qurashigemstone

[yesyourstalker]

Ikkan:....................................

Neta:.......................................

Cirrina:...................... So like..... Are we at aunt K's house yet?

Neta: we're ......... We're almost....* Cough*......... We're almost there....... Just another hour.........

Cirrina: you good Dad?

Neta: yeah...... Yeah I'm fine....

Ikkan:........... ...

Neta: I'm just a little nervous. I haven't talked to my aunt in maybe 14 years or so....... Not sure she'll recognize me.......

Cirrina: I'm 14

Text

Cirrina: is dad doing ok?

Ikkan: he's fine he's just a little on edge is all.

Cirrina: he's shaking

Ikkan: mm ......do you want me to drive?........... Why don't you sit in the back and look up the window okay?

Neta: yeah alright....... think I might take a small snooze

_______________________________________________

Kat: she's pregnant?

Neta: yes

Kat: and it's yours?

Neta: yes

Kat: are you sure?

Neta: what are you trying to imply about Sylvia?

Kat: I'm just asking.... Just want to make sure that-

Neta: what that she's not a whore?...... I know it's mine..... And I don't want to leave her... Not like this

Kat: and how are you going to take care of this baby? You don't have money. You don't have a job?

Neta: I can get a job!! I can get my own fucking place!! Fuck I can go to the surface-

Kat: do you know how expensive it is to live on the surface? It's hard enough to bring one person up there but two more! You don't have enough money or experience up there to make it out on your own-

Neta:oh so suddenly you give a shit!!! all of sudden aunt k wants to be fucking provider... woooow.... where was she all these years!!... I know my way around the surface! I fought on the surface and I sneaked up to the surface all the time!!

Kat: watch your tone with me

Neta: Why so you can drop me off to my dad!?... Hehehe you'd like that?! just drop me off at the fucking curb or fucking train station?! Wait for him there!? That certainly worked the last time right?! Fortunately for you, I'm old enough to be on my own so the cops won't have to show up at your door to drop me off at 5am!!!!

Kat:.................................... I'm sorry.......he told me he was

Neta: he was on his way. He says that all the time and I don't understand why you keep on believing it................*ugh*...... You know what..fuck you....... I'm going to take care of her and I'm going to take care of our baby........... I... I'll marry her and I'll get a job....

Kat: how? You barely know her!!.... I just want you to think about this!!

Neta:I NOT GOING TO FUCK UP THIS KID LIKE YOU! YOU TWO DID TO ME!! I'M GOING TO LOVE THEM MORE THAN YOU EVER LOVED ME!!!......... I know what I'm doing! I'm Taking responsibility for my actions. Unlike him.

Kat: Neta!! You! Are! A! Child!.... You don't know what you're doing and you can't do this by yourself!!

Neta: I'm 22 and I'm an adult-

Kat: you may be a adult physically and legally but mentally and emotionally especially right now........ baby you are not prepared for this responsibn-

Neta: im not your fucking baby....... don't even try that on me... Not anymore............. I've barely had any one in my life who I could trust..... when I did it didn't last very long........

Kat: Neta-

Neta: shut up! I'm done. I'm done with everything..... You never loved me.... None of you have........ I'm done being everyone's burden....

Kat:.... Neta.... You don't mean-

Neta: I hate you!

Kat: .................

Neta: I hate every single person in this Cod forsaking bunker! I never want to see any of you assholes again!...

Kat:.......... . ..*sigh*....... If that's how you feel..... I can't stop you. If you think this is the best for you and your child then go like you said you're an adult.

Neta:..............

_______________________________________________

Cirrina: dad?.... Dad?! ... Daddy?!!

Neta: huh! Wha.... cirrina... Cici hi sweetie... Come here... [Kiss]

Cirrina: hehe

Neta:......*yawn*..... I went into a deep sleep.huh?.. Hahaha where's ikkan?

Cirrina: he's booking a room in the motel... I just want to see if you're okay dad

Neta: I'm fine sweetie. ....... [Kiss].... And I'll bounce back if I'm not.... You don't need to stress about me baby okay?

Cirrina: I just get worried sometimes.... I know you tell me not to......... But sometimes I see you and...*voice crack*... You look so tired...and- and upset and sometimes I wish I could do something and when I try it feels like I'm bothering you or that I'm making it worse... Like I'm being a burden..*crying*

Neta: come here baby girl..........[kiss. Kiss. Kiss] you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Look at me. You are not and you never will be the burden to me.......... No matter how bad my day is and how bad I feel.......every time I see a little girl. And her sweet face. it makes everything worth it..................[hug and kiss]........

Cirrina: mmmm...*sniff*...I'm sorry Daddy.......

Neta: don't worry about Crab cakes..

Cirrina:........ Can you tell me something... You won't be mad or upset?.....

Neta: hm?

Cirrina: ............I used to hate you

Neta:............

Cirrina: when you were gone.... With squid squad..... I thought you left me and you didn't want me...... You were having so much fun on the surface. Making money, making friends, you left me behind......... I thought.......*crying*...... I thought you didn't love me anymore........

Neta: Crab cakes.... No.... Sweetie I love you..... I will always love you. Even before you were born, I loved you and the minute I held you I loved you even more.... And I would do anything to protect you and make your life easy..... I understand at the time that it didn't seem like it.... But I thought about you everyday, every minute and I couldn't wait to see you again............ I did all of this for you baby..... Every single choice I made I made for you. [Kiss]

Cirrina: I know that now dad hehe..... I just feel so dumb... I was so mad at you...... I thought you didn't care about me.... I hated you....

Neta: that's my fault... That's all my fault..... I should have reached out to you..... Wrote and called more. I'm sorry babygirl.......come here baby....Awww

Cirrina:hmmmmmm.[kiss]... It's ok. Love you dad

Neta:..I love you too......….............................. what's taking ikkan so long?

Cirrina:... I don't know hahahaha... He's not really good at talking to people.

Neta: hahahaha he really isn't... You should see him order food. It is terrible...if he can't order through an app he's doomed. Hehehe If it's not about a record label or scheduling shows he's a disaster when it comes to talking to people....... let me check up on-

Ikkan: I talked to the front desk lady and I got a room! I also ordered a pizza!... So there!! I know you two were talking shit.

Neta: aww babe! You did it!.... I wasn't talking shit... I love you. Right cirrina?

Cirrina: right! Hehehe we weren't saying anything

Ikkan: uh huh... Hope you enjoy shrimp and anchovies pizza

Neta: you know I do!!... Let's go babies! Get some food and some sleep.......................... Ikkan?

Ikkan: Yes

Neta: did you book a room with only one bed?

Ikkan: I said two beds but she put in one bed and I didn't correct her.

Cirrina:.*snort*hahahahahhaahhah

Ikkan: I'm sorry

Neta: [kiss] it's ok.hehehe... We can all share it.........for one night.. Aww it'll be just like when you were a baby Cici!! Remember when you were little and you had a nightmare? You used to sleep with me and Mommy?! Awww

Cirrina: Dad!.....*sigh*...... I'll take the left side.

Mahi? Mahiiiii?!...... Huh I guess they weren't in this one.. @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

_______________________________________________

[boys-from-santacarla]

can I request a David X Michael smut? if you're not comfortable then I totally understand :)

Notes: Ok, so first off: thank you so much for your request🤍. Second: this is my very first time writing a one shot about these boys, so I came up with this because I'm sure David's kink is to watch Michael hunt, so I tried my best. I don't know if this is what you were expecting, but I really really hope you like it 🤞🏻❤️. I accept feedback, writing advices, constructive criticism 😂, and more comments you want to let me know! I'm sorry you had to wait so much, btw, but I'm new on editing long posts on Tumblr.

Word Count: 1461

Warnings: NSFW, cursing, mentions of murder, mentions of blood, blowjob, handjobs, and basically just gay vampires.

Fast Learner (David x Michael)

They were on their way back to the cave. It had been four months since his turning, so by now the things coming with being a vampire were already accepted by Michael. But the midnight killings were still hard to get used to.

"You were good tonight, Michael." David commented interrupting his moral dilemma and sliding his arm over his shoulders. He tried to smile kindly and accepted the embrace.

"He says that 'cause he wants to get in your pants!" Paul joked from behind.

Everyone laughed and David gave him the finger, only increasing the laughs from the others.

"But he's right, Mike." Dwayne's deep voice added "You were better this time." Michael only nodded.

They quickly walked down the stairs and everyone went separate ways to get ready to catch some rest. Mike had some plans to get clean and prepare to get back home, but before he could totally get away from David's grasp, the blonde applied more force to keep him in place.

"Where you think you're going?" He asked amused.

"The sun's getting out and I still need to go home." He reminded him in an obvious tone. It was hard to maintain his normal life and keep up with his nocturnal schedule.

David's eyebrows raised up "Don't you think you'll need to look more... Normal?" He said grinning referring to his blood-soaked clothes. "Mom Emerson never told you to get clean after going out to play?" He laughed a little.

Mike decided to play clown too "So that's the only reason I'll need to delay my fly back? Get decent to go out?" He snapped back and bit his lip watching the other's mouth. David's eyes sparkled in delight. Straight to the point was his thing. So It didn't took more than three seconds to place Michael between his cold body and the wall with his hungry lips ravishing him.

He kept his fists on Michael's shirt, grinding his hips against the other boy to give his cock some needed friction.

"You really did good out there tonight. Making those pricks scream..." He whispered, lightly brushing the other's lips with his words. He stucked his tongue out and marked a wet path from jaw to cheekbone, then made a trail to the lobe and bit it. "Gave me a memorable show". He would never admit it out loud, but seeing Michael participate so vividly in their huntings always turned him on.

"I think I've learned from the best." Whispered the brunette while sliding his hands from David's waist to his ass. Then he took possession of the exposed neck with his teeth and tried to place a mark. David moaned and took hold of Michael's clothed cock to control his body and switch places. Now with him in between the wall and Mike, their kissing got rapidly messy, with both nibbling and sucking any exposed area. And Michael swore if he wasn't his new self, he would now be hot all over.

"But still you make a mess of yourself" David separated his mouth from the collarboone in mid attack and yanked the blood stained shirt. Michael knew he was right; it was normal to get back from their hunting with some blood on them, but not this much. So he put some inches of separation between them to lift his shirt and tossed it aside.

"Better this way?" He asked smirking.

"Yeah." David breathed taking in sight the defined pecs and strong abdomen. Wasting no more time he took hold of Michael's right hand and pulled it to his bulge. "Your technique at sucking still needs improvement tho."

"And you're volunteering to let me practice?" Mike replied almost in awe.

"Always"

Michael have him one last hot kiss, roughly biting his mate's lower lip at the end, and began his way down. His cold hands roamed David's belly underneath his shirt, sensually caressing his abdomen. The only thing the newly turned vampire hated about giving David head was the struggle with so many layers of clothes.

"Why don't you ever take this fucking coat off anyway? You're too cold?" Michael grumbled half joking, never taking his hands off.

"You're testing your luck, you know that?" If he was someone else, he would definitely be far gone by now, David thought.

But at least he was doing a great job.

Settling on his knees, he got to his target. He pressed his face to the already fat bulge and wetly kissed the thick layer of fabric. Then he slowly unzipped it and took it out of its confines, earning a low moan and two hands starting to stroke his soft curls.

Before going any further he looked up and saw David's head leaned on the wall with his eyes half closed. He grinned in contentment, feeling a mix of amusement, excitement and happiness realizing the power he had over this creature in vulnerable moments like this.

He took in one hand the cock before him and David inahled a sharp breath when it was softly squeezed at the base. This was followed by a leisure lick from the bottom to the top. As if savouring it for the first time, Michael gave it a couple of more tastes to then take the crown in his mouth, smacking his lips when he pull it out.

"Fuck, Michael" David breathed.

"That can come later" Mike answered and resumed his work putting the crown in his mouth again, this time giving it shelter a few more seconds before taking it deeper in his mouth. To cover the part left behind he moved his hand to massage it in rhythm with his mouth, and with the other hand he fondle his balls to gently roll and weigh them.

David kept moaning in appreciation, putting some pressure on Mike's skull and tugging at some strands to keep control of the pace, bobbing the head at his pleasure.

Without any more control in himself, David cradled the head with his palms pressing both cheeks and began to frantically fuck Michael's mouth.

"Shit. I love you can handle this" he praised while moving his thump to open more the wet cavity. His panting went wild as well as his movements, causing Michael to give up and just relax his throat to take as much as David gave him.

"Michael you keep it like that and I'm coming soon." David said and then stopped his fucking. He whined and pulled out dripping cock. "Get up" he ordered. Michael obligued and tried to gain some balance putting his hands on David's waist.

"You got big hands, babe." David mentioned "Why don't you work them on us." He commanded unbuckling Michael's jeans while Mike himself spitted on his palm to add slickness. When Michael's dick sprung free, he brought their hardnesses together. The touch made them both gasp, but in search for more Mike took both cocks more firmly in his right hand and changed his angle a bit to fit them correctly in the grasp.

Both moaned feeling their swelled dicks move together, and David said, controlling his tone to not sound pleading "Move."

And Michael began the strokes. At first he struggled to keep both cocks in his hand, so he adjusted his fingers to handle them better and began to catch velocity.

Michael started to feel dizzy with pleasure. With the adrenaline from the hunting still flowing through his veins, the sexual act felt even more powerful. So he put his head on David shoulders and moaned louder. "Damnit." He squeezed harder on their cocks.

"Yes. Yes. Just like that, babe." David panted in his ear. He then took hold of his neck with one hand and licked the other to lubricate it before moving it down to help make a better hold on themselves. They both began trusting in matched tempo, seeking their mutual release. They keep thrusting as brutally as they could.

Moments past before Michael whined, signaling his closeness "Oh, god. God, Im gonna come! I'm gonna-" he groaned and lost control of himself, spurting his load, getting both their hands and bellies sticky. The excitement making his body loose made his fangs come out, biting David's shoulder while spasming.

With Michael's hand reflexing involuntarily, and David's hand milking the last of him with hard strokes, David came too, sighing satisfied with relief. After a few recovering moments he noticed Michael's hand had fallen, breaking the contact on the now resting organs, but still felt the fangs cutting through his rough skin. Albeit not hurt, he protested the injury trying to catch his lover's attention clearing his throat. When Michael didn't respond, he tried again taking a deep breath and speaking "I still need to teach you to control those." He then smiled

Michael chuckled.

[serene-victory-77]

The Rodent Whisperer Of Ketterdam

This is my piece for the Grishaverse Mini Bang of 2021, thank you to @grishaversebigbang for hosting this event! @offrostandflames 

My wonderful Materialki/Artists amazing and lovely pieces:

Frisslimbim’s Art and Instagram and Offrostandflames’ Art and Instagram

Summary: Kaz Brekker is known throughout the Barrel for his various schemes and skills. But there's one particular talent no one in his life is privy to, and it's going to help him get 30 million kruge. Crack Fic, Short And Sweet!

Fic:

Kaz walked away from the meeting with Jan Van Eck, his mind racing.

He’d accepted the deal, accepted 30 million kruge for breaking into the Ice Court and stealing a scientist with a drug that could change the world.

But Kaz wasn’t an idiot. It was too risky for humans, and only his best people could maybe do it. He didn’t like his chances.

There was no way he was gonna risk human error.

He hesitated. There was another option, but did he really want to instead use them?

Kaz thought about it for a long while as he made his way to the Slat. They were brave, they were many, and their relationship ran deep.

If he was being honest, they probably were his best, despite Jesper and Inej’s skill.

And humans…. Humans wouldn’t ever be able to succeed, he figured.

He knew what he had to do. He knew who he could trust.

Kaz closed the door behind him as Inej left the room. He looked around.

“Calling a meeting,” he said, tapping his cane thrice on the floor.

There was a rustle within the walls, the pitter patter of dozens upon dozens of feet. They came out of the walls, climbed through a cracked open window, found their place among the rafters and on top of his desk.

