#let's say I'm not always sure what to think of Jeremiah

[cutecatlov3r]

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨?

various x reader ! [hinata, kageyama, tsukishima, nishinoya, sugawara, iwaizumi, oikawa, atsumu, osamu, suna, bokuto, akaashi, kuroo, and kenma]

synopsis: my head cannons and my opinion on which songs they'd fuck you to .

warnings/tw: all characters are 21+, praise, degradation, and my personal head cannons on what they are like during sex .

a/n: dont copy my work ! like, re-blog, and comment ily ! not proofread ;(

jjk ver. aot ver. ft ver. bllk ver. bnha ver.

Shoyo Hinata

HEAVEN AND BACK [Chase Atlantic]

✰ This song just is so Shoyo Hinata coded. I love it so much, I can see him loving it too. He is for sure a switch, mostly dominating over you though.

✰ I don't see him being very into foreplay, I feel like he can get hard just from looking at you, thinking of what he wants to do to you.

✰ His stamina makes him go on until he gives out, which is after 3 to 4 rounds.

✰ This song makes him want to please you, making sure to have you rolling back your eyes.

✰ You are addicted to him. You love him so much but he loves you just as much.

✰ He can't help himself but to go fast, he doesn't like being slow. Yet he is sensual, never too rough, kissing you passionately as he goes as fast as he can, in hopes of making you see stars.

✰ "Are you feeling good baby? Should I go go deeper?"

✰ Hinata always makes sure to focus on your pleasure before his own. He loves you, more than anyone.

✰ You are everything he needs. You're like his drug. Without you, he'd be nothing.

"She just went to heaven and back"

-

Tobio Kageyama

PILLOWTALK [ZAYN]

✰ Tobio is... In my opinion, a switch.

✰ With this song on he will start off slow then speed up, your moans with this song make him so happy.

✰ He isn't afraid to pillow talk you in bed. "S...So tight for me... Want me to go faster?"

✰ The passionate sex between you two with this song is euphoric. He loves everything about you.

✰ He won't be afraid to tell you how much he loves you, praising you here and there whenever he feels like doing so.

✰ If he wanted to he could last 2 rounds but he usually has you asleep by then.

✰ He shows you how much he loves you by making sure to go harder and deeper right before the song ends.

✰ After you two are done, he kisses your forehead, whispering sweet nothings in your ear.

"I love to hold you close, tonight and always"

-

Kei Tsukishima

Lollipop [Lil Wayne]

✰ This man is a dom and I'd say a sadist.

✰ He'll degrade you, making sure you know you're just there to be his plaything. "Such a slut, don't worry, I'll take good care of you,"

✰ He loves you but won't be the one to tell you that, he'll let you know when he fucks you harshly and depply.

✰ "Slut" "Whore" "Dumbass" "Bitch"

✰ Tsukishima won't be afraid to spank you whenever you're acting extra feisty.

✰ He loves as this song plays in the background as he inflicts pain on your pretty little body.

✰ His favorite thing to do is... Well, fucking your mouth, making sure you're crying and gagging.

"She-she lick me like a lollipop"

-

Yuu Nishinoya

Down On Me [Jeremiah]

✰ He is pretty kinky, he doesn't mind letting you take control of him. With that being said, he is a switch.

✰ Now... His dick is big, all of his height went where it was supposed to.

✰ He loves watching you moan and having his dick all in your mouth.

✰ "So good...! Keep sucking baby, I'm so close!"

✰ He never degrades you. It isn't in his heart to hurt the feelings of the person he loves.

✰ This song just matches his energy, he can't stand being in such a quiet place. He adores your movements when this song comes on.

✰ Nishinoya is a loud moaner, he needs to have some sort of sound throughout the room as this song plays.

✰ He admires you, making sure to kiss every part of you. You're the light of his life.

✰ Hickeys. He loves receiving and giving them. Receiving them because he wants everyone to know he has someone who actually fucks him and giving them to show everyone you're his. Only his.

"I love the way you grind that booty on me"

-

Koshi Sugawara

Into It [Chase Atlantic]

✰ Sugawara is such a nice guy to those who know him but in the bedroom he's a bit different. It depends on his mood, he will always be a dom though.

✰ With this song playing he will degrade you, in a sexy way. A possessive way.

✰ "You're mine, say it pretty girl,"

✰ He would be the type to smoke while fucking you from behind, he loves doggy style, he likes seeing your ass bounce against his hips.

✰ He makes sure to go slow and deep as this song plays, biting your neck, putting you into missionary.

✰ With this song playing, he focuses on your pleasure, cumming deep in you over and over until he feels like you're done.

✰ His hands are godly, overstimulating you after you beg him you can't do it anymore

✰ "Y/n, shut up, I know you can take it. Be a good girl and fucking take it,"

"I wouldn't change it for the world, I'm fucking into it"

-

Hajime Iwaizumi

Wicked Games [The Weekend]

✰ Iwaizumi is a dom, no questioning. He is such a sweet one though.

✰ He'd never hurt you in any way, even if you asked him to. He just can't see himself hurting you.

✰ This song just turns him on, he loves seeing you naked as this song plays. It makes him feel some type of way.

✰ With this song, he will hold your hands, pinning them down. Then he will go deep and hard inside you.

✰ "Taking me so good, good girl,"

✰ He lives for praise, he enjoys getting praise from you. He will also praise you as well.

✰ His strong build can easily man handle you.

✰ I'd say he can last 3-4 rounds, considering he is an athletic trainer.

✰ He loves you, the way he takes care of you after is so astonishing. He will clean you up and make sure you're okay. You both truly love each other.

"Listen, ma, I'll give you all I got. Get me off of this, I need confidence in myself"

-

Toru Oikawa

Party Monster [The Weekend]

✰ I feel dom vibes from him. I can see him mainly having a teasing personality during sex.

✰ "Aw, you wanna cum? Alright! Let me pick up my pace then cutie,"

✰ I see him loving this song because it kind of describes him in a way. He is known to be a flirt.

✰ Most definitely would fuck you in a mirror while this song plays. He'd have you face down ass up, grabbing your throat so you can watch him destroy you.

✰ "Watch as I fuck you, kay?"

✰ I don't see him as someone who is very into making out with people, I can see him kissing your neck though, not leaving hickeys.

✰ He doesn't really feel love towards you, he isn't focused on love, but whenever he fucks you, he appreciates you.

✰ Still, he has a special spot for you, not really for anyone else. He makes sure to fuck you sensually, he cherishes sex.

"Say you're mine, I'm yours for the night"

-

Atsumu Miya

Acquainted [The Weekend]

✰ Rough dom. I don't need to elaborate .

✰ This song just reminds him so much of your relationship. You flirted your way to get where you're at. Usually he'd turn down every girl but you were different. There was something about you that turned him on.

✰ He loves you. LOVES you. This song really just keeps him sane as he's fucking you.

✰ He will be rough with you like pulling your hair, choking, breath-play, etc. But he won't ever think of degrading you.

✰ Hickeys and bruises is what he wants to see on himself, he doesn't mind giving you them here and there.

✰ He is super over protective over you, one guy speaking to you could cause a whole argument... Ending with his dick being shoved down your throat.

✰ He would love to make you his rope bunny but he hasn't really decided to bring it up yet.

✰ He will grunt and groan as he fucks you roughly to this song, occasionally humming to the tune.

"You got me puttin' time in, time in. Nobody got me feeling this way"

-

Osamu Miya

Call Out My Name [The Weekend]

✰ I can see him being a dom but more soft yet can sometimes be rough.

✰ He plays this song just because he likes the melody... It's dark and sad and he likes that type of vibe.

✰ He will fuck you slow and deep to this song, wanting to cum inside you.

✰ "Stop squirmin'... Let me fill you up baby,"

✰ He doesn't like pulling your hair or choking you but he will dig his nails deep into your skin, for example... Your thighs.

✰ He is more on the quiet side of things, a little too shy to moan for you.

✰ After having sex he will take a shower with you and hold you until you fall asleep.

✰ "Love you so much... You're so perfect,"

"So call out my name when I kiss you, So gently"

-

Rintaro Suna

I Wanna Be Yours [Arctic Monkeys]

✰ Suna is so Arctic Monkeys coded. He just fits that vibe so well, I love it .

✰ Currently you and Suna aren't together, only fucking whenever you feel like it but... Recently he had started developing feelings for you.

✰ Playing this song helps you see how he feels, and with that he fucks you to it.

✰ He is rough but soft. He will start off slow and then speed up the pace when you begin whining for more.

✰ He likes smelling your hair as he fucks you, breathing in your scent.

✰ "You smell good... Did you get a new perfume?"

✰ He barely makes any noise during sex, not feeling too comfortable yet. He doesn't know whether or not you like guys who do that or not.

✰ He tries his best to please you. If he cums first and you don't he will eat you out.

✰ Very good with his hands.

✰ After all of the sweat and panting, I could see him offering you a cigarette to smoke.

"Secrets I have held in my heart, Are harder to hide than I thought"

-

Bokuto Koutaro

Touchin And Lovin [Trey Songz]

✰ Gives off major switch vibes.

✰ With this song on, he will be fast and deep when fucking you. He wants to make you feel good.

✰ LOVES PRAISE ! One little nice thing said to him can make him cum on the spot.

✰ He genuinely loves and cares for you.

✰ He is a head pusher, you don't mind though, you like him being rough with you.

✰ He whines . For sure .

✰ I can see his childish self singing along to this song thinking he sounds sexy while fucking you but you're dying of laughter.

✰ He isn't afraid of being serious when needed, he will fuck you hard and serious if the mood is right.

✰ Guys . The ass jiggles as he's hitting it from behind... And no, I'm not talking about your ass...

✰ He could toss you around like a rag-doll but he's too scared to hurt you.

✰ After sex he always cracks up jokes to make the awkwardness go away.

✰ He will french kiss you softly until you agree to go to bed with him.

"Touchin', lovin', fuckin', can't make up my mind"

-

Keiji Akaashi

Versace on the Floor [Bruno Mars]

✰ I can see him being mean, dominating over you. Never too mean though.

✰ He loves this song because he likes taking your clothes off slowly, the melody of the music compliments the slow sensual acts between you two.

✰ In this song, he would fuck you slowly, almost too slow (low key cockwarming).

✰ He loves you and the feeling of being inside you.

✰ He barely makes any noise but will moan here and there to feel your walls clench down on his dick.

✰ He is very sweet when he speaks to you, his actions being the only mean thing about him.

✰ "Stay still. Feels too good~"

✰ He likes being alone with you, in the dark as this song plays. He just feels so safe and secure with you.

✰ Afterwards, he will make sure you're all cleaned up and go to sleep on his own accord.

"There's no place I'd rather be in this world. Your eyes are where I'm lost in"

-

Tetsurou Kuroo

Loveeeeeee Song [Rihanna]

✰ He is a respectful man when it comes to having sex.

✰ He will be sweet with you, talking you through it as he sinks his cock deep inside you.

✰ "You can take it, yeah? Yeah, you can,"

✰ He isn't the type to be super kinky or pull your hair... But he would be the type to steal your panties after you two have sex.

✰ He fucks you to this song however he feels like in that moment. It's just a song that expresses his emotions towards you. He cares about you a lot.

✰ You both cherish each other, deeply. It's on a level that no one can understand.

✰ I can see him moaning for you, not too much but quite a lot.

✰ His nerdiness can get the best of him sometimes, finding himself distracted when it comes to logical decisions like cumming inside you.

"I need love and affection"

-

Kenma Kozume

Hentai [Cigarettes After Sex]

✰ Look... He's a gamer and sometimes some games can be connected to hentai... Of fucking course he was going to fuck you to a song named hentai.

✰ Switch (dom+)

✰ This song is exactly how he feels about you, it's crazy that it is his literal feelings.

✰ He will fuck you slow and try not to make so much noise so he can listen to the song as he fucks you.

✰ With that knowledge, he tries not to moan or whine but sometimes his little gasps and panting is sexy.

✰ You find it cute how much he desires you, wanting to fuck you any chance he gets.

✰ "Come and sit on my lap while I play games... What? No... I wasn't planning on... Idiot,"

✰ Loves using toys during sex, finds it easier to make you cum.

✰ He'd be the type to record videos of you two.

✰ Kenma... I know for sure he makes you roleplay as anime girls, video game characters, or even animals for him.

✰ This song is his favorite one, he just needs to cum on your body after hearing it. You're his little toy.

✰ He loves you so much but shows it through actions instead of words. That's why he touches you so much.

"I've been waiting for you to fall for me and let me in your life"

-

[raven-dor]

there he goes

In which conrad fisher makes up with his best friend, and she realizes that she has feelings for him

PAIRING: conrad fisher x reader, jeremiah fisher x PLATONIC!reader, isabel conklin x PLATONIC!reader, steven conklin x PLATONIC!reader

WARNINGS: allusions to a past argument, heartbreaking fluff, angst, one-sided crush, underage drinking, loneliness

WORD COUNT: 1,832

AN: this is an excerpt from a WIP on wattpad!! just wanted to get a feel and see if anyone would be interested in this even being published<3

Laurel laughed at the spread on the kitchen counter. "I thought we were keeping dinner simple."

"It's Belly's sweet 16. Is Connie done shucking the corn?"

Y/N shrugged, filling up the vases for the flowers. "I don't think so." 

Susannah sighed. "Can you go check for me?" 

She nodded. "Sure." She pushed open the kitchen door and walked slowly down the steps to the landing. Conrad looked up, smiling lightly.

"Your mom sent me down here to see if you're almost done shucking the corn." She looked behind him, noticing that there were only three left. "I'll let her know." She turned back around, walking back up the steps.

Conrad called out. "Y/N/N..." 

She stopped but didn't turn around. "Yeah?"

"I- I'm sorry." She took another step up the stairs, a hand wrapping around her wrist. Her breath hitched, and he slowly turned her around. She tried to look anywhere but his eyes. He had always made her break when she looked into his eyes. "Y/N/N, look at me, please." 

"I can't." She shook her head. "You know I can't." 

"Y/N/N..." 

She shook her head, turning back around. "We can talk later, Conrad." 

"I'm sorry, Y/N/N. For everything." He stood at the bottom of the steps, watching as she turned around. "I'm sorry for everything." 

She sighed. "Why are you being so mean?"

He shook his head. "I'm not being mean-" 

She walked down, meeting him at the bottom. "I don't mean right now. I meant in general. Trust me, I get it. You're dealing with a lot." She looked up at him delicately. "But why did you do that?"

He reached his hand out, grabbing hers, studying the way her fingers looked. "I just- I didn't want to hurt you more. Because I was-" 

"That's what I'm here for." She smiled. "Not for you to hurt, of course-" 

He nodded. "I got it. I'll never hurt you again." 

She laughed, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. "Don't make promises that you can't keep." 

A voice coughed, and she jumped, pulling out of Conrad's reach. "I- I'm going back inside." She rushed up the stairs, through the kitchen, and onto her bed. 

She grabbed her pillow, screaming into it. "What is happening to me?"

Y/N settled into her seat, grabbing a lobster and some salad. Since Cam was now sitting in her normal spot, she was placed in between Susannah and Conrad, not that she minded. Conrad's leg nudged hers, laughing at her flower crown. 

"You look-"  

"So Cam!" Jeremiah interrupted the comforting chaos that had erupted, the table quieting. "You mind if I call you Cam Cameron?"

Cam laughed. "Yeah, man. Feel free, that's funny."

Susannah smiled. "I'm glad you're here, Cameron. I know your mom, Denise, from the club." 

"Thank you so much for having me, Susannah! My mom says hi."

