#dios mio! i am known

[foreignobjecticus]

Having lots of hobbies is great! No matter how much you achieve in a day, you will always also have the Guilt of 'I should be doing Other Hobby' gnawing at your insides. :)

[jellycrusher]

Wolves and Lambs: Part 4

Alpha Max Verstappen x Omega fem!driver

Genre: Series, Omega verse, Enemies to Lovers, Romance, Eventual smut

Summary: Male Alphas are the ones who dominate motor sports all around the world, especially Formula 1. It is a well known fact. Females in general nor Female Omegas are never heard nor encouraged to join the sport since the 1950s. Well, up until now...

Word Count: 5.8k

Chapter's Premise: y/n finds herself trying to come to terms on who she is and how she avoided her heat for so long.

Parts: W&L masterlist / general masterlist

"You heard the doctor. You have to stop taking your suppressants for a while." Megan takes the prescription sheet from your hands and shoves it in her bag.

Both of you just came out from the doctor's office. Megan was meticulous in giving you a disguise just in case anyone is going to spot you. You put your head down and hide in your little canopy of protection, your Aston Martin hat. A bit obvious but it's the only one you have at the moment.

"I can't. If it comes during a race weekend, I'm dead." You reply as you walk side by side with Megan, confined by the hospital walls.

"Ay Dios Mio. Your constant intake of suppressants may be the reason why you haven't had your first heat yet at 25 years old. We don't know if there's gonna be negative side effects on your health." Megan tries her best to whisper under her breath.

"Hey, that's not proven." You halt in your steps and turn to her, lifting your head up to face her.

"But the doc says it may be a factor. You can't keep it hidden forever. It has to come sooner or later. If it comes biting your ass, don't come running to me for help."

"I don't want to be confined on what biology or society dictates me to be. I want to prove to everyone first what I can do and who I am." You continue to walk.

"I understand. I just don't want something bad to happen to you." She groaned.

"Fine. If I win a race, then i'll start tapering my dosage. I'll let it come when it wants to come."

"When you win a podium, not a race. Better odds."

"Fine. A podium."

You felt like you've been basking in the sun, warm against your skin. You didn't want to look at yourself. For every second after that encounter in the elevator until now that you've stayed frozen behind the door of your room, everything was silent.

Your body was fighting your mind. You didn't want this. For so many years, your family and friends, who knew what you really are, told you that we're all bound to meet our mate. We'll know when we meet them.

No. You don't want to. Maybe just not right now. Yes, it's romantic to see couples who are mated and are having the time of their lives. But what if they fell for another person before they met their mate? And what if they refuse their Alpha? What would happen?

Right now, you just want to succeed in this career first. Call yourself stupid for going against your biological desires but there's a lot riding on this. Your parents sacrificed a lot just to get where you are right now. You want to prove that Omegas can also achieve greatness. Female Omegas can also stand in the halls of the greats.

Maybe you're just stubborn. Meeting your mate wouldn't be the end of the world. If you give in, you won't lose anything. Maybe.

Maybe you're just overthinking. Maybe you're being too stubborn.

Max is not a bad person. You've said it yourself before. He is actually a decent guy. Well, just from your text messages but there were no deep conversations yet. You don't love him to see him as your mate. You might learn to love him but it doesn't feel right for your feelings to be swayed just because your biological desires him so.

You barely slept a wink last night. The inkling that bothered you for a few weeks now since the first race have just been confirmed, and the fact that Max left you a lot of messages that you haven't read yet made your mind in a state of disarray.

Megan barged in your room to wake you up. She even had to throw the covers off the bed and furiously opened the curtains, blinding you with the beaming sun. You groan hard as she pulls you out of the comfort of your bed.

"I can't believe this. We're late! Ay Santo Dios..." Megan continued to mention a lot of words that you were not familiar with as she looks at your commitments for the day from her phone screen.

It only took a few moments and the both of you are now on your merry way to the circuit with you being the driver. Megan was still very furious at you for you haven't given her a reason for your tardiness. At the same time, your phone was still blowing up from Max's messages.

"I've had it with your ringtone. I'll set it to silent." Megan pulls your phone from the center console and sees '50 messages' beside the name 'He Who Must Be Avoided At All Times' on the screen.

"It's fine, leave it." You're barely able to look at Megan because you had to focus on the road.

"Who's this? Is there a guy bothering you? Stalking you?!" she asks.

"No. Just leave it." With eyes still glued to the road, you try to yank the phone off her hands.

"Tell me. Is it a stalker?! 'Cause if it is, i'll kill him." She warned.

"Please no. Relax, it's not a stalker." You assured in a calm tone as she hands the phone to you.

"Y/N. If you're in a dangerous situation and you're not telling me, your mom will kill me." She appealed.

Well, that's not impossible. These two are overprotective.

"Megan..." You paused. Megan patiently waits for your answer as you drum your fingers anxiously on the wheel. "It's Max."

"Oh, Max... Wait, who's Max? from Red Bull?" Megan rambles. "Why? Did he do anything to you?"

"He did nothing. It's just.. He found out last night that I was an Omega. I've been avoiding his texts since then." You confessed, tightening your grip on the wheel.

"How? You were always careful."

"That's the thing. I was. I'm still on my suppressants." You gently scratch the surface of the wheel. "Remember when you told me how you met your husband? Your mate?"

"Yes." Megan now replied slowly, now under a notion at where the conversation is going. "Oh my god! Is he..?"

"I think so." you confessed.

Megan was about to shriek from joy but she stopped for she knew how you would respond. For her, it sounds romantic. For you, it's not. She can't count how many times your rejected the idea of having a biological mate. It wasn't against the law of anybody to love somebody else aside your fated mate but for your body to act against your will regardless of what you feel. That's what you dislike about it.

"I still have to talk to him about it. I can't have him blabbering to everyone on the grid." You added. "Let's take this one step at a time."

"You still have a race later. Better focus on that first." She replies as she takes off her seatbelt when you arrived at the car park in the circuit.

Megan hauled you to the team hospitality to prepare you for the drivers' briefing. When you arrived at the briefing hall, majority of the drivers were already seated and the team principals were standing around in a circle, chatting. You stood by the door looking for an empty seat to take when you saw Charles, Oscar, and Lando calling you to take the seat they reserved for you on the third row. Your feet took a few steps when a hand suddenly but gently caught your wrist.

"We need to talk. You've been ignoring my texts." Max urged, eyes dead straight at you.

"Max, not here. Later." You scan the room for any eyes or ears that might eavesdrop as you carefully remove his hand from you.

Max takes a second to compose himself then tugs his hand through his hair. "Fine. Sit with me then."

"I'll choose my own seat. Thank you." You replied as you walk away from him, not giving him enough time to add more. Max's hand hovered uncertainly as if to stop you but he lets his hand limp

You strut farther into the hall and the three men gave you space to stride along the third row to take your seat between Charles and Oscar. Max took an empty seat on the first row beside Checo. He can't help but steal some glances in your direction during the driver's briefing.

It was hard to ignore Max as well. One good thing that your incident with Max has caused is that his scent doesn't make you cower in fear anymore. Knowing the reason why the dynamics between the two of you had changed, you mentally slap your pheromone-disturbed self from inhaling his lingering scent.

His scent wasn't really distinct before. For you, it was associated with fear or something menacing, but now he smelled so crisp like Cotton and sweet like baked Tangerine. Being that close to each other gave you a chance to actually distinguish his scent. Just remembering Max's small sniffs on your neck makes your body squirm, in a good way. It was nice and comforting. But it also felt sensual.

Alpha smells so good. Let's smell him once more. You mentally slap yourself once more, shaking off the tiny voice from your inner Omega in your head.

"I heard from Lance that you're moving. Where will you stay?" Charles' voice took you out from your trance just as the drivers' briefing just ended.

"In Monaco. It being a tax-free haven sounds enticing." you replied in glee knowing that it was the Monegasque who asked you.

Noticing the other younger drivers to turn to you after hearing your response, it took a moment for you to remember that a number of them were living there.

Lando perks up, legs bouncing. He leans forward and peeked his head across Oscar. "Do you know how to play Padel?" you shake your head. "We'll teach you. We had been waiting for another member to join our little club."

"He just wants to have the bragging right when he defeats all of us." Oscar chuckled, arms crossed on his chest.

"He even almost made Max cry. Have some mercy on all of us, will you?" Charles adds, further teasing Lando.

"I'll tell you when I've settled in. Maybe a housewarming lunch or dinner sounds good?" You ask. Lando quickly taps Alex's shoulder to tell him about your new residence and a possibility of a new member for their F1 drivers-exclusive Padel Club.

"I'm going to tour you to some of the best places. You still owe me a car ride." Charles couldn't help but smile at you, already making up a list in his mind.

When the briefing ended, all of the drivers went their own way back to their hospitalities. At the corner of your eyes, you saw Max hurriedly stood up from his seat on the first row and was about to make his way towards you. He noticed the miniscule squirm your body did when your eyes met. You almost panic in your seat but he came to an abrupt stop when he saw Megan pull you away.

Max tried his best to look for a chance to talk to you, much to his dismay. There wasn't much time for each of the drivers to get to interact with each other, especially during race day. After some of his media commitments in the morning were done, he went to visit the Aston Martin hospitality. He comes up to the small ledge when he saw Lance chatting with some of the staff.

"Hey Lance." Lance gets up from his seat when he noticed Max and greets him with a one-armed hug and a double backslap. "Have you seen y/n?"

"I think Sky Sports has her for an interview, I think. You know, the usual." Lance replies as he sits down. Max groans go unnoticed.

"Do you know when she might be free? I need to talk to her." Max asks as he leans his hand on the ledge.

"Maybe after the race? Her schedule's so full today. Haven't even seen her stay here in the hospitality for more than 15 minutes. Megan even got her shooting a lot of content for our Tiktok account."

"Megan?" Max quirks up his eyebrow.

"Speaking of..." Lance chimed in as he spots Megan behind Max, about to walk inside. "Megan!" She stops and turns to Lance's direction. "He's looking for y/n." He points at Max and Megan's eyes follow.

Megan thought differently when she saw Max right there, comfortably leaning on the ledge. It was in her overprotective instinct to assume that Max might possibly be a snitch or asking anyone in the team regarding what you are. She walks up to Max and asked him to come with her, already walking away without waiting for a response. Max was confused at first but did not hesitate to follow behind.

Max and Megan comes to a halt in an empty corner in the paddock, away from prying eyes.

"What are you doing?" Megan snaps around and narrows her eyes at him, arms crossed on her chest.

"I was just asking for y/n." Max innocently confessed.

"Were you going to tell on her? I can't believe you." She leans forward as if interrogating the driver.

Max leans back, baffled by the sudden change in demeanor. "No. Of course not... Wait, you know?" He tries to whisper.

She tries to examine his face for a minute for any sign of a lie but relaxes when she felt that he was telling the truth. "Listen, Max. I know she's been avoiding you but I need her to be at her best today. She needs to be on that podium."

"Don't we all?" Max scoffs.

"No, you don't understand. I need her to be on the podium because her health is on the line. I've let her be stubborn for too long 'cause she's in love with racing too much but I finally had her to agree, at last. I don't know what's going on between the two of you but please don't distract her too much today." She pleads with a serious tone.

Max hated knowing that it wasn't his place to pry. All he wanted from you was answers but it seems that even more questions are piling up. What does she mean? Your health is on the line? Are you sick? Are you injured? How is it connected to you getting that podium?

His inner Alpha was trying to fight himself.

Our omega... She's hurt or sick. Ask for more information. No, we're clearly told to stay put. She's not ours. Isn't it clear that she's avoiding us? Than ask her directly. Let's smell her again. No. Just shut up. Stay.

"Understood?" Megan asserts herself, taking Max out of his trance.

"Yes ma'am."

Megan waited for a bit to see how Max would take their conversation but left quickly when she saw that people are now starting to crowd the paddock. Max stayed in that quiet corner for a few seconds before going out into the paddock. There he saw you, sitting just outside your team's hospitality with Alonso and surrounded by a few cameras and staff. Probably completing a challenge with your teammate. His eyes locked onto you, taking in your smile. It was invigorating for him to see you having fun.

He used to feel so foreign around you. When he sees you having fun with his friends, it irritated him. His face used to turn sour when Lando or Alex hype you up.

There was something about you that intrigues him. You weren't able to race with most of them back then. Charles was a bit familiar with you because you got to race alongside his brother. Oscar and Logan had only met you once or twice and they had raced with you in a few Grand Prix but usually a lot of drivers keep to themselves and stayed in their own garages.

Then there's the big elephant in the room. You were an Omega, no doubt. After the incident in the elevator, he did scour the internet after his haze faded when he got back in his room. There were only articles about you stating that you were an Alpha, your achievements in F2 and F3, and also the highlights of your racing career. No scandals, not much haters. There were no articles claiming you have a bad beef with any driver.

For a public personality, you kept pretty quiet. Maybe that's why no one has discovered your secret yet. But that would be an extreme feat. To conceal your identity. What about heats? The horrendous and taxing schedule of Formula 1 isn't really ideal for Omegas. He recalled when Lando had to deal with Oscar's heat every month. When they were still unmated, Lando had to tiptoe around Oscar and avoid him when his pheromones were on the highest setting. How the other drivers reacted to him when it came around race weekend. It took them at least 5 months to come to the truth that they needed each other.

It was a bit easier for Oscar because everyone knows that he is an Omega since the start. They knew they had to avoid him when Lando or Oscar gave them a heads up. It scares him thinking that it will be much harder for you but it was also amazing how good you hide it.

Questions for another day, he admits to himself.

You were having a blast going against Nando in a PR competition when you spot Max walking through the paddock. Your eyes met and it made you nervous that he might come up and wait for you but no, he avoided your eyes and continued to walk. Your eyes followed his figure, relieved but also worried. Fernando had to call your attention to continue the challenge.

Your PR and media commitments were finally done and then, there was the driver's parade. The crowds in the grandstands were almost full and it was deafening. Everyone was screaming each of the drivers' names when they were called and when it was your turn to be introduced, it was heartwarming to hear their warm welcome. A smile so wide painted your face as you greet the driver while stepping in the convertible car and sat on the surface of the rear end near the deck lid.

You waited for your car's cue to go but you see it got delayed. There were a slight commotion amongst the staff that were on standby on the track and they were pointing to something behind you. You turn around and they were checking the car behind yours that was supposed to be for Max. Apparently, the engine of his parade car won't start again.

Fernando's car already left way before you and also Checo's. The staff are now pointing at yours and you see that the people who were talking to Max assisted him to get off the car. They were ushering him to your direction. Someone slapped Max's car number onto the side of your convertible. You now realize that they're letting you and Max share a car so that this problem won't delay the program.

The car shook slightly as Max climbs up the convertible. Max sees you scooting to one side trying to avoid his eyes so he quietly sat down on the other side of the convertible's rear. Both of you started to wave to the crowd as the engine of the convertible purred. Max would steal a few glances when you're not looking. Your body was stiff and awkward, in contrast to what you were showing the crowd, smiling and waving.

"Relax. It's not like I bite." Max spoke up just loud enough for you to hear under all those noise. "Just concentrate on the race later or else, you'll be an easy target for these guys."

You snap your head around and glared at him. He had this smug smile while still waving. "They wish." You scoff.

With just a few words from him, you find your shoulders loosening up. Slightly offended by his insinuation but you knew that he was just riling you up. It was also surprising that Max didn't bother to disturb you since the briefing. You would be at shoulder's length but still, he'd just nod when your eyes met.

The drivers' parade ended quickly and every driver headed for their respective garages to prepare. You spent the remaining time training with your physio and getting enough rest. The last program was for the national anthem. You make your way onto the track and answered a few questions for a Sky Sports presenter who was roaming and interviewing some of the drivers. You stood behind a grid kid to take your place and kept quiet. Right before the anthem was played, you noticed the female grid kid trying to steal a look at you. You smile back at her and she quietly squealed as she swiftly face in front. When the anthem finished playing and as you follow the other drivers exiting the track, your grid kid raised her hand to request for a high five. You gladly pressed your palm on hers and the other grid kids also eagerly raised their hand as you pass by them, catching the attention of the other drivers and the cameras.

You find yourself gritting your teeth and hands clenching the wheel as you drive the car in your grid position at the track during the formation lap. You look up at the red lights above.

"It's lights out and away we go, here at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit! and it's Max Verstappen who takes the lead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix."

With a good reaction time, you were able to overtake three places from 15th. You were able to fend for your position well in those crucial first few laps of the race. You attacked, you defended, you attacked, you defended. It was a constant cycle.

Max, who had started in pole position, lost the lead to Charles on the third sector in the second lap, won it back by the fourth lap and slowly and methodically pulled away for his second win of the season.

It took you only eight laps to move into 10th place, and only eight more to rise to sixth. By the halfway point of the race, and helped by the fortuitous arrival of a safety car that allowed you to make up even more ground, you find yourself in fourth.

"Y/n had played down her chances of victory from the moment a broken drive shaft ended her qualifying early Saturday and left her in 15th place. But that did not mean she had any intention of staying in the back of the field. Look at her picking her way through the pack behind her with ease"

Your driving style was aggressive and clever, a total beast on the offence. The journalists have also made note of your tyre preservation prowess. They have published a few articles after the first race mentioning that with your pairing with Alonso this year, Aston Martin can gain considerable confidence that it will be regularly able to take on the red cars and the black ones fielded by Mercedes too.

At around lap 46, Ben informs you through the radio that Lewis who is in P3 at the moment incurred a 5 second penalty. With Charles on P2 just 2 seconds ahead of Lewis and you tailing behind just a second away, there might be a chance for you to end up on the podium at the end of this race. You just have to maintain the gap behind Lewis and also for Lewis to continue battling with Charles.

Ben: "So, one more lap y/n, just bring it home." Y/N: "Think something happened to my left tyre." Ben: "Ok, copy. So Sainz, 30 seconds behind, battling with Russell."

You peek at your front left tyre and it was starting to wobble. You may have hit something on the track, possibly puncturing the tyre.

Ben: "If you go Diff-Mid 12, Sainz 20 seconds and gap to Lewis is 2 seconds." Ben: "Now 17 seconds. Now 16 seconds."

The car was already slowing down and the left tyre was tumbling around on its rim. Ben was constantly updating you but you did not bother to respond.

Ben: "So use Strat 5. 10 seconds to Sainz and 3 seconds from Lewis." Ben: "7 seconds to Sainz. 6 seconds to Sainz." Ben: "Maintain this gap to Lewis. 4 seconds."

You've passed the last corner and about to go on the straight where the chequered flag should be when you saw Sainz closely tailing behind you. With your feet instinctively pushing flat out, your car zoomed past and hopefully closing the gap with Lewis in less than 5 seconds for P3 position.

Y/N: "Do we have it?! TELL ME BEN, DO WE HAVE IT??" Ben: "That's it, y/n! You've done it, P3! YOU'VE DONE IT! Wow, you've done it y/n." Y/N: "Was there a flag? I did not see it." Ben: "There was a flag. You've done it though. Just stop. You can pull the car over. We'll come and get you." Y/N: "Fuck that was close! Sorry for the profanity." Ben: "Yeah, I was about to say the same thing. That was a close call. Too close for comfort. But awesome work, mate." Y/N: "LET'S GO!!!!! BEN, WE DID IT!!!"

Your team radio is now being broadcasted across all tv screens worldwide. As Max and the other drivers complete their slow lap around the track after they've crossed the line, they catch a glimpse of you in the screens. Throwing your hands in celebration, still inside the cockpit. When you got out of the car at the side of the track, you knelt down and pats the damaged tyre aggressively as if thanking the car.

You had to do your best as not to cry from overwhelming joy. You felt like you won the race for P3 but you didn't. It was as if you were soaring through the clouds right then. The crowds at the grandstands were screaming your name, fireworks were setting off in the background. That was for Max, of course, but it couldn't hurt to imagine that it could be for you too.

You were picked up by a safety car and your car was towed to the parc ferme. When you got out of the car, Oscar jumped at the moment to wrap you in a hug, Lando following behind.

Warm and sincere congratulations, pats on the backs and helmet taps too, were sent over your way when you threw yourself to your team of mechanics and engineers who were waiting on the other side of the barricade. You took off your helmet and balaclava so you could properly breathe and to revel in the sounds of your victory.

You were the first one who had to do the post-race interview, followed by Charles in P2 and Max in P1. You couldn't contain your smile, choking on your words yet again.

"Y/n!" David Coulthard calls out your name in joy. "That was an amazing race. You had your maiden pole last race and now, your maiden F1 podium after just 2 races in this season. Could you tell me more?"

"With the information of Lewis' 5 second penalty, I had to give everything on the table. I've never had a race like that before. We tried to maintain the gap but also had to monitor Carlos behind as well. It was a team effort and I couldn't have done it without them."

"Your last lap had us trembling in our seats. You managed to bring home your car across the line in that state. How did you do it?" David asked with such enthusiasm.

"I don't know how I've managed to be cool in that period but I just... I had no choice. Survival instincts came over me and I've come all this way. I'm not gonna pull over and back off to let anyone drive pass. I was thinking 'How can I get there with taking as much risks as possible without losing the car altogether?'. I still can't believe I did it." You try to take a few deep breaths after you finished your interview, still reeling in from that feeling of accomplishment.

Max and Charles pats your back as the three of you walked towards the cooldown room. The huge screen showing the highlights of the race, including your tyre mishap and struggle to cross the finish line for P3. Charles hands you a water bottle and you took it, not peeling your eyes away from the screen. If you only had your phone, you would take a photo of the small pillar with a huge number 3 and a small screen playing your driver intro bit.

The three of you are now ushered to prepare for the podium ceremony. Your feet was quick to move after your name was called. The crowd roared with applause and cheers as you made your way up the podium. You stood patiently on your step as you hear Charles' and Max's name. Despite feeling a bit flushed due to the adrenaline from winning P3, your cheeks felt a bit cold as you place your hands on the side of your face.

Your race suit now wet from the champagne being sprayed amongst the podium placers. Charles and Max were having fun targeting you, spraying the champagne at your face. They both admired your blissful smile and eyes filled with euphoria.

"Champagne suits you. Congratulations y/n!" Max can't help but admit to himself that you were an excellent racer. Your expression softened when you heard him and it's like Max's heart skipped a beat.

"Thanks Max. Congratulations on winning!" As if the champagne rain slowed down, it was just you and Max. The stage lights made the champagne sparkle, trickling down on both of you. He never saw anyone be so ecstatic in getting P3 but you made celebrating look so beautiful and graceful.

You watched Max's face as he shared a smile with you but not a second later, you could clearly see the horror in his face as his body stiffen.

"Y/n, your nose." Charles cocks his head to the side of Max, inconspicuously pointing to his nose, prompting you to do the same. Your hand crept up to your face and it was met by a warm liquid oozing down your nose. When you swiped it off, you saw blood on your fingertips.

Max was quick to turn you around, shielding you from the cameras. You try to wipe your nose with your arm but the blood can't seem to stop.

"Are you okay? What's wrong? Do you want us to call the medics?" Max whispers in panic, still spraying the champagne at Charles and towards the crowd below as he shields you behind him. To the people below and in the crowd, it was as if you're just wiping the champagne off your face.

"Relax. It's just a nosebleed. This will pass." You whispered, still trying to wipe off the remaining blood. The sleeve of your green suit now tinted red. "What the heck, it's not stopping."

"Y/n, I think the cameramen are now noticing." Charles' eyes darted to the cameramen below and above.

"I've been a bit more anemic lately. I think that's why." You murmured.

"When Megan told me that your health is compromised, is this it?" Max leans to your side a bit, still facing front and waving to the crowd.

"You talked to her? What did she tell you?!" You glared at Max, surprising the two men.

"Y/n, Max, can you two talk about it later? We're still on the podium." Charles cleared his throat.

You slightly nudged Max away from you, not noticed by the crowd, while you pinch your nose and cover your face. Max can't help but stare in concern at your figure. His inner Alpha wanting to carry you and rush to medic's tent.

Then the ceremony ended.

"Y/n, come on. I haven't told him much, I promise. I just told him to leave you alone that day." Megan pleaded as she follows you while carrying a large box filled with your household items.

You open the door to let Megan in but you avoid her eyes. She darts across the empty unit, footsteps echoing along the walls, to place the box labeled 'Kitchen Items' down on the floor. You sighed, accepting defeat, as you drop the huge bag of items that you were carrying.

"Fine, but next time, stop telling him unnecessary information."

"Hey, your health was not an unnecessary information. I'm just glad you're fine now. I told you that your prolonged use of suppressants will eventually bite you in the ass." She rambled.

"Yes, yes. You gotta stop scolding me. It's been like a thousand times already." You groaned. "I got the podium and I'm on a suppressant detox. Happy?"

"Yes. I'm working on your schedule just in case it came early." Megan skips across the unit and stopped near the door. "I'll get the last box. You can stay here just in case the delivery company calls through the intercom." She exits the unit after you nod your head.

The empty huge apartment unit was now filled with unopened boxes. There were no furnitures yet but the anticipation of decorating your new home is making you excited. Wood and cured paint scent filled the air. It was relaxing for you but after a while, it's actually nauseating so you open the door to the balcony.

Coldness of the elegant granite greeted your arms as you lean against it. Your apartment is located in a spot overlooking the marina where you can spot plentiful yachts. With just a soft breeze, you could almost smell the sea. Even with your eyes closed, you could vividly visualize the city below you from its sound. The hustle and bustle of Monaco.

Closing your eyes for a few seconds made you yawn. You are still recovering from that horrific anemic bout during the podium ceremony in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The team had to recommend you to a local hospital for a check up and was just given a prescription. You took a flight out the next day and went straight to "Moving Out" mode. It hasn't been two days since the race but here you are, renting a luxurious apartment in Monaco, about to live your best life.

"Looks like you could fit a head in your mouth." You heard a familiar warm voice coming from above your balcony. When you opened your eyes, there was someone peeking their head out of their balcony and looking down below at you, apparently still yawning. You closed your mouth in embarrassment.

"Max?!"

"Hi neighbor!"

Next part: Part 5

Taglist: @laura-naruto-fan1998 @fanboyluvr @giffywiffy3408 @notyouraveragemochii @cmleitora @exotic-iris13 @topguncultleader @mirrorball-6 @barcelonaloverf1life @silscintilla @aquangxl @whyamireadingthis @imaddict

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 10

welcome the the tenth fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. A Rain-Check on Redamancy by @youraveragemushroom

Burnout these days usually came from working long nights at the Garrison. If Lance from five years ago could see himself today—working part-time to rebuild Earth and full-time as an instructor at the very same institution that gave him his crippling anxieties—he would probably shit a brick. Hell, five years ago he hadn’t even known aliens existed (although he always knew deep down that humans weren’t alone in the universe), and now he’s best friends with multiple! One of which had apparently texted him an hour ago.

Forgoing proper texting procedure due to fatigue and general doneness, Lance tapped on the icon to call back.

“Hello?” a familiar deep rasp answered from the other line.

“Hey, mullet,” Lance replied, pushing aside the papers in front of him to lay his head down on the desk. “What’s cooking?”