They were Kaz’s army, grown since he was nine and now an unknown force in his arsenal.

The Great Order Of Mice and The Virtuous Rat Society.

They named themselves.

He waited a little bit longer for them to all get settled.

“Thank you for your fast arrival,” he said, grabbing some cheese and crackers, as well as some bowls of water, setting them on a platter on the floor. “I have a big job for you all,”

The rodents chittered between themselves before looking up at him curiously.

He hesitated. “It involves leaving Ketterdam for a colder climate. It’s very dangerous. You might need the entire colony,”

The rodents stopped nibbling to stare at him. One of the bigger rats squeaked in confusion.

“Yes, I know, that’s a lot of you, and you guys aren’t used to being outside Ketterdam. But the reward is 30 million kruge ,”

The entire assembly went silent before wild squeaking ensued.

Kaz held up a hand. “Quiet, please, don’t alarm the Dregs,”

They calmed down again but all stood on their hind legs, nibbling their food while staring at him with wide eyes.

“I will tell you what it entails, and we can decide your reward if you agree. We’ll need to do some extra training to handle the colder weather, but that will wait a bit,”

They nodded, and Kaz settled down to explain what he could.

The briefing lasted two hours, and then the next night he had to go and break Helvar out of prison for more details to give to the army. They seemed to be in general good spirits about the entire thing, despite Kaz’s warning of danger and ice.

When he came back with all of the information he had gathered, including several small copied versions of the maps and diagrams Wylan had drawn, the real training began.

“No, the keys are going to be more complex than anything you see in the Barrel,” Kaz shook his head and laid out several old complicated door knobs and keyholes. “Show me how you’d open this,”

The rat squeaked determinedly and set to work.

“Even if you’re stealing from them, you can’t go around being sloppy,” Kaz frowned, straightening the bowties of a group of mice. The mice wore black ribbons, the rats gray, and The Council Of Rodents red. “I do not dress sloppy, and you shall not either. You are representing all Ketterdam rodents with this mission,”

They nodded seriously and let him adjust their ribbons.

“Make sure to take baths!” Kaz called after them once they were done. “You do not spread viral infections to other countries, alright!?”

Affirmative squeaks.

“It’s going to be cold, but your feet are grabby so we can’t cover them. You’re already used to Ketterdam cold, but this is different entirely,” Kaz warned them. “I tried finding some ice for you to practice on, and I’ve got...” he put several boxes atop his desk, “You guys some coats. There should be enough for all of you and are in different sizes, everyone in single file,”

The Council Of Rodents was following Kaz around town as they decided what treats he would be buying them with his share of the money.

He watched with hidden pride as the mice distracted the bakery shopkeeper and a group came from the left flank to pry open display cases and steal bread.

“They’ve come so far,” he whispered to one of the older rats that was standing on a ledge near Kaz’s head. It nodded in agreement.

A customer tried to bat away one of the rats with her purse, and a group of them jumped on her face in revenge.

“So far,” he nodded, pleased.

At the end of the week, in the hours before the sun had even risen over the sea’s horizon, Kaz stood at Fifth Harbor.

“Is everyone here?” he asked, looking over the crowd of rodents.

Two tardy mice ran from behind a shop and squeaked in apology.

“Alright, then. That ship over there is manned by someone who works for me. He has been instructed to leave you all alone and not bring a cat on board the ship. I’ve set aside barrels of cider, water, seeds, fruits, cheese, and crackers for you in the hold of the ship, so do not steal from the humans,”

One of the rats snickered and Kaz sighed. “Yes, I know I usually tell you to steal from the humans, but work with me here,”

They nodded.

“Does everyone have their maps?”

The rodents rummaged through their tiny leather pouches and waved their small maps at him.

“Weapons?”

Needles flew up into the air.

“No one is missing their coat?”

No negative squeak.

Kaz nodded. “Well, then, everyone. The ship departs in forty minutes. The journey will take a few weeks, and you’ll have to wait a while once you arrive. Do you remember what day you have to go to the Ice Court?”

Chitters confirmed they did.

Kaz took a deep breath. “Then, off to the boat with you. I trust I’ll be seeing you in two month’s time. No mourners,”

They squeaked back their best rendition of “No funerals,”, taking their individual time to pat his shoe in affirmance, and scrambled towards the boat.

Kaz stood and watched the boat until it departed.

As an extra safety measure, he ended up sending some guard crows to travel with the ship. Just being careful.

The great part about not sending humans to do your job is that people have a lot harder time figuring out which boat you’re going on, so Kaz had fun getting rid of the Black Tips that had failed to do any damage, as his army was already far out at sea.

Kaz had been training the rodents for a long time. He’d long since taken in stride that for some reason, not only could they understand him, but they could actually communicate back, and they were his secret weapon in everyday life. If things were too risky or complicated for Inej, he sent them to find out people’s secrets and bring back the information he used to control people like Geels.

He didn’t typically do big jobs with them though, they were too valuable to put in danger like that, but they were the only ones he could trust to really get the job done.

Still, despite his confidence in their abilities, he worried.

The next few weeks there were only about a couple dozen rodents from both the Order and Society, the ones that were either too young or too elderly to handle the trip, but they could still do work around Ketterdam, and news of what Jan Van Eck planned to do infuriated Kaz.

He wasn’t gonna not give his army their rewards, so while he waited for them to come back, he went about ruining lives.

Kaz found himself spending a lot of time with Wylan, Nina, Matthias, Jesper, and Inej the following weeks, one part because they were working on tearing down Wylan’s father, and one part because he had nothing else to do. The mouse and rats that were still there had taken to also watching Kaz’s companions.

He found a red fabric scrap and handed it to one of the mice, and later on, they came up to him, showing off the now rather dress-like piece.

“Who are you supposed to be, Nina?” he asked.

Affirmative squeak.

Kaz rolled his eyes and the mouse flicked their tail at him in contempt.

“Actually, you kind of have it down,” he noted, and the mouse sniffed haughtily before clambering away.

“Where’d you get that?” Kaz asked a rat playing with some gambling chips. “Better not be from the Crow Club,”

The rat showed him the Dime Lion insignia on the chips.

“Oh, you can always steal from them. But why the gambling chips?”

The rat twirled and did a little motion with its hands.

“Jesper? Really?”

He found a large, rather grumpy rat watching the Nina Mouse one day. He didn’t even have to wonder who that one was taking inspiration from, and instead handed Matthias Rat a piece of ice.

A small mouse had taken to stealing matches and trying to light small fires.

“You are not a demo expert,” Kaz told the mouse. “I don’t care how many hours you’ve spent watching the Merchling,”

The mouse squeaked sadly and Kaz frowned.

“Fine, you can mess with the matches, but have Jesper Rat watch over you,”

Wylan Mouse seemed to sigh but went with Jesper Rat anyway.

One of the smallest mice had taken to riding on Kaz’s shoulder whenever Kaz was walking the streets at night. At first, he’d wondered why, knowing he didn’t need to be watched over, but then he found that that mouse had been collecting needles, sharp metal bits, and even a small human-sized knife, and Inej Mouse was established.

A little longer than two months later, he stood on Fifth Harbor once more, the Five of Rodents waiting alongside him. A crow had arrived two days ago, with a note from the rodents that they were on their way, but complications had occurred.

He worried about numbers lost, or maybe that some of them had been imprisoned, but that wasn’t the result.

They came from the ship's hold like an ocean, carrying a small boy through pure willpower.

Kaz raised his eyebrows. “Welcome home, everyone. That doesn’t look like an old scientist to me,”

A group of them came forward, clambering over each other to explain what had happened.

“One at a time,” Kaz scolded, looking them over. It seemed that their numbers were almost intact. Clearly, some had been lost, but all in all, the casualties were minimal. He was relieved.

They explained what had happened, and Kaz sighed. Well, the old man was dead, but at least they had the son.

“Kuwei, was it?” he told the Shu boy. “Don’t speak to anyone about them,”

The boy just nodded nervously, looking more confused than anyone Kaz had ever seen.

A mouse piped up and Kaz turned incredulously. “You did what to Pekka Rollins?”

There was a gleeful chitter and Kaz smirked. “This is why I trust you guys,”

One of them asked about the reward.

“Yeah, I know,” Kaz told them. “Things got a little bit messy with Jan Van Eck, but now he’s in jail, and you guys have your own house fully stocked with food,”

A triumphant orchestra of squeaks filled the early Ketterdam morning, and Kaz grinned as the army ran onto the streets of the Barrel, pitter-pattering away.

--

[silverhandy]

I saw the devil (in me) - chapter 6

Takemura doesn't believe in ghosts, not really, but a man driven to his limit might believe in just about anything. Trapped in a losing game and consumed by grief, he returns to Night City looking for closure. but ends up finding something much more.

ao3 I chapter 1 I chapter 2 I chapter 3 I chapter 4 I chapter 5

    When Takemura opened his eyes, he had no idea where he was, the apartment so foreign compared to what he was used to. The dissonance was almost enough to push the grogginess away from his mind, make the heaviness of his limbs less daunting as he looked around, taking in the surroundings. Right, he was at Viktor’s, must’ve dozed off at some point. At first, Takemura didn’t know what awoke him, other than the painful stiffness of his neck and shoulders but as his vision cleared, that, too, became apparent. Viktor was standing by the kitchen counter, motioning to take off his jacket, the snow that covered the material already melted and soaking into it, but froze halfway when he saw Takemura stir awake.

    “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake ya. Should’ve taken the bed, though.”

    “You did not wake me, I was just about to…” Takemura replied, motioning to get up, but what stopped him was a warning meow from the cat, still lying on his lap. It raised its head, clearly not amused by the disturbance. Viktor raised his eyebrows, a faint smile appearing on his lips as he grabbed himself a chair and sat down, leaving the jacket on the counter.

    “He likes you.”

    “Does he have a name?” Takemura asked as the cat stood up, clearly deciding it had had enough of its guest’s affections, and jumped to the floor in a swift motion, not even glancing at the two men.

    “Nibbles.” Viktor chuckled. “Before you ask, it was not my idea, but V’s. Judy...isn’t in the best place right now, said the cat reminds her of V too much, plus she’s leaving Night City for good anyway. Asked me to take care of it, so I took the little guy in.” he said, looking over at Nibbles, who jumped onto the counter, eyeing the bowls on the far corner of it and finally turning its gaze back to Viktor, disappointment clearly visible in its huge eyes. The ripperdoc shook his head slightly, a soft smile on his face as he engaged in a staring match with the cat, his eyes losing focus behind the tinted lenses as he got lost in thought. Takemura took the time to stretch, the aftereffects of a nap in such an uncomfortable position having stiffened his joints. He didn’t feel rested, more like he had been rather abruptly fished out of a tank filled with warm water. Then again, he didn’t think he knew what feeling rested felt like anymore.

    “A fine feline.” Takemura finally said, only to break the uncomfortable silence between them and to shake the doctor off whatever track of thought he found himself on. Viktor only hummed in acknowledgment, turning his gaze back to the other man.

    “Glad to see you settled in okay. It’s been slow at the clinic, so I thought I would drop by, just to grab something and see how you’re doin’ while I’m at it.”

    Takemura took a quick look at the little screen displaying the time, the digital numbers displayed on a small screen giving off a soft, blue glow. What he probably should have expected, what would have been just a moment of rest turned into a few hours and Takemura had already felt he had wasted enough time.

    “Thank you for the clothes,” he said, bowing his head slightly, as if his words weren’t enough to accent his appreciation. In reality, they really weren’t.

    Viktor waved his hand.

    “Don’t mention it. Figured you’d want to wear something that’d make you feel more...you.”

    Takemura let out a deep sigh. Viktor deserved more than half-truths and omissions. He owed him the truth, after everything the ripperdoc had done for him.

    “I was let go from the company.” Viktor raised his eyebrows at this sudden change of topic, but said nothing, allowing Takemura to carefully choose his words as he continued. “Completely and irrevocably. I refused to accept the consequences my actions have brought upon me and was punished for it.”

    “Letting you out alive was Saka’s idea of a parting gift?” Viktor asked, leaning back on the chair. Despite the calmness of his voice, Takemura could feel a hint of sarcasm, anger even, though it was not directed at him.

    “I would say it was the opposite. In their eyes, I did not take the chance to redeem my honor and have to live with that decision weighing down on me.”

    Viktor hummed and took off his glasses, wiping the lenses on the edge of his shirt. Even though Takemura never wore them, always having been equipped with cutting edge optics, a new set from time to time, long before it officially made its way into the wider market, he doubted cleaning the lenses like this was effective. It almost looked like Viktor was buying himself time to think about what he was about to say, though the silence didn’t last more than a few seconds.

    “And in your eyes?”

    The question took Takemura aback, summing up what he’d been thinking about in merely a few words. A rare thing it might be, an ability he never had, never needed back when his life was dictated by a clear set of rules and orders from people he accepted as his superiors, first in the military and then, later, by Saburo-dono’s side.

    “I...am not sure yet. I came all this way only to realize that what I fought my entire life to protect, to uphold might be little more than a vicious lie. It is hard to face, how replaceable I am. I had been selfish, enough to believe that after I cleared my name and helped Hanako-sama bring Yorinobu to justice, everything would be the same as before. How foolish of me! Before I knew it, the order of things I fought to help restore, one I have killed for, was distorted into something I could no longer recognize. And the scariest part,” Takemura hesitated for a moment, but it was too late to not finish his trail of thought, bare all his doubts to Viktor the way he would never dare to in front of someone else. “is that it might have always been like that. I was just too blind to notice.”

    “Must’ve felt like a rug was swept from under your feet. However painful it might seem, you are your own man now. You can forge your own path, and it’s only up to you if you see it as a blessing or a curse, but it does make a hell of a difference. Trust me,” Viktor said, a warm, knowing smile on his face. “I’ve been there.”

    Takemura felt curiosity rise in his chest, remembering the photo of Viktor from his Trauma days, but he didn’t want to push the other man, just as Viktor had not pushed him. As expected, the ripperdoc didn’t elaborate and Takemura didn’t ask him to. There was a time for everything and he felt it wasn’t it, not yet.

    “Thank you,” he said and stood up, walking to the chair to grab his coat and put it on. It wasn’t that late, he might still be able to catch Akiko at work, not that she ever left it. “I am going to meet with a netrunner, but will be back soon.”

    “A friend of yours?”

    “I would hesitate to call her a friend, but we did help each other. That account I mentioned, I set it up shortly before leaving the city. I never thought I would have to use it again, but as you say...better to be safe than sorry.”

    Viktor hummed in response. “Alright. Just watch your step out there, the snow is pretty nasty.”

    “I will. By the way,” Takemura turned around just as he was about to put his hand on a scanner to open the front door. “what did you do with that car? And the wakizashi?”

    “The sword? Still have it, but left it behind at the clinic. Do you need it back?”

    Takemura hesitated. Does he?

    “Not really.” he silently hoped he never will. “The car?”

    “Had to call in a favor to make it disappear. A real shame, it was quite a beauty. Your Arasaka buddies seem to have cleaned their own mess before NCPD caught a whiff.”

    “Of course. They always do.” and with that, he walked out.

