#like to the calendar date!!! she came to my sister’s wedding last month on the 7th to the 9th!!!!!

[sharkieboi]

I swear to god I have a curse that anyone I introduce to my family breaks up with me within a month afterwards

[loserchildhotpants]

October is a minefield of triggers for me, so I generally float through it, derealized and violently numb, with random lightning strikes of paralyzing anxiety, and that's just... normal. For me. I don't expect anything less.

I didn't hear from any of my family on my anniversary. It was a big one - Nathan and I have been married for a decade now. I was strong-armed into a wedding, I didn't want one, I wasn't comfortable performing socially like that at 19 for people I barely spoke to, that barely knew me, but my mother steamrolled past me like she always does, and I hate memories of my wedding.

I hope to have a re-do sometime, if/when there's ever expendable income again.

Anyway, I wasn't even taking it that hard. My sister sent a gift a few days beforehand, my MIL called the day of, and that was the extent of what I heard from relatives/loved ones.

Then my Aunt texts me a few days after the anniversary w lots of photos of my cousin proposing to his gf and the blow out engagement party they're throwing right now - pictures of the dessert table with homemade, personalized goodies, and balloons, and all sorts of feel-good, celebratory stuff.

It's a group chat, so it's actually my sister that mentions to my Aunt that my 10 wedding anniversary just passed - I could feel my sister's frustration. I was belatedly congratulated, and then the acknowledgment of my impending birthday was brought up, and I explained I'll be turning 30 - this also came as a shock, and that Nathan and I just bought our first home 2 months ago also comes as a shock.

Whatever. My Aunt couldn't have known that any of that would be hurtful, and it's not her fault that my parents are just absent and deeply ambivalent about me.

The next day, I wake up to texts from both my parents (neither of which speak to me at all, really, so it's always jarring to see a notification from one or the other, nevermind both at the same time), and my mother is telling me to call her, and my father is demanding to know about my moving, demanding my new address.

With my father, I could tell he was embarrassed, and so probably angry. I brought up the fact that he'd spoken to me two or three times in the months before I moved, wherein I told him about the home buying process, and around what time we'd be moving -- we were in contact because he needed me to sign stuff for his last will and testament.

He knew I was moving, he knew I was buying my first home, he just didn't care enough to remember, and then is angry with me that his sister is like 'why didn't you mention Melanie bought a house??' and got caught not giving a shit. I sent him my new address, and he deigned to finally passive aggressively reply to me with a 'thanks for the update' the following day.

As for my mother, she was calling to ask how old I was turning. She flew right past my missed anniversary - again, which was HER making - and I wouldn't be mad, I really wouldn't, if it had been MY wedding. It wasn't, though - it was HER fun party, and it's pretty fucking insulting to have even her forget about it. She has a lukewarm reaction of surprise to my being married a decade, gives a half-assed 'congrats' and then asks about my birthday.

As is typical for her, she has nothing kind to say about me, nothing about being proud or interested in my plans or anything, just wants to know if she can send money for a dinner and spent 10 minutes complaining about how this makes her so old.

When she asked how she was supposed to remember my wedding anniversary, I brought up that she was the one that planned it and set the date ? That didn't evoke anything, and when I told her the date, thinking she'd put it in her calendar or something, she was like, 'oh, that's the same day as [my renter's] birthday! It'll be easy to remember now!'

And I almost just... hung up. Astonishing to me, truly, that that's where I'm at on her scale of significance.

To be honest, I don't want attention from my parents on my birthday. In fact, I really wish they'd be consistent for fucking ONCE in my life and just fuck off for all of October the way they do for every other month of my life.

They don't talk to me, they don't provide anything, they're critical, judgmental, and mean, and I limit my contact with them so that I don't drive myself to further illness.

I just wish they'd stay away. I prefer the silence. They don't care and I know they don't, and I don't have to see and hear about how much they don't care, until it's October, arguably the hardest time of year for me, and then they have to find ways to jumpscare me and complain about how my existence is somehow inconvenient for them.

Like, I know. You've let me know my entire life how inconvenient I am for you. That's why we don't talk. Can you fuck off again now? Why are you here??

It feels like being bombarded with extended family information and then immediate family interactions shoved me from 'gently dissociative,' to 'violently derealized,' and I've never been able to pull myself out of derealization.

So nothing is real, and nothing matters, and neither do I, and I'm turning 30 on Monday, but that's not real, and talking is so much effort -- making words is so much effort, and they don't matter, the noise isn't even real, I'm just shoving air into difficult shapes when I could be sitting in silence and decomposing much more peacefully.

There isn't a point to this, really. I don't feel anything. I mean, I feel things, but like, several degrees away from myself.

I really want to be happy, and to feel happy, not just to objectively understand I'm experiencing happiness, but to feel it. And that's... I dunno. A mountain on the horizon that gets smaller in the distance the more I hike towards it.

It's really difficult to see my Aunt being a Mom for her kids, being present and happy for them, doing stuff that makes them happy, being involved -- it's hard to watch anyone else experience maternal and/or paternal warmth and pride that I'm constantly denied.

It's really hard to have both my living parents effectively orphan me because I am at once too much and too little.

I lie awake at night going 'what's so wrong with me? What'd I do wrong?' -- I'm turning 30, and I'm still up at night, going 'why doesn't my dad like me? Why does my mom make me feel badly about myself on purpose? How can I change to make them proud? To make them love me?'

And the answer is that I can't do anything, they won't change, nothing I ever do is going to be good enough, they're both self-obsessed, emotionally immature people with varying degrees of personality disorders they refuse to acknowledge, much less work on, and academically understanding that does not, in fact, silence the lonely, crying child inside me.

[missduplicities]

Chapter 59: Family Meeting (pt. 2)

Eunha was the last of her roommates to leave the house that morning. She had a virtual meeting, which gave her enough time to prepare something to eat for her and her brother, who was still asleep upstairs. After her meeting, Yoongi asked her to call him so they could schedule their weekly agenda with Han. Finally, about an hour later, Seong Dae-Hyun came downstairs to inspect the kitchen for something to eat. Eunha didn’t notice, being too focused on the screen in her videoconference with her team to realize her brother was pacing around wearing her own bathrobe, which suited him very tight.

            “Hm, Ms. Seong?” Han interrupted when he caught sight of Dae-Hyun in the corner of Eunha’s camera.

            “Yeah?” She asked, still oblivious. Han made a move with his head, not wanting to say out loud that there was someone behind her since Yoongi was distracted by his phone. Only then, Eunha turned and saw Dae-Hyun, sitting on top of the counter, eating the breakfast she had made. “Oh, my God! Can’t you see I’m busy?”

            “Who is that?” Dae-Hyun asked, not reading the room. Eunha muted her mic and turned the camera off; Yoongi was still busy on his phone, so he didn’t notice the interruption.

            “It’s my boss, you creep!” Eunha told her brother. “Why the hell are you wearing my robe?”

            “I didn’t bring mine,” he said, as if wearing hers was the obvious choice. “Did you put salt on this?”

            “Hey, I’m working! Go to your room!”

            “Ugh, so grumpy for no reason,” he sighed, taking his plate to the living room to continue his breakfast.

            “Sorry about that,” Eunha said, going back to her team’s meeting. “My brother arrived last night,”

            “I didn’t know you had a brother,” Yoongi said, finally putting down his phone.

            “Uhm… I’m sure I’ve mentioned it,” Eunha said. “Anyway, back on the agenda,”

            “Right,” Han said, sharing the screen again so they could see the calendar. “We have the trimestral meeting in HQ this Wednesday; the Label Managers have been working on the distribution of the projects per team. From what I heard, they are asking Mr. Min and you, Ms. Seong, to work on the new debut group’s EP,”

            “I called Deku last night,” Yoongi said. “She wanted to discuss the details of the concept they have for this group. It’s pretty straight-forward, taking inspiration from early 2000s American rock bands, mostly,”

            “Do you know who is running the visual concept?” Eunha asked, taking notes.

            “I think it’s the same team that’s running Kwan’s project,” Han said; both Yoongi and Eunha grunted, they didn’t like to work with Kwan.

            “How old are the group members?” Yoongi asked.

            “I think the youngest is 20,” Han said, going over his notes again. “All I know is there are four members: drummer, bassist, and two guitarists,”

            “Make sure to ask for their brand book and concept book,” Eunha told Han. “It will give us enough info to know what we’re dealing with,”

            “Sure, count on that,” the young assistant said. “Now, going to the next point in the minute. I wanted to ask you both about your personal agendas for the next couple of weeks. It is my understanding that Jung Hoseok’s sister is getting married since you’ve both mentioned it before. Are you both planning on taking those days off?”

            “Yeah, I forgot about that,” Yoongi sighed, getting stressed with the whole wedding stuff. “It’s next weekend. I won’t be available from Friday to Sunday, but I’m planning to go back to work on Monday as usual,”

            “Alright,” Han said, blocking the dates on the calendar already. “Ms. Seong?”

            “Yeah, same as him,” she said.

            “Great,” Han blocked the dates for her, too. “There’s a shooting next week in Busan, as well,”

“Oh, I totally forgot about that,” Yoongi grunted.

“It’s the same project from a couple months, the one Ms. Seong was in charge of,” Han said. Eunha wasn’t sure if she remembered the necessary details about her trip to Busan.

            “Cool,” Yoongi said. “Send her back, then,”

            “Hey, I only went last time because you were busy,” she complained. “The team was very condescending with me,”

            “There are rude people everywhere,” Yoongi said. “You need to be firm with them, let them know you are not playing around,”

            “This time they’re shooting a short music video,” Han interrupted. “It’s supposed to be a continuation of the previous one, so…”

            “If I’m going, I’ll need an assistant,” Eunha said out of nowhere. “And I’m staying at least a couple of days. Traveling back home on the same day was a pain in the ass,”

            “We’ll make it work,” Yoongi said, trying to hide his smirk as he knew exactly what was on her mind. “I’ll need Han to stay in the office, so let’s see if we can find someone to help you with this,”

            “Oh, I have lots of friends who are professional filmmakers,” Han said, unaware of what Yoongi and Eunha were telepathically plotting. “Some of them are freelancers, so I could call them,”

            “We’ll check that later,” Yoongi said, going to the next thing to check on their agenda.

After two and a half hours, Eunha was finally free of her morning meetings. She was expected to go to the studio to work with Yoongi later but still had enough time to eat her breakfast and even grab some coffee. She had almost forgotten that her brother was in the same house until she heard his laugh come from the living room.

            “Don’t you have something else to do?” Eunha asked, joining him on the couch. “Why the hell are you still wearing my robe?”

            “I was looking for the only clean shirt I have left but I can’t find it,”

            “Oh,” Eunha said, knowing exactly which one he meant. “Taehyung needed a change so I gave it to him,”

            “First of all, gross! I don’t want your boyfriend’s sweaty body to ruin my silk shirt!” he whined. “And second, we need to talk about him sneaking into your room at night as a horny teenager,”

            “Shut up!” Eunha was not talking about her romantic and potentially sexual life with her brother. “We’re not teenagers anymore, and we’re not horny,”

            “Sure,” he sarcastically said.

            “Besides, what we do or not is none of your business,”

            “So, you are doing it!”

            “No, we’re not!”

            “You’re not?” he asked, now laughing. “You’re really not?”

            “No,” she sighed, fuming.

            “Hey, I just want you to be careful when you actually do it,”

            “Nope, we’re not talking about this,” she stood up, going back to the kitchen.

            “Eunnie,” he said, following her. “I’m serious! I don’t want you to fuck up like me. Just… remember you don’t owe him anything just because he is your boyfriend and because you love him or whatever. I don’t want you to feel pressured to do something if you don’t feel like you’re ready,”

She knew it was coming from a good place, and she actually appreciated her brother’s attempt of taking care of her. Still, she didn’t want to talk about it. She was sure she and Taehyung were not there yet. Sure, the thought had crossed her mind a couple of times, but it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

            “What are your plans in Seoul, anyway?” she asked, letting him know the previous conversation was over.

            “I want to see what the city has to offer,” he sighed. “I’m tired of working in Mom’s restaurant. I mean, I appreciate them letting me stay at their home and all that but,”

            “But you miss your freedom,”

            “Exactly,” he chuckled. “Besides, Dad keeps asking when I’ll recover and go back to play baseball. To be honest, I’m not even sure if I want to do that anymore,”

            “I thought you loved baseball,”

            “I do. I just don’t love the team, the city, the people around me,” he unconsciously started rubbing his injured shoulder, thinking of everything about his current life that hurt him. “After the last time I saw you, I kept thinking of how happy you looked, and good you were doing. I… I want that, you know?”

She didn’t say anything. She wished it was as simple as her brother made it sound, but to get to the point she was now, she had struggled and cried a lot. Still, Eunha didn’t have the heart to discourage her brother. She wanted Dae-Hyun to be happy; he deserved it.

            “Want to grab some coffee?” she asked.

Eunha continued her day as she had planned, only with her brother coming along, too. She was happy to catch up with him as they walked to the bus stop and answered all his questions about Taehyung and her roommates on the way to the café. She was a bit sad that she didn’t get to see James, wanting to introduce him to Dae-Hyun, but still told him all about the little Aussie kid who was friends with her. They walked together to Eunha’s office, where she gave him a tour, showing him the fancy studio where she was supposed to meet Yoongi.

            “This is dope!” Dae-Hyun complimented. “The studio I saw yesterday was smaller,”

            “Yeah, that’s where the rest of the crew works, but this is my boss’ personal studio,” she proudly said. “He lets me use it,”

            “Is that a Johny Cash Martin?” he was already on his way to grab the guitar, which gave Eunha a little panic attack.

            “Don’t! That’s Yoongi’s! That’s like the only thing I’m not allowed to use, so please, don’t!”

            “Damn, you’re making him sound like a monster,” Dae-Hyun said, frowning at the thought of his sister’s tyrant boss.

            “No, he is a sweetheart, honestly. Well, at first he might come off as a jerk, but that’s only because he is an introvert,” she wasn’t helping the mental image he was making. “He’s just very careful with the things that are important to him, like this guitar,”

            “I thought you said he was your friend,”

            “He is. He is probably my best friend. After Taehyung, of course,” she made sure to clear that out. “But he is still my boss and I respect him a lot,”

Just then, the studio door opened, and Min Yoongi came in, holding a six-pack of beers in one hand and a jumbo bag of chips.

