#like a lot of places immediately pulled back the pride stuff once june ended

[corokoro]

ok credit where credit's due, bethesda actually kept the pride flags up for free in the atomic store for 76 beyond pride month

[love-fireflysong]

yIt's done. It took me waaaay to long to write this piece out but between June and my computer apparently deciding to kick me in the teeth this month, the fact I made it to 5 full squares completed anyways I will gladly take as a victory! And, just fyi, this WILL be the last piece for this month. I know that there is still another four days left of June, but I am sick and tired of dealing with my keyboard so this is the last fic you're gonna see from me until I get a new laptop hopefully fairly soon. (Unless I decide that I'm desperate enough to try and write things out on my tablet of course...)

Anyways, the First Date trope was specifically requested by @jesus-hotsauce-christmas-cake when I let her know that the one she did guess (road trip) was going to be a second chapter of a twoshot. Which you still might get because I'm very likely going to be sharing the short little summary blurbs I had written down for each trope so people can very easily bully me into writing them anyways if people still wanted to read them. And even though it would be like months and months late, still post them under this bingo board because I can and I had a cool idea for what I was doing with the colours and layout before life decided to say 'NO!' in a very firm voice. (Unless of course the three lovely ladies that came up with this idea in the first place say no obviously)

Rambling over though now I promise. Chocolate Covered Confessions can be read over and AO3 of course, with the full fic also under the readmore as well.

Chocolate Covered Confessions

Trope: First Date Fandom: Until Dawn Characters: Ashley Brown, Chris Hartley Words: 8214 Rating: General (though reader beware there is some almost scandalous hand holding and a couple of scandalously public kisses. You have been warned...) Authors Notes: Oh look, more chrashley fluff. Who da thunk it? Pride month? What pride month? This is just me apparently figuring out how many different ways I can get Chris and Ash to confess their feelings. Because you only read like three of them, I still have another two waiting in the wings. Plus at least three others if you count climbing chrash lol.

Something was...weird. It wasn't something that Ashley could put her finger on just yet, but something was definitely off that was for sure. The problem of course was that she didn't even know where to start looking in the first place, because for the most part her day had been extraordinarily ordinary.

She, Chris, and Josh had planned to go and see a movie Saturday morning a few days back and then hang out the rest of the day. But seeing as they were, you know, best friends that certainly wasn't the issue. Not even close. They always made plans to do stuff like that together. And yeah, okay, so maybe Josh had 'coincidentally' texted them just before the movie started to let them know that something unavoidable had come up and he wasn't going to be able to meet up with them. And when her and Chris had brought up just waiting until a later showing when he was free, he had immediately been quick to affirm that nope, he was going to be busy the whole rest of the day actually. So the two of them could continue with their original plans and they could make it up to him another time.

While certainly suspicious, that wasn't what was wrong though. Josh had been flaking out on their plans more and more, especially when it was plans that took up an entire day. Ashley Brown wasn't stupid. No siree Bob she was not! She knew exactly what Josh was trying to do by leaving her to spend the day with Chris. Alone . And she appreciated it (she really did!), but if Chris was going to make a move then he would have done it ages and ages ago, because she sure as hell wasn't going to do it! Ashley Brown wasn't stupid, but she also wasn't exactly what you would call brave either.

Not that Chris had seemed to notice what Josh was pulling though, he had just sighed and rolled his eyes with a grumbled "fucking typical", and then the two of them had entered the theater to watch the movie. And as per their usual shtick when Josh wasn't there with them, Chris paid for the tickets while she paid for the food and drinks. Or, at least, that was how it normally went. Instead, when she had decided to take a run to the bathroom while he held their spot in the long concession line, she had come back to Chris waiting for her with the pop and popcorn already in hand. After brushing off her flustered apologies, he had explained that shortly after she had left, another cashier had popped on till so the line had gone down in half the time either had expected. And it seemed like a dick move to just wait there until she came back so he had just decided to get the food instead.

She still felt a little guilty about it honestly, even after swearing that she would get both the tickets and food next time.

And, to be completely fair to Josh, he hadn't exactly been missing out on a lot by skipping out on the movie. It wasn't a horror flick (he would never even think of skipping out on that after all) so it wasn't one that he would feel the need to make the two of them watch again with him. Which was more than fine honestly, because if she was to describe the movie in a single word, well, that word would definitely have been 'dreadful'. If she was given a few more words, then she would have easily elaborated and stated that it was 'a boring, plot-hole driven mess, with only extremely over-the-top action scenes and explosions every five minutes to carry any semblance of the extremely loosely written plot'. In other words, she had lost interest in the movie barely half an hour in, and considering that Chris had started scrolling through his phone bored, she wasn't alone in this boat either.

Still, Ashley had resolved herself to sit through this over-budgeted explosion fest if only because movie tickets were horribly expensive. Not to mention the fact that Chris had shelled out money for both the movie and the food. But then he had turned to her, asked if she was as bored to tears as he was, and once he got that confirmation, asked if she wanted to just ditch the movie entirely. And she did—she really, really did—but didn't want Chris to waste the money he had spent more. And then yet another explosion...exploded on screen, and she realized that she was wasting precious hours of her life that could be used to do something more fun and less mind-numbingly boring.

Like watching paint dry. That at least had a semi-cohesive plot.

And so the two of them had walked out, continuing to share the extra buttered popcorn between them (the movie may have been awful, but the popcorn certainly wasn't) as they left the movie theater behind and wandered into the nearby mall. That wasn't the strange thing either. The mall and subsequent window shopping had absolutely been part of their day plans after, even if those had been unexpectedly pushed forward a couple of hours.

Admittedly the art show that the mall was running in one of the empty storefronts was unexpected, but  it had been simply a nice surprise and a great way to kill time. So after paying the $2 entrance fee, the two of them had continued to share the popcorn as they looked at some of the paintings and sculptures that had been on display, giggling childishly at most of them. And okay, so one of the curators had been glaring at them( or rather, at their greasy, butter-covered fingers) the whole time, but that had just been a little rude and insulting. Not strange. And that had stopped almost the moment they had run out of popcorn, Ashley nudging him in the stomach with her elbow as she licked her fingers clean, and the two of them laughing under their breaths at the curator who had looked exceptionally much more at ease once Chris had crumpled the empty bag into a ball.

The rest of their day in the mall had just been spent following the rest of their day's plan, wandering from shop to shop and browsing at all the things that caught their eyes, and then taking a break after a few hours to have a late lunch in the food court. The two of them checked out another couple of stores, these ones to try and get some ideas for Josh's birthday in another month, before moving onto the small arcade on the top floor. As part of their deal and agreement since it had just been Josh and Chris (Ashey not joining the duo until five years later), Chris bought the tokens needed while she scouted out the various games for an empty console and claimed it until he could join her in another couple of minutes.

They spent the next hour in there, trying to beat each other or work together depending on the game in question. They almost never played a game twice before moving onto the next one, in hopes to both try as many games as possible before their self imposed hour ended and to see if they could beat their previous high scores or make it onto the leaderboard in only a single try. But as the hour came to a close, they both made their way over to their final game: one of the racing simulators scattered around the arcade. And as had been done for ten years now, played to determine which of them would be paying for the tokens next time they came.

And once the race ended, with Ashley winning by photo finish for the third time in a row (and celebrating her winning streak by maturely sticking out her tongue and doing an awkward little shimmy dance in the seat while Chris jokingly sulked and pouted), they had finally left the mall altogether and got into Chris's truck. There, he had surprised Ashley with the novel she had been eyeing in the bookstore (or at least, eyeing closer than all the rest she had picked up) and that he had somehow been able to buy without her noticing. And that certainly hadn't been weird, because it had been so exceptionally sweet of him, sweet enough that Ashley had so badly wished that she could thank him properly. But as mentioned before, Ashley Brown was a coward pure and simple, so she had just clutched the book to her chest and beamed at Chris in heartfelt thanks instead.

He may have said something in reply, but Ashley had already settled into the passenger seat and opened to the first page of the book, so she was already long gone. A fact that Chris had anticipated, if the light chuckle he had let out before starting the truck meant anything. And no, Ashley reading a book while Chris drove them to their usual game store across town was not the strange thing either. If Chris hadn't wanted her to read on the drive over and talk to him, then he never would have given her the book now of all times. He would have waited until he had dropped her off home, or not even bought the book in the first place. After over a half a decade of friendship, if anyone knew what would happen after giving Ashley Brown a new book, it was Chris Hartley.

The drive over is done quicker then she had expected, and even then Chris still hadn't let her know that they had arrived until she had finished her chapter. Yes he had certainly teased her about it the entire time, joking about how she would never find someone as understanding of her reading habits then him (he didn't know how right he was, that she didn't want to find anyone else), but the fact that he had just continued to let the music play in the truck and distracted himself on his phone was so unbearably sweet that she decided to let it lie.

The fact that Ashley and Chris hung around in the game shop comparing dice and looking at new books while wincing over the prices for nearly two hours wasn't what was off either. Hell, if anything the fact that they only spent a couple of hours there before leaving was weird! Her, Chris, and Josh could easily spend almost half a day in there flipping through comics and rolling dice to test them out, only leaving because a tired employee was forced to ask them to leave for making too much noise and taking up a table when they weren't playing anything, especially when there was a group that had been waiting for a table for close to an hour now.

Which brought Ashley to where she was right now, sitting at a sticky plastic table under the shade of a cheap umbrella while Chris had run off to get them some ice cream before dropping her off at home. Her new book was open in front of her, the pages crisp white even in the umbrella's shade, but her mind wasn't on the book anymore. A random line had a character mentioning that something had been feeling off all day ever since they woke up ('like everything had been moved three centimeters to the left, so while it all looked normal, nothing felt right anymore'), and Ashley had also realized that hey, wait a second, her day was also feeling just a little wonky too! But no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was. Today had just been a normal day hanging out with Chris after all. They went to see (and bailed) a movie, spent hours hanging out in the mall and at the game store, and now they were each going back home. Nothing unusual had happened, so why did it feel like something hugely monumental had been going on all day?

"Oi. Earth to Ash, you okay in there?"

A light flick to the center of Ashley's forehead has her blink in surprise, and she finds herself back into the present once again. Chris is standing next to her, carefully balancing the two cones in his right hand and his left ready to flick again if needed, and a bemused smile on his face.

"Oh, uh, sorry Chris. Got a little too into the book I think." She closes the book, not wanting to get melting ice cream all over its crisp white pages (and she really hasn't absorbed a single word for nearly ten minutes now), but Chris doesn't hand her the cone just yet.

"Yeah, I'm not buying that," Chris says as he snorts in disbelief. "I know your 'praise be to books' look, and that was not it. That was your 'head full, too many thoughts' look."

"Excuse me? What? I do not have a reading look! Or a thinking look for that matter!"

"Oh you do. You really, really do. Trust me. You may have been staring at that book but there was no way that you were reading, I would bet my own ice cream here on it." Chris brandishes his double chocolate cone at her, then seems to reconsider and switches to show off her own dipped soft serve that he still has yet to actually let her eat. "Actually, you know what? I would eat your dipped monstrosity if I'm wrong."

Ashley sighs, but she can't keep the smile from her face. "It's not that bad this time, oh my god. It's chocolate ice cream dipped in blueberry syrup. This is actually a normal combination for people who go out of their way to order more exciting cones then two scoops of chocolate." She leans forward and places her elbows on the table to support her head in her hands. "But I wanna see you do it anyway, so tell me exactly why you're so convinced that I wasn't reading."

Chris opens his mouth, but immediately closes it a second later, as though he didn't realize exactly what he had signed himself up for here until now. Ashley of course takes it as a sign of victory. "I knew it. So let's see this Chris, I wanna see you eat something that isn't—"

"When you read you get, like, super attentive." Chris's face is pink, and not looking at her but at the book on the table as he bashfully continues. "You become so drawn in to whatever you're reading that you ignore everything going on around you, because all of your attention is now on that book. Pretty sure a bomb could go off right next to you and you wouldn't even notice sometimes. And it's always so easy to tell what's happening in the book when you're reading too, cause your face is always so expressive. Like your eyes get big when something exciting or surprising happens, and when you're really enjoying whatever it is you're reading, you start giggling like a loon."

Ashley is too stunned and, quite frankly, her heart is beating too fast for her to even think of a proper response to that . She manages to squeak out a quiet little "oh, um" but Chris doesn't notice. Not when he's still babbling and not looking at her at all.

"But when you get deep in thought, you're not like that at all. All of your attention goes inward, and everything around you disappears cause all the important stuff is going on inside your head right now. Your mouth falls open just a little, sort of like you're gaping at all the information in front of you. And-and sometimes you'll mouth out what's going on inside your head as you try to fit the pieces of everything together so it's neat and tidy like a puzzle. And even though you have the, like, blankest stare imaginable, it's not empty at all if that makes any sense. Cause your eyes narrow and your forehead scrunches just the tiniest amount so you have a small little wrinkle form like right here—" with his unoccupied hand Chris points at the bridge of his nose right between his eyes "—and it's weirdly, insanely cute? But when you finally figure out the puzzle in your head, your face lights up like a kid on christmas morning and...and..." He lets his words trail off and stops awkwardly there, as though finally realizing exactly what he's been saying this entire time.

His face is almost beet red now, and Ashley is pretty sure hers is too. "Oh, uh, wow. I-I didn't realize you paid any attention to me when I was like that..."

Somehow his face only gets redder, and though he mumbles the words under his breath, Ashley can still make them out. "I'm always paying attention to you."

But not close enough attention it seems, she thinks sadly. If you did then you would have noticed something way more obvious than that. But she doesn't want to embarrass him anymore than he already is (then she already is), and she isn't sure what else she could possibly say that wouldn't be her blurting out that she likes him, so instead she pretends that she hadn't heard a single thing and wordlessly accepts the ice cream that he hands to her, accepting her defeat as she takes a small bite of the blueberry covered chocolate soft serve.

...The blueberry covered chocolate soft serve that he had bought for her. Or, you know, the ice cream he had paid for himself. Just like he had paid for everything today. Kind of like it was almost a, uh, date. Like he had taken her on a date.

Oh .

"Oh boy, let me guess: I was right and your ice cream really is a crime against taste buds?"

Ashley comes crashing back down to reality to see Chris, his face still a little red but the playful smile back on his face as he teased her. And yet, that only makes it worse as she can't help but feel the usual gymnastics routine the butterflies in her stomach perform at that particular smile, only they're a thousand times worse now that's she's realized exactly why today had felt so strange. And she can't help thinking how much everyone else would classify what was just a day hanging out with her best friend as a date. And how much she really, really wished it was one.

"Nope," she unfortunately squeaks out, and clears her throat so she can continue in a more normal tone of voice. "Nope, sorry to disappoint Chris, but the ice cream tastes fine." She takes another bite for proof (and to her credit she's not lying, it tastes more than fine). "Just, uh, realized something funny that's all." And the moment the words leave her mouth she realizes just how badly she's screwed everything up, because there is no way in any world that Chris Hartley is just going to let that comment lie.

"Funny? Oho, well now I'm interested. You mind sharing your glorious epiphany with the rest of the class Miss Brown?"

Taking another small taste of her ice cream, Ashley averts her gaze as she gives what she is kicking herself for is obviously an extremely forced laugh. "Did I say funny? I meant boring, just super boring actually."

"Well now I just want to hear it more."

"No, you don't. Trust me, you really, really don't."

Chris's brows furrow in concern. "Ash? You okay?"

She isn't, of course she isn't. She's now realized exactly what a date with Chris would be like, and it would be exactly like this. With them going to all the same place and doing the same things but she's allowed to hold his hand and kiss him when he does stupid sweet things like buying her the book she's been eyeing and talking about all day. She's never wanted something to be so true so badly in her life. And it's likely this thought in her mind that causes her to blurt out "A date." before she even realizes what she's said.

That only makes the confusion on Chris's face go deeper, which is appropriate considering she's sinking deeper and deeper into her chair in a futile effort to hide or escape as well. "What? Are you saying that you just remember what date it is today? Or that you had something you were supposed to do today instead? I'm not really following you right now Ash..."

This is perfect. It's the perfect excuse, she could laugh and say that she totally forgot what day it was and that she had an essay due pretty soon, or that she was supposed to babysit for a neighbour tonight. Anything really, the sky was quite literally the limit. And instead she just bit her lip and stared at the ice cream melting in her hand before weakly admitting "No, a, uh, date. As in, the romantic kind. I realized that today probably looks like a date to anyone else. Funny, huh?"

She's not sure how Chris would react to that. Maybe a startled laugh, and hand wave as he brushes her off. A scoff as he assures her that this definitely isn't a date, cause they're just friends and that's all they'll ever be. Whatever the reaction she expected, it was certainly not the fumbling for his ice cream as he nearly drops it in his shock, and how absolutely flustered he sounds as he trips over his own tongue. "W-what? I-I-I, uh—I mean, th-this obviously isn't—Who would even—? Wh-what would even give you the idea that we could um, possibly be on a date?"

