#gallaghergirlspromptober

[doodle-do-wop]

GALLAGHER GIRLS PROMPTOBER

DAY 1: PUMPKIN PATCH

(don't mind me just gonna hop onto the train late)

credit to @superbcoffeedrinkersubparwriter for the Gallagher version of the prompt list made by upsidedownwithsteve

Pumpkins

Why did it have to be pumpkins?

Carl considered himself a simple guy. He didn't ask too much of life. He wasn't too tall, too short (thank the Lord). He wasn't prom king back in high school but he wasn't a social outcast either. He was perfectly in the middle. The best candidate for a boyfriend! He wasn't picky about anything.

Except pumpkins. He hated pumpkin. Everything about them drove him nuts, the smells, the shapes, the way people put them in everything during the fall!

Now this wasn't to say he hated fall, he just hated pumpkins. Fall was the perfect time of year for an average guy like him and even better for a boyfriend like him. I mean come on, you can give your super awesome, super smart girlfriend your coat and be all suave like the guys in the movies.

You could cuddle with said super awesome, super smart girlfriend instead of doing anything else. Have tea and watch Hocus Pocus. Rake leaves in big piles so her little brothers can cannonball in. Fly kites with the autumn wind.

So many options for perfectly romantic dates....and yet Carl's here...in a pumpkin patch, surrounded by hundreds of tiny, stinky, orange pumpkins.

"-And if you scoop out the seeds and leave them to dry you can use them too for-" Anna chattered on as she spoke to her brothers, half crouched as she held a pumpkin in her arms. Her brothers listening intently as she told them everything she knew, their eyes light up like candles and their head bobbing like bobbleheads.

Carl sighed. Anna Fetterman was the strangest girl in town, going off every year every since middle school to some strange snooty school in Virginia, coming back every summer bolder and brighter. Nowadays she’s off with the air force or something, getting ready to fly off to new adventures. 

She could’ve chosen any boy in the whole wide world, but she chose Carl. And he wasn’t complaining one bit. She was just so...Anna! She was clever and knew more about anything than Carl and his whole family combined. She was crafty and a wiz in the great outdoors(even if she managed to uproot every rock she came by). 

Anna and Carl, they were what people called soulmates, sweethearts since the summer Anna climbed a tree to retrieve his kite. Carl would do anything for her at the drop of a hat. Even stand in a pumpkin patch for an hour as she explained pumpkins to her little brothers, Wally and Parker. 

“-Right Carl?” Anna asked and turned to look at him and Carl froze. 

Quick! Quick! Quick!

“Uhhhh yep!” He nodded and gave her a thumbs up. When it doubt? Agree. 

Apparently his flawless plan left him in the dust as Anna stared at him in bewilderment as Wally and Parker race off down the rows of pumpkins in search for whatever it is two 5 year olds want out of stinky pumpkins. 

Anna turned and stood up, tucking the pumpkin in her hands under one arm as she dusted the other off on her jeans. Carl froze and he wondered for the millionth time if she could read minds or something. Whenever she looked at him what that knowing gaze of hers he either cracked or she figured it out herself. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked and gently reached out, taking his hand in hers and he shivered from the cold that shot up his arm. 

“You’re freezing.” He deflected because while Car didn’t go to a fancy school and wasn’t a hotter, female Sherlock Holmes, he did have at least some brains. And a grandma who drilled chivalry into his brain.

So he took his time taking his jacket off and then his hoodie, handing them to Anna who stood patiently waiting in her simple grey shirt since Wally stole her aviator jacket. 

“Do you not wanna talk about it?” Anna wiggled into his hoodie and jacket and Carl held her pumpkin(even the texture was gross). 

“It’s just...” He tried and his brain stopped for a moment and he put the wretched fruit down and gently pulled her hair out from the hoodie. 

“Carl.” She warned and he knew time was up. Carl took a big breath and then let it out, readying his nerves of cotton and then rested his head on her shoulder as he revealed to her his humiliating secret. 

For a moment...she said nothing at all as the words floated quietly around them and settled into the earth. 

“You don’t...” She trailed off and Carl nodded against her shoulder, too scared to pull back and see her face. 

“Carl?” And he caved, he pulled back to face her and was met with a sweet smile, sweeter than any tart or treat ever created in the whole wide world. Her hands reached up and cupped his faced and he couldn’t take it anymore. He leaned into her touch and covered her hands with his, kissing her palms. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered but Anna shook her head, brown curls flying softy around her. 

“No, I should’ve realized I just...” She struggled and Carl tried to help.

“Didn’t know because every October you’re in Virginia?” She blinked and then blushed, and Car decided he liked the pink that dotted her cheeks. 

“Yeah,” She whispered and then looked over as the boys called her name. She bit her lip and while he was no Sherlock, Carl did his best to be a good boyfriend. He knew what was going on in that big brain of hers. 

“Let’s find a nice pumpkin for Wally and Parker,” He suggested and before Anna could protest staying the field any longer now that she knew, he kissed her and left her speechless. “It’s their first Halloween with their big sister.” 

Anna shifted her weight, thinking, calculating but Carl knew better than to let her come up with a convincing argument. He kissed her again, softer this time and then begun to leave a trail of quick soft kissed down her jaw and to her neck. 

He felt her relax against him until the boys called her name again and she stood up straighter than a stick and Carl took her hand and dragged her over to her brothers as she sputtered and said words Carl was sure weren’t English. 

After picking out two more pumpkins Carl had to make a quick run to his car after realizing(with surprise) he forgot his wallet inside but when he started his jog back over Anna and the boys were walking his way, pumpkins in hand. 

“Sorry I thought I-” He started but then paused, he looked at Anna then smiled. “Nevermind.” 

Now, Carl isn’t one to keep secrets from Anna but he knows she had it. Even if it was in his back pocket, tucked safe and secure he knew Anna had managed to slip it out so he’s run to the car and be free of the pumpkins. And he’ll never admit it, but he was thankful for it. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GG PROMTOBER DAY 17 Sike, It’s Not A Costume It’s Lingerie

still going on strong(mildly) with promptober (I will finish this I swear) 

this takes place a few years after Gallagher but is pre-Johnny Castle the cat. Staring Tina and Mick(to no one’s surprise) 

Note: THIS IS SMUT, AS IN 18+ MINORS DNI

thank you

I said minors DNI, the hell are you still doing here, go do your algebra homework

ANYWAY

“Oh Micky remember!” Tina called out, holding the wall for support as she swung back gently, looking at Mick’s back as she tugged on her coat and grabbed the car keys. Mick turned to face her and Tina felt her heart start to race inside her chest, she cleared her throat and took a small breath. 

“Um j-junior mints.” Tina sputtered out, gently pressing herself against the wall for further support as she tried to quell the red hot blush that tried to creep up her face. 

“Junior mints, I know.” Mick said in her low smooth voice and Tina thought her knees would buckle out beneath her. She let out a small half sigh and felt herself smiling like an idiot as she watched Mick fix the collar of her coat and gently pull out her hair from underneath. 

Tina walked forward and looked up at the taller woman, Mick looked down at her curiously and Tina smiled as she reached up to fix her collar for her. Tina let her hands rest on Mick’s shoulders longer than necessary and tried to soak in the moment as much as she could before she had to leave and continue her mission. 

Mick’s large, warm hand reached up and cupped Tina’s face and Tina felt her breath catch as Mick gently pressed her lips against Tina’s and Tina kissed her back. Leaning forward, following Mick’s lips as the taller woman moved away and Tina all but snapped her neck pulling back when she realized Mick was trying to end the kiss. 

“Oh! Sorry I-” Tina floundered about for words but found herself losing her mind as Mick’s thumb gently rubbed Tina’s bottom lip as a coy smirk spread across her face. 

“See you soon.” Mick whispered and slowly let go of Tina, turning and heading out the door of their apartment. Tina fell to the floor when the door finally shut and she gripped the fabric over her pounding heart and took deep breaths. 

Tina groaned aloud and let herself fall over with a light thud, looking up at the ceiling as her heart soared in her ears and her face burned hotter than she thought she could physically handle. 

Twelve months, fifty-eight dates, many very long and very romantic nights of falling asleep in each other's arms, and god knows how many kisses and yet Tina still felt so lovestruck, so dumbfounded after each kiss and hand hold. It still hadn’t fully settled in her mind that it was okay to hold Mick’s hand when she wanted to, kiss her when the moment suited them both. 

As Tina’s watch beeped, signaling it was ‘go time’ Tina took in a determined breath and scrambled to her feet, making her way to the bathroom to freshen up, shower, and get ready to knock Mick Morrison’s socks off. 

It had officially been a whole year since Mick and Tina had ‘officially’ started dating(Mick had apparently thought they had been dating two weeks beforehand). While their confession wasn’t exactly ideal or as romantic as Tina had dreamed of, still, she wouldn’t trade the moment for anything else in the world(even the daydream that had involved Dolly Parton). 

Tina paused and let herself stand there under the running water of the shower and brought her hand to her lips as she recalled that night at the drive-in. She remembered the tears she had shed, thinking she had pushed too far, pouring her heart open since she couldn’t take it anymore. She could still feel Mick’s lips against hers, the wood biting against her the back, the passion of Mick’s careful hands as she-

Tina blinked and yanked the water temperature as cold as she could handle and took a deep breath. 

When Tina went through every step of her routine she hopped out the shower and wrapped herself up in her towel, crouching down and opening the cabinet door and taking out the most embarrassing article of clothing she had ever willingly purchased. She laid it down on the sink counter and did everything as she had practiced. 

This night had to be perfect. 

Tina let out a sigh as she started to cap the lipstick in her hands, trying to control the insistent fidgeting that kept overriding her control, making her twist the lipstick up and down making it harder to close the damn thing. 

She favored biting the inside of her cheek over gnawing at her lip in fear of staining her teeth with the fresh coat of color and turned to the mirror, holding back her groan. 

What was she thinking?- No! No, if was fine, this was fine. Nothing strange about it, she was just…standing here…in the bathroom…surrounded by a mountain of CYnThIa McHeNrY(gag)’s make-up products, hair products, and god only knows what that weird purple foam thing was supposed to be-

Tina let a groan rip between her teeth as her hands reached up, possibly to muse with her hair but she stopped herself cold, freezing before her hands could ruin her own hard work. It had taken her over an hour to perfect the peek-a-boo look with her new short hair and she was not going to mess it up over self consciousness.  

What on earth did she even have to be self conscious about?! She was Tina Fucking Walters! Daughter of the First Lady! Granddaughter of the Tabitha Walters, once head of the Trustees. Her father was such an undercover genius he got a new name on Thanksgiving! She was the raw untapped hotness that came out of a hail of gunfire in Peru nearly unscathed! So what if she lost a pinky toe, she looked great anyway!

Tina took another deep breath and started bouncing on the tips of her toes, trying to pump herself up. 

She was hot, she was dangerous, and she was ready. Tina nodded to herself in the mirror, taking in one last look at herself before opening the door of the bathroom. 

Tina strode confidently to their shared room and opened the door, ready to light a few candles to set a soft lighting mood, maybe spritz some perfume but what Tina hadn’t calculated was Mick standing there in their bedroom, facing the door Tina had just walked through. 

Tina froze, Mick dropped the lighter she had been holding(but thankfully not the candle). 

They stared at each other for what felt like forever. 

“I,” Tina began, trying to find wherever her voice had gone in the humongous vacuum of silence and confusing tension they had made. “I…didn’t hear you come in.” 

“Spy,” Mick said after another long pause, gesturing to herself with the unlit candle in her hand and Tina wanted to jump through the window, grab the neighbor’s 12-foot-tall skeleton, four packs of mint chewing gum, baby powder and-

“You um,” Mick cleared her throat and gently set the candle down on the bed and Tina noticed where her stare kept lingering and both embarrassment and pride battled each other in her head like two power hungry monarchs demanding control. Tina watched as Mick gently rested the backs of her legs against the bed frame and brought her hand up to her face, covering her mouth as her eyes slowly went all the way down the length of Tina’s body and then slowly(so slowly) back up to meet Tina’s eyes. 

“Yes?” Tina pushed and Mick closed her eyes and took a deep, shaking breath. She brought both her hands together like a prayer and opened her eyes and Tina leaned against the door frame, taking in every detail. 

“Oh god,” Mick said softly and sat down on the bed, lowering her head and dragging her hand down her face as she looked up at Tina through her infuriatingly long lashes(genetics were so unfair). 

“Micky?” Tina asked softly and took a step forward, and then another. Mick sat up straight as a flagpole as Tina took the three long strides from the door to the bed and stood in front of Mick. Mick’s squared shoulders lowered with the exhale of another shaking breath as Mick’s eyes wandered around Tina’s new outfit once more. 

“You’ve just…had this?” Mick stumbled out, Tina noticed how Mick had to turn her head almost all the way up to look at Tina without being tempted to glance back down. 

“I bought it some time ago,” Tina confirmed vaguely and Mick nodded quickly. 

“Cool, cool, yep I uh,” Mick cleared her throat a few times(four) and dragged her hands down her coat a couple more(seven). “You look- you look just…”

Mick trailed off, her hands seeming to be stuck in a time loop as she raised them up and down helpless and suddenly it all came together. It was like the universe had called Tina up on speed dial and said ‘let me do you a favor girl friend’ and whacked Tina with the phone receptor. 

Tina stared at the nightstand where Mick’s bulging purse sat, candles poking out of the open zipper of the bag. She noticed the lighter on the floor, the plastic flowers in the vase Mick stole from their kitchen(pollen was a bitch). 

