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#i love his 2 by 2 itty bitty guest room
greeenchrysanthemums · 4 months
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Etho building a guest room for himself at Iskall's base... So cute.
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creativia10 · 2 years
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Some of my current fanfic ideas I may write.
-post about a current TSS fanfic idea
Note: Please let me know if any of the links to fics on my list here aren't working. It can be through an ask. I'll redo them and see if that helps. (9/30/23)
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First Night in the Same Room
A Duet after all these years- (Owl House au with TS characters)
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Another Way (Valentine's Day)
Others in Working Through Intrusive Thoughts
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Tattoo Trade for Damage
Hunter Janus/ Creature Remus
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House Rivals are Just Exciting
A siren of a Black Skirt (sfw vs)
My first drabble
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writersrealmbts · 4 years
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Clearwater Springs: Part 1
Description: ot7 x reader, reader’s choice, fairy/supernatural/soulmate au. The choices you make influence the story! In this world, war-torn and ragged, you’ve been offered a home and a job working as a librarian. Will you meet your soulmates? Will you ever find the shelves behind the piles of books? Who knows.
Warnings: None
Posted: 08/29/2020
Tags: ot7 x reader, supernatural bts, 
5,111 words
A/N: Once I was actually able to write, this came out really easily. I hope you guys enjoy it and don’t forget to do the pre-chapter 2 survey (link at the end of post)! 
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You stared up at the house in a bit of a daze, still untethered. Still vulnerable.
“Isn’t it magnificent?! A real masterpiece, this house.”
You glanced at your over-enthusiastic caseworker, then looked back up at the grand Victorian house, wondering if the inside matched the outside, and why such a grand house was way out in the middle of nowhere. Why its owner would offer to take in strays, misfits, and others in need of a new home after the recent war when they were obviously still doing well despite the near economic collapse.
Your caseworker was practically bouncing up to the house, making you dizzy as he jostled the itty-bitty fountain you were temporarily tied to.
But you’d been dealing with that for a month, and you were getting pretty good at walking a straight line while the world appeared to spin around you.
“Now, if you and he agree at the end of the day, you’ll be tethered to a natural spring and the creek it runs into nearby, and you’ll stay in one of the spare rooms and you’ll help him organize and keep his library, which he runs as a traditional library—when organized—for some of the locals.”
You didn’t bother responding since he didn’t seem to be looking for a response, instead heavily trodding up to the front door as he rang the doorbell.
“Also, to simulate what life will be like, I’ll be leaving you for the day once I set your fountain down in a safe spot.”
“You said,” You murmured, closing your eyes for a moment, feeling yourself swaying from side to side. As a xana, you were originally tethered to a fountain many miles away, but as the war reached that town, your fountain had been damaged and your original workplace—a large library where you specialized in the children’s section, reading to them and singing your songs—utterly demolished. Because the fountain wasn’t completely destroyed, you survived. An experimental spell and three weeks later and there you were, standing on the steps of the home of a human where you would be exchanging work for a place to sleep and food to eat. You didn’t even need that much food, about a meal a day was enough for you when your tethered place was healthy and strong and not being jerked around like a dog was playing tug-of-war with it.
The front door opened, revealing a man with pink hair. “Hello, you must be Y/n. We’ve been expecting you. Welcome to Clearwater Springs.”
“We?” You asked, glancing at your worker.
The human did as well. “You told her about the house’s haltija, right?”
You relaxed. “Oh. Just a haltija?”
“Well, he’s also half-brownie, but thankfully that only manifests in the occasional clumsy or destructive moment. He’s quite friendly, though, and very fond of the forest,” The human spoke quickly, as though afraid you would pass negative judgement on the haltija—creatures who were known for guarding and protecting—for having brownie blood—admittedly, creatures who could become troublesome when disrespected, but otherwise also keepers of the home and chore-doers for the kind.
“I’m sure he’s very kind and gentle,” You replied.
“Right. And you’re a xana?”
You nodded.
“And...I’m sorry, I’m not sure what exactly that is, other than the fact that you’re generally tied to some form of pure water, like fountains, springs, rivers, waterfalls….”
You nodded. “I’m originally from a fountain. Um...I’m not sure how to explain what I am.”
Your caseworker took that hint. “Oh! Right, well, they seem to always know virtuous hearts through some test or other—though no one ever seems to be able to pin down the test—um, they have enchanted songs that bring feelings of peace and love to the pure and could almost kill those who are impure. Um, let’s see, she has combs made of moonbeams and sunlight, respectively. Can’t completely care for babies, but once they can feed themselves she’s fine.”
You frowned, fighting yourself not to glare at him. Your species couldn’t produce milk, so in the old days—before there was formula—it was a sort of changeling situation. A Xanino would replace a human child. Terrible, but true. Nowadays, most xaninos were adopted by naiads or other nature or house spirits—because now it was scandalous to try and raise your own child as a xana.
“Oh, she has treasure, but who knows where she keeps that—”
“It’s enchanted, you’re not supposed to know where I keep it,” You muttered, even though he wasn’t paying any attention to you.
“And she can give you a drink that we call ‘Love water’. Couldn’t tell you why, and I’ve never seen her hand it out. Think that’s it. Here’s her fountain, I’ll be back at sundown.”
The human almost dropped the fountain that was shoved into his hands, and if he wasn’t so surprised you thought he might have yelled at your caseworker.
But the car peeled down the driveway again, kicking up dirt.
You stared after him, a little disconcerted. “Mages.”
“Um, well, we’ve been preparing for your arrival. We’ve gotten the basement bathroom renovated so that you can shower or bathe in the waters of your spring when you need, and your bedroom is ready for you. We thought you’d prefer to decorate it with your things...but looking back now I probably should have known you wouldn’t have many things. It’s a hard time for everyone,” The human rambled, rubbing his neck. “Oh, I’m Seokjin, by the way.”
“Oh, yes, I suppose your name would be important. I’d hate to be rude and just refer to you as ‘The Human” when you’re my boss.”
Seokjin looked startled at the title. “I’d rather think of it as a partnership. I’ve been told I shouldn’t live alone, and you needed a new home. Also, my library is out of control and I have no idea where to start—I mean, other than the new library building that we just finished. Don’t worry, it’s very close to your water source as well, but your spring is still highly protected.”
You just nodded, wondering why he didn’t stare like most humans did. You were beautiful—that was one of the key points of defining a xana: being extraordinarily beautiful. Xana’s were considered more beautiful than any other species—and only a few other species even tried to contend with it since yours was more rare, and therefore more worth the attention.
“Um, let’s get inside so I can set this down. We’ll make sure Namjoon steers completely clear of it.” Seokjin stepped back and leaned his head in a gesture that suggested welcoming you inside and to follow him.
He led the way through the entry, and then to the living room through the arch immediately to the right. He took the fountain and placed it on a table that was against the wall—out of the way of general traffic. “There. Now, Namjoon should be around somewhere. Probably the garden, he likes it out there. But for now let me show you the house, including where you’ll be staying and then we’ll go and talk about the library. There’s a lot of work that I want to do, Namjoon is heavily involved in that too. He likes books, but between us...we don’t really have the skills to put what we want into action—which is why we’re really excited that you’re here.” He started the tour.
“I’ll do my best to h-hell, what is this hell?” You said, looking at the mess. It looked somewhat like a library, except you couldn’t even see the shelves. It was just piles upon piles of books, newspapers, journals, magazines, and comic books with a thin path between it all.
Seokjin winced. “It is...mildly organized. We’ve been receiving donations. Don’t worry, there will be a bigger place, we mostly just need to pack all of this up and move it to the new facility in an...organized fashion.”
You pointed at the mix of magazines and books. “This is organized.”
“I did say somewhat, didn’t I? We had a large influx of books very suddenly. Things got very messy in the chaos of it all. I think they were sending us books from destroyed libraries.” He shrugged a bit. “Don’t worry. We’ll be helping at every turn and I’m bringing in extra workers from town as needed.”
You supposed that was supposed to be comforting, but you were staring at a nightmare of a situation. One toppling tower, and there was no navigating through.
“Hyung? Is that you?” The pile asked.
Then it was all falling over and someone was diving out while Seokjin pulled you against the wall and out of the way.
Seokjin sighed. “Namjoon. Our guest is here.”
The man with blue hair looked up, then back at his legs (which were trapped under many books), then back at you. He stared at you with big eyes, looking a little flustered.
You took a deep breath. “Well, that is exactly what we didn’t want to happen.”
“Yeah. Namjoon, didn’t we talk about not going in there?” Seokjin bent down and grabbed Namjoon under the arms and pulled him out from the pile, helping him to his feet.
“I just wanted the next book in my series.” Namjoon rubbed the back of his neck. “I was doing okay until then.”
Seokjin shook his head a bit. “Namjoonie, this is y/n. She’s the one that’s going to stay with us and help with the library?”
Namjoon was definitely already staring at you, and he looked a little flustered and red. “Hi.”
“She’s a xana. Y/n, this is Namjoon, the haltija of the house.”
“Uh, nice to meet you,” Namjoon said hurriedly.
“Nice to meet you, too,” You replied, trying for a smile, but you were pretty sure you just gave him a woozy look.
“Maybe you should lie down before we continue the house tour? He was jostling your fountain around quite a bit.” Seokjin frowned toward the front door.
Namjoon nodded. “He’s right. You need rest. I can tell.”
You shrugged. “Nah, the world is supposed to be constantly spinning.”
“Should I carry her? Should I carry you?” Seokjin asked, sounding and looking a little panicked.
You shrugged. “I’m fine. This has been my life for the past three months.”
Namjoon’s eyes widened.
Seokjin looked like he was going to have a meltdown.
“Unless you’re going to have a panic attack, in which case you may carry me if it will help you,” You said quickly, concerned with how quickly he was freaking out.
Namjoon glanced at the human, then nodded. “I think that might be the only way to stall him out. He’s not wearing his glasses.”
You shrugged again, uncertain what not having glasses had to do with anything, and waited while Namjoon muttered something to Seokjin.
A couple moments later, Seokjin came over, muttering something about being sorry, then he carefully scooped you up. “Sorry, your dress is a little slippery. Silk?”
You nodded. “Yeah. My clothes just sort of...appear as I need them? Usually made of silk, but sometimes there’s a velvet cloak when it’s colder. Some linen when it’s warmer. Always dresses.”
“Cool,” Namjoon said, following the two of you up the stairs.
“I suppose so,” You replied, doing your best not to look at Seokjin. He was handsome for a human. And you’d never seen a non-fairy pull off pink hair before today. He had a sort of gentleness to his face, a softness that could easily become cold and judgemental. If that even made sense.
But honestly, there were very few things that made sense since the war had begun some ten years ago.
“Why is your hair blue?” You asked the haltija, looking over Seokjin’s shoulder as you realized you had been looking at him despite specifically thinking you shouldn’t and only noticing because his ears had started turning a violent shade of red.
“Oh...uh...we’re not really sure. It just sort of...changes now and then. A few days ago I woke up and it was this color. Before that it had been brown.”
“Did you two paint any part of the house?”
“Well, not in the same time frame as my hair color changing. And definitely not this color. Jin-hyung has this crazy theory that it’s connected to my soulmate or something.”
“You have a soulmate?” You asked, surprised.
He nodded, rubbing his left shoulder-pectoral area, which meant either his mark was located there or he had some muscle pain from his dive for freedom in the great August book-slide. “Yeah. Or...well, I have multiple sections in my mark...so, I guess I’m part of a soul-group. Probably a platonic one given my species.”
“You never know what’s waiting around the riverbend,” You replied, thinking back to Grandma Loire’s wise words when you had been fretting about the war. Granted, at that time, her words had been very wrong, but you wouldn’t begrudge the dead for their mistakes.
But also thinking about your own soulmark and the multiple parts in it. You were certain it was just a coincidence, but it was still an interesting fact that you filed away.
“You sound like a naiad,” Namjoon snorted.
“A naiad told me that. She was very wrong at the time. Told me not to worry about the battle in Manhattan.”
“Ooh,” He winced. “Very wrong.”
Seokjin held onto you a little tighter. “Where did you live before this?”
“Rocamadour. Our library was new when I started working there. Before there were a couple but they were in some towns over.”
“Where is that?” Namjoon asked.
“It’s in the Alps,” Seokjin answered, then paused at the top of the stairs. “Get the door?”
The door swung open before Seokjin had finished asking.
You craned your head to look at Namjoon, suddenly concerned with your privacy.
He held up his hands. “I can open doors and windows, I can’t see through walls. I can also hear things, if you want me to. If you want me to hear, just knock or tap your foot three times and I’ll listen.”
You nodded slightly and relaxed again.
Seokjin carried you into the room, which was painted such a calm color. The bed was a queen-size, and it was soft when he lay you in the middle of it. The top blanket was velvet-y and so, so soft.
Namjoon gave you a smile when you let out a sound of appreciation.
Seokjin smiled at you. “Well, I’m going to find out whether he’s coming back to check in on you tonight or not while you rest, then we’ll go over other things and go to the spring. Feel free to go anywhere in the house, as long as it isn’t one of our bedrooms. Mine is on the first floor, Namjoon’s is across the hall. Food in the kitchen is up for grabs unless it’s in the meal-plan that I have on the fridge. Oh, that door there leads to your bathroom, the one next to it leads to your closet, and this third door leads to your sitting room or office or whatever you want to use it for. We’ll let you nap now.”
Namjoon dipped his head as Seokjin pushed and pulled him out of your bedroom door.
You stared at the closed door for a moment, then lay back. You were still so accustomed to sleeping on your fountain or in your fountain that this felt weird. But it felt weird in a heavenly sort of way. You slid up and then managed to slide under the covers, a little excited about the silk sheets. It was so nice.
So heavenly that you woke up feeling so refreshed that it had to be illegal. Sure, you still felt a little off (because the fountain you were temporarily tethered too wasn’t the greatest), but you felt much better than before.
You slid out of the sheets, enjoying the feel of the hardwood on your feet as you cautiously checked out your bathroom, closet, and sitting room (which only had an armchair and a small sofa). Once you had tested the seats (because you had to know which would be your favorite, it was the armchair), you ventured out into the hallway.
Namjoon’s door was open, but you didn’t hear anything in there, so you decided not to bother him.
Instead, you headed back the way you had been carried, looking around for more detail.
The structure of the house, the woodwork, the moulding, the baseboards and the stairway all had a distinctly Victorian style, and all were likely original to the house. But the design was more subtle, softer, and more contemporary in the coloring and the furniture. It was a nice sort of mix that gave the house an air of elegance that was refreshing. You’d been in some victorian-style homes before and they had been so overwhelmingly Victorian that it was like you were trapped in England in that time period and about to choke on a piece of jellied eel.
You avoided the pile of books spilling out of the library (but did notice that they’d been somewhat cleaned up), and checked out the living room again with the ulterior motive of checking on your current fountain.
The style was even more contemporary there, yet still paid a nice homage to the house. A monochrome color scheme, with pops of color in some of the throw pillows and delicate accents in the artwork.
Your fountain looked cleaner than ever and had a healthy amount of water in it for once, which you honestly felt boded well for you. There even seemed to be a new coating of pebbles at the bottom of the small basin.
You flinched as a cat hopped up onto the table next to the fountain and took a drink from it. It was young, a long-haired calico, so soft and pretty looking.
You let it sniff your hand, humming softly before you carefully picked it up. You snuggled it, happy when it seemed to revel in your attention, even seeking it when you started looking over the books that were seperated from the library and on the shelf beside the fireplace. There weren’t many, but you recognized one or two of the titles, and the taste there seemed to vary widely. You figured they were probably books from both of the boys, and left them as they were to go try and find the kitchen for a glass of water.
The office was nearby, but didn’t look like it got used as an office very often, but definitely seemed to have a gaming station in one corner.
You found the billiard’s room next, noting that there was a ping-pong table folded up in a corner. It seemed pretty abandoned, clean, but not nearly as used.
Then a smell permeated the air, drawing you back toward soft noise and even softer humming, murmured conversation and the sizzling of something cooking.
You peeked into the large kitchen, smiling when you saw Namjoon reading in one corner, and Seokjin cooking at the stove. Namjoon seemed to be explaining the book to Seokjin, quietly passionate about it.
Seokjin was smiling and humming, possibly more focused on what he was cooking, but still seeming to hear what Namjoon was saying.
“Smells good,” You said quietly, slipping completely into the room. Trying not to disturb the aura.
Seokjin turned and grinned at you. “Hey! You look like you feel better.”
You nodded. “That bed is heavenly. And thank you for cleaning the fountain.”
He shrugged. “It looked like it had been neglected for a while. Namjoon found some pebbles for it as well because he read that once they’ve been exposed to the tether it can make a transition easier, theoretically.”
Namjoon looked embarrassed, rubbing his neck. “I figured it couldn’t hurt to try it out.”
“That was very thoughtful,” You told him, smiling at him as well.
He was bright red after that.
Seokjin chuckled. “I’ll have dinner ready soon. Then I thought we could head down to the new library building, and then maybe go into town. There isn’t much, but I do need to pick up some things.”
You took the seat that Namjoon offered. “That sounds like a plan. Who’s the kitty?”
“Oh, that’s Parsley. She followed us home one day and has been here ever since.” Namjoon pet the cat carefully. “She’s a good mouser, so we just sort of created a pact that as long as she keeps us pest free, we’ll keep her pest-free.”
“She’s a cutie,” You said, pressing your cheek against the soft fur and enjoying the soothing vibrations of her purr. It was just one of the many things that made you feel so comfortable here. That and both men seemed relatively impervious to your enchanting beauty, which was refreshing. It gave you hope that this would work out. That you wouldn’t always be free-floating.
“She is. Do you know anything about this bird that practically forced it’s way into our house?” Seokjin asked, pointing toward the ceiling.
You leaned to the left to look at the little black and white fluff-ball. “Was wondering when he would show up. He’s been following me for a while. Don’t know why, but he seems to have formed an attachment. Whether he feels like conversing is a completely different matter.”
“Does he have a name?”
“Not that he’ll tell me.”
Namjoon started laughing.
Seokjin gave you an exasperated look. “What do you call him?”
“Fluffball, marshmallow, cotton swab, cotton ball, cotton candy, fairy floss—he really doesn’t like that one—squishy, fluffy, Caspar, and Leo.” You shrugged. “Like I said, he won’t tell me his name. Just what his name isn’t.”
“So, none of those are his name?”
“Well, fairy floss isn’t. I’ve gotten to the point where I think he’s just waiting for someone else to settle on a name for him—preferably one he likes.”
“And until then, he’s just going to come and go as he pleases?”
You shrugged again, holding it for a while.
Namjoon was still laughing, his smile revealing some adorable dimples.
“So...is he a magical bird?”
You looked up at your feathered friend, and resisted the urge to shrug once more. “Maybe?”
Seokjin huffed. “What does he eat?”
“Haven’t the foggiest. He always leaves to eat. Sometimes I’d see him eating bird-seed, but mostly he just flies off and comes back well-fed. I think he eats insects.”
“Great. He can deal with the mosquitos.” Seokjin spared the bird a glance, then dished up the food. “The store might have some insects we can get for him, just in case. You never know. They always have weird things.”
“Really?” You looked forlornly after the kitty as it leaped off and disappeared through another doorway. “Is it a magic shop?”
“Well….”
“We told you that Jin-hyung is the only human in town, didn’t we?” Namjoon asked, eyes widened slightly. “Everyone who lives in the area is magical to some extent, except for hyung.”
You shook your head, a little stunned. “No. No you did not tell me that.”
But man was that an idea to wrap your head around.
Seokjin shrugged, having plated up the food. “This is a pretty popular place for refugees. Sort of remote and accepting of different species. A nice place to make a fresh start.”
“But...you’re the only human. Doesn’t that get...I don’t know...lonely?”
He blinked at you, then shook his head and shrugged. “No? I have Namjoonie, and now you’re here too. And yeah, I’m outnumbered, but they’ve never held my species against me. I mean, that’s probably because I did sort of pay for the whole town, which isn’t much. But more people come each day, and some people move on to other places once they’ve gotten back onto their feet. It’s like an adventure, meet some new characters, help them on their journey, then return home to sleep in a big, soft, bed with a full belly.”
And maybe the look of genuine happiness on his face was just a little too alluring.
Maybe you were just desperate to belong somewhere, because when he included you...it was like the world lit up.
And no, you were not tearing up.
His hand covered yours, warmth spreading from his touch to the mark that was hidden under the sleeve of your dress as he smiled warmly at you. “I really do hope that this place becomes your home. Everyone deserves to have a home.”
And then he was moving away, maybe not even aware that he was one of your soulmates since he was human.
“Come on, let’s eat.”
Namjoon quickly complied with Seokjin’s words, but you were slower to follow, trying to figure out how all of this had come about.
“I heard that a new van full of people arrived yesterday, so I want to see if I can meet any of them. See if we still have enough housing for everyone. That might mean a couple people staying with us in the house if there isn’t enough housing. Is that okay?”
You nodded, just following their actions, but not taking as much food as they did. Mostly because you didn’t need much food to survive, but it smelled good. So good, and Seokjin did cook it himself.
“Alright, then it’s a plan. Eat, see the new library, go to the store, meet people, come home.” Seokjin nodded firmly at the end of the list, then seemed to remember something. “And talk to your mage-handler and see about tethering you to the spring. That’s probably more important. We can do the other things tomorrow if we have to, but the tethering should be done sooner rather than later. That is, if you want to be tethered to the spring. You wouldn’t necessarily have to live here your whole life, we could always get you your own home, it would just—”
“Living here is fine, and yes, I would like to be tethered to the spring,” You said quickly, noticing how his speech was deteriorating. “I just have one question.”
“Oh?” He looked so genuinely concerned, leaning forward in his seat.
“Namjoon said you wear glasses, so...have you actually seen me?”
Namjoon snickered.
Seokjin’s ears turned bright red. “Um. Yes. Yes I can see you. I have seen you. I’m seeing you. I, um, I put in my, um, contacts. I can see you quite clearly. Also, I could see you when I was closer. Just, not after a certain distance. And yes, we do plan on actively protecting you when we go out.”
You nodded. “Just curious.”
Namjoon paused after swallowing. “The mage is back.”
Seokjin sighed. “So, town tomorrow then. I’ll go let him in. I suppose this means I need to offer him dinner?”
“That would be the polite thing,” Namjoon said, gleefully.
Seokjin muttered as he left the room.
“He’s...unusual for a human,” You commented.
Namjoon nodded. “Yeah. He is. But he’s one of the best human’s I’ve ever met. We’re really glad you’re going to stay with us, Y/n. I hope you never regret your choice.”
“I hope so too.” But you didn’t think you would.
Namjoon turned toward the door, eyes narrowed slightly before rolling his eyes. “Can you help me cover the food? Apparently Mr. Mage is insisting on doing the tethering now if you agree to it.”
You rolled your eyes and got up to help him cover all three plates and the platters and bowls with tin foil to possibly retain some warmth. You highly doubted you’d be eating again that evening since tethering made you impossibly nauseous and sleepy. “I won’t be very coherent after the tethering.”
He nodded. “We’ll make sure you get back here and into bed safely, or into the tub downstairs.”
You nodded, then followed him out to where Seokjin was listening to your mage, looking strained.
“Ah, so, have you decided whether you wish to be tethered to the spring here or not?”
“I have decided to be tethered, yes.” Anything to not be in his careless hands anymore.
“Excellent! I’ll get the fountain!”
“How about I grab it, that way your hands are free to do the actual spell,” Jin quickly intervened. “Namjoon can lead the way back to the mouth of the spring.”
You breathed a sigh of relief as the mage agreed to it. At least Seokjin would be careful.
“Alright, then lets head to this spring! I’d love to be on the road before dark.”
Namjoon’s chin jutted out slightly.
Seokjin just gave a pained smile, nodding. “Yes. Driving after dark is a pain. Namjoon. Lead the way.”
And you weren’t about to tell on Namjoon when you saw one of the floorboards pop up to trip the mage, because you kind of felt somewhat vindicated.
The forest around the house was made up primarily of spruces, firs, pines, and hemlocks with birches, oaks, and red maples popping through here and there. The path that the four of you took (with a little fluffball following overhead and a calico furball following behind curiously) was discreet, yet also fairly well-worn. As though walked often, but also well-cared for.
It was quiet, with varying degrees of density—some areas providing a wide view of the rest of the forest, and other areas being so dense that you couldn’t see a foot past the nearest tree.
Namjoon followed the path for a while, then diverged into the forest down what appeared to be a game-trail, something not walked often.
Then you could sense the water. It’s purity, it’s cleanliness. Free and untethered.
The creek was beautiful, and all of you followed it to the head of the spring.
You grinned when you saw it, a thrill going through you. It was beautiful and so clean and lovely and it was going to be yours.
Seokjin set your fountain down so that the mage could prepare the spell, then came over to you. “You’re sure about this?”
You looked into his eyes, the eyes of one of your soulmates, and nodded. “I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled, a little more carefree now.
You hoped you’d have the courage to talk about soulmates with him someday, but today you were going to have your soul ripped from a tiny fountain and sewn back into a spring. You only had so much courage.
And then the mage started the spell.
--
Survey Results used for this chapter: 
Namjoon-Blue (haltija), Seokjin-Pink (human), You-Cyan (xana) 
Silk, Book-Librarian, Creek-what your water source is attached to, House/Apartment/Mansion, Style-Victorian & Contemporary, view-boreal/boreal-mix forest, calico kitty, white bird with black wings, 
Whoops-meet Seokjin first, Oh No-meet Namjoon second, LaLaLa-C (some friends, some strangers), Loyalty-Soulmate au, Black-War tore through and you're all in relief housing situation.
--
Pre-Chapter 2 Survey
Next.