Ashley shrugs weakly. "Isn't it obvious Chris?" She ignores his even more flustered babbling that no, he absolutely did not see what was so obvious as she continued on, still too nervous to look him in the eyes. "You've kind of paid for everything today."

"I wha—? I mean, no I haven't!"

"You kind of have, Chris. The theater?"

"You know I always pay for the tickets, and it would have just been really rude to make the line even longer!"

"The art show?"

"It was just a couple of toonies! And you saw the face of the worker there, they would have kicked us right out if they'd had to break a twenty. It was just easier."

"Lunch?"

"They-they'd had a special on for a two-person meal at that stall in the food court, and they wouldn't let each of us pay half..." he neglected to point out that Ashley could have easily paid for their lunch, and probably should have, but before she had been able to offer he'd already been swiping his debit card.

"The arcade?"

"Okay, that was my turn to buy the tokens, you know that. That one doesn't even count."

Ashley lifted her eyes from the ice cream to the book that sat menacingly and innocently all at one at the center of the table, it's pristine cover mocking her. "The book?"

"T-that was just a gift! You seemed really into it at the store and friends buy each other gifts all the time—"

There was no describing how soft and nervous her voice got as she asked the question that would put the final nail in the coffin. "The ice cream?"

"I, uh, it was just—um..." Chris let out a breath in a weak chuckle. "Shit, I guess I kind of did, huh?"

Ashley doesn't say anything, and neither does Chris, as the table goes silent. She's bracing herself  for when Chris inevitably shoots her down and confirms that it doesn't matter. That the two of them will never be anything more then friends and that she never should have hoped for anything more and by revealing this she's ruined their friendship for good—

"Hey, uh, Ash?" He sounds so nervous that it immediately takes Ashley out of her anxiety driven thoughts of doom and gloom, but she can't do anything more than just shakily nod to let him continue. "It's, uh, probably like a really, really, really stupid question but—" he takes a nervous breath "—did you want this to be a date?"

Her head immediately shoots up as she stares at him with wide eyes, her breath caught somewhere in her throat where her heart is currently lodged. She frantically rakes her eyes over Chris's face looking for any hint that he's mocking her, or playing some cruel joke on her and her feelings, but all she sees is just nervousness all over a pale, shaking face with what she thinks ( prays ) is a glimmer of undisguised hope. But it's still too much uncertainty, and she's too scared to risk it all on a mere glimmer that she is likely only imagining because she wants it so badly to be real, so she throws the question back at him instead.

"...would you have been opposed if this was actually a date?"

"Nuh uh, I asked you first."

Ashley realizes that he's just as scared at what the answer might be as she is. She wants to tell him, has wanted to tell him for years and years and years. And maybe this is the chance she's been waiting for her whole life. The two of them sitting at a sticky plastic table under the early evening sun, long forgotten ice cream melting in their hands, and she can finally tell him that she's had such a huge crush on him since she was twelve.

"Yeah." The word is less choked out than it is released. Like it's a breath of fresh air and she feels simultaneously lighter and heavier for it. "I-I think I would have liked that. I would have liked that alot."

Chris snaps his gaze up to meet hers, and the glimmer of hope that she had seen earlier has now nearly taken over his face at the disbelieving smile that's threatening to crack his face in two. "Really? I-I mean, uh, I would have been alright with the idea too. More than alright actually."

She can feel her own smile start to nervously match his, and then the first giggle breaks out. His own ecstatic laughter quickly follows her own until the two of them are both giddily laughing at the table, but too embarrassed and bashful to even look at each other now. The giggling abruptly cuts off when Chris lets out a yelp of surprise when he realizes how much of his ice cream has melted onto his hand and Ashley joins him in trying to finish off their ice cream before it's melted entirely. But there's definitely a change in the atmosphere around them now. The contentness and laid back ease that always formed between them whenever they hung out was still there, but there is a charge that hadn't been there before either. An excited anticipation that only surges higher and higher whenever Ashley shyly glances in Chris's direction to find he's looking at her with the same disbelieving smile beaming on his face.

They never say anything more about it as they both finish off the ice cream, but Ashley knows. With that little agreement, the entire day had changed. This wasn't just them hanging out as friends anymore, this was an actual, factual date now, pure and simple. So when Chris hands her a couple of extra napkins to clean herself off, she may have let her fingers brush against his for just a moment. The resulting blush and dumbstruck smile on his face when he cautiously took his hand back so he could clean up the rest of the mess on the table was oh so worth it. And when he returned from his trip to the garbage can and held out his hand as an offer to help her up from the chair, she accepted it readily.

Once she's back on her feet, the two of them drop their eyes to stare at their still clasped hands, realizing that they could easily hold hands the entire short walk back to Chris's truck if they wanted. And she does want that—horribly in fact—but it seems it's still a little too early for either of them to make that teeny tiny but monumental jump to hand holding so they let go awkwardly and slowly, letting their fingers linger against the others before letting go completely. As though giving themselves a taste of what may yet actually come to pass in the (hopefully) very near future.

The short walk back to the truck is filled with both anticipation and dread alike, but unusually silent. Ashley knows it's because she's now a buzzing ball of nervous energy, terrified that saying anything at all will shatter this dream that's apparently coming true before her eyes, but Chris is different. He looks more like he's trying to work up the courage to say or ask something, and is spending all his energy on that alone. So when he reaches out to open up the passenger side door for her, Ashley can feel her heart pick up speed when he stops with his hand on the door handle and looks at her nervously. His mouth opens and shuts a couple of times as he tries to work up the courage to say whatever it is he wants to say, and all she can do is stare at him expectantly as she struggles to hold back an excited smile.

"Hey, Ash, ca—nevermind. It's, it's stupid. Don't worry about it." A second later, he has the door opened for her and the moment she can't see his face, she lets her smile fall crestfallen. But only for a second before a polite one replaces it as thanks when he closes the door for her and continues to his side of the truck. It's fine, she supposes as she buckles herself in, while the two of them have been hanging out all day, it's only been an actual date now for barely ten minutes. And once he drops her off home in just another few short minutes it's going to be over. The fact that she even managed to get this far is franky mind blowing, so expecting anything more from her dreams would just be extremely selfish. She can't have everything she wants all at once, no matter how long she's been waiting for it.

The drive back to her place is also quiet, filled with only the droning of the radio playing in the background. Ashley's returned back to her book, but she knows that Chris knows that she's not absorbing a single word, hasn't turned a single page even. She keeps glancing at him out of the corner of her eye as he nervously taps at the steering wheel, and then tightening his grasp when it looks like he's going to say something, only to return to the nervous tapping when he inevitably backs out at the last second and returns to the frantic pep talk he's likely giving himself. The air that fills the vehicle is heavy and thick with anticipation and it's taking almost everything in Ashley to not start shaking the question out of Chris at every red light they stop at.

But, eventually, they pull up in front of her place and Chris stops the truck. There's a moment where the two of them just sit there, not wanting to leave because leaving means the end, and Ashley schools her face into a cheery smile in an effort to hide as much of the disappointment as she can when she turns to face him and bid him farewell, only to have it fall to confusion when he starts fumbling at his own seatbelt.

"Chris? What are you doing?"

He struggles further at it, frustrated that the buckle's apparently decided that now is the perfect time for it to stick once again. "Trying to get this fucking thing off."

"Yeah, I figured that much. But why are you trying to take it off, you're just gonna leave right away again anyway."

He slows his fumbling as cheeks start darkening in embarrassment. "I, uh, I just thought that was something you were supposed to do after a date, walk them to their door to stay goodnight. I mean, at least I think this is a date now? And, and only if you're okay with it! I can stay in here instead if you don't want me to. I was just hoping..."

The once forced cheery smile on her face is certainly not being forced any longer, if anything she's trying not to show how much the idea of Chris walking her to her door thrills her. "N-no!" Well, so much for trying not to show how desperately she wants that. The startled look he gives her at the unexpected outburst had her trying to control her voice into something less desperate, but considering she doesn't think she's ever going tame the frantic butterflies that have been flapping around non-stop in her stomach ever since the ice cream realization, she's probably doing a terrible job of it. "I-I mean if you want to, it's completely up to you after all..."

"Cool. Cool cool cool. Just, just give me a second." He continues to struggle with his seatbelt buckle, letting out more and more agitated curses escape the longer the thing continues to stick, and Ashley is getting the feeling that if he was able, Chris would have ripped the entire thing straight out of the seat by now. Broken safety laws and ensuing repair costs be damned. The moment he finally manages to unstick the traitorous buckle it's with a cry of victory and relief so exuberant that Ashley finds herself laughing in disbelief and awe that he had wanted to walk her the short ten or so feet to her front door that badly. Thankfully, for both of them, her seatbelt unclicks easily and much more quickly in comparison, only taking another couple of seconds to grab her bag from the footwell and joining him.

The far too short walk up to her door is over before either of them realize it. One second the two of them had been standing awkwardly and nervously by the truck as she fought the urge to reach out and grab his hand, and the next they're standing just as awkwardly and nervously (if not moreso) in front of the front door. Both of them waiting for the other to say or do something to break the tension, but cleanly aware that doing so would signal the very final end of the day, and the date. In fact, just knowing that Chris doesn't want this to end just as badly as her, is what gives her the courage to look at him with a surprisingly heartfelt and soft smile.

"Today was fun."

Chris lifts his eyes from where they had been staring at the dried leaves on the doorstep to match her smile. "Yeah. It was."

"And thanks. For the movie, and everything else." Ashley raises her hand to give the new and still shiny paperback a small wave. "And, you know, the book too. Of course."

"Yeah, it was no problem. Anytime." There's something with how he says the last bit—not really emphasizing it but making it clear all the same that he means 'anytime'—that causes her face to flush giddily as she pulls her lower lip in between her teeth in a weak effort to fight back against the ecstatic smile that forms anyway. And when she sees his eyes lower just a smidge to follow the motion and the way his shoulders stiffen in reaction, Ashley very quickly also finds she's trying (much more successfully) to hold herself  back from just saying 'to hell with it' and throwing her arms around Chris so she can finally kiss him silly and until they're both breathless. But considering that she's too much of a coward to initiate something as innocent as hand holding apparently, there is absolutely no way that something as...as scandalous as kissing him on her doorstep is ever going to happen. Clearly.

And yet, she gives Chris another few seconds to try and work past that blockade in his throat, but when he still can't muster a single word, she decides to just put the both of them out of their misery. Or further into it. It's probably just the same thing really. "I guess I'll see you next time. I'll talk to you later, okay?" She turns away and puts her hand on the doorknob, and tucks the book under her arm so she can dig into her bag for keys, but is stopped when Chris's hand abruptly snakes out and wraps itself firmly around her wrist before she can reach into the bag. And it works—boy does it ever —turning back to him and the hand wrapped around her wrist as excitement just starts to bubble up inside of her.

A second later though, his brain has apparently caught up with the movement he clearly hadn't intended to make, because his face goes beet-red and he's dropped her hand so he can shove both into the pockets of his jeans. He averts his eyes so he's back to staring at the loose gravel and dried leaves under their feet.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that. I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine, Chris." Ashley tries to smile softly at him in reassurance, but it's considering she's gripping the doorknob in an almost vice-like grip in anticipation, it's likely far more eager than she would like. "What is it?"

Somehow, his face goes even redder and he blurts out the question so fast that it may as well have been one word. "CanIkissyou?!"

Immediately, Ashley's gaping at him wide-eyed and her mouth open in shock as her heart's beating so fast that she's pretty sure it's ready to burst out of her chest at any moment. "Wha—"

"I-I mean goodnight. Can I kiss you goodnight? That's what people are supposed to do on dates, right? A-a-a-and I think we agreed that this is a date now, or at least I really, really hope we did. Cause I've wanted to go on a date with you for the longest time and-and-and I didn't want Saundra or-or-or any of your neighbours to see cause I know that would just really embarrass you and me but I've been trying to ask you for the past thirty minutes now cause I've wanted to kiss you since forever but I was scared about how you would react cause I really, really, really like you Ash and I just wanna to kiss you so fucking bad right now you have no idea and—"

Ashley would like to believe that she's brave enough to throw her arms around Chris and drag him down into that searing kiss she's been dreaming about forever and ever, but she doesn't. Even with a confession that is everything she's ever wanted to hear and more. That's not to say that she doesn't want to do it—god does she want to do it—but she's so frozen in place from shock that she physically can't. So instead she just continues to gape at him as he (adorably) rambles on and on, and giggles out an elated little "okay".

His nervous rambling stops dead in its tracks, and he finally looks back up at her, nervous relief evident all over his face. "Really? I mean, are you sure? I'd understand if you didn't want to—"

" Chris ."

That immediately shifts the relief to a different kind of nervousness entirely, one of excited disbelief, but even then neither move to actually initiate this promised kiss for several seconds. Instead just staring at each other waiting for the other to be the first to move, Chris with his hands still in his jeans pockets and Ashley glued to the doorknob with her other hand frozen as it hovers over her bag. Finally, Chris is the first to slowly bend down to meet her awkwardly half turned body, and she unsteadily tries to rock herself onto the tips of her toes without losing her balance completely and falling over. And still, they both pause about an inch away from each other's faces, though whether to give the other an out if needed or just to work through the logistics of how to do this exactly without their foreheads or noses smashing into each other or Chris's glasses getting in the way is anyone's guess.

But finally, mainly due to the fact that Ashley can't lean forward anymore without falling completely on her face, Chris closes that final bit of distance and kisses her. It's a nervous brush of the lips really—a quick peck at best —but they jolt back from each other so quickly that the single action may as well have activated some hidden magnetic repel function that neither had been aware of until this moment. Both of them are staring at each other wide-eyed and breathless as the magnitude of what they had both finally managed to accomplish hit them. The kinda-sort confession and the almost hand holding meant absolutely nothing in comparison to this. Those she could have (and would most likely have) brushed off as her reading too much into innocent statements and gestures when she thought over everything that had happened today in the safety of her room later tonight. But this? This was physical proof .

Looking back, Ashley's not sure which of them moved first. One second they had been staring at each other in disbelief, stuck in the same awkward bent and leaning stature from before, and the next it's as if the magnetic attraction between them reverses its flow entirely. Chris is cupping her cheek with one hand as he kisses her in the way she always dreamed he would, his other hand slowly skating across the back of her neck so he can pull her up closer to him. The book that had once been clutched protectively under her arm was completely forgotten about—fallen to the ground with a sharp crunch as it crushed the dried leaves beneath their feet—as her arms wrapped possessively around his shoulders as she props herself as high as the tips her toes will allow her. She can still taste a hint of the chocolate from earlier on his lips, and the small part of her that isn't being blown away by all of this is wondering if he can taste the blueberry and chocolate on hers as well.

She's not sure how long the two of them stood there on her doorstep, kissing for all the world to see, but she does know that they still separate much, much too soon for her liking. Not that they fully separate of course. She may be back on the soles of her feet, but neither of them have removed themselves from the embrace itself. And with the way that Chris is lightly brushing his thumb over her cheekbone as he just stares at her with the same stupidly giddy grin she's got, Ashley would be perfectly fine if they could just stay standing like this forever.

"So..." she starts, and stops to take a moment to giggle when Chris bumps his nose into hers. "I think that was a perfectly acceptable first date if you ask me."

Chris doesn't let go of her when he leans back to consider her, the comically raised eyebrows in shock doing nothing to take away from the absolutely thrilled beam of his smile. " First date? Why Miss Brown, are you perhaps asking me out for a second one already?"

"I mean, if it's not too presumptuous of me, I suppose I am. I-if you're not opposed to it of course." She can't help the way her nervousness starts to bleed through with that last sentence, already panicking that she's somehow completely misread everything that's just happened and that maybe that kiss didn't mean as much to him as it did to her after all.

His next words completely derail those fears entirely. "Of course I'm not, I would love nothing more than to go on a second date with you. Followed by a third and fourth and even a fifth if you have the time for it."

"I mean, I'm a pretty busy girl but I think I can open up as many days in my schedule as it takes if I need to."

Before she knows it, the two of them are leaning in for another kiss when the sound of pot being dropped in the nearby kitchen through the open window jarringly brings them back to reality and the two of them let go of each other red faced and embarrassed. Oh no, how much of this had her mother heard? Or worse, saw? She wants to leave the doorstep (which is rapidly becoming her favourite place in the whole entire world) even less now, but the longer she takes the worse the excited interrogation from Saundra will be so she starts digging back into her bag to try and find her keys once again.

"I'll text you later, okay? And, maybe, we can talk some more about that second date...?"

The reply from Chris is flustered but eager. "Yeah, totally. I-I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Cool. And um, the next one's one me. The date that is. It's only fair after all."

"Yeah, right. Only fair. Totally. And, uh, your book..."

She finally finds her keys from where they had sunk to the bottom of her bag, and looks up at him and the paperback book that had fallen during their, uh, intimate embrace. "Oh! Uh, right. Thanks." She could easily leave it at that, but the last few minutes have made her bold so when she reaches out to take the book back from him, Ashley curls her fingers over his and bounces onto the balls of her feet so she can give him one last kiss on his cheek—almost the corner of his mouth really—before finally stepping back with the book and keys in her hand. "I mean it. Thanks . For everything."