Tina glanced down at Mick who just stared up at Tina, her brown eyes shimmering in the light of the few lit candles she had placed around the room carefully before Tina had walked in. Glancing around the room everything screamed the perfect evening Tina had envisioned for them both. 

Tina gently pulled away and started to giggle, gently kneeling to pick up the lighter Mick had dropped and walked over to Mick’s purse. She rested her hip on the nightstand as she opened the purse just a smudge wider. 

She rummaged inside, laughing as she grabbed one of Mick’s many many candles(seriously, how does a grown woman fit 47 candles in a purse???) and lit a few, placing them down carefully before turning back to Mick and-

Tina froze, her eyes, once locked with Mick’s now stared down past her collarbone to the newly exposed skin and abandoned coat. Her eyes went over every roll, every curve, every inch of flushed skin that was fully on display for her to see. 

Mick had always been beautiful to Tina. How could she be anything less. Well before Tina’s wilder pining years, Mick was the most gorgeous girl in the world. Even back when Mick dared to disagree, back when she didn’t have to look down to stare at Tina, back when Tina had been the taller of the two. 

From her goofy smile, to the imperfections of her crooked teeth, her full cheeks and their rosy coloration, her brilliant brown eyes that could always find her in a crowd, the strong furrow of her brows, her messy hair, like a lion’s mane. There wasn’t an inch of her Tina hadn’t known throughout their years together, not a speck upon her body Tina dared to love any less than the rest of her, Mick was what all the stars and poets envied. She was the center of a mindless universe, day and night turned for her to shower her in their brilliant blankets of light. There wasn’t a thing Tina wouldn’t risk, a soul she would not reap, a gift she would not steal, a prize she would not win if Mick only asked it of her. 

Tina Walters would set the world on fire if she knew it would keep Mick warm. She would have held the burning sphere on her shoulders for eternity if it meant giving Mick a break. Tina would jump through any hoop, no matter how small if it meant forever would be preserved for the two of them. 

Poet’s call soulmates many names; the other half of a person, the complement, the missing piece. Tina called hers, Mick. 

“Tina?” Her voice, how could she have forgotten it? The gentle whisper that fluttered about the room was so strong and low, like the bellowing of a cello, playing a magnificent solo in a performance hall just for her ears alone. 

“You okay?” She asked and Tina blinked and snapped herself back to the present, coming down from her cloud. Mick tilted her head with a look of confusion and slight worry, her lips pressed tight in a poorly concealed smile. 

“Where’d your shirt go?” The words came strangled out of Tina’s mouth like she was just relearning to speak. Mick shrugged casually as though Tina asked about the weather. She learned forward, her hands resting between her open legs, gripping the fabric of the bedsheets as her arms pressed closer squeezing her chest-

“Which one of us is supposed to be the seductress here?” Tina huffed and crossed her arms and Mick’s brows shot up. That stupid smug smirk plastered wide across her face as her eyes took another loooong drag up and down Tina’s body. They hadn’t even finished their duty as Mick spoke. 

“Still you,” The words were breathy and full of whatever haze seemed to have fallen upon them both. Tina pressed her lips together and took a small step towards Mick and she watched as her eyes bounced up just a little higher. She took another step, then she took what few strides would lead her between Mick’s legs, her knee brushing against the mattress as Mick’s eyes climbed back up to meet hers and Tina’s legs began to wobble. 

Mick’s hands slowly rested upon Tina’s waist, hesitant, careful, and loose. Her beautiful brown eyes bore into her own as her brows started to try and meet in the middle, a question unsaid. Tina sighed happily, she rested their foreheads together and shut her eyes. 

“I love you…” She whispered and Mick shifted, her lips kissing Tina’s forehead before returning to how she was before. 

“I love you too.” Tina wrapped her arms around Mick’s neck and held her close as Mick’s hands rested on her back, hugging her. 

They stayed like that for a long time before Tina pulled away just enough to look at Mick. 

“It’s on the fan isn’t it?” Mick’s eyes glanced up and then beyond Tina’s head, she looked back and smiled sheepishly at her. Tina laughed and kissed her cheek. 

“You’re too cute Micky.” Mick snorted and raised a brow. 

“Cute?” Mick scoffed and as much as she tried to look slightly offended, her smile won through. 

“Cute.” Tina confirmed and kissed the corner of her lips. 

Mick rolled her eyes as they drank in every detail, trailing down as her hands started to travel down Tina’s sides. 

“Cute.” Mick said again to no one in particular. Her words trailed off like there was more to be said so Tina stayed silent. “Not, hot or outrageously sexy or…” her fingers found one of the many straps to the lingerie and snapped it lightly causing Tina to release a sound she didn’t even know she could make. Tina covered her mouth with her hand and pulled Mick close, resting her chin on top of Mick’s head so the other woman couldn’t see what effect she had on her. “Damn, what’s that thing Eva always says?”

Mick tsk-ed her tongue and gently nudged Tina, kissing a soft spot on her neck and Tina muffled the high pitched whine that broke out of her. Her nails dug into Mick’s shoulder when Mick’s strong hand snapped another strap. 

“Come on Tina,” She whispered and then breathed softly into Tina’s skin. “Help me out here. What does Eva always say?” 

“I am NOT talking about Eva right now.” Tina growled out from between clenched teeth. Mick kissed her neck and Tina tilted her head without thinking, granting her better access. Her lips were like a torture Tina wished to never end, trailing up to her ear and whispering to her in a huskier tone that Tina heard before during their night at the drive-in. 

“Hella bewitching?” Of all the things-

Tina pulled back and looked at Mick bewildered, confused, wildly stimulated beyond belief and that is what gets whispered in her ear?

Mick just grinned at her and Tina kissed her to shut her up. Mick said nothing else as she deepened the kiss, holding Tina as close as she could to her body as if she were trying to wield them together. Tina let out a soft sound that fluttered from the pit of her stomach and rumbled in her throat as she felt Mick start to pepper her in sweet kisses up and down her neck. Tina tilted her head, giving Mick as much access as she could ever want and Tina had to bite back a moan when she felt Mick’s teeth gently sink into the flesh of her shoulder. 

Tina rested her hand on Mick’s shoulders and gently fringed the straps of her bra, she looked down Mick’s body and raised a brow. 

“Since when do you own this bra?” Tina asked bluntly, swearing if she had ever seen Mick wear this before she would definitely remember. 

“Since when do you own lingerie?” Mick muttered between kisses and bites. 

“First of all, it's technically a costume and- hey, don't forget to chew you vampire.” Tina teased and she giggled when she felt Mick gently nibble at her neck. 

“But I’m hungry.” Mick pretended to whine and Tina saw a chance and took it. With Mick momentarily distracted by the light banter Tina pressed her down on the bed, straddling her hips with her thighs, looming over her and smiling when she saw Mick’s stunned expression. 

“Is that so?” Tina hummed and dragged her finger nail down the length of Mick’s collarbone and then up the hills of her breasts before stopping just millimeters away from the lacey fabric of Mick’s bra. Tina saw Mick gulp, audibly heard the sound, and Tina felt drunk on a power she had never known before. Mick nodded slowly and Tina gently brushed her finger against the strap of the bra. 

“Hm, that's funny.” Tina said slowly as she leaned down and gently grazed her teeth along the skin of Mick’s neck, heard the other woman gasp and then hold her breath just before Tina spoke again. “Because so am I.” 

[doodle-do-wop]

Gallagher Girls Promptober Day 2: Drive In Movie

Warning!! Not really smut as it just fades to black but it's still very suggestive so MINORS DNI

Tina Walters was not nervous. She had no reason to be nervous! She was just at a nice drive-in theater with Mick(and it was not a date). So there. Perfectly normal roomie activities that didn’t require the infuriating rapid beating of Tina’s heart. She was fine, everything was fine!

UGH!! Expect this infuriating thump thump thump that Tina was sure was shaking the bed of Mick’s dad’s truck. It was driving(pun not intended)(okay maybe a little) Tina up the non-existent walls of the drive-in. Tina smoothed the blanket on her lap, fiddling with the unrelenting wrinkles and huffing withfurtation as they refused to bend to her will. Tina turned her attention and forkleing thoughts to the radio Mick had attached to the side and made sure(again) that it was tuned in correctly and that the sound would come out alright.

Seriously, Tina knew Mick hated it when movies were too quiet for her to pick up what was being said or done and since Tina highly doubted subtitles would be a thing tonight she wanted to make sure. Thought it was kind of annoying that subtitles wouldn't be a thing. You’d think they’d just have them on just in case someone’s radio decides to burst or the static crackles get too strong and block out an important sentence.Tina decided she would leave a good few strong emails asking for subtitles, accessibility was a simple necessity.

“Hey, I’ve got your butter.” A strong voice called out and Tina turned, her heart leaping into her throat as Mick Morrison appeached the bed of the truck and Tina sucked in a small breath. Sure, she already knew what Mick was wearing(they did share a college dorm after all) but nonetheless she managed to rob Tina of any other coherent thought.

Throughout their years at Gallagher Mick kept her wardrobe simple, t-shirts and pretty skirts, athletic shorts and plaid pajamas but god was Tina still not ready to watch as Mick climbed into the bed of the truck, smoothing her skirt and adjusting the sleeves of her turtleneck sweater(yeah! Mick Moriison in a turtleneck SWEATER).

Tina held the buttery popcorn in her hands and hoped for the love of all things good and holy that her grip was controlled and she didn’t have a chokehold on the poor bag. Mick turned to her with a bright smile and Tina bit her lip to stop the strange strangled noise that crawled up the pits of her expanding heart.

“Excited?” Mick asked, her brown eyes dancing with joy as the reflection of the bright screen before them played with the color. Tina could only nod and smile(please oh sweet merciful lord, please don’t let her be smiling too much because like normal smiling is fine but when-)

“T?” Mick asked and Tina snapped out of her mind.

“Yes?” She breathed out the word like they were suddenly stuck in a world of their own and not in a parking lot surrounded by smooching couples and cars. Mick blinked at her and then leaned forward and Tina’s eyes went WIDE.

OH MY GOD THIS WAS A DATE!

Oh how could Tina be so stupid! Of course this was a date they’re playing fucking 13 Going On 30. Mick knows Tina loves that movie! She knows Tina loves overly buttery popcorn that could put Cammie Morgan in a butter coma. She knows that the quilt they were currently sharing was Tina’s favorite fall blanket and that she loved corny, cheesy dates like drive-ins and movies.

Oh my god she’s leaning in. Okay breathebreathebreathbreathe-

Mick’s hand reached up and Tina wasn’t sure to close her eyes or not but she leaned in anyway and-

Mick’s finger flicked at her cheek and Tina froze, snapping open her eyes as Mick looked down at her index finger and then showed it to Tina.

“Eyelash, sorry.” She smiled and Tina wanted to eat the bag in her hands and forget she existed.

Maybe if she grabbed the next car’s radio cord and a pack of llamas she could-

“So I was thinking,” Mick’s voice whispered into Tina’s ear, the cool mint of her breath fanning on Tina’s cheek as the screen flickered and started playing the movie. “After this we could go grab some ice cream?”

Tina was going to scream. Seriously, she would! Mick Morrison was trying to kill her.

“Sure!” Tina answered quickly and Mick turned to look at her but Tina snapped her attention to the screen.

“Tina-” Mick tried to ask but Tina just shoveled some popcorn into her mouth and smiled like a mad woman as she tried not to choke on kernels.

“I love this movie!” She whispered and then whipped her head back around to look at the screen.

Three movies. THREE WHOLE MOVIES they stayed like that, listening to couples overcome the obstacles in their way and profess their love on the screen for all to see as romantic music swelled and filled the bed of the car and reverberated inside the ever rattling mind of Tina Walters.

Tina thought she was going to go ballistic. Every second or so she would catch one couple or even two sharing a kiss under the dark canopy of the night and whisper ‘i love you’s into the cold air. Her legs wouldn’t stop shaking and more than once she happily volentured to grab more snacks to fill the silence of the truck and to try and quiet the explosive thoughts in her mind.

“Hey Tina I-,” Mick began but Tina just smiled and took the empty soba from between them and winked.

“I’ve got you covered Micky.” She beamed and wiggled out of the truck as swiftly as she could and started to walk off to the concessions booth again.

“Wait Tina,” Mick softly called out but Tina just turned on her heel, smiled and shrugged.

“I gotta go to the bathroom anyway, it’s fine.” She was calm and cool and breezy like a summer wind. Or at least a spring gust. Tina kept the pep in her step as she walked away and then veered off from her path, dodging in between cars and making a beeline for the bathrooms(if she had to face the poor teenager running the concessions booth one more time she was going to bury herself alive out of embarrassment).

Thankfully there was no line this time so there wasn’t a soul around to question anything as Tina scooted around the small building and paced.

What on earth is she doing?! She should be out there enjoying rom coms like any other girl in the parking lot, eating Baby Ruths and Junior Mints until she regrets it in the morning. She shouldn’t be back here behind some smelly bathrooms thinking about how she leaned in, about kissing Mick Morrison. Since when has she ever thought about kissing Mick Morrison?! I mean sure she was smart and pretty and god when she’s going her morning yoga routine or exercising- OH MY GOD TINA WALTERS GET YOUR HEAD ON STRAIGHT!!

Tina paused her pacing and then let out a small string of cackles that led to giggles that led to leaning against the bathroom’s back walls and groaning in frustration. Tina buried her head between her knees, folding her hands behind her neck as she groaned for what felt like forever.