Masterlist.  ot7 Masterpost.
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Taglist: @missmoxxiesworld​  @bryvada​  @i-dont-even-know-fck​ @knjhe​ @alex--awesome--22  @kerikaaria​ @killcomet​ @letsreadbts​ @taestannie​
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wiypt-writes · 3 years
Text
Leave No One Behind
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Ch 11- Mama Don’t Preach Part 2 Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​
Episode Summary: It’s Hannah’s turn to head home for a week to see her Mama, and there’s a surprise request waiting for her too. Meanwhile, back in Sudan Ari’s left holding the baby...or in this case, puppy…
Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW, 18+ only)- in Part 2
Episode Pairings:  Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz
Leave No One Behind Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Part 1
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The morning the tourist board visit was due Ari woke up early, which was unusual ever since he started sharing the bed with Hannah. Actually, it wasn't that unusual, he was still an early bird but he liked to lay in with her in his arms once both of them were awake until they heard someone else was up and it was time for them to tend to breakfast for the guests. He stretched and turned his head a little, grinning as he felt Hannah’s face by his head, but then he wrinkled his nose as she was licking his ear.
Ok, so that was new.
"Han…" he chuckled "Babe…"
Then there was a little whine followed by a tiny bark. Ari frowned and opened one eye to realise that it was in fact Simon’s tongue that was stuck in his ear.
"Gross pal… gross." he groaned as he shoved the dog away from his face. Ari then rolled onto his back and ran a hand through his hair, smiling as he realised Hannah was due back that day. 7 long days and nights without her, it had been crap. And he had to admit, he hadn’t been in a great mood. In fact, if he was being fully honest, he was totally aware he had been a nightmare to the rest of the team. And he still wasn’t particularly pleased he couldn’t go pick her up but… well, she’d be home in… he reached over for his watch and saw it was just gone 7:30 so she’d be home in round about 5 hours all things considered. 
That made him smile again, it really wasn’t long at all now. So he stretched out, before he swung his legs out of bed, got dressed, shoved on his sneakers and then whistled to Simon. He opened his door and stepped out onto the sand, the sea lightly illuminated by the early morning sun, and the two of them headed out for a run before the rest of the resort awoke. 
About an hour or so later after a jog and a slower walk down the coast path Ari returned, showered and headed down to the main building. The rest of the team was already at the table for breakfast. After nodding to a few guests he sat down next to Sammy, reaching for the coffee pot.
"Morning." he greeted, his tone chipper, as he poured a cup.
"Oh my God." Max gasped.
"What?"
Max ignored Ari and turned to Jake instead. "Did you see that?"
Jake nodded. "I know man, I can’t believe it."
“Believe what? Ari asked, looking around the table.
"You, smiling." Max explained with a grin across his face.
Ari rolled his eyes. "Oh, fuck off."
Besides him Sammy sniggered so Ari playfully gave him a dig with his elbow and Sammy laughed even harder, rubbing his side.
"I’m glad you’re in a good mood today because Madibo will be here in 2 hours or so and we don’t need a bratty owner. So you need to stay as charming Guy Thomas and not the sulking, whiny bitch you’ve been for the past week." Rachel instructed, looking intently at him.
Ari was about to argue but Rachel narrowed her eyes at him and he sighed, shrugging. Truth be told he had no argument. 
"Oh he’ll be charming alright… but not for Madibo." Jake joked and Max let out his characteristic laugh. 
"Oh come on, I’ve not been that bad." Ari tried to defend himself.
The entire table started to scoff and took turns in pointing out to him that he had been that bad and Ari snorted, shaking his head.
"You’ve been worse than Sammy is." Rachel deadpanned but her eyes were soft on Sammy who played the offended victim
"Hey!"
"She’s right." Max agreed.
"Ok, I’ll admit…I’ve been a little bit tetchy." Ari said as he lowered his head in defeat.
"I bet when me or Max leave no one is gonna bat an eyelid." Max quipped. At that point Simon barked and Jake acknowledged him
 "Thanks buddy, I’ll miss you too."
There was a roar of laughter and then Sammy turned to Ari. "You know tetchy doesn’t even begin to describe it."
"Fuck you Sammy." Ari jokingly retorted.
Sammy laughed and stood up. "All right, I’m so overwhelmed with the love you are all giving me this morning."
"What are you doing? Sit down and shut up." Ari commanded, shaking his head.
"I can’t. I need to shower and then set off to pick my sister up. You remember her?"
"No, he doesn’t. Absolutely not…" Max said playfully.
"You know what, Navon…" Ari trailed off as Sammy grinned at him as he snatched up another piece of toast and left the table. "Drive safe! Be careful with the cargo" Ari called across the room.
Max and Jake both snorted as Sammy flicked Ari the bird over his shoulder before he left the room. And Rachel sighed before she demanded their attention and started telling them her plan for Madibo.
"So Jake is going to start with the diving area, show him the facilities, how we run the tours, take him out on a boat to show him the diving spots from the surface."
"Yeah if I take him over the wreck he’ll be able to see it." Jake offered.
Rachel nodded before continuing. "Then a tour of the rest of the facility, show him what we’ve done with the place. He can speak to a few guests. I don't know, see the guest book and the reviews. And then lunch."
"Great, sounds good. Where do you want me?" Ari asked.
"With Madibo. At all times. You’re the owner. You did the negotiations with him." she explained and Ari nodded.
"Ok. Stuck to Madibo it is.”
"Am I doing anything?" Max asked.
"Like what? Showing him how you twist and bend in your pyjama pants." Jake replied, throwing him a piece of toast from his plate.
"Says the tanning scarecrow." Max glared at him as he dodge the flying food.
"Don't play with the food.” Ari instructed before he looked at Max “And actually you can keep an eye on Simon."
 "Are you sure you trust me with your itty bitty baby puppy?" Max looked at Ari questioning his suggestion. "Just two days ago you wanted to kill me for, and I quote, pup-napping your precious pooch."
"Better than letting him fuck Madibo’s leg." Jake scoffed.
"Exactly… that or biting him." Ari sided with Jake.
"He wouldn’t hump him. It's been a week since he saw that. Dogs have short term memories." Max offered casually.
"Ok, now shut the fuck up." Ari raised his voice.
"No, they don’t! How do they remember to sit and lay down if they only have a short term memory?" Jake inquired.
"Same as you remember to get dressed in the morning but can’t remember what you ate yesterday." Max explained and shrugged.
"Will you all shut up and help me clear the table?" Rachel said, standing up to remark with her actions she wanted the nonsense to be over.
 "Not sure I remember how." Jake snorted, amused at his own wit, which earned him a slap round the back of the head from Rachel.
**** The line for passport control was taking for ever and Hannah was losing patience. She had always hated this part of travelling plus her feeling of impatience was compounded by knowing that Ari was literally the other side of the door she could see. Finally she was called forward and after smiling at the Immigration officer who stamped her passport she walked through with her bag in her hand and out of the doors into the warm Sudan air. She glanced around for Ari, ready to leap into his arms, but she couldn’t see him. Instead she spotted Sammy waiting by the jeep. He smiled and came towards her and she grinned back, giving him a hug.
“Try not to look too disappointed I’m not Ari.” Her brother chuckled and Hannah snorted.
“Oh shut up, I’m just as happy to see you”
“Yeah right!” Sammy pulled back and picked up her bag as Hannah gave a roll of her eyes and followed him back to the jeep.
“How’s everyone been?” she asked.
“Good.” Sammy nodded “Ari nearly killed Max and Jake on Monday.” He tossed her bag into the back.
“Why?” Hannah asked as she climbed into the car.
“They took Simon out on the boat. Ari thought he’d lost him…kinda went a little bit mad, not as mad as he did when he got told he couldn’t pick you up.”
“Yeah why is that?”
“We got a tourist board visit.” Sammy answered as he set off “He’s with Colonel Madibo now, so when you arrive, you’re Rosa…”
“Noted.” Hannah nodded “So other than that has everyone been ok?”
“Yeah, other than Ari, he’s been a pain in the ass. Clinging to that dog like it’s his fucking kid…”
Hannah grinned and looked out of the window as they eased onto the main freeway out of the city. But, after a few minutes or so her grin slipped.  Sarah’s words had been stuck in her mind all day and night, and the worst bit about their conversation yesterday was that Hannah had wanted to tell Sarah she was wrong. She’d wanted to defend Ari but had been unable to because Sarah was right. He had put them second. And if Sarah’s comments about how Ari had refused to go to her wedding because he had still loved her were true, then that made her feel even worse about the whole situation, that she could somehow be responsible for Ari being the reckless asshole he was with regards to his marriage.
Hannah needed reassurance more than anything, reassurance that wasn’t the case and also an affirmation that once all this was over, he wasn’t just going to swan off into the sunset and leave her behind again. And whilst she could understand that he might not quit this life, and Hannah was ok with that, she knew that it could work because she’d seen her mother and father do so, what worried her was that her dad had manage to strike a balance . She wasn’t sure that Ari would be able to.
The only thing she did know was that if she had to watch Ari walk away again, it would kill her.
**** Ari, Rachel, Madibo and the two men he’d brought with him were just finishing lunch when Ari heard the sound of the jeep approaching. He tried to bite back his smile and caught Rachel’s eye. The look on her face told him his was failing, miserably.  
“Do we have company Mr Thomas?” Colonel Madibo frowned and looked at him, clearly having picked up the sound of the engine which was now louder as the jeep had pulled up outside. Ari hesitated and then thought, what the hell. He and Hannah weren’t a secret, plus the team had already stated at length how much it actually added to their cover. He took a deep breath and looked at the man, smiling “It’s My girlfriend, Rosa-“ Ari didn’t miss the smile that flickered across Rachel’s face when he uttered the words “-she’s been home to Spain for a week to see her mother. One of the other guys went to pick her up before.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were running this place as a partnership?” Madibo looked at him and Ari took a breath
“We weren’t…it’s…” he paused, rubbing his neck “…well, it’s a long story but we go way back and…”
“Say no more Mr Thomas, I get it.” Madibo grinned “The magic of the Red Sea” The man turned his head to look out of the large open lattice doors across the beach before he turned back to Ari “There is something very romantic about being by the ocean.”
“There certainly is.” Ari agreed with a smile. At that point he heard Hannah’s voice drifting down the hallway into the dining room as she jabbered away to her brother, her Spanish accent impeccable thanks to Sammy clearly having warned her about their visitors. Ari turned to look as she walked into the room dressed casually in jeans and a light blue button down sleeveless blouse. Her eyes met his and she beamed at him, a flash of what looked like relief crossed her face and he grinned, standing up. He crossed towards her and gave her a hug.
“Hi.” Hannah said gently into his ear.
“Hi yourself.” He replied, pulling back and giving her a quick kiss “Was your flight ok?”
Hannah nodded “No brat kicking my chair so…”
Ari laughed and then looked at Sammy who raised his eyebrows in the direction of the table. Slipping back in to professional, Guy Thomas mode he nodded and smiled.
“Come on guys, let me introduce you to our guests.” He took Hannah’s hand and led her to the table. “Colonel Madibo this is Rosa Garcia, she’s in charge of guest relations and this is Liam Anderson…” Ari gestured to Sammy “Our entertainment manager who also doubles up as our site doctor.”
“Pleasure to meet you both.” Madibo rose from his chair. He shook Sammy’s and then took Hannah’s clamping his other hand over the top of hers. He looked at her, smiling, before he turned to Ari “You are a lucky man Mr Thomas.”
Ari raised his eyebrows and smiled, looking at Hannah who flushed as Madibo let go of her hand. “I sure am.” He then turned to Hannah and frowned a little at the look on her face. She was smiling, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, almost like she was nervous. Maybe she was, after all, Madibo and his guard were quite imposing when all was said and done.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve had a long flight and need to freshen up.” She spoke, a little shyly “Would you please excuse me?”
“Of course, of course Miss Garcia.” Madibo bowed a little “It was a pleasure to meet you.” “You too Colonel.” She smiled, and turned to give Rachel a quick hug before she reached for her bag.
“I’ll do that.” Ari offered “I’ll fetch it in a little while.”
“Ok, thanks” she nodded, before she turned to leave, but paused, spinning back to look at Ari “Where’s Simon.” “With Max and Jake.” Ari said.
She nodded and gave them all another stiff sile before she scurried away.
Now Ari was sure something was bothering her. He looked at Sammy for some kind of clue but he was clearly as puzzled as he was as he shrugged slightly. He then turned to Rachel who met him with a blank look of her own. But, before he could dwell on it too much, Madibo spoke again causing Ari to turn back to him.
“We should be going anyway now, but I’m pleased with what you’ve done with the place.” The Colonel looked around, smiling “My report back to the President will be very favourable.”
“All free of charge, I hope.” Ari quipped and Madibo laughed, pointing at him
“You’re a funny man Mr Thomas!”
Rachel shot Ari a warning look and he simply shrugged, giving her a cheeky grin. They followed Madibo and his 2 guards out to the truck where they shook hands, thanked him for coming and bid him goodbye. No sooner had the truck gone Ari strode back inside, picked up Hannah’s bag and headed off towards her hut. She hadn’t made it back there, however, instead he found her halfway down the beach, crouching on the sand by Max with Simon going bananas as he jumped all over her, his tail wagging furiously, excited little whines coming from him as he licked her face.
“You happy to see momma buddy?” Ari chuckled as he stopped by her side.
“No, that’s his sad face.” Max deadpanned and Ari laughed, dropping a hand to Hannah’s head, gently caressing her hair.
“You ok Firefly?”
“Yeah, just tired.” Hannah stood up and looked at him.
“Wanna go rest?” he asked, his mind straying to the fact he was quite happy to go curl up next to her on the bed, maybe a little bit of something else, and from the snort that came from Max he wasn’t the only one thinking such things. “Piss off.” Ari turned to him, raising an eyebrow.
Max laughed “I’m gone…” Hannah and Ari both watched him leave and Ari wrapped his arms round Hannah’s back, pulling her into him, giving her a deep kiss. He pulled away, his nose bumping hers. “Wanna go lay down for a while?” Hannah shook her head. “No, if I do I won’t sleep later. Think I’m gonna get changed and hit the beach.” She said, glancing around.
“Oh, ok.” Ari tried not to sound too disappointed. He hadn’t seen her in over a week and she was pushing him away.  Now he knew for sure something was wrong, but he also knew if he pushed her too hard she’d clam up even more. Hannah looked at him, and he clearly hadn’t done as good a job of hiding his disappointment as he hoped as she took a deep breath, sliding her arms round his waist as she pressed into him, her cheek against his chest.
“I have something for you from Maya.” She said gently
Ari looked down frowning “You saw Maya?”
“No, I saw Sarah.”
“What?” his frown deepened.
“She left a note with Ethan, asking me to call her.” Hannah shrugged, stepping back.
“Why?”
“She wanted to talk to me.”
“What about?”
“Take a guess Ari” Hannah sighed and went to pick up her bag. Ari bat her hand away and picked it up, taking her hand in his spare as they walked silently towards her hut, Simon trotting in front of them. For the first time in weeks it was a little awkward between them, Ari unsure exactly what to say whereas Hannah was simply exhausted both physically and mentally. The relief she had felt upon seeing Ari had melted away and she was back to dwelling on what Sarah had said. Once they were inside her hut, Ari dropped Hannah’s bag on her bed. Without a word she reached into it and pulled out the envelope addressed to Daddy. Ari took it, glanced at the writing on the front, his breath catching a little before he looked at Hannah. “You know, you didn’t need to meet her.”
“Well I did, it wasn’t a big deal.”
“It clearly is.” Ari bit back, an air of frustration in his voice “I can tell somethings bothering you Hannah, so what did she want?”
“She was just curious I guess.” “Curious about what?” Ari’s temper was starting to fray and Hannah let out a growl of annoyance.
“About, us Ari, what do you think? She basically asked me outright if I loved you, then told me to ask you why you never came to my wedding and…” she paused as Ari groaned as he ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. “She said it was because you couldn’t bear to see me marry someone else.” Hannah looked at Ari, shaking her head. “Is that true?”
“Hannah, does it really matter?”
“It matters to me, yes!”
Ari sighed, looking down at the floor as he shook his head “Look, I loved Sarah, you know this…”
“For fucks sake, just tell me the truth Ari!”
“Yes, ok!” Ari snapped “The reason I didn’t come is because the thought of you with anyone else, well it made me sick. That what you wanted to hear?”
Hannah looked at him, blinking before she shrugged. “I don’t know to be honest with you.”
“Han…” “She made me feel like shit, Ari!” Hannah looked up at him, tears in her eyes “She basically said you’d been in love with me for the entire time you’d been married to her, that she was second best and…”
“For fucks sake…” Ari shook his head “She had no right to put that on you, no right at all.”
Hannah looked down at her feet, “I can’t blame her, Ari. I’d be the same in her position.”
Ari swallowed as he glanced at his feet, looking again at the letter in his hand before he raised his head to Hannah once more. “Did she say anything else?”
Hannah snorted “She wished me good luck, said I was gonna need it.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Ari bit back angrily and Hannah let out a scoff.
“She meant when all this is over, the mission and we go back home.” She glanced at Ari and he was surprised now to see the angry fire in her eyes. “She said that she had never managed to stop you leaving before, even when she was pregnant and was basically implying that once we’re home and out of this little bubble then it would all be different and you’d leave me behind…”
“Ok, no, stop…” Ari held his hand up, tossing the letter onto her bed. “Firefly, listen…” he gently took her face in his hands “That’s not gonna happen. I told you before, I’m not letting you go again.”
“I know you did, and I believe you I do.” She shook her head “And I know that it’s different for us because I’ve lived this life too and I get what being in Mossad means, you know, my mom and dad made it work, but I just…oh, I can’t explain Ari.
“Try, please.” Ari looked at her, his hands gripping her face a little more, his thumbs stroking large arcs over her cheeks.
“I’m not sure you know how to strike a balance Ari. Between this and-“ she blinked and looked down as Ari licked his lips as his hands dropped to her hips.
“Hannah, it’s irrelevant…” “What do you mean it’s irrelevant?” she frowned “I think it’s highly relevant all things considered!”
“Look…” Ari took a deep breath “I never told you this, hell, I never told anyone this because I still wasn’t totally sure until a few weeks ago  but I’ve kinda decided that this mission is gonna be my last one in the field.” Whatever Hannah had been expecting Ari to say, it wasn’t that. As the implications of his words crashed over her she could do nothing but gape at him as he shrugged and continued.
“I’m 37 this year sweetheart, I've been doing this for longer than I care to remember. It’s dangerous and, well I’ve missed so much of Maya growing up I don’t wanna miss anymore or god forbid leave her behind for good should something happen.” He sighed, “Sarah’s right. I was a shit husband and a shit dad, I owe it to Maya to a least be a little less shit going forward.”
“Ari, I…” Hannah took a deep breath and shook her head “I’m not asking you to quit…” “I know.” He assured her, “And with the greatest of respect, I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for Munch.”
The relief crashed over Hannah in a wave. She’d been scared, not simply that Sarah had been right, but that if he did quit it would be for her, putting her first, and she didn’t want that. His daughter should be top of his priority list and to hear that it had finally hit home to him, well, it brought her a reprieve from the nagging feeling of guilt and turmoil she’d been feeling since she’d left that coffee shop in Tel Aviv. She looked up at her man, the smile creeping across her face and he dropped his head to rest against hers.
“Is that all that was bothering you?” he asked softly and she nodded in response. “So, are we good?”
“Yeah, we’re good.”
“Thank fuck for that, because I really wanna kiss you Han.”
She grinned and blinked looking up at him. “Nothing stopping you.”
With a flick of his eyebrow, Ari pulled her closer and dropped his face to hers, pressing their lips together. He kissed her softly at first before his tongue slid across her bottom lip and she opened her mouth, letting out a soft sigh. Ari’s tongue lashed against the roof of her mouth as his hand slid upwards, tangling in her hair, the kiss deepening…
And then there was a knock at the door, punctuated by a responding bark from Simon.
“For fucks sake…” Ari groaned, as Hannah shrugged a little, moving to open it.
Rachel peered back at her, a little sheepishly “Sorry to intrude but, well, I wasn’t sure if you’d be joining us for dinner?”
“Dur.” Hannah nodded back as behind her, Ari sat on the edge of her bed, picking up the letter from Maya.
“Ok, I’ll let Aziz know. I’ll leave you to it.” Rachel smiled, and with that she was gone. Hannah turned round to see Ari opening the letter, pulling out the paper from the envelope.
“If you want to read that alone, I won’t be offended.” She began but Ari shook his head. Silently, Hannah sat next to him as he began to ready Maya’s untidy scrawl, his eyes misting over. It was nothing out of the ordinary, telling him about school, her friends, how Sarah had taken her to the zoo the previous weekend and she’d seen a man holding a snake, the typical ramblings he’d expect from a 7-almost 8-year old, but it was the first ever letter he’d had from her when on a mission and it choked him up, especially the bit when he said she hoped that Simon and Hannah were both ok too.
“She err…” Ari swallowed and looked at Hannah who gently reached out and brushed a tear from his cheek, a tear he hadn’t realise he’d shed “She says she hopes you and Simon are both ok.” Hannah smiled “Yeah, Sarah said she’d asked after me.”
“Han…” his voice broke and Hannah sighed, wrapping her arms around him as he buried his face into the crook of her shoulder. This was a side to Ari Levinson that very few people knew existed, a vulnerable, almost childish side. A side that just wanted to be comforted and loved, seeking out strength instead of giving it. Hannah knew that everyone took it for granted that he was the stalwart, forever stoic leader and forgot that underneath the cool agent façade there was a gentle, kind man. A flawed human, but a human all the same.  She gently rubbed at his back as he sniffed a little, pressing his face further into her neck. Hannah dropped a kiss to the top of his head and he pulled away, wiping at his eyes.
“You know…” she said softly, her head pressing to his “I really did miss the beach. Reckon Guy can sneak an afternoon off to spend with Rosa?” “Guy can take as much time to spend with Rosa as Rosa wants.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
***** After clearing it with Rachel that neither of them were needed, the pair of them spent a nice afternoon together. They took 3 mile walk round the cliff edge, Simon examining the usual nooks and crannies as they walked hand in hand behind him. The sun blazed hot on both their necks and even in the late afternoon it showed no sign of giving up as they made their way back to the resort. Choosing a secluded spot away from any guests, not far from their cave, they flopped down onto the sand. Hannah pulled off her sundress and lay back as Ari shed his T-shirt and sat next to her, watching her for a moment, simply drinking her in before he lay back next to her and they continued to talk and laugh.  An hour or so later, just as the sun was starting to dip to the horizon, both were sticky and sweaty from the heat, and when Hannah suggested they should shower up before dinner Ari quipped he had a better idea.
“What…” Hannah’s voice turned into a shriek as Ari scooped her up and began walking quickly to the sea. “Lobo, don’t you dare!”
“Dare what?” he asked, wading in a little so the water was lapping at his waist.
“You know what!” she clung round his neck, laughing a little.
“No, sorry, can’t hear you…” he shook his head, wading a little further towards the spot he knew the shallow sand underneath him dropped a little, making the water deeper and cooler. Hannah glared at him and struggled in his arms
“I fucking swear to God…” but she was cut off as Ari gently tossed her into the waves where she disappeared under. She broke surface a split second later, spluttering as she wiped her hair back out of her face and saw Ari laughing at her, his entire handsome face creased up as his head tipped back, right hand reaching for his left pec. "El cabron..." she hissed the Spanish word for asshole at him, just one of the many insults in her mama's native tongue that he recognised, and swept her arm in a huge arc over the surface of the ocean, sending a wave of sorts straight over Ari's head. Shaking his hair off his face with the manner of a dog, Ari chuckled and reached out for her, his fingers digging and teasing a little  on her ribs where he knew she was especially sensitive. She wriggled a little, her hands resting on his broad chest as she tried to push away. Ari wasn't letting go though but he took pity, laughing as her head tipped back a little, her hands sliding up towards his face. Her delicate fingers tangled in his beard and she looked at him as his hands settled on her hips, guiding her towards him a little more. Her legs wrapped around his waist as it was too deep for her to stand up, and Ari remained with his feet planted on the soft sandy floor of the ocean, large hands on her back, submerged to his shoulders. And for the first time in a week, Ari felt at peace. "I missed you Firefly." He said softly as her lips gently brushed his before she pulled back to study his face, her arms round his neck. "I missed you too Mi Lobo." She smiled, her blue eyes as deep as the ocean they were currently bobbing in sparkled with love and lust and Ari's mouth was drier than it had ever been in his life. He felt a twitch in his groin, his arousal spiking and he actively fought back the groan that was bubbling in his throat. Fuck, she could reduce him to an absolute wreck, bring him to his knees both physically and metaphorically with a simple look in his direction. He needed her. "I'm thirsty Firefly..." he could taste the salt on her skin as his lips brushed her ear and she gave a shudder at his words, and he knew why. They were the same words he'd spoken to her one night when they had been together the first time round and Ari had been away for a week. He'd likened not seeing her to being deprived of water, to which she'd called him a dramatic asshole and laughed. Which was precisely what she was doing now. “There’s water everywhere.” Her voice was loaded with humour yet carried an undercover of suggestiveness his hands slid down to cup her ass. “But not a drop to drink.” He arched an eyebrow as he flexed his hips up slightly, bumping his semi-erect cock up against her core. Hannah gave a little moan as she clung to Ari, before she arched into him even more, pressing her lips to his. Ari kissed her, furiously, tongues thrashing together as their teeth clashed, Ari's large hands sliding up Hannah's back, pinning her to him. One hand moved down her spine and slid round and over her hips, dipping into her bikini bottoms. Hannah gave a dirty croak in her throat as he started teasing her clit, his movements slow and deliberate and her hips soon began to work against his hand, desperately seeking out a way to satisfy the craving his touch was giving her. She was on fire. She wanted more, she needed more. "Ari..." she whispered, licking her lips as she reached down and wrapped a hand around his wrist. "Wanna feel you..." "Yeah?" His lips brushed hers and she nodded as his fingers plunged into her channel making her cry out. "Feel me like that?" She panted as his fingers continued, coaxing her to the brink. Hannah closed her eyes as she teetered on that edge, so close to falling but Ari stopped his movements abruptly. She gave a little choked moan at being so close but when she felt him shift underneath her, his hands leaving her body, she knew she wasn't going to feel dissatisfied for much longer. She felt the material of his swim shorts brush against her leg as he moved them down and she pressed her lips to his, kissing him again. His hand gently moved her swimwear bottoms to one side as she dropped one hand from his shoulder into the water, taking his cock in her palm causing him to hiss as she lined him up. With a slow, power full thrust upwards he filled her and Hannah rolled her head back in pleasure, her mouth open in a silent moan as she welcomed the familiar stretch. “God, Ari..." she gasped, her bikini clad breasts jostling with the staccato breath as she rose slightly out of the water. Her nails were biting his skin as her hands tightened on his shoulders. Her back was arched, her beautiful body open to him, and when Ari bottomed out he laid his forehead on her chest and breathed in. "My good girl, takes me so well..." he praised as he kissed her skin trailing a path up her sternum and throat until he met her lips, the salt from her skin was tangy on his taste buds. He began to trust slowly, deeply, rolling his hips as Hannah worked herself on him, desperately. “More.” she begged and Ari all but growled at her plea. "I need more, Lobo..." Ari rutted upwards furiously, over and over and Hannah's back arched in pleasure. He leaned forward, nipping at her neck, then soothing the sting of his bites with his tongue as he slid his hand into her hair at the base of her skull and pressed his lips to hers, keeping her head anchored in place. The kiss because sloppy and she panted into his mouth, lips parted. "Ari...I'm gonna..."  her words died off as Ari kissed her again swallowing the involuntary shaky whimper she made as she came, clenching around him. He thrust through her orgasm, picking up the pace as he rushed towards his own end and with a deep thrust he stilled as the pleasure pulsed through him, his cock twitching as he emptied himself inside her. With a few final and shallow thrusts he stilled, his forehead resting against hers as he breathed deeply, eyes closed, waiting for the world to right itself. 