Laurel walked in, handing out her homemade miyeok-guk. 

"Cam, have you ever had miyeok-guk before? It's a Korean birthday tradition."

He shook his head, grabbing the bowl from her. "No, it looks so good, though. Thank you." 

"Belly told me you're vegetarian, so I didn't put any meat in it."

Cam smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Laurel, geez." 

Jeremiah interrupted again. "Why don't you eat meat, Cam Cameron?"

"Uh, the meat industry is like the number one contributor to global warming. And I just like animals." 

Jeremiah tilted his head. "Hm." 

Taylor grinned, looking down the table. "Just don't come for my leather jacket." 

Steven muttered. "I'm pretty sure you mean pleather." 

Jeremiah laughed. "Ooh!"

Taylor flipped him off, the boys laughing at her actions. 

"You know, Belly eats meat. So, you let her kiss you with those lips?"

She groaned, shaking her head. "Guys..." 

Cameron shook his head. "No, I don't judge people for eating meat. It's just a personal choice. I don't care." 

"So you don't mind if her lips touch a dead animal, and then those dead animal lips touch your lips, right?"

Belly smiled tightly, kicking Jeremiah under the table. He winced. 

"I don't mind at all. Um, in fact..." He leaned over, kissing Belly lightly. Y/N smiled. It was nice to see he wasn't giving in to the bullying. Or teasing, as Jeremiah and Steven called it. 

The boys started gagging, and Y/N glared at them. "Can you not? I'm trying to eat. I don't need gagging noises in the background." 

Jeremiah smiled guiltily. Steven spoke up this time. "I'm sorry, I just don't understand why anybody would want to kiss somebody who once fully shat in a bathtub." 

Y/N sat down her fork, glaring at the younger boy. "Really, Steven? We're trying to eat here." Conrad laughed.

Belly glared at her brother. "I was like two years old." 

Steven's face contorted. "Two, more like six." 

Laurel stared at her son, signaling him to stop. "Shut up, Steven." 

Taylor sat forward. "I remember when I visited last summer, and you and you," She pointed at the Fisher boys. "Dared him to pee in the fireplace, and you stunk up the entire house for days. Do you remember that?"

Y/N laughed, holding her stomach. "God, that was horrible." 

Steven sighed. "We were drunk. We were drunk." 

Belly rolled her eyes. "On like half a White Claw." She laughed, looking over at Taylor. "You know, I'm thinking maybe we should go to Nicole's party." 

Conrad looked down at his plate, playing with his food. Y/N cleared her throat. "You okay, Connie?"

He nodded, but she could tell that he didn't love the idea of everyone being there. Or maybe it was the idea of Belly and Nicole being in the same room. 

Either way, her stomach was twisting, too. Just for different reasons. 

Y/N tried to contain her laughter as Steven and Jeremiah screamed the lyrics to "We Are Never Getting Back Together." They had quite literally only been in the car for five minutes before Steven snatched the phone from Jeremiah's hands and put on Taylor Swift.

They pulled up to the house, parking on the side of the driveway. Steven whipped around, glaring playfully at the two in the back. "Do not ever tell Belly I did that." 

"Sure, Steven." She grinned, holding up her crossed fingers. "Promise." 

Conrad laughed, shutting the car door. "No promises, man." 

Y/N laughed alongside him, humming. "Wonder if Belly's here yet." 

Conrad shrugged, pulling her towards the kitchen. "I need a drink."

Y/N sighed, following silently. His shoulders were tense, and he was constantly looking over his shoulder. She just hoped that-

"Conrad!"

And there was Nicole. She looked gorgeous and Y/N... well she felt underdressed now. Nicole turned towards the girl, smiling just as wide. "Hey Y/N, cute top." 

She was so nice. Y/N took a quick sip of her beer, smiling. "Thank you. Pacsun." 

Nicole nodded, looking engaged, but Y/N knew she wanted time with Conrad. She smiled again and walked backward. "I'm gonna go find Jere." 

Conrad tilted his head. "We just got here. Give me two seconds, and then I'll come with you." 

"No! I mean..." She laughed awkwardly. "It's fine. I have to talk to him about something anyway. I'll see you in a bit." 

She stumbled through the crowd,  almost smiling at who she ran into. "Taylor, hey!"

Taylor smiled blankly, glaring at her drink. "I met Nicole." 

She laughed, looking out at the crowd of drunk teenagers. "Not a fan?"

"I—" she huffed. I know we aren't that close, Y/N, but can I tell you something?" 

She nodded quickly. 

"I feel like I'm losing her. Belly."

She sighed, facing Taylor. "You're not going to lose her. You're best friends. She'll always need you. Besides, Nicole is just doing her 'big sister' duties. She's not going to steal her. I don't think anyone could do that." She stared back at the crowd. "Trust me." 

Taylor hummed, and they stood in silence for what seemed like forever. Y/N huffed, looking over at the younger girl. "I'm going to go find Belly. You want to come with?"

Taylor shook her head, and Y/N walked away towards the foyer. "So Nicole, you and Conrad a thing or what?"

She stopped, listening in on their conversation. "I think or what." 

"Wait, you live with him. You should know what he's up to. Has he been hanging out with other girls this summer?" 

"Just Y/N, but you know them. Two peas in a pod." 

Her heart dropped. God, she really didn't want people even thinking that she and- She stormed through the foyer and dodged past Conrad, who was talking to some other locals from Cousins. His voice definitely called her name, but she ignored him and grabbed a bottle of vodka. 

There had to be an empty room with access to the roof somewhere. 

It felt like it had been hours since she had found this spot, sitting securely on a spot on the roof that had a perfect view of the moon. 

She used to look at the moon with her dad. She used to look at the moon with-

"Y/N/N?" She almost scoffed, not even bothering to look towards the window. "What are you doing up here? We've been looking-" 

"No, you haven't." 

"What do you mean no we haven't?"

"I mean, no, you haven't. I've been up here for like two hours, Conrad." 

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't- I'm sorry. I just need to be alone, okay?" She lay down, staring at the stars once more. "Just leave me alone." 

Silence followed, and she assumed that he had left, but when she heard the window close and his steps grew closer, she fought the smile that was forming on her face. He lay next to her. "We haven't done this in a while."

"Connie..." 

"Y/N..."

"You don't need to lay next to me just to make me feel better."

"Can't I just lay next to my best friend?"

Her stomach twisted, and she told herself it was from the copious amounts of alcohol that she had ingested. "How's Nicole?"

His voice sounded careful. "She's fine." 

"Just fine?" She turned her head, looking at his side profile. He was- "She was talking about you." 

"Yeah?"

She hummed, still staring at him. "She likes you a lot." 

"That's good." 

"Yeah." She turned back to the stars. "You ever think we're too close?"

He laughed, like actually laughed. "No, I don't. Do you?"

"Sometimes." 

His smile fell, and it was his turn to look at her. "Why's that?"

"I don't think your girlfriends appreciate it very much. Me being your best friend." 

"Nicole's not my girlfriend, and even if she were, she'd have to get used to you." He nudged her and scooted closer. "You're my best friend." 

"I know." She closed her eyes, her heart shattering into a million pieces. "I know I'm your best friend, Connie. You're mine too."

[taylorsv3rsion13]

we never go out of style || c.f.

A/N : hi! this is gonna be a series so there will be links to other chapters when i complete them!

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

words : 4.1k

synopsis : things were always rocky for conrad and you. after the whole break up, will everything be the same the year later? or will it all turn to shit.

I hated him. Hated him with all the hate I had in my body. He made me hate Cousins as well.

Every year, my mom would send me away off to Cousins beach where I would stay with her best friend Susannah and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. I had easily bonded with the two of them, and then gotten in a relationship with Conrad. The Conklins would be there as well. Belly and Steven.

Conrad and Steven were 17, while Jeremiah, and I were all 16(turning 17 soon), but I was older than him by a few months, and Belly was 15, turning 16 soon.

He fucked it all up. He couldn't commit to one relationship, and we all knew that, yet he told me he would and I believed him.

Again, my mom sent me to them for the summer. I thought she wouldn't knowing the whole debacle that had happened the year prior.

"Mom, I really don't think it's a good thing if I go." I said to her as I sat at the kitchen counter.

"C'mon Y/N, Susannah misses you, and I'm sure Belly would like to see you as well." My mom said.

I groaned in annoyance.

I loved seeing everyone in Cousins, don't get me wrong. When I was there it felt like all of my worries were away. But now after the breakup, I just thought of everything that could go wrong this summer.

The plane ride was six hours to Cousins from California and it took 30 minutes to get from the airport to the Fishers house. The whole time my mind raced on what would happen as soon as I stepped through the doors.

"Hi, I'm home." I said awkwardly loudly as I stepped through the door that was unlocked.

It was normal for the doors to be unlocked. Everyone knew each other in Cousins, and everyone basically was only there for the summer.

Throughout the house I heard a mixture of footsteps and gasps, people saying, "Y/N?", "Y/N is here?"

The first people to approach was Susannah and Laurel, coming out of the kitchen with a beautiful floral maxi dress.

"Oh my god, look at you! You've always been beautiful, but honey, look at you" Susannah said as she grabbed ahold of my cheeks before giving me a hug.

"I think I like the same" I chuckled.

"You do not look the same... You're growing up. You're in bloom."

Savannah had a way to say things. I loved it about her.

She let go as Laurel squeezed through, hugging me.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming early?" Laurel asked.

I laughed a little, "I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Y/N!" I heard an excited voice say.

I watched as Jeremiah's body came sliding down the railing. He was in a white wife beater tank top and a pair of bright tropical shorts.

"Jere!" I exclaimed, opening my arms for him to run into.

Jeremiah and Conrad were brothers, but they couldn't be more different. Jeremiah was this energetic outgoing person, while Conrad was... well, he was Conrad...

"How have you been Y/N/N?" He asked as we both let go.

"A lot better, and you Mr. Fisher?" I asked jokingly.

From behind Susannah and Laurel, I could see long brown hair.

"Belly?" I questioned.

"Oh my god, Y/N!" She squealed, running up to me.

"You're absolutely so beautiful." I stated.

"No you are." She said back. We could've gone on and on about who was more beautiful, that was until he came.

I looked up and was met with Conrad's bright blue fucking eyes. He stared straight at me from the top of the stairs.

Conrad took a breath, "Hi, Y/N."

"Hi, Conrad..." I responded.

"Yo, Conrad! Y/N is here!" I heard Steven's voice from upstairs.

All of us laughed a little as we saw Steven make his way to the banister. His face was full of surprise as he saw me.

"She's actually here!" He said, running down to greet me.

All of us kids went outside to the pool. Belly wore a cute purple bikini as I wore a blue one.

The house was for us, and our moms. Not for our dads. My mom rarely showed up. She only showed up for important events because she had a lot of work, but there were some years where she stayed.

"You're absolutely stunning." I said to Belly as we rested by the wall in the pool.

She laughed, "I look the exact same as last year."

"No. You look so much different!" I said to her.

"Well, look at you! you have new hair, new body, new attitude!" She said excitedly. "Do I have to get broken up with for this glow up?"

We both laughed at her statement.

"Should we mess with the boys a little?" Belly asked.

"Yeah, I think we should." I said, a smile growing on my face. "Ow! Jeremiah! Help! I think I sprained my ankle!" I yelled to the curly headed boy.

He came to me as soon as he could, sticking out his hand as I stuck out mine.

"Sorry." I said, a smile on my face. I watched as his face faltered though, as he realized what had happened.

I yanked the poor boy into the water, fully clothed.

He came up, splashing at the water.

"Y/N!" He yelled.

I got out of the pool. "I'm gonna head inside for a bit." I said to the group.

"Hi, sweetie." Susannah said as I closed the glass door.

"Hi!" I said to Susannah and Laurel as I sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

God I loved the kitchen. It was a beautiful green and white. I loved this house in general though, it was a gorgeous house.

"She's so beautiful." I watched Susannah mouth to Laurel.

"I know." Laurel mouthed back.

I only laughed at the two. I loved their relationship. I honestly wish I had a relationship like that when I got older.

"You should call you mom and tell her you got here okay." Susannah said as she finished chopping up the fruit.

"Oh, yes you're right. I told her I would call her and I got distracted." I laughed.

I finished calling her and returned to Susannah and Laurel.

"Is she coming for the Fourth?" Susannah asked.

"Yes, she would never miss it for anything."

"Oh, Y/N, I finished getting your room set up, if you wanna go unpack now, you can." Susannah said, giving me a smile.

I gave her a smile back, "Thank you, Susannah, I love you."

"Love you too!" She responded.

"I love you, Laurel!" I said, adding a laugh. I heard her and Susannah laugh before she responded as well.

I loved my room at the Fisher's. It had beautiful white walls with high ceilings. As well as a gorgeous large window. My bed was perfectly made as well, and I had white sheets with dark blue flowers.

Most of the accents on the walls were dark blue as well. I could tell Susannah had done some work on my room since the last time I was here.

I began unpacking while looking at everything I had left from last summer. A stuffed white polar bear was on my bed and it had a little navy blue bow tie. Oh god how the memories flooded.

A knock at my door brought me back, "Come in!" I shouted.

"Come on! Let's go to the beach before dinner... please. " Belly said as she bounced onto my bed.

"I still have a bunch to unpack, Bells." I said to the girl, "And don't you have to go with your mom to Whale of a Tale?"

"I'll just skip it." She said, her face with a large smile. "Pleaseeeee."

"Okay, okay! We can go." I said to her.

She squealed excitedly, "Okay! I'll meet you down!"

I laughed quietly as I grabbed a new swimsuit. This one was a blue and white bikini and I loved it.

I saw Susannah and Laurel down in the kitchen.

"Laurel, I'm so sorry I'm stealing Belly, but we were gonna go swimming and I know you have Whale of a Tale today bu-" I rambled.

"It's okay, I'll go with her." Susannah said, a large smile forming on her face.

"You want to race?" I asked Belly as we stood in the sand.

"No, I can't possibly keep up with you, you're always running, I see on your stories." She joked.

Before I knew it, the girl had sprinted, dropping her towel and flip flops.

"Cheater!" I shouted and laughed as I too dropped my things, running to go after her.

"Steven, I swear to god, look at that phone one more time and it's going in the screen basket." Laurel said as we ate dinner.

Belly and I looked at each other before laughing.

I was crammed in between Jeremiah and Conrad, and it was interesting. I avoided Conrad as much as I could.

"It's just, we want to see your beautiful faces." Susannah said as she smiled at all of us which made Belly and I laugh even harder.

Steven continued to go on his phone, doing god knows what. I watched as Jeremiah snatched it from across the table and threw it in the basket that was on the other side of the room.

"Dude, are you kidding me?" Steven said in disbelief.

Jeremiah on the other hand was cheering for himself, "Boom, Nailed it!"

"We get it, you've been working out." Steven said.

"Someones jealous about Jere having a nicer body..." Belly and I said in sync.

Conrad hadn't said anything at all during dinner, and I knew people could feel the tension.

"Aren't you leaving for training camp soon?" I asked Conrad, turning to him.

Susannah cut in, "Uh... he quit football."

All of us looked at Conrad in shock. He was good at football and not only that, but he was going to do college football.

"He can always change his mind though." Susannah said, as she grabbed a bread roll.

"I'm not changing my mind." Conrad said, no emotion whatsoever. "I'll just sit on the bench anyways."

"Well, if you're not playing football anymore, what are you gonna do all summer?" Laurel asked.

Steven shot up in surprise, "Oh, dude, you can work at the club with me and Jere."

Conrad shook his head no though.