            “Let’s finish this fucking EP already, oh… hello,” Yoongi seemed very confused by the presence of a stranger in his studio.

            “Hi, Yoongi, this is my brother Dae-Hyun,” Eunha was fast to say. “Dae-Hyun, this is Min Yoongi,”

            “Nice to meet you,” Dae-Hyun said, bowing his head and offering a friendly smile. Yoongi’s eyes went from brother to sister, trying to catch the similarities between them. “Let me help you with that,”

            “Thanks,” Yoongi said, letting Seong Dae-Hyun grab the beers effortlessly and put them in the mini-fridge.

            “I couldn’t leave him home alone,” Eunha explained. “He might burn down the house or something,”

            “Ha-ha,” Dae-Hyun ironically laughed, glaring at his sister. “She’s just scared that I bump into her boyfriend again,”

            “Taehyung had the brilliant idea of breaking into my room last night,” Eunha explained. “Now he doesn’t trust me,”

            “Honestly, I’m just surprised he had the physical ability to climb through your balcony,” Yoongi chuckled, finally sitting down in front of his computer. “Feel at home, Dae-Hyun-ssi,”

            “Thanks,” Dae-Hyun’s eye smile appeared as he took Yoongi’s word and sat on the couch. “I’ll be nice and quiet, don’t worry,”

            “Where do you want to start today?” Eunha asked, getting into work mode already.

            “I’d like to re-record the bass line now that you’re here,” Yoongi said, opening the bag of Cheetos and passing it to Eunha’s brother. She thought it was cute that he was doing his best effort to make Dae-Hyun feel welcome, knowing how hard it was for Yoongi to open up to strangers at first.

            “Can you remind me what's the melody?” Eunha was already walking over the guitars, taking the pretty precision bass she liked. Yoongi helped her plug it in and played the previous recording so she could figure out what to play.

Dae-Hyun kept his promise, allowing the two friends to work in peace, enjoying seeing their process and noticing how easily they understood each other, almost as if reading the other’s minds. After they finished recording all the bass parts, Yoongi made an unusual pause to open a beer and offer one to the guest.

            “We don’t usually drink at work,” Yoongi felt the need to explain. “But we’re really sick of this particular song. The process it’s been dull as hell,”

            “I imagine,” Dae-Hyun said, accepting the beer. “It sounds great, though. Did you write it?”

            “No, I’m only producing and mastering it,” Yoongi explained. It looked as if neither of them knew exactly what to do with their drinks. Dae-Hyun wasn’t sure if he had to turn his head to the side, not knowing if Yoongi was older or younger than him.

            “So, you’re Eunha’s older brother,” Yoongi said conversationally.

            “Yeah, for two years,” Dae-Hyun said, letting Yoongi do the math.

            “He was also born in 93,” Eunha finally said.

            “Really?” Dae-Hyun looked happy about it. “What month?”

            “March. I’m a Piscis,” Yoongi said. “I mean, not that I believe in that stuff but people always ask,”

Eunha almost laughed at how out of pocket his comment was.

            “I’m a Sagittarius,” Dae-Hyun said.

            “November or December?” Yoongi asked.

            “December,” Dae-Hyun said, finally drinking from his beer. “Jin-hyung is a Sag, too,”

Of course, Dae-Hyun had no idea who Jin-Hyung was but he made sure to remember that information. For a minute, the room went silent. None of the boys knew exactly what to talk about. Eunha was running through her head all the different possible conversation topics she could bring up to make the two of them keep talking.

            “Oh, did I mention Dae-Hyun plays baseball?” she was sure Yoongi had mentioned liking a sport that involved a ball, but she wasn’t sure which was it.

            “Played,” her brother corrected. “Well, I mean, I’m not playing at the moment,”

            “So, you’re in a team?” Yoongi asked with curiosity.

            “Yeah, but right now I’m on a break,” he explained. “I got in an accident recently so, I can’t really play,”

            “I’m sorry,” Yoongi said.

            “It’s okay, I’m still getting paid,” Dae-Hyun drank from his beer again and Yoongi mimicked him. “Do you play any sports?”

            “Basketball, but not professionally,” Yoongi said. “I considered it, though,”

            “Oh, so you must be good, then,”

            “I’m okay, I guess,” Yoongi said. Eunha was happy the conversation between them was going well. She really wanted them to get along, especially if Dae-Hyun was considering staying in Seoul for a while; she thought her brother could use some friends his age. “Of course, that wouldn’t have worked because of my height,”

“What are you talking about? You’re just perfect,” Dae-Hyun laughed. “Besides, stereotypical physical attributes end up being worthless if you compare them to actual talent and use of brains,”

 “Says the guy who is pure muscle,” Yoongi laughed.

            “That only means I don’t have the brains,” Dae-Hyun laughed even harder, making Yoongi laugh as well.

            “Shut up, you graduated with honors,” Eunha didn’t like when his brother used self-deprecating humor to entertain the rest. “He learned to play guitar overnight,”

            “Really?” Yoongi asked. “Do you play any other instruments?”

            “Mostly guitar and piano,” Dae-Hyun said. “But not seriously, I mean I just know a couple of scales,”

            “That’s all you need,” Yoongi said, trying to be nice. “Music is just a couple of scales if you think about it,”

            “I guess. Still, music is not where I shine the most. Not like you guys do,” Dae-Hyun finished his beer, not saying anything else. Yoongi followed right after, drinking the last sips from his bottle, and left it on the table before going back to his computer.

Eunha: So, Yoongi and Dae-Hyun met

Tae: how did that go?

Eunha: surprisingly good

Eunha: They seemed to get along well

Tae: Did you take him to the studio?

Eunha: Yeah, but he left a while ago

Eunha: Said he was meeting some old friends

Eunha: But I’m sure I saw a Tinder notification pop up on his screen

Tae: Good for him I guess

Tae: You said he broke up with his girlfriend, right?

Eunha: Yeah, some months ago

Eunha: So I’m happy for him to put himself out there or whatever

Eunha: What are you doing?

Tae: I’m taking Tae-Jun to get a haircut

Tae: He also needs some clothes

Tae: I don’t think I can make it to lunch babe

Eunha: It’s okay!!

Eunha: Are you free later?

Eunha: Yoongi invited Dae-Hyun to his place later

Tae: So, party at Yoongi’s at night?

Eunha: I don’t think he meant party, but he mentioned some wine

Tae: Sounds great!

Tae: Wait, am I invited or only Dae-Hyun?

Eunha: I’m sure he meant all of us

Eunha: I’ll ask him later

Tae: Alright, text you later

Tae: This kid is taking too long to pick a drink

Eunha: Cuteeeee

Tae: what about me?

Eunha: You're the cutest

Tae: ok

Tae: see you at night love

Eunha: bye 💗

(Previous) (Next)

[myhockeyworld87]

What Happens in Vegas...Doesn’t Always Stay There - Jacob Markstrom - Part 1

Word Count: 4,885

POV: Reader

Warnings: NSFW, Language, Smut, Drinking (all the good stuff)

Notes: Well here it is the new fic that’s been in my head. I tossed around a couple different guys for this, but some of you suggested Marky and well looks like it stuck. Trying to do this a little different and keep this in an all read POV, so we shall see how that works. I don’t see this being super long maybe between 5 or 6 parts. Hope you guys enjoy. As always feedback is welcome. Happy Reading!

They say that New York is the city that never sleeps but whoever 'they' is, well, they got it wrong. It has to be Vegas. Lights are always flashing whether you were indoors or out, the jangly sound of slot machines can be heard at all hours and the seven deadly sins seem to be on full display twenty-four hours a day. It's no wonder their tagline for years was 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.' If only that were true.

You wish you could blame someone else but you can't. Vegas was all your idea. As maid of honor, it fell to you to plan your best friend's bachelorette party, and in your mind, there was only one spot, Vegas. Now, you were second-guessing your choice as your head was pounding like there were a thousand drummers who decided to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, only in your brain. There was only one thought that made it through the marching band playing in your head. What the hell happened last night?

 Maybe you should start off small, like where were you first, considering that the little drummer boy was now doing backflips in your head. You were definitely in bed, which was evident as you could feel the mattress underneath you. You could also feel the duvet comforter covering your body, but there was something else. Something a bit heavier, almost as if a weighted blanket was covering your stomach and your breast, but it wasn't that. It was an arm slung across your midsection and a very large hand cupping your one boob. God, you hoped it was still attached to a body. You should really take a peek. It would be the only decent thing to do.

 As you gradually lifted one eyelid open, the first thing you noticed was that you were not in your hotel room, as the wall looked completely different. No reason to panic, you told yourself. Everything would come back to you as soon as this god blessed pounding ceased. Peering the other eye open, you got back to business at seeing if there was a body attached to the arm currently trapping you to the bed. Carefully, you turned your head to the side to see a very large and very naked man firmly attached to the aforementioned arm. He was gorgeous as he lay there sleeping ever so peacefully. You drank in his features, kind of like you downed drink after drink last night. His brown hair had this golden hue to it that made your fingers want to reach out and touch it, though you refrained. Then there was the beard covering his face, not too much and not too little, and now that you were thinking about it; you definitely felt some of that beard burn on your thighs. If you could only remember last night. The only logical thing to do was to go back to the start of this, back to a time when you were sober.

 It started months ago when your best friend Kennedy got engaged. You honestly didn't see it coming that fast. She'd only been dating Ryan for a little less than a year, but he asked and she said yes, and when she asked you to be her maid of honor you screamed and laughed and cried, and told her you couldn't wait to plan her bachelorette party. Everyone knew the bridal shower was only for boring stuffy old aunts so that they could buy her the latest air fryer or new dish pattern. The bachelorette party was where all the fun was, and what better place to have it than Las Vegas.

 Of course, everyone agreed with you. The only wrench in the plan was that Kennedy decided to up her wedding date and make it a nine-month engagement. That barely left time to find a dress let alone plan the most outrageous bachelorette party of the century. You would've said decade but twenty-twenty was fastly approaching. Thankfully, you had connections. Night one was more sedate since you all were just arriving at the MGM hotel at different times; eleven of you in total when Ryan's sister decided to join at the last minute. You booked a private room at Lago in the Bellagio for all of you to enjoy.

 It was the second night, that was the piece de resistance. A limo picked you all up and took you over to Excalibur to see the legendary Australian group, Thunder from Down Under. I mean what was Vegas without seeing a male stripper or two. The next day, a private bungalow was waiting for you at Wet Republic in the MGM Hotel. One would've thought the night watching men strip naked would've been your undoing but apparently, it all started poolside.

 "I seriously can't believe he pulled you up on stage and proceeded to dry hump you up there," Kelsey rehashed.

 "Really, Kels?" Kennedy said downing another mimosa. "How could you not see that happening? (Y/N) has known Nate for a couple years. I mean he did get us front row tickets." This was all true. Nate, the emcee for Thunder from Down Under and you were friends, had been since your firm had done their calendar shoot two years ago. He had generously given you prime seating to the show that night and also set you up with a few other perks for the trip. "The only thing I'm surprised at, is that this one," she bumped you with her hip, spilling both hers and your mimosas. "Didn't end up going home with him last night."

 "Oh my god, Kenny you did not just say that." She may be the bride and your best friend but really, she was pushing the line.

 "Come on, it's not like it hasn't happened before."

 At least four pairs of eyes turned towards you, Ryan's sister Gretchen being one of them. "Ok, admittedly, I slept with him, once." Both Kennedy and Kelsey gave you that look. "Ok, maybe it was twice, but he has a girlfriend now, and we are just friends."

 "I'll give you that," Jade spoke up in your defense and suddenly she was going to earn the title of new best friend, not that the lines weren't blurred in your little group as you were all sort of best friends. "But what about Edward, the one with the turtle tattoo on his hip."

 "You were so looking at more than his hip." Eva teased while Jade simply hid behind her champagne glass. "But yeah (Y/N), he was totally hitting on you."

 "He was not."

 "Oh, he was," Kennedy added her two cents. "And as the bride I take offense, they should've been hitting on me."

 "Wait, why would they hit on you?" Jade sputtered. "You're taken bitch." Of course, bitch was said in the most loving way.

 "I'm not dead."

 "No, but I'm sure my brother wouldn't appreciate it." Leave it to Gretchen to be the mood killer. "I think I'm going to go take a nap. I'll meet you at the pool later."

 She headed out the door, and honestly, you were ecstatic about it, for she was too judgmental for your liking.  "Wait, Gretch, that's not what I meant."

 "Leave her go, maybe a nap would do her good." They were Jade's words but your sentiments. "Now back to why (Y/N) did not take that beautiful man up on his offer last night."

 "There was no offer," you insisted.

 "Come on (Y/N), there was an offer. There's always an offer. Remember when you were doing promo for that Batman flick." You tried to shut Kennedy up with a death glare, but she continued to prattle on. "We all know you ended up doing the nasty with Superman."

 "WHAT?!?!" Yeah, that definitely came out of the other nine people's mouths in the room.

 "Thanks, Ken. No one knew that but you."

 "Oops, my bad." She had the grace to at least be embarrassed about the whole thing.

 "You mean you slept with that guy, the British one, tall, all muscular, extremely good looking. Damn it what's his name." You could see Eva wracking her brain for his name and you just didn't want to go there.

 "Hen…"

 "Yes, him," you admitted, stopping Jade before she could finish his name. "Can we please change the subject?"

 "Why, when we are all living vicariously through you," Kelsey added. "Especially poor Kennedy, who is now committed to spending the rest of her life with one man."

 "Geez, you make it sound like a death sentence. I love Ryan and I'm perfectly fine spending the rest of my days with him."

 You had to suppress an eye roll. Not because you didn't think that Ryan and Kennedy weren't in love. If you were being honest, you just thought they were rushing things a bit. The problem was telling your best friend that; you tried in the past and never succeeded. "We know you're in love Kenny." And then because you couldn't stop yourself, you added. "It's just are you sure you want to be tied down so young? We still have our whole life to live."

 "Jesus, (Y/N). We all know you're not ready for marriage and what comes with it, but we can't all be you with your fancy job in LA, meeting celebrities all the time. Some of us have real lives and want to settle down and have a family."

