile spreads across Jake’s lips and his eyes sparkle at you. 

“Of course.” 

His lips crash into yours for the second time and it’s even better than the first. There’s no uncertainty now. It’s just you and him. You lean back, grasping his shoulders to follow you down. He pulls away slightly as your weight settles and he smiles. 

“Eager?”

You don’t glorify his question with a response – instead sealing your lips over his again. He groans into your mouth as you hook your legs around his waist, bringing your core flush against his hardening cock. 

Jake sits up and you scoot further into the middle of the bed, sitting up for a moment to rid yourself of your shirt. Jake does the same, unbuttoning his top with shaky fingers and tossing it to the floor. He taps your hips, signaling for you to lift them up. He slides your pants off you and you kick them off. Jake follows suit, leaving the two of you in nothing but your undergarments. 

Jake looks down at you and you watch as his eyes rake over your form, pupils blown wide. 

“Look at you.” He whispers and your core pulses at the sound of his voice – husky and low, laced with desire. 

He’s a sight to behold all on his own and you allow yourself to stare – taking in every bit of skin that you’re finally getting to see. 

“Look at you.” You say and he smiles down at you, eyes growing softer for a moment. 

“Don’t do that.” You whisper, grasping his shoulders to pull him down to you. His face is inches above your own and you can feel his heavy breaths against your face. “Don’t feel guilty. Just be here. With me.” 

He nods and attaches his lips to your neck, leaving a trail of hot kisses down your throat. He sucks and licks as he goes, causing the wetness in your panties to grow even more. You slide your palms up his strong back, feeling the muscles ripple underneath your fingertips. His cock is hard where you can feel it against you, and you press your hips up into him slowly. He moans loudly against the hollow of your throat. 

“Fuck, y/n.” 

He reaches beneath you and unhooks your bra, allowing your breasts to spill out for him to admire. He bites your nipple, rolling the sensitive bud between his teeth and you whine, lacing your fingers in his hair and tugging. 

“Jake.” You moan, rolling your hips up to meet his – desperate for any bit of friction. Jake senses your need and dips his fingers into your panties and slides his finger between your folds, relishing in the wetness that’s gathered there. 

“So wet for me, pretty girl.” He says, before bringing his finger to his lips to suck your juices off his fingers. “Tastes so fucking sweet.” 

“Stop teasing me, Jake.” You whine, pawing at his cock where it tents his boxers. You slip your fingers beneath the waistband and pull them down and Jake lifts his hips so you can slide them all the way off. Jake yanks your panties down as well and you hiss as the cold air of the hotel room hits your hot center. Your pussy throbs and you press your thighs together. 

“Don’t.” Jake says, and he presses your knees back apart. He gives you one last devilish grin before diving into your folds, lapping at the wetness and circling your clit with his tongue. 

“Oh fuck!” You cry as you throw your head back in pleasure. He swirls your swollen clit with the tip of his tongue before attaching his lips to suckle at it mercilessly. You moan loudly, and you’d probably feel sorry for whoever was in the room next to yours if you weren’t so focused on the intense pleasure coursing through your body. 

“You taste so good, angel. Can’t believe I let my own jealousy keep me from tasting you sooner.” 

You whine as he pushes one finger inside of you, curling it inside of you in the most delicious way. The coil in your belly begins to tighten, and you know it won’t be long before it snaps. 

“Fuck, right there. Jesus.” You moan as he adds another finger and Jake chuckles. The vibration against your clit makes you jump, so he presses his forearm across your hips – effectively keeping you in place. “Jake I’m gonna cum.” You warn and he only picks up the pace of his fingers, fucking into you relentlessly as he continues lapping at your clit. 

“Give it to me, sweet girl.” He says against your core and that’s all it takes. Your orgasm rips through you and you whine his name as he laps up your release. He pulls his fingers from you and licks them, groaning as he tastes you. 

“Fuck, y/n. You look divine, all spread out for me like this.” 

“Only for you.” You say, still trying to get your breathing under control. You sit up and stare at him. His cock is rock hard and weeping, standing at full attention. Your mouth waters at the sight of him. 

“Lemme taste you, Jake.” You say as you reach your hand towards his length. He grabs your wrist in his hand, stopping you.

“As much as I’d love for you to, I’m not gonna last if you do that. Next time.” He promises, releasing your wrist. “But tonight I wanna cum in this pretty pussy.” He glances around suddenly, eyes searching for something. 

“What?” You ask, rising to lean on your elbows. 

“You don’t happen to have any condoms around here, do you?” 

“I’m clean. And I’m on birth control.” 

He pins you with a heated stare. 

“Are you sure?” 

“Very. Want you to fill me up, Jake.” 

He groans at your words and brings his hand up to pump his cock. His chest is flushed and sweat is gathering at his temples. 

“Fucking hell. Okay.” 

You spread your legs and Jake glides the head of his cock through your folds, gathering the wetness before slowly sliding into you. You both moan at the feeling of him sinking into your pussy. He bottoms out and pauses, giving you time to adjust to the stretch of him.

“Jesus, you’re so fucking tight." He growls, brows pinched together as he tries to hold back from moving. 

“Do it, Jakey. Give it to me. Move.” You whine, pushing your hips into his. He complies, pulling out of you almost completely before slamming back into you. He sets a hard pace – the force of each thrust pushing you upwards, making your tits bounce as he rails into you. His eyes are transfixed on them as they bounce up and down, and you rake your nails down his back. You wrap your legs around him and press your heels into his ass, drawing him in closer. 

“Fuck, you feel so good.” He groans.

“God, Jake. Right there.” You cry, clenching your eyes closed. “Harder! Fuck!” 

Jake grabs your calf tightly with his right hand, throwing it over his shoulder. He then plants his forearms on either side of you, caging you in with his body. The new angle allows him to hit even deeper, the tip of his cock hitting that special place inside of you with each thrust. You wail as he pistons his hips into yours and little breathy moans fall from his plump lips. His eyes screw shut and his hair is damp as he fucks you better than anyone ever has. You clench around him and he groans loudly, sweat dripping down his chest as he opens his eyes to watch your face as the pleasure takes you over. 

“You look so fucking gorgeous, baby.” He says, thrusts growing more desperate as his own release quickly begins to approach. He slides one hand between the two of you, circling your clit in time with his thrusts. 

“Jacob!” You scream, as your second climax washes over you, sending white hot pleasure coursing throughout your entire body. It seems to keep going forever, and your legs shake and your body twitches as he keeps fucking you through it. 

“Fuck, say that again.” He says through clenched teeth, thrusts growing erratic and sloppy. 

“Jacob.” You say, and this time it comes out as a needy whine.

“Fuck, fuck. Shit!” He growls as his mouth drops open. His own orgasm finally arrives and you feel his cock twitch inside of you as he paints your walls with his release. He thrusts into you deeply once, twice, three more times before collapsing onto you. 

“Jesus.” You say, closing your eyes as you fight to get your heart rate back down to a reasonable pace. 

“Yeah.” He pulls his cock from you and your pussy clenches at the loss of him. “Hold on.” He reaches down towards the foot of the bed where his boxers lay. He cleans you both up before throwing them down onto the floor. He reaches across to the nightstand and flicks the light off. 

He collapses onto his back and you roll onto your side to face him. The two of you stare at each other in the dark. 

“Do you believe me now when I say all is forgiven?” You ask him, smiling as you take in his fucked out expression. 

“Yeah, I guess.” He says, smiling back at you. “I’m still gonna keep telling you though – I’m so fucking sorry.” 

You reach up and cup his face between your palms, bringing him close to you so you can press your lips to his in a sweet kiss. 

“And I’ll keep telling you that it’s okay.” You say against his plush lips. “I’ll always choose you.” 

He searches your face before pressing a kiss to your forehead. 

“Thank you.” 

He pulls you in tight to his chest, and you can feel his steady heartbeat as you nuzzle into his skin. You toss one leg over him, pulling him even tighter against you. 

“Does this mean you’ll come back for the next tour?” He asks, face buried in your hair. 

You giggle.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.” 

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

Taglist:

@sacredthethreadgvf

[vinvantae]

hey! i’m quite new to tumblr so i have absolutely no idea how to request a fic, but i’m going to try here? i hope i’m right😭

so i had this idea for a daniel ricciardo x reader where the reader being a driver for aston martin w/ seb and close friends with many of the other drivers, especially danny ric.

during the last race before summer break, they’re like p6 and p7, but at the end of a straight, daniels brake doesn’t work and he gets closer and closer to the next turn. the reader realizes that something is wrong and that daniel doesn’t have control over his car anymore so she decides to stop his car with her’s to save his, even if that puts her in danger. in that moment she realizes that she might feel more for him than just pure friendship. the cars slither out into the gravel and crash into the wall, but nothing “bad” happens.

the reader, a bit sore and with a sprained wrist, immediately jumps out of her car to help daniel out of his, since he’s also hurt but nothing severe. as soon as they’re out, daniel just pulls her into a hug and thanks her and they don’t break away until the marshalls tell them to clear the track.

they’re brought to the hospital and ask to be room-buddies so that they’re not bored. that evening, they do a live video together in the hospital, telling the fans that they’re fine and that they will be racing again after the break.

i have no idea if this was the right way to request sth, i’m sorry if it wasn’t😂

you don’t have to use this idea, if you don’t want to and if you want to use it, take ur time and don’t stress yourself!

xx lilly

Hi Lilly, thanks for the request! I’ve taken your idea and made some changes to make it my own hope that’s okay 🧡 I’ve used Daniel’s collision with Lance as inspo

******************************************************

Apex

You and Seb made your way towards the garage, chatting away as you usually did. It wasn’t fantastic weather and the sky was threatening to let rain crash down but it was holding back for now. It was the last race of the season before the summer break and you were excited for your time off.

The senior driver had taken you under his wing as soon as you joined the team so making friends with the other members of the grid was a lot easier because most of them had a strong bond with Seb.

The driver’s parade was spent goofing around with Daniel, the two of you laughing and finding every opportunity to wind up your fellow members of the grid. Your energy match was unparalleled and you were like two peas in a pod and more often than not your laughter could be heard long before you were seen. The other drivers would often exchange knowing looks when the two of you stood a little bit too close or his hands lingered on you a little too long, but the naivety was almost sweet and they didn’t want to burst your bubbles.

You weren’t really expecting to have to deal with Dan during the race, even though McLaren were struggling this season, Aston Martin were struggling even more. But as you sped around the corner, he emerged beside you from the pit lane… on hards? Weird choice, you thought. The tire had been underperforming all race.

You cursed mentally as he hit the apex first, forcing you to go around the outside but instead of heading straight on you found your car going sideways off into the gravel - the nose of Daniel’s McLaren nestled into the green of your car. You wriggled your tires and tried to get out of the trap but it wasn’t working.

“For fucks sake.” You cursed, turning off the car and removing the steering wheel and neck rest so you could get out.

Daniel’s engine was still growling as he tried to get going again but it seemed his race was as fucked as yours. Once he turned it off you pressed your hands against his halo.

“So, what the fuck?” You laughed, wanting to be mad at him but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it.

“Locked up.” He grumbled your voices muffled by your helmets, he struggled a little before pulling his steering wheel off. “Fucking tires. Sorry, didn’t mean to take you out… you okay?”

“Think so, maybe a little whiplash but nothing too bad, you?” You stepped back so he could climb out the car, assessing the damage he’d caused.

“Think I’ve done something to my wrist.” You helped him out of the car and he cradled it to his chest. “My own fault though, as long as you’re alright.”

He brought his hand up to your helmet and brushed his gloved thumb across the surface before pulling you into a one armed hug. “Would’ve been so mad at myself if I’d hurt you.”

You hummed contently. “Thankfully I’m a tough cookie.”

It was moments like this that you really felt warm and safe with Dan, even though that he was the one who had caused the incident - the way he held you made you feel so secure. The marshals insisted that the two of you went to the medical centre to be checked over, especially as Dan had complained about his wrist. The Australian convinced them that you should both ride in the medical car together, his arm staying around your shoulder.

"Are you sure you're okay, Dan?" You asked quietly, leaning into his hold, both of your helmets now off. "You're being very cuddly.”

“…just… don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d hurt you.” He mumbled, squeezing your shoulder. “You mean the world to me.”

You felt your cheeks flush. “…you don’t have to think about that, I’m okay. I promise.”

His eyes met yours and in that moment, you could swear you could hear your heartbeat in your ears. You had always had these feelings for Daniel buried deep down but moments like this always made them bubble up to the surface. He simply smiled and turned back to face the front as you pulled up outside the medical centre.

"Once they've checked us over, wanna do a little Instagram live to let the fans know we are okay?" You asked, climbing out the car.

"Yeah, sounds good."

The checks were over pretty quickly but they decided to keep you both in until the race was concluded. The fans were relived when you let them know you were both unscathed so it just left you and Dan sat on one of the beds - you swinging your legs a little.

