#even told my dad who totally flipped out because he thinks too highly of me

[louhearted]

love being humbled and being reminded that doing a PhD is really not for me. i am struggling so hard with my MA thesis, lordy. independent research with a deadline set far enough in the future that my brain can't feel any urgency but close enough that i have a constant anxiety tummy ache anyway while not doing anything because my brain is only static white noise? hell.

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

tuxedo iii, m | myg

pairing(s): yoongi x reader, mentions of previous jungkook x reader

summary: It’s the next morning. Your cat is still a man. Fuck. He still thinks he owns the place, including you. Sigh. Well, you still have to do your job, because, yikes, your cat-man has spent a small fortune on new clothes (spending like he’s got a black card, what’s up with that?). Ah, but... maybe both of you are starting to finally acknowledge that he might be a more man than cat – at least for the time being...?

warnings: rated M (18+) for language, mentions of the coronavirus pandemic; possibly full-on crack; mentions of and a tiny bit of smut (fem reader, spanking, doggy, unintentional??? voyeurism, dry humping / thigh riding); domestic and soft moments with your cat-man; non-idol!AU - cat!Yoongi x human!reader; ft slightly cocky Jeon Jungkook (+drama!!!) and bestfriend!Kim Seokjin; breaking of the fourth wall; are YOU a furry? yeah, I kinda think you are

*deep breath* I reference a certain boat that was stuck in the Suez Canal, Yoongi's livestream where he poked himself in the nose with the coffee straw, his love for tangerines, too many Twitch chat memes, that time his mom called him a boiled dumpling, 'BST' pink pajama Yoongi, DTS, TXT's 'Cat & Dog', etc...

–

part i | part ii

-

You woke up slowly. 

A perfect, peaceful morning. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Neck cradled by your memory foam pillow? Check. Back well supported by your soft mattress? Check. Not sleeping on your sofa and destroying your spine? Check. Hey, you’re moving up in life! Ah, what a normal day already. You opened your eyes a crack; vision blurred from the morning sunlight filtering through your curtains. Bundled in your minty-green duvet? Check. Wearing your extra soft black-and-white striped pajamas? Check. 

Large pale human hand firmly gripping your right titty? Check. 

Wait… 

What?

Your eyes snapped open and flew to your left. 

Min Yoongi's face was centimeters from yours, buried into your pillow, messy bedhead sticking out everywhere. Black choker with the tiny silver bell around his neck. Still had those black velvety pointed cat ears and glowing pale skin, pretty pink lips ever-so-slightly upturned, warm exhale against your ear. 

Your cat still a disturbingly handsome man?

Ah, yup, check. 

His hand was on your right breast, fingers molded to the soft curve. A quick glance and, whew, he was still fully dressed in his black t-shirt and sweatpants from yesterday. Yes, fully, completely dressed. Shit, what if he caught you staring? You quickly flickered your eyes up at the ceiling, hastily wiping the drool away from your mouth. Whoa there. That would be embarrassing if he caught that.

Also, kind of gross. Don’t be gross. Keep it together.

Hahaha…

Well, yup, this was still awkward, the whole hand-on-the-titty thing, hahaha, but not as awkward as it would be if, hahaha, you accidentally, oh, don't know, hahaha, got really, really, really disgustingly drunk and, hahaha, had somehow lost all impulse control and, hahaha, fucked your cat?

Man.

Cat-man. 

Hahaha, that would never happen. You’d make sure of that.

... 

Unless?

No, no, no, stop, he's your cat, your cat, he's literally been a (cat) man for one fucking day, albeit a incredibly hot, deliciously built (cat) man who put your facial massager on your nipple and let you touch his human dick in the shower and he was hard for a hot second, so... no, no, no, stop, you are not a desperate thot, get a fucking grip – well, you kind of are – but not him, for fuck’s sake, you still don't understand what the fuck is going on or if he even remotely likes you and, let's face it, he probably doesn’t because you almost paid a guy to chop off his nuts–

"Are you dying?"

You choked on air and lurched sharply at the sudden deep, raspy voice. The grip on your right breast tightened, preventing you from moving away. You did what any sensible human being would do in this situation and wheezed like you were on the verge of passing out. 

"Urk!"

"Do you have high blood pressure?" Yoongi yawned calmly, turning his face to the side to avoid breathing in your face, thereby pressing his body even closer to you. Your neck and ears heated to five billion degrees. "Your heart's beating abnormally fast. Maybe you should see a doctor."

You definitely needed to see a doctor for something as well as several gallons of holy water and a priest to get an exorcism for that horny demon inside you. 

"Y-Your hand!"

Yoongi grunted. "What about it?"

What about it???

"It's on my tits!" you squeaked.

Yoongi lifted his head, squinting. "It is." Then his head dropped and he closed his eyes again. 

HELLO, Min Yoongi? That's ALL you have to say???

"Is there a problem?"

IS THERE A PROBLEM???????

"I've always slept like this," he mumbled.

That's... true though. Your tuxedo cat, previously named Shooky until you realized he had his own name, did used to always sleep next to you, when he wasn’t trying to murder you by sitting on your chest, that is (he was adamant on letting you know when he needed breakfast). Usually, your cat was splayed out by your left side, his long body extended and pressed against you, his white, sock-like paws encircling your arm. Shooky had basically been a small furry heater that kicked you sometimes in his sleep. 

Keyword: small.

"Y-You w-were a cat!" you sputtered.

"I'm still a cat."

"No, you're a man! With arms!"

"The reach is a little farther. Who cares?"

WHO CARES???????

Before you could very loudly inform Yoongi who exactly cared – that’s you, by the way, yes, you – he wrapped his arms around you and yanked your body to his, turning you into a red-hot chili pepper with the amount of heat your face was now emitting. Then his free hand grabbed your other titty. Without asking! Without even so much as buying you dinner or, hell, giving you a goddamn cracker! You didn't need to be wined and dined, but at least a single fucking snack before using your tits like his own personal stress ball!

Yoongi pressed your back into his chest.

You froze. 

He pressed his crotch into your ass, shivering slightly.

Your soul left your body. 

"Ugh, this human body is terrible," Yoongi muttered. "Always so cold. I need this extra body heat or I'll die."

You'll die? YOU’LL DIE?

You were pretty sure that you were already dead. Rest in peace.

Hang on. 

Something was stuck in a very specific place, quite similar to a far-too-large boat in a narrow canal.

"Um."

Er...

"What?" your cat-man grunted.

"Your..." You gulped. "Dick."

"What about it?"

"You, uh... have morning wood."

"Is that a human euphemism?" he grumbled impatiently, clear annoyance in his tone. "I don't understand your species. Wouldn't it be easier to be straightforward and explain yourself clearly?"

A muscle in your eye twitched, reaching breaking point.

"Your dick is rock-hard and you're shoving it between my ass cheeks!"

"Yeah, so? It's cold too."

Your irritation fizzled out at Yoongi’s self-assured, completely calm response. In fact, he sounded borderline bored and exasperated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. His hard dick was cold, so he put it in the warmest place he could find, your ass, duh. Nothing weird about it, of course. Your mind reeled, unable to compute what the fuck was going on. Thus, your body did what it did best in these moments where you did not want to give a response that would most certainly expose you and your dire need to get dicked.

Not deal with it, of course.

You fainted.

-

"Fuck!"

You shot out of bed at the harsh yell, tangled in the covers, barely registering that Yoongi no longer had a death grip on your tits – in fact, he was no longer in bed at all – and stumbled towards the source of the sound, highly disoriented, your earlier fainting spell turning you into a bumbling mess.

Admittedly, not that different from your usual self.

(Ouch, roasted.)

"What, what, what?" you croaked, running into the doorframe of the bedroom and nearly taking yourself out. 

Might as well, maybe it would have been a blessing in disguise, considering the way your life was going. 

You finally tumbled your way to the kitchen, where your cat-man was hissing at the pan on the stove. 

"I was trying to make eggs," Yoongi spat, pointing accusingly at the frying pan. His ears were flat and his tail was sticking straight up. "And then it attacked me."

If you had three functioning brain cells, you would have remembered Yoongi putting his morning wood between your ass cheeks this morning, but alas, you only had two at the moment – you did run into the doorframe, might have lost one there – so instead you nudged him aside and rolled up your sleeves, taking the pan and shaking it so the eggs wouldn't burn. 

"Was it the oil? Sometimes it pops," you asked as Yoongi continued death glaring at the pan.

"I saw you doing this yesterday. You didn't seem bothered," he mumbled, finishing with a low, angry hiss as if the pan was sentient and mocking him. The oil popped and seared your forearm, but at this point you maybe had five hair follicles total on your arms with how many times hot oil had splattered in you. It used to bother you when you were a kid, but years of cooking had desensitized the feeling, turning it to nothing more than a mere annoyance. Yoongi stayed behind you, intermittently letting out hisses of rage as you cooked.

"I told you, my dad's a chef. You get used to it," you said, tipping the pan and flipping the thin egg pancake with ease. 

"That's bizarre," Yoongi muttered. "No normal animal gets used to pain."

Normality was starting to become a bit of a foreign concept to you.  As for being an animal, well…

You took the pan off the heat and rolled the egg onto a plate with a spare set of chopsticks, turning it into a log shape. A literal egg roll, ready to be sliced into bite-sized pieces. You took a sniff. It seemed to be seasoned already. Had Yoongi simply copied what you did yesterday? His observation skills were insane.

"Then again, you seem to enjoy–"

"Yoongi," you blurted, not wanting to know what he thought you seemed to enjoy, but very sure it was going to be one-hundred-percent embarrassing and only for you. "There's some leftover beef and vegetables in the fridge you can have with the egg and rice."

He raised his eyebrows. "Beef? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Because I was asleep and maybe half-dead? "Did you brush your teeth?' you asked suddenly. 

Yoongi scowled. "Unfortunately."

"Right, so should I, goodbye now."

You marched away hurriedly, trying not to think about how your cat had surely witnessed you getting spanked while being fucked from behind by none other than, surprise, surprise, his not-so-favorite human being, Jeon Jungkook. Tattoo guy strikes again. The worst part was, you couldn't lock the door on your cat either, because then he would meow incessantly while you were getting deep-dicked and that was even worse. 

"Your cat really likes you, huh?" Jungkook mused as you yanked open the bedroom door to the black-and-white tuxedo furball. 

"Like is a strong word," you muttered at your cat, who yawned and sauntered past you to his cat tree, acting like he owned the damn place. 

"I like you."

"Hah... wait, what?"

Jungkook grinned as your eyes found his. Took a while. You were a little distracted by his nakedness. His tattoos up his right arm. His tan skin. His muscles. His white teeth biting on his lower lip, tiny mole underneath flashing. His long black hair, framing dark chocolate eyes and teasing, cocked eyebrow. 

"I like you," he repeated, voice deep and sexy.

You turned red and made the most coherent noise you could. 

“... Urk?”

“Noona.”

Why did he look so fucking hot and disrespectful at the same time when saying an honorific?

Jungkook came up to you, hand cupping your head and tangling his fingers in your hair. He brought his face close to yours, lips brushing against your swollen ones, taking your breath away.

"Wanna go back to me spanking you while you get off on my dick?"

Respectfully, of course. 

"How much rice do you want?"

You started, poking yourself in the nose with your toothpaste-covered toothbrush and smearing mint up your nostril – almost as bad as poking a coffee straw up your nose during a livestream in front of millions of people, yikes – as Yoongi appeared behind you, breaking you out of the memory. Your cat-man watched you with mild disgust and displeasure as you coughed and dunked your head into the sink, hurriedly rinsing off your burning nose.

"Whatever, I'll just fill it halfway."

And he left you sputtering, pajamas and hair soaking wet in your haste.

Awesome. 

-

“I’m ordering some groceries,” you announced in between bites of rice and egg. You tapped lightly at the phone screen as you spoke. Green onions, tofu, cucumbers… “Do you want anything?”

“Meat.”

You swiped rapidly and added packages of chicken, pork, and beef into your cart. Why the fuck not? You like meat. All kinds of–

“Yes, Yoongi, I’m getting meat. Anything else?”

“What else is there?”

You made a face and handed him your phone. “All sorts of things. Household products too, in case you don’t want to smell like my soap.”

“Your soap is preferable,” he said absentmindedly, scrolling through the online grocery app. You continued eating, shoving things in your mouth and none of it dick. Sad. At least it tasted good. Your cat-man had seasoned the egg well. You jumped as Yoongi spoke again. “I want these.” He turned the phone around.

You squinted at the screen, staring at a picture of orange balls. “Tangerines? Why?”

He turned the phone back to him. “They’re small, round, and look tasty.”

You blinked at him, then shrugged. “Sure, why not? I guess your palette might have changed. Try whatever you want.”

He pursed his lips and pressed a few buttons as you ate. You realized you needed to order more groceries now that your cat was a man eating your human food and no longer a cat eating his rather expensive cat food. Sigh. You had put Shooky’s cat bowls in a cabinet earlier this morning before sitting down to eat. It seemed weird leaving them out on the floor like that. Kind of offensive, maybe, now that your cat was a man and all…

“Okay, I ordered it.”

“Ah, okay, that’s good. They’ll probably come later this week.”

-

After breakfast, you spent nearly half an hour with Yoongi trying to pick out something for him to watch from your various streaming services, only for him to select a historical drama series. Like what? You cat (man) wanted to watch historical drama out of all things? Instead of learning about the modern world, he wanted to watch a depiction of the past?

Whatever, it had seventy-seven episodes, so at least he would be occupied for a while.

You let him be and went to your computer, intending on getting some editing done. Sure, the universe decided your cat was a man now, but you still needed to pay for said cat-man’s existence. You still didn’t know what you were going do to with all that cat food, cat toys, cat tree… ugh, this was all a problem for future you, not present you.

Present you needed to splice five-hundred images of PepeHands together and overlay it over a League of Legends one-shot compilation.

Uh, so, it was this meme of a green frog named Pepe holding up his anthropomorphic hands in despair, therefore coining the term PepeHands for a particular Twitch chat emote… never mind, it just meant you were spending some time video editing for a gaming YouTuber and it required concentration, shitty memes, and well-timed captions. And you were getting paid good money to do this.

Yeah, it’s a weird world.

You sat at your desktop and got to work, doing the rough cuts of the video first. Thankfully, the YouTuber had already sent you the timestamps of the noteworthy moments, therefore making your job a lot easier. You spent several hours compiling the clips before adding your extra flair and effects. You had a library of images and sound bites that you commonly used (including Goofy singing Evanescence's ‘Bring Me to Life’) and was in the middle of grayscaling a video clip and adding the familiar audio of all around me are familiar faces before being scared shitless.

“Woof.”

You swore someone was singing ‘Mad World’ as they were narrating your life right now.

“Gah!”

You jerked in your seat to see Yoongi leaning over behind you, eyebrow raised as you gawked at him.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” you exclaimed, pulling back an earcup of your headset.

He frowned. “How can I sneak up on you?” He flicked the silver bell on the black choker around his neck, making it jingle cheerfully. “You put stupid thing on me, remember?”

You winced. “Well, I’d take it off, but there’s some kind of voodoo magic on that shit – and hey, don’t change the subject! You have that weird cat thing where you’re silent no matter what.”

Yoongi looked unbothered. “Weird cat thing? Thought you said I was a man?”

“Thought you said you were a cat?” you shot back.

You glared at him and he gave you a blank expression. Then he cocked his head to your desk.

“Your phone is flashing.”

You jerked your head to see your phone screen flicker. You grabbed it off you desk and unlocked it, checking your messages. Five messages from – ah, but of course – your best friend. Kim Seokjin.

LET ME SEE YOUR CAT

LET ME SEE YOUR CAT

LET ME SEE YOUR CAT

LET ME SEE YOUR CAT

LET ME SEE YOUR CAT

You pursed your lips. With the pandemic and all, you hadn’t visited Seokjin in forever, but every week he would text you, asking for a photo of your cat and he would send you a picture of his sugar glider. With every week being the same and nothing interesting of note happening, it was hard to think of conversation topics. Therefore, Seokjin and you came up with this weekly event so your friendship wouldn’t deteriorate. Also, both of you were serious introverts, so he spent most of this pandemic playing MapleStory while you spent most of it on your couch watching Netflix with your cat. It was a miracle you two hadn’t morphed into actual potatoes yet.

You glanced at Yoongi, who was inspecting his nails and picking at them. You frowned and batted at his hand. He frowned back and smacked yours, harder. You glared at him. He gave you a vacant stare, as if he had done nothing.

“Why are you picking at your cuticles?” you muttered, going back to your phone and sending Seokjin an old picture of Shooky. You couldn’t exactly send him a picture of current Shooky. He was… well, currently not a cat. You stared at the picture of the fluffy tuxedo cat curled into a ball, asleep in your lap on the couch.

That moment wasn’t even that long ago.

Somehow, it felt like ages since you had last petted that furry butt.

“Hm, dunno. Occupies my hands, I guess,” Yoongi replied distractedly.

“Well, you shouldn’t. It’s not good for you.” You noticed you had another message from the local delivery service, saying a package had arrived at your doorstep. You stood, placing your phone on the desk and looked at Yoongi, who was staring at his old cat tree, the one by the window. When he was a cat, he used to poke his head between the curtains and look outside, watching the birds. It was his favorite haunt.

Now…

“Why’d you say woof?” you asked abruptly, giving him a quizzical look. “I thought you were a cat.”

Yoongi shrugged, tearing his eyes away from the cat tree to give you an uninterested stare. “Thought it would surprise you more. You’ve heard meow for long enough.”

You furrowed your brow. “Why would you want to surprise me?”

He shrugged again. “I was bored.”

“… You were bored so you decided to sneak up and scare the shit out of me?”

He paused, black tail swishing back and forth, pointed ears perked. Then he nodded.

“Yup.”

Sigh.

-

You lugged in the huge cardboard box, Yoongi standing out of sight of the front door as you huffed and puffed with your weak arms. Okay, it wasn’t even that big, but it was quite heavy and you weren’t exactly John Cena. Your arms were about as strong as a bowl of overcooked ramyeon noodles and that was putting it kindly. You weren’t the working out type. People who worked out diligently were dog people. People who preferred sleeping as their primary workout regimen had cats. What were the kinds of people who had cat-men then? The kind of people who like sleeping, but also needed a…

(You already know the answer.)

Yoongi snapped the door closed the second you managed to pull it on far enough to do so.

“You look like a boiled dumpling,” he commented.

“At least I’m delicious food,” you wheezed, inspecting the box. You recognized the clothing brand. “Is this the stuff your ordered? How did it come so fast?”

“I selected next-day delivery.”

You paled.

“I need clothes as soon as possible, don’t I? Or should I go back to being naked, since you’re a pervert?”

You choked, ears burning. “I’m not a pervert!”

“Mhm.”

You tried not to think about the hit on your wallet as you grabbed your keys from the side table and opened the box, seeing all the plastic packages inside. Monotone, in white or black. Figures. You tipped the box to the side and the clothes spilled out, tumbling all over the floor. It took a firm shake to dump it all on the ground. You got on your hands and knees to spread them out, tossing the cardboard aside carelessly to shift through the items. Hopefully, Yoongi had read the listings and selected the correct sizes. From your brief glance, you noticed the tops were quite oversized. Maybe he liked that fit? He had been quite a fluffy cat.

You spotted the packing slip with all the prices listed. You fished it out and then heard a thunk-thunk-thunk, the sound of cardboard on hardwood. Huh?

You looked up to see Yoongi swatting the box around.

“What… are you doing?”

He shrugged. “Investigating.”

You blinked. “Investigating what?”

“Don’t know. I simply feel the need to investigate, thus I am doing so.”

You stared at Yoongi for several minutes as he continued to… uh, investigate (???) the cardboard box, holding it this way and that, smacking it around, watching the flaps bounce in the air as it rolled. His velvety ears perked upwards, sleek black tail swishing with interest.

His expression was completely neutral.

For the first time since becoming a human, you thought Yoongi was more cat than man.

“Uh… okay…”

You glimpsed down to the paper in your hands, seeing the total cost.

You felt the color drain out of your face.

My… wallet…

F in the chat.

You fainted.

-

You felt someone poking you in the head.

“Are you dead?”

You gasped and jerked up like a drown victim coming up for air, still in mild shock of the sudden financial hit of your cat becoming a man. It was okay. You weren’t poor. You just didn’t expect Yoongi to be a shopping like he owned a fucking black card.

“Did I spend too much?”

You snapped out of your stunned state at his soft tone. Yoongi wasn’t looking at you. He was kneeling on top of the pile of clothes, dark eyes on the paper in your shaking hands. With a start, you realized his words were heavy with guilt, his ears pointing downwards and tail tucked against the ground.

“No,” you said quickly, putting the receipt down. “No, Yoongi. I asked you to buy clothes, remember? And besides, it’s better for you to buy things you like and are interested in, rather than me wasting money on things you’ll never wear.”

He raised his head a little, eyes darting from your face to your hands.

You smiled at him, reaching up to pat his head and stroke the fur on his ears. “Hey, don’t worry. It’s only money. Money will never be more important to me than you, okay?”

For a second, you saw something flicker in Yoongi’s eyes. It was so fast that you barely caught it. Relief? Gratitude? Fondness? Then he ticked his head out of your hand, fair cheeks flushing pink.

“You… you don’t have to do that,” he muttered.

“O… oh.” For some reason, you felt a pang in your chest at his words. “R-right.”

Yoongi made eye contact with you, dark brown orbs guarded. He spoke quietly, without emotion.

“Do you wish this never happened?”

“What?” You furrowed your brows. “What do you mean?”

He gestured to himself, waving a hand up and down carelessly. “This. Human me.”

Human me.

You answered instantly.

“No.”

Yoongi gave you the disbelieving side-eye.

You let out a sheepish puff of air. “I always kind of wished you were human.” You scratched the back of your head aimlessly. “No one listened to me like you did. Even if I was having the shittest day of all time, you always made it better. You were the best cat ever.” You chuckled, smiling up at him. “Sure, your species changed, but you’re still the same, right?”

His eyes shifted, his cheeks still a light pink. “I’m still a cat,” he mumbled awkwardly.

You raised your brows. “Mhm, is that why you were playing with the box?”

“I wasn’t playing with the box,” Yoongi huffed, sounding insulted.

“Then I’ll break it down and recycle it.”

“No,” he snapped firmly. “It’s useful. We’re keeping it.”

“We don’t need a box, Yoongi.”

He tutted. “Hmph, humans. So wasteful. A perfectly good box should be reused.”

“Right.”

You tried to hide your laugh as Yoongi refused to look you in the eye.

-

You left Yoongi to examine his new wardrobe on the floor. You tried to pick them up but he stubbornly remained on the pile of clothes, not letting you move them. When you stood up to leave, you asked him when he was going to move – he replied with, "When it feels right", just cat things, you supposed – and hurried off to export the edited video you were working on earlier. The due date was today and you had to review it for quality.

A certain quality. 

A certain quality of... of... 

Needing the money.

Because your cat (man) had spent fat chunk of it on clothes, only to be more interested in the box they came in and sitting on said clothes rather than the actual items themselves. 

Sigh. 

-

"I ordered the wrong color."

"Oh?" you muttered distractedly, clocking on the export button. You'd been going cross-eyed for the past two or three hours – had it really been that long? shit – and checked your phone to see Gukmul, Seokjin's white sugar glider, peering up at the camera on a white fluffy blanket. You smiled, typing a response to praise his cuteness, completely ignoring the fact that Seokjin had also stuck his handsome face in the photo, smiling with a thumbs-up next to his pet. 

The reply was instant. 

hello, acknowledge my BEAUTIFUL FACE

You deliberately didn't answer right away to piss Seokjin off even more. 

"What's wrong with it?" you asked, looking up. 

Your jaw dropped. 

You dropped your phone. 

Yoongi, your cat-man with excellent reflexes, made absolutely no move to catch it. 

It smacked you in the calf and hit your toes – fucking ow, holy shit – before clattering to the floor. You had a protective phone case on it with a cute tuxedo cat graphic. The screen wouldn't crack with the protector on it. In this moment, however, you didn't give a shit about your smartphone, Kim Seokjin, or even the blinding pain in your foot. Nope. 

You were ogling at Min Yoongi in pink silk pajamas.

-

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to–

Oi!

No, don't you dare scroll past! You think you're clever or something?! Hm? Advertisements always happen at the most crucial parts, you say? 

This is just an ad? 

Look here, Lemona Vitamin C Powder can provide a lot of benefits, including providing natural energy and boosting your immune system in, say, a worldwide pandemic–

STOP TRYING TO SCROLL PAST!!!

-

Jeon Jungkook stared at his phone. 

At a very specific number. 

He put it down, sighing a little, looking out the window instead. It was a nice day, but he couldn't enjoy it the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Pandemic and all that. He frowned, looking at the urban jungle surrounding him. Had he made a mistake moving here to the big city? Sometimes he wondered. Back then, he had moved to finish school and pursue his ambitions. Back then, his choice had seemed full of opportunities, but now.

What did he have, really?

A tiny apartment with a kind and understanding landlord. The world at his fingertips from his computer. Still a decent amount of savings left. Online courses that he needed to finish to get his film degree. 

Loneliness.

He delved into his memories, smiling at the recollection of confused looks, awkward smiles, indignant huffs. So very unlike him to tease so much, but it was too fun and he hadn't felt the usual nervousness and shyness he had around others. There was something comforting about that smile, that apartment, and that fluffy tuxedo cat that loved to interrupt everything. 

He shouldn't have played it off.

He shouldn't have distracted.

Not after he admitted it.

"I like you."

Jungkook said it to the air, to the memory. So vivid that he reached out to touch those lips, but then it all disappeared, just like that. 

Ah.

He looked at the back of his phone, wondering. But now he was too nervous and shy to pick it up again. Why was that? When he was there, being seen by those surprised eyes, he could do and say shameless things. But far away, when he was alone, Jungkook was hesitating, suddenly afraid.

Sigh. 

-

You sneezed. 

Very loudly and jerking your head away from your cat-man in luxurious pink silk, jamming your nose into your elbow.

Yoongi raised an eyebrow. 

You sniffed, rubbing your nose. 

"Someone must be thinking about me..." you muttered. 

Yoongi looked down, plucking the collar of the pajamas. "The cotton shirts are the same size, but for some reason this one fits tighter. Why is that? Is there no regulated sizing in human fashion?"

Dude, be glad you're not a girl, you thought dryly. "Might be the fabric," you coughed distractedly. Distractedly because you were staring at quite possibly the most gorgeous man in the history of men and you stared at a lot of men in your short lifetime, so you had experienced eyeballs.

Wait. 

Man or cat-man?

Well, Yoongi was definitely the most gorgeous cat-man considering you were pretty sure there was only one in current existence.

His pointed ears stood straight up in interest, black hair messy from taking clothes on and off, fair cheeks and nose flushed pink, perhaps from physical exertion. Dark brown eyes sheepish, not quite looking at you. The black leather choker stood out on his neck, silver bell gleaming against his collarbones. The material was a mauve-pink silk, clinging to his lean body, showing off his shoulders and long limbs. The button-up shirt created a rather deep v-neckline, a sliver of pale chest visible. And his legs! His slim legs reminded you of a nimble dancer, ending in fuzzy black slippers. 

There was a weird lump in one of the pant legs, going down his thigh. 

Whoa. 

"W-Why did you pick them?" you tried to ask in the least awkward way possible, attempting – and failing – to not to stare at his delectable thighs. 

Yoongi shrugged. "They looked like the ones you have. I meant to get black, but I suppose I didn't read the listing closely enough. They're comfortable though," he mused before making a face. Your eyes bulged as there was a sudden jerk in his pants, creating a large tent in the crotch. 

Alarms sounded off in your head, arousal shooting up like a rocket. 

Oh. 

Oh??? 

Oh!!!!!!!

"My tail is stuck," Yoongi grunted, lowering the back of the pink silk pants. The sleek black cat tail slid out, swishing in the air, tent in his pants gone. 

Oh…

Right. The tail.

Because he's a cat... man.

Your inner thot was sad. Your dignity smacked you upside the head, highly disappointed in you for falling for that, then calmly shot down your arousal rocket with your shame. Oof.

"Can you show me how to sew so I can fix my own clothes from now on?" Yoongi asked as he readjusted the front of the silk shirt. 

You bent down to pick up your phone, trying to do something with your face and hands to disguise your embarrassment and burning ears. "Yeah, of course." You placed it on your desk and turned back to face him. 

Yoongi was right next to you. 

Literally so close that you could feel his body heat. 

"... Urk!"

You jumped in your seat, banging your knee against your desk and howling in pain, computer chair rolling and making you lose your balance, ass about to slip before Yoongi grabbed your chair and shoved it into the table, making you trip and fall back into the seat, head hitting the headrest a little too hard, seeing stars and rubber duckies for a second. 

Wait, were they rubber duckies? They were white and glittery, almost as if they were made from snow…

Yoongi slapped you in the face.

“Ow!”

You rubbed your cheek, blinking rapidly to clear your vision before glaring at him.

“Checking if you were alive,” was his placid response.

Alright, it wasn’t that hard, but the unexpectedness of it still hurt. You frowned, only for the pain to slowly melt away, quickly being replaced by something else as you realized Yoongi was still half-leaning over you, a knee on your computer gaming chair to prevent it from rolling. The sting in your knee was temporarily forgotten. Yoongi spoke again, his voice low and deep, almost a sensual purr.

“You hit yourself pretty hard.”

He doesn’t know what’s he’s doing. It’s just a coincidence. A kitty-incidence, Seokjin would say.

Your eyes widened as Yoongi closed in, peering at your unfocused gaze. Now you could see down his shirt. Holy shit. Were you so deprived that you were getting mad horny from seeing Yoongi’s fucking clavicle and sternum?

Is that even a question?

Yes.

Yes, you were.

“You look like you did last night.”

“What?” you breathed, still unabashedly looking down his shirt.

“Your pupils are dilated.”

You froze. His cool fingertips were on your neck.

“Heartrate increased.”

You wanted to pull back, say, no, wait, don’t do that, but Yoongi was too close and his exhale was too feathery, brushing against your lips, and you couldn’t move, trapped in your chair, between him wrapped in pink silk and your mind reeling, him still playing fucking doctor while you were trying not to jump his half-covered ass.

“And that smell.”

You finally tore your gaze away, eyes drifting up to his.

You swallowed.

“S… smell?”

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no.

Ohnoohshitwhatifhecansmellmypus–

Yoongi’s eyes narrowed, surveying you closely. He was so close you couldn’t see his lips, only his dark brown orbs. He didn’t say anything. He smelled like your soap, reminding you of his naked body pressed against you in the shower. Your heartbeat was leaping to your throat, threatening to choke you with your own horniness. Honestly, at this point, would you even be surprised?

You chuckled nervously, clinging onto your last shreds of self-preservation, which, admittedly, were rapidly yeeting out of your hands.

“Hahaha… but you’re… a cat… yeah?”

Right?

Seconds passed.

Right???

Minutes passed.

RIGHT???????

Yoongi’s lashes lowered, not quite looking at your eyes. Staring at your lips.

“I’m a man too,” he whispered softly.

Your eyes widened.

Yoongi kissed you.

You were so shocked that you swore your eyes nearly left your head.

It was a soft kiss, his eyes closed, tilting his head slightly to fit better against yours, pressing you back into your chair. Your head hit the headrest and you gasped, your tongue lightly flicking his lips and they parted, his own tongue sliding against yours, gentle licks, your brain malfunctioning, but body remembering, hands coming up to grab his shirt and yank him closer, pressing back against him. He backed up a little at your suddenness, exhaling hard. Your eyes snapped open, suddenly aware of how forceful you were.

Yoongi looked away, pointed black ears flicking back and forth uneasily.

You kissed your cat. Man. Cat-man.

He’s been a man for not even two days and you just tried to make out with him like a demented beast!

“A-ah, Yoongi, no, I’m so sorry, I-I… please, I didn’t mean to…” you stuttered, letting go of him quickly, but also not wanting to let go, but you should, your hands getting confused by your mental signals, repeatedly clasping and unclasping the pink silk, not realizing that he wasn’t even trying to move away.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Yoongi said slowly.

You clutched his shirt, staring at your white knuckles, unable to look at him directly.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… you’re so handsome, but I’m your owner… and I cracked…”

“What you are is a desperate, sexually deprived human.”

You jerked your head up, seeing his unreadable expression. “I-It’s been over a year–”

All of a sudden, Yoongi lowered his knee and grabbed you by the ass, scooting you down on the rolling chair. You yelped at the swift movement, gasping as your crotch collided with his thigh, wincing as you heard the squelch of your panties jamming into your soaked core.

Yikes.

Welp, you can’t hide that shit now.

“You like things like this, don’t you?” Yoongi murmured.

Your cheeks heated. “T…Things like w-what…?”

Oh, you knew what. You knew very well what, but you also couldn’t form coherent sentences.

His fingers sank into your ass and he pressed you into his thigh, rolling it into your heat. The whines tore out of your throat involuntarily, grabbing his arm and staring up at him with shaking eyes, seeing his curious gaze looking down at you.

“B-But, Yoongi… I’m your o-owner,” you panted, resolve slipping with every second, your hips already rocking into his thigh, the slippery thin fabric doing nothing to hide his lean muscle, your own thighs clamping around his leg. “I’m supposed to t-take care of y-you…”

And last more than two days, fucking shit, get it together!

But you couldn’t get it together, especially not as Yoongi’s voice dropped to a lower octave, one side of his lips curving upwards.

“It’s a little different now, isn’t it?” he drawled softly, lashes lowering, eyebrows raising, his black hair darkening his gaze. “Since I am now capable to take care of you too.”

You whimpered, losing it.

Just started freely humping his leg, self-preservation completely gone. Did he even know what he was capable of, really? Did he have any idea what he could do? Surely not.

Surely, he had no idea how good he could make you feel.

Yoongi bit the side of his lip, frowning. “How will can I make it feel better? I’m only cop…” He trailed off, furry ears anxiously flicking.

You tugged on his arm, getting his attention. “Angle your leg a little more downwards… Y-Yeah, like that…” He did as you instructed, his thigh now pressing down on your clit and your rocking hips moving faster, clinging to his arm and setting your jaw, moaning at the added pleasure. “A-ah… yeah, fuck… yes, I c-can… like this…”

“You can what?” Yoongi breathed, watching your face closely, firmly holding the armrests of the chair so it wouldn’t slide.  

Your head tipped back a little, bucking harder into his thigh, so wet your juices were soaking through your leggings and drenching the pink silk, turning it darker, the strong scent of your sweet arousal clearly evident. Your eyes drifted to Yoongi’s dark orbs covered by black hair, vision hazy, noticing the slight inquisitive upturn of his upper lip. There was no point in hiding it anymore.

“Can cum, Yoongi, fuck, I’m going to cum…” you moaned, inhaling his scent, his presence, saying his name and looking up at him, the stimulation and touch of another enough to get you there, eyelids fluttering as your orgasm swept down, taking you away and filling you with serene satisfaction, crashing waves soaring through you, washing away the sand of your dry spell, a different kind of euphoria than when you were on your own, pulling Yoongi close, kissing him deeply, breathing hard.