***

    When he finally reached the less frequented part of Charter Hill, the little sunlight that managed to break through the dark, heavy clouds was long gone, giving way to street lights and neons tastefully implemented into the newly built, sleek looking buildings, even though right now they were obscured by the heavy snowfall that made Takemura regret he couldn't just drive there. Even the ever present neons and advertisements were more subtle, on par with the kind of life the people residing in the district were leading - moderately comfortable, a step up from Heywood, but still not high enough up the food chain to compare with those rich enough to reside in City Plaza. Takemura had eventually strayed off from the wide, open spaced pavements into a more dense area, navigating the increasingly narrow streets that exposed the true image of Charter Hill, the middleman district with nothing but a pretty exterior masking the rot that went too deep into Night City’s system to ever be truly hidden, revealing itself in various ways, from overworked corpos passed out the benches despite the grueling cold to the occasional bloodstain on the pavement, only partially obscured by fresh snow, one that the cleaners haven’t managed to scrub off yet. An organic proof of meaningless violence in a place that kept eating its own young and hopeful, entangling them in an endless web of favors and obligations, one that kept tightening and spreading all around the city. Even Takemura, on his first visit to Night City, out of money and resources, found himself entering the untold arrangement that kept the city ticking, indebting himself to people and indebting others for his sake just to keep himself afloat. Some of the favors he already cashed in, others he hoped he’ll never have to, but at least in this case he didn’t walk past the rusty gate to the netrunner’s basement with cautious distrust, as he did with so many others. Akiko was different, much more human despite the fact she interacted with the ghosts floating around the Net much more frequently than with regular humans. Despite that, she still had something that many have lost on lesser endeavors - a conscience and a heart to back it up.

    As he walked down the stairs, careful not to slip on the ice the water dripping from the roof has turned into, he pushed the heavy, metal door open, only a small name plaque an indicator of who might reside there. The doors closed behind him with a dull thud, one that almost made him jump as he walked further into the building, following the neon line on the floor, the only source of light in the otherwise completely dark corridor. Eventually, it widened into a large room, the netrunner the only person there. For a second, Takemura didn’t even see her until he turned his gaze to the server on the left side, one of many lining the walls. Before Takemura had a chance to announce his presence, the netrunner’s voice came, a bit muffled:

    “Yeah yeah, gimme a sec!” the woman muttered, her entire torso still hidden inside the jaws of the machine as she tinkered with its’ insides, balancing on one foot as she struggled to reach for the cable she needed.

    “No rush, Akiko,” he said, leaning on the doorframe, seemingly the only place in the entire room where he wouldn’t have to worry about tripping over or breaking something, the space was so densely covered with cables and spare parts spread all over the floor and running up, creeping up on the walls, some insulated with a dulled glow of tiny LEDs, basking the room in an unnatural, blue light. How the netrunner could work like this, Takemura had no idea.

    Upon hearing his voice, the woman jumped, hitting her head on the metal plate with an audible thud. Cursing under her breath, she finally emerged and turned to face him, rubbing the back of her head with a pained expression.

    “Takemura, you scared the shit out of me! Some warning would be nice,” she complained as she walked over around the partially disassembled netrunning chair to greet him, a smile on her face despite her seemingly cold tone. She looked different from the last time he’d seen her, her previously long, greying hair now cut short and dyed angry pink, reflecting the blue hues and creating strands of violet that danced around her face every time she moved her head.

    “I presume this means you have not expected me.”

    “After our last conversation? The only person I expected to see less was Saburo Arasaka himself. What brings you back to Nigh City? I thought you hated the place.” she said, stepping over a box of what looked like fried cyberdecks to grab a chair. “Here, take a seat, you look like you’re about to topple over.”

    Takemura sighed and reluctantly sat down, secretly grateful for the offer. The room was unpleasantly warm, servers towering one next to the other enough to bring the temperature up to a point where he had to shake off his coat.

    “I came to honor the memory of a friend and stayed to admire the scenery,” he said, his attempt at sarcasm met with Akiko’s expression softening. Takemura saw the way her eyes kept darting to his arm, bandage peeking out from the long sleeve of his shirt.

    “Shit, I’m so sorry. It was that merc that you worked with, right? I heard about what you guys pulled at the parade from a ‘runner friend of mine. With what came after, I thought you’d be back at Saburo’s side in Tokyo, so…”

    “Akiko-san, excuse me, but I did not come here to gossip.” he stopped her mid sentence, feeling a sudden need to cut this conversation short and get out of this warm, confined room into the biting cold of Charter Hill. The woman looked surprised at the retort.

    “O-of course. Whaddya need?”

    “That account I asked you to set up before I left. Is it still up?”

    This time, she scoffed.

    “‘Course it is. I have one of these beauties constantly pulling it in and out of the Net as we speak.” she pointed to one of the servers lining the wall. “Normally it would’ve cost you a ton of eddies to keep it buried as deep as it is, but I honor my debts. You helped me, now I’m helping you, no questions asked. Although…” she trailed off and crossed her arms. “I’d certainly appreciate it if you cared to share why the hell you need to cash that one in in the first place. Arasaka not paying as much as they did back in my day?”

    Takemura grunted. Of course, she, of all the people he got to know in this godforsaken city, wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily.

    “We had a disagreement of sorts, one that resulted in me being let go in a rather abrupt manner. I did not have much time to make preparations for such an event, hence I come to you. I need to get access to the deposit. Can you do that for me?”

    Akiko narrowed her eyes, clearly not expecting such honesty on Takemura’s part.

    “Well then,” she said, reaching for a port box propped up next to one of the many screens standing on the tabletop. “of course I can. Just jack in and I’m gonna walk you through it.”

    “I am afraid my personal link is out of commission for now. Is there any other way?”

    “Good luck getting around the city without one. You had a ripperdoc take a look?”

    “I did,” he replied, a bit annoyed at her pretentiousness. “Please Akiko, just focus. Is there any other way?”

    “I can put you through a neural port directly, but…”

    “What?”

    “You’d have to jump into the Net with me and to be frank, you don’t look like you’re at the top of your game. With no one keeping an eye on your biomon, I’m worried you could flatline on me.”

    “So I can either wait until my personal link can be fixed or come back here with a ripperdoc?

    “A tech savvy one at that. And someone you trust, considering what we’re doing here.”

    Takemura was silent for a few seconds, considering. Just a few months ago, he’d probably rush into it, not wanting to stall his progress any further, determined to keep things moving even if it would cost him later, but now, with the unexpected turn his life has taken, he wasn't so quick to act. If jumping into the Net was as risky as Akiko made it out to be, and he had every reason to trust her on that, pushing for it right now would be counterproductive. He thought about Viktor and how his work would go to waste if Takemura was to fry on the netrunner’s chair, so much effort on the ripperdoc’s part for nothing. Other than the need to pay Viktor off as soon as possible, even if only to make up for his kindness, since the doctor not only did not push Takemura to hurry but offered him a place to stay so casually, there was nothing rushing him. No time sensitive goal that required him to push himself far past his limits as he feared not only for his uncertain future, but for his very life. It felt odd, in a way.

    “Fine. I think I know just the right person.”

[ethereals-angel]

Ethereal III

/ — extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world. /

《 Ethereal (I) 》 《 Ethereal (II) 》 《 Ethereal (III) 》

"Where were you last night?" Junmyeon asked, taking a seat beside you, two bottles of beer in his hands, "you disappeared."

You huffed, taking the beer he's handing you, "somewhere."

He was going for a sip of his beer when he laughed, almost spilling the liquid all over him. You eyed him in annoyance as he shook his head, a smile playing on his face, "you really like him, don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know what I mean."

You rolled your eyes, going for a drink. You leaned against the couch as you swallowed, a sigh leaving your lips. "Shut up."

"If you like him so much then why don't you do something about it?" He chuckled, "you're you. Everybody wants you."

"He knows I killed Kyo."

Apparently, that silenced him. You drank more, enjoying the burn you're experiencing, not bothering to acknowledge the irritating feeling in your heart. You didn't know what ached more after finishing the bottle in one go, your throat or your little organ.

"Then if he likes you, he'll accept you for you."

You don't even know if you want to be you.

Even though you didn't want to, you went to class few moments later, fed up by Junmyeon's complains about how you should attend your classes to come out as a normal student, at least. You snorted, as if they would think you are a normal student. Your mind flew, you didn't want to admit it but you knew you miss him. You didn't see him since last night until now, and it's bothering you. You wanted to wait for him outside his classroom like you always do but you were pretty sure he wouldn't like to see you right now.

You were always that kind of person who didn't care about what others may think of you. It's all true, anyway, why would you sweat about it? You know exactly what you are and it didn't bother you since then, after that incident, not at all. But after meeting Baekhyun, that changed. You were constantly afraid of doing things you always do because you didn't want to scare him off. You wanted to be a different person, away from who you really are. You wanted to get rid of the lingering smell of blood of people you've killed with your bare hands, you wanted to erase the sound of their screams and cries as they begged you to spare their lives ringing in your ears whenever you're alone. You just want the angel you knew you didn't deserve with you, as much as possible.

You craved how he makes you crazy. You fed off his innocence. He makes you feel human, even if you knew how big of a monster you are. He's your escape, your own paradise. After last night, you didn't know what to do. You just want him. Your fingertips are aching to touch him so bad right now, it's almost painful.

You took in a deep breath, immediately leaving the classroom once you heard the bell ring.

Staying at your bright lonely flat made you even livid that night, sitting by the couch and staring at the situation outside as the raindrops continued to fall harshly. You can't stop thinking about him, you thought your head's gonna break. So, you drove. You drove as fast as you can, not bothered by the fact that it's so much slippier this time.

You found yourself in a middle of a nightclub you're very familiared with. You realized you've never came back here after you met him. Taking a deep breath, you sat by the bar counter. The bartender immediately recognized you, he started preparing the drink you've always order, not bothering to have a small talk with you, probably sensing you were not in a mood to speak.

You stared at a spot, not really paying attention to anything, just downing your drink all by yourself. Almost all the people around you probably know who you are, well, everyone knows who you are. Different perspectives and knowledge, though. The only common thing is to never mess with you, they know better. However, that didn't stop him from approaching you.

"I missed you."

You smirked, downing the alcohol you were lightly swirling before he sat beside you. You turned to observe him. Nothing changed, same old pretty face. "Oh, I'm sure you did."

He didn't hesitate grabbing you, crashing his lips on yours. You whimpered, wrapping your arms around his neck and moving to sit on his lap. You tugged on his hair a little harshly, just like what you always do. You continued on kissing him expertly, tasting him after a long time.

You faltered, images of Baekhyun started flodding your head. You kissed him harder, hand running through hair, wishing he was him, wishing he was your Baekhyun. You gripped onto his body, squeezing your eyes shut. He was the first one to pull away, his eyes hazy as he stared back at you. You blinked quite a few times when you started seeing Baekhyun's face instead of his.

I'm going crazy.

"Soo." You breathed, letting him shower your neck with kisses. You held his head as he nibbled on your skin. Your closed your eyes as you bit on your lip, not wanting to put your mind into the uneasiness you're feeling.

You stared ahead, at the crowd, either dancing or talking. You let out a gasp when a pair of eyes burnt holes as he stared at you, standing at the middle of so much people, you saw him. "Baekhyun."

You flinched, away from Kyungsoo. You pushed yourself off him, your eyes never leaving the boy. Your head pounded, you felt dizzy, you didn't know if it was because of the kissing, the alcohol, or Baekhyun.

You saw him turn around, going for the door to leave. You hissed, "what is he even doing here?" You ran, squeezing through the crowd. You were panting when you reached the door, pushing it open. The cold breeze welcomed you, still raining.

You immediately spotted him, his back facing you, you breathed, "Baek..."

He turned, looking at you, his cheeks flush from the coldness of the air, "hi..."

"What are you doing here?" You stepped forward, still giving him a fair amount of space no matter how much you were itching to get your hands all over him. You weren't sure if he would appreciate you touching him, the thought making you frown.

"I went to look for you," he avoided your eyes, biting his lip, "you didn't wait for me at school."

"What?"

"I waited for you!" He lifted his head, annoyance clear in his tone, "you left so early last night, then you didn't even bother seeing me at school, and now, I saw you kissing someone else."

You looked at him in bewilderment, not knowing what to say. He pouted at you, continuing his words, "I thought you liked me."

"Baek-"

"Why were you kissing him anyway? Is it because he's manlier than I am? You should've told me!" His stance falling, shoulders slumped, "I would've been better for you."

You panicked, for the first time in so many years, you fucking panicked, "no! Of course not!" You breathed heavily, still confused and speechless as hell, "I thought... I thought you hated me."

He let out a cute 'huh', tilting his head like a puppy, "why would I hate you?"

"You knew about what really happened with Kyo, I assumed-"

"You think that would make me hate you?" You blinked a few times when he leaned in, placing a kiss on your lips. He wrapped his arms around your waist, hugging you to him, "I could never hate you." He lowered himself, resting his cheek on your breast, "I like you so much, Raven. I really really do."

You stayed frozen for god knows how long, you killed the person he's almost seen as a father and he's not even a percent mad at you for it. You were breathing heavily when you wrapped your arms around him, returning his hold which he immediately tightened. "Do you still like me?"

Though, puzzled, mind running on and on about how he very surprisingly reacted in the situation, you nodded your head. "Of course." You lifted your hand to caress his hair, playing with it as you couldn't help but furrow your eyebrows, staring ahead at an empty space.

It may be strange, he may be strange but you were happy. So happy, you thought you could float. You were feeling so high in the moment, you let out a smile, twisted, so twisted.

You held his hand in yours, not minding any of the stares and whispers you're getting, silently dragging Baekhyun towards Room 88 after asking him if he's comfortable with all the attention. He nodded, saying that he'll always be comfortable if he's with you.

You opened the door, revealing the gang, complete. "Hey, man. Come on, I missed my class for this." Luck said, rolling his eyes, throwing darts in his hands.

Chanyeol walked towards you, peaking at the person hiding behind your back, "well, well, well," he grinned, "you finally brought him here."

You felt Baekhyun clutch your shirt in his hand from behind, making you look back at him, "you'll be okay." You whispered, kissing his forehead.

You introduced him to your friends. They have been very friendly, especially the men. You decided to bring him to the flat the gang have been staying in whenever anyone wants to. You are sitting in the couch, a beer in your hand with Junmyeon sitting beside you, playing poker with the others. You didn't play to keep an eye on Baekhyun. You watched as he laughed and played with your friends, his shy demeanor quickly disappearing by their loudness and teasing. You smiled lightly, happy to see him enjoy himself with the gang.

It's very rare to bring just anyone in here. It takes time before everyone agree to let someone see what you do. For Baekhyun's case, he's here because they already know him, he's constantly being used as a way to tease and annoy you, and of course, even if they say no to you, it's not like you'll listen.

You took a sip from the bottle you're holding, shaking your head at their antics.

You turned your head when you heard Yixing calling your name, you raised your brow at him, waiting for him to say something because he seemed to be in shock,

"Kyungsoo was murdered."

[bisexualstevierogers]

This Kiss Is Something I Can’t Resist (Cisco Ramon X Reader)

Fandom: The Flash Pairing: Cisco Ramon X Reader Word Count: 2,649 Author's Note: I found this prompt from @love-me-a-good-prompt and I HAD to write something for it: Imagine Person A and Person B are both single and decide to spend Valentine’s Day together and do all of the silly cliche Valentine’s Day things together as friends BUT somewhere between the flowers, the heart-shaped candy, the fancy dinner, and the romantic movies, they end up catching feelings for each other. I hope you guys like this!! Happy Valentine's Day 💖 Feedback warms my heart and helps me publish stories faster <3

Cisco had been a sad, mopey mess ever since he and Cynthia had broken up. You couldn't blame him, breaking up with someone you cared about sucked, but Cisco had spiralled as Valentine's Day approached.

Every time someone brought up their Valentine's plans, Cisco frowned and huffed and turned to his computer instead of the conversation.

By the time Valentine's Day rolled around, you were sick of it. You stomped over to Cisco's desk and placed the flowers and heart shaped box of chocolates in front of him.

Cisco eyed them suspiciously. “What's this?”

“This is me asking you to be my Valentine.”

Cisco's eyes widened. “Look, __y/n__, you know I think you're amazing, but after Cynthia I don't think I'm ready to date anyone again y-”

“Platonically, Cis.” You interrupted him to clarify. “I know you were looking forward to Valentine's Day with Cynthia so I thought we could go get some dinner and watch a movie or something.”