In which Lance finds himself ignoring how late it is and indulges himself in pining after Keith. Which becomes slightly more difficult when said object of his affections shows up in the middle of the night to rescue him from paperwork, stress, and the melancholy that came from being away from him.

the ‘god i wish you were here’ ‘look behind you’ trope will get to me EVERY single time idc. always makes me all stimmy bc its THE epitome of romance. this whole thing was so so romantic and full of parallels to the first episode to show how deep their relationship has gotten...i love me some romantic parallels fr

2. sweetheart by @jilliancares

“Sorry, babe,” Keith says. He even smiles, no doubt proud of himself.

And Lance knows it’s his fault. He started it, after all, but at least the biting term of endearment made sense when he was the one doing it. Keith had been talking to him like they were some old married couple. The kind who’ve been married too long and don’t love each other anymore and gripe over meaningless shit, only managing to piss each other off even further.

That’s why Lance called him dear. Because it made sense in the situation. It was a calculated insult. A strategic jab.

Keith, on the other hand, is weaponizing the term of endearment without any rhyme or reason, simply to get back at Lance.

Or: Keith and Lance have gotten into the habit of using pet names as condescending insults. They're not really terms of endearment.

ooooooo god endearments going from sarcastic to desperately genuine and the inherent hopelessness in that....whew boy. its def a Concept that u indulge and then you have to clutch ur stomach. i remember reading this as i was getting ready and brushing my teeth and the cliff scene made me gasp out loud and stop just to i could pay Full Complete Attention

3. don’t speak the language by @goldengalaxies

“More importantly” Lance says. “I am currently having a breakdown in this lift because look at him- I am so incredibly gay.”

“Lance!” Hunk buries his face in his hands. “He could speak English you know, your skills of deduction are really not that good.”

Lance ignores his warning in favour of groaning dramatically. “Oh, Dios mio, Hunk, he’s so gorgeous. Look at those muscles. He could probably bench press me.” Lance fanned himself. “Oh my God, fencing is my new favourite sport, fuck swimming.”

(or the one where Lance thirsts after a random guy in the lift who he thinks can’t speak English. lance is very wrong and hunk is very much done with his shit.)

let me tell u about this fuckin FIC. it’s hilarious, but i first read it before i meticulously started storing and bookmarking my fave fics, so when i wanted to reread it i couldnt find it. but i KNEW it was hilarious so i spent fckn hours looking for it, and it took me hours too bc i coulnt figure out which tags to filter. but it was WORTH IT. the entire concept of this fic is hilarious and makes me laugh. amazing work.

4. Whose bright idea was this? by IronScript

When Lance is captured during a mission with the MFE pilots, he wakes up aboard Haggar's ship, though the witch herself isn't there, so he figures why waste an opportunity? Then he finds something that he definitely hadn't expected.

All the while, he has no idea that back at the Garrison, his team and a few select others are watching his every move.

bro the idea that the team is panicked for lance’s safety and they desperately organise a rescue mission for him terrified that hes getting tortured and losing hope but by the time they find him he’s already got one foot out the door and has rescued himself is ENDLESSLY funny to me. like he really said ‘damsel in distress who’ and i love him for that lmao

5. Garfle! Warfle! Snick! by IronScript

How the game show episode actually should have happened.

I'll admit to being a Lance stan, but even people who don't like him seem to agree that he was really fucked over in this episode. So here's my attempt at it. Is it more realistic than what actually happened? I like to think so.

another ironscript fic bc they nail bamf lance. this is how the gameshow WOULD have gone if vld gave a shit about their characters like actually. like yes of course the team is proud of each other and capable of acknowledging mistakes. of course keith knows lance’s worth. of course lance is a badass. of course the team knows wtf theyre doing. love to read this when i get mad about the game show

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

[ohmotherwhereartthou-if]

To celebrate the holidays here are 2 well known carols in the native language

Espanyol

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Próspero año y felicidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Próspero año y felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart

wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Próspero año y felicidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Próspero año y felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Próspero año y felicidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Próspero año y felicidad

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas

From the bottom of my heart

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad

Próspero año y felicidad!!!

Italian Christmas carol

1. Tu scendi dalle stelle o Re del Cielo

E vieni in una grotta al freddo al gelo

E vieni in una grotta al freddo al gelo.

O Bambino mio Divino

Io ti vedo qui a tremar,

O Dio Beato!

Ah, quanto ti costò l'avermi amato.

Ah, quanto ti costò l'avermi amato.

2. A te che sei del mondo, il Creatore,

Mancano panni e fuoco, o mio Signore.

Mancano panni e fuoco, o mio Signore.

Caro eletto pargoletto,

Quanto questa povertà

Più mi innamora,

Giacchè ti fece amor povero ancora.

Giacchè ti fece amor povero ancora.

3. Tu lasci il bel gioir del divin seno,

per giunger a penar su poco fieno,

per giunger a penar su poco fieno.

Dolce amore del mio core,

dove amore Ti trasportò?

O Gesù mio,

perché tanto patir? Per amor mio!

Perché tanto patir? Per amor mio!

4. Ma se fu Tuo volere il Tuo patire,

perché vuoi pianger poi, perché vagire?

Perché vuoi pianger poi, perché vagire?

Mio Gesù, T'intendo sì!

Ah, mio Signore!

Tu piangi non per duol, ma per amore.

Tu piangi non per duol, ma per amore.

5. Tu piangi per vederti da me ingrato

dove sì grande amor, sì poco amato!

O diletto del mio petto,

Se già un tempo fu così,

or Te sol bramo.

Caro non pianger più, ch'io T'amo e T'amo,

caro non pianger più, ch'io T'amo e T'amo.

6. Tu dormi, Ninno mio, ma intanto il core

non dorme, no, ma veglia a tutte l'ore.

Deh, mio bello e puro Agnello

a che pensi? Dimmi tu.

O amore immenso!

"Un dì morir per Te", rispondi, "io penso".

"Un dì morir per Te", rispondi, "io penso".

7. Dunque a morire per me, Tu pensi, o Dio:

e chi altro, fuor di Te, amar poss'io?

O Maria, speranza mia,

se poc'amo il Tuo Gesù,

non Ti sdegnare.

Amalo tu per me, s'io nol so amare!

Amalo tu per me, s'io nol so amare!

But if you don’t celebrate have a regular 25th!

Hello and ¡Feliz Navidad! (edit: I love that song btw 🥳)

I do celebrate christmas and as a matter of fact I just got back home (California) from Arizona to spend the holiday with some extended family. Now that I am back to my beloved computer I am hustling to answer all of the holiday asks before midnight so I can technically say I answered them on christmas lol.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! 💙

[phantomdoofer]

Bulldozer

WHAM

The other boy went flying as Peppino quickly pulled up from his charge. As he landed, Peppino blanched. Oh Mio Dio, I think I killed him!

Peppino quickly ran up to him and crouched. "Julio! Julio, are you OK?"

Julio's eyes were a little crossed. "Madre de dios, Pep, was that you or did a truck show up?" He tried to sit up, his eyes wobbled, and he flopped back down.

Peppino was in a panic. "I didn't-a mean to hit you that-a hard! I'm-a so sorry!" He did a little dance on the spot, trying to decide whether to stay there or go get help.

All the other kids were standing around, looking stunned. "Damn, Pep, I never saw you run like that," another one, an ogre named Rico, said. "You just sorta... took off. You had this wild look in your eyes!"

Peppino looked around, and the other kids nodded and muttered. Oh no, he thought, are they going to run me off now? Peppino had never had many friends, but playing street football was one of the few things they all enjoyed together. They'd been doing it since they were very small, and Peppino, while a bit clumsy, was stout, and was always an early pick. Now he was sure they would be terrified of him.

Finally Julio stood up. "Ay, amigo, did either of your parents have any powers? My Papi said sometimes they don't turn up until we hit puberty."

Peppino thought about it. I know Mama is very strong. Did Papa have some sort of power? "I... don't-a know," he said. "I'll have-a to ask."

Julio patted Peppino on the back. "Don't worry about it, amigo. Just, uh, don't try to run at me so fast next time, eh? Come on, it's getting dark, let's finish this game up!"

~~~~

Peppino opened the door to their apartment, looking pensive. He'd almost ran someone over a couple of times as the game went on - he would just suddenly accelerate. This time he'd managed to stop, at least, but eventually he'd benched himself, afraid he'd actually hurt someone.

Margherita looked up at him. "There you are, ragazzo! Come, dinner is ready, and I know a boy your age is always hungry." She smiled slyly. "You'll be a man soon enough, my little polpetta." She pinched his cheek.

He flinched away, but he smiled. "Ay, Mama, fermare!" He sat down.

As they ate, Peppino turned the question he had over in his mind, trying different angles. "Mama... something-a happened today. Something... odd."

"Oh? What's that?" Margherita responded.

"While I was-a playing football, I suddenly started going very fast. Faster than I've-a ever gone. And the others said I looked... scary." Peppino shook a little. "The other-a kids described something... like a monster."

Margherita stopped eating, and put her own fork down. She looked at her plate. "So, it finally appeared, eh? When it didn't show when you were little, I thought perhaps it had died out, or gone dormant." She stood and walked over, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I should have known the blood of the Spaghettis would show itself."

Peppino looked her in the eyes. "Mama... what are-a you talking about? The blood of-a the Spaghettis? What... what am I?"

"What you are, is special," she said. "I know you know a lot of people have small powers - telekinesis, extra-toughness, and so on. And you know I can be as strong as I want to be." She walked around him. "When it happened... you said you moved quickly. That was your Papa's blood showing. The power of the Spaghettis is speed. Speed far past what normal people can reach."

Peppino was stunned. "I... I have-a powers?"

Margherita sat back down. "Apparently, ragazzo. And probably more powers than that. You might have inherited mine, too." She rubbed her chin. "Most of the time, only one power shows itself. But sometimes, they both appear, or even combine to make something new." She chuckled. "If mine and your Papa's both got passed... we may have to nickname you "Bulldozer."

Peppino blushed. "M-Mama..."

She laughed again, and reached over to pat his hand. "It's OK, Peppino. You're not a monster. Many people in the world have powers. You just have a stronger one. Tomorrow, mention to your teacher what happened. There are classes you can take to help you learn to control your powers."

"R-really?" Peppino stammered. That made him feel much better. "I was afraid I was going to have-a to tiptoe for the rest of my life."

Margherita shook her head. "You'll learn, ragazzo. You're a Spaghetti. There's more to that than being excellent cooks." She pointed her fork at him. "But if anything else happens, say, a sudden, unusual burst of strength when you get angry, let me know. That's my power showing itself. I can show you how to deal with that one. And try to control your temper. If that power get out of control, it can kill. Easily."

Peppino gulped and looked at his hands. "S-sì, Mama. I will."

Later, laying in bed, Peppino thought about what she had said. Papa's power was speed. And I've got it. He stretched out his hands, then clenched them into fists. And maybe Mama's strength, too. He thought about his own clumsiness. I have to be very careful.

~~~~

The coach clicked a stopwatch. "All right, Spaghetti, that's it!"

Peppino skidded to a stop, stumbling just a little. "What was-a my time?"

The coach shook their head. "One minute, forty-five seconds. Twice as fast as when we started." He tapped his board. "You keep this up, Peppino, and you'll be doing a mile in under a minute by the time you're fifteen!"

Peppino stretched. "Want me to do it again? I'm not-a tired." Before the coach could respond, Peppino took off. He felt better than he ever had. More confident. Knowing he had something of his Papa, something unique, made him happy. I'll make you proud, Papa!

The coach shook his head, and wrote a note to the football coach. If you can talk this kid into playing, it'll practically be cheating! Not only is he insanely fast, he's incredibly tough. Peppino's only problem was a reluctance to tackle other kids. Don't blame him for that, though. As fast and tough as he is, if he went full blast, he'd kill somebody! The coach yelled. "Peppino! PEPPINO! Slow down!"

Peppino turned his head, and tripped. Oh crap! He tumbled towards the wall...

Right before the impact, the coach saw some sort of field form around the boy.

The impact shook the whole room.

The coach turned white. "Oh God... Peppino! Peppino, are you all right??"

Peppino stood up from the pile of broken bricks around him, dusty and dizzy. "I think... I'm OK..." then he saw the vaguely Peppino-shaped hole in the wall. "OH MIO DIO! I'M SORRY!"

The coach stepped through, and checked Peppino over. "Not a scratch on you. You're tough, kid, but no one's THAT tough. Something else just happened."

Peppino shook. "I'm-a sorry, Coach. I should have-a been paying attention."

The coach shook his head and smiled. "Not the first time, won't be the last. Tell you what, though. It's two years before they'll let you try out for football. Let's work more on your normal speed and strength, and let the superpowers lie for a while. Otherwise the other guy could end up a smear. Once we've got a good base, we can work on bringing that in."

Peppino nodded. "All right, coach. I won't-a give up!" He slammed his fist into his other hand. I'll learn to control this! I swear, Papa, Mama!

~~~~

Four years later...

Peppino slammed into his opponent, knocking them to the ground. The quarterback charged though the opening, gaining several yards before he was taken down. Peppino walked over and helped him up. "You good, Julio?" Peppino said.

Julio grinned at him. "Thought that ogre had me. Thanks, Dozer."

Peppino grinned at the nickname his teammates had given him. While still nervous off the field, on the field, something else took over, and he was a menace to anyone who stood against him. "That's my blood showing, ragazzo," his Mama had said, "We love a good fight! Just don't let it get away from you!"

Suddenly the ogre from the other team barrelled up and shoved him. "Hey, fat boy! Keep it up and I'mma knock you on yer ass so you don't get up!"

Peppino stuck his chest out, slapped it with both hands, them held them out to the sides. While still a bit fat, he'd put on a lot of muscle while training. "Bring it on! I'll knock-a that shitty excuse for a mustache off your-a face!"

The ogre's purple skin turned more red, and he started spewing a stream of vile curses towards Peppino. Peppino just laughed and went back to the huddle as the refs pushed the ogre back towards his side.

Julio looked at him in the huddle. "Watch that guy, Dozer, ogres can get real nasty."

Peppino just grinned. "So-a can I, Julio. So what's the plan?"

Julio looked at Peppino. As kids, he'd been cautious and fearful all the time. But these days, on the field, he showed a different side - a confident, arrogant, almost maniacal one. Kinda scary, honestly. Julio shook his head. But Peppino was very good at keeping people off of him when he was like this. Just count your blessings and be glad he's on your side!

As they lined up, Peppino looked at the ogre, who'd squared up right across from him. The ogre grinned, and tapped his fist against his chin. Coming for you. Peppino growled. Not getting past me today, stronzo.

As the ball was hiked, the ogre suddenly swelled up, like he suddenly gained a lot of mass, and charged - not at Julio, like Peppino expected, but right at him. He lowered his head and speared him right in the face. Peppino's helmet went flying. Immediately the ogre headbutted him, and he felt - and heard - his nose crunch sickeningly.

Peppino had never been hit so hard. He landed flat of his back, blowing all the air out of him. Instantly the ogre was on top of him, pounding anywhere he could reach - arms, body, head. Peppino held his arms up to protect his face, and the ogre immediately pummeled his ribs. He gasped as he felt two sharp pops in his sides.

One of the referees tried to pull the ogre off, and he backhanded the poor ref so hard they went flying. The ogre's own teammates tried to prize him off, but he just swatted them away, too.

Peppino was helpless. This guy's gonna kill me!

Suddenly he felt something explode inside him - rage beyond anything he'd ever felt. His mind seemed to light on fire.

Peppino's eyes went demented.

Peppino shoved the ogre off of him - the ogre went flying several feet into the air, landing on his back. Peppino couldn't feel the pain anymore. The ogre stood up and charged him, eyes full of murder. Peppino stood and waited.

WHAM

Peppino uppercutted the ogre's helmet off. He staggered.

WHAM

A solid haymaker on the right side of the ogre's face. Blood spurted.

BOOM

The second haymaker sent the ogre spinning into the air. Peppino saw several teeth go flying, a spiral of blood flying out of his mouth. The ogre landed on his back, jaw swollen, obviously unconscious.

Peppino stood in a primal stance, panting and clenching his fists. Blood ran down his face from his broken nose. His eyes bulged. "Ecco cosa meriti, pezzo di merda!" He spat blood from his mouth on the ground.

Then the berserker rage died. Peppino realized what he'd done.

"Oh Mio Dio, I-AGH!" He grabbed his ribs and collapsed. The pain was excruciating.

Through the fog of pain he heard voices.

Peppino? Peppino! Are you OK, amigo?

Stand back! There's no telling what's broken!

What about the other guy? Did you see him go flying? His neck might be broke!

Peppino's head was swimming. His vision was blurring, and he knew he was about to pass out.

Then everything went dark.

~~~~

Peppino slowly clawed back to consciousness. Ay, my head! Feels like there's someone pounding it with a sledgehammer!

He carefully opened his eyes. His Mama was standing beside him. Looks like I'm in the emergency room.

Margherita gently patted his forehead. "Ah, ragazzo, I was afraid something like this would happen."

Peppino turned his head and immediately regretted it - his head swam alarmingly. "Agh," he said, clutching his skull.

She held his head down. "Don't turn your head, Pino, you have a bad concussion, your nose is broken, and two broken ribs. After fighting that ogre, you're lucky you didn't puncture a lung." She sighed.

Peppino looked at her. "Mama, was-a that... your power? It felt like... something-a exploded in my head. And then I was just..."

"Angry? More furious than you've ever felt?" She said. "Sì, that's my power, all right. The power to gain extraordinary strength... through rage and hate." She looked grave. "Oh, my poor sweet boy. I so hoped you hadn't inherited that terrible curse."

"The... the ogre I was fighting? What-a happened to him?" Please let me not have killed him.

She looked sad, but patted his arm. "It looked worse than it was, thankfully. Three teeth knocked out, several shattered, a concussion, and some bruises. Apparently he has a muscle-bulking power. The extra padding saved his life - those blows would have snapped his neck otherwise."

Peppino blew a breath out. Only luck kept me from being a murderer today.

Margherita patted his arm again. "When you've healed, we'll work on you learning to control this." She gently hugged him. It hurt his ribs, but he wrapped an arm around her. When did she get so small?

He heard her quietly sobbing. "Mama?"

"I'm sorry, Pino. Sorry for everything. For not having your Papa around. For cursing you with this. For not giving you a better life." She cried into his side.

His heart broke. "Mama, no, fermare. You've always helped me. I... I don't blame you for anything. Not even this." He tried to sit up, but the pain made him think twice. "Please, please Mama, don't cry." He started tearing up himself.

Finally, she looked up. Her eyes were swollen, and her face was still screwed up into a mask of sorrow. He wasn't used to seeing her so... vulnerable. "I will help you control this, Peppino. I swear it."

"I know you will." He paused. "Will I-a need to quit football?"

She sniffed and wiped her nose. "No, if it makes you happy, you should stay. I know you have friends there. But... always, always you must take care. Promise me," she said.

"I promise."

[dumbass-extraordinaire]

Hips Don’t Lie

Cassie schemes.  Bart wears a skirt.  Jaime has a crisis.

      The skirt is red and falls to his mid-thigh.  It swishes and flares as Bart turns to inspect his reflection in the changing room mirror.  What had Cassie called it?  An “anime girl” skirt?  It’s a pretty apt description from what little anime Bart’s watched with Jaime.  He grins, enjoying the way the pleats flare as he moves.

      Bart was skeptical when Cassie suggested they go shopping together, but he’s glad he took her up on the offer.  This is really fun!

      He calls over his shoulder, “Alright, I’m ready for you to see!”

      “Hit me,” Cassie replies.

      He steps out of the changing room, “What do you think?”

     Cassie grins at him and claps her hands together, “Damn, boy!  You’re rocking that skirt!”  Her eyes light up, and Bart can practically see the lightbulb go off, “Ooh, I’m gonna get one too!  That way we can match.”

      He grins back at her, “Crash!”

...

      It is a well-known fact that Cassie Sandsmark is a menace.  In fact, she prides herself on it.  So when she’d seen the way Jaime and Bart look at each other, she couldn’t not get involved.  Of course, she also really does enjoy hanging out with Kid Flash Two: Electric Boogaloo.  The kid’s a hoot, and smart as hell.  They are deffo going shopping together again, no question.

      “Wait here,” she tells him, “I’m gonna give you a rock and roll entrance.”

      Bart grins wickedly at her, “Oooh, are you gonna do your radio announcer voice.”

      “Hell yeah I am, homie,” she says returning his grin with equal fire.  She marches into the living room, where the Outsiders are all lounging on various pieces of furniture.

      “Attention!  Can I get a drumroll please?!” she shouts.  Then, in her best approximation of a 1940′s radio dj, she says, “Please welcome the hottest bitch in town, our very own Bart Allen!”

      Bart jumps out of the doorway, starfishing his arms and legs and jazzing his hands, a sunny grin stretched across his face and his skirt fluttering around his legs.  God he’s adorable, like a fucking puppy this one is.  She just wants to pinch his cheeks, and wow she is turning into her grandma.

      The team’s reactions are all positive, as she’d known they would be.  None of them are assholes, and if they were she’d kick their asses into next week.

      Ed wolf-whistles good-naturedly and Gar gives a big thumbs up, while Virgil nods appreciatively.  Tim shakes his head at their dramatics and Vic raises an eyebrow and quirks his lips, but doesn’t say anything.

      Dr. Jace looks up from her computer, “You both look very nice,” she says, her voice warm.  

      Violet beams at them as well, “Yes, and you are both matching!  That is very nice!”

      Jaime’s reaction is the most satisfying.  He takes one look at Bart and his eyes go wide.  If Cassie’s not mistaken, and she rarely is, then his brown skin is flushed at the cheeks.  She mentally pumps her fist.  Score one for Sandsmark!  We have a blush, people!

      Bart bounds over to his best friend, beaming, “Check it out, her-man-oh!  Cassie took me shopping yesterday!”  He does a little spin, making the skirt flare out around him.  “Isn’t it totally crash?”

      Jaime’s stares at Bart and actually bites his lip.  Cassie doesn’t think he even realizes he’s doing it.  “Oh, wow.  Uh, si, yes, very crash,” he stutters, his accent thickening slightly.

      Cassie smirks.  Her plan is working.

...

      Jaime feels like his brain is melting.  Bart in a skirt.  Bart in a skirt.  He doesn’t know how to handle this.  The skirt is red and pleated and only reaches Bart’s mid-thigh.  And, ay dios mio, the fucking socks!  They squeeze Bart’s thighs slightly, and Jaime feels like he’s going to overheat.

      “Jaime Reyes,” Khaji Da begins.

      “Shut up,” he hisses at the scarab, “I am so not dealing with you right now!”

      Bart beams at him.  He’s gotten taller in the years he’s been here, tall enough that Jaime has to look up at him.  Dios en el cielo, Jaime thinks, he’s fucking cute.  Then his brain short circuits again because fuck, he thinks Bart is cute.  Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck.

     And because the universe hates him personally, Khaji Da chooses that moment to report, “Your vitals indicate that you are experiencing sexual attraction, Jaime Reyes.”

      “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” he thinks desperately.  His ears are burning, and he knows his face is probably beet-red.

      Khaji Da continues, “Reccomended course of action: copulate with the Bart Allen.”

      Jaime makes a strangled, high-pitched noise, his brain coming to a screeching to a halt.  “What the fuck?  No!” he splutters at the scarab, “Gah, shut up, just no!”

      “It is the logical course of action,” it insists.

      He can feel his eye start to twitch, “In what world?!”

     “I do not see why you are so opposed to this.”

     “Because it’s literally the worst possible suggestion ever!”

     “Your hormone levels indicate otherwise.”

     Jaime snaps.  “I am not having sex with Bart!” he shouts.

     “Holy shit,” Gar whispers, and Jaime feels all the blood drain from his face.

     Fuck, he said that out loud.  He said that out loud, with Bart in the room.  This is the worst possible timeline.

     Bart is staring at him, wide-eyed and red-faced.  “What,” the speedster squeaks.

     Nope.  Jaime is not dealing with this.  He is going to find a hole to hide in for the next one hundred years.  He turns around and flees the common room.

     Bart is following him, and Jaime absolutely cannot deal with that conversation right now (or ever), so he throws open the nearest door.  It’s a storage closet, and the irony of that is not lost on Jaime, but beggars can’t be choosers.  Unfortunately, Bart just zips up to him and grabs his arm before he can get the door closed.

      Bart’s cheeks are still bright red, and when they lock eyes Jaime freezes.  Bart opens his mouth to speak, but before he can say anything Cassie shoves them backwards into the closet and shuts the door.  As they tumble to the ground in a tangle of limbs, the click of the lock is a funeral knell to Jaime’s ears.

      Jaime lands on his back with Bart on top of him, warm and solid against his legs.  Bart stares at him.  Jaime stares back.

      “Uh,” he says intelligently.  Bart is practically sitting on his lap, and Jaime silently wills his body not to react.  He’s had enough embarrassement for one day.

      “Hi,” Bart says.  Then, “Your hands are on my waist, Blue.”

     Bart is right.  Jaime had grabbed Bart out of pure reflex when Cassie pushed them and his hands are still clutching Bart’s waist.

     He recoils, “Shit, lo siento, Bart.”

     Bart shrugs, “It’s all crash,” he says easily, like any of this is normal.

     They sit in silence for a few seconds.  “So, ese, you gonna move or what?” Jaime asks, forcing lightness into his voice.

     Bart quirks his lips and rolls off of Jaime’s legs.  The skirt bunches up as Bart moves, and Jaime catches a glimpse of pale thigh.  His face burns, heat rushing down his spine.  He leans against the wall, trying to think of anything other than Bart’s weight in his lap.  Bart’s eyes flicker to him, then away.  Neither of them speak.  Jaime stares determinedly at the ceiling.  The silence is oppressive, and the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife.

     Bart coughs, breaking the silence, “So, uh... Y’wanna tell me what’s going on in that big blue noggin of yours?”

     “No,” Jaime replies curtly.

    “Oh,” Bart says.  He drums his fingers on his thigh, fidgeting.  After a minute, “But, Jaime... What happened with you back there?”

    “Hijo de puta,” Jaime curses.  He should’ve known Bart wouldn’t leave well enough alone.  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

    Bart frowns, “Hey, you’re the one that freaked out and ran.”

    “Yeah, because I didn’t want things to be awkward!” he snaps.

    Bart stares at him, “You didn’t want things to be awkward.  You’re the one that said you wanted to, y’know, with me.  I didn’t do anything!”

    “Ugghh, I did not say that,” he groans, burying his face in his hands, “Madre de dios, that stupid bug.”

     Khaji beeps affrontedly, “I simply stated the obvious.”

    “I am NOT talking to you right now,” he snaps.

    Bart’s horrorified yelp is almost funny, “The scarab wants to do it with me?!”

    Khaji hisses, puffing up in Jaime’s mind like an angry cat, “Organic copulation disgusts me.”

    “Again, not talking to you!” he repeats.  Then, “No, Bart,” he says aloud, “that’s not what it said.”  He grits his teeth, “The scarab thinks I’m attracted to you,” he mumbles from behind his hands.