 "Kenny, that's not what I meant." The last thing you wanted to do was argue with her at her bachelorette party. "I only want you to be happy."

 "You have a funny way of showing it." The air in the room took on a chill and not from the air conditioning. If you didn't do something soon this party was going to go downhill.

 "Oh, would you look at the time," Jade chimed in. "We should probably be heading down to the pool." Everyone grabbed their stuff, Kennedy giving you the cold shoulder as you made your way out of the hotel suite. Jade came up and wrapped an arm around you. "She'll be fine. She's just on edge after the whole Gretchen thing. We'll give her a few shots and you two will be good as new."

 "I hope so." Unfortunately, things weren't fine. Kennedy seemed to avoid you and your attempt to make things right, even after a few shots. That didn't stop you from taking a few more. You had a strict one drink to one water rule, that you threw out the door today. Downing shots like it was your job. It was probably an hour later when you were in one of the private pools, with a few of the girls that a large group of very attractive men walked in. They were definitely different from Nate and the guys from Thunder, and at first, you thought it was some fraternity get together with how young some of them looked, but at second glance there were some gentlemen that were your age or older.

 "They've gotta be baseball players," Eva whispered over after they took up residence in the three bungalows next to you.

 "Nah, none of them have a dad bod." Jade was right, they were too fit to be in the MLB. You'd been around enough major leaguers to know while some were incredibly in shape, some were not. That didn't seem to be the case with this group.

 "I'm gonna rule out NFL as well," you told the girls. "None of these guys look like they're an offensive guard. Those guys are huge." You noticed a few of them staring at the six of you that were in the smaller pool reserved only for the bungalows. Grabbing another shot, this had to be your fourth in just sixty minutes, you downed the drink really starting to feel its effects.

 "Looks like we may just find out here," Jade said, nodding to let you know some of the guys were headed your way.

 "Ladies, care if we join you?" One of the men asked, you had to admit he was extremely handsome but also gave off an air that he had more than a few notches in his bedpost.

 A couple of the girls nodded, but when no one said anything, you found yourself saying, "Come on in."

 "So, what brings you to Vegas?" This from a different guy, who had quite a number of tattoos covering his arms, and you had to admit that the ink just made him more attractive, that and his height. He was well over six feet tall and you didn't mind looking up to see his face as he took the seat next to you.

 "Bachelorette party," Jade blurted out and you saw a few eyebrows raise.

 "Tell me you're not the bride?" His breath was warm or maybe it was the sun, either way, you definitely felt a warmth in your belly that wasn't there moments ago.

 "I am definitely not the bride." Shit that sounded desperate. "Though I am the maid of honor, at least I hope I still am." You looked inside the bungalow to see Kennedy in deep conversation with Gretchen.

 "Hmm, sounds like there's a story there. Care to tell me? I'm Jacob by the way, though the guys call me Marky."

 He held out his hand, the one that didn't have a beer in it, and you took it. "(Y/N), and I'll tell you though it's rather dull, on one condition." He quirked a brow at you. "You tell me what sport you play."

 He chuckled. "What makes you think I play a sport? Maybe I'm an investment banker."

 "Well, first there's your accent, though I suppose you could pull off investment banker with that. Second, you are all…how shall I say this…physically fit. A quality most athletes have and considering the number of you; I doubt this is some kind of investment banker convention."

 "Ok, I'll give you that, though we could be bodybuilders or…" the lights on the billboard on the strip changed to a Thunder From Down Under ad and you saw a light bulb in his head go off. "Or male strippers." Shit, you almost spit your drink out on that one. "What, too much a stretch? Maybe it's your lucky day." He started to sway his hips in the pool, one of his friends joining him while you and Jade tried to contain your laughter.

 "Nah, it's already been (Y/N)'s lucky day with them. She knows them all rather intimately."

 "Jade!" you yelled at your friend, or ex-friend, though you weren't in a position to be losing anymore at the moment.

 "Oops." She at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Alcohol made everyone do some crazy things and Jade was no exception to the rule.

 "Intimately huh?" Jacob asked as you splashed water on Jade causing her to shriek and hide behind Jacob's friend who you learned was someone named Erik. "Have I lost the competition before it even starts?"

 "There's no competition."

 "So, you're single then?"

 "Yes, though you still haven't answered my question." As soon as Jacob heard you say yes, he slid a little closer to you.

 "What was that question again?" He said with laughter in his eyes and before you could get annoyed with him, though you doubted that would happen, he added. "I remember, just giving you a hard time. Anyhow, we play hockey."

 "Oh, nice. Like professional level? Or are there minors in that sport?" You really weren't one hundred percent sure. You'd taken in a game here and there but not really paid any particular attention to it.

 "We're in the NHL, playing for Vancouver. Just came out to do a little team bonding before the season starts. So, are we going to talk about this intimate encounter or why you think your maid of honor duties are getting revoked?"

 "I think I need another drink to talk about either of them."

 Jacob flagged down one of the personal waitresses for the area, requesting a couple of shots and drinks for you both, and you had to admit you liked the way he worked. "Now that that's taken care of…"

 You blew out a frustrated breath, more with yourself than anything else. "I said something stupid right before we came down here." He kept silent, his eyes totally focused on you and what you were saying. A refreshing change from some of the men you spoke to. "I just think she's rushing into things. They've only known each other a year and we are too young to get married. She's only twenty-five, we have our whole lives ahead of us. You know?" He simply nodded his agreement before you continued. "I want to see the world, go places, and do things before I'm strapped down to one man forever. Not to mention being tied down with kids. How can Kenny not want that too?"

 "I totally agree. I've gotten to see a lot with hockey but there's no way I want to be tied down just yet."

 "Exactly, you totally get me." Your drinks arrived then and Jacob took one shot and handed it to you before taking the other.

 "Well, I say we toast to being young and free with no commitments."

 "I'll drink to that." He clinked his glass to yours and the two of you downed the drinks. It seemed like the DJ noticed the change in your mood, as the music got louder and the energy seemed to kick up a notch. You got up and started to dance in the pool; the other girls joining in. It wasn't long before you felt Jacob behind you. His hips grinding into your backside, as his large hands encircled your waist.

 Drinks flowed freely the entire day, and if you were being honest, you couldn't remember a time you'd been that drunk before the sun had even set. You were laughing and dancing, and quite literally having the time of your life; your maid of honor duties completely forgotten at this point. Gretchen came up to you at some point and told you that she, Kennedy, and Kelsey were heading up and would catch up with the rest of you later. Everyone else was having too much fun with the Canucks to want to leave.

 A few more drinks and an hour later, the party was winding down. Most of your friends had headed up to their room to pass out, only a few stayed behind. Jacob had somehow maneuvered you into one of the bungalows that was empty. You shared a few kisses here and there out in the pool area, but now that you were out of view of prying eyes things were getting a bit more heated. Jacob's hands were on your ass, as his tongue was down your throat; not that yours wasn't doing the same thing to him. He moaned into your mouth, the sound going straight to your core. Your bikini bottom was no longer wet from the water of the pool, but the press of Jacob's cock against it.

 You both stumbled back, landing down on the large daybed in the bungalow, though somehow Jacob's reflexes softened your fall. His hands went straight to your breasts, kneading the flesh there. He was just about to untie the string of your bikini top when someone walked in. "Jesus, Marky! Take it upstairs would you!" You squinted trying to make out who it was but at this point not remembering anyone's name besides the man that was on top of you.

 "Oh, shit…thought I was in my room." It was funny, you thought the same thing. "Sorry, Jay."

 "His name is Jay? Like the letter?" you mumbled as Jacob helped you off the couch. "What comes after J?" Fuck you were drunk and when you were drunk you tended to ramble. You once actually talked to a damn parking meter because you thought it was a person, and you were pretty sure you could talk to one now if there was one around.

 "Doesn't matter, babe," Jacob said kissing your lips. "Wanna head up to my room?"

 You had to go up on your tiptoes to loop your arms around his neck. "Yes, I do." He planted a kiss on your lips then cupped your ass cheeks causing you to jump a bit.

 "Let's go," he finally said breaking the kiss. You had enough sense to grab your things and tell your friends not to worry that you'd catch up with them tomorrow. They all winked and nodded or at least that's what it looked like in your head because that's when things started to get hazy. You had vague recollections of making your way through the casino, stopping here and there. Part of you thought that the two of you even stopped to play roulette only so you could have another drink.

 You did remember tumbling through the door of Jacob's suite. His lips were on yours and neither of you were paying attention as he unlocked it. Thankfully his quick reflexes caught you; apparently, even when drunk, goalies couldn't lose some of those natural instincts.

 His hands, you remember them being everywhere on your body, and how incredible they made you feel. His calloused touch lit a fire inside you, that had nothing to do with the alcohol. He rid you of your white swim cover-up easily, flinging the garment across the room, and then his lips were all over your body. It was easy to recall the way he made you feel, as he softly bit down on your nipple through the fabric of your bikini. You'd craved this all afternoon. It had been a couple months since you'd been with a man and Jacob was everything you'd been waiting for.

 You ripped off his shirt. Your hands immediately going to his chest and roaming down his tattooed arms. He was all muscle, hard and lean everywhere, but when you slid your hand down inside his swim trunks to his cock; oh, it was hard all right, but lean was not a word you'd used to describe it. You were barely able to wrap your fingers around his girth, and as you stroked him, you realized God had not only blessed him with height but length as well. The man was made to star in a porno, you thought as you shoved his trunks down.

 Somehow, during that time Jacob had managed to get your bikini top off, though you supposed with its simple string ties it wasn't a hard feat to manage. You dropped to your knees, licking your lips before taking your tongue and swirling it around the head of Jacob's cock. "Det kanns sa bra min vackra prinsessa (that feels so good my beautiful princess)." Jacob's mumblings had you pulling back and looking up at him. "Don't stop, baby." This time you knew what he said as you slowly sucked him into your mouth. There was no way that you could take him all in, so you pumped the rest of him with your fist. You hollowed out your cheeks as you sucked him inside, using every trick in the book you knew. Jacob muttered more in Swedish to you, things you had no clue as to what they meant, but judging by his reaction they were things he was enjoying very much. He threaded his hands through your hair, pulling it back so you could look up at him with big doe eyes. "Jesus," he swore, his hips bucking into your mouth at the sight of you with his cock in it, looking like that. After a few more thrusts, he pulled out shouting," Tillrackligt, enough. I think you're trying to kill me, princess."

 There was something about the way he called you princess. It wasn't anything you'd been called before and most times you'd preferred babe or baby, but the way the word rolled off his tongue did things to your insides.

 Jacob helped you off the ground, his lips ghosting over yours before picking you up and tossing you onto the bed. His large form handled you easily, arranging your body just the way he wanted to before slipping off your bikini bottoms. His large hands worked their way from your ankles to your calves, all the way up to your thighs; spreading your legs as he went. "So beautiful." He traced his fingers lightly over your pussy lips and you quivered in anticipation of what was to come. One long finger slid between your folds all the way up to your clit, once, then twice, and then once again. "So wet, prinsessa, and all because of me."

 "Mmm, yes, Jacob." He dipped that same finger inside you then. The digit slipping in easily and so he added another. Then his mouth was there. Tongue flicking over your clit in a way that made you squirm with pleasure. "Oh yes," you moaned, caught up in the pleasure that was coursing through your veins. "Just like that." Your hips lifted up on their own accord, seeking more of what this giant of a man was doing to you. Jacob never let up, making a come-hither motion with his fingers and you found yourself unraveling around him; legs shaking, breath panting as your orgasm overtook you.

 “So pretty when you cum, prinsessa.” He pulled his fingers from your pussy then brought them to your lips. You opened without any thought, licking your juices off of them. Before you could get them clean, Jacob’s mouth joined yours, kissing you while you sucked on his index and middle fingers. Your tongues mingled together, as Jacob positioned himself between your thighs. The head of his cock nudged between your folds and you sighed into his mouth at just that first touch. Slowly, he filled your pussy, until he bottomed out. Only then did he release your lips. “Fuck you feel so good.”

 Jacob loved the feel of you clenching around him. It felt like he was in heaven. Part of him didn’t even want to move that’s how good your body felt, but then you shifted your hips up just a hair bit and he had to suck in a breath at the pleasure that went straight to his groin for fear he would spend inside you right then and there. He willed his body under control and only then started to move.

 With every snap of Jacob’s hips, a wave of pleasure crashed over you. Your nails raked down his back, probably leaving marks, but it seemed to only spur him on. “Yes, Prinsessa,” he moaned out, as you bent your knees allowing him to go deeper. You moaned as he hit that treasured spot that had you seeing stars. “You like that?” Another moan was his answer, as he continued to fuck you.

 That peculiar feeling started to wash over you. Your pussy fluttering around Jacob’s cock as the orgasm finally broke. Back arching, legs trembling, you were moaning out his name as the climax seemed to continue, as Jacob drove wildly into you. As you came down off your high, Jacob found his. With a few erratic thrusts, he was spending deep inside you with a loud groan. He slumped forward, his sweety forehead resting on yours. “Det dar var otroligt.” You looked at him curiously, your brain not working at all but also knowing he was speaking something in Swedish to you. He smiled, a glorious one that you found yourself getting lost in and you found yourself returning it. “I said that was amazing.”

 “Yes, it was,” you breathed out. Jacob rolled you both onto your sides, tucking you into his. It wasn’t long before both of you were passing out.

 Now here you were, finally putting most of the pieces together from last night. You looked back over at the sleeping man, who had given you such pleasure even in your inebriated state. He really was gorgeous. You honestly wouldn’t mind going for round two, after a couple of Tylenol, of course. Speaking of which you needed to get up and see if you had any in your bag. If only you could move him without waking him. You carefully took your right arm and went to move his left which was slung across you, but then something caught your eye. There on his ring finger was a ring. Oh, it wasn’t just any ring, it was a wedding ring! You knew he didn’t have it on when you were in the pool. You were not the type of woman to go hitting on a married man, let alone sleep with him.

 You pulled your other arm out from underneath him, fully intending to grab your stuff and get the hell out of there when you noticed a bright and shiny diamond on your ring finger. There was also a matching wedding band. Then like a tsunami hitting the beach of a small island a memory came flooding back to you of the two of you entering the hotel chapel. This man wasn’t married to just anyone, he was married to you!  