Cisco smiled widely. “That sounds perfect.” He looked you up and down before frowning. “Wait, why are you so dressed up?”

You laughed, smoothing out your sparkly pink dress. “I may or may not have made reservations for us at that fancy new Italian restaurant downtown.”

“No way!” Cisco exclaimed excitedly. “How'd you get us a reservation on Valentine's Day?”

“I had Felicity pull a few strings. Now come on,” You urged, extending your hand out for him to take. “We need to stop by your apartment so you can change.”

Cisco glanced down at his Star Wars t-shirt. “Good call.” Cisco balanced your gifts in his arms before taking your hand. “Oh, and thanks for the flowers and the chocolate.”

You beamed at him. “Of course. Happy Valentine's Day!”

“Happy Valentine's Day.” Cisco responded, wondering why his palms felt clammy all of a sudden. He prayed you wouldn't notice.

-----

You finished touching up your lip gloss just as Cisco reentered the car.

You turned to look at him and couldn't help letting out a whistle. “You look very handsome.”

Cisco's hair was pulled into a half updo with the half that was left down falling in soft waves. He had changed into a red button up with white hearts all over it, a black blazer, and black slacks.

You were amused to see that Cisco's cheeks dusted pink at your words. You smiled at him before starting the car and driving to the restaurant.

It was packed.

Parking was a nightmare, and once you actually managed to get inside the restaurant, you had to hold tightly to Cisco's hand for fear of getting separated in the crowd of people.

“Two for __l/n__-Ramon.” You said politely, ignoring the way your heart skipped a beat at the way your names sounded together. This was a platonic date, not a romantic one. You couldn't let yourself forget that.

“Right this way.” The hostess said with a smile, leading you and Cisco to a cute table in the corner.

Cisco pulled your chair out for you, which was unexpected and made you blush. “Thank you.” You murmured, smiling at him as he sat across from you.

“Someone will be back to take your order shortly.” She assured as she placed a menu in front of each of you.

“Thank you.” You and Cisco said simultaneously.

You flipped through your menu to try to figure out what you wanted, but you were struggling to pick between several dishes.

“It's hard when everything sounds good, right?” Cisco asked, breaking you out of your thoughts.

“Yes!” You agreed with a chuckle. “How'd you know?”

“I'm having the same problem.” Cisco nibbled on his lip. “How about you pick whatever two things you want the most and we can share?”

You blinked at him. “Are you sure?”

Cisco grinned. “Yeah. Like I said, everything looks good.”

“Okay, I was thinking of getting either the four cheese ravioli or the spaghetti.”

Cisco snapped his menu shut. “Perfect.”

A waitress came to your table a few minutes later, and Cisco ordered the spaghetti before looking at the waitress curiously.

“Do you have sparkling cider?”

“Yes, we do.”

“We'll take a bottle of that too, please.”

The waitress took your order before taking your menus and leaving you and Cisco alone in comfortable silence.

“Good idea about the cider.” You complimented as Cisco poured you both a glass.

“if you weren't driving, I would've ordered us some wine, but I would feel bad drinking by myself. Cider is a good compromise.”

You chuckled and clinked your glass against his. “I don't like wine much anyway.”

Cisco raised an eyebrow at you as you took a delicate sip of your cider. “You don't?”

“I don't like alcohol much. Always seems to give me a headache so I tend to avoid it.”

“I didn't know that.”

“You never asked.” You said teasingly. “What about you?”

Cisco shrugged. “Sometimes it's fun to go have a drink with Cait or Ralph, but yeah, I'm not a huge fan either.”

The waitress came back with your food before you could respond. She deposited a steaming plate of spaghetti in front of Cisco and a steaming plate of ravioli in front of you.

“This smells so good.”

“Agreed.”

You stabbed a ravioli with your fork and blew on it to cool it down before taking a dainty bite.

“How is it?” Cisco asked, twirling some spaghetti around his fork.

“A little too hot to tell. Good, I think.” You continued to blow on it until it had cooled down enough for you to take a bigger bite.  

Cisco's food must've cooled down at the same time, as you and Cisco let out soft, simultaneous groans.

“That good?” Cisco asked with a chuckle.

You nodded enthusiastically and impaled another ravioli on your fork before offering it to Cisco.

You squirmed in your seat as Cisco groaned again, hoping your cheeks weren't as red as they felt.

“That is delicious.” Cisco agreed and offered you a bite of his spaghetti.

You purposely didn't meet Cisco's eyes as you wrapped your lips around his fork.

“I think that's the best spaghetti I've ever had.” You admitted, taking another sip of your cider.

You and Cisco ate in comfortable silence until it was time for dessert.

You scooted closer to Cisco so you could look at the dessert menu together.

“Do we dare?” You asked and raised an eyebrow at him.

“__y/n__, it's Valentine's Day. Of COURSE we dare.”

You chuckled at his words. “Alright, you let me pick dinner so you pick dessert.”

“The chocolate lava cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.” He answered immediately, waving the waitress over so he could place the order.

You both stared in awe when the gooey, warm, chocolatey cake was placed in front of you. Cisco carefully scooped a spoonful of cake and ice cream onto his spoon, and you were pleasantly surprised when he offered the first bite to you.

“I didn't know you were such a gentleman, Cis.” You teased before accepting the spoon and letting out a soft moan.

You missed the way Cisco bit his lip at the sound.

“This is heavenly.” You admitted and gathered some more on the spoon before feeding it to Cisco. You swallowed roughly as Cisco tried to lick the remaining chocolate off of his lips.

“You missed a spot, here, let me.” You murmured without thinking, swiping your thumb across his bottom lip before licking the chocolate off your finger.

Cisco's eyes widened at your actions, but you didn't even seem to realize what you had done.

“Uh, thanks.” Cisco managed to get out after a moment. “You were right, this is heavenly.”

You and Cisco took turns finishing the dessert before the waitress came by with your bill.

Cisco moved to take out his wallet, but you were faster, handing your card to the waitress with a triumphant smile.

“__y/n__…” Cisco said with a frown, and you just chuckled.

“This was my idea. I wasn't going to let you pay when I invited you.”

“I'm paying for the movie then.” Cisco insisted.

“I already bought our tickets.” You said as you sheepishly pulled two tickets out of your purse. “But you can buy the popcorn!”

“I'll buy the popcorn, the sodas, and as much candy as you want.” Cisco grumbled as you stuck your wallet and the tickets back in your purse.

Although the restaurant wasn't as busy as it had been earlier, your hand still found Cisco's as you made your way outside to your car. You were quickly beginning to realize that holding Cisco's hand felt comfortable, natural.

That worried you. This was supposed to be a platonic date to help a friend get over his ex, and yet, here you were, eager to hold Cisco's hand in an unplatonic way.

-----

The drive to the movie theater was short, and as you stepped out of the car, Cisco's hand quickly found yours again, even though the movie theater wasn't nearly as crowded as the restaurant had been.

It doesn't mean anything. You tried to convince yourself in order to avoid getting your hopes up.

Cisco smiled at you as you made your way inside the theater, and you felt your heart skip a beat.

You had always found Cisco attractive, but you had never been romantically interested in him before. The whole point of taking him out was so that neither of you had to be alone on Valentine's Day even though you were both single. You had just wanted to spend some time with your friend, eat some good food, and watch a sweet movie.

You were starting to regret your decision.

You didn't want to have a crush on Cisco; it would ruin your dynamic, and Cisco himself had told you he wasn't ready to date anyone yet after what happened with Cynthia.

Cisco gently waved a hand in front of your face as he called your name. “__y/n__?”

You blinked out of your thoughts and back into the present. “What? I'm sorry. I'm just thinking about some stuff.”

Cisco chuckled. “What do you want?”

“A cherry slurpee and some licorice would be nice.”

“A girl after my own heart.” Cisco said approvingly before ordering a large popcorn, two slurpees, two packages of licorice, a box of M&M’s, and a package of Sour Patch Kids.

“You know it's a two hour movie, right?” You asked, your arms laden with snacks as you made your way to the theater.

“I like to have options, __y/n__.” Cisco said indignantly and stuck his tongue out at you, making you smile.

“Fair enough.” You conceded as you plopped down in the seat beside him. You gently placed the mountain of candy on the divider between your seats before settling in to watch the movie.

Cisco insisted on holding the popcorn for you, and your fingers kept brushing against his as you reached for popcorn at the same time.

You scooted closer to him under the guise of reaching the popcorn easier, and you were surprised when Cisco's right arm lightly wrapped around your shoulder.

You turned to look at him curiously, but Cisco was looking decidedly at the screen, not at you. You smiled to yourself and relaxed under the warm weight of his arm.

You didn't notice as Cisco's lips curled up into a matching smile.

Sitting so close to Cisco had been fine at the beginning of the movie, but now you could smell his cologne, and it was driving you crazy. Even worse was that as the movie approached its end, there were a few steamy scenes between the two leads.

You could feel your cheeks flush as the female lead kissed the male lead, then the male lead began tugging her shirt off.

You let out a small gasp as Cisco pulled you closer so he could whisper in your ear. “They don't even have any chemistry. I liked her with the best friend character better.”

“Yeah, me too.” You agreed, trying desperately to calm your racing heart and buzzing nerves.

Cisco turned to look at you fully, trying to figure out why you were suddenly sitting so still.

“Are you okay?” Cisco murmured, his breath tickling your ear before you turned to face him. Cisco curiously took in your wide eyes, flushed cheeks, and swollen lips that you had clearly been biting.

“Oh.” Cisco said softly, reaching a hand out to cup your cheek and blinking in surprise as you leaned into the touch happily.

“Cisco,” You breathed out, eyes darting down from his eyes to his lips then back again.

Cisco thought about it for a second before he leaned in and kissed you softly, slowly, not wanting to scare you off.

You felt so stupid for trying to deny it as his lips touched yours. When you felt the first press of his lips against yours, you knew you were lost. You liked Cisco. He liked you. And it might make things complicated in the future, but for now all that mattered was that Cisco's lips were warm, and they felt perfect against yours.

You kissed him back eagerly, bringing your hands up to his neck as you deepened the kiss before remembering that you were in public and reluctantly pulling away from him.

You smiled happily at Cisco and curled contentedly into his side for the rest of the movie.

As you and Cisco made your way out of the theater with Cisco's various packages of (completely unopened) candy in your arms, you couldn't help but stop every few feet to lean up and kiss him again.

Cisco chuckled as you stopped to kiss him for the fourth time. He kissed you back sweetly before stepping out of your reach.

“We'll never make it to the car if you keep doing that.” Cisco singsonged from several feet in front of you.

You pouted. “I don't care. It's Valentine's Day and I just want to kiss you.”

Cisco melted at your words, and within seconds, he was in front of you again. “You're gonna be the death of me.”

You smiled triumphantly as he pulled you into another kiss, his hands sliding down to your waist while yours played with his hair.

You heard a loud cough and something falling to the ground with a dull thud, breaking apart to see what was going on.

Barry, Iris, Caitlin, and Ralph were staring at you and Cisco in surprise. Ralph had dropped his popcorn in shock, Barry and Iris shared a knowing look that was only mildly surprised, and Caitlin held out her hand to Iris.

“I told you there was no way it was going to stay a platonic date. Pay up.” Caitlin said cheerfully, and Iris grumbled as she grabbed some bills from her purse and handed them to Caitlin.

You raised an eyebrow at her. “How did you know? I didn't even know.”

“Neither did I.” Cisco chimed in.

“I don't know.” Caitlin said, shrugging. “I just had a feeling.”

“We're happy for you guys.” Barry chimed in sweetly, making you and Cisco smile.

Caitlin and Iris agreed, but Ralph was too busy frowning at the ground as he picked up his popcorn to pay attention.

“Enjoy your movie.” You said, blowing a goodbye kiss to the others before you and Cisco exited the movie theater.

Once you and Cisco were in the warmth of your car, you turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “There's still a few hours left of Valentine's Day, do you wanna come back to my place? I've got some more rom coms on DVD, and we have plenty of candy to stay awake.”  

Cisco smiled and leaned across the center console to kiss you again. “That sounds like the perfect end to a perfect Valentine's Day.”

End. <3

[thirteen-beaxhes]

Our Last Words - Chapter 9

Summary:  In a universe where the last words your soulmate speaks to you are printed, Cyrus Goodman wants nothing more than to never meet them. And he definitely doesn’t want it to be the blonde-haired boy in his class.