"Yeah. No problem. It was my pleasure."

She lets herself have one last glimpse of the stupefied grin on his face just as he turns to walk just a little unsteadily down the path back to his truck. The only sounds being the leaves crushing underfoot and the jangle of metal as she sticks her keys into the door to finally unlock it. A sound that it quickly interrupted by not only the click of the door unlocking, but a muffled shout.

Alarmed, she turns quickly expecting to see Chris having accidentally shut his coat into the door as he is sometimes known to do when the weather gets colder, but instead watches in elated shock as he continues to keep energetically flapping his arms and fist pumping into the air and screaming what she can vaguely make out as 'yesyesyesyesYESYESYES' over and over again.

Suddenly it hits her. Despite the shy confession over ice cream, and then the much more rushed and rambled one only minutes ago, and followed by the kiss(es) that are still sending her heart into rapid fire, Ashley still hadn't believed what all the evidence had been saying. Chris liked her. He really, really liked her. Possibly as much as she liked him even! This wasn't just a one-off event that would now make things awkward between them for the rest of their lives. This was happening. They'd just had a first(!!!!) date and after Chris had kissed her goodbye, she had asked him out for a second one.

And he had accepted .

Ashley fumbled with the door and the moment she was in the house, slammed the door behind her, not even bothering to lock it. She let her bag fall from her shoulder to the floor with a soft thump and slowly slid down the door until she was sitting against it with her eyes wide and breathless. She ignored the surprised clatter coming from the kitchen as Saundra immediately dropped whatever it was she had been doing in and held up the book so she could stare at the once innocuous cover in amazement.

He had bought her this book and the ice cream because he liked her and he had gladly and excitedly accepted to go out on another date with her. And even more if he had been serious about that third date and beyond line.

And not that either would ever know it, Ashley mirrored Chris at that exact moment by placing her head into her hands and screaming as the built up joy and bliss finally exploded out of her.

[our-time-is-now]

June 13, 2019 (1): Maiden voyage

(previous play)

You can find more information about the authors, translators, content warning and additional information about the plays in the pinned post on our blog.

Saturday, 11:13 am:

David: *today they didn't have breakfast together and instead only ate in small groups because everyone had woken up at different times* *he, Matteo, Abdi, Alex and Mia were the last ones and therefore he, Matteo and Abdi are in charge of clearing the table and doing the dishes although Jonas and Carlos are rushing them as they want to try out the raft as soon as possible* *then he’s part of a discussion about how badly Carlos' foot is injured and if they can expect him to help carry the raft into the water or if they could also manage with only four people and that Carlos shouldn’t act like a baby – until Alex offers to help them with carrying it provided he can join them at the maiden voyage* *is glad that this is the end to the discussion and everyone retreats to their tents and rooms to put on their swimming trunks and swim binders* *now he and the guys are standing next to the raft in the woods and they get directions from Carlos: "Hey, someone has to go to the right side..." and eventually they manage to lift it up with a groan* *groans* Maybe it would have been smarter to build it next to the lake instead of in the middle of the woods... *hears Abdi: "In hindsight one always knows better, Brudi..." and Jonas: "Should we ever built another raft then we'll definitely be smarter... watch out Alex, there's a tree stump..."*

Matteo: *groans and moans all the while* *tells Carlos to shut up when he gives them even more smart tips* *have finally arrived at the water and they pot down the raft right before the lake* *is glad that Abdi doesn't hurt his foot as well and instead jumps back just in time* Okay... guys... you're aware of the fact that we're probably going to sink, right? *hears Jonas laugh: "Oh yes, I've always valued your optimism."* *grimaces* I'm just saying... we should be prepared...

David: *eyes the raft as well and slightly shakes his head at Matteo's words* It'll float! *sees Jonas beam at him: "That's what I wanted to hear!"* *grins and then remembers that he wanted to tell them about Lychen* Lychen, where I'm from, is known as raft-town – they know their stuff there... and when I was 11, I was there when they set a world record for the most people on a raft... *hears Carlos laugh: "Seriously?!” and Abdi ask: "How many people did it hold?”* *nods at Carlos and tells Abdi* I think 442... *sees how everyone is looking at him in surprise and hears Carlos again: "You're kidding us! There's no raft that carries more than 400 people!"* *laughs quietly and nods* There is – it just has to be big enough... you have to google it later... you can even find photos! *then hears Alex: "Okay, let's find out if your dream-ship is a super-marine or a sub-marine... but if David says that it'll float... he's the expert, after all... I think it's best if three of us go to the lake-side and two stay on the land-side. The ground is more uneven in the lake..."* *sees Alex, Abdi and Jonas immediately go toward the lake and therefore stays on the shore with Matteo* *bends down at the same time the others do to lift the raft* On the count of three? *sees everyone nod, but doesn't get the chance to count because just at that moment the girls come running to the jetty – Kiki, Sam and Hanna holding their phones in their hands* *hears Kiki call out to them: "Hold on! We have to save that for posterity..." and sees her point her phone at them* *hears Jonas: "Dude, are you crazy? You guys could also help! This thing is super heavy!"* *hears Hanna: "But who's supposed to film it, then?!"* *groans and repeats* On three! One –  two – three! *then heaves up the raft*

Matteo: *sighs when they apparently continue straight away* *waits for the signal* *isn't really bothered by the fact that the girls are filming* *heaves up the raft and carries it with the guys until they're all standing in the water* *hears Jonas: "Okay, and now let's let go of it... slooooowly!"* *lowers it together with the others and then lets go of it carefully* *cheers with the guys when it really floats* Well, that's one thing that's working... *then hears Carlos: "We'll start with the ones that weigh the least... David, get up!"*

David: *holds his breath when they lower the raft into the water and exhales in relieve when he realizes that it really floats* *also cheers with the others, but then hears Carlos' words and laughingly shakes his head* Matteo and I surely weigh the same... he's probably even lighter than me... *hears Carlos and Abdi tell him that he shouldn't make such a fuss and that Matteo had to get on after him because they would slowly work their way up and rolls his eyes at their words* *says in an amused tone of voice* Okay –  but it's not my fault if it sinks... *then takes a deep breath and laughs quietly* Okay... *then slowly climbs on the raft* *crawls to the middle and sits down cross-legged* *bobs around a little and grins at the others* You see! It's looking good! Next one!

Matteo: *only laughs when David says that he's lighter* Sure... *sees Jonas grin: "That little charmer..."* *then watches David climb on the raft and hears the girls cheer at the shore when it works* I guess it's my turn... *climbs on the raft and freezes when it sways a little* *but then pulls himself up completely and sits down in front of David* It's working... next one, please... *they climb onto the raft one after the other and it really carries all of them* *then hears the girls laughing on the shore and hears Hanna: "And isn't there something you guys forgot?"*

David: *watches a little amused as one by one everyone carefully climbs on the raft* *at some point spreads his legs and pulls Matteo between them – only so that they save some space and so that they all fit on the raft, of course* *just like the rest of the boys looks at Hanna in confusion when he hears her question and shrugs* *hears Carlos call: "Yeah, right! Beer!"* *laughs and sees Hanna shake her head* *then hears Jonas: "Huh, what do you think we forgot!?" and Mia: "Well, if you wanted to float on the same spot all day long, then everything's alright. But in case you wanted to move, then some oars wouldn't hurt!"* *laughs and looks at the others* Yes, okay, we could have thought of that... *hears Jonas call toward the girls: "Hey, aren't there some oars in those old boats by the jetty? Could one of you go check?"*

Matteo: *didn't mind at all that he had to scoot closer to David, only to save some space, of course* *looks just as confused as the others when no one can think of what they forgot* *then laughs very loudly once they realize what they forgot* *thinks that it's somehow typical* Hey, we'll just use our hands... well, the ones sitting on the edge... *sees Carlos shake his head: "Yeah, no, of course."* *but then sees Kiki go and really return with two old oars* *sees her walk into the water and hand the oars to them* *they all answer in unison: "Thanks, Kiki!"* *sees Carlos and Alex take one oar each and then the raft starts to move* *leans a little more against David and whispers* Somehow I have a bad feeling...

David: *is happy when Kiki really manages to find two oars and even more so when they really start moving* *wraps his arms around Matteo when he leans more against him and grins at his words* *kisses him on the cheek and quietly whispers into his ear* I'll watch out for you should we sink... *hears Carlos groaning: "Hey, that's totally exhausting!" and Jonas: "Hey, Dude, don't be such a baby! Let me!"* *feels the raft sway dangerously and sees some water splash over when Jonas and Carlos switch places but then it calms down again when Jonas starts to row* *they manage to move forward only slowly but they still move quite the distance from the jetty* *eventually hears Carlos: "Hey, Brudis, we really should have brought beer..." and Abdi: "Digga, it's not even 12..." and Carlos again: "So what? A refreshment wouldn't hurt right now – it’s going to be really hot today!"* *sees Jonas grin: "Refreshment? There you go!" and laughs when he sees Jonas splash quite a lot of water toward Carlos* *also gets splashed with some of it and really finds it quite refreshing* *hears Carlos splutter: "Whoa, Jonas, dude, are you ret... umm, stupid?!"* *has already pulled up his eyebrows when Carlos started talking, but then smiles in relief and a little with pride that he managed to turn his sentence around* *hears Jonas laugh and nudges Carlos' side* Hey, come on, it's really refreshing... we should all jump in...

Matteo: *grins when David says that he'll watch out for him* Well I’m really glad... *holds onto David's legs when the raft sways when Jonas and Carlos switch places* *then laughs when Jonas splashes him with water because it's really a refreshment* *hears Carlos' outburst and tenses up briefly* *but then grins when he says stupid* *hears and sees Carlos shake his head: "Sometimes you're really an idiot! David was right!"* *then hears Alex from behind them: "Right about what?"* *answers for Carlos* That we're all idiots, except Abdi... *hears Alex laugh and ask Abdi: "How did you win that title?"* *sees Abdi shrug: "I haven't annoyed David yet."* *then hears Jonas again: "Okay, so what’s it gonna be, guys, in or not?"* *shrugs* Maybe we should take turns? Someone has to stay with the raft...

David: *grins when Carlos said that he was right and nods at his explanation to Alex and grinningly tilts his head when he hears Abdi's suspicion why that is* Let's put it like that: So far, he hasn't said or done anything idiotic in my presence... *sees Alex look at everyone, lift his eyebrows and hears him ask: "And all the others did?!"* *sees everyone nod and hears Carlos say: "But with Abdi it's also only a matter of time..."* *hears everyone laugh at that and hears Abdi complain* *sees Alex look at him and hears him ask: "And you? Do you also refer to yourself as an idiot or only the others?"* *at first is really shocked about such a direct question, but then smiles because he has to think about the fact that he has acted really idiotic toward Matteo and also a little toward Jonas and says* I'm also one! *then hears Carlos: "And what about Alex?"* *shrugs* So far he isn’t – at least since I've known him... *Carlos: "Then be glad that you've only met him now..." and Abdi: "Hey, I thought I was the only one who wasn't an idiot!" and Jonas: "So the only question that remains is whether Abdi or Alex will be the first one to act idiotic in David's presence..." and Alex: "This conversation is idiotic!"* *laughs and nods* A little... *is quite glad when Jonas changes the topic* *would really like to go into the water and nods* Definitely in! *hears Carlos say to Matteo: "Hey, it's totally windless! It won't float away!"* *shakes Matteo a little and gets ready to stand up* *murmurs* Come on... Carlos is right! *then hears Jonas: "Guys, it feels like it's 40 degrees Celsius! I'm going in!"* *sees him put the oar on the raft and watches as he lets himself fall over into the water* *gets up and causes the raft to sway a little more* *but only grins, takes a small step toward the edge of the raft and then also jumps into the water*

Matteo: *laughs at the conversation about idiots* *is a little surprised when he hears Alex' direct question* *but then thinks that he should actually be used to this level of directness from Alex* *waits to see what David answers to object if he has to* *but then grins when he says that he's also one* *then murmurs at Jonas' question* My guess is Abdi... *grumbles slightly when everyone tells him that they can leave the raft by itself* Okay... but if not, then I want it to be noted that this time, I wasn't the idiot... *waits for David to jump into the water and then scoots to the edge* *doesn't jump but instead lets himself slide into the water* Yeah, okay... that's really better than 40 degrees...

David: *grins at Matteo's murmuring and nudges him slightly* *says very quietly* Hey, give Alex a chance –  I might need his money, after all... *after resurfacing he looks around for the raft and sees that Matteo is now also in the water* *beams and swims toward him* *nods* Definitely better than 40 degrees! *puts his hand on his neck and pulls him closer to kiss him* *then hears two loud splashes and turns around to see that Abdi and Carlos have also made it into the water* *calls toward the raft* Come on, Alex! It's really a nice refreshment! *watches Alex get up and elegantly dive into the lake head-first* *hears Carlos snort: "Show-off!" and grins* *then hears Jonas: "So, guys, now I want to know! Davenzi claim they are the kings at holding their breaths... now I want proof! Who's in?"*

Matteo: *immediately wraps one arm around David when he swims to him and returns his kiss only too gladly* *but then turns so that he's next to him and watches everyone come into the water* *laughs slightly when Carlos calls Alex a show-off* Well, if you know how to... *sees Carlos throw him a contemptuous look and only laughs* *then hears Jonas' statement and has to laugh* *loudly declares* We are! *but is still surprised when everyone wants to join in and sees how they quickly form a circle* *hears Jonas: "Okay, on the count of three everyone dives under... 1, 2... 3!"* *holds his breath and then submerges* *sees Carlos resurface pretty quickly and thinks that now the smoker's lungs will probably show* *then also sees Abdi resurface and unfortunately has to follow suit shortly after him* *sees Carlos and Abdi laughing when he resurfaces and then sees Jonas come up as well* *hears Jonas say with a grin: "King my ass!"* *shrugs one shoulder* One king is still down there... *then hears Carlos note: "Yeah the ones without smoker's lungs are still down there..."*

David: *laughs at Jonas' challenge and nods at Matteo's words* Of course we're in! *grins and looks at the others to see who wants to participate* *waits for Jonas to count to three, takes a deep breath and submerges together with the others* *at first has his eyes open and at first looks at Matteo, because that's actually their thing and he doesn't care that the others are also participating* *from the corner of his eyes he sees Carlos resurface after a while and closes his eyes when he sees Abdi following* *opens them again when he realizes that he won't be able to hold his breath for much longer and sees that only Alex is still under water with him* *tilts his head slightly and grins a little* *then realizes that he really can't hold it for much longer, but plans to still count to ten before giving up* *sees Alex resurface by the time he counted to 5 and can only manage to count to 7 before he has to give up* *is received by everyone once he has resurfaced, gasps for air and can hear Carlos first: "Dude, that might have been record-breaking! We should have timed it!" and Abdi: "First of all, we should stop smoking!"* *laughs quietly and pushes the wet hair off his forehead* *feels Jonas clap his shoulder: "Brudi, you're our king!"* *shakes his head and says a little breathlessly* Maybe at diving... but you're all better when it comes to swimming – I'm out of practice when it comes to that!

Matteo: *considers if he would be able to kick Alex without getting punched for it* *but then sees Alex already come up and cheers when David follows a moment later* *grins at him widely* *lets the guys celebrate him first and then nudges him a little* *smiles a little wickedly and then says* Rematch! *pulls David closer when he hears Abdi: "Dude, no, I can't do it again... I'll swim for a while."* *hears Jonas laughing: "No, guys, I think we're all out here... they've switched into couple mode."* *doesn't care right now what the others are doing* *is only looking at David* On three... 1, 2, 3... *submerges with him and keeps his eyes open* *looks at him for maybe two seconds before he pulls him closer and kisses him*

David: *grins at Matteo's words, tilts his head a little and murmurs* Okay... *puts his arm around Matteo's waist when he pulls him closer and looks at him* *somehow tunes out the others and barely notices Jonas saying that the others are all out* *is fine with that* *smiles at Matteo's look and they simultaneously take a deep breath before submerging together* *immediately pulls him closer once they are under water, returns his gaze and leans toward him* *closes his eyes when they kiss and tries to move against the buoyancy with one hand and his legs while his other hand is holding Matteo close to him* *once again feels like it's only them and that only they are important and that nothing else matters as long as they have each other and quietly sighs into the kiss* *but realizes that he loses some valuable air because of it and he has to resurface again* *puts his other arm around Matteo as well and pulls him up with him without releasing the kiss* *only briefly gasps for air once they are on the surface again and then searches for his lips once more*

Matteo: *gasps for air at the same time David does and immediately kisses him again* *wraps his arms around him a little tighter* *but then has to let go of him so that he doesn't sink* *but grins at him broadly* I won... *then looks around for the other guys and sees that they are swimming some distance away* Do you think they'll notice if we just disappear... to somewhere where no one is around? *they basically didn't have a minute to themselves today*

David: *grumbles when Matteo lets go of him but then laughs when he hears his words* *nods and says in an amused tone of voice* Yes – you're the best! *pulls him a little closer again while Matteo looks around so that he won’t even think about swimming away from him* *but then hears his question, smiles pretty widely and also looks around* *it's quite the distance to the shore – they probably wouldn't be able to make it unnoticed – but once they’d reach the shore it would be quite the distance from the jetty and not really visible from the lake* *grins slightly* The question is whether it bothers us if they notice... I guess we won't make it to the shore unseen... *laughs quietly* Or do you have a good excuse? That we have to pee and don't want to pollute the lake or something like that?!