"So, can I admit something?"

You let your eyes lift from the floor to meet his gaze. The Australian felt his heart skip a beat. "Of course."

"...I know it probably seems really cliché and forced but I just need to say it because I can't imagine and incident like that happening again and you not knowing how I feel." His voice dropped to a whisper, tattooed hand wrapping around yours. "I like you, more than I probably should do, but you're one of the only people I think about and I'd really like to take you out on a date."

You opened and closed your mouth a few times, shocked by his admission but you found yourself nodding. "I'd really like that."

He grinned and pressed a sweet kiss to your cheek. If you had known that his team putting him on the wrong tires was all it would take for him to ask you out, then you might have begged them too a long time ago.

*************************************************************

Hope you enjoyed <3

[kalicofox]

Okay, so I’ve been reading a shitton of the DPxDC AUs going around here lately. and all the ‘Awful Parents Jack and Maddie’ have been making me sad, so here, have a ‘Trying Parents Jack and Maddie’ DPxDC AU.

Danny wasn’t sure if his mom finding out was the worst thing to ever happen to him, or the best.

It’d been so stupid, too.

Such a stupid way for the secret he’d kept for two years to be revealed. But he’d been exhausted and fresh off a fight with Walker, who’d been hot on the trail of an escaped Johnny 13, and it felt like he hadn’t slept in days, so when his bedroom door had opened just before he’d changed back, he hadn’t even noticed.

Hadn’t noticed Maddie until her soft, horrified, “Danny?”

She’d listened, at least. Listened in a way he couldn’t remember her listening to him in years. She asked a question every now and again as he poured out his story about the Infinite Realms, and the Ghost Portal, and the endless, miserable fighting.

Her eyes had gone hard when he’d mentioned Vlad, and she’d asked probing, delicate questions about Dan, and then, when she came up, Danielle.

And when the words finally dried up, and he sat there, hollowed out and too tired to speak another word, she’d kissed his forehead, and tucked him in the way she hadn’t since he was about eight, and quietly left the room.

The laundry she’d come in to deliver was still scattered across his floor where she’d dropped it.

The next few days were… different. There were long silences from the lab, and shouting from his parent’s bedroom, and odd, mournful looks from his parents when they thought he wasn’t looking. Eventually, Jack sat him down in the living room with Maddie over to the side and asked to see it. His transformation.

Danny had gulped nervously, and glanced over the both of them in a practiced search for weapons that left an odd, pained look on his dad’s face when he glanced back up at him and nodded.

No weapons were pulled when the familiar light flashed over him, but Jack let out a breath like he’d been punched by Skulker, and Maddie had looked like she was about to cry.

And then Jack had thanked him, and told him that was all he’d needed to see, and turned and retreated through the kitchen down into the lab.

Maddie had shaken her head when he’d looked to her for an explanation, and told him to go do his homework, so he’d gone, and for the first time in weeks, managed to get his homework done without any interruptions.

He didn’t notice it at first. It was just a quiet, subliminal itch.

Something was wrong. Something was missing.

And all the while there were no more ghost attacks.

At first he’d taken the reprieve for what it was- a blessing. A chance to catch up on sleep and drag his grades out of the gutter where they’d been firmly stuck since the start of his high school career.

Not that it really mattered. No matter how hard he worked, he’d never be an astronaut now. Not with the way his heartbeat stuttered in his chest. If he were normal, he’d probably have needed a pacemaker just to make it from day to day.

But as time passed, as weeks turned to a month, the lack, the feeling of something missing grew more and more pressing. More and more anxiety inducing.

It wasn’t until Sam had mused gratefully on the lack of ghost attacks recently that Danny put two and two together, and had all but flown home, slamming through the front door and scrambling down into the lab.

The green glow was gone. The familiar, subliminal hum was gone.

The Ghost Portal was off.

No. Not off.

Partially dismantled.

Danny had stared in dumbfounded shock, until Maddie had found him there, and brushed her hand cautiously through his hair. That was how she and Jack treated him these days. Cautiously. Carefully. With an air of sadness about them that grated on him, but that he couldn’t bring himself to shout at them about.

They were dismantling it, she said. Taking apart all of the ghost tech, starting with the portal.

There would be no more ghost hunting from the Fentons, she promised him. Once everything was dismantled and disposed of, they would be just a normal family. He would never have to be afraid of his parents again. Maybe they would even move. Somewhere out of state, where they could start over. Where nobody would know about their past.

Danny had, for the first time in recent memory, thrown a fit. His friends were in Amity Park. His people were there, his memories and joys and sorrows were there. He wouldn’t move. He would not move.

Maddie, had, looking somewhat relieved, agreed. They would stay.

But even the knowledge of the Ghost Portal’s destruction couldn’t keep the nightmares away forever, and Danny found himself sneaking down into the lab and stealing thermoses, specter deflectors, Fenton phones, and anything else he could lay his hands on, just in case. Anything that wouldn’t be missed, he took. It wasn’t like his parents had ever kept particularly good inventory of their equipment before, after all.

Storing the stolen equipment at Sam’s house had been the logical choice, and Danny had, during one of Jazz’s weekly calls home from university, warned her to keep any of the equipment she’d taken with her, just in case, hidden.

At first, Jazz had been thrilled that their parents knew. She’d gone on and on about a new era of openness in the family, and all the things they could do together. It wasn’t until she came home for thanksgiving that she saw the changes for herself and been quietly horrified.

Gone were the gadgets. Gone was the ops center. The basement was just a normal basement, slowly filling up with boxes of junk. The portal was gone. The jumpsuits were gone.

And Jack and Maddie were slowly, painfully, forcing themselves to fit into a mold that had never been made for them.

She tried.

Danny tried.

But nothing they did, nothing they said, could convince their parents that they didn’t have to change. Didn’t have to give up their passions, and love for invention and exploration.

It came to a head one night when Jazz had been trying to gently prod Maddie about it, and Maddie had snapped at her. Asked her how she thought she would live with it if she found out she’d been torturing another sentient species just for what they were? If she found out that she’d been shooting at her own son, threatening to tear him molecule from molecule, and meant it.

Aliens existed. The Martian Manhunter proved that. So did Superman, and Hawkgirl… What are the denizens of the Infinite Realms, if not aliens from an alternate dimension?

Jazz hadn’t been able to respond. Shaken by the vehement anger in her mother’s voice.

The next two years were… awkward. On the one hand, Danny had almost forgotten what it was like not to be on edge every moment of the day- waiting for the next attack. The next time his ghost sense went off. On the other, his parents were so obviously miserable behind their smiles that he felt like it was his fault. Like he’d taken something from them.

It was a relief when the acceptance letter from Gotham University came in the mail. Maybe if he was out at the east coast, his parents would actually manage to forget that he was only technically alive.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Danny said, hitching his bag up his shoulder with an awkward motion that almost dislodged the box in his arms. “It looks all right.”

“Did everything get there okay?” Jazz asked, fretting slightly, “There weren’t any attacks or anything, were there?”

“No, Jazz,” Danny said patiently, “Nothing’s happened. Everything got here fine, probably. I haven’t actually had a chance to unpack anything, you told me to call as soon as I got here, so I did.”

“Oh. Right.” She sounded vaguely embarrassed. “Sorry.”

Danny’s grin was crooked as he fumbled for the key that would unlock the front door and admit him to the building.

His mom and dad were paying for the apartment he’d be staying in while he was at Gotham U, and the scholarships and grants he’d applied for would take care of pretty much everything else if he was careful, so the only real reason he’d need to get a job would be to buy whatever games or things he wanted outside of that.

“Was the drive all right, sweetie?” Maddie’s voice came through his earbuds, and Danny nearly dropped his box.

“Jazz! Do you have me on speakerphone?! Why am I on speakerphone?!”

“Mom and Dad wanted to make sure you got there safe, too!” Jazz defended herself as Jack laughed in the background.

“Don’t be mad at Jazz.” Maddie directed, “I left you something in the—”

“Oops, hang on Mom, just a sec.” Danny interrupted.

Some guy was coming down the stairs behind the door he’d been fumbling to try to open, and, judging from the look on his face, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with some random college student struggling to open the door to his apartment building.

Danny stepped back, out of the way of the door, nearly fell down the stairs, and caught himself as the guy opened the door, an unamused look on his face.

He didn’t walk past, and Danny stared at him owlishly, taking in the broad shoulders, strong jawline, and white streak in his hair. The guy was built like a freaking linebacker!

“Well?” The guy demanded, and Danny jerked out of his observation.

“Well what?” Danny asked, confused, scooting more to the side so he could walk past. It wasn’t like Danny was taking up that much of the front step.

The linebacker sighed, and reached up to massage the bridge of his nose. “I’m the Super. You’re Fenton, right?”

“Oh!” Danny jolted, and struggled to shift the box to one arm so he could offer his hand for a shake. “Yeah, that’s me. Sorry, I had no idea what you looked like.”

“Well,” The superintendent gestured at himself. “This is me. Stop that.” He added when Danny nearly dropped the box again. “I’m Jason. I figured I’d come give you a hand. I can at least hold the door while you get your shit into the foyer.”

“That’d be great.” Danny said and stood there until Jason made a sweeping sarcastic gesture past himself.

“Any time, Fenton.”

“Oh! Right! Sorry!”

In his ear, Jazz was laughing at him.

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

Part 5 is here! Let me tell you, I’ve been anticipating this for a while now. It had to happen for the plot okay

If you haven’t caught up yet, here is a summary in part 1

Pairings: Jake Kiszka X Danny Wagner *slash pairing for those who need it

Warnings and tags: 18+ ONLY!!!, m/m sexual situations, slash of course, unrequited love, some talk about childhood love, jealousy, lots of angst, third person POV Jake, Danny, and Sam, restaurant AU

Word count: 4.6k

“Are you coming out tonight with Kim and I?” Savanna asked Sam over the phone.

“Sorry, Danny and I are staying in to study for a big midterm exam” he replied with only a little bit of remorse in his tone. He had been spending nearly every afternoon or evening with Savanna and although he’d never imagined he’d have to plan time to spend alone with his best friend, even if it involved some school work, he was looking forward to it.

“Can’t you guys just come out afterwards?” Savanna whined into the phone which Sam had on speaker as he folded some laundry in his bedroom. He’d spent all morning of his day off cleaning and completing other mundane tasks he’d been neglecting while being out so often or having Savanna over keeping him otherwise occupied.

It had been a few months since he and Savanna had started officially dating. Him convincing her that it would be best to be out front and transparent about it since she was technically his boss.

At first she wasn’t too keen on the idea, wanting to keep their encounters limited to more casual hookups than actually dating. They clicked instantly in the bedroom, she was hot, and Sam wasn’t bashful about knowing he looked good either.

Sam knew she had a reputation of being a bit of a, well a bitch. Originally it was just a game to play, work his charm to get the girl, but not long after he started to get to really know her he found out it was all a front. She had to be tough when she dealt with drunk assholes on the daily and eventually she just kept the act up.

It was what she showed Sam when they were alone together that made him realize they could be more than just a hookup. In the moments when he insisted in cuddling after sex, or in the mornings when he’d gotten her to stay over, she would let her guard down and talk to him and it was like she was a totally different person. Someone soft, and insecure, that needed constant reassurance, and he was giving it to her so she was sticking around.

“Danny and Kim can spend some more time together” she suggested in an attempt to change his mind.

Savanna took to the challenge of setting her friend Kimberly up with Danny the second Sam mentioned it- mostly as a joke though she seemed more serious about it. The whole Halloween party had been a plot to get them drunk and in the same room together outside of work to see how things would unfold with a little pushing in the right direction. When Jake got invited though it threw a kink in the plan even if he did nothing but show up and try to start a fight.

“I don’t think Kim and Danny are going to be a thing. She seemed pretty interested in Jake at the party”.

“No, Kim can not get with Jake. He’s such an asshole” she scoffed and Sam could picture her like she was folding her arms across her chest as she wedged the phone between her ear and shoulder.

Sam let out a sigh, Jake had played the hard to get along with older brother act with most of his girlfriends in the past. He knew it was just Jake hazing them to make sure they were good enough for his baby brother, but the tension and constant bickering between him and Savanna was on another level and it was starting to get annoying. Especially because from Sam’s perspective they were a lot alike in some aspects. They both put on a front that was off putting to some, save for the few that broke through to the vulnerable interior. Jake wanted to make it in the culinary world, he’d always tried to be indifferent about it, but Sam knew that deep down he wanted to make it work. Most people didn’t know, but Savanna was an artist true and true. She had shown Sam her work and it was good, good enough to call it professional, but making it as an artist was not easy and it had put doubt in her.

Sam tried to help her the best he could, researching exhibits for them to go to and mingle in the community. It’s not like he wasn’t part of the art world anyways in his study to become a producer, so he fit right along. That was just another reason why Savanna had agreed to date Sam, because he actually understood her.