ALL LINKS IN REBLOG

~~~~

Visions of Gideon - Sufjan Stevens

No no no. This couldn’t be happening.

Cyrus’ breathing grew shallow, his throat dry. The floor began to sway beneath his feet. He staggered backwards, leaning against the light blue walls of his bathroom.

His eyes were playing tricks on him. That’s all. Everything was okay. If he checked again, the words would be black.

With what felt like an enormous amount of effort, he pushed himself off the wall, moving towards the mirror, his eyes trained to the ground.

Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. Everything was okay. Cyrus’ eyes stung with tears threatening to fall as he looked up at the mirror. Slowly, with each breath bringing a greater sense of dread, he lowered his shirt from the collar, forcing himself to look at his shoulder.

Grey.

His breath caught in his throat, producing a strangled noise, as Cyrus covered his mouth with a hand. He sank to the floor, the tears now flowing freely. Cyrus pressed his hand to his mouth, desperately trying to hide his sobs. But it was impossible.

He pulled his knees to his body, hiding his face in his hands. He could practically hear his heart break into pieces, the fragments scattered on the tiles of his bathroom floor. His surroundings now seemed dull, unimportant. And in the aftermath, Cyrus could think of only one thing to say to TJ, one thing which now he never could.

You broke your promise.

*

There had to be a way around this, right? Cyrus thought to himself, finally getting off the bathroom floor and walking to his bed, almost as if he was in a daze. His soul may as well have just left his body, with every movement of his feeling like it was someone controlling him with puppet strings.

He collapsed onto the bed, the tears now dried on his cheeks. Every now and then, a choked sob came up in his throat, shaking his whole body. He reached over for his phone. There were missed calls from Buffy and Andi, dozens of text messages from the GHC’s group chat. Scrolling through the notifications, Cyrus hoped against hope that the name ‘Teej’ would be there, with some comforting words, or even a Shrek reference that Cyrus famously loathed. He would take it in a heartbeat over the inevitability of the rest of their lives.

Holding his breath, he opened TJ’s chat, scrolling back a bit, fresh tears forming as he looked back at their previous conversations. Steadying himself, Cyrus opened the keyboard, praying to any higher power that lay out there.

Cyrus: hey teej?

Message not delivered

No, please. Not now, Cyrus thought, typing out another.

Cyrus: please

Message not delivered

And so it went on for 10 minutes, Cyrus desperately trying to say something, say anything to TJ. But nothing went through.

As if it wasn’t supposed to.

Frustrated, Cyrus threw his phone against the wall, shattering the screen. But he couldn’t care. Pressing the balls of his palm against his eyes to stop the tears, he curled up in bed, trying not to think about TJ.

Trying not to think about his warm smile, the one he saved only for Cyrus. Trying not to think about how his eyes shone when talking about things he loved, whether it be basketball, dirt biking or the environment. Trying not to think about how his hugs always managed to make Cyrus feel safe and at home. Trying not to think about their first kiss, the rain pouring around them, as they promised to always be for each other. Trying not to think about how they first met, how they became friends, how they helped each other grow.

Trying not to think about how much he loved him.

*

“Cyrus! Open the door. Please.”

Cyrus woke up, his eyelids feeling glued together after having cried himself to sleep. He rubbed them, trying to wake up, now keenly aware of the pounding noise of his door being knocked on. The sound drilled into his brain and he tried to shut it out, covering his head with the pillow, but to no avail.

“Cyrus, come on. You’ve been in there for 2 days straight. Please, we’re worried,” Buffy said, knocking again.

“And you haven’t answered our texts either. Is everything okay? Talk to us,” Andi added.

After a moment of silence, Cyrus rolled off his bed with a sigh, moving to open the door.

“Finally, now what reason could there be for,” Buffy began, trailing off as soon as she saw Cyrus’ tear-stained face and empty eyes. Andi tried to hold back a gasp, her hand involuntarily reaching for Cyrus’ shoulder.

“Cy? What happened?” Andi asked, her voice gentle and laced with concern.

Cyrus took a deep breath, finding it hard to say anything. The two girls walked into the room, closing the door behind them, and sat on his bed.

“I-It’s TJ,” Cyrus managed to get out, every word taking a tremendous amount of effort after having not spoken to even his mother for the past 2 days.

“What did he do? I swear if he hurt you, I’ll hunt him down,” Buffy said, moving to push herself off the bed, but Cyrus grabbed her hand and stopped her.

“I told him that I loved him,” Cyrus whispered.

“But, Cyrus. That’s great!” Andi said, confused. “Unless he didn’t say it back?”

“No, he did. So cliché. Saying we love each other on our one-year anniversary,” Cyrus said, laughing weakly.

“So, what’s the problem, Cy?” Buffy said, furrowing her eyebrows.

Cyrus took in a breath, looking up at the ceiling to stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks. Steadying himself, he looked at the bedspread and finally, in a broken whisper, he said it.

“TJ’s my soulmate.”

Buffy’s furrowed eyebrows relaxed as the realisation hit her. Andi wrapped her arms around Cyrus’ shoulder, holding him tight. Buffy grabbed Cyrus’ hand in her own, rubbing comforting circles with her thumb. Cyrus rested his head on Buffy’s shoulder, his other hand holding onto Andi’s waist. The three sat there for what seemed like forever, the silence cut by choked sobs every now and then.

“How did it… you know,” Buffy asked, unable to find the right words to say.

“We were just at his house having a lazy day. TJ wanted us to go to a trampoline park the next day. You can guess what happened then,” Cyrus said, his eyes downcast.

“Cyrus, I’m so sorry,” Andi said, giving his shoulders a squeeze.

“We’d had such a good day too,” Cyrus said, his voice cracking as the tears finally gave way once again. He had spent the last 2 days in a constant cycle of tears and recovery. And there didn’t look to be an end to it.

“Is there anything we can do?” Buffy asked softly.

“Just, stay here, please? I don’t wanna be alone right now,” Cyrus said, looking the two of them as they smiled and nodded.

Surrounded by his best friends, Cyrus forgot everything. Even if it was only for a brief moment in time.

It was worth it.

*

“You know, I can’t believe I’m saying this. But I miss Amber as our waitress,” Buffy said, taking a sip of her milkshake. She had grabbed Cyrus and had practically dragged him as soon as school ended to the Spoon, saying that he needed some good old baby tater therapy. But Cyrus knew that it was also so that he didn’t accidentally catch a glimpse of TJ. Not that it was a problem, since he and TJ went to different high schools. That should have been a sign that it was going to end, he thought to himself, nibbling on his baby taters.

“Yeah, actually. Who else would mess up our orders and just spend their entire shift talking to us instead of working?” Cyrus replied ruefully. Amber had been one of their really good friends, but ever since she and Andi had exchanged their last words the previous year, they saw her less and less. She moved away 2 months after that, losing contact with everyone she knew from Shadyside. It crushed Andi the most, and the delicate acceptance she had built up till that day fell apart.

That’s the thing no ever told you about the aftermath of talking to your soulmate for the last time. It’s not just those 2 people whose lives are torn apart. Everyone close to them is also impacted, their sense of normal ripped out from under their feet.

Cyrus shook his head slightly, trying to think about things other than soulmates.

“So, how’s basketball going?” he asked Buffy, trying to turn the topic away from lost soulmates.

She perked up and immediately began talking about their practices. While Cyrus understood practically nothing, he hung on every word, taking comfort in seeing his best friend light up about something she was so proud of.

“The girls are amazing! I was actually intimidated by the captain at first. Can you believe it? Me? Intimidated by someone?” Buffy said with a laugh. “I guess that’s why I started acting all high and mighty again. To prove that I was good enough for them.”

“Again? Like you stopped?” Cyrus said, raising an eyebrow. Buffy just glared at him, punching him lightly in the shoulder.

“You know what I mean!”

“I do, I do,” Cyrus said, raising his hands in surrender.

“Anyway, turns out, if you don’t act like you are the greatest player that ever was, you can actually make some really good friends,” Buffy said, smiling fondly.

“Cheers to that,” Cyrus said, clinking his milkshake with Buffy’s.

“So, how are you holding up?” Buffy asked after taking another sip of her milkshake.

“Buffy…”

“I know it’s not something you want to talk about, but trust me. At some point, you have to say something. You can’t keep things to yourself forever. Believe me, I would know, wouldn’t I?”

Cyrus sighed, holding Buffy’s hand across the table. “You’re right. And you and Andi did talk about it almost immediately after. It’s just,” Cyrus hesitated. “It’s gonna take me more time.”

“Of course it will. And that’s okay,” Buffy said, squeezing his hand. “Whenever you are ready to talk, we’re all right here. Okay?”

“Thanks Buffy,” Cyrus said, his voice choking up for the millionth time the past 4 days.

“So, what say we get out of here and throw on some Jurassic Park?” Buffy said, grabbing her bag.

“But don’t you not like Jurassic Park?” Cyrus asked, amused.

“Eh, some sacrifices are worth being made.”

Smiling, Cyrus reached for his wallet to pay for the food, but their waitress came up to him and stopped him.

“You don’t need to pay for it,” the girl said. She had brown hair in a bob cut and she seemed two years older than them. She definitely wasn’t Amber.

“Why not?” Cyrus asked, confused. Even Buffy looked perplexed.

“This guy came in earlier. Tall, blonde hair, green eyes.”

TJ. Cyrus felt his heart start to beat faster, as he tried to focus on the girl’s words.

“Anyway,” she continued. “He came up to me and showed me a picture of you, saying that whatever you ordered should be put on his tab. Something about a bet or something? He had left a note but I lost it. I don’t know but you don’t have to pay.”

With that, the girl walked away, leaving Buffy in more of a confusion than before. But Cyrus was just staring at the plate, his mind running at a million miles per second.

“Cyrus? Do you know what just happened?” Buffy asked after seeing Cyrus’ lack of response.

Slowly, Cyrus nodded as he tried to fight the tears. He coughed a bit, trying to say something.

“That day, we had a bet over something. I don’t even remember what. If I won, TJ said he’d pay for my baby taters and milkshakes for a year. I didn’t even remember,” Cyrus said, laughing weakly.

Buffy just held his hands as he cried, but amongst the sadness, there was a small amount of happiness.

At least he isn’t all gone.

*

“Have you tried texting him?” Andi asked as she, Buffy and Cyrus walked into school.

Cyrus just silently pulled out his phone, showing all the undelivered messages.

“What did you expect, Andi? The same thing happened with the both of us,” Buffy said with a sigh.

“I just hoped that maybe this time it would be different.”

“Have you guys spoken to him?” Cyrus asked.

“I’ve tried, but every time I want to tell him something you said, I just forget it,” Buffy said.

“Me too. It just slips our mind every time,” Andi added.

“Hey guys!” Jonah said, walking up to them with his characteristic smile.

“Oh, Cyrus! I met TJ on the way,” Jonah said after the group had walked into the school building.

“You did?” Cyrus asked, his voice small.

“Yeah. He wanted me to give you a note. Here,” Jonah said, reaching into his pocket, only to find the note missing. “Wait, I had it right here!”

“It’s okay, Jonah,” Cyrus said, patting his shoulder. “I didn’t expect you to find it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because, we’ve tried this all before. Texting, notes, even asking our friends to go and say something. It doesn’t work,” Andi said sadly as she hunted for her English book.

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Jonah said.

Buffy put her arm around his shoulder with a sigh.

“It isn’t.”

*

“I’ll see you guys later,” Cyrus said, waving goodbye to his friends as he left school on that Friday. He held onto his bag, starting to head off until he froze, seeing someone across the courtyard.

TJ.

It was as if time stood still. Cyrus didn’t know how to react. It had been more than a week since he had last seen TJ and his throat went dry, his breathing heavy. This was extremely unexpected.

TJ looked just as shocked. He looked terrible, Cyrus thought to himself, noting his harried appearance and slouched shoulders. He looked as broken as Cyrus felt. All Cyrus wanted to do was run across that courtyard and hug TJ, never intending to pull away. God, he would always love him.

It seemed like TJ had a similar idea, starting to walk towards Cyrus. But just as he started to move forward, Buffy called out to Cyrus, making him turn away from TJ for a moment. When he turned back, TJ was gone. Cyrus just about caught him being walked away by one of his former teammates.

That should have been expected. As Cyrus turned away, his heart still fractured but no tears left to cry, he took a deep breath.

There was never going to be anything more. The universe was making sure of that.

And he would have to live with it for the rest of his life.

~~~~~

oh geez this is the longest chapter in the story.

so this is the last chapter before the epilogue. i can’t believe this fic is almost over omg. my first chaptered fic huh.

anyway, hope you guys liked this chapter! i’m sorry for the pain, i really am.

[fandom-wars-imagine-blog]

Hello dear Sheep! Since you want it so bad, here's your BATIM ask: Norman, Shawn and Susie and Reader taking care of a bunch of orphan puppies and/or kittens. This is super cute, you can't deny!

(Pls someone do the same, I need more BATIM asksthank you :’) )

Shawn Flynn: 

Shawn is a very nice man, he gets excited with little kids and animals of all kind, there is no kid that he can’t befriend. He can even befriend little demons, so 2 to 5-year-old kids are no problem to him. ;)

And count the fact he’s a toymaker, little kids and animals love some good old plushie! Boris can say it himself. Everyone can be old in age but be a child in heart! So, it’s very normal that he loves baby animals.

When you said to him that you didn’t want kids he was…kinda devastated. We wanted kids since he has known himself. He would have been an excellent father and he’s pretty sure you have been an excellent parent as well! But hey, he just has to wait right? Everyone wants kids someday. 

It’s the 20′s, give him a break.

When you saw him down for a whole week, (even if he said various times that he was okay) you decided to make his parenthood dream reality. But not kinda exactly the way he was thinking about…

When he came home one day and saw a kitten and a puppy on your lap sleeping…his hearted stopped from the happiness. 

If he was a cartoon, his eyes would have stars on them.

You had never seen him so happy before, he was like a little kid with a new Christmas gift right in front of him, the one they have been talking about since July when people don’t even think about Christmas. 

He’s not a dad of a little human, but of two beautiful little animals. He’s so happy that he has you as his lover. Just you to have that kind of idea when everything around you seems hopeless. 

You swear with all your heart, he would have been the perfect father. He takes them for walks, he builds them toys to play with, he pets and plays with them for hours when he can. Heck, you even think that he cares more about the babies being near him sleeping than you being near him sleeping. He spoils them more than he spoils you!

Alright, that is a lie, sometimes the truth, but he can’t help it! They are like little balls of fur.

The only thing he really lacks is punishments. They are so cute that he evens forgets that they can be really naughty sometimes. You lost count of how many times your pets had nibbled the furniture and he said absolute nothing instead of scolding them. You’ll have to talk to him about that and scold him yourself. 

He’s very happy about this new life. You had, maybe, sacrificed your own peace to make him happy and he doesn’t believe that anyone besides you would have ever done the same thing. He’s very glad about having you in his life.

Norman Polk:

Alright, I’m pretty sure some of you have those relatives or parents in your life that “hated” animals and “I swear to God that if you bring any disgusting creature to our home, you and it will have to find a new place to live!” but then when you brought a pet, after 2 months or less they treated it better than they treat you.

So, that’s Norman.

He already has lots of work, you know! It’s not just Mister out-of-his-mind Drew that makes him want to pull out his own hair out of his head. Mister Sammy Lawrence is super annoying as well and the projectionist’s life would be way easier if everyone started to use their own common sense and worked together as a family instead of talking about each other behind closed doors (and even you cause him some headaches sometimes). 

One day, while he was drinking his tea at home, you got inside with a little black puppy in your arms. You claimed that you found him in a box outside the supermarket and decided to adopt him to bring a little more of joy into your household! Your love seems always so tired, maybe you and your new little son can help!

…Oh man, why.

It’s not that Norman doesn’t like animals, it’s just that he’s not the young guy he was 20 years ago and his patience is below hell now that Joey decided that would be a good idea to have an angel diva living in the studio. Besides, pets are just another annoyance in everyone’s life. They make messes everywhere, they poop on the floor, they fight with other pets, they destroy your furniture, they need too much attention and time and the list goes on for our Mr.Polk. But it seems that he will have to accept his fate, is not like he can kick you out because of the dog. 

(Because he even tried to convince you to not adopt the puppy but you threaten to leave as well if the dog left and he doesn’t want to lose his precious yet stubborn light of his life. Sooo here we go Norman, you can’t run from this one.)

At least you could have chosen other color. Black remembers him of that stinky ink, ugh.

At first, Norman didn’t really care about the new being living in your house. He didn’t pay attention to them and rarely petted or played with them. The newspaper seemed more interesting anyway. The only thing that he didn’t miss was his food. He can not like the pet at all but he’s not letting anyone starve under his own roof. About the walks he just gave the excuse of his legs being tired from work but that’s bullshit.

After a while, things got better. He started to play more with him, take him for walks, even taught him some cool tricks! He even asks you every day if your pet needs something so he can go to the supermarket and take care of it. Seems that your grumpy boy has now changed his view about animals and sees life with more happy colors instead of black and white. 

You are relieved that you change your man at least a bit. Your relationship/life has never been so good and you both love that dog like he is your own children! The only thing that would improve this whole new fantasy is Norman getting a job on a better studio. Things are starting to get suspicious there…

Susie Campbell:

Oh Susie, Susie…Susie. This dreaming big diva is very possessive of you, completely unintentionally! It’s not like she wants to be jealous of everything! It’s just…gosh, if you had her life, you would understand her side. 

So, as she knows she’s wrong in that matter, (even if she hates to admit when she’s wrong) she decided to change this way of being and decided to adopt a kitten! Y’know, you both live together and that kitty will always be with you two no matter what! It’s not like she can be jealous of a kitten for being with you! It’s a kitten! A pet! It’s impossible that she gets jealous of such cute thing!

Oh man, how wrong she was. 

It all started well. She bought the things behind your back so it would be a surprise and you never knew something was going on until the day you saw a tiny white ball sleeping in your couch. 

Heh, at least the money Susie was gaining from her job in that “cursed studio” like you called it has proven to be useful. After all, that smile in your lips and your shining eyes seemed to support her decision.~

You didn’t even think Susie was being serious when she asked you your opinion of having a little pet! You thought that it was to, like, know you even better or something! You were not suspecting at all two big eyes looking at you with curiosity! 

Yes! You were happy, Susie was happy, she hoped your new little girl was happy and everything just had to be the way Susie wanted so soon enough she could prove to herself that she can be a better person!

But not everything in life is perfect and, soon enough, Susie got caught in her own web.

You tried to do your best to give equal affection to both of them and you kind did well your job. But Susie is your girlfriend, so she should be getting all the attention! SHE’S THE LITTLE AND ADORABLE ANGEL HERE GODAMMIT!

Susie knows she’s wrong, it’s a kitten. Kittens and animals, in general, need attention like anyone of us. And she’s adorable! Who wouldn’t be in love with those little paws? But it feels like you love more that ball of fur than her! She knows that is not true, even if it feels like it for our angel. Why is she getting jealous of a pet????

You notice that Susie is quite down and thinking all the time when you are around her with your little daughter. It confuses you, Susie normally isn’t like that. Is something wrong? And if it is, why hasn’t she told you? You are there for her and she knows, at least you mentioned it to her. 