"Wait, you guys are working this summer?" Laurel asked in disbelief.

Jeremiah began talking, "Yeah, I'm lifeguarding and Steven's working in the snack shop."

Something seemed to spark in Susannah as well as she began rummaging through things.

"Oh Y/N and Belly! I almost forgot. I have a surprise for the two of you."

Two envelopes were in Susannah's hands. One addressed to Belly and the other addressed to me.

"What.. uhm. What is that?" Laurel stuttered.

"I got them both invitations to be a debutante." Susannah said proudly

There were a bunch of comments being made about the whole debutante ball and about Belly, but I zoned it all out, staring at the invitation.

"Y/N." Susannah's voice said, bringing me out of my state.

"Hm?" I asked.

She motioned to the envelope.

"Oh, yeah, I'll think about it..."

I walked up the stairs to the hall with all of the kids rooms. God, you could hear Steven belting to As the World Caves In.

I don't know how I was gonna do anything with him singing so loudly, so I grabbed a red bikini and changed into it, grabbing a towel and heading outside.

Of course, Conrad was sitting out there, but instead his feet were dipped in the water and he had a joint in his mouth.

I felt his gaze on me as I put my towel down and jumped into the cold water. I stayed under for two minutes before going back up for air.

"Wasn't sure if you were trying to drown yourself or not." Conrad said blatantly.

"Glad to see you wouldn't help even if I was." I said to the brunette sarcastically. "And I thought you said smoking pot was bad for you."

"Never said that." He stated.

"Pass." I said, motioning towards the joint in between his fingers.

"No." He laughed.

I rolled my eyes at him. And I still hated him.

"Hey, are you actually thinking about doing the debutante thing?" Conrad asked after a few minutes.

"Don't know, don't know why you would care either." I shot back at him.

"Why are you acting so different?" Conrad scoffed.

"You should be asking yourself that same thing." I said to the boy.

"Y/N, I know you." Conrad tried to say.

"Yeah? Do you?"

Before he could respond a scream was heard with the glass door being slid open.

"First bonfire of the summer!" Jeremiah's voice screamed. I heard Steven laugh and another set of footsteps.

"Can I come too?" It was Belly.

"Wait, I wanna go." I added in.

The boys looked at Belly and I.

"Uh no." Steven said.

I mean it, Steven is the most dramatic boy I have ever met.

"The moms are getting everything set up for your movie night." Jeremiah said to Belly and I.

The boys said their various goodbyes before running off.

Belly had grabbed my towel for me to dry off and the two of us went inside.

"Brownies are going in!" We heard Susannah say.

"Got put the DVD in please." Laurel said to us.

"I actually have a headache, I think I'm just gonna go to sleep early. It's been a busy travel day." I said to Laurel and Susannah.

"Aw, alright, honey. Goodnight, love you." Susannah said as she kissed my forehead. I gave Laurel a hug before walking up the stairs.

I turned around though, making eye contact with Belly and winking at her. She nodded in response. We had an idea.

As soon as I heard Belly's door close, I ran to her room with an assortment of clothing.

"Hi Taylor!" I said to the blonde on the phone.

"Hi Y/N!" She responded.

I changed in the corner of Belly's room as her and Taylor were discussing their new drama. They always added me in on new things going in which I appreciated.

"Oh my god, Taylor, Y/N's outfit is so cute." Belly said as she dragged me in the camera frame.

I was wearing a green flowy tube top that was sheer at the stomach and had a floral design with orange and pink colors. As well as a short white mini skirt.

"Belly, what's that pink thing in your bag?" I asked, pointing to a hot pink strap.

"That's the surprise!" Taylor shouted through the phone.

Belly pulled it out, revealing a short hot pink dress.

"Oh my god." Belly and I said in unison.

Belly laughed, "No way in hell. And won't you be able to see my underwear in that?"

"Wear a thong." I suggested.

Belly had gone into this rant about how unhygienic thongs are how they're basically flossing your butthole which Taylor and I laughed at.

Belly and I somehow sneaked past the moms as they watched their movie. I'm surprised they never saw us walk past them, but there was a mix of crying and laughter while watching the movie.

We walked to the beach, which was actually quite long considering the beach was our backyard, but they were further down.

As we made it closer, we could see a bonfire and here loud music.

"I'm gonna kill Taylor." Belly mumbled to me which made me laugh.

"Yo, gas station girl!" A man called out. We both turned our attention and he looked at least 20...

"You've gotten yourself a treat." I said, winking at her before walking away.

"Where you coming from?" The guy asked. I'll just say it. He was a weirdo.

"We just came from another party." I said, breaking in. Belly looked like she was gonna pass out.

"Sweet. Hey, take my beer." He said as he kept pushing his beer onto Belly.

She kept rejecting the beer, but he continued to insist.

"Got a boyfriend back home? Either of you?" He asked

I watched and spotted Steven in the crowd, but Belly seemed to have gotten to his name first.

"Steven!" She called out.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, looking at us. His eyes stayed on Belly for longer though, "And what the fuck are you wearing?"

Sadly, the gas station guy jumped in, "I invited her. So who the fuck are you?"

"I'm her brother and she's 15 you pedo." Steven snapped.

Belly stammered, "I-I'm almost 16."

I shot her a glare, knowing we were already in deep trouble.

I watched as Belly and Steven got into their little argument as he moved her away. God this was gonna be an embarrassing night.

She had tripped over something, I'm not even sure what, and fell and ate dirt...

I ran towards the poor girl who just fought back at my arms.

"Belly, it's me." I said to her calming her down.

I looked over to see Conrad standing with a girl who looked at Belly and I. Well everyone looked at Belly and I, but not as long as Conrad did.

"I thought you hated the Red Sox." I said to the brunette as. He had a Red Sox baseball cap on.

"Who are you?" The girl next to him asked.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

"Nicole, Conrad and I went to the deb ball last summer."

It felt like someone had stabbed me throughout my whole body. Like I was heartbroken again.

"Didn't you say that deb balls are bullshit and debs are sheep?" I asked Conrad.

"I didn't..." Conrad said, but I knew he wanted me to shut up.

"I hate you so much. Go fuck someone." I said to Conrad before walking off. Belly had already walked off before.

"You're an asshole, Y/N." Conrad shouted back.

I sat in the sand close to the water. Belly sat with me as well.

"I hate them, they're absolutely dicks." I said to her, throwing a rock into the water.

She didn't say anything, only hummed in response.

I watched out of the corner of my eye a boy tapping Belly's shoulder, "Flavia?

"Hi?" Belly questioned as she looked at me and him.

"It's me, Sextus."

"What did you just say to us?" I asked.

He stammered, "no, no, no, Sex-tus. From your seventh grade Latin Convention" He pointed to Belly.

I looked at Belly raising an eyebrow, seeing if this guy was normal. She nodded slowly.

I got up from the sand, brushing it off and walking to the other side of the campfire with not much light. I wanted to give Belly her night.

The water was cold as it reached my ankles. It was cold out and I could tell that I should've brought a jacket.

There was a lot of noise and rants coming from behind, but I didn't look, not until I saw Conrad's figure.

fuck. what did he get himself into.

I walked closer to the fight as someone had pushed Conrad and I was hit in the head with his elbow.

"Fuck." I grunted as I put a hand to my forehead.

"Are you okay?" I felt Jeremiah's arms around me.

"Cops! Cops!" I heard people yell.

Jeremiah had opened the door to his car for me, "You okay to buckle yourself up?"

"Yeah." I responded, holding ice to my head that they had used in a cooler.

"Okay, because Conrad's a big baby when he's drunk." Jeremiah muttered.

I saw Belly walking with the same guy, he didn't seem rude or anything, but we needed to get home.

"Belly, come on get in the car!" I yelled out to her.

"Cam can get me a ride home, right, Cam?" Belly asked the guy next to her.

He nodded eagerly "Yes, yes I can."

Jeremiah stepped into the conversation, "No, you're not getting into a car with someone you just met."

Cam held out his hand, "I'm Cam. Cameron."

"Your name is Cam Cameron?" I asked jokingly.

"No, it's j-just Cam, but we actually know each other from the Latin convention in 7th grade." He explained.

"Okay, no offense, but no, Belly, get in the car." Jeremiah ordered.

Cam, scratched the back of his head, "Um you should probably get into the car... but the whaling boat that I'm interning on leaves the dock at dawn every morning, so I was wondering you'd wanna come." He stuttered over some of his words, obviously flustered.

Belly laughed a little, "Uh yeah, yes. I mean how else will you get your hoodie back?"

It was absolutely so cute how flustered the two were with one another.

Jeremiah started the engine and then turned it off, "Fuck, Steven! Belly come with me, and Y/N, watch Conrad, we'll be right back."

He shut the door and with that I was left with a drunk passed out Conrad.

I felt as he touched my hair, "Your hair is always like a little kids, it's always a bit messy." Conrad said in awe.

I grabbed my hair back, putting it on my chest.

A knock on the window and a flashlight shown on my eyes made me already want to kill myself even more.

"Have you kids been drinking?" An officer asked. And at that moment. I knew we all fucked up.

"Officers, thank you for bringing them all home. I promise you it won't happen again."

The officers were let out and I never thought I would see Laurel angry, ever.

"How could you guys be so irresponsible?" Laurel asked as she looked at all of us.

Steven talked first, "Mom, it's not that big of a deal, it was a mistake. And the cops were looking to break up the bonfire either way."

"You don't think this is a big deal, Steven? The cops picked you guys up for underage drinking, that's a pretty big deal, Steven."

Laurel scoffed at us, "Were you guys smoking?"

"What?" Conrad asked loudly.

"Keep your voice down, Susannah's asleep on the couch." Laurel scolded.

"Just so you know Laurel, I didn't drink tonight... I was the DD, I swear." Jeremiah said, raising his hands up in defense.

She ignored his comment though, turning straight to Conrad.

"You're the oldest, what the hell has gotten into you recently?" She questioned them.

I had never been so scared in my life.

"And you two, since when did you guys ever leave the house without telling anyone? And what the hell are you wearing, Belly?"

"It's Taylor's. And why aren't Y/N and I allowed to go out?" Belly asked.

"It isn't that you guys aren't allowed to go out, of course you are, but you didn't tell us. How didi you guys even get there?"

"We walked..." I mumbled.

The rest of the five minutes we spent yelling quietly and arguing with one another.

Laurel sighed, "Just go to bed you guys."

She held back Conrad and I, "I know you both are going through things and you can always talk to me, but please, tell me what's going on."

"Nothing." I said before he could even answer. I moved past her hand, walking upstairs off to my room.

The silence in my room was interrupted not long after with a knock. I sighed as I opened the door. Conrad stood there, which I didn't expect at all.

"Hi." I said.

It was awkward... "You know you're gonna have a black eye tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, and it's already tomorrow." I responded.

He nodded awkwardly, beginning to walk over to his room.

"Hey, do you remember anything that happened last night?" I asked. "Never mind, you were pretty wasted."

"I always remember everything when I drink."

I sat on the beach and I just kept replaying the events of the night before. God it made it seem like I liked Conrad Fisher again, which I didn't. Because I couldn't.

Speaking of Conrad, he had come behind me, smoking a joint.

"Let me have a puff." I said to him.

"No."

"Why?"

"My mom and Laurel would actually murder me."

"Fine. Since I can't smoke, then you can't either." I stated.

Conrad sighed, "Why do you even care?"

"It's bad for you. Just because we broke up doesn't mean I won't look for your best interest."

"Hey, let's go pick up some of the good muffins before everybody else gets up."

I just stared at Conrad.

"This summers going to be different. I'm sorry." I said to him, walking off towards the house.

[cwritesforfun]

TSITP Conrad Fisher x Fem!Reader: Only You

This was a request!! You've been Conrad's friend for years. Conrad took you to the Debutante Ball last summer because your date bailed on you and broke up with you. He realized how he felt about you then and now it's pretty much all he can think about. Y/N = Your Name

Conrad's POV

I'm waiting for Y/N to arrive. She texted me when her flight landed and when she got to her summer house in Cousins Beach. Now I just have to wait until she drives and gets here. I missed her so much. I wish she lived closer and we could hang out more. You have no idea how long I've been wanting to hug her tightly and have our night walks on the beach.

My door swings open and Jeremiah pokes his head in to say "Hey uh I think Y/N is here, but she is on a stressful-sounding call in the front yard. I heard her voice go really high and she's pacing." I nod and thank him before heading outside.

I open the front door and I see Y/N. She's hanging up her phone angrily when I get outside. When she sees me, her eyes light up and she runs over to me. I hug her tightly and swing her around a little.

Upon releasing her from her hug, I help Y/N carry her overnight bag to my bedroom. We then go for our walk on the beach because Y/N kindly asks to go on one.

We're walking on the beach and I notice Y/N deep in thought. I reach for her hand to hold it and I ask, "You okay?" Y/N squeezes my hand and says, "I am just tired of everyone in my hometown. I'm so glad I'm going to college this year. I cannot wait to leave them all. They're so exhausting to be around and they're toxic, plus they treat me like shit." I reply "I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know they could get worse. It seems like everything was good at the end of the school year." She replies "I thought so too. I ran into this mean girl and my ex-boyfriend who stood me up at the Debutante Ball at the grocery store the other day. She called me ugly and said I don't deserve happiness. She then showed off my ex and talked about how happy she is with him. He didn't say anything that day, but he texted me the next day about how much he missed me. He said his new girlfriend is rude to everyone and that he was sorry. I just said liked his messages because I do not want him in my life in any aspect. I don't like either of them and I truly just dislike them." I reply "Well fuck them and their thoughts! They suck." She half smiles and I say "You know you have a little dimple on your right cheek that shows when you smile real big or when you're laughing really hard. I've always thought it was cute." She smiles widely and says "You're so sweet, Conrad. You always are." I reply "You're so beautiful, you know that right? Those people suck for trying to make you think otherwise." She asks "Is that why you keep staring at me?" I answer "Oh sorry what was that? I keep getting lost in your eyes. What? Too cheesy?" She laughs and playfully slaps me.

After our walk, we get back to the house where Jeremiah reminds me of the party tonight. Y/N agrees and Jeremiah stares at our hands still intertwined. I can't help that I like holding her hand. Y/N doesn't drop my hand either, so she must like me, right?

Y/N changes and says "I just remembered that I don't even have my whole suitcase here. I think I forgot to bring clothes, except one swimsuit." I ask "Do you need a shirt? I have several. I have the perfect shirt for you tonight. Let me find it." I find it and say "Ok, here it is and you should totally wear it. I'm not saying you shouldn't, but you should." She bursts out laughing and says "Oh I'm for sure wearing this." She changes and I smile widely. I love her in my clothes. What's best about this shirt is that it says FISHER on the back in big letters with my old number from football and on the front is this cheesy photo of me playing football at age 5. My mom had them made when I was in high school.

Y/N walks out in my shirt and it looks good on her. I exclaim "I just realized this will make it look like you're my girlfriend or that we're dating." She smirks and asks "Is that a bad thing? Is there someone else in your life that should wear this instead?" I answer "No and no. There's only you. What about you? Is there uh... someone in your life romantically?" She answers "There is no one but you." I ask "May I take you on a date this week?" She answers "Yes."

Jeremiah walks in, glances between us, and exclaims "We're leaving for the party if you two want to leave when we leave. Y/N, I like your shirt."

We all leave for the party. I drive Y/N and me to the party because Steven, Taylor, Belly, and Jeremiah are in the other car.