    Silence.  Complete silence.  Jaime risks a look and sees that Bart’s mouth has fallen open in shock and his eyes are roughly the size of dinner plates.

    “Bart?” he says nervously.  His chest feels funny and he’s panicking, because he does not want to lose his best friend over something as stupid as this.

    Bart blinks at him.  His cheeks are flushed again, and he says, “Would that,” he licks his lips, “Would that really be such a bad thing?”  He looks down, not meeting Jaime’s eyes.

     It’s Jaime’s turn to stare.  “What,” he says flatly.

     Bart’s shoulders hunch, “I just mean,” he starts, then presses his lips together.  “Would that really be so awful?  If you liked me?”

     Jaime’s head is spinning.  This entire day has been one mindfuck after another and he doesn’t know how to handle any of it.  He’s so confused and his insides are twisting themselves into knots.

      “Mierda, Bart, I don’t know,” he says, “I don’t know how I feel about any of it.”  It feels like a confession, though he’s not sure what he’s confessing to.

     Bart bites his lip, brow creased.  His fingers are drumming so fast they’re a blur and in this moment he looks very small.  Jaime wants to reach out, but he doesn’t know how and that scares him.

     Finally, Bart meets his gaze.  His expression is strange, several different emotions clashing behind his eyes.  He crawls up to Jaime, so that they’re nearly nose-to-nose.  His hand comes up to cup Jaime’s cheek, and Jaime stills at the contact. 

     Bart’s words blur together, “CanIjusttrysomething?”  He takes a breath, “Can I just try something?”

     Sparks dance along Jaime’s spine.  Bart’s breath is warm on his face and his hazel eyes are wide and vulnerable.  Jaime doesn’t know what he wants, but Bart is so close and he feels fragile all of a sudden.  He nods, swallowing, and Bart leans in.  Jaime inhales, eyelids fluttering.  Bart’s lips are warm against his own, and he instinctively tilts his head to get a better angle.  Bart makes a soft noise in the back of his throat that does funny things to Jaime’s chest.  

      Khaji Da retreats, skittering deep into his mind and hissing with disgust; Jaime huffs a laugh.

      This is good.  This is really fucking good and he doesn’t want to stop.  His hands settle on Bart’s thighs as the hand cradling his cheek slides up to tangle into his hair.  Bart sucks at his bottom lip, sending jolts of electricity through him.  

      Oh, he thinks, Oh wow.  He gasps, and then Bart’s tongue is in his mouth and both his hands are in his hair and Jaime stops thinking at all.  He growls, pulling Bart into his lap, and the speedster hums approvingly as he slides their tongues together.  Bart’s blunt nails rasp over his scalp as he kisses Jaime with all the wild ferocity of a hurricane.  He’s vibrating in Jaime’s lap and his hands have moved to his waist, sliding up Jaime’s shirt as he mouths at his jaw.

      Jaime pulls back, breaking the kiss with a choked-off moan, “Espera, Bart wait, slow down, por favor chiquito.”  Bart stills, his hands burning like a brand against the skin of his chest.  

      He pulls away and blinks up at Jaime, cheeks flushed and mouth red.  “Totally crash,” he breathes, sounding dazed.  

      Jaime laughs, fondness fizzing in his chest like champagne.  He’s drunk on this, on Bart’s hands on his skin and his smile and the high spots of color on his cheeks; he’s drunk on Bart.  

      Bart grins at him, hazel eyes lighting up, and in that moment he’s brighter than the sun.  “If I’d known this is what would happen, I’d’ve asked Cassie to take me shopping a long time ago,” he teases.

      “Madre de dios,” Jaime mutters and buries his face in his hands, flustered.  Then, “Wait,” he says, hit with a sudden realization, “Cassie fucking planned this,” he hisses and untangles himself from Bart, heading for the closet door.

      “You planned this, didn’t you!” he shouts, banging his fist on the closet door.  “Chica, I swear if you don’t open this door right now-!”  The door swings open to reveal a smug Wonder Girl.

       “I can neither confirm nor deny those accusations, my friend,” Cassie says solemnly.  She peers over his shoulder at Bart and then back at him, takes in Jaime’s rumpled appearance, and smirks, “Hey it worked, didn’t it?”

      Jaime tears at his hair, “That’s not the point!  There were a million different ways you could’ve done this, ones that didn’t involve me embarrassing myself in front of the entire goddamn team!”

      It’s only just now sinking in that Bart’s not the only one who heard his outburst.  Fuck, he’s never gonna live this down, is he?

      “Jaime Reyes,” Khaji Da intones, emerging from its self-imposed exile, “Have you finished your copulation?”

      “Aghhhh!” he shouts, “Que se joda esto, que se joda usted y que se joda su madre, I am leaving!”  He turns to Bart, “You coming, hermano?”

      Bart blinks at him again, “Wait, you want me to come with you this time?”  He’s on his feet and in front of Jaime before he can blink, looking hopeful.

      “Definitely.  I’m not leaving you at the mercy of this menace,” he jabs his thumb over his shoulder at Cassie.  Swallowing his sudden nerves, he continues, “And I was thinking we could maybe go back to my place and...continue where we left off?”

      Bart’s eyes light up, “Oh, absolutely!”  His grin is wicked, promising things that make heat flare in Jaime’s gut.  “Let’s go,” he says, grabbing Jaime’s wrist.

      Jaime doesn’t think he’s ever flown so fast in his entire life.

[flwrkae]

COOK YOUR WAY INTO THEIR HEARTS!

summary: Mariana, a young girl coming from a famed family of cooks isn't as blessed with the skills of the knife compared to her kin. Frustrated as she also loves food and cooking as much as them, she decides to go on a journey to learn how to cook from her family members.

warnings: none! just a 'lil breakdown but all good :] not proof read

notes: hii, so this is set in spain and im filipino who knows 0 abt spain so plz forgive me if there is wrong things, its all google translated and i wrote this 4 school a while back so dont judge kakaka, just for fun and want an outlet for my works to share to the world

The sun is just beginning to rise along the shores of Cadaques. Located in the heart of the small town is a family restaurant called “Flor de Iluvia” meaning rain flower. Even this early in the morning, many people are lining up outside waiting for a chance to have a seat. It hasn’t even opened but a long queue has formed outside the door and it caused quite a noise. Many people know that Flor de Iluvia is a busy restaurant and is always filled any time of the time but the food is just too good, you just keep coming back.

Since it's a family-owned restaurant, the family members will be the cooks and the ones running it. Tio Carlos is known for his good looks along with his Hummus, Tia Valentina with her sweet character with her rich Spanish hot chocolate that will surely provide you comfort in the rainy season, Papa Hernando with his simple yet intense Patatas Bravas that's a favorite among the dad’s and tio’s since its best paired with beer, Mama Camila with her homey Huevos Rancheros, The cousin pair: Gabriela and Antonio with their specialty of albondigas that everyone of all ages enjoys, Abuela Romana and the crowd's favorite, her Paella that started it all, and many more talented chefs under the Rodriguez surname.

And there is Mariana, the girl whose specialty is cleaning. It is clear she is the odd one out of the family since she wasn’t gifted the special skills the rest of her kin have when it comes to cooking so she makes up for it with her cleaning and decorating skills. 

The winter season is beginning and the temperature starts dropping. Even if you are greeted by the warm sun, the air will just make you feel weird. This is what Mariana feels every day, she already has much on her plate with the worry that she will never get the chance to cook with her family members do her school work, and do other things. She wakes up around 5 AM which is still relatively early for her, to hear that the kitchen is already filled and operating due to the loud voices of her family members nearly screaming at each other. She groans and lazily gets up from bed trying to fight away the urge to fall asleep. She gets up, puts on her slippers, and heads out of her room to check what's downstairs. She sees that several people are waiting outside even if the temperature is like 9 degrees and turns her head to the kitchen to see her papa and Tio arguing.

“Ay Dios Mio Hernando! Have you seen the people waiting outside for the restaurant to open and get their orders while you push back the opening time just because you had a hangover?” Tio Carlos shouts at Papa Hernando, “I’m sorry hermano but have you forgotten that I’m the manager of this place, can’t you see you are just pushing the opening time more because you just keep blaming me and you should start cooking” He retorted. The argument got cut off when Gabriela asked her dad, Tio Carlos to just not mind Papa Hernando and to start working on the orders. 

Mariana walked up to the counter of the kitchen and asked what's going on and Camila, her cousin, responded that Papa Hernando went out drinking last night and woke up late with a headache so Tio Carlos got mad at him, and boom that happened. Mariana just laughed since it was a funny situation, to begin with, and she had this thought in her head, what if she asked Camila if she can help out because they are in a situation but Camila said “I know that look in your face Mariana, you want to help out don’t you” and Mariana just nodded in response then Camila followed “As much as we appreciate your help, we need to rush things and can’t afford any failures but next time, when you become a better cook”. After hearing that, she just sighed in defeat, laughed it off then headed to her room.

She went up the stairs frantically and shut the door to her room as soon as she arrived. She was bothered by the comment that Camila made but decided to brush it off and got ready to go to school. She showered, put on her uniform, went down to grab something to eat on the way, and waved goodbye. On her way to school, she was still bothered by the comment and overthinked it the whole day. The comment kept her thinking, what did Camila mean by “can’t afford any failures” and kept thinking if she was referring to herself as the failure. It affected her all day and dampened her mood which caused her to keep on sighing and acting all dramatic. 

After a long day of school, she arrived home and when she opened the door with a smile on her face, it instantly turned to a frown when she saw Camila. She was reminded again about the conversation this morning and ran to her room. She dropped her bag and changed into her house clothes in a hurry since she felt this sudden surge of emotion and started breaking down. She felt like a disappointment and a failure like what Camila said, why couldn’t she be like her family members? She kept beating herself up and she turned to her side and saw herself in the mirror. Mariana thought to herself that she looks funny and shouldn’t be crying over something so simple. It still pained her but she knew she had to do something about her problem instead of crying about it. She got on her phone and started scrolling through recipes on how to make simple meals and tips on cooking. She took note of this and was determined to prove her family wrong.

It’s a Saturday today and Mariana woke up to her eyes being puffy from last night. She was in a good mood because she told herself that today is the start of her epic journey of learning how to cook. She went down after brushing her teeth to see that they were just preparing breakfast. Flor de Iluvia opens later than usual on Saturdays and Sundays so the Rodriguez family could have some family time. 

Mariana's mom, Mama Gabriela looked at Mariana and ran over to her, while cupping her face she said in worry “Mija, why are your eyes so puffy? Did anything happen last night?” and Mariana just held on to her mother's hand and reassured her it was for a simple reason “But in fact mama, you can help me with my problem! Can you teach me how to cook?” Mama Gabriela had a smile on her face and hugged her daughter “Of course I can, anything for you! Tonight I will teach you so come sit first and eat!”. After Mama Gabriela said that, she sat down and started eating with her family. 

The day went on pretty well because if you may have guessed it, Mariana was looking forward to cooking with her Mama. Mama Camila is known for her soft and endearing nature that will always make you feel at peace and Mariana was blessed to have such a mother who was like that and who cooks like heaven was brought to your mouth. She was pretty much excited because the last time she tried cooking, she burnt an egg. All she did for the afternoon was lounge around her room and go room to room to bother her relatives.

“Mariana, Get out of my room! You know I’m doing something important!” Antonio, her cousin said as he threw pillows at her. “What do you mean important? It’s clear you were playing again” Mariana said as she leaned against the doorframe while crossing her arms. She then entered the room and lay down on his bed. “Boy, I’m so bored right now, the fun only happens tonight” Mariana complains and Antonio turns around quickly and raises an eyebrow “What do you mean fun only happens tonight???? WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE” He screams while he stands up, “Relax Antonio, I don’t mean those things, My mom will teach me how to cook tonight! And I’m just so excited that anything else is not that exciting” Mariana explains. Antonio just pushes Mariana out and then shuts the door in front of her “Rude much” Mariana says.

The day continued without a pause and Mariana was bored out of her mind so when evening came, she decided to go out for a walk since the restaurant became busier and people started pouring in. The cold breeze hit her hair and danced along with it. Mariana shivers as she feels the wind while she stares out at the ocean. She closed her eyes and found peace with the sound of ocean waves and had this impulsive feeling. She ran to the shore of the ocean and pulled her pants a little above her shins and let the waves hit her feet. It was quite peaceful and slow-paced compared to the busy and noisy atmosphere she was used to. She remained in this motionless state for a while then sat down. Staring at the moon got her thinking what if she was as talented as her family members but she worked hard for it. She imagined all the praise she got when she opens her restaurant in the future and she makes a fist promising to herself that she will make that happen. 

Closing time arrives and she rushes back to the restaurant. “Where have you been all night Mariana? We were worried sick about you!” Mama Camila exclaims while rushing to Mariana. “Ma, I was just out and nothing happened so don’t worry” She reassures her mother then Mama Camila pulls her by the hand gently to the kitchen, “Tonight, I’m going to teach you how to make my special Huevos Rancheros!” Mama Camila says then she starts getting the ingredients and things that will be used. “Mariana, can you start prepping or chopping what needs to be done so we can finish up early” Her mother ordered so Mariana got to work and started crushing the tomatoes and chopping the onions. After chopping up and prepping, Mama Camila is teaching her how to make the salsa, “U saute the onions in olive oil in medium heat then when its translucent, you add the tomatoes that you crushed and add the green chilies” Mama Camila instructed then Mariana followed but she added too much green chilies and accidentally burned them, “You can add any additional seasoning but don’t add too much as it might overpower the dish” Mama Camila reminded but Mariana decided to add her twist to it and added too much of spice chili powder. 

Now the salsa is done and Mama Camila had this trick of warming the plate so she popped it in the oven just a little while that was heating. Mariana started preparing the tortillas and put them in a pan with oil to heat and while waiting, she started frying the eggs and forgot about the tortillas and they burned! While she was frying the eggs, she suddenly smelt something burning and asked her mother “Mama, do you smell anything burning?” Mama Camila panicked and said "Mariana the eggs!" then hurryingly went to the stove and turned off the heat. Mariana just stood there as the scene unfolded and took a mental note to herself to always be mindful of everything.

"Mija, go up and wash up. I'll finish things here" Mama Camila said so Mariana followed what her mother said and went up. Mariana didn't feel that sad about it because she at least got a chance to cook and learned something from her mom. She decided that when everyone is asleep, she will practice cooking the dish again.

That time of the night came and Mariana came out of her room quietly and tiptoed her way to the kitchen. Good thing she remembered the recipe and followed it without adding too much of something or anything that she only likes. It was finished and it tasted bad. It was burned and mild to her but she didn't lose hope and started again. This process was repeated many times until she got it to the taste that was okay but not really up to the restaurant's standards. She got tired and cleaned up then headed back to her room. 

Days turned into weeks and Mariana spent most of her time helping in the restaurant with her usual cleaning and decorating but at night when everyone was asleep, she would try recreating the recipe that her mom taught her. It was one night when she was caught cooking by Tia Valentina. Tia Valentina laughed when she heard the reason why Mariana kept sneaking out of her room at night and why there was lots of noise coming from the kitchen. "I honestly thought there was a ghost in the kitchen but glad it was you! Anyways, I can help you with this journey of yours! I can help you make my simple hot chocolate" Tia Valentina offered and Mariana replied quickly with a nod. 

Mariana was excited to learn to make something again and she was thrilled since it was something fairly easy. Tia Valentina offered to do it together since it would be easy to mimic the actions and Mariana agreed. They first used a saucepan, heated to medium heat, and poured the milk and cornstarch. Mariana was a little behind because she had a hard time understanding the medium heat but got it when Tia Valentina put the stove on medium heat. Tia Valentina got a whisk and handed it to Mariana and told her to whisk it until it starts to boil. In a matter of a few minutes, it started to boil and Tia Valentina took it out quickly but Mariana was confused and let it boil a bit until she took it out. They added chocolate and stir until it was fully melted. After they finished putting the chocolate and mixing it, they put it back on the stove and turned down the heat then stirred it constantly. They were done with the drink and Mariana was happy when it was finished.

They just added the finishing touches like whipped cream and drizzled caramel on top. Mariana was happy and started drinking right away. Tia Valentina just chuckled and drank along with Mariana. "I didn't know you had a knack for cooking, I wish I had taught you earlier," Tia Valentina remarked Mariana was happy hearing it but deep down she didn't want to tell Tia that her drink tasted a bit weird and knew that she let the milk boil some more. "Thank you Tia Valentia for teaching me!" Mariana said and Tia Valentina responded "No worries, I know that yours taste a bit weird so I hope next time, you follow instructions" And then she left.

Mariana kept making this drink every time she had guests over or if she wanted a rich drink. Every time she made it, she kept thinking something was lacking and wasn't satisfied with it. Time has passed and Mariana has never failed to come to the kitchen every night to practice her skills in cooking. She wanted to improve them drastically so she decided to ask Tio Carlos, a famous chef who has his dishes, on a special menu in the restaurant.

It was an afternoon when Mariana came home from school and saw Tio Carlos in the restaurant. "Tio Carlos! Are you back from your trip?" Mariana said while setting her bag down. "Hello Mariana, it's been a long time! You surely are big now. I just arrived earlier" Tio Carlos replied while entertaining some diners. "I also have a question or a request to make," Mariana asked and Tio Carlos hummed in response, "Would it be okay if you could teach me one of your recipes" Mariana continued and Tio Carlos agreed and told her to come to the kitchen at night.

Mariana was excited to learn from Tio Carlos and was down all afternoon to night helping around in the restaurant. When evening came, Mariana rushed to the kitchen and found there were still people cleaning up so she decided to help around to kill time.

It was around 9 PM when Mariana saw Tio Carlos. "Hello, Tio! I'm so excited to learn from you!" Mariana exclaimed and Tio Carlos chuckled "Calm down Mari, tonight we are going to let loose so don't be so uptight. I'm going to just teach you simple recipes". Mariana and Tio Carlos enjoyed themselves with the cooking because even if Tio Carlos was strict, Mariana got to pick up lots of tips. In the end, Mariana made his famous Hummus and was disappointed when it wasn't up to his standard and was just told to keep on practicing then left.

Mariana stood there for a few minutes then tears started dripping from her eyes. She didn't realize it but his words stuck to him and realized that she won't be like her family and felt anger building up in her. She threw all the things on the counter and made a mess. "Why am I a disappointment?" A plate fell, "How come I can't be like them?" Another thing went flying to the ground, "WHY AM I SO UNLUCKY AND ALWAYS LEFT OUT" and with that, she fell to her knees and cried. She kept it the whole time and invalidated her feelings thinking it was natural. All the pressure, sadness, and jealousy started crashing down. She remained on the floor for a while and kept repeating "What am I doing wrong" for a few minutes until she stopped and realized something. She shouldn't copy, mimic and be like her family members.

She had this realization that she kept on messing up because her taste isn't like her family members and kept on copying them and their recipes but added her touch that messed up the dish. She should be her person and chef and apply the skills she learned to create a dish that reflected her personality and matched her taste pallet.

She got herself together and cleaned up the mess she made, the broken plate and glass shards, wrappings on the floor, or spills made. She then sat down and started thinking about things that she would like in her dish like a dish that reminds you of home, something to be comforted by, a little spicy and easy to cook. Mariana came up with Spicy Spanish Prawns which was perfect for her because of the seafood that is often served since they live by the sea and the spicyness. 

Mariana scrambled around the kitchen getting her ingredients like prawns, paprika, chili flakes, lemon juice, and more. She got a flying pan and placed it over low heat, she then added olive oil, garlic, chili flakes, and paprika. She let it sit for a couple of minutes so she decided to prep the prawns, she got a paper towel and dried the prawns then seasoned them lightly with salt and pepper. She turned the heat up and when it started to shimmer, she placed the prawns and tossed it around until it became opaque. After tossing and cooking it around, she turned off the heat and poured the lemon juice and sherry then stirred it. As a final touch, she added parsley and tasted it immediately. She felt proud of herself for once because she made it to her liking. All the flavors exploded in her mouth and savored them. She finished half of the dish and saved it for her family to taste the next day. 

Morning came and she woke up early with a smile on her face and couldn’t stop thinking about last night. She went down the stairs and found most of her family members just talking about their plans for the holidays so she took this as an opportunity to serve her food. She took them out of the fridge and just heated them. When it was finished, she was scared of what they would say and disappointment, complaints, and disgust filled her head. As she walked to the table where they were sitting, she felt like she was walking to her death as a chef and part of the Rodriguez family. 

“Oh Mija, what is this?” Abuela Romana asked and motioned her to sit down, “It’s just something I made after many sessions of teaching myself how to cook so I want you guys to try it” Mariana answered and she felt her heart beating as each one grabbed a spoonful and placed it in their mouth. “Oh wow! Did you make this? It’s pretty good” remarked Tio Carlos and many people nodded in agreement. Abuela Romana was the one who Mariana was worried about because her response is a make-and-break in her career as a chef but all her worries were eased when she said it was good enough and made a hint that she could start cooking and helping out in the kitchen. “It’s a good dish if we take into account that you’re just new to cooking so I look forward to seeing more of your dishes put on the table”. Mariana felt happy and jumped inside, she hugged her mom and thanked everyone who helped her.

It was an afternoon in Flor de Iluvia and the front of the restaurant was a bit empty because a certain girl isn’t cleaning and entertaining diners anymore. Mariana had found a spot in the kitchen as someone who fries and handles seafood. As she is cooking, she remembers all the hard times and jealousy she experienced but her hard work paid off. She certainly cooked her way into everyone's hearts.

[mickgaydolenz]

one of my sources for studying degrees in-tangent gives like these little descriptors for each degree to give a visualization as to what that degree can entail. its kind of neat tbh.

but for 3° Cancer, which is what Micky's 4th house Saturn in Cancer is in - and i've already talked a lot about it so we're aware of what it already entails - it gives this description that made me sink to the floor:

"A woman seated in an altitude of grief, her clothes disordered and her hair unkempt, holding some faded flowers in her hands; among the flowers are lilies and roses"

amongst all of that, which i dont think we need to dredge over 'cause it's honestly a bit of a downer to discuss; not ideal to feeling grief on behalf of another person for today. however, because im so cool and epic with a lot of sexy knowledge, i want to discuss the lilies and roses since i am a super sucker for symbolism in all things. it's not necessary but it's what the neurodivergency is commanding me to do and i have no say.

note: both roses and lilies have sooo many different colors and varieties to them that its hard to pin down an all-encompassing symbolic generalization for them. but my sources have tried their best at it and i think it works well.

remember that Saturn slows progress, and always brings difficulties to wherever its placed and in aspect to, so it's overall going to dampen the symbolism of these plants; hence the 'faded flowers', because that's the nature of Saturn's influence.

lilies are known to be recognized as a flower of purity and innocence -- it's a flower of sympathy. it also happens to be associated with the Moon! and i think that's incredibly coincidental considering his Moon opposes his Saturn. so, a whittling away at that purity & innocence due part to his home life, either growing up in or in trying to establish his own, is a possibility. especially since he's been working in the entertainment industry since he was a child. i don't think he ever got to experience that kind of child-like innocence and purity much in life due to that and just became part of him as he got older, quite literally tending to his inner child a lot of the time. lilies also symbolize dignity and honor, in which those things can only be accomplished through hard work, and at times through his life it seemed those things did not come into play throughout his career. his Moon is in Capricorn 10th house; he's always taken his career choices very seriously and emotionally invests himself into it to which, again, can cause problems in the home (as we've discussed before), and could struggle trying to uphold those things at home.

roses are much more recognized for their symbols of love and romance, which is the usual accepted generalization, and i do agree with that too. but roses are also known for its secrecy. the 4th house is already pretty private as it is; double that with his Saturn conjuncting Juno....someone HELP HIM dios mios. roses are associated with Venus, but Juno is pretty much a fine-tuned off-shoot soooo *nervously pulling at collar*. tbqfh "faded" is an understatement for roses here.

and you can combine the two flowers + their meaning and you get a whole fuckin' mess. someone throughout life who lacked discipline in personal relationships because of his rose-tinted glasses. he fucked around AND found out. 🧠💥🤯 (other placements and aspects can back this up too, this ain't just one speculation)

now to tie this all together: 3° Cancer.

other than the one nice thing, "an ear for music", there's also: "dependence on home, possible mother fixation", "strong feelings that over-rule reason and experience", "expects support from home without effort", and "easily influenced by the opposite sex which can cause either injury or disgrace". so, y'know. use context clues for that one.

……..i……..i………i need to throw myself off a bridge…….

[ziee]

Bruno Madrigal x Reader (18+) 2

I don’t really like this one, but I only decided that at the 2500 word mark, so I just finished it. I realised I don’t like how big of an age gap is between 22 and 50, so I think from now on I’ll keep Y/n the same age as the Madrigal triplets in new fics.

You huff as you carry your bag up the steps to house Madrigal. Getting to the front door, you knock once, hearing a loud voice yell, "I'll get it!" The door opens and you're met with your friend's youngest sister.

"Hey, Mirabel!" You smile at the glasses-wearing girl as she lets you in.

"Y/n, you're back!" She grins and steps aside, letting you come in further.

"You bet I am." Setting your bag down, your wrap an arm around her, hugging her tightly before letting go. "Anyways, I'm really excited to see Isabella, where is she?" You saw Mirabel roll her eyes before pointing towards her sister's door.

"In her room." And with that you bid goodbye, picking up your bag before walking up the stairs to knock onto the glowing oak. It opens, appearing a tall woman in a purple dress, gasping loudly.

"Y/n!" She throws her hands around you, a puff of flowers developing around you as you hug. You giggle as you reunite with your friend you haven't seen in what felt like forever. Pulling you inside the door shuts and a vine grabs ahold of your bag, placing it onto the flower-like floor.

"I've missed you so much! Have you gotten taller?" She takes a step back and examines you.

You laugh at her antics. "I've missed you too, and yes. I kind of had a growth spurt at mi abuela's." You look around the brightly colored room, sighing in a kind of relief, just glad you're back. You turn, examining, moving around the room as you touch a few petals before seeing Isabella has moved over to her stringed bed.

She beckons you over, and you wince at the vines holding up her bed. "Cmere, I want you to tell me everything that happened while you were away. Do you know how many times Mirabel stepped on my dress this past month? 6! Dios mio, she gets on my nerves!" As she was ranting, you climbed up onto the platform, just in front of the elevated bed.

She pats the spot beside her, and even scooches over. "What are you waiting for?" She looks down at you, confused.

"Ah, well, one time mi abuela asked me to reach a can on top of her tallest cabinet. I couldn't reach it, so I got a ladder and tried to grab it on my tippy toes. I fell and it really hurt, and I guess-" You pause, "I can't do heights. I'm sorry." You cringe at your story, feeling it was a sad excuse for developing a new fear.

Isabella smiles, sliding off of her bed gracefully before putting a hand on your shoulder. "Hey, don't be sorry. Cmon," She flicked her wrist to a section behind you and you turned to look, spotting 2 freshly grown flower chairs sitting beside one another. "Want to know what I'm afraid of?" She commented, grabbing your hand as you both made your way down to the chairs.