“Y… Yoongi…”

“Was it nice?” he murmured. “Was I what you needed?”

“Yeah…” You kissed his soft lips again, semi-breathless. “I–” The wave of guilt came now, your words dropping, brows furrowing, a sharp pang in your chest. Rising, rising. Panic. Yoongi lowered his head, black hair and soft pointed ear rubbing against your eyebrow, nuzzling your cheek. Once. Twice. Again, headbutting you lightly, smoothing the worry away from your forehead, a small laugh bubbling from your throat.

“What are you doing?” you chuckled, patting his arm, smoothing out the wrinkles you had made while furiously humping him. Your eye caught the dark mark now on one of his thighs. Welp. You lasted less than ten minutes.

Pink pajama Yoongi was dangerous.

“You liked this,” he mumbled. “When you were upset.”

You chuckled, instinctively reaching up and caressing his velvety ear. “You were a little smaller then.”

“Only a little.”

He slowed until he came to a full stop, dark eye staring into yours, cheek to cheek.

“I have to look after you, my clumsy human.”

-

part iv

--

masterpost

[teacupfulofstarshine]

when you look at me with those eyes (i’m speechless)

summary: virgil finally manages to ask out the pretty enby in his class, just in time for his father's epic gala event. sadly, neither of them would know fashion if it bit them in the ass. luckily, they both have friends to help them out. 

(OR: almost 3k words of analogical being useless fluffy gays)

wordcount: 2934

ships: romantic analogical, background romantic roceit, background queerplatonic intruality, background romantic remile

cw: cursing 

read it on ao3!! 

“So, uh, wh - what do you say?” 

Logan looks up from their desk, homework long forgotten. Their left hand is stretched out to cover the little doodle they’d been doing of the back of Virgil’s head, and now Virgil himself is standing in front of them, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly and looking anywhere except at Logan. He’s still wearing that patchwork purple plaid hoodie, and for some reason the only thing Logan can think of is that it’s definitely a violation of their school uniform. 

Virgil’s eyes skitter back to their face, skipping from their shoulder to their chest to their neck to their cheek. Their eyes meet for a moment, Virgil’s illuminated by the afternoon sunshine pouring in, and Logan forgets how to breathe. Virgil’s pink face gets even pinker, and his eyes settle on a point fixed above Logan’s shoulder. 

“Are you just gonna stare at me?” he snaps. “If you’re gonna reject me, just -”

“No!” Logan blurts. Virgil’s shoulders jump up to his ears, and Logan stands so fast their chair falls over behind them. “I - I mean - I’m not rejecting you, I - um - yes! Yes, I - I’d love to! That is to say - I - uh -” 

Virgil laughs a little, reaching out and tucking a stray curl of Logan’s hair behind their ear. They hadn’t even noticed that wisps had started escaping their high ponytail, but Virgil just smiles at them. “Cool,” he says. 

“Yes,” Logan breathes. “It - it is, objectively, quite ‘cool’.” 

“The event’s on Saturday night.” Virgil’s fingers tuck their hair behind their ear, gently tracing down the curve of their neck and sliding up to touch their jaw. “Pick you up around six PM or so?” 

Logan swallows, and they’re sure Virgil can hear it but he gives no indication if he did. “That - that sounds optimal.” They cringe inwardly - optimal? What the hell? - but Virgil just laughs and slides his hand up to cup their cheek. 

“You keep busting out all those smart-person words and I’m gonna have to kiss you before I buy you dinner, and that’s not very nice of me.” His hand drops from Logan’s face, and it takes all their willpower not to scream for him to put it back. He gently picks up their hand, lifting it to his bitten-raw lips and gently pressing a kiss to the back. “That’ll have to hold you over until then.” 

He turns and saunters away, and Logan grips the edge of their desk. They almost sit down on the chair they’d knocked over, catching themselves at the last second. Looking around the empty classroom, they catch sight of themselves reflected in the windows. They’d opted for a mixture of the uniforms today, wearing the boys’ shirt, vest, and tie over the girls’ skirt, knee-high stockings, and shoes. Their hair is tightly tied back with a plain hair tie, no ribbon, only one curl out of place where Virgil had tucked it behind their ear. 

They don’t typically dress themselves for much other than school (uniform), work (uniform), or home (casual clothing). They have no idea what they should wear for a date. Their phone buzzes on the desk, and they snatch it up quickly, flipping it open to see a message from Virgil. 

(They’d forgotten he had their number, from that project they did together last month.) 

You have: One! New message! 

FROM: Virgil 

hey, forgot to tell u - this gala is like, a bfd for my dads’ company, so dress up! like its prom or smthn, or a wedding 

Logan exhales, gathering up their school things and shoving them into their bag with an uncharacteristic haphazardness. This is going to require . . . outside intervention.

(Meanwhile, a few doors down, Virgil slams the door to his own classroom, shoves his face into his hands, and lets out the quietest feral screech he can manage. Derek, seated on the teacher’s desk with Roman pulled up between his legs, raises a single eyebrow.

“Is that a screech of success or a screech of failure, Virgil?”)

*~*~*~*~*

“What does one wear on a ‘fancy date’? I have never been to a wedding or a prom, let alone a gala! I do not own anything fancy!” Logan paces around their bedroom, hair hanging loose around their shoulders. Patton is on his back, hanging upside-down off of their bed and flipping through some sort of guitar catalog. Remus is curled up in Logan’s desk chair with some sort of slime in his hand. “Remus, if you get slime on my belongings I will end you.” 

Remus grins, looking deranged, and Logan resists the childish urge to throw something at him. 

“Don’t sweat it, Lo-Lo!” Patton says. “I’ve got a ton of pretty clothes in my room, you can borrow something from me! We’re still the same size, right?” 

“I assume so,” Logan says, “but what if I do not look right in your clothing? Our styles are vastly different, I would not wish to present a false impression of myself to him, I -”

“You worry too much!” Remus says. “Virge asked you out even though you’re a workaholic disaster who wouldn’t know the meaning of ‘relax’ if it bit him in the -”

“Remus!” Patton scolds, throwing one of Logan’s decorative constellation pillows at him. Remus bats it away with his foot. 

“Please do not throw things around,” Logan says tiredly. “Particularly my things.” 

“Sorry, Lo!” Remus does not apologize, but he does put the slime he’s been playing with back into its little plastic container. 

“Well, actually,” Patton says, flipping over onto his tummy, “it just so happens that I’ve been waiting for exactly this moment.” Logan looks at their twin in confusion. “I knew that eventually, there was gonna come a day where you would look at somebody and want to go on a date with them, whether it be a simple movie or a fancy date like this one, and you were gonna call me in here - didn’t know Remus would be here too, but he’s not unwelcome -”

“Thank you?” 

“- and you’d pace around and panic and go, ‘Patton! I don’t have anything optimal for this date, and our personal styles are so vastly different! What ever is there to be done?’” Patton flings one hand dramatically across his forehead like a Victorian woman fainting onto a couch. Logan raises one eyebrow. 

“So! I came up with the perfect solution! I’ve been secretly acquiring outfits for you! Stuff that you could wear for a variety of situations that you wouldn’t ever think of! We can mix and match to find something you like! Oh, and I also have a ton of unopened hypoallergenic makeup in a box in my closet!” 

Logan stares at him, blinking and trying to process everything Patton’s just told them. “You . .. you really did all that, for . . . for me?” 

“Yeah, of course I did! You’re my twin, Lo. I love you.” Patton smiles, bright and open and honest, and Logan blinks again, and suddenly their cheeks are wet. 

“Are you fucking crying because Patton is a considerate brother?!” Remus cackles. Logan whirls around, hiding their face and wiping at it frantically. “Oh my god, you are, I fucking called it, Roman owes me twenty bucks!” 

“You bet on this?” Patton asks, disapproving. Logan laughs a little, turning around to hug their twin. They can’t quite bring themselves to care about Remus’s gambling right now. 

*~*~*~*~*

“Why are you bitching?” Roman asks, pulling Derek’s hand up to his face. He’d forgotten his saline solution at his own house, so he’s wearing his old red glasses, bangs pulled up in a shitty unicorn-horn ponytail as he squints at Derek’s nails. Derek holds a book up with his free hand. “You managed to get them to go out with you, didn’t you?” 

“Yeah, but I was awkward as fuck about it, Roman!” Virgil complains. He considers throwing something at Roman, or shoving a pillow over his face and screaming (again), but the deep indigo-purple polish on their fingernails is still drying. “I touched their hair, they probably think I’m a fucking creep!” 

“As someone with that exact reputation,” Derek says, “I highly doubt they would have agreed to accompany you on a date if they shared your sentiments about yourself.” 

“Yeah, but -”

“Lighten up a little, man,” Roman says, carefully stroking the yellow brush over Derek’s index nail. “You’re totally fucking with the vibe of the chill session.”

“What do you want me to do?! I told them to dress fancy cause we’re going somewhere nice, like I have any idea how to dress other than ‘crawled out of a dumpster and sewed together some punk band’s leftovers’!” 

“Why did you think you invited me?” Roman says haughtily. He’s imitating some YouTube video they’d watched earlier. “I’m the king of style!” 

“You’re the king of something,” Virgil mutters. 

“No, seriously, I’m gonna help you!” Roman says. “I’m sure you have something that looks half-decent buried in your closet, and I am nothing if not an expert in bringing things out of the closet.” Derek’s cheeks blush faintly pink, but he doesn’t say anything. “And Der here is amazing with makeup -”

“I wouldn’t say experience with stage makeup and covering my port wine stain makes me amazing or anything,” Derek begins. 

“Well I would, so shut the fuck up,” Roman says smoothly. Derek rolls his eyes and huffs fondly. “Seriously, Vee, did you really think we were gonna egg you on to ask the pretty nerd out for this long and then leave you high and dry when the time came to deliver the goods?” 

Virgil exhales, bringing his hands up to his face to examine his nails. “I think they’re dry . . .”

“Nice! Get over here, once I’m done with Derek’s base color I’m putting sparkles on you.”

“What? Why?” 

“Because it’s my house and I get to choose the bonding activity, god damn it.” 

*~*~*~*~*

“No.” 

“What do you mean, no?” Logan says, pulling their hair up into their traditional high ponytail. “What else am I supposed to do with it? I hate leaving it down, it feels bad on my neck -”

“I know,” Patton says, “but you can’t just put it in the same old ponytail you always do! This is a fancy gala event, you have to be fancy! ” 

“What else am I supposed to do with my hair?” 

“You will not do anything. I will do your hair,” Patton says firmly. “And by I, I mean Remus, because I’m not good at hair.” 

“Remus is not putting his hands, which have been god only knows where, in my clean hair.” 

“Rude!” Remus says. “I washed them three times today! You can inspect them if you want, I promise they’re clean!” Logan squints at his hands critically before sighing and settling into the chair in front of Patton’s vanity. 

“Very well.” 

Remus brushes through their hair and then combs it, carefully working through the knots while doing his best to preserve their natural curl. He separates two small wings and pins them out of the way before pulling the rest of Logan’s long curls into a mid-height ponytail and braiding it with surprisingly delicate fingers. He carefully twists the long braid up into a bun at the nape of Logan’s neck and pins it there with a gleaming silver hairpin tipped with a shining eight-point star with a dark blue jewel set in its center. 

Carefully, Remus unpins the locks of hair he’d set aside and braids them as well, weaving them into a crown of braids on Logan’s head and cleverly hiding the ends by pinning them into the braided bun. Finally, he pins back a few stray wispy curls with silver bobby pins that have star-shaped cubic zirconium on the ends. “Take a look!” 

Logan has had their eyes closed the entire time, quietly stimming with their hands. They open them slowly, looking in the mirror and tilting their head back and forth to see all of the work Remus has done. “Oh,” they say softly. “I love it, Remus. I look beautiful.” 

“You always look beautiful,” Remus says. “I’d ruffle your hair if I hadn’t spent so much time making it look decent.” Logan leans back, gently pressing their cheek against his shoulder. Remus huffs and mutters something about “gross affectionate shit,” but he still lets them do it. 

Patton breaks out the makeup after that, spinning the stool around so that Logan can’t see their own face in the mirror. “Alright, Lo! Time to accentuate your pretty face!” 

“That was a surprisingly accurate use of the word accentuate.” 

Patton just shrugs and grins at them. “I know big words!” 

*~*~*~*~*

“You look fine,” Roman says, pulling a strip of fabric around Virgil’s throat and beginning to knot it into a bowtie. Virgil can’t stop himself from looking over himself in the mirror one more time - dark black dress pants, a silver dress shirt, a deep purple vest that matches the polish on his nails, black and purple eyeshadow accompanied by dark red lipstick and sharp cheekbone contour courtesy of Derek. Roman pulls the purple-and-silver striped fabric of his bowtie into the final bow, and he smiles. 

“Don’t worry, Virge. I know you’re worried, but you look fine.” 

“You don’t look like a vampire at all,” Derek adds. Virgil hisses at him. “That is certainly going to help that image.” 

“Seriously,” Roman says, “don’t worry about my stupid boyfriend. Logan agreed to go out with you, and I’m sure they’re going to find you absolutely stunning.” 

Virgil rubs the back of his neck, blushing, because he knows that if he touches the hair Derek and Roman had combed and gelled and styled and wrestled with for the past thirty minutes they will collectively murder him without a second thought. Derek smiles, reaching over to pat his shoulder. “It’ll be okay, Vee. Seriously. I know I mock you a lot, but you really do look good. It’s gonna be okay.” 

Virgil still feels nervous when he steps out of his car in front of the address Logan had given him. The lights are bright and cheerful, and when he knocks on the front door with his free hand, the door swings open eagerly. “Hello!” the man says cheerily. He’s wearing a pink tie and a brown cardigan, and he looks like Virgil expects Patton to in a few decades. “You must be Virgil!” 

“Uh, um, y-yes sir!” Virgil yelps. 

“Oh, you look precious! Remy, dearest, Logan’s date is here!” 

“Cool, babes,” a voice floats in from the kitchen. “I’ll take over the soup.” 

“Come on in! You can call me Emile, Lo is upstairs with Patton and Remus getting ready! Just wait here in the foyer, I’ll go up there and get them!” Emile hurries off up the stairs, and Virgil fidgets nervously with the flowers in his hand.

Patton all but slides down the bannister, grinning. “Are those for Lo?” 

“Y - yeah?”

“I’ll go get a vase out of the kitchen so they can put them in water before you two go!” Virgil pulls a single star-shaped lily bloom from the bouquet and spins it between his thumb and middle fingers. Emile comes hurrying down the stairs with a camera, sets himself up at the foot of the stairs, and shouts for Remus. 

“Finally,” Logan huffs, and then a door creaks open and shuffled footsteps approach the top of the stairs and then Virgil promptly forgets how to breathe. 

They look gorgeous. 

They have a crown of braids leading to a braided bun, studded with jewels that gleam like stars and a larger star pinning the bun back. They’re wearing the most beautiful dress Virgil has ever seen; the top is black, high-necked, and form-fitting, with short sleeves that are see-through ruffles of black gauzy material. The sleeves and the bodice are covered in sparkling silver rhinestones that look like stars in the night sky. There’s a silver band wrapped around their waist, and the skirt is made of layers of loose folds of fabric. The front comes down to their knees and the back comes down to their mid-calves, and the pattern is a soft blue-pink-purple galaxy color scheme. They have simple dark blue ballet flats on their feet, and as they get closer, what little breath Virgil had in his lungs is gone. 

Someone with experience has clearly done Logan’s makeup. Their eyes are coated in shimmery dark-blue-and-silver eyeshadow, eyes lined with soft smudged pencil and popping out of their face, freckles somehow still visible under the makeup. Their lips are glossy and pink and look so deliciously kissable that Virgil can barely restrain himself. 

“You look wonderful,” the vision in front of him says. 

“You - I - um - good!” Virgil stammers. Logan blushes, and Virgil thrusts the bouquet at them. “These - for you!” 

“Oh!” Logan takes the bouquet and smiles, and Virgil nearly passes out. “They’re beautiful! I -”

“I have a vase for you!” Patton chirps, hurrying in to take the bouquet and plop it into a vase. “I’ll leave it in your room!” Logan smiles, and Virgil reaches up to carefully tuck the lily behind their ear, into the carefully woven braids.

“You look beautiful,” he says honestly. “You’re the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life.” Logan flushes, smiling. 

“It makes sense that you would think that, since you cannot see yourself.” 

(Years later, at their wedding, Patton will tearfully and proudly recall how Logan and Virgil had been fifteen minutes late to the gala because Logan’s compliment had caused Virgil to faint from sheer gay joy.) 

[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reactions to Truth!

Just going to go straight into it because this episode is huge! I really like how at the end of a season and the beginning of another, we see the same scene that leads us out of one and into another. Gabriel fixes the Miraculous and ohhh poor Dusuu thought it was all a dream, being in evil hands. So in a way, the Miraculous being damaged may have been a blessing for her. Dx Too bad it couldn't have been fixed after Marinette got it back :/ But at least Nooroo isn't alone right? Legit only positive I can get from this. ;-; Tikki and her little hats omg it's so cuuuute! I wonder if she makes her little clothes, too awww But the other Kwami's are almost like siblings to Tikki if you think about it. Now Tikki has to share things with them all as they cause chaos all around when she's so used to her quiet life alone with Marinette. Even for a Kwami, that must be hard to adjust to.

Okay so it's almost Prince Ali's birthday that Paris is going to celebrate. Interesting! I'd really like to see him back and a storyline with that. :O Marinette holding something, clearly, that the girls can't see over video chat. Talking to what appears to be herself, reacting to what someone's saying from different sides of her room. Camera flashes going off. And then her phone getting yeeted at her all on a video call with her friends when she's supposed to be alone...considering they're all going to have Kwami's and learn some things later as they become heroes, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if they think back to this scene someday! OH WAIT spoiler for the upcoming episode Gang of Secrets!!! Fair warning. What if this episode with the plushies she said she's going to make, is one of if not the reason they go over and are looking around her room? Because she's been acting sus and they want to know what's going on. Especially after what happens later in the episode with Luka. Okay, back to the episode itself. Her friends observation: You're acting way weirder than normal.... IS ADRIEN AT YOUR PLACE?! I mean, fair point. xD But the thing is, whenever Marinette tends to act weirder or say/do things that Alya and the girls don't understand, it's almost always connected to her being Ladybug/Guardian. Even Lila. If she wasn't Ladybug and dealt with her so much as her, she wouldn't know a lot of things that made her not trust Lila to begin with. So Marinette has to overcompensate to try to hide everything or can't explain her thoughts or feelings about certain situations, so Alya always just assumes her behavior has something to do with Adrien. It really sucks but at the same time, what else is she going to think?

These Kwami are a lot of trouble. xD Now she's even more frazzled, so she calls Luka Adrien. More than once. I've done this where I call my siblings the wrong name more of than I'd like so I can't fault her for it. Her mind's probably a mess, poor girl. Dx "I'm sorry it's just that I cheated on you!" BIG OOF. But this gives me Kim Possible vibes when Ron assumed Kim didn't want him anymore and told her he was cheating on her when he meant to say he was cheating to be on the football team so he could be more worthy of her when he thought she wanted to "trade up" her boyfriend. Our poor Marinette! So frazzled she can't remember when her dates are, when they've been rescheduled. She can't remember her patrols with Chat Noir which are really important. She's getting to the point where it's going to be a wonder she can even function. Dx "But Marinette and I are such a big fan of his" wow this sure hits different. The way they kept quizzing each other to finish the sentence with Jagged Stone trivia was pretty cute. Luka having her finish the line with "Kiss me" that she screamed to the entire theater made me choke on my cake. "Well, if that's what you want." Smooth. "I think, yes. I want to." But you know, it gets interrupted by an akuma attack of course because that's just the way things work! :D And wouldn't you know it, it's Mr. Pigeon. AGAIN. Totally worth interrupting the moment lol Ladybug can't pick and choose, however, so here comes the sequence where she's constantly running off and he starts doubting her. Notice the parallel when Marinette started to like Luka after Adrien could never show up to things? Now Marinette's having trouble showing up and Luka's having issues with it. The second Chat Noir started to sneak up on Ladybug, we all knew he was going to get flipped. But it's so adorable and funny at the same time I love it x333 And that whole scene there of Ladynoir. Obviously it's a Lukanette-centered episode but the Ladynoir in this episode! So good! And you know, it's interesting. First time we see Adrien this episode is for FIVE whole seconds! And the way it abruptly cut off as he opened the car door... yeah you know what, Lies is going to be Adrien's POV or something of this same day. It has to be. He has 2 total scenes one of them is 5 seconds and the other one is 2 seconds. Crazy. We got about 7 seconds of Adrien's face today woo! But ugh here's where we get hurt Luka ;-; "A girl, who as always, isn't here." Ouch. The fact that if Marinette said she loved Adrien still, he'd understand and he'd get it is so sweet, and so sad that it's not even because of that, it's because she's Ladybug and the Guardian and she can't say a thing about it to him at all, that he can't accept. It's the one thing he couldn't deal with that's the issue and that really sucks. AND THIS MOMENT RIGHT HERE HAD ME GASPING AND HURTING FOR LUKA. IT'S THE MOMENT HIS HEART BROKE

But also really guys, did you notice his eyes are different now? Almost like a blue diamond look or something.

Luka trying to fight it, trying to tell Hawk Moth that the truth needs to be willingly told, not forced. But stupid Hawk Moth's able to get him to hold on anyway and gets akumatized. But not before he told Marinette to run. Which was such an awwww moment. x33 I mean, this is definitely getting a bit close to Chat Blanc territory if you ask me. New transformation music is pretty good! I like it. Also can we just appreciate that instead of trying to track down Marinette to get the truth from her, he's instead asking all her friends and family, pretty much any source besides her? AND ROSE'S RESPONSE "Marinette has no secrets because she's the most honest girl in the world!" She thinks so highly of her and it's just so beautiful. Nobody would blame her for these secrets if they only knew either. But awwwwww I love this scene!! And here's the big reveal! (no not that one) Jagged Stone is Luka and Juleka's father. 😮

Thomas today tweeted that Luka and Juleka are twins. Which would have to be fairly obvious after this reveal. There's no way that Jagged, who says he'd be a lame dad and left because he wasn't cut out for it, would have Luka with Anarka, then stay long enough to also have Juleka. I also totally forgot that in the French version, Jagged has an American accent when he speaks. XDD Just the fact that even WITH his truth powers, he asked his mother TWICE who his father was. Both times she said Jagged Stone. He still didn't believe it until he went to Jagged himself omg. This poor poor boy. Luka: 😱*gasp* Marinette: 😲 *gasp* Adrien: 😮 WHY IS THIS SO FUNNY OMG. LIKE I'M WATCHING A TELENOVELA OR SOMETHING. THEY EVEN ZOOMED IN ON THEIR REACTIONS I CAN'T And then Luka just yeets his dad because he wasn't ever there for him. I honestly did not expect Luka having dad issues to ever be a thing in this show, even though I knew he wasn't around. So like... when everything's worked out with Marinette and Adrien in the end, will Luka and Adrien end up becoming friends and bonding over things, like the whole daddy issues thing...? Are we really supposed to believe she has no feelings for Chat Noir? I mean really, look at this.

"I can't imagine what your daily life must look like" ... is she really actually being the one to bring up something about his secret identity? With that face? 😲

Their flirty banter that at this point I don't even think they realize it is, and those soft looks I just... My top ship is Ladynoir and I was not expecting any significant moments of theirs but I got it anyway. Just watching their scenes, I kept going "See, this is why they're meant for each other." My heart is happy despite all the Luka pain! It's helping me cope with it, okay? "When you're ready, I'll be here for you, Marinette." Awww so they're telling us Lukanette is on hold here. Not a guarantee, but at least on hold. He's an option for her later. So now the Adrienette vs. Lukanette for S4 we heard about awhile back makes sense now. Later on this season, probably when things calm down and she gets the hang of things, she'll be in a better position to be with someone. And by then, Adrien will probably realize and understand his feelings for Marinette. So then she'll be in a position to choose between them. Now we know where Luka gets his ability to turn emotions into great songs. That's adorable! Father-son bonding! Gabriel needs to take notes when a man who was never in his son's life as more than his idol has the ability to try to be there, but Gabriel can't. Ugh our poor Marinette, probably thinking she's going to be alone for a very long time just because of a supervillain. That's so wrong she has to feel like this. If you notice, Hawk Moth's akumatizations help people patch up relationships so much of the time as a weird unexpected result of an akuma attack. And yet, he does nothing but hurt Marinette and at times Adrien, the most when he akumatizes people. He makes me so angry! But I'm too tired for a rant about that. At least the Kwami hugs at the end helped a teeny bit anyway! c:

[maybankiara]

PHONE SWAP (DREW STARKEY)

01: NICE TO MEET YOU

summary: Addie Mallory is just your average economics student when she meets Drew Starkey at her local Target in Atlanta. This is where the story is supposed to end – a short meeting and a picture to go – except Drew accidentally leaves with the wrong phone, and the story begins, instead.

w/c: 2k

a/n: it’s finally here! the first chapter! this one is written as real life and introduces us to our three main characters. let me know what you think! also, this is in no way affiliated with either drew or creators of obx. if you want to be on the taglist, either shoot me a message/ask, or fill out the tag list form!

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Addie thinks she must be wrong. Of all places, he can’t be here.

  It all begins with Addie’s roommate waking up to no bread, no milk, no cereal, and an abundance of an alcohol-induced mess. It was the brunette’s rare night off to party, so Marianne woke up to quite literally nothing. Now, it’s almost noon, and Addie’s got a nasty headache right behind her eyebrows, an odd taste in her mouth, and a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

  ‘Food,’ demands Marianne. ‘I’m starving.’

  Addie pokes her head out of the bathroom, holding up two fingers. Marianne just rolls her eyes and drapes herself over the couch with a groan that Addie drowns out with her toothbrush. 

  She splashes some cold water onto her face, rubbing some moisturiser into it afterwards. Doesn’t do much – her eyes are still bloodshot, under-eye circles dark, skin dry and lips chapped even with lip balm on it. Addie just sighs. This’ll require sunglasses which, in turn, will require contact lenses. 

  ‘Two more minutes!’

  Another groan from Marianne. ‘Merde, Addie!’

  First contact in. She blinks it into place, ignoring its dryness. ‘I’ll be back before you know it.’ Second in. ‘And I’ll bring you some chocolate.’

  ‘Aw. You will?’

  ‘Yes. For emotional disturbances.’

  Marianne beams at her from the couch. Noon sun shines on her through the window as she basks in the light, looking all fresh and ready to take on the day. 

  Addie envies her. Not like she’d ever admit it, though. 

  ‘You’re a godsend,’ Marianne tells her. ‘When you’re not the devil’s menace, obviously. Today shall be your lucky day.’

  ‘Shall it?’ Addie quirks an eyebrow at her, grabbing a purse from the drawer in the hallway with a smile dancing in the corner of her lips. 

  The blonde-haired girl hmms, her eyes closed and arms raised up in the air. In the tiniest voice, she says: ‘I am throwing my blessings at you now.’ She outstretches her hands in what looks to Addie like a kung-fu move, fully accompanied by a half-breathed half-voiced ‘HA!’

  ‘You done?’

  Marianne grins. ‘Yes. Now please go get me some food.’

  ‘Tea for when I’m back?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am. The finest the British Isles have to offer.’

  ‘You’re not even British.’

  ‘Half,’ says Marianne. ‘Half is enough.’

  ‘Yeah, but the other half is French.’

  Marianne just rolls her eyes, and Addie revels in the fact that there'll be a hot cup of tea waiting for her when she comes back with the groceries. Equipped with her iPhone and earphones, a foldable IKEA bag, some money, and sunglasses big enough to cover her hungover mess of a face, Addie leaves the small apartment. 

  Summer in Atlanta is something Addie hasn’t experienced before. People get a lot more vibrant, there’s more joggers than usual, and people with dogs and kids venture out of their homes more often. There’s also the filming aspect, increased during summer, which generally means that there’ll be at least one street blocked for public per day – an inconvenience that made her be late for class more than once. 

  To Addie, it’s starting to feel like home. Warm and filled with a light breeze, the place lively and bright. 

  Or, possibly, it’s just that she starts to listen to music that makes her feel that way. 

  The local Tesco of Rockdale county is on the main road, and it takes Addie five songs to get there. It’s busy as always, and Addie gets herself a plastic basket at the entrance, pulling up the grocery list on the notes app. It’s mostly food – they ran out of almost everything the day before, and drunk Addie finished whatever little was left, so this is going to be half a week's worth of shopping. 

  Addie rummages through the isles with ease, almost on autopilot. Memories from last night resurface, blurry and hazed, and she rubs her temples with the heels of her hands. 

  last night was something else, she thinks. The music in her ears is loud and she glances up as she’s about to turn the corner, basket full of veggies so far, and she makes eye contact with a person that looks vaguely familiar. 

  She looks away. 

  Then she looks back at them, an almost unnoticeable frown on her face. He’s tall, with dark blonde hair underneath a baseball cap, and it’s not until he leans forward to grab something off the canned goods section that she realises who it is. 

  holy fucking moly it’s drew fucking starkey

  Addie freezes in place as her brain computes the visual in front of her and attaches it to the memory of his face, on her projector screen, in her and Marianne’s living room. 

  It doesn’t seem right to see him here, shopping at Tesco, looking so different from the person she’s used to seeing that she almost didn’t recognise him. However, it’s still him, so Addie gathers all her courage and walks into the isle across from hers, until she’s right next to him.   

  ‘Hi,’ she says. ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you, but – you’re Drew Starkey, right?’

  Her voice is hushed, and it’s on purpose – she’s fairly certain neither of them would like a bunch of people to come over here. Addie doesn’t know how big the fanbase is, but if she managed to recognise him (almost) off the bat, it’s highly likely there'd be at least a few more people knowing him. It might be just a few months since the show’s release, but it’s gathered quite a bit of attention. 

  The moment seems to unfreeze, and the guy in front of her nods, almost reluctantly. ‘Yeah, that’s me.’

  ‘Oh, cool. I really liked what you did with Rafe. I don’t know anything about acting and all that, but you gave me chills in the scenes where Rafe is losing his mind, and I can’t even hate him because of how sorry I feel for him.’

  Drew watches her with a bland, cautious expression on his face for a second, until he breaks out into one of the biggest smiles she's ever seen. It’s a nice smile – he looks like the boy next door, or the one guy who would be popular in high school (probably a quarterback), or someone she could just trust. 

  Damn.

  ‘Thanks,’ he says, finally. His shoulders don’t seem as tense anymore despite still being about a good half-foot taller than Addie, the difference doesn’t seem as drastic anymore. ‘I’m glad you liked it. You are supposed to hate him, though.’

  Addie scoffs, shaking her head, even though there’s still a smile on her lips. ‘Come on. His freaking dad hates him, his friends are all sixteen or whatever. No wonder he’s so messed up.’

  ‘But he is messed up.’

  ‘Oh yeah, he should rot in jail, totally.’ Addie makes a vague waving motion with her hand. ‘That’s my point, anyway. I hate him but I feel bad for him and I don't think I would’ve if you weren’t so good at what you do.’

  Drew’s smile just grows and he laughs, a little. It’s a fleeting moment, but Addie likes it. Quite a bit, actually. Shame he doesn’t get to do that often as Rafe. 

  ‘Thank you so much, honestly. I thought people would hate me because of Rafe.’

  ‘Are you kidding? Are people actually like that?’

  He makes a vague gesture with his hand (a lot like the one she did earlier) and sighs. ‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’

  ‘Damn.’ Addie shakes her head. ‘Well, um, I should probably get going. It was nice meeting you.’

  ‘We didn’t actually meet,’ he says, with a face that is waiting for her to clock it, except she doesn’t. ‘You haven’t told me your name.’

  ‘Oh! Oh my god, yeah, sorry – It’s Addison. Addie, for short.’

  Drew extends his hand; it’s warm when she takes it, and his grip is as firm as hers. ‘Nice to meet you, Addie.’

  ‘You too, Drew.’

  It’s the moment that their hands fall to each their own side that Addie notices the beginning of awkwardness in the situation. She smiles at him and tells him goodbye, ready to let him go, until she starts thinking about how Marianne is going to flip her shit and won’t even believe her and then—

  ‘Drew! Hi. Sorry again.’ 

  Addie’s got a hand on his shoulder and taps it twice, just enough for him to turn around with the same kind smile. She’s got half a second to wonder if it’s because he knows she’s not some wild fan, or because he’s just like that. 

  ‘It’s okay, don’t worry.’

  She gives him the best apologetic face she can muster. ‘Can we take a photo? My roommate isn’t going to believe me otherwise.’

  Drew laughs, and something falls off of Addie’s chest. He agrees to it, she takes the selfie—cursing the way she’s going to look on it considering she had to put her sunglasses on top of her hair when she entered the store—and his arm’s curved around her shoulder, pulling her close.

  ‘Thank you!’

  ‘It’s really no problem.’ They look at the photo—it’s as good as they get—and Drew lets out a breathy laugh. ‘Shit, we got the same phone.’

  ‘Seriously?’

  ‘Yeah, look.’

  He fishes his phone out of his jacket and, true to his word, they look exactly alike. It’s just a plain black iPhone, but neither of them has a case or anything attached to it, and the two of them laugh. Drew even takes them both and compares them to one another, showing that the only actual difference are the lock screens. Marianne and Addie for hers, and Chase making a grimace for Drew. Someone walks behind them, eyeing them uncomfortably, and Addie sees Drew tug his hat lower. 

  She really hopes she didn’t disturb him by all this. If he’s to be believed then she didn’t, but she can never know. 

  ‘Okay,’ she says, ‘I’ll actually get going now.’

  Drew nods. He recovers in a flash and there’s not a trace of discomfort on his face. ‘Nice meeting you again.’

  Addie just laughs, takes the phone he’s handing her, tells him bye, and walks away. 

  Without turning back, this time. 

  The rest of her shopping goes smoothly. She wants to message Marianne, but she’s also kind of freaking out, or her hangover is acting up, because she’s feeling nauseous and excited and her heart is definitely about to destroy her ribcage. What she does is just keep going on with her shopping as usual, and focus on the things she actually needs. 

  But when she reaches into her pocket to look at the shopping list, it’s Chase’s face that stares back at her, and her heart doesn’t leap out of her chest – it sinks all the way into the hangover-shaped hole in her stomach, and a wave of anxiety rushes through her. 

  Addie looks for Drew all around the store for a solid ten minutes, but she can’t find him. She asks the workers, all of them, and she’s almost ready to give up, when one of them tells her they’ve seen him walk out of the store, shopping bags in tow. 

  She leaves her things in the store, sets the basket aside, and runs through the checkout and onto the parking lot. She calls his name, over and over again, but he’s not here anymore. 