One day, you kinda “trapped” her in your bed, you on one side and the white kitty on the other, and order her to tell you what’s going on. Not completely at ease about the matter, she ended up telling you everything, very nervous and afraid of what you might think of her after this. Gosh, only a psycho would be jealous of a fluffy little creature. You hate her now, don’t you?

No, you don’t. You are used with Campbell’s possessiveness so it doesn’t surprise you at all that she’s jealous of your kitten. With your help, she will overcome this negative feeling and you will be the perfect family that anyone could ask for to your little kitty cat.

One of your favorite activities is too lay down together while cuddling and playing with your daughter on top of your bed. Lazy afternoons with cats are the best!

- mod sheep

[nighttimekpop]

Royal Love (Prince! Jimin x Maid!Reader) Chapter 3

BTS Prince/Royal AU

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Your relationship with Jimin is at risk when the King and Queen make a concerning announcement.

"What do you mean a ball to find me a princess? I don't need a princess, I have Y/N!" "But your brothers Taehyung and Jungkook said they don't see any improvement in your demeanor around the palace and frankly we have to agree with them. You can keep the maid but you'll have to find someone of royal descent on the night of the ball. It will be a masquerade. That way you'll be able to choose a girl and it will be a surprise as to whom she is until we reveal her at the end of the night. And just for fun, your brothers can choose brides if they want as well. That way we won't have to hassle with finding them brides either." The king and queen were too busy to really understand Jimins feelings about anything, and this situation was no different. Their decisions were final and Jimin didn't have any way to escape. He felt suffocated by his responsibility. It was understandable that he would eventually need a partner as an upcoming heir to the throne when the time came. But it made no sense to force him this early, let alone on such short notice. Most of this was actually Taehyung and Jungkooks fault, however Jimin had to accept the fact that it was his distant nature towards the rest of the family that got him in this whole mess in the first place. The worst part was that he now had to break the news to you.

"Y/N, there's this masquerade ball that my parents have set up-" "Ooh a masquerade ball? That sounds like so much fun! I hope you have a great time!" "Y/N... it's a ball to find me a fiancée." You felt your stomach drop the way the cups of tea you were holding did as they dropped to the floor. The sound of porcelain shattering echoed across the room. You looked down and didn't move. Jimin could feel your sadness at his words, he felt the same. You knew this was a situation you would have to face someday, you just hoped it wouldn't come so soon. "Well I hope you find someone, I'm sure she'll be wonderful..." you said as you turned away so Jimin wouldn't see the tears building up in your eyes. "Y/N I'm so sorry, I'll try to fix this I promise!" Jimin tried to comfort you with the optimism he always managed to pull out of nowhere whenever things were bad. You loved that about him. "Jimin we both knew this day was going to come." you said with a sigh. "Y/N I made a promise to you and I'm not about to break it. How about you come to the ball? No one will recognize you anyway, they think you're working all the time so you don't have to worry", he suggested. "Are you sure? Are you really that sure we could get away with it? Where will I even get a dress worthy of going to a ball full of princesses? And you'll have to pick a fiancée at the end of the night too!" "I'll buy you one. The shoes, the jewelry, everything. As for my fiancée, we'll worry about that when we get there." You trusted Jimin enough to know he really cared about you to do this much. You figured you might as well spend your last night with him at a ball than a sad goodbye out the back door of the dreary looking maid quarters.

It was the night of the ball. You had to mentally prepare yourself since this might be the last time you would ever be able to be happy with Jimin. Unfortunately he couldn't walk you to the ballroom because he had to participate in the opening ceremony of the ball. You were alone until you were joined by the crowds of girls coming out of their fancy rides, covered in their most expensive and astounding attire from head to toe. It wasn't until you walked down the red carpeted stairs that you became aware of how intricate and royal looking the dress Jimin picked out for you was. People gasped in awe as they watched you, draped in a silk silver dress that trailed behind you as you walked. Jimin bought it knowing it would match his navy blue uniform with silver lining and details on the sides. It also matched his silver hair. Trumpets sounded to announce the entrance of the king and queen followed by the seven princes. But you didn't expected to see all seven of them dressed exactly alike. They all had similar hats so you couldn't see their hair, masks to cover their faces and their uniforms had only subtle differences between each other. It was later announced by the king and queen that this was so no one held any bias towards any of the princes and chose them based on personality, which was a disaster for you considering you had a bias, and it was Jimin. It would be hard for him to find you now as well, since the masks covered most of everyone's faces and you weren't that tall compared to everyone else either. This was going to be a nightmare.

Once the opening ceremony was over, you went looking for Jimin. It was impossible. You either got trampled on by hyper princesses or couldn't reach any of the princes fast enough before someone else danced with them. Jimin wanted to look for you as well but he was busy trying to politely shake off the girls who tried to dance with him. As the first song began to play, princesses began fighting over who could dance with a prince while you watched quietly. You soon noticed that one of the princes was walking straight towards you. You looked up to see two eyes peering through the dark blue mask, but you couldn't tell who they belonged to. "May I have the pleasure of dancing with a gorgeous lady such as yourself? You look stunning this evening my dear", said the deep voice behind the mask. Something about it didn't feel right and you didn't know why but a chill ran down your spine as he began to dance with you. Maybe it was the grip he used or the way his voice had drips of bad intention pouring through, but you could feel that this prince was definitely one that you didn't want to spend any longer with. As you two swayed back and forth, the music didn't seem to be going by fast enough. Your partners' hands held you tight, almost as though he knew you wanted to run away. Every alarm went off in your head the moment you felt him breathing in the scent of your perfume followed by a long but terrifying exhale of satisfaction at how delicious you smelled. "Mmm...we've met before haven't we?" He whispered as he proceeded to nibble your ear which was already red and hot from anxiety and embarrassment. "Miss Y/N do you like the little parting gift Jungkookie and I put together for you and Jimin? We thought that just letting the secret out would be too boring, so mummy and daddy agreed to our suggestion to throw him a ball. Don't worry, no need to thank us." he said with a smirk. His arm slowly wrapped around your waist to try and hold you tighter. The way he was trying to restrain himself from touching you anymore than he already was, was a dead giveaway. It was Prince Taehyung. You refrained from being too obvious about your escape from his grasp and tore yourself away just as he twirled you around.

Finding refuge at the refreshment table, you stayed a while to recollect yourself. A slightly shorter prince approached you, but it wasn't Jimin, his voice was still too deep. However he didn't give you the same eerie feeling Prince Taehyung had. "Hey, you okay?" he asked, noticing your short breaths and wide eyes. "You look like you're about to pass out. Maybe you should sit down or something." He was definitely not Jungkook either. You decided he was safe enough to be with for now and accepted his help. There weren't any chairs indoors so the prince suggested you both go out to the balcony where there were plenty of empty seats. "Are you enjoying yourself tonight otherwise?" "I mean, the ball looks wonderful and so do all the guests including yourself and your brothers, but something seems too forced about it all." "You think so? Yeah me too. I mean I don't mind finding a princess right now, but I'm not obligated to, Jimin is. The poor kid is still younger than us four older princes, but he's being forced to decide so soon. How do you decide something like that at his age? I never would have been able to. It's nice to know someone understands him like you. Most people don't." You could feel the loneliness and frustration in his voice. This is something that bothered him and Jimin a lot. No wonder the princes never seemed happy. Their status came with the cost of having to obey their parents every rule in order to prepare for eventual inheritance of the throne. You were glad you still had enough freedom to be more independent than the princes would ever get to have until they became kings. You and the anonymous prince remained on the balcony for the majority of the night. You were so lost in conversation that you didn't notice how physically close the prince had gotten to you, his face specifically. He seemed more friendly than flirty, not dangerous. His proximity to you just made him seem extremely interested in whatever you were talking about. You kept dismissing all of the signs because you still saw him as a friend, but he had other things in mind. "You know, I've never met a girl like you. You're so much more interesting and sound so much smarter than all those other girls at this party. All they care about is status and money and appearances. But you care about people. I love that..." Your heart began to beat faster and faster before he quickly leaned in and gave you a gentle kiss on the lips. Your cheeks grew hot as you felt his warm lips pressing against yours.

Suddenly, the balcony doors swung open. It was a de-masked and disheveled Jimin. "Y/N! I can't believe I've finally found y-" The way his smile suddenly dropped stung your chest. He ripped his brothers mask off. You had been kissing Prince Yoongi. "Yoongi what do you think you're doing kissing her?" "Jimin what the hell is your problem she's just one of the guests!" "No she's not you idiot! She's Y/N! She's my maid!" Yoongi realized what he had just done and was completely in shock. He hadn't recognized you with your mask on either. "Jimin look, I'm sorry, we were just talking and she looked worn out so I suggested we go outside to and we ended up here. I thought she was a princess and I found her sweet, so I kissed her...". But the prince knew that it was too late to reverse what Jimin had just seen. Jimin then turned back to you, his eyes filled with a sickly red hue of rage and disappointment. "And you! You willingly went outside not knowing which of my idiot brothers you were with and allowed him to have a make out session with you at moonlight?!" Your heart felt like it was being stepped on. The one person who trusted you so much that he would take a bullet for you, thought you had just cheated on him. He grew more and more furious with each word. "Jimin it's not like that! I-" "You what?" he cut you off. "You thought that I had forgotten about you? That because this was our last night it wouldn't matter if you tried flirting with a more eligible prince? Do you trust me so little that you think I threw our relationship away because of some stupid rule my parents came up with!?" Tears began streaming down his face. "I was coming back for you! I had it all planned out! I was going to choose you as my fiancée tonight to show my parents that I want you and no one else! But then I walk out to find that you've moved on from me so quickly?!" Every word that came out of his mouth made you want to curl up into a ball and disappear. This was not how the night was supposed to go.

The clock tower finally struck midnight. It was time for Jimin to announce whom he had chosen to marry. A spotlight shone onto the balcony. Before they could announce anything, he took one last long sorrowful look at your face and marched back to the castle. There were no announcements of upcoming marriages that night. The guests left one by one and the castle lights were shut off. You returned to the maids quarters. This would be the first night in months that you weren't sharing a bed with Jimin. Your sheets felt cold as you grasped them to try and feel someone who wasn't there. Neither you nor Jimin slept. All he could think about was whether the ball had ruined your feelings for him forever. All you could think about was the pained look on his face and his red eyes staring through his messy, silver hair as he walked away from you by the light of the moon. You wondered if he was walking away from your relationship too.

[waywardimpalawriter]

Was supposed to be one summer night

Was just supposed to be a summer nights

Summary: One hot summer night just might lead to more than Sam thought it would.

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Setting: from middle of season 2 to present

Characters: Sam, Reader

Word count: 3,077 (with lyrics)

Warnings: none just fluffy goodness.

Notes: Notes: written for the Album Challenge by @mrs-squirrel-chester. I chose Rascal Flatts Unstoppable.  The song is Summer nights as well.

Forever:

@winters-buck

@angryschnauzer

@marvel-lucy

@feelmyroarrrr

@aquabrie

@fandommaniacx

@thetalesofmooseandsquirrel

@supernaturallymarvellous

Supernatural:

@smoothdogsgirl

@spnfanficpond

@aprofoundbondwithdean

  2007

Sweat dripped down his strong back making the dark green cotton fabric stick to his skin, navy and cream plaid shed early on in this Texas heat. Curses slipping from his lips knowing he should’ve just had Dean drop him back at the motel before he took off. But no he opted to walk back thinking it’d do him some good, if the mid July heat didn’t have him tipping over with a stroke first. Even in this half empty bar, the air conditioning is doing little to keep up with the heat.

The case finished, simple werewolf needing to be put down and only one this time, getting lucky with only scratches, a few bruises and Dean’s busted lip to show from the fight. In celebration they’d hit the local dive bar, where of course Dean linked up with some busty red head leaving Sam alone and fending for himself. Not for the first time wishing for a cold shower and soft bed to rest his weary body. Why he’d wanted to remain sitting here, he’s not sure though it might have something to do with the shy beauty sitting at a table in the corner.

“Mind if I sit?” came your sweet, soft voice from beside him.

Glancing over, his eyes landing on you a shy smile gracing your lips two beers in hand, making Sam wonder when you’d gotten up, not that he’d been watching of course. “Seat’s free.”

“Thanks,” sliding into the booth, handing him the long neck. “I normally don’t do this kinda thing, but I saw you sitting here alone and worked up the courage to come say hi and brought libations.” Realizing you’re babbling, a soft pink blush graced your cheeks, eyes glancing down at your own long neck, peeling the sticker off slowly. Having seen him around town a few times, making you wonder what brought him to this small town.  

Something about you has Sam giving you his full attention, “I’m Sam by the way.”

Taking a few seconds, you finally look up into his amazing hazel eyes blush still in place even as you extend you hand. “Y/N, it’s a pleasure.”

Accepting the hand in his large warm palm giving a firm shake and half squeeze before letting go, intrigued by the fact that you’ve come even as he sees you’re nervous. Maybe staying back wasn’t such a bad idea after all if it meant getting to know a beautiful woman.  

“You in town for business, family?” you inquire before taken a slow sip of your beer, unconsciously licking your lips that capture Sam’s attention for a moment.

Unsure of how to answer, Dean’s always better with coming up with these stories, “Ah business, my partner and I were investigating the murders.” Part truth, he just hoped you didn’t ask more than that.

Eyes wide, nibbling your bottom lip, “I heard and read about them, so sad what happened.” Dipping your head, focus back on your bottle. “Those actually were some of the first murders this town’s had in a long time. My dad, use to be the sheriff some years back, kept order pretty well, plus it helps we’re just a one horse town.”

“He retire?”

 Shaking your head, H/C hair brushing around your bare shoulders, one hand moving up to fiddle with the thin strap of your baby blue tank top, “No he uh, he passed away two years before retirement.”

“I’m sorry,” Sam offered feeling a touch uncomfortable with your admission. Memories of his own father flashing through his mind, “It’s never easy losing a parent.”

Nodding, hearing the catch in his throat that makes you raise you head again, seeing him staring at you, “Yeah my dad taught me a lot, much to my mom’s disappointment, I became a daddy’s girl,” pride shining in those E/C eyes.

“Same,” he thinks for a second hearing your musical laughter makes him blush lightly knowing he’s messed up. “I mean not the daughter part natural, but learning things from my dad,” grinning Sam took a long pull from his beer scanning the bar one more time, out of habit he’s always done when in public places.

Picking up on what you think is nervousness, but in reality is watchfulness for the fact that he keeps looking around, “I never asked if you’re waiting on your girlfriend or your partner. I can go if…”

Shaking his head, finding your shyness refreshing and sweet, “Neither of those Y/N just second nature to look around, keep my eyes open in case of trouble yeah know.”

Settling back into the booth your nerves returning to normal as you nod. Though there’s a pounding in your rib cage with being so close to the male model sitting opposite you that concerns you a bit. You’ve rarely been so forwards, well forward for you that is, mostly keeping to yourself and everyone else out especially after your father’s death. But there’s something about him that’s drawn you in. Maybe it’s the soulful hazel eyes, or his soft looking just below the ears brown hair, truthfully the whole package is what drew you over though his attention and demeanor is what’s kept you rooted in your spot.

“Tell me about your dad?” elbows on the table, head resting on your open palm, interest being peeked. “That is of course if you want to.”

For a short while Sam’s quiet unsure of how to begin, “I didn’t always see eye to eye with my dad.”

“Butted heads did ya?”

Nodding, fond smile sliding over those full lips, “I wanted something different than he did. A different life outside the family business, a normal life, he thought I was abandoning him and my brother.”

“You weren’t,” you interjected earning a puzzled look from Sam so you explain. “My mom wanted me to be this meek little woman who cooked, cleaned and took care of my future husband. But I never saw myself doing that not right away. I wanted to leave this town and find myself.”  