.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Misread Details, Part Two

CW: Described death of whumper, BBU, implications of pet whump, references to noncon, dehumanization, sadistic whumper

Part One: Nanda | Part Two: Brute | Part Three: Robert

The Unsolved Murder of Henry “Brute” Hanlon and the Box Boy Killer

r/LetsTalkTrueCrime

•Posted by u/oshaycanyousee

2 weeks ago

I’m back, r/LetsTalkTrueCrime! I really appreciated the questions and discussion under my last write-up, and a few of you really encouraged me to keep working to provide a part two to my Serial Killer Box Boy series, so here it is!

In Part One, we looked at the mysterious death of Nathaniel “Nanda” Benson, who died of cardiac arrest due to an undiagnosed heart defect (and likely head trauma played a part) and was found at the bottom of the stairs inside his California home. The only valuable possession missing from his property was his legally-purchased Box Boy, who fled the city wearing Nathaniel Benson’s shoes and using his money to buy a bus and then train ticket. 

The last confirmed sighting of the runaway Box Boy (and Benson’s possible killer?) was in Red Hills, California, a large-ish city a couple hours south of Benson’s house by train. 

Questions remain around Benson’s death: did he suffer cardiac arrest and fall down the stairs? Did the Box Boy push him, with the shock of the trauma and injury leading to the heart attack that killed him?

Is the Box Boy merely a witness to a tragic but natural death, or the prime murder suspect?

And most importantly: If he wasn’t guilty, why did he run?

Less than a full calendar year after Benson’s death, the question of where the Boxie went after Benson died was answered… but even that answer only opened up more questions, and the sudden death of a second man places even more uncertainty into the story of a Boxie who might simply be an innocent victim - or who could be a serial killer whose makes a victim out of those who give him shelter.

Which leads us to the story of Henry James Hanlon, known to nearly everyone - including his wife - as “Brute”.

Henry Hanlon was born in a small town in Texas, but moved to Red Hills, California after finishing a stint in the Air Force. 

His parents, James Hanlon and Estella Hanlon, maiden name Brickers, had had their first child, Henry’s older brother William “Bill”, right out of high school, born six months after their wedding day. Henry came three years later, and his sister Roberta “Bobbie” one year after that.

Henry was a perfectly normal, cheerful little boy, always toddling after his older brother and trying to join in the games of the older kids in town. His parents recalled him as the quintessential “middle child”, always resolving disputes and quietly getting things done. He received his nickname of “Brute” in fifth grade, when a classroom bully was harassing a female friend of Henry’s and Henry decided to take action. The only information I could really hunt down on this was some old school records that I found on a message board, and I can’t really verify if they’re real, but they suggest that the bully was sent home injured and Henry received a three-day suspension.

After that, it seems, anyone and everyone - even teachers - called Henry Hanlon “Brute”, and he never seemed to mind.

He received perfectly average grades, enlisted in the Air Force, served without distinction but without any significant incidents, and afterwards he moved out to California, where he settled into Red Hills (then a city with a thriving industrial district that was slowly beginning its slide into something rougher) and took a job with a manufacturing company, working in their warehouse.

“Brute” dated around a bit, but it wasn’t until three years after his move that he met the woman he would marry, Ellen Patricia Barry. She was a few years younger than him, and they met at a local bar that both were known to frequent. One of Brute’s former coworkers told police that Brute was big into pool and poker, both of which he would engage in when he went to the bar, and that he met Ellen during one of the poker nights, and that Brute stated that how easily she beat him was one of the reasons he was interested in her romantically.

Ellen claims they first spoke while playing pool, not poker, and also claims she’s never played poker in her life. Why Brute would have told his coworkers a different story is unclear. 

They dated for about a year before they wed at Grace Baptist Church on a sunny summer day in 20XX. Ellen’s father gave her away while Brute’s little sister was the maid of honor. A year later, Brute’s daughter Elizabeth was born, and a couple years after that, their son Daniel.

The Hanlons lived a charmed life - they owned a cute three-bedroom cottage home (bought and given to them by Ellen’s parents as a wedding gift) in a good part of town with a little white fence around the property and a yard big enough for the children and dog to play in. Ellen was part of the local PTA and active in her church, and Brute himself had the appearance of a man totally content with everything he had.

But Brute Hanlon had a secret.

Ellen continued to believe he was employed by the manufacturing company, but he actually left his employment there years before his death. Instead, he seems to have transitioned into making his money “under the table”. Ellen wouldn’t discover any of this until after his body was located… in a secret house he’d never told her about, in one of the roughest parts of Red Hills.

Without her knowledge, Brute purchased a two-bedroom home with cash directly from its previous owner that was badly in need of repair in the Pauls Mill neighborhood. Once a “company town” from the 1930’s - 1950’s that was absorbed into Red Hills as it grew in the 60’s, Pauls Mill today is the kind of neighborhood where everyone knows if you belong there, or don’t, and it’s best if you belong.

Brute performed a few very cursory repairs to keep it livable, laid down some new carpet, and then used it as a kind of secret base for the unsavory activities he didn’t want Ellen or the children to know about.

While his family believed he was at work at the factory, Hanlon was in fact hosting poker games, selling illicit narcotics and unlicensed firearms, and generally making quite a bit more money than he had with legal employment entirely under-the-table. He would spend his day making connections (and money) through these activities, then go home right at 5 pm sharp to his loving family, eat dinner at 6 pm, help his kids with their homework and hear about their day, and settle in for an evening playing the loving husband and doting dad.

Somewhere during this time period, Brute told Ellen he was setting up a “poker night” with his friends again, now that the kids were school-aged. 

What he did instead was drive down to the corner of Holt and McCormick streets, known to all locals as the Red Hills “red light district”, and pick up prostitutes, usually simply meeting with them in his car, but occasionally taking them to a nearby motel.

After his body was found, police showed his picture around to a variety of the individuals who make their living at Holt and McCormick, and more than a dozen locals immediately recognized him. 

Some described him as a regular customer who wasn’t particularly special or notable beyond the simple fact that he never tried to renege on payment and could be relied on to always be looking for someone on a particular night of the week… but others, almost entirely male, said he could be violent. A few described being injured enough that they had to seek medical treatment after meeting him. The same individuals stated that he insisted on using dehumanizing and insulting language to speak to them during these encounters, and that he was often unable to perform unless he did so.

One individual, who gave his name as “Mix”, mentioned that the last few times Brute had engaged his services, he had brought along a collar and insisted Mix pretend to be a Box Boy. 

During this time period, Brute continued to be an active, involved, and loving parent. 

He was home right on time every night except “poker night”, attended his chlidrens’ recitals and baseball games on the weekends. He often took them to the Red Hills Zoo, local parks, and even did a weekend trip to Berras to see the Berras Aquarium, stay overnight in a hotel as a family, and then visit a redwoods park before returning home.

Six months before his death, Brute’s visits to the red light district abruptly stopped. Instead, he apparently met with a local prostitute, engaged his services, and took him home… for good. 

The best record we have is that one woman, Needie Brandt, remembered seeing Brute leading a shorter, angular young man to his car one night, and described the young man as “one of those runaway Boxies, collar and all. Poor thing was half-starved”. 

Runaways, especially Romantics, are picked up by police from time to time in Red Hills. Most Romantics don’t really know any other way to survive, so prostitution is a common way to make ends meet. Needie said the young man had been seen around the area for a couple of weeks, right alongside the rest of the working people in the red light district, and that after this one night she saw Brute Hanlon lead him into the car, she didn’t see him again.

Asked if she remembered a name, Needie only shrugged and said that even if she did, it wouldn’t be a real one. Which is probably a good point. 

Somewhere in here, Brute began to date outside of his marriage while his family believed he was out with friends playing poker. He took dancing lessons with one Susan Krieger, had a serious relationship with a Lucy Graham, and was apparently occasionally taking a Natalie Dorn out for dinner.

Ellen was never informed about these out-of-wedlock interests. 

Brute’s family knew nothing. When his eldest son went to state with marching band his freshman year of high school, Brute Hanlon was right there cheering him on.

Then, just two days later, he presumably went right back to brutalizing the Box Boy he was keeping in his secret second home.

We don’t have a record of what exactly transpired within the house after Brute took the runaway Box Boy in. What we do know is what the police found later on.

On October 18th, 20XX, around midnight, Ellen Hanlon called police to report her husband missing after he did not return from his regular poker night. His car was located in the parking lot of an abandoned FoodMart, but a friend of Brute’s came forward to say he often parked there and carpooled with friends when going out.

None of Brute’s possessions were inside, and it didn’t appear the car had been touched by anyone but Brute himself when it was dusted for fingerprints or signs of DNA. Brute’s friends who knew about his secret activities weren’t telling, and Ellen and the children didn’t know anything about their seemingly loving husband and father’s double-life. 

At first, the trail seemed like it would go cold, and investigators were frustrated that they had so little to go on.

Then, on October 29th, 20XX, Brute’s neighbor (who apparently asked that his name not be given) called the police department complaining about how the small two-bedroom house next door had begun to smell “like something died in there”, and that he hadn’t seen his neighbor leave or return in days, which was very unusual.

When police arrived, the front door was unlocked. Officer William Keys, the first one inside, later described the smell as “unmistakable. I knew exactly what we’d find the second we walked in that door.”

He was right.

What they found was the bloodied and decomposing body of Henry “Brute” Hanlon, lying on his back in the middle of a small unremarkable living room, on a dirty and stained carpet. He had been viciously stabbed more than fifty times. One even went so far into Brute that there was an exit wound through his back. Medical examiners would later state that at least seven of his wounds would have been directly fatal, but that he had died within the first few and most of the wounds were technically post-mortem.

The murder had been committed by someone who had a very personal reason for the killing. Investigators believe this individual was “absolutely enraged”.  

Next to his body was the murder weapon, along with a set of buckles and strips of leather that mystified the officers. These were eventually identified as modified leg braces, but rather than straightening bent or injured legs, they forced the wearer to keep their legs at nearly right angles, which would ensure they had to crawl rather than walk. They appeared to be homemade.

Bloodied smears and footprints led the officers down a hallway and to the bathroom, where there was evidence someone had showered, changed clothes, and then left.

The same neighbor who informed police about the smell also remembered seeing, on October 16th or 17th (later determined that it was likely the 17th, the day that Brute did not return home from “work”), a young man wearing an oversized coat, sweatpants, and a too-large t-shirt walk out of Hanlon’s house and down the street. The young man was on the short side, the neighbor said, had an angular face, and a visible scar at the corner of his mouth and another along the side of his face. He had the collar of the coat flipped up, and the neighbor doesn’t recall if he wore a collar or not.

He had dark eyes, and short but shaggy dark hair that seemed to have been cut hurriedly and unevenly, and he waved at Hanlon’s neighbor without pausing or speaking as he walked past.

Tests on fingerprints and DNA located within Brute Hanlon’s secret second home would reveal that the Box Boy who once ran from Nathaniel Benson after his death was the exact same one who ran from Brute Hanlon after murdering him. The Boxie’s fingerprints were all over the murder weapon… and everywhere else, too.

Within Brute’s home, more knives were found, along with what looked like a badly-crafted homemade whip and some other supplies. A few of the things investigators found appeared to be essentially identical to what was found in Nathaniel Benson’s home. Other things were different (“animalization” was mentioned in some of the reports, but what I’ve been able to find is seriously vague for some reason). 

Possibly related, a series of dog leashes purchased from a local pet-supply store were found throughout the home, but there was no evidence of an actual dog. In the home’s main bedroom was a perfectly normal queen-sized bed that was clearly Brute’s, with a small side table, a large dresser, and an attached bathroom. 

There was absolutely nothing outwardly out of the ordinary, besides the room being very plain and impersonal. Makes sense, since Brute almost never slept there. 

In the second bedroom, however, there was army-style cot with a thin blanket and sheet, three folded shirts on the floor, two sets of bloody metal handcuffs hanging off the cot’s frame at the top and bottom, and a bucket next to the bed. Two metal bowls, clearly of a style meant to be a dog’s food and water bowls, were next to the door. One still had water in it. The window was painted and nailed shut, and bars had been installed over the windows.

Investigators determined the bars were on the house when Brute Hanlon purchased it and had been installed by the previous owner. No reason for that installation was ever given.

Investigation revealed trace amounts of evidence of blood, but nothing much. However, the living room and dining area both showed poorly-cleaned bloodstains that were much older than Hanlon’s murder, including discolored patches on the walls.

A contract for a 24/7 “master/slave” style relationship was found in the top drawer of the dresser, signed ‘Pet’ at the bottom, and with Brute’s name alongside it. However, both signatures match Hanlon’s handwriting, and the Boxie is not believed to have actively signed it, as he would be illiterate at best. Plus, Box Boys are not legally allowed to enter into any contract, anyway, since they can’t understand obligations at that level, so even if he had signed it, it wouldn’t have been considered remotely valid.

I mean, not that those contracts are legal, but... you get my point.

Also located in that drawer were more than one hundred photographs showing the Boxie in a variety of compromising situations and positions. Several of these photos had Brute himself clearly visible in them, and a few had other individuals who have since been identified as Brute’s associates in his more illicit activities.

Interrogations of those associates led to more than seven further arrests for illegal gambling, the production and sale of illicit drugs, and illegal weapons sales. Those interrogations are also how we know about what Brute Hanlon was up to in-between Little League games and Girl Scout meetings.

Those associates claim that Brute kept a “secondhand Box Boy”, muzzled him so he couldn’t speak whenever guests were over, and that often ‘poker night’ simply turned into a game where the assorted guests and Brute himself repeatedly assaulted the Boxie. The associates claimed they thought the entire thing was consensual, but frankly… given the overwhelming evidence that the Boxie had to be kept restrained and was often seriously injured by these assaults... that’s doubtful.

Ellen and her children, who had previously been very visible and spoke often to local news stations about Henry’s disappearance, withdrew after his body was found and his second, secret life revealed - and have never given a single public statement or made a public appearance since. 

Ellen moved her children out of Red Hills, moving back in with her own parents, briefly, in northern California. Where they went after that is unknown, but they appear to have left the state and Ellen may have changed her surname. Investigators are firm in their belief that Ellen knew nothing about her husband’s secret life.