“Jake is a good guy, Kim would be in good hands” he tried to convince her but she merely let out a huff in return. What he wouldn’t admit, was that deep down he maybe preferred Kim and Jake to get together rather than Danny.

He had been around for all of Danny’s girlfriends in the past, and although he always played the perfect boyfriend with each of them, Sam knew he was holding himself back for some unknown reason.

With as much time as he’d spent with Savanna, he’d spent quite a few of that with Kim too and he’d grown quite fond of her.

Although he knew Danny would be great for her in the meantime, he couldn’t shake the thought that Danny would just be stringing her along.

That was the problem with being best friends with someone, you knew everything about them right down to their faults, which Danny had few of in Sam’s eyes.

Just as Sam had been spending a lot of time with Savanna recently, Danny had been with Jake. He knew that shouldn’t be suspicious. Jake knew Danny for just as long as Sam had, but Sam’s possessiveness over his best friend always got the best of him ever the more when it came to his brothers.

“You’re my only best friend, right?” a childhood Sam would question Danny from inside the safety of their secret hideout that had a handmade sign on the makeshift sheet door that said ‘no twins allowed’.

“Right” Danny would reply confidently with his cute little sideways smile.

“And I’m your only best friend, right?” He’d follow up with, just to be sure.

“Right. You’re my only best friend Sam”.

Sam stored the memory safely back into his mind so he could finish up his conversation. “Anyways baby, I’ve got to go. Class is starting in like 30 minutes”.

Danny had already left, always one of the first to get to class while Sam was nearly late every time. “I’ll see you tomorrow at work okay?”

“Okay” she sighed, finally giving in and hanging up.

After class, Sam and Danny walked down to their favorite cafe where they jokingly critiqued the menu like some of the pretentious patrons that visited the restaurant before ordering the same thing they always did.

Danny was following behind Sam on the sidewalk, a big paper bag full of their togo order in one hand, and his phone in the other as he smiled down at the screen.

“Hurry up Daniel, I don’t want my food getting cold!” Sam called after him, causing him to look up from his phone and see he’d fallen behind a little.

He quickly stuffed it back into his pocket and ran to catch up. “It’s not like you’ve got any meat on that sandwich Sam, I think you’ll be alright if it’s a little cold” he teased before bumping their shoulders together.

Danny seemed just as excited to be spending the day together as Sam was, which warmed his heart just as much as he knew that food was going to warm his stomach. If only he’d hurry up.

After taking a break to eat, Danny took out the trash and Sam got to work with his books. Although their usual study spots were at a desk in their respective rooms, they’d chosen to sprawl out on the couch together. A collection of notepads and books were between them as Sam sat criss cross on the couch and Danny kicked his feet up.

“You think the professor is going to let us use notes on this exam?” Sam casually questioned after a good half hour of diligent silence, but Danny didn’t answer. He looked up from his book to see Danny smiling back down at his phone again instead of studying like he should be.

Before he could even begin to question who it was Danny was talking to, his inner antagonist spoke up with, “Tell Jake to leave you alone for a bit, damn”.

Danny raised an eyebrow and looked over at Sam with a slightly offended look. So he could hear him. “I’m not talking to Jake” he replied defensively.

He clicked his phone off and set it down onto the book in his lap. “What makes you think I’m talking to Jake?”

Sam rolled his eyes, trying to drop it and resume where he was reading and taking notes. His thoughts were getting the best of him though. If he’s not talking to Jake then who?

He let his eyes wander back over to where Danny had moved the book his phone was resting on over to pick up a different one.

As quickly as he could Sam lurched forward. Books and papers were knocked onto the floor and Danny was wrestling with Sam to try and pry his phone out of his lanky grip.

“Stop! Give it back!” Danny hollered, though he didn’t try too hard to fight him for fear of hurting him. Sam may be taller than his brothers but he still didn’t physically match up to Danny.

“Let’s just see who you’re texting then!” Sam yelled back, fumbling with the phone in his hands when he saw another message come through, the name clear as day, Kimberly.

“We’re friends Sam” Danny tried to persuade him when he successfully got his phone back, ignoring the new text for now and stuffing it safely into his back pocket where, hopefully, Sam’s grabby hands wouldn’t reach for it again.

“Since when?” Sam pushed for more information, a sly grin spreading across his face.

“Since the party” Danny admit, although he was still adamant there was nothing more going on between them. “When we hung out for that bit in my room, I thought it would have been weird, with her being my boss and all, but she was nice. Not too nice, kind of cheeky actually, and she’s really funny”.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re in loooove” Sam sang, wiggling his fingers in front of Danny’s face to which Danny knocked them away and picked up his book from off the floor.

“Don’t be ridiculous” Danny brushed him off. He scanned his eyes over the text on the page, but it was clear that between texting Kim back and forth all day and Sam’s teasing that he wasn’t going to retain anything he was reading. He let out a sigh, which almost masked the next question Sam quietly asked.

“Are you in love with anyone?”

Danny stared at Sam like a deer caught in headlights, off guard as Sam stared back at him. He was met with chocolate orbs looking so milky and delicious, the peaks of his cheekbones slightly flushed like he was embarrassed to have even asked the question, or scared of the answer. Should I tell him? The thought flashed across Danny’s mind. He didn’t want to lie to Sam, but somehow he still wasn’t sure he was ready to make that dive.

So instead he just sat there in silence. Turned to stone under the gaze of the beauty before him.

Sam thought, maybe he didn’t hear me? He didn’t ask again though, he was sure of the answer. He knew Danny, he was hiding something. He only wished that his best friend felt comfortable enough to confide in him, not knowing when their relationship turned away from that level of trust.

He shook his thoughts away, not wanting to ruin their evening in together by sounding pushy and dramatic. “Ok well, stop being weird and help me with this. I can’t get a C in this class”.

“I don’t think you’ve ever gotten a C in your life” Danny chuckled, finally letting himself get back to normal.

“Hell yeah I did! Remember sophomore year Physics? We were lab partners but we’d get high every time we were supposed to be working on our projects. I think my parents about had a conniption when they saw my grade. Tried to ground me from seeing you”.

Of course Danny remembered that year, he remembered every time Sam fell asleep on the floor next to him in his childhood bedroom. Every time Danny’s face would burn red like the cherry of a joint when Sam would joke ‘you know this is kind of like kissing’ while they would pass it back and forth. Sam thought it was funny to tease him, Danny thought what would he give to actually be kissing Sam right now.

At first he tried to deny the feelings he felt for his best friend. Thought it was just teenage hormones and the fact that he and Sam joked around about stuff like that way too much. It wasn’t until their freshman year of college, shortly after they had moved into their apartment together, that Danny had his first real wet dream about Sam. Waking up in the middle of the night with his boxers completely ruined and having to sneak his sheets into the washer.

“Okay then, let me see” Danny positioned himself closer to Sam on the couch so he could see the book he had in his lap.

Sam didn’t actually need any help, he just wanted Danny to give him his attention. It was childish of him he knew, but what else could he do when he felt his best friend slowly slipping away from him.

“Who sent this plate back?!” Jake yelled through the window when he saw a mangled half of a steak sitting back underneath the heat lamps.

The last person he’d expected to see was Danny peeking his head around. Regardless of all they had going for each other outside of work, Jake thought Danny was the best waiter on the staff. Simply because he handled things with the guests on his own rather than running around crying for a manager's help.

“I brought that over from April’s section. She said the lady thinks it wasn’t cooked all the way through or something” Danny informed him, trying to hold back a smirk. There was something about Jake getting all riled up that Danny secretly found kind of cute.

Jake scoffed and took a few steps over to the monitor so he could recall the order. He knew there was nothing wrong with it, he’d cooked that steak himself just over thirty minutes ago.

“Ticket says she wanted it medium well, that steak is medium well and looks like they’ve already eaten half of it. So what’s the problem?”

“Apparently she thinks that’s blood on the plate and she doesn’t want to eat it anymore” Danny watched in baited amusement as Jake's face flushed hot with frustration.

Jake plucked the plate from the window and disappeared for a moment before reappearing on the other side through the kitchen door. Danny followed as he made his way through the dining room to where April was talking to an older sandy haired woman in a slim black dress and a pearl necklace.

“Excuse me, is this your leftovers?” Jake asked as he set the plate back down in front of her with a loud clunk of the porcelain against the wood.

The woman looked shocked, especially when she took him in dressed in his black chef's jacket, pinstripe pants, hair pulled back into a low bun with a bandana tied around his forehead.

“No” she spoke confidently, though her eyes shifting from Jake to April and back to Jake said otherwise. “I sent it back. I wanted a steak medium well but look, there’s blood on the plate, that means it wasn’t cooked all the way through”.

By this point, Kim was starting to make her way over to the table, having seen April, Danny, and Jake all standing around raising some red flags for her.

“Well, ma’am” he began, emphasizing the way he spoke to her like he was speaking as respectfully as possible to her while also shaming her. “When the meat is processed all the blood is drained. That’s actually myoglobin, absolutely safe and not blood, but you would know that if you went to culinary school. I’m assuming since you sent this perfectly fine steak back that you didn’t, so why don’t you just-”

“Okay! Why don’t we get you a dessert on the house instead?” Kim suddenly cut in and shot Danny a quick sharp look that said do something with him NOW.

Danny flung his long arm around Jake's shoulders and pulled him from the table back towards the kitchen and away from the lady who was now throwing a huge fit to Kim and April.

Jake rolled his shoulders back to knock Danny’s arm off him before throwing the door to the kitchen open with a huff.

As Danny continued to follow him, he thought Jake might ignore him now. Head back to the line and bury himself in work to blow off some steam, but instead he stopped on his heels and spun around to face him. “You said that was April’s section?”

Danny nodded, hoping Jake wasn’t going to try to get April in trouble or anything. She was new and soft spoken so Danny had taken her under his wing.

“Why didn’t she bring it back then?”

“Well” Danny straightened up, trying to decide if this was really important to be explaining right now or not. “I usually always bring back plates. The other wait staff are too scared to. You scare them Jake”.

He rolled his eyes. Scared of him? Sure Jake was loud mouthed and pushy in the kitchen, the exact opposite of his normal personality at home, but who wasn’t a whole other person while at work?

Danny watched the way Jake's brows furrowed as he thought, letting the realization sink in that maybe he might have taken things a little too far and only caused a worse reputation for himself amongst the staff. The way wait staff gossiped, the whole ordeal was sure to be blown out of proportion by the end of the week.

“I’m not scared of you though” Danny muttered, walking towards Jake and backing him through another door into the supply room. “I’m not scared of you, so I get to deal with it, but if I’m being honest sometimes it’s just an excuse to get to see you”.

Jake let out a breath of air, a combination of a huff and a sigh like he was trying to hold onto his frustration even though Danny’s words were penetrating the bitter taste in his mouth and filling it instead with sweetness. Then Danny reached over and placed a tender hand on his cheek and Jake immediately melted underneath it.

“Fuck Danny, I’m sorry. I’m just having a shit day”. He closed his eyes and leaned into Danny’s palm. He was fully aware of his surroundings, they were at work, they both had jobs to be doing, but even the simplest and most innocent of skin to skin contact was already setting Jake off.

It had been a few weeks since they had last been intimate. Their schedules just not matching up, and Jake was embarrassed to admit that he’d spent the morning jacking off while thinking about none other than the man before him now.

Danny stepped closer like he could read Jake's thoughts. Flashes ran through his mind, images of his dry hand against his morning erection and his long hair clinging to the back of his neck as his legs searched for purchase on anything against his sheets while he panted Danny’s name as he came.

The air was stiff in the room. Racks of food prep and bags of dry goods stacked all the way to the ceiling paired with a few broken lights no one had bothered to fix making it rather dark compared to the blinding lights of the kitchen or the ambiance the sconces created in the dining room.

Danny’s grip on Jake's face tightened slightly as he slowly bent down in an attempt to press a gentle kiss into his lips, but Jake knew that wouldn’t do. He grabbed the hand in his own and pulled Danny further into the shadows of the room before he pinned him up against a rack.

A hiss escaped Danny’s lips as his back was pressed into the metal shelving, but the slight pain was immediately remedied by Jake’s lips attacking his own.

With the torrent of kisses also came his hands, sweeping over Danny’s form like ocean waves in a storm. “Jake-” Danny grumbled when his hands started to roam lower.

“I just want to feel you” Jake pleaded into his mouth, licking inside with no intent other than to consume as much of him as he could in this moment while he had it.

An anxious feeling rattled in the pits of Jake’s stomach, but he brushed it off as the thrill of the location. The idea that they were hidden, yet so in the open, and Jake wanted him. So badly he wanted to deeply kiss his skin, scratch his shoulders, bite his thighs, mark him and make him his in any way that he could.