  He left. With her phone. 

  So Addie does the only thing that will soothe her anxiety to a moderate level – go back inside, take her basket, and continue what she came here for. She’ll only be able to deal with the phone situation when either Drew comes back for it (possibly?), or when she texts the number from Marianne’s phone. 

  Drew doesn’t come back, so Addie comes home with an insane story, a phone to find, and no chocolate for Marianne.

   ◇

02: MESSAGE ME ON INSTAGRAM

tagging. @jjmaybanksbaby @taiter-tots @sacredto @snkkat @drewswannabegirl @yeslifeofateen @rudypnkw​

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #463

“the siren sings a lonely song of all the wants & hungers  /  the lust of love, a brute desire”

Describe the person that you would like to be in three years. I want my mental health to be in great condition, I really want to be in much better physical shape, ideally be living with somebody in our own place, have a job I'm happy with, have an improved social life, my own license and car... Think back to when you first met your significant other (or ex). Was your first impression of them accurate? It's funny, I honestly don't remember what my first impression of Girt was. I don't even recall our first interaction. I'm sure it was most likely that he was friendly, because he is and always has been. What is your most noticeable personality trait? Probably that I'm really, really shy. What kind of natural disaster is most common where you live? Hurricanes. Which of your family members do you resemble the most? I guess one of my immediate sisters? People tend to say stuff like they can definitely tell we're related. Have you ever had an animal get into your attic? No. Who knows you better than anyone else? Hell, probably whoever reads these. When was the last time you started a “new chapter” of your life? I guess you could call dating Girt a "new chapter." I have a much, much stronger feeling of this attempt being more successful than the last now that I've been able to change my angle on how I see him. What’s the most expensive thing your car needed to get done? I don't have my own vehicle and never have. If you had a thousand dollars to spend on a pricey brand you like but can’t really afford (until now of course), which ONE brand would you choose? *shrug* Most products of highly expensive brands I find hideous anyway. Do you still talk to any of your old teachers? Yeah. One is a close family friend and actually our landlord. Does your family still use the home phone or are you all on cell phones now? We haven't had a landline is yeeeeaaarrrrsssss. Ever go to another school’s prom? No; my boyfriend went to the same school as me. Do you ever venture into the woods? What do you normally do there? No; we live in the city now. :/ When I DID live in the woods, I absolutely loved wandering around with my camera for stuff to take pics of. Does your significant other ever make you mix CDs? None ever have but omg I wish that would be adorable. How did you dress your freshman year of high school? I was one of them emo kids. Would you ever date your best friend of the opposite sex? WELP that's what I'm doing lol. Would you say you have a high sex drive or not so much? I'd call it normal? Higher sometimes, lower other times, but not to either extreme. Come with an unpopular opinion. Silent Hill: Homecoming is a great game and while there's a lot of fan service from the movie, it belongs in the series. It's actually my second (or third)-favorite installment. Most of the SH community absolutely hate that game. What’s the worst thing a friend has either done or said to you? A lot of shit Colleen would say if we got into arguments. She'd ridicule effects of my depression, said I'd never know what it's like to pay my own bills, stuff like that. She's hateful as fuck and everything cut deep. What’s fake about you? Like extensions, fake nails, botox etc. Nothing physical. If you got the chance, would you audition for a reality show? No. Have you ever gotten into a Facebook fight? More than once. What’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever experienced irl? Hm, I'm unsure. Favorite flavor of jelly bean? Probably watermelon. Do you use Tinder? If yes, have you ever met up with someone you matched? No. You do you, but if I understand Tinder correctly, it just seems... really shallow to me. Like don't you JUST see their picture to decide if you're interested or not? It just enforces the false belief that appearance really matters in love. You just poured your heart out to your crush and all he/she does is respond “k”. What do you respond/do? Well, I don't have a crush anymore; my boyfriend and I literally exchanged "I love you"s last night. That's not a crush. But for the sake of the question, I'll imagine I was single and this happened, in which case I would be both hurt and annoyed. Like, either tell me you return the feelings or not. It's not hard. What's your favorite thing to order from McDonald’s? I usually get a quarter pounder w/ cheese or a McDouble, occasionally with a small or medium fry, depending on how hungry I am. When do you feel your sexiest? Never, hunny. What's your favorite emoji? I don't really have one? It just depends on what the situation calls for. What’s your skincare routine? I don't really have one... I just use a washcloth to clean my face. Who all out of your immediate family smokes? My dad and stepmom. Do you like incense or candles better? Incense, totally. Do you respect your parents? Yeah. What’s your bf/gf’s name? It's technically Donald Jr., but since high school, I've known him as Girt, a nickname I won't explain for his privacy. Do you wear glasses? Yeah. Do you like The Beatles? I honestly don't. Except "Hey, Jude." What was the last reason you got excited? Last night. When we were saying goodbye, I was scared to, but I told Girt I loved him, and he immediately said it back confidently. My heart did like five flips. I'm still over the moon about it. Yes, we just got back together, but we've been in each other's lives as a constant since HS, and after changing my angle of how I looked at him, it's not at all platonic anymore. Do you know anyone who drinks the pickle juice from the jar? Sara does alskdjfklwejrl;er Name something crazy that’s happened recently? Uhhhh... I dunno. My life is very uneventful to have something really "crazy" happen. Can you say for a fact that you’re happy right now? I'm happy about some things, but also nervous and self-doubtful. Have you ever zip lined? No, but they look fun. I'd just be really scared of losing my grip. If you broke your computer, would you be able to fix it on your own? Ha, no. Have you ever been on a boat and got sick? No, but the one time I was at the beach and on a boat riding to an island, I was TERRIFIED I was going to get sick because of the waves. I didn't, thankfully. Did you sleep well last night? For the most part. My new mask might just be working. Do your parents try and plan your life for you? Not at all. Do you have any pictures of you kissing someone? Yes. List two things about yourself that you find embarrassing. My weight and how dark my leg hair is. Do you like to cuddle with your pet when you are sad? Yes. Do you find piercing attractive or unattractive? h o t Do you have any secret hiding spots in your room? To put money, yes. Do you like parmesan cheese on your spaghetti? Ew, no. I don't like parmesan. Does your best girl friend have any talents that you don’t? Yeah. She can animate well, for one. And sing like a fucking champ. Do you have any video game systems in your room? Which one(s)? My Nintendo DS Lite is in here. Well, and my laptop is a gaming one. What color eyes does the last person you kissed have? ... Oh WOW I've known this man for a fuckin decade and somehow I'm not sure??? But I want to say light blue? Have you ever taken a ride in a helicopter? No. Have you ever visited hot springs? No. How slowly or quickly would you say you eat? I'm aware I eat too fast, because my mom will point it out almost without fail if we eat in sight of each other. I'm not a messy eater at all, just... fast. Chewing your food and swallowing isn't a complex task. I've made active efforts to slow down, I just haven't been able to succeed. It doesn't feel normal. That and I've come to discover that when I chew food TOO much, I don't like the mushy texture of it in my mouth. What did you do the last time you were with friends? Yesterday Girt and I planned to watch shitty Netflix anime for some laughs, but we wound up starting Attack on Titan, which I am officially pretty into. What kind of cologne/perfume do you like the opposite sex to wear? I don't care if they wear any or not, so long as they know how to clean themselves and therefore not actually smell bad. If you celebrate Christmas, do you get a real tree or an artificial tree? We always use a fake one. Is there someone who means a lot to you but they don’t know that? My sisters probably don't, really... Is money important to you? Live your whole life poor and I want to see you answer "no" to this. Have you ever watched a meteor shower? No. Do you like Slim Jims? LOOOOOOOVE them. Would you rather write a mystery or love story? Love story. Are you muscular? No. Working for it. Do you have one of those removable hand-held shower heads? Yes. Originally, this house didn't, but I hated it so much that Mom bought one. How many burners does your stove have? Four. Has your car ever been broken into? Mom's hasn't.

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 114 prt 2

Lance bit down a laugh, relieved to know they didn’t suspect macaroon was a baby and not a dessert snack

“That’s right. You were in hospital. Hunk said it was an accident. Are you okay?”

Why was Shay bringing that up now?

“Yeah. I had a stomach bug and fainted. A whole lot of worry for nothing”

“Plus he’s been working in Platt...”

Hunk was trying to help, but how was he supposed to explain that? Especially when Shay looked so interested

“You’re a lawyer, right?”

“Yep. Family law. It always gets busy towards Christmas”

“Don’t let them lie to you, Shay. He and Keith have totally shacked up. We’ve been abandoned”

Shay giggled as she bumped Pidge with her shoulder

“They are kind of cute together”

“If by cute you mean “totally gross”, then sure”

Shiro finally decided to “Dad” up

“Now, now. They’re happy. That’s the main thing. So what do we want to do now?”

“I could totally go for a nap right here... the fire feels so nice. Kosmo’s got the right idea, totally digging out and letting the fire warm his balls”

Lance wished he had something to throw at Matt, instead Rieva proved to be on his side

“Mmm... that’d be nice. I left my book in our cabin. I could go for dogging out too”

Werewolves. You couldn’t take them anywhere. Curtis seemed to be on team “lounge about” too. Lance had kind of thought the weather would be clearer and they’d be able to explore the area more

“We could do presents? It’d be an excellent way to warm up again”

“Yes! Okay, let me get mine for Keith!”

“And I’ll get ours!”

Hunk seemed enthused

“Matt’s going to brave the snow and get ours, the fire’s too nice to leave”

“Baaaabe”

“Awww, do you need me to hold your hand”

“Yes”

Rieva shoved Matt in the shoulder

“Go get ours before I throw you into the snow. And be nice. Go grab Lance’s present and his heat packs. He’s making me cold looking at him”

Matt dragged himself up

“Yes, boss. Do you two want anything else from your cabin?”

Lance knew it was horrible, yet he was struck with the strong feeling of not wanting Matt in his and Keith’s space. He knew it had to be his ego being stupid, but the feeling was uncomfortable and unwanted. When he didn’t answer, Keith answered for him

“Nah, thanks for asking, man”

“Okay... I guess I’ll be back soon. No stealing my spot while I’m gone. I farted on it”

Pidge wrinkled her nose

“Are you sure you don’t just stink all the time?”

“Not funny, Katie”

“Come over here and say that. I’ll bite you”

“And risk my ankles? I think not”

Pidge glared at Matt who darted out the living area. Stupid werewolves and their high body heat, and stupid feelings. He’d nearly growled at Matt as he’d passed Keith. This was beyond ridiculous. How the fuck was he supposed to keep his secret for the whole weekend, let alone until the next scan? Maybe he should just take his bad mood back to the cabin after the presents. It was Keith’s birthday. He shouldn’t be acting pissy at their friend for absolutely no reason.

*

Shiro’s gift wasn’t funny. His brother was an arsehole. He’d taken a photo of him sleeping, mouth open and all, then had it printed on a blanket, with matching socks. Shiro laughing far too hard at the look on Keith’s face. He’d wanted to open Lance’s first, but Lance seemed nervous for some strange reason, so Keith was now saving his for last. He knew whatever his boyfriend gave him, it had to be better than Shiro’s.

From Curtis he received a bat. A soft toy, but none the less it was bat. Poor Shay didn’t get the joke, Lance explaining Keith was totally terrified of them. Keith defending himself over the incident in the mine, though it was pretty good coverup story if he thought about it. He liked bats a little more, though only when they were Lance and not flying past his head like some great doom cloud. Curtis producing a second present that was heavily influenced by Shiro, because it was a damn bobble head of a bat. But of them sucked... not that he’d admit it, and not that they really did... Okay, Shiro did, but he already knew how lame his brother was. At least it wasn’t more sex toys. He hadn’t even told Lance he’d brought a few things with him.

Hunk’s gift was more practical. Seeing Keith’s bike still wasn’t on the road it was a voucher for his dad’s garage. At $250 it was far too much, despite Hunk insisting he’d be doing most of the work and Keith could help if he wanted too.

Shay’s gift was a fuel card for Balmera, to go with his bike once it was up and going, and stern lecture about visiting more because they missed him. It was nice... but still, he felt like it was too much. He didn’t need $100 voucher on top of Hunk’s, though Shay said she used her staff discount it was still... a lot.

Pidge was a gremlin. She’d always be a gremlin. She’d brought him a hard book map of Platt, laughing about his terrible sense of direction, and GPS tracker that kind of looked like the ones worn when under house arrest. She laughed at the confused look on her face, explaining it was for Lance so he wouldn’t lose his boyfriend when they were out. If anyone needed a GPS it was Matt. Especially after he and Rieva had “relocated” a cow for Lance’s birthday.

From Kosmo he was gifted a bag of treats and new harness seeing the old one was snug with how much his dog had grown. Shiro had picked it out... it was red with little bones on it... definitely more his brother’s taste.

Matt had gifted him a voucher for a bike shop. Keith wondering if he really seemed the voucher type. He was under orders to get a new helmet. He hadn’t thought about it, but all his friends had been pretty worried after his accident. It felt nice to be cared about... too cared about. This wasn’t like his birthday’s in the past. No Adam with his practical gifts... Or smell of burnt cake in the air.

Rieva had gifted him books... Vampire romance books... that he wasn’t sure how to accept. He only wanted to be intimate with one vampire, so possibly Lance would have a laugh out of them later. Shiro’s gift was bad but this wasn’t that great... Did Rieva always... Surely she didn’t just read porn... Rieva was smart, highly educated, and confident in herself... but even she couldn’t ignore pop culture making things seem like everything was possible when you were a vampire... Maybe she thought he could use a laugh?

Lance’s gift was finally the last. By now Keith really didn’t want to open up another voucher. He already had anxiety thinking about going shopping. Naturally he wanted to take Lance, but that was now even more dangerous. They hadn’t even had like a real date. They’d missed their reservation and opera with Lotor and Allura didn’t count. Lance‘a gift wasn’t that big... it felt like it was maybe two thing in there... and something kind of solid...

“Open it already!”

Trust Pidge to want to rush him. She probably wanted to know what vampires thought an acceptable gift when dating a hunter. Careful with the tag, he placed it aside. Yeah. No one else got that treatment, but then again, no one else had bothered putting a tag on it. The gift wrapped in red ribbon, Lance knowing he loved the colour red... the paper was plain white, not giving him any clues to the contents.

Unwrapping Lance’s present, he was actually really thrilled. It wasn’t a voucher. It wasn’t something to do with his bike, that he now felt a little self conscious about. He loved his bike and missed the feel of straddling her... not that Lance knew he called her a “her”. There was a small butterfly knife, not great in a real fight but a handy thing to have in a human fight. His collection of them was somewhere in the boxes from the move. The second knife was a proper good quality hunting knife, his name engraved on the hilt. This... this was definitely making onto his work belt

“I know you don’t like big expensive gifts. And I wanted to give you something useful. Just don’t go stabbing me with it”

Lance nuzzled into him, Keith kind of in shock. Like... he knew Lance paid close attention to the things he liked, and he felt like after Lance admitted he didn’t know much about cameras that it was Lance’s was of confessing he didn’t know much about him. He’d been totally wrong

“I won’t... babe... it’s perfect”

Keith hadn’t realised Shiro was actually recording the whole present opening thing. His brother chuckling

“I guess we know who’s gift he likes the most”

It was when he flipped his brother off that he noticed. It was probably bad that he wanted to start training with it...

“I love it...”

“We can tell. Happy birthday, kiddo”

Keith’s feelings flooded through him. The amount of love he felt for the group of people surrounding him was too much. He didn’t... he couldn’t thank them enough. Wrapping his arms around him, Keith hid his face against Lance’s cheek completely limp in Lance’s hold

“Happy birthday, samurai”

“I...”

“It’s okay... you’re allowed to be happy. You’re allowed to be scared too... Pidge is pretty scary”

“Fuck you. I’m a nice person when I want to be”

Lance chuckled

“See. She’s a terror. Okay, now that presents are done, I’m totally going for a nap... Take care of Keith for me”

He didn’t get to come? Shiro chuckled at the pair of them

“Don’t worry about that. He’s got his blades to play with. We’ll keep an eye on him”

“I’d prefer you kept both on him, or he’s likely to lose one of his own, and I’m afraid I can’t let him. I love his eyes too much”

*

When Lance left for his nap, Keith felt kind of lost. He couldn’t help but worry if his boyfriend made it back to the cabin and if he was okay. Still overwhelmed, he found himself sitting on the veranda of the cabin, playing with his camera because Shay would probably freak out if he played with his knife. Inside the others had figured out how to hook Pidge’s laptop up, playing some interactive game with their phones, which Hunk didn’t seem to be doing well at. Hearing the sliding door open, he knew it’d be Shiro coming to check on him.

Sitting down beside him, his brother looped his arm over Keith’s shoulders

“How you doing?”

“Okay... I... don’t really know”

“It’s definitely different to birthdays back in Rome”

“Yeah... louder... with more people and presents. It’s kind of weird”

“Really? I think it’s nice”

Keith looked up to Shiro who smiled down at him

“That’s because you’re weird”

“Nah. My baby brother is having the best birthday of his life. What more could I hope for?”

“Not to be surrounded by weirdos?”

“Nah. They’re fine. Is Lance okay?”

“He doesn’t like the cold...”

“I gathered that by how high the aircon’s been in the apartment. I also heard you kept a couple of wolves up last night”

Keith blushed. He loved the sounds Lance made and hadn’t thought about his voice carrying

“Yeah... I know it’s sex... but with him...”

“It feels special”

Special didn’t come close

“Yeah. We hadn’t done anything since the accident...”

“I understand that. As long as you two are okay, that’s all that matters”

“Are you okay? Is Curtis?”

“Yep. He’s worried about Lance but knows Lance will talk to him properly when he’s ready. He’s missed having him back at the house”

Keith groaned. He didn’t want Lance going back

“Kiddo?”

“I... it’s not fair but I... I get stuck thinking about what if he falls down the stairs again. We were so lucky the first time”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’m sure everything will be fine”

“The word for that is “macaroon””

“Let me guess, Lance decided?”

“Nope. We couldn’t decide what an “idiot crumpet” made when combined with an “anger loaf””

Shiro snorted with laughter

“He’s a bit strange with the bread analogies”

“He’s fine. I think you’re a croissant but it really depends on his mood”

“Because I’m delicious and a killer on the hips?”

Keith wrinkled his nose. His brother was too into this

“I don’t want to think about that. That can stay between you and Curtis”

“In that case let’s just say Curtis really likes croissants”

Thank god he didn’t say he liked buttered croissants or croissants with cream

“Ew... I’ve seen too much as it is. Is everyone else having fun?”

“Yeah. They get it. They don’t expect you to have to hide away what you’re feeling”

“Even when I don’t feel like I deserved everything they gave me. Them being here was enough”

“They chose gifts thinking of you. I gotta say, that GPS on your ankle would save me hours of worry”

“If you like it that much you should wear it”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

A comfortable silence fell between the two brothers. Shiro had done so much for him. Keith wished he knew how to pay him back for everything. He’d given him first happy birthday memories that he could remember. The door behind the slid open, then closed, again, Curtis coming out to join them. Sitting down on Keith’s other side, he was squashed in an idiot sandwich

“Pidge is ruthless. She and Shay have broken Hunk and Matt”

That sounded about normal for them, Keith asking

“And you?”

“Came to see what was taking you two so long. I was sure you’d be with Lance”

“He wanted to take a nap”

“I’ve noticed the change in his energy levels. Don’t tell me. He will when he’s ready. I do worry about him in the cold... It won’t kill him, but he may become aggressive if his body temperature drops too low”

Shiro sighed at Curtis

“Don’t stress Keith out. I’m sure Lance is fine”

Or he could be huddled up freezing his arse off

“Nope. I’m stressed now. I’m going to check on him. Shiro, take care of my camera for me, I’ll be back soon”

As Keith left the two idiots behind, he could hear Shiro scolding his boyfriend, Curtis protesting awkwardly. Their friends were so damn weird.

[justjessame]

If Only Someone Looked At Me Like They Look At Guns 1

When I bought the secondhand bookstore in South Boston, my dad thought I'd lost my mind. What was I, a native West Virginian, going to do all alone in Boston? Sell books, I'd thought. And live my life, finally, I added.

I had spent a healthy portion of my life being the perfect daughter. The one who gave and gave and made sure that I did everything in my power to make my parents proud. I gave everything to everyone, until there was little left for myself. Now, at thirty years old, I could finally have something for myself.

Besides which, have you ever seen Boston? It's gorgeous and colorful. However, when my dad helped me move into the apartment I'd leased within walking distance to my new, old store "As the Page Turns" he wasn't impressed.

"Really, Tessa?" He asked, looking around. "You're going to be homesick. This place is too noisy, it's too dirty. You're going to miss good ol' West Virginia."

Dirty and noisy? Coal mines, I thought, and the plants that made it smell or shot smoke up into the air weren't the same? Instead of arguing, I diverted him with the manual labor of the move. "You going to help me with this bed, Dad? Or should I ask a neighbor?" That got him moving.

It didn't cure his nagging. Not before he headed home, nor after he'd arrived. It made the weekly phone calls a bit of a hassle. I wanted to talk about how I was making my store a success. He wanted to bring up the things I'd left behind. I wanted to discuss the changes I made as the money started to come in earnest. He wanted to listen for a sign of homesickness. Not a call passed without at least one, "You ready to come home yet?"

Two years, I thought, walking to work in the early morning sun. I was smiling. I loved my life. I was busy. I made the store a reasonable success, adding a coffee bar and pastries to the space. And I had regulars and new customers almost daily. Success was sweet, I thought, as I unlocked the beveled glass front door and listened to the comforting jingle of the bell.

The phone rang almost as soon as I dropped my bag behind the counter. Since I wouldn't be opening for another half an hour, I had a pretty good guess of who was calling.

"Morning, Dad!" I answered, taking the cordless phone with me to start up the coffee and espresso machines. I wondered if his call would be over by the time my daily pastry delivery came. "What's up?"

"Tessa, you shouldn't answer the business phone like that." He admonished. Great start, Dad, I thought. "Why don't you have your cell phone on?"

Ugh, I thought, the chastisement with a side of criticism. Lucky me.

"My Blackberry is in my pocket. I must not have heard the call come in." I answered. "Sorry, Dad." Tessa, I thought, stop fucking apologizing, you're an adult. "How are you? Is something wrong?"

I heard him sigh. "Yes, in Boston."

"What?" I asked, wandering the store to make sure I'd put everything in order when I'd closed the evening before. The counters were clean, the leftover pastries went to the soup kitchen nearby, and the shelves were stocked and orderly.

"Don't you read or watch the news?" Irritation was so heavy on his voice that I could feel the glare across states. Why couldn't my parents have had another child so I could share this guilt and misery? "Those vigilante murderers are back in Boston. I think you should come home."

I rolled my eyes. "Dad, I do watch the news. It's just been busy. This past week's been insane." I rolled my shoulders, feeling the tension build. "And why would I care about vigilantes? Didn't they kill mob people? I sell used books and coffee." Logic, I thought, would hopefully work. "Why would I be in danger?"

"Tessa, they killed a priest." He groaned. "Why wouldn't you listen to me before running away to Boston?"

Running away? I was thirty years old when I relocated, for fuck's sake. "Dad, I'm not Catholic, nor are you." I reminded him gently. "I'm certainly not a priest." I let out a sigh I hadn't noticed I was holding. "I'm fine. I'm happy." The stress moved from my shoulders to my neck belying my words. "I'll be safe. Besides, I highly doubt they've returned. And even if they had, they couldn't be stupid enough to come back to their old stomping grounds."

Another sigh and groan from his end. "You never used to be this stubborn." Yeah, because I was too busy making sure everyone else was happy. "Didn't you tell me the bar they used to frequent was close to your store?"

Damn it. Why had he remembered that tidbit in all that I'd told him about my store? Why couldn't he recall how excited I'd been at finding the rare book one of my customers had asked for? And why had I thought sharing the 'local colorful history' of my new home with my overbearing dad? In my defense, I didn't know that someone would kill a priest.

A tap came to the front door and I nearly cheered at the interruption. "Dad, I have to go, my pastries are here." Rushing through another round of I'll be safe and ending with round of "I love yous".

I let out another sigh and ran to unlock the door. The jingle of the bell calmed me a bit as Marco, the bakery's delivery guy came in with the first load of boxes. As I rolled my shoulders and tried to crack my own neck to release the tension, Marco left for the second and last load. After checking to make sure everything was accounted for, I offered him his usual tip. A double espresso.

"Ah, that hits the spot, Tess." He smiled. "You ok?"

I assured him I was fine and we chatted about this and that.

"Better hit the road. Don't want the boss to get pissed." He said, tossing the small cup in the trash. "See ya tomorrow." I waved him out.

"Could you flip my sign?" I asked, and he smiled and did it. "Later, Marc."

I moved to fill the pastry case. Using the decorative towers and plates that I'd picked up at one of the Farmer's Market stalls. The jingle of the bell made me raise up and offer my usual greeting. "Welcome to As the Page Turns, can I help you?"

He was taller than me, but then again almost everyone was. His incredibly blue eyes crinkled with a smile as he took me in behind the counter. The pastry boxes were almost all empty and the display was filled. I was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a loose v-neck brown t-shirt, and a pair of canvas sneakers. My auburn hair piled loosely into a bun on the top of my head and my ever present and much needed glasses perched on my nose, not thick enough to hide my green eyes.

Since he was clearly inventorying my assets as it were, I decided to do the same for him. Dark hair, looking like he'd used shears to cut it in the dark, crowned his head. His skin was sun kissed but not tan, and he wore a peacoat, black t-shirt, jeans, and boots. I could see a bit of a tattoo peeking from the collar of his coat on the left side of his neck. Another tattoo was on his right hand, along his index finger. A word, "AÈQUITAS". Huh, Latin. Justice? I felt a tingle of curiosity.

His smile turned to a smirk and I waited, raising an eyebrow under my glasses. I had my usual customer service smile on, but felt a little smirk of my own forming. Both confirming our inspection of the other, and finding it agreeable. He finally spoke.

"'Eard dis wus de place fer a master coffee on dis street." His Irish brogue is full and strong.

"Did you now?" I asked, my smile widening. "Whose singing my praises?"

"Doc." Ah, I thought. The sweet, if a bit different, owner of Mcginty's Bar, the place my dad had brought up in his call.

"What can I get you?" I asked, grinning at the thought of how many day drinkers Doc sent my way to sober up. This man, however, looked like he had recently woken up. Perhaps,he had a late night, if the slight red in the white of his eyes were telling the tale properly.

"Two av the largest black coffee yer 'av. Strong." He answered. A late night then, I smiled.

"Shot of espresso sounds in order." His eyebrows raised. "Don't look alarmed, I'll add it to the regular coffee." I turned to the machine behind me and started the two cups. "How is Doc?" I asked over the noise and my shoulder.

"'E's gran. Jammers, oi tink." Jammers, I thought, trying to make sense of the words he used. Traffic jams came to mind so I translated that Doc was busy. I had plenty of Irish immigrant customers, and I was slowly learning some of their vernacular. It was rough going, but interesting.

Capping the two large cups with black lids and sliding them into the brown sleeves that would protect my customers from burning themselves on the heat pouring from the hot coffee inside, I turned. "Well, tell him I'll try to stop over this afternoon with his favorite treat." I handed him the coffee. "Are you new in town?"

He shot me a strange look, but seeing me waiting behind the till, he gave another grin. "Aye, just visitin' for business." He chuckled at his own joke. "Ye new? Yisser accent is different."

I had heard that a great deal when I moved here. "Yep, I'm from West Virginia." My smile stayed in place. He's an odd duck, I thought, but Doc never sent me anyone dangerous or violent, so I felt safe. "Hope you enjoy your visit." I told him his total and he handed me a large bill. Opening the register to give him his change he waved me off.

"Naw, lassy, that's for yer." His smile was sweet, but the tip was twice as much as his coffees cost. I opened my mouth to protest, but he stopped me again. "Naw, oi ill in my brown 'ear it. Doc acts loik de sun shines from yer side av de street an' oi can tell why. Yer take care av 'imself, an' we take care av ours."

"Doc's a sweetheart. He reminds me of my late grandpa." I answered, smiling at the jist of what he said. "It's no hardship to check in on him." I put the extra cash under the drawer. If this strange man came back, his coffee was paid for. "I'm Tessa, by the way." I held out my hand.

"Murphy." He answered, simply, taking my hand. His hands were calloused and rough. Like the men I was raised around and the ones working in the factories here.

"Nice to meet you, Murphy." I said, my smile genuine.

The bells on the door jingled again. Another strong Irish voice called out before I could give my standard greeting. "So that's wha yer were- keepin' company wi' a juicy lassy instead av bringin' de coffee, yer arse."

I looked up and the usual greeting caught in my throat. Dear Lord, I thought, the dim light of the store allowing the beams of early morning sun to settle around the newcomer like a halo. Sun bleached brown hair, cut as haphazardly as Murphy's, light blue eyes, and scruff on the planes of his tanned face. Clearing my throat and my mind of how beautiful he was, I finally found my voice.

"Welcome to As the Page Turns." Jesus, why did I sound squeaky and breathless at the same time? "Guess one of these is yours?" I gestured at the two cups on my counter.

He turned his full attention to me and my mouth went dry as I watched him take the same inventory of me as Murphy had. Only this time I felt inadequate. I fought the urge to squirm.

"Damn it, Conner, stop starin' at 'er loike she's bill skinner. She looks loike a colt ready ter bolt." Murphy's voice broke the weird hold. 'Bill skinner'? I wondered. The horse bit I completely understood.

I cleared my throat again. "So, Connor, is it?" I asked, holding out the same hand that Murphy had shaken. "Visiting for business as well?"

Connor, the archangel of beauty choked on his own tongue as he took my hand and shot a look at Murphy. They were silent for a beat, my hand locked in the calloused heat of Connor's while they stared at each other. Great, pretty, but another weirdo.

"Aye, business." He answered, a smile and chuckle as he returned to face me. "An' yer are?"

I really wished I knew the joke. That had these two laughing every time I mentioned business.

"'Er name is Tessa. Whaich yer wud 'av known if ye'd gotten oyt av scratcher and cum wi' me, loike oi tried ter git yer ter." Murphy answered, smirking.

Connor released my hand and I leaned my hip against the counter. "Are you business partners?" I asked, wondering what type of business they could be in. Rough hands, sun kissed skin, peacoats, hair that looked like a blind barber and blunt shears created the cut weren't usually what I'd associate with business travel. They could be sailors, I supposed.

Connor and Murphy laughed. Each picking up a cup of coffee. Murphy with his right hand, Connor with his left. "Business partners?" Connor smiled, taking an appreciative sip. "Naw, brothers."

Murphy sipped his own. Closing his eyes and sighing in gratitude. "Twins in fact." He added, opening his eyes.

Connor took another drink from his cup. He moaned indecently and it made my stomach clench. "Dis coffee is rapid. Yer 'av a gift. An' I'm jealous yer git ter enjoy it al' de time."

It was my turn to laugh. "Oh, I don't drink coffee." The look of horrified disbelief on both their faces was priceless. "I make it. I love the scent of it, but drink it?" I shuddered. "No thanks."

Murphy's eyebrows rose. "'Oy can yer make it if yer allerge it?"

Connor chipped in, shaking his cup. "An' make it taste loike dis?"

I noticed the ink on his hand as he shook the cup. Another word tattoo. "VERITAS" I reached into my tiny bit of high school Latin. "Truth," I said out loud, startling all of us. I blushed as their eyes fell to mine. I swallowed. "The truth is- my parents love coffee. When my mom died, I learned to make a decent cup so my dad could wake up to it. Worked as a barista for a bit. Still hate the taste."

Connor's eyes burned into me, making me curious again about the two of them. "Konnor, perestan' pyalit'sya, ty yeye pugayesh'." Murphy broke the silence in a murmur. The language sounded almost guttural. Russian? Strange.

Connor's eyes never left me as he answered. "Notò la mia mano, Murphy. Pensi che chiamerà la polizia?" The language he'd chosen sounded more lyrical. Wait, 'polizia'? Police?

I cleared my throat. "Well, this has been- interesting." I smiled, hoping to defuse whatever tension was between the three of us. "Could you please let Doc know I'll be over around lunch?" I asked, needing time to process. Hoping desperately they'd take the hint.

Murphy spoke again, tugging his twin away from the counter. "Naw problem, lassy. We'll be 'appy ter let 'imself nu. Say take 'er 'andy, Connor."

"Clap yer lay-ra, lass." Connor said, allowing his brother to steer him out the door, Murphy shooting me a wave.

Well, then, I thought. Going back to the pastry display, I started clearing the empty boxes. What the hell was all that?

Russian translation from Murphy: Connor, stop staring. You scare her.

Italian translation from Connor: She noticed my hand, Murphy. Do you think she'll call the police?

[kyle-valenti]

As the Sun Sets the Moon Rises (4/?)

By the time summer lapses into school session and the first month has gone into September, the four-wheeler incident is all but forgotten. While Max and Isobel give wary looks to each other around Kyle at first, nothing changes for Michael at home. If Kyle had questions, he reserved them for their father-- likely not trusting Michael to be honest given the chance to mess with him-- and after things revert to their usual familiar distance.

Eighth grade begins with a new sort of pressure from teachers and parents that Michael isn’t familiar with and not sure he likes. High school still seems far away in the beginning of the year, and graduation and adulthood too distant. Classes are easy for him anyway, and he sleeps in them often no matter how many eye rolls he gets from Liz Ortecho. Michelle Valenti, however, is set on the idea that both of her sons will go to great colleges and get the hell out of Roswell, especially Michael. For him, it’s more than a good future, it’s a safe future. Somewhere that aliens aren’t on the forefront of everyone’s mind and the belief in them much more rare. He understands, he does; but the nagging about grades and projects is increasingly annoying.

Jim Valenti takes a different approach than nagging, and somehow even though it’s never spoken, both Michael and Kyle know they’re now in competition. While Michael found class too simple, Kyle had often found class pointless altogether. This year they only have two classes together, Physics and Biology, but the problem lies in the fact that Michael exceeds in one Kyle exceeds in the former now that he suddenly cares.

Today as they leave Biology, Kyle having cockily shoved his perfect test score into Michael’s face only for Michael to covertly flip him off, the bell rings and Kyle holds him back. “Hey, hold on.”

“What, going to talk up how you’re going to be some master research doctor surgeon still?” Michael asks sarcastically. “Already told you spacecraft engineer beats you.”

“No, that’s not it,” Kyle says, rolling his eyes and pulling out a slightly crumpled blue envelope out of his pocket. He shoves it at Michael, who cautiously accepts it. “Liz invited you to her birthday party.”

Michael pulls a face out of confusion. “Ortecho? Why ?”

The girl is smart as hell, of course, and constantly the main competition of both of them in their science based classes, but Michael’s maybe talked to her five or six times total, all of the conversations required by being lab partners. She hung out with an entirely different crowd, and as far as Michael knew, Kyle only spent time with her via Alex.