We get drinks and I walk around with Y/N a lot. We part ways and she goes off to Belly and Taylor. Jeremiah and Steven stop me when I move to get another drink. Jeremiah asks "What happened with Y/N? She's wearing your shirt. You never let anyone wear your clothes." Steven asks "Did you guys kiss yet?" I answer "We're going on a date this week. We did not kiss." Steven claps me on the back and says "I'm proud of you man. Get your girl!" I ask "What about Taylor?" Steven laughs and walks off. Jeremiah says "I'm happy for you, Conrad. Truly. You and Y/N deserve to be together." I smile.

I take a look at Y/N smiling with friends and I want to hug her, so I sneak behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. I put my head on her shoulder and kiss her on the cheek.

I exclaim "I missed you and I needed to hug you." Y/N replies "I like your hugs. Oh did you know that we're only going to be one hour from each other next year? We can visit each other when we're free on the weekend." I kiss her on the cheek and reply "I did know that. I'm so excited about it and yes, I will be seeing you a lot. I need my Y/N fix." She replies "I think our friends are sick of us." I laugh and ask "And why do you think that?" She answers "Well... you know what? I'm happy with you and your attention, so it does not matter to me what they think." I kiss her on the side of her mouth and say "I'm really happy too. I like you so much. You have no idea." She flips around in my arms and asks "How much?" I kiss her on the lips and she says "You must like me a lot." I ask "And how much do you like me?" She pulls my head back down and deepens the kiss as her hands go into my hair. So she likes me A LOT!

[beautifulmadnesss]

"Gravity Happens" The Summer I Turned Pretty Imagine Fisher!Reader

Summary: Suzannah's cancer from the perspective of her youngest child and only daughter.

warning: death and loss

I figured it out first, being the pessimist, I immediately noticed when my mom's energy started fading again. One night after picking me up from a party when I was drunk, I confessed my fears to Conrad. He's the realist, so he didn't immediately believe it, but after paying closer attention, he saw the same things I did. Neither of us talked about it after that. We both just drank a lot and shared cigarettes in the quiet of the night. Jere was the last to figure it out. I think it's because he was always the optimist, just like our mom. Immediately, he wanted to confront her about it, just yelling it out at dinner one night.

"How could you not tell us the cancer is back?" He accused.

"What?" Belly and Steven asked at the same time.

"Kids, let's go into the living room okay?" My mom responded gently. The four of us got up and moved into the living room, while the Conklin's made their way upstairs.

I was already very tipsy, something I had learned to cover well, but tonight there was no hiding it as I snapped. "You can't leave. It's not fair. I hate you. We are all falling apart because we are just kids and we can't carry everyones fucking secrets. It's suffocating. You were so mad at dad for making us lie about his girlfriend and you're doing the exact same thing. Except you just want to lie to us and then just disappear one day. You are so selfish. Did you ever stop to think how we would feel? How it would feel for us?"

"Stop." Jeremiah warned, stepping towards me while Conrad wrapped an arm around our mom.

"No, I'm so tired of all this bullshit. Did you ever think how we would feel when one morning you just didn't wake up? When we went in to check on you and found you dead?" She flinched, but it felt so good to finally just explode that I couldn't stop as the tears burned my cheeks. "Then we would be all alone with a deadbeat dad and no one else. No one to take perfect little Jeremiah to his practices, no one to to sit up worrying about Conrad when he stays out all night with some girl and no one to-" My throat closed up, but I tried again, "No one to-" It was like my entire body gave up at once. My voice broke, my knees buckled, and I fell to the floor sobbing. 

My mom was holding me within seconds and soon after both of my brothers joined in. We were all just holding each other and crying together. She knew I hadn’t meant any of the things I had said in the same way she never held onto anything I said to her when we were fighting when I was younger. I always got so angry when I was hurt or scared. Now, I was all of the above. My mom was dying of cancer. Thirty seconds ago I was overflowing with emotion and now I just felt numb. I don’t even really know what I was going to say. There were so many things I had looked forward to doing with my mom. Things I would never get to do. 

“We need you.” I cried. 

“I’m right here, sunshine. I’m right here.” She said, squeezing us tighter.

We stayed like that for a while, none of us saying anything else, just quietly crying and holding each other tightly. My mom was the first to break the silence, kissing each of us on the tops of our heads and then declaring "that's enough, crying for now. We are going to do our best to enjoy the time we have left together." She stood and moved toward the kitchen before turning back to us. "Who wants to make some waffles?" She smiled, one that none of us returned, but we did follow her into the kitchen.

She started pulling out the ingredients while softly humming a cheery tune. I took the middle stool while each of my brothers sat on either side of me.

"Jere, will you get the eggs, milk, and butter from the fridge?" She asked, setting the dry ingredients onto the counter.

"Sure, mom." He gave her a small smile in return

"As for you two, you can choose to sit there and sulk or you can help us make some delicious waffles." Conrad and I shared a look before getting up and helping get the rest of the materials together.

The motions felt empty. Our Saturday mornings as kids were always filled with tantalizing smells, warmth, and laughter. Now, it felt like all I could think about was every moment with her could be our last. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed with a drink and make everything else go away.

I felt the powdery substance coat my face and spun around to see my mom and Jeremiah laughing, each with a hand covered in flour.

"Seriously?" Conrad spoke up, voicing my thoughts.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little competition?" My mom teased with a mischievous smile.

Conrad reacted first, diving for the eggs and handing one to me, but not before Jeremiah hit me in the face with even more flour. I quickly retaliated by launching an egg that landed with a satisfying crack, spilling goopy yellow onto his mop of hair. Conrad threw an egg at my mom that connected with her shoulder as she attempted to put the island between the two of them. I think Jeremiah found the sink first, coating all of us with streams of cold water, which only made the flour that my mom dumped on all three of us stick like glue. In just a few minutes we had created a disaster in the kitchen, but it was once again full of laughter and warmth.

That was how we spent our last week at the summer home and the following two months after that. Conrad and I both drank less, but we still spent most nights smoking on the porch together. Eventually, the quiet days spent in her bed outweighed the days of laughter. She was so small and weak that we were scared to touch her, but she never lost her joy. One night, she got a burst of energy so we made popcorn and brought the mattresses into the living room to make a giant bed where we cuddled together watching her favorite movie. She slept on the couch while the three of us shared the giant bed. My mom fell asleep first and the three of us stayed up a little longer, just watching her sleep, no evidence of pain on her face for the first time in weeks.

I woke up first the next morning and I just knew.

"Mommy?" I whispered, my voice cracking and the tears already dripping onto her face as I tried to gently shake her. "Mommy please. I'm not ready yet." I begged, my movements becoming more forceful. "I'm really sorry. I'll be better I promise, just please please wake up" My voice rose to a scream at the end. The sobs shook my entire body as I desperately called out to my favorite person in the entire world even though I knew she was already gone.

I wasn't sure which of my brothers was holding me, but he led us both out of the living room and onto the porch. He held me against his chest and gently ran his fingers through my hair. I could feel him sobbing with me. Eventually I heard the door close and we both looked up to see Conrad with puffy eyes and tears on his face.

"I called the funeral home, dad, and Laurel." He said, his voice sounding as if the phone calls had take all the energy he had. "We're going to be okay." He said as he sat down on the other side of me and wrapped an arm around both of us. Despite knowing this was coming for months, it didn't feel like she was really gone. The only thing that made it feel real was the tangible darkness without the joy of Suzanna Fisher, the light of our world.

[pascaloverx]

Strangers?

Part Three

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Author's note: This fanfic is set in the creation of Jenny Han. Conrad Fisher and other characters mentioned in the future do not belong to me. I hope you like this fanfic, depending on how it goes, I'll decide if this fic will have more parts or just this one. This fanfic is recommended for all audiences, there will be no adult content in it, only possible inappropriate language and alcohol consumption.

You and Conrad come out of the water towards the people calling him. A boy and a girl, both looking relieved to find Conrad. I'm not sure what their relationship is, but they definitely seem to care a lot about Conrad. You feel like it's appropriate to pretend like you didn't just kiss someone you met hours ago. Even Conrad seems to have been bothered by the interruption but I'm wondering if he's with a frown because of the interrupted kiss or because of seeing this possible couple here.

"Do you know them?" You discreetly ask Conrad before emerging from the sea. You become so engrossed in the awkward atmosphere that you end up stumbling when fully out of the water. Luckily, Conrad grabs your arm, resulting in an insanely intense exchange of glances between you two. You step back, afraid that the girl staring at you might be the happiness Conrad mentioned earlier. At least, your near-fall helps Conrad ease his discomforted expression.

"He's my brother, and she..." Conrad speaks softly as you both walk towards the two people. But you immediately understand when you observe the glances between Conrad and the girl. She is his happiness.

The girl speaks anxiously as she looks at Conrad. "You turned off your phone and disappeared; we got worried, so we decided to look for you in possible hiding places."

"The intention of disappearing and staying unreachable is precisely to have no contact with anyone, Belly. It's nothing personal." Conrad explains.

"So, next time you want to disappear, send a message letting us know you're going to vanish, and it's not for us to worry." The boy says this time as he approaches and hugs Conrad.

"You worry too much Jeremiah, I'm your big brother not the other way around. You two shouldn't have come here. I wasn't even gone for twenty four hours." Conrad reprimands them, and they seem to disagree with what he says. You find it cute that they came here looking for Conrad, but you're concerned that they might have seen the kiss and jump to conclusions. Your mind can't stop thinking about unnecessary things. What if Belly is in love with Conrad and thinks he moved on because of the kiss? What if you enjoyed the kiss and want to repeat it, but can't because Conrad clearly has feelings for someone else?

"We're being rude here. Hello, I'm Isabel, but you can call me Belly, I'm Jeremiah's girlfriend, and..." She pauses for a moment, perhaps contemplating how to define her relationship with Conrad.

"I'm Jeremiah, Conrad's brother." Jeremiah tries to make the moment less awkward. I shake hands with both of them as they extend their hands to greet me.

"My name is Y/N. Nice to meet you." You say smiling, when you notice that something is strangely strange. Wait a minute... is Conrad in love with his sister-in-law?

"Now that everyone has introduced themselves, you can go back where you came from..." Conrad says, clearly lacking any sense of courtesy.

"Or you can stay here and enjoy this beach day. Although it's almost evening. But we can always make a bonfire." You say, trying to ease the obvious tension in the air. Jeremiah smiles appreciatively while Conrad looks at me in disbelief. Well, it's not like you invited them for a make-out session.

"We'd love to stay; it'll be an opportunity to get to know my brother's new friend." Jeremiah says, putting his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. Belly seems comfortable with the idea of staying.

"So it looks like everyone is staying. I just need to find some dry clothes to wear. And I think I bought some snacks; I'll check if I left them in the trunk." You say as you gather your clothes from the ground. The ones that aren't wet are covered in sand.

"I'll help you. By the way, Jere, did you bring any spare clothes?" Conrad says, holding your hand. You feel something bubbling in your stomach, but you firmly grip Conrad's hand.

"In the trunk, you can take whatever you think is good for today." Jeremiah says smiling while whispering something to Belly who elbows him. You and Conrad head to your car and Jeremiah who coincidentally are next to each other. You stay torn between letting go of Conrad's hand and going to your car when you notice him watching you.

"Do you like my company so little? You even had to call for reinforcements." Conrad speaks in an amused tone, making an almost cute, hurt expression.

"One of us had to do this, you were a nice ass suggesting that two people who care about you leave." You say trying to be as soft as possible, even at the end you mumble "sorry but it's true" to Conrad who is expressionless.

"I just... wanted a break from being the guy who's getting over his ex-girlfriend who's currently his younger brother's girlfriend." You get a little confused but you start to understand the situation a little better.

"Now I feel like a pretty idiot. I thought you had an unrequited crush on your sister-in-law but it's worse than that. You're living a real life version of The Vampire Diaries." You try to lighten the mood with this silly comparison. At least it made Conrad smile a little.

"But I understand that you felt it would be polite to call them, I wouldn't have done that but I understand." Conrad says, getting a little closer to you, which leaves you feeling cold in your chest.

"You can't judge me sir"I didn't give you the whole context and I want you to guess". I did the right thing." You stare at him, getting even closer. Now you started to remember what you were doing before Belly and Jeremiah arrived.

"Do you think friends can kiss?" Conrad asks as he goes from holding your hand to putting two hands on your face. You don't respond with words but nod your head positively. Seconds later you kiss. A kiss with more intensity. A kiss that makes you want to fly, or whatever. You feel that Conrad is at least in that moment with his mind focused on you. And you're focused on him. You kiss for as long as possible until you both need to catch your breath.

"You taste like beer." You say, giving Conrad a peck, who gives you one in return.

"And you taste like chocolate ice cream." You laugh at the expression Conrad makes when he says that and then move away a little.

"So let's get dry clothes and food for the night with your brother and his girlfriend." You say looking at him. You then head off to what you hope will be a pleasant evening.

[scoonsalicious]

Oh pookie my pookie🩷🩷 As usual, u r the absolute best! DELIVERED. LAWYERED.

Literally my face when reading

Okay, I did not see that coming. She spiralled out real BAD. At the same time i was cheering for her (yeah fuck that bad decision and leave him dry!!) i am also worried for her mentally and physically which can be seen at the end of chp 24 P1.😭😭 She’s going to self destruct until she feels like she absolutely fuck Bucket out of her system. (Pocket really really loves him which makes this an infinite amount of times sadder)

Oh Bucky…. you suck butt

About Sam being here… for now… please don’t let anything happen to Dark Chocolate😂 So other than Sam being injured, or Pocket getting kidnapped… what if Buckwheat somehow replaced Sam in the mission (is that even possible?😂) because he’s going to reappear in chp 25. There’s a lot of possibility that I can think of but i don’t think Sam would just leave Pocket alone. He’s not that kind of guy. He will stick with her just like how Tony would. So something must’ve happened to him.

AND, if Bucky is there… then fucker cunthage will be there which is NOT good for our Pocket. Because you did say Pocket and John only have one more confrontation? (is that the word you use? but u know what i mean😂)

I do hope Bucket will be able to ‘escape’ from the claws of that bitch. But my end theory about Buckaroo and Jennifer having a show down is FIXED. I need him to beat the shit out of Jeremiah PLEASE😭😂.

I can’t wait for the next part and Buckdoodles reappearance, Pocket’s so called knight in shining armour😂. Also a tiny (like really tiny) shoutout to Bucket for not giving up. Possessive little shit. My heart did the flutter when he calls her ‘baby’😂. Can’t imagine what he’ll do knowing our Pocket fucking around.

Rough sexy time? 😏 Or full puppy cry?😂

Our sexy macho❤️

Anyways as usual, amazing writing Pookie. I love you sooo muchhhhh.🩷🩷

Meowahhh~

Thank you so much, Bestie! Literally my face as I wrote it:

She's gonna try to fuck Bucky outta her system, that's for sure. How successful she'll be, well, who can say? I mean, she loves him SO FUCKING MUCH, she's over here like:

It's Buckback Mountain up in dis bitch.

Don't worry 'bout Ole' Sammy. I'll say that part of your guess is correct, but I'm not going to tell you which one! And I'll say this: Bucky shows up without his shadow. When Cunthage eventually does reappear, it's not Bucky who she's coming for. Is that vague enough? lol

When Bucket Finds Out about Pocket's Fucking Around, he's upset, obvi, but he handles it differently than I think any of us would expect him to, and I'm absolutely going to fully address it in a post-series smut oneshot.

Also, thank you for that Bucky gif; it is giving me (to quote The Giver) stirrings. lol

I thank you so much, as always, for your kind words and your thoughts and discussion! Pookie loves you oodles and oodles!