The body before him was so warm and comforting, each and every plane and curve so familiar yet so fresh and electrifying every time they were together. Then his fingers brushed against something cold and he couldn’t identify if the sound that followed was from him unbuckling Danny’s belt or from Danny flipping them around and pushing him up against the shelf in return.

Danny returned his hand to Jake’s cheek only this time he let his fingers weave into the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling some strands loose from his bun. “Are you doing anything after your shift?”

“Hmm?” Jake barely responded from where he was occupied with plunging his hand into the front of Danny’s now open pants, feeling the erection he was desperately trying to fight off- Jake's hands were definitely not helping with that.

“If you’re going to get me all worked up like this, then you better be prepared to do something about it later”. Danny tugged at the back of Jake's hair again, pulling a moan out of him as he attached his lips to the expanse of neck he exposed and sucked as hard as he could without bursting any blood vessels.

Jake opened his mouth to respond, but all that fell out were gasps and mewls that dripped in desire with the excitement of the promise of some real relief later.

The little noises that were shared between each other drug them down into their own world and masked all other sounds from the outside. All sounds that would have clued them into someone coming.

“Daniel?..” a meek voice broke through the invisible barrier, startling the both of them as they jerked their hands off each other and created some space between them where there previously was none. Though the state they were found in, Jake's hair a straggly mess and Danny’s pants barely hanging around his narrow hips, was all the incrimination they needed.

The voice spoke up, having taken a moment to process the image they were seeing. “What. The. Fuck”.

Danny’s eyes were fixated on Jake, too scared to turn to face the person who caught them, but the sound of the voice was recognizable enough.

He watched Jake's expression which only confirmed the worst. He had seen them together, and he was waiting for one of them to try and explain.

“Sam-” Jake began, side stepping out from underneath Danny as he frantically worked to button his pants back up. He tried to approach his brother as calmly and hesitantly as he could, knowing that Sam was probably two seconds and an inch too close away from breaking out into a yell.

“No. I don’t want you to say anything” Sam’s voice came out in a quiver but gained strength as he sucked in a shaky breath. “Daniel?” he called out again, begging for his friend to look at him. “What’s going on?”

He let his eyes slowly turn towards the voice, seeing first two long legs standing merely a few feet from them, then his slender waist, and up to his chest rising and falling in a broken pattern.

The moment their eyes met, Danny crumbled.

“Sam, please…” There was nothing to say, nothing that would make this any easier for him, but Sam cut him off before he could attempt.

“Just tell me. Do you love him?”

His reply wasn’t thought out. They were unprocessed words he spilled out in a feeble attempt to calm Sam and remedy the situation. “What? No. I-”

His gaze on Sam broke when Jake looked over his shoulder. His expression could only be described as a look of betrayal before he pushed past his brother and stormed out of the room.

Jake ripped his jacket from his trembling body as he walked hurriedly through the kitchen, making a b line through the mess of bodies for the back door. His eyes finally narrowed in on his second in command standing at the back of the line. Jake threw his jacket into his arms, nearly knocking him out of his way as he did so.

“Here, take this. You’re in charge for the rest of the night” he commanded him through gritted teeth. Though he was confused and slightly taken aback, his second took the jacket and nodded his head as Jake slipped out into the brisk night air.

He wasn’t sure why he was reacting so badly to Danny’s words. It all happened so fast yet he could replay every frame of what had happened like it was recorded on one of those old cameras with the reels of film.

Sam saw them.

Oh, Sam. The look in his eyes when he saw his brother and his best friend, together? Could Jake even call it that?

Apparently not. Danny had made at least that very clear.

“Jake?” Danny called out into the kitchen, multiple heads turning towards him yet none with the face he was looking for. Then he saw it, Jake’s black jacket standing out from the others donned in white.

He weaved through the kitchen, gaining a few distasteful looks from the cooks who were confused as to why Danny was even back there. He didn’t care though, he needed to speak to Jake, to tell him he wasn’t thinking, or that what he had said came out different than the way he’d intended.

To apologize.

When he clasped his hand onto the shoulder underneath the black jacket, another who still wasn’t his target turned around.

“Have you seen Jake?” Danny asked desperately.

“He left just a moment ago” he answered before trying to ask what was going on, but Danny had already taken off towards the back door he knew Jake left through every night.

He could feel his heart thumping through his hands as he pushed the heavy door open, hoping that Jake would be standing against the cold damp wall behind it waiting for him like he would have been when they made plans to meet up after work. Before they were caught.

There was no sign of him, and his car was already gone from the small employee parking lot.

“Fuck!” Danny shouted up into the void that was the night sky. There weren’t any stars above him. Either due to the foggy city air drowning them out, or maybe they had run from him too.

There had to be some way of fixing this, but he knew in the depths of his heart that the only way to move forward was to come clean, about everything.

@psychedelicsprinkles @twistedmelodies @heckingfrick

[ilovewriting06]

The Need, the Need for Steve

A/N: I just watched the episode where Steve flew the plane for his friend and Jerry said the need for Steve and I was inspired (it also fulfills my friends request so it’s a win win)

We were sitting at Kamekona’s after Steve flew in the Hammerade enjoying a well deserved meal. I lean against Steve’s shoulder while biting the inside of my lip to keep my arousal to myself and not alert Steve. God he looks so hot, and when he was in the pilot suit, dear God I had to keep myself from jumping his bones then and there. I snap out of my daze when I hear Steve chuckle, “I have the need, the need for Steve.” I look over to Jerry to see him ready to pass out. I nudge Steve’s side and look at him to silently tell him to be nice. He smiles his breathtaking smile and shrugs. I roll my eyes and kiss his shoulder blade before snuggling back into his side as everyone laughs about Jerry’s new catch phrase.

I throw Jerry a sympathetic smile before inwardly smirking before I run my hand up Steve’s thigh and lean to whisper in his ear, “Jerry’s not the only one with a need for Steve.” Steve looks into my eyes and I watch as his pupils get bigger. I smile and place an innocent looking kiss on his neck when in reality it was a strategically placed kiss on his weakness.

He looks back at me with warning eyes and I remove my hand but lean into him so I can whisper to him and not seem suspicious, “You have no idea how hot you looked, how hot you look right now. God if only you could feel what you do to me.” I feel him shudder as my warm breath fans over his neck and I continue, “Tonight I’m taking care of you.” I place one more strategically placed kiss on his neck before grabbing his trash and mine and going to throw it away.

I jump slightly as I hear Tani, “Boss man is gonna have one hell of a night isn’t he?” Not long after Tani joined Five-0 we became fast friends and in turn we learned to read each other like a book and I taught her how to pick up on what Steve was thinking. In hindsight that might not have been such a good idea. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She looks at me with a raised eyebrow and a smug look, “Liar. I don’t know what you told him but his leg hasn’t stopped bouncing since you got up and when you kissed his neck he would gulp and his hand would tighten onto the table.” I blink once before whistling, “Damnnnn, you are good. Okay, maybeee I did a little something something but no one else needs to know about it.” She throws me an ‘obviously’ look before tilting her head, “Although Danny’s going to notice Steve’s strange behavior tomorrow and how you keep trying to change the subject and then out you two in front of everybody. And then feel bad when he sees your face and tries to make some shitty excuse as to how that couldn’t be it.” I let out a defeated sigh, “I know. I can’t even have one night where I can do whatever the hell I want with Steve without Danny being the ever present detective that he is outing us in front of everybody. Steve’s even starting to get pissed, which isn’t hard but we’ve started trying to find ways for no one to find out, but Danny can read us like a book and somehow we keep displaying what happened and it’s driving me insane.”

Tani frowned at how exhausted I was with Danny and shrugged, “Tell him.” I furrow my eyebrows, “Tell who what?” She huffs and crosses her arms, “Tell Danny.” I give her surprised look before throwing my hands all around and whisper shouting as I’ve noticed some people are watching, specifically from out table, “Tell him what! ‘Hey Danny, yeah I fucked Steve so keep your trap shut!’ Because that sounds like-,” I pause as I realize it’ll work and it’s not like I’m outing Steve and I because Danny will already know, “a good idea!” Tani throws her hands up like I told ya so before leaning in, “I get details for that helpful information.” She spins around and walks away and I yell loudly this time, “You know you would have gotten them anyway!” I chuckle as she yells back, “I know but I earned it this time!” I roll my eyes and smile knowing she’s right.

I collapse onto the bench beside Steve and watch as everyone looks between Tani and I, and Lou asks, “So what was that about?” Tani and I look at each other with wide eyes and I secretly try and tell her what to say before answering, “Pests.” The same time she says, “Relationships.” I mentally face palm and glare at Tani. She lets out a nervous chuckle before saying her goodbyes and all but running away. Everyone looks at me and I give them a glare to drop it. They all do their own form of surrender before starting a conversation about fishing.

After about another thirty minutes I’m soaked in arousal because I haven’t stopped watching Steve argue with Danny and throwing his hands around to prove a point. I lean back against Steve’s shoulder and grab his hand and put it on my thigh. He looks at me in question as I slide it up my thigh until he’s under my skirt. Yes I wore a skirt but I had no idea it would come in handy like this, I was just hot. I watch as he bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from moaning when he feel how soaked I am. He leans over and whispers in my ear, “Damn princess your underwear are soaked. Do I turn you on that much?” I hum quietly in agreement before turning back to the conversation.

Five minutes later I stiffen in my seat as I feel his finger push my underwear to the side before running his finger up my folds. Once his finger is coated he pulls it out from under my skirt and his jaw all but drops at how wet his finger is. It’s so wet it’s literally dripping off his finger. He has a small smirk as he looks at me and I feel him rub his hand on his pants before standing up and grabbing my hand, “Alright guys, Y/N/N and I are gonna head out.” Everyone nodded and said bye as we walked to his truck.

When Steve is pulling onto the road he glances at me before asking, “What has you so worked up?” I sigh knowing why but not knowing how to tell him, “I don’t know I’ve just been super horny lately.” It wasn’t a lie, I really was horny 95% of the time nowadays. “Is it from your period?” No, most definitely not, in fact it’s the opposite of that, “No, it’s definitely not from that.”

His frowns slightly as he thinks and I let my eyes trail down his veiny arms until I reach his hands which are tapping away on the steering wheel so he doesn’t touch me while he’s driving. I shift in my seat and let out a barely audible whine. He obviously heard me as his eyes snap to me. He smirked as he followed my line of sight to his hands which were still aimlessly tapping away. He stopped tapping his fingers and I look at his face to see him side eyeing me and I feel my face light on fire as I realize he caught onto what was flowing through my mind.

He chuckles at how red I was, “You sure you don’t know what has you so riled up lately?” He knows, he knows I know what’s going on and he knows I’m not telling him, but he doesn’t know why. I clear my throat before shifting in my seat, “Just you, you always look so irresistible and sexy.” Again, not a lie. He sighs, “You’re lying.” My mouth opens slightly before I huff, “I am not.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out as a semi aggravated sigh, “Yes, you are. You shifted further away from me, avoided eye contact, and you unknowingly played with your bracelet which you do when you’re nervous. You’re hiding something from me and it’s been going on for awhile now. I was hoping you would tell me on your own but it’s been over a week and you haven’t shown any indication that you’re going to tell me.”

I hold my breath and tap my foot as tears fight to be let out. I look down to see I’m again playing with my bracelet. I stop and wipe my sweaty hands on my skirt. Steve glances over at me and furrows his eyebrows as he watches my hands shake, “Did you kill somebody?” My eyes widen as I squeak, “What!? No!” “Well that’s the only thing I can think of that would have you so anxious, this is the first time in our relationship that you’ve hidden something from me that wasn’t a surprise party or something. Did I do something?”

I shake my head as he parks the truck in our driveway, “No, well, kinda but I did it too.” He furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head to the side, “What?” I sigh before rushing out, “Impregnant.” He shakes his head as he tries to catch what I said, “Babe, I have no idea what you just said. I play with my bracelet as I stare into his eyes, “I’m pregnant.” He heard me this time, I can see the gears in his head turn as he processes this new information, “YOU’RE WHAT!?”