Matteo: *looks around as well and sees that it's pretty far to the shore no matter what direction* *grumbles a little* *then shrugs one shoulder* It wouldn't really bother me... *then laughs* The truth? *pulls him with him toward the closest shore* If someone asks, we'll just tell them that we want to have sex without being interrupted... let's see if it works...

David: *grins when Matteo says that it wouldn't bother him and also shrugs one shoulder* Me neither. With me, everyone always thinks that I'm a bad influence, anyways... *laughs* Okay... *let's Matteo pull him with him for a while, but then swims toward the shore by himself – after all, he has to practice some more to defeat Carlos at the end of their holiday* *after only a few strokes he hears Abdi: "Hey Brudis! Where are you going?"* *turns around and sees that Abdi is about to follow them* *looks at Matteo* Well, then, give them the truth... *laughs quietly and shakes his head* I'm not yelling that across the entire lake...

Matteo: *swims next to David toward the shore* *thinks that they really might make it unnoticed when he hears Abdi* *laughs slightly and tells David* What? Do you think I wouldn't do it? *stops and turns around so that he can see Abdi* *but then only yells back* We're swimming to the shore! *hears Abdi: "Hang on, I'll come with you!"* *shakes his head with a laugh and then really yells* Better not, we want to have sex! *hears Jonas and Carlos burst out laughing and sees Abdi look a little befuddled* *sees him stop and waves to him before turning around again* *grins at David* Okay, let's keep moving... *continues to swim*

David: *shrugs in amusement at Matteo's question but then laughs* I wouldn't put it past you... *blushes slightly when Matte really yells over the entire lake that they want to have sex and Carlos and Jonas burst out laughing* *sees Matteo grin and can't help but grin as well* You're really impossible, Florenzi! *but then also continues to swim toward the shore* *is really exhausted when they finally reach it, because it had really been quite the distance, but still trudges up the bank and takes a look around* *notices that they've really picked a good spot because behind the bank he can see a small meadow at a clearing surrounded by trees and shrubbery* *grins slightly at Matteo and jokingly says* Okay, you'll quickly go to the tent to get the condoms and I'll wait here... *plops down on the grass and looks up at Matteo*

Matteo: *laughs and would shrug one shoulder if he weren't swimming right now* Honesty is one of my biggest strengths! *is super exhausted when they finally reach the shore and trudges after David* *then hears David's words and groans loudly* Fuck, nooo! *sees that David has already laid down and shakes his head* No way, you're the one that's Mr. advanced PE! *lays down on his back next to him with his limbs splayed out* You go get them!

David: *laughs quietly when Matteo groans loudly and then also realizes that they don't have anything with them and looks over at him when he lies down next to him* *holds his hand out to him and entwines their fingers* *is too exhausted from swimming to scoot closer* *shakes his head* Nah... when it's 35 degrees or more I deny having been in advanced PE... *remains lying there in silence with Matteo for a while to get some strength back* *eventually sighs, jolts up, scoots over to Matteo and straddles him* *leans down to him, pushes a strand of hair off his forehead and grins* Okay, ready to have some fun even without condoms or did the swimming exhaust you so much that you have to take a nap first? *tenderly touches the skin under Matteo's binder with his fingers*

Matteo: *immediately grabs his hand as well and lets his thumb run over David's palm* Yes, okay, I'll accept that... *then they are both quiet for a while and he thinks that this is also quite nice* *just the two of them here* *then looks up in surprise when David jolts up* *wonders if he wants to go to the tent, after all, and even wants to stop him* *then grins when he straddles him and looks up at him* *tilts his head at his question and grins* *shakes his head a little reproachfully and reaches a hand out to pull him down by his neck* Let me think about it really hard... *then pulls him into a kiss*

David: *grins slightly when Matteo pulls him down and immediately returns the kiss* *deepens it after a while and then murmurs against Matteo's lips* Feels like you've decided against a nap... *then kisses him again and presses closer to him*

*spends a large part of the afternoon with Matteo at the clearing "having fun" and enjoys the quiet and being close to him* *when they eventually decide to join the others again they have to realize that the raft and the others have already left the lake* *so they make their way back to the tent on foot, along the shore and through the heat so that they can finally take off their already dry swim binders, and once they have arrived at the tent they realize that it's already a little after 5 and that the sky is already a little overcast* *glances up and smiles slightly* A thunderstorm would be nice today...

(next play)

[ratedbangtann]

✧˚₊‧ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 - 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ✧˚₊‧  𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖, 𝘽𝙖𝙗𝙮... || 𝙅𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙤𝙠

𝙽𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝... Pairing: Hoseok x reader Word count: 6.2K Warnings: Explicit smut; role play, spanking, degradation, pain kink, teasing, orgasm denial, throat fucking, cunnilingus, unprotected sex, creampie.

Song: Santa Baby by Kylie Minogue ✧˚₊‧

"Hand me those lights, babe," you called to Hoseok, who was rummaging through the boxes of decorations you had dragged out of the attic. He pulled the wire out, tangling it around himself in a ridiculously hap-hazard way. He took one step towards you before he stumbled, cursing at the wires that betrayed him.

"Damnit!" he muttered, saving himself from tumbling to the floor somehow. You giggled at him, and even harder when he looked over to scowl at you. He dumped them to the floor at your feet, moving to plug them into the wall just behind the large tree the pair of you had picked out together.

They lit up in a mess of wire and light, but somehow it was definitely easier to untangle now.

"Where did you get all this junk, anyway?" Hoseok asked, wrapping the wire around his elbow to organise the lights while you strung them neatly over the tree branches.

"My parents wanted to redecorate, said we could have all their old Christmas stuff when they moved in June," you explained, "So now that we have our own place, it seemed like a waste to say no."

Hoseok smiled at that, a sense of pride settling over him.

You and Hoseok had moved in together in October, finally having a space for the two of you to call your own. He'd been nervous to leave the dorm at first, conscious that he didn't want relationships with the boys to dwindle. It had taken a while, but eventually the two of you found yourselves a lavish apartment just two blocks away from the dorm building. The boys were always visiting the pair of you anyway, and you them.

It was as if nothing had changed, but after dating Hobi for three years they had encouraged you both to find a home for yourselves. It was quite sweet, really; the way they supported your relationship gave Hoseok the reassurance that they honestly didn't mind him starting a new chapter in his life.

"You're happy here, right?" he asked, watching as you stretched on your toes to reach just the middle of the grandest tree you'd ever seen in your life. You turned to look at him, confused.

"Of course, I am. Why...aren't you?" you panicked. Oh god, was he about to tell you he wanted to move back in with the boys?

"Yes, YES! Of course, I am yeah. I just know this place is like... big. I don't know," he mumbled, smiling to himself.

"Well, you did pick a ridiculously large apartment with ceilings I'll never reach to get the cobwebs down, but I adore it Hobi. It's ours." You grinned at him, grateful for everything he'd done for you.

Of course, Hobi had picked one of the biggest apartments he could find; that was in his nature. He wanted to give you the best, spend all his damn earnings on you. It made you uncomfortable sometimes, just a little too much money for someone who had a desk job and grew up on next-to-nothing. He just couldn't help himself, spoiling his little princess at every chance he got.

And the reason he never minded, was because he simply knew you weren't milking him for every penny. You never expected anything, still paid for meals out and refused to let him, still bought him little gifts here and there like he did for you. Granted you weren't earning the millions he was, but you didn't believe he should pay for everything just because he made the most.

"Just wanted the best for my princess," he grinned, stepping towards you to place a kiss to your forehead. "And who knows, maybe one day we'll fill it with little versions of ourselves running about and wrecking the place," he wiggled his eyebrows at you.

You loved that he saw that kind of future with you; it made your heart do little backflips you didn't know it was capable of.

"Yeah? How many are you thinking?" you pressed.

"Hmmm..." he thought hard, "Three boys, two girls, one dog."

"And one poor little mom cleaning up after them all," you laughed, turning back to the tree. "Babe I can't reach, you gotta help."

Immediately he crouched to slot his head between your legs, lifting you to sit on his shoulders so you could reach the branches to finish the lights. You squealed at the surprise, somehow keeping yourself steady as he lifted you off your feet.

You finished the lighting the tree, letting Hobi set you back onto your feet as you both admired your work.

"Beautiful," he mused, wrapping his arms around your waist from behind.

"But we haven't even put the baubles on it yet..." you sunk back into him, letting him hold you as he started to sway slowly from side to side.

"Wasn't talking about the tree," he mumbled in your ear, pressing a kiss to the spot just underneath. You chuckled at that; ever the charmer. You clapped your hands over his, pushing them away and skipping towards the boxes full of decorations.

"Come on, lots to do!" you sang, digging around for the red and gold baubles your parents had handed down to you. Hoseok joined you, looking through the other box to see what else was there.

"Oooh, cool!" Hobi said to himself, pulling out a Santa's hat with a big white fluffy beard. Immediately he put them on, attaching the elastic around his head and setting the hat on top of his untouched hair. "Ho, ho, ho!" he bellowed, rubbing his tummy in a ridiculous impression of the jolly fat man.

He kept them on as you worked, again having to lift you to place the baubles on the very tops of the tree, including the large gold star.

"Perfect!" you chimed as he put you down. "See, not all just junk!" You elbowed his tummy playfully.

"Suppose not," he smirked under the beard. "No, really... It looks beautiful. Our first Christmas in our own place," he turned to face you, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you flush against him, placed a rather fluffy kiss to your lips.

"Promise you won't grow a beard, Hobi..." you laughed, pulling a strand of white synthetic hair out of your mouth.

"Not even when I'm old?"

"Nope," you laughed.

"Fine," he huffed. "Have you done your shopping yet?" he asked, fully aware he hadn't even started his just two weeks before the big day.

"Most of it, just gotta get something for Namjoon and Taehyung. But I have ideas anyway. Have you?"

"Haven't even started..." he admitted.

"Hobi! You don't have much time left!" you scolded. By now, ordering online was just far too risky.

"I know, I know... I'll go soon, I promise. I just don't know what to get everyone..." he waved his hand in the air dismissively. "What do you want for Christmas, babe?"

"Ooh, now there's a question..." you pressed your finger to your chin, pretending to think hard. "Don't care. Got you," you shrugged.

"Baby, you can have me whenever you want," he whispered seductively, ducking his head down to plant kisses to the spot under your ear like he had before. "I meant... for Christmas," he continued to kiss your neck, dragging his lips across the skin so gently, goosebumps starting to rise all over.

You were a little blindsided by his sudden change in demeanour, but you couldn't deny his advances and flirty nature. Instead, you thought you'd play on it a little. It was Christmas, after all...

"Santa... I'm just not sure," you said innocently. "I suppose... I'd like a new car?" you joked, your voice feigning innocence.

"Hmmm, you got it baby," he mumbled against your skin, his hands gripping onto your hips. "Anything else?"

"Well, Santa... I've been such a good girl this year, and I'd really, really like a yacht..." your voice turned seductive, letting your head fall back as Hobi continued to work his lips against you. Of course, you were joking. Never in a million years would you actually ask Hobi for a yacht, or a car, but that's not what this was about.

You were teasing him, feeling the way his little kisses turned to open-mouthed ones as you spoke so sexily into his ear. The faux beard he'd adorned felt scratchy against your skin but for the mean time, you didn't mind it.

Hobi's hands slid down to your ass, cupping the cheeks through your comfy leggings you'd worn simply to stay comfortable when decorating. He gave you a squeeze, biting his teeth down lightly onto your neck.

"I'll see what I can do, princess. Anything else?" he growled, potentially arousing himself more so than he was arousing you.

"Diamonds would be nice, but they're so typical, y'know?" you put on a snobby British accent, turning your nose up at the idea. "I prefer sapphires, maybe beautiful red rubies to match your hat, Santa..." you flicked the white ball of fluff at the end of the hat, sending it bounding around his head.

"You have expensive taste, my love," he chuckled lowly, his voice dropping to a much sexier octave than usual. You knew that voice; if you were to press your hips a little closer to his, you were sure you'd feel the stirrings of an erection in his sweats.

"See, I never used to Santa... But I met a man who spoils me rotten, and well, I've developed a taste for it..." you teased.

"A man, hm? So, you don't just belong to Santa anymore?" he questioned, squeezing your ass once again.

"Well I'm always going to be your princess, Santa baby, but... I just love the way he makes me feel. His lips are just... heavenly," you gasped, eyes closing as he dipped down to your collar bone, exposed by the vest top you'd worn today.

"Tell me more, princess," he snarled against your skin.

"And his tongue, Santa... His tongue works magic, I swear..." you flattered, obviously talking about Hoseok himself.

"Is there anything more magic than Santa Claus and his flying sleigh though, princess?" He lifted his head, looking down at you with hooded eyes.

"I couldn't possibly tell you, Santa..." you gave him a coy smile, winking at him, "There's something else that might just be a little more magical, but... It's not exactly decent." You blushed furiously but kept up the pretence that you were still this confident, classy woman.

"Princess, tell me..." he pressed one of his hands to your check, stroking the flushed skin and staring down into your eyes.

"Santa..." you cooed, nuzzling into his palm sweetly. "It's his cock, Santa. So magical. He's made me see stars, made me cry with pleasure. I can't describe it!" you confessed.

You watched his eyes widen momentarily, and then his lips spread into the widest grin he could possibly muster.

"You must have forgotten about Santa's cock then, huh baby?" he teased, closing the space between you as he pressed himself against your hip. "It's not true what they say, you know..." he raised an eyebrow at you.

"What's that, Santa?" He smirked, craning his neck around to whisper into your ear.

"I don't just come once a year..."

Before you had a chance to speak, to say anything at all or even react, he tucked an arm under your knees and one around your back and lifted you bridal style. You squealed, flinging your arms around your neck to keep from falling; not that it would have mattered, Hobi had you safely tucked into him.

He carried you through the hall, all whilst you were pulling on the elasticated beard to reveal his lips to you so you could attack them fiercely with your own. He struggled to walk in a straight line when you kissed him, falling up against the walls to keep upright now that his concentration was solely on your lips, eyes fluttering closed at the feeling they gave him.

Eventually he made it to your bedroom, kicking the door open and rushing in to drop you against the bed and immediately crawl over you to reconnect your desperate lips together. You whined into his kiss, pulling him down to you by the t-shirt he was wearing.

Suddenly he pushed off you though, standing up at the foot of your bed and looking down at you, pulling the false beard back over his mouth and folding his arms over his chest.

"Sweetheart, I think you've been quite naughty, don't you? With whoever this man is?" he scorned, eyebrows creasing his forehead. You nodded, giving him the sweetest puppy dog eyes. "Then do you need a punishment, sweetie?"

"Santa..." you whined, squeezing your thighs together for the friction you had begun to crave.

"I think you do, baby. Strip for me. Right now," he demanded. You did as you were told, pulling your vest top over your head, unclipping the strap to your bra and letting it ping off your shoulders. He ogled at you, watching you push your leggings down your thighs slowly with your underwear all in one, stripping yourself right down in front of him.

"Perfect, princess. On your stomach, sweetie. Like a good little girl," he rolled his finger in the motion he wanted you to follow and you obeyed without a word, flipping over onto your stomach to show off the gorgeous curve of your back, cascading down over your ass; the ass he loved so much.

He didn't say a word, but you felt the bed dip down just beside your thigh, his knee digging into the mattress. His strong hand rest at the base of your neck, dragging down your spine just to tease, just to make you feel his presence, until he reached the curve of your back where the base of your spine met your ass.

With just that one hand, he kneaded the flesh of your cheek like bread dough, watching as it jiggled and sprung back into place each time he moved.

Hoseok had always been an ass man, but when he'd met you his obsession only grew; he loved your ass more than any other part of you, always finding some excuse to touch it, tap it, spank it, stroke it... He loved how full it felt in his palm, loved how it jiggled and bounced.

"Naughty little girls need to learn a lesson, hmm?" he asked rhetorically. You nodded, your cheek flush against the sheets. "Do you know how, princess?"

You did. You knew exactly what was coming and you couldn't wait – the anticipation alone had heat pooling between your legs. You squirmed against the mattress, raising your ass off it slightly to meet his hand as he let his touch barely linger on the skin. You used that as your answer.

"That's right, baby. Naughty little girls get a spanking," he affirmed, before bringing his large hand down to your ass in the most gratifying of slaps, the sound echoing off the tall ceiling. You whimpered, feeling the burn in your flesh and wiggling your hips to do anything to take your mind off the sting. But he pressed his free hand to the base of your spine, holding you down.