[skynapple]

Budding Romance | Ch. 6

Love and Deepspace | Jeremiah x MC / slow-burn / friends-to-lovers

warnings: none

Multi-chapter | A03 link

Beginning | <- Prev | Next ->

Jeremiah is dragged along and encounters some thistles.

Oh, Xavier would die if he were here. If only he could see me right now...

The night market was two blocks of Linkon City's downtown district, lined with booths selling trinkets, crafts, art, food trucks, and a few games that were easy enough to tear down and store away. They arrived at a themed booth that looked like it was representative of a popular toy brand he could have sworn he recognized. 

It was some kind of toss-in-a-hole game but with pebble-like stars that looked like they barely fit in the holes on the board. They stood in line and watched child after child try and fail, the angled edges of the stars often catching the edge of the hole causing it to bounce right out.

Jeremiah immediately failed to see how it was a two-person game. "So, how exactly is this two-player?" He said, always one to speak what he was thinking.

"Well, look how hard it is!" She deflected quickly. "If it was just me, I wouldn't have that many chances. But with you, I'll definitely have a better shot."

"Ok. But, why-" 

"NEXT!" The irritated teenager called out to the line, interrupting his thought.

She seemed to know what he was asking anyways. "Well, I also wanted to thank you for helping me the way you did before, maybe get you away from the shop for a little bit? I dunno..." She looked at her shoes, shyly. "And like I said, all my other friends were busy, so I thought, why not?"

It warmed his heart to hear her so sincere.

"I thought I'd mentioned before, no need to thank me. Any friend of Xavier's is a friend of mine. It's an honor to help out a Deepspace Hunter." He pretended to roll up his sleeve. "So don't you worry, ma'am. We'll definitely win this."

They definitely did not. 

Sure enough, their handful of stars each bounced right after the holes, try as they might.  "These stupid stars." She said, gritting her teeth bitterly as they turned away after both of their turns had passed. "Yeah!" He agreed, "I can't believe they made it like this! It's impossible." A familiar feeling settled in his heart. In a strange way, it reminded him of losing a wanderer fight. He turned to her, resolved as her own words to him from so long ago came back to him.

Sharpen your sword, Jeremiah.

He may have had no idea what the prize was, but he was not going to let her back down so easily. "What are we waiting for?" He nudged his chin towards the line, already hurrying to the back of it.

After an hour of playing over and over, the teen attendant felt bad and admired their persistence in being the only ones to try again and again. "Yeah, it's kinda rigged not gonna lie." The kid said with a wink and handed one of the prizes over. "It's day one. No one's gonna know if one's gone.

And so she'd finally obtained her prize.

"This is what you wanted?" He remarked at huge succulent thistle plushie that she needed both of her arms to hold onto. 

"This is the same one they have at my favorite arcade! But this one is Linkon limited edition and they only have it here! I'm trying to collect them all. I can't believe I got it!"

He laughed. "It's so cute! Glad I could be of service."

She buried her face in it, taking in the artificial scent. "Let's get a picture?"

"Yes!" He quickly agreed and slung an arm around her shoulders to take the photo with his phone.

"Can I post this?" She asked eagerly after admiring the selfie.

A wicked grin grew on his expression. "Of course!"

He was mentally preparing to tease Xavier when the feeling of her warm hand fingers clenched around his palm interrupted his thoughts. It lasted only a millisecond -just a quick squeeze, to say thank you- but it left his heart pounding.

"Thank you so much! I couldn't have done it without you."

"Oh-..." He stammered. What in the world? "No problem."

Suddenly he felt like it was the first time he really looked at her. Inexplicable emotions rising as he stared. Would the woman he'd known head have spent so much time attempting a plushie? Who would have been at her side then?

"Something on my face?" 

"Hmm? No. I was just wondering how in the world you're going to get that plushie through your door."

She laughed. "That's why it's squishy!"

Before he could say anything else, she was pointing out a food stall.  "After all that effort, I'm starving! Oh, and foods on me. No arguing. Everything here is so good. But you know what's really good here? You can get hot dogs dipped in fried potatoes. Have you ever had one?"

"I can't say that I have..."

Jeremiah had no idea what to think as he followed her, barely hearing her as she began to point out the other stalls over the thoughts swirling in his head. Part of him was pleased that he could spend so much time casually with her like this. It was a refreshing replacement to all the negative memories spent at war, and nice to be around her in such a joyous, youthful way. It was nice to feel like she was his friend again.

But she's not. She has no idea. I'm just a stranger. A friend of a friend.

Maybe if she knew who he was, he'd feel better about it. He'd know where he stood; he'd know his place with her. With this in mind, the other thoughts were about how jealous Xavier would be. While at first it was funny and he was never one to shy away from making him more jealous, he never actually wanted to get in the way of anything between them. For as long as he'd known the both of them, they'd only ever had eyes for each other and that was not something he felt like he could or should interfere with. A sinking feeling grew in his stomach that maybe this was too far?

No, this is fine. This is casual. If I was any one of her other friends, she'd be doing the same. Now he chided his racing thoughts. This is nothing. He can't be too mad about this. Just helping her out, like always.

"Any of those sound good?" She was asking. Even though she'd spent so much time listing all their options, he hadn't heard a single one.

"Well, my mind kinda stayed on the Korean hot dogs. What did you say, potatoes, huh?"

"Yes! Ok, you're going to love it. Let's get in line!"

He smiled. "Yes, ma'am! Lead the way."

This is nothing.

--

When he got home later that evening, he had half a mind to gloat to Xavier and send him the picture he'd taken, but hesitated.

He's going to kill me.

Right when his thumb hovered over his contacts, a notification from a new sender lit up on his screen.

Miss ma'am: [Had fun tonight :) thanks for the help! It got through the door!]

He pursed his lips together and thought long about what to reply. [Np! Had fun too.] Was all he was going to leave it at.

She replied less than a minute later. Miss ma'am: [Btw I need help tomorrow. My real succulent died :(]

[Send pics.]

Miss ma'am: [Its too dark rn. I'll pop by the shop tomorrow.]

He thought about it. [Closed tomorrow.]

Miss ma'am: [Oh ok! I'll send pics then.]

He thought about it some more. [I'll swing by?]

Miss ma'am: [That works!! Do you have Xavier's address? Same building. I can let you in.]

[Ya. What time?]

Miss ma'am: [Noon?]

[Kk!]

For a while he tried not to overthink it. It was just helping out an old friend, for which he felt he owed her a lot anyways.

...This is nothing.

[lansangprincess]

Belly, I'll always come and get you

Jelly drabble of a post-TSITP universe where bellyjere drifted apart after belly married conrad but even in times of struggling jeremiah is still the person belly looks for to come get her.

It was Jeremiah Fisher's 30th birthday. Every other year he'd be spending it raging with friends but there was something about reaching 30 that made him feel like he couldn't go out and party anymore. He loved his friends, of course he did, but after a while he realized that his partying days eventually stopped being about having fun with his friends and more about trying to forget his most important one.

Belly.

Her name used to be a comfort to say out loud. He never thought it was possible for it to hurt to even think about. They tried their best to be friends again after splitting up. They kept in touch when she ended up studying abroad and when he went to pursue his Master's in International Relations. It was okay for a while. Most of the time he felt like they were walking on eggshells trying to figure out how to not be together but it was okay. They'll find a way to go back to being the platonic soulmates that they were. Of course they would.

But then she married Conrad.

They never talked about it—none of them. Once again, everybody thought sunshine boy Jeremiah moved on and just because the three of them were finally cool in a long time, that that meant he would be okay with them getting married. Not one bit of him felt like it was right. But he was tired of all the drama. If both Belly and Conrad said that being with each other would make them happy then fine, this time he'll choose to believe them. Or at least try his fucking hardest to.

But despite his attempts, an invisible cord between him and Belly broke. It was too painful to even pretend so the two of them drifted apart. They were cordial of course. Joked around on holidays and also somehow the pair of them ended up taking on the mantle of preparing every Christmas dinner together, but deep down both of them knew it wasn't the same.

He thinks of her the most on nights like these. Alone in his studio apartment, he lit the candle on the birthday cupcake he bought for himself. He chuckled. He realized he really doesn't know how to be an introvert. But whatever, it's fine, Jeremiah was going to take off his shoes, put on a face mask, watch some black-and-white movie and eat this fucking good cupcake.

Clock struck midnight.

He was 30. He was finally going to do it, he thought. He was going to fall asleep on his couch, wake up in the morning and finally forget that he was in love with Isabel Conklin. It was his one birthday wish.

Too bad the universe had other plans.

His phone rang before he could blow out the candle. It was her. He cursed whatever muse or god or deity was listening. Whatever she said, he decided, he wasn't going to change his wish. No matter how sweet her birthday greeting is going to be for him—which he knows it will be since it always is—he refused to have it reignite all the feelings he still had for her. He couldn't do it anymore. He just couldn't.

He picked up the phone.

"Hey Be—"

She didn't even let him finish.

No matter how sweet she is, he repeated to himself, no matter how many time she says the word "love".

But she wasn't sweet. And she didn't say the word "love". He's not even sure in that moment if she remembered it was his birthday.

Instead, what she said made him feel much more worse than if she'd told him she hated him.

"I'm divorcing Conrad."

His heart pounded. His first thought was something selfish. Very selfish. Her words were spoken through a humorless laugh and he absolutely hated to hear her like that. There were no words of comfort running through his mind, no declarations of love, no jokes—nothing. For the first time in a really long time, Jeremiah Fisher was speechless.

"Can you um—" her voice started to crack as he heard her trying to fight through tears, "Can you come get me?"

[noemitenshi]

Do you have an ultimate all time fave Troy scene that you could gush about forever?

Oh god that's such a difficult question. Honest answer would be 'no' because I just cannot choose. I have *so many* favorite Troy scenes that I love to go on and on about. Like, really, I think every ep he is in, I've got at least(!!) one scene I could gush about. I mean, I can't even tell you which ep I love him most in.

Though I do have at least two eps my mind goes to first when asked for favorite Troy scenes - ep 9 and ep12. And again, there's a lot of scenes to love in there but I think most about ep 9 is the confrontation with Madison (and, of course, stabbing his hand on Klah's knife. gotta love that enthusiasm). He's so vulnerable during it, like we get another little puzzle piece of his rich inner life that he keeps so closely guarded (ok or maybe it's also that he wasn't really a hm POV character or someone we should sympathize with that's why his... reasoning or motivation for a lot of things stayed hidden from us 🤷‍♀️). Anyway, the way he says "is that guilt" and "you let *your son* shoot him" (im obsessed) jesus there's a lot going on there. It seems like betrayal a bit (see also "i thought you were cold-blooded"). Also note how he's more fixated/upset over that part, Nick (and not Madison!) shooting Jeremiah instead of, you know, Jeremiah having been shot/murdered.

Also the infamous "I don't surrender" line, I mean, that's Troy in a nutshell, isn't it? No matter what is thrown his way, no matter how people treat him, he tries and tries again. He does so with Madison (I mean, right before she kills him he tries to move past all that shit right, tries again to connect with her), he also did so with his father, staying loyal to him, obedient, through all that abuse and humiliation and belittlement. I think the same is also true for his relationship with Jake, even though the cracks there can be seen, and also for his relationship with the people on the ranch at large. They talk about him, too, but he still protects them - I mean until he led the horde there, of course. But by that point he was dealing with a lot - his father's death, his own exile, Madison's 'betrayal'.... Anyway, I don't surrender, that is so very Troy. And maybe sometimes he'd like to surrender, give up and be done with everything but that's just not in his nature. Probably why he can't kill himself. Why he also keeps going, when Nick tells him "you can sleep when you're dead". Try, try again, even when people keep beating him down. Downright endearing if it weren't so heartbreaking.

Anyway, ep 9. The scene with Madison. I got distracted. The way he goes "hi" after he's done hitting Klah. The way he kept jabbing at her over Jeremiah's death "You hit your quota?" when she tells him "no more killing" (hahahah makes me laugh every time). The way the gun does not impress him at all. Just casually walking up to her. Mostly sure she won't kill him but I think he wouldn't have minded if she had, either. The voice break when he tells her "i know what you did". The expression he makes when he asks "and why wasn't it" after she goes "It should've been me". There's that betrayal. Sadness. Ok maybe also because his dad died. Maybe because they kept it from him. Maybe because she didn't ask *him* to do it.

And then, the very incomprehensible (he is the one that isn't comprehending. but then also he is. this is how it always goes, why would it be different with madison) "i thought you wanted me with you". As he asks he knows already she doesn't. But again, he's trying as much as he can, to get through to her. Until the heartbreaking "I'm tired. I'm so tired." That's probably as close as he gets in asking for help. He did it with Nick too later, in ep 12 ("I need sleep" he told him but he meant rest). He thought he'd die and these people just refuse to get the job done and so he has to live, live with all this loss and he just, he needs a break. So desperately that he says one of the most vulnerable things (so far). "Im so tired." Unfortunately Madison either doesn't hear it, or, more likely, doesn't think she can give in to that (no wonder, he did just attack her after all). And when that fails, this cry for help (in like Troy-speak), he goes. What else is there to do? He'll go and survive because that's what he does.

---

Now, ep 12, I love the confrontation between Jake and Troy (the little convo in between, between Nick and Troy - "murder, you really wanna go there, nick?" "still ricocheting in your skull, nick?" "you tell it best, nick. I don't want to steal your thunder" "don't say sorry to me, say sorry to him". It's lovely, all of it). And then of course the sibling confrontation. Also very lovely. We see Jake finally giving in to what he's wanted to do for a long time, I wager. He has been fed up with Troy since ep 1 (and before that too, I'm sure. Their interactions do tease a history between them).

"I love that sound" - also very much a contender for favorite line. Also gotta admit I thought he'd say something different (and more uh x-rated) when he went "I love that sound some love when a ball hits the fat of a bat, you know" Anyway, just another reminder that Troy loves all things to do with danger and control. (And I don't even think this has to be in the obvious way, where he loves to be in control, though I'm sure he does. But that he also loves the loss of it when in danger. When at the recieving end of a gun (you best believe I've got a story for this, too, 'fool me twice'... I'm sorry, I cannot stop the shameless self promotion....))

Also I just noticed, how he says "It's eviction or extinction" and you know who else got famously uhm evicted. Adam and Eve. So yeah, when he says "this is biblical" to Nick, the night before, to warn him, he really means it like that.

And then the bit between the two brothers. How Jake tries to impress upon Troy he'll really kill him "I'll shoot you brother, I will" and how Troy *doesn't even hesitate* to pull the trigger himself, almost like saying "fucking do it then". Or he is mocking him. Probably both, considering it's Troy. And he was right, wasn't he, to be mocking. Because Jake doesn't kill him (yet). But Troy tries to rile him up further. He almost sounds panicked in a way, but not in fear of his life. Maybe in fear of Jake *not* going through with it after all.

And then their whole rabbit bit, how Troy looks at Jake while he goes "rabbits they, they scream like human beings", that calculating look. How he interrupts Jake with this mocking laugh and a "oh, tell me about the rabbits" Jake is totally ignoring Troy's interruption, going "I still protected him" and Troy telling him "You left me, brother." And then Jake again, insistently "I always protected you!" and Troy isn't saying anything to that but he doesn't look amused anymore. God I wish Nick would've shut up so we'd really get into their grievances between the brothers. But sadly (or maybe not so sadly haha) he wanted to save Troy because he was feeling guilty about killing his dad. And it gave Troy the perfect opportunity to torture Nick about this, also very enjoyable. All in all, a great interaction all around.