You nodded, happy your friend understood you. "Yes, since I just shared my deepest secret with you Isa." You laughed and sat down. She flattened her dress and spoke,

"Fire."

--

It was after dinner, made by the wonderful Julieta, her cooking which you haven't had for almost a year brought a tear to your eye as you ate. Isabella and you got ready for bed, and now you were both lying down on her flower floor. Gossiping and chatting, you soon got to the forsaken topic of crushes.

"So, you have anyone you like?" You giggle at the thought as you wink at your friend. Of all the time you've known her, mostly 3/4 of her life, she's never been that interested in dating.

"Well.." She began, and you perked up. Leaning towards her, you give her the crudest grin as you raise an eyebrow. "There's this- Sal de mi cara." She pushes on your face and you roll over, laughing. She sighs, but you see a small smile perk her lips. "There's this man from the village."

"Si, si.." You urge her to continue, waving your hands as you lay on your stomach.

"Everyone loves him, even Abuela. She thinks it'd be good if we get married but ai.. I don't even like him! Everyone is pushing for us to get married, and I just hope that maybe.. I'll develop feelings for him?" She whispers the last part, and when she turns to look at you, she notices your face full of shock.

You're shocked and saddened for your friend, but in reality there's nothing you can do. "Oh, Isabella.. I'm so sorry." You place your hand over hers, laying in silence for a few minutes before she breaks it.

"So, what about you? And don't say-"

"Bruno." What better to lighten the mood but by saying you have, and always had a crush on your friend's uncle? Her face morphs into a one of disgust, and you can't help but laugh, it gets her every time. She groans and rolls over, refusing to look at you as she yells.

"Y/n! That is, still, so gross!" She makes a 'bleh' sound as you stick your tongue out in her direction. Let's clear some stuff up. You met Isabella when you were both 5, at her gifting ceremony. You had been in awe seeing flowers sprout from her, and she caught you glimpsing.

She came towards you and flaunted her powers, and you were delighted. You hadn't even caught on she was flaunting, which made her dumbstruck. You started coming to the house Madrigal on the daily, insisting that you wanted to play with your new 'friend'.

As you two grew closer, you couldn't help but be fascinated by the whole Madrigal family. Including the man who wore a green poncho. As a 5-year-old, you were a little scared of the puffy hair, and someone way taller than you, but you'd continuously go up to him, tug at the end of poncho until he noticed you, and ask him a silly question.

It could be, "Why is your hair so big?", or "Why do you look so sleepy?" Whatever it was, Bruno would try and answer it in the simplest form, before scurrying away. It could be when you turned to look at something else, or just walking away from you when he was done speaking.

When you were 10, you grew a childish crush on the tired man. You'd stare whenever you ate at their table, watch him as he read on a chair before being pulled off by Isabella, and once you tried to enter his room. He had caught you, and you sheepishly apologized before running off, giggling like mad.

He had disappeared when you and Isabella were 12. When you found out, you excused yourself and ran to your house crying. Now you were 22, and never forgot the man who answered all your questions as a kid.

You laughed as she fake gagged, standing up don't your knees before pointing to her. "You asked!"

"I thought maybe, hopefully, you would have met someone when you were out of town."

"Do you know where mi abuela lives? No one lives by the mountains except her!" Your stomach hurt from the laughing, seeing your friend's face turn into several different emotions in such a short span was hilarious. She yawned after a moment, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Tired? Good, I won't have to listen to y-" A face full of flowers shut you up.

Both of you were soon situated into a bed, hers slung up towards the ceiling, while yours stood still on the ground. "Buenas noches." Isabella called to you from above. You shifted and said the same, smiling into the blankets before your tired eyes pulled you off to sleep.

Your eyes opened, staring into the darkness. Hours later? Minutes? You didn't know, but what had awoken you was your irritable stomach. Clenching your eyes shut, you rolled around and tried to go back to sleep. Your belly grumbled and you groaned, pushing the covers off of you.

Getting up, you thought you'd just get a small snack from the kitchen. Exiting the room, you tip-toe towards the stairs. As you walked, you heard small sounds coming from below. You figured it was rats, or one of Antonio's animals until you heard a small huff. Your ears perked up, as you got to the bottom, you quietly crept towards the kitchen.

Peering over the wall, you were met with a cloaked figure, snatching a few of Julieta's arepa con queso. Your eyebrows raised, you couldn't distinguish who was behind the hood. Until you saw green, a green poncho. You thought this was just a prank by Camilo, transformed into him to snatch food...

But, why at night? Why wouldn't he just come down as himself? Without meddling on it, you stepped out and into the kitchen. "Ok Camilo, you can stop now." Placing your hands on your hips, you watched as he turned around. Widened eyes met yours, and for a minute they seemed real.

He fumbled, dropping a few pieces of food onto the ground. "Camilo..?" Your eyes narrowed, wondering why he hasn't shifted or had yet to say anything. Silence overtook both of you, and realization dawned over you.

"..Bruno?" You whispered, edging closer. He backed away, only slightly, but clutched his food closer to him as he moved away from you.

"Um-" You gasped and ran towards the man, stopping in front of him as you look down. Your hands flew to your cheeks, and you could feel them heat up.

"Dios mio! You're really you, you're not dead!" You exclaimed as the man looked from side to side. "Where did you go? I'm super curious so please do tell me, are you back now? Did you get shorter? Oh, well, I did just have a growth spurt so-" You didn't even realize he had placed down his items until his hand was placed over your mouth, effectively shutting you up.

"Please, Y/n," Oh, he remembered you. " Keep me a secret, alright?" He urgently whispered. Butterflies grew in your stomach as you looked down at your mouth. You nodded before he removed his hand.

"Si, of course.." He sighed, gathering up his food. You shifted your weight through your feet as you watched him, amazed you were seeing the man you've thought about for the past 10 years right in front of you. You were about to say something before he turned to you.

"Bye." He started walking towards the stairs, and you choked on your tongue.

"W-wait!" You ran after him, scurrying up the stairs he'd already climbed up so fast. He looked towards you, face red from running up the long stairs, and held a finger to his lips, shushing you before continuing on his way.

You cocked your head in confusion but followed him. He opened a large painting, revealing a pathway into the walls. Your eyes widened, but with no time to waste, you entered behind him. "Do you.. Live in the walls?" You spoke softly, watching as he intricately stepped over the large cracks of wood.

"Doesn't everybody?" He answered the question with a question, but before you could question said question, he turned a corner. You were so confused but decided to just shut up. For now, at least. You saw him jump over a large crack, and a shiver ran up your spine seeing him so athletic.

You followed his actions, jumping over the hole as you landed on the other side with a large huff. Does he do this, every night? Continuing your path, you watched as he knocked upon the wood and his head for that matter. Soon, you both stopped in front of a brown door, he opened it with a sigh, letting you inside first.

You thanked him and stepped inside, feeling a little bit like your intruding by following him home but.. Well, there was really no justification, you were just enamored by the man.

"Wow, what a place you have here.." You looked around, seeing rats on top of mostly everything elevated. He drops the food he's carrying on a table, several rats jump up and nibble on the items. He saves one for himself, placing it into his mouth as he walks over to a red chair before sitting down.

You look around, blushing at the sight of boxers strung up on a drying rack. Facing back towards the man in green, you rose an eyebrow as you watched him eat. Your thoughts wandered to how long has it been since he's eaten, to how long might his tongue be... You mentally scolded yourself, but you couldn't help to imagine more.

"So," His voice broke you out of your, slightly crude, daydream. "You must be tired right? I'd say it's time for you to go back to bed." He stood up and went towards the door, opening it as he gestured his hand out.

"But there's so much I want to know! Like why you're back here, or-" Your exclamation was cut off by a sigh.

"Kid, look, how about you go back to Isabella's room." You froze a little hurt. Looking towards him, meeting his tired, brown eyes. Seeing the heavy bags under them, you contemplated whether you should just go, but thought about how this might be the last and only time you see him. Or anyone does.

"I'm not a kid, not anymore at least." You step closer to him until your standing an inch away. "I had a silly little crush on you as a kid, you probably knew that, and since then I've never thought of anyone but you. Please," You grab ahold of his hands, noticing how large they feel in your palms, "look at me. You can't run away this time."

He looks away from you, pondering. "I don't know.." You drop his hands and sigh. You walk towards the opened door, about to exit before a hand grips yours. You turn around, looking into his wide eyes as he pulls you back into the room. "But, we could try." Your face lifts, and you shut the door with your foot before standing back in front of the curly-haired man.

"Can I kiss you?" You spoke with eagerness, hoping he'll accept. He nods, and the butterflies in your stomach create a frenzy. You lean down and press your lips against his, bringing your hand up to tangle within his curls. He returns the kiss softly, not really knowing what he's doing but neither are you.

You break away and lick your lips.

"Do that again." As if he commands, but really it's a wishful comment. You comply nonetheless, lowering your head to press back into the kiss. His hands grab your waist, and you like how much they cover over your shirt. You press yourself against him, bumping your pelvis against his.

You feel his knees buckle against yours, and you decide what to do next. You break the kiss, grinning at him as he looks at the string connecting your mouth with his break. You lower yourself and bring him down with you. You're seated on the floor, and you press against his chest to where he lay on his back.

You make your way to remove your clothes, eager to continue. "You know, I always liked how big your nose is." You lick your lips as he watches, and a blossom of heat sprouts inside you. You peel off your undergarments and show him the large wet spot on them, made by your arousal. "You do this to me." You purr. "Now, off with your clothes. I wouldn't want to get them wet."

Soon enough, you're both naked. He had placed a blanket under him, so it wasn't as cold on his bare body. You grinned as you lifted yourself over him, bending down as you arch your back and take his lips between yours. He grips you, large hands stroking up and down your waist.

"Mm, Bruno.." You sigh in between kisses. You cup his cheek, and you see his adam's apple bob at your action. "Can I do something?" You whisper, explaining a little what you've envisioned. He accepts the idea, releasing your waist as you re-position yourself.

You're hovering over his mouth, face in front of his erected length. Your stomach bubbles in excitement, and you decide to be first to do something. It was your first time doing this, and you wanted him to feel good, so you started with your hand first. One on the floor for stability, you used your other to touch him.

Grabbing ahold of himself, your ears perked up at the stifled sound he made from behind you. You slowly started stroking, pumping up and down as his shaft twitched in your hand. His huffs grew louder, and you jolted at the two hands that laid on your butt. Pulling you down, you were lowered onto his opened mouth.

You gasped over the heat, feeling his nose blow soft exhales onto your skin. You felt the courage to take him into your own mouth, so you did. You couldn't get his whole length inside your mouth, but feeling him groan into you felt amazing. His tongue shot up, starting to lick at your wetness.

You moaned around him before refocusing on your task of pleasuring him too. You stabilized yourself by placing both your hands onto his legs as you suck him. Moving your tongue around his length, before popping off and licking his tip made his own tongue sloppy. His hands rub into your flesh as he licks you.

As you were bobbing around him, his tongue had moved up, onto a place you've only touched. Your pink button, encased in the heat of his mouth, his tongue circled it once. He heard you moan around his length, feeling your thighs twitch around his cheeks, so he did it again. You could almost cry at how good everything felt.

His tongue pressed against, circled around, sucked onto your clit. You tried to keep a steady pace around him, sucking him while he was in your mouth before popping off and licking the tip when you needed to breathe. With his actions, it wasn't going to be long until you came.

You could feel his large nose poke into you, his tongue moving fast around you. Your stomach clenched, and you cried out. Cumming around his tongue, he continued to lick around you as you released. About 10 seconds pass, and you've finally come back to consciousness. Picking yourself off him, you enjoyed the sight of your juices glistening on his face, before remembering your job had yet to be finished.

You sat beside his legs, leaning back over and opening your mouth. "Oh, you don't have t-Oh!" You pulled him back into your mouth, disregarding your shaking legs as you sucked around him. He groans and leans down, placing a hand over his eyes as you touch him. You're loving the sounds he makes, especially the choked moan as he cums into your mouth.

You taste the not-so-tasteful seed, and with nowhere to spit it, you swallow it with a disgusted face. Shaking your head, you come off him and lean back, using your arms to hold your weight.

"Wow, I've never done anything like that. I saw it in a book one time and thought I'd suggest it, but.. Wow!" You exclaimed with a giggle and looked over. He was staring at you with an awkward smile.

"Yeah." Your smile softened at his antics.

"Anyway, we should better clean up. Or at least, you should wipe your face." You said with a yawn, sleepiness now catching up to you. It was said and done, with the inclusion of clothes being added back to bodies, you were ready to go.

You stood by the now opened door as you bid your farewell to the curly-haired man.  "I had a really nice time. But I think," You yawned, " I should really get to bed. Goodnight Bruno." You waved and turned around, shutting the brown door. You sighed in content as you walked through the walls.

[sundaybee]

Chance Encounters (Pepa x Fem!Reader)

My first crack at a Pepa fic. I definitely struggled with parts of this but hopefully no one notices the weaker areas.

Based on the prompt: “From behind I thought that you were my relative, which is why I tapped you on your shoulder, but honestly you’re much hotter.”

Pt 1 of 8

Pt 2

I think this will be roughly 9 parts.

I’m thinking the reader and triplets are in their early twenties. Somewhere between 20-23.

As always I am not a native Spanish speaker, so if I butchered a sentence or word let me know so I may correct it.

Hope you enjoy!

“Bruno, I really don’t want to be in your rat shows.”  Pepa said as she walked down the street with her brother. She was soaking wet from finishing her chore of watering the crops.

“They aren’t rat shows! They are rat telenovelas!” He announced as he followed half a step behind his sister. 

“Either way, I don’t want to do the voice of a rat queen.” She said with a pout. 

An ideal day for Pepa wasn’t playing with rats, and no matter how much she loved her brother she couldn’t bring herself to touch them. 

“Pepa watch out!” Bruno suddenly shouted. Pepa froze on the spot and frantically looked around. She didn’t see anything that would cause Bruno to panic.

“What’s wrong?!”

“I had a vision yesterday. You are going to get hurt here!” The boy cried out. Pepa glanced around again. 

There was no one on the streets that posed a threat. People were coming and going in and out of different buildings. There was no roughhousing children or arguing couples. 

“Bruno I think-“ 

Pepa was cut off as the door she stood near swung open with force and connected with her face. The redhead howled in pain as she gripped her face and doubled over. Bruno rushed to her side and helped her stand. Her cloud appeared and darkened in an instant.

“Dios mio what did I do?!” The young man who exited the shop proclaimed.

“Lo siento Señorita I didn’t mean to hurt you!” He frantically cried and dug through his pockets and presented the girl with a handkerchief.

Pepa was quick to grab it and hold it to her nose that was pouring blood. The weather began to shift as she winced in pain trying to stop the bleeding. 

“I know! I know!” She said, ushering the man back. 

No one would be foolish enough to dare hurt a member of the Madrigal family on purpose. Even her brother who was often ridiculed for his prophecies was never touched in retaliation. 

“Pepi, let's go find Julieta.” Bruno said softly to his sister. She nodded in agreement and cast a final look at the man, a boom of thunder coming from her cloud, before walking off with her brother, handkerchief pressed firmly to her face. 

—-

“I think I see her.” Bruno said pointing ahead. 

“I don’t know how you see anything at that height.” Pepa said, angry that Bruno warned her that she’d be hurt but not HOW she’d be hurt. If she had known she’d get hit with a door she wouldn’t have stopped where she did!

“Hey! No need to be mean to me just because you got hurt.”

“Because you scared me! You could have offered a few more details like THE DOOR.” Pepa exclaimed, but looked off in the direction Bruno pointed. 

“You know I think you’re right.” Pepa said, peering through the crowd. The wind died down at the sight of the healer.

Up ahead you saw her. Blue dress, slender frame, dark hair tied up in a messy bun. 

“Let’s go.” Pepa said and the two triplets pushed through the crowds. 

“Hey Juli, look what your brother did.” Pepa said and put her hand on Julieta’s shoulder. 

Julieta wasn’t who turned around. 

Pepa was frozen in place when you turned. From a distance you were a dead ringer for the eldest triplet but up close you were far more stunning. Your hair was much darker and thicker, and your eyes sparkled a brilliant amber color. Your face was decorated with subtle freckles that reminded her of stars, and your lips were plumper. Your face and hands were covered in charcoal and the sketchbook you were drawing in was abandoned on the ground as you stared at the middle triplet. 

“Oh Señorita Y/L/N it’s good to see you. Sorry from a distance we thought you were Julieta.” Bruno said. Pepa whipped her head around towards Bruno. He knew you?!

“It’s completely fine. I’ve been called a lot of things but never a Madrigal.” You said and laughed. Pepa could have melted on the spot at the sound. 

“What are you working on?” Bruno asked as you bent down to retrieve the sketchbook. 

“Just some life drawings.” You replied and offered him the book. Inside were all sorts of drawings, mostly of people in town. People shopping, people talking, performers.

“Oh I remember this night.” Bruno said stopping on a page. Pepa, who was still holding the handkerchief to her nose, peaked over to see a drawing of her and Julieta dancing. 

“It was a fun fiesta.” You replied, glancing at the redhead who had remained silent the entire time. 

Alma Madrigal was no stranger to a party. The woman would find any reason to host a gathering. Whether it was for a birthday or a good harvest she was always ready to show off her home and family. Plus she loved a good drink.

That particular night you had been sitting off to the side, sketchbook clutched in your arms as you looked around for Bruno. Parties weren’t really your thing but you wouldn’t be the only foolish person to miss a Madrigal party. Your eye caught a flash of red and you couldn’t help but stare in awe at the middle triplet as she danced around the room. Before you realized it you had opened your sketchbook and began to sketch her, and ultimately her sister. 

“Are you okay?” You asked Pepa, taking a step closer to her to examine her face. She frantically nodded and winced a little at the pressure from her nose. 

“Dios mio I forgot we were searching for Julieta! Come Pepita, she must be here somewhere. Sorry for interrupting you Y/N!” Bruno said and grabbed her wrist and began to pull.

Pepa stumbled a bit and continued to stare at you as Bruno pulled her away. You smiled and waved at Pepa while she was dragged away and couldn’t help the pink color that tinted your cheeks.

[hisserenity]

Spill your guts or Fill your guts.

Blue is the interviewer and pink is y/n

In which y/n is on spill your guts or fill your guts and gets asked a question that both Jack and Urban have been trying to get the answer for, for years.

“Alright audience, this is a segment we all know far too well. Spill your guts or fill your guts! Joining me today is influencer and of course Jack Harlow’s publicist, Y/F/N Y/L/N!” The camera pans over to y/n as she waves at the camera. “Okay y/n, I’m sure you already know how it works but on this turn table we have a variety of disgusting foods. And in our hands, we have a stack of questions that we will ask each other. We can either spill our guts and answer the question asked or we can fill our guts and eat whatever food the other has chosen, avoiding the question all together. Are you ready?” You nod your head. “Yes, let’s do it.”

After a few mediocre questions, James gains a massive smile on his face as he reads the next category. “Oh boy. The last two are fan asked questions. I can’t wait to ask the last one.” Y/N’s stomach fills with butterflies and not the good kind. “This one’s not too bad. Y/n, how did you become Jacks publicist.” He asks you. “Okay phew. I can answer that one because there is no way I am eating an 100 year old egg yolk. Eggs make me gag.” James let’s out a laugh. “I have actually known Jack for a very long time. Urban and I grew up together and once he met Jack and Jack starting rapping, I would always find venues or places for Jack to play and book them for him. So once he blew up, he asked if I would be his publicist and of course I said yes. So here we are.” After choosing a food for James and asking him his final question, it is now your turn. “Let’s see, what to give you.” He mutters while he turns the table. “Let’s give you the ‘you don’t want to know milkshake’.” You sniff it before almost throwing up right there. “Ay dios mio! What is in that?” You ask. “Producers? Do we know what’s in that?” James asks. From off in the distance, they respond. “Liver and onions, catfish, and boiled eggs that were left out for an entire day.” “Oh god, I don’t think I can put that anywhere near my mouth.” Y/n states trying not to throw up just thinking about it. “Oh this is a good one. Which one of the two do you prefer? Jack or Urban?.” Y/n chokes on her own saliva as the question is asked. “Like how so?” Before he has a chance to answer, one of the camera men runs out and grabs a card from under the table and hands it to James. “Ahh, there’s a part 2. Like, which boy draws you in more? Which one, if either, makes your mind, heart, body and soul desire them? Oh wow, that’s a deep question.” The butterflies within y/n’s stomach have more so turned into moths trying to break away from within. “Wow, you know, that’s a question that both Jack and Urban ask me at least once a day, for like the last 10 years.” Y/n says with a laugh. “Oh really? Well y/n do either one of them tickle your fancy? Hmm?.” “This milkshake is looking more appealing by the second.” Taking another sniff causes y/n to gag making her eyes water. “Oh god, nope I don’t think I can do it, I’m gonna have to answer the question aren’t I?” “Unless you want to take a big swig of that milkshake, you have to swallow it too you know.” Looking down at the milkshake before looking back up and placing it back on the table. “So y/n do you have a crush on one of them or not?” “Dear lord, yeah I do. Have for awhile and it drives them boys crazy because they want to know so bad. I like them not knowing. I think it almost frustrates them because they know that I’m mad crushin’ on one of them but I refuse to tell them. It’s been a decade long thing now. And to think, it’s about to come to the surface.” The audience erupts into cheers before calming down. Pausing for quite awhile pretending to contemplate drinking the shake or telling the world, including Jack and Urban-who are currently backstage anxiously awaiting your answer. “You going to keep us waiting like those poor boys or you going to spill your guts?” Well here goes nothing. “God, this is going to make things super awkward but yes. One of them drives me crazy without even realizing it. Everything they do, everything they are is just so mesmerizing. Okay that was sappy but the one that my entire being has desired for the last decade is…” taking another long pause before finally telling the world. “Urban. I love Jack to the ends of the earth. But Urban just does something to me. So yeah I prefer Urban.” The crowd erupts in cheers of excitement as Urban is back stage with a smile on his face and Jack a look of shock placed upon his. “Well, that concludes todays show! I’ll see you all next week, have a good night!” Y/n manages to completely avoid Jack and Urban and makes her way outside catching an Uber going to the hotel by herself.

Part 2 coming soon

@babyharleezy

[luciadiosa]

Betrothed to Another

Part 3

Part 2

With a strong Pull you struggel to your right of the street your walking. The dark creature takes your hand and pulls you with it. You laugh.

He often pulls you in dark corners to frighten you. At first it did frighten you and you defend yourself. After a while you know it is Camilo. It wasn't the first time running through the little alleys.

__________

Past:

You were walking down the main road. A book in your hand. With suprise on your face you got pulled into the alley of high houses. In the shadow and the little space you were covered.

The cold wall in your back, you gasps. The person lays his hand on your mouth. "No screams", it grunts. You push it backwards against the other wall. The person shapeshifts back to Camilo.

"Ouch." Rubbing his back head.

You take a deep breath.

"Dios Mio Camilo! Stop that!" you frown.

He lays again his hand on your mouth. standing in front of you. Your heart beats as you looks in his hazel eyes. You can almost feel his breath on your skin.

"No. Danger is waiting in the darkness"

He grins and takes your hand to pull you with him.

It wasn't the first time and not the last time. After a long time you get used to it and he didn't even shapeshift. He just took you as Camilo himself. To run with you through the alleys. Laughing. Without big conversations. Till you seperated on the main way like you are strangers. He likes to tease you.

___________

Present:

"Alright. You got me. Now take aaaaall my money. I am so helpless! " you laugh and pretens to faint.

The person stops and takes a step to you.

"I don't robber you! Well just for a talk!" A grin come to the well known face.

You nearly are dissapointed.

"Always, Mirabel. But you know you didn't have to kidnapp me for it" you answer.

Your friend hooks in your arm.

________

You sit together on a roof of casita. Your eyes at the small town. The lights fills up the darkness of the night.

"Y/N? What is the matter? You look sad" Mirabel notices.

You lower your gaze. "Maybe i am. I am not sure."

"About what?"

"The wedding." You sigh. That one moment at the party got you confused. He didn't stop and you didn't push him back.

"Oh but you always seemed so sure about it and your love. What happened?" Mirabel asks.

No answer.

"Y/N"

Again no reaction. You just lay down and watch the stars. In Mirabels face can be seen how she put one to one.

"He didn't fixed your earring"

"No"

"Dios Mio. I kill him, i swear. "

"I might like Camilo a lot. I don't know if the marriage is a mistake."

She looks at you and she believes you likes him more then usual.

"You loves Hernandez und he loves you. Will you risk it for a crush you had years ago? You know Camilo and how he teases people.......You can ask bruno if you want a hint."

You sit up, breath and then stand up. "No"

"Why you won't ask Bruno?" she says in singing.

"No, no, No" you catch up the melody.

A short look to your friend, you climb into the window on the first floor and leave her behind.

"But why you won't ask bruno?" Mirabel shouts singing after you.

"Because i am afraid to know." you whisper singing.

_________

Mirabel sits down on the table.

"Morning"

She looks to her cousin Dolores who pierce her with her eyes. While her baby trying to reach the spoon she offers it.

Mirabel chuckles.

"You had a nice chat with Y/N yesterday evening?" she begins.

Camilo looks up as he hears your name. You were here and he didn't noticed it? He could have a chance to see you.

Oh no. she heard every word. Mirabel tries to cover it. "Yeah. Quiet nice."

"What are you talking about?", he asks.

Dolores wants to start but Mirabel punch her lightly against the leg. "Oh nothing special."

Dolores let put a high note of her hm as she felt the pain. Her brother looks from her to Mirabel. "Nothing huh." He didn't believe it.

"Yeah" a small laughter and Mirabel gives the salad to Isabel.

You talk to Mirabel because of the kiss. You talk about him, he thought. About how he didn't stop and took adevantage of the mistake.

Maybe you told her how bad he was. An idiot. A Casanova. And maybe you told her that you didn't like him anymore.

He takes a breath. It have to be! Why else they wouldn't talk about it to him. Just to avoid damage.

Part 4

Taglist: @cralaaa @tigreost @emberlei @0zero0-0 @solarbxby @dearestjules @chloewayne13 @astreankitsune @bluebreadenthusiast

[wildsunscorpion]

How Bum Geon Woo communicates through his body language (Plus how he's actually giving the special treatment Eui Joon's been yearning for)

I reread DCS for, like, the tenth time now. Yes, I'm obsessed ohmygod! I'm liking how these two characters are written so far. I originally wanted to break down just Chapters 20-24 of DCS because the first time I read it I got just a little annoyed with how Geon Woo (a.k.a. Ahjussi) was, let's say, just kind of pushing Euijoon's limits. But I ended up doing more than just Chapters 20-24. Dios mio.

I was just a little tired of seeing the same trend with guys in manhwa. They always seem to be domineering, especially if their partner is the "sweet and naive" archetype. (Eui Joon, I think, does not really fit into this mold.) Of course, that's usually because they're dealing with their own issues, and I don't really blame them.