He waited for the sting to subside until you could only just feel it, before landing another harsh slap to the exact same spot, reigniting the fire on your skin. You cried out, this time biting down on your finger to distract yourself as you couldn't move your hips.

"Hmm, such a nice little red print forming there, baby. All marked up," he praised, rubbing the flesh to soothe the burn but honestly, nothing helped. Despite the pain, you willed him to continue. You got such a fucking rush from pain, as did Hobi. He loved to give it, loved to receive it and lucky for him, your tastes were very much the same.

He raised his hand again and you tensed, anticipating the third spank that you knew was coming. Hobi could feel you pushing against his weight, trying so desperately to raise your ass in the air for him but his grip was too strong.

Another slap to the reddened spot on your cheek had you crying out louder than before, hot tears prickling your eyes as your teeth sank into your finger. Again, he rubbed the skin, soothing the area but this time letting his hand wander, sliding down between your cheeks to swipe over your glistening folds. Your breath caught in your throat as he touched you, his middle finger dipping between to tease your hole without ever pushing far enough in like you wished he would.

You mewled at him, begging him to feel more but he ignored you, instead delivering a quick and harsh slap to your wetness that had you lurching forward onto the bed, the familiar stinging sensation now encapsulating your heat. Naturally you spread your legs a little more for him, giving him the room to dip his finger into you again, this time dipping it into your entrance just up to the first knuckle.

You couldn't help the moan that tumbled out of your mouth, your walls clenching around the slightest intrusion. Hoseok had already wound you up so much, but his teasing was always this way; unrelenting.

With another quick motion he had drawn his finger out of you and brought his hand down far enough to slap against your clit brutally. At that your entire body caught fire, shockwaves burning through your nerves all the way down to your toes. Hoseok had trouble keeping you pushed into the mattress then, but he smirked to himself watching how your body reacted to him.

"How does it feel, princess?" he asked with sarcasm dripping from every syllable. You knew if you told him it hurt, he wouldn't be satisfied. If you complained and cried, he'd only keep going until he heard what he wanted to hear from your lips.

"G-good... Thank you, um..." you weren't sure what to call him in this situation. Of course, with the beard and the hat and the foreplay leading to this moment you had addressed him as Santa, but... did he want you to keep doing that? Was that weird? You weren't sure, simply stuttering self-consciously.

"Santa, y/n. Don't forget that, hmm?" Oh, so he wanted you to refer to him as Santa? So be it...

"Thank you, Santa. Feels good," you repeated, using the name he'd chosen for today's roleplay.

"Of course it does, baby. Naughty little girls always enjoy their punishments a little too much, don't they?" You nodded impatiently, just hoping you'd given him what he wanted. But instead, he landed another ridiculously loud and harsh slap, this time back to your reddened ass cheek.

"OW!" you cried out, tears now spilling down your checks as he again, soothed the burning spot.

"You took that so well, Princess. Santa's proud of you; such a good girl, hmm?" he praised, leaning down to whisper into your ear, the beard tickling your neck. "You just needed to be reminded who you belonged to, hmm?"

He shifted his hand down again, spreading your pussy lips apart to dive his middle finger back into you, completely up to the knuckle. You cried out, feeling him curl it inside you. Your walls clenched again, attempting to feel everything but one finger still just wasn't enough to quench the thirst you had built up.

"You're so needy, hmm? It's almost as if one finger isn't enough..." he mocked. He knew exactly what he was doing, an expert in teasing. "Didn't you say that this other man's tongue was magical, sweetie?" he asked, getting off on the fact that it was in fact him that you had been bragging about... to him.

"Y-yes, Santa... So magical."

"Hmm..." he contemplated, dragging his finger out of you and shifting, straddling your legs and dipping his head down to clamp his teeth around the curve of your ass, exactly where he had spanked you. You cried out at the pain, but good lord it felt good.

With his teeth sunken into the flesh he locked his lips around the skin, sucking harshly on it. He hadn't been satisfied with simply branding you with his handprint, he needed to see your ass turn purple under him too, to make it so uncomfortable to sit down for the next few days that you had to angle your body to sit on your one good cheek.

Satisfied with the splotch he created, he swiped his tongue over it, the coolness of the moisture making you shiver where you lay under him. He left messy, sloppy kisses across your backside, covering your cheek in kisses before he buried his chin between your cheeks, his tongue protruding from his mouth to graze over the puckered rosebud of your ass.

You hadn't expected it, your head shooting up from the bed with a loud gasp as he pushed against you just a little, dragging the wetness down between your cheeks to encircle your hole. He groaned the second he tasted you, never able to hide how much he adored your flavour.

He decided he couldn't get to where he wanted to taste the most, wrapping his hands around your thighs and lifting you until you were elevated by your knees, completely exposed to him. He didn't disconnect his lips for a split second, tongue chasing the taste he craved.

He dived in completely as soon as he was able to, lapping at your already throbbing clit like a man starved, the hair of his faux beard tickling and scratching at you and also becoming coated in your arousal. For some reason Hoseok never pulled the beard down, never moved it away; he was fully into his character, this dominating Father Christmas figure.

Your face was naturally pushed further into the sheets, muffling the moans that dribbled from your mouth as his ferocious attack on your nerves continued. He knew how to work his entire mouth, his lips sucking against you, tongue dancing with your clit, teeth grazing every so often too. After the abuse your pussy had already taken from him with his slaps, everything felt hypersensitive, shaking you to the very depths of your being.

"S-Santa..." you cried out, very aware that if you were to slip and use his name or his usual pet name, you'd be in trouble. You weren't sure your body could take further battering right now, still recovering from just the five heavy-handed spanks you had received previously.

You couldn't hear it, but you felt him chuckle against your heat at the use of his new nickname. He never relented, never held back, simply lapping at your pussy in every way his mouth could. His hands gripped your thighs so tight you could already feel them bruising under his fingertips, adding to the marks he had already given you.

You could feel it; the coil in your abdomen was tightening impossibly with Hoseok pushing his face further into your pelvis. He was getting sloppy, the sounds coming from behind you so god damn vulgar, but every single slurp was excruciatingly arousing. You needed to cum, needed the permission.

"Please, p-please Santa... Can I-" you could barely finish your sentence, Hobi hearing you begging already and immediately straightening up and bringing his face away from your core. He drove a sixth hard slap to your ass, making you yelp as your hips crashed to the mattress in defeat.

"No, not yet. Make me cum, princess. Then you get your reward." He pushed himself up off the bed, standing at the foot again smirking down at your heap of a body, panting and sweating and still so desperate to cum, Hobi lifted his shirt over his head, throwing it to one side and stepping out of his sweats and briefs. He was painfully hard, his tip an angry shade of red to match the ridiculous hat on his head still, precum leaking from the slit.

When you looked back at him, you saw him gripping himself at the base and slowly dragging his fist along his length, pumping ever so slowly a couple of times. Your eyes widened at the sight, tongue darting out to wet your lips as you imagined the taste you knew so well on your tongue once again.

Your crawled up on your hands and knees, turning around to face him and sitting back on your heels. You practically jumped up out of your place though, the contact sending bolts of pain through your ass and up your back. Sitting on your knees was out of the question, unless you leaned forward on your hands. So, that's exactly what you did, backing up so you were ready for Hobi at the edge of the bed, mouth wide open and tongue hanging out the way he liked you.

"Whose tongue is better, baby? Mine, or your mystery man's?" he asked, stepping forward to inch his cock toward your tongue but still teasing you, keeping back just an inch until you answered him.

"Y-yours, Santa," you said sweetly. Hobi smiled under the beard, letting you finally taste him when he took the smallest step forward and let himself touch against your tongue. You could taste the saltiness of his precum, not unpleasant at all but in fact, enticing. Looking up at him through your lashes, you waited to move until he gave you the nod you were waiting for, the same nod he always did when he was in control.

And like clockwork, he nodded his head once.

You lurched forward promptly, taking at least half of his glorified length into your mouth completely engulfing him in wet warmth. He grunted between grit teeth, already feeling sensations that gave him tingles right up through his abs to his chest. He watched you as you bobbed your head, every so often hollowing your cheeks on him and sucking viciously in an attempt to drain him as quickly as possible.

Gently he laced his fingers in your hair, simply to caress at first. But the longer you spent working on his length, the tighter his grip became, until he had enough of being patient. He gripped it tightly at the roots, keeping your head still and elevated as he pushed his hips forward to shove himself snugly into your throat.

The muscles contracted against him, trying to force him out but he held you there. You'd had enough practise to be able to cope with this, diverting your breathing through your nose and ignoring the impending gag reflex that tried to make itself known.

He drew his hips back and pushed in again, hearing the obscene gargling noise of saliva as he forced his way in. He loved it; loved it dirty, loved it messy. Hoseok was a complete freak and it totally matched up to the way you liked it too.

He had begun thrusting his hips into your throat with force, every so often letting you take in a deep breath before he started once again. There was enough trust in your relationship to allow Hobi to use you this way. You were fully aware of the tapping method if it all got too much, but right now you were completely engulfed in the moment with him.

"F-fuck, gonna cum down that pretty little throat of yours, Princess," he groaned, throwing his head back with his hips never slacking. You could only hum in response, sending vibrations shooting through his entire body. Your hum triggered his climax, his balls tightening and dick twitching as cum spurted hot and salty down your throat.

You gagged a little at the foreign liquid, but expertly swallowed it down like he'd trained you to do so.

He let go of your hair, crouching in front of you and pulling the beard down under his chin as he got his breath back. He stroked your cheek gently as he looked into your eyes, checking for sure that you were okay. Satisfied with his answer found in your eyes, he leaned forward to kiss you so deeply. It never bothered him that he could taste himself on your tongue; to tell the truth, he kind of liked it.

"Do you want your reward now, baby?" he asked, pressing his forehead to yours.

"Please," you begged; your voice hoarse from the onslaught you'd just received.

"Of course, baby. Turn around again for me." He stood up again, watching as you turned on shaky arms and legs, revealing yourself to him again. By now your ass was an undeniably shocking shade of red with a large purple splotch in the middle, your pussy completely dripping and the same shade as your ass. You could feel your pulse in your clit, waiting so patiently to be seen to.

Hobi dragged one finger through your folds, teasing like he had before. You whimpered at the contact, your legs shaking beneath you. To save your sanity, Hobi pushed not one, but two fingers into you, stretching your pussy a little more than before and filling you up marginally more so than just one finger would; but it still wasn't enough.

He curled his fingers inside you, tapping the spongey spot that sent an incredible vibration up through your body. Your arms gave way, torso smacking into the sheets while a moan erupted from the depths of your chest. Hobi didn't stop, curling inside you so intensely whilst listening to the sweetest of moans coming from you.

He could feel the stir of arousal below again, somehow finding the stamina to be able to give you exactly what you were craving. You desperately were wishing he could just fuck you, fill you up properly and abuse your pussy, but without being able to look back at him, you had no idea is cock was slowly rising to attention again.

At least, not until you felt the air swish around you as he stood up and removed his fingers from inside you. You look back at him to see him thrusting his coated fingers into his mouth, sucking them clean. You whined at the sight, feeling so empty and yet so turned on that you were growing more and more destitute.

When you felt him pressing his hard-again cock to your entrance, you forced your hips back on him, pussy engulfing half his length at once because you simply couldn't wait. You paid the price, with another harsh slap to the affected area. You cried out, hissing in pain. He still never pulled out though, considering the slap enough discipline for now.

Instead, he pushed slowly into you, until he was completely buried inside you. Finally, you felt full; properly full. He stretched you so perfectly, hitting every damn nerve inside you.

"S-Santa..." you moaned, still immersed in the role play despite the beard no longer on his face and frankly, long forgotten. The hat still remained in place.

"Feel good, princess?" he asked, dragging his cock back out of you agonisingly slowly.

"F-fuck, yes... Please, please just fuck me. I'm begging!" you cried, losing all self-control and frankly self-respect also. Hobi chuckled behind you, gripping onto your hips and thrusting forward with a loud grunt and a slap of his hips against your ass. You felt the burn against it again, but you were getting what you wanted, you couldn't very well complain right now.

Not only did Hobi decide that thrusting into you benefited him just as much as it did you, but he had taken to rolling his hips as he did, in turn hitting new angles that drove you absolutely wild. He'd scrape your g-spot so often you were sure you wouldn't last, especially with all the god damn foreplay and denial he'd given you so far.

Hobi could already feel you clenching around him, gripping onto him with every outward draw. Despite already cumming once, he was quickly losing resolve at the same rapid rate that you were.

"Baby, you gotta tell me when you're gonna cum, okay?" he warned, fingertips digging in even harder to your hips as he fucked into you. That coil you were so familiar with was tightening fast, getting ready to release completely and you weren't sure you were even capable of words right now, simply moaning a response that sounded nothing like words.

Your body started to shake, any and all control fizzling away as your orgasm rushed at you, the spring inside you finally fracturing and splintering. Your back arched like it was down to demons, your lungs spasming as you gasped for breath. Your firsts gripped the sheets as your oncoming scream was muffled by your face being pushed into the mattress by your own doing.

Your walls clamped against Hobi, making it damn near impossible to keep a steady rhythm as he continued to ride you through it. You were dragging him to the edge with you, his second orgasm rupturing something inside him as he called your name into the air, filling you to the brim with his second load. Your body writhed under him as he lost his strength, having to prop himself up on his knee to keep from falling onto you in a heap.

But when your own hips fell flat against the bed, he couldn't keep himself up anymore, collapsing next to you and in turn, pulling out of you and letting his cum spill from between your folds.

You felt completely spent, completely soiled and totally used; and you fucking loved it.

You started to whimper where you lay, reaching a hand out for Hobi to grip onto in order to ground yourself a little.

"B-baby, what's wrong?" he said, breathless. He used whatever strength he had left to pull you limp to rest against him.

"D-didn't... tell you... I-I'm s-sorry," you sobbed, scared he'd be mad at you, even if it were just roleplay.

"Shh, it's okay. You didn't need to, I knew anyway. You were perfect, princess. Just perfect," he placed a kiss to your forehead, lingering to show you the love and aftercare you needed.

You both lay in silence, recovering for a few minutes until you could actually move of your own accord again. The dull burn that lingered on your ass was starting to become sore, and when you did try to move you hissed in pain.

"Wait, let me help. Roll over," he said, sitting up and walking into the en suite bathroom, coming back with a tub of aloe vera gel to sooth the angry redness. He was so careful with you, gently pressing it into your skin. "I'm sorry baby, did I go too far?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice.

"No, Hobi... You know I like it," you giggled sleepily, "and you always take such good care of me after." He smiled at that; god you were perfect. Especially for him. It was like you were made for each other.

Finished with the gel, he screwed the lid back on and tossed it to the side; where it landed, he didn't care. But he scooted up the bed and pulled you with him, laying you on your front against his chest so the two of you could just be close to one another, laziness overcoming you both.

"So, the Santa thing..." he began, realising he was still wearing the damn hat with the beard hanging around his neck. He pulled them both off, dumping them beside the bed.

"Hmmm?" you hummed, practically drifting to sleep already.

"Do you have a thing for Santa, or a thing for me dressed as Santa?" You laughed at that; surely that was an obvious question?

"You, dressed as. The roleplay is fun though... naughty little girl asking Santa for nice gifts that she doesn't deserve until she earns it," you explained, tracing figure of eight patterns on his chest. He nodded in understanding.

"Kinda ruins that childhood myth though," he snickered, wrapping his arms tighter around your waist.

"Hmm, wonder how many more we could ruin..." you contemplated. "Maybe you should dress as the tooth fairy next?"

Hoseok couldn't hold back the snort that came out of him at that, imagining himself in a frilly pink tutu and fairy wings.

"Somehow, I don't think that's gonna happen..."

"I'll get you one day, Jung Hoseok," you promised, yawning against his chest. He grinned at your guarantee and decided not to press the matter. You clearly needed your rest right now, already falling into a snooze laying with him.

Instead he just placed his lips against your forehead, laying still with you until he felt the soft breaths from your parted lips fanning over his exposed chest.

God, you looked prettiest like this. Totally spent, exhausted from Hobi's work. Cheeks pink and ass bright red and purple.

Stunning, he thought to himself. ✧˚₊‧𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬‧₊˚✧ - 𝘍𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦

[unsolvedanon]

Pairing: Shane Madej/Ryan Bergara Rating: M Summary: 4 Times Shane thinks Ryan’s a clairvoyant and 1 time he knows Ryan’s a clairvoyant. 

1. Shane’s done for the day, so he starts to stuff his things in his worn satchel. Ryan hasn’t said anything yet, eyes still screwed to the computer screen in front of him. His lack of attention can be blamed on work since he’s reviewing their latest video, making sure there are no errors before they post it tomorrow.

When Shane’s finally ready he stands, slinging the bag over one shoulder. Casually, he looks around the office, seeing only a few other stragglers. He spares a look in Ryan’s direction and gives Ryan a small smile when his friend glances at him.

“Leaving?” Ryan questions, his voice heavy with exhaustion. His face scrunches together as he lets out a yawn, displaying the exhaustion in his voice.