I feel the tears surface and I rub my eyes aggressively to try and get them to go away, “I’m sorry, I swear I was on birth control up until I found out I was pregnant. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner but I was scared, I still am. You just got diagnosed with radiation poisoning, the chance of you getting sick a-and dying is a real possibility and I know the last thing you need is the stress of a baby, and I know you probably hate me right now, so if you want me to leave, I-I will.” I wipe the tears off my face and look into his eyes and I’m surprised to see his pupils blown wide before he whispers, “You’re pregnant? With my baby? I’m going to be a dad?…..Wow.” My eyes widen as I process what the actual fuck is going on, he has a breeding kink, an unknown kink to me until this moment as he stares at me with lust. I let out a shaky breath and rub my thighs together while biting my lip, “You aren’t mad?” He shakes his head, “Hell no I’m not mad.” I smile before I squeak as I’m pulled over the center console and into his lap as his lips meet mine in a bruising kiss. I moan into his mouth when I feel his erection. He pulls back from the kiss and cups my face, “You have no idea how happy I am. Yeah I have radiation poison, yeah the risks of death are higher, but if anything that makes me want to have a family even more. I want to experience life without worrying about my possible health issues. So what, I might get sick, but hell I could get shot tomorrow and die and it’s never stopped me before so why should it stop me now?” I sigh happily, “You have a breeding kink.” He looks me in the eyes and deadpans, “That’s all you got from this?” I blush and sheepishly smile as I shrug, “I heard you but I’m still caught up on how I never knew before.” He shakes his head with a small smile which quickly fades as he sees me smirk, “You’re gonna love to be called Daddy aren’t you?” He squeezes my hips and it’s the only answer I need. I pull his face back in for a kiss, “Can I fuck you now?” He nods with a semi surprised smile and I shift in his lap before bringing my lips to his ear, “Then what are we waiting for Daddy?”

[lexosaurus]

Was wondering with the holidays coming up if we could get a little sneak peak of the Christmas EWW chptr ? (If you have any of your ideas for it down yet I mean) If it's too spoilery I understand, not trying to pester or anything, just was giving it a re read recently and I'd be lying if I said I'm not super curious (and excited) lol.

Oh ppl are totally allowed to pester me about EWW in fact I encourage it.

Also I'm all good now so ppl are back to being allowed to pester me about my other fics too haha.

X-mas chapter bit below the cut in case people don't want to be spoiled! Keep in mind it's only in its first draft, but I think this is pretty decent and also a good preview of what's to come 👀

****

The door swung open with enough force to plow through the wall. 

Or, that’s what Danny was imagining, at least. But despite the loud bang of the door, the scrambling feet, and overwhelming voices, the door stayed perfectly intact on its hinges.

“Aunt Alicia!” Jazz popped up from the couch. “Welcome!”

“Jazz!” Alicia stepped through the interior, her suitcase in hand. A green coat had been thrown over her overalls and plaid T-shirt, and she shed it as soon as she stepped through the threshold of the door. 

Jazz hugged her. “Good to see you! You haven’t changed a bit!”

It was true. No matter how old Alicia got, she still wouldn’t be remiss without her red mullet and bulldog-like features.

“I can’t say the same about you!” Alicia said, slapping her hand on Jazz’s back. She pulled Jazz away, surveying her up and down with a grin. “Look at you, your hair’s so long now. And have you grown?”

“Not since I was like thirteen!” Jazz laughed. 

Maddie peeked over their shoulders. “I can take your suitcase to the guest room.”

“Nonsense!” Alicia barked. “It hasn’t been that long since I’ve been here. I remember where it is just fine!”

“Don’t worry, Alicia,” Jack said, getting up from the couch. “Go catch up with the kids! I’ll bring your stuff upstairs.”

As usual, Alicia hesitated at Jack’s offer, looking him over as if he were three feet tall and made of fool’s gold.

“Thank you, Jack!” Maddie snatched the suitcase and coat from her sister’s arms and passed them off to Jack who quickly disappeared upstairs. She ushered Alicia into the living room with a, “Come, sit. It was a long flight. Would you like anything to drink? We have both red and white wine somewhere in the cabinets—oh, the white hasn’t been chilled.”

Danny sat rigid on the couch, the cushions suddenly feeling hard underneath him. His brain registered a vague pressure on his thighs, and he glanced down to see his hands gripping his legs. It was still strange to feel only pressure where his brain expected more, and he let his legs go. His arms fell awkwardly to his sides, and then he realized that Alicia was slow to sit down on the armchair, her eyes looking over him like he was some sort of alien at Area 51.

That wasn’t even a far comparison to make. He was the alien at Area 51. Only, instead of being located in the desert, Area 51 was his damn living room.

[multifandomfanfiction]

Curls

TITLE: Curls PAIRING: Fanboy/OC RATING: T CHAPTER: One-shot SUMMARY: Some of the squad are back in San Diego for another special mission.

[A/N - My parents and I went to eat at Olive Garden today and there was a father and his daughter there that made me think of Danny Ramirez and his curls.]

Maia entered the Hard Deck.

Top Gun had come calling again. It seemed like whenever they (the Navy) had a difficult mission, the Dagger Squad was called in.

She made her way to the back where she knew her squadron would be. Her brows furrowed when she saw someone standing with Payback and Bob.

His head was covered in a mop of curls and he didn’t look like the other Naval aviators.

“Hey, who’s…?”

The man turned.

It was Fanboy!

Maia’s mouth dropped open.

He’d changed in the couple months they’d been on different assignments.

“Mickey?” she asked.

He gave her the crooked smile she loved so much. “Hey Lady.”

“They letting riff raff fly nowadays?” Maia gestured to the stubble on Mickey’s cheeks.

Mickey laughed. “Nah, I’m on leave right now.”

Maia frowned. “What are you doing here then?”

Mickey smiled. “So you haven’t missed me?”

Maia playfully scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Like a hole in the head.”

Mickey wrapped his arms around her. “I’ve missed you, Maia.”

“I’ve missed you too, Mickey.”

“Wait…if you’re not on duty, who’s Payback’s backseater?”

Bob held his hand up. “Phoenix is in an active warzone so they couldn’t afford to lose her.”

Maia was quickly learning that this mission wouldn’t like the last one. “It won’t be like old times…”

Mickey put an arm around Maia’s shoulders and drew her into him, kissing her forehead. “You’ll be great as always.”

Maia looked up at Mickey. “How long are you on leave for?”

“Don’t worry, Mimi. I’m gonna be here for a while.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Things definitely weren’t like old times, especially considering that Rooster was now one of their instructors.

“Look at you! Bradshaw, as I live and breathe!” Maia exclaimed.

Rooster laughed and hugged her. “It’s so good to see you, Lady. I hope you know that just because we’re friends doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you.”

“I’d expect nothing less, Captain Bradshaw.”

When Maia wasn’t training, she was spending time with Mickey.

Even though the Uranium mission had been over 6 months ago, it was like a day hadn’t passed between them. They were still able to banter back and forth about shows and movies they’d seen.

They were hanging out on the beach when a little girl ran past them.

She wasn’t looking where she was going, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground.

“Woah!” Mickey said. He rushed over to her and helped her up.

As Maia watched Mickey interact with the little girl, she couldn’t help but imagine what Mickey would be with his own child. That child would be raised by the sweetest man she knew. Showered in love.

The mother of the little girl eventually came over and thanked Mickey for comforting her daughter.

They said goodbye and Mickey sat back down next to her. He looked over at her, but couldn’t place the look on her face. “What?” he asked her.

“You look good with a kid.”

Mickey blushed and laughed. “I’m serious, Mickey! She’d have your olive skin, my eyes, and your curls.”

Maia reached up and tugged on one of Mickey’s curls, not noticing that the pilot in front of her froze. “Mickey?”

“Your eyes and my curls?”

Maia’s eyes went wide, realizing what she said. “Oh my god. Mickey, I’m so s…”

One of Mickey’s hands grabbed her chin and brought her lips to his. “Don’t apologize. God, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the Uranium mission. I should have said something, but we only had two weeks…”

Maia shook her head. “It’s okay, Mickey. I understand. You’re here now.”

“About that…”

Maia’s face fell. “But…but you said…”

Mickey sighed. “I lied. I’m not on leave. The last mission I was on…something went terribly wrong and I got shot out of the sky.”

Maia gasped.

“I was in physical therapy for three months and then I turned in my wings.”

“But…you loved flying…”

“I love you more.”

The breath left Maia’s lungs.

“I needed to tell you how I felt, so when I heard some of the Squad were being called back I knew I needed to come to San Diego.”

“I…I love you too Mickey.”

Mickey smiled and kissed her.

Three years the two would be married with a beautiful little girl with Maia’s eyes and Mickey’s curls.

[A/N - Fun Fact: Maia’s callsign is “Lady” because she’s always super polite to the point where the boys started to tease her that she acted like a highborn lady.]

[indecentpause]

Find the Word

tagged by @catchingbigfish to find stars, hedge, justify, written, and question. thank!

as always, from The Black & Blues :)

cw: suggestive, food

stars:

Austin slams his hands on the table so hard your glasses shake.

“Oh, fuck yeah!” he shouts.

“Dude,” Kris hisses through his teeth.

Austin turns bright red. Since you met him, he’s started growing out a beard, and while he keeps it relatively close cropped, it looks good on him.

All your male friends are so good looking, fuck.

He leans in and repeats with a whisper, “Fuck yeah.”

You and Danny look over at Kris and Sara.

“Are you looking for rhythm guitar?” Sara asks. “I think that’s where I’m most comfortable.”

“That’s perfect,” Danny grins.

Kris takes a little longer to respond. He’s majoring in philosophy, with the intention to become a college professor, so he’s the busiest of all of you. Tons of readings and papers and research and debate.

“I think I could manage it,” he finally says. His mouth twists and he rolls his eyes to one side in thought. “I’d have to budget my time really well. But as long as you’re cool with me only making two practices a week, I could make it happen.”

You perk up, your whole body thrumming with excitement. You barely even notice Danny’s leg shifting away.

“Yes, yes, fuck yes!” you laugh, whacking your hands on the table, because you can’t sit still, it’s too exciting, you’re about to combust with joy.

“I’ve made some flyers.” Danny pulls one out of his bookbag and slides it into the middle of the table. “You wanna look over them and let me know if you want anything changed? This is just a mockup so I’ve only printed the one.”

You spend the rest of the afternoon going over the design and the ad and what you’re going to call your band. None of you are sure if you should wait until you’ve held auditions and everyone is together. But you all start scribbling down ideas on the back of the mockup flyer, and not for the first time do you thank your lucky stars for this opportunity. You got out. You’re free. And you’re not going to blow it.

hedge nudge:

Morgan is tall, though not as tall as Josephine or Austin, and he’s thin and waiflike like you are. His hair is the same color and texture, and if he had green eyes and glasses, he could pass for your brother, or even your twin. He grins when he sees you and says brightly, “Hey, look at us! We match!”

You laugh a little. Josephine nudges his arm and turns toward the five of you.

“Sorry if we’re late,” she says. “We–”

“You’re not,” Sara assures them. “We’re just early because we live on campus. No worries.”

Josephine’s shoulders relax and she smiles, relieved. “We were just hoping to be here before you so we didn’t have to abject you to our warming up.”

“We’re all musicians, too,” Danny says. “It’s okay. We get it.”

justify explain:

When they return to the table, Morgan says, “I was just asking Jaisyn if he wants to come to some of our practices. I think we’re off to a good start, but could help to have some outside ears that know about music, too, you know?”

“Absolutely!” you say again. “We’re going to practice on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Sometimes we're gonna try to sneak in a Friday if Morgan has the day off.”

“I’m a server, so I work evenings,” he explains. “And Fridays and weekends are our busiest. I’ve talked to a couple of coworkers, though, and some of them said they’re willing to switch shifts with me occasionally if I need a Friday or Saturday for a show. That’s when tips are best, so convincing them was pretty easy.”

“Nice,” Sara grins. “I’m glad you can work that out. Kris also said he can get the occasional Tuesday or Thursday off, but he’s already extremely part time, so it’s hard to get any extra days off.”

“We can work with that,” Jaisyn says. “I’ll keep an eye out for venues and you can let me know when you’re ready to start booking.”

“What kind of pay are you looking for?” Sara asks. “Because for a lot of us the only reason we’re here is because of scholarships or our parents, and most of us don’t have a lot of money. And we can’t ask you to do something like that for free.”

“You can give me a cut of whatever you earn each show, maybe?” he says. “Honestly, I’m not looking for a job. I’ve always just really wanted to work with musicians writing music. I’m fine on money, so I would even be okay with trading favors or work. Like if one of you can fix my bike, that alone would be a huge help.”

“Oh, I can do that,” you offer. “Probably, depending on what the issue is. I can look at it, at least.”

Jaisyn grins. “If you can, consider it your payment for this sheet music. If not, we’ll figure something out.”

written:

Thank God it’s Wednesday so you have band practice. Your brain is about to melt out of your ears.

You take the last half hour before practice to play around with your guitar. You’ve written about twelve songs between all of you and Jaisyn, so you’re still playing a few covers at every show. You’d like to be all original.

You sing about music and partying and thinly veiled metaphors for masturbation and smoking weed. You have a couple songs about video games and old movies and TV shows.

But you don't sing about relationships. You're not ready to be out and it feels disingenuous to sing about an imaginary woman you'll never fall in love with. Sure, Danny could sing those, if you ever decide to write one. But it feels weird, knowing Sara and Austin and Kris are aroace and you and Morgan are gay. And Josephine can’t really sing besides backup since she’s on brass, and she’s not out either, anyway.