“Sounds like we have more in common than our taste in beer,” Sam remarked leaning forward, arms crossed on the aged and chipped hard wood table.

Shy smile gracing your lips before you nibble on the bottom one, “What happened between you and your dad?”

“We didn’t speak for almost three years,” eyes dropped towards the table, a slice of shame and pain rocketing across his features. “He went missing, my brother and I looked for him but just after finding him we lost dad for good.”

Reaching over to place a hand on Sam’s forearm, giving a light squeeze, “I’m so sorry Sam.”

Shaking his head, warmth spreading out from where your hand rests, “It’s okay, I’ve made peace with what happened, besides you can’t change the past no matter how much you want to.”

“Still I know it hurts, to lose someone you love it takes a piece of you with them,” your eyes mist remembering your own dad’s passing.

Seeing the change in your demeanor, he wanted to get your mind off things or hoped it would, “What happened between you and your mom?”

Glancing up, removing your hand to wipe at your eyes, “Dad persuaded her to let me go to college. I got to see a little bit of the world, well Austin anyway and a few trips to Mexico with friends.”

“You came back?”

Nodding fond smile back in place, “Yeah I found that I missed this town, its people and my family. Not that I don’t travel when work allows but this is home.”

“Wish I knew what that felt like.”

Head cocked to one side, “Tracking the bad guys keeps you on the road a lot?”

“You could say that,” offering you a soft grin one that makes your stomach flip flop.

“You wanna get outta here?” you hear yourself ask, before you can stop the flow of words.

He’d chosen to take a drink when you’d asked, so shocked Sam damn near snorted the beer coughing harshly to get it from his lungs. Surprise didn’t even cover what he’s feeling. Granted many women have asked, propositioned and even begged though there’s something different with how you’ve offered.

“Forget I asked,” nervous chuckle leaving your lips as you take the last sip of your now warm beer.

“Yeah, I would,” he nods surprising the both of you.

It's summer nights! Yeah,

Come on ladies It's time to pop that top And fellas, I know you're ready to rock We went crazy cooped all winter long And school is out, so let's get it on Flip flop tans and some white sand I know the perfect spot

Grinning, “I know this prefect little spot,” sliding out the booth you wait for Sam to join you. “You wouldn’t happen to have a swim suit with you?”

“What you see is what I got,” he answered fishing his wallet out of his back pocket, but your hand lands on his arm stopping him.

“I got ya covered Sam both with the beer and a suit,” sliding your hand down so your fingers intertwined tugging him behind you. Feeling like a school girl all over again, except this time you get to spend it with the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen.

Once outside, you navigate the two of you towards your old Dodge truck, only separating long enough for the two of you to get in and to peel out.

“Where we headed?”

“Secret,” glancing over at him, tossing a wink his way, shocked by your own bold actions.

 Chuckling, “You know it’s a federal offence to kidnap an officer of the law?”

“But I’m not kidnapping per say,” you answer turning off of main street heading south for ten miles or so, before making another turn onto a dirt road.

“Taking me somewhere private to have your way with me?”

Root deep blush covers your cheeks, tips of your ears, evening air helping to cool the heat, as your eyes stay on the road ahead moving slowly to miss the bigger pot holes. “I could turn around?”

Shaking his head, enjoying this little adventure, and your blush as curiosity gets the better of him. “Nope I’m good, though I do have one little condition if you plan to seduce me,” slight chuckle leaving his lips.   

 “Oh?” brow rose as you peek over at him, golden sunlight filling the truck cabin. For a moment you’re speechless, caught by how handsome he looks in just a shirt and jeans highlighted by those soft rays.

Glancing to catch you staring before your eyes return to the road, “I get to seduce you.”

Breath caught in your throat, along with any words you’d say, rubbing your tights together for a little friction. Trying to come up with sassy remark but finding there’s nothing you could answer with. “We’re here,” your exclamation a little high pitched with nerves.

Pulling to a stop, your hoping out and heading towards the door of a small cabin while Sam hangs back just looking around. Soft sounds of water lapping at the ground meet his ears, eyes trying to find the source but coming up with nothing but tree’s and underbrush.

“You coming Sam,” your question coming from the front door you left open.

A moment of hesitation is swept away when you appear illuminated from behind by the house lights, standing in a dark red and black tankini your curves driving him crazy.

“Ye… yeah,” clearing his throat, while stepping closer breath taking away by the beauty of you. “So swimming?”

Nodding, bottom lip trapped between your teeth, “It’s so hot out. I figured we could cool off a bit. You don’t have to worry we’re not trespassing this is my family’s cabin, not much but I love it out here.”

One hand going to the door jam as Sam leans a little closer. “I hear the water but…”

Softly laughing, “Don’t worry Sam, go change and I’ll show you.” Nodding Sam makes to pass by you brushing against setting tingles to rush across both your bodies. As you step out onto the grass. “I left you swim trunks on the bed. There just spares never been worn.”

Hands behind your back, toes wiggling in the soft grass till a deep voice clears his throat and you look up getting caught in the magnificence of Sam’s tanned, toned body. Secretly pinching yourself, wincing a little for which he catches.

“You alright?” stepping from the cabin and towards you.

Smiles, “Perfectly fine,” turning before you do something stupid, like jump into his arms and kiss him, heading for the small path that leads towards the pond. “Can you swim?”

Scoffing playfully, though touched by the concern he hears in your voice, “Of course.”

“Just checking, don’t need you drowning on me,” you toss back stepping into a clearing, picnic bench to the right, tire swing off to the left. Not waiting for Sam to catch up, you rush towards the water letting it cover and cool your body as you dive in head first.

Oh, oh yeah.

Now fellas, you better watch your step Don't let them teeny french bikinis Make you loose your breath Back to the ladies Ya'll keep doing ya'lls thing Cause everything about you makes me wanna scream

The sun is getting low There it goes, here we go Here comes the moon, yeah Things start getting all heated up When it starts getting cool, yeah

   Coming up, flinging your hair back over your head, “Watch where you’re splashing woman,” came Sam’s deep voice close to your position.

“What’d gonna do about it Sam?” hands on hips giving him a playful glare.  

Big hands go into the water, scooping, pushing forward to splash you, as he goes forward wrapping his arms around your waist and dropping the two of you into the cool lake water.

Normally scared when someone does that, yet with Sam holding you close all fear is gone replaced by slow burning tendrils of desire coursing through your veins. Arms circling his neck to hold on while eyes close and you borrowing into his chest.

Sputtering as the both of you come up still wrapped around each other, Sam standing at his full height water lapping at his abs while your holding on to him keeping yourself afloat. “That was an evil thing to do,” bright smile on your lips betraying your real feelings on the matter.

Snorting, “I think you enjoyed it,” he shot back taking a few steps back into deeper water.

“You gonna try to drown me?”

“Can’t swim?” he counters repeating your earlier question.

Without thinking about it you wrap your legs around his waist, effectively rubbing your body against his. “I can though I much rather stay here,” bashfully saying then glancing down tracing random patterns on his collarbone.

“I agree,” long, strong fingers cup the side of your face, thumb tipping your chin up so your eyes meet his. “I’m gonna kiss you now.”

Bottom lip trapped, caught between shock and wanting to smile, “Such a gentleman.”

“If you only knew,” are his only words before capturing your mouth in soft, simple kisses.

Fingers carding through his hair, as heads turn this way and that, till a deep growl leaves Sam’s chest and he’s got one arm wrapped around your waist keeping you close while the other heads to the back of your neck strong fingers lacing through your hair giving a tug making you whimper and his chance. Slipping his questing tongue into your mouth, to mate with yours, taking a deep drink of your savoring the taste slight taste of the beer you had and something sweet.

Never being so forward with a woman, though there’s something about you that he can’t explain, you’re in his blood, which is weird since you’ve only just met.

Air becoming an issue, you pull back resting your foreheads together, “I’ve been wanting to do that since the first moment I laid eyes on you Sam,” voice breathy, as you nuzzle your face into his neck.

“Agreed,” he grins starting to walk towards the shore you still in his arms.

“We getting out already?” playfully pouting not wanting the moment to end so soon.

Cupping your ass in both hands Sam rocks against you letting you feel what you’ve done to him. “Need some place safer and softer for what I have planned for you sweetheart.”

2017

One hand against the window staring out into the dark moonless night, thoughts, troubles and doubts all racing through his mind, till a soft pair of hands found their way around his waist. Hugging him from behind, the side of your head pressed against his back, “What’s wrong Sam?”

“Nothing,” he knows you can tell he’s being less than truthful with you, even after all these years of being together, you knowing the truth of what he truly does, he’s still afraid your gonna walk away. It’s what keeps him up some nights, though it’s not what troubles him tonight.  

“Bullshit Samquatch you gonna tell me the truth?” arms still wrapped around his middle now running the long expanse of his chest.   

Sighing, turning in your arms to pull you close, “Thinking.”

Shaking your head while looking up into those hypnotic hazel eyes, “About what?”

“About us, how we’ve managed to last this long and you haven’t gotten tired of my ass yet.”

Reaching down, grabbing a health handful of said ass giving him a squeeze, “Well I have grown quite fond of this ass Samuel don’t think I can give it up now.”

Deep chuckles leave his lips that press against your forehead, breathing in the warm scent of your skin and hair. “You remember that summer night in this cabin?”

“How could I forget, it brought me the best thing in my life,” grinning, leaning forward to brush your lips over his jaw towards his ear. “Dean of course,” giggling you pull away quickly heading for the door but strong arms stop you yanking you back into his hold.

“That was mean,” he breathed into your ear, making you shiver.

“Punish me then,” you return arching back against him.

“With pleasure Mrs. Winchester,” he growls picking you up, tossing you over his shoulder and heading towards the bed a sound smack landing on your ass, another summer night of passionate love.

[tysonrunningfox]

Eret III: Chiefing Intensified

My babies were all waiting and wow, they are ridiculous.  Also, Gobber is here and I love him.  

Previous Parts

The chief keeps me until almost sundown, talking nonstop and explaining the whole smoker setup and how much food the village needs to keep running smoothly until the winter breaks. I almost hate how easy it is to ignore who he is in favor of what he’s saying, but maybe after the last couple of days, I just can’t handle full situational awareness at all times.  My head would explode.  It’s dangerously close as is, counting row after row of smoked yak and listening to all the ways it could go bad anyway.  

Because nothing’s ever foolproof. All the preparation and carefully thought out decisions in the world and sometimes you still end up completely and utterly fucked.  

He finally lets me leave when I spot Aurelia, walking past like she’s trying to be secretive on the way to my old house.  She looks both ways when I walk up to her like she’s making sure I’m alone and Bang sniffs her hand in cautious greeting, like he’s still worried about her from her outburst the night before.  

“I won’t turn you in for stalking,” I roll my eyes, “I’m going to head over to Fuse’s shop now, if you can convince Arvid to come, I’m sure we’ll have something to tell him.”  

“I swear, you Vikings and your dragons,” she scoffs, “always banding together despite your differences for the greater, scaly good.”  

I almost ask her to tell him sorry for me.  

But that wouldn’t be real and I’m not sure I’ll mean it when I see his face, all red tattoos and blind, stubborn anger.  

“I can go talk to him if interacting with Vikings is such a burden for you.”  

“Right, because you haven’t been pummeled in a while,” she rolls her eyes and pats Bang’s head before turning to continue on the rarely used trail to the Hofferson house.  We never walked home, always flew or left by boat. It feels like she’s opening up a new path to the house by walking on it and I don’t know how I feel about that. I don’t know how shallow my bitter, confused jealousy’s grave is.  

But I don’t know how much worrying about it matters, anyway, because Arvid hates everyone with the misfortune of being connected to the chief.  

“See you at Fuse’s shop, Arvid-less or not,” she looks back over her shoulder and nods, a familiar determination in her face.  She’s going to get him to fight with her, at least.  

“Sounds good,” I wave, glancing at the sky and seeing Toothless circling overhead before deciding to walk.  “What do you think, bud?  Want to walk with me or want to go home?”  I scratch Bang’s head and he groans, pressing his face against my leg before turning and taking off towards the nearest shore.  He’s probably hungry, or well, hungry and miffed at me for not going fishing with him.  

Maybe he’s going to go see Dad, get a few fish off the boat.  I’ve never gone this long after yelling at my dad without apologizing to him. It used to drive me crazy, his stony, silent disappointed face that cut so much deeper than mom yelling, I’d do anything for him to stop.  But this is different because he was wrong and this situation is wrong and I can’t back down now, not when I’m finally getting somewhere.  People think there’s a reason to tell me the truth now, and I can’t turn back from that.  

People wave as I walk into the square and I wave back, skirting around a couple of conversations that people try to start.  I wonder if it’ll always be that way, or if I’m still just a novelty people want to check out.  

My feet take my by the forge window, the ultimate habit, and I look in to see that Smitelout’s gone and Gobber’s alone, organizing a stack of what look like saddle orders.  Gobber looks older than I remember too and I hate that even more than Dad looking old.  He looks up and I wave, feeling wrong and foreign on this side of the window.

“Need something?” Gobber asks, halfway between angry and something almost apologetic that I’ve never heard from him before.  

“No,” I shrug, leaning forward slightly on the counter, “I mean, it’d be great to not be in loads of trouble for storming out yesterday, but…”  I look up at him, eyebrows raised until his expression softens.  

“I think I can make an exception.”  Gobber stands up, hand on his knee like it hurts.  It probably does.  He probably had to take up a bunch of my slack yesterday because no matter what decision I make, it gets harder for someone.  “Just this one time.”  

“Yeah, I think I won’t make a habit of learning that my mom used to be engaged to the chief and freaking out.”  

“With your luck, I don’t think you can assume you’ll be that lucky,” he walks over, handing me some small part with hammer marks that aren’t mine or his, “Smite finished this up for your mom today, it’s a saddle repair, think you have time to finish it up?”  

“Yeah, of course,” I put the piece of iron in my pocket and look at him again, “seriously though, I’m sorry.”  

“Quit groveling,” he brushes me off, “you stayed on the island, that’s enough.”  

“I’ll have you know I had a tantrum on a boat in the bay, so I did leave the island,” I don’t know why I’m telling him, because I don’t want advice, “I yelled at my Dad.  I yelled at everyone yesterday, you aren’t alone if you need like a support group to cope or something.”  

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Gobber rolls his eyes, but he looks at least a little bit mollified, “Smitelout hurts me more with that glare of hers.”  

“Well, it’s a savage glare,” I give a fake shudder, tapping my hands on the counter and standing up, “and I have to go see Fuse about one of her crazy ideas, but uh…”

“Go,” he waves me off, “and don’t forget that you’re mine the first day the chief doesn’t need you. Your half finished projects are taking up half the storage shelf.”  He waves gruffly at the mess with his metal hook hand and I wish I could be more like that. I wish I could pull off the grumpy, untouchable thing, that my explosive, reckless idiocy wasn’t the whole sum of my charm.  

“And that’s what I get for apologizing, more responsibility,” I step away from the counter and laugh, “way to encourage me owning up to my actions.”  

“That’s not my job,” he laughs, “thank Thor.”  

“Yeah, lucky you.”  I point towards the Thorston house, “well, I don’t want Fuse experimenting on me if I’m late so…”

“We need you in one piece, so get out of here,” he waves me away and I tap the counter one last time before going, feeling lighter and more tired than I was.  

Usually, I hate the snow and how it’s a thick, cold, heavy blanket over everything fun, but this year? This year I’m hoping for an early blizzard that goes above my head and gives me an excuse to sleep for a week. Preferably a week where no one talks to me and I don’t have to share a house with the chief and Stoick looking to me for entertainment the whole time, but I don’t think I’m ever going to get everything I want all at once.  

The door of Fuse’s workshop is open and there’s a stream of greenish smoke leaking around the top of the doorframe.  I knock on the open door, and she jerks to look at me like I snatched her out of some deep thought.  