“Are you feeling okay?” Asked the last person on earth Tina wanted to see right now. She looked up and was met with the towering stature of the very girl who’s lips she kept staring at all night long.

Mick looked beautiful, her hair was teased and it framed her face in soft layers, the tight knit fabric of her sweater hugged her chest and arms, leaving almost nothing to Tina’s wild imagination. And with the seeping light of the moving screen shining upon her, bringing every feature Tina loved to light and laying it all out for the world to see. Tina couldn’t take it anymore, she stood up, walked right up to Mick Morrison even though every part of her screamed to turn back, say her stomach hurt and to go home. Forget about the night with a pint of ice cream and toss and turn in bed for forever. Ignore the warmth that burst into her chest as her eyes locked with Mick’s.

“Tina.” Mick started and when Tina opened her mouth Mick raised a hand to stop her….and Tina’s stomach filled with cold acid. Mick closed her eyes tight and Tina felt small, smaller than she had ever felt before in her life. She was no taller than the blades of grass beside her as Mick took a deep breath and squeezed her words out.

“Did I do something wrong?” She cracked one eye open and Tina was nothing but a pile of knocked over building blocks.

“What?!” She cried out and when Mick turned away she reached forward and put a hand on her arms. “No! No, no, no, no, no! Mick- Micky, no you- you haven’t done a thing what on earth-”

“It’s just you’ve been acting all weird and I-”

“-how could you even say that you’ve been perfect a evening if anything-”

“-and I don't know if it’s me or the movies or-”

“Mick!” Tina cried and she didn’t much care who heard her now as her hands trailed down Mick’s arms and held her hands.

“Micky?” She asked but Mick wouldn’t look at her, and it didn’t matter if Tina was never hit again in her life or if she was tortured for the rest of it. Nothing could compare to the absence of Mick’s gaze.

“Mick.” Tina pleaded and Mick finally looked at her, a requiem of warmth futtered it’s way out of the box Tina kept locked deep inside her chest and Tina knew that while it was a shot in the dark, humanity is nothing without a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

“I-...” the words started to fall and Tina was on a crumbling bride at the end of her tower and she had to decide to be buried or jump and see if she could fly. “I have had the most amazing time with you tonight and I just- I just…”

So Tina chose to spread her wings.

She leaned forward and kissed Mick Morrison, it wasn’t sweet or firework worthy. It was small, it was frail, and it was nothing more than a peck.

“I’m sorry.” Those two little words wobbled out from under Tina’s trembling lip as she pulled back, letting go of Mick’s hands as she stared down at the dirt, tears blurring her vision.

“Tina?” Mick’s voice cracked and Tina looked up at her, squaring her shoulders as much as she wanted to hug herself and be nothing more than a pebbing in the grass. But there wasn’t any more room for that as Mick’s lips captured her own. Kissing Tina so feverishly Tina’s few thoughts were how Hollywood could never do this right.

Tina’s hands started to tangle in Mick’s hair as she was pressed up against the wall of the bathroom behind her, Mick’s hands on her waist and trailing down to her hips. Tina only had a moment to suck in a sharp breath of air before Mick’s lips were upon hers again, sloppy and missing their mark on multiple occasions as her strong hands roamed cluelessly along Tina’s body before they found their way farther down than both of them had expected and Tina let out a yelp of surprise.

They both froze, Mick’s hand on her ass and Tina’s eyes wide and looking into hers before Mick stumped back, hands up by her head like Tina was ready to shoot.

“I’m so sorry I-I just that was- I hadn’t meant to,”

"Please don't stop." Tina whispered into the nook of Mick's neck and Tina felt her hand lift and her fingers gently cradles her chin as Mick tilted her head up to face her. Tears glittering in the corners of her eyes and Tina kissed her softly.

It was so at first but turned feverish as Mick returned the gesture, Tina warped her arms around Mick's neck as Mick's hand flew up her waist, taking the bottom of her shirt up with it and Tina closed her eyes and enjoyed what felt like the first and last kiss of forever.

She held onto the memory, cherishing it like something precious(which it was). She pulled closer, her hand tangled in Mick's hair as she sucked in a breath and continued the kiss. Letting soft noises slip into the night as Mick's hands roamed in places Tina only imagined she would in her dearest fantasies. Embracing her like an addiction and craving for her lips, her taste, like a song.

[doodle-do-wop]

GG PROMPTOBER DAY 14 BAKING

Takes place years after Gallagher 

Tina and Mick again lmao

(TW started with blood, injury, non-canon character death, there will be a bold dotted line where that part ends)

Her hands were still warm and not wanting to waste another second of the time they had eft Mick raised her trembling fingers to her lips, kissing them one by one, being wary of her bloody knuckles. She heard her laugh, a horse and shallow sound that shuttered as she took another breath. Mick turned to her and saw her through her tear blurred vision, her smile was as resplendent as the day she first saw it, not even the blood that trickled from between her lips could ruin her smile.

 She felt her hand stroke her cheek, gently wiping the tears that rolled down her cheek endlessly. She was still warm. Mick pressed her hand against her cheek a little tighter. She laughed again and her breath staggered and she turned and coughed. Drops of blood spattered on the ground and a sob broke through Mick’s chest. She turned to face Mick again, her eyes squinted and her brows came together with concentration as her maskless features turned and twisted with concern and worry. Of all the lovely expressions she could make, of all the things she could be worried about, it was Mick. Not the gash that poured blood down her precious face, not the pool of crimson red she laid in that stained Mick’s skirt. 

Mick tried to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all but her sobs soon won over, she buried her face into her chest, wanting to hear her heartbeat until the very end. Soot and dirt caked her face as she pressed closer to the padded fabric of her clothes, she could feel her pulse through her gloved fingers but she had to hear it. She had to know how much longer they had as thick fluttering white ashes fell all around them like snow. 

Mick could feel her breaths, how deep she had to inhale to get what she needed while she still could. Mick could feel the vibrations as she spoke but no sound came to her ears. Mick lifted her head to look at her, to gaze upon her face for the last time. To see the life her eyes still held. Even nearing death she was perfect, she was crazy and impulsive, reckless and ridiculous but she was hers. The few flowers that remained in her long braid told her she would be Mick’s forever. They had picked those flowers just hours ago, paced them in their hair, their clothes, decorating their bodies with the flowery declarations of their love. Now the petals fell and joined the ashes on the bloody floor. 

Mick’s thumb grazed over the mole on her cheek; she used to complain all the time that it wasn’t pretty, used to whine when some foolish voice in her head told her it was unsightly, how it would rise and fall with her smiles, with her laughs. Mick leaned forward and kissed it and she felt her cheek shift, they rose higher as she smiled and Mick felt the vibrations again, the shuttering stutter of her breath but Mick couldn’t hear her. Mick pressed their foreheads together gently and watched the beautiful brown she had come to adore shine with the distant firelight. 

“I love you” Mick whispered and closed her eyes, wanting to lay beside her forever. 

“Mick…”

She could hear her at last and Mick kept her eyes closed, soaking in the sound, burning it to memory so as to never forget. 

“...Mick…” 

She was calling to her like the darkness at the end of their once lit tunnel and Mick wadded through the chains that held her back, trying to reach out for her as unknown forces pulled them apart. She stretched out her hand and-

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

-Mick opened her eyes as Tina’s warm hand held hers, joining their torn souls once more. 

“Mick?” She asked with a tilt of her head, her other hand was on her ear as she fit her hearing aid into place. Mick slowly sat up, intertwining their fingers as she rubbed her face and then paused when she felt moisture, flicking the tears away from her cheek.

 “Micky,” Tina began and sat down on the couch beside her, her free hand gently wiping Mick’s cheeks and then caressing the side of her face and Mick leaned into her warmth. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…yeah.” Mick nodded slowly before answering with confidence and lifted Tina’s hand to kiss her knuckles. “Weird dream.” She murmured into her skin as her mind tried to shift through the fog to remember what seconds ago felt so real. 

Tina’s eyebrows scrunched together and Mick leaned forward and kissed the crinkle that appeared between them.

 “I’m okay,” Mick assured her and gave her hand a squeeze. Tina turned a soft shade of red and nodded, clearing her throat, her hand reached down and, out of habit, started to smooth her pants as if it were a plaid skirt. Mick smiled and kissed her knuckles once more, looking right at Tina as she did so, drinking in the way Tina’s shoulders raised and her face grew redder. Tina’s mouth opened and shut as she tried to say something but all that came out were strangled flustered sounds of confusion before a timer suddenly screamed with life and Tina jumped and whipped her head around, looking over the couch to the kitchen as she got up and grabbed her apron from the coffee table.

“Shit!” She hissed and started to move away but was tugged back by Mick’s hand. She paused and looked over at Mick and their roles reversed as Mick felt a burning red hot creep up her neck to her face. Tina didn’t let go but tugged at their joint hands. Mick stood and followed her to the kitchen, walking behind her like a lost duckling. Tina pulled the brownies out of the oven, careful with her task as she refused to let go of Mick’s hand. When Mick tried to release her Tina stubbornly grabbed her hand and locked their fingers together as if saying ‘you started it now commit to it’. 

Tina set the brownies on the counter and bit off her oven mitt(how she could make such a simple movement look so alluring, Mick had no clue). She held out her free hand expectancy as her steady gaze locked on the brownies, staring them down, daring them to hop out of the tray and make a break for it. 

Mick grabbed the toothpicks on the counter and paced two in her hand and Tina stabbed them into a brownie and then pulled them out. She muttered to herself and Mick let her eyes roll up and down(they were married, she could check out her own wife). 

Tina’s short hair was held back by a headband, a thin scar at the edge of her hairline was practically invisible now. Flour dusted her forehead and cheeks and her clothes, Mick’s itchy wool sweater had its sleeves rolled as far up as Tina could manage so the too-long sleeves wouldn’t get in her way. The thighs of her jeans were caked in flour and other ingredients and Mick felt a chuckle bubble and rise inside her, she felt herself smile at the old habit and Tina looked at her from over her shoulder. 

She didn’t say a word as she stood up straight and turned to face Mick, resting their hands on the counter as she pressed herself up against Mick. Her intelligent gaze reading every blink and stray hair, unraveling Mick's secrets to her though there wasn’t much Tina hadn’t already known from word of mouth. 

“You’re staring.” She spoke softly and Mick shrugged and felt her stupid grin grow wider. “I’m allowed to.”

Tina rolled her eyes but did not disagree and she kissed Mick. Mick smiled against her lips and pulled her closer, the snowy fluttering dust of the flour floated through the air and Mick brushed it away from her cheeks and then kissed each one. 

“Micky,” Tina warned but she kept kissing her back. “The bake sale is in an hour.”

Mick hummed in acknowledgement but her lips trailed kisses down Tina’s neck as Tina’s hand tightened around Mick’s when Mick kissed a point she knew Tina liked. 

“Micky,” She warned again but Mick could hear her wavering judgment on the brownie situation. 

“Tina,” Mick whispered into her ear and Tina groaned loudly, gently moving away as she ran a hand down her face. Her ears and neck were so red Mick would have been worried if she wasn’t already glowing with pride. Tina huffed and leaned against the counter as she tried to glare at Mick from between her fingers. 

“Since when did you get so smug?” She moved her hand away from her face so her voice wouldn’t be muffled. Mick shrugged and hooked a finger through her belt loop and pulled her close. Tina rested a hand on her shoulder and Mick kissed the bridge of her nose and whispered to her in the quiet of their kitchen as Johnny Castle meowed from the floor. 

“I love you.”

[doodle-do-wop]

GG PROMPTOBER DAY 13 HORROR MOVIES

Takes pace during Gallagher

Tina and Mick because of course it bloody is

Mick groaned as the pins and needles feeling crept further up her arm and she decided it was time to move Courtney. She gently lifted her resting head and leaned her over to Eva who took her friend into her arms with her eyes still glued to the TV. 

They had been watching mostly ‘family friendly horror’ movies like The Addams Family and Hocus Pocus(which was apparently Tina’s favorite) but it had been Kim and Eva, the two biggest horror and monster fans who insisted on watching a slasher film. Since most of their classmates had fallen asleep and some upperclassmen that were still around added to the vote, Mick watched the beginnings of Scream 2. 

She wasn’t too terrified of slasher films, sure jump-scares, cheap or not still cause the popcorn bowl to jump in her hands but when you live with 5 brothers(two of which insist you’re still no older than six and the other three that like to ‘catch up on missed holidays’) a girl learns to roll with the punches of Halloween horror. 

So when the building, eerie suspense and silence started Mick knew to put the popcorn bowl down or risk tossing whatever kernels were left at the upperclassmen behind her.  She swaddled herself deeper into the itchy wool sweater and warm thick blankets and looked around the 8th grade common room. 

Cammie was partially watching the movie and partially holding up Liz who was out cold(first to fall asleep as always) and kept slipping off the couch. Bex was on Liz’s other side, doing what seemed to be the most effort in keeping Liz on the couch while watching the movie with wide eyes. Alone in the loveseat, Kim Lee was practically on the edge of the cushion, mouthing the words spoken on screen softly to herself as Anna clung to her legs and kept her eyes shut tight, holding Kim’s hand and waiting for the oncoming jumpscare to be over. 

The rest of their class was down on the floor with Mick, Courtney, and Eva. Shifting around in the sea of blankets they had stripped from their beds and brought over, indenting on lasting the entire night watching movies or knocking out on the common room floor trying. 