“You ok?” Ari asked, his breathing deep and Hannah gave a soft hum of response as his nose brushed against hers, as she opened her eyes to look at him, her entire face lit up with that blissful happiness he’d come to know and love even more this time round.
It was pretty dark now, and aware that they were in the middle of the ocean, Ari pulled back and placed a kiss to Hannah’s head.
“Come on Firefly, it’s been a long day. Let’s get some dinner and then we can go to bed.” He said softly and she gave a little sigh as he shifted, pulling out of her, readjusting his shorts all the while keeping her supported. She kept her legs round his waist as he walked them to the shallower water and then when he attempted to stand up she refused to let go, giving a giggle as he sighed, shaking his head. “Seriously?”
“You said yourself, it’s been a long day.” She grinned “I’m tired.” “You’re actually gonna make me carry you up the beach?”
“Yup.” She nodded.
“Fucking brat.” He snorted and she laughed, pressing a kiss to his lips.
“If you’re a good boy and do as I ask, then maybe after dinner I’ll show you how grateful I am.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” Ari grinned and stood up quickly hooking his arms under her legs as he swooped her up out of the water, bridal style. Her laughs carried across the slight breeze as he walked them down the still warm, sugar white sand towards her hut.
**** Chapter 12 Part 1
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Text
Leave No One Behind
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Ch 11- Mama Don’t Preach Part 2
Co written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​
Episode Summary: It’s Hannah’s turn to head home for a week to see her Mama, and there’s a surprise request waiting for her too. Meanwhile, back in Sudan Ari’s left holding the baby...or in this case, puppy…
Episode Warnings: Bad Language words. Smut (NSFW, 18+ only)- in Part 2
Episode Pairings:  Ari Levinson x OFC Hannah Horowitz
Song for Episode:  
A/N: Please read Part 1 first…
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The morning the tourist board visit was due Ari woke up early, which was unusual ever since he started sharing the bed with Hannah. Actually, it wasn't that unusual, he was still an early bird but he liked to lay in with her in his arms once both of them were awake until they heard someone else was up and it was time for them to tend to breakfast for the guests. He stretched and turned his head a little, grinning as he felt Hannah’s face by his head, but then he wrinkled his nose as she was licking his ear.
Ok, so that was new.
"Han…" he chuckled "Babe…"
Then there was a little whine followed by a tiny bark. Ari frowned and opened one eye to realise that it was in fact Simon’s tongue that was stuck in his ear.
"Gross pal… gross." he groaned as he shoved the dog away from his face. Ari then rolled onto his back and ran a hand through his hair, smiling as he realised Hannah was due back that day. 7 long days and nights without her, it had been crap. And he had to admit, he hadn’t been in a great mood. In fact, if he was being fully honest, he was totally aware he had been a nightmare to the rest of the team. And he still wasn’t particularly pleased he couldn’t go pick her up but… well, she’d be home in… he reached over for his watch and saw it was just gone 7:30 so she’d be home in round about 5 hours all things considered. 
That made him smile again, it really wasn’t long at all now. So he stretched out, before he swung his legs out of bed, got dressed, shoved on his sneakers and then whistled to Simon. He opened his door and stepped out onto the sand, the sea lightly illuminated by the early morning sun, and the two of them headed out for a run before the rest of the resort awoke. 
About an hour or so later after a jog and a slower walk down the coast path Ari returned, showered and headed down to the main building. The rest of the team was already at the table for breakfast. After nodding to a few guests he sat down next to Sammy, reaching for the coffee pot.
"Morning." he greeted, his tone chipper, as he poured a cup.
"Oh my God." Max gasped.
"What?"
Max ignored Ari and turned to Jake instead. "Did you see that?"
Jake nodded. "I know man, I can’t believe it."
“Believe what? Ari asked, looking around the table.
"You, smiling." Max explained with a grin across his face.
Ari rolled his eyes. "Oh, fuck off."
Besides him Sammy sniggered so Ari playfully gave him a dig with his elbow and Sammy laughed even harder, rubbing his side.
"I’m glad you’re in a good mood today because Madibo will be here in 2 hours or so and we don’t need a bratty owner. So you need to stay as charming Guy Thomas and not the sulking, whiny bitch you’ve been for the past week." Rachel instructed, looking intently at him.
Ari was about to argue but Rachel narrowed her eyes at him and he sighed, shrugging. Truth be told he had no argument. 
"Oh he’ll be charming alright… but not for Madibo." Jake joked and Max let out his characteristic laugh. 
"Oh come on, I’ve not been that bad." Ari tried to defend himself.
The entire table started to scoff and took turns in pointing out to him that he had been that bad and Ari snorted, shaking his head.
"You’ve been worse than Sammy is." Rachel deadpanned but her eyes were soft on Sammy who played the offended victim
"Hey!"
"She’s right." Max agreed.
"Ok, I’ll admit…I’ve been a little bit tetchy." Ari said as he lowered his head in defeat.
"I bet when me or Max leave no one is gonna bat an eyelid." Max quipped. At that point Simon barked and Jake acknowledged him
 "Thanks buddy, I’ll miss you too."
There was a roar of laughter and then Sammy turned to Ari. "You know tetchy doesn’t even begin to describe it."
"Fuck you Sammy." Ari jokingly retorted.
Sammy laughed and stood up. "All right, I’m so overwhelmed with the love you are all giving me this morning."
"What are you doing? Sit down and shut up." Ari commanded, shaking his head.
"I can’t. I need to shower and then set off to pick my sister up. You remember her?"
"No, he doesn’t. Absolutely not…" Max said playfully.
"You know what, Navon…" Ari trailed off as Sammy grinned at him as he snatched up another piece of toast and left the table. "Drive safe! Be careful with the cargo" Ari called across the room.
Max and Jake both snorted as Sammy flicked Ari the bird over his shoulder before he left the room. And Rachel sighed before she demanded their attention and started telling them her plan for Madibo.
"So Jake is going to start with the diving area, show him the facilities, how we run the tours, take him out on a boat to show him the diving spots from the surface."
"Yeah if I take him over the wreck he’ll be able to see it." Jake offered.
Rachel nodded before continuing. "Then a tour of the rest of the facility, show him what we’ve done with the place. He can speak to a few guests. I don't know, see the guest book and the reviews. And then lunch."
"Great, sounds good. Where do you want me?" Ari asked.
"With Madibo. At all times. You’re the owner. You did the negotiations with him." she explained and Ari nodded.
"Ok. Stuck to Madibo it is.”
"Am I doing anything?" Max asked.
"Like what? Showing him how you twist and bend in your pyjama pants." Jake replied, throwing him a piece of toast from his plate.
"Says the tanning scarecrow." Max glared at him as he dodge the flying food.
"Don't play with the food.” Ari instructed before he looked at Max “And actually you can keep an eye on Simon."
 "Are you sure you trust me with your itty bitty baby puppy?" Max looked at Ari questioning his suggestion. "Just two days ago you wanted to kill me for, and I quote, pup-napping your precious pooch."
"Better than letting him fuck Madibo’s leg." Jake scoffed.
"Exactly… that or biting him." Ari sided with Jake.
"He wouldn’t hump him. It's been a week since he saw that. Dogs have short term memories." Max offered casually.
"Ok, now shut the fuck up." Ari raised his voice.
"No, they don’t! How do they remember to sit and lay down if they only have a short term memory?" Jake inquired.
"Same as you remember to get dressed in the morning but can’t remember what you ate yesterday." Max explained and shrugged.
"Will you all shut up and help me clear the table?" Rachel said, standing up to remark with her actions she wanted the nonsense to be over.
 "Not sure I remember how." Jake snorted, amused at his own wit, which earned him a slap round the back of the head from Rachel.
**** The line for passport control was taking for ever and Hannah was losing patience. She had always hated this part of travelling plus her feeling of impatience was compounded by knowing that Ari was literally the other side of the door she could see. Finally she was called forward and after smiling at the Immigration officer who stamped her passport she walked through with her bag in her hand and out of the doors into the warm Sudan air. She glanced around for Ari, ready to leap into his arms, but she couldn’t see him. Instead she spotted Sammy waiting by the jeep. He smiled and came towards her and she grinned back, giving him a hug.
“Try not to look too disappointed I’m not Ari.” Her brother chuckled and Hannah snorted.
“Oh shut up, I’m just as happy to see you”
“Yeah right!” Sammy pulled back and picked up her bag as Hannah gave a roll of her eyes and followed him back to the jeep.
“How’s everyone been?” she asked.
“Good.” Sammy nodded “Ari nearly killed Max and Jake on Monday.” He tossed her bag into the back.
“Why?” Hannah asked as she climbed into the car.
“They took Simon out on the boat. Ari thought he’d lost him…kinda went a little bit mad, not as mad as he did when he got told he couldn’t pick you up.”
“Yeah why is that?”
“We got a tourist board visit.” Sammy answered as he set off “He’s with Colonel Madibo now, so when you arrive, you’re Rosa…”
“Noted.” Hannah nodded “So other than that has everyone been ok?”
“Yeah, other than Ari, he’s been a pain in the ass. Clinging to that dog like it’s his fucking kid…”
Hannah grinned and looked out of the window as they eased onto the main freeway out of the city. But, after a few minutes or so her grin slipped.  Sarah’s words had been stuck in her mind all day and night, and the worst bit about their conversation yesterday was that Hannah had wanted to tell Sarah she was wrong. She’d wanted to defend Ari but had been unable to because Sarah was right. He had put them second. And if Sarah’s comments about how Ari had refused to go to her wedding because he had still loved her were true, then that made her feel even worse about the whole situation, that she could somehow be responsible for Ari being the reckless asshole he was with regards to his marriage.
Hannah needed reassurance more than anything, reassurance that wasn’t the case and also an affirmation that once all this was over, he wasn’t just going to swan off into the sunset and leave her behind again. And whilst she could understand that he might not quit this life, and Hannah was ok with that, she knew that it could work because she’d seen her mother and father do so, what worried her was that her dad had manage to strike a balance . She wasn’t sure that Ari would be able to.
The only thing she did know was that if she had to watch Ari walk away again, it would kill her.
**** Ari, Rachel, Madibo and the two men he’d brought with him were just finishing lunch when Ari heard the sound of the jeep approaching. He tried to bite back his smile and caught Rachel’s eye. The look on her face told him his was failing, miserably.  
“Do we have company Mr Thomas?” Colonel Madibo frowned and looked at him, clearly having picked up the sound of the engine which was now louder as the jeep had pulled up outside. Ari hesitated and then thought, what the hell. He and Hannah weren’t a secret, plus the team had already stated at length how much it actually added to their cover. He took a deep breath and looked at the man, smiling “It’s My girlfriend, Rosa-“ Ari didn’t miss the smile that flickered across Rachel’s face when he uttered the words “-she’s been home to Spain for a week to see her mother. One of the other guys went to pick her up before.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were running this place as a partnership?” Madibo looked at him and Ari took a breath
“We weren’t…it’s…” he paused, rubbing his neck “…well, it’s a long story but we go way back and…”
“Say no more Mr Thomas, I get it.” Madibo grinned “The magic of the Red Sea” The man turned his head to look out of the large open lattice doors across the beach before he turned back to Ari “There is something very romantic about being by the ocean.”
“There certainly is.” Ari agreed with a smile. At that point he heard Hannah’s voice drifting down the hallway into the dining room as she jabbered away to her brother, her Spanish accent impeccable thanks to Sammy clearly having warned her about their visitors. Ari turned to look as she walked into the room dressed casually in jeans and a light blue button down sleeveless blouse. Her eyes met his and she beamed at him, a flash of what looked like relief crossed her face and he grinned, standing up. He crossed towards her and gave her a hug.
“Hi.” Hannah said gently into his ear.
“Hi yourself.” He replied, pulling back and giving her a quick kiss “Was your flight ok?”
Hannah nodded “No brat kicking my chair so…”
Ari laughed and then looked at Sammy who raised his eyebrows in the direction of the table. Slipping back in to professional, Guy Thomas mode he nodded and smiled.
“Come on guys, let me introduce you to our guests.” He took Hannah’s hand and led her to the table. “Colonel Madibo this is Rosa Garcia, she’s in charge of guest relations and this is Liam Anderson…” Ari gestured to Sammy “Our entertainment manager who also doubles up as our site doctor.”
“Pleasure to meet you both.” Madibo rose from his chair. He shook Sammy’s and then took Hannah’s clamping his other hand over the top of hers. He looked at her, smiling, before he turned to Ari “You are a lucky man Mr Thomas.”
Ari raised his eyebrows and smiled, looking at Hannah who flushed as Madibo let go of her hand. “I sure am.” He then turned to Hannah and frowned a little at the look on her face. She was smiling, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, almost like she was nervous. Maybe she was, after all, Madibo and his guard were quite imposing when all was said and done.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve had a long flight and need to freshen up.” She spoke, a little shyly “Would you please excuse me?”
“Of course, of course Miss Garcia.” Madibo bowed a little “It was a pleasure to meet you.” “You too Colonel.” She smiled, and turned to give Rachel a quick hug before she reached for her bag.
“I’ll do that.” Ari offered “I’ll fetch it in a little while.”
“Ok, thanks” she nodded, before she turned to leave, but paused, spinning back to look at Ari “Where’s Simon.” “With Max and Jake.” Ari said.
She nodded and gave them all another stiff sile before she scurried away.
Now Ari was sure something was bothering her. He looked at Sammy for some kind of clue but he was clearly as puzzled as he was as he shrugged slightly. He then turned to Rachel who met him with a blank look of her own. But, before he could dwell on it too much, Madibo spoke again causing Ari to turn back to him.
“We should be going anyway now, but I’m pleased with what you’ve done with the place.” The Colonel looked around, smiling “My report back to the President will be very favourable.”
“All free of charge, I hope.” Ari quipped and Madibo laughed, pointing at him
“You’re a funny man Mr Thomas!”
Rachel shot Ari a warning look and he simply shrugged, giving her a cheeky grin. They followed Madibo and his 2 guards out to the truck where they shook hands, thanked him for coming and bid him goodbye. No sooner had the truck gone Ari strode back inside, picked up Hannah’s bag and headed off towards her hut. She hadn’t made it back there, however, instead he found her halfway down the beach, crouching on the sand by Max with Simon going bananas as he jumped all over her, his tail wagging furiously, excited little whines coming from him as he licked her face.
“You happy to see momma buddy?” Ari chuckled as he stopped by her side.
“No, that’s his sad face.” Max deadpanned and Ari laughed, dropping a hand to Hannah’s head, gently caressing her hair.
“You ok Firefly?”
“Yeah, just tired.” Hannah stood up and looked at him.
“Wanna go rest?” he asked, his mind straying to the fact he was quite happy to go curl up next to her on the bed, maybe a little bit of something else, and from the snort that came from Max he wasn’t the only one thinking such things. “Piss off.” Ari turned to him, raising an eyebrow.
Max laughed “I’m gone…” Hannah and Ari both watched him leave and Ari wrapped his arms round Hannah’s back, pulling her into him, giving her a deep kiss. He pulled away, his nose bumping hers. “Wanna go lay down for a while?” Hannah shook her head. “No, if I do I won’t sleep later. Think I’m gonna get changed and hit the beach.” She said, glancing around.
“Oh, ok.” Ari tried not to sound too disappointed. He hadn’t seen her in over a week and she was pushing him away.  Now he knew for sure something was wrong, but he also knew if he pushed her too hard she’d clam up even more. Hannah looked at him, and he clearly hadn’t done as good a job of hiding his disappointment as he hoped as she took a deep breath, sliding her arms round his waist as she pressed into him, her cheek against his chest.
“I have something for you from Maya.” She said gently
Ari looked down frowning “You saw Maya?”
“No, I saw Sarah.”
“What?” his frown deepened.
“She left a note with Ethan, asking me to call her.” Hannah shrugged, stepping back.
“Why?”
“She wanted to talk to me.”
“What about?”
“Take a guess Ari” Hannah sighed and went to pick up her bag. Ari bat her hand away and picked it up, taking her hand in his spare as they walked silently towards her hut, Simon trotting in front of them. For the first time in weeks it was a little awkward between them, Ari unsure exactly what to say whereas Hannah was simply exhausted both physically and mentally. The relief she had felt upon seeing Ari had melted away and she was back to dwelling on what Sarah had said. Once they were inside her hut, Ari dropped Hannah’s bag on her bed. Without a word she reached into it and pulled out the envelope addressed to Daddy. Ari took it, glanced at the writing on the front, his breath catching a little before he looked at Hannah. “You know, you didn’t need to meet her.”
“Well I did, it wasn’t a big deal.”
“It clearly is.” Ari bit back, an air of frustration in his voice “I can tell somethings bothering you Hannah, so what did she want?”
“She was just curious I guess.” “Curious about what?” Ari’s temper was starting to fray and Hannah let out a growl of annoyance.
“About, us Ari, what do you think? She basically asked me outright if I loved you, then told me to ask you why you never came to my wedding and…” she paused as Ari groaned as he ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. “She said it was because you couldn’t bear to see me marry someone else.” Hannah looked at Ari, shaking her head. “Is that true?”
“Hannah, does it really matter?”
“It matters to me, yes!”
Ari sighed, looking down at the floor as he shook his head “Look, I loved Sarah, you know this…”
“For fucks sake, just tell me the truth Ari!”
“Yes, ok!” Ari snapped “The reason I didn’t come is because the thought of you with anyone else, well it made me sick. That what you wanted to hear?”
Hannah looked at him, blinking before she shrugged. “I don’t know to be honest with you.”
“Han…” “She made me feel like shit, Ari!” Hannah looked up at him, tears in her eyes “She basically said you’d been in love with me for the entire time you’d been married to her, that she was second best and…”
“For fucks sake…” Ari shook his head “She had no right to put that on you, no right at all.”
Hannah looked down at her feet, “I can’t blame her, Ari. I’d be the same in her position.”
Ari swallowed as he glanced at his feet, looking again at the letter in his hand before he raised his head to Hannah once more. “Did she say anything else?”
Hannah snorted “She wished me good luck, said I was gonna need it.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Ari bit back angrily and Hannah let out a scoff.
“She meant when all this is over, the mission and we go back home.” She glanced at Ari and he was surprised now to see the angry fire in her eyes. “She said that she had never managed to stop you leaving before, even when she was pregnant and was basically implying that once we’re home and out of this little bubble then it would all be different and you’d leave me behind…”
“Ok, no, stop…” Ari held his hand up, tossing the letter onto her bed. “Firefly, listen…” he gently took her face in his hands “That’s not gonna happen. I told you before, I’m not letting you go again.”
“I know you did, and I believe you I do.” She shook her head “And I know that it’s different for us because I’ve lived this life too and I get what being in Mossad means, you know, my mom and dad made it work, but I just…oh, I can’t explain Ari.
“Try, please.” Ari looked at her, his hands gripping her face a little more, his thumbs stroking large arcs over her cheeks.
“I’m not sure you know how to strike a balance Ari. Between this and-“ she blinked and looked down as Ari licked his lips as his hands dropped to her hips.
“Hannah, it’s irrelevant…” “What do you mean it’s irrelevant?” she frowned “I think it’s highly relevant all things considered!”
“Look…” Ari took a deep breath “I never told you this, hell, I never told anyone this because I still wasn’t totally sure until a few weeks ago  but I’ve kinda decided that this mission is gonna be my last one in the field.” Whatever Hannah had been expecting Ari to say, it wasn’t that. As the implications of his words crashed over her she could do nothing but gape at him as he shrugged and continued.
“I’m 37 this year sweetheart, I've been doing this for longer than I care to remember. It’s dangerous and, well I’ve missed so much of Maya growing up I don’t wanna miss anymore or god forbid leave her behind for good should something happen.” He sighed, “Sarah’s right. I was a shit husband and a shit dad, I owe it to Maya to a least be a little less shit going forward.”
“Ari, I…” Hannah took a deep breath and shook her head “I’m not asking you to quit…” “I know.” He assured her, “And with the greatest of respect, I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for Munch.”
The relief crashed over Hannah in a wave. She’d been scared, not simply that Sarah had been right, but that if he did quit it would be for her, putting her first, and she didn’t want that. His daughter should be top of his priority list and to hear that it had finally hit home to him, well, it brought her a reprieve from the nagging feeling of guilt and turmoil she’d been feeling since she’d left that coffee shop in Tel Aviv. She looked up at her man, the smile creeping across her face and he dropped his head to rest against hers.
“Is that all that was bothering you?” he asked softly and she nodded in response. “So, are we good?”
“Yeah, we’re good.”
“Thank fuck for that, because I really wanna kiss you Han.”
She grinned and blinked looking up at him. “Nothing stopping you.”
With a flick of his eyebrow, Ari pulled her closer and dropped his face to hers, pressing their lips together. He kissed her softly at first before his tongue slid across her bottom lip and she opened her mouth, letting out a soft sigh. Ari’s tongue lashed against the roof of her mouth as his hand slid upwards, tangling in her hair, the kiss deepening…
And then there was a knock at the door, punctuated by a responding bark from Simon.
“For fucks sake…” Ari groaned, as Hannah shrugged a little, moving to open it.
Rachel peered back at her, a little sheepishly “Sorry to intrude but, well, I wasn’t sure if you’d be joining us for dinner?”
“Dur.” Hannah nodded back as behind her, Ari sat on the edge of her bed, picking up the letter from Maya.
“Ok, I’ll let Aziz know. I’ll leave you to it.” Rachel smiled, and with that she was gone. Hannah turned round to see Ari opening the letter, pulling out the paper from the envelope.
“If you want to read that alone, I won’t be offended.” She began but Ari shook his head. Silently, Hannah sat next to him as he began to ready Maya’s untidy scrawl, his eyes misting over. It was nothing out of the ordinary, telling him about school, her friends, how Sarah had taken her to the zoo the previous weekend and she’d seen a man holding a snake, the typical ramblings he’d expect from a 7-almost 8-year old, but it was the first ever letter he’d had from her when on a mission and it choked him up, especially the bit when he said she hoped that Simon and Hannah were both ok too.
“She err…” Ari swallowed and looked at Hannah who gently reached out and brushed a tear from his cheek, a tear he hadn’t realise he’d shed “She says she hopes you and Simon are both ok.” Hannah smiled “Yeah, Sarah said she’d asked after me.”
“Han…” his voice broke and Hannah sighed, wrapping her arms around him as he buried his face into the crook of her shoulder. This was a side to Ari Levinson that very few people knew existed, a vulnerable, almost childish side. A side that just wanted to be comforted and loved, seeking out strength instead of giving it. Hannah knew that everyone took it for granted that he was the stalwart, forever stoic leader and forgot that underneath the cool agent façade there was a gentle, kind man. A flawed human, but a human all the same.  She gently rubbed at his back as he sniffed a little, pressing his face further into her neck. Hannah dropped a kiss to the top of his head and he pulled away, wiping at his eyes.
“You know…” she said softly, her head pressing to his “I really did miss the beach. Reckon Guy can sneak an afternoon off to spend with Rosa?” “Guy can take as much time to spend with Rosa as Rosa wants.” He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
***** After clearing it with Rachel that neither of them were needed, the pair of them spent a nice afternoon together. They took 3 mile walk round the cliff edge, Simon examining the usual nooks and crannies as they walked hand in hand behind him. The sun blazed hot on both their necks and even in the late afternoon it showed no sign of giving up as they made their way back to the resort. Choosing a secluded spot away from any guests, not far from their cave, they flopped down onto the sand. Hannah pulled off her sundress and lay back as Ari shed his T-shirt and sat next to her, watching her for a moment, simply drinking her in before he lay back next to her and they continued to talk and laugh.  An hour or so later, just as the sun was starting to dip to the horizon, both were sticky and sweaty from the heat, and when Hannah suggested they should shower up before dinner Ari quipped he had a better idea.