Oh and of course the "you thinking of checking out? we could do it together" has me chanting death-wish, death-wish, death-wish hahahaha. I do think he'd have liked it to go together with his brother. It's sweet somehow. In a way it feels like he wants to help his brother on this journey. Like, then his death means something. And then how he licks his lips when Jake gets ready to shoot him. Is it anticipation, fear? Who knows. Would love to ask Daniel about it...

AND ALSO THE TITLE 'Brother's Keeper', that's a biblical phrase “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain said to God when God asked him where Abel was (and Cain had killed him). So I wonder, is Jake Cain then? I mean Jake *does* die and Cain, well, famously does not. But then, it's not Troy that kills Jake. It's Nick hitting Jake before Jake can kill Troy. Would Jake have even killed Troy? I'm not sure. I'm just sure that Troy would rather have died himself than seeing Jake die... anyway, "Am I my brother's keeper" I think this question taken at face value is actually Jake's gripe with Troy. That he feels he is made responsible (probably from a young age, given the little glimpse into the past we got via those video tapes) for keeping Troy in check. While, I imagine, Troy doesn't really listen to Jake (and Jake has no real power over Troy so he can reinforce his will), so a thoroughly frustrating experience for Jake, all in all. And yes, maybe this, assembling a horde and leading it to the ranch, would've given him enough motivation to be able to uhm enforce his will. But maybe not. I guess that's me saying, love the title, love also how we get a bit more insight into the brotherly relationship. Though I *so* wish we got into it even more. Like what did Troy mean when he said "Oh, tell me about the rabbits". Sounds like there's a story there (and yes I did try to imagine it in my story 'childhood memories').

This was a lovely ask, I enjoyed answering it. Thank you so much and have a great day 🧡

Also, I hope it's ok to invite people to jump in, if they feel like it, and share their favorite Troy scene. I'm so very curious 👀 gimme, gimme (also don't feel the need to ramble on like I did hahaha, though if you want to, have at it!)

[mixed-theater-faisty-tings]

Infinitely Jealous

Conrad Request

A/N:HIII!!! I KNOW I HAVEN'T POSTED IN AGES I'VE REALLY MISSED IT. WITH THE NEW SEASON OF THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY I FELT A SMALL SPARK OF INSPIRATION AND GOT THIS REQUEST FROM @shqtteredcrystql1. NOW BEAR WITH ME MY WRITING SKILLS HAVE DETERIORATED A BIT SINCE I LAST POSTED AND I'M STILL WORKING ON MY SMUT WRITING SPOILER ALERT. I AM OPEN TO FEEDBACK OR EVEN ADVICE. I AM TYRING TO WRITE MORE WHEN I CAN I JSUT NEVER WANNA GIVE HALF BAKED IDEAS. OKAY I WILL STOP BABBLING ENJOY!

P.S please don't hurt me for using Conrad and Belly's infinity for this I just love the concept. okay thank you.

Warnings: Explicit language, smut, cheesy lol, Teen Drinking, Protected sex.

word count: 3.2k roughly

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Masterlist

Requests

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Y/N POV 

The stench of alcohol fills my nose as drunken teenagers dance the night away with whatever is in their system. I came to this stupid beach party with Conrad and Jeremiah who both ran off to do god knows what not that this was a new occurrence.

Jere has always attracted girls like moths to light meanwhile Conrad ventures off to do whatever he does and if someone happens to join them he won't push them off so long as they don't try to actually get to know him least that is how he has been the last few summers. 

They started bringing me here with them 7 years ago when we met. I've always been closer with Conrad. Jeremiah had Belly and Conrad had me though you never want to go to boardwalk with the four of us unless you're wanting some quality entertainment.

The Fisher boys always know how to have fun the Conklin's and I can never say no even if it means coming to a dumb beach bonfire. I'd go anywhere with Conrad it's been that way since we met this includes an impromptu trip to the other side of the country to attend a Universal Studios Horrors night as my birthday present. 

We were grounded for 2 months after that one but it was worth any time with him was. He'll only ever see me as his best friend though he has made that crystal clear he's been in touch with this Deb he met last summer "Nicole", they've just been talking but it seems like they could be more this summer or just a casual summer fling of convenience. Maybe this summer I'll find my fling.

"Hey don't think I've ever seen you around here?", a voice pulls me out of my thoughts. "Huh?",  I connect with brown eyes belonging to someone tall, dark skinned, curly dark hair and muscular. "I said I've never seen you around here.", he repeats himself. "Funny because I've come here every summer for the last 7 years." a laugh decorates my words with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh yeah?  Which house is yours?", he plays along. "First of all creepy and second I'm a guest with the Fisher's.", I giggle. "Ah great guys always fun at a party." his attitude changes from interested to standoffish. "We are just friends all of us.", I smile kindly. "Good to know..care for a drink?", he extends his hand to me with a kind smile. 

"Sure why not.", I take his hand. "I'm Lucas.". "Y/N.". "And I'm Conrad glad we got the introductions out of the way now let's get beer.", my best friend pops up out of nowhere. "Uh okay sure I'll be right back.", Lucas runs off wearing a confused expression. "What are you doing?", I hiss at the brown-haired boy. 

"Hanging with my best bud what do you mean.", he slings his arm around my shoulder with a smirk planted on his lips...his lips..focus. "No why you're doing is ruining a potential new friend.", a stern tone clutches onto my words. "Friend huh? Yeah sure whatever.", he scoffs. "Go makeup with Red Sox girl some more.", I roll my eyes pushing his arm off of me. I knew it was Nicole but saying her name out loud stung.

"Jealous?", I don't have to look at him to know a sly look sits on his face. "As if. Have I ever been jealous of the girls you've dated?", my arms sit crossed just beneath my chest. "I'm sure you have been.". "Check your ego bro.", I turn to walk away when he says, "I have you to keep me humble don't I?", a chuckle follows. 

"Whatever I'll see you later.", the sand envelops my feet treading to find Lucas. "Y/N over here!", a voice calls me over belonging to Lucas over by the fire. "Your bodyguard still with you?", he asks when I finally make it over to him. "Funny uh no I gave him the night off.", I smile. "Good to know.", he playfully bumps my shoulder handing me a beer can unopened. 

"So do you come here just for summer or do you experience Cousins in all four seasons?", I ask. He takes a seat in the sand waiting for me to join him before answering. "I actually go to boarding school so I experience a little bit of all four seasons on holiday assuming I don't run off to Mexico for Christmas or spring break.", he laughs. "You don't seem the other spoiled boarding school brats we run into here.", confusion swirls in my head. 

"I mean would you prefer for me to? Ugh my parents shipping me off to some lame ass boarding school with their credit card knowing I have a trust fund to carry me for the rest of my life even though I'll probably blow it on some stupid shit as soon as I'm 25.", his tone becomes snarky, and attitude narcissistic quickly replaced by the charming side once more. 

"Entertaining I will say but not my vibe.", a laugh escapes my lips. "Good cause that's not who I am.", he chuckles joins the air. We spend the time talking soon leaving the fire to walk along the beach taking about just how different our lives are. He was good company, but I kept thinking about Conrad and what he was doing, who he was with, why he wasn't with me. 

Yes, I know I basically told him fuck off but it's not like he ever listens he's my best friend and he knows y/n speak by now. Conrad maybe smart enough to get into Brown but sometimes he needs a little push in the right direction. "Y/N are you listening?", Lucas jumps in front of me. My face drops into a frown feeling bad i hadn’t been pay attention.

"Y/N quick it's Conrad!", Steven yells. My feet carry me as fast as they can without getting caught in the sand back to the group of teens surrounding a fight with none other than my stupid best friend in the middle of it.

"Con! Quit being stupid!", I push my way through the crowd and try to pull him off the random dude. My attempt was moot until Jere finally stepped in and broke up the fight around the same time as sirens began sounding. 

"Cops!". The teens that once covered the beach dropped their drinks and scattered like cockroaches. "Y/N let's go grab some ice cream and I'll take you home.", Lucas grabs ahold of my hand gently tugging me away from the guys.

"Like hell you will.", Conrad pulls me towards him. "You don't own her man. She can come with me if she wants to.", the alluring guy I was talking to all night disappears taken over with frustration and anger.

"We brought her, we will take her home besides she just met you like I'd ever let her endanger herself like that. Besides your place isn’t her home. Mine is.”the brown hair boy mocks the curly haired boys statement. "I never said anything about my place quit putting words in my mouth".

 "Would both of you just shut up!.", my outburst took both of them aback. "Lucas I'll see you around. Conrad let's get your stupid ass home.", annoyance prominent in my voice as I drag them away from each other. "Give me the keys Conrad.", I hold out my hand. "Not a chance.", he pushes past me and gets in the drivers side of his sedan. 

"I can't fucking believe you.", his tone accusatory. "Believe me about what?". "That boarding school trust fund fuck boys are your type.", his hands grip the wheel tighter than normal meanwhile I completely lose it.

"And how the fuck would you know what my type is huh! You have never cared nor taken an interest in the guys I have talked to. God acting like my dad I don't need your protection okay I can take care of myself.", I can feel my cheeks turning hot with anger. 

"You are so wrapped up in your own world you don't even notice that I do care about who you are with. You deserve more than that jackass.", tension settles in the air, suddenly this car feels like a tiny box."All that guy wanted to do was hook up with you.",his voice was filled with a know it all tone.

"So what if that is what I wanted!", he is surprised by my response. "You don't wanna lose it to some random one night stand.". "And if I do?", I didn't but he didn't need to know that.

"I know you Y/N you want to lose it to someone you care about and you know cares about you.", his grips loosens. "Maybe it's just not meant for me.", I can't let my guard down. 

My eyes follow his hand as it leaves the wheel and lays flat against the skin between my thigh and knee. "Don't say that.", we finally pull into the driveway of the beach house quietly making our way in the house careful not to wake Laurel or Susannah. I make my way to the kitchen grabbing some powdered donuts from the pantry. 

"I wasn't trying to upset you..honestly. You're my best friend and I never want to hurt you but lately I just keep fucking up.", he follows me after Jere, Belly and Steven trot upstairs to their rooms. "It's fine Connie you were right I don't wanna lose my virginity to some dude I met on the beach at a lame party.", I avoid looking at him. 

"I wouldn't want that for you either.", a gentle tone takes over his voice. "You're not fucking up anything by the way I mean I'm still here aren't I?", I attempt to lighten the mood. "Surprisingly so.", he chuckles. "What's going on in that brilliant head of yours?", I finally bathe the strength to look at him without melting. 

The way the front pieces of his hair kind of flop in front of his eyes, he's constantly pushing them behind his ear mainly when he's nervous but he also refuses to cut it Susannah loves it. His brown eyes seep into mine without even trying encapsulating me in a daydream. 

"You...me...y/n you think I don't care who you date but I do.", a nervous Conrad is not something I don't see often or ever really. "Let's not have this conversation again please.", I beg. "I have feelings for you.", he blurts not looking me in the eye. "What?", I'm taken aback praying he said what I heard.

"I like you Y/N and I have since we met I'm just so screwed up and I didn't wanna drag you down with me especially with my mom. You're the only other person besides me who knows about my parents and they don't even know that I know.", the sound of the stool screeching against the floor as he stands up out of the chair echos string us both. 

"Con you're not screwed up..", I gently take his hands in mine connecting our eyes. "You just need to develop better communication skills.". "How's this for practice?", his body leans over mine slowly coming down to bring his lips to mine. 

Is this really happening? Am I about to kiss Conrad Fisher, I've only ever dreamed of this moment never anticipating the reality god don't let me mess this up please. The soft skin of his lips gently connect with him, his hands disconnecting from mine caressing my cheeks instead leaving my hand to go to his shoulders pulling him closer afraid to lose the moment. 

I've always felt safe around him but, here in this moment it was cloud nine times a million. I didn't want it to end but we had to breathe eventually. "So?". 

"Well ahem.. a kiss isn't communicating however you can take that as an I feel the same way..", I anxiously pull my bottom lip between my teeth. "I love how you do that when you're nervous.", a nervous laugh escapes his lips. "We should head up to bed it's getting late.", as much as I don't want to I pull away from his body, his warmth knowing he'll be different in the morning. 

"Stay with me tonight.", it comes off as a statement rather than a question making my heart jump with excitement. "Your mom would flip if she caught us in your room.", I raise a brow. "Not if she doesn't find out or I come up with a really good excuse as to why you were in my room, and my bed.", he keeps me close.

"I don't know Con.". "Please.". "Okay fine.". 

Pleased with my appliance to his wishes he leads us upstairs to his room carefully closing the door. After removing our shoes we lay in his bed facing each other, the light of the moon casting a light so bright I could see his whole face in the dark.

The soft touch of his hands push some hair behind my ear before pulling me into our second kiss of the evening. 

Without thinking I immediately kiss him back, our bodies manage to close any gap left between us in a matter of seconds the moment enclosing us in a world of our own. I pull back slightly we are still nose to nose but rarely any space is between us. 

With as much confidence as I could muster I whisper the words I've wanted to say for months, "I want it to be you.". He is slightly surprised by my statement but doesn't break our contact, a small smile daring to turn up the corner of his mouth. "Are you sure? That wasn't what I was trying to do not now.", the words are soft spoken. 

"I'm sure unless you don't want to?", my eyes search his for an ounce of rejection. "Believe me I want to I just don't want you to feel rushed or pressured.". Without another word my hand takes a hold of his guiding it from the softness of my legs up to rest on my hips slowly and ever so gently. "Please Connie." with that I connect our lips once more. 

He takes this as his green light deepening the kiss turning me onto my back so he can be onto careful not to crush me under him. My fingers dance under his shirt against his stomach and chest, he smiles into the kiss before moving to my neck tenderly nipping at the skin a gasp escaping my lips. 

"We have to be quiet baby.", he whispers into my ear sending shivers down my spine in the best way possible. We both sit up swiftly removing our shirts, he gently pecks my lips allowing himself to kiss down my jawline, neck and along my shoulders till his hands reach the clasp of my bra. 

"May I?", his breathe tickles my neck and I nod. The white lace is soon gone leaving my top half completely bare and exposed, to my own surprise I'm not as nervous as I'd thought I'd be but how can I be when it's him.

He begins to kiss from my shoulder back down my chest gently laying me back down before reaching my jeans. I can feel his fingers undo the button and zipper tugging the denim off my hips and down my legs. 

A cold breeze hit my sensitiveness causing me to shudder. One step further and my panties have fond the rest of the clothes on my the floor. His eyes meet mine again a smile plastered on his face before speaking in a hushed tone. "Okay I'm gonna be honest it does hurt the first time but I promise I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure that you are ready before then. Do you trust me baby?". 

"Of course I do.", I smile. 

Our lips attach themselves once more as his thumb begins to rub my bud an action responsible for my hips bucking up. "It's okay.Relax", he reassures me against my lips.

My mind goes foggy overcome by his touch, of course I've touch myself but his hands against my most sensitive part was a whole new feeling of pleasure I've had yet to explore. 

When he feels I'm ready he slides a finger inside pumping in and out slowly, our moans mix together in the air trying to remain quiet. "I'm going to add another okay?". "Okay.". I feel his index and and middle fingers sliding in and out of me a wave of pleasure washing over me. I kiss him to try and cover my moans a futile action as I end up moaning against his lips instead. 

"Fuck yes just like that.", my hips begin to grind against his fingers giving him confidence to speed up slightly. My stomach begins to tighten as my climax winds up, he plants soft kisses along my chest continuing his motions only heightening my moans. "You are so beautiful y/n.", his whisper causes butterflies to let loose in my stomach. 