“Think about it,” Kyle replies, looking impatient, and then it clicks. Max . Max’s crush on her had somehow become more increasingly obvious now that there were things like school dances and dating, but Michael hadn’t really paid enough attention other than to tease Max to realize that Liz might actually have a crush in return.

“He’s going to chicken out.” Michael laughs.

All Kyle does is shrug, adjusting his backpack and walking off toward the cafeteria. “I did my duty.”

Following not that far behind, he heads a sharp right to Kyle’s left upon arriving to the cafeteria, and he tries not to gloat too much as he reaches Max and Isobel at their informally assigned table. Hesitancy runs from them into his mind as he approaches with his far more happier than average sarcastic baseline.

Before Isobel can make some snarky curious remark, Michael waves the envelope at Max and enjoys watching him choke on his orange juice as he announces, “Liz Ortecho wants you at her birthday party.”

“ What?” Max fumbles, trying to wipe off the small spray that hit his clothes as Isobel giggles at him and shakes her head. “Why? Says who?”

Michael throws the card to him. “Apparently I’m invited and the only reason on earth she’d invite me is to make you come.”

“You don’t know that,” Max frowns, ever one to hang onto denial.

“Oh come on, Max, don’t be dumb,” Isobel adds in with a sigh. “Even I got an invite and we’ve talked maybe once since fifth grade.”

“She’s probably just being nice.” Max argues again, his head down as he still focuses heavily on drying his shirt with napkins grabbed from the table and not the fact that his crush is actually reaching out to him.

Ever one to settle an argument at almost any cost, Michael only pauses a second before deciding to push it. Isobel catches a flash of his intention from the way she looks up and gives a slightly amused but warning look, but Michael’s already decided as he tells Max, “Let me ask Kyle for you.”

“ Don’t you dare, Michael ,” he hisses, but Michael yells across the lunch room anyway. “Kyle! Come here!”

Max angrily steps on Michael’s foot and once again Michael is grateful that Isobel had convinced Max that the whole cowboy look was out of fashion because he can’t imagine the pain steel toed boots would have caused. Either way it’s too late, Kyle’s attention is already caught, and even though his adopted brother looks extremely annoyed at being summoned, he still comes over.

“What?”

Smirking, Michael asks, “Is Liz going to be horribly offended if Max shows up without an invitation?”

“You interrupted my lunch for this?” Kyle demands, but when Michael only shrugs a shoulder at Max, Kyle dryly tells Max, “You’re an idiot.”

“Excuse me?” Max asks, offense rising, but Kyle rolls his eyes and follows Michael’s suit by yelling across the cafeteria for Alex. Max is now sending Michael the worst look he’s probably ever given, turning red as he snaps under his breath and reinforces mentally, “ I am going to kill you for this .”

Michael is too busy trying to catch a breath between his laughter, doubled over even as Isobel is desperately trying to be diplomatic and stop giggling herself, and Alex comes over with a look of curiosity at the scene. Kyle claps him on the back before sarcastically asking, “Do you think Max is invited to Liz’s party?”

It says quite a bit that Alex only gives a short laugh at first before turning to Max with amused pity. “If Liz finds out I’ve said this, you better blame Kyle, but she’s been trying to find a way to get courage to give you an envelope all week. Why do you think Michael is invited?”

Gesturing to Alex now that his point is proven, Michael’s ignored as Max snaps at him. “Are you done dragging the entire school into this?”

“I don’t know, where’s Deluca and Rosa?”

Max lunges for Michael, but luckily Isobel stops them and Michael can’t help but continue laughing.

=======================

Birthday parties are not Michael’s scene, but the adamant threats Max gives requiring him to show up to Liz’s party make him go. The Crashdown is closed for the day, red balloons and streamers everywhere, and Michael is at least happy to note that the good restaurant food is provided on top of just black forest cake. None of the guests end up being people he talks to often. Liz’s circle generally only included her older sister, Deluca, and Alex; and the only people who showed up outside of that were Kyle who had also been roped in by extension. Presents begin to litter one of the tables-- more than the amount of guests, which Michael has to admit is impressive. Max nervously places his wrapped gift on the table, looking like he’s considering about taking it back at the very idea she may not like it. Isobel’s also brought a gift for politeness’ sake and Michael scrawls his name in addition to hers on the gift tag, inducing rolled eyes. He flashes her a smug grin and looks around to see if Kyle’s brought something as well. There’s an envelope with his writing, and Michael is highly suspicious Kyle spent little effort via giving cash or gift card. Simple, but effective.

Once the food is served, Liz’s mom announces she and Liz’s dad are leaving for their own date, something her dad looks displeased about (especially when her mom gives both Liz and Rosa a wink). After the cake and presents routine, Michael is mentally begging Max to let him leave, but all he gets is Max silently shaking his head and shooting him pleading looks. Isobel sighs beside Michael, also giving into Max’s shy desperation for morale support.

“Games upstairs!” Rosa announces, and Liz gives her sister a look but it’s too late. Deluca has jumped up and followed the direction, cueing Isobel to shrug and follow as well. Alex is smiling and shaking his head as he continues up the stairs, and Michael shoots Kyle a curious glance as they slowly follow the crowd. Kyle only shrugs as if he also has no idea what Rosa Ortecho’s plans could be.

It turns out neither does her little sister, because the second they’re all upstairs in the small but cozy sisters’ bedroom Rosa announces, “Spin the bottle!”

Liz, just like Max would at the public sibling embarrassment, looks mortified. “ What, Rosa? No!”

“Come on little sister,” Rosa teases. “You’re thirteen now, not ten. Time for your first kiss.”

“No one said it would be my first kiss!” Liz argues, her cheeks turning a little pink in a way that suggests to Michael it definitely would be her first kiss. Not that she hadn’t had options, but at least from Michael’s limited outside perspective, she’d always seemed like a good Catholic girl.

Deluca giggles beside them, the upper freshman looking at her friends with amusement.  “Rosa, come on, they’re still in middle school. Leave her alone.”

Liz looks torn between thanking her and glaring at her, and Michael interrupts in the interim to see how much trouble he can add to the situation to save himself from dying of disinterest. “Hey, no one else was consulted on this. I’m down. I know Max is too.”

The bruising punch to his arm he gets from Max is worth it, especially when Isobel joins in and Max’s irritation at both of them is once again strong enough to feel telepathically. Michael is having a very hard time keeping his laughter silent, and there’s a definitively coy tone to Isobel’s addition. “There’s nothing wrong with kissing is there?”

“It’s Liz’s party, guys,” Alex says firmly, and Michael sees Kyle try not to roll his eyes. “She decides.”

“I mean, I guess we’re almost in high school anyway,” Liz replies, blushing furiously and very obviously avoiding looking at Max.

Rosa woops in excitement, grabbing a bottle out of what seems like nowhere and plopping herself onto the hardwood floor. As fortune would have it, they evenly match in sides of people related to each other as they sit, so it looks easy to avoid respins. Before the bottle even touches the floor Michael gets distinct warning glares from not only Max but Kyle as well, his obvious advantage of control something they’re scared of. Both of them are right to be nervous given his mischievous mood, but he lures them into a false sense of security by decidedly not mentally reaching out to the glass at first.

Rosa spins first. Of all the mismatched people in the group, Rosa and Alex are the first to go, and they laugh through the entire thing, making it seem more like a child’s game than anything else.

“Boring!” Liz laughs, giggling with them as well, now looking definitively less nervous. While the birthday girl’s mood has definitely changed for the better, Michael can’t help but notice that Kyle’s has done the opposite at the sight of hers. Something about it seems new and out of place, but he can’t put his finger on the reason yet.

Alex spins, but it’s Maria that it lands on, her just barely angled enough that she ends up having to kiss Rosa next. Liz’s eyebrows shoot up and Alex makes an encouraging laugh that causes Deluca to glare at him. Whatever dynamic Michael’s missing makes him curious, especially the second that Rosa huffs and momentarily stops the teasing by kissing Maria. There’s much more into it than the kiss with Alex-- especially when absolutely no giggling occurs-- which makes Michael raise his eyebrows, but then Deluca pulls back out of nowhere and Rosa snaps back to normal with only one finger to check her lipstick. There’s no time for anyone in the group to ask questions with how lightning fast Maria decides to spins again, fatefully still being picked on, this time with Michael.

“Ugh, seriously?” She asks, scrunching her nose and sarcastically asking, “The universe decided I have to kiss just anyone?”

“Think the universe might be more busy than to focus on your make out practice, Deluca,” he shoots back, rolling his eyes. She pulls a face at him in return, but Liz gives them an amused look as she nudges Maria’s shoulder playfully and says, “Come on, Maria. Rules.”

Maria sighs heavily, but when their lips finally do meet, Michael has to admit she does kiss well. It’s good, even if Michael isn’t entirely sure she’s trying to hide a sexuality crisis. He isn’t sure if the taste of cinnamon is hers or left from Rosa, but the way that Maria fits her lips around his is definitely better than some of the other random girls he’s kissed on the back of the bus just so he could say he’s kissed before.

They pull back after Liz starts laughing, and the entire side of his circle are making faces at them. Kyle and Isobel are seemingly both grossed out while Max seems more teasing. Teasing he can take on, though, and the second he spins the bottle he makes sure to pause it on Liz and Max.

Max freezes, as does Liz, and while they’re both busy turning a shade of red almost as dark as Rosa’s lipstick, it’s Maria’s turn to shove Liz forward (maybe a little more forcefully than Liz had in revenge). Michael can feel the blast of Max’s happiness when the two shyly kiss, as can Isobel from the way she smiles and shakes her head softly. Kyle’s the one to raise an eyebrow at Michael while they’re ignoring the bashful idiots, clearly asking about the influence on the bottle’s direction, and Michael shoots a smirk and shrugs.

Maybe if he hadn’t admitted to it, things wouldn’t become so immediately awkward, but as the bottle spins again and lands on both Alex and Michael, he knows he’s screwed without even looking over. With the same outside energy fields that Michael constantly has to try and drown out he can feel the way that Kyle tenses, but there could be a million reasons. A million reasons that don’t seem to matter when Michael’s faced with the now detrimentally insecure face of Alex Manes.

“Oh come on, Maria and I kissed,” Rosa scoffs when the pause is longer than even Max and Liz’s had been, but before Alex can literally run away Michael kisses him.

He isn’t expecting the kiss to be anything. Alex Manes has always been Kyle’s quiet but sarcastic sidekick, albeit increasingly more attractive as they’ve grown older and Alex’s confidence and social circle has expanded. Honestly he’s just expecting it to be quick and over and something that he can just explain away to Kyle in the aftermath. But as rapidly as Alex had frozen, he equally melted into the kiss, and then they were mirroring the exact energy as him and Deluca until Michael pulls back at the sound of angry footsteps down the stairs.

Isobel gives Michael a rather guilt-inducing stare, but Max is kind enough to distract the group as Michael gets up and discreetly leaves for the stairs to find Kyle moodily sitting in one of the booths, arms crossed and head grumpily leaning forward. At least until Michael is closer. Then Kyle stands up to be on equal, but furious footing.

Trying to mitigate damage by speaking first, Michael lifts his hands and replies, “Didn’t  spin that one, promise.”

“Yeah, and then you just fell on his lips?” he demands, arms folded and an angry expression that doesn’t match the subtle tone hiding underneath the sound of his rough words.

He scoffs now, ignoring that later it’ll be his turn to have hell thinking about it. “What was I supposed to do, Kyle? Be an ass and say no?”

“I would have if it was Isobel!”

Taking a jab just to push things, he replies, “Yeah me kissing your childhood crush isn’t the same as you kissing Isobel.”

“He’s not my crush,” Kyle spits back, but there it is, the inkling Michael had edged toward just earlier after Alex had kissed Rosa. Jealousy. The kind that only came from loving someone in a way you desperately didn’t want to.

Pausing only for a beat, his anger blew out, but he still pushes. He pushes because if Kyle can admit something so monumental, then Michael wouldn’t have to. “Right, so the storming out of the room when another guy kissed him, that was what? So you could come down here and get leftover cake?”

“I don’t like guys.” Is Kyle’s clipped response. “The problem is you kissed him.”

Michael sarcastically huffs, shrugging. “So prove it. Go kiss him. I’ll stop the bottle for you.”

“I don’t have to prove anything.”

“Yeah and what? You’ll just leave the party now and make it look like you’re even more jealous?” he snaps.

While Michael thought the comment would get a rise, he didn’t realize how much. Maybe he’s stepping too much over the line, but he doesn’t care, not even as Kyle moves further into his space, clearly about ready to fight. “Shut up already.”

“You’re the one who got pissed at me,” he reminds. “Sorry I’m confident enough to not care and kiss him first.”

Kyle throws the punch that Michael expects, but then Max is downstairs in the between of Michael recovering and gets in between them surprisingly fast. Michael still owes Kyle a punch to the jaw that he’s aching to give, but Max is too tall for him to reach around without being too forceful with the powers he should be hiding.

“What the hell you two?”

Neither of them speak as Max looks back and forth, still busy glaring at each other, but Max isn’t completely oblivious and asks the delicate question with a slowly dawning look on his face. “Is this about Alex?”

“You don’t even talk to me. Let’s not start,” Kyle replies, moving around Max with a shove to the shoulder, which forces Max to hold Michael back from kicking his ass. Surprisingly enough, Kyle goes back upstairs, but Isobel comes down at the same time and heaves a dramatic sigh as he passes her and she spots Max’s hand still forcefully on Michael’s shoulder.

Once she reaches them Max lets his shoulder go and Isobel gives Michael the kind of stare that rivals Michelle Valenti’s. Quietly, she snaps. “Why on earth are you antagonizing your brother after you’re the one who kissed Kyle?”

“I didn’t realize he felt that way!” Michael defends himself, albeit a little weakly when Isobel continues to give him the guilt inducing stare as she raises an eyebrow and pointedly asks, “Okay, Michael. Is this really Kyle’s gay crisis, or yours?”

“I like girls,” Michael shoots back, trying to ignore the way that Max is looking between both of them.

She doesn’t even blink. “Yes. And?”

“What do you mean?

Isobel sighs impatiently. “You can like both. It happens. Right Max?

“Yeah,” Max adds after a quick second of shock at being dragged into the argument. He looks supportive, but he also looks like a fish out of water, and fumbles as he adds, “Like.. I mean I want pie and Isobel wants cake, and you can want either.

She can’t seem to help it, she laughs, and even though he’s completely on edge even Michael finds it hard not to smile as he rolls his eyes. Isobel shakes her head. “Oh God, Max, how do you convince anyone you’re human?”

“What? I agree with you!” Max asks, looking embarrassed. “There are plenty of writers-- okay besides the point,” Max stops when he gets two glares, and then he turns. “Michael, you know it’s not a big deal to us, right? We love you regardless.”

“There you go,” Isobel teases Max, before also telling Michael, “He’s right though. We love you no matter what sort of taste you have in girls-- because if you date Maria Deluca I might kill you-- or boys. But, you know, maybe don’t try to date Alex Manes if you want your home life to be smooth.”

Max nods. “Now, are you guys going to come back upstairs or--,”

“I literally helped you kiss her.” Michael scoffs. “You can handle it from here.”

“Sorry,” Isobel agrees, not looking very sorry. “We’ve reached the limit of watching your brother desperately fail to flirt with his soulmate. I’m going to go take care of this one.”

Michael shakes his head at her, even if he appreciates it, and they leave with Michael wondering how the hell his life was going to go from here… High school hadn’t even started.

[realityhelixcreates]

Lasabrjotr Chapter 33: The Dapper Little Men of The North

Chapters: 33/? Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Teen And Up Warnings: None Relationships: Loki x Reader (Someday) Characters: Loki (Marvel), Reader, Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), There Are No Puffins In Real World Hrisey Yet, But They Are Trying So, Someday You Too May See This Wonderful Sight Summary:   Puffins! Also something about unpleasant dreams, the Realm of The Dead, and some court case verdict, Idk.

Loki gazed out over the city, triumph swelling in his breast. Everything had gone perfectly! All his enemies had fallen, one by one; a mechanical heart crushed beneath his heel, a spy murdered, a skull split, a soldier captured, a brother banished, and a monster subdued.

He stepped out onto the open balcony, watching with great satisfaction as his army wove through the city, decimating the rest of the opposing forces. They would wind throughout the nation, spreading the news of his reign. Portals would be opened all over the planet, dropping more of his soldiers, consolidating his power. He should be king within days. King Loki, Allfather of Midgard. What a lovely ring it had.

Standing beside him, Odin nodded slowly.

“I remember what this was like.” He said. “The eve of a successful conquest. The feeling is indescribable. What will you do with them now, my son?”

“I'm not-” Loki snapped. “If you fear that I will align them against you, do not. I care nothing for you or Asgard. I now have what I was promised, and I will rule them like a stern father. I will make them great, brook no insolence, and eventually, we will rise in prominence to become a galactic power.”

“Ah, yes, what was promised to you.” Odin said, unperturbed. “And what of what you promised? Those that facilitated this victory will come for their tithe. The price of your reign is half your own subjects!”

“There are billions of them” Loki snarled. “Losing billions only means that I still have billions left! And they breed so swiftly that their numbers will swell within a mere century. The Titan is a fool, and his price is a temporary setback at best!”

“Does the king consider his subjects to be mere chattel? To be traded as currency for power?”

“It's half or all. I am doing them a favor by ensuring their survival under my rule.”

“Perhaps. But you might be losing more than you understand. The true price of your reign might be as yet unforeseen.”

Loki sneered. “You use so many words, yet say nothing.”

“Then perhaps you should be shown, boy.” Odin placed his hand on Loki's arm, and they were whisked away to another place.

Loki found himself on a road, surrounded by orderly rows of tall plants that went on for miles on all sides. Before him was the edge of a town much smaller than where he had just been, its inhabitants being herded onto either side of the road, into the deep ditches that divided asphalt from field.

Yes, this was part of the plan. Every planet Thanos got involved in had to be purged-for the inhabitants own good. Even though Loki would rule, the Titan must still have his due. It didn't matter. There was no reason to care.

But there was a woman there, being shoved roughly into the ditch, facing down the death squad with all the ferocity of a wild animal. She was bruised, bloody in places, thrown back again and again as she tried to clamber back up out of the ditch. Her left hand bled especially profusely.

As his army took aim for their deadly work, she turned, the only one to notice he was here. Her eyes locked with his, filled with bewilderment and sudden curiosity, a plea for help.

He was the last thing she ever saw.

Something wrenched within Loki, a tremendous loss he couldn't place. A seething emptiness for something he hadn't known, but could have.

“There are consequences to every choice.” Odin said as the fields burned and the people died. “You must decide what it is that you really want. Not what anyone else has told you to to expect, but what is truly important to you!”

He was gone then, and the corpses were gone, and everything was gone, and he was awake in a Midgardian hotel room, and you were sitting up in the other bed, fretting slightly at the blankets.

Loki threw off his covers, flipped on a light, and crossed the few feet between your beds to kneel beside yours. He threw his arms around your middle, and lay his head down in your blanketed lap. You were shaking slightly, and didn't signal that you wanted him to stop, so he just nestled there.

“Is...is it just gonna be like that?” You asked. “Are we just gonna keep sharing dreams, whether we want to or not.”

“I hope it isn't so.” Loki mumbled. “My nightmares are frequent and awful.”

“Yeah, looks like. That was terrifying. Is that...Is that really how you were?”

Loki said nothing.

“Who was that man?”

“That was my father. It only makes sense that he would begin to appear in my nightmares.”

“Oh.” You said, absently stroking his hair. “Unresolved issues. And he's gone now, so you can only talk to him in your head. Loki, how did he die?”

“He willed himself to go. Ascended to Valhalla before my eyes.”

“Wait. Gods have an afterlife? Where...where do you go after you die?” It was clearly something you hadn't thought about before. Many humans didn't think gods could die, so why would they have an afterlife?

“Niflheim.” He said, gloomy and reverent. “The ninth realm. The realm of mystery. The land of the dead.”

“That's...a real place? Like one of the planets you showed me?”

“Yes and no.” Loki said. “It's a difficult place to pin down. We know it exists. We know where it is. But it's insanely difficult to get to, and those that go are all but guaranteed never to return. At least, not in the same form as they went. It's the only one of the realms I've never been to.” He raised his head from your lap with a slight frown.

“No, I suppose that's not true. I went there once. But I am not able to remember.”

“Because you died? And your soul went there, but it's still a real, solid place? I don't know if I'm really following here.”

“It is the realm of mystery.” Loki said simply. “There is a great deal of speculation surrounding it. But we know for certain that it is real.”

“Where is it?”

“Within a black hole.”

“I'm sorry, what?”

“It is within a black hole. Specifically, the one at the center of its galaxy.”

“But...I thought nothing survived a black hole. That's why they're so scary and compelling. That's why they show up in every space fantasy story ever written since their discovery. Because they're terrifying, inescapable destroyers.”

  “Your people have no idea what happens beyond the event horizon of a black hole.” Loki pointed out. “And neither do mine. No one does; likely not even the inhabitants of Niflheim.”

“Which is totally a real place, where dead people live.”

“Which is totally a real place where spirits reside, and sometimes they still speak to us. And sometimes we remember a time when we were there, in between being one person and being the next. Niflheim is a realm, but it doesn't necessarily need to be a planet. It is where the spirit goes after death, and comes back to be reborn.”

“How? Light can't even get out of those things, how does a spirit escape? Do they swim?”

“It is not known. Photons may not be able to escape, but there are many types of energy in the universe, many types of waves that could comprise a soul. Things do escape black holes, through quantum tunneling. There are other potential ways, but we haven't solid evidence yet, and the few of us who did dedicate themselves to the realm's study have been disrupted. But...I was there, I know I was. I just don't remember.”

“Is that where Valhalla is? Did you go there?”

Loki shook his head. “Can't remember. I didn't come back to a different life, I was reinstated into my old one. I don't see how. I wasn't the kind of person who should sit among heroes. That's not who I am.”

“Says who? The king sure seems to think so. Most everyone I talk to speaks highly of you. And you've gone out of your way to help me. As it was described to me, you saved basically everyone's life when you brought the evacuation ship. And how many people did you potentially save when you set that absurd fire giant lose on your sister? How many people do you have to save, Loki? Like, what do you have to do? You said your dad willed himself to Valhalla? How many people did he save?”

“Quite a lot, actually. He's the one who initially locked Hela away. In Niflheim. He is the only person I have ever heard of who ever managed to open paths to the realm of mystery, and even then, he did it only thrice in all the millennia that he lived. I think he was only able to do it because of the kind of Aesir that he was: one connected to war and death. That's likely the only reason Hela could survive there, the reason the Valkyries were chosen to go forth and subdue her there. All associated with death.”

With all his exploring, all the paths and portals he had found, it was one of the only places beyond his reach. It had been frustrating in his youth, but now he had little desire to go back.

“Is that what heaven really is?” You wondered. “Souls sucked into a black hole, just waiting to escape?”

“Perhaps. That's what Niflheim is, but nobody can say for sure what it's like in there. The few people who can remember do say that it's divided up into lands, like an actual place. That there is some kind of reward or retribution for who you were when you lived. Aesir who ascend to Valhalla...their bodies dissipate into motes of light, and away they go. Thor didn't mention that happening to me, but sometimes it takes a while. As far as anyone knows, I was left a cinder, out in space, in the remains of a demolished ship. I didn't save anyone, _____. I failed, and died. That is what I do. I fail people, and I die.” A rueful laugh escaped him. “And they call that redemption.”

His death had solved nothing, not once in the several times he's been thought dead, and not when he had actually died. All he had left behind him was a legacy of ruin, where he had tried to help his people, and still caused innocents to die. Even here, people were beginning to die because of things he had done.

“Loki, that's not-”

“No.” He said firmly. “No platitudes. Not right now. I need to say this, please. I'm still doing wrong by you.”

“You-”

“Shh!” He pressed a long finger to your lips. “I wasn't meant to be this way. I know my reputation, and I earned it, but I didn't start out like this. I keep thinking if I can just successfully do something good...But I'm still just using you. To make me look and feel better, pushing my agenda and baggage all onto you.”

“I mean, You could have let me die. You didn't have to do any of this.”

“And what kind of choice is that?” He shot back. “Immediately leave your home and job, everything and everyone you've ever known, take nothing with you, leave your home nation, your culture, everything you love. Instead, live with people you do not know and cannot speak to, people who aren't even the same species as you, who live on timescales you cannot fathom, and manipulate powers you have no frame of reference for, tied to an evil villain who tried to conquer and enslave your people, and who murdered many of them. Or die. That is not a choice, that is coercion! That is what I have offered you. It is not some noble sacrifice on my part, the sacrifices have all been on you.”

“You're not an evil villain.” You said quietly.

“Oh, yes I am. Perhaps not actively, not at the moment. But it's still there. The things I have done, I did without remorse, without hesitation. Exactly like when I kidnapped you. There are things I've done you don't even know about, things whose consequences are still unfolding, and cannot be reversed or repaired. Dying isn't enough _____, I can never make up for what I've done. There is no retribution I can endure, no redemption I can hope for. I am truly wretched _____, and yet I keep striving for hope.”

You were quiet for a few long moments, long enough for Loki to wonder if he had said too much. You had the right to reject him, either for his past wrongs or his current pathetic whining, and he began to fear that you would.

“I'm not sure how to help you Loki.” You said, cradling his head. “I don't know what to say. I can tell you that you hide this well. But I'm tired and we just had a nightmare, so if you want you can stay next to me tonight.”

He craned his head up to gaze at you. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. You're not gonna do anything bad. Get up here, and let's be lost together.”

Loki clambered into the bed next to you, all limbs and no grace.. He settled down next to you and, with your permission, cuddled right up.

There was something naturally comforting about the sensation of your living warmth against his body, of the occasionally discernible heartbeat, the gradually slowing breath. When you were sleeping, still and peaceful like this, he felt almost like a normal man.

                                                                              *****

The next day found you on a ferry, crossing the beautiful blue fjord to a large island situated in the middle. There wasn't any blue water in Iowa; the streams and lakes were either clear and flowing, or thick with fertile, brown silt. The ocean smelled different from the waters of home, different even than the river that surrounded Asgard.

According to Loki-who was feeling much better this morning-the island of Hrisey promised to hold an enjoyable time for you, and so you had taken Acorn and Leynarodd north out of Akureyri, to the ferry.

Though the island was mostly ringed with high cliffs, there was a low harbor, and the rest seemed to be mostly flat. Loki took you to a small, seaside restaurant, which served some of the best fish soup you had ever had. The coffee was also very good, and both warmed you up very nicely. It was a cold morning for August, and you'd needed to put on all the layers you could. Your cloak would be getting quite a bit of use this winter, if this was any indication of the upcoming temperatures.

The little restaurant reminded you a lot of the old coffee shop back home, with its simple tables and chalkboard menu-helpfully written partially in English as well as Icelandic. Loki actually looked slightly uncomfortable in his surroundings for once, towering over everything, and seeming to take up way too much space. An extraterrestrial god-prince in a small town coffee shop. It was kind of amusing, and made you want to show him around back home. Or show him off, more precisely.

Oh, hey everybody meet my immortal god-boss! He's a real Prince Charming if you work for him, but he sure will slaughter the competition! Hahah, why are the cops here?

Yeah, that wouldn't go well. You did miss home, and it wasn't quite as old-fashioned there as people might think, but there were still people who painted bible verses on the sides of their buildings, and billboards that warned about the terrors of Hell. A known murderer claiming to be an actual pagan god was not going to be popular.

Loki leafed through the pamphlet provided when you'd left the ferry, while you ordered another coffee to-go. Hrisey supported only a tiny population of permanent residents; the majority of the island was a wildlife preserve, specifically for the seabirds. Outside of the single settlement, with its lovely, colorful houses, was broad, flat wilderness dotted with ferny puffs of fluffy white flowers, and patches of short juniper trees. The soaring mountains of the fjord were visible to either side, with only the shining waters separating you from them.

Using the pamphlet as a tour guide, the two of you visited the pair of museums located on the island: one focusing on historical life on the island, and the other specifically about sharks. That one was stationed in the oldest house on the island, a house that had once belonged to a man appropriately named Shark Jorundur, and detailed the history of shark fishing in the area, a profession no longer popular, but not entirely eradicated. Apparently, a traditional Icelandic dish was prepared from the fermented flesh of Greenlandic sharks, and you had never been less interested in tasting a local food.

There were many tractors in the little village, and you spotted one especially aged model with a trailer attached, loading up with people. A wave of familiarity crashed over you.

“Is that a hayride?” You exclaimed, dashing down to the street, leaving Loki to chase after you.

“Wait, no, ______,” He protested weakly. “You cannot mean to ride in that thing. Are we vegetable sacks, so lacking in dignity?”

“What's wrong?” You teased. “Scared of getting straw on your cloak?”

“This is beneath us.” He insisted.

“Not me.” You gestured at the cart. “This is essential summer and fall activity to me. You might have dressed me up and given me a different job, but you haven't pruned the cornfields out of this peasant just yet...” The people already in the cart were staring, some checking their phones and whispering to each other, some glaring. Altogether, they projected a rather unfriendly front. “...On second thought, a hike might be nice...”

Loki took your hand and led you away from the whispers and glowering, away to the lonely hiking trails.

“Looks like they recognized us...” You muttered.

“I am a rather prominent figure, and you are growing in notoriety. I don not see why they feel entitled to dominate the hayride, however.”

“You didn't even wanna ride it!”

“No, but you did.”

There were three paths, and you decided to take them all, one by one. You had the entire day after all.

The view was like a fairy tale from practically every inch of the island, and you let the magic of it sweep you away. It really was nearly perfect; beautiful surroundings, exploration, a mostly friendly village to return to, with delicious food waiting. A fantasy prince who held your hand and walked at your pace. He really was thoughtful sometimes. Willing to ride in a tractor trailer just because you wanted to. Taking you on this little vacation to calm your nerves and keep your spirits up while you waited on a verdict.

Loki seemed to like to go overboard on certain things. Now that he knew you were troubled, he was trying to overwhelm you with beauty. It was kind of working; you hadn't thought about the trial all day, and had only been bothered once, by the stand-offish stares of the people on the hayride.

The wind was biting cold though, whipping up off the water, the flat landscape doing nothing to slow it down, and even your plush cloak wasn't enough to keep your ears and nose from burning with cold, your eyes watering from the frigid gusts.

Again Loki provided a handkerchief for your eyes; you went much easier on this one.

“It appears that we will need to have another cloak made for you. Even this is clearly not sufficient. Fur lining perhaps? Heavier clothing too. It wouldn't do to let you take a chill. Your kind are remarkably adaptable, but you still fall to such things.”

Standing at the northernmost point of the path, Loki wrapped you in his cloak, so that only your face was poking out, the warmth of his body banishing the sting of the wind. You probably should have protested: this was far too casually intimate. This was boyfriend territory, and the thought of anyone calling Loki their boyfriend was just weird. It was so mundane.

But he had already said he didn't want you getting too cold, so you probably shouldn't worry about it. It was probably nothing more than Loki being extra. He was good at that.

“Behold.” He said softly, as birds approached, dapper little tuxedo patterned creatures, waddling and squawking with large, colorful beaks.

“Oh my gosh, puffins!” You exclaimed. The adorable penguins of the north. You watched them hop and cavort over the short, wild grasses, wrapped in the safe warmth of Loki's cloaked arms, and a little bit of joy suffused you. It would be wonderful to come out and do things like this every now and then. You'd hardly seen any of your new home, but everyone knew Iceland was beautiful. And also stuffed with volcanoes, which you hoped would not become a problem later. But as long as there were puffins, surely there was happiness in the world.

“They really are appealing little beasts, aren't they?” Loki mused. “Perhaps when we have the means, we can fund a wildlife sanctuary of our own?”

“You would want to do that? Loki, that would be amazing! There are so many places that need environmental help, but I've never been able to do anything about it.”

“Perhaps you will be able to, in the future. I don't mind helping. Your animals are whimsical and strange, and I rather like some of them. Contrary to popular belief, I do not actually hate the Earth. I never did, and Asgard has a long history of environmental conservation. Of course, that was for later exploitation, but the techniques were still effective.”

“Our own wildlife preserve...Maybe back in Iowa? There's a lot of endangered plants there, because of all the corn.”

“Would you like to plant them?” Loki asked. His face was awfully close, but you turned your head to look at him anyway, finding yourself captivated by those deep, glittering eyes.

“Yeah. I would.” You mumbled. So close.

A puffin hopped up on the path, and trod on your foot. It squawked loudly.

You looked down. “Oh my gosh!” You cried. “You're so cute! You're so brave! What do you want, beautiful birdie? You want scritches?”

“Meddling creature.” Loki muttered. “No wait!” He grabbed your wrist as you reached out to pet the bold bird. “It says in the pamphlet that we mustn't touch them. Their feathers have a special coating that protects them from the water, but our touch can destroy it.”

“Oh geez! Sorry little guy, I didn't know.”

“Here.” Loki said, enfolding your fingers with his. “Nothing to rub off here, except, perhaps, my many virtues.”

“Or your bad habits.” You snorted, giving him a small shove. Regret immediately flooded you; that wasn't the kind of thing you should be doing. That was something you did with Tara, or any of your old boyfriends, or school friends, or you dad. Not a god. Not royalty. Not your boss. Your hand-holding, surprisingly cuddly boss, who princess carried you, and snuggled you after nightmares... Okay, it could definitely be said that he started it.

Why was Loki so tactile? You couldn't help but wonder, as he kept hold of your hand, and began the long, leisurely walk back to the village. Was he like that with everybody? You hadn't seen much evidence of it, but he didn't seem close with all that many people, and touching servants-even in a completely professional manner-seemed like it would be considered wildly inappropriate, even for a prince. That was something you had noticed about Asgardians: they were very proper about personal space, unless they really liked one another, in which case, they were all back claps, and arm clasps, and tackles, and hugs.

Loki didn't seem to have that with anybody. Even with his brother, he was somewhat withdrawn. He seemed to save it all up, to pour out on you.

Of course, you didn't yet know what he did, or who he was with when he was away from you. He could have plenty of friends you'd never met. He could have a whole mob of concubines...

No, that sounded wrong. Loki was very handsome, and very powerful, and had plenty of desirable traits, if anyone were to ask you. He was also a flirt, but oddly enough, he really didn't seem like a philanderer.

Still, you didn't know for sure. Not yet. Just that he seemed very comfortable with being close to you. Perhaps it was good for him, and maybe even a little for you as well.

There were whales in the water on the ferry ride back to the mainland, and Loki was particularly interested in them.

“Bigger than a bilgesnipe!” He exclaimed. “And humans used to hunt these with no more than harpoons? Preposterous!”

“We almost wiped them out. It wasn't even that long ago; some of them are still endangered.”

“It's a good thing Thor did not spend much time on this realm until recently. For certain, he would have joined in many such hunts with great gusto, and your whales would have been as much myth as we.”