“What…” Hannah’s voice turned into a shriek as Ari scooped her up and began walking quickly to the sea. “Lobo, don’t you dare!”
“Dare what?” he asked, wading in a little so the water was lapping at his waist.
“You know what!” she clung round his neck, laughing a little.
“No, sorry, can’t hear you…” he shook his head, wading a little further towards the spot he knew the shallow sand underneath him dropped a little, making the water deeper and cooler. Hannah glared at him and struggled in his arms
“I fucking swear to God…” but she was cut off as Ari gently tossed her into the waves where she disappeared under. She broke surface a split second later, spluttering as she wiped her hair back out of her face and saw Ari laughing at her, his entire handsome face creased up as his head tipped back, right hand reaching for his left pec. "El cabron..." she hissed the Spanish word for asshole at him, just one of the many insults in her mama's native tongue that he recognised, and swept her arm in a huge arc over the surface of the ocean, sending a wave of sorts straight over Ari's head. Shaking his hair off his face with the manner of a dog, Ari chuckled and reached out for her, his fingers digging and teasing a little  on her ribs where he knew she was especially sensitive. She wriggled a little, her hands resting on his broad chest as she tried to push away. Ari wasn't letting go though but he took pity, laughing as her head tipped back a little, her hands sliding up towards his face. Her delicate fingers tangled in his beard and she looked at him as his hands settled on her hips, guiding her towards him a little more. Her legs wrapped around his waist as it was too deep for her to stand up, and Ari remained with his feet planted on the soft sandy floor of the ocean, large hands on her back, submerged to his shoulders. And for the first time in a week, Ari felt at peace. "I missed you Firefly." He said softly as her lips gently brushed his before she pulled back to study his face, her arms round his neck. "I missed you too Mi Lobo." She smiled, her blue eyes as deep as the ocean they were currently bobbing in sparkled with love and lust and Ari's mouth was drier than it had ever been in his life. He felt a twitch in his groin, his arousal spiking and he actively fought back the groan that was bubbling in his throat. Fuck, she could reduce him to an absolute wreck, bring him to his knees both physically and metaphorically with a simple look in his direction. He needed her. "I'm thirsty Firefly..." he could taste the salt on her skin as his lips brushed her ear and she gave a shudder at his words, and he knew why. They were the same words he'd spoken to her one night when they had been together the first time round and Ari had been away for a week. He'd likened not seeing her to being deprived of water, to which she'd called him a dramatic asshole and laughed. Which was precisely what she was doing now. “There’s water everywhere.” Her voice was loaded with humour yet carried an undercover of suggestiveness his hands slid down to cup her ass. “But not a drop to drink.” He arched an eyebrow as he flexed his hips up slightly, bumping his semi-erect cock up against her core. Hannah gave a little moan as she clung to Ari, before she arched into him even more, pressing her lips to his. Ari kissed her, furiously, tongues thrashing together as their teeth clashed, Ari's large hands sliding up Hannah's back, pinning her to him. One hand moved down her spine and slid round and over her hips, dipping into her bikini bottoms. Hannah gave a dirty croak in her throat as he started teasing her clit, his movements slow and deliberate and her hips soon began to work against his hand, desperately seeking out a way to satisfy the craving his touch was giving her. She was on fire. She wanted more, she needed more. "Ari..." she whispered, licking her lips as she reached down and wrapped a hand around his wrist. "Wanna feel you..." "Yeah?" His lips brushed hers and she nodded as his fingers plunged into her channel making her cry out. "Feel me like that?" She panted as his fingers continued, coaxing her to the brink. Hannah closed her eyes as she teetered on that edge, so close to falling but Ari stopped his movements abruptly. She gave a little choked moan at being so close but when she felt him shift underneath her, his hands leaving her body, she knew she wasn't going to feel dissatisfied for much longer. She felt the material of his swim shorts brush against her leg as he moved them down and she pressed her lips to his, kissing him again. His hand gently moved her swimwear bottoms to one side as she dropped one hand from his shoulder into the water, taking his cock in her palm causing him to hiss as she lined him up. With a slow, power full thrust upwards he filled her and Hannah rolled her head back in pleasure, her mouth open in a silent moan as she welcomed the familiar stretch. “God, Ari..." she gasped, her bikini clad breasts jostling with the staccato breath as she rose slightly out of the water. Her nails were biting his skin as her hands tightened on his shoulders. Her back was arched, her beautiful body open to him, and when Ari bottomed out he laid his forehead on her chest and breathed in. "My good girl, takes me so well..." he praised as he kissed her skin trailing a path up her sternum and throat until he met her lips, the salt from her skin was tangy on his taste buds. He began to trust slowly, deeply, rolling his hips as Hannah worked herself on him, desperately. “More.” she begged and Ari all but growled at her plea. "I need more, Lobo..." Ari rutted upwards furiously, over and over and Hannah's back arched in pleasure. He leaned forward, nipping at her neck, then soothing the sting of his bites with his tongue as he slid his hand into her hair at the base of her skull and pressed his lips to hers, keeping her head anchored in place. The kiss because sloppy and she panted into his mouth, lips parted. "Ari...I'm gonna..."  her words died off as Ari kissed her again swallowing the involuntary shaky whimper she made as she came, clenching around him. He thrust through her orgasm, picking up the pace as he rushed towards his own end and with a deep thrust he stilled as the pleasure pulsed through him, his cock twitching as he emptied himself inside her. With a few final and shallow thrusts he stilled, his forehead resting against hers as he breathed deeply, eyes closed, waiting for the world to right itself. 
“You ok?” Ari asked, his breathing deep and Hannah gave a soft hum of response as his nose brushed against hers, as she opened her eyes to look at him, her entire face lit up with that blissful happiness he’d come to know and love even more this time round.
It was pretty dark now, and aware that they were in the middle of the ocean, Ari pulled back and placed a kiss to Hannah’s head.
“Come on Firefly, it’s been a long day. Let’s get some dinner and then we can go to bed.” He said softly and she gave a little sigh as he shifted, pulling out of her, readjusting his shorts all the while keeping her supported. She kept her legs round his waist as he walked them to the shallower water and then when he attempted to stand up she refused to let go, giving a giggle as he sighed, shaking his head. “Seriously?”
“You said yourself, it’s been a long day.” She grinned “I’m tired.” “You’re actually gonna make me carry you up the beach?”
“Yup.” She nodded.
“Fucking brat.” He snorted and she laughed, pressing a kiss to his lips.
“If you’re a good boy and do as I ask, then maybe after dinner I’ll show you how grateful I am.”
“Well, when you put it like that…” Ari grinned and stood up quickly hooking his arms under her legs as he swooped her up out of the water, bridal style. Her laughs carried across the slight breeze as he walked them down the still warm, sugar white sand towards her hut.
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Text
Sands #2 (1/2/2021)
Click here if you’re like “What the heck is this about?”
Valera @autokrates meets Alastor @usedhearts. They hunt fish. I don’t mean “they go fishing,” I mean “they hunt fish.”
At one point Valera uses their Mom Voice on Alastor. It’s super effective.
Valera
Having guests was lovely, but the best part of being back home? The ocean, with all the underwater caverns, the kelp forests, the reefs and coves and crowds of colorful fish to lose yourself in. Valera had well and truly lost track of time goofing off in the water, doing acrobatics and harassing the local wildlife until she was dizzy from it all. But she had obligations, and as wonderful as time to herself was, she wanted to see her company before it got too late.
She turned to the shallows once more, picking up speed and skimming along just under the surface until the last! Possible! Moment! And then she breached, tucking into a somersault and then twisting into one, two, three backflips before landing on the shore, a self satisfied little grin plastered across her face. Still got it. Hmhmhm~
Alastor (@usedhearts)
When Valera lands, there's applause, both real and canned, and even a few whistles.
"What a performance! Simply stunning! How graceful, how dexterous! How powerful!" Alastor called from his spot on his beach blanket. With a red and grey stripped swimsuit, and a pair of small sunglasses replacing his monocle, he looked decidedly different from his usual outfit. But certainly not different enough that one wouldn't recognize the Radio Demon himself.
"I wasn't expecting a show beyond the sultry song of the sea herself, but then there you were, springing for from the water like Aphrodite herself!" He stood and walked over towards them, hands, still gloved, clasped behind his back-- and was he still in his shoes and socks? Yes! Clearly someone didn't plan on going for an actual dip.
"Mademoiselle Valera, isn't it? Pleasure to finally, formally meet you! Alastor, the Radio Demon!" He winked over his sunglasses and moved nearer to give her a playful elbow.
"But you knew that already, didn't you!"
Valera
She really should have expected an audience, with this many people on one island. But it's still a surprise to turn and see the ~feared radio demon himself~ dressed like something out of an old timey picture... Oh gods he was still wearing socks and shoes. Somehow she'd expected as much... But best not to get distracted by that, he was coming in fast and already talking and right right yes, this was a new one, must by Kyxs' boss? Either that or the one Rhedd brought along, but... No, he seemed normal-ish, for an Alastor..
A demure little smile, and she nods. "I'd be hard pressed to mistake you for anyone else, my good man! I take it you've been enjoying your stay so far, judging by your attire?"
Alastor
"Yes! Certainly! Haven't seen an ocean this gorgeous since I was alive, had to get my fill!" He turned toward said ocean, his hand moving in a large arch, taking in the whole of it. "And of course, I couldn't wear my usual out here! The beach is no place for a suit, after all!"
He turned back to her, and gave himself a comical slap on the forehead, the audience laughing as he did. "Oh dear, how rude of me, I haven't made it clear _which_ Radio Demon I am! I'm the one that came with Kyxs! He's my apprentice!"
There was a chorus of 'ooooo's like someone messed up in a sitcom. "OH! And I even forgot to thank you for that gift: the tiny radio! Bee's a darling, she's right here, actually!"
He pulled the teeny radio out of the pocket on his swimsuit chest, cradling her gently in his hand to show Valera.
"Thank you dearly for her, she's a charmer to be sure! No one can look away when she comes out!"
Valera
She covers her mouth with a hand, stifling her amused snort as best she can as he waves around. This Alastor was *very* animated, it almost reminded her of Pentious. "Ah! Yes, of course. I was wondering. I appreciate the speediness of your clarification, my dear, much appreciated!"
Oh, and there's the little darling herself, tiny little Bee! "I'm so glad you like her, she's the sweetest little thing to ever receive a radio wave. And so helpful! Her schematics have been a great help in understanding the transition from the larger compact radios like the Baby Grand, to the pocket radios like *this* little beauty. But that's a lot of technical nonsense, I wont bore you with my prattling."
Though, now that she sees Bee.. "No no, I have something MUCH better for you and yours, my good man!" Give her a moment to reach into her room through the ever convenient portal, there's something somewhere on her worktable... Ah, perfect. Alastor is presented with a tiny bow, fabric dyed to match his classic bow tie.
"So you can match!"
Alastor
His eyes turn to dials, just for a split second when she reveals the bowtie. And then he's gasping! The audience is gasping! Everyone is gasping!
He delicately takes the bow and affixes it to Bee-- somehow it sticks without any sort of adhesive, but that's magic for ya! Alastor holds Bee out, admiring her with her new bow. The audience coos in delight.
"Look! At that! How cute, how adorable! Simply stunning, beautiful, the most charming little radio to ever graces the nine circles! She'll be the talk of the town!!"
Valera
Oh no, oh that was so cute. Look at that itty bitty little radio all dressed up, she could just KICK herself for not making some tiny antlers to match. Next time. But even just a bow was precious, no need to overdo it.
"She looks even better than I imagined! Nobody will be able to resist your little lady now, even the coldest hearts would melt. Make sure nobody tries to steal her away, Alastor!"
Alastor
"Oh, they won't! I'll be sure of that! No one's going to touch this little darling!" He tucked her safely back into his pocket.
"Now, I've been wondering, the sea-- what kinds of seafood do you get from it?"
Valera
She tilts her head to one side, fins exaggerating the gesture.
"What kinds of seafood? Fish, with and without shells. Plants as well, if you're interested in kelp and seaweed. There's a sea serpent in the area too, but I wouldn't consider him food so much as a part of the scenery. If you're craving fresh fish, we've got plenty in the kitchens for you to play with!"
Alastor
"Oh, that sounds delightful! Fresh fish can be so hard to come by in Hell, and to get to experiment with new varieties, well! It's enough to make a chef's heart soaaaaaar!" He belted the note, the sound of birds chirping accompanying him.
"I'll have to make sure to take some when I go, just to have some extra fun with the hotel! But before then, seeing the variety would be scrumptious!"
Valera
"You should try snorkeling. Maybe spearfishing, if you want to try catching them yourself..." She looks him up and down. Perhaps not. "... Or we can package some in live traps for you!"
Alastor
"Live traps! How quaint! I'd love some, certainly, thank you!" He laughed, and as always, the audience joined in.
"I might be persuaded to wade a bit, but going fully underwater isn't my cup of tea. You understand." He tapped his chin. "Spearfishing, though, tell me more about that..."
Valera
Oh good, a subject she can drone about! She claps her hands, giving Alastor her toothiest grin.
"The most basic form of spearfishing is very straightforward. You get your fishing spear, you find a good shoreline, pier, or take a boat out to a school of fish.. And you heft your spear in to skewer your target! If you plan on throwing it, tie a line to the pole! You can put bait or just wait for an opportunity to present itself, people have different methods. There's also *speargun* fishing, where you take, essentially, a crossbow, and do the same thing! Speargun fishing is typically done fully underwater, but I'm sure it would still be serviceable from above. The bolt is pulled back in by the line, the fish is placed wherever you store them, rinse and repeat!"
Alastor
"Oh! That sounds wonderful! Now, I wonder where there would be an experienced spearfisher to show me the ropes!" He pretended to look around before jumping when he 'spotted' Valera.
"Well! You're right here, aren't you! How about we go rummage up some gear and let loose on some fish!"
Valera
"By all means my dear protege, just so long as that fish isn't me! I may be delicious according to select sources, but I'm afraid there's already other Alastors queued up for a go at me!" She sighs, pressing a dainty wrist to her forehead. "Yes, everything from breast to shank. You'll have to take a number, or settle for second best!"
Valera snorts, offers a deep bow, and gestures grandly towards the estate. Weaponry awaits!
Alastor
"Oh, how terrible! Looks like I'll have to wait my turn behind myself!" The audience gave a short boo before swapping to laughter, as Alastor turned towards the estate.
"Let's see the weapons! Can't wait to discover all the secrets of alien weaponry!"
Valera
And off they go, to the estate, and then the armory. The secrets of alien weaponry? Easy! It's magic!
Veci don't have a cultural inclination towards technology, but every member of the species radiates magic the way humans radiate body heat, and they channel it in everything they do. How could electricity compete with that? All things that Valera will happily explain to Alastor when she drops a speargun into his gloved hands.
"I don't know if your magic works the same way, Alastor, but it doesn't matter. I can always charge it for you, and even without magic the gun will function. The magic just lets the bolt go farther, and winds it in automatically."
Alastor
His grin becomes a little manic when the gun is dropped in his hands. He'd never been one for guns, but this!! This was something special! He adored the heft of it and held it up to look down the sights.
"Oh, no worries! Let's see..." His eyes turned to dials and the static picked up, a red glow radiating around his hands. It flowed into the gun and he settled back down.
"Well, look at that, I think it worked!" Alastor laughed, putting it up on his shoulder. "Shall we?"
Valera
A wise man would probably think better than to cheerily hand the big bad radio demon a magic powered speargun designed for maiming fish, especially when said wise man was himself a fish. But Valera never claimed to be wise. Or a man, but that was as debatable as any other gender floating around. No no, Valera grins just as wide as Alastor, her own gun loosely held in a practiced grip.
"We *shall!*" And off they go, to spear helpless fish off the pier.
Alastor
Alastor lets out a cackle filled with static as he followed them-- no audience that time, it was full manic Radio Demon glee!
And down to the pier they travel. He's so excited he's nearly vibrating.
"Now, don't pick on me if I'm a terrible shot-- haven't handled a gun in decades!"
Valera
"I wouldn't *dream* of it, my good deermon. In fact, I should warn you! You'll want to aim low, water refraction likes to make fish look further than they actually are. The first five shots are practice, in my book."
She twirls her gun with a flourish, curling her tail under herself to improvise a seat. How convenient, to be a fish with a tail longer than you are tall. How rich! And now the fun part. A little bait in the form of a chicken thigh tossed off the pier, and watch the fish gather.
"Have at it, Alastor."
Alastor
"Deermon! Ha! Lovely!" He laughed, the audience joining in this time.
Once the bait was in the water and the fish swarming, he took aim, humming a jaunty little diddy to himself as he pulled the trigger....and missed.
Well! Valera did say the first five didn't count! He wound it back and then gestured for her to take a shot.
Valera
She purrs, takes a look down at the water... And spears a fish through the head. She doesn't look very pleased when she reels it in though, huffing as she examines the entry point.
"Hrm. I was *aiming* for the eyes..." Ah well, time to take a bite! Delicious.
Alastor
"Oh! Well, look at you-- and here you had me thinking we'd be trading missed shots for a bit!" He laughed and then aimed again, focusing more intently this time.
Another shot!
......And another miss.
Valera
She glances over, eyes scrunched up in half moons as she tries to look apologetic around a mouthful of fish.
"Oh? Sorry darling, I've been doing this since I grew thumbs! Though if it makes you feel any better, it took me three days of trying before I ever caught my first fish with these tools."
Alastor
His eyes squint in turn, but he's still amused! So that's good.
"Ah, fair enough! Like me with cooking! Been doing that since I could hold a spoon!" He took aim again-- but then blinked, something registering at last and he lowered the gun to turn to her.
"_Grew_ thumbs, you say?"
Valera
Oop, hang on, let her swallow this mouthful. Alright, the fish remnants are dropped on the pier next to them, that can be the next piece of bait when they feel like shooting again. She turns to face Alastor properly, jazz handing with gusto.
"Yeah! Veci like me hatch with our little graspers shaped more like *paws* than anything else. If you were so inclined, you'd still be able to feel the grippy little pads in my fingertips. Think... fish cats? I guess? We've got a hatchling right here in the estate, actually, if you're struggling to visualize what I'm on about."
Alastor
"Paws?" A brow arches as he thinks on that, and then he laughs.
"Oh, that's quite cute. Fish cats...." He snapped his fingers and shouted. "Catfish!" Before bursting into laughter.
"Ah, oh, I crack myself up!"
Valera
She flutters her eyelids, pressing dainty fingertips to her smirking lips.
"Actually, I'm a lionfish, my dear sir."
And then she just starts _cackling_.
Alastor
Oh boy! They're both laughing! And the audience is laughing! It's just a laugh factory around here!
It takes him a GOOD FEW MINUTES to collect his composure, and he wipes tears from his eyes as he does.
"My, my, you are a CARD, my good lady! Or perhaps even a full deck! No wonder you've charmed your way into the hearts of so many of Hell's citizens!"
Valera
Just a couple of clowns standing around with spearguns, laughing their heads off. What could be more normal than this?
Deep breath, she's good. "Thank you, my fine fellow! That's the kindest way I've been called *stacked* yet!" She honest to god slaps her thigh, barking out another laugh before she regains her composure.
"Sorry, sorry. Couldn't resist! I appreciate it, truly. You're a bit of a riot yourself, aren't you Alastor? I suppose I could expect no less from a fellow who knows how to talk a person in circles!"
Alastor
"Oh yes! Comes from working in Raaaadiooooo~" He belts that last word-- he was doing that a lot today! Maybe it was just from being so happy at _not_ being hunkered down for an extinction. Plus sun was good for the skin!
"I've trained a long time to work my way around words as well as a serpent sliding through the surf!" He threw her a wink before hoisting his gun again. He took aim and!!
This time he hit! He laughed excitedly-- with surprisingly little static-- as he pulled it in.
"Well, would you look at that! It's a body shot, but hell, I'll take it!"
Valera
Being out of Hell seems to have perked up a lot of people's moods, she shouldn't be surprised by the extra oomph. She is, but she shouldn't be. But then he turns to try another shot, and she gasps in delight as he hits his mark, clapping as he reels in his first catch.
"Oh! Amazing, only your third shot and you've made a catch! You're a natural, Alastor. What a shot!" Will he be needing a cooler for that fish? Some ice?
Alastor
Nope! Just like her, he takes it off the spear and takes a nice, big chomp out of it. What good was catching your own seafood if you didn't try some fresh out of the ocean?
He hummed and hawed as he chewed, tongue licking his teeth and picking at the spaced between. "How interesting a taste! Familiar, and yet, completely foreign!"
He laughed and then took another bite, letting the audience continue to chuckle for him.
Valera
FINALLY someone around here with STANDARDS. Valera's tail would be wagging, if she wasn't using it to lean on. Her fins will suffice, the little wiggle likely indiscernible from another other twitch to the eyes of an alien. But even so!
"Palatable, I hope! You're doing a grand job, you'll be wiping the floor with me soon enough. Were you a hunter in life, then?"
Alastor
He laughed again! Around his mouthful of fish! He swallowed without chewing much and shrugged.
"Oh, I dabbled here and there. Living in New Orleans, one learns those sorts of things. So much in bayou to make into dinner! Say, have you ever had gator?" His eyes sparkled-- literally, they got big and sparkly as he spoke.
"Ah, one of the things I miss most about living! So hard to get good gator down in Hell, unless it's been a fellow sinner!"
Valera
HAS she had gator? Hrm...
"I might have, but not in many, many years! I'd be happy to bring you some, if you'd be kind enough to share the meal you make out of it! Same with any other seafood you crave. Or crawfish, I never know if they should count as *sea*food..."
Alastor
"Oh, I certainly think so! A proper seafood spread is never finished without a heaping, steaming pile of crawfish!" He laughed. "I'd be more than happy to share some of anything I make! What good is New Orleans cooking if you don't share it?"
He hummed, a low whine turning more high pitched, as he aimed again-- and fired. Oops that one's another miss.
"Dang! Thought I had it!"
Valera
She watches him fire again, eyes narrowing as the bolt misses. Would it be overstepping if she...? Ah, what's it matter. She reaches an arm out, mindful of his personal space as she taps the speargun a hair lower.
"You're doing beautifully, don't worry. You've got this next one in the bag, Alastor."
Alastor
He doesn't say anything when she tilts the gun lower, and even sends a beaming smile her way. And then he aims again, and fires again.....
And another strike! Another body shot, but hey! He was still learning, after all. He reeled it in and removed the spear.
"This one I think, will need some ice!"
Valera
A small matter to drop a cooler and some ice in, presented with a grand flourish to her most esteemed guest. And THEN a round of applause on top of it. He IS doing remarkably well after all, he deserves some feedback for his efforts.
"Fantastic display, Alastor. Five shots, two kills, and all within your first half hour of practice! I couldn't be prouder of my star pupil!"
Alastor
"How long until this thing needs to be recharged, so to speak?" He looked at the gun, inspecting it all over.
"And thank you! I've always picked up things rather quickly-- well, most of the time!"
Valera
"Eh, with shallow waters like these? Ten shots, I think the instructions said? Though I'm not sure how your magic compares, so it could be eight, or twelve." She shrugs. "I barely ever need to charge mine, but to say I radiate magic might be describing it in the way a forest fire might be called a bit toasty, so.. Your mileage may vary."
Alastor
He snorted, and aimed once more-- spearing another fish. He was getting pretty good at this.
"Radiate is about right, I could feel your aura from a mile away! It's so....everywhere here, that it _actually_ took me a while to notice it. Like if you're in the water and don't notice the temperature."
Valera
She grins! Offers him a very loud purr in place of a shoulder bump.
"Oh! You noticed? Nobody had said anything, I wasn't sure if you were sensitive to it or not. Okkylk itself sings with magic! Or, at least the parts where we Veci like to live do. If you go into the mountains, it thins out considerably. The Nir and Artak'in aren't nearly so.... Vibrant, I suppose. And the Pira actually *absorb* magic." Yes, he's totally going to know what all of those things she's saying mean. Absolutely.
..... Cough. "Those are the other species that live on Okkylk."
Alastor
He smiles through it. Be strong, Alastor, be strong for Mother! He laughs and gives her a nod.
"Oh yes, I figured as much! Wouldn't want to meet the ones you said absorb magic-- I run on the stuff, pretty much!" He shrugged and aaaaaimed again. And fired! And missed. Well, you win some, you lose some. He reeled it back in.
"I'm quite magical myself, so I did notice! I suspect my other selves also did, but with the lot of us, who knows! Kyxs may well have noticed too, but he hasn't been practicing his aura sensing much." The audience 'ooooo's and he tsks.
Valera
Oh, hm! Closer, that one was unfair. She'd probably have missed too. Guess she can fire a shot, but she'll be fair and aim for trickier targets... Ough, body shot on that eel. Good enough, into the cooler it goes.
"Tsk tsk! Alastor, you'd better tell that boy to get back to his studies! Can't have him getting himself in trouble with half baked magic, that's worse than no magic at all!"
Alastor
"Yes, I know! I've been giving him a break for the holidays-- stressful time that it is-- but after the extermination, he'll be right back in it!" He laughed and shot again. Another fish and that one was right into the eye! Excellent!
He beamed at Valera as he tossed it into the container.
Valera
She actually cheers when he reels in his new catch, bouncing in place right there on the dock as she claps enthusiastically. He did it! What a shot! What a PERFORMANCE! A perfect display!