Nobody else really has any skin in it, to play love songs. And for that you’re grateful. You just want to have fun.

question:

This time, Frankie opens the door. She smiles brightly at you and steps to the side as she says, “Hi, Meara! It’s good to see you; it’s been a while! How are–”

But she stops abruptly and her face creases with worry as you stumble inside.

“I haven’t been sleeping well. And I’m having some trouble with school,” you admit.

“Oh, Meara, I’m sorry,” she says. “Here, come in.” She closes the door behind you and calls to Josselin in the kitchen, “Meara’s here!”

“Oh!” Josselin pops his head out and says, “I’m just finishing the last of the dishes, I’ll be right there. Sit down wherever you want.”

Frankie hovers over you like an anxious mother hen. “Is there anything I can get for you? Do you want something to drink? Have you eaten? We have some leftover pad thai. We got it without the scrambled egg because Josselin doesn’t like the texture. I could heat it up for you?”

You gently grab her wrist and she pauses. “I’m okay,” you say. “Don’t worry yourself about me.”

“That doesn’t answer any of my questions.”

“Feed him something!” Josselin says, entering the living room as he dries his hands on his jeans. “He hasn’t been eating enough.”

tagging @theliteraryluggage @thatswhereiwanttobe @siarven @magic-is-something-we-create @kaiusvnoir to find the words up, down, top, bottom, left, and right!

[gladly-be-the-good]

Danny Phantom Ducktales Crossover Part 3

The next time Scrooge saw the youngsters, their parents were trying to sneak into his Manor.

He quickly called Duckworth to his office and warned him to steer clear. Lena wasn't supposed to visit today, so the pesky ghost gutters wouldn't be anything Beakly couldn't handle. She had been informed of their intentions and would no doubt expel them more quickly than she would normal intruders. That went to show how much she liked Lena and tolerated Duckworth, since intruder removal was already remarkably efficient.

Lena hadn't planned on visiting Webby today, but Violet had a Woodchuck thing and Lena knew from past experience that if she was left alone for too long things tended to get… dangerous. So Webby was getting a surprise girl's day. She was going to love it. The way her best friend’s eyes lit up when she saw Lena, never failed to brighten even the teen’s darker moods.

She took one look at the people in front of her first home and pulled out her phone. Two adults were creeping up the tall hill toward McDuck Manor, having somehow gotten past the gates. Duckworth usually took care of people if they started to trample through the gardens. Brutally.

She kept her expression casual as she texted Mrs Beakly and walked over to the two teens who waited as far from their parents as possible. The boy was close to her age, maybe just fourteen. The older girl was shaking her head and constantly looking around them.

"We are going to be so arrested." She muttered anxiously.

"Nah. First time offenders are fed to the shark." Lena said casually. The boy almost smiled, even as his sister jumped in surprise.

"Any shark that could successfully eat all of my dad would immediately die."

"Your dad is absurdly tall. What is he, seven and half feet tall?"

"Two feet of that is fudge. That's what'd kill the shark. Diabetes." Lena hummed in amusement and said,

"Magic shark. I like your style though. What's your name kid?"

"Danny, and I bet I'm older than you."

"I doubt it. I'm fourteen. Almost fifteen."

"Ha. I turn fifteen this weekend."

"I'm Jazz, the only member of this family that has never willingly tried to break and enter." Lena hummed.

“Future president?”

“Not with a criminal record I won’t be.” She was such a Huey.

“People try to sneak in here all the time. I used to sneak in here all the time. Only a few have actually been arrested.”

“That’s…good? Oh! You must be Lena!” Jazz’s eyes lit up. “I’ve heard so much about you! I was actually wondering if you had a minute to talk-” Lena felt all her walls slam right back up. People didn’t want to talk to her. Not about anything good. Not unless they were family.

“Don’t tell me you came all the way here just to talk to me?” Because you’d be lying.

Her eyes were hard and her posture defensive.

Jazz felt the already vibrating anxiety in her chest, exasperated by her parents breaking the law and breaking into someone’s house, someone Jazz needed on her side, starting to match the tempo of a hummingbird’s heartbeat. Desperate, utterly desperate, she tried to explain. To pull Lena back out of the box she saw Danny close himself into all the time.

“No! It’s not like that! Our parents are ghost hunters and they have wanted to come out here since the portal opened. We just got dragged along-” Lena scowled.

Seriously?

Ghost hunters?

Duckworth was in that house. She was in that house. Sure, Lena was more than happy to wreck any supernatural threat to her family, but some of those supernatural threats were her family!

“Yeah you’re definitely going to want to get out of here. Beakley will not go easy.”

The ginger girl looked ready to protest or…cry? But her brother shook his head.

“Leave it Jazz. It’s not worth it. It won’t change anything anyway.”

A familiar accent rang down the slope and Lena felt herself relax. When had she started to think of Bentena Beakley as someone who’d keep her safe?

“You will leave this property immediately! Should you return, and I strongly advise you against returning, you will be thrown into prison without hesitation. Mr. McDuck has elected to ignore my advice that you already be dealt with so severely.” The adults, who honestly looked more like pouting, sulking, kids, were followed closely by a red-faced housekeeper.

“But this whole place radiates paranormal energy! You could all be in very serious danger!”

“And this would be the perfect chance to try out the Fenton Spector Shredder!”

“We are well equipped to handle danger and we already have a shredder. I’ll thank you to leave quietly before Mr. McDuck is given the ‘perfect chance’ to try out any number of security traps.”

In all the time Lena had been alive, so like, a year, she had never seen the housekeeper falter. But when she saw Lena, she faltered. It was easily missed, a footstep out of cadence, a shadow of worry hiding in her eyes. Beakley was… scared for her?

“Lena, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with the Saberwings today.” The fear wasn’t quite well enough hidden and Danny and Jazz’s mother whipped out a scanner of some sort. No sooner did Lena see it than a red light started blinking and two voices shouted in tandem,

“Ghost!” Just as the hunter’s reached for their weapons- (how had Beakley not taken their weapons?) -and Beakley reached to break their bones- (maybe she was just having a bad day and was looking for an excuse to break some bones) -a head of bright orange hair blocked her from view. Their daughter stood in the line of fire and they still didn't lower their guns.

Danny started talking quickly, eyes darting to her occasionally with concern and something like hope?

“You said this whole place registers as ghostly. Lena lives here, so it makes sense that she registers too, right?” They were protecting her. The ghost hunter’s kids… were protecting her. From their family. But maybe they weren’t family. Maybe it was like her and Aunt- like her and Magica.

You must be Lena

I’ve heard so much about you

I was actually wondering if you had a minute to talk-

We just got dragged along-

The only member of our family who has never willingly tried to break and enter-

-never willingly-

“That’s a wonderful observation Danny. Why can’t you apply yourself like this to your school work?” His mother’s praise and reprimand reminded Lena so much of the things Magica used to say. She felt sick.

The excuse he’d given for her, it carried the same desperate denial that Lenas' always had, when Magica confronted her about Webby. Her mouth was dry and her stomach was churning.

Danny sounded pained when he responded.

“Just, not as fun as ghost hunting, I guess.” Lena’s heart pounded in her chest.

“He’s a chip off the old block! Come on, son, I’ll show you how the shredder works!” Jazz quickly interjected,

“Wouldn’t it be best to do that in a controlled environment? Where there are no external factors like dust or sudden weather changes or, I don’t know, police officers?” She smiled tightly. Their Dad lit up.

“Good thinking Jazzy! I know just the place! To the Fenton-mobile!” Jack bounded toward the gate, dragging Jazz behind him like an excited, reckless kid with an old toy.

Maddy put her hands on her hip and frowned at Danny.

“I know what you were trying to do just now young man.” She started walking to the gate and Danny followed and Beakley followed and Lena followed, although she couldn’t figure out why she would want to see anymore of this flaming, familiar, trainwreck.

Danny missed a beat.

“You do?” Beakley reached for something at her waste subtly. Lena was right next to her, practically pushed into her side, and she still couldn’t tell what the weapon might be. Maybe it was invisible. Weirder things had happened. Like Lena letting Beakley walk so close to her. Like Beakley choosing to walk so close to her. Both of them liked their own space.

No personal bubbles, ghost hunters, strangers standing up for her, trauma that she hadn’t had to deal with in a record month coming back to haunt her….Yeah. Weird day.

“You might be able to distract your father with ghost hunting but we will be discussing your school work later.”

“Right, of course.” Danny’s relief changed to muffled annoyance. “Of course.” They reached the main gates, still warped from Launchpad’s last crash. So that’s how they got in.

Jazz was shifting nervously from foot to foot.

“Hi. Sorry about, all of this. I hope, I mean I’d like, could we start over?” Lena could feel Beakley bristling, but that was just because she didn’t know yet. She didn’t see what Lena could see.

The almost fifteen year old offered a half-hearted, mock solute and said,

“Madam president. I look forward to your candidacy. I’m gonna have to vote against you if my best friend’s brother runs at the same time, though.” If she could vote. And was in the country. And paid attention to boring political stuff like that.

Despite Lena’s lackadaisical attitude, or maybe because of it, Jazz looked relieved.

“Naturally. I’d vote for my brother too.” Danny’s tired expression twisted into disgust.

“Ew, no. If I ever run for public office, assume I’ve been overshadowed, cloned, or replaced by a shape-shifting alien.” Lena snorted but noted his terminology. Overshadowed. Maybe it was a ghost hunter’s kid thing, but that wasn’t a word most people knew.

She gently probed the waters as Jazz started to climb into the mobile home and Maddy offered Beakley a curt good-bye.

“Yeah, getting possessed is the worst.” Her mouth tasted like tar how could a shadow taste like anything- oh yeah it was because Magica wasn’t actually a shadow she was a shadow and she had been all along-

Danny’s eyes widened. He checked to see if his parents were listening before he breathed,

“Yeah. It really, really is.”

“I’d never do that to somebody. Ya know. If I could.” Danny ducked his head.

“If that was something I could do, I might have. If I didn’t know what I was doing or what it felt like or was desperate.”

He couldn’t raise his head. He had found another Halfa and they were going to hate him. He was so good at that. “But I think, if I had, I’d hate myself for it.”

“I’d forgive you.” Lena’s response was automatic. She hadn’t even really thought it through. But in the face of his stunned expression, Lena realized that, yes. She wouldn’t be able to be angry at Danny for anything he’d done in the past. It was like looking in a mirror. Only this time, no trace of Magica was anywhere in sight.

Maddy stalked back over to Danny and said,

“Let’s go. It’s clear that we’re not welcome here.”

“Okay, sure. I was just telling Lena about Inviso-bill. I thought she might have heard about him since he was on some local Amity park blogs and, ya know, the internet gets things all over the place.”

Maddy’s eyes brightened, a sickening similarity to the way her daughter’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t caught the message.

Look up Amity park’s Inviso-bill.

“Oh? That’s wonderful Danny! The more people who know about the danger ghosts pose to the public the better.” How could he live like this? Lena folded her arms and shifted her weight.

“Yeah, I’m vaguely interested. What ghost calls themselves Inviso-bill, though?” Danny blushed furiously.

“Nobody knows that that’s his name!”

“That’s true.” Maddy added, eager to educate the poor Ignorant living part time under Scrooge McDuck’s roof. “There is a lot of information about him that can’t be trusted. Some people in Amity think he’s a hero, if you can believe that.” She laughed and it was like nails on a chalkboard. She tipped her head back the same way as- The goggles over her eyes made them look red just like-

“Okay Mom, we should really head out.”

“Here’s our business card, just call the second number if you have any questions or see anything here that might be specter related.” Maddy handed over the card but made the mistake of putting her hand on Lena’s shoulder.

Most days, Lena was fine. She was surrounded by her friends, her family, and the phantom weight of slim fingers made of darkness faded into the recesses of her mind. Most days, reminders of Magica were few and far between and when they did show up they were dealt with because now Lena knew that bottling it up wouldn’t help any. Now Lena knew she could lean on people sometimes without them shying away and leaving her to fall. Today was no longer one of those days.

She jerked away from the touch and turned around and walked as quickly as she could without running back through the gates and up the hill. Beakley was shouting below her. Then, purposefully heavy footsteps followed a respectful distance behind her.

Eventually, Lena stopped, just shy of the main house.

“I’m fine.” She insisted, voice carefully light but not all together steady. “I am. Just, they’re just memories.” She gripped her friendship bracelets and repeated. “I’m fine.”

“I know.”

The accented voice was soft and coming from her height. She turned around and hugged Beakley, who was on her knees, ready to catch her.

Lena cried and sputtered,

“This is, this is just because I promised Webby, that I’d hug you someday. That’s all!”

“I made a similar promise about a week after she met you.”

“She’s the best.”

“She is.”

After a moment, or a minute or five or ten, who knew? Lena pulled away and swiped at her eyes.