Mick brushed some crumbs from her blanket and then picked up her abandoned spider ring and looked over at the mastermind of the event. 

Tina Walters was on her left at the edge of the light coming from the screen, her hair curtained her face and she was still in her cocoon of blankets. Mick wouldn’t blame her if she fell asleep before the end of her own party. According to Eva and Kim she had all but talked their ears clean off planning the Halloween event and very obviously using a flashlight after Lights Out to keep scribbling in her journal or diary or whatever she had used to plan. Mick figured she just used the backs of her mother’s gossip magazines, writing her crazy schemes next to her mother’s latest coded drama(who knew Leonardo DiCaprio owned that many mugs, and Mick thought her dad had a mug problem). 

Mick jumped and looked over at the screen as the leading girl’s scream blasted through the lowered volume of the TV. Eva snorted and looked over at her from atop of Courtney’s curls, her hands raised just enough for Mick to see her signing. 

“How’s the head?” She whispered and Mick took a moment to try and see if she had somehow heard wrong or if Eva’s broken ASL needed a quick correction. 

“What?” Mick whispered back, leaning closer and Eva’s mischievous grin grew wider. 

“Since you hit the ceiling when you jumped.” She teased and Mick groaned, shoving her face away as Eva tried to keep her giggles as silent as possible. Mick huffed and scooted closer to Tina’s sleeping form and crossed her arms defiantly, glaring at the movie with full attention, ready to not jump or flinch or scream at the next scare. 

She dug her fingers into her own biceps as the underscore picked up, she knew it was coming, she just had to stay calm when it happened. Gallagher Girls of the past would probably sleep like a baby through a simple slasher film if they were here now, Mick would bet her whole week’s allowance that Headmistress Morgan could face a million jumpscares and not move or startle. 

Mick glanced over at Cammie who was currently struggling with Bex to shuffle Liz around so she was distracted again when another blood curdling scream made Mick jump again. 

She gasped as she felt two hands grab at her, she nearly screamed when she turned her head around quickly to see Tina pressed against her side, eyes shut tight and her hands clinging to her arm like a lifeline. 

Mick’s eyes went wide for a whole new reason now as she whispered in the dark as Eva and Kim made strangling noises to mimic those on screen. 

“Tina? Are you awake?” Mick asked softly and Mick could see her mouth move, watched as her lips parted and she spoke but Mick couldn’t pick up her words over the noise from Eva and Kim and the TV. 

“What?” Mick asked as she leaned in closer, turning so her shoulders hid them better from any peering eyes. 

Mick reached forward and gently brushed her hair away from her face and looked at Tina in the eyes. Tina looked up at her, she opened her mouth to repeat but she paused and then turned her gaze down, she detached her hands from Mick’s arm and began to sign.

I’m sorry

Tina looked up at her and Mick tilted her head, waiting for her to continue but Tina jumped as another scream broke through whatever enchantment they were under. Tina’s grip on Mick’s arm tightened and Mick winced a little. Tina hid her face in Mick’s shoulder and shut her eyes tight and Mick glanced at the screen. She looked back down at Tina who cracked her eyes open just a little only to shut them again as soon as she looked at the TV. 

Mick blinked as the two dots in her mind connected and she gently shook her arm free of Tina’s hold, Tina quickly removed her hand and set them down in her lap. She turned away but then looked back at Mick as Mick draped her blanket over Tina’s head. Mick looked at the screen ahead and she felt Tina rest her head on her shoulder, she huddled close and Mick kept quiet.

She made no remark or comment whenever Tina jumped or when she let out small squeaks when a scare got her. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GALLAGHER GIRLS PROMPTOBER DAY 11 HOT COCO

Takes place many years after Gallagher

Anna stirred and watched the brown dissolve in the white, mixing in the churcing waters as the metal spoon clanged against the walls of the mug. She looked up and out the window at the fall eaves that dotted the lawns down the street, some raked, some falling in a thick coat, leaving no green to be seen at all. She leaned against the counter with her hip and her mind began to wander, keeping her distance but not enough to miss the soft fall of footsteps behind her and the rich smell of mint that fell upon her as arms wrapped around her middle. 

Anna closed her eyes and leaned into Carl’s embrace, his strong arms held her steady, held her here, kept her home and away from the fresh scars of her most recent Op. His nose tickled her neck as he nuzzled his face into her shoulder and placed a few kisses. One hand stayed on her stomach as the other gently guided her hands to the counter so she could set down the mug she held. 

She turned slightly to face him and he lifted his head a little, his bright hazel eyes caught the sunlight and Anna felt her breath catch. So many years of seeing those eyes in all types of light but she could never get over it. Her hand reached up to touch the side of his face, feeling the slight prickle of stubble under her fingertips and Carl closed his eyes, leaning into her hand and then he turned his face to kiss her palm. 

Anna laughed and Carl rubbed his head into her hand next, blonde curls flying in every direction as her laughter filled the small kitchen. He popped up to his full height and they faced each other as he wrapped his arms around her, leaned down to pepper her in small sweet kisses. 

“Hey,” He whispered into her skin before pressing another kiss into her cheek. 

“Hey,” She whispered back breathlessly, her knees growing weak and her arms wrapped around his neck. 

She had her eyes shut but she knew his hand was sneaking around her to try and grab the coco.

“It doesn’t have cinnamon.” She warned and opened her eyes as Carl groaned, pouting as he was caught red handed. 

“Carl,” She giggled and gently tugged at his collar, he leaned down without complaint as she kissed his lips quickly. She felt his lips smile against hers as he kissed back before parting. 

He pulled back and cupped her face in his warm hands and she leaned into his touch, blanketing his hand with hers though they were smaller in comparison. His eyes traced every curve and bump on her face and she watched the way the playful joy in his eyes turned serious as they grazed the bruise on her forehead. 

In her defense, she wasn’t expecting to have a harmonica thrown at her though honestly, she should have at least blocked it. 

“Carl,” She whispered softly and she watched his shoulders sag. 

“I know,” He mumbled, he couldn't ask and she couldn’t tell him, no matter how much she wanted to. The first few years of their relationship once Anna graduated had been rough, she was always somewhere else around the globe and Carl stayed in Ohio, watching the town change right before his very eyes. She could never tell him where she went but she still told him of all the wonderful views of the sky that she could share. When they had gotten their first apartment together it got harder to keep the truth, work was never truly in short supply but it’s harder to lie to someone when they’re around to watch you come home with a sling around your neck. 

The few months they spent, stuck in a limbo of unease, would stick with Anna forever, reminding her of their presence on long missions or when she received an injury she couldn’t think of a convincing story for. When they were engaged she finally told him what little truth her superiors allowed. They had checked Carl, combed through every year of his life, every breath he took. Knowing there were people, spies watching him because of her, it was the hardest thing she had ever had to go through. Having to see him as a speck on a monitor was a torture no blade could ever compare to. 

Anna moved her hand away and stared down at the ring on her finger. It sent out small speckles of soft rainbow lights around them and Carl’s hand gently held hers. Their wedding day had agents undercover as guests and staff, some of them friends, others colleagues. 

Husband and wife, a pair together til death would dare do them part but never could she tell him everything her heart and soul wished she could. To put him at such risk would be the last of her days. 

“What’s that big brain of yours thinking?” He whispered and Anna took a deep breath. 

“Everything,” She squeaked out. “Nothing.”

“Everything and nothing?” He questioned with two raised brows. Anna nodded and played with his fingers, turning his hand over and noticing how little his hands changed. They were tanned slightly from the sun, the little hairs on the backs of his fingers were hard to see and his crooked ring finger still had the scar from when he had crashed his dad’s car way back when he was first learning to drive. 

Anna’s hands changed often. Almost every time she came back home there was a new scar or bruise. If she went somewhere full of sun her freckles were more prominent and if where she went was cold she came back slightly paler than before. 

Carl snapped Anna out of her thoughts by bringing her hands to his lips, he kissed every scar he could and then moved onto the impossible task of kissing every freckle in sight. 

He pulled away and opened a cabinet, grabbing a box of her favorite cookies and some more hot chocolate, happily taking the container of cinnamon from the rack and getting to work. 

She brought her abandoned mug to her lips and watched him, sipping at the warm beverage as his eyes focused on the cinnamon, carefully tapping the glass so he wouldn’t spill too much in. She never understood what he liked so much about cinnamon. She knew his mother wasn’t too fond of it and his dad disliked anything sweeter than black coffee. 

He wasn’t like Cammie who seemed to be physically attached to M&Ms, he could go without cinnamon sometimes but hot coco was always a must. Never in his life did he drink a cup without a little sprinkling in.  Anna wasn’t crazy for the spice but she wasn’t exactly waiting her turn to dump any in her mug. 

“Did you always like it?” She found herself asking and Carl looked up from his squatted position, tapping the glass again. 

“Hm?”

“The cinnamon.” She clarified and Carl stood up, putting the lid back on the cinnamon and shrugged his shoulders. 

“I guess so, yeah. My grandma used to make it with cinnamon all the time.” Carl said wistfully as his mind started to replay whatever old memories he held of dearly departed grandmother. 

Anna’s birth mom never really had the chance to leave Anna with memories of cinnamon coated hot chocolate or pass down any recipes like fancy ginger cookies. Anna’s stepmother had been the one to fill in that role in her life, she passed down top secret family recipes more sacred than any NSA code she could ever retrieve. She taught her how to cook Anna’s favorite meals, how much spice was too much(though there was no such thing). 

Wally had their mother’s appreciation for caramel while Anna seemed to have inherited her dad’s need for caffeine before any morning conversation could be had. 

Anna paused before bringing her mug to her lips again and looked over at the electric kettle realizing with a sigh that she would have to put away the coffee for a while. 

“Ann?” Carl’s voice drew her back and she looked up at him and his beautiful hazel eyes. 

“I’m pregnant.”

[doodle-do-wop]

GALLAGHER GIRLS PROMPTOBER DAY 5 SLEEPY COLD MORNINGS

This one is short and sweet so I’m posting it on the same day and no one can stop me

The sound of pen on paper joins the orchestra of noise in the suite as Rachel’s eyes fly from line to line, taking in the words and her hand flies as she writes down. 

When the pen scratches down roughly on the page, ink running out and leaving groves on the page instead of words and Rachel groans. She taps the pen against the paper a few times before tossing it down the trash along with the others. Reaching for the cup before her, fiddling with the pencils and old pens as she picked one. 

When had the sun come up, Rachel couldn't tell anymore. It was soppy of her but she figured, just this once, she could let it slide. 

The smell of coffee and the muffled sound of footsteps caught her attention. Joe paced a quick kiss on her cheek as she could smell his after-shave. He placed the mug before her and Rachel let out a sigh of relief as she picked it up and drank as much as she could without burning her tongue too much. Caramel, Joe added caramel. 

She turned to him, brow raised and Joe shrugged as he walked across the suite. She let out a half-laugh as she turned back to her paperwork but the mug kept calling her attention. Cammie had made it ages ago in pre-school, it was plastic and had doodles in a landslide of colors. Cammie was so proud when she brought it home and Rachel brought it with her when they came to Gallagher(she had to hide it from Cammie on several occasions). 

She took another sip of her coffee, actually blowing on it this time and rested her back against the chair, it creaked a little at the added weight and she could feel Joe’s eyes on her. Sense when he stood and made his way back over, standing just behind her chair. He pressed his lips to the top of her head and wrapped an arm around her middle. Rachel closed her eyes and focused on all her other senses, the warmth from the mug, the scent of Joe’s after-shave, his arm wrapped around her, strong and secure. 

A yawn escaped her before she could do anything about it and she felt Joe shake, his chest vibrating with laughter and she shook her head and resumed her work, her hand over Joe’s as she wrote. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GG PROMPTOBER DAY 4 BONDFIRE

Has it been a long while? Yes, yes it has. I had the worst writer's block and I’m skipping day 3 because I can’t write smut to save my life so here’s day four. 

Takes place a little bit after Gallagher 

Harry watched as his daughter gently stuck another log into the fire, using the sharp stick she had carved to nestle it in with the others. The fire danced across her eyes and his hands juggled the multitool from palm to palm. 

The night air was crisp and just cool enough that the fire’s burn wasn’t overwhelming. Three tents were pitched and waiting like soldiers at attention, though Tina’s, admittingly, was the best of the batch. She had survival training at Gallagher, her parents on the other hand were more accustomed to desk-beds than the great outdoors. 

Of all the graduation trips he had heard his daughter talk about, all the daydreams and fantasies of far off worlds and places they could go, when asked what she wanted to do Tina said camping. She hadn’t meant out in the deep deep woods, she hadn’t meant on another continent like when they took her all around Africa, she hadn’t even meant his home country of Brazil. She meant taking the long drive out of state to a small campsite they visited so many years ago, before terrorist organizations started attacking her classmates, before a fire burnt down her second home, before Gallagher, before Oak Ridge, before principle calls and troubled days. Back in the time of class parties, pizza contests, birthday parties and fun. Back when he could still carry her in his arms, back when she still let him. 

Tina was never a quiet girl and Harry loved that of her, she was loud, like her mother. She spoke her mind when she pleased. While her youth was a rough patch, full of calls from the office and trouble his little girl had grown up, she had friends that showed her what an actual sisterhood was. What true friendship could be without the need to watch her back at every smile and comment. 

He cherished every letter she sent him, even when they were short or few and far inbetween, even when they came in a monotonous abundance with repetitions of events she had told him past. He kept every word, because even in her ever growing world, she still wanted to write to him. 