I would give my right arm to know what his son and daughter think about it, and if they ever suspected what their devoted dad was up to when he wasn’t at home.

So, what happened to the Boxie after he left the house and disappeared down the block from the witness who saw him?

In short… no one knows for sure.

After murdering Brute Hanlon and cleaning off the evidence that must have been all over him, the Boxie simply fades away. He could have been anywhere, doing anything at all. There is a brief sighting of him on CCTV footage at the local bus station, where he is in line to buy a ticket… and then abruptly looks up, apparently noticing the camera and looking directly into it, then turns and walks quickly away.

The footage is grainy, but the Boxie does appear to be wearing his collar.

He isn’t seen in Red Hills again.

Instead, he reappears one more time before his final murder and disappearance… more than a year later, in a little town right along the border with Nevada.

Part 3 will go into how the investigation into the death of a quiet little oddball named Robert Weber reveals a basement full of skeletal bodies. But our Boxie isn’t the cause.

Instead, Robert Weber’s murder solves a series of related murders police had been stymied by for more than a decade, and a Box Boy who may have been meant to be Weber’s next victim instead turned accidental vigilante with a final killing of his own.

Or maybe I should say, his final killing so far.

-

@astrobly @finder-of-rings @burtlederp @whump-tr0pes @raigash @eatyourdamnpears @orchidscript @doveotions @pretty-face-breaker @boxboysandotherwhump @outofangband @whumptywhumpdump @whumpfigure @thehopelessopus @downriver914 @justabitofwhump @butwhatifyouwrite @newandfiguringitout @yet-another-heathen @nonsensical-whump @oops-its-whump @endless-whump @cubeswhump @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @whumpiary 

[pterodactylterrace]

Guys Like You Chapter 11

Title: Guys Like You

Chapter:  Chapter 11

Chapter Summary:  I’ll be sure to mark this date down.

Rating: 18+

Warnings: Who would have guessed, I wrote another porn. So that, and tooth rotting fluff because I’m a soft slut.

{Prologue} {Chapter 1} {Chapter 2} {Chapter 3} {Chapter 4} {Chapter 5} {Chapter 6} {Chapter 7} {Chapter 8} {Chapter 9} {Chapter 10}

Henry really had thought of everything when he decided to 'redecorate' his home. Briar was in love with her Paw Patrol bedding and wasted no time in naming all the stuffed animals that now lined the shelf. She fawned over all of the new bedtime story books he had bought and stored in the night stand, quickly picking out her favorites, despite never having been read most of them. She squealed in delight when he turned on the fancy nightlight that projected different images onto the ceiling. He even got a couple spare changes of clothes for the girl.

While Faye loved the idea of him fumbling through the baby girl section, trying to figure out what size Briar wore, Henry confessed to ordering most everything online. He cited COVID as his reason for not going in person, but Faye had a feeling it was because he had no idea what he was doing in the girl's section. He only had two nieces, after all. He was just used to buying for boys instead. His nieces tended to have very specific wants. His brothers or his sisters-in-law told him what they wanted, and he supplied it.

That being said, he did a very good job preparing for a little girl. Faye found herself spending most of her time at his house after the first week. Henry only had a bag of dog food, a couple bowls for Kal and a dog bed at her house. He claimed it was all he needed to be comfortable, but Faye knew otherwise.

On the days they had stayed at his house, Briar almost never let him out of her sight. She loomed across the kitchen when he would try to cook. She stared at him while he read. She lurked while he played video games. Finally Henry invited her to watch him, the little girl all too happy to perch herself on his knee, happily cheering him on despite not knowing what was going on in the game. The few nights they spent back at their own home, Briar demanded to call Henry every night so he knew she was behaving for Mommy.

Henry was even thoughtful enough to clear out a drawer in his bathroom for Faye. She'd lived with a man before, and she always had to fight for her own drawer in the bathroom. She wasn't even asking much. She had a relatively small make up back considering her profession. She only wanted a place to store that, and her feminine necessities. Henry already had those in the drawer for when she needed them. All she had left to do was chuck her spare make up bag, a few hair ties and a brush into her drawer, and she was good to go.

Not to mention, the man had a trash can already in his bathroom. One that he knew existed. Even her father would regularly forget about the trash can in the bathroom growing up. Every Tuesday, he would go through the house and empty each of the smaller bins so he could take all the trash out to the side of the road for trash pick up day. Every Wednesday, her mother would ask him if he got all the trash cans. Every time he would assure that he emptied all of them. Then she would ask about the bathroom and he would stare at her blankly before finally mumbling a small 'oh'.

Finally, Faye reached a point where she couldn't hold it in anymore; her heart was about to explode if she didn't let it out. Henry had just put Briar and Kal off to bed when he found her, a crying mess on the couch. Naturally, his first instinct was to panic. Was she hurt? Did he forget something important? Was it their anniversary? Did they even have one? They've only been involved for a few months, right? Was he ignoring her? Did she feel like he was pushing her aside again? Ultimately, he took his brother's sage like advice that had been freely given at each of his other's brother's weddings.

"Faye, while I don't know exactly what I did wrong, I can see that you are upset, and I am sorry."

"For what?" She sniffled, popping her head up from her knees all to quickly.

"I don't know." Henry admitted, cautiously sitting next to her.

"Henry, I'm not upset. I'm the happiest I've been in a long time." Faye explained, only furthering Henry's confusion.

"Then why are you crying?" He asked slowly, growing more and more uncomfortable by the second. He knew females could be complicated, but how could you be happy and crying at the same time? Those were two opposite emotions, weren't they?

"I'm just really happy." Faye wiped at her eyes, scooting closer to Henry to lean against him.

"That doesn't explain why you are crying..."

"Haven't you ever been so happy you cried?"

"I've been so happy it's brought a tear to my eye, yes. Never full out sobbing like something horrible just happened. I thought I forgot an anniversary or something!"

"We don't have one." Faye pointed out, as Henry wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer.

"I'm sure we do."

"We never officially agreed to be exclusive or anything."

"Have you been doing things I should be aware of?" Henry asked, raising a brow as he looked down at her.

"No. Have you?"

"Of course not. I was under the impression we've been a thing for a while now. Unlike some people."

"You never said anything! You can't just decide we're a thing without telling me!"

"Well do you want this to be a thing?"

"Well, I wouldn't mind it..."

"Then let's just retro date it. What was a significant even between us? Me meeting Briar?"

"No, we just flirted a lot back then."

"True."

"When you asked me to spend more time here?"

"That's way too recent. We've definitely been involved longer than that. What about that night on the couch? When you started dry humping me during the movie?"

"That was a fun night." Faye sighed wistfully.

"Certainly sticks out to me." Henry agreed.

"Deal. We'll figure out what day that was and that can be our anniversary."

"I need to put it in my phone. If I forget I get the feeling I won't ever hear the end of it."

"Do you even know when my birthday is?" Faye asked suddenly, twisting in his embrace to look up at him."

"That would be another good date to put in my calendar."

"What about Briar's birthday?"

"Ok, that one I know! You invited me over to help make her a cake. And then Briar led me into your room right after you'd finished showering. God, that ass..."

"Focus, Romeo!" Faye giggled, playfully swatting at his shoulder.

"Ugh, not Romeo. Choose a different story, I don't want us to end up dead over a misunderstanding."

"Uhh... I'm drawing a blank. You go first."

"You started it, you go first."

"You know, it's getting kinda late, I should go shower before I get too tired." Faye excused herself, slipping from his grip and scurrying out of his reach before he could snatch her up again.

"You, Miss Warren, are a tease." Henry pouted, flopping himself against the back of the couch.

"I am no such thing." Faye gasped, slowly peeling her shirt up over her head. She let it fall silently to the floor, annoyed when her actions went unnoticed. She was in no mood to be ignored.

This time, she reached behind herself, unhooking her bra and slinging it at him, the supportive garment landing directly on his face. It took Henry a second to realize what was going on, picking it up and straightening it out, his mind quickly connecting the dots once he realized what it was. He was on his feet in an instant, growling as he chased his laughing prey down the hall.

He snatched her up around her waist just before she could reach the door, playfully biting at the junction of her neck. "Got you, you little minx." He growled, pressing a kiss to the mark he had left.

"Well that means you get to lay claim to me." Faye giggled, reaching back to cup the back of his neck, pulling his head down for an awkwardly angled kiss.

"Bedroom." Henry muttered against her lips, blindly reaching for the knob and pushing the door open. He set Faye down, swatting at her ass as she slipped by, eagerly following and locking the door behind themselves. By the time he had yanked his shirt off, Faye had already pushed her sweats and panties down, crawling up the bed and giving him a view he never wanted to forget, her glistening peach peeking out from between her thighs, her ass swaying delightfully as she moved.

"Condom?" Faye asked, settling herself down in the middle of the bed, propped up on her elbows.

"Side table." Henry responded, nodding to the table on his side of the bed as he got to work shedding the rest of his clothing. "They better fucking be in date." He added after a second of thought.

"How long have you had them?" Faye snorted, digging through the drawer until she came up with the foil packet.

"Not a clue. They haven't been seeing much use in the last year or so."

"COVID?"

"Fucking COVID." Henry grumbled, crawling onto the edge of the bed, his eyes slowly drinking her in.  He grabbed her by the ankle, reverently uncrossing her legs, his strong hands kneading into the arch of her foot as he laid gentle kisses along the ink decorating the top of it. "What's this called?" He asked, his fingers brushing across the design.

"Mandala." Faye explained, Henry nodding and pressing a gentle kiss to it and slowly sliding his hands up, crossing over to her other leg to trace his fingers over the owl.

"This is an owl." He stated definitively, pressing another kiss to her artwork. He then slid up more, nudging her arm out of his way to look more closely at the mermaid he had found before, letting his fingers trace over it, causing Faye to giggle and squirm. "And here is a ticklish little mermaid." He teased, kissing across her torso, just beneath her bare breasts, craning his neck and smiling proudly "Ah ha! I thought I saw something over there." He mumbled proudly, pressing a kiss to the small butterfly on that side of her ribcage, eliciting another giggle from the woman trapped below him. "A ticklish little butterfly! Any others around here?" He asked, pressing kisses back across her torso, wrapping his lips around a nipple when she shook her head.

His tongue flicked against the rapidly hardening bud, grabbing onto her arms and pinning them down when she began to squirm more beneath him.

"Now then, I know about this one." He continued, lifting her right hand to kiss at the leaves and vines wrapping around her wrist and thumb. "And you showed me this one." He pressed an almost reverent kiss to the inside of her forearm, gently moving her arms up over her head. "Now, I can think of one more..." He mumbled, sliding a hand beneath Faye's hip and flipping her over onto her stomach all too easily, managing to keep her trapped beneath him the entire time. "And that's back here." His fingers traced along the black and white depiction of a tree, winding along her spine, its branches reaching up to her shoulders.

"Any others I should know about?" He asked, sliding his hand beneath Faye's hips, trailing lower to slide his fingers through the slick heat gathering between her thighs.

"That's all." Faye moaned, grinding down into his probing fingers.

"You do have quite a few, Miss Warren." Henry finally conceded, his hand sliding back just far enough to roll her back onto her back. "But I would consider this a work of art as well." He purred, diving in to kiss and suck at her slick folds shamelessly.

"Oh shit." Faye panted, her back arching at the sudden stimulation. "Fuck, Henry. I want you now."

"Patience, Miss Warren. I'm going to need you nice and relaxed before you try and take me."

"Damnit, Henry!" Faye growled, using her legs to pull his face even closer to her core, effectively silencing him with her pussy for the time being. "I can sink the Titanic with how fucking wet I am. Now."

"So bossy." Henry tutted, using the leverage he had against her to push her knees almost to her chest, eagerly diving back in, licking, sucking and kissing like a starving man at a feast.

"Fuuuuck." Faye groaned, gripping the sheets with one hand, the other trying to grip the hair on the back of his head, only to be met with fuzz. "Damnit all!" She hissed, cupping the back of his head instead to pull him closer. Henry was all to happy to comply with her demands, even slipping two fingers inside her dripping entrance, curling them in search of the sensitive spot he knew was there, grinning triumphantly when she started squirming harder. One part of her wanted to go up into his teasing mouth. The other wanted to go down onto his wandering fingers.

Henry finally took mercy on her, latching onto her bundle of nerves and sucking hard, his tongue flicking over it as his fingers tapped out a rhythm inside of her, easily sending her toppling over the edge, leaving her a panting mess below him.

"I think you're relaxed enough now." He taunted playfully, gently moving to let her lay flat on the bed.

"I want dick." Faye panted, glaring up at him as he attempted to innocently open the condom, shooting what she assumed was meant to be a wink her way.

"What a coincidence, I just so happen to have one right here, wrapped and ready to go."

"Shut up and fuck me." Faye groaned, rolling her eyes at his antics. Of course, he would manage to still be a dork in the middle of having sex.

"Would you like to stay on your back, or do you want to try something else?"

"I don't have the energy to bounce around on your cock right now."

"Alrighty then." He half laughed, nudging her knees apart to make room for himself, caging her in below his body once again. "This might sting a bit." He advised, gripping himself by the base, sliding the head of his cock between her swollen petals. He slowly pressed inside, rocking his way in until the tip of his cock was pressed firmly against her cervix.

"Are you alright?" Henry asked, wincing when her nails dug even harder into his shoulders.

"Yeah." Faye forced out, trying to slow her breathing. "I'm actively being split in half, but yeah."

"I'm sorry." Henry murmured softly, peppering her face with kisses as he began to roll his hips. Not full on thrusting, no. He saved that for when she started to squirm beneath him, trying to get him to press against all the right spots inside her. Then and only then did he rise up onto his knees, holding her up by her hips to pound into her, her nails now scratching at the sheets.

"Fuck, right there!" Faye gasped, her back arching when he brushed against a particularly sensitive area. "Fuck, don't stop, don't stop!" Henry's head fell back at her pleading, loving how she kept begging for more, her pleas devolving until only his name, 'please' and 'more' fell from her lips.

"Come on, cum all over my cock. Let me watch you come undone." Henry encouraged, slamming into her harder until he felt her walls clenching around him, her head thrown back as she begged him to keep going. Henry didn't last long past her orgasm, finishing himself only a few thrusts later.