“He’s like me.” She sniffed.

“I gathered as much.”

“Of course you did.” Lena folded her arms and hated how much like a hug it was. She should be past needing hugs. Right? “We won’t just, we’re going to help him, right?”

“Of course we are.” Beakley confirmed. Lena nodded, but sensed some reservation in the former super spy’s tone.

“We’re going to save him, right?” There was a moment of hesitation before her answer.

“Of course we are.” Lena nodded and finished heading into the house. She waved off Duckworth's aloof but worried glances and Scrooge’s fury and awkward attempts at comfort. She just wanted to be alone until Webby got home. She didn’t want to ask anymore questions that would result in promises that everything would be okay for Danny. That nothing would stop them from saving him from his so called family, even risk to their own. She didn’t want them to have to say any of that.

Because they’d be lying.

[lcveruind]

[ ana de armas | cisfemale | she/her | thirty ] ——   welcome to grimrose, CAMILIA PÉREZ. it’s cool that you’re here, you know. haven’t you heard of the history of this place… anyway, how’s being a NEWCOMER who has been in town for ONE YEAR, especially since you spend most of your days as an EDITOR & JOURNALIST AT GRIMROSE POST? also, not that it’s a bad thing, of course, but i’ve heard people say you can be a little REPRESSED more than you are ALLOCENTRIC but that’s just coming from people who are bored here, i promise. to me, you remind me of BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY by THE VERVE and a worn out beanie, ink stained fingernails with coffee stained sleeves, dark circles and a heavy heart, a corner full of stacked journals, nostalgia everytime she sees her now daughter, hope to see you around, MILA.

full name: camilia pérez 

age: thirty

dob: april 2nd

place of birth: roswell, new mexico

current location: grimrose, new hampshire

gender: cis-female

sexuality: bisexual

pronouns: she/her

religion: it’s complicated

occupation: editor journalist at grimrose post

finances: comfortable

spoken languages: english can read spanish

pinterest & connections

& the story so far

Raised by a single-father because her mother left them when she was only 5. Camilia’s father was always the hardest worker in the room and instilled the sense that hard work means everything into young camilia’s brain. 

She learned rather quickly how to take care of herself due to the long hours her father worked, and spent most of her time studying or her nose in books to get her out of her town. Her father constantly telling her she needed to do better than what he did. 

Got a full ride scholarship to a college in chicago and milia had her bags packed and was out of new mexico faster than you could blink. 

In college she finally felt like she was on the right track to being who she was meant to be especially when she met winnie. The girl was quite literally camilia’s better half and without her mila had no idea where she’d be. Winnie got her out of her head and brought her into the world, taught her to look at life through ‘the glass is half-full’ glasses. 

Through winnie mila met danny and jesse and while winnie & danny’s attempts at trying to match the latter and her up didn’t work they were like a family and that was enough for mila besides relationships definitely scared the girl. 

After graduating, Mila immediately took a job in Chicago as an investigative journalist. She stayed for a year before moving toNew York to work at New York Times. Her life was solely her work until winnie called to tell her she was expecting. Over the moon for her friends she couldn’t have been happier. promising that she’d always be there for her friend's child, and after meeting little iris camilia knew she hadn’t lied.

TRIGGER WARNING: DEATH Life was going great and then the dreaded call came that her best friends had passed. Her whole world changed overnight. Resigning from the times and packing her bags to move to grimrose, new hampshire to be a parent. Camilia picked up a job at the local newspaper and while it wasn’t as fancy as her old job it’s slow and steady which is maybe what she needs.

other facts !

super career motivated, but is trying really hard to take a step back and not let it consume her world. 

She comes off stoic but wears her heart on her sleeve. 

definitely a big pessimist at heart even if she’s currently a ‘glass half-full’ person. 

Hasn’t actually begun to grieve her friend's death & is throwing all of her focus into iris so she is definitely overdo for a big cry. 

Was obsessed with ufo’s and aliens when she was younger because of where she grew up. 

will be your biggest cheerleader if you need one.

Has always dreamed of being an author & has a novel in the works, but is terrified of actually publishing it. 

the idea of having a family terrified her, but now that she's doing it she's still mortified that she will screw it all up.

camilia volunteers at the animal shelter to get her daily dose of serotonin and is very very tempted to adopt a kitten. 

burns water, absolutely cannot cook to save her life so anytime she hosts she orders food beforehand. no one’s caught on to her act.

[bobateaboo]

So for a school assignment, we had the option to write an alternative ending to a book we read this month so yeah have my school mandated fanfic, I did it off of the first book of the Nemesis series, Dreadnought

It had been two months since Dreadnought- Danielle- was murdered. 

Shot in the chest by the villain we were tracking down, Utopia had managed to download her somehow. Translate her entire personality of bits of code, set to rest inside the most annoyingly hard to hack system while Utopia made her digital- well, utopia.

It took doc eight weeks to manage to get past the firewall. She said she wasn’t sure how long I could be here until Utopia found me, I had to find Danielle fast. Find a way to keep communication and get her out of here.

Good news; it didn’t take long to find her.

Bad news; Danielle was now code, and code could be edited. And this code didn’t want to be saved.

I kept on pressing. Whatever Utopia had done to her, I knew the code had to still be Danny, somewhere in there.

“Don’t you miss being out here? Wouldn’t it be good to see everyone again?”

“Well, I do miss you all, but things will be much better once you’re all in here!” Danny gave a cheery smile, her icon giving a thumbs up. “Just sit tight, Sarah, it shouldn’t be much longer!”

“What about the legion? Doc Impossible? Graywytch, isn’t there anything you wish you could tell Graywytch?”

For a moment, her expression soured into the most Danny-like face I had ever seen. “I would introduce her to the surface of the sun.”

I’m pretty sure I cheered loud enough to echo across the metal. Whatever chipper sun-dried tomato personality Utopia had given her, it wasn’t invincible.

The little digital icon of Danny was holding up her hands to get me to stop. “Hold it, hold it-”

“You still hate her!” I leaned towards the monitor, beaming. “I knew it!”

“Look, I don’t hate her, I just-”

“Say one good thing about Graywytch. Quickly.” 

Danny wrinkled her nose. “She’s at least smart enough to cast a spell so someone can’t spill to the legion when she outs them to their goddamn parents-”

“And- and- what about Chlorophyll?”

Danny rolled her eyes. “Jesus, Chlorophyll- he at least tries to be nice but sure, pressure a fourteen year old to sign a life-changing contract why don’t you-”

“And your parents?”

Danny groaned loud enough I’m tempted to turn the volume down. “Do not get me started, Sarah, I-”

She pauses mid sentence, processing what I’ve been doing. “You son of a-”

I’m pretty sure my smugness is tangible through the screen. “Oh no, keep talking-”

“This is for the greater good, Sarah, whatever you’re trying isn’t going to work-”

“You sure? Cause I’m pretty sure Graywytch would beg to differ-”

“Who’s in there?”

We both freeze at the sound of Utopia’s voice, my hand going to pull my mask back over my face before she can catch a glimpse.

“Danielle, I said who-”

“Nothing, what are you, my mom-” The door behind me slams with a mechanical click, and Danny leans closer to the screen. “It’ll take her a few minutes to break the lock. There’s an air vent in the back corner of the room, she’s too high and mighty to try following you through there.”

I pry the vent cover off, hesitating. “Danny, I-”

“Chop chop, Calamity!” She uses my code name this time, as Utopia bangs on the door. Yeah, maybe now isn’t the best time-

“I’ll be back,” I promise as I step in.

“You just can’t get enough of me, can you?”

By the time Utopia gets in, her voice is a distant echo down the vent systems.

But that doesn’t matter now.

I have a plan.

[corpatrem]

❛ What makes you say I’ve stopped caring for you? ❜ / danny & maria. @crimewrought​

        “I ---...” and she seems to take the worry that had settled so deeply in his heart come forward with a simplicity that one simply knows and understands about when they have been struggling with a thought or a feeling for ages that it gets muddied in the water; grows -- bigger & bigger so that it becomes incomprehensibly difficult for the beholder to keep locked up. 

And then in she comes; a breath of fresh air, plucks that simple worry from his mind without another wasted thought, and Danny is left scrambling for the weight that had once been there. Because by simply asking that question right back at him...

             “Well, it just -... it’s been a long time since before the war. And I --... I’m afraid I’m not the man I was. I think I’ve changed too much from what you’ve remembered about me.” It’s why I’ve been avoiding you. Quiet words fall from his lips as he avoids looking into her eyes, hands clasping together around his cup of tea. “You’ve moved on, yeah? Carried on, started a life? An’ right you should. It’s just --...” and he becomes stuck once more, struggling with the right words at the right times. The war had made him a quiet man, and Danny breathes in deeply, frowning hard. 

           “It’s easier, I think.” and a wry smile appears. “The world keeps spinning, and you don’t need to stop for me.”

[calamityandme]

I’ve had a better couple of days thank goodness.

Yesterday I had a “me” day. I played a lot of BG3. ROMANCED ASTARION! It was at the tiefling party/bonfire or whatever. It was so fun lol.

I made myself chicken and dumplings for dinner that night. Spent time with Danny. Overall a good day.

✨(I need to talk about my special interests now)✨

Today I cleaned for R. I had a slightly different list than usual. I didn’t clean parts of the upstairs bathroom because she had already cleaned them, for example. I decided to switch things up with my listening selection. While I cleaned I listened to Rhett and Link’s podcast Ear Biscuits on Spotify. I hadn’t listened to them in a while because I’ve been enjoying cleaning while listening to my library audiobooks, but I remembered that they do special sex themed episodes during the month of September called Sextember so I checked those out.

I really enjoy those episodes of Ear Biscuits. I enjoyed What Are Our Sex Lives Like? (Ep. 395).

I listened to half of EP. 394 Kinks We��ve Tried (Or Will Try) but it was also funny. I only listened to half because I had finished cleaning by then, nothing against them. I plan on finishing it sometime soon.

I want to go on a little bit of a Rhett and Link tangent lol. I have been watching Rhett and Link’s content ever since I was first given access to YouTube. I was introduced to them when I stumbled across their video Squirrel Rights Song.

I have watched Rhett and Link videos at many varying points in my life. Sometimes almost religiously watching uploads, other times forgetting about them for a year until I’m recommended an interesting Good Mythical Morning segment by the YouTube algorithm.

Their videos are just a safe place for me. I have definitely looked up to Rhett and Link as father figures in my life when my dad wasn’t there when I needed him. Rhett and Link had time for me every morning lol. That was enough to leave a good impression on me. I even wrote to them back in the day and drew something of me and my friend meeting Rhett and Link lol. I was 17 and she was 15 at the time lol. Looking back, I’m sure if I actually ended up sending them my letters/package that the drawing of the two grown men standing next to two teenage girls would probably be creepy lol. Maybe it was a good thing those letters stayed in my sentiment box.

I loved the first Good Mythical Evening. I paid for it so my friend and I could watch it together. My friend C is also a long-time fan of Rhett and Link.

I just have enjoyed their content and how it’s changed over the years. I loved the small town commercials, the rap battles, the many GMM changes and skits that have stuck with me throughout the years (Moolissa, Cotton Candy Randy✨). I have a lot of good memories with their content.

But anyways done talking about that lol.

I went to this coffee shop by my work and got myself a special coffee to celebrate going to work today. I really contemplated calling in sick today but I knew in my bones I needed to get it over with.

A few days ago I tried to get coffee from this place and I didn’t have enough money to get the coffee, so i apologized and left the drive thru coffeeless. I thought I had enough but I was $2 short. Today I asked to pay for 2 coffees and only get 1 to make up for my grievance. They were nice about it.

It felt really good to pay for the coffee I couldn’t have earlier. I got myself some lunch and dropped some things off at a donation center near me before going back home for the day.

I played more BG3 today lol. Started watching this alien movie called Arrival. It’s pretty good so far. I have just been trying to take it easy since today was my “hardest” day of the week. Hard meaning most physically exhausting I would say.

Tomorrow is engagement photos. I’m so so nervous but excited. I know I’m fat and I’ll look fat so I’m trying to brace myself. Fat doesn’t equal bad. I am fat and that’s okay. I’m beautiful because of me and everything that I am. Mantra for photos ✨ I’m excited for my mom and maybe nana to see our venue too.

I’ll end this post with some marigolds from our garden. Ignore the dirt lol.

[theold-ultraviolence]

I am glad you don't mind that if I keep on writing these on anon! I don't know I just feel more comfortable and thank you for that!

and yeah! oh gods, stretching is so nice (although I am literally the least flexible person ever)! even more because what I study forces me to stay in front of a computer in uncomfortable poses (when I tell you I had to watch a record of a lesson and my ass was numb by the end of it) and I'll be getting up and be like 'yeah, I don't think that muscles should be there' (so, absolutely love the sensation!).

also this is my fave video to stretch to -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eA2Koq6pTI (I think it's very good and a lot of the exercises aren't difficult).

also I hope you'll get to run around a bit (with full on volume songs in your ears)! I genuinely love walking around the city to calm down and I also used to swim a whole lot which was very relaxing, but sadly since moving to uni I haven't been able to do it as the swimming pool is too far away from where I study ugh!