But now she was quiet. She was still. And Harry didn’t know how to bring his little girl back, no matter how grown up. Ever since the fire she hadn’t said more than a few sentences a day. Emilia tried to press for more but after many sleepless nights and long talks they had agreed to wait. 

He hadn’t been there that night but he got the call, Emilia had been in a meeting with the trustees nearby. She had told him of the screams that arose from the plooms of fire. Told him the nightmare no parent ever wishes to face. He had nearly pushed the west coast all the way across the country to meet the east, crushing the midwest on his path to be there for his daughter. 

He glanced at her again, she had her bangs sweeping over her forehead, hiding the two inch scar she had received that night. Her long sleeve shirt wasn’t just to protect herself from the bugs that bit her throughout the night. Her hands were still bruised from whatever she had done that night to keep her sisters safe. Her eyes were snuffed out of the brilliant sparkle they once held. 

She looked older, and it terrified him. 

“Tina,” He began and he waited until she looked at him. “You’ve got a spider on your shirt.” He tapped his back in reference and Tina froze, looking at him with narrowed eyes trying to guess if he was pulling her leg(like he had done 57 times today without fail) or if he was serious. When he picked up a stick to swat it away her eyes went wide. 

“Hold still.” He whispered as if the spider would attack if he was any louder and Tina made the ‘sour lemon’ face. Emilia always complained Tina made silly faces because of him, but there wasn’t a thing in the world he wouldn't trade for his daughter’s silly faces. 

“Dad, I swear if you’re joking,” She hissed between teeth as she slowly moved her shoulder so he’d get a better angle. 

“I’ll let you drown me in the lake.” He promised with a smile. 

“Who’s drowning wha- Harry what in god’s name!” His wife, Emilia Walters, gossip columnist extraordinaire dropped the extra blankets she had grabbed from their car and stood, frozen at the sight of the spider on her daughter’s shoulder. 

“Dad!” Tina shouted and Harry swatted the beast off with the flick of his wrist. 

“Emi, grab it!” He shouted and Emilia hopped in place to get away from the spider. 

“Oh my god!” She repeated as she trampled the dirt around her while Harry lept out of his chair to grab the spider, curious what type it was, what kind of sports or stripes it contained if any at all. 

Emilia screamed as it neared her boot and she stumbled back, spy or no spy she tripped over a deep stone and slammed her back into a tree, a leaf fell into her hair and she let out a sound only dogs could hear as she swatted at her hair and seemed to dance around in place as Harry dove for the spider but then turned his attention to his wailing wife and tried to see what was wrong. 

He shouted, she screeched in his ears, he bellowed out even louder protest, she smacked his chest as he ruffled her hair to try and find the invisible fiend that dared lay its hands on his sweet, noisy wife. 

“Get it off!” She screamed. 

“Stop moving and I will!” He shouted back. 

“Harry I am going to kill you-”

“-Honey you’re breaking my foot-”

“Fuck, shit, damn it!”

“Language!” 

They looked at each other ready to shout some more when something pievered the air between them. A giggle like the ringing of a bell, so shrill and so clear they paused their screaming, chests heaving from all the commotion as they turned their heads slowly. Tina was up and on her feet, laughing at them. She had her hand over her mouth as she tried to stifle her giggles before a snort shot out of her nose and she roared with laughter, throwing her head back as she rose from her doubled over position. Clucking laughter filled the night hair like a witch’s cackle on Halloween. 

She grasped at the lawn chair for support but she put too much weight on it and she fell over with it. She paused for just a moment to gather air before she began to laugh again. 

Harry watched in bewilderment before he began to snort himself. A small guffaw had turned into full fledged laughter as he wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders. Emilia looked between them like they had grown new arms and heads before she started to shake, a small squeak came out of her as she covered her mouth quickly and then burst out in snorts and giggles. 

Harry gently guided her to the floor so they could joining their daughter as Tina sat up, staring at her mother in amazement as though she had never heard the sound in her life. 

As their giggles slowed to beaming smiles Harry looked over at his daughter, her hair was messy now, probably from running her hands through it during the commotion. He opened an arm for her and she scooted over, nestling under his arm and he kissed the top of her head. 

He took a deep breath and sighed in content as Tina’s eyes looked up at the stars. 

“I want to try college.” Tina announced softy and Harry gave her his full attention. “I have a…friend who’s going too. We're thinking of living on campus together.” 

Harry nodded and gave her a smile, glad to hear her start the conversation. “Be careful of the laundry rooms, it’s a battlefield on laundry day.”

“Gallagher was-” Tina began and then paused, Harry was worried he had already brought back the silence when she continued. “The Gallagher laundry rooms will make it look like Sesame Street.”

“You used to be scared of Big Bird.” Emilia pointed out and Tina groaned, having heard that statement many times growing up. 

“I was like, 5.”

Harry leaned back as they bickered lightly about what age she was and he picked up the blanket, dusting it off as he wrapped it around his family. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GG PROMPTOBER : HALLOWEEN SLEEPOVER

Not very Halloween-y but does involve a sleep over

Takes place not long after Gallagher(how on earth Tina managed to get all the girls to come over so a sleepover I have no idea)

TW: fire, panic attack, nightmares, all hurt no comfort, jk a little comfort, thoughts of failure, no i’m not sorry

There was a fire. There was the sound of crumbling and splintering wood. The smell of smoke and the screams of orders and names echoing throughout the falling walls of her mind. Tina felt the smoke fill her lungs, she kept inhaling and inhaling, she couldn't let go. Couldn't breath out. She felt the waste fill her, attacking every blood cell, every limb, infestation crawling up her bones and lacing themselves into her very soul like a smoking splash of ink across a painting Tina had yet to discover nor finish. 

Her hands were trembling as she heard the laughter of little girls and the screams of her sisters pounding into her ears, dumbing the walls of her skull as they rattled around. She wasn't strong enough, wasn't quick enough, she had to pull, to push through, she had to succeed. She couldn't fail again. 

She had failed

She failed

She failed she failed

Shefailed shefailed shefailed

Shefauledshefailedshefailefshefailedshefailed

How could she fail her

She lost her 

She couldn't find her

She wasn't strong enough

Wood bit into her flesh and scraped at her nerves and muscles until it tore at her bones, her nails were broken and some fell away as she pushed and pulled with all her might. Her finger was definitely broken and the pain only reminded her with each pulsing throb. 

Shefailedshefailedshefailedshefailed

She couldn't breathe

She needed to breathe

She needed to be stronger, be better, faster, she had to be better

Tina felt the scream that left her lips as she pulled and sobbed but no air left her ballooning lungs. She was drowning on land and she was failing her sister. Tina wanted to fall apart like the walls around her. She wanted to crumble and fall upon the sacred land of her sisterhood, she wanted to cry and let it consume her and her guilt so she could finally have the weight lifted off her shoulders.

But she knew it would never free her. She had to be reminded just as the stones and pillars crashed down like a fighting percussion in her mind. She had to remember her failures and live with their guilt and moans for the rest of her life. She had to remember the gaunt look of her sister's face, the lost look in her eyes. She had to remember that. She had to remember that she hadn't been fast enough, she hadn't been smart enough to find her. 

Her maps, her strength, her charts and sources, her waning muscles and locked fingers, she wasn't enough. 

Tina screamed and pushed through because she always did. She stood her ground even when the earth told her to fall because she had to. She needed to. They needed her standing and tired or not Tina would have to stay standing. She pulled with the last of her soul and she was washed away by the relief that flooded through her when she watched the black haired blur flee and fly away and when she knew the ceiling collapsed above her, she screamed and waited for the foretold collision. 

She screamed awake as the air finally left her lungs and she felt hands grab her, holding her down and away from the burning building and her trapped sister. The walls were a pitch black, sturdy and unburnt but they would forever be smoking in her mind, her sister would always be trapped inside because she had failed her. 

"Tina!" A breathless voice shouted beside her and Tina turned to look at Eva. Her sleepless eyes were waterfalls of tears and they stared at her, wide and frightened. Her black curly hair was plastered against her forehead with sweat and Tina's shaking hand reached and held hers. 

They shifted so they were on their knees, sitting as they held each other and Tina felt the girl sob into her shoulder as another strong pair of arms wrapped around her and wept. Courtney never did like to be seen crying so she hid her face in the stretched fabric of Tina's shirt, burying their face in her back as her sobs filled the room, their hiccups and blubbering seemed so many miles away as Tina's ears tried to find familiarity. Find the ground she sat on so she could be brought back. 

A hand touched her shoulder and Tina turned to face Bex, beautiful, strong Bex who searched Tina's eyes and found where she was still lost inside of. Still trapped in the fire and she guided Tina, took deep breaths with her. 

Tina closed her eyes and winced when she saw the echos of the room flash and mesh with the fire. She shook her head and opened her eyes, looking hopelessly at Bex who held her other hand and gripped it as gently as she could as her lip trembled. 

Courtney coughed as her breath stuttered and failed to catch-up with them. Tina flinched and then a hand joined her's and Bex's. Tina looked into the piercing blue eyes of Macey McHenry. Her eyes were like the electric blue of daytime and Tina tried to focus, shaking her head as she tried to remove the invisible cotton that filled her ears. 

"...you….me…"

"Tina….are….with…"

Tina took a deep breath and blinked away the oranges and reds that filled her darkness. 

"Tina," came Macey's soft low voice in her ears. "Are you with me? Can you hear me?" 

Never in her life had Tina ever imagined that she would ever know Macey McHenry like this. That the delinquent wayward daughter of the Senator of Virginia would look at her with the worry and care of a friend. 

Tina took a breath and let out the smoke that would stay with her just like her guilt. She nodded and focused on Macey's voice. 

"I'm here." Tina told her and Macey nodded and gave her hand a squeeze.

"I'm here." She said but it wasn't an echo of Tina's words, they were her own as she spoke them. Tina nodded and took another deep breath but it shuttered through her, slamming against the walls of her skin and she felt her chest crash and cave in. 

She felt guilty as her hand gripped and crushed Bex's fingers but if Bex had any complaints, she kept them to herself. 

Tina winced and scolded herself, it was just breathing. How hard could it be? Why was she struggling? It should be easy. She was failing, she was failing she was-

She felt Eva squeeze her hand and Tina turned to her, desperate to help her in any way possible. To make use of herself at last. 

Eva's eyes were filled with tears still and they stained her cheeks. 

"Tina," she whispered and Tina nodded. She had to focus. She had to stay here. She had to stay standing. She had to keep standing. 

Tina looked around, counting what she could see. One slipper, two pillows, four blankets- shit

She took a deep breath and tried again. 

One slipper, two pillows, three sleeping bags, four blankets, five pairs of eyes staring back at her. 

Tina turned and locked eyes with Cammie Morgan. She focused on her, the slight waves of her blonde hair, the whites of her eyes. Her brown iris looked so dark in the low light of the room and Tina had to tear her eyes away so the phantom of the girl from summer wouldn't haunt her in person much longer. 

"Tina," Macey's voice was so velvety and smooth that Tina wondered how a voice could sound the way she did. 

Tina looked at her and Macey gave her hand another squeeze and Tina shut her eyes.

Focus. Focus. 

She took a deep breath and felt the whole room take it with her. She felt Courtney behind her grip her shirt just a little fighter. She felt Eva squeeze her hand. She felt Bex's thumb run over her knuckles in a soothing circle. 

She reminded herself that the only thing that was trembling were she and her friends. The warmth surrounding her was not a fire but the arms of her sisters. The tightness holding her together was not the smoke of the failures of her past but the love of her sisterhood. 

Tina opened her eyes and looked at Macey McHenry and she saw the small smile that turned the corners of her lips upward. 

"I'm here." She promised the room of girls around her and she felt their relief wash over her like a blanket of security. They were all here, they were all still alive. Their hearts still beat within their chests. 

When the rest of the girls fell asleep Tina stayed awake, watching over them one by one. She saw how Bex and Liz held hands under the darkness of night, noted how Macey and Cammie held the other two close by. How Kim Lee and Anna Fetterman clung to each other, their cheeks still stained with tears, Mick holding onto them both for dear life. 

Eva and Courtney beside her held onto her, kept her whole. Back when they had first held each other at night it was over a nightmare Courtney had over the previous day's events. They had laughed about it, their childish giggles and snorts had filled their dark room, they had fallen asleep in each other's arms. 

Tina had felt so silly then, having never had a friend stay with her before, never had friends hold her hand, never had sisters to share a home with. She felt like the child she was, sleeping so soundly at last with her family in her arms. 

Now here she was, years older and still in the comforting arms of her sisters. They weren't blood, they weren't even remotely related in any way. Tina's parents only knew their names by the ink of her letters(and the nosey snooping of her mother). Her grandmother had only met Eva but once in all their years when she had personality picked Tina up the summer after her junior year. 

Tina sniffled and wished her hands were free so she could wipe away the burning tears but she would never dare pull away from Eva and Courtney. Never again. 

She heard movement, she saw as Eva raised her hand and wiped at her cheek, nearly stabbing her eye out with her nail. 

She looked over at her and Eva's eyes were slightly cracked open. 

"I'm here," she croaked. 

Tina felt Courtney squeeze her tighter and she looked between her girls and held them close. 

They didn't need to say 'i love you'. They didn't need words, they were far past them now. Spy or not, they could speak into each other's souls, untangle the unspoken words in the air and hear them in their hearts. 