“That would be terrible.” You said. “We've already caused so many extinctions. And just look at them out there. Wouldn't it be sad if they were all gone?”

“They are majestic.” Loki leaned on the railing, watching the huge animals swimming. As the ferry neared the shore, his phone rang. Whoever was on the other end of the line told him something he liked; his face stretched into a wicked, almost cruel grin.

“Well?” You demanded as he put his phone away. “What's that about? You look like a cat that just stuffed a dead bird in its owner's shoe.”

“Twenty years.” He said. “And immediate deportation upon release. Harsh, for Icelandic justice, but ultimately fair. The man did come here specifically to murder people, after all. Rejoice my dear. He shall never trouble you again.”

Relief flowed through you, lifting your stress, leaving you drifting on a kind of high all the way back to Akureyri. You floated through the entire evening like that, holding lightly on to Loki's arm while he took you out on the town, eating a lovely dinner, picking up a cellphone for you, and a little puffin charm to go with it. People followed you around, and everyone in the city must have gotten a picture of you, but none of that mattered to you for that night at least.

When you returned to your room, you actually gave him a real hug, full of solace and satisfaction. He took the opportunity to begin a slow dance with you, sweeping you effortlessly around the room until you were ready to turn in for the night.

You crawled under your blankets, looking forward to the rest of your vacation, and especially, a good night's sleep.

[teddybeardoctorr]

“The Most Beautiful Person in This Room”

I needed Dean Winchester smut/lemons in my life. If you are looking for simply that, then I hope you enjoy. -A/N

Pairing: Dean Winchester x OC (unnamed)

Summary: She runs into Dean Winchester four years later, and he looks at her differently now than he did before.

Words: 4.4k

Warnings: Age gap (8-9 years). Very smutty (receiving/giving, the big fat lemon, brief mention of daddy kink).

February, 2011

“On the house for the lady.”

I looked up, confused. Beth, the bartender, slid a cranberry and vodka to me.

“Oh, I didn't order another one.”

“You didn't, but he did.”

She pointed to the left, so my finger followed.

And I wasn't sure whether to be happy or disappointed in what I saw.

Of course I ran into Dean Winchester, of all places.

He glanced over me, up and down, before taking a swig of his own beer. His gaze sent heat up my neck.

Eye contact was my weakness and his specialty.

We were probably working the same case in town. Unsuspecting teenagers who had everything to live for making suicide pacts out of nowhere. Enough to draw suspicion in a town of 1,200 people.

And we both probably felt the heat of trying to dig up the lore and opted for a night of alcohol instead.

His gaze still unwavering, I decided to get up with my drink and make my way over. It was Friday, so a little crowded, but I easily maneuvered my way over.

“What are you doing working my case?”

I laughed, watching his throat constrict as he took another swig. “By all means, take it. I could be sleeping.”

“Or drinking somewhere else.”

I shrugged, sitting in the stool on his right. “Where's Sam?”

Dean turned fully to me, causing me to back up just a bit. His presence was intimidating, like it called for attention in all the right places.

“At a diner, reading into lore,” he replied.

“Instead of getting buzzed with the world's douchiest brother?”

“I'm not everyone's cup of tea. Or a douche.”

“You're right. Just a little bit of a douche.”

“Shut up.”

We both clinked glasses, me hiding a smile behind my straw. I drank in the liquor and him. He looked a little older now. But everything about him was still just as sexy.

Of course, I wouldn't admit that.

“Wow,” he said, looking me over and smirking. Biting his bottom lip. “How long has it been?”

“Four years,” I replied too quickly. “Or something like that, I mean.”

He nodded. “You haven't aged a bit.”

“You have.”

He rolled his eyes, laughing. “Yeah, well, life does that.”

“So does alcohol.”

“How old are you now?”

“22.”

“Oh, you're still way too young for me, sweetheart.”

I laughed, offended. “Is that so?”

He laughed, finishing off his glass. “You make a guy feel that way.”

I looked him over, eyes narrowing but unable to hide my smile. “Age is so subjective.”

His own eyes trailed over mine, crawling down to my lips. “Jail-bait isn't.”

“Shut up, I'm totally legal.”

He rose his hands, surrendering. “Hey, you're right. I just remember you younger, I guess.”

I did, too. It felt like just yesterday I was looking for my missing father and ran into Dean, looking for him also. Word had gotten out that a fellow hunter went missing, and I guess he owed my dad a favor.

My dad didn't make it out alive, but Dean made sure I did. Which is why I was happy to see him, but felt it was wrong to be, disappointed in myself.

Nothing would ever bring my dad back, but as a hunter, you had to swallow a lot of hard pills.

Back then, I guess I was still a kid. Barely 18-years-old, even though that's not what Dean thought. I didn't tell him, but he found out eventually. I could tell it made him look at me differently afterwards.

Unfortunately, I remembered it exactly like it was just a few minutes ago.

“You think you're gonna be okay?”

He was walking me to my doorstep, and it just didn't seem real. I had only ever known a life of living inside of this house with my dad. And now, he was gone.

I looked up at him and nodded. “He would want me to be.”

He smiled slightly. I could tell he was afraid to agree.

Right in front of my door, we both stopped and turned to each other. He was tall, so I had to strain my neck and look up. After all, it would be awkward to be caught staring at his strong chest, one I wanted to run my hands all over with. But I didn't mind, because his lips looked soft and his eyes were green and beautiful and made my stomach flip.

“So,” he said, breaking the silence. “Does this mean you're retiring?”

“Hell no.”

He laughed, almost in shock. “What, you're serious?”

“I mean...I think I'll take a break, but I've been hunting since I was 13. I'm not sure I'll ever stop. Would you?”

He shrugged his shoulders, still smirking. Still lighthearted and flirty as ever. “I guess not.”

I grinned, still not being able to take my eyes off his mouth. So, I decided to get bold, grab onto his chest, stand on my toes, and press my lips against his.

He seemed shocked, but then his mouth settled onto mine. His hand cupped my cheek, the tips of his fingers woven into my hair. My hand instinctively went to grab onto his, anchoring myself.

I felt my head spinning when I dared entrance with my tongue, feeling his slide against mine smoothly. Providing me warmth, comfort, and awakening an arousal deep inside of me. Right down the middle.

But then he backed away slightly and said, “We can't do that.”

I looked up, eyes wide. And I must have looked wounded because his hard expression immediately deflated.

“That's not what I mean. It's just...I'm too old for you.”

“But I'm eight-te-”

“Just,” he held up his finger to stop me. I'm sure it was going to press against my lips, but instead, it curled a piece of my hair. Probably to provide sympathy.

It was too late. I already felt stupid and embarrassed.

There was no way a guy like him could find me attractive.

Feeling like a loser, I broke away and immediately unlocked the door and went inside. I didn't slam the door shut, but I closed it with a quiet thud. I was disappointed in myself.

I didn't even say thank you.

And by the time I wanted to open the door and run out to him and tell him I was sorry, I heard the engine of his car come to life, and the tires screech against the road.

The way he looked at me now was different, too. Like he desired me. Every inch, eyes not knowing what to admire first. I could see that look from anywhere.

“So,” I said right before taking a sip. “What's new in Dean Winchester’s life?”

He shook his head, shrugging. “Well, I just ran into an old friend.”

“We're friends?”

“Don't get too excited, now.”

I laughed, tilting my head. “I guess I'm just shocked you think so highly of me.”

“Why wouldn't I?”

“Well, I am a liar.”

“Lying is in our job description.”

I guess I couldn't argue with him there.

He inched closer, tilting his head until his lips brushed against my ear. “And I wouldn't expect anything less.”

I drew back slightly, looking into his eyes. Green and shining, filled with what I hoped was want. “Why?”

He shrugged, smirking. “You just seem like the type that has all sorts of secrets hiding.”

Well, he wasn't wrong.

“And,” he continued, leaning in again, his breath tickling my ear. “I want to find out what.”

“Not until you tell me yours first.”

“I'm an open book.”

I rolled my eyes, leaning back. “Have you met yourself?”

“From what I hear,” he said, leaning back. “I raise a lot of hell.”

“And headaches.”

“Everyone's a critic.”

Laughing was easier than constantly looking in his eyes. His stare was intimidating and caused my legs to press together. It made me want to get under him. Surrender to him.

“Have anywhere to be after this?” he asked, snapping me back from my daze.

I shook my head. “Well, I'm here.”

“And then you'll be at my place.”

“You're very assumptive.”

“Cause I'm always right.”

“And bossy, I see.”

He rolled his eyes, fishing a few bills from his wallet and slapping it on the bar top. “You're welcome. See you in a bit.”

Before I knew it, he slipped on his leather jacket and squeezed my shoulder before leaving the bar. I took a few minutes to down my drink; I was gonna need it.

And just when I got up from my own chair, I realized he didn't tell me what motel he was staying at.

Dick.

Well, if I knew anything about Dean, I knew he would probably be at the cheapest one. And his impala wasn't hard to spot.

This man never made anything easy.

But he paid for our drinks, so I guess he was a gentleman.

Slipping on my jacket, I headed out to the tiny lot and into my beetle. My instincts were right as I pulled up into the cheapest motel in town, spotting his impala in front of room 17. This was convenient, since I was in room 20.

Turning the key out of the ignition, I let out a huge breath I didn’t know I was holding. Even now, Dean still made me nervous. He was predictable; guys like him always were. The ones who were just looking for a good time, not a long time. Guys I convinced myself I was okay with being involved with.

It was that same force that almost led me to not get out of my car, walk to his room, and knock on the door. I would probably be better off sleeping in and meeting up with him tomorrow to tag team on the case and finish the job together.

But the same nerves he filled me with told me to do it, anyway.

Dean Winchester was a force that melted everything in its path, and I didn’t mind melting. As long as it was under him.

After knocking three times, the door opened almost immediately. I swallowed hard, taking in the sight of him in a black shirt clinging around his chest.

Smirking, he stepped aside for me to walk in. “You made it.”

“I figured I’d grace you with my presence.”

Closing the door and locking it behind him, he smiled and took my hand, kissing my gathered fingers. “Well, I guess I’m charmed.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re so corny.”

“Dad jokes are my specialty, but I’m afraid I’m all out tonight.”

“Then what was the point of coming over?”

Suddenly, I felt my back hit the door. There was no room to move because Dean was standing over me, staring down. Grinning.

I didn’t notice him inching towards me. But now, I noticed his hand pinning my throat down, my center flooding with desire. It wasn’t malicious, but it was enough pressure to send my eyes to the back of my head.

“You tell me,” he said just above a whisper.

But I didn’t get to, because his lips captured mine, melting into my own.

I sighed against him, my nerves instantly melting. He tasted like beer, but his lips were so soft, melding into the movement of mine. Capturing my bottom lip and tracing it with his tongue. Taking his time and groaning inside my mouth.

“I wonder what the rest of you tastes like,” he gasped, coming up for air.

His eyes were closed, and I took that moment to admire his features. Just a few freckles across the bridge of his nose. His short eyelashes. His prominent crows feet. He was perfection.

My hands moved to his biceps feeling them flex under my touch. I held on for dear life, not sure if it was okay to touch him anywhere else. “Well, you could find out.”

He chuckled, looking over me quickly before kissing me again, but this time, with more pressure and urgency.

This time, it was me who was pushing forward, slowly walking him until the back of his legs hit the bed. Our lips never quite leaving each other’s as our tongues melted, needing every taste they could get. He sat down, bringing me on top of him, my hands easily placing themselves on his shoulders. They constricted under his shirt as his hands rubbed up and down my thighs, not knowing where to settle.

Our hands never quite found their place. Mine were on his shoulders, then his chest, grasping at anything so I didn’t completely soak myself through my jeans with pleasure. His were on my thighs, then my hips, then my ass, squeezing and bringing me closer to him. Wanting to create any friction we could between us.

While I liked his hands digging into the back pockets of my jeans, I wanted them elsewhere. So I stopped him, grabbed them, and placed them under my shirt, where he could squeeze my breasts.

He practically growled against my lips, biting my bottom lip and suckling before pulling back, making me whimper.

“You like it when I touch you?”

I nodded, biting his bottom lip until he smiled and slid his tongue against mine. We found a rhythm with our mouths, never missing a beat. Air becoming a foreign concept. He was tasty and warm and buzzed against my mouth, sending currents down my middle that made me want him inside right now.

But we took our time, until it seemed like there was no time at all. Suddenly, his hands slid down my sides, bringing my shirt over my head. He was pleasantly surprised to see no bra to unclasp, and I almost rolled my eyes. Almost.

“I know you’re quiet now,” he started, his hands squeezing my breasts. Goosebumps raced across my flesh, and I gasped when his mouth starting kissing it before saying, “But I want you to scream my name later.”

I wasn’t sure if I moaned at his words or his lips enveloping my nipple, sucking and nibbling until I arched completely into him. But the sounds coming out of my mouth because of him were unrecognizable.

As much as his teeth lightly nibbling and his lips sucking and kissing my nipples felt indescribable, I also wanted to make him feel the same way. I wanted his knees to buckle and his throat to omit moans of his own because of me.

So holding onto his shoulders and standing before him, he looked confused before my hands went to undo his belt. He grinned, lightly laughing before saying, “You’ve always been such a giver.”

I tossed his belt to the side, smiling and getting down on my knees, eager to see what I’d fantasized about since I was a teenager. It felt unreal. I was about to please Dean, a man who intimidated me, but also aroused me until I was blue in the face.

He helped pull his pants and boxers down until I took them off his feet and tossed them elsewhere. His hand grasped his thick cock, ready at attention. A vein popping out, waiting for my tongue to trace it until my lips were enveloping the tip.

I moved his hand aside, grabbing the base and following my idea of letting my tongue do the tracing. He hissed, throwing his head back with his hand immediately tucking my hair behind my ear.

After paying attention to tease the tip, I slowly lowered my mouth on his cock. Sucking and letting his hand grab some of my hair, lowering my head down. “Fuck,” he moaned.

I hummed my approval, causing his hand to grab at my hair tighter. I watched him stare me in the eyes as I listened to his groans and hisses. Paying attention to tease him slow, sucking hard and letting myself gag a little. Then, I sped up my movements, my lips tighter and my head moving faster across his hard cock, letting his hand control the speed.

My throat was getting sore, so I came up for air with a loud, sloppy pop. Letting my spit pool in my mouth as I looked up at Dean with an open-mouthed smile. He looked down, his eyes a dangerous shade of dark as his chest rose heavily for air.

“God, you’re perfect,” he said, breathy, brushing his thumb across my cheek.

My lips went to suck his tip again as my hand grabbed the base of his cock to stroke him. But just after a few, tight pumps, his hands stop me.

I looked up, confused, but he smirked down at me. “If you keep going, I’ll cum already.”

“But I want to taste you.”

He groaned, bringing me to my feet and on top of him. His hands rubbing everywhere and grabbing with more force than before. “And I want to taste you first.”

Before I knew it, all of my clothes decorated the room. I giggled as he took his shirt off and kissed me in between, our tongues never letting up and our lips sealing even tighter with each dip and dive. I never wanted to breathe again. I didn’t want to miss a moment of his soft, supple lips on mine.

My head hit the pillows as he towered over me. He fell on his elbows and studied my face, grinning lazily.

“What are you staring at?” I asked, dazed and needing him inside of me.

“At the most beautiful person in this room.”

I felt my eyes flutter to his lips, still not being able to keep connection with his. Every time he stared into my eyes, I was afraid I’d make the moment awkward or say something stupid. I still imagined myself as the dumb, young girl from years ago. But Dean made me feel sexy, alive, and tingly with sensations I couldn’t name.

Kissing me deeply once more, he made his way down and left kisses down my body. Crawling backwards until he slung my legs over his shoulders and pinned my hips down to the bed. My center in front of his face, him staring down like he was about to devour a meal.

Instead of licking down once and teasing me, he kissed my clit and we moaned in time, my hips already rising towards his face.

“You’re so wet already, baby,” he said against me, tickling my slightly.

I smiled down at him, my fingers threading through his hair. But my smile died on my lips as his closed around my clit, flicked with his tongue and sucked until a loud moan ripped through my chest. He wasted no time in drinking me in and applying pressure to my bundle of nerves. My legs buckling and fingers pulling at his hair, trying to bring his face even closer to my pussy.

After releasing my clit with a loud pucker, his tongue traced my folds. Teasing me, making me writhe. I almost whimpered until the tip of his tongue made it past my entrance and caused me to gasp.

“Oh fuck, Dean!”

He hummed as his tongue hurriedly entered in and out, fucking me to perfection. I could feel myself contract around him. I wouldn't be surprised if I came already.

His tongue traced up to my clit again, flicking back and forth and paying special attention to the rhythm of my hips. It's like he knew every time I'd rise up to his face, he'd move in time with each pulse. The tip of his tongue pressing against me each time.

Briefly, he stopped to look up at me. His mouth shined with my arousal, and his smile made me feel even more pleased.

“Why. Did you s-stop?” I asked, my breath shaky.

“So I could watch you when I do this.”

As soon as his sentence ended, I felt two fingers slam inside of me. I moaned, throwing my head back into the pillows, pulling his hair and redirecting his face to drink me in. He laughed but resumed attention on my clit, sucking it back and forth and curving his fingers to rub and tease me inside.

I didn't know how much I could take. The tension building in my stomach felt like it would explode, but I couldn't get enough. I couldn't get enough of his mouth humming against my clit as he sucked and kissed it continuously. And his fingers inside, adding a third one, had my hips push towards his hand. Fucking it faster, watching him as he stared in awe.

“Fuck, I could watch you do this all day,” he groaned.

“Oh, my God.”

“You wanna cum?”

“Oh, yes p-please.”

He wasted no time in slamming his fingers in and out faster, watching me writhe as my orgasm washed through and onto his hand. Not slowing down even when my hips couldn't control their movement. But he took his fingers out, tasting me and drinking me in, watching me gasp and arch when his tongue pressed against my clit a few more times.

I tried pushing his head away as my hips bucked wildly, but he enjoyed tasting me and chuckling when I tried to stop him. Truth be told, I wasn't too mad.

I was far from mad.

Once satisfied, he kissed my folds gently before crawling up. His eyes glazed over me, hungry and ready. My chest rose up and down, and I smiled when he kept staring.

Just when I was about to say something, he flipped me onto my front side. I gasped when his dick pressed against my ass, his mouth smiling against my ear. He whispered, “You want me to fuck you?”

Somehow, I was able to respond. “Until you cum inside me.”

The sound that he produced was inhuman, but before I could laugh he said, “I just might.”

He spread my legs apart, just by a little. I was so slick with my own cum he slipped inside of me instantly. I practically yelled, feeling his thick cock fill and stretch me.

So that’s what he felt like.

Now, he was torturing me. Slamming into me, but letting each thrust build up slowly. Groaning each time he did it again, and again, and again.

“Oh fuck,” I moaned into the pillow, fisting my hands in the sheets and feeling my ass raise up to meet his thrusts.

“You're so f-fucking tight,” he said through gritted teeth. “And wet.”

His hips started thrusting into me faster, our skin slapping and sticking. His cock felt so thick inside of me. I wanted him in deep, and hard, and fast. He felt even better than I could have imagined.

My throat was practically dry from hanging open and moans escaping when suddenly, his cock slipped out of me. I almost asked what was going on before he flipped me on my back, forcing me to look up at him.

I giggled, and his head rose down so his lips could kiss mine. He groaned in my mouth, kissing me with need and biting down on my bottom lip.

“I need to see your face when I fuck you.”

Now, I wanted control. I smirked, holding onto his shoulders and pushing him back slightly. Easily, I rolled him onto his back, his hands securing my hips over his. He looked up at me, mouth hanging open and grinning. His eyes growing dark and hooded, like he knew I'd do exactly what he wanted.

“You can watch me from here,” I said boldly, raising my hips and grabbing his cock.

I positioned him right in front of my entrance, slowly sliding down, letting him fill me deep. We both gasped, like it was the first time.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he gritted, his hands sliding down and nails digging into my thighs.

I tried smiling down at him, but once I found a good rhythm, my head hung back and my mouth hung open, my moans sounding like a song. He knew exactly how to guide my hips back and forth, filling me whole. My clit would rub against him with each grind forward. The stimulation had my next wave of orgasm build up inside, like it wanted to crash down already but wanted to savor every feeling of this moment.

“Ugh, daddy,” my mouth slipped out.

Just when I realized what I said and felt hardcore embarrassment, his hand grabbed my throat and gently brought me down until my head was right above his. His toothy grin was devilish, and the sound that came out from deep within his throat.

And while my hips froze, his cock still moved inside of me. Agonizingly slow.

“Say that again,” he demanded gruffly.

“Daddy?”

He stopped thrusting, squeezing my throat just slightly. “Not like a question.”

My gasp came out like a moan, and he took the initiative to continue fucking me. One hand digging into my hip. The other holding onto my throat, demanding me to kiss him, his tongue shoved in, lips occasionally sucking on it, and teeth nibbling on my lips. The sounds from my mouth entered his, and he drank it in with each groan. Each thrust. Each squeeze of my throat.

Between not being able to completely breathe and feeling his cock hit deep inside of me, I was conflicted on if I should cum or burst into flames.

But in no time, I broke apart from his mouth and felt myself come undone. My clit building with pent up tension. My arousal coming down on his cock and pussy contracting around him.

“Oh my god, daddy, I’m cuming!”

“Yes. You. Are. Sweetheart,” he said, reiterating with each thrust slammed inside me.

Looking deep in his eyes and watching his wild look range from surprise to desire to pleasure, I saw the shift to him cuming inside of me. But then my eyes were shut once he kissed me deeply, riding out his orgasm with slow thrusts and breathing hard against me.

I forgot when he stopped, but he stayed inside. Parted his lips from mine and opened his eyes. Smiled up and laid a gentle kiss on my cheek. His hand caressing my neck, then the side of my face, and then tucking my hair behind my ear.

He was weirdly rough, yet gentle. The perfect description of Dean.

Smiling down, I asked, “Why do you keep staring?”

For a long moment, he was silent. His eyes studied my face and his smile disappeared, although I couldn’t place his emotion. He was good at hiding how he felt.

But his words said everything I needed to hear and know. For now.

“I told you. At the most beautiful person in this room.”

SPN Taglist <3: @lauravic, @donnaintx

[five-wow]

9.20 thoughts! this got very long, just as an fyi.

not even a minute in and some guys sold a teenage girl a gun. oh boy.

on the plus side: i remember which episode this is now! it’s the one with the gun that somehow has a connection to lots of five-0 members’ lives!

the banter between those two cops was really fun (and not as stilted as it sometimes is when a random Cop Or Security Duo shows up!) and then one of them got shot and something like that kind of HAD to happen but i’m still sad

OKAY so the first connection is that junior is friends with one of the guys who sold the gun and the guy shows up at HQ and i was like, oh no, but then he tells junior what he did!!! that’s so good!!! i’m weirdly proud of this very minor side character who did a very bad thing

DANNY. THERE’S DANNY. i technically knew he had to be in this episode somewhere because i’ve seen photographical evidence of it here on tumblr, but THERE HE IS. YAY. i mean, i love almost all of the main cast, but i think part of the reason why it took me a month to watch the previous episode was because danny wasn’t in it. it still just doesn’t feel right. it’s like there’s something missing. and here that something is!

junior and his buddy leave and steve and danny are alone in the office and steve said something case-related directly to danny and i’m weirdly excited about that, too!! my bars are literally so low.

BABY STEVE. baby steve is watching inspector gadget, oh my gosh, aw.

i love how doris is supposed to be there and she picks up the phone and tells mini steve to turn down the tv, but we never see any part of her except a hand and some hair because they didn’t hire the actress for this episode. so subtle.

i am... so conflicted about this scene. on the one hand, mini steve is super cute. on the other, we’re probably supposed to like young john here and think he’s a Good Dad but i just... kind of low key hate everything he does. he looks annoyed when doris tells him the call is for him, like she’s bugging him somehow after being the one who picked up the phone in the first place, and the whole “i have to go to work. take care of your mom while i’m gone, okay?” that he says to steve is so bad, omfg. steve is what, five? i know the “man of the house” thing is very common in media but it’s! so! stupid! doris is a grown woman and steve is a tiny little boy - doris has to (and can!) take care of steve, not the other way around, god. /rant

oh! we do get a full body shot of doris but it’s blurry doris! and she’s SUPER PREGNANT which makes the fact that john let her get up to answer the phone in the first place kind of bad too, actually, oh boy.

doris: “john, if something was wrong you’d tell me, right?” john: “i’m not gonna lie to you, i don’t know. just lock the door behind me, i’ll try to call you as soon as i get this straightened out.” OMG WHAT. okay a) this is hilarious knowing as we do that doris was actually a highly trained cia agent/assassin and probably way more skilled than john and outranks him by far, fjdkfd, and b) i’ll give john a little credit for being somewhat honest and not just going with “no, everything’s totally fine, don’t worry”, but the answer he does give is almost worse because it’s so incredibly vague, holy shit. he says “i’m not gonna lie to you” and he doesn’t, but he also doesn’t tell doris who called or what they said or why he’s suddenly leaving for work in the middle of the night or why he thinks she needs to lock the door.

i’m only six minutes in at this point. i’m talking too much oh gosh

WAIT WAIT WAIT. john is offering himself up as a hostage, alone and unarmed and without backup, and THAT’s the “oh, i don’t know if there’s something wrong honey” situation he was leaving for? john. the fuck. now the “i’m not gonna lie” was definitely a lie after all.

the guy with the gun: “you’re such a good boy, john.” i respectfully disagree, my man.

the guy with the gun apparently killed his business partner and john arrested him (of course) and he and john have a talk about it where the guy is like “i shouldn’t have gone to prison!” and john is like “you got off lightly!” and it’s okay but. john is so smug about it and i hate that. he’s probably supposed to look bad ass and cool but i just. i just really dislike it. it’s this macho man thing and i’m not into it at all.

guy with gun, talking about his son: “you made sure he grew up without a father.” this, um, kind of made me laugh, because apparently that’s one of john’s specialties - for this guy’s kid by sending him (probably deservedly) to prison, sure, but later also his own kids by sending them away, fdjfkd. wow.

ooohhhh the gun guy said “steve, right?” and the frame kind of flipped to present day steve and that was very cool! i loved that.

2010 danny! and he’s talking to grace on the phone!!! already love it.

i also love that they gave him a baseball cap, presumably to hide the kind of obvious difference in hair that nine years brought.

danny kind of snubs the local food and it’s very 2010!him, but oh danny. it’s not the poor shop owner’s fault that your ex dragged you there against your will.

oh BOY. the shop gets robbed and the owner shot (which was expected, of course, when a main character wanders in there at night), and then danny asks the random woman shopping there to keep pressure on the owner’s wound until the ambulance gets there (which... he hasn’t called, and he also hasn’t told her to call for one, so that, uh, might take a long, long while) and then he takes the shop owner’s shotgun and RUNS AFTER THE SHOOTER. which is very heroic of him but also makes every single complaint he has in season 1 about steve’s daredevil approach to law enforcement VERY IRONIC.

oh, danny loses the guy and NOW he calls it in, fjdkfkd.

jerry is doing some smart tracking thing on the computer and it’s pretty regular h50 stuff but there’s an email adress on the screen that’s literally “gunlover[bunch of numbers]” and i’m screaming oh gosh

they already found the girl! but her dad is understandably not that jazzed about letting his daughter be investigated for murder. but good job on tracking her down so quickly!

2015 tani at a party!!! aww.

ohhh gosh koa is target shooting with the gun, which probably means he’s going to end up getting framed for something, oh no.

oh boy, tani has the same concerns so she confronts her boyfriend about it but she also knows her boyfriend’s in a gang and then the police comes knocking at his door about a murder, so that’s not going to end well.

ooh, 2015 tani was a police informant! and she’s talking to a pretty cool female detective and i appreciate that, even though you’d have to squint to count this scene as passing the bechdell test because almost every sentence references tani’s boyfriend, the boyfriend’s gang or tani’s brother.

steve and danny are interrogating a suspect together!! i might be completely wrong, but i feel like we haven’t seen that in a while.

suspect: “i don’t know if either of you guys are married, but even if it goes south, you can’t shut down some of those feelings, you know? like the ones that go right down into the core.” HMMM. INTERESTING. the camera is literally on danny’s face for a good portion of this, gosh.

they close their main case and i thought for a moment there was going to be some big twist because the episode isn’t near over yet, but instead they realize that this gun was used for a whole bunch of other crimes. it’s a “community gun”! i love that term, wow. how nice and cooperative of them all, sharing this one piece between them.

danny recognizes his case from the ones on the screen!!! and he tells the rest of them that he went to get a bite to eat on his first night in hawaii and that the store was robbed, and i’m kind of glad that at least the team seems to recognize that this is extraordinarily bad luck, ha.

also, steve barely reacts to danny’s story, so i’m taking that to mean that he definitely already knows it. which would make total sense! this seems like the kind of thing danny would rant about at some point during one of his “why i hate hawaii” tirades in season 1, but still, i like that. they know each other.

fjdkfjdk i LOVE how the whole team is standing there and piecing together the fact that they have connections to a ridiculous number of the crimes committed with this one gun, and jerry keeps commenting about how freaky it all is. this is so much fun, awww.

young john gets shot but of course he was wearing a vest, because he can’t die yet, because he needs to save that for a moment much later when he’s scarred his kids more and when he can die horribly on the phone with his son.

OKAY BUT “d. lukela”!!!! i’ve been watching the john bits very sceptically at this point but THIS I DID NOT SEE COMING and i ADORE IT.

john: “listen, duke, i’m not gonna lie to you man...” WHY do you keep saying that john, omfg. at least this time you’re telling the truth about not lying, i suppose. 50% not lying about not lying isn’t much, but it’s a start.

steve!! remembers!! that night!! and it’s because he was six and really scared because he knew something was wrong oh nooo

danny and tani talking in the car is super nice!!! and danny gets to drive the camaro for once which, wow, that’s pretty shocking

ahhhhh, the only thing this danny+car scene was missing was steve and then he CALLS. very good.

i just. listen. i just love danny. the way he keeps butting into the tense conversation between tani and this guy she used to know who she put in prison? it’s both hilarious and secretly very kind, because it��s making the moment so much more bearable for tani.

danny and tani find the guy from the convenience store robbery and he just turns around and puts his hands on his back to be cuffed when they ask him to! he doesn’t pull out a gun from somewhere or even try to run away! holy shit!

duke and steve are in california rounding off steve’s dad’s case and of course they get shot at before even knocking on the door and then the suspect runs for it, too. maybe it’s just steve. maybe their work would be a lot easier if steve’s presence didn’t magically make all the suspects shoot and run.

and the gun gets put away in a box in evidence storage, closing the case(s). aww. that’s a nice end.

okay, so, as much as i complain about john mcgarrett, i did really enjoy this episode very much! it was a really fun idea to have this gun travel around the island and use it to show little parts of characters’ backstories and i liked the execution of it too, plus the pacing was good and it had some funny moments and it had (very importantly) danny in it. and tani’s background!!! i think that was the one that surprised me most, because danny being a good cop with bad luck and steve having a not-so-great dad are a bit of a given at this point (though i still enjoyed seeing that, too!), but we knew precious little about tani’s life before five-0, and apparently there’s a huge story there. knowing what this episode showed us, i kind of want her to have a conversation with kamekona at some point - they both had a youth where they (almost) went the wrong direction, and they both got out of that in part for the sake of their brothers, and then they both ended up in the five-ohana somehow, which is probably not a place they ever saw themselves. i don’t know, i just love the idea of this unexpected friendship/understanding between two characters who don’t seem to have a lot in common at first glance.

also, more general comment: the funny thing is, until i watched this episode i hadn’t realized how much i missed this silly show and its silly characters over the past month. i totally did that not-watching-it thing to myself (not even intentionally, but still) and clearly it was more of a mistake than i realized because oh my god it felt good to see them all on my screen again, gosh. :D

[herespeyton]

TAGGING → @mrcharlesjackson & @herespeyton

TIME FRAME → Sometime in the first week of June?? (I’m so slow at posting omg)

LOCATION → Karoke bar, NYC + Charlies Apartment. 