(no bestie, I gotcha about Vaella, because as somebody who also have oc of children, I love them all equally but there are two specifically I love to come up with headcanons and ideas about. I also absolutely love that shy little girl gets Arnas as an husband, as he gives me both burly but also very devoted man. I mean... he is fictional...) (not Arnas, the husband, but Arnas might as well be considering how pretty he looks).

ahhh, I am glad my silly talk could be helpful and I am sure that with summer and the freer time and better weather, you'll be able to focus on it better!

in all truth, I have to admit that I am one more for comfort than aesthetic about house design so I'd probably be looking all supportive at Aemond showing me all this cute stuff... but yeah, the mental image is so cute and I am all for cute blankets and mugs (MATCHING ONES WOULD SEND ME). in all truth, I feel like Aemond is already planning your move in, once he starts to feel more comfortable with you, so there'd be already a whole new toothbrush for you.

ok, finally, I hope you enjoyed the fic! I felt like I might have changed it a bit but hey! now onto planning the next chapter!

ALSO! I am slowly creeping through the whole Danny Elfman... AND HE DID SO MANY SCORES OF MOVIES I LIKE (not me low key fangirling after discovering that he did the score for 'batman' (1989))! I absolutely love the whole techno vibes underneath it and electronic sound! it just gives me very vibing feelings with a dark edge! thank you for suggesting him, I am definitely checking him further!

ok ok, I am off!

have a lovely day!

For sure, lovely! Besides, all our convos are already under the 🌗 tag, so it’s also convenient 😌

I get that SO HARD! I’m literally sitting ALL DAY in front of the ‘puter most days so UGHHHHHH. It feels horrible! And for me I feel it most on my back! Seriously if there was a way to just — take my spine out and replace it with a brand new one — that would be amazing lmao. I feel like an old man trapped in a 26 year old’s body. And thank you sm for the video!! I can’t open it as I’m replying to this but I will as soon as I hit publish! Also if you’re ever interested, I totally recommend ‘Yoga with Kassandra’ on youtube! It’s the only yoga instructor that doesn’t make me feel bored and she has some very energizing routines that would maybe help you when you’ve been too long sitting in front of the computer. Also aaaaaaah swimming sounds super delicious right now because it’s starting to heat up here and it’s been YEARS since I’ve been to a pool/beach!

Omg omg giggling kicking my feet screaming, exactly!! Something about that contrast makes me super giddy. Shy Vaella deserves a hot af, northern, passionate lover to bring her out of her shell. I need to give this guy a name because I only refer to him as ‘her betrothed who looks like Arnas’ 😅 but I’m thinking about him and Vaella CONSTANTLY.

Also about comfort vs aesthetic, I was the same and always chose things because they were indulgent (I have all the spooky blankets ever, and a jack-o-lantern pillow, and a collection of spooky mugs that is getting out of control) and I never got why my mom would be constantly buying aesthetically pleasing things when we already have so much dishes and sheets and what have you. Like I rather spend money on clothes than house things. And then I stepped into the Zara Home store once and I saw these plate set and I suddenly had an epiphany lmao. I imagine that would totally be the case of living with Aemond, you suddenly pick up on his taste for nice home things 😅 but matching mugs!??? My heart 😭 dying with Aemond planning your move in because I feel like he’d already be planning your wedding and retiring when you’re both old and you haven’t even gone on the second date yet 😅 And I DID LOVE THE FIC! Omg I loved it and I’m so hooked!! THAT CLIFFHANGER with reader working at the enemy corp is just!!! Ugh the angst!! And also awkward Aemond sending her the drinks and not knowing what to say, ahhhh 😭😭😭😭

Also YES YES YES he did! He’s scored all of Tim Burton’s movies except for Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd. Vibing feelings with a dark edge is a perfect description! He’s my goth grandpa 🖤 i’m thrilled that you liked what you heard so far! Have a lovely weekend dear! Hope you get lots of rest ❤️

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

A yoga retreat on Wuhu Island

There’s something about Wuhu Island that makes you feel energized, like you can take on the world by storm. I’m by far not an athletic person but there’s something about the environment here that makes me want to get up and get a good workout in. I’d say the calming scenery contributes to that as it’s the perfect place to go hiking, biking, gliding, jogging - you name it.

It’s been a couple years since I last visited and if I recall, the island hasn’t changed too much, which is a good thing. By luck, us campers managed to reserve a bunch of seats for the yoga retreat, which is no easy feat as those fill up quickly. That’s part of the reason why we haven’t been back in so long - I mean, Wuhu is a popular vacation spot for good reason.

Along with us campers, Arabeth and Elaina also managed to snag a reservation for themselves. I haven’t hung out with them in forever so it was nice to run into them on the plane. It’s been nice catching up with them while running around the island.

I’m glad that Elaina and her family’s in good spirits. She says a part of her still kinda finds it hard to believe that her mother’s gone but at least she went peacefully. The last time I saw Qing was at her final public performance at Briar Woodwinds a few years ago and that was an amazing experience. Since then she enjoyed a quiet retirement. Then a couple months ago her health took a turn for the worse and she passed away with her family by her side after a brief hospital stay.

After hearing of Qing’s passing, I’ve been on a binge listening to her music. It’s amazing to look back on her life in terms of her music and family. She’s lived a good life and in the end, that’s what matters the most. I may not be able to leave behind a legacy like Qing, but I hope to live a fulfilled life with little regrets.

A couple weeks ago, Elaina and Chris released one last song from Qing, her swan song. Earlier this year Chris and the boys were helping Qing go through some old stuff when they came across a demo tape from about twenty years ago. One of the tracks was a song written by Qing’s friend that was somehow shelved or forgotten until it was rediscovered. With next year marking 60 years since Qing began her recording career, it seemed like a good idea to surprise fans with one last song.

Taking Flight indeed is a swan song, and a very fitting one at that. The lyrics sound so bittersweet, they’re the words of someone who knows the end is near and wants to reassure their loved ones that everything’s gonna be all right. When the song came out I had been listening to it on a loop because for some reason the message just hit me.

No matter how far and wide we fly, we always leave a part of ourselves behind - memories, stories, music, sorrows - and those are what carry us through time. With that in mind, no one can truly be forgotten. I’d like to think that I could leave something behind, even if only for those who truly knew me, because it would mean at least I made an impact on someone.

Elaina admits that some days are better than others, as expected when going through a loss, but she’s doing well. The fact that her mom wasn’t in any pain and was able to say goodbye to her family is more than enough. That’s good to hear and I’m sure that makes things a lot easier for her and Chris.

As for the rest of the family, they’re doing fine too. David still vlogs on a semi-regular basis while also working freelance so I can still keep up with the occasional Allegri family antics. Even though they are aunt and nephew, they have this chaotic sibling vibe that’s interesting to see. As for Chris, aside from being a literal dad to David, he does sometimes kinda serve as a second parent figure to Elaina despite their small age gap. Though Chris often comes across as the most serious Allegri, they’re all a bit chaotic in their own way and that’s part of their charm.

David’s brothers, Danny and Jeremy have been doing their own thing, which Elaina finds kinda hard getting used to since she’s used to seeing the twins together. They started drifting apart when Jeremy decided to go to Oxford and from the looks of it, he’s probably gonna stay after graduating next year. She kinda suspected that after his first semester, something that Chris won’t admit that he isn’t too happy about but is happy for his son nonetheless. As for Danny, he dropped out of community college after one year so he’s been working odd jobs since then. Chris was fine with him taking one year off but now it’s way past that he’s insisting that Danny either go back to school or find a more stable job. Elaina’s been trying to help but that’s been easier said than done.

Angie has taken after Elaina and Qing in terms of her love for music and being a ray of sunshine. Elaina showed me clips of various performances from school plays, concerts, and recitals and Angie really does steal the show. She’s already looking into places like Starling and Julliard so that’s amazing! Elaina said that she sees a lot of her mother in Angie, even more so now that she’s gone. Being the youngest, and the closest to her grandma, Angie was hit a lot harder by her death, but she too is carrying on. There’s no doubt that musical talent runs in the family.

Arabeth’s doing fine as well, busy as usual with dance and helping Lawton with the younger kids. It took a bit of time for Lawton to get back into the swing of things considering how unpredictable the schedule of a pilot can be, but he’s adjusting well and the older kids help out whenever they can. I remember how Lawton was considering going back to work on a part time basis now that Saige, the youngest, is in school, but had his doubts for various reasons. Luckily he has Chris, who went through a similar transition, to guide him on what difficulties to expect and how to avoid running yourself into the ground.

I can’t imagine working a job where you have to travel half the time while raising a family as a single parent, so Chris and Lawton have my respect. As much as I enjoy traveling, I don’t think I’d want to be on the go most of the time, especially if I’m the one responsible for making sure a bunch of people get to their intended destination in time.

Lawton’s eldest, Mallory and Skylar are in college - Mallory commutes from home while Skylar is abroad. Erisy is starting to look into colleges, particularly athletic scholarships as some universities have been taking an interest in her. Rockwell and Saige have taken after their aunt as they enjoy dancing.

Arabeth had admitted that she was hesitant about her brother going back to work, but now that the kids are older and have busy schedules, it doesn’t really make sense for Lawton to just sit at home. Saige, as expected, had a bit of a hard time to adjusting when her dad’s not home at first but now she’s used to it, and it’s not like Lawton’s gone for long - a couple days at the most, so it’s not a big deal. As for whether he’ll take on international flights again, that’s still up for debate, at least for another couple years, but according to Arabeth he’s completely fine with just domestic flights. Chris, on the other hand, has fully transitioned into full time earlier this year, and Elaina says his hours thankfully aren’t too crazy.

Yoga at the park has been a lot of fun! I think the chill atmosphere contributes to that as there’s no pressure to get it right the first time. The instructors are super helpful and they let everyone do things at their own pace, which I’m happy about. I know it’s good to have some sort of exercise routine but honestly I can’t be bothered. However if I were ever to try doing something like a daily workout I feel like yoga would be the way to go.

Even though I’m not a morning person, I’d say the 7am classes have been worth the hassle. Doing yoga early in the morning has awakened my mind and body, so I feel great afterwards. In fact, being on the island in general has made me feel more energized and well rested than usual, so I feel like I get a lot more accomplished in a day. Like I said, there’s a reason why Wuhu’s a popular sports resort, especially for those who aren’t really into athletics.

The lack of pressure to be good at something really is freeing. I’m no perfectionist but I am the kind of person who tends to steer away from something if I feel like I’m not good enough and people are gonna judge me for that. Aside from not being too interested in sports, I also lack athletic ability, and being aware of that while having that being pointed out to you as a flaw that must be fixed is a good way of shutting someone down.

Over the years I’ve learned not to judge myself based on skills, something that a lot of people are in the process of unlearning. Sure it’s nice to learn something and be good at it, but you shouldn’t get too wrapped up about it. You may not be good at something but you still enjoy it nonetheless. Shouldn’t that count for something if it makes you happy? It’s not easy but it really is a lot freeing to let go and not be tied down by what you think is expected of you.

After yoga, Daisy Jane, Arabeth, Elaina, and I just do whatever strikes our fancy. Today happened to be running around a giant obstacle course. Out of the four, I came out last, though I wasn’t too far behind Daisy Jane. I’d like to think all my years of hiking has helped me out as there was quite a bit of climbing involved. Also, the point of the obstacle course is to see how creative you can be rather than speed and agility, so that made it more fun.

(Now I’m starting to get ideas for our next big camp event…Knowing Isabelle, building a giant obstacle course at the campsite isn’t impossible.)

Other fun activities we did were wind gliding, mountain biking, kickboxing, diving, water skiing, and tennis. Again, I wasn’t very good at most of these but it was an enjoyable experience. There’s just so much to do on Wuhu Island that it can get a bit overwhelming, so we try not to take on too much. So it’s one big activity and the rest is mostly chill.

Like last time, I think my biking is my favorite activity on the island. There’s so much to see and it always changes depending on what activities are going on at the moment. I wasn’t one of those kids who rode their bike around the neighborhood - I just wasn’t good at riding a bike in general - so to pick up biking as an adult feels different. Somehow biking as an adult is more enjoyable - probably because as a kid I was kinda pressured to get into it because it was a kid thing. Again not the best at it, but at least I can go at my own pace and not feel self conscious about it.

We’re about halfway through the yoga class now and I’m already starting to miss Wuhu. Tomorrow after class we’re gonna go bowling and then attend a dance class. The weather’s also gonna be a lot warmer so we’re gonna head to the beach too.