She could feel Courtney's silent worry, she understood their need to cling to Tina's clothes like a lifeline. 

Eva took a deep breath and her fingers mindlessly wandered to her wrist, she needed to feel Tina's pulse. Make sure she was there and Tina began to giggle. 

She felt their worried stares as she tried to hide her laughter from the other sleeping girls. 

She glanced at them and saw Courtney's dimples through the blanket of night. Eva grinned like a madman with a plan and Tina felt herself smiling too. 

Tina felt them shake with her as they laughed softly and it echoed through their time together, shining over the scolding words of the hospital staff when they had caught the three of them in Tina's bed, brighter than the sun that hit them at the dawn of each sleepover. 

Their laughter hit the end of their past and rushed, full force into their future. Their laughter would grace the grounds of the Gallagher Academy for years to come, joining in the harmony of their future sisters generation after generation. Courtney Bauer, Tina Walters, and Eva Alvarez, sister and friends past the end. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GG PROMPTOBER

Hi, yes im aware october is over but I’m still going to write for the promptober prompts until I catch em all(They probably wont be in order tho so apologies

Anyway, here’s Taking The Kids Trick Or Treating but it’s less taking the kids and more so just the kids

takes place pre-Gallagher and stars tiny Eva and Kim Lee

Eva sighed and rested her head on her palm as she watched dutifully over the sidewalk, balancing the bowl of candy on her knee and stared at the families that passed by her in joyous skips and trots. Mothers and fathers, running after their kids or holding their hands as they marched from house to house. Moms and dads, alive and well, standing by their child’s side with smiles that could last an eternity. 

“Mija!” A shrill voice called and Eva turned so she could look at the window beside her, staring back at her Abuela through the window screen. 

“Aquí estoy.” Eva replied, where else would she be? Besides, it’s not like Eva could sneak away without her Abuela noticing, grandmothers saw everything but Eva's Abuela wasn’t like the other needle knitters at the community center. 

“¿Necesitas más dulces?” Abuela asked, shaking the spare bag of candy they had shopped for earlier and Eva shook her head. There wasn’t any need to put more candy in the bowl, it was still(to Eva’s dismay) three quarters full. 

“Estoy bien Nina.” Eva called back and waited until the curtain fell back down to go back to her brooding and grumbling. She allowed herself the pleasure of slouching as she watched over the street again. 

Eva gently slammed her head back against the wall behind her and looked up at the mocking sky that had only just turned dark at her displeasure. 

Normally Eva loved the spooky holiday, she longed for the years past where her abuela would take her up and down the very same neighborhood and trick-or-treat for candy she’d have to wait with agonizing patience to eat after a thorough inspection(no one knows how to grill information out of some Whoppers like her abuela). But Eva was about to be a sixth grader, she was going to go into middle school which meant unfortunate maturity of the body and soul. Eva was old enough to fully understand the meaning behind the calaveras that sat on their ofrenda. She was old enough to fully take in the weight of the names written across the foreheads of each skull, to know why her abuela shed tears at the sight of old photos. 

Eva lifted the pirate hat off her head and scratched where the itchy material touched her. It was bad enough that she had to sit out here like a garden gnome, she would have at least been less grumpy if she wasn’t made to wear a ‘costume’. A striped shirt and a pirate hat weren’t Eva’s definition of a costume.  

She was thankful no one in her future middle school class would see her like this, dressed up like an elementary schooler, handing out candies like some old lady(no offense Abuela). 

The thudding of quick steps caught Eva’s attention and she turned her head to stare at the most ridiculous looking girl she had ever seen in her life. She blinked and watched the bounce of chains and listened to the jingle of metal on metal on metal as a girl dressed in all black ran over with two older kids in tow. 

The girl skidded to a stop right in front of Eva’s three small steps and grinned at her like a maniac, her eyes were surrounded by a black powder that looked like she stared through a pranked eyeglass. Her hair was short and inky black, gelled so it was almost completely standing on end. 

“Hi!” Her voice was high and squeaky, like the 7th graders Eva had passed by when she and her Abuela had gone to the park by Eva’s future school. 

“Uh, hi?” Eva waved because her Abuela drilled manners into her skull like the metal spikes that jutted out of the small girl’s black jean jacket. 

“I’m Kim Lee,” the girl, Kim Lee, said with the utmost importance. You’d think she was introducing a magician and not herself. “I’m new.” She swayed in her spot, looking a little shy but then perked right back up like a bouncing ball. 

“I’m Eva and I live here?” Eva hadn’t meant for it to come out as a question but usually little kids as small as Kim Lee were accompanied by grown ups, people with mustaches and jobs and taxes to pay, not the two lanky 8th graders that stood behind her like the silent pillars they were. 

“Cool!” Kim Lee piped and then leaned against the metal handrail of the steps. “What are you dressed up as?” 

Eva never felt more embarrassed to be seen outside her own home as she did then, if it was just Kim Lee she wouldn’t have felt so silly in her striped shirt and hat but there were 8th graders present. 8th graders who turned into high schoolers who turned into the coming of age hotties of Hollywood movies everywhere. 

“A pirate,” Eva whispered as she begged the earth to swallow her whole(but to spit out the hat). 

“I’m a rockstar!” Kim Lee said, ignoring Eva's pathetic response and doing a little spin for Eva, showing off the wild writing on the back of her jacket that read ‘Lee’. 

“I thought Snow White was popular with fourth graders.” Eva blinked and recalled how she had seen over three singing princesses in the classrooms she had passed earlier that day. 

Kim Lee froze in her spot and then seemed to deflate, gone was her electric energy that screamed ‘sugar rush’ and now there hung an awkward low in the air. The two 8th graders behind Kim Lee turned to each other and started to giggle, shaking as they burst out in laughter as Kim Lee hung her tiny head. She wheeled around on the two older kids and swatted at them with her hands like flies. 

“Shut up!” She squealed but that only made them laugh harder, one of the kids, a boy, reached down and patted Kim Lee’s spiky hair. 

“But you’re such a cute fourth grader!” He laughed and Kim Lee let out a high pitch groan of frustration. She turned on her heel and glared at Eva, marching up the three small steps like a warrior on a mission. 

“I’m going to be a sixth grader next year you know!” Kim Lee bellowed, trying to keep her voice as low as the boy behind her but it cracked and squeaked causing the kids to laugh some more. 

“You- what?” Eva sputtered and looked at the tiny girl in front of her. Most fifth graders were at least a head taller than Kim Lee was, hell, if Eva stood right now she’d be half a head taller and Eva was the shortest girl in her class room. 

“I’m going to be a sixth grader,” Kim Lee repeated. “As in middle school.”

She made the words sound like she was talking to a third grader and Eva was not about to let this tiny punk talk to her like she didn’t know long division. Eva stood and crossed her arms. 

“I know what middle school is. I’m going next year.” Eva said proudly and Kim Lee scoffed, turning her nose to the side like she smelled a fart. 

“Oh yeah? What school?” Kim Lee sounded like she would hunt down every school district and hallway to find Eva and prove her point of being a future sixth grader and Eva(with her half a head vertical advantage) scoffed right back at her. 

“Wright Middle.” Eva stood up straighter and watched from her tall perch as the wheels turned in Kim Lee’s eyes. The girl seemed to pause and ponder this, as if searching through a metal map of the county to find Eva’s school. She blinked and then looked back up at Eva, a strange expression on her face. 

“I’m going to Wright Middle.” She said softer now, all the huff and puff gone from her little body. 

“You are?” Eva blinked and Kim Lee nodded slowly. She tried not to let Kim Lee have the last word so she shrugged like it was no big deal. “Everyone in this neighborhood is going there.”

“We’re going to be classmates.” Kim Lee whispered and the boy behind her spoke up again. 

“No duh genius, hurry up I wanna go home already.” He whined and Kim Lee turned and said something to him so quickie Eva took a moment to understand she had just called him a ‘dumb poophead’ before the two broke into argument. One talking faster than the other and Eva grabbed a snickers bar out of the bowl and watched. 

She assumed the two were brother and sister and whoever the other kid was could be either a friend or another sibling. Either or, Eva was glad to be an only child. She couldn’t imagine the horrors of sharing her room with someone, having someone in her business constantly as all TV siblings do. She didn’t have to worry about a snotty nosed younger brother or sister bothering her to play, no older brother to yell at for being gross and obnoxious, no big sister to kick out of her room when all she talked about were boys. Eva considered herself lucky as she watched Kim go red under her black makeup. 

Eva grabbed a kitkat and took aim. 

“Hey Kim Lee.” Eva called and Kim Lee turned to look at her as Eva gently tossed the candy at her. Kim Lee snatched it out of the air halfway through it’s arch and Eva blinked in amazement. Wondering if years of siblings had gotten her reflexes so sharp. 

“See you in class.” Eva smiled and sat back down in her chair, Kim Lee paused and looked at the candy in her hand and then gave Eva a toothy grin. 

“See you in class.” She called as she walked down the steps, metal on meta on metal jingling as she walked towards the two kids and down the sidewalk. Eva smiled as she figured that if middle school was going to be the hormone filled hell that TV shows always made it out to be then at least she’d have Kim Lee around as a friend. 

Eva blinked as something small and hard hit her shoulder and she turned to stare at her Abuela through the now fully opened window. 

“No te robas los dulces.” She scolded but then smiled as she followed where Kim Lee went, an odd knowing look in her eyes Eva sometimes caught her doing toward her.

“Your new friend, yes?” She asked and Eva shrugged. 

“I guess.”

Her abuela nodded approvingly and smiled as she started to close the window, mumbling Kim Lee’s name under her breath. Eva rubbed the back of her neck and sat back down, looking at the candy bowl and blinking in confusion. She could have sworn there were more Snickers in the bowl just moments ago. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GALLAGHER GIRLS PROMPTOBER DAY 12 SWEATERS

Pre-Gallagher 

“Micky?” Joel Morrison called out as he walked down the dusty dirt path, he stretched at the itchy fabric of his sweater as his brother beside him called out as well. 

“Mickydoodle!” Avery shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth like a megaphone, not that he ever needed one. Joel smacked his shoulder and rolled his eyes. 

“Way to wake up every bear in America, genius!” 

“I’m sorry who lost Micky?” Avery snapped back and shoved him into the nearest tree. The loud stomping of footsteps closed in and they turned as Willis made his way over from the north.  

“Anything?” He panted out and they shook their heads. He groaned and ran his hand through his sandy blonde hair. “Shit.” 

Another stampede of boots caused their heads to turn as Marty and Shaun came in from the west and south. 

“Nothing.” Joel, Avery, and Willis said before they could even ask. Shaun took the hat off of his head and slammed it down to the ground with a shout. 

“Damn it!” Shaun crouched down and buried his face in his hand, his long black hair draping over his eyes and his brother turned away so they could pretend like they didn’t see the tears that rolled down his cheeks. 

It had been Shaun’s idea to let Mick play out in the woods. He could never say no to her and now they had lost their little sister in the very same trees they had deemed safe enough not more than three hours ago. Willis walked over and gently rubbed Shaun’s back, almost trying to physically take away the guilt that made his fists ball up and his knuckles turn white with strain and pressure. 

“She’s not back at the house?” Willis asked, turning to Joel who held one of the walkies on his belt, he was tuned into a different channel that connected him with their buddy Schmit who was keeping watch of the house by ‘raking’ their yard. 

Joel shook his head and Shaun swore under his breath, he started furiously rubbing at his hair, trying to light a fire with his nails as they raked through the thick locks of hair before he stood up, snatching his hat and wiping at his face. 

“North, south, west, east.” He commanded, pointing to his brothers in turn and then at himself, he wheeled around on Joel and jabbed a finger at his chest, Joel was the one on Micky-duty when she had slipped out of his sight and gotten lost, so he took the sharp jab as punishment for his blunder. 

“You,” Shaun growled out the word like he was talking to the devil himself. “You go down to the creek and I swear if she’s still lost when dad gets home-”

“Okay!” Willis snapped, cutting the building tension between his brothers. “North, south, west, east, creek. Got it.” He clapped his hands together like thunder and the boys split off to their positions like trained soldiers. 

Joel sighed and kicked a loose stone in his path as he started his jog over to the creek. He was mad too! So what if it was his fault Mick got lost, it’s not like he needed more reminding! He groaned and let out a shout as he kicked over a nearby log someone had left behind. He started to tear at his sweater with his fingers, trying to gte the stupid itchy material off of himself when he paused and looked back down. Hidden in between leaves  and twigs was a single bead, it was so small Joel had to get down on his knees to examine it properly. Picking it up with careful fingers and dusting it off on his shirt revealed the bright green color and he stood up quickly. It wasn’t a sure sign but it was the hail mary he was looking for. 

He waddled around like a duck, searching around the floor for another bead, anything that would lead him to his sister when he saw two leaves and a twig shaped like an arrow and Joel tore through the underbrush, nearly tripping over his own laces as he broke into a sprint. He slapped leaves and branches out of his way as he made his way further downstream of the creek, following the water like a madman before reaching the bank and jumping with all his might to the other side. His foot slipped on wet leaves and he fell on his face as graceful as a chopped tree. 

Spitting out the dirt, he scrambled to his feet and then froze, half standing half sprawled out as he saw a little star bead and picked it up. He snapped his head from side to side and saw another little bead and snatched it up. 

He didn’t much care if his brothers passed him by and saw how stupid he looked, crawling around like a bloodhound on his hands and needs, face nose deep in the dirt as he scavenged for another clue. 