"We did it." Faye panted as Henry slowly withdrew, careful to tie the condom off and toss it into the bathroom trashcan.

"Did what?" Henry inquired as he crawled back into bed, letting Faye curl into his side and pulling the blanket over both of them.

"We finally had sex."

"I shall be sure to also mark this date on my calendar."

"Dork."

"Yes, but I'm your dork."

Taglist: @Xxxkatxo @Weallhaveadestiny @lunedelorient

[limasgossip]

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐉𝐀𝐙𝐙: 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

All That Jazz is a monthly column written by Jasmine Silva. For all intended purposes, all the information Jasmine posts is considered alleged information and should NOT be considered fact for legality reasons. However, she’s fairly certain that her sources are reliable and would hold up in a court of law.

PAGE ONE: Stories of the Month

APARTMENT BUDDIES OR LOVERS?:

Look, I love a good back and forth love story, but can these two give it up already? @devonrose96​ and @monixberry​ live together which, hello? That basically tells me that they’re fucking. It’s just like how I think Billie Puckerman and Maise Rose are 100% sapphic together. Personally, I think Devon and Monica should just put their friendship on the back burner and start making out. Who’s with me?

MAISIE’S BIG MEATY SANDWICH!:

While @maisierose​ may be known for crying outside of Breadstix and falling in love with every man she lays eyes on, I’ve got something crazy for you. She’s in a fourway! Not literally, but listen to this. Everyone knows it’s just a matter of time before @xjonahx​ puts a label on this Pisces, but she’s wooing TWO other men. Yep, you heard me. Sources say Maisie was spotted out on a date with @dearjacobsamuel. Apparently the embarrassment from Breadstix wasn’t enough, but she’s also been seen multiple times with @theomcintosh at Rosalita’s Roadhouse. If twenty years from now, Jonah, Jake, and Theo show up in Greece because a young girl invited them to her wedding, we’ll all know who the Baby Mamma (Mia) is.

THE HORRORS AT THE AMERICAN FAMILY MOTEL:

I love a good little sexual exploration. We all do it! But none do it like @xsethappeal. I know he denied it, but my sources told me that there was an orgy last week at the American Family Motel. So sorry to whichever Puckerman had to clean that one up, but Seth Evans wasn’t just involved... he was the ring leader of the whole thing! Everyone in attendance were either regulars at Scandals or random people Seth found on Craigslist. I suggest Seth take himself down to the local clinic!

CONT. ON PAGE ONE: HOTTIES @ THE LFD

It’s no secret that the firefighters of Lima are objectively the hottest men and women to walk the face of the Earth, but I’m someone who simply can’t wait to see those scandalous calendars so I’d much rather give you, my dear followers, my definitive ranking on who’s hot and who’s not (Spoiler: They’re all hot. Some are just hotter than others)

Coming in at number one is our very own firelady @hattiewilde! Resident turned Lima Newcomer, Hattie’s the girl everyone dreams to get under. After all, I’d let her save me from a burning building!

Coming in at number two is one of Lima’s many FDILF’s (Fire Dad I’d Like To Fuck) Puck Puckerman @firexpuck! Or is it Noah? Honestly, I don’t care enough to know because all I know are those washboard abs baby!

Coming out in our middle spot is @xjonahx! He’s sweet and hot, what more could a girl want?

And last but certainly not least, in number four we’ve got @firefightingryanc! Honestly, manz would rank number one if it weren’t for the fact that every time his trap opens, it ends in something that involves his daughter. Can you say BORING? Seriously, dudes a snooze fest.

PAGE TWO: Who Got Down & Dirty @ Breadstix?

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for. I know, I know, Jasmine you know who everyone went home with? Tell me more, tell me more! Here’s the list of who went home with who and let me just say, I have a feeling we’ll be hearing shotgun weddings and positive pregnancy tests from a few of these bunches!

@hopeandtruth left a $200 dollar bill on her date with new beau @xsethappeal, demanding him to come with her. Can you say Dominatrix?

It’s no secret @blueberrysawyer and his date were macking on each other in the restaurant. Thank God they fled the scene before I had to see Breadstix porn. Although that wouldn’t be a terrible PornHub category, I guess.

Friend or foe? @theomcintosh and @hattiewilde are known for hating each other and their hot banter on the dash makes me need a fan, but turns out, the two ended up spending the night together!

While Maisie Rose ran out in tears and ditched @dearjacobsamuel, he didn’t let that stop his groove! My sources say they saw him getting in a car with a Breadstix waitress. Hot!

Good girl @annabananalima just couldn’t keep away from the older Puckerman boy, @firexpuck. Those two may be friends, but you better start adding benefits to the end of that.

Come on, there’s another Puckerman on this list? Well, while @lilyjanefabray wasn’t charmed by @elipucker, she was charmed by his Puckerman that lives down South, if you know what I mean.

Now, my favorite pairing. @clairestjames ended up on her blind date with her ex, @reldaxsmythe, but she didn’t go home with her nay-nay. Instead, my little sources tell me Claire was seen at Rosalita’s getting all cozy with @hunterxc. Alexa, play Best Friend’s Brother!

PAGE THREE: Monthly Rumors!

It’s no secret that I receive plenty of tips on a weekly basis. Some I end up personally talking about while some of the best end up in my column. Here’s the top SEVEN rumors that I just love (and believe in)!

@rossberryx is known for his luscious locks, but did you know it’s actually just a wig?

There’s a reason @smythemp3 didn’t stay in Paris and came back to Lima. He got married! But it didn’t end too well and after a pricey divorce, Sebastian had to move back home.

@limaboundblaine freaked out on a barista at the Lima Bean after she got his order wrong and threw his coffee at said barista.

@chandlerpierce won’t be in attendance for University of Lima fall semester. Why? Because she dropped out and joined the circus!

Did you know Salma Hayek is a good friend of the Smythe family? Apparently 30 years ago she had a baby that she put up for adoption. That baby? @reldaxsmythe.

@darcynderson and @stevievans are back on after he went to visit Darcy at her apartment.

@roseandprose got ditched at Breadstix just like her little sister. Apparently @firefightingryanc daughter was sick, but I have a feeling he just got one of his buddies to call him and say there was an “emergency”. I know I’ve used that excuse before.

[argylemnwrites]

Why Are We Still Waiting? - Prologue

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment universe, just over one year after the epilogue)

Word Count: ~5500

Rating: R (language only)

Summary: As Riley prepares for a new chapter in her life, she’s forced to reflect on a time when things felt much less certain.

Author’s Note: Well, the sequel’s here... and I feel like it’s gonna not be what any of you all are expecting, but hopefully you will enjoy the journey still. We are so far from canon at this point, given the diverging plots, so no point comparing this timeline to that timeline. This prologue is set 13 months after the epilogue of It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment, but it does feature a flashback (in italics) to an event that happened about 4 months after that epilogue. The subsequent chapters will pick up about 8 months down the road from this prologue, or 21 months after the ICWAM epilogue.

Riley rifled through her purse, trying to find her keys, eventually finding them shoved beneath her phone, three tubes of lip gloss, and her flashcards that had scattered everywhere when the rubber band broke. Flashcards that were now sticky with lip gloss, she realized as her hand came out with tacky coral streaks across her knuckles. Oh well. Nothing was going to kill her good mood today.

She had just finished her last final exam of the spring semester. And provided she passed, which she was pretty confident she had, she would be a college graduate. It was crazy to think about. After her mother’s death, she assumed her degree would just sit unfinished, those last two semesters of credits seemingly unattainable. But now, she had probably just completed her last requirement for her BA in Communication Studies and Resources. Combine that with the fact that she had a likely job offer pending from the director of a PR firm who had led her Race and Media seminar and that she was getting married in four weeks, and she was riding high.

Hana had told her she was crazy when Riley had told her the wedding was going to be a month after her courses ended, but honestly, it hadn’t been too bad. Sure, Riley probably should have checked the academic calendar before she and Drake set the date, but they only had 23 people coming down to Texas, and that included Maxwell who was officiating. And an outdoor, casual wedding on a ranch involved a lot fewer details than the ritzy London soiree Hana and Catherine were currently putting together. At this point, all that was really left was trying on her dress one last time so Hana could see if she needed to make any last alterations, and that was happening next week when Hana was coming to New York for both business and the bachelorette party.

Climbing the steps, Riley knew she had to be basically grinning. She could smell something delicious coming from their apartment. She’d suspected Drake was going to make something special for dinner tonight, and the aroma that was wafting down the hallway confirmed that she was in for a treat. He could hear his voice muffled through the door as she turned the key, meaning he was probably on the phone. Knowing that he liked to keep the phone on speaker when he was cooking, she kept quiet as she opened the door and entered their apartment, not wanting to interrupt his conversation.

“Savannah, you gotta slow down,” Drake said towards his phone which was sitting on the counter as he held a knife over a cutting board.

Savannah’s sobs could be heard through the speaker phone, slightly distorted and off. “I just feel like… such… an idiot. And Drake, I don’t know what to do.”

Drake glanced up as Anderson trotted over to greet Riley, but she raised her hand and shook her head. If his sister was having some sort of crisis, that came before celebrating the end of finals.

“It’s bad enough that I’m the… unwed Baby Mama at court, but to get knocked up... again? Drake, I can’t let them know. They barely accept me being with Bertie as it is.”

Riley’s eyebrows shot up as she quietly hung her purse up on the hooks Drake had installed by the door and sat down at the table. Maybe she should feel bad about essentially eavesdropping, but Drake was going to tell her everything Savannah said anyway. Particularly something as massive as this.

“Who cares what they think?” Drake asked as he set the knife down and rubbed the back of his neck in frustration.

“I care!”

Drake let out a little sigh and shook his head. “What does Bertrand think about all of this?”

“He was a little shell shocked at first, but then he marched into his office and pulled a ring box out of a desk drawer. Apparently, he’d been planning on proposing for a while.”

Riley glanced down at the heirloom ring on her left ring finger. Savannah’s story was eerily familiar, and suddenly found herself thinking back on an afternoon last August.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riley laid on the floor of the kitchen, trying to slow her mind down. It was a technique she’d been trying at her therapist’s suggestion for the past few months any time she found herself about to dive into a massive decision without giving it any thought. Apparently, her life experiences during her childhood and adolescence had created a habit of her rushing through major choices so that she wouldn’t have to think about possible negative outcomes. An avoidant coping mechanism was what he called it. Riley thought it was a little absurd that he needed a term for everything, and she didn’t think it took a genius to figure out that her absent father, her addict mother, and the endless string of foster homes messed her up in some ways, but he was relaxed and easy to talk to, which she supposed was what really mattered.

“Just find a way to ground yourself in the moment. Connect yourself to the physical environment, and let your thoughts settle. Give it a try, okay?” he’d requested, so she’d done it a few times since then, like when she was signing up for courses for the semester or when she and Drake had decided on this apartment. Laying down and closing her eyes usually worked pretty well. It helped clear her mind as her body adjusted to the position and the feel of the floor. But today, she couldn’t slow things down. Probably because her mind was racing thinking about the feel of her body, trying to determine if she felt any different. She knew that was stupid, but she just couldn’t help it.

Her phone buzzed on the floor next to her, but she didn’t want to pick it up. Because if she picked it up, she would have to look at her calendar again, the thing that was the source of her current panic and that she had killed the screen to avoid. 

It was really the phone’s fault, her current predicament. She and Drake had upgraded their phones about 6 weeks earlier, and it seemed like her calendar notification settings hadn’t imported over. Apparently, she hadn’t really used the calendar at all over that time. Until today, that is, when she had downloaded the syllabi for her course load and gone to add key dates for the semester. That was when she had realized she had missed her window for her depo injection by just over three weeks.

This was bad. She was too old to be this careless about birth control. She had just paid her tuition for this semester’s classes. She’d cut back to part time at the bar. Drake’s job paid okay, but this was absolutely not a good time for them. But she also felt weird even thinking about ending a pregnancy when she and Drake had recently had the “kid talk” and said they want children in the future. He wasn’t some random one-night stand. She wasn’t seventeen anymore. Their relationship was in a good spot. Things felt stable. Why did she have to go and fuck all that up?

She didn’t know what to do, what to think, how to feel. Kids with Drake was a someday thing. A down the road a bit thing. Not a now thing. They hadn’t even been together a year, and she might be pregnant. All because she forgot to go in for her depo. They’d been essentially trying for three weeks without even knowing. And because she hadn’t had a period for the past few months on the depo, she didn’t even know how to judge if she was late or anything.

Trying to calm herself down, she sat up, leaning forward and hugging her knees. Even in her panic, she was able to recognize that part of her dread came from the fear of the unknown. That much, at least, she could take care of. So she grabbed her purse and marched down the stairs, outside and over to the little drug store a block over. She grabbed the first pregnancy test she saw, paid for it, and went back home, ready to do what needed to be done. But she couldn’t. She just stood in front of the mirror, staring at herself, trying to will herself to just pee on the goddamn stick. But she felt locked and frozen, unable to take that final step.

She didn’t know how long she stood in the bathroom, but eventually, she heard the front door unlock and Anderson’s tags jangling as his little feet pattered across the floor. Drake was home. And she should probably tell him what was going on.

“Hey, Liu!” he called out, “What do you want for dinner? I was thinking maybe…” but he trailed off when he saw the look on her face as she walked down the hallway and joined him in the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”

“Drake, I…” she paused, taking a deep breath before she continued, “I forgot to schedule an appointment with my OBGYN.”

“Okay…”

“For my depo injection.”

“Oh.” Drake nodded slowly, like doing so would help him process the information.

“And I was supposed to get one over three weeks ago.”

Drake kept nodding slowly. “Okay… so you’re saying that?”

“That I very well could be pregnant, Drake. And it’s freaking me out.”

Drake just kept nodding, like he was a fucking bobblehead doll or something. It was annoying the shit out of her.

“Don’t you have any thoughts on this?” she ground out, frustrated at… well basically everything. Drake. Herself. That they were even having to deal with this at all.

“I think… you should take a pregnancy test before we do anything else. Do you want me to go pick one up?” His voice was calm and steady, but it felt like he hadn’t really processed, almost as if he had no reaction to the fact that she could be pregnant with his kid.