"I think I'm ready Connie.", I couldn't hold back anymore. I wanted him, all of him more than anything in this moment. "I think so too.", all contact is taken away so he could remove his jeans but I can't help the whimper that leaves my lips at the loss. 

The moment stand still our eyes locked on one another taking in this sight of each others exposed state, emotionally and physically bare. I prayed he couldn't hear how loud my heart was beating I've wanted him for so long to be more than my best friend and here he is, here I am giving him my first an I wouldn't change a thing. 

"Do you have protection?", I ask. He nods before reaching into his drawer and pulling out a shiny gold foil, putting on the condom and hovering over me once more. "I want you to be mine.", the words fall graciously from his now swollen lips. "I am yours.", I'm quick to answer.

"No I mean I want us, you and me. Boyfriend and girlfriend. This isn't just a one time thing. Be mine? Please.", a vulnerable Conrad is a side we rarely see and only in his most emotional state thought I've always been his soft spot. "I've always been yours whether you knew it or not my love.", I don't blush at the statement instead I smile and plant a small kiss on his nose. 

"This may still hurt I'm gonna go slow and let me know when I can move okay?", his lips lower to mine. His tip rubbing against my clit earning a small moan. "Okay.", I force the one worded answer out. As he kisses me slowly his member enters me...holy shit...a stint of pain swells inside my body, "Please move Con.", I manage. 

The thrusts replace pain with bliss, his minty scent fills my olfactory nerves, the soft touch of his lips and hands dance along my skin with sweat glistening on us both.

"Fuck you feel good baby.", he's as breathless as I am. His hands grip my hips imprinting small marks on them while my nails dig into his shoulders and back my entire body buried in ecstasy. 

"More.", I beg. I can feel him smirk into my neck picking up his pace and pushing deeper into me causing my back to arch off the bed our chests colliding. "Oh god." I moan gripping his shoulders so tight my knuckles are white.

"You're okay we're almost there.",his words soothe me and I allow myself to fall back against the mattress. As if they have a mind of their own my hips being to move meeting his hurts with equal enthusiasm and energy. "Just like that.", he groans into my skin. 

The knot in my stomach grows and grows I'm toe curling close to my end as is he. His speed picks up, ours moans mix praying we don't wake anyone. Mass amounts of Conrads groans fill the air when I begin to clench around him neither of us could hold on any longer.

 A white haze clouds all my senses as my entire body shakes with my orgasm. I feel him finish with me both of us panting and completely gone for each other and the moment we just shared.

A few minutes pass allowing us to collect ourselves before he quickly jumps grabbing an old t-shirt to clean us up. His care is gently and appreciated as some soreness begins to settle between my legs. 

"So how was I?', my cheeks turn red as I ask. I grab his shirt off the floor and pull it over my head covering myself.  "Perfect.", his arms wrap around my body spooning me, comforting me in a way I've never known a person could.

"Thank you for being my first.", the words are spoken just above a whisper. "Just hope you don't regret it.", his body tenses nervously against my back a sadness coating his words. "I could never regret you Conrad not about this, and not about us...we're infinite.". 

"Infinite.". he repests. "I should probably go to mine and Belly's room before anyone gets suspicious.", I try to get up only to be pulled back by Conrad. "You aren't going anywhere. I told you I will find a great excuse as to why you were in here.", I giggle at his statement.

"And what about the clothes that covering the floor?", I cock an eyebrow at him. "I've been meaning to do laundry.", he answers. 

"That includes my panties?", I can't help but laugh. "They got mixed up?", he shrugs. "My boyfriend ladies and gentlemen the best liar.", we both erupt in a fit of laughter though it is short lived as my eyelids begin to droop closed.

"Goodnight Connie.", my whole body relaxes into his chest sleep taking over. 

"Goodnight my infinity.", him kissing my head is the last thing I remember before being swept away in sleep. 

Infinity.  

[coupleoffanfics]

I'm thinking of having batsis y/n be borderline Yandere for Jeremiah. Not full-on or anything. Just loves him to a degree that it could arguably be called obsessive and unhealthy. She doesn't have many people in her social circle, but the few she does have (Barbara, Norah, and Jeremiah) she holds onto for dear life. She just holds on to Jeremiah a little tighter because they're in a romantic relationship.

She's into the idea of true love and there being someone fated for everyone, but doesn't believe it. Just likes the idea of it. Has thought of what their wedding would be like and thought of baby names after a few months of dating. Living a nice house far, far away from Gotham. Won't admit it though because she knows how its a bit weird.

(Pre-Spray) Any trouble in their relationship y/n is determined to fix it, but it's not like it ever happens often. She's so afraid of him leaving her because she did something wrong. Although her biggest fear is him leaving her for another woman. That he finally realized that there are infinitely better options than her. If that were to happen, I mean it wouldn't but still, y/n wouldn't do anything about it. Cry alone and reinforce the idea that everyone is better than her. 'He's moved on and he deserves happiness just like everyone else.' y/n thinks to herself eating a tub of ice alone in her apartment.

When Echo comes around y/n is internally screaming and also has bi/pan thoughts. y/n gets the reason for Echo and whatnot, but she can't help feeling insecure. Echo is smarter than her and probably doesn't have undiagnosed dyslexia like her. Echo is an excellent fighter who brings up an old insecurity she has when around the Batfamily. Echo is also just so much cooler as well while y/n freaks out about everything. Don't even bring up how hot Echo is. y/n lets out a frustrated sigh, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Echo is hot as fuck and I'd call her mommy if I wasn't with Miah." "I was just asking how your day was."

(Post-Spray) This is when the tables turn actually no. This is when the tables are flipped. y/n wants to still love Jeremiah so badly. She wants to be okay with what he's doing, but just can't. The cult, the death, the destruction is too much. She feels like she failed him. If only she went to the family sooner rather than later. If only she was stronger.

Now for the first time, she has to let go of someone. Not slowly, but rip them out of her heart and never let them back it. No matter how much she tries to stop loving him, she always seems to fall back. He burrowed himself into her heart a long time ago. She'll never stop loving him deep down, but she'll sure as hell try to hide that from the family. Can't handle the judgmental looks she'd get especially with Jeremiah looking a lot like the Joker.

BONUS

y/n snuggles into Jeremiah's side while sitting on the couch. A documentary is playing on the TV. She doesn't even know what it's about because she's thinking of the reasons why Echo is so much better than her in every conceivable. Her blond hair was neat while y/n's was a [hair color] mess. Everything about her was perfect, maybe even down to her blood type.

Bottling up isn't helping and y/n knew she'd have to talk about it with Jeremiah. As soon as the thought popped into her mind she opened her mouth. Knowing that she wouldn't have this impulsive courage later and end up bottling everything once more.

"Hey, honey. Darling, sugar, Miah, Jem, Jim, sweetheart, dreamboat, hot stuff, McSteamy-" Anytime she wants Jeremiah's attention she'll start calling him pet names off the top of her head. Every time it makes his ears turn red. "Did you just call me McSteamy?" y/n shrugs her shoulders, "Did you like it?" Without thinking about it he says no with a flat tone making her smile and lightly laugh.

"Okay, no McSteamy. I'll keep that in the bedroom."

"y/n!" She slightly tilts her head back to laugh at his reaction. He rolls his eyes trying to suppress a smirk. She isn't sure if she's laughing because she's nervous or finds his reaction that funny. Probably a mix of both. After her laughter dies down he asks, "What is it."

The smile on her face disappears. Her pointer finger starts twirling some of her hair and her cheeks are turning pink. It felt so embarrassing to say it out loud. Yet she took a breath and said, "I'm jealous of Echo." Jeremiah can not get a word in because y/n is listing off a hundred things now. Half of things aren't even related to Echo it's just y/n's insecurities. Once she's done she looks at him like her life is in his hands.

Jeremiah needs a moment because he has whiplash from the sudden mood shift. Collecting his thoughts he tells that there isn't anything to worry about. This doesn't ease y/n in the slightest as he watches her [eye color] eyes shift away from him. He can feel his face burning before he even says the sappiest thing in his life.

"Look, y/n, I...I really care about what we have. The whole time we've been together you've...you've made me really happy. Happier than I've been in a long time, maybe ever. Echo and I are strictly professional and I have no interest in her because you know why?" y/n looks at him to continue. "Because she isn't you." A big goofy smile appeared on her face. She bit down on her tongue to spot herself from giggling.

"Aw, thank you. I really needed to hear that and you make me unbelievably happy as well." Jeremiah isn't sure if y/n is being her expressive self or if he actually needs to express his feelings more. He kind assumed that she knew how he felt about their relationship. "Honestly, Echo has been making me have some gay thoughts, but glad that I have nothing to worry about it. I need to use the bathroom, I'll be right back."

Leaving Jeremiah with another case of whiplash.

[cwritesforfun]

TSITP: Conrad Fisher x Fem!Reader: Confessions

Y/N = Your Name

Masterlist

Conrad's POV

I sit on the beach by a fire with a beer next to Jeremiah. I ask "Why aren't you partying with everyone else? This is not like you." He answers "I ... the person I like is dancing with someone else. I wish they were with me. How do you do it?" I ask "Do what?" He answers "Watch Y/N dance and hang out with other guys." I reply "Oh... uh this is the first time I've ever seen her dance with other guys. She usually just talks to them. I've liked her for years but never had the guts to say it. So it's kind of my fault that she's with other guys and not me. I wish she was with me. She makes me so happy." I feel someone's arms wrap around my neck and I smell Y/N's perfume. I look up and see Y/N smiling down at me. I wonder if she heard anything I said. I smile back at her and say "Hi, what are you doing over here?" She answers "I want to leave. Those guys are gross and I'm tired." I smell alcohol on her breath, so I doubt she will remember this. Whew. But also I kind of wish she had heard me confessing my feelings accidentally and we could go on a date. I want to take her out and treat her right. I reply "Ok, we can leave. Did you hear anything when you walked up?" She answers "You smell really good, Conrad. How have I never noticed that and not shared it with you?" UHHHH ?!?!? I hear Jeremiah ask "Y/N, how much did you have to drink?" Y/N answers "Uhhhhh how much is too much? I had at least 2 drinks maybe more. I lost count." Jeremiah laughs and says "Well come on, let's go."

Y/N gets off me and we all walk to the cars. Y/N ends up leaning against me as we walk to the car.

We get home and Y/N follows me to my room. She's been staying in my room while I'm in town, even though she lives in town. She just doesn't want to miss anytime with me or at least that's what she told me.

NEXT MORNING - Y/N's POV

I wake up to my head pounding and my stomach churning. I make it to the bathroom where I throw up. I then lay on the floor after brushing my teeth. I'm tired.

I close my eyes and try to remember bits of my night. I remember going to the party and wanting to drink. I almost never want to drink, but it had been a bad day for me. I remember guys flirting with me and asking if I wanted to go home with them. I was annoyed by that. I remember seeing Conrad with Jeremiah by a fire. Conrad said something about his crush on me. I wanted to go home. Wait! CONRAD SAID HE HAD A CRUSH ON ME.

I hear knocking on the bathroom door and Conrad says "Hey Y/N, are you alright? I got you some water." I sit up, open the door, and stand up. I take the water from him and sip it gently. We walk back to his bed where I sit and he sits cautiously next to me. He asks "So what do you remember from last night?" I answer "Small moments throughout the night, but not exact quotes of anything said. I remember wanting to drink my bad day away and the guys at the beach were annoying me with their sex talk. I remember you and Jeremiah sitting by the fire talking about crushes. That's about it." His eyes grow wide and he asks "And how do you feel about my crush?" I answer "I think you should tell her when she's sober and I'm sure she'd let you take her on that date." He half smiles and says "Y/N, I really like you and I've liked you for years. You've always been the girl for me and I've wanted to tell you for years. I was afraid you would not want to be my friend anymore and that you would just hate me for liking you. I'm sorry you found out last night, but also I am glad you found out." I reply "I like you too Conrad and I have liked you for years too." He replies "Well, would you like to go on a date with me?" I reply "I would love nothing more."

[frogsare-friends]

I'm Not Built for Helping Myself

chapter index | part 2 (you're here)

- BELLY -

I don't know what you're supposed to do when someone's hurt. Let alone when they're hurting. That was Susannah's job, and if not her, then Jeremiah. But Jeremiah's the one hurting and Susannah is gone and I don't know if anything will ever be okay again.

"It's alright Jere, you're alright. How about you brush your teeth?" I'm trying to focus on anything but the tears rolling down his face. If I can just get him cleaned up and to his room, I can figure out how to help on the way there. What can you do for something that can't be fixed? Something that can't be made better?

"Come on, baby. Brush your teeth and then we'll go lay down."

" 'm sorry, Bells. I didn't mean to." Jere looks like he's about to start crying again, so I get him cleaned up and both of us into more comfortable clothes. I'm telling him that it's okay — because it is, I'm not a monster that's gonna be mad at my boyfriend for being sick — but he just keeps apologizing.

We're finally laying on his bed when I break the silence.

"Do you wanna talk about it, baby?" I'm not quite sure what to say, but I hope this is a safe way to start this conversation. I hope wrong.

He does start crying again this time, and I feel my heart shatter. Jesus, I can't do this. I can't fix this, can't make him feel better like I know he would for me. I want to give him the world, but I don't know how to. Sometimes I wonder why he even wants to be with me, I can never be for him what he is for me.

"Jere, what happened? I need you to talk to me." But I'll always try to be everything he needs. No matter what.

"That was mom's dress," he answers, in about the faintest tone I've ever heard come from him.

"She gave it to me at Thanksgiving. I didn't think about it, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault Bells," then, "just miss her. Miss how it used to be. Remember when we used to go play dress up with her stuff?"

Of course I remember it, I remember how he'd make me laugh and twirl me around in Susannah's tallest heels. I remember forcing him into her dresses just to make me laugh, I remember Susannah's fake exasperated sigh when she caught us — a smile and grimace hidden behind it, like she was happy but knew it couldn't last — I remember her warning to stay out of her room the week that Mr. Fisher was there. She didn't say that he was the reason, but she never told us to stop, so it was pretty easy to figure out why she had now.

I remember the look on Adam's face when we didn't listen to her, the look on Jeremiah's after I left them to their "private chat." I had tried to tell Mom and Susannah what had happened, but before I could say anything the yelling started. The yelling only ever happened when Adam was in town.

I remember when I used to be obsessed with Conrad. Once, Adam had taken Conrad out on the boat, and, of course, left Jeremiah. I had been so worried trying to figure out why Jeremiah had even wanted to go with him. All I could see was Adam yelling at Conrad, telling him he expects better. When I got older, I remembered that he'd spend his entire trips yelling at Conrad, and only a handful of times at Jeremiah. It used to make me feel bad for Conrad, like Adam liked him less. But really, Adam liked him more, he just didn't care about Jeremiah at all. That didn't make the yelling right, though.

I'm not sure what happened during Jeremiah's freshman year, and Conrad's sophomore, that changed them. But it must've been something bad. Everyone always paid more attention to Conrad, but they were still a team, then. Conrad protecting Jeremiah, and Jeremiah protecting Conrad. One summer they were normal, then the next they weren't. Susannah kept trying to see if we knew what happened, but they didn't tell anyone. It got more normal after that, but it never went back to what it was. I was always too scared to ask, too scared to hear what had finally crossed the point of no return. I had heard them fight before, they'd say the meanest things — even though it was more Conrad's arsenal than Jeremiah's, I knew Jere could bottle it up for longer, knew what he had to say could hurt more — I was scared to know which one of them had said it. Maybe it had been both of them.

I didn't wanna know, but I had never been so curious.