Mick wasn’t supposed to be on this side of the creek. It was too far from home and too close to the park where any old boogey man could walk through and snatch her up. It was close to sundown and the shadows grew longer and thicker here where the trees went from gold to evergreen. He lost his vision on the ground and stood up, looking back and forth. Seeing nothing around. 

Mick was too smart to go to the park alone like this, she would have just needed to give Shaun puppy eyes and he’d take her to the moon if she said ‘pretty please’. It was too cold outside for a swim down the way to the hole and Mick didn’t even know how to yet. So no park, no hole, no woods and unless Mick suddenly grew out of her fear of heights, no secret treehouses. 

Joel paused and snapped his head over upstream, he started stomping his way through the trees again, pushing away bushes and ferns and branches. 

He was so stupid, of course she’d go there! Since when did a Morrison ever take ‘no’ for an answer? He was going to strangle Avery and bury him in the woods for opening his big fat mouth around an 11 year old girl. 

When Avery had mentioned a secret hideout he and some high school friends found Micky had begged him to take her. Joel hadn’t thought to bring it up since that had been weeks ago and Mick never once dared to go. 

Which way had he said again, up past the hill? Left of the stump? And down past the-

Joel froze when he saw a small glow coming from the window of an old half-assed shed. It looked like some friends had long ago tried to build their own secret hideout here but apparently didn’t understand that they needed all four walls and a decent roof. 

The building, if one could even call it that, had three decent walls and from what he could tell by the planks on the floor, one fallen back wall. The roof was sagging down into the building and the only thing that made it look better than a cardboard house was the small window. 

The door looked like it would give him tetanus and splinters if he even dared to touch it so he went around to the back and poked his head through the large gaps of the crumbling wall. Mick had a glow stick, cracked and shining, hanging around her neck as she sat waiting with a stick in her hand, doodling in the mushy leaves and dirt by her feet. 

Joel had on hell of a scolding ready to rip and tear her a new one when she looked up at him, her eyes were red and puffy and her face had lines where past tears had fallen. The wind left his lungs and he ducked inside, sitting down and nudging her foot with his. 

She shook her head and rubbed at her eyes with her chubby little fist, one of her billions of bracelets was missing and Joel fished out the star from his pocket. She blinked and then reached for it, holding it in her hand and resting her head against his arm. 

Joel scooted closer and wrapped his arm around her, holding her close as his hand ruffled her messy brown hair. They stayed quiet until the shadows started to leech away at what little light remained and Joel tapped her head. 

“We gotta go home now Micky.” He whispered and Micky shook her head and hid her face in the fabric of his sweater. 

“No!” She wailed and her voice was croaky from crying. 

“Micky we gotta go,” He said sternly. “You got everyone worried about you.”

“It’s already fall!” She cried miserably and Joel looked at her confused. He knew well and good it was already fall, the leaves were already starting to turn early that year. 

“Micky what-”

“I have to go soon.” She sobbed and Joel paused, her fists clenched at his sweater and he slowly wrapped his arms around her again. “I’m gonna have to go to school and I won’t see you guys for forever!” 

“Micky,” He said softly and she looked up at him. When the men with dark suits came in about Mick none of them really understood what was going on. They knew their dad wasn’t a normal ex-government worker. They knew he had stories he couldn’t quite tell, scars he could never fully explain because it was classified. Mick was a smart kid, too smart sometimes and now a fancy school in Virginia was calling her over to learn how to be a little smarter than your average girl.  

“Mick,” Joel started again, having lost his train of thought. “I know being far away is gonna be scary but hey, Willis did it for college and if Shaun ever gets some smarts in him he’ll go off too.”

“Will came back for weekends.” Mick countered and Joel nodded. Willis had gotten his degree over at the nearby university just two hours away. He got to come home for weekends and holidays, Mick wouldn’t get weekends. They’d have to wait until winter break to see their Micky again and by then, if she continued growing like she did, she’d be taller than the house when she came home. 

“You’ll come back too and hey, you can send us all the letters you want. To me, Avery, Willis, Marty-”

“What about Shaun?”

“Shaun can’t read.” Joel waved the notion away and Mick laughed. He smiled and gently patted her shoulder and stood up. “Come on, let's go home before Marty chews the woods down.”

Mick got up and dusted herself off, her bright sparkly shirt now covered in dirt. Joel wiggled out of his sweater and slipped it over her head. 

“It’s itchy,” She complained and Joel took her hand as they made their way back, clicking twice on the radio so Schmit knew to tell the other he found her. 

“You can give it back when you come home for Christmas.” He shrugged and Mick rolled her eyes. 

“The other girls are going to think I stole it from a giant.” Mick remarked but made no move to take the itchy sweater off. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GALLAGHER GIRLS PROMPTOBER DAY 10 CAUGHT IN THE RAIN

Takes place post-Gallagher

Liz ducked under the shelter of a convenience store as the rain outside poured on, she rummaged in her purse for the list she had made and started her way down the aisles. She picked up sponges and dish soap and those salsa chips Bex liked, mumbling to herself as she gathered what she needed and went to the counter. As the clerk started to ring her up Liz looked outside, it had gotten worse and now thunder and lightning could be seen and heard outside. 

Liz picked up her bag with a ‘thank you’ and took out her umbrella from its plastic sheath. Liz didn’t much mind the rain since she was prepared, boots and coat and everything. Her mind wandered off to dinner as she ran through her mental checklist. Bex wasn’t coming home until after 8 which gave her plenty of time to prepare dinner from now ‘til then. Maybe take a quick shower in between or-

There was a loud clang in the alleyway Liz had just passed and from the fleeting glance she had given it there hadn’t been a soul. Slowly Liz turned her head to try and find anything to reflect the alley to her but with everything covered in raindrops and the curtain of falling water Liz’s own eyes would have to do. She backed up slowly and saw nothing but a misshaped bag that was once on top of the dumpster lid now on the ground, resting against a metal sheet that must have made the sound. 

Liz looked back and forth and then at the bag, the rain would make the plastic surface slippery but it would have taken more force than that to make the little thing drop-

The bag twitched and spasmed and Liz took a step back around the corner. Whatever was inside kicked and pushed against the boundaries of the bag before settling down. A lone croaky cry fizzed out and Liz rushed forward. 

She sent a quick prayer that whatever was inside wouldn't bite her as she undid the knot on top and opened the entrance of the bag. A kitten the size of a fist lay inside, a small hole somewhere in the bag leaked in water and the kitten’s bright brown eyes stared back at her. It opened its mouth to let out its battle cry and Liz’s heart snapped. 

It wasn’t a disney princess moment where Liz reached out and the kitten came forward to her as though she were a light of hope. The crazy cat had tried to eat the bag twice, nearly bit Liz once, yelled at some water and Liz had to run back to the store for cat food and a towel and nearly tripped right over the kitten. 

The walk home wasn’t easy either, the feisty little critter gnawd at whatever was closest to it’s mouth and with all the jostling around it did Liz nearly lost the umbrella once and then actually lost it just a stop light away from home. 

They were both equality soaked when Liz walked through the front door and unceremoniously dropped her bags by the door. She grabbed a shoe box by the rack and emptied it of her heels before resting the kitten inside. She popped off her boots and soggy socks and slipped on a pair of flip-flops. 

She picked up the box and made her way to the bathroom, tapping away on her phone with one hand to check what she could use to give the kitten a bath. 

Turns out, if you put a kitten in an empty bathtub it liked to run around inside like a race car. Liz had splashed water everywhere but the cat and once the suds were cleared and the hair drier was brought out Liz was more tired than before. She held the kitten in one hand as she dried it off with a towel, apparently she had pressed some magic button because the cat was perfectly still, spread out in her hand like silly putty. Its orange fur was finally dry enough that Liz figured she should really get dinner going after wiping the bathroom floor with a mop. 

Cooking alone was a feat to behold with Liz, cooking with one hand had enough ups and downs that she could have been her own TV show. Liz groaned and gently set the kitten down as she crouched, gathering the spilled pepper seeds from the floor. 

She had expected the kitten to start screaming or jumping or running or hell, dancing but he stayed perfectly still. Watching her as though she were the anomaly to observe. As Liz scooped up more pepper she paused and watched as the kitten leaned down, and rolled a seed towards her with the tip of its pink nose. 

Liz stayed there frozen when the jingle of keys alerted her and the kitten suddenly started rocketing around the room and ran right for the door as Bex swung it open. Iz watched it all in a slow motion disaster as the kitten jumped on an open drawer, sprang to the top of the short cabinet, climbed up the taller end table beside it and leaped right as Bex stepped in. 

“Lizzie I’m-”

There was a pause as Bex’s quick eye turned, catching the fuzzy blur in her peripheral vision as it landed and it clung to her coat. 

“Lizzie.” Bex spoke slowly and Liz stood up, she was still drying from the bath she gave the kitten and the kitchen was a mess. 

“Meet Pepper?” Liz tried as Pepper let out a chirp of greeting. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GALLAGHER GIRS PROMPTOBER DAY 9 PUMPKIN CARVING

Takes place pre-Gallagher

Inspired by the GG prequel The Spies That Bind(give it a read)

The voices from upstairs could still be heard as their shouts were raised and Tabitha sighed, walking over to the radio that sang Portuguese and turned it up. 

She turned and made her way back over to her granddaughter. Watching as she carefully cut the bottom of the pumpkin out. 

“Tina?” She asked and the little girl looked up at her, she was the spitting image of her father, light brown waves and intelligent brown eyes that searched every nook and cranky for a secret. “Can you tell me what’s on the radio?” 

Tina stared at her puzzled before her eyes turned to the chunky grey monstrosity that sat on the opposite side of the counter. 

“He’s singing about a woman he loves,” Tina began slowly, her focus stuck on the words that flittered in the air as Tabitha rolled up her sleeves and scooped out the guts of the pumpkin. 

“Yes? What else?” 

Tina puffed out her chubby cheeks as she focused, burning a hole into the machine. She released the air she was holding and started to mouth the words along. 

“He misses her dearly and the world is sad without her.”

“Sad?”

“Mise-miserável?” It came out like a question but Tabitha patted her head with her clean hand nonetheless. 

“Good job.” 

Tina rolled her eyes at the radio and turned her attention back to her grandmother, resting her elbow on the counter so as to keep her arm steady as she rested her cheek on her hand. 

“Why does he love her so much?”

“I’m not sure.”

“But if it hurts so much why doesn’t he just like, stop?”

Tabitha opened her mouth to correct her grammar and then decided it was a lost cause, the west coast had dug its clutches into her and if that’s how Tina was going to speak from now on so be it. 

“Love doesn’t just go away because you tell it to?” Tabitcha explained and Tina opened her mouth to ask another billion other questions when Tabitha gently held a spoonful of pumpkin strings and seeds before her and Tina gagged and moved away. 

“Ew!! Avó, ugh that’s gross!” She whined and Tabitha chuckled to herself. 

“It’s just pumpkin, sweetheart.”

“It’s sticky.” 

Tabitha rolled her eyes and kissed the top of her little head, nudging the stool closer with her foot as she grabbed a marker. She turned the pumpkin towards them and handed the marker over as she went to wash her hands, thankful for the handrail that lined the lip of her countertops. 

“What kind of face do we want this year?” She strained her voice to shout over the music and Tina shrugged, tapping the bottom of the marker to her lips. 

“It has to be scary and ugly!” Tina shouted back and then mumbled under her breath a name she herself had said was forbidden to speak in the house. “Like Cherri Bennett.”

Tabitha raised a brow and made her way back over as Tina began to draw a wavy shouting mouth with square teeth and sharp fangs. 

“Do you want to talk about um her?” Tabitha asked, gesturing to the pumpkin and Tina took a long pause, her hand started to draw out one eye and then started the other before she nodded and spoke. 

“She’s mean, she says my nose looks funny.” Almost without thinking Tina reached up and touched her nose, covering it with her hand. 

“What’s so funny about it?”

Tina paused and took in her grandmother's words, putting down the marker and shrugging. 

“I don’t know,” She sighed and picked the marker back up, drawing a little button nose on the pumpkin.

“I wanted to say something mean back.” Tina confessed and Tabitha raised a brow. 

“Did you?” 

Tina took another long moment but Tabitha didn’t rush her, she didn’t press. Tina hung her head and nodded, her little fist grabbing at the bottom of her shirt. 

“I did.” She squeaked out and Tabitha grabbed the counter for support, slowly lowering herself to her good knee. Tina’s face was red, scrunched up as thick, fat tears rolled down her cheeks. Tabitha opened her mouth to speak when Tina raised a tiny trembling finger and pointed up at the ceiling where the shouts stayed concealed. 

She knew why they were arguing, she knew why she held Tina down here in the noisy kitchen instead of some place else. But hearing Tina admit her wrong meant more to her than anything they could say. 

She opened her arms for Tina and she rushed into them, nearly knocking her over. Tabitha leaned on the face of the cabinet for support as she rubbed her back in smooth circles. She could hear the headache that was sure to come. ‘Private schools were a bad idea’, ‘public schools were too risky’, ‘permanent records’, ‘unruly behavior’, the whole conversion would spiral down the drain and recycle itself in the ugly circle of repetition. 

When Tina let go to wipe her tears and snot away with a paper towel Tabitha started the tea. 

“Tina,” Tabitha found the strength in herself to speak, she wasn’t sure if she even should but she had to try. If not her parents then she alone. 

“Yeah?” Tina looked up, steeling herself for whatever was to come next. Tabitha poured the tea into two cups and rested them on coasters, sliding Tina’s cup towards her. 