But I like DCS because it justified that kind of behavior in Geon Woo when he was having sex with Eui Joon (in Chapters 20-24, particularly). Lol I'm probably the only one who realized this later than I should have ehehe. I'm still posting this tho.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD‼️‼️

His antics speak volumes. It's amazing how I missed all those details just because the sex scenes were. Steamy. As. Fuck. Good lordy! Geon Woo is definitely a man of few words (He once said Eui Joon makes him talk like he would for a whole year, haha!), so it would make sense to communicate whatever's going through his mind in a situation through body language.

I also want to add the times that he makes the effort to hold a conversation with Eui Joon. Geon Woo doesn't really talk when he doesn't need to, so it's important to pay attention to his actions.

☙ ☙ ☙ ☙ ☙

Chapters 0-12

The first time we get a glimpse of Geon Woo's side of the story was when Eui Joon finally confesses to the person who's been his crush for 3 effing years, Hyeon Woo. Eui Joon is inexplicably happy when Hyeon Woo says he'll consider and comes to the convenience store in good spirits. Geon Woo, keen as always, notices, and when Eui Joon tells him what happened this is what we get:

It's the way it was framed. How we see his reaction from behind rather than from the front. He turns away, seeming to go inward and brood once again.

Afterwards, another gangster comes. The guy challenges Geon Woo for taking too long at the front of the line. Geon Woo asks Eui Joon if he smokes, and when he replies that he doesn't, Geon Woo "borrows" the lighter on the countertop and uses that to throw a stronger punch to the man behind him, who temporarily falls unconscious. Geon Woo turns back to Eui Joon, seeming to have something else to say. But he sees the frightened look on Eui Joon's face and decides to keep it to himself before leaving through the door.

"And..." He pauses, turning to Eui Joon. "... Never mind. Good work."

JUST WHAT WAS HE ABOUT TO SAY?!?!?!

In the succeeding panel, Eui Joon is nonplussed. He wonders out loud, "What is happening?" Couldn't have said it better, girl. Geon Woo was just taking out his frustration and he had the perfect opportunity at the moment.

The second time was when Geon Woo invites Eui Joon to drink after the incident with Hyeon Woo (who basically asks Eui Joon to cheat with him and inebriates him—probably with the intention to take advantage of him). From the side stories, we learn that Geon Woo has taken an interest in Eui Joon after seeing him for the second time, and when he comes by through the hallway—finally discovering they were neighbors—and witnesses the two, he sees it as a chance with Eui Joon.

He invites Eui Joon out to drink, after Eui Joon's suggestion for a dinner at 2 in the morning fails to entice him. Eui Joon rambles his questions away, wanting to get to know him better, but Geon Woo doesn't immediately answer and catches him off guard when he "casually" inquires after his sexuality. Not the smoothest move there, lol, but in the side stories we see that wasn't really his intention.

"Damn it, why did I ask that question? It just slipped out..."

He answers Eui Joon's questions afterwards, surprising Eui Joon with the fact that he's actually been listening to what he's been saying for the past minute. We're starting to see just what kind of a person he is (Listening skills are always a plus in my book).

A little later, we see them on their way back to the apartment. Eui Joon asks Geon Woo to tell him anything interesting because he's been the one talking all night. Geon Woo acquiesces, asking a question that may have been part in consideration of Eui Joon's vulnerable state, and perhaps also part due to the possibility that he worried about him.

"Come to think of it... School has already started. Isn't it tiring to work 'til dawn? Aren't you working too much?"

Geon Woo's face is a little hard to read. So every subtle change in his expression says something. If you read the manhwa, you'll see the slightest bit of concern in his eyes. It's hard to catch until you've read the side stories (at least for me, haha).

One more thing I like about Geon Woo is that he doesn't meddle when it's not his business. He knows the state of Eui Joon's family—their inability to afford his college tuition, his hospitalized brother—and he knows he can help. I mean, I don't know how wealthy and powerful he is as a gangster but he probably has the means to. But he rarely opens the topic to Eui Joon.

Aaaand onto Chapter 8! Just before the first sex scene in the entire series. Eui Joon is crying because he had a shitty day both at school and at work, poor thing—all because of Hyeon Woo. He cries even more when he notices that Geon Woo, who came to the store every day, didn't come to the store that day. When he encounters him outside, he breaks down, catching Geon Woo off guard.

Geon Woo tells his lackey to leave and asks Eui Joon to stay. Eui Joon tells him he was fine and proceeds to go back to his room, but Geon Woo frightens him when he says he was already being nice. And then we get this:

"Ah, I don't mean it that way... Just a while."

That gentle tug is honestly so uncharacteristic of the usual ruffian behavior we often see from Geon Woo. It's a nice sweet detail that proves what he says in Chapter 26 (when he finally confesses) that he treats Eui Joon differently from others.

Eui Joon cries his heart out to Geon Woo, and Geon Woo just lets him. Afterwards, Eui Joon resolves to forget about Hyeon Woo. By finding someone, hmm, more physically endowed.

"I must find someone more good-looking than him. With a nicer body... And a bigger dick!"

Clueless guy basically described the man beside him.

To that, Geon Woo says:

"How long have you known me? You really dare to say anything like that in front of me?"

Which comes off as slightly hostile at first. The next panel shows a dark aura surrounding Geon Woo, which Eui Joon interprets as distress from his implications of doing it with him—whose sexual preference so far remains ambiguous (In the side stories, we learn that Geon Woo himself struggles with figuring this out.). But then, he surprises Eui Joon when he slowly leans in to kiss him.

CUE SEX SCENE! I pitied Eui Joon a little because he wasn't really in the best state when Geon Woo offered this. In Geon Woo's defense, though, from the moment he found out that Eui Joon was gay he saw doors opening. When Eui Joon said something like that, I think his attraction to Eui Joon finally caught up to him and he couldn't resist the opportunity. He definitely wasn’t distressed by the implication of Eui Joon’s words; he was distressed by the decision he had to make—to go through that door or not. Because he knew he wanted it, even though he was constantly denying it from the start.

“This dirty thought wasn’t something that I have planned from the beginning.”

The day after, Eui Joon is a little rattled. He doesn’t know how to treat Geon Woo after that—not when he realized that sex could be that hot and satisfying (uwu). Geon Woo appears to be unaffected while Eui Jon’s brain is in knots about everything. But the questions Geon Woo asks tell us that he’s beginning to show Eui Joon a little emotion. He asks to see Eui Joon’s face to inspect the healing bruise he got yesterday (the one that Geon Woo covered with a bandaid—which was so sweet, huhu). And then, he asks if he was tired after school.

“Let me see your face.”

“School classes. Are you tired after taking them?”

From my perspective, he wasn’t just asking for the sake of being nice to the person he slept with. The story still hasn’t covered much of Geon Woo’s history to know whether he had been like this with his previous partners. Although there was a moment in Chapter 27 during one of their conversations when he gave us a little glimpse:

Geon Woo: It's normal to cry over pathetic things at your age. Eui Joon: Have you cried like that before too? Geon Woo: No. Eui Joon: Then how do you know that? Geon Woo: I just... know. Because there was a guy like that around.

From the time Geon Woo invited him out to drink, I think Geon Woo was genuinely concerned when he asked how Eui Joon was doing.

☙ ☙ ☙ ☙ ☙

Chapters 13-26

Geon Woo's love language, I think, is his actions. He fights off the gangsters that bully Eui Joon into giving them discounts or even paying for them from his own pockets so they won't have to. He gives Eui Joon food and medicine when he finds out he was sick (the morning after having sex with him in the car for hours, lol). He likes taking care of the person he likes. So in Chapter 26, when he "confesses" to Eui Joon, that was Geon Woo pointing out that he's been doing the same thing all along.

"I mean, look at me just once... What kind of person I am. How I treat you. Take a good look at it. If you think that I'm good, then pick me. If not, you can throw me aside." "But. Before you do, you should understand this. Until then, I don't intend to let you get away."

This "non-confession" (he actually tells Eui Joon it wasn't a confession) actually says a lot about Geon Woo. His attitude towards their relationship is very blunt and straightforward. Once he's made a decision, he stops listening to his doubts and stands by it. I don't really know when Geon Woo decided that he liked Eui Joon. It was more slow-growing. In the side stories though, we see him considering this big-time when this thought crosses his mind:

"There's the common phrase of having the opportunity to meet your fateful love. If there's a sign for it, would it be possible to stay vigilant?"

AHJUSSI YOU SOFT-HEARTED ROMANTIC I CAN'T T^T He becomes more bold with Eui Joon afterwards, but he's still a little prickly. He's constantly weighing his options, trying to figure out in what way will doing the things he does for Eui Joon benefit him, if at all. In Chapter 13, when a customer comes inside the store and forces Eui Joon to pay for what he bought, he's on the scales. But then the memory of that morning flashes through his mind, and he remembers how the simple act of Eui Joon giving him his number had made him smile like an idiot. He beats the customer for him, taking the money he owed, and gives it back to Eui Joon. He even manages to casually ask him out on a date. The guy can be smooth as fuck.

Eui Joon: Are you saying... we should eat together? Geon Woo: Sure. I guess I've done something worth compensating. Will you give me my reward?

Take notes, people! At this point, Eui Joon has gotten him wrapped around his finger, and he didn't even know it! Of course, Eui Joon still thinks their relationship is only purely sexual, but then Geon Woo begins doing these uncharacteristically tender gestures that Eui Joon initially interprets as Geon Woo giving him special treatment.

"Let me see your face." "School classes. Are you tired after them" "I'm thinking that... You'll look good in short hair, too."

And Geon Woo even tries to initiate a conversation with Eui Joon when he feels like Eui Joon couldn't take the awkwardness. A good example was when Geon Woo treats him dinner at the restaurant.

"...." "Is this your first time coming to this kind of place?"

Somehow, these things he does still feel kind of forced, like he was genuinely annoyed at Eui Joon and everything he did. Even when he asks to do it with him again and Eui Joon refuses because he was still sore, there was a moment of frustration that shone through.

It was a sign that Geon Woo was still confused about the things he was feeling towards Eui Joon. He knew he wanted him physically, but then he doesn't take up the woman's offer that evening after Eui Joon refuses him. It wasn't actually written on paper, but knowing Geon Woo's character he might have felt uneasy about going through with it. Not particularly on Eui Joon's behalf, but it may have been unconscious because of his budding feelings.

His feelings were something that rattled him, and he was usually undeterred in any kind of situation. What rattled him more was that Eui Joon didn't know anything about what he was going through.

"Being naturally attracted to you, and going through unfamiliar emotions. This feeling should only be felt at an adolescent age."

We're seeing him from behind again. The use of this perspective in manhwas / mangas / comics usually makes you feel like can't tell what the character's thinking about, but most importantly that they're most likely about to go do or SAY SOMETHING DAMN IMPORTANT. Like, maybe, telling their feelings to the person they like!?!?!

"Eui Joon-Ah. I like you."

ASDFGHJKL DID ANYONE SEE THAT COMING?!?!?!

That actually surprised me hella lot. I'd originally thought Geon Woo was the tsundere type, but he was more honest with his feelings than I believed. However, he hadn't been completely convinced by these feelings until Eui Joon had offered to break it off. Suddenly there was an exit to his situation, but he didn't really feel happy about it. He was frustrated at not being able to properly understand what his words made him feel. Because the truth was he didn't want to break things off. He just wouldn't admit to himself at the time that the reason was he actually wanted Eui Joon.

We could see him debating it himself, poor thing:

"I didn't expect myself to be in a situation where I couldn't even understand my own feelings. I should've figured it out the moment I couldn't understand my sexual preference. I'm not that young anymore... What is this?" "No... It could also be a spur of the moment... It doesn't seem to be like that. It might also be due to pride, but I feel it's not necessary for these kinds of feelings to affect my pride... But even when it's like this, I still want to..."

Geon Woo decides to "have a little fun" before conceding to Eui Joon's request to "end their entanglement". But I've noticed that whenever something bothers Geon Woo too much, he takes a smoke. When Eui Joon makes the suggestion, Geon Woo does just that.

The slightly rough way in which Geon Woo treats him afterwards shows his frustration. He grabs his arm roughly and pulls him towards the car, but he doesn't realize he was hurting Eui Joon's wrist with his own watch until Eui Joon whines in pain—at which point Geon Woo just laces his hand through his instead. Which I thought was so sweet T^T

When Eui Joon freaks out about doing it at the school where he studies and asks Geon Woo to consider it for him, Geon Woo says, "Do I have to consider that for you too?" And when Eui Joon asks for him to do that, Geon Woo replies, "I guess I've been too nice to you." THE MAN WAS FREAKING FRUSTRATED!!! Geon Woo even challenges him to stay quiet, telling him no one will hear them if he does. Throughout the whole thing, Geon Woo wanted to dominate him, daring him to take what pleasure he could give him, but with an aggression that bespeaks the storm in his heart and mind. Reading it back, I realized just how damn hot that scene was. I mean, goddamn. After Geon Woo admits his feelings, there's a serenity about him afterwards. He no longer has to second-guess taking care of Eui Joon or expressing what he felt towards him. He gives him food and medicine the next day since he caught a fever. He "invites himself" to watch a movie with him since they both had nothing to do for the rest of the day. The guy was basically courting Eui Joon, haha. Not a confession, my ass XD

And then, when Eui Joon opens up about how he rejected Hyeon Woo, Geon Woo tells him he'll also wait for him for around three years T^T

MY HEART I CAN'T T ^ T ☙ ☙ ☙ ☙ ☙ So that's kiiind of a long breakdown. I included as little pictures as possible. Copyright and all that. I just really like this series so far. I want to be able to read the original someday. Hopefully I'd be able to learn Korean T^T. If you like this as much as I do, chat me up =D would love to hear other thoughts.

[gamerbearmira]

Cocooned Chapter 7: Suspicions

CHAPTER 7 LETS GOOOO!!! What up guys, I'm back with chapter 7. I am SO sorry this took so long to get out, I just had some stuff going on. But, lucky for you all, this is my longest chapter yet at 6000+! It's very description heavy, so get ready for that! This chapter is the town's reaction! I won't spoil anything, so happy reading!

Here are the translations!:

"Mis pequeños milagros..." - "My little miracles..."

"¿Tú ok hermano?"- "You ok bro/brother?"

"¡Oh, dios mio!" - "Oh my goodness!"

“¡Oye! ¡Aléjate de ellos, AHORA!” - "Hey! Get away from them, NOW!"

-----

Original Au Idea by @raefever ! Go check them out! I got permission to do a fic on this :)

Written by: Me, your truly!

Warnings: A bit of Bullying, mentions of death

Type of Chapter: (Small) Angst, Brief Sadness, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Happiness

Words: 6,157

------

The days quickly passed and soon, those days turned into weeks, then, into months. 4 months had passed rather fast, and the adults were having troubles.

It wasn’t anything bad, but it certainly was quite the trouble trying to keep the town at bay. Over the course of the 4 months that had passed, the family had recovered from the traumatic and energy draining events, and were frequently going into town. Occasionally, Pepa would go out once or twice to water the crops, or Julieta would take some food out to the town square. Bruno would give a (good or neutral) vision once in a blue moon even. Alma had them only working every so often, as she wanted them to be around their children much more often.

The babies themselves were definitely going as well.

Now at 7 months old, they were capable of a lot more. For instance, they were now sitting up on their own and no longer required the adults to hold them up. Once that had happened, Fèlix went out to the carpenter and woodshop and bought them new high chairs for the dining room.. With that addition, the little ones were capable of eating mashed up and soft foods such as boiled potatoes and bananas.

Another thing was they had finally found their voices. On days where the family would just sit in the backyard and relax, the babies would be babbling away. Talking to their parents, their tias and tios, Abuela, even to each other at times. It was apparent that they were quite talkative. Along with that, they could be loud when they wanted to be. Usually, they were generally chill, and only talked when they were near someone. But If they want something or something is wrong, they will make their voices known.

The adults also came to notice that they were also much more active. They would bounce in place, throw toys, swing their bodies back and forth. At one point Camilo had even got on his hands and knees and began to move back and forth. The others followed suit and soon all of them were attempting to move forward. None of them had been successful yet, but it was only a matter of time before they started to move.

— The day had started and the family was in the dining room eating breakfast. The babies were in their high chairs, drinking from their bottles and babbling away about whatever.

“Hey Mamá?” Juleita said, turning from Luisa’s high chair.

“Hmm?” Alma hummed, guiding a spoonful of mashed mango into Antonio’s mouth.

“So…As you noticed, the children are starting to try and crawl more often. And it’s already been 4 months, and me and Pepa were thinking…Well…” Julieta paused. Alma looked up at her. Usually, she would apprehend her for beating around the bush, something that she hated, and still does; but Alma was learning to be much more patient.

“You were thinking of…?” Alma said, looking at her eldest.

“Well, we were thinking maybe it’s about time we take them into town. I mean we can’t keep them inside forever, and some of them have been getting more suspicious over time. Especially Senora Guzman and Senora Valeria.” Julieta said.

Alma gave Antonio his bottle and turned towards the rest of the table. They waited anxiously for her answer. Alma thought for a moment. Julieta was right; the children were much more mobile, and were actively trying to move around. Just the other day, she had seen Luisa attempt to crawl forward.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea. It’s about time they see outside of Casita’s yard,” Alma smiled. She saw Casita sag slightly, shifting a few pieces of furniture in protest. “Not that it isn’t just as fun to play here,” Alma chuckled. Casita playfully rumbled its tiles, happy with its answer.

“So, what time are we gonna leave? It’s only 9:00 a.m.” Fèlix said, handing Dolores a piece of banana.

“Well me and Julieta think we should go this afternoon,” Pepa said, fiddling with her braid. “It might be a good idea for all of us to go out. You know, reintroduce them all at once? And maybe we could spend some time in the square.”

Alma nodded, happy with the idea. “I think that’s a great idea. We’ll finish up breakfast, and get them ready. Pepa, Julieta, you two will bathe them. I’ve got them some clothes I just finished sewing up. Bruno, Fèlix, Agustín, you three will gather some supplies into a bag, diapers, bottles, some toys, you know. We’ll try to leave before…let’s say 2 this afternoon?” Alma looked around.

The adults all agreed, nodding and giving thumbs up at the idea. Today was the day Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, Mirabel and Antonio were going to be introduced to the town once again.

—

Julieta and Pepa were now in the bathroom, running the bathwater. The babies were sitting on the floor, waiting patiently for their mothers to settle them into the bathtub.

“So…we’re finally doing it. Are you…scared?” Pepa asked, turning off the faucet to the bathtub. A small gray cloud settled over her head. She picked up Dolores and Antonio, setting them into the tub.

Julieta picked up Camilo and Luisa, putting them in as well. “A little bit. I’m a bit nervous. The town adapted well to us reducing the use of our Gifts, but I don’t know how they’ll react to this. But…that’s ok; we’ve got this.” Julieta smiled at her younger sister, grabbing her youngest daughter while Pepa grabbed Isabela.

Pep set the last baby into the tub. She took in a deep breath, calming herself down. Her cloud dispersed, and she had a small smile on her face. Pep had taken to taking deep breaths and occasionally counting rather than chanting “Clear skies,” over and over. Bruno had pointed out that she was basically tricking herself into thinking she was calm, rather than actually being calm.

“Yeah…we-we’ve got this. We are responsible, good parents. We are responsible…” Pepa stopped, and started hiccuping and sniffling, pulling her face up to her hand. Her cloud was back, and it started raining over the woman. Julieta rushed to her side, dropping the bottles of soaps she was previously holding.

“Pepa? What’s wrong?” Julieta asked, not even sparing a glance to the clouds raining her, much to Pepa’s brief relief.

“I feel like such a horrible mother!” Pepa cried out. She sniffled more, aggressively rubbing her eyes, tears still spilling. “I-I ignored my kids for years, a-and then only realized what I did wrong after they….they…” Pepa burst into tears. Julieta hugged her close, rubbing her back as her sister cried into her shoulders.

Julieta pulled Pepa away so she was at arm’s length, holding her sister’s hands in her own. “Pepa,” Julieta said softly, glancing into the bathtub temporarily to ensure the babies were still occupied with the bubbles she provided.

Pepa looked up at her eldest sister. Julieta saw that her eyes were already red and starting to puff up. “I’m not fit to be a mother…” Pepa said, tears welling up in her eyes again.

Julieta held Pepa’s face in her hands. Pepa relaxed a bit at the warm touch of her sister. “Pepa,” Julieta said again. “You aren’t a horrible mother. You are very fit to be a mother. Nothing will change that. We’ve been given another chance, and we must use it to full advantage,” Julieta explained. Pepa nodded.

“I guess you are right…” Pepa said. Her cloud stopped raining and was now just gray. Julieta smiled at her sister.

“Now, repeat after me,” Julieta said sternly. Pepa nodded, ready to repeat her sister. “I am a good mother.”

“I…I am a good mother,” Pepa repeated.

“And I will take good care of my kids and love them forever,” Julieta said.

“And I will take good care of my kids and love them forever,” Pepa said, smiling a bit. Her cloud was small, and Julieta was happy with her results.

“Now,” Julieta bent down and faced the bathtub. “Let’s get these little ones clean, hm?” Pepa nodded and bent down next to her, reaching in to squeeze Camilo’s cheeks. She smiled as her eldest son smiled and giggled happily at his mothers touch. She was a good mother, and she would love them forever. She could handle this, one step at a time.

—

Alma walked into her room, making her way over to her desk where she had several sewing supplies laid upon. Moving aside the fabrics, she picked up a small pile of folded clothes, and some knitted socks and hats. She walked over to her bed, sitting down and unfolding the small clothes, laying them out on her bed.

Looking over the clothes, she was happy with her results.

The clothes she had made were for this day specifically. Lately, Alma had been sewing and knitting a lot more. Sure, the family had gone out to town and bought the babies some clothes, but she wanted to make them some. She had spent hours on these, and now she was finally able to put them onto her precious nietos.

“Mis pequeños milagros are going to look so cute in these,” Alma said, holding up one of the dresses.

The grandmother had specifically designed these clothes for them. Each outfit corresponded to each child and called back to their…previous outfits. The clothes were made with white, and whatever color they had worn before.

Isabela had a double layered dress; It was made with a bright purple, and the bottom layer was white. The socks and hat were purple as well, albeit a bit softer due to being made of yarn.

Dolores’ outfit was a red and white dress. The top was red and had a white skirt. Her sock and hats were the same deep red, which would match perfectly.

Luisa had a dress similar to Dolores, but a bit more frilly. The indigo-violet color was bright and colorful, but not too busy. Her socks were the same color, though the hat was a tab but lighter.

Camilo had a white button onesie that had a short little orange poncho attached to it. The shorts, socks, and hat were the same orange, and Alma knew he would enjoy it.

Mirabel’s dress was like her last one, but with almost no embroidery, and her dress top was blue while her skirt was white, Her socks and hat were a much more gentle blue, that was easy on the eyes.

Antonio had a long sleeve, yellow onesie that was paired with white shorts. His socks and hat were pastel colored, as to not call too much attention away from the baby himself.

All of the clothes were different, but similar enough so that it was easy to tell who was who. There was one thing they all had in common: In the place where the heart was, Alma had embroidered a little white symbol for each infant. A flower for Isabela, a music note for Dolores, a dumbbell for Luisa, a chameleon for Camilo, a butterfly for Mirabel, and a tiger for Antonio.

Alma traced her finger over each symbol, smiling a bit more each time her eyes laid upon them.

“Oh Pedro…if only you were here. You would have loved to meet your grandchildren. They’re so sweet,” Alma whispered. She picked up her locket that was hooked to her pocket watch. Opening it, she saw a smiling picture of Pedro. She smiled back, happy to see her husband again.

Closing it and putting it back in its place, she moved back over to her desk of sewing projects. She opened a drawer and pulled out 6 long pieces of fabric. At one look, it might just look like leftover pieces of fabric, left to be repurposed. But upon closer inspection, its true intention was revealed: They were baby wraps.

Alma had indeed used the leftover fabric, reusing it to make new baby wraps. Over the course of the last 4 months, the babies had not only gotten more active, but they’ve gotten bigger as well. They were healthy, yes, but they were also heavier. And they could only hold them for so long. She knew her sons and daughters wouldn’t complain about it, so she took action into her own hands. One could say that they were presents for Julieta, Pepa, Fèlix and Agustín.

They were a tad too big, but that was ok, they would grow into it. Each baby wrap was made of the same fabric as the clothes, thus making them the same colors. Alma embroidered the same symbols onto them, while also adding other miscellaneous symbols as well. She would add more as time went on.

Walking back over to her bed, she hid the baby wrap under her pillow, planning to surprise them when the time came to leave. Looking at her clock, she saw it was 1:00 p.m. As if on cue, Pepa and Julieta knocked and Alma rushed to open the door. Julieta was holding her daughters that were wrapped in tiles while Pepa was holding Dolores and her sons in wrapped towels.

“Oh, you’re finished! Come in, I’ve got their clothes laid out and I keep some diapers in here for them.” Alma ushered the two and their children into her room, excited to see what her nietos would look like in their new outfits.

—

Bruno held up the large bag he found hidden under one of the cribs. “Guys! I found it, I got the bag!” He said, putting it on the dresser. Fèlix walked over, several diapers in arms.

“Great job hermano! You found it way faster then I would have,” Fèlix chuckled, packing the diapers in. Agustín walked over with 6 bottles now filled with milk.

“Same here. I wouldn’t have found it in such a short amount of time,” Agustín set the bottles in the nag and reached to the side to grab some toys while Bruno grabbed a large blanket. “I would have been in here for hours, only to find out it was sitting right under the crib.”

“Gracias! I like to think I’m pretty good at finding lost things, I’m glad you think so too,” Bruno laughed, folding the blanket and packing it into the bag.

Agustín picked up a stuffed bear and looked at it. He’d never thought he would see his little ones playing with one of them again. He was excited, but scared. Call him a coward, but had never done this before. Then again; it probably was normal for your kids to disappear and then come back months later in baby form. But, it didn’t matter to him. Any chance to spend more time with his daughters, he would take it anyday. He’d help Isabela in gardening, he’d let Luisa help in lifting big toys and he'd play with his pequena mariposa Mirabel again. Even if they didn't have a Gift come time for their 5th birthday, he wouldn’t love them any less.

Fèlix walked over and settled a hand onto Agustín’s shoulder, snapping him out of his trance. “¿Tú ok hermano?” He asks, looking at Agustín with a faint worry on his face. Agustín looked at Fèlix for a moment before nodding, turning his head back to the teddy bear in his hands.

“Si, si, I’m just…I’m just scared, you know? None of us have ever done this before, and it’s all just so new and scary. What if something goes wrong?” Agustín said, clenching the bear a bit harder. Fèlix let out a sigh and gently took the bear from Agustín.

“Agustín, It’ll be ok bro, we’ve got this.” Fèlix shrugged, looking at both Agustín and Bruno. “Even if we’ve never done this before, there’s a first time for everything.” Bruno agreed, and eventually all 3 went back to gathering supplies.