"Bravo, Alastor! That was BEAUTIFULLY done! You've got to be pulling my leg, you've done this before, haven't you darling? Either way, that was perfect! I'm in awe, my dear!"
Alastor
He laughs!! Again!! And puts a hand to his chest. "I swear on my dear Mother, that I haven't! Told you, I get things quick!"
He hums and then a song starts playing. _If I can learn to do it, you can learn to do it!_ The song cuts off as quick as it starts, and he chuckles, firing off another shot. And another strike! Not a clean one like before, but still good!
Valera
Not perfect, but more than good enough to bring in dinner. And look, she even gets a snippet from... "Anastasia! A wonderful little film that was, the songs were so lovely. And my goodness, the animation.."
Hmmhmm... She's getting distracted, don't mind the humming.
Alastor
He blinks at that! Well!! "I wasn't expecting you to know songs from Earth!"
He lifts the gun and fires again, and another strike. As he reels it, he figures it's about time to charge it back up, and there his eyes go, all radio dials again and the static picks back up-- and then he's back to normal.
"I find most musicals entertaining! Far more than non-musicals, for certain! And yes, the animation has a charm to it!"
Valera
He wouldn't know! Of course he wouldn't know. She twirls in place, arms opening as she just short of sings.
"Oh, I love Earth musicals! All the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, Mary Poppins, Hello Dolly, Chicago, even a number of animated films! I've seen a spread, and I've found some charm in each of them!"
Alastor
He perks up visibly at that. "Oh! A fish swimming in my own see! How grand!!"
Another song starts up. _Come on, babe. Why don't we paint the town? DADADA BUM BUM And all that jaaaazz!_
He almost forgot he had a gun in his arms, but remember it quickly enough, turning to take aim and fire another shot. Shoot, another miss.
Valera
Good try, Alastor! She leans in, lining her sights up to shoot the fish he'd been going for as it swam away. Not a good shot, by any means, but vengeance is vengeance, can't have that fish telling anyone else that it escaped the radio demon. To the cooler with his catch!
She'll dare go for a hip bump, just enough of a brush that it might have been accidental. Is she humming When You're Good To Mama? She might be, but good luck getting her to admit it.
Alastor
The song cuts off and the audience cheers, and Alastor claps his hand against his gun. "That little thing won't slip out of your grasp!"
When he picks up what she's humming, his frequency shifts and that song starts playing in place of 'All That Jazz'.
"You know! This is practically the theme song of a good friend of mine, whom you've invited here!"
Valera
Dinner and a show, what could be better? She snorts, stepping back into her own personal space bubble.
"I'm familiar! She's a lovely dame, big fan of the work ethic she keeps."
Alastor
"It's true, she never stops that Madame! Always working some angle, networking some connection-- I'd call her ambitious but that'd do her a disservice. She knows what she wants and she grabs it with both hands and four tentacles!" Another bout of canned laughter.
"I've been a loyal patron since she approached me way back when-- never showed her fear, which I applaud!" And there's some canned applause. Alastor lifted the gun again annnnnnd.....boom! Another fish onto the pile. How many did they have, four? Hm, not enough for all the carnivores they had here. He should shoot some more.
Valera
He SHOULD shoot some more. So should Valera, instead of jawing away and flailing around like she is. Silly fish. Back to hunting, then.
"Indeed." Oh, another eel? She aims, then hesitates a moment while she double checks... alright. Not one of her guests, it's safe to shoot. She doubted either Pentious was dumb enough to swim around where there were people spearing fish, but at the same time.. They weren't the most observant, despite the eyes.
"Try not to shoot Sir Pentious, my fine fellow. I don't think he's over here, but I'm sure he's swimming around somewhere."
Alastor
The Audience boos a bit at that but Alastor only laughs. "As your guest, I'll respect your request! Considering that I couldn't be sure which Pentious I was shooting at anyway, it's no skin off my teeth!"
He displayed said teeth in a wide mouthed grin. "Wouldn't want to tag your beau instead of dear little Pentell instead!"
Valera
She misses her next shot, jolting in place as Alastor just TELLS HER SIR PENTIOUS' REAL NAME. The poor speargun doesn't even get a chance to reel in before she drops it, hands flying to her hips as she rounds on her guest. "ALASTOR."
Ooooh Alastoooor she's giving you a look like she's about to get out a wooden spoooooon.
Alastor
That _tone_ has him JUMPING nearly out of his skin. His smile doesn't falter-- eighty years of keeping it up the only thing to save him there-- but his eyes do widen, almost comically. The feeling crawling down his spine is a familiar one, someone who grew up with a strict but loving mother always would get when one did something to earn her ire.
He turned towards Valera, trying to keep his cool as he asked, as nonchalantly as possible: "Yes? What is it?"
Valera
Valera steps in, using the entire two inches of height she has on him for all they're worth. Not to look down at him, just to loom as she lowers her voice to that firm, no nonsense tone.
"Alastor, you know better than that. Why would you go telling business that isn't yours to tell?" Oh, maybe she's being too mean.. Alright, soften that tone up. She's not his *boss* here, she's just the hostess. "I'm not mad, just disappointed. I don't want to make Sir Pentious feel like I've invaded his privacy, but I'm going to have to talk to him about this later."
Alastor
Oh and does she loom. And when she whips out the 'I'm not Mad, I'm Disappointed' line, it's like she just took the speargun and shot him right through his chest. It's only his consummate professionalism and skills as a performer that keep his face static, keep him from giving a hint of ground.
"Ah, yes, my apologies! I often forget myself when speaking about him. Don't mind me and my old mind, sometimes things just fall out out of there! Like blood leaking from sackcloth!" He laughed, but there was noticably more static and reverb to his words. Alastor turned back to the sea, firing off his gun again to spear another fish, as he spoke again.
"Don't worry about Sir Pentious-- or the one that I'm familiar with at least. He's resilient! He bounces back eventually! No one can put him down for good, though many have tried!" Every compliment seems more insult coming from him, where Pentious is concerned.
Valera
Nice try, Alastor. If you were the first she'd met, she'd probably have believed him. But no such luck this time around. She watches him turn away and spear another fish, quietly taking up her speargun to wind it in properly. But then she sets it aside, planting a firm hand on the poor man's shoulder.
"It's not me you need to apologize to, Alastor. Though I do appreciate it, that's very sweet of you." Better to temper her scolding with kindness, it's the only way she's gotten *some* people to listen. "We can come out again later, we should take these back and clean them before any pesky birds show up. I've got scalers in the kitchen. You did a wonderful job catching these!" A pat, and she pulls her hand away. She was already playing a dangerous game by initiating any physical contact at all, so best to keep it brief.
Alastor
There's certainly a shiver when she touches him, but he swallows it down. Don't be weak, don't show it. The show must go on. After reeling his latest catch, he puts it on the ice and props the gun on his shoulder.
"Yes, I think we've got a hefty enough supply! And the cleaning is the best part, after all, I'd be happy to lend a hand!" He wiggled one set of fingers.
"Or two!" Suddenly, his other hand is waving-- without the gun moving from its place on his shoulder-- and then he's back to holding it and all is normal. Including him dodging the bit about apologizing to anyone else.
Valera
Ah, back to business as usual, that's MUCH less tense. Valera snorts at his theatrics, picking up her speargun and laying it over the fish before hefting the cooler up with her tail. Much better than making anyone carry the bulky thing in their arms!
"Much appreciated, my dear. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my promise! You'll get your fresh fish before you saunter back to Hell. Now lets get these things looking presentable, hm?"
Alastor
"Yes, absolutely! We'll have to see who's the better cleaner, eh?" He laughed and gave her a quick, playful jab with his elbow. Got to show who's the one who gets to touch around here!
Valera
"What, you think you can descale a fish better than another fish can? That's awfully bold of you, I hope you've got the talent to back that claim up, Alastor!" She wont elbow him back, considering she's got spines full of neurotoxins around there, but she will give him the gentlest shoulder bump, barely enough to dent his padding. She's competitive, but not to the point of actually wanting to upset the man.
Alastor
"I think I'll at least put up a fight!" He laughed. "As long as I've been around fish and fish adjacent creatures, I've gotten very good at relieving them of scale and guts!"
Valera
"I can't tell if I should be impressed or intimidated. I'll decide when I see it in action!" She'll stop milking the 'because she's a fish joke', but come on. It's perfect for this.
And off they go, catch and all.
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in-class-daydreams · 4 years
Text
Parlay (Kuroo x Reader) | Ch. 3
Pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x Reader (ft. Roommate Kenma)
Word Count: ~2400
Genres: Fluff, angst if you squint, general buffoonery
CW: Some swearing, but otherwise none!
Summary: (Y/N), a first-year student attending Tokyo U, is living with her best friend, Kozume Kenma. Little did she know, her life would be turned upside down after being exposed to Kenma’s volleyball teammate and close friend, Kuroo Tetsurou. One wrong move, and the parlay’s stakes only get higher each time.
Chapters: First | Previous | Next 
Honestly, Kuroo dreaded 2:00 pm every Tuesday and Thursday. His lecture was two and a half hours long, and it was in one of the school’s bigger lecture halls, meaning he spent two days a week sitting at an itty bitty desk in an overcrowded lecture hall. It was always hot and muggy, and there’s always that one guy that you can smell three rows back. It honestly can’t be that hard to take a shower once a while, right? Personal hygiene. What a concept!
‘Before making assumptions about a person who smells - like thinking they don’t shower - consider their living situation and the fact that not everyone has access to--’ A memory from a conversation with Bokuto flashed through his mind. He begged the Bokuto that lived inside his head to please shut his piehole.
In retrospect, he really should have taken an easier class, but no. His academic advisor had strongly advised against taking an easier class to fulfill this requirement because it wouldn’t ‘enrich his academic talents.’ He could just hear his teammate’s irritating tone.
“Don’t worry, Tetsu-Chan! It’ll be a good challenge for you!”
‘Good challenge’ his ass. He really had to stop trusting other people’s judgement.
Despite his admitted hatred for his 2:00 lecture, at least he and Bokuto got to chat beforehand. The frat boy had a class at the same time: Women and Politics in Continental America. According to him, so long as you did your work and ‘are at least a somewhat decent person,’ the class was relatively easy to get a quality grade in. So while Kuroo was dreading the next two and a half hours of his life he’ll never get back, Bokuto could talk Kuroo’s ear off about his “Owlets” without a care in the world, that bastard.
“Bruh, they’re so cute! We played freeze tag for warm ups today ‘cuz they’ve been good all week and, man, little kids are hella fast!” Kuroo cracked a smile at that. Bokuto loved both volleyball and kids, so when he started working as a youth instructor at the sports center, the guy was living his best life. About halfway through hearing a story about the Owlets dogpiling on Bokuto, Kuroo heard a group of girls giggling a little further down the hallway.
There he saw Kenma’s cute girlfriend making an exaggerated sad face. Her surrounding girlfriends were half laughing and half consoling her. They patted her back and he could vaguely hear ‘next time, next time!’ and ‘--boba right after?’
As they got closer, he heard one of the girls chime in, “Hold on, we can’t go right after. That guest speaker for Native American Lit. is speaking in Ballroom One at six.”
“Oh yeah... After that, then?” another girl offered.
(Y/N) shook her head, “I promised I’d pick up a shift at Chisai at 5:30,” she told them apologetically. Her friends collectively booed as Kuroo pushed off the wall he was leaning against.
“I’ll see you at practice, man.” Bokuto paused his story. They gave each other a bro-nod in farewell.
“Okay, ttyl.”
Kuroo halted in his tracks, “...did you just say ttyl out loud?”
“It’s easier that way. My kids like it!”
“They’re nine, Kou, they like everything you do.”
“Nine is a very enriched age and it’s important that we don’t undermine the abilities of--”
“Whoops, gotta go!” Kuroo speed walked in the direction of the group of girls. Bokuto went out of his way to stay “woke” - his words, not Kuroo’s - and it made him a great guy, but Kuroo could only handle so much social consciousness. (Y/N) noticed him before he reached them.
“Oh, Kuroo-san! You have a class in this building?” For someone he’d met only once before, she looked happier to see him than a lot of people normally would. Did she look at everyone like that?
He gave each of the girls a charming smile. Several of them looked from (Y/N) to him, wide-eyed. In all objective terms, Kuroo knew the effect he had on people. He was used to people of all genders’ gazes lingering on him. After all, he was the whole package: tall, handsome, charming, and it was obvious he drank Respect Women Juice every day.
“Unfortunately, yes,” he nodded his head towards his lecture room, “Not my favorite class this semester.”
“Well, I’m in this class, too. If we sat together, would it be less agonizing?” she asked. Before he could answer, she turned to her friends, “I’ll see you probably tomorrow.” They said their goodbyes, and a few of them flirtily waved Kuroo goodbye. In return, he gave them a sly wink, “Ladies.”
“If you have other friends in this class, though, I won’t be offended at all if you sit with them,” his attention snapped to her. He held the classroom door open and gestured her in. She unthinkingly led them to the same side of the room as the one Kuroo usually sat, a few rows ahead of his normal seat.
“Actually,” he said, “All my friends were smart enough to take other classes,” he laughed. “Besides, who wouldn’t want to sit next to a such a cute girl?” he gave her a cute wink.
‘What a flirt,’ she thought.
“Is that your signature move?” she teased.
Kuroo put a hand to his chest in mock offense, “Move? A gentleman doesn’t use ‘moves.’”
“Are you a gentleman, then, Kuroo-san?”
“If you wanted me to be.”
“Cheesy.”
“Don’t worry. I get worse over time.”
(Y/N) mentally cheered. If Kuroo was flirting with her this blatantly, surely he must have a feeling that she and Kenma weren’t serious. Then, Kenma would have to admit that she wasn’t oblivious and she’d win the bet!
Kuroo’s voice broke her out of her thoughts. “But don’t think I’m trying to steal you from Kenma. Bro-code is sacred text, you know.”
Oh. Well. That’s okay! He might not figure it out right away, but surely when he sees that Kenma doesn’t care one bit that he was flirting with his ‘girlfriend,’ he’d figure it out eventually! ...right?
“Don’t worry.” She replied, “He couldn’t care less.”
The professor walked in about 2 minutes before the class officially began. The man in about his mid-40’s cracked his RhedBhull energy drink and chugged the whole thing in one go. Crushing the can in his fist, he tossed it into a nearby trashcan and started plugging the projector cable into his laptop. In a way, Kuroo was glad even the professor was having as much of a hard time with this class as much as he was.
While he’d been watching the professor prepare himself, he hadn’t noticed the girl next to him pull out a notebook, two mechanical pencils, a big eraser, a set of highlighters, some gel pens, and some sticky tabs. At first he thought she was the type to make pretty notes and not actually learn anything, but as the class dragged on, whenever he glanced at her notes, he noticed that her diagrams were frighteningly detailed and every bit of information had its place. He didn’t want to be that guy by constantly looking at her notes, but even the comments in the little text bubble she drew made more sense than anything on the lecture slides.
Leaning in towards her, the taller male whispered, “I’m sure you don’t need the help, but do you want to study together sometime?” No answer.
“Kenma can come too, if you’re worried about him getting the wrong idea.” Nothing. Was she ignoring him? Had he somehow managed to offend her? He was nearly offended until he realized that nothing was affecting her at all. Not when someone sneezed or when the glass side door slammed loudly and nearly everyone jumped out of her skin. Save for her hand working like a machine, she hardly moved. Just her hand and her eyes flitting up, down, up, down, up, down from the projector to her notes. A tornado could rip through campus and Kuroo wasn’t entirely confident that she’d move.
‘Cute.’ Kuroo shook his head at his own thoughts. Sure, she was cute, but she was as off-limits as possible.
‘Though,’ he reasoned, ‘Being friends isn’t a crime.’
Lost in thought, the end of the lecture came sooner than anticipated. Twisting in his seat, his spine made a loud crack. Ah, the ripe old age of 21. In his defense, the chairs in the lecture hall weren’t exactly ergonomic.
“I doubt that’s a healthy noise for your spine to make.” She peered at him over her bag as she gently organized all her pens into a baby pink pencil case with little green aliens on it.
‘Cute,’ he thought.
“Thanks! It was a gift,” she chirped. He blinked.
“Huh?”
“The pencil case? I got it as a gift.”
It took Kuroo a moment to register what in the world she was talking about. When the realization dawned on him he mentally kicked himself.
‘I said that out loud???’
They headed outside where the sun had nearly set. She asked him what his plans were later on, and he mentioned his volleyball scholarship.
“Wow! It’s super competitive just to get on the team here. Congratulations!” He chuckled at her enthusiasm and thanked her for being so encouraging.
“So…” she trailed off for a moment, “You’re Tooru’s teammate, then?”
Kuroo gave an ugly, barking laugh.
“Yeah. Not sure if that’s good or bad. He’s the best setter I’ve ever met, but he’s also super cheery and will smile while he roasts you within an inch of your life.”
They both chuckled. (Y/N) looked at the ground shyly and said in a small voice, “Yeah, that sounds like him.”
“You know each other?” it suddenly occurred to that she and Oikawa were on a first-name basis. “You a fangirl of his?” he teased.
She squeaked. Waving her hands in front of her frantically, she said, “No, no, no! I just-- We just-- We both went to Seijoh, that’s all.” Kuroo was mildly offended that she thought he’d believe such a poorly delivered lie, but he decided to let it go. For now. Changing the subject, he said,
“So, where are you headed? Practice to watch your boyfriend?” She tensed, then quickly relaxed.
“I’ve never been to a practice since I always seem to have a shift at the same time. I have work at 5:30 today, actually.”
“You’re walking around when it’s this dark?”
“It’s only about a 20 minute walk from here. Don’t worry, I have pepper spray.”
“Mildly comforting, but not much. If you don’t mind, I could walk you there?”
His gesture was rewarded by an adorable eye smile, “Oh, that’s so kind of you. Okay, if it’s not too much trouble.”
On the walk there, she told him all about Chisai Tea House and about Grandmother, the sweet old woman who owned it.
“I worry, though. Gran is getting old. She’s not in a condition to work all day like she does.”
Kuroo looked up at the darkening sky, “When people love something, it’s hard to pull them away.”
“Mm, don’t I know it?”
Kuroo asked what kinds of things Chisai served. Besides dim sum, of course.
“What people order just depends on what they want at the time. There’s no ‘good’ thing to get because everything’s amazing! We make traditional green teas, Korean songpyeon, khao neeo mamuang, and don’t even get me started on the har gao and sumai, and all the dim sum stuff. All of our recipes have been passed down through families for generations.”
Around 5:20, she stopped at a door along the line of shops. The place was bustling with customers, and the air around it smelled of sweet treats and green teas. The whole place had a traditional Chinese feel. Through the windows, the busy place looked busy, but peaceful. On the tables nearest the window, he saw moon cakes and songpyeon that made his mouth water.
“Thank you for walking me to work! If you have some free time, would you like to come in for something to eat? My treat?” she offered.
“I wish I could, (Y/N)-san, but I have practice--!” Kuroo choked on the word. Practice! How could he forget? He’d been going to volleyball practice on weekdays since he started high school!
“Is there something wrong?” the shorter girl asked, concerned. He shook his head.
“Not at all. Thanks for keeping me company,” he winked. He didn’t want her to feel like him being late was her fault, so he waited until she was fully inside the tea shop before he turned tail and hauled ass. The gym was about a 10 minute walk, so there was a chance he could make it.
After some hardcore sprinting, the boy almost cried tears of relief when the building finally came into view. He flung himself through the locker room door. Inside, he saw all his teammates finishing up getting dressed, putting on knee pads, tying shoelaces, the like. Every head turned his way.
“Bro! What’s-- Hey! Why are you all sweaty?” Bokuto shouted from the far end of the locker room. Kuroo meant to respond, but he found himself completely out of breath. Volleyball players might not be cut out for long distance sprinting. At least, he definitely wasn’t.
“Overslept?” Iwaizumi clapped his teammate on the back as he brushed past him through the doorway.
“You know coach doesn’t like it when people are late to practice. Better hurry up, Tetsu-chan!” Oikawa said in a tone all too gleeful to be genuine. Forcing his legs to move, Kuroo stumbled as he yanked his shirt off and ran to his locker while simultaneously trying to shimmy his pants off. Bokuto came up beside him during his frantic clambering to get ready.
“What happened, man? You don’t usually get here this late?”
Kuroo glanced over his shoulder at his friend’s worried expression.
“I’m good, bro, I just...” he panted, “I just lost track of time.”
“M’kay, if you’re sure everything’s Gucci?”
“Yeah, man, I’m good.” The wing spiker nodded and headed out the door. Alone at last, Kuroo stuffed his feet into his shoes and rested his head against his locker for a moment. Next time, he’d stop creeping on Kenma’s girlfriend and focus on making it to practice on time. This wouldn’t happen again.
~~
(A/N): At last! We have tapped into the interactions between Kuroo and (Y/N)! And yes, the Bro-Code is very important! (Well, I'm female, but I’m fully aware of how it works lol). Please continue to give/leave your feedback and thoughts on the story! Be sure to check out the Tumblr/Wattpad for more updates! Thanks and see y’all soon!
- Admin Kiwi-Chan
(A/N): Yeeeaaaaaa boiiiiiiiiiiiiii.
- Admin Mango-Chan
~~
Taglist: @joyful-jimin
102 notes · View notes
recurring-polynya · 4 years
Text
a little in love now and then, part 2/? | ao3 | ff.net |
Summary: Abarai Renji doesn’t have a fortune, but he does appear to be in want of a wife, at least in Lady Kuchiki’s opinion. Fortunately, Lady Kuchiki also has a sister, and a woefully eligible one, at that. (itty bitty Hisana Lived! AU)
Rating: T, for minor cussing
This time: Hisana informs Rukia about their dinner guest
Older parts: | part 1 |
“I don’t like that green,” Hisana declared. “What about your blue kimono, the one with the white bellflowers? It makes your eyes look so pretty.”
Rukia narrowed her insufficiently pretty blue eyes. “Who is coming to dinner, Sister?” she growled.
“Someone handsome,” Hisana singsonged.
Rukia’s shoulders slumped. “Sister, please don’t.”
“Don’t do what?” Hisana sniffed. “Out of the peonies, Touma!” She turned back to her sister, who was only marginally less troublesome than her son. “Don’t invite handsome young men to dinner? You ask too much, Rukia.”
“Why are you doing this?” Rukia complained. “First, it was tea with Lady Nishiwaki and her son just happened to be there--”
“I didn’t care for him, he was too cheeky,” Hisana pronounced.
“--and then you told me you needed me to be your tennis partner at the Miura’s party, but then you pretended to get overheated when it turned out that there were an excess of young men who needed partners.”
“I have a delicate constitution,” Hisana sniffed.
“I’ve never been overheated in my life and neither have you,” Rukia muttered grimly.
Hisana fanned herself innocently. “I just think you should meet more people, that’s all.”
“You’re angry that I got stuck in the Living World for two months and now you’re trying to marry me off to keep me out of trouble,” Rukia guessed.
Hisana’s eyes widened. “No! No.” She folded her fan, and tucked it in her lap. “Rukia, do you know how hard I’ve had to work for the last forty years to keep you from getting married off?”
Rukia wrinkled her nose. “Who would want to marry me?” she grunted.
Hisana’s face went hard. “Everyone who wanted didn’t believe I’d ever be able to produce an heir and saw you as the back-up plan.”
Rukia’s mouth opened and then closed again. For so long, Hisana’s infertility had been an elephant in the room. Hisana hadn’t even been expected to live more than a few years at the time she married Byakuya, and if there was one thing Byakuya and Rukia had in common, it was that they were too happy to have Hisana in their lives to bother giving a single shit about stuff like that. Hisana gave a shit, though, and so did the rest of Byakuya’s stupid, asshole family. The fact that Hisana had been staving off stupid family schemes for her at the same time…
“It never occurred to me,” Hisana said slowly, “that we had been keeping you away from everything. Sheltering you. I think you made more friends in the World of the Living than in all your years as a Kuchiki.”
“Sister, it’s fine,” Rukia assured her. “I have my job, and I have you, and it sounds like the family isn’t interested in marrying me off anymore, so everything’s fine.”
“I just want you to be happy, Rukia,” Hisana persisted. “I’m not even the one who brought up marriage, you were.” She paused to bask for an entire second from the tenuous perch on the moral high ground. Rukia abruptly stopped feeling guilty in anticipation of what was coming next. “But now that you mention it, now would be the perfect time for you to marry for love. You never know when the aunts will get some new idea in their head, and the best way to avoid getting married off is to marry yourself off first.”
“I don’t want to get married,” Rukia pointed out. “I want to be a shinigami.”
“These things are not mutually exclusive. Byakuya manages quite well.”
“Byakuya has a million servants and a lieutenant to do stuff for him,” Rukia grumbled.
Hisana’s eyes glinted in a way Rukia didn’t like. “He does have a lieutenant! Have you met Abarai? Oh, right, he saved your life once, I was given to understand.”
Rukia’s stomach dropped. She had honestly been thinking of Lieutenant Shirogane when she said that. Intellectually, she knew that he had retired, but that piece of information lived in the morass of Things That Had Happened While She Was Gone, and she still wasn’t used to the idea that of all the idiots in the world Brother could have hired-- wait. No. Hisana wouldn’t.
“Hisana,” Rukia intoned as her sister hauled Touma out of the peonies for the third time. “Did you invite Brother’s new adjutant over for dinner?”
“Touma is very fond of Lieutenant Abarai, aren’t you, sweetness?”
Touma blew a raspberry. Hisana put him down, and he scampered off, in the direction of the butterfly bushes this time.
“Hisana, why?" Rukia wailed. "Why him, of all people?”
Hisana looked up quizzically. “What does that mean? ‘Him of all people’?”