Riley wanted to scream and shake his shoulders. It was like she’d told a robot she could be pregnant. “I already went and bought one.”

“Okay, well then I think you should take it.”

“How are you so fucking calm about this?”

Drake just stood there for a second before giving her a little shrug. “I don’t know. I mean, it could be worse, right?”

“How could it be worse? We live in a one bedroom apartment in a mad expensive city where we just paid a bunch of money for my tuition and you work as a temp and I’m a fucking bartender and-”

“Shhhh, Riley. Come here,” Drake said, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her. “First of all, we don’t even know if you’re pregnant. Second of all, I guess I don’t see it as that big-”

“Oh, that’s easy for you to say! It’s not you that might be pregnant!”

“Yeah, but this would be our kid. I guess I just feel like we could handle it, you know?”

“A kid is a huge fucking deal, Drake! Pregnancy is a huge fucking deal before the kid even gets here! And I get that for the guy it doesn’t seem like it. And you can act like it’s no big deal and we’ll just figure it out, but that’s because you aren’t facing the reality that you might have a baby growing inside you that you were not planning on. So, don’t you dare try and minimize this, Drake Walker.”

Part of her knew she wasn’t being fair to Drake. She’d been processing this possibility all afternoon. She’d just unloaded on him and expected him to react the same way she did. But a big part of her was just frustrated that he didn’t seem as worried or scared as her. Regardless of her storm of emotions though, her little rant somehow focused her. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and headed back toward the bathroom. She might as well get this over with.

“Riley, wait! Can’t we talk about this?” Drake called out. She spun to face him, throwing her hands in the air.

“I have to go pee on a fucking stick. And according to you, there’s nothing to discuss until I do that.”

Marching into the bathroom and slamming the door, she let out a deep breath as she scanned the instructions on the little purple box she’d left on the counter. It made it sound so fucking simple, like this wasn’t mad terrifying. She popped open the box, and pulled out a thin piece of white plastic. How could something so tiny be so fucking intimidating?

Somehow, she kept her hand steady as she did what she needed to do, setting the little stick on the side of the sink before she washed her hands. She let out one last sigh before opening the door and leaving the bathroom, setting the timer on her phone for five minutes as she walked back towards their kitchen and living room. She found Drake sitting at the table, hands lightly tapping in his lap as he glanced around the room. When he noticed her approaching, he seemed to hold his breath for just a moment. Eventually, he broke the silence as she sat down in her usual chair.

“So, did you…?”

“Pee correctly? Yes, Drake. I managed to do that.”

He didn’t acknowledge her sarcasm, instead he just nodded twice before he asked, “How long do we have to wait?”

“Five minutes,” Riley responded, waving her phone in the air before setting it down on the table.

“Look, I’m sorry, Riley. I didn’t mean to make you think this isn’t a big deal to me. Because it is. All I was trying to say is that I think we can get through whatever happens here together.”

Riley nodded, but didn’t say anything. Deep down, she knew that was what he’d been trying to convey. But at the same time, she was freaking out. An unplanned pregnancy was just different for her, the person whose body would have to go through all the changes, than for him. “I know, Drake. And I know I just kind of dumped all my stress onto you and didn’t really give you any time to think or react.”

They were both silent for a few moments before Drake leaned over towards her. “No matter what it shows, you know I’m not going anywhere, don’t you?” he asked, reaching for her hand across the table. “We’ll be alright. We’ll figure it out. I can get a second job on nights and weekends if we need more money. And we probably won’t need a bigger place for a year or two. We can just shove this table against the wall by the kitchen, and then we can fit in a crib and a changing table, so we’d be set there for a while, and I know next semester might not be doable for you, depending when you’re due, but we’ll just have to see, right?”

“Drake…” Riley said, but he was just rambling off plans now, seemingly oblivious to her interruption.

“I know it’s a little earlier than expected, but this was always the plan, right? I mean, we talked a while back, and you said you saw us getting married and having kids. So what if it’s a little quicker than we thought? It’ll be fine. And I know there’s a lot to think about, but I figure we can still have a nice, little wedding. Unless you want some big, fancy wedding. If you do, that’s fine, we are just gonna have to start-”

“Woah, what the fuck are you talking about?” Riley finally said, squeezing his wrist tightly to interrupt his ramble.

“I’m just trying to figure some stuff out for us, you know?”

“Like our wedding?”

A faint blush crept onto Drake’s cheeks, but it didn’t stop him. “Well… yeah? I mean, obviously I want you to-”

“Drake, are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m serious. We can get married and-”

“No!” she called out, cutting him off before he could start rambling again.

“What?”

“Well, for one, you haven’t asked me yet!”

Drake winced at that but nodded and let out a little sigh, “You’re right. Sorry… just, lots of thoughts… but I should’ve… Shit, what I mean is… Riley, will you marry me?”

Riley was sure her eyes had never been wider than they were as she stared across the table. After a few seconds, she finally felt able to speak. “You did not just propose to me because I might be pregnant.”

“It’s not just because you might be pregnant,” Drake muttered, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck.

“Bullshit, Drake! Are you telling me that you planned on asking me to marry you when you got off work today?”

“No, of course not, but-”

“Then this,” she said, gesturing her hand back and forth between the two of them, “is all because you feel fucking obligated to propose. And I may not be big on over the top romance, Drake, but the thought of a man asking me to marry him out of a sense of duty is so not okay. I am not some fucking burden to be dealt with.”

“Hey! I never said that-”

“Drake, simply proposing because you feel like you are supposed to is mad insulting. Proposals should come when someone is sure they’re ready to commit to the rest of their lives with that one person. Not because they feel bad they might have knocked someone up.”

Drake swallowed roughly, and nodded at that. He didn’t say anything for a few tense moments, but then he stood up abruptly, shoving his chair back and stalking down the little hallway.

“Drake?” Riley called out, but all she got in response was a muffled “Just gimme a minute” from the bedroom. She glanced down at her phone, checking the timer.

“We only have a minute,” she muttered, shifting around in her chair. But a few moments later, Drake was striding back out towards her, one hand dragging through his hair, the other clutching something tightly in his fist.

“I didn’t ask you to marry me because I felt like I had to,” he growled out, dropping down on one knee next to her chair, “And I didn’t ask you because you might be pregnant. I asked you because I love you and I can’t picture my life without your teasing or swearing or jokes. Because I love that everything is a competition with you, and that you are a crazy sore loser and even worse winner. Because I love the way your eyes always show what you’re really thinking, whether you’re angry or protective or caring, not that they need to, because you have no problem telling me exactly what you think. And because for some strange reason, you seem to get me, and that makes me so fucking lucky.

“It’s not that I thought, ‘Oh, if she’s pregnant, I guess we better get married,’ but that I thought, ‘Why aren’t we married?’ Because whether it happens tomorrow or ten years from now, I know I want you to be the mother of my children. So yeah, maybe the timing is shit, and I know I’ve done this all wrong, but you were wrong too. Because I am ready to spend the rest of my life with you. I’ve been committed to that for a long time. And right now, I realized there is no good reason to wait. I don’t want to wait. So that’s why I asked you.”

He let out a couple of heavy breaths, just staring at her expectantly. Riley reached forward and grabbed his hand with both of hers, giving it a little squeeze as she found her voice. “Drake…”

“Shit,” he said as he tugged his hand out of her grasp, uncurling his fist and revealing a green, satin box, “I was probably supposed to show this to you earlier, too.” And with that he flipped the box open, revealing a beautiful, vintage, diamond ring.

“Holy shit,” Riley whispered, trying to keep up with everything that was unfolding, “You have a ring.”

“Yeah, I have a ring. Riley, I have known you were it for me for so long. So, let me-”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” And with that, Riley leaned forward, sliding her hands around his neck and kissing him deeply. He responded passionately, tangling his fingers into her hair, but after a few seconds, a beeping noise interrupted them. Her phone alarm was chirping.

She turned slightly to silence her phone before facing Drake again, watching as he took her left hand off her lap and tugged it forward. She glanced up and found him staring at her, eyebrows raised, so she smiled and nodded. He grinned back at her before he slid the ring onto her finger. She felt like they had so many things to talk about, so many questions that needed to be asked and answered, but right now, there was one very pressing question with an answer waiting for them in the bathroom.

“Come on, Liu,” Drake said as he stood, tugging her to her feet with him, “It’ll be okay, no matter what. I promise.” So they walked hand in hand into the bathroom and looked at the piece of white plastic she’d left on the side of the sink. The piece of plastic that would shape their future.

“Two lines… does that mean…”

Riley shook her head, staring at the box. “No, that one is just the control. It’s only one line.”

“So, you’re not…”

“I’m not pregnant,” she said, feeling a rush of relief wash over her as she tugged Drake into a hug, “Thank God!”

It was like sheets of stress and panic were falling off her by the second, and she even let out a little chuckle of relief as she clung to Drake’s shoulders. Drake didn’t say anything, just loosely looping his arms around her waist to return the hug. When she pulled back after a moment, she saw just a hint of regret and sadness in his eyes.

“Drake, what is it?”

He just shook his head, “I don’t know. It’s just… a lot, I guess.”

She nodded, sliding her right hand forward to cup his cheek as she waved her left in front of his face. “Not second guessing this, I hope?”

He smiled warmly at her at that, clasping her hand against his cheek and tugging her hips flush against his, “No fucking way, Liu.”

“Good,” was all she said, before his lips were on hers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Riley had always wished she could find something in common with Savannah. She knew Drake wished that they were great friends, but the truth was they just were very different women. It’s not that Riley disliked Savannah, not really at least, but they almost never had anything to talk about. But now it seemed like they both had proposals triggered by pregnancy scares. It was a weird ass thing to share.

Except, they really weren’t all that similar. Savannah was not only actually pregnant, but she lived a life where the optics of it were far from ideal. If Riley had been pregnant back then, it would have been a lot to handle, but at the end of the day, Drake had been right. It would not have been a big deal. No one in New York would care if she and Drake, a committed couple who lived together, had a baby out of wedlock.

But for Savannah, it was different. Dukes weren’t supposed to live in sin. They certainly weren’t supposed to knock up the same woman twice, once as a one-night stand, once as a girlfriend. And as stupid as Riley found it, she knew that Savannah’s ramblings did express a very warranted fear. She and Bertrand could easily find themselves on the outside of their social group for this. Or rather, Savannah could. Bertrand might face some snide comments, but at the end of the day he was a man and he was one of them. Savannah had neither of those advantages. And while Riley and Drake had left that whole world behind for a lot of reasons, the fact remained that Savannah didn’t want to have to give that life up. 

Lost in her thoughts, both her memories of her own proposal and her sympathy for Savannah, she was only half-listening to Drake and Savannah’s conversation, but when she heard her name and Drake’s tone turn suddenly angry, she snapped her head over, attempting to figure out what she’d missed.

“...Riley and I are getting married then! That’s our fucking wedding day, Sav. What the actual fuck are-”

“I know, Drake! If there was any other time that-”

“I’m not asking Riley that, Savannah. It’s not happening. You’re the one who wants a last minute wedding, you pick out a different day!”

“The Social Season already has events set for the next two months. The only exception is June 8th.”

“Yeah, because Liam blocked that weekend so he could come to our wedding! You’re just going to have to wait a couple of months.”

“I just want it to be believable that this is a honeymoon baby. People are already going to suspect, Drake. But if we just have a civil ceremony with none of court in attendance, people will know for sure.”

“Again, who the fuck cares?” Drake was clearly agitated now, pacing the kitchen and gesturing wildly.

“Bertrand’s a duke. We have to keep up appearances, at least a little. You don’t have to like it to know it’s true.”

Drake dragged a hand through his hair and let out a massive sigh, “What am I supposed to do here, Savannah? You realized this is an insane ask, right? I’m getting married in four weeks.”

“I know. If I could think of any other solution, I would. Just, talk to Riley about this, please? All I’m asking is that you two talk about it, okay?”

“Fine, Sav. But this is so out of line.”

“I know, I know.”

Drake ended the call without even saying goodbye to his sister. He slapped his hand over his eyes and let out a little growl.

“Soooooo,” started Riley, “Savannah and Bertrand are having another baby?”

He dropped his hand down and looked at her, just shaking his head. “I’m sorry you had to hear that. But you don’t need to worry about it. I’ll figure out how to tell Savannah she can’t just have our wedding weekend. How was your exam?”

“Fine, but Drake, we need to talk about your sister.”

“No, this is your day. You don’t need to worry about her drama. We’re celebrating you being a college graduate, and that’s all we need to do tonight.”

Riley shook her head, “Celebrating can wait a half hour while we figure this out.”

Drake gave her a frown and came to join her at the table. “What’s to figure out?”

“Drake, she’s pregnant, hormonal, and scared that she’s about to become a social pariah.”

“Yeah, but that’s not… I wouldn’t ask you to do what she’s asking. I wouldn’t expect you to postpone the wedding for that.”

She tilted her head forward, reaching out and grabbing his hand before she continued, “If this was just your event, if I wasn’t involved, you would agree wouldn’t you?”

“Well, yeah. But it’s not just my event.”

Riley stared at Drake for a few moments, running things through in her head. “How are you going to enjoy our wedding, knowing that it’s going to strain things between you and Savannah?”

“That’s the thing - it shouldn’t strain things between us. She’s being unreasonable here. We wouldn’t be doing anything wrong to get married as planned.”

“Oh, I completely agree. Savannah never should have called to ask you this. But the fact is that she did. And I don’t think you’re going to be able to just act like she didn’t.”

Drake sagged forward, propping one elbow on the table and catching his head with that hand as he squeezed her hand with his other. “I know I should just tell her ‘Hell no,” so that’s what I’m going to do. It’ll suck for a while, but she’ll get over it.”

Riley looked at Drake, trying so hard to steel himself, bracing to disappoint his baby sister. And a large part of her wanted him to do just that. Draw a clear line in the sand when it came to this. He already let her get away with so much. But a bigger part of her just felt for the woman that was going to be her family soon, who just felt scared and alone and was pregnant when she didn’t expect to be. And the biggest part of her just didn’t want Drake to be in this position, where he felt like he had to choose between her and his sister, even if his sister was mad out of line here.