“Tina, when you go to the Gallagher Academy…” Tabitha paused, trying to find words, advice or guidance she wished she had  when she began the legacy all those years ago. “You must remember that, remember that you’re a Walters. Just like your mother, just like me. We were and will always be Gallagher girls, and soon so will you. You, will be a Gallagher girl.” 

Tina looked up at her and Tabitha had to blink the image of the little girl away. Tina wasn’t 7 anymore, she wasn’t listening to fairy tales. She was starting adolescence, 12 years old and as bright eyed as her mother. Her hands weren’t small anymore, they were nearly the size of her own. Her little pumpkin had grown up. 

“I will be a Gallagher girl.” Tina whispered and Tabitha felt the floor crumble beneath her, she opened her mouth quickly to correct, to stop the shooting arrow from going the wrong way, misunderstanding her words of welcome as words of pressure. She hadn’t meant for the legacy to crash down its weight upon her but as Tabitha opened her mouth to speak the door flew open and Harry walked in shouting over the music. 

“Since when do we own a band?” He joked as his slender fingers turned the dial down and Emilia waked in after him, the strict frown she always wore deepened the wrinkles on her forehead. 

And Tabitha lost her chance.

[doodle-do-wop]

GALLAGHER GIRLS PROMPTOBER DAY 8 “I’M COLD”

Takes pace after Gallagher

Eva groaned as she rubbed her hands together for what felt like the millionth time that minute(it was her fourth). 

“Anna, you're killing me here.” Eva hissed between chattering teeth and Anna looked over at her, an amused twinkle in her eye as she took in all of Eva’s thick layers. 

“Just five more minutes, it’s almost over I promise.” She pleased and Eva let out an impossibly long groan that rolled on and on as she tried(and failed) to avoid looking at the puppy-eyes Anna was giving her. 

“Five,” Eva grumbled and Anna squeezed her shoulders as she squealed and turned her attention back to the game. Eva would never understand what was so great about lacrosse, Gallagher had a ‘team’ though they never really played any real games. Sure on occasion to keep up the façade of a normal school, they would send out a few girls who took interest in the sport to play another team only to be warned not to give it their all. 

The metal bench they sat on wobbled with the bouncing of Eva’s leg and she latched onto Anna like the heat-parasite she was, trying to mooch off of whatever she could get from her crazy Ohioan friend. While Eva was dressed like any sensible human being would in low 60 degree weather, Anna was in a light t-shirt and at least had the decency not to wear shorts this time. 

When the random dad who had been the self-appointed ref blew the whistle Eva let out what will forever remain as the most relieved sigh ever to be made by a human. 

“Okay, fives up. Let’s go let’s go let’s go.” She gently nudged Anna with her elbow as she didn’t trust her finger not to snap off from the cold. Anna giggled and, painfully slowly, gathered her things and stood. 

“Okay, okay,” She grinned and if Eva had a snowball she would have thrown it. “Geez Louise, since when did you get so pushy?” She teased and Eva wasn’t helping their quick escape plan by still holding onto Anna, turning their walk into a waddle.

“Since my left tit froze off. Lets. Go.” Eva gave her one last shove and Anna shook her head, snorting and giggling. It was hard to intimidate your friends when your nose is a darker shade of red than the Gallagher burgundy banners.   

Anna took Eva’s hand in hers and led her through the disbanding crowd towards a boy with dirty blonde hair and a big toothy grin. 

“Carl!” Anna called out, waving her hand in the air so Carl could spot them. Carl turned around in place like he was suddenly sent to earth via an alien ray but when he spotted Anna and her frantically waving hand his face spit into a somehow even larger grin. 

“Anna!” He cried and ran over, arms open wide and Anna let go of Eva as she ran over to meet him. They clashed and Carl almost knocked Anna right over if he hadn’t started to spin them around. It was like a scene in a movie and as cute as it was, Eva’s ear was ready to fall off next. 

She cleared her throat when she figured the squealing and the hugging was coming to a close. 

Carl turned his head right and left before his gaze settled down on Eva, he smiled at her like they were old friends and he offered his hand to shake. 

“Hi! I’m Carl, you must be Eva right?” 

“Yeah nice to- oh my god!” Eva took his hand and then latched onto it after feeling the burning heat radiating off of him. Her head snapped over to Anna accusingly. “Is everyone here sweating?!” 

Anna shrugged and smiled in a half-apologetic way and Eva groaned, stuffing what dear fingers she had left into her pockets. 

“Three hot cocos!” Eva demanded and Anna snorted as she held Carl’s hand. 

“Last time you said two.”

“Last time you called 59 degrees, picnic weather!” 

She heard Carl’s soft laughter and stomped her way to Anna’s car, cramming herself into the backseat and struggling with her seatbelt. 

“Eva, just take off the parka.” Anna said as she closed her door and started the car. 

“No.”

“You have another underneath!” 

“You have two parkas on?” Carl asked, shyly poking his head around the corner of his headset and Eva raised an eyebrow. 

“I’m not from Ohio.”

“Cali girl,” Anna explained and Carl ‘oooh’ed and nodded. 

“Oh! Like uh, oh geez what’s her name, uh.” Carl snapped his fingers and placed his palm on his forehead like he was trying to knock and wake up his hippocampus. “Kim?” He guessed and Anna shot him a quick thumbs up as she backed out of the parking spot. Carl pumped a fist and sat up straighter. 

“Aww, does Anna talk about us?” Eva teased, poking her head between them and Anna ‘tsk’ed her tongue and rested her elbow on Eva’s head. 

“Just sometimes.” She admitted but Eva looked over at Carl to double check that claim and when his eyes went wide with panic as they glanced uselessly at Anna for help(which she didn't provide) he just turned back to Eva and nodded. 

“Uh-huh.” She drew out the word and reached forward to crank up the heat. “Ay por dios you’re trying to kill me I swear.”

Eva ducked and dodged Anna’s hand as she turned the dial up further. 

“Eva you’re going to blow up my dad’s car!”

“Am not! This thing can go higher!”

“You know cars?” Carl pipped up excitedly and Eva didn’t have an unfrozen funny bone left in her to tell him most of her experience came from watching the mad scientist that is Kim Lee(and holding the flashlight for her)

“A bit,”

“She can fix a headlight but she can’t drive one.” Anna mumbled and Eva decided for Carl’s sake he wouldn’t poke Anna in the ribs. 

“I prefer to look out the window than drive.” Eva said defensively and she caught Anna rolling her eyes in the rearview mirror. 

“She almost crashed the student driver's car at school.” Anna said to Carl and Carl’s eyes went wide as he all but turned 180 degrees to look at Eva. 

“Really?! What happened?” He cried and Eva leaned back in her seat. 

“There was a squirrel in the way! I saved its life like the good samaritan I am.” Eva huffed and Anna snorted, she knew Eva cussed out those blasted oversized rodents not more than 20 minutes ago but she chose not to mention that. 

“Tina Walters says otherwise.” Anna quipped in a singsong voice and Eva scoffed. 

“Tina Walters also said magenta isn’t my color-”

“-and it’s not.”

Eva turned to Carl and stuck out her bottom lip. 

“She’s so mean to me, I come all the way out here to Ohio to say hi after so many months apart,” Eva did her best Bex impression and very dramatically leaned against the back of Anna’s chair, looking like she was in the depths of despair and woe. “Being a dearest friend and everything and this is how she treats me.” For extra pizzazz she sighed like a maiden longing for a life of magic and love. 

“You goober,” Anna laughed and reached back to grab Eva’s leg but she moved them away quickly. “You know I love you.”

“I know,” Eva winked, taking Anna’s hand and kissing her knuckles. 

“Eva, how are your fingers still cold!” Anna yelped and drew her hand back, shaking it like it had gone numb. 

“I’m cold. I’m slowly dying Anna, I need coco.” Eva flopped in her seat and Carl laughed and turned his head so he could look at her. 

“You like cinnamon with your coco?” He asked and Eva leaned forward. 

“Carl, I think you and I are going to have a wonderful friendship.” 

“Oh no,” Anna groaned and Eva grinned. 

[doodle-do-wop]

GALAGHER GIRLS PROMPTOBER DAY 6 CORN MAZE

Takes place after Gallagher

Grant Newman will never understand normal civilians. Sure, he was just like any other guy when it came to movies or books, he enjoyed the simple mundane pleasures life had to offer but corn mazes? Grant couldn’t wrap his head around it. Unless there was a prize at the end of the maze, why would anyone in their right mind pay to go inside a field of corn for hours, getting turned around at every bend? 

Grant glanced over at the girl beside him and tried to figure out what it was about a bunch of corn and dust that brought such a bright smile to her face. 

When Zach and Jonas dragged Grant over to this farm Grant figured they were going to some wild barn party or tipping cows or whatever it was country folk did. But a corn maze run by a regular small town community wasn’t exactly on his bucket list. What was even more bizarre was when Grant was approached by Tina Walters herself and asked him to be her partner for the maze. 

Grant didn’t know Tina Walters in the slightest. Sure they had spent a semester together as classmates when Blackthrone did that exchange with Gallagher and during their exam she had masterfully knocked him down and kept him pinned but other than that she was a mystery. Grant hated a mystery he couldn’t solve, so he decided he was going to crack the Walters code. 

“So,” He started because what else was he supposed to say after 20 minutes of walking in silence. 

“So.” Tina echoed, her boot kicking a stone in front of her as leisurely as if she were taking a simple walk down main street. 

“How’d you get wrapped up in this?” Grant asked, gesturing to the corn maze around them. 

“Mick’s dad.” She answered swiftly before taking a moment and then returning. “He helped out making the maze.” 

“So you know the layout already?” He wondered why on earth they were just walking around endlessly if she knew how to get out already. And then, as if reading his mind Tina looked over at him and giggled. 

“Yeah but what’s the fun in that? Besides, the real fun is the scares.” Scares? The scariest thing Grant had seen so far was someone enjoying a corn maze. Sure, some locals had decided to amp up the fun of the maze by having volunteers dress up and go around scaring people, capturing them so as to stop them from reaching the grand prize of candy but running around and dodging a simple civilian was child's-play. 

“You like running around…in corn?” Grant asked plainly, not bothering to hide his confusion or judgment. Tina laughed and tilted her head back, shaking her head at him as if he were so silly, so funny. 

“Geez Newman, who knew you were such a stick in the mud.” She teased and walked ahead, her hands behind her back as her hair swayed with every step. 

“I just don’t get what's so great about corn?” Grant defended his slightly(very) wounded pride. 

Tina twirled, spinning on her heel to face him but her eyes locked with something behind him and Grant turned as the corn parted ways for the looming masked figure holding a plastic machete. They were wearing a plague doctor’s mask with some weird vest, showing off their powerful arms, flexing their muscles as they flipped the knife in their hand and stood there for a moment. 

Tina laughed and clapped her hands like this was the greatest moment of her life before grabbing Grant’s wrist and dragging him as the scarer charged. 

To prove he was no stick in the mud Grant kept his jog quick enough to out pace a regular civilian but when the scarer started to catch up a little too well he picked up the pace. When the masked figure turned on a hairpin no matter how expertly Tina misled them Grant began to worry. 

“Walters?” Grant called out, trying to keep his heart rate steady and his mind calm enough to keep up with the wild girl beside him. Tina just laughed and grinned at him like the Cheshire Cat. 

‘Gallagher Girls’ was what she mouthed to him as they ran through the halls of maze and Grant started to understand why they hadn’t just left through the exit and claimed their prize. Tina wanted a thrill and Grant was starting to uncover his first puzzle piece. 

Tina Walters liked a challenge. 

So they ran, bobbing and weaving as they took turn after turn, juking this way and that as the Gallagher Girl giving chase didn’t give up. And Grant couldn’t blame her, how often do you get to chase a pair of spies as well trained as you through a corn maze, for fun? 

“Who are we dealing with? Baxter? Alvarez? Lee?” Grant panted and Tina shook her head, a devilish look of mischief in her eyes. 

“Morrison.” 

And Grant almost tripped. He could remember Mick Morrison better than he could remember Tina Walters. The has he had seen of Morrison, she was built like a brick house and could punch twice as hard as one. She could keep pace with some of the boys from Blackthorne and could probably throw them as far as the Gallagher fancy lawns were wide. 

She was patient like a resting mountain and had observant eyes sharper than most operatives Grant had met in the field. Outrunning Mick Morrison was like outrunning an inevitable. She would always catch up no matter how hard you tried. 

Rebecca Baxter, he figured on his best day and her worst, he could outrun. Eva Alvarez would have a 9-0 but he would maybe catch a tie. Kim Lee, he’d live with a new found phobia but Tina Walters had led him to his doom in a field of corn searching for Mick Morrison to chase her. 

Tina Walters was crazy. 

There was a spit up ahead and Grant looked over at Tina who grinned with wild anticipation and she looked at him with those shimmering eyes of mischief. 

“Do you trust me?”

“NO!”

“Awesome!” She reached out for him and with no other choice he reached back, she grabbed his hand and spun around swinging him with all her might, giving him a boost forward.

 When Grant looked back, wondering what fate would await Tina Walters he watched as Mick skidded to a cartoonish stop, waving her arms around for balance as to not plow over Tina who spun them around and kiss her, shoving the mask out of her way. He could see her over Mick’s massive shoulder and she gave him a thumbs up that he returned as he ran ahead and through the corn maze to the end. 

Tina Walters was the strangest girl he will ever know.