“Yeah,” Shane breathes, pausing at the corner of their desks. “Don’t stay up too late. We’ve got to record tomorrow and the post-mortem might be off-putting if you look like one of the corpses in the case.”

Ryan laughs softly at the joke, shaking his head as he returns to his computer. The sound of Ryan’s laugh alone gets Shane grinning, but he turns and heads for the exit when Ryan’s voice reaches his ears again.

“Oh, bring an umbrella tomorrow. It’s going to rain.” Ryan says this so dismissively, still working away at his computer, that Shane simply nods and heads out of the building.

He drives back to his apartment, showers, and hops into bed. Like most nights he gets distracted by news article after news article, but his head starts to spin so he starts to browse social media.

It’s nearing midnight when Shane recalls Ryan’s last words. Shane decides to check the weather with a small hum, only to narrow his eyes when he sees the precipitation…

0% chance.

The idea of Ryan recommending an umbrella his now humorous. The kind of joke that can only be funny when one is sleep deprived.

So Shane falls back against his pillow, shaking his head and finally closes his eyes. He’ll be sure to tease Ryan about it tomorrow when the sun is shining brightly in the sky.

-

Shane woke up, like any other morning. Shane brushed his teeth, then toasted a bagel and slathered butter on it as he started to gather his things. He gathered his satchel, sliding that over one shoulder, then placed a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose and made for the door.

He didn’t even bother glimpsing at the umbrella as he passed it, although he smirked at the prospect of ribbing Ryan.

The morning breeze was light against Shane’s skin and he could see the clouds receding as the sun climbed higher in the sky. He threw himself into the driver’s seat, then tosses his bag in the passenger’s side.

Shane started the engine, pulled out onto the road, and headed to work. Just like any other morning.

The drive was nice, with minimal traffic. The drive was so nice, in fact, that Shane found himself still smiling as he pulled into the parking lot.

He turned the music down when he parked the car and proceeded with skimming through his phone for a few minutes before entering. He was early, after all, thanks to the lack of busy roads.

That’s when Shane hears it.

The undeniable smack of water against windshield. The sound is so shocking that Shane’s head snaps up just in time to see a second water droplet smack against his window.

“No… fucking… way,” Shane breathes out as he leans in close to peer up at the sky.

As if by magic, the sun has been swallowed by dark, threatening clouds that are slowly crawling closer and closer.

And all Shane has to do is blink before harsh, quarter sized raindrops start to smack down upon his vehicle. The rain is so thick, cascading down the glass, that Shane can only make out shapes of other cars in the parking lot.

Being early suddenly holds no merit now that he’s due inside in five minutes and his walk is at least exactly that.

A frustrated noise leaves Shane as he stares at the offending rain. He barely has time to think about how Ryan was right because he clutches onto to his satchel and throws his door open.

Shane uses his long legs to his advantage and sprints across the parking lot and to the back door of the office. There’s a small twinge of pride coursing through Shane as he pushes the back door open and steps inside at how fast he made it.

It’s still rather early so there are only a few workers milling around, pouring tall cups of coffee and conversing.

Shane doesn’t see Ryan until he reaches the corner where their desks are pushed together.

And it only takes one glimpse for Ryan to start giggling uncontrollably.

“Yeah, yeah,” Shane mumbles irritatedly. “Laugh it up.”

Ryan sits up straighter, pulling his headphones down to rest around his neck. His cheeks have turned pink from laughing, and his eyes see more lively, although still soft and sleepy.

“I told you to bring an umbrella, dude.” Ryan says scoldingly, watching as Shane falls down into his roller chair.

Shane brings one hand up to run through his hair, which he quite liked before he left. Now it’s flatter, weighed down from the rain, with one stray lock hanging in front of his forehead disobediently.

“Yeah, you did.” Shane continues, leaning forward to stare at Ryan challengingly. “But the weather forecast said there was no chance. Who do you think I’m going to believe?”

Ryan rolls his eyes at Shane but doesn’t fail to lose his smile. “I’m sure you’ll listen to me next time.”

“Nah,” Shane shakes his head sarcastically as he logs into his computer. “I’m going to figure out where you get your weather forecast and I’m going to immediately change.”

Ryan’s smile falters for a quick second, something unsure flickering in his gaze, but the emotion is gone so fast that Shane’s unsure if he imagined it. Ryan shrugs away the question and instead starts pestering Shane about gathering some questions for the post-mortem.

Shane completely forgets to ask Ryan about his weather source by the end of the day.

2. Shane had completely forgotten about the “weather incident” for weeks. There was nothing strange about someone being right about the weather… it never once crossed his mind that Ryan had predicted the weather. The easy answer was that Ryan was simply getting his news elsewhere.

But Shane’s suspicions were piqued about two weeks later.

The two were outside, seated in obnoxiously red chairs with their lunches half-eaten. Shane had his shades on, and was taking a long sip of his lemonade.

It was a rare cool summer day so he and Ryan decided to eat their lunches outdoors, and Shane couldn’t think of one reason why it was a bad idea. He was content sitting in the shade with Ryan, eating away at their burgers and the bag of popcorn Ryan decided to cook.

They were rather sated with full stomachs and half of their day being over so they were silent. Sitting in each other’s company was always nice, and Shane often found that Ryan’s presence could calm him down.

So Shane’s studying Ryan from behind his glasses, watching as Ryan scrolls through his phone, chewing on the occasional piece of popcorn he’ll toss into his mouth.

Ryan will snort when a meme pops up and will promptly show Shane whatever it was he thought was funny. Ryan’s humor ranges so much; he’ll show Shane a video of some fluffy animal doing something stupid or will show Shane a video of some guy jumping off a too-high ledge and hurting himself. Shane finds it endearing, how Ryan can be so… happy.

Their lunch is nearly over so Shane packs up his left overs. Ryan places his leftovers on top of Shane’s only smirking when Shane gives him an exasperated look over his glasses. Either way, Shane carries his and Ryan’s leftovers back inside while Ryan carries the bag of popcorn and snacks.

They’re entering the building, headed in one side while others are exiting. That’s when Ryan stops abruptly, so abruptly that Shane crashes into his backside.

Shane’s about to ask what the hell Ryan’s up to when he sees Ryan’s already talking to someone.

A woman, that Shane doesn’t know personally, is looking at Ryan with a friendly smile.

“Hey, congratulations,” Ryan says sweetly, and when she looks confused he leans forward and lowers his voice. “On being pregnant.”

The woman, who Shane’s pretty sure is named June, blinks at Ryan. She’s clearly confused, but eventually just nods slowly and thanks him. Ryan starts walking again, completely unbothered by that awkward reaction, as June leaves with a dazed expression.

When they’re back at their desks, and at a level where Shane won’t have to lean down for Ryan to hear him, Shane speaks up.

“Ryan… you realize how awkward that was, right?” Shane comments as he turns his computer back on.

Ryan waves Shane off dismissively. “Just because you lack any sort of social skills doesn’t mean I do.”

Shane allows the topic to drop, and just like last time, he nearly forgets. Nearly. Up until it’s almost time to leave.

He and Ryan are leaving at the same time tonight and are packing up when the woman from before saddles up next to their desks.

Shane almost expects her to tell Ryan off, say something about him not minding his own business, but then a soft, disbelieving smile crosses her face.

“Ryan… I don’t know how you knew because even I didn’t know but I’m pregnant.” She shakes her head, clearly still in shock. “My boyfriend and I have been trying for three years so I didn’t even think that I could be.”

Ryan’s grinning at her, nodding and allowing her to speak while Shane is… confused.

June composes herself, staring at Ryan with amazed disbelief in her eyes. “It’s just - well. How did you know, Ryan?”

Ryan gives a small shrug, and Shane’s brought back to when he confronted Ryan about the rain. The same dismissive shrug.

“You’re glowing,” Ryan says and accepts a hug when June steps forward. “It’s hard not to see.” He says as he pats her back.

June pulls back, containing so many emotions that Shane’s surprised she didn’t end up crying. She says her goodbye and then exits the building. Shane’s sure she must have plans to celebrate.

Shane’s still confused.

“Wait,” Shane starts as Ryan walks away. “She didn’t know she was pregnant… but you did? How is that-”

Ryan shrugs again. Of course this would be Ryan’s response. Pushing off whatever he’s managed to predict with ease. And it’s really starting to irk Shane.

“Everyone basically knew she was pregnant. She was talking about being late, all that stuff. I just made the leap.” Ryan says as he pushes through the first door, holding it open with the edge of his finger tips for Shane. The sun is setting, casting a soft orange glow against the clouds.

Shane follows, his suspicions still raised. He watches Ryan grab onto the lapels of his backpack and continue forward. Ryan catches Shane’s silence so he peers to his side, finding Shane looking back skeptically.

Ryan laughs, rolling his eyes. “You’re thinking too much.”

“Yeah,” Shane breathes, pushing his confusion to the side. “I guess. Hey, we’re meeting at the airport at four, right?”

Ryan smiles as he reaches his own car. He and Shane just so happen to be parked next to each other. Then again, that’s not uncommon.

“Bright and early!” Ryan cheers as he throws his bags into his car. He then waves at Shane as he slides into his seat. “See you, big guy.”

Shane waves in response but doesn’t say anything because Ryan’s door is already shut. Distantly, he hears Ryan’s engine start, so Shane takes that as his cue to get in his own vehicle.

Shane drives home in a daze, trying to piece together parts of the story but… things simply don’t add up. And Shane prefers when things add up.

Shane drifts off close to midnight. And, when he wakes up, he pushes off Ryan’s predictions off as coincidental. Because what else could they be?

3. It happens again.

And Shane’s not even sure what to say.

They’re headed back from a location and this time Shane’s in the driver’s seat and Ryan’s in the passenger’s seat. The location was fascinating, and the architecture was spooky, but no true evidence by Shane’s standing. Ryan, as always, thought otherwise, but ended up being completely drained from their investigation.

Shane, because he’s a good friend, offered to drive and let Ryan catch a nap on the journey.

They were half an hour into the drive and about to get on the highway when Ryan’s sleepy voice sounds over music they’ve got playing lowly.

“You should take the next exit. There’s going to be traffic.” Ryan comments lazily, nuzzling his head into the makeshift pillow he’s got under him. That makeshift pillow consists of Shane’s corduroy jacket that he left in the backseat.

Shane glimpses at Ryan briefly, giving him an odd look. “And where are you getting this news?”

Ryan mumbles something but it’s lost as he falls asleep pressed into Shane’s coat. There’s part of Shane that’s curious, and he’s tempted to wake Ryan up and ask, but Shane pushes away the sleep-given advice and continues on. He’s not sure he can trust any news given from Ryan when he’s this exhausted.

But Shane learns the hard way that he should have listened to Ryan.

They’re stuck in standstill traffic and haven’t moved in over ten minutes. That alone is frustrating, but the constant honking from other cars is enough to drive Shane mad. They’re not moving! Honking isn’t going to change that fact.

And then Shane only gets more frustrated when he sees Ryan stir. Not only are the asshole drivers surrounding them annoying Shane, they’ve now woken Ryan.

The shorter of the two sits up slowly, allowing Shane’s jacket to fall into his lap. He blearily rubs at his eyes, then leans forward and pushes out his chest as he stretches in the cramped space of the car. Ryan blinks a few more times before looking around at the compiled cars.

“Didn’t I tell you to take a different exit? Or did I dream that?” Ryan croaks as he lays back in his chair. He pulls Shane’s jacket up and uses it as a blanket across his chest. Once he’s content, with his arms hidden underneath the wool, he looks up at Shane with adorable, sleepy confusion on his face.

Shane keeps one hand on the steering wheel and uses the other to run through his hair frustratedly. He motions to the traffic in front of them and purses his lips.

“You sure did tell me. But you were so out of it that you fell asleep while talking to me so I assumed you were just talking in your sleep.” Shane tells him, glimpsing in his rearview mirror.

“Oh,” Ryan says softly, seeing that Shane’s agitated.

“I listened to the radio. Not one station mentioned a traffic jam. Or an accident.” Shane knows his tone is pointed, bitter, but he’s annoyed. He glimpses at Ryan again. “When we stopped I checked my phone and there’s nothing about this traffic jam.”

Ryan doesn’t say anything. He simply stares forward… and then he shrugs.

“No, no, no.” Shane waggles his finger, giving Ryan a narrowed glare. “This is too much coincidence. How do you just know things?”

Ryan swallows, looking down at his laps, no doubt where his hands are hidden under Shane’s coat. “It’s just traffic. Traffic happens.”

“Yes, traffic happens,” Shane continues. He’s on a destructive rampage now and he manages to realize that before he says anything else. His mouth was open, prepared to slew mean accusations at Ryan, but he snaps it shut and turns back to the road. He’s just annoyed and he’s letting his brain run wild. People can’t predict traffic. “Sorry,” Shane breathes, deflating. He shakes his head apologetically. “Traffic’s enough to drive me crazy.”

Ryan takes the apology immediately, turning to smile up at Shane. “How about we get some food after this? My treat.”

Shane huffs out a laugh, the tingling sensation of irritation leaving him. He feels bad now, especially that Ryan’s being so nice to him. “No, I’m paying. Take it as my apology.”

The smile that Ryan gives Shane warms his heart. And only makes him feel worse. How could he let his thoughts drift so far that he almost convinced himself that Ryan could predict the future? It has to be the traffic, he tells himself.

The traffic causes their journey to be an hour longer than planned, but Shane doesn’t mind. He gets to spend extra time with Ryan, who helps him laugh through the mind-numbing traffic jam. Shane can’t even bring himself to be mad when the sun has set and Ryan’s dozed off again.

There’s an odd satisfaction he feels at seeing Ryan covered up with his coat. And an equally as odd satisfaction at how domestic their entire drive is, complete with playful banter, ridiculous jokes, and teasing.

Two hours pass before Shane sees an exit with a many food opportunities, so he gently shakes Ryan open and informs him.

“Great,” Ryan says as he rubs his eyes sleepily. Shane’s jacket falls down to Ryan’s lap, covering Ryan’s lap easily. “I’m starving.”

They pull into a drive thru after finally coming to an agreement, and Shane tries hard not to think about how good Ryan looks in the glow from the restaurants lights.

Ryan decides on french fries and a strawberry milkshake, which Shane makes sure to tease him about. Ryan gets him back, even though he might not realize it, when he takes the cherry off the top and places it on the tip of his tongue. Shane watches, unable to take his eyes away as Ryan wraps his lips around the fruit and plucks the stem off.

Shane swallows, forcing his eyes back on the road. His jabs aren’t so sharp after that, but he still gets a smile thrown his way from Ryan every now and then.

“I’ve got to say, your game is weak tonight,” Ryan teases once they’re back on the highway. He’s referring to Shane’s teasing, since Shane hasn’t been able prod Ryan with anything other than the fact that he’s short.

Shane makes the mistake of glimpsing over, catching Ryan biting onto a fry with a wide, cocky grin. And Ryan’s looking… really good. The light from the dashboard reflects off his skin and lights up his eyes.

Ryan turns back to the road, laughing to himself, so Shane does too, only to glimpse back seconds later with a small smile of his own.

Ryan’s still got Shane’s jacket around him, this time tucked under his arms to keep warm. He’s still got his hat on, but he’s only wearing a long-sleeved shirt. Ryan has since kicked his shoes off to grow more comfortable.

Shane shakes his head as he turns his eyes back to the road, trying his best to stifle his smile. He doesn’t bother coming back with a retort. Shane only turns the music on the radio up, allowing a country ballad to play.

He might feel the urge to reach out and take Ryan’s hand. But he doesn’t.

4. Shane’s most ridiculous theory seems to be answered when he and Ryan meet up with a local witch in central Pennsylvania She’s visited their haunted site multiple times, has even done a few rituals in the heavy woods, so Ryan thought it’d be a great idea to interview her.

They pulled into the gravel parking lot and met her at the edge of the forest. They sat up the cameras, having a bit of small talk between getting ready.

Finally, Shane and Ryan stand opposite her, waiting patiently for the okay to begin.

But then the woman gains a small smirk. Her icy blue eyes shine as she tilts her head to the side and inspects Ryan.

A flare of protectiveness courses through Shane, but he pushes it back when the woman glimpses at him. Her eyes are all too knowing so Shane feels his shoulders shrink down. He hadn’t realized how much he had puffed himself up.

Her eyes are back on Ryan in a flash, gesturing to him with her chin. “I didn’t realize I wasn’t the only one with some insight around here.”

Ryan gives her a sideways smile, pausing for a moment to give some instructions to those off camera. He then turns back to her, laughing.

“Tell me about it. I’m the only one with some sense in this group.” Ryan jokes, then returns to giving some instructions.

Both Shane and Rilah, the self-proclaimed witch, know that’s not what she means. But Shane doesn’t say anything. He simply watches and allows the situation to unfold.

“That’s actually not what I meant,” Rilah chuckles. She waves her hand at Ryan when he looks at her confusedly. Eventually, she realizes he has no idea what she’s talking about and lets out a light laugh. “Ryan… you’re clairvoyant.”