Fèlix might have been optimistic as heck and could lift the sour mood out of the room, but truth be told? He was just as scared. He feared the worst would happen again. Fearing that this was all some dream and he would wake up and he would be alone again. He wouldn’t be able to comfort his wife, and he would slowly spiral until he went crazy. It almost happened before, he couldn’t think straight and he often found himself in a daze, absently following Pepa around knowing he couldn’t calm her down but still wanting to be by her side, to have some kind of warmth to fill the giant hold that was in his heart.So Fèlix was scared, but he didn’t want to show it. He’d just have to hope for the best.

—

Agustín, Bruno and Fèlix were conversing downstairs, waiting for the other 3 to finish up changing their children so they could leave. A couple minutes later, Pepa and Julieta walked out of Alma’s room with 6 children in arms. As they came to the end of the stairs, Fèlix and Agustín rushed over and took a child in their arms, gushing about how cute they looked.

“Look at Luisa and her little socks and hat!” Agustín said, rubbing cheeks with his second oldest.

“Look at Camilo’s ruana, it makes him look so handsome! Just like his papá,” Fèlix laughed.

The 2 fathers continued to compliment the children as the triplets laughed at their antics. Alma finally emerged from her room, with what looked to be a bundle of various fabrics in several colors in her arms.

“Mamá? What are those?” Bruno asked, moving to stand next to his mother. He set the bag he was holding down, gesturing to the fabrics.

“I made them for you all,” Alma draped the wraps over her shoulder, still holding the orange one. She took Camilo from Pepa’s arms and gently held him out to Bruno. The infant squealed happily at the sight of his tio.

Hesitantly, the man took his sobrino into his arms. Alma moved forward and adjusted Camilo so he was facing away from Bruno and against his chest. She took the orange wrap and started to wrap it around Bruno. Camilo happily waited for his grandmother to finish. When she was done, Bruno was still holding the baby in place.

“Go ahead and put your hands down,” Alma said, gesturing to Bruno’s hands. Bruno slowly moved his hands away from the babe and he stayed in place.

“Oh! It’s a baby wrap!” Bruno exclaimed. “Oh, this is great! It’ll be so much easier to move and carry them around, thanks mamá!”

“Of course Brunito,” Alma nodded. “Now, let's get the rest of you situated, and then we’ll head out.”

Over the next 15 minutes, Alma wrapped a baby into an adult. Isabela was with Julieta, Dolores was with Pepa, Luisa was with Agustín, Camilo with Bruno, Alma herself had Mirabel and Fèlix had Antonio.

“We’ve got a buddy system here,” Fèlix laughed, earning more laughs from the others.

“Yes, I guess you could say that,” Alma chuckled. “Now that everyone is ready, we can head out. I know a shortcut to Valeria’s where she, Felipe, Senora Guzman and Mariano will meet us.”

“W-Wait…Do they…know?” Bruno said nervously.

“No, but I thought that maybe they should know first. The shortcut is away from the town, so know one else will see us until we go to the square,” Alma explained. The other adults let out a breath, relieved they wouldn;t have to immediately reveal the children. “Now, let’s head out.”

The adults walked to the front of Casita and walked out. Casita waved its shutters, waving the family goodbye. The family waved back, and they were off to the seamstress’s store. On the way there, they were almost caught by several villagers. But, thankfully the shortcut was behind some houses and through the alley closest to the store.

“Come on, in, in, in!” Alma ushered the adults in quickly, each one ducking into the back door of the store.

“That was way too close,” Fèlix huffed, holding Antonio closely.

“Well, this will be the last time we have to sneak around. Let’s head to the main store,” Alma sighed. Walking to the front they saw it was empty. Usually the store was busy, but Valeria must have closed it when Alma told her she was coming with the entire family.

“Valeria? Are you here?” Alma called out.

“Coming!” Valeria called from the back room. Some shuffling was heard and several pairs of footsteps were heard. Soon, Valeria, and her husband Felipe came into the main room. A couple seconds later, Senora Guzman and her son Mariano followed.

“Senora Alma, how–” Valeria stopped dead in her tracks, as did the other 3. They all stared as the other 5 Madrigal’s came into view with 5 other babies. Valeria’s mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.

“A-Alma…” Guzman stepped forward, reaching out to touch Mirabel. The baby giggled at the woman’s touch, reaching out to grab her hand. “Is this…? Are they all…?”

Alma nodded, a warm smile on her face. “Do you want to hold her?” Ms.Guzman nodded, and Alma unwrapped Mirabel, setting the wrap on the counter. She held Mirabel out and Ms. Guzman carefully grabbed Mirabel, pulling her close and squeezing her. Mirabel simply smiled.

“¡Oh, dios mio!” they heard Valeria exclaim as she held Dolores, cuddling her close. She had tears polling in her eyes, and she looked as if she didn’t believe what she was seeing. “She’s real! They’re real! I didn’t think…Oh!” Valeria continued to hug Dolores, whispering quietly as she held her.

Agustín handed Luisa to Felipe. The tall burly carefully took the infant, gently cradling her. Because of his size, he was always a little bit scared to hold babies. But seeing Luisa again? His favorite Madrigal? He was willing to overcome that fear anday. Being a man of few words, he said nothing as he held her, only closing his eyes and sighing deeply, listening to the babbling of Luisa. It soothed his heart somehow.

Mariano took Isabela. Looking at her, he had a solemn look on his face. This was the girl he wanted to give all of his love to. And when she…passed, it was worse. He was sad for weeks. And the fact that all the others were gone as well made it worse. He loved Isabela. But he couldn;t stay sad for long. Even if she was a baby now, he could be the best older brother for her and all of the others.

“B-But how? When?” Valeria asked, passing Dolores to Felipe as she took Camilo and looked him up and down. “I mean don’t get me wrong! I’m so happy that they’re back, but…I just…” Valeria sighed, holding her face in one hand and Camilo in the other.

Alma nodded and looked at all of them. “I know this might be confusing. But, to put it short, we were given a second chance! When Casita came back, they came back as well, we can start over. Raise them to be happy!" Alma happily explained.

The other 4 stood in shock, looking down at the 6 babies that sat within their arms.

"Well…I'll support you. Both me and Mariano." Ms. Guzman said, nodded with determination. Mariano agreed, nodding along with his mother.

"Me and Valeria will too," Everyone stared at Felipe in shock. It was the first time he spoke in days. He hadn't spoken because he was far too busy worrying about the Madrigals, and he just was a very quiet person in general. But then they saw his face. He wasn’t really looking at the adults when he spoke; he was looking at Luisa. His body had finally relaxed and he had a fondness to his face and tone that he didn’t usually have.

Valeria shook her head eventually, agreeing with her husband. “Y-Yes. We will. I’m just so glad the rumors aren’t true…”

“R-Rumors? There were rumors about us?” Julieta said, stepping forward.

Valeria nodded as she held Camilo and now Antonio in her arms. “There…There were rumors that you guys had been buying so many baby things over the last 4 months because…Well…” She trailed off, not making eye contact with any of the adults in the room.

“They thought that you might have been having delusions,” Marniano continued. He sighed deeply, adjusting his hold on Luisa, who he had switched with Isabela when Felipe asked. “That you all might have been hallucinating and were buying baby things for…no one.”

Pepa had a cloud that grew and thunderded. But nobody told her to calm down. They couldn’t blame her; this is what the town thought? The Madrigals were surprised to say the least, but they couldn’t be mad. It was an entirely plausible thing to think.

“B-But we can debunk those rumors now! Since they’ve come back, you can clear that up,” Valeria frantically explained. The others slowly nodded, agreeing with that. “Speaking of, it's a busy day today in the square; you all can reveal them at the fountain center. That way everyone will see them, and it’ll clear up all of the confusion.”

Pepa took in some deep breaths and conted down under breath. Taking Dolores back, she smiled a bit at her daughter's excitement. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Valeria walked over and helped each adult strap their buddy to themselves.

Just as she was about to help Alma with Mirabel, she stopped her. “I’m actually going to announce our arrival, then have them come in. Mariano, could you take Mirabel for me?” Mariano nodded excitedly, taking Mirabel from Valeria’s arms.

“¡Hola mariposita! You get to ride with me, you new hermano mayor, Mariano,” Alma laughed at his antics, helping him wrap Mirabel up. She had to admit, she did like the sound of that. The kids could use an older sibling, and Mariano was the perfect fit.

“Alright, is everyone situated? Everyone has a buddy?” Alma asked. With everyone nodding, they were off to the square. Now out in the open, they were a bit nervous, but marched on with determination. The fountain came into view, and while the others stayed back, Alma walked forward.

“Can I have everyone’s attention please!” She called out. Her voice was loud and demanding, a voice she hadn’t used in months. The villagers stopped talking and all walked over to the fountain. She could hear the whispers, most wondering what she had to say.

“As you all know,” She started. “Me and my familia have been taking a break. After the…unfortunate…events that had occurred 5 months ago, we had taken to staying in longer. But, we have been coming out more and more. We have also heard about the rumors, and we’ll be addressing those now. So, we would like to introduce…or rather re-introduce some family members to you!” Alma smiled happily.

The villagers cause a commotion. Most of them were wondering what she meant.

“Re-introduce? What do you think Senora Madrigal is talking about?” A villager asked.

“I don’t know. You don’t think…” Once said, trailing off.

“Shh, be quiet! We’ll never find out if you keep talking!” One hushed a group who was gossiping.

They watched as Alma ushered her family members and friends over. Valeria, Felipe, and Senora Guzman stood next to Alma. The other 6 came into view, and what the village saw sent the entire Encanto into silence. It was dead silent as the town gawked at the view in front of them.

In front of the entire town, in the middle of the square, were 6 babies. But not just any six babies. 6 Madrigal babies. Babies that they didn’t think they’d see again. There, strapped to Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, Mirabel and Antonio. It was quiet for another 3 minutes, until Alma spoke up again.

“Please say hola to my little nietos! Thankfully, after such a tragic event, we–” Alma was cut off when the crowd rushed forward, bombarding them with questions.

“How? How did they come back to you all Senora?”

“When did this happen? How did we not notice?!”

“So the rumors aren’t true! You all have had a reason for buying baby things!”

“Do you need any help? Do you want us to get you anything?”

The Madrigals were getting overwhelmed, the questions and constant touching was getting annoying quickly. A large cloud formed over the group and the babies began to cry, but it didn’t seem to stop them. Alma and Valeria were seen trying to calm them down while Mariano’s mother was trying to keep the crowd away from the babies.

Now Felipe was a quiet man. He didn’t speak unless spoken to or if the situation called for it. And he almost never raised his voice, opting for his quiet yet stern and hard voice. But this was getting out of hand. He decided to step in.

“¡Oye! ¡Aléjate de ellos, AHORA!” Felipe shouted, his voice booming across the square. It was loud, deep and gruff, and it commanded attention. Add to the fact that he was over 6 feet tall, heavily built and played around with fire and metals as his job, it certainly startled everyone around. Almost immediately, the crowd dispersed and backed away, a couple apologizing. Even Valeria, his wife, jumped a bit, as she hadn’t heard him shout out like that in years.

Alma regained her composure, walking back up the front to begin her explanation. “Gracias Felipe,” the man simply nodded, backing away as he stood tall. “As I was saying, please, say hola to my little nietos. Thankfully, after such a tragic event, we were given a second chance. The reason we have been inside so often and buying baby things on whim was not for no reason.”

Alma moved over to Mariano and unwrapped Mirabel, cradling her as she turned to face the town once again. Mirabel looked up at her grandmother and grabbed at her dress, before turning to face the crowd. She smiled, and some people in the crowd aww’ed at her.

“Senora Madrigal, is that…Mirabel?” A villager at the front asked.

Alma nodded, holding Mirabel up slightly up so the crowd could get a good view of her. She gestured the other 5 family members over, and they all held the babies out. The crowd gawked at the babies. They were back. Like, back back. In the flesh.

“They’re so cute!”

“Aww, look at little Dolores, their outfits are so cute!”

“How adorable, look at their little hats.”

The town continued to gush over the babies, and each Madrigal adult was showing off a baby to different sections of the crowd.

Bruno was happy it went well. He was worried that something would go wrong, or they wouldn’t take it well. He didn’t tell any of his family, but he used his Gift to look into the future the night before. Julieta and Pepa had told him beforehand, so he wouldn’t be caught off guard. Before he went to bed, he had a vision, and saw that the introduction went well. The town was going to take a while to adjust, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle.

At the moment, Bruno was surrounded by several people, who were all coddling and cooing at Camilo, who was currently happily giggling in Bruno’s arms. Surprisingly, the villagers weren’t wary of Bruno. They actively asked him questions in a reasonable manner, and made small talk when they weren’t wooing over Camilo. He was happily speaking about his sobrino and the others with a villager when he overheard a conversation between two villagers not far from him.

“Ugh, I’m glad that the babies are back. It’s been hard without their Gifts. When their 5th birthday rolls around, everything will be back to normal.” One said.

“I know right? And that Bruno. Why did he come back? He’s so creepy, and he’s always stumbling over himself and ruining things.” Another said under his breath.

“I bet he was the one who caused the fall of their home, killing the kids. The family should’ve kicked him out when they had the chance. I know I would,” The opposite shuddered. “He’s so weird…”

“We–” The other stopped when he heard a voice behind him.

“Might I ask why you’re saying such rude things about mi hermano?” Julieta asks angrily. She held Isabela, who looked up at her mother and attempted to copy her angry face, but it really only came out as a mad pout. The villagers stuttered and mumbled, attempting to make excuses.

“We-We weren’t trying to–” He was cut off by a crack of thunder.

“Don’t try to make excuses. We heard you. And we won’t stand for it.” pepa said darkly, holding a pouty Antonio. Fèlix walked over to and stood next to his wife, nodding in agreement.

“Bruno didn’t do anything. He’s never done anything. You guys just deny having bad futures because you don’t care for ourselves properly and blame it on Bruno.” Fèlix shifted his hold on Mirabel. “He has done nothing but be kind and helpful to everyone around him. You both have no right to talk about that man, my brother, like that.” The villagers squirmed under the gaze of the Madrigals that were defending Bruno.

“W-Well…he deserves it! He’s weird and…a-and…!” The two villagers quickly stopped their rants, speeding off at what was standing behind the Madrigals. Sure, they were already scared out of their minds because they were cornered by 3, or rather 6 Madrigals, but Felipe had also inserted himself into the argument. He caught the tail end of the argument and decided to end it before it escalated. With Luisa still in his large arms, the tall man stomped through the crowd and stared down at the villagers, effectively menacing them. Pair that with an angry family? They were out of there in an instant.

Pepa huffed and her cloud dispersed. “Yeah, and you better stay away!” she yelled after them. After making sure the other 2 were gone, the 4 adults made their way over to Bruno, who stood shocked, Camilo still in his arms.

“Bruno, are you ok man? They didn’t do anything to you did they?” Fèlix frantically asked, looking the man over. Bruno shook his head, still shocked into silence. No one had stood up to him like that in…years. “Good. You know, they’re wrong. You don’t make bad things happen, and none of this is your fault. I don’t want to see you blaming yourself for what happened, you hear?” Fèlix puffed out his chest.

Once again Bruno nodded. He smiled at his family. He was glad he was finally getting close to them again and feeling more comfortable around them. He was happy that his childhood friend, Felipe, stood up for him as well. He nodded his head, and the brawny man nodded back in acknowledgement.

“Gracias familia. Really, it means a lot,” Bruno said.

“Anytime hermano. You know we’d do anything for you.” Julieta grinned. “Now, let’s get back over there with mamá, him?” The group made their way back to the fountain where the townsfolk continued to gush over the children.

— The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. Most of it was spent with the Madrigals, only breaking to buy food and eat lunch in the square and feed the babies. As the sun went down, the large crowd slowly dwindled down, and everyone was heading home for dinner. Eventually, it was only the Madrigals, Valeria and Feplie, and the Guzmans. The babies were now back with their buddies and everything was packed away.

“Well, now that we’ve got everything together, we’ll be heading back now,” Agustín said, picking up the bag of supplies.

“Alright then, we’ll see you tomorrow then. You guys have a wonderful rest of the night. And we’ll see the little ones tomorrow as well,” Ms. Guzman said, walking away with her son. The duo waved their goodbyes and left for their home.

“We’ll be off too. You all get some good food and rest and we’ll see you again next time,” Valeria walked with her husband, and they waved as they walked off. Bruno called out to Feplie just as he and his family were leaving.

“Hey, Feplie!” He called the man. Feplie turned around, looking at Bruno in acknowledgement.

“Thank you. For earlier.” Bruno said. Feplie smiled and nodded, before turning and walking off with his wife. Bruno jogged and caught up with his family, and the group made their way back to Casita.

One might ask, was it a good day? The Madrigals were able to successfully introduce the babies. Mariano got to be a big brother. Bruno finally got the justice he deserved.

So yes. It was a good day. And hopefully, there will be more to come.

-----

Phew that took a WHILE. But! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next we'll be getting some more fluff, so stay tuned!

[anactualcaseofthetruth]

Friends Can Break Your Heart Too - Chapter 4 << ao3 link

Or catch up! >>>>

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Story summary: Mia Flores flees to Santo Padre for one reason and one reason only: her godfather and the man who raised her, Bishop Losa. The last thing she expects is for Angel Reyes to come into her chaotic life and just maybe be the one thing that starts to make sense.

Chapter summary: Angel and Mia settle a bet, and then face some harsh truths in the morning.

RATED: SMUTTY 🔥❤❗

Chapter 4:

It was quite possibly the stupidest thing she had ever said to date.

Well, she thinks, given the current situation, perhaps agreeing to this is worse, but she’s never been one to stand down from a good bet. It helps that she wanted to prove him wrong, to wipe the cocky smirk off his face when he suggested it. He just sounded so sure she’d lose, so confident in himself that she wanted to knock him down a peg.

In retrospect, Mia should have known. There’s a reason Angel is so confident, why he wears that smirk so well.

She turns her head to the nightstand where her phone sits, the timer counting down. Fifteen minutes. That all she needs to hold out for, fifteen more minutes. She nods to herself—she can do fifteen minutes; she’d held out for three sets of it so far. One more is no problem.

“Don’t worry about the time, querida,” Angel insists, his voice low and smooth as if trying to calm her when his actions are doing the exact opposite of that. “I’m not taking an L on this.”

“Yes, you are,” she moans when his middle fingers hook inside her just right.

“Fifteen minutes is a long time,” Angel reminds her as he maneuvers his thumb to rub her clit in slow, soft circles.

Mia squeezes her eyes closed, her hands gripping onto his sheets with such intensity she’s surprised they haven’t ripped and bites her lip to keep from moaning louder.

“Nah, baby, don’t do that, I wanna hear the noises you make,” he encourages and the rhythm of his fingers inside her pickup speed, and she knows he’s doing it on purpose, so she cries out like he wants. Sometimes it’s easier to give him what he wants than fight him, it placates him in the moment. Besides, she’s playing the long game here.

“Fu-uck,” she heaves as her legs start to shake, a tell-tale sign she’s about to cum, so Angel’s fingers withdraw from her center, leaving her on edge. “No, no, no,” she whines, but knows she only has herself to blame.

She’s the one who agreed to the damn bet, to give him free reign for an hour to do whatever he wanted sexually, within reason, to make her ‘ugly cry’ as she mentioned almost two weeks prior. It started out fun, at least for her, seeing as he gave her four orgasms in about thirty minutes, but then he’d started a new tactic—torture. He’s been edging her more than fifteen minutes now, making her almost cum three more times, and she hates it, hates him, hates this whole bet and herself for making that dumbass comment two weeks ago.

“Before you look again, I’ll tell you now, thirteen minutes,” he murmurs as his wet hand slides up her body, the other entangled in her loose curls. “I still have time.”

Mia can only nod as she tries to bring herself down, to keep her breathing even, but she feels warm, so, so warm, like she has a fever, and touches her forehead to check.

“Here,” Angel offers and grabs the bottle of water from the nightstand and signals for her to sit up a bit, his hand moving with her head and tilts the bottle to her lips.

She greedily takes a few gulps before dropping her head back to the pillow, letting the coolness of the liquid wash over her. “Thank you.”

“Twelve and a half minutes,” he responds and settles himself back along side her, his fingers returning to her core and starts to play with her outer lips. “Fuck, baby, I hope you know how much I enjoy your pussy,” he mentions as he drags a ringed finger over her clit, making her shudder.

The more they have sex and continue to get comfortable with each other, the more Angel talks during it. Sometimes its sweet, others it’s filthy, but it always makes her melt, and the last thing she needs right now is more heat.

“Do you know what a pretty pussy you have?” he questions while shuffling down her body so his face lines up with it.

Mia doesn’t answer, just stares at the ceiling and tries to think of anything else other than Angel’s velvety voice and honey-dipped words.

“Hey,” he clips and slaps her entrance with his ring-clad knuckles causing her hips to buck and a mewl to escape from her lips. “I want an answer, mi dulce.”

“No,” she breathes and blinks, focusing on the figure-eight paint on the ceiling.

“Well, it is,” he tells her as his head dips down to her mound and licks up her slit. “You’ve ruined mi dulce for me because your pussy is so sweet, it’ll only ever apply to you now.” His tongue flicks at her clit as his fingers spread the lips. “My favorite pussy,” he murmurs in between licks.

Mia throws her head back against the pillow, her entire back arching as Angel buries his face between her legs. Her hands thread into his hair to keep him in place, the inky curls soft and free of the hair gel he usually styles it with. “Yes, please, there, right there,” she pleads as her toes curl against his wide shoulders.

She tries to hide the tremble in her legs, the shake of her core, but it’s useless. He has fingers inside her, he can feel her body betraying her. He pulls his mouth from her pink heat, his beard covered with her wetness and she wants to kick and scream but won’t give him the satisfaction.

It’s a fine line between kicking and screaming, and ugly crying. She will not succumb, even if it is the fourth time he’d edged her.

But that doesn’t mean she isn’t willing to snap at him. “Just fucking get inside me already, I’m so sick of-” she stops when his free hand leaves her breast to cover her mouth.

“I don’t give a shit what you’re sick of,” he informs her, his voice low and firm, and his hand slides from her mouth to her throat. Being manhandled by Angel doesn’t scare her—in fact, before Jay it was a turn on, and now with Angel, with that trust continually building between them, it is starting to again, even if in baby steps. “I’m in charge for seven more minutes, aren’t I?”

Mia can only nod as her core clenches on nothing, and she hates being so completely empty when she knows how wonderfully he fits inside her.

“Good girl, now,” he goes on, which doesn’t help her situation. “I’m not inside of you because I know this pussy, my favorite pussy, and I know exactly what you’ll do.”

“What?” Mia asks while trying not to focus on his fingers slipping inside her.

“You’ll grip me so fucking tight I’ll fuck you until we both cum, and then time will be up, and you’ll win,” he answers. “I tried giving you multiple orgasms, all it did was make you sated and sleepy. That’s not what I’m going for here, remember?”

She nods, her body temperature high again and her heart pounding in her core as his two fingers tap her G-spot in a rhythm that has her hips going too.

“What am I going for? Tell me, baby,” he urges before latching his mouth over one of her breasts, his tongue sucking and massaging.

“To make me ugly cry,” she says and feels him nod against her chest.

“That’s right,” Angel confirms, shifting so his tongue can lave over the other nipple. Once it’s been given enough attention he pulls away and blows on it, making her shiver. “And I think my best plan is to play with you until you crack.”

“Five minutes,” she sighs when his fingers finally pull out of her.

“I know how much time I have,” he clips in return and slips his ringed finger in her slit, the ring nudging at her clit. “You know, you should be nervous.”

“What? Why?” she asks, breathless, as his fingers pick up pace at her clit.

“The less time I have, the more desperate I get,” he admits and it’s like a flip switches—his middle fingers slip back inside her, pumping her at an alarming pace while his other fingers start rubbing her clit, hard. “Maybe if I’d edged you from the beginning, but I don’t got time for that,” he goes on, his voice calm despite his frantic movements.

“Don’t stop,” Mia pleads, unashamed that she’s begging, and Angel seems to like it because a shit-eating grin overtakes his lips. “Please, keep going, let me cum, please, Angel, baby.”

“Ugly cry and I’ll do more than let you come, mi dulce,” he vows, but all she can do is shake her head as the assault continues on her body.

Mia mewls and moans and pleads and begs, but Angel is relentless. She tries closing her eyes, thinking of something else, but it’s impossible when his fingers are playing her like an instrument he’s perfected.

“I know you want to, baby, I know you’re close,” he encourages. “Just let the tears fall and I’ll make you come so hard, and so much, dulce, I promise.”

She shakes her head, her spine arching as she feels a rush of warmth at her core. “Fuck, Angel,” she pants. “Something—something—” she tries to warn him as she explodes literally just as the timer goes off. Tears spring from her eyes and something practically shoots out of her entrance and completely covers Angel’s chest, leaving him dripping wet.

“Dios Mio,” he swears, his voice thick with want.

With her entire body shaking, Mia lifts her head to look him in the eye. “If you don’t fuck me right now, I swear to Go—” shes cut off with his mouth on hers and it’s only a few seconds before he’s fully sheathed inside her.

She’s not even sure she can come again, but trembles at the feel of him all the same as he pounds into her, chasing his own release. His arms are mounted beside her head as he rests his forehead on hers, their eyes locked on one another. He’s saying such filthy things with his talented tongue, and she knows he’s close.

He was close before he even entered her.

Even though she wasn’t sure she’d come again, she feels herself being pushed over the edge once more, reaching her high right along side him.

Angel pulls out just as her walls flutter around him, and uses his hand to pump his release out on her belly, the white ropes hitting her stomach as he grunts with each jerk of his hand.

“Fuck,” he croaks and practically collapses on top of her, apparently not caring that their collective juices are creating more of a mess between their sweat slick bodies. To be honest, she doesn’t care either, likes the closeness of his body.

After they’ve both caught their breath, Mia lifts her arms to wrap around his shoulders, her fingers lightly scratching the valley between his shoulder blades.

“Dios mio!” he repeats against her collarbone a few moments later. “If you want me to say it, I’ll say it. You won. But this is war and that was just one battle.”

She can’t stop the laugh that bubbles up her throat, but also doesn’t want to. “You think I’m going to agree to this again? Especially since I won?”

Angel lifts his head to look her in the eye. She doesn’t like the playful glint it has. “If you want to squirt again, you will.”

“Oh, my God, shut up!” she exclaims as her hands move to cover her face in embarrassment.

“You’ve never done that before, have you?” he asks, but all she does is whine in her hands in return. “You haven’t! That makes it so much better.”

“You’re a jerk and I don’t like you anymore,” she mumbles while he pulls her hands away. “No, I—I’ve never done that before, and I don’t know—“ she’s stopped midsentence when his lips press against hers, and it goes on longer than she expects, and tongues are involved.

“That,” he starts as he pulls away, then rethinks it and kisses her once more, “was so fucking hot, mi dulce.”

“Really?” she asks tentatively.

His face breaks out into a glorious smile. “Yes. Fuck, yes,” he insists. “That happening is worth me losing, even if it was a cheap win on your part.”

“Cheap win? I won fair and square!” Mia exclaims.

“You were crying when the timer went off, but I’ll give you the win as long as I get a rematch,” Angel insists.