Rukia dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands and bit down on her tongue. She loved her sister. She loved her sister more than anyone, but there were certain things they didn’t talk about, and one of those things was Inuzuri. In her early days as a Kuchiki, Hisana had attempted to explain-- to apologize-- for the circumstances that had driven her to leave Rukia behind. Rukia knew well about circumstances. She bore no grudge toward her sister for having been placed in an impossible situation and doing what she had to do to survive. It was clear that Hisana had tortured herself over the decision for years, and Rukia didn’t see any sense in adding to her pain by reminiscing. Her own days in South 78 were only relevant to her and some guy whom, the last she heard, had been off adding to his black eye collection at the Eleventh, of all places.
That was, until that guy showed up to arrest her, in the middle of a mission gone utterly pear-shaped.   Byakuya had decided to name that guy his second, apparently knowing nothing of their history, he just liked the cut of Renji’s jib, or some Byakuya-horseshit like that.
It’s not that Rukia hadn’t considered coming clean to Hisana earlier. She had. She actually kinda-sorta wanted to see Renji again. She’d been pretty awful to him when she was in jail, and she’d never properly thanked him for rescuing her, and also she wanted to know how he was and maybe knock him about the head and shoulders a little, the Eleventh, really?
But over the last few weeks, she hadn’t managed to come up with a smooth way of saying, “Hey, uh, that guy Brother just hired? I lived with him for ten years. He taught me to read and I taught him to pick pockets and we were each other’s first kiss. I've got at least three scars that are completely his fault, although in one case, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have a scar, I'd just be dead. He was a part of me, like an arm or a kidney, and I walked away from him without even saying goodbye like a huge dick to come join this family, and no, I’ve never mentioned him, why do you ask?”
Apparently, being confronted about it a scant hour before the man himself showed up on her doorstep was not particularly helpful in jumpstarting her brain. “Touma is eating a worm,” she informed her sister, by way of a distraction.
“Oh. Oh, dear.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m sure it won’t hurt him, but don’t tell Byakuya this happened. Stop that, baby! Give it to Mama!”
“MINE!” Touma retorted. It was one of about six words he knew.
“Anyway, there’s no way the family-- Brother included-- would find him suitable,” Rukia pointed out, having finally latched onto a good argument. “Have you seen his tattoos?”
Hisana flung the worm back into the garden and arched an eyebrow at Rukia. “I have. I happened to be visiting the Sixth one afternoon while Lieutenant Abarai was sparring with his officers, and it was quite warm that day--”
“Sister, stop,” Rukia begged, squeezing her eyes shut again. “Forget I said anything!”
“He does have a lot of them, doesn’t he?” Hisana mused, a wistful expression on her face. “You probably didn’t have much a of a chance to talk to him, while he was carrying you around the Seireitei in his well-toned arms--”
“How did you hear about that?” Rukia howled.
“--but he’s very friendly and funny and he doesn’t take any shit from those sniveling brown-nosers at Squad Six.” Not taking shit was one of Hisana’s favorite personality characteristics.
“He’s from the Eleventh. At best, he probably has a few bits of gravel where his brain used to be,” Rukia waved a hand, dismissively.
“Intelligence in men is overrated. Oh, it’s just dinner, Rukia, and maybe a little walk around the gardens, after. I think you’ll really like him.”
“Well, I very much doubt that I will,” Rukia grumped. “And even if I did, who’s to say he would take a liking to me?”
“That,” Hisana pointed out, “is why you should go put on that blue kimono.”
Notes:  For any name nerds out there like me, Touma's name is spelled 桃真. Like all Kuchiki, I wanted him to have a color-word as part of his name. I wanted to use pink, both because Byakuya loves pink and for red (Hisana) + white (Byakuya) but there doesn't seem to be a character for pink, so I used 桃, which is "peach" and is the first character in the word pink. The second character means "true" and is also the second character of Hisana's name, which is half Byakuya being a wife-guy and half Byakuya giving a middle-finger to all his family members who have trash-talked Hisana over the years. Thanks to japanese-names.info, which is always a big help with this kinda stuff.
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missymae531 · 5 years
Text
How We Met Part 19.3
“Oh my god I’m so excited for you both, Aunt Camilla is going to be the fun aunt.” She says making you laugh at her excitement.
“Yes you are going to the fun aunt, and Selena will be the fun but responsible one, not that you aren’t responsible it’s just you’ve got so much energy so you’ll be a really cool aunt.” You say to her and walking with her into the living room again.
You and your guest all played the game and Camila and Selena tied for first place so they said they’ll spilt the basket with each other. It was now time for cake, you mom cut and served everyone a piece and you all chatted and enjoyed time together. After eating cake it was time to find out if your having a baby boy or girl, everyone headed out into the cold back yard.
You and Shawn were each handed a smoke bomb looking thing and Selena counted down and then light them with a lighter. After a few seconds smoke started coming out of the smoke bombs and it was a beautiful dark blue color. You started jumping in excitement and Shawn was just yelling and then smiling, you calmed down and leaned into Shawn and kissed him sweetly.
You’re having a baby boy, a mini Shawn will be running around the house in about 8 and 1/2 months from now. You can’t wait to meet your baby boy and hold him in your arms. Everyone all heads back inside and just chats until it’s time to go and they all file out the door slowly after each other.
You, your mom, dad, brothers, Selena, Camila, Shawn, and his family all start cleaning up the house and taking down decorations. You put always the snack foods, drinks, and clean any dirty dishes. The others are all taking down decorations and picking up any trash left behind. After the house is clean you all sit in the living room and talk about anything and everything.
Camila, Karen, Aaliyah, and Manny have left and it’s just your family, Selena, you, and Shawn just sitting and having a wonderful rest of your evening. After a while you get tired so you head off to bed and Shawn follows while everyone else goes off to their rooms. You and Shawn change into your pajamas and get in bed.
“So, we’re having a little baby boy, oh my god he’s gonna looks exactly like you. I get another you I’m so happy.” You say to him whole smiling hugely.
“Yeah we are, and he’ll get some of your features too, but he’ll look mostly like me. I know I’m excited too.” He says getting really excited.
He then gets on top of you and levels himself at your stomach. He places his hands on the sides of your stomach. You wonder what he’s doing but your thoughts are cut off by him speaking.
“Hey baby boy, it’s me your daddy. You’re going to look a lot like me, but you’re going to be your own person and you’re going to do wonderful things and go far in life. Me and your mom will love and support your through anything and everything. We already love you so much and will continue to love you so much and we’re so excited for you to be here but take your time and grow big in there bud. Again we love you sleep well little one.” He speaks to the itty bitty child growing in your womb. You have tears rolling down your face from how cute that was and your hormones getting the best of you.
“Oh my god that was too precious. I can’t take all this cuteness especially with my hormones getting all out of wack.” You say bringing Shawn’s head level to yours.
You kiss him goodnight and he turns the lamp light out and gets comfortable holding your body to his. You both drift off into a peaceful sleep.
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beneaththetangles · 5 years
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Guest Post: Invaders of the Rokujouma and Strength in Weakness
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Welcome back JeskaiAngel, one of our regular guest contributors here on Beneath the Tangles. Today, he takes a deep dive into a light novel series we recommend—Invaders of the Rokujouma!?
I didn’t expect to encounter deep, encouraging thoughts about the nature and origin of true strength in a light novel, but… I recently started reading the light novel series Invaders of the Rokujouma!?. It’s partly Stardf29’s fault for a post about it on Twitter, and partly the fault of J-novel Club for making the first NINETEEN volumes of the series available for free (seriously, why are you reading me instead of them?). I quickly devoured, well, all nineteen of them and now eagerly wait for more to be translated into English.
In the course of my madcap novel-devouring spree, I was impressed by how insightfully the series explored the concept of strength. If you’re not familiar with the series, hmm, let’s say it starts out being about a high school kid living on his own and trying to defend his apartment from a ghost, alien invasion, mole people, and cosplayers, and gets more awesome from there. The protagonist ends up facing and defeating all manner of threats to the well-being of his friends and apartment. While the topic of strength comes up several times, there’s an especially deep conversation about it in vol. 14.
Protagonist Koutarou’s landlord, Shizuka, mostly seemed to be a normal human for the first thirteen volumes, albeit one highly skilled in martial arts. Then *spoilers* it turns out she is host to the astral projection of a giant magic dragon and receives said dragon’s strength. Shizuka discovers this when she tries to save a child from a fire similar to the one in which her parents died. She finds herself unable to pull off the rescue, only for Uncle Dragon to reveal himself to her and empower her to save both her own life and that of the kid.
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Though the books are incalculably superior to the anime, I concede that the anime is a convenient source for images
Afterward, Shizuka is grateful for Uncle Dragon’s help, but also suffers a crisis of confidence. After years and years of training her body to be as strong as possible so that she could protect others, she still wasn’t strong enough to deal with the problem on her own and had to rely on someone else. “In the end, I still couldn’t save anyone, just like when dad and mom died. So I’m disappointed that I haven’t grown at all…” Landlord-san laments. Feeling that all her training was meaningless, she expresses envy of Koutarou (who, among other achievements, accidentally became the most famous knight in the entire history of an alien civilization). Shizuka says, “I’d like to learn the secret behind being a legendary hero.”
Koutarou’s response shocks his landlord: “According to your way of thinking, I’ve never saved anyone with just my own strength before.” As she starts to object, Koutarou declares that he’s “[A]lways borrowing everyone else’s power to fight.” The only strength Koutarou can claim as his own is moderate skill with a sword. But someone else gave him his regular sword and his high-tech armor. Another character gave him his magic sword. A third person gave him what is basically a magic gauntlet. A fourth gave him some psychic abilities… You get the idea. In every one of his battles, Koutarou owed his success to weapons, skills, and powers that others provided.
Koutarou points out that in terms of basic physical strength Landlord-san is already stronger than he is, and says he can only offer one piece of advice: “What you need right now is to be able to honestly rely on others.” He confesses that he used to think it was “disgraceful” to need others and not be independent, but learned by experience that only by borrowing others’ power could he accomplish anything. “I have people I have to protect no matter how. And I need power to be able to do that. I don’t care whose power that is, because I don’t have room to be picky.” Self-reliance might salve his ego, but it would leave him incapable of making any difference in the lives of those he cared about. Koutarou could receive and fully use the strength of others only because he first accepted his own weakness. As the narrator puts it, “[h]e had something he wanted to protect more than his pride.”
As Shizuka ponders Koutarou’s words, she realizes that her tenant wasn’t strong because of his weapons and powers, “He was strong because he acknowledged that he was weak.” And nothing before this did, that quote especially is reminiscent of a Bible verse or three. Faced with some unspecified problem, the apostle Paul prayed repeatedly that God would remove it. In response, Jesus told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Thus, Paul said he determined to “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me…For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12.9-10). Paul’s personal weakness provided the perfect venue for God to display far greater power.
In John 9, we find the hilarious story of Jesus healing a man who was born blind (seriously, I dare you to read this story and then tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor). Jesus uses the physical blindness of the man he healed as a metaphor for spiritual blindness. When some of his opponents, the Pharisees, scoff that they aren’t blind, “Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains’” (Jn. 9.41). Elsewhere, Jesus observes that those who think they are well don’t visit a doctor. And in Rev. 3.17, addressing the believers in Laodicea, Jesus says, “You say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” We can’t accept the help we need while clinging to pride and self-righteousness. We can’t enjoy the strength God offers if we insist on relying on ourselves for everything. A sense of arrogant independence that denies our true weakness will keeping us from trusting others – God above all – the way we need to.
Jesus’ answer when Paul asked about his “thorn in the flesh” was hardly the first time God used weakness as an occasion for power. God brought about salvation fall mankind through a man being crucified, even though the world found that the cross disgraceful and foolish. In ancient times, crucifixion was considered an especially humiliating and degrading form of execution. This is part of what Paul was getting at when he wrote, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 1.25, 27).
Unlike Koutarou, we have no friendly ghosts to grant us psychic abilities or alien princesses to provide us with powered armor, but we do have access to one even mightier who is willing to empower us. But just like Koutarou, we need humility in order to be able to trust someone else for our strength. Accepting our own weakness can challenging. In some ways, it’s more comfortable to cling to a delusion of self-sufficiency. I (and probably most of you, O readers mine) live in a society that prizes that personal independence, glories in so-called “rugged individualism,” and believes that reliance on anything outside ourselves should be considered a regrettable stopgap at best. Moreover, culture often cloaks its pride-promoting messages in pseudo-virtuous rationalizations, making it even trickier to recognize pride in ourselves.
Chronic illness, both physical and mental, has forced me to look at just how weak I really am. For God to aid me in my weakness today is merely a continuation of how he has worked many times before. The scriptures are full of stories in which people who trusted God rather than relying on themselves “were made strong out of weakness” (as Heb. 11.34 puts it). Nothing has changes since Yahweh, speaking of himself, declared:
“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isa. 40.29-31)
I’m weak. That’s just how it is. But I don’t need to stay weak. I just need to trust my Almighty Creator and let go of my pretensions of independence.
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Koutarou easily accepts the reality of ghosts, mole people, and extraterrestrials, but struggles with how unrealistic the idea magic is.
The Afterword of vol. 19 further contributes to Invaders of the Rokujouma!?’s exploration of true strength. A character named Yurika has finally come into her own and proven herself extremely strong. Oh, and she’s not just strong, she’s also a prodigy, a genius when it comes to magic. Despite being incredibly powerful, she began the story as the most immature, lazy, whiny, cowardly member of the entire (rather large) cast. Her weakness of character made her what the author calls a “dysfunctional magician” despite having access to phenomenal cosmic power. (Hmm, is it coincidence that she also ends up with an itty-bitty living space inside a wardrobe?) Only after Yurika undergoes many volumes of character development and becomes more loving and courageous is she able to start using her magic to its full potential. The author explains that this was by design – he wanted Yurika to be extremely strong, but making her too capable at the outset would have disrupted the story. Instead of limiting how much power Yurika had, the author used her character flaws to limit on how she used her magic. A similar blending of assets and flaws happened for most of the story’s characters, the author adds. The only member of the main cast with no particular flaws or weaknesses is Kiriha – the one character with no supernatural abilities or overpowered weapons of her own. In different ways, she is both the weakest and the strongest.
Yurika’s character arc – and her contrast with the perceptive and insightful yet physically weak Kiriha – demonstrates of two more points about true strength. First, prideful self-sufficiency isn’t the only the flaw that can keep us from being powerful. Second, while some weaknesses of character can largely nullify other strengths we may possess (as in Yurika’s case), there are also forms of weakness that can coexist alongside great power. Yurika wielded powerful magic but for many volumes was still the weakest member of the cast. The strongest man who ever was or will be let himself be crucified, and you can be sure that while he hung there in pain, naked, bleeding, and gasping for breath, he didn’t look strong at all. But Jesus’ physical weakness in that moment only serves to highlight his incredible strength of character, trust, and love. Going to the cross was an act of weakness, in a sense, but also a display of unfathomable strength. Similarly (though to an infinitely lesser degree), Kiriha’s relative weakness in combat doesn’t prevent her from possessing inner strength.
I don’t know about you, but I struggle with letting my weaknesses define me. I look at my inability to do something, or my inability to do something well, or even my inaccurately perceived inability to something well, and conclude that I am, as a person, weak. I look at areas where I struggle spiritually and conclude I’m a horrendous sinner. I end up defining my self-image based on weakness. Invaders of the Rokujouma!? offered me, and I hope you as well, a helpful correction. These books serve as a reminder that strength comes from others and that a lack of inherent personal strength isn’t a problem. These books are a reminder that character flaws can get in the way of strength but don’t wholly negate it, and by growing in character, I can make greater use of strength I already possess. Finally, the stories of Koutarou, Shizuka, Yurika, and the others serve as a reminder that unlike weakness of character, one may be physically weak and still have access to undiminished strength.
“Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isa. 4
Interested in checking out Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Check out to the links below for Volume 14, referenced in the first half of this piece, and volume 19 from the second half, or if you haven’t started at all, volume 1!
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buckyscrystalqueen · 6 years
Text
The Cards: Part 6
Pairings: Bucky x Reader
Warnings: Swearing, angst, fluff, mentions of past abuse by readers ex. People being rude just for the sake of being rude.
Word Count: 4,304
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I can honestly say, after everything that I have seen in the world, I didn’t think it was physically possible to feel this relaxed.” You smiled as Bucky reached over and pulled you to him in the spa’s infinity pool on the balcony of the Aria hotel. You wrapped your legs around his waist and gently brushed his wet hair back off his face.
“I told you we just needed a vacation. You’ve been working hard…” He shrugged as he absentmindedly ran his hands down your spine.
“Who would have thought looking attractive for a living would be so hard.” You giggled and cocked your eyebrow.
“I think the better questions is do you think the Russians would have thought their pet project would have turned around to become a bartender? Ooo! We could always move here and you could become a stripper. Bet Steve would LOVE that.” Bucky rolled his eyes as he looked pointedly as his shoulder.
“That’s not happening, doll.” You tilted your head as you ran your fingertips over his chest and shoulder.
“I think it makes you more perfect.”
“Ms. (Y/L/N)?” You and Bucky both looked up at the woman from the front desk. She gave to a weak smile as she crouched down next to the pool to speak to you privately. “Your presence has been requested by a Mr. Miller. He says it’s important.” Your brow furrowed and you nodded as Bucky moved his hands to your hips and gently pushed you back.
“Wonder what that’s about.” Bucky said as the woman stood up and headed toward the doors to wait for you. You shrugged as you glanced around and got out of the pool.
“It’s getting late. Probably wants to know if we have plans for dinner yet or not.” You shrugged on a plush robe, humming a bit at the cloud like softness as you slipped on the provided, equally soft slippers. “Any ideas?”
“How are you even supposed to decide with all the choices here. There are…”
“Davie, I found the doggie… oh.” Your smile dropped as you stepped into the main hall just as Scott was running out of the elevator holding Chloe like she was the new lion king with your carrier slung over his shoulder.
“What do you mean you ‘found’ her?” Bucky asked as you looked at your friends while taking Chloe from Scott.
“Where’s Sara?” You asked hesitantly. She was the one responsible for Chloe for the day as you couldn’t leave her in the room long without a crate. David and Scott looked at each other nervously.
“Well…” David started with a slightly pained look on his face.
“She got just a teeny tiny, itty bitty bit too drunk…” Scott said as he pinched his fingers together.
“God, please tell me you did not lose Sara…”
“I mean… We were just…” You groaned as you cuddled your petrified, shivering dog to your chest.
“Really, guys? I told you she was unstable.” You growled as you pinched the bridge of your nose.
“So much for all that relaxing.” Bucky mumbled as he shook his head. 
“You two, wait here. We need to go get changed and I can’t afford to lose you guys either.” David nodded and went to reach for Chloe and you quickly moved her out of the way. “Oh no.”
“Boo, we’re sorry!” You nodded as you pinched your lips together.
“You’re paying for a make-up massage.” You said as you pointed to them. “What did mean old Uncle Davie do to you baby girl?” You asked Chloe as you headed back toward the lockers. She licked your face in response.
——
“How the hell are we supposed to find a single drunk girl in Vegas?” Bucky asked as you headed out of the Aria hotel. “I mean, this place was big in my day but now…” You shook your head as you dialed Sara’s number for the tenth time in 5 minutes.
“You two go check Thunder. She loves that show. We’ll head to the room and work our way…” You phone started ringing in your hand before you could hit send. You looked down at the 702 area code and your heart skipped a beat. “Hello?”
“Hello, is this (Y/N) (Y/L/N), Attorney at Law?” Your stomach dropped.
“It is as long as you are calling me about Sara Marshall.” Bucky poked your arm and looked at you questioningly as you handed him the leash so you could plug your ear to hear better.
“I am. My name is Chief Sam Smith with the Las Vegas police department. We found your card in her wallet with the instructions to call you on the back. We picked up Ms. Marshall as she attempted to swim to the Treasure Island pirate ship…”
“Damn it, Sara…” You grumbled as you turned to glare at David. This wasn’t the first time Sara had gotten wasted in Vegas and tried to get on that pirate ship. Drunk Sara thought she was a siren. “You took her to TI?” David blanched and pointed at Scott.
“Ma’am, we don’t want to detain her as our records show she has done this before. She has also made it perfectly clear to us that her best friend is a lawyer who is going to sue our asses, her boyfriend has a metal arm and her husband is a… and I quote… ‘low life piece of shit who could die tomorrow with his low sperm count’.” You smirked and nodded at your best friend’s typical drunken antics.
“I’ll come get her. Thank you so much for understanding. She’s going through a rough divorce and I should have kept a better eye on her.” You whacked at Scott’s arm since he was closest and mouthed ‘cab’ as you pointed to the road.
“We understand. It’s still a little early in the day for us to start breaking out the drunk and disorderly collars and quite honestly, I’m retiring in a week and I don’t want to deal with the paperwork anymore.” You laughed as Bucky picked up Chloe and put her in the bag on your shoulder.
“I really appreciate it. I’ll be there in a minute.” You hung up the phone and looked at David. “Treasure Island? Really?”
“She said she wanted to change for dinner.” David claimed as you all headed to the road to get in the cab.
“What was she doing?” You smirked at Bucky as Scott held open the back door of the car.
“Drunk in Vegas Sara always thinks she’s a siren. We usually try to keep her on the opposite end of the strip.”
“We’ll meet you at the hotel. Not enough room for all of us.” You nodded at Scott as Bucky got in the cab and David gave the driver directions and some cash.
“So it looks like we are doing room service tonight.” Bucky shrugged and put his arm up on the back of the seat.
“I’m always OK with spending more alone time with you.” You smiled and leaned into his side as the two of you headed to the police station to bail out your friend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
“(Y/N)!" Sara screeched as the tired looking, grey haired Chief Smith lead you to the back holding cell. “And Bucky! See, I told you they would come. I just knew it.” She turned toward the other woman in the cell and nodded her head vigorously. The woman mumbled ‘thank God’ as the door was opened.
“Sara…” You cocked your eyebrow at your friend as she looked around.
“Where’s my…”
“I have your purse.” You told her as Bucky stepped past you and picked Sara up bridal style. She cheered as she wiggled in his arms.
“You’re so strong. Isn’t he strong, (Y/N)? Look at all these muscles…” She poked as his chest, drunkenly as you thanked the police officer who handed you her shoes, purse and jacket.
“I should be thanking you for getting her out of here for us. She’s been an… interesting house guest.” You pinched your lips and gave him a small smile in understanding.
“Oh trust me, I know.” You followed after Bucky as Sara babbled on, slurring away about her first day in Vegas.
“Chloe! Wait where’s the baby?!” She suddenly shouted as she twisted and tried to get put down.
“We have the baby don’t worry, doll.” Bucky said as he stepped outside. Sara settled down a little bit, mumbling incoherently as you opened the back door of the cab and slid in. You helped your boyfriend get your best friend into the cab and she immediately laid across the seat with her head on your lap. Bucky closed the back door and got in the front as Chloe popped her head out of the carrier on the floor.
“I would have been a good mommy.” Sara said as tears welled in her eyes. She reached down and brushed her fingers over Chloe’s nose. “That’s all I ever wanted… to be a mommy. Now I’ll never have the chance.” She burst into tears as you ran your fingers through her hair.
“Hey… never say never, sweetheart. There is always time…” She shook her head as she continued to pet Chloe.
“No, there won’t. I’m almost thirty! No one want’s an old hag!” You smiled and shook your head.
“That’s not true baby. You don’t know what the universe will bring you. You never know…”
“Oh, because the universe is gunna drop another one of him off at my feet?” She slurred as she pointed toward the front seat. You glanced up at Bucky and gave him a weak smile as Sara went back to petting Chloe.
“You never know, honey. But getting drunk and trying to swim to a pirate ship isn’t going to answer those questions just like it didn’t last time.” She looked up at you and smiled weakly.
“I was trying to find the mermaids… they grant wishes, you know.” You nodded as she rolled her head back and looked at your dog. “I just wanted to wish for a baby.” Your heart broke for your best friend as the cab pulled up to the Mirage. You paid the driver as Bucky got out and picked up Sara. She passed out almost instantly. You grabbed Chloe and Sara’s personal affects and followed your boyfriend into the hotel.
“I wish there was something we could do.” Bucky said as he stepped into the elevator. You nodded as you put Chloe down on the floor so she could walk.
“You and me both, baby.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m never drinking again…” Sara groaned as she rolled to her back next to you in the king sized bed. You knew better than to let her sleep alone after a binge. The last time you did, she almost burned down her apartment building trying to make French fries by throwing water on an oil fire.
“Sweetheart, you say that every time…”
“Yea, but this time I mean it.” She looked over at you and your still mostly asleep boyfriend. Tears well in her eyes as they darted up to look at Chloe, who was asleep on the pillow above your head. “(Y/N), I’m so sorry…” You shook your head as you wiggled out from under Bucky’s metal arm and pulled your best friend into a hug.
“Hey… don’t worry. We got her back in one piece. We got you back in one… really drunk piece.” You pulled back and cupped your friend’s cheeks in your hands with a smile. “S, we came on this vacation for this exact reason. You were married for ten years. I know you put on this front for everyone but you and I both know I am the only person you can’t hide from with that shit.” She nodded as you brushed her hair out of her face. “We are gunna get through this together. You are not alone here and you never will be.” She nodded as a smile cross your face. “But can you do me a favor? Can you, like… not try to swim to find the mermaids next time?” She burst out laughing as you wiped her tears away.
“Do you know they don’t even have that siren show anymore?” Your brow furrowed as she nodded. “I'm serious. Now they have some Avengers walk through.” You felt Bucky prop himself up behind you.
“A what?” Your brow furrowed as you looked at your friend.