Ryan’s eyes go wide, in a way that Shane’s seen hundreds of times before. There’s a second where he takes in her words, then a smile breaks out on his face and he laughs dryly. He waves his hand at her and then Shane.

“Ha-ha,” Ryan deadpans as he looks up at Shane good-naturedly. “Funny joke.”

Shane’s eyes never leave Ryan as he shakes his head once, minutely. He’s trying to tell Ryan that no, he’s not part of this. If this is a joke. But something tells Shane that it isn’t.

Ryan stares back, the amused tilt of his brows softening into confusion. He stares back until they announce they’re rolling, which is only a few seconds later.

Shane’s impressed with how Ryan slips a smile onto his features and proceeds with the interview as if nothing happened. Even Shane finds it hard, since he can’t take his eyes off Ryan; watching the way Ryan’s hands move, watching the way that Ryan’s lips form each syllable.

The team shouts “cut” and Ryan’s shoulders deflate immediately. He doesn’t spare Rilah or Shane a look as he throws his thumb over his shoulder and excuses himself with some lame task.

There’s silence. Then Shane turns back to Rilah.

“You think he’s clairvoyant?” He asks finally, his voice sounding flat to his own ears.

The corner of Rilah’s mouth quirks up and she looks feline in that moment. “I’m guessing you’ve noticed too.”

Shane’s eyes dip as he thinks back to some odd coincidences. Or… not coincidences, he supposes. “He seems to know what’s going to happen before it happens. Maybe it’s small things but they’re things no one else could have possibly known.”

Shane’s nodding, then peers over his shoulder to where Ryan stands. He’s talking to one of the camera operators and it appears that they’re watching the footage back. Ryan’s got his arms crossed over himself, nodding and listening.

“I’ll talk to him.” Shane decides, turning back to Rilah. He gives a forced smile but she returns a genuine one as she reaches out. They shake hands and Shane makes sure to thank her for the interview before heading back to Ryan’s side.

He hovers over Ryan’s shoulder, deciding to sit back and listen. He’ll wait for the proper cue until he brings up Rilah’s conclusion, although… Shane has no idea what kind of cue he’ll be waiting for. Maybe when he can get Ryan to smile again, when Ryan’s not so guarded.

+1. It’s the next night and Ryan and Shane are trudging through the woods with cameras strapped to their chests and a few extra devices held in their hands.

The air is chilly so they’re both dressed in heavier jackets with layers underneath. The jacket Shane’s wearing is the one Ryan had used as a blanket weeks ago, and it amazingly still smells like Ryan.

They’ve been bantering back and forth, exaggerating some of it for the cameras. Some of the banter, Shane knows, is also to keep Ryan grounded. He’s been off ever since Rilah uttered the word clairvoyant.

Shane’s been trying to hold back his selfish curiosity. He’s been wanting to ask Ryan questions; when could he start predicting things? does he see visions of the future or is it simply an uncontrollable feeling? can he see large events or only things pertaining his own self?

“Shane.” Ryan’s voice pulls Shane out of his line of thought.

First, Shane stops abruptly on the path, which only causes Ryan to crash into his back.

“Shane,” Ryan complains as he takes a step back. Shane smirks to himself as he turns around, trying to ignore how Ryan’s complaint came out like a whine.

Shane keeps his camera pointed in Ryan’s direction, smiling as he watches Ryan through the device’s screen. “Yes?” Shane purrs teasingly.

Ryan rolls his eyes, but Shane can tell he’s anxious about something. Probably the fact that they’re out in the middle of the woods. At night time.

“No reason to turn into Tigger,” Ryan jokes as he starts rummaging through his pockets for something.

A grin breaks through on Shane’s face at the comparison. He laughs joyfully as Ryan gives up on finding whatever it was he was looking for.

“Look, just stay close, okay? I think my flashlight is going to die and there’s no way in hell I’m getting lost in the middle of the woods.” Ryan then waves his light forward, motioning for Shane to go.

Shane rolls his eyes but turns back around and continues walking.

“You’re actually more like Rabbit,” Ryan teases as they go along.

Shane glimpses over his shoulder, smirking at Ryan. “Does this make you Pooh?”

Ryan barks out a laugh, shaking his head. “Shut up, Shane.”

“Hey, you’d look good in a short red t-shirt.” Shane knows the comment is further than they normally go, especially on camera, but he can’t help himself. And he’s glad he went with the joke when he hears Ryan laugh.

Shane trails forward, enjoying the warmth he gets whenever he makes Ryan laugh. He’s not really thinking as he goes along, turning the camera back and forth to scan the woods. While the woods are a terrifying place to be after dark, Shane has to say these are the least scariest woods he’s even been in.

That is until a hand grabs the collar of his jacket and yanks back. The force is so strong that Shane goes stumbling back, and falls right between the legs of whoever his assailant.

Or… savior, Shane realizes as a giant branch comes crashing down a few feet ahead of him. Right where he would have been standing if had not been yanked back.

Shane blinks.

“I told you to stay close!” Ryan’s voice is high with panic. Shane distantly realizes that Ryan’s slapping his shoulder, but his layers are thick enough that Shane barely feels anything.

Then Ryan’s curling all of his limbs around Shane and squeezes with all his might. Shane’s still in a daze when he feels Ryan’s face pressed against his neck and realizes that… Ryan’s cheeks are wet.

“Ry…” Shane allows his hands to fall down to Ryan’s knees considering Ryan’s legs are still wrapped around him. Their rumps are pressed into the dirt and their jeans are only getting wet the longer they sit.

Ryan squeezes harder, to the point Shane’s finding it hard to breathe. So Shane casually brings a hand up to wrap around Ryan’s wrist and tugs gently.

Ryan gets the message and his limbs loosen immediately. Ryan’s warmth is no longer pressed against Shane’s back but his legs remain draped over Shane’s.

There’s a small thump and Shane realizes that Ryan’s lying back on the forest floor, breathing.

“Ry, are you okay?” Shane asks, twisting around so he can inspect Ryan for any injuries. He spots nothing, other than wet cheeks and clumped lashes. Ryan takes a moment to bring a hand up and presses it to his brow. Shane notes that Ryan’s hand is shaking.

A minute passes and Shane figures out that he’s not going to get any response from Ryan, so he stands. Wordlessly, Shane holds out his hands and Ryan takes them with a trembling lip.

Once they’re both on their feet, Shane tugs Ryan into a tight embrace. Ryan doesn’t hesitate to squeeze back, taking handfuls of the back of Shane’s jacket.

“I’m okay,” Shane mumbles against the top of Ryan’s head, keeping his arms tight around Ryan’s frame.

“I told you to stay close,” Ryan’s voice breaks as a sob shakes his frame. He shifts, only get closer to Shane. Shane reciprocates by squeezing him tightly and not arguing.

A minute passes and the five minutes while Shane does nothing but rub Ryan’s back to try and soothe him. Eventually, the chirping crickets become too much.

“Ryan, let’s call it a night.” Shane says this firmly and feels Ryan answer by nodding against his chest.

Shane moves in a blur from there, keeping his arm around Ryan’s shoulder protectively as he guides him out of the forest. It’s harder to see considering they’re working off of Shane’s light only. Ryan stumbles over the occasional twig but Shane keeps him righted.

Luckily, the reach the car quickly and Shane praises his sense of direction. He’s careful as he leads Ryan to the passenger side and helps his partner inside. He even goes as far buckling Ryan in.

Ryan doesn’t say anything when Shane looks at him. He only places his hands over his eyes and tries to regulate his breathing.

After everything they’ve been through, Shane decides not to push. He shuts Ryan’s door gently and jogs to the other side of the car. He tosses himself inside and starts the car. He’d like to get out of there and fast so he doesn’t bother with buckling his seatbelt.

Shane drives in silence, glimpsing at Ryan every now and then to make sure he’s not going to have a complete breakdown. The urge to hold Ryan’s hand returns, but Shane swallows it down and keeps his eyes on the road.

He pulls into the parking lot of the motel Ryan thought would be a fun idea to stay in. The rooms are clean and the sheets are washed daily so Shane hasn’t complained.

He puts the rental car in park once they’re outside of their room. Truthfully, Shane’s got a handful of questions for Ryan, but Ryan’s face is still buried in his hands so he’s not going to press. Not yet.

Shane takes the strap off his chest and turns the camera off. In their haste, he hadn’t remembered to turn off the recording. Ryan follows suit, keeping his eyes purposefully down so as not to look at Shane.

Despite Ryan’s avoidance, Shane can see his eyes are splotchy but tears aren’t falling any longer. He sniffles once, then gives a nod to himself before he pushes the door open and hops out onto the ground.

Shane turns the car off, keeping an eye on Ryan as he exits. Their car doors thump shut and together they walk back to their room. Shane’s the one to pull out the keycard and unlock the door. He then steps aside as he holds the door open, making sure Ryan makes it inside.

The silence rings in Shane’s ears the second the door to the room locks shut. He managed to get them both back but now he finds himself frozen at the doorway while Ryan moves around.

Ryan’s taking his coat off, throwing it onto the table in the corner of the room. His shoes are then kicked off and he falls down onto the bed silently.

Another few minutes pass and Ryan’s barely moved from his position at the corner of his bed. He’s got his head dipped and is staring at his hands as if he’s frozen.

“Ryan,” Shane tries to sound gentle but his voice sounds too loud in the quiet room.

Ryan doesn’t move so Shane moves until he’s sitting next to him, shoulder to shoulder.

“Ryan…” Shane starts again, darting from one corner of the room to the other and then back again. He’s trying to piece together what happened in the woods but the adrenaline is making it fuzzy. “Why did you tell me to stay close?”

That causes Ryan to crack and his bottom lip wavers again. He presses the heel of his hands into his eyes to fight off the tears. Shane watches now, unabashedly, as Ryan takes a steadying breath.

“I knew something was going to happen,” Ryan’s voice shakes as he speaks and he doesn’t take his hands away from his eyes. “I knew you were going to get hurt-”

“I didn’t get hurt.” Shane corrects softly. His eyes fall down to Ryan’s mouth when he sees Ryan suck his lips in to stop them from shaking. “You made sure of that.”

Ryan doesn’t say anything else. He cries silently, up until Shane pulls him back into his side. That’s the only invitation Ryan needs to wrap his arms around Shane’s neck and cry into his chest. In return, Shane rubs small circles in between Ryan’s shoulders.

Ryan speaks up again after twenty minutes and his breathing has softened.

“I felt… I felt like I was going to lose you.” Ryan says against Shane’s collarbone.

“You knew that was going to happen.” Shane has no question in his voice. After everything, Shane knows that Ryan’s clairvoyant. There’s no denying it now.

Ryan nods slowly.

Shane’s grip tightens on Ryan.

They stay like that for another half hour, embraced in one another. It’s starting to get hot, especially since Shane hasn’t shed his layers yet, but he can’t find himself to care.

He does shift eventually, feeling Ryan’s hair tickle his jaw.

“Ry,” Shane utters.

Ryan lifts his head, looking up at Shane with watery eyes that shine in the soft motel room light. He blinks when he sees Shane looking at him with an emotion he can’t quite place.

And then Shane’s leaning down and capturing Ryan’s lips with his own. The kiss is firm yet chaste, a simple reassurance that he’s okay. They’re both okay.

Shane pulls back when he feels Ryan’s muscles soften against him. He looks down with a fond smile blossoming on his face when he watches Ryan slowly open his eyes.

“Oh,” Ryan breathes, his brown eyes enticing Shane.

So Shane dips down for another kiss, this time not so chaste. The kiss deepened and Shane and Ryan both got to shed their unnecessary layers. Their night was spent in the same bed, reassuring one another that they were okay. That they were alive and have been full of pent up affection they can finally release, and their declarations of love came later with Ryan’s lips pressed below Shane’s ear, his legs wrapped around Shane’s waist, and Shane deep inside him.

Later Shane asks Ryan if he knew Shane was going to kiss him that night, but Ryan only smirks as he laces his fingers with Shane’s on their ride home. 

[verospence-blog]

              DECEMBER 25, 2006

It was exactly the kind of Christmas dinner Veronica had expected the Spencer’s to throw; completely over the top. Relatives and neighbors all joined together in the spacious downstairs area of the Spencer estate. It was a decadent affair, catered of course, because God forbid Lilah Spencer be caught dead in an apron. Vada was home from school, which meant everyone was fawning over her and asking questions, which was frankly completely fine with Veronica because it meant no one was bothering her. Standing the corner of room, as far away from the chaos as she could possibly get, the sixteen-year-old was downing her fourth glass of champagne when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. She didn’t even have to turn around, the nauseatingly familiar scent of her father’s much too expensive cologne immediately invading her nostrils.

“Jesus, did you take a shower in that stuff?” Veronica questioned, ripping her shoulder from her father’s grasp while simultaneously placing her empty champagne on a passing waiter’s tray. A humorless laugh echoed behind her, once again Veronica feeling the tight grip of her father’s hand, this time around the base of her neck as he gently yanked her back a few inches towards him.

“You know, if you didn’t spend so much time slutting around at football games and actually tried to be something other than a disappointment all the time, maybe people would want to talk to you like they do your sister.”

After sixteen years of growing up under her father’s roof, she’d grown a relatively thick skin when it came to his verbal attacks. To the world, Charles Spencer was a caring, hardworking, and driven family man, but to Veronica, he was anything but. Once more, she pulled herself free from her father’s grip as another waiter passed by, lifting another champagne flute from the tray. Turning to face her father, Veronica tipped her flute in his direction in a mock toast.

“Merry Christmas to you, too, Dad,” she angrily spat out at him, before quickly turning on her heel and walking off into the small crowd.

              JUNE 18, 2013

She couldn’t believe that this moment was real. Standing on stage with her fellow police officers, barely even phased by the boiling hot California sun that blared down on them as Los Angeles Police Department’s Chief of Police spoke at the podium. Never in a million years could Veronica have ever pictured her life moving in the direction that it had. College had never been something she gave a second thought to, let alone what she might want to do with her life if she ever managed to get her shit together to achieve a diploma. Two years in community college followed by two years at UCLA and rounding out another year with the police academy later and not only did Veronica feel a real sense of accomplishment for the first time in her entire life.

“It is with great pride I introduce to you the graduates of the Los Angeles Police Academy class of 2013.”

The crowd erupted with applause as the flashes of cameras began going off, though the entire group of now police officers remained still. Once they were allowed to leave the stage, Veronica made her way into the crowd of people until the sound of her sister screaming eventually drew her attention. The two women embraced almost immediately, Vada repeating over and over how proud she was while Veronica did her best to hold back tears. It wasn’t a shock that her parents hadn’t bothered to make the trip and frankly, Veronica was too happy to care.

“You’re going to be such an amazing police officer,” Vada insisted, squeezing Veronica’s hands before throwing her arms around her in another tight embrace. “I always knew you could do anything you wanted if you set your mind to it. I knew it.”

It was true. Vada had always told Veronica that she was capable of doing anything she wanted, but for the first time it probably her entire life, Veronica found herself believing it.

              AUGUST 18, 2017

It felt like the line of people was never-ending and Veronica had lost count of how many times she’d said, ‘thank you for coming’ and how many hands she’d shaken and hug she’d accepted over the course of the day. Funerals were bullshit and in Veronica’s mind, this entire event was unnecessary. This ridiculous circus was the exact opposite of what Vada would have wanted, but naturally, far be it from Charles and Lilah Spencer to think about anyone other than themselves.

Veronica had only been back home almost a full week, but it felt like it had only been a few hours. Everything was moving so quickly, as if her parents were trying to push all their grieving and mourning into twenty-four hours before moving on with their lives. Everyone kept asking how she was feeling and all Veronica could ever come up with was, ‘I’m fine’.

What else was she supposed to say?

Standing in the back of her parent’s house, cigarette in hand as the funeral reception raged on inside, Veronica found herself staring blankly out into her backyard. How many times had she and Vada played tag or hide and seek for hours during the summer, even after the sun had gone down? How many memories were permanently engrained the walls of the house Veronica had overheard her parents talking about selling? How was she supposed to make it through the day, let alone of the rest of her life without Vada?

The sound of footsteps approaching behind her pulled Veronica from her thoughts, turning her head initially to tell whoever it was to fuck off, before immediately softening when she saw Jason’s face.

“Thanks for coming,” Veronica brought the cigarette to her lips. “Really means a lot to my parents and me.” It had been the same two statements the blonde had been reciting and re-reciting all day and even though her tone implied she was joking, deep down, it was probably the first time all day she’d meant the words coming out of her mouth.

The two stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes, which oddly enough, was more of a comfort to Veronica than all the hugs she’d received throughout the day. Taking one final drag, she tossed the finished cigarette onto the floor and stamped it out with the sole of her heel. More silence as Veronica loosely crossed her arms over her chest, eventually turning her head to look over at Jason.