WARNINGS → alcohol, nsfw (not really, but just in case)

NOTES → Charlie agrees to be Peyton’s wingman for the night + peyton vice versa. Neither go home alone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

peyton

Peyton didn’t go out often — or ever, honestly. It was almost impossible to get out of the house with Lexi, and when the opportunity did arise she chose to sleep. While she didn’t know Charlie super well, he dated Willa a while ago and didn’t seem like a bad guy. She had spent the past hour going through her wardrobe trying to find something that didn’t look like she was a mom before deciding on a red dress she had last worn at least a year ago. She gave instructions to the baby sitter — though Lex was already asleep —  and waited for the actor to arrive at her apartment.

charlie

Charlie was excited, he hadn’t been in a good while. He was finally on a better wave in his personal mood and ready to get out there and have fun. He had met Peyton a few times but that felt like a life time ago and Charlie was looking forward to getting to know her as an adult. She was always a very kind girl and she deserved the night out after all the hard work she constantly did. Plus he was sure being a single mom was exhausting and he wanted to help. Charlie decided on on a pair of dark blue fitted pants, a plain white T-shirt with a cream colored blazer to top it off. He had also shaved for the first time in weeks, leaving himself a nice stubbled beard. He checked himself in the mirror before spraying on a bit of cologne, grabs his wallet, phone and keys and was out the door on his way to pick up Peyton. Upon arriving he knocked gently on the door, waiting for the younger girl to answer.

peyton

Peyton straightened herself as she walked to the door, grabbing her keys and purse on the way past the side table. "Hey." She greets him, eyeing over the man she hadn't seen in... years. He honestly didn't even look like he'd aged from what she remembers. She shuts the door behind her and smiles warmly up at him. "You look very dashing." She says with with a nod. "Thanks for doing this... Hopefully I don't totally cramp your style." She says a little awkwardly.

charlie

“Holy shit.” Was the first thing to leave his mouth. “Holy crap, look at you, all grown up.” He grinned and clapped his hands together and he checked out the girl. “Well, thank you! You look incredible, Peyton... don’t worry about me, tonight is going to be fun! Also how can you cramp an old mans style.” He grinned and winked playfully.  He gestures at her to follow him out. “So, I was thinking of going to that one pub on 3rd street. They have pretty good drinks and the people are friendly. How’s that sound? Or would you rather go to a club? It’s up to you.” He shrugged.

peyton

Peyton could feel her cheeks warm at the compliment, she was really quite terrible at taking them. "I don't know about that, but...um... thank you." She says softly before following the older man out of the apartment building. "You say that now, wait until all your fans are trying to get your number and I'm still around." She chuckles and bites down on her lip gently as she thinks about the options. "I think maybe starting at a pub might be a good idea?" She replies with a smile, not that she had a problem with lots of people, but easing into a social life sounded better than going head first into strobe lights and sweaty bodies.

charlie

Charles furrowed his brows in confusion, the girl didn’t seem to think so highly of herself, at least look wise. “Well I think you look beautiful.” He gave her a small smile. He chuckled and shook his head. “Please, if that happens please help me escape. Same goes to you, if there’s a guy or girl –I’m not sure your exact preference –  But if someone is getting too rowdy or handsy or you just want out of boring conversation, I’m your guy.” He assures her. “Pub it is.” He grins as they continue to walk. “So, hows the single mom life treating you?”

peyton

"Oh don't worry, I have all sorts of creative excuses up my sleeve to get you out of awkward situations!" She laughs, pointing her finger for exclamation. Honestly she feels a little more relaxed knowing she had a get out of jail free card in case she ended up in the company of someone she really didn't want to be with. "I'll be the greatest wingwoman you've ever seen. Unless of course I see my cheese fries delivery man, in which case I'll have to follow my heart." She tells him with a smirk, and crosses her arms in front of her when they're outside. "Single mom life is every bit as glamorous as you'd imagine." She shrugs and looks up at him. "I mean, Lexi is the coolest kid ever, but it's sort of exhausting... But how are you anyway? It's been so long since I've seen you!"

charlie

Charlie raised a brow. “Oh, really?” He asked with a chuckle. The girl was definitely charming as he remembered her. “You’re gonna ditch me for cheese fries guy?” He pouted and then smiled. Charlie listened to the woman and nodded. He couldn’t imagine being a parent, let alone being a single parent. He was already past his prime and Charlie began to wonder if he’d ever have kids. “I see your posts, she’s freaking adorable, looks just like you.” He shrugged. “I’m.... all over the place I guess you could say. Things sort of flipped for me. I never expected to be on tv but here we are...” he tittered “But currently I’m good, I’m in a good place... it’s been, what, at least 10 years... you were still a kid.” He said incredulously. “Holy shit.” He laughed.

peyton

"What can I say, cheese fries guy and I had a real connection." She tells him, hand on heart and laughing. "She is pretty cute, right?" Peyton responds proudly. "I mean... She looks more like her dad, than she does me. But when she talks it's like having a mini-me around the place. Which... I'm not always sure is a good thing." The mom had a tendency to ramble when it came to her daughter... she should probably reign that in if she wanted to not come across as "just a mom" for the night. Peyton nods as he talks, eyeing him over again quickly before looking back ahead. "I don't read a lot of magazines, but I remember the day I read you were taking over the role in supernatural... That sort of stuff is just crazy to me." She says honestly, not imagining her life changing so dramatically... Though maybe she should now Sammy was involved in it. "I was a teenager thank you very much." She laughs. "But you look... almost exactly the same. How is that even possible?!"

charlie

Charlie rolled his eyes playfully. “You can do better than cheese fries guy. I promise.” He told her. “Oh she’s the boss, then.” He chuckles. “Wait... I thought you never knew the father...” Charlie asked curiously, not that he thought it was a bad thing, it happened. He sighed and smiled “Yeah, I still can’t believe it sometimes. It’s surreal. But I mean who knows if this will last with the show ending next year. Maybe I’ll go back to teaching.” He shrugged. He scoffed “You we’re a kid.” He teases with a small laugh. “I beg to differ... look at these crows feet!” He said pointing to the stinking around his eyes. “But I think it’s also my jeans.” He said literally as a joke, pointing to his pants.

peyton

"She is most definitely the boss. She knows what she wants." She said with a smile, nodding. "Umm..." Peyton didn't really know how to explain the Sammy situation without feeling like a bad parent, honestly. "I don't... I mean, I didn't. But he remembered, I guess?" She shrugs. "It's complicated." And right now even more so. "At least you still have enough year to decide?  I might even be able to catch up on all twenty seasons before it comes back on again." She teases. "But I think it's lucky in a sense that you have that degree to fall back on, you know? Whatever happens you'll still have a career." She scrunched up her nose. "I was not a kid." She pauses for a second. "Okay, maybe I was... But I wasn't an annoying kid, right?" Peyton looks up at his eyes more closely when he points to them before shaking her head. "Nope, I stand by my comment. You've barely aged at all... it's the jeans, for sure. You're pulling them off perfectly."

charlie

Charlie chuckled and shook his head. “It’s okay, we’ll leave it at that.” He said talking about Lexi’s father. He pursed his lips and grinned. “Or you can just watch the last season I was in and we’ll call it even.” He shrugged “Oh totally, I’m not totally hopeless.” He smiled and sighed. “I mean you weren’t the most annoying kid I’d ever encountered.....” he teased and bumped her playfully. “But you’ve certainly grown into a gorgeous young woman. So not annoying anymore.” He spoke and batted his eyes at the compliment. “Now you’re just being nice and complimenting my ass which I’m not upset about.” He laughed. They soon arrived and Charlie held the door open for the woman. “What’s your drink of choice, first rounds on me.” He asked as they reached the bar.

peyton

Peyton smiled thankfully, relieved Charlie wasn't going to pry into the situation. It was meant to be a fun night, after all... Even if she felt out of her element the moment she stepped out of her apartment after 7 o'clock at night. She laughs. "You're only saying that now because I'm not wearing sweatpants... If you saw me on any other day that ends in Y i'd look like a wreck." She looked at the man's ass, not even really subtly and nodded with a grin. "I'm just being honest." Peyton placed her forearms on the bar, and smiled warmly at the male. "I'll just have a beer." A bi-product of spending so much time with her father growing up. "And that's awfully gentlemanly of you. Next is on me though."

charlie

Charlie raised a brow. “Oh, I bet you look even hotter in sweatpants.” He smirked and winked at her. He then got the attention of the bartender, asking for two draft beers. “What can I say? I was raised right and I’ll never miss the opportunity to buy a pretty girl a drink.” He got the beers and gave his card to the bartender. “Don’t worry about buying for me, it’s my treat, remember?” He  said as he handed a beer to Peyton. “Cheers to trying to get laid.” He grinned.

peyton

Peyton smiles and looks around the bar, feeling just a little out of place. "It's a good thing you brought your card, there's like a lot of pretty girls around here to buy drinks for." She takes the drink and brings, and holds it comfortingly in her hands. "You need to let me repay you somehow though. I don't know how... But somehow." She laughs at his toast. "To trying to get laid." She repeats, bringing the beer to her lips. "So is there some sort of secret trick to this I need to be aware of?"

charlie

Charlie chuckles and looks around the bar. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” He shrugs and then shakes his head and places a firm hand on her shoulder. “Hey, were good. I’m serious.” He smiles and squeezes her shoulder gently before removing it. “Um, secret tricks? I’m not quite sure. Maybe just not trying so hard? A couple drinks will help with that to get initial jitters away.” He nods.

peyton

Peyton’s eyes briefly dart to the hand on her shoulder. With everything in her life being so delicate, it felt oddly comforting to have a touch that resonated strength for once. She smiles softly, and nods in concession. “Not trying so hard?” She arches her brow and looks at him with mock judgment. “That is terrible advice... I’ve spent the last three years not trying so hard and that’s gotten no where.” She replies with a short laugh. Not that she’d give up her life, but there were obviously times she wished she wasn’t always alone. Peyton lifts her glass and takes a few large gulps of beer. Liquid courage was a thing, right? “But you might be onto something with the drinks.” She admits with a giggle. “I feel like... umm... people are looking at you.” She tells him with an awkward tone as she feels a woman’s eyes piercing into her.

charlie

“Hey, I never said I gave good advice. I mean most of the time they come up to me, so....” he shrugged and chuckled softly. He absentmindedly touches her arm, something Charlie is just used to doing in general. He was a very affectionate guy and it showed. “Don’t worry, Just relax and finish your drink so we can have another. “He says with a gentle press to her arm. He raises his brow, “Me? Don’t worry about it, I’m not ditching you until we find you someone.” He finished his beer and places it back on the bar then beams at the girl. “How about a shot of tequila?” He suggests.

peyton

Peyton's eyes light up when he assures the girl he's not ditching her. The last thing she wanted was to be left alone with no idea what she was doing. "Thank you... But if some super model comes in and asks you to go home with her, I'm going to be disappointed if you don't get out there." She can't imagine what it must be like for Charles to be recognised everywhere he went, her nose crinkles even at the thought -- it sounds like her own nightmare, honestly. Personal space and privacy was what got Peyton through so much of her life's hiccups. She sculls back the rest of her beer, her eyes squeezing shut as it's been a long time since she's even attempted to do such a thing. But hey, she was still young... Maybe tonight she could feel it too. "Tequila?" Her first instinct was to shake her head, adamantly telling him the last time she had tequila she got pregnant, but instead she nods, finding herself feeling somewhat safe around the older male. "Can I sip it?" She jokes, leaning against the bar with her body facing him.

charlie

Charlie shakes his head, brushing her off. “There will always be more supermodels and honestly, not really my type.” He shrugged and then grinned at the girl gulping down her beer. “Nice.” He praises her. He returns his attention to the bartender and orders them 4 shots total. “No you can’t sip them. Cmon. You’re a big girl now.” He teases. The four shots are in front of them now, rimmed with salt and limes on the side. “Now, you don’t have to do both but it’s there if you’re up for it.” He assures her, picking up one of the shot glasses and holding it up to the one he hands her. “Cheers.” He grins and takes it back in one swing, immediately grabbing the second one and taking it as well. His face straight, not needing the limes.

peyton 

"What is your type?" She asks more directly than she normally would. But if she was going to be a successful wing-woman she felt like this was important information to be aware of. Peyton's face grimaces slightly at the sight of the shots, but slides one of them close to her anyway. You only live once, right? "No sipping. Got it." She says quietly and turns her gaze to watch Charles down the alcohol so easily. "You make that look very easy." She comments with a chuckle before taking a deep breath, picking up the glass and downing her own shot. Peyton's eyes clench shut, her mouth twists, and she immediately grabs the lime to dull the burn in her throat. "Fuck." She mumbles but reaches for the second shot and does the same, the burn thankfully less intense this time around.

charlie

Charlie shrugs. “Girl next door, natural. I hate all that fake shit. Like cmon, do you really need the fake lips and Botox?” He asked feeling himself loosen up a bit more. “A girl who can handle herself and her alcohol and isn’t wasted on a fucking cranberry vodka.” He tells Peyton. Yeah, he definitely had a type. “I’ve had a lot of practice.” He shrugs, watching as Peyton takes her shots and chuckles. “Wow, you’re a trooper... I’m very impressed.” He raises a brow in delight and smiles. The noise around them had gotten louder and there was now music playing, more on the rock side. He leaned in closer with his hand on her shoulder so she could hear him. “How are you feeling?” He asked, just to make sure she was still in a good place.

peyton

“Thank you, thank you.” Peyton replies proudly, curtsying and proceeding to laugh at her terrible attempt at it. Her blood is slowly warming, and she can feel her muscles relax more with each passing minute. Her heart’s racing to the beat of the music, and honestly, she was okay with that. She pushes the empty shot glasses and used limes back towards the bartender, thanking him sincerely.Peyton leans into Charles touch, moving her ear closer to hear him properly. The combination of his warm breath on her skin and the tequila sends a shiver down her spine, her lips lighting a smile at the feeling. She nods and turns into him, closing the gap so now she could be heard. “I feel great.” She tells him. “So are you going to wingman me?” She asks with a half smirk.

charlie

Charlie chuckles at the charming girl. She was cute, beyond cute if you actually asked Charlie, but he figured nothing would never happen between them and honestly his intentions were completely pure, still he couldn’t help but slightly crushing on her in the moment. He’d blame the alcohol. “Great.” He smiles and looks around the room, realizing they had set up Karaoke tonight. His face immediately lit up. “Holy shit, yes.” He commented. “I forgot they did Karaoke here. Yes, I will wingman you but we need to sign up to sing first.” He said as he grabbed her wrist and dragged her through the crowd and towards the other side of the pub, looking for the signup sheet that was with the DJ.

peyton

Peyton's head tilts to one side, eyebrows raising when she realized what he was about to suggest. Before she could object his hand was on her writs and they were moving through the crowd. She grins, and holds onto him tightly, wanting to make sure she didn't lose him in amongst the people... Though, he was tall and masculine, she would probably be able to spot him if she did. "I think the sign up sheet is over there." She says letting go of his arm and resting her hand on the curve of his back, pointing to the board. "I'll do this, but I am not choosing a song! Unless baby shark or the paw patrol theme song is an option, my brain is useless." She jokes, moving to the sheet and looking up at the older male, lingering as she studies his features under the light in this part of bar. No wonder so many girls were staring at him. "Okay, what's your go-to karaoke song?"

charlie

Charlie hadn’t felt this full of energy in a while and it was exciting to him. He felt young and he loved it. Charlie looked into the direction the girl was pointing at and grinned. “Genius!” He exclaimed at her and kissed her head playfully before getting to the list. “You have to do Baby Shark. I dare you.” He laughs as he looks through the karaoke book. “Classic rock. Maybe a bit of AC/DC or Lynyrd Skynyrd — oh or Allman Brothers!” He says as he see the song he wants to pick. He then takes the pen next to the sign up sheet that’s fairly empty, writing down ‘whipping post by  the Allman Brothers’ and his name, he then faces Peyton. “Do you wanna sign up?” He asked.

peyton

Peyton's cheek flush and she's momentarily thankful the pub is dark enough to hide it. She bites down on her lip to stop herself from grinning like a stupid school girl.Fuck. Was it sad that a kiss on the forehead was the closest she had really been to a man in a year? ... Probably. "Don't you dare me, Mr. Jackson." She smirks, her competitive nature coming out. "Whoa, look at you showing your age." She teases him a little on his song choice, flicking through the book. "I'll sign up." It might have been the alcohol talking, but it could be fun. "It looks like you might have to listen to me rock out baby shark another time, there's no option here." She lifts her shoulders in a shrug. "But I can do this." She points to the song and writes it down 'Let me Love you' by DJ Snake and Justin Bieber on the sign up song. "Does it show my age that I'm doing a song with Justin Bieber?" She asks with a short giggle.

charlie

Charlie raised his brows seductively, "Ooh, Mr. Jackson. Haven't been called that in a while." He teased her . "Shut up. I just know good music." He stuck his tongue out at her as she picked out her own song. He hovered over her, his arm around her shoulders as he watched her pick. "Justin Bieber? Really?" He judged her playfully. "I'm going to need another drink for this one, But i'm definitely holding you over on that whole listening to you sing Baby Shark." He laughed. "We definitely grew up in different worlds.... How do you feel about another drink? Or are we moving too quick for you?"

peyton

"Does it bring you back to your teaching days?" She asks with a chuckle, nudging him playfully. She felt relaxed around him, and honestly it had been some time since she could just be herself and not worry about her daughter. It was different... Actually, sort of great. "Justin Beiber is iconic!" She defends her choice, arching her brow at him. "You just wait... My rendition of Baby shark is legendary. Lexi prefers it to the original." She grins proudly, turning around to look at the crown before up again at Charles. "Too quick?" She scoffs. "You should see me during football season, I could probably drink you under the table." Or at least she used to be able to, but he doesn't need to know that that.

charlie

"Truly." He chuckles and bites his lip a bit. He raises his hands in defense as she defends herslef and he laughs. "Okay, okay! God you're cute when you're riled up." He lets slip but doesn't really make to much attention of it. "I can't wait to hear it." He smiles at her and nods. "That's fine, thats why I ask. and also somehow I believe you." He smiles and suddenly is hearing his name over the mic. "Oh, that was fast. Alright, I'mma sing and you stand here and look pretty and pick a dude out and I can wingman you. I mean unless you wanna be stuck here with me all night." He chuckled. "Be right back, darling." He says with a wink and makes his way to the small stage, giving himself a small introduction with his name and then proceeds to singing.

peyton

Peyton's lips press together, and now it not longer feels like her cheeks are warming but her whole face. Of course the man who used to date her older cousin thought she was cute. Probably the same way he and everyone else (rightly so) thought Lexi was cute. She's broken from her thought at the sound of Charles name on the speaker, and claps excitedly for him. "Break a leg." She still wasn't sure if that was the correct musical theatre reference that Jaxon had taught her, but she was going for it. She moves to the front of the crowd cheering obnoxiously loudly for him when he introduces himself. She looks around the room only for a moment looking for someone she might be interested in, but then the actor starts singing and it's hard to put her attention anywhere. He was good...really really good. She sways absentmindedly with the music, happily content with being by herself and listening to his voice. How she could possibly follow this, she didn't know.

charlie

The thrill that Charlie got when he sang was like no other. He loved it and he also liked the attention if he was being honest. It felt good to have people cheering for you and it was even better seeing Peyton in the crowd supporting him. Once he was done he thanked the crowd, getting a few high-fives as he went through the crowd back to the younger girl. “Did I do okay?” It was an honest question and he valued her opinion greatly. “I need another beer.” He chuckled. Then they were calling her name and she was up. “Go kick it in the ass.” He smiled at her reassuringly and runs he arm.

peyton

She watches him emerge into the crowd, shaking her head in awe of how insane he just was. "Are you kidding?" She asks him, her tone still full of the disbelief she was feeling. "If every girl in here didn't already want you, they do now." She joked with him, though honestly kind of seriously. "I can see why you want to go into music." She tells him, reaching out her hand to touch is arm softly to show sincerity. "Me too-" Her heart just about jumps from her chest at her own name, she really hadn't expected Charles to be quite that good and even the thought of following that made her ridiculously nervous. She puts her hands in her face for a second. "I did not have enough tequila for this." She laughs and smiles at him before making her way up to the spot he stood just moments ago. Not quite as confident as the other, she quietly introduces herself, takes a deep breath -- or three -- before starting to sing.

charlie

Peyton was extremely sweet and Charlie felt warm and fuzzy. Both from the compliments and the alcohol. He brushes off her compliment, beyond contrary belief, Charlie didn’t really care for people throwing themselves at him. He liked getting to know people, although he was guilty of having one night stands of course but it was always more to him. Right now, no other women really interested him in the bar except Peyton , not that he would tell her unless she actually showed interest in him. He didn’t want to ruin her night.  He gives her another reassuring smile and a thumbs up once she hits the stage. He cheers for her to help her confidence and listens as she sings and ‘oh crap’ she’s actually good. He had no clue she actually knew how to sang. It was almost angelic and Charles was really enjoying it. He’s still watching her until he feels a tap on his shoulder, he turns to see an attractive blonde behind him, trying to buy him a drink and inviting him to leave with her. Charlie politely declines and the girl rolls her eyes as she leaves, not that Charlie really cares and his attention just falls back on the singing girl.

peyton

Thanks in part to the alcohol, and in part to seeing Charles in the audience she can feel herself starting to relax. She starts to sing, pretending she was in the shower and rarely looking anywhere other than the male in the crowd... Singing to someone she knew felt a whole less daunting than singing to a bar full of strangers. She hands the mic back to the man on stage and scrunches her face in a I-can't-believe-i-just-did-that way before quickly returning back to her date for the night in the crowd. "Now can we get a drink?" She asks, resting her forehead on the male's arm as her heart returns to a normal pattern.

charlie

Charlie cheers as she finished her song and opens his arms for her and she comes to him. “You did incredible!” He says excitedly as he hugs her tightly. He nods. “I think we can.” He smiles as he pulls away from the hug but wraps an arm around her, leading her back to the bar. “Hey, two more drafts for the lady and I.” He calls out to their same bartender. “So, I didn’t know you could sing like that.” He told the girl. “Like, hun. Woah.” He says with a grin. He takes the new glass of beer and takes a refreshing gulp. “I’m glad you came out tonight, Pey. I’m having a better time than I imagined.” He tells her sincerely.

peyton

Perhaps it was the adrenaline from singing in public -- something she'd not done since she was in high school -- or perhaps it was the effects of the tequila -- though she was feeling quite sober right now -- but there was something about the older man's arms that were so comforting. They were strong. God, they were so strong. She felt giddy... even if she knew she probably shouldn't. "Thank you." She says reaching for the drink and taking a few decent sips to calm her post karaoke nerves. "I'm not sure about whoa. You are whoa.... But thank you." She says humbly. She leans in closer to him to hear his words clearer. "I'm glad I came out too." She comments, looking into his eyes and not able to stop her gaze from making their way to his lips for a moment. "I'm sorry I haven't found you anyone to go home with yet." She says into his ear, and chews on her lower lip realizing she wasn't actually all that sorry at all. "I mean... I've enjoyed your company."

charlie

Charlie licks his lips, feeling them a bit dry. “You’re definitely woah.” He tells her as he gets closer, he could feel jitters and it was weird but exciting at the same time. He stares back at her eyes and he notices the small glance to his lips and he feels himself blush.  “I don’t think I mind at all.” He says genuinely and bites his lip gently. His desire to kiss the girl suddenly grows and keeps growing. “I’ve more than enjoyed your company.” He replies.

peyton

Despite the sensible and usually overpowering voice in her head reminding her that he was older and she was nothing but cute in his mind, Peyton takes a step closer, the gap between them becoming almost non-existent. "I think I'm content with your company for the rest of the night." She says boldly, feeling goosebumps run down her arms at how close and intimate his breath was starting to feeling as her face moved slowly closer to him. She wanted to give him time to move away, to say no. "Because you're whoa." She says in a whisper at this point, before closing the gap between their lips completely, ignoring her better judgement, and giving into her instincts telling her to kiss him.

charlie

He can feel his own breaths getting shallow the closer they got and his heart pounding fast. He felt young again. “Yeah?” He questioned with a smile, a small laugh escaping his lips before he felt hers press against his. There was a connection there and Charlie could feel it, strongly. He smiled into the kiss, his rough hand reaching behind her neck, tangling gently into her hair as the kiss got more heated. So perhaps the feeling was mutual but perhaps it was the alcohol and Charlie didn’t know which one it was but in the moment he didn’t mind. After a few steamy moments, the man pulls away to take a breath. “Woah, indeed.” He laughs, pushing a strand of hair away from her face. “I don’t think we need any wingman’s tonight.” He announces.

peyton

Peyton felt electric and addicted, like she could keep kissing these lips for the rest of the night and still crave them. She hooks her fingers behind him in the space between his belt and his jeans, her cheeks blushing and her toes curling at the way their lips connected. "You don't think?" She ducks her head, suddenly feeling more nervous than she was when they were a few moments ago. But she can't bring herself to put more space between them. Not if it was going to remind him that she really wasn't the person he should be doing this with. "Now what?"

charlie

Charlie watched the bashful girl and smiled. “Hey, were good.” He says gently. His hand caresses her cheek before pulling her into another kiss. It was definitely a sobering moment and as freaked out as Charlie had been in the past about age, he didn’t care. There was something about Peyton, and he really liked her. “What do you want to do? We could stay here, have a few more drinks... We could go find something to eat if you’re up for that... we could also go back to your place or mine. No pressure, of course.” He suggests. He didn’t want her to think that just because they kissed he was expecting anything more from the girl. He would do whatever she wanted to do, after all it was her night.

peyton

Peyton looks around briefly, feeling eyes on her from people who clearly knew Charles but had no idea who she was. “Let’s get out of here.” She smiles, leaning in boldly to steal another kiss from the older gentleman. “Umm... Do you have beer at your place?” She asks, taking back her hands and running her fingers nervously through her hair.  With Lexi in bed and a baby sitter staying the night, she knew she couldn’t go back to her apartment. But Peyton was a homebody and felt much more comfortable in a place where she didn’t have to worry about a room full of people she didn’t know. she also wouldn’t mind being alone with Charles. “No pressure.”

charlie

Charlie nods. “Alright, your wish is my command.” He leaned into her kiss and turned back to the bartender, asking for the tab. “I believe I have a few.” He confirmed with the girl. He signed the tab, leaving a hefty tip and grabbed his card so they could leave. He smiled at the girl and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Lets get out of here.” He tells her as they leave the bar and start walking to their destination. It’s a little chilly when they exit and with Peyton in a small dress, he can imagine how much colder the girl was. He removes his arm from her to take off his blazer and drape it over her shoulder to make sure she was warmer. “As hot as you look in your dress, I’d rather you not freeze and my place is at least 10 more blocks from here.” He chuckles softly.

peyton

Peyton still feels like she shouldn't be letting Charles pay for everything, but before she could object it was done and they were leaving the bar. Which honestly she's thankful for, she was having fun, but most of that was due to the company she was keeping. The cool air of the New York night sends a shiver down her spine almost instantly, and even more so when the warmth of his arm was removed from her shoulders. She was getting accustomed to that arm. "That's very sweet. Thank you" She says sincerely, smiling cheerily. "You really think I look hot?" She asks, still feeling the courage of alcohol. "Not cute?" She adds with a laugh.

charlie

Charlie laughed. “Oh definitely hot. Almost as hot as me.” He teases her. He was definitely aware of how attractive he was and of his assets and for the most part he was humble about it except when he didn’t have to. “Cute was my cover up, okay? I wasn’t exactly sure if you were interested.” He explained himself. “But you are cute. Very cute but in a sexy way.” He grinned, his arm returned to wrap around her. “So, tell me. How is a pretty girl like you still single. I mean I know time is an issue and you have your daughter but there has to have been some guys after you. You’re a total catch.”

peyton

“I can accept that.” Peyton side eyes him, smirking slightly. If she looked like the actor she’d probably say the same thing. He’s the type of man that humbly demanded attention without saying a word. It was hot. “Oh is that so?” She chuckles, leaning into his side a little more. “Well you’re pretty cute in a sexy way too.” Peyton teases. “Ahh... Not really.” She answers honestly and shrugs her shoulders. And if there were, she was probably too tired to pay attention. “ I haven’t been looking to be fair, Lexi comes first. I just want to make sure she can have everything in this world... which means I’m either working or spending time with her.” She pauses and sighs quietly. “Sometimes I feel like since it’s just me that I somehow I have to be twice the parent? Like I have to be there twice as much, and take on every role so she never feels like she missed out.” She shakes her head, realising she suddenly got kind of deep and that was definitely not sexy. “How are you possibly still single anyway, Mr. Jackson?

charlie

Charlie’s furrowed his brows and looked at the girl. “What are you talking about? You’re nice, you’re smart, you love animals, you’re an incredible mom.... I mean the way you talk about Lexi and all you do for her, it’s admirable. She’s going to really appreciate it one day.” He nods at the girl with a smile. “I uh- I recently went through a break up a few months ago. It just wasn’t working out and I was also just going through a lot at the time, still sort of am... but I’m going to therapy and taking medication.... Yeah I know, not what you expected from Mr. tv star.” He shrugged, hoping he hadn’t ruined it with his over sharing.

peyton

“You’re a sweet talker.” She grins. It was nice having someone remind her she was doing the right things for Lexi, she spent for more nights awake worrying it was for nothing than she’d ever admit. Peyton looks up at him as she listened intently to what he was going through, smiling sympathetically. “I learned a long time ago that things aren’t often what you’d expect.” She tells him, pausing and stopping them both on the side walk to look at him properly. “I think you’re brave.” Her tone was sincere and she stretches up to press a chaste kiss against his lips.

charlie

Charlie shrugs “I’m just being honest. You just happen to be a sweet person.” Sharing things about himself scared Charlie. It was probably the number one problem he had with Josh but he was trying to fix that and let people in. They stop and it pulls him out of his thoughts, her words make him smile. He wraps his arms  around her waist and leans into her. “Now who’s the sweet talker?” He grins. “I think you’re brave. Taking all you take on, being a single mom... working so hard... you’re incredibly brave.” He responded.

peyton

Peyton blushes, pressing her lips together to stop herself smiling stupidly. “Still you.” She muses with a chuckle. Was it possible for someone’s heart to beat from their chest? Because with her body this close to Charles she felt like it was about to happen any moment. It might have been alcohol, or the fact he was the first person who’s peaked her interested this much in a year, but she felt like a school girl right now — though she hopes he doesn’t think of her too much like that considering that’s what she was she last time they met. “Come on. You must be freezing without your jacket.” She says, reaching for his hand and intertwining her fingers with hers.

charlie

Charlie laughs and shakes his head. It had been a very long time since he felt this attraction to a person, not just physically but there was definitely an unspoken chemistry that the two shared and Charles let himself go along with it. He was enjoying himself so much and he didn't want this night to end.  He squeezes her hand  and bumps into her playfully as they walked in silence, a good kind of silence. So enough they were at Charlie's building. He remembered a time when he had to work two job 24/7 just to afford to live here and now, it wasn't even something he thought about. "This is me." He smiles as he lets go of her hand to punch in the security code that let them into the building. "Codes 1218, just in case you ever need it." He tells her as he leads her to the elevator in the nice lobby. It was one of the nicer apartment complexes in the area and he lived in one of the bigger apartments with his best friend. "Also I have a roommate but i believe she's out of town so, we're good."

peyton

"Wow." The word had quietly escaped her lips before she had a chance to stop it. She knew places like this existed in New York, but she'd never once stepped foot in an apartment building that felt like it could be out of a film. "You don't need to tell me your code." She ducks her head, smiling and shaking her head. She can't stop her eyes from gazing around the foyer, and even the elevator was... well it was working which was a step up from her apartment building. An apartment building like this made her feel... small. "I have a roommate too." She jokes. "Except she is very much in town." She squeezes onto his hand. "So do you film Supernatural in New York or?" She asks, genuinely curious.

charlie

Charlie chuckles at her joke. “You’re funny.” He pulls her in and kisses her as he presses the button for the elevator. Once inside he presses the button for the 15th floor. “I film upstate, so yes, New York just not in the city.” He tells her, the elevator stops at his floor and he leads the young lady to his door. He pulls out his key and opens the door. “Welcome to my humble abode.” He grins and holds the door open for her. His apartment was definitely more on the homey side, not as luxurious as people would expect but he did have a large tv, something he really wanted to splurge on.

peyton

Peyton shushes him, smiling against his lips when they kiss. "I umm..." She feels slightly light headed after kissing him and tries to remember how to think straight. "I haven't been to upstate New York. What's it like?" She asks, following him into his apartment and looking around in awe again. It wasn't as 'fancy' as the foyer, but it was at least double the size of her small New York apartment. "I'm glad you didn't see my apartment." She jokes, bumping his side playfully as her eyes to scan the room. "Can I be honest?" She turns to him, hand still holding his for comfort.

charlie

Charlie bites his lip, “Gorgeous. Upstate is amazing. Full of trees and large open space. The air is fresh and you can actually breathe.” He explains. “I’m sure your apartment is great.” He responds to her. “I think I’d prefer if you were honest with me.” He tells her with a small squeeze of her hand.

peyton

"I miss being able to breathe freely." Peyton comments, thinking back to what it was like on the farm where there was nothing but space and fresh air. "I'm sure I'll get there one day." She takes a deep breath, her eyes fluttering shut for a second before speaking. "I have no idea what I'm doing." She admits with a giggle. "I know the intention was to find me someone to... You know, but I don't know if I'm that person?" She ducks her head, feeling her cheeks warm with each word she speaks. "Do you think we can we just... drink beer?" And make out. But she leaves that last part out incase by taking the offer of sex off the table he was no longer going to be interested in spending time with her.

charlie

Charlie squeezes her hand again reassuringly. “I don’t think we ever really know what we’re doing... we just do what feels right, y’know?” Charlie frowns a bit but not because he’s disappointed but because he never wanted the girl to feel uncomfortable around him. “I told you back at the bar, no pressure. Meaning we won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with...” He offers her a smile. “So beer... and perhaps food? I’m a little hungry to be honest.” He suggests.

peyton

Peyton breathes a silent sigh of relief. She was human... of course she wanted him like. But the last time she had a drunk one night stand, she got Lexi. So, it was pretty obvious the universe was trying to tell her she wasn’t built that way. She nods. “I know, I know.” Her tone is soft, and she’s trying to stay upbeat but she saw the way he frowned when she said she didn’t want to sleep with him and she felt guilty. “I’m still sorry... I probably should have let you find that supermodel, hey?” She says with a chuckle, pulling back her hands and moving her hair behind her ears. “Oh my goodness, yes! Food sounds amazing.” She comments excitedly, taking off the man’s jacket and placing it gently on his side table. “Please tell me there’s not like a private chef in here or something?” She teases.

charlie

Charlie shakes his head at her. “Hey, don’t be sorry. Believe it or not, I prefer when people aren’t throwing themselves at me.” He assures her. “I just want you to be comfortable, Pey. Sex isn’t the be all end all. At least not to me. I mean, sure it’s fun but I’m not that superficial.” He laughed. “No private chefs, although my roommate is a pastry chef so there’s probably some form of cake in the fridge and there should be left over Chinese.” He tells her with a smile, coming up behind her and rubbing her shoulders.

peyton

Peyton chews a little at the inside of her lip, thankful she had ended up here and wasn't having the 'I don't think I can sleep with you tonight' talk to a total stranger. Even if it had been ten years since she'd last seen Charles. Her eyes follow the older gentleman's movement, her face bright when his hands fall on her shoulders. "You're making it hard to think about food." She giggles, cocking her head to the side. "But it's hard to say no to cake and chinese food. Especially cake made by a pastry chef... Let her know if she ever needs a new room mate." She jokes.

charlie

Charlie chuckles and kisses the side of her neck before leading them to the kitchen. He rummages through the fridge as he pulls out half an eaten chocolate cake and then pulls out the carton of chicken fried rice. “Are you trying to keep me all alone in this apartment?” He asked with a smirk. He throws the carton into the microwave to warm it up and as it does he also pulls out another couple beers, opening one for Peyton and himself. “Here.” He smiles.

peyton

"Don't I already have you all alone in this apartment?" She asks with a teasing tone, turning to look around the apartment. "Unless your apartment is haunted and you left that part out." Peyton takes the beer from his hand, smiling thankfully and bringing it to her lips before speaking. "My daughter would love your television, by the way." She comments, thinking back to seeing it when they first walked in. "She'd think she was actually in Jurassic Park." Peyton couldn't help it, she was always going to be that person who brought up her kid.

charlie

“Maybe, who knows.” He shrugs teasingly. “Kidding, yeah you do have me all alone, right now.” He chuckled and sips his beer. “You should bring her over sometime, make a movie night out of it.” He offers the girl genuinely. He wouldn’t mind having a little one around. He laughs at the Jurassic park comment. “That’s adorable.”(edited)

peyton

Peyton is a little taken back by the offer, but figures she'll go with it. She wasn't the type of person to hold him to it if in the morning he was sober and regretted the decision to spend more time together. She nods. "I'm sure she'd love that." She responds, leaning against the bench and crossing her feet in front of her. "She's sort of obsessed with dinosaurs." Peyton smiles widely and pulls out her phone, navigating to the gallery and scrolling through the photos while leaning in next to him to show the multitude of dinosaur related pics. "This... Probably isn't what you want to talk about." She blushes and realises this wasn't exactly sexy talk. "Sorry." Peyton locks her phone, smiling bashfully. "Habit."

charlie

Charlie leans into her and looks at the pictures with a soft smile. “She’s very cute.” He chuckled. The microwave beeps and Charlie carefully takes the food out of it. He grabs a couple chopsticks from his drawer and leads them back to the living room. “What? You’re fine, hun. I mean Lexi is like 90 percent of your life. I get it.” He nods and sits on the comfortable couch. “Come, get comfortable.”