“I was drunk, sorry. I didn’t really pay attention to it. I just saw the sign.” You rolled back slightly and looked at Bucky.
“Do you want to go check it out?” You could see the slightest bit of panic in his eyes as he looked down at you and you quickly rolled onto your back sensing a slight panic attack coming on. They didn’t happen often but when they did, they were intense. You cupped your hand on his jaw as he fisted the t-shirt of his you had on in his hand.
“What if…” You shook your head as you raised your other hand and brushed his wild hair back.
“Hey, we don’t have to go. It’s no big deal.”
“It could fill in the holes he has though.” Sara said as she rolled onto her side. You whipped your head over and glared at her as Bucky squeezed his eyes closed.
“Not helping.” You hissed. “It could also trigger. They aren’t 100% sure of the fix…” You could feel Bucky start to shake ever so slightly; the way he did when he had his nightmares. You knew his fear of returning to the monster HYDRA created was in the forefront of his mind. You motioned for Sara to leave as you looked up at your boyfriend. “James, look at me. Right here baby.” You soothed as Sara closed the bedroom door behind her.
“I can’t be that…” You shook your head as you used your legs to roll Bucky onto his back so you could put your full weight on him to ground him.
“Hey, now. I won’t let that happen. Look at me.” You brushed your finger along his nose as Chloe, sensing Bucky’s distress, made her way over to her daddy for extra comfort. He jumped when she touched her wet nose to his temple. “You’re OK baby. Come back to me. Right here.” When his grayish blue eyes met yours, you could see the fear in them. Fear that he would turn back into the Winter Soldier again. Fear that he would lose you and the family he wanted so desperately. Fear that he would hurt you.
“I love you.” He whispered for the very first time as he reached up and moved a strand of your hair back behind your ear. “I can’t lose you.” You smiled at him and nodded in absolute agreement.
“I love you, too. And I’m not going anywhere.” You leaned down and kissed him gently as he wrapped his arms around your waist; clinging to you like a life raft as he tried to ground himself. You pulled back and leaned over to the bedside table to grab the bag of crystals you always had with you. You pulled out a labradorite point and laid it on his chest over his heart. 
“If you want to fill in the gaps, we can go fill in the gaps. If you don’t, we don’t. Simple as that.” You said softly as you rolled the point back and forth. With each swipe to your left, Bucky inhaled; exhaling as you rolled it to the right over his heart. He nodded as he closed his eyes; forcing himself to focus on the here and now like you had taught him. You felt his body relax under you slowly and his grip began to loosen on your waist. After a couple minutes, his hand started stroking your back as he opened his eyes and looked at you.
“I love how you can do that.” You smiled at him as you continued to roll the point over his chest.
“That’s my job, baby. I keep you sane.” He smiled weakly as he reached up and scratched Chloe’s head when she began to gently kiss his face.
“I really love you.” He said as he ran his metal hand under your shirt along your spine. You shivered slightly and his smile got a little bigger. “Sorry.” You shook your head as you rolled the point over his heart and let it rest there.
“I really love you. Every single part of you.” You leaned down and gave him a chaste kiss; pulling away with a laugh when Chloe started to lick your face. “Alright, pup. We’re up.” Bucky moved his hands to your shoulder blade and held you to his chest before you could move to get ready for the day.
“I wanna go… but can we call Steve to come?” You nodded as you brushed his hair back behind his ears.
“Anything you want, Bucky.”
——
“Are you sure you want to do this, Buck?” Steve asked as he waited with you, Bucky, Sara, and Natasha Rominoff for the Marvel walk through to be closed down for the night. Bucky shook his head as he rolled the labradorite point between his palms; the edges clicking softly along the metal plates of his left hand. You lightly ran your hand on his back just to let him know you were there.
“Are we sure this is a good idea? This isn’t exactly…” Natasha started to say. You looked up at her to say something but Sara cut her off instead.
“He has the right to know. If this gives him closure or fills in the gaps then it’s worth it to us.” Natasha nodded as Scott walked over.
“So the exhibit has been cleared. I got you guys an hour.” You thanked your friend as a woman who worked at Treasure Island held open a door for you. Bucky looked up as his hands froze.
“’til the end of the line, pal.” Steve said as he put his hand on his friends shoulder. Bucky nodded and took your hand in his right hand, trapping the crystal between your palms. He took a deep breath and nodded as the group of you headed into the exhibit. The attraction started with a little show, welcoming you to S.T.A.T.I.O.N, the make believe Avengers Scientific Training and Tactical Intelligence Operative Network.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Natasha mumbled as the woman, Agent Hill informed you of your ‘mission.’ You didn’t pay much attention to it as you gently rubbed the back of Bucky’s hand. He jumped ever so slightly when the lights kicked on and two doors slid open in front of you.
“I’m right here.” You said softly as you followed Nat and Sara into the room.
“Don’t let go.” Bucky said as he followed Steve. You promised him you wouldn’t as you looked around the first room. You were slightly stunned to see Steve’s face everywhere.
“This is a little creepy.” Nat said as she looked at a wall comparing the stats of before and after Steve had his super soldier procedure.
“You’re tellin’ me.” Steve said. You strolled past a display of one of Captain America’s old suits and froze. You felt Bucky tense as he looked at his face plastered everywhere. You stepped in front of him and touched your fingers to his jaw. You waited until he looked at you and you smiled at him.
“We’ll go one panel at a time, OK? Little by little.” He nodded as you gently pulled him toward the first panel on your right. You watched his eyes dance over the information; his hometown, family information, and his birthday. He reached up and ran his metal fingers over a photograph of him and Steve as young men.
“Summer before college.” He said with a slight chuckle. “My mom took this photo.” You smiled up at him as he looked at pictures of his childhood. After a few minutes, he nodded and moved on to the next panel. “I was scared out of my mind the day I got drafted.” He said as he looked at the photos of his squadron, the 107th infantry regiment. “But I worked my way up through the ranks…”
“They have your tags.” Steve said. You turned around to the other wall that had the same information as the wall you were looking at. “The real ones. The ones I found in the train…”
“Get them; I want them.” Bucky said as he looked back at the photos. You heard the employee try to protest as Steve broke the glass to the display case but Natasha simply shook her head.
“We’ll replace them with mock tags in the next 24 hours.” Nat said as she grabbed the tags from Steve and brought them over to you. You nodded at her in thanks as you held them out to him. He picked them up and gently dropped the chain over your head.
“Wear them.” You looked up at him and he nodded as he took a deep breath and stepped in front of the next panel. “I remember the war…” His eyes slightly glazed over as he looked at the panel of information of his time as a prisoner of war and Steve’s rescue. “I remember being captured, the beatings, HYDRA’s tests…” His grip on your hand got a little tighter and you turned so you were standing in front of him.
“Hey… stay with me, baby. Right here in Vegas.” You touched his cheek and gently scratched your nails against the scruff on his cheek. It took a moment before he looked down at you and nodded.
“I’m here.” He said softly as he put his metal hand on top of yours. You gave him a reassuring smile as you drummed your fingers on his cheek. You took a step back and rubbed his arm as he moved onto the next panel. “I remember the fall…” You looked up at the panel and read ‘The Howling Commandos’ title. “I remember thinking ‘I hope I die quick’. I remember bits and pieces after that; being rescued, the surgery for my arm…” His voice fell off as his eyes scanned the information on the wall; filling in blanks.
“I remember every single kill. It was almost like they programmed me to turn into me after a kill so I would remember their faces. When I would come back, they would scrub me and put me back in cryosleep. But the sane part of me always found it’s way back. They made more Winter Solders but they were taken out…”
“Recently… I remember that.” He nodded in agreement as he moved onto the second to last panel— his current life. You scanned over the information about the Sokovia Accords and the Civil War. It touched briefly on the reversal of the brainwashing in Wakanda and Bucky’s innocence and current positive standing within the Avengers and the government.
“It’s weird… to see my life laid out like this.” He said as he looked at his current stats; height and weight, his physical capabilities and the metal his arm is made up off. 
“You alright, pal?” Steve asked as Bucky glanced back at the panels. His brow furrowed.
“I’m a monster…” You felt his grip on your hand loosen and you quickly moved and grabbed his chin.
“Look at me.” You snapped, a little harsher than you meant to. Steve said your name warningly as you gave your boyfriend’s chin a slight shake. “James.” His tear-filled gray eyes met yours and you shook your head. “That is not you.” You said as you pointed back at the wall behind you. “This is.” You stepped to the side and pointed to the last line of the last panel. “In good standings. That is James Buchanan Barnes. Not the Winter Soldier. This…” You said as you laid your flat hand over his heart. 
“This… is the man you are. The man who turned his first date with a complete stranger into a weekend sleep over just to help her walk again. The man who takes Chloe out in the mornings without a word of complaint when I don’t want to get out of bed because its cold. The man who defended the honor of the woman he loves in the airport and almost got arrested without a single though for himself. That is who you are.” He shook his head as his eyes darted back to the Winter Soldier panel.
“I can’t…” You felt him wrap his hand around the crystal in his palm and you let him pull away from you.
“Buck…” Steve said as Bucky walked toward the exit door. Steve moved to follow him and you reached your hand out and gently grabbed his arm.
“Let him go. He’ll come back.” Steve looked at you unbelievingly as Bucky shoved the door open and headed down the stairs; pulling his baseball cap and glove on to conceal himself like he usually did. “He always comes back to me.”
“Let’s finish this walk through.” Sara said as she reached out and grabbed Steve’s hand. He looked over at her and gave her a small smile as you took one final look at the James Barnes section of the exhibit. You reached your hand up and ran your fingers over the engravings on the metal dog tags that now hung around your neck. With a heavy sigh, you looked at the door Bucky had gone through one more time before following after the rest of the group.
Part 7
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justanoutlawfic · 7 years
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All I Want For Christmas: Chapt. 1
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Day 1 of @charmingfamilychristmas :)
Summary: 10-year-old Emma's appendix bursts during the Christmas season. Her foster mother, Mary Margaret, calls on her best friend, David to help her through the challenging time. It'd seem despite a curse, the family's found it's way back together. That is until a certain wicked witch turned mayor gets wind and sets her sights on destroying this family.
Also on AO3/FF
Emma would rather be found outside getting dirty and playing wooden swords with her daddy. She pitched a fit any time she had to get dressed up for anything. Emma was quick to learn to crawl and walk. She had the entire kingdom wrapped around her little finger at only 4-years-old, despite not being what would be considered a typical princess. Snow and David wouldn’t have her any other way.
 Though sometimes, Snow had to get creative to get her into a dress. That was especially clear on her 8th birthday. Emma was putting up a bit of a fit over her dress, wearing a white dress with a blue ribbon around the waist.
 “Emma, it’s just one day,” Snow tried to bargain. She rarely made Emma wear a dress, normally she had suits made for her, however the one she had planned hadn’t panned through. Emma had said it was fine until the actual night of.
“No, Mommy!” She whined. “I don’t want to wear it!”
David entered the room just as Emma was dressed. None of his girls noticed his presence, so he coughed a bit. Both turned around, Emma beaming at her daddy merely being there, though Snow was grinning at how handsome he looked in his new suit.
 “Now, where could my little girls be?” David asked.
“Right here, Daddy!” Emma said.
David shook his head. “I don’t think so. My daughter is itty bitty, she’s not this big.”
“I am!” She argued. “I’m 8!”
“You are? I thought you were 2!”
She giggled, suddenly forgetting all about her dress. “Silly Daddy.”
“Well, is not-so-silly little girl ready for her party?”
 Emma nodded, running out of the room. Snow and David linked arms, following close behind her. It wasn’t long before the ball was in full swing. Regina made her way over to her step-granddaughter once she arrived.
 “GiGi!” Emma said, excitedly. Regina wasn’t too much older than Snow and didn’t feel like she was old enough to be a grandma quite yet.
“Hello lovely,” Regina said, cupping her face.
“I don’t like my dress.” She made a face.
Regina chuckled. “Of course you don’t.”
“Don’t hog my goddaughter,” Red said as she made her way over, swooping her into a big hug, showering her face with kisses.
 Snow and David watched on with a big smile. They were truly blessed over how loved their daughter was. Both sets of their parents had long passed on, but Emma didn’t lack for family. Outside Regina and Red, there were the dwarves and Granny. Even Ella and Thomas had become like surrogate aunt and uncle, their daughter, Alexandra was very close with the her. Yes, they felt very blessed.
 Suddenly, there was a chill throughout the air. Snow was going to ignore it, until she saw a cloud of green smoke. In the center of the room stood someone they hadn’t seen in quite some time.
 “Zelena,” Regina seethed.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said with a smirk. Her skin was green as the grass growing outside, her usual broom in hand.
“Leave, now!” David demanded, drawing his sword from his belt, causing Emma to curl into him. She didn’t like the scary lady. She had been fortunate enough to never meet her. Zelena had been banished after Snow and David fought to get their kingdom back.
Zelena merely let out a tsk. “Now, now, is that any way to talk to a guest?”
 She stepped closer to the royal couple. Regina went to throw a fireball at her sister, but was frozen in place. Zelena reached out to stroke Emma’s cheek, but Snow protectively stepped in front of her.
 “So innocent, so pure,” Zelena purred.
“You touch my daughter, I will end you,” Snow told her, her voice firm.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to harm a hair on her little head,” she replied, condescendingly. “I have just come to give the little one a gift.”
“We don’t want anything from you.”
“That’s too bad,” Zelena’s eyes filled with fury as she looked around at the packed ballroom. She could see the fear written all over Emma’s face as they cowered into her parents. “My gift to you is a curse, one that will make you all pay for banishing me.”
From her spot, still frozen, Regina gulped. “No. You can’t…you’ve been working with Rumple.”
“One of us had to, sis.” She smirked. “You were too weak to go through with it, but me…” She let out an evil laugh. “Well, Mother is going to be quite proud of me.”
“You won’t hurt our family or any of our kingdom for that matter,” David told her, his eyes narrowing.
“There’s not a thing you can do about it, Prince Charming,” Zelena taunted. “The curse is coming whether you like it or not. So, I’d cuddle that precious angel a little tighter, because soon, you’ll have lost that luxury.”
 David threw his sword in her direction, ready to end her, but she disappeared before it could even graze her. He and Snow looked from each other and down at the little girl in their arms. What the hell was going on?
After Zelena had left, everyone attempted to get back to the festivities to distract Emma, but the mood was definitely different. She had been tucked in bed early, but knew that Regina was still there, waiting to talk with her parents. She didn’t want to miss a word of it, so she pressed her ear to the other side of her father’s office door, listening to the conversation going on.
 “What exactly is this curse?” Snow asked Regina.
“It’s to send all of us to a faraway land, in another world. It’s a place where our lives are merely stories,” she explained.
“What does that even mean?” David asked.
“It’s hard to explain.”
“Well how do we stop it?”
“We can’t.”
“You said she was working with Rumpelstiltskin, he’s locked in our dungeon,” Snow pointed out.  “Doesn’t that mean that she can’t cast it?”
“She was his prodigy, I’m sure he’s taught her everything he knows.”
“Well, how does the curse get enacted?”
“She has to crush the heart of the one she loves the most, which may buy us some time. I’m not sure that Zelena loves anyone,” Regina replied, lowering herself into a chair. “The thing about this curse is, we wouldn’t remember who we were, we’d have new identities and all.”
“All curses can be broken,” David said. “Look at the infertility one that George placed on Snow. We were able to break it with the water from that lake.”
“This curse is a bit more complicated. We’d need a savior.”
“Well, who’s the savior?”
Regina sighed. “That I wouldn’t know.”
 Snow and David exchanged a look, lacing their fingers together.
 “We won’t let her hurt our daughter, our kingdom,” Snow said, firmly. “We’ll do what we can to stop it.”
 David nodded. He wasn’t sure how they were going to do it, but they’d figure something out, somehow. Together, they walked to the door to see Regina out. On the other side of the door, they found Emma standing there, clutching her blanket.
 Snow raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing up?” She asked.
Regina partially smiled. “I can see myself out, good evening.” She descended the staircase, ready to head back to her own castle to game plan.
 David and Snow lead their daughter back up to the nursery, tucking them into her bed once again. Snow sat on one side of Emma, David sitting on the other.
 “What have we told you about eavesdropping?” Snow asked.
“Not to do it,” Emma mumbled.
“Exactly.”
“Is that mean lady coming back?”
David sighed, wrapping an arm around her. “No, sweetie. Never again.”
“What’s a curse?”
“It’s just…it’s not something we have to worry about.”
“GiGi can’t fix it, though. She said so,” Emma pointed out. “And GiGi can fix everything.” She had always fascinated with her step-grandmother’s magic, she thought she had the answers to everything, much like she did with her parents.
“Listen,” Snow said, rubbing her back. “We’re going to fix this. We’ll always be a family.”
“Even if we ever were separated, we’ll always find each other,” David promised them, kissing the top of Emma’s head. “That’s what we do in this family.”
Snow nodded. “We love you more than anything in this world. We won’t let a thing happen to you.”
Emma gnawed on her bottom lip. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
 They gave her a soft kiss to her forehead and began to sign a lullaby.
 Blacks and bays, dapples and greys, Go to sleepy you little baby,
Way down yonder, down in the meadow, There's a poor wee little lamby. The bees and the butterflies pickin' at its eyes
 Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleepy little baby. Hush-a-bye, don't you cry, Go to sleepy little baby, When you wake, you shall have, All the pretty little horses.
 hey didn’t have as much time as they thought they did. For just a mere two days later, Regina realized that the mirror she had once used to force her mother into Wonderland had been stolen. She scoured the kingdom for it, before she came about an old farm cottage. Inside, she found a cauldron, bubbling. Beside it was…her mother.
 “Mother,” she whispered. “How are you here?”
“That’s what I would like to know,” Cora replied, an eyebrow raised.  “I thought you banished me to Wonderland.”
“I did,” Regina looked around for a minute until she saw that all too familiar broom. She gulped after a moment. “Zelena.”
“How do you know who that is?”
“She returned years ago, Mother.” Regina couldn’t even meet her eye. She would never forgive Cora for all she had done to her over the years. To top it all off, she had ruined Zelena’s life as well, causing her to become so screwed up.
Zelena suddenly appeared in her trademark cloud of green smoke. “Well, well, well, isn’t this a lovely family reunion,” she said, smiling from Regina to Cora.
“Zelena,” Cora breathed. “You turned out so beautiful.”
“Flattery will get you zero.”
“Why are you doing this, Zelena?” Regina asked. “She’s dangerous.”
“Oh, she can’t harm me. I made sure of it.” She stepped closer to her mom, staring down at her. “You see, ever since I found out what you did to me, I had to wonder why. Didn’t you love me? How couldn’t you?”
“Of course I love you,” Cora tried to say. She was putting on a good front, but Regina was beginning to wonder if, for the first time, her mother was afraid.
“That doesn’t matter. What does…is that I do you. All children love their mommies. And since I don’t have anyone else in my life…”
 Regina caught onto just what Zelena was doing. She hated Cora and had pictured doing the very same thing many times over in her life, but had refrained. Despite how awful she was, she was still her mother.
 “Zelena, don’t!”
 Regina was once again frozen before she could do anything. Zelena picked up a box, smirking from it to Cora.
 “I found your most prized possession, Mother,” she told her. She flipped it open and removed the beating heart, the one Cora had taken out all those years ago. “Rumple told me what you once said and you were right: love is weakness.”
 The heart glowed and pulsed in her chest. She held it over the cauldron and focused on it, her lip trembling as she crushed it, causing Cora to go limp in her chair. The cauldron bubbled over and Zelena grinned over at Regina, who looked pain stricken.
 “Toodles, sis,” Zelena said, flicking her wrist and disappearing.
 There was nothing Regina could do. She stared at her mother, becoming the curse’s first victim.
 Back at the palace, Snow looked out the window and in the distance, she could see the looming green clouds taking over everything. One by one, she could see the people she once knew disappearing as it touched. She quickly ran to where Emma played with her father. David met her eyes and they had one of their silent eye conversations. He quickly grabbed hold of Emma and Snow clutched his hand. Emma held her baby blanket tightly to her chest.
 hat are you doing, Mommy?” Emma asked.
“We’re going to play a game,” Snow improvised. “We’re going to run, as fast as we can, to the carriages outside, alright?”
 Emma nodded and clung tightly to her dad’s shirt. There was no time to say “I love you” or even continue to hold hands. They had to try to outrun the curse, protect their daughter. They had failed their kingdom, they wouldn’t do the same with her.
 As they got outside, Snow hopped into the carriage, holding Emma close on her lap. David wasn’t far behind, until suddenly Zelena appeared. Snow was about to go after her, when the horse unexpectedly took off. Snow screamed and held on tight to Emma, who was now sobbing.
 “Mommy! Daddy’s over there!”
“I know, angel, I know, we’ll find them,” she shouted over the loud clomping of the horseshoes. Before she could say anything more, they were engulfed by the curse.
David watched the carriage take off, his heart hanging heavy in his chest. His girls were gone, but at least they were together. He drew his sword, pointing it towards Zelena.
  He watched as his little girl took off, drawing his sword. “Emma is with Snow, we’re going to beat this.”
“That’s what you think,” she told him. With a flick of the wrist, she sent him flying against a tree. He let out a moan on impact before falling out of consciousness.
 A green cloud of smoke over took the two, a sick smile on Zelena’s face.
Long gone was the shepherd turned prince who had to adjust to a grand castle. No more was the husband of Snow White and the father of a little girl. He was no longer the hopeful man he had been.
 In his place was David Nolan. The son of a wealthy business man, who had passed on his company to his son. David had been married to Kathryn in this universe, as far as he knew, she had died in childbirth with their daughter. He lived alone in a beach front mansion in a small town in Maine. 36 years of fake memories had replaced the real ones. He wore stuffy suits and only really smiled for business purposes
 When he woke up for the first time in Storybrooke, he was laying in his king-sized bed. He was wearing Yankees pajama pants and a white t-shirt, his hair a tangled a mess. He had just lived through a terrible nightmare, reliving the night he lost his wife and child. They had been stolen from him and there was no way of ever getting them back. Running his fingers through his hair, he let out a long sigh.
 “It was just a dream,” he muttered, before slipping back to sleep.
 In another part of town, laid the former princess, Snow White. Except in this new land, she wasn’t her, her name was Mary Margaret Blanchard. Her long curls had disappeared and she had a pixie cut. Any signs that her body had once bared a child, from the stretchmarks to the tiny bits of baby weight that never went away, had disappeared. Unlike her husband, she wasn’t living in a mansion. Instead, she slept in the small loft that hung above the orphanage that she ran with the help of a few others.
 She could hear the rain falling outside as her eyes flickered open. Nearby, she could hear Jefferson snoring. A man that she had once considered a friend, now just a fellow employee. Both had their child ripped from them in this new curse. However, unlike David, she was closer to her daughter, just not in the way she’d like.
 Mary Margaret tied her robe around her waist and headed down the stairs. The twin beds were arranged in neat rows, all the children soundly sleeping. 36 years of fake memories were on her brain. She was a woman who had lost any family she had, one who couldn’t have any children of her own. So, she had taken a job at the orphanage to help find families for the orphans. Just as Jefferson would find himself moved to Grace and Robin had a close bond with Roland, Mary Margaret found herself checking on Emma.
 The young child laid in her bed, curled up in a ball. In her arms was what she believed to be the only thing left of her parents, a baby blanket with her name on it. As far as she knew, her parents had dropped her off at the orphanage in the middle of the night, never to return. Mary Margaret had been the one to find her on the doorstep and taken her in. She was the closest thing she had to a mother.
 Emma woke up a bit when she felt someone looking down at her. She blinked a few times. “Mary Margaret? Is it morning’ time?”
“Not yet, sweetheart,” Mary Margaret whispered. “Go back to sleep. Tomorrow will be a brighter day.”
 Emma nodded and let out a yawn before drifting off to sleep. Mary Margaret frowned, wondering how no one could want such a sweet little angel.
   2 Years Later
Emma stood outside, her legs planted firmly apart with her baseball glove in hand. She looked behind Roland, to her best friend Grace, who winked at her.
 “Throw the ball,” Roland complained with a small whine.
“I’ll throw it when I’m damn good and ready.”
“I’m gonna tell Mary Margaret and Jefferson that you cursed,” he threatened.
“And I’ll tell them that it was you that stole Jefferson’s wallet last weekend,” she countered.
 Emma was honestly just bluffing. She found herself having a soft spot for Roland, along with all the older kids in the orphanage. They were all in the same spot, less likely to be adopted the older that they got. Well, Emma didn’t really have that problem. It was just that the people that wanted to adopt her, weren’t the families she wanted. She wanted one person to be her mother, it just didn’t seem to be possible.
 Roland rolled his eyes and adjusted his hold on the bat. Emma threw the ball, which he missed. Grace giggled, holding it up in the air.
 “Strike three!” She announced. “You’re out!”
“Aw man,” Roland mumbled, stomping off.
“Who’s next?” Emma asked, looking over at the other children that were lined up to bat.
Suddenly, a window above them could be heard opening, followed by Mary Margaret’s voice. “Emma! What are you doing playing out in the dirt? I told you we have that meeting today!”
“We’re kicking the boys, butts, Mary Margaret!” Emma tried to explain.
Mary Margaret shook her head, taking in the little girl’s dirty overalls and messy hair. “Come on! We’re gonna be late!”
“Five more minutes!”
 She was fixed with a look, one that made her let out a long sigh and toss her glove over to Grace.
 “Guess I’ll be back later,” she said dramatically.
“Hey, good luck,” one of the other kids called out.
“She doesn’t want to be adopted, dummy,” Grace told them, folding her arms over her chest. She knew just how Emma felt. She wanted Jefferson to adopt her, but that didn’t seem to be happening.