[zalrb]

The Summer I Turned Pretty 1x06 Review -- Why is this show so bad with details?

The funniest thing about Belly's dream about waking up in bed with Jere and then Conrad is that it's premature. It's the dream she should have when Conrad actually professes that he wants to be with her because he hasn't actually said that yet, he's just said I think about you but I can't be with you.

I haven't actually gotten to the switch from Jere to Conrad yet but if it's Conrad kisses her and she's like YEP OK I'ma go tell Jere, I feel like it would be less terrible if there was a pause and she'd have something like this dream before making a choice.

"Even my dream life is complicated" you could just not make out with two brothers.

"You've always been so good to her" -- haven't seen it. "Remember when you were the only one who would let you tag after her and the boys?" haven't seen that either, just one dance flashback.

Conrad was the only one who let her tag after them but Jeremiah and her are the best friends? This is also the issue, I'm not sure how her and Jere differ from her and Conrad and vice versa, they all seem to do the same things and react to each other in the same ways.

Like, in the drama True Beauty, I remember finding it to be an interesting love triangle in the way it was all pretty level because to me, Suho and Seojun were both doing the same sort of things for Jukyung so rather than one being better than the other, it was really a matter of who you liked her with more (although it was clear t ome that it was always going to be Suho for Jukyung) but even though they were doing the same sort of things for her, their contexts were different which made their dynamics different i.e.:

their affection manifests itself in ways that come down to preference

rather than which one is better

and that’s where the tags lose me.

Because certainly, Seo-jun and Ju-kyung have really sweet moments, I loved this moment

but I don’t think that’s inherently better than Suho keeping her secret and then ensuring that she had time in the bathroom for herself to wipe the cake off her face

so Seo-jun and Ju-kyung bicker and they’re quirky and they communicate through teasing, I totally get that, I totally love dynamics like that and I do really like this one

on the other hand, Suho and Ju-kyung, their relationship is rooted in seeing the other at one of their most vulnerable moments from the jump (no pun intended) -- for context Ju-kyung was severely bullied and she went to the rooftop where one of Suho's best friends, who was also Seo-jun's best friend, committed suicide

and then slowly peeling away different layers to access different aspects of their vulnerabilities

and embracing their insecurities

and that's my problem here, what is unique about each of her relationships to these brothers that when they do something for her or with her that is relatively the same those actions are contextualized by what their individual relationships to her mean. I don't get any of that.

Also Conrad's switches happen way too abruptly, one minute he's happy and the next minute he's pissed off and snapping at writer dude and that's what it should look like to the people around him but we should see him at least for a second internalize so instead of him grinning at Susannah when he says he'll think about playing in the tournament and then cut scene, we should linger on his face when he turns away for at least a couple of seconds to see that his mood is shifting so that when we get to the wood rot scene, it isn't bad whiplash.

This panic attack scene would be sweet if I cared about any of these characters.

And I see what they're doing here with his father figure vs his actual father because his actual dad is like "you're the oldest it's your job to look out for the younger kids" and his father figure writer dude is all "it's not on you" and that would actually be interesting if they leaned into that more, if it was more than just one line about how Conrad ha to look out for the other kids, if we see the pressure Susannah and even Laurel put on Conrad for being the oldest but we don't because Susannah is putting pressure on everyone, she bulldozes Belly into doing the debutante, she tells her, like, fifteen/sixteen year old son to never change, not even to always stay true to himself, which is different, but to remain exactly as he is, so like if we just got casual things throughout the episode that indicate that they expect Conrad to shoulder burdens and "be the eldest" without realizing the pressure they're putting on him or it doesn't even have to be Susannah and Laurel it could just be their dad but for more than one line or more than one episode, it would give this scene more weight.

Yeah, see Taylor has all the right lines and does all the right things but the actress is forcing it and trying way too hard to be That Friend even the way she does the hand gestures with "Need I not remind you" and the shrugging, she doesn't have the attitude for it so it's awkward to watch, Candice just had the attitude

Shayla is the best character on this show. Lmao.

And this is when I'll be able to understand Belly getting angry when she inevitably does because he asked her to the deb ball like he wanted to take her and then told Nicole it's because his mom asked him to and obviously Nicole is going to tell Belly or Jeremiah is going to tell Belly that he's going with her because Susannah asked and that's embarrassing. I'm also over here like honestly Conrad you couldn't also say oh but can you not tell Belly my mom asked, it's kind of embarrassing to find out that your friend's mom asked him to take her to the dance. BUT THEN THE DRAMA WOULDN'T HAPPEN ZAL.

I need to speak to the person who does the music. Bad Girls doesn't GO with this scene. I get it, they're bad bitches playing volleyball but it doesn't work. In TMP when Mindy is running through the subway to get to surgery and then is IN surgery and is a boss in it and it plays, that makes sense. This is a tournament for charity. The fact that Belly is so focused on winning the trophy instead of helping women at the shelter is just indicative of her self-centeredness. Like, it's not even as if Belly has been established as a particularly competitive character either but now she suddenly is. And before someone goes, well as a teenager --- if Blair and Serena had a conversation about charity, Blair being like "oh who cares about the shelter, I just want to raise more money than Nelly Yuki" that would be a commentary on who Blair is as a character, you would just love her anyway because Leighton as Blair is great.

I can't do another long volleyball scene that's only this long to make up for the lack of personality Belly has as a character. "We can't tell you who she is but you know what, she's good at volleyball."

Like, Conrad is supposed to be good at sports and Belly is supposed to be good at sports and you mean before this we couldn't even get a Yousana-like montage??

you guys are killing me, man. Just put in the effort.

I'm sorry I have to forward through some of this volleyball shit, I don't care.

LMAO Susannah being the one to tell Belly that she asked Conrad is funny but it also doesn't make sense because she tells Conrad that everyone knows he's her knight in shining armour so if she knows how big a crush she has on Conrad then she would know telling her that he only asked her out because she asked would be humiliating.

"if a piece of my heart still beats--" these writers need to be stopped.

because you're boyfriends.

"I'm not THAT rich. I never went to boarding school and I saw my parents for more than once a year." I feel like we could've done better distinctions.

Steven is so neglectful of Shayla.

... I mean, Nicole and her friends took their clothes but not her phone, she could easily text/call someone to pick them up. Like Conrad JUST texted. Just be like hey your kinda girlfriend took all our clothes and we're at so and so place can you please get us some clothes and meet us here?

It's also a trope.

Like The Parent Trap, Hallie and her friends stole Annie's clothes

Now and Then where they took the boys' clothes as vengeance

That 70s Show where their clothes were stolen

I'm not saying that to be like Nicole and her friends are right because it's shitty, I'm just like yeah, I know this trope and Taylor and Belly are making this harder than they need to. Call someone.

And I can see as a sixteen year old wanting to figure things out yourself but with no other real options and you have a phone, then you'd call someone.

"It's about doing things the right way." Then break up with Nicole?

And this isn't?? This is what I'm talking about, at a certain point ONE of you has to be smart enough to fucking CALL SOMEONE.

And that could also be another source of drama where Belly feels comfortable calling Susannah because she views Susannah is a carefree, non-judgemental mother and Laurel is like ... uh wtf?

I think this is funny

because Conrad isn't active enough for this.

"But isn't love supposed to be a little scary?" she said she kissed him not that she loved him.

Jesus Christ, finally. This call took way too long.

See, NICOLE is the one he's being an asshole to. "Nicole, I swear, my mom really did ask me" SHE SAW THE TEXT, CONRAD.

lmao are you going to second in front of your house? can't you two at least GO somewhere.

and it's funny because you don't like him, Belly, you like that he likes you.

"When The Party's Over" is wasted on these two too. I get that the situation is supposed to match the lyrics but you need some serious angst and chemistry to match this song and they don't have it. The s song should be accompanying their intensity not providing all of it.

Even her "It's too late" doesn't match the situation. Like Tim and Tyra did this better and Tim's voice is quiet but desperate, liiiiike

*siiiiiiiiiigh*

[skynapple]

Budding Romance | Ch. 20

Love and Deepspace | Jeremiah x MC / slow-burn / friends-to-lovers | Themes: angst, guilt, fluff

warnings: none

Multi-chapter | A03 link

Beginning | <- Prev | Next ->

"Friendship." A familiar conversation with Xavier.

It was Monday. The store was always closed on Monday. It was a rare day he wished it was open to distract him. Lingering at the back of his mind like the a fly buzzing and darting around the room were thoughts of her. 

Just a few nights after seeing her, he had a dream he could only describe as a soft nightmare. It had been an intimate moment with her, too intimate. It startled him awake, chest heaving where he could still feel the dream-state of her fingers on his bare chest and the imaginary sensation of the way she said his name against his ear. 

What the hell was that…

Slinking himself out of bed, he grabbed his gym bag. It was the one place he felt his head could be clear. The smell of the rubber mats, the feel of the cool metal bars against his skin, the way his body could once again in a small way feel the weight of what his sword used to be in his hand. He incorporated a few old techniques he'd used to maintain his knightly duties and physique. His body wasn't quite in the top condition it once had been, but he liked to try to maintain a certain level of strength, just in case anything happened. And the way things had been going, it was all the more reason to do so.

He focused on the movements, the rhythm. Count the reps. Breathe. Rest. Switch sides. Repeat.

By the time he got to the backtrackers' local secret facility that day, it was late morning. There was a briefing, and a few rounds of status reports. 

Xavier was a brilliant leader, sharp, and assertive. Anyone of his upbringing was taught a great deal of strategy, negotiation, and war tactics. How he applied those skills to the missions and leading their group was no different. But he wasn't perfect, and lately the group tensions were high. Jeremiah assisted wherever and however he could. For as long as he could remember, that's how it had been. For everything. 

The kinds of power, positions, and pressures that Xavier held had never been desirable. There was never due cause to envy him. Jeremiah, being  confident in all that he was, had always garnered enough likability to never feel the need to strive after it. Even back in school, his position as a vice captain had even garnered enough attention to have him surrounded by girls at lunch hour, eager to hear his stories. The little bit of popularity, leadership, and respect of peers had been enough. Xavier, for all the power he carried, he noticed was often alone, and often purposefully so. Either because of his title, his protectors, or personal desire to keep people at bay.

That had changed a little when he'd met her. She had a way of always being in his business. He had a way of letting her in. Jeremiah knew immediately that they were each others' weakness. For a time, it was a fun thing to explore and exploit, on both sides. He never once thought to be jealous of it.

He'd never once felt he could be jealous.

So he couldn't explain the way he felt now after the meeting, standing on a balcony of a cafe with Xavier, the bite of ice in his veins when glancing over at Xavier's phone he saw several notifications from her.

Jeremiah swallowed hard.

"You know Xav, a new barbecue place opened up. You should take her sometime.”

"I'll suggest that. But why are you bringing that up to me now?"

"We discussed this. You could... you know." He wasn't sure why he hesitated. "Start letting her in to your life again. She's different here but it's good, she's amazing and-"

"Do I spy a plant that needs pruning?"

"Nope! Nope." He lifted his hands defensively. "I'm just saying. You know you need each other."

"You know about the non-interve-"

"Screw that! You obviously don’t care. Think about it." He spat in irritation. "You're not the only man in her life."

Xavier's eyes darkened. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Jeremiah looked away at the crowds over where they stood on a balcony, suddenly feeling panicked. "I mean- she hangs out with other guys. Often! First of all that weird painter she bodyguards for on occasion. Slippery, that one. We’re keeping an eye on him. She also goes out from time to time with, uh, some guy? I’m not too sure. George it was her doctor but I find that hard to believe. I'm just saying, Xavier..."

His friend's lack of reaction paired with the steely blue eyes that seemed to be scrutinizing him made him shake his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Never mind. I just don't want to see her get hurt because you decide to play too carefully."

"Lauren was good for you, you know." Xavier nodded with a sad smile, the sudden shift in topic almost startling to Jeremiah.

“What?” Jeremiah felt his arms cross a little tighter, unable to help his thoughts from going to the few days prior at the Linkon memorial. “That was a long time ago, Xav."

Seeming to ignore him, Xavier looked out at the sky. "I told you before. None of us could have known." The breeze rustled the blondes hair. "I want you to find your happiness again. I don't like seeing you like this. I didn't like carrying you out of the shop that day."

A pang of guilt hit his chest at the memory of pacing all night. Of feeling sick to his stomach and how weakly he’d called his friend that morning. “Yeah? Well. You didn’t have to come.” 

“But you asked me to.”

Jeremiah found his shoes very interesting in that moment, using the edge of his heel to smooth out dirt smudged there. “Thanks.”

A few unspoken words burned in his mind.

I just wanted what you had; I wanted someone to look at me like that –like I was worth existing for. 

The fear of it was something he’d been pondering over the years. Would things have worked out? Did he rush in because he loved her, or because he wanted a love like someone who was so endlessly devoted to wait for centuries. 

It wasn't until she appeared again that he began to feel that dull ache of desire again, as if the wound had been re-opened, the desire to be wanted, or at least less lonely. It was like a spreading disease. The more time he spent around her, the more the ache grew.

He had considered a dating app, entertaining the idea of making himself more available, even just around the few places he frequented, considering possibilities. And for what? The looming prospect of his future here haunted him as much as it did back then. Xavier was right. Human lives were futile. To outlive them was worse.

As he brooded, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Xavier had a terrible memory, but when it counted, he remembered, and he could be surprisingly thoughtful. 

A familiar bartender walked over and gave him a nod. "You two want some of the real stuff?"

Jeremiah laughed, nodding at the fellow Philosian. "I didn't think you had any left."

"I keep some around."

In response, the brunette grinned, shrugging a shoulder up at his friend. “What say you, Highness. Should we splurge?”

Xavier made a face at the mocking tone, but there was warmth there. “Why do I have a feeling this tab is on me?”

A few minutes later, the men had followed the bartender down the descending steps into the familiar speak-easy area. They seated themselves at the bar stools, and the bartender reemerged holding two small shot glasses with a flask of shimmering golden liquid.

"Bottoms up.”

Both men took it, clinking glasses together, tapped their glasses on the counter, and knocked it back. The liquid consisted of Philosian flowers fermented into a sweet liquid, glittering in a way that earth liquids could not. It felt like home. Already he could feel the warmth of the liquid in his chest, and the tingling in his head. Nothing like the gross, weak earth stuff that he’d sworn off. 

"Hey," Xavier mused, a question in his tone, after the bartender had left to tend to others approaching the bar.

Jeremiah gave a nod. “What’s up?”

“How often do you see her?”

“See who?”

“You know who.”

“Oh.” Jeremiah swirled the empty glass, trying to look like he was ruminating. “Not often. She’s a busy huntress you know.” It wasn’t a lie. It just happened to be that he had seen her recently, so it almost felt like one. “Why?”

“Just curious. She asked about you the other day, that’s all.”

Jeremiah wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the topic but his heart was beating. “Weird.”

Xavier ordered another round, ending the tab there. “I thought so too."

He took the second glass and knocked it back, then stood. “I should get going. I think I’ll take her to that barbecue place you mentioned.”

Jeremiah nodded. “Thanks for today. Good luck.”

A sick feeling returned to his stomach. The dream from that morning returned to his mind and he tried to wash it down. It wasn’t like him to feel jealous. It wasn’t like him to have dreams like that. So why now?

And why not? She’s not with him. No. Stop this. Don’t think like that. 

A photo came hours later. The two at the restaurant, and Jeremiah felt his stomach twist. She looked happy. He looked happy.

So Jeremiah shut his phone off and went to sleep, hoping for dreams that wouldn’t make him wonder in the morning about how things would be different if he wasn’t such a devoted friend.