peyton

"Probably more like 95 percent... The other five percent are animals." She laughs. He might not get it personally, but at least he wasn't making her feel like a crazy person. She follows him  to the couch sitting down next to him with her legs folded underneath her and places the beer carefully on the table in front of her. "Okey dokey." Her eyebrows raise when she takes the chopsticks from him, biting her lip in concentration as she works out how to hold them in her fingers for the hundredth time in her life so she can actually eat the food. She giggles softly, still a little buzzed from the alcohol and attempts to try and pick up the food for it to only fall immediately back into the box. "Is now a good time to mention I can't use chopsticks to save my life?"

charlie

Charlie watches the girl take the first bite and fail and it’s the most charming thing he’d ever seen. He laughs at the young girl and shakes his head, grabbing his own chopsticks and picking at the dish and then holding it to her mouth. “Here.” He offers in between chuckles. “God, you’re cute.” He tells her. “I can grab you a fork.” He offers.

peyton

Peyton looks at him with appreciation when he offers her food with his own chopsticks, taking it happily. "You're so kind." She muses quietly, cheeks flushed with slight embarrassment. "There you go again using the c word." She laughs, nudging him playfully. "Oh it's okay... We're already sitting down. And I sort of don't want you to move?" She says leaning forward and picking up the beer from the table to sip it.

charlie

Charlie bites his lip with a chuckle. “I can’t help it. You are the epitome of sexy cute.” He shrugs as though it was obvious. He takes his own bite of food and smiles with his mouth closed, savoring the food. “Mm. Chinese always taste better the second day I swear.” He moans. “Oh so you just wants me to feed you all night?” He raises a brow suggestively and grins.

peyton

Peyton shakes her head, her lips pressed together in a smile. "That's not... no." She replies, laughing. "I'm going to ban you from saying it." She can't stop her eyes from travelling to Charle's lips as he talks, the innocent sounds he's making as he does definitely isn't helping. But Peyton really didn't want to lead him on, so instead she quickly diverts her eyes, picking at the label of the beer bottle in her hands. "I mean, you're clearly the expert chopsticks user here... And you wouldn't starve me, would you?"

charlie

Charlie rolls his eyes. “Fine. I won’t compliment you anymore. Is that what you want?” He raises his brow, questioning. He grins “I would never let you starve.” He picks up another mouthful and offers it to her. He sighs happily and it’s almost weird to him how easy this is. How... natural it feels for him to tell her how he’s feeling. “I had a really great time with you tonight. Hell, best time I’ve had in a while...You’re really easy to talk to and it’s usually hard for people to have me let them in like this... Maybe it’s the meds, cause I know it’s not the drinks.” He shrugs.

peyton

“No... I mean, yes.” Peyton crinkles her nose, her flustered laugh filling the air. “Shhh, you make it hard to think straight.” Or maybe it was alcohol, but either way she was struggling with sentences right now. “I just mean, the last time you saw me I was... young. And I guess when you call me cute I feel like you still see me as the heart eyed schoolgirl.” She brings the beer up to her lips, taking a couple of long gulps before holding out her hand defensively. “Not that I was a heart eyed school girl for you. But yeah.” Her voice trails and she turns to eat the food he was offering, humming happily as she did. “I had a really good time with you too.” She says genuinely when her mouth was empty. “Thank you for coming out with me tonight.”

charlie

Charlie bit his lip and laughed quietly at the girl as she stammered. He took in what she said and tilted his head just a bit, his eyebrows raising. He set the food down on the table “I can definitely... assure you that I don’t see you as a heart eyed school girl.” He spoke quietly, seductively as his hand began to trail on her leg, just soft traces. “I can also prove it.” He says whispering into her ear. He’s not expecting this to go any further because of her asking earlier but he liked to tease and he would stop if she asked. “Maybe another time though, when you’re up for it.” He assures her as he pulls back, hand and all.

peyton

Peyton’s heart suddenly felt like it was about to beat out of her chest again as she watches the way his eyes change from sweet to sexy. “Y-yeah?” She stumbles, far too distracted by his hand to speak fluently. Her eyes flutter shut briefly and before she can even try and find words he’s pulled back, and faint groan escapes her lips. “Okay. Point proven.” She swallows, her lips twisting really not knowing what to say in this situation. “Maybe another time.” She quietly repeats his words with a small smile. Even somewhat tipsy Peyton knew she wouldn’t give in to sleeping with him, as much as she may want to right now.

charlie

Charlie smiles at her, his hand back on her shoulder in a friendly and comforting manner. “Hey, relax. I’m just teasing you. How about a movie to go along with our food and drinks? Or tv show? Whatever your preference might be?” He asks her as he grabs the remote from the side table, turning on the tv. “What do you want to watch?” He asks her with a simple smile.

peyton

"Anything without dinosaurs." She responds with a serious smile. "And nothing that could possibly be featured on Nick Jnr." Peyton's skin was still buzzing from where Charles hand had been, and her lips still tingling from kissing him earlier. He might not see her as a heart eyed school girl, but that's how she felt around him. God, she wanted to kiss him again. "But I'll leave the executive decision on what to watch up to you... Try  not to show your age too much though." She teases, getting more comfortable on the couch and resting her head against the male.

charlie

“Dinosaurs, hm.” The only dinosaur movies he was really aware of were the Jurassic Park and world movies and he had the newest one on digital so he shrugged and started playing it on the tv. “Old jokes, very funny.” He said sarcastically with a playful chuckle. He wrapped an arm around the girl, getting comfortable with her. “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom it is.... although I really should let you suffer through all the supernatural seasons.” He raises a brow.

peyton

Peyton lifts a brow when Jurassic Park starts playing, and she realizes he only heard half of what she had said. She smiles to herself, honestly not really caring at this point. She'd seen the film about a hundred times, but that just meant she didn't need to focus -- which was probably a good thing because it was sort of hard to do when he was around. "After karaoke I had to." She teases. "Honestly, I don't think I'm emotionally prepared to sit through all thirty seasons of supernatural." She comments, resting her hand on his leg and tracing her fingers absentmindedly over the fabric of his jeans.

charlie

Charlie hadn't even realized the 'out' part of without when he put the movie on. He even found it weird that she would still want to watch these movies when her daughter watched them all the time. But maybe she missed Lexi and wanted to feel close to her. He didn't question it. "It's only 14 and honestly I'd only make you watch the one i'm in sooo only one." He chuckles and kisses the top of her head. The fingers tracing his leg definitely being felt and even giving him a small set of chills. He bit his lip, trying to think of unsexy things so he wouldn't suddenly get hard in her presence. It wasn't entirely working.

peyton

“Only 14?” She giggles, shaking her head. “I can’t just watch your season... I grew up watching Gilmore Girls, I’m gonna be watching for Dean.” She teases him and looks up at his face, her eyes lingering on his features. He was so pretty. “Do you want to kiss me?” She asks in a bold moment. “Because I don’t think I can watch anything when it’s all I’m thinking about.”

charlie

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, I had to watch all of them for research. Ackles was a talented fella." He shrugs. "Ah, so you're a Padalecki fan. Alright, i get it. I guess he is pretty." He rolled his eyes and then her question peaks his interest. "I would love to kiss you, Pey." He says gingerly as he grabs onto her waist and turns her towards him, partially on his lap. "Are you going to kiss me now?" He asks her with a smile.

peyton

Peyton gasps a little under her breath when he turns her, her cheeks warming and her heart racing something crazy. She nods, though she knows it's probably a hypothetical question.  "Definitely". She murmurs against his lips before closing the gap and letting her lips fully immerse themselves in his. The taste of beer on his tongue feels more alcoholic than all the drinks she'd had earlier in the night. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, her fingers twisting into the back of hair and tugs gently as she tries to deepen the kiss between them.

charlie

Charlie smiles into the kiss as he pulls her in closer, his arms wrapping around her upper thighs making her dress ride up, his hand resting on the swell of her ass. The tug on his hair makes him squeeze her ass instinctively and moan mildly,  it also wasn't really helping his problem from before.  He let her into the kiss, his mouth parting  and soon there were lips and tongue and it was getting hotter and hotter. Charlie wasn't exactly sure where this was leading but he trusted that the girl would stop them if she didn't want to go any further.

peyton

It had been so long since Peyton had felt this close to someone, in so many senses of the word. With their bodies flush together she wasn't sure how she was meant to stop herself from going further with this man. In this second she wasn't sure if she wanted to. She grinds against his hips in response to his moaning, feeling him hard against her and smirking against him for a moment. Spending day in and day out either covered in crayons or animal fur wasn't a recipe for feeling sexy, but Charles? Charles made her feel sexy. She moves one hand from his hair, trailing it down his body, wanting more and more to touch him everywhere.

charlie

The longer this went on, the harder it was for Charlie to control himself and let her take the lead. If it was up to him the would already be in the bedroom with less clothing. He wanted more, of course he did, but he was anxious to upset the girl by going too far. Their hips crashing together, has him groaning softly in her mouth, he pulls away from her lips briefly to attach his lips to her neck. "You keep doing that and I don't know if i'll be able to control myself." He warns in a deep gritty voice.

peyton

"Maybe I don't want you to control yourself?" She feels herself moan, her eyes closing as his lips explore her neck. But she was drunk, and she didn't do this... She just didn't know how to put that into words right now. She didn't want to be that girl, the one who went home with someone, led them on and then left them disappointed and angry. Her breath hitches in her throat, and she hesitates for a moment before finding his lips with hers again.

charlie

Charlie can almost feel the hesitation in her body. The desire to be with someone this intimately was always strong in most people and Charlie understood that. He also wasn't as intoxicated as the young girl was and he didn't want to take advantage of her vulnerability and desire when she had clearly stated earlier that she didn't want to do this. He stopped them, his hand coming up to cup her cheek so he could look at her. "Are you sure you want to do this? We don't have to." He tells her quietly. "I don't want you to feel pressured even if this is something I want>" He tells her honestly because of course it's something he wants.

peyton

Peyton brings her hand up to cover his gently on her cheek, she wants to say yes. But she can't. She takes a deep breath, her heart thudding so hard she was sure he could hear it, and she shakes her head. "It's not you." She whispers sincerely leaning in so her forehead was touching his. "I'm human, and you're... gorgeous. But no. This isn't me." As much as she wants it to be. "I'm sorry." She breathes, sliding from his hips to sit next to him. "I can go..."

charlie

Charlie nods and catches her lips in a chaste kiss before she slides off. "You don't have to apologize, Peyton." He assured her with a soft yawn. "Do you want to leave? Cause I rather like your company, just let me take a quick shower? Take a breather for a moment before we try to jump our bones again." He chuckles and squeezes her arm.

peyton

She presses her lips together, smiling awkwardly. "I should probably leave." She says with a shrug. "Lexi is going to wake up in about four hours and I should try and get some sleep before then." She chuckles, leaning in and kissing his cheek softly. "But thank you for taking me out tonight... And bringing me back here. You're really sweet." She muses, tucking her hair back behind her ear. "Don't be a stranger." Peyton stands up, her dress falling back to where it was before making out.

charlie

Charlie can't help but be a bit disappointed that she's leaving, but he wasn't going to argue with her especially when she mentioned her daughter. He stands with her and nods, "Don't worry about it, anytime." He smiles at her. "Let me walk you home at least..." He offers as he grabs a sweater that was lying on the small chair in the room and hands it to Peyton. " Here, it's cold outside."

peyton

Peyton wasn't going to turn his offer, partly because it wasn't a brilliant idea to walk home by herself at this time in New York city, but mostly because she selfishly wanted to spend more time with him. She bites her lip timidly, taking the sweater and slipping it over her head. It was sort of huge on her, but it was warm and oddly comforting. "What about your shower?"

charlie

Charlie grabs his blazer from before and slips it on, offering Peyton a smile. "Eh, The new York city air will work just the same." He winks as he discreetly tries to adjust himself, seeing that his pants felt tighter due to the obvious. "Ready to go?" He asks as he grabs his keys so they could leave.

peyton

She can't stop herself from laughing a little, suddenly realizing why he was going to have a shower in the first place.  Admittedly she's sort of thankful it wasn't just an excuse for him to leave the room. "I'm ready." She says, nudging him playfully and walking to the door. Still sort of in awe about how cool his apartment was. "I think I'm going to keep this sweater, by the way." She teases as she hugs it into her chest.

charlie

Charlie looks at her when she laughs and chuckles with her. "I told you, you were hot." He reasons with her  and bites his lip.  "Alright, lets get out of here and get you home to your beautiful daughter." He smiles and grabs her hand. " You're keeping my cozy sweater?  Maybe I'm just letting you borrow it." He raised a brow as they enter the elevator back down. "I want to do this again with you... Maybe I can take you to dinner next time?" He asks her.

peyton

The corners of Peyton's lips tug when he mentions her daughter, it wasn't going to be something most people would understand, but she kind of missed her already. She squeezes at his hand, lifting a shoulder into a half shrug. "Exactly. Borrowing forever." She jokes with him, knowing that she'd give it back once they got to her apartment. "You do?" She looks up at him with a raised brow. "You want me to be your wing-woman again... Because I don't think I did the job I promised."

charlie

“I think you did an excellent job.” He told her. “Plus, I don’t think I’ll need a wing woman anymore.” He smiles at her as they walked into the cold New York air. “Yeah, I want to take you on a proper date. If that’s something you want.” He lets her know. He was really into Peyton and while Charlie liked most people, he really never felt this sort of connection.

peyton

"Well thank you. I'll make a note to put "professional wing woman" on my resume" She tilts her head, swinging their arms a little in a way that she's used to doing with Lexi. "Though I'm not sure why any vet clinics would care about whether or not I can get a guy a girl's number." She chuckles, and tries not to act as taken back by Charles wanting to take her on a date than she actually is. "I think I'd like that, honestly."

charlie

He laughs “You’re funny. I like that.” Charlie sighs in relief when she says she would and he smiles. “Yeah, good. Cause I would love to take you out to dinner or breakfast or lunch. I know you’re a busy woman, so whenever you have time to fit me into your busy schedule then it works for me.” He smiles at her and brings her hand up to his lips to kiss it.

peyton

“I am busy, yeah, but you’re a tv star... somehow I think you might be just as busy as I am.” She tells him with a smile. “But I’ll check the incredibly unorganised calendar on my fridge and get back to you.” Peyton doesn’t want Charlie feeling bad in the morning if he decides she’s too young for him, or comes with too much baggage (even if her baggage was the world’s most beautiful girl), so she doesn’t commit to a day or time. That way there would be no awkward situation for him to try and get out of if he wanted to. Tonight wasn’t the night she had expected, honestly she’d thought maybe she’d just try and get one guys number have a couple of drinks and come home... but this was good. This was really good.

[kurtty-drabbles]

Swan au (his family)

N/A: I did think about this part. Kitty meeting his family. And aside from building more Yana and Kurt fight, I also want to add more elements here. Basilisks is one of them as well as Kitty being more badass than Kurt.

@djinmer4  @dannybagpipesarecalling  @discordsworld

Talia is wearing her best dress. Her mother often taught the importance of looking your best, no matter the situation, your blood is royal and people will judge you for your appearance. Show your best even if inside you feel like crying. And this Talia´s golden rule.

This weekend, the princess lied to her family saying she will train some of the new members of the X-men, in reality, she is going to visit her father. Something her family(by mother´s side) takes issues with such meetings. Kurt was never the one to care in keeping good impressions.

Arriving in her father´s lair is always a feeling(not always a good one) as the house resembles uncanny valley and Talia still thinks lifeless dolls will attack her. What makes the scene less creepy is the addition of a pound.

The pound was created artificially as in the past Kurt never had a pound, much less one like this. What makes the pound even more breathtaking and relaxing is the lonely swan swinging peacefully.

Careful, Talia. Swans can still be pretty nasty if provoked. Even the prettiest ones.

She arrives at the margins of the pound and observes the swan. Such a beautiful creature. Talia noticed a light scar on swan´s neck. A small detail that didn´t break the perfection of the swan´s beauty.

The swan regards the blue girl. For some odd reason, Talia fixed her hair, tales about swans fly through her head and the fact her father has a swan now has to mean something.

Always be polite with a swan. They are smart and prideful creatures. Don´t like insolence. Pietro learns this in the hardest way.

"Hello, Swan, you´re beautiful" Talia speaks as the swan blinks and nods prompting the woman to continue "I came here to see my father, so, I don´t have bread to feed you, but, I could ask him about it" Talia has a sense that the swan seems surprised by the fact Talia is the daughter of the Necromancer. The swan gentle and gracefully leaves the pond.

"There are you, Talia" Kurt calls her attention to the right way making the blue woman forget about the swan on her left. Kurt has a curious expression.

"You have a daughter?!" a new voice gains Talia´s attention and her total surprise. The swan is changed into a pretty woman who looks confused at Talia and at Kurt.

"Uhm, yes, I suppose we ought to talk about this" Kurt explained somewhat shameful.

"So" Talia starts once the introductions are over and all explanations are given " you found an injury Kitty" she can´t say swan as this would be too strange, then again, maybe dating a magical swan is the normal thing Kurt ever date and that says  a lot about his dating past  "and helps her and now she´s helping you. And you were thinking of telling me that?"

"Yes, I was just looking for the right words " Kitty and Talia share the same look of incredulity and Kurt tries to amend the situation " I was careless and I should have told more about the other. Kitty, I did state having kids" the woman nods feeling still a bit confused and crestfallen. "and Talia I told I´m seeing someone. Grant, I could have handled this better but at least you´re knowing this from me"

"I suppose," Talia speaks. Never forget Kurt is an evil wizard. "So, Kitty are you liking to be a human?"

"Is not so different from my other life," she speaks freely and Talia is happy for that. Never forget her father is evil. "I learn something new each day, is an endless adventure and little one, he´s not controlling my mind" her tone is poisoned and refined until the last part where Kitty rests her face on her right hand and looks at Talia, before the other could deny such claims, "your face says all. That boy from Excalibur thought the same. And I´m aware of your father´s reputation and past, I know what he´s and I´m comfortable with that. He´s not controlling me and I don´t have an agenda. If you want to make sure I´m not an evil woman using your father. I have the truth collar. You can make questions if you want"

Talia shakes her head. This woman is not being controlled by him.

"I just want to make sure you understand...father is a great man, but, he´s evil time and time again" Talia explained kindly and Kitty nods.

"I´m still here. Talia is rude to talk about your father when he´s right here" Kurt reprimed mildly and Talia waves him off, after all, the man does that with Talia and Damian all the time.

"I know what he´s and he knows what I´m. There are no secrets among us...and now I know you"

"Damien will be pleased to meet you. The last " Talia can´t say girlfriend and Kitty have enough intelligence to understand and suggest the word, woman, " woman was not so nice, no, don´t look at me like that, father, she wasn´t and me and Damien warn you."

Talia and Kurt go back and forth until the blue woman returns to her point.

"You seem to be a nice person and anyone that can bring a bit of kindness into his dark soul is welcome. So, Kitty, good luck and thank you" Talia replied calmly.

"Oh, thank you. I don´t think I´m doing anything that worth the thank you from a princess, loving this evil asshole is not the hardest thing I´ve done ...is easier" Talia watches as Kurt feels moved (blushing purple in such innocuous way as his tail flip in a more fanatical state. Just like Talia.) "However, if you want to congratulate me, why not the time when I stop the Swan Lake to be infested with Basilisk?"

"What?" Talia asked and now Kurt laughs amused at his daughter reaction. The laughter is so similar to Talia.

"Or you could wait until I kill the fox." the last part Talia didn´t understand but judging by her determination this is not a joke and Swans love revenge(hey, like dad does!)

"Never mind, Talia, Kitty has hate for this Fox, but, you came here to visit me, how are things in the Genosha?" Now Talia´s face gets serious as the woman speaks carefully "Dad, mother would be furious if she knew I told you this but...using a loophole here...I can only say to be careful with Princess Illyana Rasputin. She´s far more powerful than you believe"

"Oh, I heard that name" Kitty pipes in "Doug speak highly of this Princess saying she is extremely powerful"

"Right, and I should be impressed?" Kurt asked albeit bored with this talk.

"Dad, she was taught by Belasco and many claims she is better than you. So, be careful"

"Belasco?!" Now, this gains Kurt´s attention. That lech does only take the best of the best. Is Illyana Rasputin so powerful?

Talia leaves Kurt and Kitty as she has to return home. Her cover-up can´t last long. Kurt is now musing about this Illyana Rasputin(Belasco would never teach a weakling) and only stop when Kitty is holding the teacup squeezing but not breaking.

"How many kids do you have?" Kitty asked in a disheartened tone.

"The truth? I´m very old, Katzchen and I have several children along the years" Kurt speaks carefully.

"I see, we swans...don´t do that. If I take you, it will be forever. Look, I´m smart enough to know you´re evil and you´re immortal. You´re far too good looking to be waiting for a magical swan to be human, even though a certain German Prince did just that" she jokes but carries on using the same tone of voice "I can accept you wanting to take the world, because quite frankly, humans do that all the time. Conquer, destroy and created kingdoms. You are not the only source of evil in the world."

"However, I´m not here to feel cheated on. As I said, when I take you is for life, I don´t want to find out you have kids with random women because you can and I don´t want to have kids with random men, can you really be faithful?"

"I´m not a good man, Katzchen, I conquer many kingdoms and did many bad things, however, if you fear that I´ll put a baby in any woman I see, rest assured, as much media love to paint me as a manwhore, when I take you, I don´t plan to share you with anyone else or waste time with anyone else. When I love, I love deeply" his gaze is intense.

"Ok, I need to think about it. Are more children of you coming to meet us?"

"I believe not" ________________

Princess Yana is a growing name that Proteus knows is far greater than his own. If he had plans to be the ruler for good, those plans died as soon Yana returns. The Princess is talking about the gem mines and Proteus is in trouble.

If Yana reveals the scheme all Proteus good working will be for nothing, so far, the Princess hasn´t done that.

Yana is not hiding she dislike the man. Proteus knows he´s outmatched and knows Genosha is supporting Yana, not him.

As for Yana, she believes information is vital. So, when Doug, once returning from his one month deal with the necromancer told her everything.

"Who is this woman? Kitty?" Yana asked and the other members have no clue. Amara and Sunspot using their influence try to fish information about her, nothing was found.

"Excalibur meet her?" Doug nods "Ok, I want to talk with Excalibur"

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

Alix Appreciation Week, day 4: Friends

I miss Pharaoh Alix, I had to write at least one prompt about her :’)

(Also here I dumped all these lil fics onto AO3 because my blog is a mess)

Pharaoh Alix, lounging on her throne with her royal sceptre in hand and pet cobra draped over her shoulders, snapped her fingers at her advisor. “Dude. Intel report. I wanna be ready before the meeting with the council.”

He cleared his throat. “First of all, welcome back, Your Majesty. Your citizens have been eagerly awaiting your return from school, as has the elected council. It will be good to have your input when governing again.”

She grinned, wondering if he was telling the truth or just being polite. “Yeah, well now that I’ve had three years of royalty school, hopefully I’ll actually do a good job at it.”

“I am sure you will.” The advisor looked down at the clipboard he had in hand. “Right. First things first, you know how much turmoil the Bourgeois Empire is in right now, having been at school there. No doubt the press will be asking for your official stance on the situation and your opinion of the new empress. Best to think of an answer to give beforehand.”

“Opinion? Yeah, Chloé’s cool, I guess.”

The advisor frowned. “Really? Most of our citizens have a rather low opinion of her. Or rather, they have a low opinion of her empire, which doesn’t seem to be doing so well right now. Though it is improving.”

“The problems are her dad’s fault,” Alix said. “Chloé’s been making reforms and stuff. She was in my class at school, she’s actually kind of okay once you get past how stuck-up she is. We actually made friends.”

“You made friends with a fellow leader? That’s good news, and I suppose your high approval rating here will give citizens an incentive to be more receptive to Empress Chloé too, and perhaps they might actually donate more to provide relief to the Bourgeois Empire…” He cleared his throat again. “Let’s see, what else… Ah yes, the kingdom of Kanté has been grateful for your abolishment of trade restrictions, and their economy is flourishing.”

“Of course.” Alix leaned on the back of her throne, crossing her arms. “Anything for Prince Max.”

“It wasn’t Prince Max who has sent the official thanks, it was his family.”

Alix waved her sceptre. “Actually he also sent me a text to personally thank me himself, since he’s my awesome best friend and everything.”

“Ah yes, your sceptre-phone receives text messages now… Do you really consider him a close friend?”

“Yeah, it’s not a bad thing, is it?”

The advisor shook his head. “No, it isn’t bad for a monarch to have close friends. But you must be careful who these friends are and what they get out of a friendship. I do trust that Prince Max has no ulterior motives, though, as a fellow member of the International Alliance and an advocate of peace and science. So being a close friend and ally of his is a good idea.”

“Obviously.” She hadn’t really thought about it in that much detail before – Max was her friend, what was the big deal about that? But he was right. Not everyone could be trusted to be friends with a pharaoh. Only the best were worthy of such an honour.

“Another thing,” the advisor continued, “is a matter of strengthening the ties between our countries. Top students from Kanté want to collaborate with our own scientists and engineers, and the country is requesting total open borders as proof of our cordial relationship.”

“Open borders are a definite yes. That way I can go visit Max all the time.”

The advisor tried to hide his smile. “You already do…”

“Yeah, but this way it’ll be cheaper, won’t it? And maybe they’ll make more robots if they team up, like Markov!”

“I believe that’s the idea. The decision will be put to a vote during the council meeting, but it is highly likely everyone would be in favour.”

“Nice! Okay, what else?”

He flipped a page over. “We’ve received news that Prince Kim has finally been able to return home, and has completed the journey safely.”

“Oh yeah, I already know that. He sent me a text.”

The advisor blinked a few times. “But… his kingdom doesn’t have portable telephones capable of text messaging… and we haven’t opened up trade with them… he can’t possibly have a phone…”

“I gave him one as a present.”

“Your Majesty, you can’t just go giving phones to random princes!”

Alix stood up and put her hands on her hips, not that it made much difference to her height. “He’s not just any prince, he’s Kim! My friend! And when his coronation happens in a few months then he’s gonna be a king, so there.”

“How many friends did you even make at that school?”

“Like, the entire class, I guess?”

“Hmm…” He looked down at the clipboard in thought. “That does explain a lot.”

“Explain what?”

“Why we suddenly have so many offers from distant kingdoms we’ve never associated with much before,” he said. “Many of your classmates returned home earlier than you did, didn’t they? It seems they have already begun diplomacy. We’ve had requests from Couffaine and Lavillant to establish embassies in our city, Tsurugi and the new Raincomprix Republic have been sending diplomats, and Kurtzberg is asking about housing some of their artwork in our Great Library in Alixandria as a joint cultural exhibit…”

“Yes to all of those,” Alix said. “Juleka, Rose, Sabrina and Nath are my friends too, and so is Kagami, though she’s actually homeschooled, I just met her in Nubia last year at that thing.”

The advisor looked rather stunned.

“What?”

“My apologies, it’s just… I’ve been working in this palace so long, and I’ve studied the history of our nation, the history of the politics of our world, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Young upcoming leaders all with close enough bonds to trust each other, despite the global tensions that have driven everyone apart in the past several decades. It’s incredible.”

She finger-gunned at him. “You mean incredible in a good way, right?”

“Yes, certainly. This level of support and friendship between countries has not been seen since, well, since Pharaoh Rania founded the International Alliance and ushered in a never-before-seen era of prosperity over 200 years ago!”

Alix flicked open the top of the sceptre, looking at the little hologram of Rania that popped up. “Really? So you think we’ll have another era of prosperity then?”

“I sincerely hope so. Oh, and that’s not all. Queen Marlena of Césaire has put in an application for her country to join the International Alliance, and the vote will of course take place later this summer. While I know that Princess Alya was a member of your class and you would want to vote to accept the application, her status as spymaster does make one wonder if her true reasons for wanting to join are to gain more intelligence, rather than promoting peace…”

“I know that too. The snake told me.”

The advisor almost dropped his clipboard. “I’m sorry – I – what?!”

“The snake.” Alix gave her cobra a stroke. “He can speak in Morse code, ‘cause he’s super smart and I taught him. He told me about Alya wanting to join the International Alliance.”

“Uh… if you say so…”

“And anyway,” Alix continued, “I’d definitely vote yes. She and that spy network have saved a lot of lives these past three years.”

The advisor shook his head in disbelief. “What’s even been going on at that school?”

“Lots. There was all that stuff with the Agreste Empire, so…”

“Ah yes, speaking of which, that’s another thing on the list.” He cleared his throat and tried to regain composure. “The new Emperor Adrien is a wildcard, and no one quite knows what to think of him. We could send spies of course, just to see what’s going on at his court, but as you knew him at school, your input would be valuable here too. What kind of ruler will he be?”

“A good one, don’t worry,” she replied. “He’s not gonna go causing wars or taking people’s land like his dad did. Not on purpose anyway.”

“It does seem that way so far. He’s already called off the invasion of Lê Chiến, and has made sure to let his subjects know he is nothing like his father. That does make him incredibly unpopular at his court, though. They think him a weak ruler. It doesn’t help that there have been smallpox outbreaks in his empire and he’s had to deal with those on top of everything else.”

Alix winced. “Smallpox still exists there? Yikes. We should send vaccines or something, right?”

“That would be a good idea, but would also signal to the world that we are ready to open up diplomacy with the Agreste Empire – previously everyone’s enemy. If you are certain that Emperor Adrien will be a good ruler, then it would be a good choice. But can we trust him to not only be a merciful ruler, but to keep his grip on the throne when many of his underlings wish to overthrow him and replace him with someone more keen on expanding the empire?”

“Yes. I trust him.”

“Are you sure?”

She tightened her grip on the sceptre. “Everyone’s sacrificed a lot for that kid, and he’s been through hell and back and is still kicking. He can do it. And anyway, he’s my friend. I have to support him.”

“Right. In that case at the meeting we can discuss exactly what sort of aid and espionage we can organize. The rest of the International Alliance might take some convincing if they’re to join our side on this, though.”

“That’s fine. Max and Nino already support Adrien too, I bet.”

“Speaking of Prince Nino,” the advisor said, smiling now, “we’ve had a request from him too. It seems he’s an amateur filmmaker, and would like to access our special effect technology in order to–”

“Request granted,” Alix said.

“Very well. It’s not an important enough topic to discuss at the meeting anyway, so I’ll let him know your reply.”

Alix had already been typing away at the little keys on her sceptre. “No need, I’m texting him right now.”

“I… alright then. How many of your classmates – well, your friends – have portable phones anyway?”

“Me, Max, Kim, Nino, Alya, maybe some others but I’m not sure…”

The advisor flipped over another page. “Anyway, there are a few more things pertaining to your friends. Princess Mylène and Grand Duke Ivan are engaged. They have sent a rather interesting request, stating that although it will be many years before the wedding takes place, if it is not called off by that time for whatever reasons, they would like you to be the official flower girl.”

Alix pulled a handful of flower petals out of her pocket and tossed them at him, smirking. “Good.”

“Do you really think someone of your status should…”

“Yes.” She chucked another handful at him.

“Fine, fine. I will let them know of your answer. That is, unless you already have some means of communicating with them, considering that you already seem in the loop when it comes to news about your friends, without me having to inform you.”

“Nah, they don’t have phones, you can send a letter or telegram or whatever.”

“I shall. Now, there is one last matter I should mention, as it’s almost time for the meeting to begin, and everything else can be discussed there. The rail lines in Asia are being repaired as we speak and should make journeys across the continent much quicker, despite their lack of air travel as of yet. This means that it’s possible you may be able to attend Prince Kim’s coronation.”

“Yes!” Alix pumped a fist in the air. “Me and Max are going to that, and no one’s gonna stop us.”

“No one would dare,” the advisor muttered, glancing warily at the snake. “But yes, considering that his kingdom is a new member of the International Alliance, in order to cement his status it would be good for some other members to attend, such as yourself and Prince Max. Now, Cheng would be very close by from there, and Princess Marinette has issued an invitation for you to visit. Something about taking part in a tennis tournament.”

“Makes sense. Me and Marinette are tennis bros, we’re the best team ever.”

“I didn’t realize other young royalty were just as sporty as you are,” the advisor said, smiling. “But yes, it would certainly be a good idea to visit Cheng and foster good relations. If that involves playing tennis with Princess Marinette, then so be it. Just… please don’t get too competitive. We don’t want a war.”

“I wouldn’t cause a war over a tennis game–” Alix began, but quickly stopped when the memories of getting into brawls during lacrosse matches or trying to beat up Kim during a game of Monopoly came to mind. Yeah, maybe that was good advice after all.

“I believe that’s all the news I currently have that pertains to your classmates,” the advisor said, putting the clipboard down. “The rest can be discussed during the meeting. Now that school is over and you’ll be here permanently, it would be good for you to get into the habit of being more involved in decision-making.”

Alix nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“My pleasure. And if I may say so, I think I have a lot of faith in the new generation of rulers. You and your friends. You all seem to have peace on the mind, and after so many years of invasions and wars and frozen conflicts, that’s exactly what the world needs.”

“I guess that’s the power of friendship, huh?”

“You’ve done well for yourself. When you were a much younger child I’ll admit I thought you were somewhat… um… chaotic. But you have reached a balance, and for that, we’re all glad.”

There was a knock on the door, and Jalil popped his head around. “Alix, you’re needed in the council meeting now.”

She jumped down off the raised throne platform. “Cool, let’s go.”

Jalil left the room again, and Alix and the advisor followed towards the meeting room. In a way, this was going to be the first true council meeting Alix had taken part in – the first time her opinions and decisions would actually count for something, making a difference to her country, and by extension, the entire world. Until recently, the future of that world had seemed very grim indeed. But now? The upcoming leaders were all friends and allies with each other, dedicated to making a new era of peace and growth.

Friendship really could save the day, couldn’t it?

[gabriellapatterson-blog]

Birthday First Date

A/N: Altivo doesn’t like being ignored. Thanks @wyattschreave for the rp! Also there’s another authors note at the end because I didn’t wanna give something away but it’s funny! Also the first picture is for the romance, 2nd is humor/realism. BEcause Altivo is there which they seem to forget about +shes small so tiptoes even with him hunched over

Breakfast had been pretty fun for me. I couldn’t help but side glance at Wyatt every few minutes. I just felt so happy. He was my boyfriend now and he was right there and we were eating breakfast together and it was my birthday! I kept twirling my hair as we made light conversation as we normally would have.

I walked back from breakfast happy after having gotten to see Wyatt while we ate. I was so thankful that my seat had just happened to be right next to Wyatt's.

My eyebrows furrowed as I saw a small box in my room on my bed. Who could that be from? I grinned hoping it was Wyatt and saw it was from Ben.

I was confused. Why would Ben give me anything? I mean it was my birthday but he was awfully busy and I wasn’t even competing for him anymore.