“I don’t know why you two are so stubborn about that.”
“Mind your own beeswax,” Emma told him, heading back into the orphanage.
 A borrowed pair of clean jeans and a quick brush through her tangled hair later, Emma was sitting in the passenger seat of Mary Margaret’s station wagon. She kept glancing from the older woman to the road.
 “I don’t want to do this,” she mumbled.
“I heard that the Spencers are very nice people,” Mary Margaret said.
“Why can’t you just adopt me?” Emma said, looking up at her with narrowed eyes.
 Mary Margaret sighed, focusing her glance on the road. She would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about it. Actually, she had done more than just “think”. She’d gone to the head of social services in their town, Sidney Glass, and done all but begged to adopt Emma. She loved her, she had been looking after her for so many years. However, Mr. Glass, was heavily influenced by the town’s mayor, Zelena Greene who hated Mary Margaret for a reason she never understood. She said that given her salary, she could never provide for Emma properly, the same excuse she gave Jefferson when he wanted to adopt Grace. They weren’t exactly flowing with cash, but they made enough. It didn’t seem to matter, though. Whatever Mayor Greene said, went.
 “I already told you, they won’t let me,” she replied after a few moments of silence. “Plus, you deserve a mother and a father.”
“So get a husband.”
Mary Margaret laughed, shaking her head. “It’s not like buying a car, ya know.”
“So you keep saying.”
 Soon, they pulled up at the Spencer’s residence. Emma took it in, sighing. She knew all about Albert Spencer and his wife, who went by the nickname of Blue. They were pretty shady in her book and she was only 10. As she got out of the car, she folded her arms over her chest.
 “Come on, the house looks nice,” Mary Margaret tried to tell her. Truth was, she had also heard of the Spencer’s reputation, but they were well liked by most of the public. Blue and Zelena seemed to get along very well, the latter of which had really been pushing this match. “Just give them a chance, Em, please. You don’t want to be an orphan forever.”
“I already told you who I want to be my mom.”
 Emma stomped up the steps of the house, while Mary Margaret let out another sigh. She followed close behind her and rang the bell. The door opened and Emma found two of the coldest people on the other side. They were smiling, but not with their eyes. She looked from them to Mary Margaret, raising an eyebrow.
 “Well,” Blue said, coolly. “Isn’t she just precious.”
“Very,” Albert agreed. “Come on in, both of you.”
 Emma had been through a few meetings that she could remember. They all went the same, for the most part. Most of the time, they didn’t realize just how old she was and she’d head back to the orphanage. Every time, Mary Margaret would promise her that she would find her a real family one day.
 This was different, though. As cold as they seemed, they were also interested. They showed them both a room they had set up for a child. It had about as much personality as they did, but Mary Margaret tried to stay optimistic for Emma’s sake.
 “What sorts of things do you like to do, Emma?” Blue asked as they settled down at the kitchen table for a snack.
“Baseball, watching T.V, I dunno,” she shrugged.
“Baseball?” Albert raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think that’s appropriate for a girl to be playing.”
“I play better than any of the stupid boys at the orphanage,” Emma mumbled.
“A proper young lady doesn’t mumble,” Blue corrected her with a stern look.
 Mary Margaret sighed. This wasn’t the family for Emma and she knew It. They just had to get through the meeting. She’d talk some sense into Sidney, even he had to see that these two were just off. There was no way she was going to send her there.
 The rest of the meeting was just awkward. Emma wasn’t saying much, outside the occasional sassy remark. Albert and Blue didn’t seem to be that interested anyway.
 “Thanks for meeting with…” Mary Margaret tried to say as they walked out, only to get the door slammed in her face.
Emma scoffed as they walked back to the car. “Can we just go back home now?”
“I’m sorry, Em. You know I’m really trying here…”
“Everyone wants the puppy, no one wants a mutt.”
“Hey,” Mary Margaret knelt in front of her, taking Emma’s chin into her hand, “You listen to me, Emma Swan, you are not a mutt. One day, you’ll have more family than you know what to do with. I promise.”
“I thought you didn’t make promises,” Emma told her, biting her lip.
“I don’t make promises I can’t keep. You’ll get a family. Here, look. I was going to wait to give this to you, but…”
 Mary Margaret reached into her glove compartment and pulled out a book. She had found it at the bookstore where a sullen Lacey French worked. She mostly ran it for her father (when she wasn’t getting drunk at the Rabbit Hole). She said the book had just come in and she couldn’t help but think it’d be perfect for Emma. She wasn’t a princessy type person, but she remembered fairytales helping her when she was young.
 “Once Upon A Time?” Emma asked, looking at the cover. “Like fairytales?”
“Yes. I want you to have it, maybe you could read it to the little kids, or yourself.” She gave her a soft smile. “Think about the classics, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, what do they all have in common?”
“That they were all stupid damsels in distress that needed a guy to save them?”
Mary Margaret shook her head. “They had hope, even in the darkest of times. All happy endings start with hope, Emma. You just have to believe.”
 Emma gave her a look. She felt like Mary Margaret had said a lot of crazy stuff over the years, this seemed to take the cake. A part of her wanted to believe, though. She held the book to her chest and shrugged.
 “Thanks, I guess.”
“You’re welcome. Now come on, I think we’ll just make lunch. Jefferson arranged for Granny’s to cater today, we’re having grilled cheese.”
 That got Emma smiling again as she climbed into the passenger seat, the book not leaving her lap.
Zelena strode up the steps of the Spencer household. She had the misfortune of knowing both George and Blue back in the Enchanted Forest. They could’ve actually been allies of her, if George wasn’t an insufferable man who preferred to work alone and if Blue had actually been up front and honest about her shadiness. Zelena didn’t have patience for fake people…or fairies. It only made sense to pair them in the curse and make them both more than willing to work with her.
 Except apparently, they didn’t want to follow her plan to adopt Emma Swan from the orphanage. It was the next phase of her plan. The girls were getting older, the only ones that actually aged within the curse. In order for her to permanently freeze the town, she needed them to lose all the hope they had inside them. That started with Emma being adopted by ghastly Spencers. Once and for all, Snow White would lose everything that mattered to her. Soon, she would wake her from the curse, allowing her to watch as her husband was miserable and mourning a woman who never existed, while her daughter was being raised by others. There would be nothing she could do and eventually she would end up in asylum.
  Albert opened the door, giving her a polite smile. “Madam Mayor, how may I assist you?”
“I heard you and your wife met Emma Swan this weekend,” she said. “Yet Sidney said you told him you weren’t interested.”
“Blue doesn’t even want children,” Albert explained. “Emma was a stretch. Plus, as I told you, I need a son, an heir.”
Zelena rolled her eyes. “Do not be so prehistoric, Albert. A girl can just as well be an heir as a boy, if you train her right. I’m sure with proper redirection, Emma would be an amazing heir. Plus, I could more than make it worth your while.”
Albert raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t usually the parents who are looking to buy the children?”
“I’m a modern woman. So, do we have a deal or not?”
He sighed, knowing that the mayor was not going to back down. “I’m sure I can talk to Blue. Last we checked though, the paperwork is complicated.”
“You leave all that to me, darling. You just convince that wifey of yours that all’s that missing in your life is a precious little girl.”
 Zelena turned around and headed back to her car, driving to the orphanage. She wasn’t completely cruel to the children, she always made sure that it had enough money. She had once been an orphan herself and though each of these children actually had cursed parents they were separated from, she didn’t want them to suffer. Well, not all of them anyway. She made her way through the crowd of little ones that were playing outside under the aide of Jefferson. He looked away from her, clearly still bitter from the last time he pleaded to adopt Grace.
 She made her way inside and found Mary Margaret in the kitchen, cooking. There was something funny to her to watch the former princess now forced to do housework. She put her hands on her hips.
 “Miss Blanchard.”
Mary Margaret looked up, offering a polite smile to the mayor. “Hello Madam Mayor. How may I help you today?”
“I just wanted to talk to you about Emma.” She saw the woman’s eyes light up. “It seems that Albert Spencer has had a change of heart. He believes he might actually want to adopt Emma.” She could see her face instantly fall at that news. “What is it? I thought the idea behind this orphanage was to find all the children homes.”
“I know that and I do want that, for all of them,” Mary Margaret tried to clarify. “It’s just…I don’t think that’s best for Emma. Not with the Spencers, I mean.”
“Albert is quite wealthy, he can provide for her plenty.”
“With all due respect, Madam Mayor,” she put down the spoon she was holding. “Money isn’t all that a child needs. They need love, stability.”
Zelena let out a sigh. “Here we go again.”
“Please, at least just consider it,” Mary Margaret pleaded. “I did the numbers. I make enough to support Emma and myself. I know it’s not a luxurious mansion or anything…”
“Not to mention you are single,” Zelena reminded her. “A child needs two parents.”
Mary Margaret let out a sigh. “Come on, wouldn’t you rather allow her with someone who actually wants her?”
“Miss Blanchard, this conversation is highly inappropriate. I do not like what you are insuating about the Spencers. How do I know that you’re not spewing this around Emma?”
“I’m not, I swear…”
“Do I need to move you to an orphanage out of town? Because I will.”
“No, no, please, I’m sorry!”
 Zelena smirked. This was the one main difference between Snow White and Mary Margaret Blanchard. Snow would’ve never allowed anyone to speak to her in such a way. Mary Margaret was a shrinking violet and didn’t want to step on toes.
“I won’t ask you again,” Mary Margaret whispered. “Please, just let me keep your job.”
“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood, Miss Blanchard. Next time, please watch your mouth. Now, I would prepare Emma for probably another visit with the Spencers.” She dipped her finger into the bowl of mashed potatoes that the care worker was making and licked it. “Needs more salt.”
 Mary Margaret let out a deep breath, running her fingers through her hair. What was she supposed to do now? There was no way she could let Emma end up with the Spencers. There had to be another way, any other way.
 The door to the kitchen burst open once again and Grace ran through. She let out another sigh. “Grace, dinner will be ready…”
“Mary Margaret, something’s wrong with Emma!”
 She instantly dropped the spoon and ran into the room with the beds. She found Emma curled up on her bed, pushing away Jefferson who was trying to figure what was wrong. Sitting next to her, she quietly shooed him away to try to get the other kids from crowding Emma. Putting a hand on her forehead, she frowned.
 “Emma, you have a fever.”
“I’m fine,” she whined, despite the look on her face.
“I don’t think you are.” She noticed Emma was clutching her stomach, more specifically the right side. “Okay, Jefferson, I need you to call an ambulance.”
Jefferson had managed to get all of the kids, barring Grace (who was clinging to his leg), out of the room. “Why?”
“I think she has appendicitis.” Mary Margaret ran her fingers through Emma’s hair. “It’s going to be okay Emma, you’re going to be okay.”
 Emma whimpered, looking up at Mary Margaret, for the first time in a long time, appearing to be afraid. The ambulance came quickly and the paramedics were rushing Emma into the ambulance. Mary Margaret started going after them, but then paused, turning back to Jefferson and Robin.
 “I…”
Robin waved her off. “Go, it’ll be fine. We can handle the kids, you take care of Emma.”
 She nodded and got into the back of the ambulance with them. She held tightly onto Emma’s hand, answering as many questions as she could as it sped down the streets to Storybrooke General. Upon arrival, Emma was taken away from her and she was left alone, standing in the middle of the waiting room, her heart beating heavily. She couldn’t stand being alone in that moment.
 She couldn’t call Robin or Jefferson. One person couldn’t handle all the kids alone. There was only one other person that came to mind.
 Digging through her pocket, she retrieved her cell phone and quickly dialed a number.
 “Mary Margaret?” David asked.
“I…I need you. One of the kids is in the hospital…I can’t do this alone.”
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vicioushyperbolizer · 7 years
Text
Patater Week - 2/11 - cuddling
Kent and Jack rekindle their friendship and it's beautiful
Kent spends as much time with them as he can
hannukah, a new years eve party, a joint 4th of july/birthday bash
even the spare weekend off
the thing is, tater is always there?? for everything???
so, he flies to providence one day
his flight is delayed
his layovers suck ass
his coffee was decaf, I mean how do you accidentally make coffee decaf
(if wasn't an accident, the barista definitely decafed him on purpose because he was kind of being a dramaqueen and the barista just couldn’t handle it anymore)
he gets in late, like 2am, so he can't check in to his hotel because of course he forgot to do it online
so, he texts Jack and Bitty (about twelve times each until he wakes them up) and demands to sleep in their guest room
tater is there
he's always there
doesn't he have his own apartment?
“I live with ex. Ex kick me out. Jack offer I am stay.”
Tater heavily suggests he does not take the guest bedroom
“wall shares wall with zimboni's headboard. For small man, itty bitty makes big noise”
Kent triest the couch for 2.5 seconds before he realizes it's a giant piece of shit
he plans to take them shopping when the sun rises
Tater to the rescue: “I am staying on floor, you stay with.”
If he wasn't so fall down dead tired, Kent would say no
and how beautiful Tater is 100% doesn't factor in
or how Big he is, and how nice it will be to be cuddled in those arms
even though they're totally not gonna cuddle, it's just sleeping
tater takes forever to get their “bed” settled
it's the best floor-bed kent has ever seen
there are about a million pillows
all the blankets are in this uncomfortable looking nest
but oh good lord it's so nice
look. Kent doesn't mean to cuddle at all
he doesn't
even if thinking about it was, like, 80% of the reason he said yes
but he wakes up at around 4 all tangled with Tater
he was totally right about how amazing it feels to be wrapped in Tater's arms
kent's not as small as everyone makes him out to be, but Tater is just HUGE
he falls back to sleep
he wakes up again at 6
god it's so early Jack hasn't even gotten up yet
SO NOW YOU DECIDE WHAT HAPPENS- it’s choose your own adventure, y’all
IF YOU WANT FLUFF
Tater wakes up right after Kent
Neither one of them says anything, and they definitely don't mention the fact that they're cuddling
or how much they both love it
or how Tater's hand is rubbing soft circles over Kent's back
or the way Kent's hand is just the perfect size to hold on to Tater's shoulder
and they don't mention it when Jack and Bitty ask when Kent got in and was the guest room okay?
And they don't have to mention it when Tater slips his number into Kent's back pocket before he leaves with Jack on a run
IF YOU WANT THE NSFW ENDING
kent realizes very quickly that he has A Problem
that is pressing very insistently into Tater's hip
and Tater seems to have A Problem, too
before he can manage to pull himself out of the tangle of limbs, Tater wakes up too
they both kind of fumble around about who should get up and that doesn't help the situation any
the fumbling turns more into dry humping than anything else
and then dry humping turns into kent riding tater's leg
then coming in their pants like teenagers
maybe it happens the next night, too, because kent already didn't check into his hotel one night, what's another night sleeping on the floor
or not really sleeping on the floor, more accurately
(they give Jack and Bitty a run for their money in volume levels)
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howveryheather · 7 years
Text
One happy little wedding
“I’m not doing that.”
“C’mon.”
“No... There is no way.”
“But I want to walk down the aisle to Billy Idol!” I sat back and crossed my arms in front of me, “You know that he’s my rock and roll husband.”
“There is nothing more problematic than telling me, the man that you’re getting married to, that you’re going to be thinking about another dude when you’re walking down the aisle with me.”
“To you, not with you.”
“Even worse!”
“It’s a joke.” Suddenly, I felt so tired. I put my head down on the dining room table, ear flat against the glossed wood, “We don’t have to play Billy Idol.”
The six most terrible words ever.
“Well, good!” Marc straightened up in his chair, “Besides, let’s be practical here. My parents wouldn’t like that. Your parents wouldn’t like that. Because the only way a Billy Idol themed wedding would work is if I bought a Member’s Only jacket and did my hair like a flock of seagulls.”
I lifted my ear up from the table, “In that case, I would have to go full-tilt Madonna.”
“It’s a wedding, right? You would be Stephanie Seymour in the November Rain video.” Marc smiled at me with all of his teeth. A rarity because they were crooked and he didn’t like to smile with his mouth open all that much.
“That makes you Axl.” I grinned back, “But can I be honest? He doesn’t really do it for me.”
“Really?” Marc pushed his chair away from the table and sat back, “Who does then?”
“Billy, duh! Anyway,” I lifted my head back up, “What else is left on the agenda.”
Marc sighed, “Ummm, quite a bit. There’s the wedding party, for starters. Best men for me, maid of honor and bridesmaids for you. Any other miscellaneous items you’d like to join us down the aisle like ring bearers and such.”
“I don’t have enough friends for bridesmaids and a maid of honor.”
“Yeah you do! Naomi, obviously, and Paige. What about your friend Aubrey?”
“She’s just a club friend.”
“Jenna from college?”
“Nah, we grew apart.”
“Your coworkers aside from Paige?”
“No. Definitely not. Ugh, I can’t even begin to imagine myself engaging willingly in an extracurricular where Alexis Addison is present.”
“Cousins?”
“Don’t have any. I come from a very tiny family, you know that.”
“So, two people then? That’s not bad. I wouldn’t have very many people myself. Robert from work-”
“McMillan?”
“Yeah, he’s probably my best friend.” Marc scribbled down names on the piece of paper, “A few of my cousins, probably. Ian and Christopher. Maybe Andre from golf, a few others, I don’t know.”
“Hmm, it’s a little bit more extensive than my itty bitty lineup.”
“Yeah...” Marc stared at the paper, “Um, so there’s the guest list which we should probably talk about.”
I began spinning the engagement ring he had put on my finger less than 24 hours ago round and round. Well, I tried to anyway. It was too tight. It was a beautiful ring, so full of diamonds when it caught the light it could blind you, but the wrong size. My gut began whispering that this was an omen. I remembered when I was in high school, I used to tell my girlfriends at dances that this was exactly what I wanted if I ever got engaged. The right ring from the right man. 
But nobody ever said that you needed to make sure it fit too.
The last twenty four hours had been a surreal blur. Today was February 15th and I was engaged. Yesterday it was February 14th. And I wish I could tell you that the engagement had happened first thing that morning, that I hadn’t spent the better part of Valentine’s Day yelling at Marc because I found him flirting with other girls on Twitter. Girls with avatars of cut off collarbones and cleavage. Girls he didn’t even know but still sent messages to despite me being right there. I wish I could tell you that our dinner out had not ended with me screaming at him so loudly in public that my entire left arm went numb and my heart had been pounding so fast and hard it felt like I was literally going to have a heart attack on Valentine’s Day. Amazingly, we went home together that night.
He came to me after I emerged from the bathroom, sitting on the toilet for twenty minutes with my head between my knees trying desperately not to have a panic attack. He was holding a tiny box in his hands and rattling it back and forth, “Hey, so I know you kind of want to kill me right now because of some stupid Twitter messages but I was kind of planning on asking you to marry me tonight.”
I froze. My heart pounded hard and fast all over again, “Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t have to do it tonight though.” Marc sighed, “Ahh, look! This is clearly the wrong time to be popping the question, but I had this date set in my mind for months now.”
“Months?”
“Yes. I got the ring from my parents. It’s a family heirloom, completely priceless. You’ll love it, it’s got ‘Abby’ written all over it. I used to look at this ring and think that the moment I met the one, I could see her wearing this ring. And that’s how it has been for you. I see this ring, I see you, and it all... Fits.”
In retrospect, he could not have said a more ironic thing to me.
I didn’t say anything. I was in so much shock, simply hearing him speak was something that didn’t even comprehend inside of my mind. Marc cleared his throat, “What are you thinking? Oh wait, hold up I know,” he dropped to one knee, “I’m not doing this right.” 
He reached out for my hand and took it in his, “Abigail Claire Paris. My best friend. My heart, head, and soul.”
Ugh, that’s too many things to be to a person. The left side of my brain critiqued in a pair of reading glasses.
Shut UP, lefty! This is it! This is everything we have been working towards and you are not going to ruin this moment with logic! Love does not mean being logical and perfect. It just means being! The right said of my brain ran up behind me and began coaching me, Rocky-style. Alright, this is it! We have been dreaming of this moment ever since we saw Say Anything in grade school. The one! Your one true love! You will finally be married and get a wedding just like everyone else.  
“Will you marry me?”
I wondered why the last thought, quite literally the last sentence to enter my head before I heard those four loaded words, was the notion that I wanted a wedding because seemingly everyone else I knew had one. 
All of the thoughts in my head were silenced. I couldn’t think anymore. The moments ahead processed within me like they were happening to another girl. Another Abby. I had stepped outside of my body and was on the outside, looking in. On the outside, I saw her, me, say yes. I felt the phantom limb of my finger as the ring was slipped on and noticed how my eyes popped ever so slightly at the sheer magnitude of the ring. I saw myself kissing Marc and crying a little, though I wasn’t sure of the exact reasoning behind the tears. 
Then we took a photo together, for the internet, but called our parents first. Everyone was asleep because it was 2:30 AM, but my mother, Meredith, answered. I gushed on the phone to her, spewing a haphazard string of words and thoughts about being engaged to her. None of it made any sense, but she was totally there with me and crying too. “One happy little wedding,” was a phrase that stuck out, but it made no sense as to why she would say that. My dad slept through the announcement, despite her best attempts to wake him up though and I had my first genuine laugh in ages knowing that. Then we called Marc’s parents, in Rio, who announced that they would pop champagne with us when they returned home in the coming weeks.
Marc and I immediately began sharing the news on the internet. Marc, in full bragging mode, writing “POWER COUPLE ON LOCK” in all caps on Facebook. Me, doing something along the lines of “get to marry my college sweetheart” and a thinly veiled Love Actually reference on Instagram.
Hey, wait. Is that really a movie that’s something worth quoting for an engagement?
“Guest list.” Marc put his pencil down, “Argh, that’s too much for tonight. Thoughts about a venue, Abby? Abby?”
I turned to him.
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juliadgaddis · 7 years
Text
An Update on ALL Five Fellows!
We sure loved watching our Fellows grow and blossom while they were in our care.  They all found wonderful homes and their parents generously supplied with updates on all of their babies for me to share with you today! First up is Seymour Fellows. You may recall he was adopted by Victoria and Ian, who also adopted Agnes Pettibone and Myra/Myron Ulysses Clover (who now goes by Dixie).  Vic provided us with an update on the whole crew! Agnes Pettibone - 9 years old. Our resident "Lady of the House". She is sweet and dorky and shares a special bond with her human, Ian. She can be very flirtatious, especially with the gentlemen that come to visit. She prefers to chew the stringed part of any wand/feather toy. At Christmas time, she is the naughty one who won't leave the presents alone.
I have so many updates from our adopters, some of the posts are spilling into this week!
Dixie Clover - 2 years old. Our resident "Tomboy in Fancy Dress". You can't help but notice Dixie's amazing smokey belly fur and floofy tail. We had no idea when we brought her home that she would literally blossom into the beautiful fluffy cat she's become. She's playful. Loves to be held and carried around and has frequent conversations in a quiet little meow.
Seymour Fellows - 4.5 months. Our resident "Little Meezer Man". It feels like this most recent addition to our family has always been with us. This little cat is a lover with a wild streak that is highly entertaining. He is a confident little dude (thanks, to Laurie's care) who has captured our hearts. Especially, Dixie's heart.
We added Seymour because Dixie is still young and has an energy level that Agnes isn't always interested in matching. We added the new kitten with the hope that he would be a good playmate for Miss D. and,in turn, maybe free up Agnes to enjoy more uninterrupted naps. It could not have gone better. Every time I turn around, Dixie and Seymour are embracing for a cuddle/grooming fest or "wrassling" each other. The chase scenes are hilarious because of the difference in their sizes but Seymour is growing fast and our vet says he's likely to be a big a boy.
We have been so fortunate to have found our loves, these cats, (including Henry Pettibone) through The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. Laurie is dear to us and we can't thank her enough. We're proud to be IBKC Alumns and love this community that cares for these and all cats.  And up next, we've got Oakley and Robin from their mama, Andrea. Here are a few brotherly love pictures. I only have cute sleeping photos because otherwise, they're in constant motion. When their tummies are full in the morning they've both been climbing into my lap to help me watch the news and drink my coffee while they take the first nap of the day. Makes getting to work on time a tad bit challenging! I'm now calling Oakley, Saul, and Robin, Louie, but you're welcome to use whichever names you like. :) They are both doing great. The house is a veritable kitty play land, they checked out perfectly at the vet, and are both just love bugs when they aren't charging like the wind around the house.
And last but not least, we have an update on Maurice and Emmet! Hi Laurie, Here's the latest on my two Fellows! The boys just had their first road trip over the weekend. We went to Portland for a family get together. They mostly slept in the car - I only had to pull off the highway once to retrieve Emmet as he tested the limits of their car seat tether! They visited a friend at her house, saw her cat Singer, and got loves from the humans. They stayed in their first hotel room and had so much fun exploring and playing that they were better behaved than I could have hoped. They spent their first night at my parents' house and met the fam. The last picture is the boys in the guest room, lounging. Emmet and Maurice are growing like weeds! They are absolutely charming. Emmet is outgoing and fearless. He has figured out how to climb the kitchen cabinets using the drawer handles! Maurice was the first one to figure out the puzzle feeder. He can still be a bit shy, but he overcomes it more quickly with each new experience. He likes to sleep up high atop the cat tree. As Maurice's points have darkened, the stripes on his legs and some marking on his back have gotten more defined. Both boys come when I call them (mostly). They are affectionate and playful, and so full of energy! We are now working on learning to walk on leashes. I love them both so very much! Thought you might like to read about their progress and know they are thriving. Debbie
Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful updates, Vic, Andrea, and Debbie!  It's so great to know the whole batch is doing so well (and Agnes and Dixie, too).  We're so glad they're in you loving homes and thriving!   Smooches to all!  xoxo! from The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee http://www.theittybittykittycommittee.com/2017/08/an-update-on-all-five-fellows.html
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