“Fine, I will give you a rematch but crying as the time goes off implies time was up, therefore—”

“Don’t be a bad winner, no one likes those,” he interrupts with a look on his face she wants to slap, so she does just that, only its more of a tap. “Hey!” he laughs and pretends to bite at her fingers.

“Have you ever had that happen before?” she asks quietly, still embarrassed.

“Not that, no,” he answers and nips at her neck softly.

“What have you had happen, then?”

He pulls away from her throat. “I was eating this girl out once, behind a bar—”

“Of course, you were at a bar,” she comments, but he ignores her.

“And all of a sudden she pushes me away, I thought like, cool, time to get my dick wet, but instead she…” he trails off with a weird look on his face, like he smells something bad. “It was more of a golden shower. It was not what you did. I was just happy she pushed me away. She was so embarrassed she ran off, but I was like, man, I don’t even get my dick sucked after that?”

“Poor baby,” Mia murmurs while combing his hair back with her fingers. “Speaking of golden showers, I gotta pee,” she tells him. “And we gotta clean up, there are bodily fluids all over us.”

“Ooh, you talking dirty to me now? Trying to get me hard again, huh?” he jokes as he gets up on his knees.

“No,” she states firmly. “My vag needs at least twenty-four hours rest, and my clit? That is getting forty-eight, for sure.”

“So we can fuck this time tomorrow as long as I can get you wet without touching your clit? I accept this challenge,” Angel states while getting up.

“No, that is not what I meant!” Mia calls after him, then whines as she tries to get off the bed and follow, but everything in her lower half is telling her to just rollover and go to sleep. Her limbs feel heavy and tingly at the same time, and her vagina is definitely going to be extra sore tomorrow.

She hears the toilet flush, and the bathroom door opens to reveal a still-naked Angel wiping off his chest with a wet rag. “You coming?”

“No, I’m done doing that tonight, thank you,” she mumbles and groans at the thought of getting up. It just seems like so much work. She’s still figuring out the path of least resistance when Angel crawls back onto the bed. “What’re you—?” she stops when she sees the cloth still in his hand.

“Helping,” he answers her unfinished question while cleaning her abdomen.

Mia doesn’t say anything, and hopes he can’t hear when her breath hitches with each soft touch. When he goes to separate her legs, she resists. “You don’t have to-“

“I’ll be gentle, promise,” he tells her and nudges them open once again.

He is gentle, extremely so, especially when he reaches her core. It’s very intimate, the care he takes in making sure she’s clean and comfortable.

“C’mon, I’ll help you get to the bathroom,” he insists before she can protest and lifts her bridal style. “Can you get yourself back to bed?”

“You’re not that good, calm down, I can walk,” she mumbles as he sets her down in the bathroom. “I’m just being lazy.”

“You want to make that the next bet? After I win this one, I mean?” he questions with an eyebrow raised.

“You don’t have to make everything I say a challenge, you know,” Mia tells him. “So, unless you want to watch me pee—”

“You think I won’t?”

“Oh, my God! Out!” she orders and pushes him out of the room with all the force she has left, which isn’t much.

“It’s just piss, geez,” she hears him grumble, but continues his way to the bed as she kicks the door shut, thinking he’s lucky he’s her best friend because he sure can be annoying.

However, minutes later, when he’s resting his head on her chest and running fingers up and down her bare leg as she combs her own through his hair, she knows no matter how annoying he is he’s also the sweetest man she’s ever known, and that more than makes up for it. Especially when his soft ministrations put her to sleep so easily and peacefully.

When Mia wakes in the morning or early afternoon, she’s not sure, she’s on her side with Angel’s head cradled into her chest, her arms looped around his shoulders, and one of his lazily tossed over her hips.

She likes sleeping with Angel—when she does her nights aren’t plagued with nightmares or waking up every other hour at the slightest noise. When he’s in bed with her she knows she’s safe, from her subconscious or whatever else comes along. Especially when she stays at his place, no one would dare mess with a Mayan.

Her thoughts are interrupted when Angel’s phone pings from the nightstand. He groans against her chest before rolling over, leaving one arm underneath the pillow below her head as he checks it.

He groans again, looking at the notification, then resituates himself against her chest. It takes a few moments, but eventually he looks up at her, and jumps a little when he notices she’s awake. “Jesus Christ, don’t do that.”

“I didn’t do anything!” she laughs while pushing hair away from his forehead.

“It’s fucking creepy to wake up finding someone else looking at you,” he mumbles and looks very much like a child with his puffy face and sleepy eyes. “It’s scary movie shit.”

“Gotta keep you on your toes, Reyes,” she teases, and he scrubs a hand down his face, probably to wake himself up further. “Are you being summoned for big, bad biker business?” she asks while rolling onto her back and stretching.

Angel shakes his head and ghosts his lips across her collarbone. “Nah, some weather app or some shit. Goes off every morning, just usually sleep through it.”

“Weather?” she questions in a laugh. “We practically live in Mexico, it’s gonna be hot. Hot yesterday, today, and tomorrow. How you guys wear leather I’ll never know.”

“It’s an acquired taste,” he tells her with a kiss to the forehead. “Mornin’,” he murmurs sweetly. “See, this is how you say good morning to someone, unlike what you do, you psycho.”

“It’s an acquired taste,” Mia echoes and he rolls his eyes.

He’s about to respond when his phone goes off again and he reaches for it just as quickly as before. With another groan he drops it and shakes his head.

“Let me guess, it’s going to be hot today,” she teases, and he gives her the finger before rolling back over to face her. “Are you waiting for a certain weather update or—”

“Nah, that wasn’t—that was Taz reminding me we have templo during the yard’s lunch break,” he explains. “I’m not waiting for anything, just might be getting something from EZ. Not sure.”

“Everything alright, osito?”

Angel shrugs with his head propped up on his hand, the other drawing swirls on her bare abdomen. “I don’t want to remind him if he doesn’t remember, but… I don’t want him to think I don’t remember if he does, you know?”

“No, I don’t know,” Mia laughs and Angel does too. “What are you talking about?”

“Today’s the date eight years ago EZ killed that cop,” he tells her on a more solemn note.

“Oh.”

He nods and bites his lip. “I only remember because Letty was going off on Coco a couple days ago. He was teasing her about school and she had a meltdown over some math final she had coming up.”

“Yeah, a statistics test,” Mia confirms. “I’ve heard her bitch about it.”

“Yeah, she kept saying the date, and it finally hit me why it was ringing a bell in my head, like there was something I was supposed to remember, because there was,” he says as his lips form an upside down smile for the briefest of moments.

“You don’t think EZ remembers?”

“No, I know he does,” Angel insists. “I’m just… just hoping the clubs kept him busy enough that he doesn’t know what today’s date is, you know?”

“Sorry to tell you, osito, but knowing EZ’s brain, he knows,” she comments.

“Yeah,” he agrees in a sigh. “I wasn’t the best brother when he was in Stockton. I didn’t visit as much I should have, and I wasn’t a great one before he went in either. If I was, he probably would have never done what he did—”

“Or, you both would have gone to prison. We’ve been over this, babe, don’t dwell on the ‘what ifs’, it’ll only make you go crazy thinking what might have been,” Mia tells him.

“I’m trying to be better now, that’s the point,” he says, his voice firm. “I guess I just don’t know how to be there for him.”

“Have you tried asking him?”

Angel looks up at her, skeptical. “That simple, huh?”

“Can be, if you want it to,” she replies. “Or, if he wants it to.”

“Maybe,” he breathes. “What if I’m afraid of his answer?”

“What do you mean?”

“He still hasn’t been out long, querida,” Angel murmurs. “Sometimes I see him staring off, thinkin’, and I worry he’s getting the same thoughts he was that got him into that whole mess. Like, maybe, he’s thinkin’ about who killed our mom again, thinkin’ about how to figure out who did it.”

“Do you ever still wonder who did it?” Mia asks. “I know back then you weren’t on the same page as him, but what about now?”

At this Angel moves onto his back and rests his hands on his chest. After a long minute he looks over at her and shakes his head. “No, I don’t.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes,” he answers easily and with finality. “Do you think about those fucks that killed your dad?”

“Touché,” she replies. “But, the answer’s no, I don’t, because they’re dead. Marcus had the whole bullshit MC killed, practically a mag emptied into each of their backs so their patches were illegible.”

“Hmph,” Angel grumbles with an appreciative nod. “Good.”

“So, you gonna lie to me again or tell me what you really think?”

“Fine. I wonder who did it sometimes, but… I still don’t wanna find him,” he confesses. “I don’t have the right to justice.”

“The right?” Mia asks while sitting up. “You have every right to. This person killed your—”

“I know what he did, alright!?” Angel interrupts her, his voice booming, and for a split second her body shakes before she gets control of herself.

Angel would never hurt her. Sure, she thought that about her ex in the beginning, but… she knows Angel’s heart, and from what she’s learned about his mother she knows Marisol raised two men who would never lay a hand on a woman.

He must have seen her startle because almost instantly he deflates and sits up with her. “I’m sor—look, this is why I don’t talk about my mom. I turn into a dick. I didn’t mean,” he stops his attempt at an apology and reaches for his cigarettes, lighting one quick and inhaling deeply. “I’m sorry,” he finally manages as smoke escapes his mouth.

“No, it’s me, I’m pushing. You don’t owe me any kind of explanation. I’m sorry,” she whispers and squeezes his free hand.

They are both silent for a minute as Angel seems to finish his first cigarette in record time and instantly moves onto a second. “I don’t have a right to,” he starts, startling her, “because I’m no better than the man who killed her.”

“What?” Mia demands as her eyebrows crinkle in confusion.

“When I was given my kutte as a prospect, before I put it on, Bishop stopped me. He stopped all of us—me, Coco, and Gilly,” he begins again. “He said it took a certain kind of man to wear a kutte, and who we would become if we were patched in would be very different from the men that stood before him. Being in the club, it changes you,” he tells her while ashing.

Mia nods, encouraging him along with a squeeze of her fingers.

“And he was right. Maybe the man I was before I joined the club deserved to know who killed his mother and wanted justice. But the man after I patched in? I’ve—” he stops and puts out his cigarette. “You know the kind of shit I’ve done, the kind of shit I have to live with, the sins I’ll die with.”

“Angel—”

“I’m not looking for sympathy, querida,” he assures her. “If you can’t find a way to live with what you gotta do, there’s no place for you in the life, that’s just the truth. I’ve found a way to live with what I’ve done, and I’m not gonna act like I’m a saint, ‘cause I ain’t.”

He stops again for a moment, and she just knows he doesn’t want her to say anything just yet.

“I have no right to expect justice for my mother’s killer, because I’m no better. I’ve killed too, Mia, and saying he should pay just because it was my mother? It’s fucking hypocritical. That means I deserve to die too, and maybe I do—”

“No,” Mia interrupts him, firm. “You don’t. It’s different.”

“A murder is a murder, mi dulce,” he responds. “Just ‘cause you’re sweet on me doesn’t mean what I’ve done isn’t murder.”

“It’s different,” she sniffs. “The people you deal with, they are in the life too, they know what they’ve gotten into and have done bad things too. You don’t go killing women or-or children or—”

“Hey,” he murmurs and cradles her face in his hands. “Maybe that’s true, but I’ve killed someone’s father, brother, son, and if need be, I’ll do it again. It’s the kind of man you become when you’re patched in.”

“You’d never senselessly murder someone’s mother, never, and you will never be able to convince me of that,” Mia states as her eyes blink to hold back tears.

“Maybe, but I’m still no better than him, and you won’t convince me of that,” he counters, his tone just as sure as her’s.

Mia stares into his eyes for a long moment, until Angel drops his hands and looks away from her, reaching for another cigarette. She knows he believes what he’s saying, that he’s no better than a cold-blooded killer, like the one who shot his mother, and it breaks her heart.

The air is heavy around them and she knows Angel is uncomfortable with his confession, not to mention the vulnerability he’s now shown her. She wants to tell him he’s wrong, that he’s the sweetest man she knows, that the sins he’s committed in the club don’t scare her, or make her think any less of him, but knows he won’t believe any of it.

So, instead, she confesses something that she’s ashamed of too, something to make her feel as vulnerable as he does, something to even the score. “I’ve almost done heroin,” she blurts out, and Angel turns to her, his mouth agape, and so his cigarette falls to the bedsheets.

“Shit. Fuck,” he swears as he picks it up, wiping the ashes from the dull yellow sheets. “What?”

“I—you told me something you’re ashamed of, so I’m doing the same to you,” she explains. “It’s only fair.”

“Okay, but heroin?” he questions. “You told me that you hate the stuff because of your mom, and because it’s fucking heroin.”

“I know, I know, I do,” she replies. “But I… but there were a few times where I got I down, really down, it’s like every bad thing that’s ever happened to me replays through my head again and again and again until,” she stops and looks down at her fingers, embarrassed. “All the times I watched my mom break Bishop’s heart, all the shit she’s put me through, every time Esai came home with that stupid guilty look on his face and I knew he cheated on me,” she lists off. “I feel it all.”

“Mia,” Angel whispers.

“I told myself I’d never do heroin, because you’re right, it’s fucking heroin, but I’ve seen my mom’s face when she shoots up, Angel,” she tells him. “Fuck, there were times she was shaking so hard because it took so long for her to find her next fix that she made me do it for her. One time she dropped her dime bag down a grate in the road, but it had one of those storm drains a few feet away. So, she literally forced me down into it and wouldn’t pull me up until I found it.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“The point is,” she continues with shaky hands, “I’ve seen what it looks like when the high hits, how every problem she has melts away, and all she feels is euphoria. When I get down, when I’m in that blackhole and I don’t see an end, I want that feeling, Angel.”

“So you’ve thought about doing it, that doesn’t mean—”

“No, I haven’t just thought about it, I’ve,” she sighs and shakes her head. “I grew up in the club, Angel, it’s what you guys put into the streets, smuggle over the border, it’s—it’s not hard to find, and I told you, I’ve done it for my mom, so I know exactly what to do, and even if I didn’t it’s not hard to figure out.”

“What happened?” he asks, his voice soft.

“I’ve had the needle against my skin, picked out a vein,” she answers, finally looking up to meet his eye. “I guess it’s good I hate my mother because that always outweighs the want to not feel anymore.”

“Thank fuck,” Angel murmurs before pulling her into his arms. “Does anyone know?”

“Promise me you’ll never tell Bishop, please,” Mia says, her face buried in his neck.

“I won’t,” he states as he gives her a squeeze.

“Esai knows,” she answers his previous question. “He found me once, that’s a whole different story, but,” she stops and let’s out a long breath, “he didn’t yell at me, make me feel bad, or anything like that. He never judged me or held it against me, never once brought it up during one of our fights or our break-ups.”

“What’d he do?”

“Held me,” Mia tells him honestly, leaning away from Angel’s hold so she can look him in the eye. “Told me that no matter what we were going through, together or apart, in a fight or perfectly fine, he’d be there for me, no doubt about it. And, every time I called, he was. He held me until I could pick myself up and then he made me get rid of it myself, to prove to myself that I didn’t need it, and never would.”

“So this hasn’t happened in almost two years?”

Mia shakes her head. “It’s happened four times. Esai has only been there for three of them.”

“What about the fourth?”

“It was when I was with my ex,” she admits.

“Jay?” Angel asks and that name in his mouth makes her shudder.

“Yeah.” Mia doesn’t make eye contact, doesn’t know how to tell him the situation that caused her to drive to Oakland, to Niner territory because if a Mayan saw her it would be only minutes before Esai got a call, found her, and she broke down in his arms, telling him what she had done the day before at the clinic. “It doesn’t matter why, what matters is that I didn’t do it. That’s what Esai always said, to focus on the fact that I didn’t do it, not the reason I thought I needed it.”

“I’m glad you realized how strong you are,” he responds, his voice still low and soft, and so very comforting.

“I did what I always did with Esai. I got rid of it and told myself I didn’t need it, I’m stronger than that, and I will never give my mom the satisfaction,” she tells him. “She always said I’d end up like her, an addict and only good at lying on my back.”

“Bishop know that?”

“No, she’d deny it anyways, and I was always afraid he’d take her side. She knows exactly how to get under my skin and is Bishop’s weakness, so I never spoke up,” Mia says. “Esai fucking hates her, and she avoids him at all costs. She knows if she says or does one thing to piss him off he’ll go off, and there would be no coming back from that, especially know that he’s president of the mother chapter.”

“I don’t know what it’s worth to you,” Angel murmurs as he links their hands together, “we don’t have the same history that you and E do, but I’m proud of you.” He brings her hands to his lips and kisses them gently. “Even without someone there to tell you that you’re strong, that you don’t need that shit, you realized it on your own.”

“Angel—”

“I don’t know your mom, but I know you’ll never be like her. You do know that, right?”

Mia looks down and let’s her hands slip from his, like it’s accidental, not a big deal, but it’s intentional, because he doesn’t know.

He doesn’t know how much she’s already like her mother, how she’s just jumped from man to man like her, how she ran to Bishop with her tail in between her legs like her, how she expects him to be able to fix all her problems like she does, and how she’s let one man ruin her for anyone else because she refuses to get hurt again. They were very different men, of course, but the outcome is still the same.

“Mm-hm,” she manages, but knows it’s not believable, so she continues, “but it’s always in the back of my head, you know?”

“I get that.”

“I guess everyone worries about becoming their parents,” she goes on before he can. “It’s part of the whole cycle, isn’t it? You have kids, love them, raise them, try not to make mistakes, but it’s inevitable, and in the end you want them to be better than you. Then, because of the mistakes you made, they want to be better than you, to not put their kids through the same shit you put them through.”

“Maybe that’s the real American dream, huh? To be better than your parents,” Angel muses.

“Well, we’re halfway there, don’t you think? Just for trying. That’s half the battle, right?” she asks.

“I hope, but I guess I’m just happy that I’m not losing the battle. Yet, at least,” he mumbles, then grabs her by the hips and lifts until she’s straddling him. “I need you to do something for me though, you think you can do that?”

Mia loops her arms around his shoulders and nods. “If it’s some daddy-daughter roleplay because of parental issues I’m gonna have to pass,” she answers, and he barks out such a loud laugh that it fills her chest with warmth. “I’m down for roleplay but, the whole ‘daddy’ thing just isn’t for me, not with my parental shit show. I don’t look down on people that do, just isn’t for me. We don’t kink shame here.”

“Oh, well, what kind of kink would you do?” he asks, curious.

“Hm, well, I call you osito so maybe Mr. Bear? If you really want the dad thing I could try Papa Bear but—”

“Stop,” he cuts her off in a chuckle. “I was kidding, but I’m gonna veto Papa Bear while we’re on the subject, just to be safe. You have time to think about it. Besides, I already have my name for you.”

“You do?”

“I told you last night. I’ll only ever call you mi dulce because your pussy is so sweet, and I can call you it around anyone. I’m not into the whole mister thing, or the daddy kink because I got my own parental shit too,” he tells her.

“I’m gonna have to give this a lot of thought, then.”

“You know this has nothing to do with what I was gonna ask you, right?”

“I figured, so much for a change of subject,” Mia sighs and lets her arms fall from his neck, her hands moving to trace the tattoos on his chest.

“I’ll be quick so we can get back to this,” he says with a smirk playing at his lips. “I know I’m not Esai, but if you feel comfortable, I want you to promise to call me if you ever find yourself in that dark place again,” he asks, and her breath catches in her throat. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do. I’ll sit with you, talk with you, get rid of it with you, whatever you need, and I promise not to judge you or give you a hard time.”

Mia opens her mouth, but nothing comes out, doesn’t know what to say to him, to the sweet man before her who thinks so little of himself, yet is offering to be there when she thinks even less of herself. “I… sure.”

“C’mon, you can do better than that, querida,” he insists.

“I will, I just don’t want you to see me like that,” she says honestly.

“You don’t gotta worry about shit like that with me, you know that,” he murmurs and cups her cheeks. “I’m never gonna use anything you tell me against you or tell anyone you don’t want me to. What we say and do stays between us,” he promises.

She nods and leans forward until their foreheads are touching. “Okay.”

“Promise me,” he urges. “I need to know that if you’re ever like that again you won’t think you’re alone. I don’t care if I’m on a run, over the border, or what the fuck ever, I’ll drop anything I’m doing and be with you if that’s what you need.”

Mia licks her lips and closes her eyes as his thumbs brush up and down her cheeks. “I promise,” she whispers and feels him move so his lips touch her forehead.

“My name,” he says a moment later and Mia opens her eyes and crinkles her eyebrows together questioningly. “I don’t need a kink nickname or whatever. I like it when you call me osito but when I’m pleasuring you, when you’re pleading for more, I love it when you call me my name.”

“I can do that,” she agrees and presses her lips against his. At first, it’s soft and sweet, but quickly becomes more demanding with their tongues touching.

Angel’s thumb pushes on her windpipe as he pulls his lips from hers. “I thought you said twenty-four hours minimum?”

“I did, didn’t I?” Mia whispers and scoots down his legs until his growing hard-on is visible. “Doesn’t mean I can’t help you out. After all, I got what, six orgasms last night? And you only came once.”

“Mm, do you have any idea how hard I came after you squirted all over me?” he asks, a hand still resting at the hollow of her throat, squeezing slightly at times, and rubbing the sensitive skin at others.

Mia swallows, hard, and Angel smiles at her in a way that makes her stomach coil.

“Your heart is beating very fast, mi dulce,” he comments. “I wonder where else you can feel it beat?” he asks as his free hand slides down her bare body until it’s between her legs. “Let’s see how sensitive you still are, hm?”

One finger sinks in and Mia tilts her head back because she’s still so tender, but before anything else can happen Angel’s bedroom door opens.

“Angel, you awa—holy shit, yes you are,” EZ walks in saying, but all Mia registers is Angel practically throwing her behind him and covering her up so all she can see is his tatted back.

“What the fuck, Ezekiel?” Angel demands of his little brother. “Ever heard of fucking knocking?”

“I did knock!” EZ insists. “On your front door, but now I can see why you didn’t hear it. Hi, Mia.”

She doesn’t respond, just lifts an arm to wave, for which she’s given a chuckle from both brothers.

“I can see you’re busy, I just stopped by to talk. Maybe we can meet up later—”

“No,” Mia speaks up, causing Angel to turn and look down at her with questioning eyes. “You can stay, I have to get going anyways. My interview is in a couple hours and I need to get ready,” she says while giving her best friend a look, hoping he remembers what today is, the conversation they started not even an hour ago.

Angel closes his eyes in realization. “Yeah, stay, baby brother,” he insists and turns to look back at him. “We got time before templo unless you have a yard shift or something.”

“Nah, nah, I’m free. Maybe we can get breakfast?” EZ suggests, a softness in his voice she’s never heard before. He definitely remembers what today is.

“Yeah, at the diner, like we used to when I made you skip the first hour of school,” Angel agrees.

“You mean when you refused to go to your first class because—”

“Let’s not get into that,” his big brother cuts him off. “But, uh, this ain’t a free show, so go wait in the living room so we can get dressed.”

“Fine, fine,” EZ mumbles. “I’ll tell you all about it later, Mia,” he calls over his shoulder as he leaves.

“Thank you!” Mia replies, only sitting up once she hears the door click shut. “So why’d you skip the first hour of school? Unless you’d rather me hear it from EZ later?”

Angel shakes his head and smiles at her while getting up, giving her an excellent view of his naked ass. “Let’s see what he tells you, then I’ll tell you if it’s true or bull, yeah?”

She watches him step into a pair of his underwear, a pair of briefs that hugs him just right, making her bite her lip. “Too bad he didn’t walk in thirty minutes later,” she sighs and shoves the blankets off as she stretches.

Angel grins and tosses underwear at her. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you later, after you kill it at your job interview,” he promises with wagging eyebrows.

“Yeah, after,” Mia mumbles, then busies herself with slipping her cheeky underwear up her legs as her eyes scan the floor for other clothes. “Fuck, Angel,” she groans as two things hit her at the same time.

“What?” he asks while hopping into a pair of jeans.

“Do you think he’ll tell? I mean, Bop is his sponsor and—”

Angel shakes his head and bends down in front of her. “Hey, don’t worry about that. He won’t say nothin’, I’ll make sure of it. He’s been keeping secrets for me all his life, he’ll keep this one too,” he assures her.

“You mean like the reason you kept him out of school for the first hour during your senior year?” Mia questions with big, innocent eyes.

He rolls his eyes and gives her a knowing grin. “I was messing with this girl over the summer, nothing serious. Because it wasn’t serious I was also gettin’ somewhere with another girl, turns out they were cousins, and were both in my first class,” he explains. “It got pretty ugly first day, so I made myself scarce and got some teammates from football to ask them out. When the smoke was clear I stopped skipping class. Good thing too, my mom was about to kick my ass if she got one more call about either of us missing class.”

“You’re lucky they never found out you made your friends date them.”

“Hey, I didn’t make them date anyone long term. I asked them to take them out once, maybe twice, get their attention elsewhere,” Angel insists. “It worked out for one of ‘em. Dated my friend until graduation.”

“Mmhm.”

“Uh-huh, get dressed before EZ walks in on us again,” he instructs. “I can think of a couple things I like your mouth doing more than giving me shit.”

“About that first part,” Mia starts and stands before him, remembering her second thought earlier. “You started undressing me as soon as we walked in the door, Reyes. We’re lucky my underwear is even in here,” she says. “So unless you do want your little brother to see my goods, or maybe show him what my mouth can do—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Angel sighs while grabbing a t-shirt. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

While he goes to get the rest of her clothes, Mia goes to the bathroom to pee and do something with her hair. She’s putting it up in a messy bun when she walks back into the bedroom, fully expecting Angel to be back with her stuff, but he isn’t.

With a sigh she grabs one of Angel’s button ups and slips out of the bedroom. “What’s taking so long? It can’t be that hard to find—fuck!” Mia exclaims, ducking behind the kitchen counter, which is the only thing blocking her from view of the living room, where not only do Angel and EZ stand, but Coco and Gilly too.

“I fucking knew it!” Coco boasts, his voice full of glee.

The boys around him join in the laughter and she can feel her face getting hot. She hasn’t done the walk of shame in years. And these guys are never going to let her live it down.

“You didn’t know shit. Now, pendejos, get the fuck out,” Angel orders and she hears the front door open.

“Nah, I did, you’ve been in a good mood for way too fuckin’ long,” Coco insists. “You ain’t been in the cage in over two months, carnal, you think we don’t notice this shit?”

“Yeah, we ain’t never seen you this well tempered,” Gilly agrees.

Curious, Mia stands up, the shirt now fully buttoned. “What do you mean, he hasn’t been in the cage?”

“Nothing, I—”

“He’s the reigning champ of our cage, he never tell you that?” Coco cuts Angel off. “You’ve been selling yourself short to your girl? That’s not like you, bro.”

“I haven’t been—”

“We open up the fights in the cage to the town and put some money on it. Usually, every month or so we have a fight. Angel is the one who puts the feelers out, is the one itchin’ for a fight, and he always fuckin’ wins. This dude has rage like a fuckin’ beast,” Coco fills her in, ignoring Angel once more. “But he hasn’t since you moved here, and now we know why. Getting laid on the reg really calms you down, huh?”