“Oh.  Hey, I thought you’d be here earlier.”  

“Sorry, got held up with the chief,” I look around at the piles of ingredients all over her counter, “if you can’t do it anymore we could talk tomorrow or something.”  

“No, this is fine, just…don’t touch anything,” she nibbles on the black singed edge of a fingernail and wrinkles her nose at the taste.  “Is Aurelia coming?”  

“Allegedly, with Arvid, if he’s still interested in helping.”  

“It’s for the dragons,” Fuse turns to look at a parchment covered wall, “even he’s not self-centered enough to refuse to help the dragons.”  

“What are we looking at?” I step into the room beside her, looking at the same wall.  It’s covered with her perpetually wrinkly parchment and she’s drawn about a dozen diagrams of the sick dragons’ island, about half of them slightly wrong and crossed out.  I’m impressed that she could be so accurate from memory and I touch the point of the volcano on the drawing closest to me.  

“I talked to my uncle Fishlegs some, pretending I had some new found interest in geology, and he says that there’s probably caves under any volcano of this size and that they’re probably full of softer rock than what makes up the rest of the island,” she wraps the end of her sooty braid around her finger while she talks, snaggletooth digging slightly into her lower lip, “that means that even if we can’t access them, if we bomb near them it could cause a collapse and if what the dragons are trying to get to is underneath.”  She shrugs, picking up a mostly new book that’s obviously rarely borrowed and offering it to me, “want to read about it?”  

“Want is probably the wrong word,” I take the book anyway and flip through it, skimming a few of the runes and wrinkling my nose, “I trust you, anyway, you tell me what to make and I’ll make it.”  

“Huh, ok,” she cocks her head and takes the book back.  

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  

“I guess I just figured you’d be taking charge of this, like all that chief training would be kicking in already.”  

“I think I’m learning most about delegation,” I swallow, because I can’t help but think of my mom wanting to help and the chief not letting her.  And the pressure of everything on the island making him stupid and selfish.

And how easy it is to think of myself as some chosen dragon savior when I know how well that turned out for the last guy.  

“Yeah?”  She says it like filler, like she knows she has to say something to remain in the conversation but she doesn’t have anything useful to say.  

Somehow, I don’t care that she lied to me.  She’s the only one that did it practically.  

“Consider yourself acting chief of blowing things up.”  

“Making that official might make the chief suspicious,” the corner of her mouth twitches into a rare smile, like she forgets that people need expressions more than rocks do, “but I accept.”  

“Should we wait for Arvid to talk about this more?”  I look out of the door and see the shiny brick red of Aurelia’s hair at the bottom of the path to the Thorston house.  She can’t have been at my old house long to be back here already, unless she gave in and flew at some point.  I wonder if Arvid’s even coming, but something tells me she wouldn’t have left unless he promised to.  “And Aurelia might be more interested in the boring rock book than I am.”  

“Sure, she can borrow it.” Fuse looks out the door too, almost nervous for a moment, “and why would we wait for Arvid?  I figure we’ll just tell him where to put the heavy things.” She doesn’t sound like she’s trying to insult him, it’s just something that comes naturally.  

“He said he wanted to help,” I shrug, “plus, he’ll just get pissy if he thinks we’ve been plotting without him.”  

“Then why invite him?” She looks at me in that openly complicated way she does, like I’m fully welcome to stare at the unbreakable code of her brain.  “Obviously we’re going to plan some of this without him, you know, given that I’m the only one who knows what we need and you’re the only one who can make any of it.”

I open my mouth to start making up an answer to that, but a landing flap of wings catches both of our attention.  It’s Arvid, swinging off of Wing a few steps from a wary Aurelia who pauses halfway up the hill.  I don’t expect Arvid to wait for her, but he does, falling into grudging step beside her while she says something about an argument.  She catches my eye and shakes her head, shrugging her coat collar up to her ears and walking faster.  

Arvid follows, avoiding looking where he’s going entirely and staring at the back of Aurelia’s head like she spat in his food and he can’t quite figure out why he’s not pissed about it yet.  

Aurelia looks halfway smug before she trips on a rock and Arvid reaches out to reflexively catch her arm, apparently still in the habit from a lifetime of saving my face before deciding to break it.  She shrugs his grip off with one of those sharp, jolty, poorly thought out motions, stumbling sideways and almost falling again.  

“That’s not going to get me on your side.”  

“I don’t have a side,” Arvid wipes his hand on his pants like touching her sullied it and she sets her jaw like she’s mad even though I’m uniquely suited to see the pangs of a deep-piercing, stupid crush.  

“Yes, you do, and it’s against Eret and I’m with him.”  

“Chief’s brats stick together, I know the drill,” Arvid says that to hurt me, refusing to acknowledge my existence like he knows I hate the most.  

“Oh my gods,” Aurelia rolls her eyes, walking away from him, “you act like we pledge allegiance to the chief before remembering to breathe.  It’s not a cult,” she stops outside and looks around like she’s expecting a trip wire, “hey, Fuse.”  

“Hey, Aurelia.”  

“What’s that supposed to mean?”  Arvid asks, feet planted where they were when she last talked to him.  He seems to be oddly stuck, like he stumbled into an impossible patch of quicksand.  

“Right,” she turns back to him, hand on her hip and an expression like she likes the height boost of being further up the hill, “I forgot, I’m so well liked around here I must worship the Chief Hiccup designed natural order of things.  It’s not like I’m stuck hanging out with the village weirdos or anything.  No offense, Fuse.”  

“Not offended,” Fuse turns back to her counter, organizing two seemingly identical bags of black powder.

“Hey,” I don’t sound as offended as I want to because I’m stuck on Arvid staring at her with this wide-mouthed, dead cod expression.  

“Didn’t realize being a princess was so rough,” he sneers, a weak recovery of his bad attitude.  

Aurelia scoffs, “right, because it’s not like my dad literally rewrote laws to find an heir that wasn’t me.  In case you haven’t noticed, he’s a dick.”  

I laugh.  Arvid turns an embarrassed shade of pale and patchy red that I haven’t seen since his voice stopped cracking and girls started looking at him before he looked at them.  

“Are we going to talk about the dragons or not?”  Fuse isn’t quite bored, but she doesn’t care about Arvid’s bumbling either.  

“Yes, please,” Aurelia steps inside and sits on the second stool next to Fuse, poking a small clay pot with a careful pinky and asking what’s in it.  

Arvid steps up to the doorway and looks around, avoiding eye contact until I clear my throat.  

“Took you long enough to get here.”  

“Not my fault the princess wanted to walk.”  He glances at Aurelia like she’s a target he doesn’t know what to do with.  

“You waited for her?”

“We weren’t done with our discussion yet.”  He doesn’t step inside, his toes barely touching the shadow of the door frame. He looks around like he’s thinking about storming off and looks back at Wing like he’s reminding himself it’s for the dragons.  Not me.

Because he wouldn’t do anything for me anymore.  

“Discussion?”  I think for a stupid, homesick, heart-pounding second that he might answer the question, but he glares at me, eyebrows a hard, straight line.  

“It’s none of your business.”  

“Do you have to be such an asshole?”  Aurelia whirls on him, tone sharp and newly honed, like she put real work into the edge.

Arvid’s face goes patchy again, white except for two pink splotches framing the tattoos that aren’t quite so inflamed anymore.  He crosses his arms and shrugs one shoulder at her like he doesn’t have anything to say, he just is an asshole and he can’t change.  She rolls her eyes and turns back to whatever Fuse is showing her.  

“How long’s this going to take?”  He shrugs, leaning against the doorframe and making the entire shed shift slightly.  

“We’ve got to plan to make at least twenty four large explosives, it’s not like deciding to punch someone, it takes time,” Fuse takes a small bag off of a hook on the wall, “an emulsion of this is yak fat could potentially be a delayed explosive in water, we might be able to plant it near any of those caves we could find.”  

“I’m not going to stand here and be insulted,” he looks at me to stop it, for a second, before he realizes that we don’t do that anymore.  

I wonder if he talked to dad.  If he learned what I learned yesterday.  I wonder if it’s bugging him too or if he’s really to the point of caring about me so little that he doesn’t care.  

“Then don’t make it so easy,” Aurelia drawls like her heart’s beating way too fast and she doesn’t want to give it away.  

Arvid swallows hard, “just because I’m not Eret doesn’t mean I can’t help.”  

“His name isn’t an insult,” Aurelia stares at him, “neither is chief’s kid.  And please, contribute.  Prove it.”  

“Dagur’s chimney,” Arvid’s voice is flat, like he doesn’t know what to feel about this and he can’t muster up the will to figure it out, “we dropped a smoke bomb in it and one wall fell.  Isn’t a volcano just like a massive chimney?”  

“That’s…” Fuse frowns and pulls a ball of parchment out of her pocket, flattening it badly with the side of her hand and starting to scribble on it, “that’s not a horrible idea. It might be easier to explode than implode if everything underneath it is already filled with lava.”  

Aurelia shrugs one shoulder, lips half pursed, “who knew you had it in you?”  

Arvid crosses his arms more tightly, side of his neck going patchy too.  

I almost say that I did, because I have always known that he’s not stupid even if he didn’t know it, but something terrifying about Aurelia’s expression keeps me quiet.  She didn’t see that coming.  Arvid surprised her and if I know anything about Aurelia it’s that she knows everything before anyone else knows there’s something to know.  

“Remember that last part you made for me?”  Fuse either doesn’t notice the awkwardness or she doesn’t care, digging through a stack of papers for a drawing, “if we figured out which wall of the volcano was weakest and aimed an explosion at it from the inside it could…you remember the part right?”  

“Yeah, I do.”  

“We need to make it work,” she says that just to me, “with something bigger than I designed it for but we could make some smaller bombs and test it out.  I could use help with that, you could help me fill shells.”  

“Yeah, I can do that,” Aurelia volunteers too enthusiastically, like she expects the offer to go away, and Fuse looks expectedly at Arvid.  

He shrugs.  

“Is that a yes in gruff asshole?”  Aurelia asks, opening her mouth like she’s going to say more but then pausing like she doesn’t want to talk over him.  

He shrugs again, frowning when her face reddens.  

I’m too tired for this.

“Let’s meet at the forge,” I decide, and Fuse is right I already feel like chiefly training matters somehow and that they’ll listen, “when…let’s do it when it snows.  The chief will be busy and everyone else will be at home, no one will notice us.”  

“Sounds good,” Fuse stands up and looks around expectantly, “and I have to get some things done now.”

“Oh, sorry,” I scratch the back of my head, “we’ll get out of your hair.”  

“No, it’s fine,” she looks at me, specifically, “I want to get your opinion on something—”

But I can’t focus on what she’s saying when Aurelia is raising an eyebrow and staring at Arvid expectantly until he moves out of her way with that same dead-fish face.  Because it still feels wrong and weird and painful and Aurelia and I have to get home for dinner, anyway.  

“Some other time?”  I feel bad when Fuse looks legitimately disappointed and for some reason it makes me want to pat her shoulder again, but that was bizarre enough this morning so I shove my hands in my pockets instead. “Being chief in waiting is the job that never stops, you know?”  

“Yeah,” she looks at Aurelia, looking like she’s going to say something else and then stopping because it’s not something I practically need to know, “some other time.”  

“You’re the best,” I follow Aurelia outside and start walking towards the chief’s house, oddly relieved when she follows me.  

Like she was going to do something else.  Like I didn’t want her to.  Like it’s none of my business just like Arvid said but I can’t help but feeling like it has something to do with me.  I don’t even know what it is but I already want to stick my hands in it, maybe being with the chief so much is going to my head.  

She looks back at Wing taking off and tries to play it off as a stretch.  I snort.  

“You know, I understood the going to talk to him tactic, but the violently shutting down everything he said thing was new.”  

Maybe part of me is hoping that she’ll tell me to leave her alone so that I can absolve myself of involvement in her decisions that still feel creepy even though I want to let go of that.  I want to kill that deepset seed of loyalty that makes me want to defend Arvid, I want to stop feeling like I have to protect her or that there’s anything to protect her from.  

So basically I’m doomed to feel odd and awkward no matter what I say, and barring learning to shut up, that leaves retreating into sarcasm as my only option.  

It’s funny, conversations seem a lot more like battles when I’ll be stuck throwing my own punches afterwards.  

“Nah, it’s the oldest one on the books,” she shrugs, “he asked me why I was running ‘errands’ for you and it pissed me off.  You only outrank me in theory.”  

“And why would he think anyone would want to be chief with you undermining their confidence and botching errands all day?”  

She elbows me in the ribs and I laugh, reaching to ruffle her hair before she stops me with a glare that says I’ll regret it.  

“Today was fun though,” she tucks her hands back into her too long sleeves for warmth as a piercing wind slices up from the ocean, “being a part of the secret planning.  Seeing why Arvid is scared to pick a fight with Fuse. She’s crazy, I actually believe she’s going to blow an island out of existence.”  

“If anyone can do it, she can.”  I hold onto why I want to, because talking about it makes it feel bigger.  Like I might be as silly and over my head as the chief seemed to think when I tried to bring the sick dragons up to him.  

But if he could save dragons from Vikings by showing off, I can surely save them from something as comparatively predictable as an island in their way.  

“You know what I keep noticing?”  Aurelia looks down the grassy slope, “I don’t remember the last time I saw a wild terror. At first it was a nice thing, like not stepping in dragon dung for a while, but now it’s just ominously quiet.”

“Just like the house last night with no yelling parents.  Do you think the chief’s going to sleep upstairs again?”  I change the subject like it’ll feel like less pressure. It doesn’t.  

“I don’t know,” she shrugs, “but I hope he puts away the happy family breakfast act.”  She looks at her fingers, forcibly blasé, “just when I think he’s over the whole confusing me with my mom nonsense, he brings me her favorite food like that’s not upsetting.”  

“That’s why you were weird this morning?”  

I wish again that I could really talk to Arvid or that Ingrid were here or that Rolf’s spine could ever be self-supporting with the stick up his ass, because they’re the only ones besides me and Aurelia who could ever understand this.  This feeling of belonging two places at once and nowhere at all in the same instant.  The choices we have to make the lines we have to draw, the sides we have to choose even when none of them feels like ours.  

I remember Aurelia’s mom. I remember that she was pretty and that she looked at me with confused bitterness I never thought was personal. I remember that my parents didn’t hate her the way they did the chief.  They made excuses for her weak norse and told us all to give her space, the kind of space meant to console, not offend.  

Aurelia doesn’t remind me of her at all.  Mostly Aurelia reminds me of all the things about myself that never made sense until they did.  

Well, that and why known paternity is important to prevent a child from experiencing icky pubescent crush-related trauma.  

“Yeah.  That and Stoick didn’t wake me up because he was bugging you.”  

“Bugging is right,” I jokingly roll my eyes, “no, he just wanted me out of the way to get to Bang. It’s a love connection.”  

“He likes you too,” she steps ahead of me to get the door, fighting with it and the wind for a moment before heaving it open, “that makes one brother who can stand you.”  

“Thanks for keeping score,” I walk in past her and look around, pausing at the chief sitting in front of the fire with Stoick’s terror in his lap.  

He perks up like he’d kill for another deep talk and I look around for Mom.  

Aurelia storms to her room and slams the door with spiteful dedication.  

“She went on a flight,” the chief offers, staring after Aurelia and looking confused and pathetic and like he’s never tried to talk to her, “your mom did, I mean.”  

“Oh, that’s probably why Bang’s not home yet.”  

“Right, he’s probably with her,” he nods, “I guess I’m not used to my dragon flying off without me.”

“Yeah,” I nod, thinking about leaving again because this is awkward and I haven’t apologized to my dad yet and I’m scared if I fall asleep a week will pass and I’ll wake up to another new, messed up reality.  

I sit down on the ground and start helping Stoick with the tower of blocks he’s building because it’s the only thing that doesn’t feel like a decision.