I opened up the box and saw a note that looked exactly like the one from the penguin meme. Oh, so that was a hint. My smile returned as I knew it was from Wyatt now. He was being sneaky with our super secret relationship. No one knew. Just us two.

“yOU BETTER HAVE NOT EXPECTED IT TO BE FROM BEN. that would be a pretzel affair. I couldn't really get you anything interesting at midnight but I figured I might as well make something that would get you to laugh. happy birthday, cupcake"

I chuckled and plopped down onto my bed and looking through the pictures in the box. There were the pictures from when my family came and one of my staring at the napkin cocoon with an intense hatred.

I smiled as I saw the pictures for the first time. It was funny to remember my thoughts and moods while they had been taken and to see them there.

Like my annoyance at my dad poking fun at me for telling Wyatt about my cupcake phase which had become his nickname for me. I had been annoyed when he started using it. I knew it was meant to annoy me and he had succeeded. But as time had progressed it grew on me. Now I found it sweet.

It reminded me of fun moments talking with him. And the day my subconscious decided I was too oblivious to notice I liked Wyatt on my own so it through a dream at me. Talking with Wyatt as he sat in a chair beside my bed. My ankle hurt so I couldn't stand up and my hip had stitches so I couldn’t really sit up. He had brought me toast. It was sweet how he had noticed I loved the toast in the morning.

In another photo I saw my fear as I tried to balance with books stacked on my head and one foot off the ground as Ellie had demanded. I was holding onto Wyatt’s hand tightly both because I didn’t want to fall and because I hadn’t had the chance to hold his hand before.

I hadn’t noticed he was smirking down at me from over his shoulder. If I had I’m sure I would have chewed him out. I laid back down in bed and looked over the picture. I think it’s my favorite. It just perfectly got how I felt, and I love seeing Wyatt’s face looking down at me. I couldn’t help but smile giddily and I set the photo down on my bedside table.

I flipped through more of the photos and got to a sea of photos of Mashed Potato.

“Amazing.” I mumbled looking at the adorable little chub chow dog.

Then there was another picture. This one though, was of Wyatt. He was much younger maybe ten to twelve. Making almost a duck face. He probably was just talking but it came out like one which made me snort a bit.

I considered going to see him but decided I should wait. Since he may be worried about us being caught even though I’m sure I could be 100% sneaky. OH CRAP HAZELS RIGHT NEXT TO WYATT. My face went red as I realized she probably had totally picked up on all my flirting during breakfast.

Okay so maybe I’m not the best at being sneaky. But I’m just not good at keeping things inside. I just feel so delighted that I want to act on it.

My face went red and I picked up my phone and told Emma everything. I mean it was Emma. I couldn’t not tell Emma and she wouldn't tell anyone. She could be very tight lipped, well with secrets not with Jonathan, apparently.

We talked on the phone for a long while since she was driving and hated driving in silence.

Finally, I had to leave my room again since it was lunch time. This time I tried to be a little less flirty but still ended up talking with him a bit more than we normally would have. Maybe Hazel’s bad at noticing things, like me?

After lunch I went back to my room and saw a note on the floor barely inside the room. I picked it up and read it was from Wyatt saying I should come visit him at the stables if I was bored.

There were still things I could do and girls to talk to before I was eliminated, but my heart jumped at the idea of seeing Wyatt again so soon. So I quickly rushed down to the stables.

My eyes had caught him before he had caught me, so I slowly crept up from behind him. Planning to surprise him with the aim of seeing if he had a girlish fear scream or not.

The horse he had been petting blew in his face putting his hair out of place, “We're out of apples, stop messing my hair up. I actually need it to look nice today.” I smiled thinking he may want to look nice for me since this could count as our first official date.

I got closer behind him before I yelled, “BOO!”

His reaction was underwhelming. Mission failed. I’ll have to try harder next time. Wyatt jumped and looked over his shoulder as the horse neighed which frightened me a bit. Then wyatt ran a hand through his messy hair and blinked, “Hey, so you were bored?”

I bit the inside of my cheek and pouted a little, “I was hoping for more of a yelp than a jump. And nope, I wasn't bored. I wanted to hang out with you.” I said then leaned a bit to the side to get a better look of the horse since Wyatt was in front of it and made eyes a little cautiously but also threateningly like I was establishing dominance.

“I'm not easily scared.” He then leaned down our faces close, causing me to blush. His eyes narrowed for a split second before he, while smiling smugly, poked both my cheeks, each with an index finger, “Nice chipmunk.”

I grabbed his fingers and then took his hands, pulling him down a little so I could reach better, then stood on my tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek, “I may be a chipmunk when I glare but you're a tomato with pink ears when you blush.”

His ears went pink to prove my point even further, “Well- you know, you can't just do stuff like that in public. Kinda dampers on this secret we're trying to uphold.”

Oh right secret! I looked around quickly but tried to keep my cool as there was no one around, “There's no one around so it's fine. It's only secret around other people. I bet you just want me to not fluster you so you don't get pink ears. Which just makes me want to more.” I added with a chuckle.

“Maybe,” He replied with a smile before we were very rudely interrupted ™.

Wyatt was pushed forward by the horse causing me to blush. Wyatt blinked down as he stared into my eyes and cleared his throat, “So um, that's Altivo.”

I would have stepped away since Wyatt was now extremely close to me but my attention had shifted to the horse, “He seems to want more attention. I take it he's named after the horse in Road to El Dorado? Or does he just fit the name?” I asked.

He finally pulled back just a bit, “Both. Both. Both is good.”

I burst out laughing at the reference to the historic line, “Good use.”

I then approached Altivo, my slight glare returning, “Hello, horse.”

“You already know his name.” Wyatt said before the horse got all up in my space and was way too close causing me to take a few steps back as it looked at me with those murderous eyes.

“I don't like horses thus they should be called horse. You'd be insulted if you were called human, right? It's an insult.”

Wyatt made a face attempting to belittle me even though I have highly legitimate reasons for my disliking. He then crossed his arms and spoke up, “He's just trying to say hello. No need to insult him.”

“He said hello in a rude way. Invading my personal space.”

“That's kind of how horses show affection. But if you don't want to he won't.” The horse then moved its snout over to Wyatt’s head as he stood haughtily like the horse, not uncrossing his arms, “See?”

“He has teeth, right?”

“Yes, just like you do.”

“Yes, but he's significantly more scary.” I replied before deciding to try again. I couldn't be a chicken. Not in front of Wyatt. So I tried to scoot a little closer to the horse but was ready to bolt at any sudden movements.

Wyatt took a step back from the horse resulting in Altivo’s attention to shift to me. He lowered his head to examine me with his creepy eyes, “It don’t bite.” Wyatt mumbled referencing the vine with the aggressive dog.

I stiffened as the horse got closer but turned my attention to Wyatt’s poor choice of words, “THE DOG FROM THAT VINE IS VERY AGGRESSIVE SO THAT'S A POOR CHOICE.”

Wyatt tilted his head, “I’m confused. What do you exactly think he’s going to do to you? He’s not going to bite you to see if you’re food. That’s exclusively shark behavior.”

“Don't be mean to the sharks, they're just confused. And I've seen the movies. Horses are always the ultimate traitors. It could do anything.”

“Such as....what exactly?”

“We have been over this. For example one left Anna to die and get hypothermia in frozen.”

“Right. But that’s only one example and you’re not riding him.”

“But it was an example of malicious intent.” I huffed and crossed my arms.

“Does he seem malicious?” Wyatt asked as the horse started to sniff my arm.

I thought for a moment, “.....no.” Then decided to try something and pat the horse.

The horse decided he hated me and pulled his head up and out of my reach, Wyatt chuckled a bit at my failure like the kindest boyfriend. “He likes it better when he can see you.” He explained. Oh. Then Wyatt grabbed my arm and moved me a bit more to the side so the horse could see better.

“Try again.”

I looked at the horse who looked back at me. He looks at me. And I look at him. And he looks at me. And I look at hIM.

“Oh right they have those weird side eyes. It's odd. Why not have eyes in the front? Isn't seeing what's in front of you more important?”  

The horse lowered himself even further which just annoyed me. Even the horse has decided to get on the mocking my height bandwagon?

“I honestly wouldn’t want to see a horse with it’s eyes more in the middle than they already are. That would be kinda creepy. But they can see what’s in front of them by tilting their head slightly, so it’s not that hard. The way their eyes work is more beneficial for them.”

I stifled a laugh thinking about horses with eyes in the middle of their heads, “Yeah I hadn't put the image of that in my head. I feel a little insulted by how much he's lowered his head, but since horses are tall I've decided to let it go. So what does Altivo like to do?” I asked.

Wyatt laughed, “He’s trying to be nice! But as for what he likes to do... I’d say he enjoys being a show off though.”

I mumbled as I spoke to the horse, “Me too, Altivo, me too.”

I then turned to Wyatt, “Does he like grapes? I can't remember which of the horses Fee fed grapes too. I just stayed back and avoided eye contact with them and talked with her.”

Wyatt chuckled at that, “I’m sure she gave him some despite me saying not to. He’s kind of spoiled so I try not to add.. but I guess just so he likes you more I can make an exception.” He then walked off somewhere and came back with two apples, “Apples are better.” He explained then held one out to me. “He likes them more because he’s an asshole so eating apples is his aesthetic.”

I laughed at his eating apples= joke asshat, which made me think of cinemasins. I should check if they have a new video later. “He's very relatable. Does he eat the cores?” I asked referencing my rant on people eating apple cores.

Wyatt smirked and took a knife out to cut out a section of the apple, “Sometimes, but I don't let him do it often.”

“That's good. Makes him not a weirdo. The seeds probably have toxins and deathly things in them anyways.” I mumbled not fully knowing what I was talking about but I knew I had heard somewhere that the seeds were bad.

“Well, apple seeds are actually not as bad as people make them sound. Especially not to pets. The amount of cyanide within a few seeds is so minimal that it’s really not a concern. Too many apples a day isn't good though. Just like too many of anything isn't good.” Oh.

Suddenly, Altivo decided to bust in and go for the apple I hadn’t given him yet. I’M NOT READY TO STINGY HORSE. I SWEAR!

I huffed and backed up from the horse. Gotta wait for me to be ready. “I disagree. There are some things you can have as many as you want of in a day and it's fine. Like naps, showers, baths, conversations with you.” I finally replied.

Wyatt laughed and stood up to move closer to me, “I was mostly thinking of food rather than activities.”

“I'm glad you think that though.” He added.

I smiled and looked up at him, “Of course. Conversations with you are normally pretty fun as long as you don't decide to huff off and leave in the middle of it assuming I'll follow you. Though, now I probably would, but still my jab works.”

Wyatt gave me a crooked smile, “That was my mistake. I think I prefer dragging you places rather than expecting you to follow now. Otherwise it's no fun.”

“Ah yes, the much more sane version. Just grab the wrist and drag. Though, last night being dragged into a random room was an experience. Especially, because it was fun to see you look around in panic and being all flustered after calling you my boyfriend.” I added to which I got to see his face turn into a solid tomato red shade yet again.

“It was a reasonable response. We went from friends, to admitting things, to dating soon, to actually using titles in the same night, okay?” He said and looked away to hide his blush. I leaned forward a bit wanted to capture every moment I could of tomato Wyatt before he returned to normal.

“Well I mean. I think people don't usually just sit on it when people say they like each other. Like suzans like "hey um- carl, like you." carls like "like you too" then they're like "cool. So the weather?" I think its a normal thing to go straight from confessing to dating.” I explained.  

“In case you haven’t noticed, my examples of romance have been selections, convenient political dating or engagements, and staff members that end up dating.”

“Hm I suppose your right. Though personally my only other experience is the selection and being asked for a pencil, I have seen Emma and Nina court people before.” I shrugged, “You can win that one from not knowing.”

He nodded, “My friends are mostly royals after all.” He then looked down to his apple, is it his or Altivos? I mean Altivo gets it in the end, but it is in his hands?

“Also, it’s not like circumstance is the easiest at the moment.” He said then looked back down to me sheepishly.

“I didn’t think you’d be so determined on what you want.” He added.

“Hah that'd be weird if I wasn't. I'm rarely indecisive on things. I also don't like half doing things which is why I'm normally pretty into what I like and pretty against what I don't. Such as I hate heels. A normal person would have lived with it, I chose to get rid of them via you. Another case is when I had acted like I didn't like you not because I couldn't decide what to do, but instead because I had decided you didn't like me and I wanted to stick to friendship in that case. So I commited and just lied occasionally to avoid it coming out. Though, that didn't really stick when I was drunk and of course the case changed when you said you did like me so I weighed pros and cons and decided that I wanted to give it a go. Sometimes I need some time to process things but normally I just go with my gut so making choices is easy and I prefer to go with them wholeheartedly.” I explained.

“I appreciate someone’s who’s decisive. People complicate everything for themselves way too often.” Altivo then decided that Wyatt’s hair needed to change so he huffed in it to mess it up.

“Thanks bud.” Wyatt said with a flat expression not looking at Altivo.

“He should be a hairstylist. Knew just what to fix.” I joked with a laugh.

“I don’t think so.” Wyatt said as he ran a hand through his hair. HOLY. IT'S SO FLUFFY. THAT'S NOT FAIR.  

“I didn't get to fully mess with your hair when I fixed your helmet hair. It seems fluffy!” I said and walked up close to him. I stood on my tiptoes and put my elbows on his shoulders for support and smirked as I played with his hair with was even more fluffy than it looked. It was like a pom pom.

Wyatt laughed and bent his knees slightly, which I knew was to try and help me reach, but it just annoyed me. I don’t need his handicap. Then to make my frustration worse, he directly attacked me. “I do have great hair. It’s probably better than yours.”

I scoffed, “It is not. No one has hair better than mine. Its fabulous. Also I could actually destroy you right now so mocking me isn't nice. Like my elbows are on your shoulders, you have a weaker stance. I could knock you down if I wanted. You're lucky I'm mature and have self restraint.”

As I spoke Wyatt just seemed to get a wider and wider smile. Which just made me even more irritated. As I finished speaking he suddenly leaned down and melted away any annoyance in me by pressing his lips against mine.

My cheeks flushed and I was startled at first but quickly started to kiss him back, it was a soft kiss but slightly playful in nature having come from a silly argument. I felt like the butterflies in my stomach were losing their minds. They just got more ecstatic as I felt one of his arms go to hold me around my waist.

As the kiss ended there was a small part of me that was fearful. What if he said it? What if he said, “That was legitness?” Could I kill him there? I think that would be fine. It would be deserved. He better not quote a vine.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t destroy me.” He mumbled.

What? Why would I? Why would he think that I wou- oh right Anika.

“Oh I'm not planning on it.” I mumbled back a bit breathy feeling light headed from the sudden kiss.

I fidgeted with my hands as I tried to find words to make them come out of my mouth. I needed to say something to make him know how much I liked at but my head was still in a whirlwind.

Ben hadn’t taken my words and breath away like that before especially with a simple kiss so I took it as a sign that I had made the right choice. Not that I was concerned for a moment I had made the wrong one. But I was a little worried if it would be weird to kiss Wyatt after having kissed his brother before. But it wasn’t at all. To me it felt better than perfect.

“You're a good kisser. Also I'd prefer if you do not recite that that was legitness vine.” I said quickly stating my own fear.

Wyatt leaned his head back laughing but still keeping a hold on me, then looked back down to me, “I’m just glad this time you didn’t scream my name.” WhAT?

Tomato Wyatt back at it again, “I mean- that sounded bad. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Uh-what?” I verbalized.

He looked away completely embarassed, “I um, when- the day you got drunk-” He cleared his throat, “-I had a dream I kissed you as well the next morning. Since you woke me up with your screaming, really nice by the way, the first thing your dream doppelgänger did when I pulled away from the kiss was scream my name.”

I burst out laughing, “That explains why you were so panicked that morning! And it was my only choice you didn't wake up the first time I tried!”

“One is supposed to wake up relaxed. Calm and put together. Screaming in someone’s ear does not encourage either.” Uh no. One is supposed to wake up confused and in dread. We must have very different experiences in the morning.

“Well if you had woken up to maids looking weirdly at you as you slept on a bean bag I don't think you would have been calm or put together either.”

“Maybe I would’ve told them I wanted to mix things up.”

“Ah- and you think waking up right out of a dream where we had kissed you'd be able to seem perfectly calm and come up with a reasonable excuse? Plus no one wants to sleep on a bean bag. It's an unbelievable excuse.”

“How do you know?” He said and rested his chin on my head providing me with the delightful view of just his neck and chest, “I like being edgy.”

I stood up on my tiptoes to nudge him off of me, “You somehow become more of a bully as a boyfriend than you were as just a friend. Mocking me over my height.”

He laughed and pulled back, I felt more annoyed because I was a twinge upset that he pulled away. Him being so close was nice, it was almost a hug “Alright, if that bothers you…”

I leaned up again and gave him another kiss wanting more contact with him but not wanting to give in and let him mock me more by doing that again. After I pulled away I mumbled, “I didn't say it bothered me. Just that it was mocking.”

Wyatt was grinned down at me after my quick kiss, “Now that's just contradicting. Who likes to be mocked?”

“Shush. It has pros and cons. Con its mocking pro I like the contact. also pro you smell nice. 2 pros beat the 1 con.” I said being a little too honest causing me cheeks to flush.

“Nice to know I smell nice. Is it like-” He paused to adjust his voice into a dramatic ad one, “-dark temptation? Black eclipse? Black chill? Denim?”

I laughed and ran a hand through my hair, “Dark temptation for sure. I mean with all this sneaking secret stuff if has to be. Also how does denim smell?”

He shrugged, “Deodorants pick weird names. I'm not sure what they're trying to do there.”

“I bet I would be great at naming deodorants. I'm surprisingly good at picking weird names for things. I would call your smell Tall, towering and-” I dramatically waved a hand, “-tantalizing. Leave it to the consumers to figure out what that means.”

He raised his eyebrows, “I might need an explanation as well.” SMH boy can’t even guess his own name.

“Well, you're tall. You tower because you're tall, and tantalizing as in you like to tease i.e mock.”

He hummed, “I think that name is too long. Nobody would buy it. Also, it needs to be more edgy.” Fine. You want edgy. You get edgy. Also you say it’s too long, well, it’s about to get longer.

“Oh true. I was focusing too much on the alliteration of it. How about "I drive a motorcycle, don't you think that's cool? tell me its cool." that's a fitting name for your smell.”

He burst out laughing then leaned down to give me a quick kiss himself. My face flushed again at the contact. “You already called me a cool dork, so I don't need you to tell me.” He paused, “Just occasionally.”

“I can make a biweekly quota of times telling you you're a cool dork.” I mumbled still embarrassed from the kiss. It had thrown me off since I hadn’t seen it coming.

“Look who's flustered now.” He teased down at me.

“W-well you normally are flustered! Our ratio is like 100 to 1!” I yelled defensively ™.

Wyatt just grinned more, “I never feel this need you do to defend myself, however.”

“Of course I want to defend myself I'm being attacked! You just don't defend yourself because your a dummy who accepts insults most of the time.”

He rolled his eyes, “We already went over this. But I don’t defend myself because I don’t think it’s needed. Not with you at least.”

I huffed and crossed my arms. He had won. I couldn't think of some other reply to try and drag him. Then I got an idea and stood up on my tiptoes, I leaned up and wrapped my arms over his shoulders to pull him down close to me and pushed my lips against his, trying to fluster him again. My kiss being rough and competitive since I wanted to win this fluster debate.

Wyatt beat me though as he gently cupped my face which just made me fluster further. Once he pulled away he was not blushy and he looked down at me with a cocky grin, “Nice try.”

I had to hold back a smile myself as my endorphins wanted me to, but this was a battle, I couldn’t smile in battle. It was seRIOUS. So I pouted a little and lightly kicked some hay on the ground, “I'll catch you off guard later.”

Wyatt raised his chin with a smug grin, “I'm sure you won't give up.”

Altivo suddenly pushed Wyatt, making him drop his apple and eating it off of the ground, “No manners now.” Wyatt scoffed.

“He must get it from you. Though, I admit it was a good strategy. He got the apple in the end. I like this specific horse. He has flare.”

Wyatt gave me a flat look before the horse attacked my personal space sniffing now at the apple I still hadn’t given him. “Well, he is mine for a reason.” Wyatt muttered with a side glare at Altivo.

I took a few steps back from the horse, “Nope! Not getting that close to your mouth.” I then thought up a plan. I walked back up to the horse and put the apple down on the ground by where Wyatt’s had fallen to let Altivo get the apple himself.

Wyatt chuckled at my actions, “How brave.”

“I got him the apple, did I not? That's what matters. also I already touched him my horse quota has been met.”

“Fine. I’ll take that as progress. I assume you won’t be riding horses any time soon?”

“Or ever. Plus I've capped out this week on riding terrifying things after your death bike last night.”

“Oh, I know you thought it was nice. It lets you be a koala bear.” He called me out.

“Okay that part was nice. But the thinking about death part was not. To be fair I tried to be respectful at first and just hold onto your jacket or something. If you had gone maybe 5mph it would have worked.”

“Hey, you were the one that made me randomly leave the palace to help Kenna.” I rolled my eyes at his continued decision to not say her name correctly.

“Emma, and I only asked you could have said no to helping.”

He looked at Altivo, “I wasn't going to let you go out there alone.” He mumbled.

“You know, I've lived outside of the palace for 18, well 19 now years. I would have been fine on my own. But thanks for the consideration.”

He hummed and started listing, “It was late. You are a Selected, which means you stand out. There was a recent attack on the palace-” He paused frowning a bit, “in which you were hurt. Need I go on?”

“Fine.” I replied then pursed my lips as a sad thought came back. I would have to leave soon. We needed to start planning what we would do when I was eliminated. I hated to break our happy time with our first date but it needed to be said, “I won't be a selected much longer. We should think about what to do then. I imagine any day now it'll be time for me to go home.”

Wyatt took my hand had had me sit down in one of the small chairs used for the people to clean or brush the horses. He then grabbed another chair from a different area and spun it to face me and sat down himself, “So,” He said then leaned his chair back against the wooden wall, the horse on the other side looking down at Wyatt which cause me a moment of concern because what if the horse thought his hair was food, but he seemed to move on, “any ideas?”

“Hmm have I told you about the pantry plan before?” I asked joking a little.

He scoffed a laugh, “You did, but I think that won’t work too well.” The horse then started to sniff Wyatt more which caused me to stiffen a little. Wyatt, however, did not seem to care at all and just reached up to pet it his eyes still on the ground, “Maybe-” He sighed, “Maybe we need to wait a while.” Is he breaking up with me on my birthday on our first date?

“Like I go home and we try long distance? I don't like that idea if so so we should keep thinking.” I mumbled hoping that was his suggestion instead of a complete break.

He finally looked up to the horse who had been invading his space for awhile now, then he laughed a little as an idea came to his mind, “You could work at the palace.”

That’s a great idea! It fixes everything! Mom wouldn’t be mad because it’s not like I could risk being homeless. Palace workers have the option to stay which fixes the distance. “I could! I could find something to do and it'd be an excuse for me to stay.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Wait, I wasn't serious... I mean, not that it wouldn't work but... I doubt you want to work in the palace.”

“Why not? It could be fun, plus it's not like I know what I'm doing with my life outside of this anyways. Oh! Hazel really liked the chocolates that I made, I could just be her personal chocolate maker person.” I suggested.

He chuckled, “You mean a chocolatier? We don't have one of those, but you could be a pastry chef apprentice if you have some decent skills.”

I thought for a moment, I’m not really the best with pastries, but I’m good with chocolate which is in a lot of pastries. I bet if I got cozy with the head pastry chef before leaving they would take my regardless. No one can resist my mass charm. So I’ll befriend the head pastry chef then have Hazel recommend me and it’s a done deal.  

“I could do that! It'd be fun! Plus I could get hazel to recommend me since pastries have chocolate most of the time so it wouldn't look weird.”

“Maybe it would be best if no one saw a connection between you and the royal family for a while. Then when we do let everyone know one day, it just seems like something came out of our Selection-time friendship when you started working at the palace.” Haha! We have a false storyline now too.

He frowned a little and scooted his chair closer to me, “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

I nodded, “Yup! It would be fun, plus I could make cupcakes.”

He tilted his head and smiled a bit at my cupcake comment, “What about surfing? Or marine biology?”

“I can still surf if I stay here. I'm content not doing much. I like naps and eating. I don't actually like the idea of work it's annoying to be told what to do. Like i probably wouldn't mind doing the stuff for fun but being forced to to it just makes me not want to do it.” Wow sound ODD much?

He ran a hand through his fluff of hair again with an amused look, “So you wanna be a pastry chef for the fun of it?”

“Sure! I could learn how to make the ultimate cupcake to eat out of from the center. Maybe it'll go better than when I was three.”

He laughed and leaned forward to kiss the top of my head, “You’re my favorite cupcake either way.”

“Glad to know I wont be replaced by a literal cupcake.” I joked before leaning up to give him a kiss on the lips.

He laughed and mumbled a shut up into the kiss before properly speaking once it had ended, “I thought your life goal was to become a literal cupcake?”

“That would make it even sadder if I were replaced by a literal cupcake. Beaten by someone who accomplished my life goal before me.”

“That was meant as a romantic line Gabby. If I replaced you with a literal cupcake, it would be because you accomplished your life goal of becoming one.” He clarified with a smirk which caused me to blush.

“Oh well, thanks then. Not as sad. I wonder what flavor cupcake I'd be?” I asked curious about what he would say. Maybe it would be some deep personality thing.

“Strawberry.” He replied quickly. I should have seen it coming.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. It's mocking like this that lead to the outburst of actually trying some of yours.” I said referencing the great milkshake delima.

He shrugged dramatically, “What Can I say? Guilty as charged.”

“Welp, if I eat a strawberry tomorrow and am in immense pain, it's on you.”

He chuckled and leaned his elbows on his knees and took my hands, “Please don’t eat strawberries.”

“Fine. But just because I don't want to bite my tongue again. That really hurt.” I shuddered remembering the pain.

“Mhmm,” He replied before resting his chin in one of his palms and turning my hand with his other to face palm up. “Do you think this has been a successful birthday?”

“It's been pretty spectacular so far. I really liked seeing a picture of little you making a near duckface.” I chuckled thinking of the picture from his box of pictures he had given me.

“Honestly, I’m not sure what I was trying to do. Maybe I was in the middle of saying something. I was a very expressive child.”

I chuckled then decided to explain how inexpressive people thought I was when I was younger, “It's okay. People thought I was like a gangster when I was a kid. I was apparently scary. I was like cool scary though so other kids still wanted to be my friend but they were also too intimidated to talk to me. I think Stella started it because she said I was strong and she was popular so it got around. Then I made the kid cry when we were playing soccer because I accidentally kicked him in the shin. Woops. It faded more when I got into cheer though, then I was just seen as serious. Emma helped with it too since she is the opposite of intimidating to people so her being friends with me made me more approachable even though I've always been approachable and not scary at all.”

“So what I hear is that I'm dating a elementary school bully?”

“I was not a bully. I never even did anything. And the shin kicking was an accident I just got too caught up in winning and I apologized.” I said then smirked as I decided to attack him.

“You seem like the kinda person who would have been picked on in school and I mean I was a popular jock. It's like a cinderella story. nerd gets noticed by the cool girl,” I then dramatically tossed my hair.

“For the record, that is also mocking.”

“It's not mocking if its a fact.”

He made a sound like he had just been burned, because he had been, “you're right. You're a jock. A rude, pretentious jock.”

“Now you're bullying me. I didnt even insult you. I just stated a fact. and you're all like, you're rude and pretentious, which I am not.”

He hummed again, “I guess those are more of my adjectives rather than yours.”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “I can't tell if you just insulted yourself or if you still are insulting me but saying that's what you'd say about me as opposed to what I'd say about me? But if it's the first then I want to defend because my secret boyfriend is being attacked by himself, if it's the second then I need to attack to defend my honor.”

He laughed, “You're so complicated sometimes. If it's the first, how will you defend your boyfriend by attacking your boyfriend? ...Since he is the original attacker-” He paused and frowned as he seemed confused now by the inception.

“Hmmm. Well I think I'd have to get rid of the attacking boyfriend. Since the attacker is not nice they probably don't like nice things and would be expelled if there was a nice thing. Like this-” I leaned up and gave him a soft kiss on the lips aiming to be more gentle this time. “-or maybe that was just an excuse to kiss you.” I added once it had ended.

“I think it sounds like an excuse...but I won't complain today.” He then turned his attention to something outside of the stable which I identified as a tree when I turned to look at it too, “Did Ben give you anything for your birthday?” He asked.

“No, I don't think so. But considering that he's been pretty upset with the fighting, so I've heard I haven't talked with him since he apologized on the night of the fight, and I only ever told him the date once so I wouldn't put it against him if it slipped his mind. Additionally, we're just friends now and I don't think friends always or even normally give birthday gifts anyways.” He nodded a little but clearly was still thinking about the fight.

“It probably slipped his mind…” He said before his wrist watch went off and he started to roll up his sleeves.

I frowned, “You got somewhere to go?” Obviously. But I was prompting.

“I have some wiggle room. I set my alarms before the actual schedule I've got to work with. I'm just trying to make myself look like I actually went riding.” He said as he kept rolling up his sleeves. Oh right we’re sneaking around. I forgot. He then smiled a little sadly, “There's a meeting today.”

I leaned up to give him another kiss hoping to cheer him up a little, “I don't like it when you look sad. Why do you need to roll your sleeves so far up if you had gone riding?” I said hoping the first comment would get him to talk more about it.

“Yeah, well... the meeting's about the attack.” He said and rubbed the back of his neck, “And I'm not entirely sure where it's going to go. I wanted to see if Ben had any thoughts but-” He pressed his lips together. “-no point in bothering him.” I frowned at that. I know Ben wouldn’t have been bothered but Wyatt still seemed so upset about the fight. It made sense. But it was upsetting that he was upset.

He ran a hand through his hair trying to make it messy, “As for the sleeves, it's just a thing I do. If I came back inside from "riding" with them down, it'd be weird. Besides,” He paused and smiled at me, “I've been told I look even better that way so.” I should make Wyatt happy again. There’s no point on continuing to mope in sadness when we aren’t looking for a solution. Making the mood happy again would be for the best.

I chuckled and leaned back in my own chair and put my index finger under my chin in #deepthought to seem dramatic and funny for Wyatt. “Hmmm…” I then snapped my fingers like the conclusion of if he looked more attractive that way or not had just miraculously come to me, “I agree. That's the conclusion I've come to. Whoever said you looked better with them that way is correct, it makes you look-” I dramatically waved a hand, “-dashing.”

He laughed a bit more genuinely and grabbed some hay and threw a clump in my hair before a strand on his, “I also need to look like I've been around here tending to my horse.”

I laughed and tried to brush some of it out of my hair with my fingers before throwing more in his hair, “Woops! Guess you tripped and fell while you were tending to the horses!” I joked.

“Gasp!” He exclaimed then quickly stood from his seat and lifted me up off of mine by my waist. Holding me up in the air. I couldn’t help but to let out an EEK as I was suddenly lifted up. He then quickly spun us both around, “Wonder what I tripped with?”

I couldn’t stop laughing so I tried to speak through it, “Stop! Put me down I don't wanna fall and hurt my bum!”

He pretended to be offended, “You think I would drop you?”

“I could slip!” I argued.

“how? Like this?” He then loosened his grip letting me drop a little and causing me to scream again before he fixed his grip on me.

“Stoooppp! You're taking advantage of my size! It's rude and-” I fumbled as I tried to find a word, “-SIZEST.”

He burst out laughing and sat me down, “I'll set a motion in progress to add that word to the dictionary.”

“You should. It's a very serious thing. Millions suffer from sizeism daily, like me with your sizest behavior.”

“Mhmm, I'll keep that in mind next time.” He replied still smirking as he leaned down to kiss the top of my head, “I hope this was a somewhat decent, improvised birthday-date.”

“It was. I got to meet the horse version of Wyatt same trait of rudeness, I got hay in my hair, and I got a bunch of pretty awesome kisses including our first.”

“I suppose that’s true. Though, Altivo takes full offense to that.” He replied as he started to take some of the hay out of my hair. We both then glanced over to Altivo who seemed very unoffended by my comment, “He’s hiding it to seem nice.”

“How do you even get to ride him? He seems like he would be pretty anti being told what to do. Just sit down and eat apples instead.”  

He laughed, “He likes me enough. Besides, I told you he likes to show off. He’s the perfect horse for me. Who wants to be fast when you can be fancy?”

“I mean I would pick being fast over funny because when you're faster it's funner, but to each their own.”

“He can run fast. But Cleo beats him.” He then pointed at a different horse who must be Cleo then smirked, “Cleo can’t walk backwards, however.”

“ah such a needed skill. Walking backwards.” I scoffed.

He scoffed, “It’s fun!” He then tsked, “No appreciation for arts.”

I shook my head, “None at all. But I mean what would you even expect from a jock like me.” I then leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything more.” He then took my hands. Our fingers lacing together. I couldn’t help but smile feeling his hands in mine. “So, do I look like I’ve been jogging around, attending my horse and riding?”

“I believe so. Though in reality you've just been horse'n around with me.” I had to hold back from bursting into laughter at me own joke.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at me with a smile, “This is it. This will be the reason we break up.”

“You're just jealous that I'm a humor mastermind!” I cheered and pointed to myself with my thumb.

He rolled his eyes, “Only because it’s your birthday.” He then remembered something and took something I couldn’t see out of his breast pocket.  

“Also, after breakfast, I figured I should get you an actual present.”

“Oooh, exciting.”

“No time to wrap though.” He added then opened his palm and showed me a shark tooth necklace on a gold chain.

A big smile overtook my face as I took the necklace and held it up to look at the tooth, “Ooh! I love it! I wonder what kinda shark it came from? They're wild with how many teeth they have. I would think it would be easier to evolve to have stronger gums than to just have more teeth which are replaceable.”

“I will be honest and say I don’t know much about shark teeth...but sure, I’ll trust you on that.” He said with a smile and leaned down to give me a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

“I'll research later about the specific types of teeth. See you at dinner, tomato face.” I said and leaned up to kiss his cheek back.

He grinned as I pulled away, “Thank you, Cupcake.”

He soon rushed off and I stayed back with the horses. I plopped down into the small chair as I played with the necklace. Then finally, I decided it would be safer to put it on before I lost it so I put it on then messed with the tooth some more.

I looked up at Altivo who was still chilling. “He really is the best isn’t he, Altivo.” I mumbled more to myself but didn’t wanna sound like a looney so I addressed the horse. Granted he probably isn’t going to reply either.

Though he did, he gave a small huff as a reply. “I’ll take that as a yes.” I replied smugly then decided enough time had passed that probably anyone who had seen Wyatt leave would have left. So I made my way out and back to my room.

A/N p2: SO as i was writing this I was like “WOW THEY KISSED A LOT” so i counted to see how gross these two doofs are. 

They got 13 kisses (not just lips)