“Shut the fuck up, I’ve always been able to get laid,” Angel says, then makes a face. “Uh, you know what I mean, we’re not just,” he starts to defend himself. “She and I aren’t just, like, we’re also,” he stops and clears his throat. “A little help here?”

Mia grins and leans on the counter. “No, I like where you’re going with this. Please, keep making absolutely no sense.”

“You’re just as much of an asshole as they are,” he mumbles, making the room laugh some more.

“Yes, I am, and if someone could just toss me my clothes I can get out of your hair so the real ridicule can begin once I’m gone,” she offers.

“What a team player, you finally slept with a good one, bro,” Gilly comments while nudging Angel with his shoulder.

“Why are you guys even here?” Angel whines while reaching under a pillow on the couch, revealing her clothes in their apparent hiding spot. “Here, I don’t want you to be late,” he adds, and gives them to her.

“Thanks,” Mia says and leaves the kitchen with a wink.

“Saw Boy Scout’s bike parked next to yours, then on further inspection, Mia’s car in your free spot,” Coco answers as she is walking away. “Got curious.”

She trusts Angel to answer their questions, or dodge them, more like, but still dresses quickly all the same.

When she gets back to the living room, the guys are all sitting down, smoke now in the air. “Aw, well I’m glad everyone kissed and made up. Wouldn’t want to break up the band. No one wants to be Yoko, you know,” she mentions while putting her shoes on.

“Nah, they’re still fucking annoying,” Angel says. “But they know too much, you know how it is.”

Mia smiles and shakes her head at him. “Alright, the secret’s out, me and Angel are sleeping together, but can you keep the mocking for when the wisemen aren’t around?”

“The what now?” Gilly asks.

“The three wisemen—Bishop, Taza, and Hank,” she explains. “It what me and Letty call them, you know, because they are the only ones with a clue.”

“That’s fucking clever,” EZ remarks in a chuckle.

“Thank you. Listen, I put Bishop through hell when I was with Esai, and I don’t need—”

“Wait, Esai Alvarez, Esai?” Coco cuts her off. “You fucked around with Esai Alvarez?”

“Fucked around, dated, exploded, repeat, whatever,” she answers with a shrug. “The point is, I keep Bishop out of my personal shit, he does the same, and I don’t need him worrying about me, or this, or doing any other protective dad stuff, okay?”

“Wait, that tattoo he told me to shut the fuck up about—”

“Yes, that’s me, I am the one that got away, it’s all very telenovela,” she stops Gilly. “Now, are we all on the same page?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll be good in front of daddy,” Coco promises with smoke coming out of his mouth.

“Great,” Mia says with a smile. “I hope you all have a great day teasing Angel, but I gotta get going.”

“I’ll walk you out real quick,” Angel says as he stands.

“Wow, never seen my brother this chivalrous,” EZ comments, then winces once Angel kicks him in the shin on his way out of the door.

Angel waits until they are at the top of the steps to talk. “Don’t worry about them, I’ll make sure they behave,” he promises, then thinks about it. “To the best of their ability, anyways.”

Mia nods and bites her lip as they go down the stairs. “I’m not ashamed of what we’re doing or anything, you know that, right?”

He leans against her car once they reach it and seems to study her face for a moment. “I do, still nice to hear,” he decides on saying. “I really don’t need my president knowing I’m fucking his daughter either. Shit can be complicated enough in the club, I don’t need that hanging over me.”

“You still worried about EZ?” she questions, her voice soft.

Angel lets out a long sigh. “Yeah, but… he came to me and didn’t go off and do something stupid, that’s gotta be good, right?”

“Well, if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black,” she teases, making him chuckle. “Let me know how breakfast goes. Are all you going or—”

“Nah, Gilly and Coco gotta open the yard, they’re leaving a little bit after you,” he cuts her off. “Gotta take the time to ask their questions without you around.”

“Oh, of course, make sure you tell them I’m the best you’ve ever had,” she insists.

“I’m sorry, who was the one that ugly cried and squirted last night—ow!” he laughs when she hits him. “You know how much I love your pussy, don’t worry, mi dulce.”

“Please, I have more important things to worry about,” she says while opening her car door.

Angel pulls her close by her hips. “Like your interview? You know you’re gonna crush it.”

Mia looks down and nods. “Yeah.”

“I know it was pushed back a few times, but that ain’t got shit to do with you. Gracie is always busy, she’s gonna be lucky to have you, you’ll take some shit off her plate,” he goes on.

She shrugs. “I haven’t worked as a nurse in over a year,” she reminds him. “Just nervous, I guess.”

“Want me to set up a fight? You can take care of me after, freshen up some of your skills,” he offers.

“No, but I do want to talk about that later,” Mia says. “I mean, you can fight if you want, but don’t do it on my account.”

Angel lifts her chin with a curled finger. “You’re gonna do great. Even if you’re rusty, you’ll pick it back up and kick ass. I’ve never seen you fail at something, querida, you ain’t gonna start now.”

She wants to laugh at him, at how wrong he is, but she just smiles appreciatively and kisses him.

“Besides, it’s gotta happen to today. If it got pushed again, Bishop said he was gonna talk to Gracie,” he mentions.

“He needs to stay out of my business. It’s my job, my interview,” Mia insists.

“He’s your dad, he worries,” he reminds her. “Can’t be mad about that.”

“I’m not, I just,” she stops and sighs. “I can handle my own, he needs to remember that.” She kisses him once more and steps out of his hold. “I’ll call you after, let you know what’s up.”

“Counting on it,” he tells her and watches her get in the car.

She starts the car and puts down the window as Angel closes the door. “You boys be good today.”

“That I can’t promise, and you know it,” he says and they both laugh before he starts back for his apartment building.

She waits until he’s back up the steps before banging her head against the steering wheel a few times.

It’s official, she can’t push it off any longer, she has to go to this nursing interview today. She’s made Gracie look bad already by saying she’s the one who pushed back the interview, when it was actually her. The last thing she needs is Bishop going to Gracie and learning the truth, that will open a can of worms she’s tried to keep nailed shut.

There can be no questions about why she really came here, why she’s so reluctant to take a job that is legit. Sure, she’s been making money helping out bartending at the clubhouse and doing some bookwork at the yard, but it’s not nearly enough for what she needs to start paying Bishop a decent price in rent.

She needs a legit job with real income, even if it means attaching her name to a file that will leave a trail. A trail that could lead Jay right to her if he’s looking.

Mia bangs her head a few more times before putting the car in reverse.

She isn’t ready to stop hiding, but it looks like she doesn’t have a choice, not unless she tells Bishop the truth, and that is not an option. Not even for a second, which means she has a job interview to get ready for. A job she’s unlikely to get because she cancelled on the woman twice with little explanation or apology.

Just fucking great, she thinks, as she drives off, her hands already sweaty at the thought of stepping out of the shadows and into the light.

*

Her outfit is all wrong.

It’s all she can think about as she walks into the ER, as instructed, holding a folder full of papers close to her chest.

Mia sees herself in the glass windows—a black skirt, the longest one she owns, but it still doesn’t go past her knees, with a white top that’s too tight and tucked into the skirt. It’s a button down that is closed up to her neck, but she still isn’t happy with it. Her hair is half up, half down and in it’s natural state of loose curls, she kept the make up light, and matched it with a pair of simple black heels.

She wants to turn around and leave, to walk out of the building and get in her car and drive far, far away, but she doesn’t.

Instead, she walks right up to the admit desk in her completely wrong outfit and forces a smile. “Hi, I’m looking for Gracie—”

“Sanchez,” a woman says from behind and she turns to find, Gracie, she assumes, dressed in a pair of jeans that make her legs look great, a pink scrub top, and comfortable white shoes. “Charge nurse, you must be Mia Flores.”

“Yes, hi, nice to meet you,” Mia greets with a hand out, and watches as the woman looks her up and down very thoroughly. For some reason, it makes her very aware of the small hoop earrings hanging from her lobes and the black choker around her neck.

She is so not getting this job.

“Yes, it is, especially since I had planned to meet you, what, two weeks ago now?” Gracie questions.

“Yes, I’m sorry, I just moved here—”

“Follow me,” the nurse cuts her off and leads her to what she knows is the breakroom, but it is thankfully empty at the moment. “Take a seat. Drink?” she asks with quarters in her hand and shakes them in offering.

“No thanks,” Mia answers and sits, making sure to smooth out her skirt and cross her legs appropriately.

“Suit yourself,” she replies and moments later a glass Coke is in her hands. “So, Flores is the last name, correct? Went with your mom’s?” she questions while sitting down across from her.

“Um, no,” Mia says and shifts awkwardly. “Why do you—”

“Oh, I don’t need these, I had your files pulled from your previous employer,” Gracie tells her while taking the folder from her and sets them off to the side. “It’s surprising is all, I figured you’d have Bishop’s last name.”

Realization washes over her. “Oh, no. Bishop is my godfather. He and my dad were best friends, and when he died Bishop stepped in. He’s my father in every way besides blood,” she explains.

For the first time, Gracie smiles. “I knew he had a heart buried in that chest somewhere,” she comments.

“That he does,” Mia agrees, and matches the woman’s smile. “It only really comes out when me or my mom around, but he has one, that’s for sure.”

“He paid a visit to my shelter about four days ago,” Gracie informs her. “I’m sure you know about my side work at the shelter.”

Dread fills her. “Um, I know about the shelter, I did not know he went to see you. I’m sorry if he was—”

“Brash? Demanding? Pushy?”

“Yes, to all three,” she answers. “Look, I can explain—”

“Don’t worry, I went along with your lie,” Gracie says. “Told him I’ve been busy here and at the shelter, but that it wouldn’t happen again. To be honest, I was more curious than anything, wanted to know what I was made be part of.”

Mia tries to still her shaking hands. “We don’t have to go through this whole game of back and forth. I’m obviously not getting the job, and honestly, I don’t deserve it after how unprofessional I’ve been. I can just tell Bishop the spot was filled.”

“Oh, it is,” Gracie confirms. “I needed two ER nurses when you first applied, but I filled the last spot after you cancelled the last time.”

“Then why am I even here?” Mia asks as she feels heat rise from her chest.

“I told you, I’m curious,” the older woman says.

At this, Mia stands. “Okay, I don’t have time for this game. I’m sorry I wasted your time, or maybe you wasted mine, I don’t know—”

“There she is,” Gracie cuts her off once more with a smile.

“Excuse me?”

“Bishop’s daughter,” she answers. “And I said that the position you applied for is filled, not that I still couldn’t use you,” she corrects herself. “Now, please, sit.”

Mia sits and relaxes a bit in the plastic chair. “I really am sorry I made you look bad. That wasn’t my intention.”

“I’ve been made to look a lot worse, believe me,” she replies. “So, do you want to tell me the real reason you cancelled on me twice or do I have to guess?”

“I haven’t worked as a nurse in over a year,” Mia starts with honesty. “I actually haven’t had a real job in the same amount of time. I let my nerves get the better of me.”

“I talked to your last charge nurse,” Gracie tells her. “Miriam? Nice old gal. She couldn’t stop gushing about you,” she goes on. “That is, until your boyfriend came into the picture.”

Mia’s back straightens. “Ex. Ex-boyfriend,” she corrects.

“Right. She said you were one of the best nurses she had. You did very well under pressure, always kept a level head, you were the first one in on your shift, and often the last one out,” the charge nurse goes on. “Said you were great with patients, at keeping kids happy if needed, and had absolutely no issue knocking unruly men down a couple pegs.”

“Miriam is a very nice woman,” Mia agrees. “But earning her praise wasn’t easy.”

“Well, she had nothing but praise for you, until the boyfriend came in the picture,” Gracie insists.

“Ex-boyfriend,” Mia says again.

“Right,” she repeats. “She said once he came in the picture you were often late, always looking at the clock, the first to leave if there were any cuts, that he liked to stop by during your shifts and was not well liked among your peers.”

“About that—”

“She saw quite a few changes in you, said when she tried to get you to talk about it you quit,” she continues. “Me and Miriam had quite the conversation.”

“Seems so,” Mia says with a tight smile.

Gracie sits back in her chair and stares at her for a long minute. “Does Bishop know?”

“Does he know what? That I quit? Yes.”

“Does he know that you were seen at your own ER twice for accidents?” she asks. “Once, I think Miriam said was a fall down the stairs, and the other was tripping through a glass door?”

Mia’s stomach drops to the floor. “He and I weren’t talking for two years. Family issues.”

“Miriam had a few theories as to what really happened,” Gracie comments. “After hearing such glowing words about you, and getting Miriam’s two cents on the boyfriend, so do I.”

“Ex-boyfriend,” she says in a hard tone. “I’d appreciate if you’d refer to him as such. He’s not in my life anymore,” she tells her with finality.

Gracie nods, apparently happy with her answer. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time, what happened is your secret to keep, but I need to know who I’m interviewing right now. Are you the capable, reliable woman I first heard about, or are you flighty and going to be someone I have to check on every five minutes, because I have no use for the second one.”

Mia lets out a long breath to settle the nerves in her gut. “You’re right, I do have secrets, and I’m not proud of the person I became at the end of my time at my last job. I won’t lie to you, I did those things,” she admits. “And I can promise you that the nurse you’d be hiring is the first one you described.”

“Why’d you become a nurse?” Gracie asks, her entire demeanor different from when they first sat down.

“I’m sure the safe answer is I like helping people, knowing I’m making a difference on what could easily be the worst day of their lives. I mean, no one plans on going to the ER,” she starts.

“And the unsafe answer?”

“When I was seventeen my boyfriend was shot,” she tells her. “Different boyfriend than the last one,” she adds on quickly. “You know Bishop, so you’re familiar with the club, my boyfriend at the time was in the club too, Oakland charter.”

“He live?”

Mia nods. “Yeah, the club doc came and pulled the bullet out, sewed him up,” she explains. “But I was there when he came to the clubhouse, blood soaked through his shirt, leaning hard on our friend Pac, whiter than I’d ever seen him. I’d never seen him weak before either, ever. And I couldn’t do a damn thing about it because I knew nothing.”

“It’s definitely tough seeing someone you love in rough shape. Not everyone wants to do something about it, but people like us? We hate feeling helpless,” Gracie comments.

“I told myself if something else happened I’d know something. So, when I graduated high school I went into an eighteen month nursing program. Once I got through that, I was hired at St. Francis’s and then enrolled to get my bachelor’s in nursing, which I did,” she goes on. “I learned that I didn’t just like being able to do something when someone I loved was hurt, I like being able to help people in general. I did rounds in all the specialties, but preferred the ER. Maybe it’s the instant gratification, but being able to solve a problem someone has, quickly help with the situation, in whatever way I can, I love the feeling. I grew up in a fast-paced environment and the ER felt like home in that way.”

“Your file said you also volunteered at a free clinic near the neighborhood you grew up in,” Gracie mentions.

“I did,” Mia confirms. “They couldn’t afford much a staff, and some of the ones that were employed there, well… they weren’t there for the right reasons,” she tells her. “I did what I could, tried to make a difference. Sometimes it didn’t feel like much, just handing out condoms and clean needles, reading pregnancy tests, but the way I saw it,” she stops to think of her words, “I would have wanted someone like me to be around when I was young. I tried not to just be a nurse, but someone they could talk to, confide in, and for some of them I was.”

Gracie’s lips form a ghost of a smile. “I feel that way at the shelter. It’s more than just detoxing for me. It’s the first step for all those people, a step they choose to take, and it’s one of the hardest ones they’ll make. I try to help in every way I can, but between here, the clinic, and there, I’m spread too thin.”

“I didn’t know Santo Padre had a clinic too,” Mia mentions.

“We don’t. It opens next week. I secured the funding three months ago,” she answers. “The truth is I never wanted you here in the ER. I need a charge nurse at the clinic. Someone I know can handle the chaos, the good and the bad, and be eyes and ears for me in the community.”

Mia sits straighter in her chair, her curiosity peaking. “Aren’t you already really involved? Between here and the shelter?”

“I am, but I also believe in stepping in before there is a problem, if possible,” Gracie says. “Too many places are overrun, understaffed, and letting people slip through the cracks. I made a promise to this community to provide more than basic medical care. I need a staff that is willing to go above and beyond, and that all starts with management.”

“You’re willing to consider me even after I cancelled on you twice?” she questions.

“No. I was willing to consider you after you showed up today, owned up to your mistakes, and proved you’re not the same person that quit your last job,” Gracie corrects. “I read your transcripts. You were the top of your class, had multiple job opportunities in high-income areas, yet you chose a place in the city, to volunteer for a clinic in a place overrun with drugs and crime, and from what I learned from Miriam, and talking to you today, you’re a survivor. A survivor is what I need.”

Is she a survivor, she wonders? Or is she a runner, someone who knows when to quit and flee into the night? Sure, she’s survived everything life has thrown at her so far, but what if what she’s running from catches up to her? Can she promise Gracie she won’t pack up and take off? After all, she’s been doing all she can to not promise Bishop the same.

“Gracie, I—”

The woman holds up her hand to stop her. “I told you that your secret is yours to keep, and it is, but I have a feeling I know what you’re afraid of.”

“Miriam used to say nurses have superpowers. We see so many people, a lot of them keeping secrets. It was our job to see through the bullshit and treat the patient with no judgement,” Mia mentions. “That seeing through bullshit was our power.”

“I might have to steal that one,” Gracie chuckles. “Well, I’ve been a nurse long enough that I’ve fully developed my superpower, let’s say.”

All Mia can do is nod with her head hung low. “Please don’t tell Bishop. He doesn’t know anything, he can never know.”

“I’m not doing to ask for details, those are for you to offer on your own, but I do know fear,” Gracie responds. “I know what it’s like to want to leave something horrible behind you, to be so scared to turn around and find that it’s all caught up to you, to feel that everyone is seeing right through you.”

“It’s when I’m alone that it’s the worst,” she murmurs.

“I think you’re the exact right person for this job, the one I can rely on to get the job done as well as I could do it, so you let me know what you need from me to make this happen,” Gracie insists.

“I want the job, trust me I do, and I’m honored you think so highly of me after just meeting me,” Mia says honestly. “I think I can do it. I miss helping people, being part of the solution and not the problem, but,” she stops.

“This is the part where I come in. What can I do to make you feel comfortable?”

“I’ve been off the grid, so to speak, since I moved here. I don’t have anything attached to my name. I’m on Bishop’s phone plan, live in his rental rent free, for now, his name is on the utilities, I have no social media, nothing. I’m worried—”

“By taking this job you’ll be able to be followed,” Gracie pieces together. “Miriam was right, seeing through bullshit is our superpower, but it’s only one of them. You want to know what another one of them is? Making things happen,” she says and Mia looks at her with wide eyes. “Hunny, I’m the charge nurse, run the shelter, and managed to cut through enough red tape to not only open a free clinic, but also scored enough funding to run it for the first year. I know the tricks of the trade.”

“Tricks like keeping me off the books, but still paying me?”

“Are you complaining?”

“No, ma’am, when do I start?”

“How about in two hours?” Gracie asks.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, that should be enough time for you to go get something to eat and change, right?”

“Change?” Mia questions.

Gracie stands. “Yep. We’ll meet at the clinic in two hours. We have a few interviews to do and some set-up to finish. After all, you open up Monday at eight AM,” she says. “Unless you want to do manual labor in that.”

“I only need one hour,” Mia counters and Gracie gives her a smile.

“That’s what I like to hear, let’s get started.”

TAGLIST:

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AUTHOR’S NOTE:

SOOO Gracie (aka the doc/vet? from season 1 at the shelter) is going to be in this story. I write a preface about this because upon research for her character I learned the actress is trans and BEAUTIFUL. Of course, I am NOT taking that away from her, so her character IS trans. It is not mentioned in this chapter, but will be spoke about later. However, because I am not at all a fountain of knowledge on this subject, nor would I ever claim to be, I am going to tread lightly. I have done further research, but will keep the details light because she is not a main character even though I wish she was on the show because I've decided I love her and she deserved more than 2 minutes on screen. There was a STORY there, am I right?

[barbasbodaciousbeard]

Miami

The “It’s you and me alright? This is it.” bit for @thatesqcrush Friends challenge doubling as a little Rafael/Rebecca moment. I'm excited to do these since I haven't seen friends and can kind of just go off titles and quotes.

When I Became a Man, I Put Childish Ways Behind Me Back Before You Lost the One Real Thing You’ve Ever Known Here We Are as in Olden Days Trust Me Abuelitas, Tantrums, and Ropa Vieja Happy Valentine’s Raf Bring Your Daughter to Court Day and Dad Friends Because You Don’t Have to do This Alone (If Rafael Answered the phone?)

“It’s a date night, Becs. Can’t we celebrate a year?”

“We can. I’m just surprised Lucia is letting us out on our own during a visit.”

“Mami and Enrique getting all of the grandkids in their house for a night to make cookies and watch Frozen? You’re right. Her worst nightmare."

“Point taken,” she laughed, smiling at him in the hotel room’s mirror. He’d told her he just thought they could use a night to themselves before the festivities. Unlike Lucia, Enrique had four kids who would be joining their dad for Christmas, and each kid had at least one of their own. That meant eight more adults and what totaled out to ten grandchildren, eleven with Catalina.

In reality, a ring box was weighing down the pocket of his slacks, and texts from his mother had been silenced. Abuelita’s ring had been sized and cleaned, and he planned to ask her at dinner if he could remember how to breathe until then. His head was spinning anytime he thought about it too long, and his chest would burn as he realized he was holding his breath. What if she said no? That was his worst nightmare because he hated the idea he was to finally make himself vulnerable in a new way. He hadn’t opened himself to as much rejection since they settled into a routine. Would this be a repeat of I love you so many years ago? He was different, wasn’t he?

It was probably more appropriate to wait until Christmas morning or New Year’s eve, but he wanted them to be alone, and the twenty adults and children joining their little family was too much. Catalina was spending the evening with grandparents, who themselves had recently eloped, and it would be nice to have Rebecca to himself in the aftermath. It shocked him to think about the fact he didn’t know a year ago about Catalina. He was preparing himself to apologize to Rebecca and pray she’d take him back, and now he was a year into fatherhood and a healthy relationship preparing to ask her to make it permanent.

Watching her do her make-up in the mirror was his favorite part of this hotel room. They’d checked in that morning and been thoroughly lazy. Now, he was taking her to dinner in Little Havanna at a place Enrique swore had live music and fantastic wine and paella. It was almost seventy degrees, even at night, and it felt like a treat to see Rebecca in a fluttering sundress and heels after so long bundled in winter coats. When she was almost ready, he tucked his white button-down into linen slacks, rolling up his sleeves. In the humidity, he’d given up on gelling his hair, so he combed his fingers through his beard before she gave a spin.

“I’m ready.”

“Hermosa como siempre, amor.”

“I like it when ya speak Spanish,” she grinned, waggling her brows. “And when you leave a few buttons undone.”

“Comportarse, chica sucia. Dinner.”

“Gladly, papi.” He put his hand on the small of her back as he led her to the street. Maybe he should do it on the walk. They were going to be early anyway. “There’s the bartender I don’t like.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“She was flirting with you!”

“It’s you and me, alright?” Rafael grinned, kissing her temple. “This is it. You set the bar way too high.”

“I like the sound of that. It’s nice in Florida. We could retire down here.”

“You’ll retire long after me.”

“I can work here a while or you can be retired in the city a while.”

“I’ll be ecstatic to be retired beside you. We both know I’ll have to keep myself busy either way.”

“You’ll work until the bitter end.”

“I don’t know. I think I’ll like being abuelito with you.”

“Sentimental.”

“Can you blame me?” he hummed, arm around her waist. “There’s a park near the restaurant. We’re a little early. Want to find a bench?”

“I’d like that a lot.”

They sat and watched the city, and Rafael could tell he ought to ask now instead of later. He was nervous, despite the fact they’d talked dozens of times about marriage and that they were ready and they wanted it. What if she changed her mind? He’d just have to accept they weren’t getting married yet.

Rafael had arranged a playdate for Catalina so he could overanalyze every moment in the park with Hank, and it was, frankly, a little embarrassing to be a fifty-year-old man being coached by a man barely in his thirties. Hank was as sure as Lucia and Olivia- and probably Rebecca herself- she’d say yes.

“Are you okay, Raf?” She’d caught him staring as the gears whirled in his head. It was no good to self-sabotage on the off chance she’d had a drastic change of heart in the last ten days.

“I’m wonderful,” he said softly, and Rebecca watched the softness of his gaze. Suddenly, he was moving, and her brow furrowed until she realized he was on one knee with a little velvet box in his hand. She gasped, eyes wide as her face split into a broad smile. Rafael was laughing, and despite the beard peppered with gray and lines in his face, he looked boyish and bashful as he took her hand in his. There were people nearby, and he felt himself start to sweat when he heard an abuelita gasp for her company to stop. People were watching, but there was no way she looked so happy and would say no.

“Raf-”

“Rebecca, let me actually ask.” She turned red, leaning forward where she sat so her forehead was almost against his. “Becs, I love you. I messed it up last time, but for whatever reason, you had enough faith in this to give me another chance. Showing up on your doorstep was the smartest thing I ever did. I am so immensely grateful. For you. For our daughter. For the life that we get to live. You’re home. You’re safety and peace and happiness, and I won’t ever do anything to put our family in danger again. You and Catalina make me better. I want this to be official. Rebecca, will you do me the immense honor of marrying me?”

“Por supuesto que sí,” she beamed, and Rafael realized he’d been crying. He did that now when he was overcome with how happy he was. Before he could fully process that she’d answered him in Spanish, something that touched him more than words could express, she was kissing him, her hands cupping his cheeks. When she pulled back, he reached for her left hand, pulling it from his cheek and fumbling as he slid the ring onto her finger.

“It was abuelita’s,” he whispered, brushing her hair back from her face.

“It’s an honor to wear it. And to marry her grandson.” Another kiss.

“I meant to ask at dinner but I was getting too nervous.”

“This was perfect.”

“Hola. Disculpa por interrumpir.” It was a man, phone held awkwardly in his hand. He could see an older woman watching him expectantly. “Mami me hizo filmarlo.”

“Gracias.” He gave his cell number, waving to the pair before turning back to Rebecca and pulling her close. “I’ve had that sized for a week.”

“When did you decide?” she teased, bumping his hip with her own.

“On the details? Or that I was proposing in December?”

“Both?”

“Details, a month ago. December? Probably January.”

“You’re a hopeless romantic now, you know that?”

“And you’re going to be Rebecca Barba.”

“Does Lucia know?”

“I had to mute her. Want me to see how many messages since I last checked?” He scrolled to it, humming. “Twenty new notifications. In an hour. Four are venues. Two are mother of the groom dresses. Is that a thing? Six houses in Miami. Dios mio, mami is having a field day. And Hank sent ‘Get out of your head. She’ll say yes. If you chicken out, I’m sending her a check yes or no note for you.’”

“I like you having dad friends who call you out.”

“Yea, yeah,” he smiled, arm around her. “I have a fiance to take to dinner and dancing.”

“You’ll even go dancing in public?”

“Sólo en Miami con mi prometida.”