“I should probably get back inside,” Veronica mumbled, mostly to herself, but loudly enough for Jason to hear. And despite the quiet proclamation, the blonde made no motion to turn back inside. As cliché as it sounded, Veronica had been taught a long time ago that keeping your feelings to yourself and your emotions in check was the easier way to go through life. It was why it was so rare for the blonde to ever confide in other people and why she’d always kept so much of her feelings to herself. In fact, there was a short list of people that Ronnie would ever dare shed a tear in front of; one of them was dead and other was standing next to her.

Looking over at Jason, Veronica wanted to reassure him that she was fine. She wanted more than anything to smile or make a joke and ask him questions about what he’d been doing since the two of them had last seen each other, but she couldn’t.

“My sister’s dead,” were the last words Veronica found herself able to say before the dam broke and the tears came.

[thoseofgreatambition]

guardian to be

genre: supernatural, fantasy, thriller

pairings: none

wordcount: 3.5K

warnings: swearing, mentions of violence and spirits, vomit

a/n: remember that short story i’ve been talking about all semester, this is it! it’s based off of an idea for a novel i had a few years ago, and I”m so proud of the finished product! i’ve tagged my permanent tag babes, so i hope y’all like it! if you’d like to be added to the permanent tag, please let me know!

November 11, 2017 

 “Aren’t you supposed to be good at this?” Lee scowled at the woman opposite from him, as she frantically formed a line of salt around the room. “Didn’t I hire you so I didn’t end up holed up in some murder cabin being chased by demons?” 

 Ada’s hands shook so hard she couldn’t keep the salt into a line. Her hands felt numb, and for the first time in two centuries she was remembering what true fear felt like. Sure, she couldn’t die, but that didn’t mean those spirits wouldn’t kill her companion. “They’re not demons, they’re spirits. They’re hurting and confused, that’s why they came after us.” 

 She shot a look over her shoulder to see Lee standing in the middle of the room looking more and more agitated as things went on. His lower lip wobbled as his brow furrowed, and Ada watched as his eyes began to shine. Her maternal side took over, as it was prone to do. 

 “I’m sorry, Lee.” 

 Just like that, the floodgates opened. The 19 year old broke into sobs, his fists clenched so hard it hurt as he desperately tried to wipe away each tear as it came. His shoulders shook as he fought the urge to wail. Lee had always prided himself as being put together and mature, after all, being raised by a single mother would do that, but this was too much, even for him. 

 He wasn’t even done with his first year of college yet. Life wasn’t supposed to be like this. He should have been worrying about what his grade in Algebra II was, not whether or not some demons or spirits or whatever the hell you wanted to call them were going to kill him.

 This wasn’t fair! This wasn’t even his fault.

 It was his father’s fault, and why should he be blamed for what a serial killer did before he was even born?

 One Month Prior: October 11, 2017

 Lee stood in front of a rather shabby looking house, with a skeptical look on his face. He’d confided to a friend that he’d felt like he’d been followed lately, and that he could have sworn he’d seen things crawling outside of his windows at night. That friend had spoken to one of their friends, who had spoken to a friend of a friend’s friend who eventually got back to Lee with an address and a name of someone who could protect him. 

 The college freshman had scrawled it on the back of a dining hall receipt and now he wondered if this was all some sort of prank. The name Adelaide Lewis didn’t exactly seem like it would strike fear into anyone’s heart. 

 Regardless, he’d spent 40 minutes trying to find the damn place, and his morbid sense of curiosity wouldn’t let him leave without at least finding out what this was all about. 

 The pastel blue door flew open after the second knock, revealing a woman who hardly looked older than he did. A glance inside showed what seemed to be one of the ugliest home interiors Lee had ever seen. The furniture was a mix of stuffy Victorian china cabinets, beaded curtains from the 60’s, and what appeared to be shag carpeting with several Disney movie posters framed on the walls. 

 The girl seemed unassuming at best. She wasn’t the type of person that stood out when you passed them. Her features were kind but plain, with wide brown eyes and dark hair in braided pigtails. For a moment Lee wondered if she was either insane for decorating a house like this, or was living with whoever he was supposed to see. “I’m here to see an Adelaide Lewis?” 

 “Oh please, call me Ada. Come on in. Are you Lee?” 

 Reluctantly he shed his coat, and hung it on a rather antique looking coat rack. “I am, yes.”

 Lee considered himself to be good at reading people, and while he got no strange vibes from Ada, it was hard to feel comfortable. His shoes sunk into the shag carpeting, and while the floor looked clean, he was reluctant to take them off. Still, Lee did as his mother taught him to do and removed the trainers, only feeling mildly abashed by his Legend of Zelda socks. “Is this your parent’s home?” The false note of Texas politeness seemed far too obvious and inwardly he cringed. 

 Either Ada was too polite to comment or she didn’t notice. Either way, she shook her head. “No, it’s mine. I’ve lived here for about… ah, sixty years? Seventy maybe…” she looked back at him and laugh, “It’s so easy to lose track of time after a while, isn’t it? Would you like something to drink? I’ve got coffee, tea, water, sweet tea… I went to H.E.B the other day, I have some of that powdered lemonade stuff that everyone seems so fond of. “ 

 It was almost as if Lee’s brain had stopped working for a moment. “Se-seventy years? You’ve lived here for seventy years?” 

 “Yes.” 

 “You’re my age.” 

 Ada laughed once more, a melodic sound that filled up the room they were in. “Oh, is that why you’re confused? I should have explained. I’m not a human. Well, I used to be one, but I’m not anymore. I died you see, a long time ago in the 1800’s. I’m really 200 years old. I turned into a guardian angel, and now I work for hire protecting humans from immediate danger.” 

 Again, Lee froze. He only jerked into motion when a theretofore unknown cuckoo clock made itself known to him by shooting out a wooden bird next to his left ear. “Shit!” at her disapproving cluck of her tongue, he looked abashed. “Sorry. I just—A guardian angel?” 

 “Yes.” 

 “I thought you weren’t… I thought those weren’t real.” 

 Ada shrugged, “Everyone does. But you got recommended me by a friend right? Do you trust them?” 

 “More of an acquaintance really.” Or an acquaintance of an acquaintance… of an acquaintance. Lee was silent for a moment, wondering about her question. He didn’t really know, though he supposed he trusted his friend who put him in contact with the one who recommended Ada to him. “I suppose so, though.”

 “So what’s the harm? I’ll take whatever you can pay me.” 

 “You don’t even know what my problem is.” 

 “You’re a kid. You came to some sketchy house and listened to some ‘crazy lady’ tell her story just because something was really bothering you.” She gestured to his shoes that had holes near the plastic soles and the weathered hem of his jeans. “You obviously don’t have a lot of money to blow on this sort of thing, I’m not going to rob you of the next semester’s rent check. So what would you like to drink, and what’s the problem?” 

 There was a long period of silence as Lee’s brain worked in overdrive, trying to understand what in the world was going on. His tan hand fiddled with his sleeve cuff, and his brown eyebrows knit themselves together as he thought. It was like he’d stepped into some sort of strange, fantasy or sci-fi novel. Sure—he enjoyed reading those things, but to actually be in a situation like that was quite unnerving. 

 Suddenly he found himself wondering if he was having some sort of fever dream or had gone insane without noticing. Especially when what she was saying sounded good enough that he was willing to go along with it. 

 “I’d like some sweet tea, please.” Lee situated himself in an overstuffed armchair, and looked at Ada with a worried expression, wondering how to explain about his problem. “Something is following me. Or some things. There are these creatures following me around. I keep seeing the shadows out of the corner of my eyes.I hear people talking to me when I’m all alone—There were people outside of my window last night, and I live on the fifth floor!” his voice cracked as his anxiety rose and Lee massaged his throat. “I don’t know what to do.” 

 Ada handed him a glass of sweet tea and sat down across from him, taking a sip of her own glass. “Tell me about you.”

 He was silent, wondering what that had to do with anything. Eventually though due to Ada’s silent probing he finally got around to speaking. “I’m a sophomore in college. I’m nineteen, I’ll be twenty in June… I’m studying English History.” His voice trailed off, “Honestly I’m not sure what you want from me.” 

 She pointed a long finger towards a window covered with a lacy curtain, and spoke very calmly, “Is that one of the things following you?”

 Lee spun around and saw a dark silhouette outside of the window. It looked like a human, a woman, perhaps? He could almost make out her face, and her pained expression. For a short moment Lee felt sorry for her until she let out an ungodly wail of anger and began to beat on the window. 

 He jerked up from his seat, not sure what to do in his panic, and accidentally knocked over his glass of sweet tea onto the red shag carpeting. Ada was quicker to spring into action, she opened a small chest of drawers next to her chair, pulled out a white bladed knife and very calmly walked over to the window. The rest happened so quickly that Lee didn’t know what to say happened. Ada yanked open the window, grabbed the attacker by what seemed to be ethereal strands of hair and shoved the dagger into her back. Immediately the wailing stopped and the being, whatever it was seemed to disintegrate into nothing. 

 Ada looked towards him and Lee noted that there was no blood on the knife. She quirked her head and took in the sight of him, “You’ve got spirits following you. And it appears that something in you has made them rather angry.” 

 October 18, 2017

 Lee was retching in the corner, and Ada sighed just a bit as she watched him. The poor thing. This was not how someone should find out about this sort of family history. It did explain a lot about why those spirits were following him though. 

 They were standing in a rather dark corner of the Texas Lutheran University library, with quite a few old newspaper articles pulled up onto the computer. Ada stared at the screen, and felt a chill roll down her spine at the image before her.

 A man who looked just like Lee, stood in a courtroom in an orange jumpsuit. The caption ‘Serial killer sentenced to death’ was in italics underneath and described a rather horrible series of crimes. A confirmed victim count of ten, with quite a few more suspected from the man. A woman sat in the front row behind him, visibly pregnant and crying. As Ada read the article she let out a sigh. This did explain a lot. 

 As he dry heaved into a waste basket, Lee desperately tried to catch his breath. This couldn’t be happening. This was not what his mother told him. She said that his father was an old boyfriend who moved away to Germany after college. Lee hadn’t tried to pester her for more information. Why should he? He was happy with his life as it was. His mother had given him more love than he bet two parents could have given him. 

 “That article’s wrong!” 

 “Lee, it identifies your mother by name.” she scrolled through to another article, titled “Arthur ‘Artie’ Scott executed via electric chair”. “The date of his execution was almost exactly 19 years ago, Lee. It’s why they’re going after you. They’re upset and they didn’t get any closure.” 

 “But why are they going after me now!?” Lee’s voice roared out throughout the quiet space, and bounced around the walls. “I didn’t do anything!” 

 That was a fair question, but it only took a little while to find the answer. “Your father was 19 when he was executed, Lee.” 

 “Don’t call him my father!” 

 Ada ignored his outburst and continued, “They think you’re him. You’re his age, you look alike…” with a long sigh she stared at the angry young man in front of her. His world had been turned completely upside down—thankfully all of her time spent on earth had given her enough patience to handle a bit of misplaced anger. “Now we know where to start though. This won’t be too bad, I think.” 

 “Oh you don’t think it’ll be ‘that bad’? We just found out my—“ he sputtered, as he tried and failed to make the word ‘dad’ leave his mouth. “He’s a serial killer. How is that ‘not bad’ Ada? In what world does that mean ‘not bad’!?” 

 “We just have to wait for a little while longer, let some more time pass so they realize you aren’t him. We’ll find someplace safe, and hide out.” 

When Lee seemed to falter, as if she was saying something that couldn’t be achieved, Ada frowned, “What is it?” 

 “I can’t leave.” 

 “Why?” 

 “Midterms.” 

November 11, 2017 

 Now here they were. 

 Trapped, with no way out. 

 “I can’t believe I let you take me here!” Lee’s voice cracked with rage. Perhaps this was misplaced anger, but dammit, if he was about to die then he didn’t think it should matter. “This was supposed to be a safe place! We should have stayed near everyone else!” 

 “That wouldn’t have worked, Lee. We’d have put everyone else in danger and they’d have found us even sooner.” She looked at him with a frown, and watched as he shook and trembled while trying to hold back his emotions. “Lee I’m sorry. I need you to stay calm.” 

 “I thought you could protect me! What the hell kind of guardian angel can’t protect someone?” 

Ada flinched as Lee’s words hit fairly close to home, “Lee.” 

 “No really! A guardian angel for hire? What in the hell was I thinking? You’re just some crazy chick aren’t you?” 

 “No!” Ada raised her voice for the first time that Lee knew her, breaking the calm and motherly demeanor he’d come to know. “I was a guardian angel! I was!” 

 The silence that fell between them was heavy, as Lee processed her words. “Was?” when she blanched and set down the salt, Lee continued to stare at her, “You were a guardian angel? Past tense? As in, you’re not a guardian angel anymore?” 

 “I lost my wings.” 

 He shook his head a bit in confusion, “What does that mean?” 

 “You become a guardian angel by dying protecting someone else. I died protecting my son and became his… but when he passed away naturally, a long time later I was assigned to new people.” She hesitated, and only continued to speak when Lee looked at her imploringly. “I wasn’t good with them. I did what I did with my son and encouraged them to follow their dreams and what they wanted to do, but—“ 

 “But what?” 

 “That didn’t work out well. They kept making bad choices. They got hurt. They wound up dying. Eventually I got in trouble and was sent down like this, on probation. I’ve got to save one hundred people to become a guardian angel again. You’re my hundredth.”

 It took a little while, but Lee felt his surprise turn to anger once more, as he shouted at Ada, “Why didn’t you tell me that?!” 

 “I knew it would scare you off. I can handle this though! I’ve handled trackings like this before—it’s textbook!” 

 “You screwed up so bad that you got fired as a guardian angel! You really think you’re good enough to keep me safe?” Lee gestured to the cabin walls, where they could hear the echoes of the damned outside. “This is your fault! This is your fault! I’m going to die because of you!” 

 Ada flinched just a bit, wondering how exactly to recover from this. There was only one real way to recover from this. “You’re not going to die.” 

 It was impossible to kill an angel, even one on probation, but not for those who were also ethereal beings. 

 “Oh really, I’m not going to die? How are you going to save me Ada? You going to do the same sort of job that you did with all your other clients?” 

 She took a deep breath, he was young and angry. Rightfully so. It wasn’t right to lash out back at him. “I’m going to distract them while you grab the car and get out of here. Take my knife, and my bag it’s got lots of things in there to protect you. Holy water, loads of salt to ward off spirits. Go and hide somewhere safe, and wait it out for as long as you can. They’re already decreasing in numbers as they realize you aren’t your dad. I give it another week.” 

She grabbed a shotgun off of the wall and loaded several odd looking bullets in them. For a moment, Lee was distracted enough to forget his anger. “How are you going to distract them?” Lee had never been a hunter, nor had he ever really seen a gun up close, but those didn’t appear to be normal bullets. “What are you putting in there?” 

 The real answer was blessed silver buckshot, something that would cover a large range and inflict lots of damage. However, it wouldn’t kill them. At least not all of them. “They’re special bullets that can kill the spirits.” 

 “You’ve got enough in there for them?” 

 She did not, but one of the few things Ada had learned on this earth during her short time as a mother was that at times, it was best to lie for the comfort of others. 

 “Of course. Hide out, I’ll come and find you, and if I can’t find you in a week then go back to normal. It’ll be over by then alright?” 

 Something felt wrong to Lee. He couldn’t put his finger on it but something about all of this felt off. It was enough to completely wash away his anger. “You’ll be alright then? You’ll come and find me?” Even if he’d been angry at Ada, it was hard to go through a month of this with someone and not become their friend. “You won’t get hurt?” 

 Without hesitation, Ada smiled and lied to his face. “Of course I’ll be alright. Don’t worry.”

 There wasn’t enough buckshot, and she was sending him off with everything else in her arsenal. 

 It was impossible to explain to Lee why she’d failed so many times, an impossible thing to explain to anyone who hadn’t been a mother. But Ada had followed everyone before she’d gone on probation from birth to death, and they’d all become her children in her eyes. Perhaps this made her a bad mother, but as the world around them quickly changed she’d had trouble keeping up with what was safe for them and what was dangerous.

 All she’d ever done was try to guide them to make the right decisions, and she’d seemed to fail at that. 

 Things had gone better since she’d gone on probation, but right now Lee was a scared kid, someone who needed comfort and to be protected. Just like her son had been two centuries ago.

 “Now go on Lee to the garage and get in the car. Open the door, the salt line that’s down will still keep them out until you drive over it. When you hear me shoot, drive out and get as far away as you can, okay? Just keep driving.” 

 “Ada…” 

 “Go, now.” Her voice sounded a great deal like Lee’s mother when she’d decided on something and Lee no longer had a choice in the matter. He stared at her for a moment before nodding and walking to the garage. 

 Ada waited until she heard the car start up and the garage door open. She felt cold. Her hands were trembling. However, she’d died before, and while this time there was no promise of an afterlife, Ada allowed an overwhelming sense of peace to wash over her. She had failed plenty of times in her many years. This time though, she would succeed. 

 With that thought in mind, Ada swung open the door to the cabin, kicked a hole in the line of salt and fired a shot straight into the chest of one of the spirits in front of her. 

 Before the mob descended she could see Lee drive off into the distance. 

 Yes, she’d done her job this time.

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