“Drake, I think we should postpone our wedding.”

His head jerked up at that, fear and anxiety clear across his wrinkled brow and deep frown. Riley stood up and climbed into his lap, wrapping her arms around him and stroking the back of the neck and she worked to undo the worry and fears she knew her statement unleashed.

“And you know this has nothing to do with you or us or the way I feel about you. But you are a protector when it comes to those you love. And right now, you are trying to protect me from seeing how much you wish you could help your sister. And I appreciate that, but I know you, and if we get married on June 8th, I know that you are going to stew and feel guilty the entire time, even if you know you shouldn’t. And that’s not how our wedding should be.”

“Riley, I....” he sighed into her neck as his hands clutched at her waist. He didn’t say anything else, and Riley knew he was trying to find a way to contradict her. But he wasn’t going to be able to do that.

“It’s okay, Drake. I will be thrilled on our wedding day whether it’s in four weeks, four months, or four years. But your sister chose to be a part of a world that will judge her heavily if she gets married in four months or four years. We can help her by giving her the chance to get married in four weeks, and I don’t mind doing that, alright?”

Drake tipped his head back, sliding his hand up to comb through her hair. “I don’t know what to say, Riley.”

She leaned over and kissed his forehead. “Call your sister. Tell her she better start planning a wedding.”

“We’re going to lose a bunch of deposits.”

“I know. We’ll save up again. The benefit of a small, simple wedding is that it isn’t obscenely expensive.”

“I would never ask you to do this, Liu.”

“I know, because you take care of everyone whenever you can. But that mean you also want to take care of your sister, and I love that about you. So, let me take care of you here. This is my call. We are postponing.”

Drake crushed her against his chest as he hugged her tightly. Riley knew he was trying to convey a lot of things with his embrace that he couldn’t quite put into words. It just cemented her decision in her mind as the right call. As much as it would suck to postpone, starting out their marriage by making Drake do something that would hurt his sister was not the way to go about things. It didn’t matter that Savannah’s ask was way out of line. She and Drake could just afford to be flexible in ways that Savannah and Bertrand couldn’t.

“I love you,” Drake muttered into the skin of her shoulder before he loosened his grip on her, leaning back and looking up into her eyes, a clear mix of love, adoration, and regret present in his.

“I know. I love you, too. And I’ll love you whenever our time to get married comes.”

He kissed her gently. “It’ll be our time soon. I promise, Liu.”

Riley smiled, climbing off his lap and tugging him up after her, leading him by the hand into the kitchen, eager to get on with celebrating the end of her exams and to sample some of whatever Drake was in the midst of making. She wasn’t worried. They had a lifetime together. The when of their wedding didn’t matter as much as that fact.

Permatag:  @walkerswhiskeygirl   @riley--walker​  @bebepac​ @ravenpuff02​ @oofchoices​ @octobereighth​ @drakewalker04​ @kimmiedoo5​  @mfackenthal​  @thequeenofcronuts​  

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It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment:   @thequeenchoices​  @sunnyxdazed​​

[dancerlittle006]

Important Decision & New Baby Smells

First things first, I don’t own anything related to Disney or Newsies. Second of all, this is a continuation of my “The Many Adventures of Sammi & Race” series. You may want to read the others in the series but it’s not necessary!

April 21, 1905

The plan was set. Jack and Race had set it up weeks ago. Race and Spot would take Sammi for a long weekend, giving Kat and Jack the opportunity for a little alone time before baby #2 would arrive. However, that plan went right out the window the afternoon Race had picked Sammi up after his shift from the hotel. 

As soon as Race had gotten home, the phone had rang. They had moved to a brownstone closer to the Kelly’s and had looked at the opportunity as a new chapter in their lives. “Hello?”

“Racer, the baby’s comin’.” Jack panted as if he had run a marathon causing Race to grin. 

After reassuring Jack that Sammi was fine, they settled in for a long weekend of niece/uncle time. Spot was at work, thus leaving the four year old with her favorite uncle. “What do you wants to do Sammi?”

Holding her favorite doll in her arms, the little girl grinned brightly at her uncle. “Ummmms . . .” Her new favorite word when she was stalling or just trying to figure out what to do. “Hows about da park?”

Soon they found themselves in the park, Sammi singing some song and hopping from foot to foot while Race held her hand. “Whatcha singin’ Sammi?”

She shrugged, continuing to sing the song. Race listened, trying to place it but came up empty. She led them to a bench in the middle of Central Park. Settling herself on the bench, her head whipped from side to side taking in the comings and goings of the park. “Sammi, yous gonna be a big sister.”

With a shake of her head, she looked at her uncle. “Nope. Babys not comin’.” 

“Da told mes otherwise.” Race looked down at his niece. “Yous gonna be a great big sister.”

She bit her lip, a tell that something was bothering her, which Race picked up immediately. “What’s wrong? Aren’t yous excited?”

Sammi shrugged again, standing up next to her uncle before plopping on his lap. “Is not a good sister.”

“Oh Sammi.” Race whispered, hugging the girl tightly to his chest. “Yous learn how to be a good sister. Yous don’t instantly knows how to do that. Yous uncles, mum, and dad wills helps you. Is that why yous worried?”

Putting a finger to her lip, she slowly nodded. “A year from now, yous be a great big sister. And yous baby brother or sister wills adore yous. Just watch.”

The two sat in silence for a bit, watching the action within the park. “What do yous want, Sammi? A brother or sister?”

Again, she shrugged. “Is never had a brother or a sister until I met yous dad, Sammi. Your dad and mum are mys siblings and theys pretty good at its.”

“Yous help?” She whispered, her body growing heavy with sleep. 

Race smiled, running a hand through her hair. “Yes, Is and Uncle Spottie will help you, Is promise.”

Picking her up, he made his way through the park, the rhythm of his walk causing the girl to fall asleep on his shoulder. Soon the two arrived at home, Race putting Sammi in their guest room, closing the door slightly behind him. Making his way to the kitchen, he cleaned up the remaining dishes from that morning's breakfast. 

The task gave him time to think - it had been five months since Spot had proposed and they were no closer to planning a wedding than five months ago. They both knew they wanted to get married but they had no idea where to start. Kat had tried to get them to sit down and plan but that had quickly gone out the window. They had talked about eloping and not making’ a big deal out of it. Both Spot and Race had flown by the seat of their pants for much of their lives and it seemed they would take that into their marriage as well. 

The running of the water knocked him out of his thoughts just as the door to the brownstone opened and a grinning Spot entered, kicking his boots off before sighing loudly. “Honey, Is home.” 

Shutting off the water, Race met him at the door with a kiss before grabbing the bag that was in his hand. “Sammi’s asleep in the guests room. And Jack called a couples of hours ago and said the baby’s comin’” 

“Hows she doin’?” Spot moved to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, leaning against the counter as Race joined him. 

Shrugging noncommittally, Race shook his head. “One moment shes excited and the next shes reserved and quiets. Is think once the babys here, she’ll be betters. Shes worried she’ll be a bad big sister, and I tried to reassure her that she’ll have all of us to help her.” 

“Her whole world is changin’. She’s used to having you, me, her uncles, Jack, and Kat all to herself.” Race smiled. “That girl will be fine and she’ll be a great big sister.” 

The opening of the guest room door caught their attention. Race and Spot both held a chuckle at the mess of hair that Sammi was rocking. “Hey baby girl. Hows you sleep?”

Giving her uncle a glare, Sammi opted to crawl up in Spot’s lap instead of Race’s. Spot had always loved post-nap cuddles but lately, Sammi had opted for Race and not him. He would take full advantage of Race’s misstep and cuddle Sammi. “Hows you sleep, Sammi?”

“Goods.” She yawned, burrowing her head in her uncle’s chest. “Da babys comin’ Unka Pottie.” 

He ran a hand down her back. “Uncle Race just told me. That’s excitin’ huh?”

Sammi shrugged, fighting back another yawn. “Is guess.” 

“What do yous want to do this weekend, Sammi? Go to the zoo, maybe the park or da museum?” Spot rambled, as the little girl readjusted to being awake. 

The room fell quiet. Race and Spot both grinned at once another, lacing their hands together, looking at the little girl that had been their world for the last four years. Things had changed for their little group. Albert and Marie had married in January and were expecting a baby in the summer; Finch and Elmer were on-again, this time the entire Newsies group had bets on whether they’d make it or not, and Crutchie had found a nice girl, named Molly who he was sweet on - last Race heard, they hadn’t officially become a couple, but it was nice to see his friend thinking’ of settling down. 

“Jacobi’s.” Sammi had sat up, pushed her hair back, and grinned at the couple. “Can wes do Jacobi’s?”

Race looked at Spot, who merely shrugged. “Sounds good to me.” 

“Sammi can you go get your shoes on?” Race asked, watching the girl hop off the couch before running to get her shoes. Kat had been teaching her how to tie her shoes and she had gotten the hang of it but still had a hard time making a knot. 

Race went to get himself ready, leaving Spot with Sam. Standing in the doorway, he watched Spot explain the bunny ears and how to loop them together. “One bunny ear, two bunny ear . . .”

Grinning, Race couldn’t wait until Spot was a papa. They had talked about children and adopting, both agreeing to wait until after the wedding, whenever that would take place. Quickly getting himself ready, Race soon joined the other two in the living room, where a grinning Sammi had both of her shoes on. “Unka Race!”

“Yes Sammi?”

“Unka Pottie shows me the bunny trick.” She bounced on her toes, showing him the newly tied shoes. “A bunny ears then ‘nother one and loopy de loop ‘em togetha.” 

Race shook his head, grinning at the girl. “Good jobs Sammi. Yous ready?”

Ensure they both had their wallets, they left the brownstone, their hands swinging between them while Sammi danced in front of them. Crossing a few streets, they soon arrived at Jacobi’s. Walking in the place was empty, allowing them to pick out their favorite booth. Sighing loudly, Race caught Sammi’s attention. “Whats with you little girl?”

“I miss da and mum, unka Race.” She propped her chin in her hand and gave her uncle a look. “Whens can Is see them?”

Race looked at Spot who shrugged his shoulders in response. “Is not sure, Sammi. Mum’s havin’ da baby and that mights take some time. But maybe when wes get home, wes can call ‘em.” 

“Ok.” She picked up the menu, looking at the photos, as Race relaxed against Spot’s side. 

The bell above the door caught their attention, but it was no one they knew. Spot and Race both smiled in the stranger’s direction before looking back at their menus. “What yous want, Sammi?” 

“Nugs and fries, pease!” She exclaimed, her knees coming under her bottom, causing her to be taller in the booth. 

A chuckle escaped Race’s mouth. “Yous got it girl. What to drink?” 

“Ummmmmmmmm . . .” A finger to her chin, making her look like a detective, she considered her choices. “‘Pple Juice.” 

“A fine choice for the lady.” Spot chuckled, pulling out a piece of paper and some crayons for her to draw while they waited for the waiter. 

Race cocked an eyebrow in his fiance’s direction. “Since when do yous carry papes and crayons in yous pocket?”

“Since we have a mini Jack Kelly in ours presence.” Spot waved his hand in Sammi’s direction, provin’ a point. “Yous knows he takes her to ‘ork and lets hers draws. Says she’ll be da next prodigal child.” 

The waiter came over and took their orders, soon returning bringing their drinks before leaving them alone. 

Race laughed knowing he was right. “So we needs to talk.” Glancing at Sammi, ensuring she was occupied, he titled his head towards Spot. “Wedding details.”

Throwing his head back, Spot groaned. “Ugh, whys plannin’ a weddin’ so hard?” 

“Wes just gotta pick a date and the rest will fall into place.” Or at least that was what Kat told Race when they met for coffee after the proposal. “So whats month work for you?”

Spot shook his head and mumbled what sounded like ‘idiot’ under his breath before lacing his fingers with Race. “Is always loved the fall. So hows about October?”

“Since wes got engaged and alls?” Race grinned. “Okay so a month is picked . . . nows a date.” 

Spot grinned, squeezing Race’s hand. “Hows about October 17 - one day less thans a years bein’ engaged?” 

Seeing a calendar pinned on the wall by the register, Race walked over, flipped through the calendar, chuckled to himself before walkin’ back to the booth. “Yous want to get married on a Tuesday?”

Spot shrugged. “When has wes ever done anything conventional in ours relationship? This is perfectly us.” 

“True.” Race nodded, a slap happy grin sliding over his mouth. “Is good with that. Tuesday, October 17, Is marryin’ you. Now, for names, hows we doin’ that?”

Spot gave him a confused look. “Whats you mean?”

“Conlon-Higgins or Higgins-Conlon?” Race shrugged his shoulders. “Its don’t matter to mes.” 

Pulling Race in for a chaste kiss, Spot shook his head. “Yous have too much time to thinks.” 

“But this is what we’ll be knowns as. Is know you love your last name but Is loves Higgins just as much.” Race protested. “Wes both wants to keep ours names but combine them together.” 

Spot could see why this would worry Race. He knew he had all the pros and cons about each way and had looked at all the ways it would flow. It was one of the many quirks he loved about his fiance. “Hows about we go with Higgins-Conlon?” 

“Anthony “Racetrack” Higgins-Conlon has a good ring to it.” Spot grinned at his fiance, squeezing his hand, just as the waiter came back and dropped their food on the table. “Little miss, it’s time to put aways the crayons and papes.” 

She pouted for a minute before realizing her chicken nuggets and fries were sitting in front of her. “Yum!” 

Squeezing Race and his laced hands, Spot mouthed ‘love you’ in Race’s direction before digging into his own food. 

Quietness fell over the table as the three dug into their food. Patrons came and went in the restaurant, the bell ringing over the door with each opening of the door. Just as they signaled for the check, a familiar face walked into the restaurant whistling a tune and a happy grin. 

“DA!” Sammi stood up on the booth seat with a happy grin. “Unka Race it’s daddy!” 

Jack heard Sammi’s yell before redirecting himself towards the booth in the back. “Well looks whats the cat drug in. Whats you doin’ here?” 

Sitting next to Sammi, Jack raised an eyebrow in his brother’s direction. “Yous daughter picked this for dinner.”

Settling Sammi on his lap, he ran a hand through her hair. “Yous have a good afternoon, cara?” 

“Yes! Wes went to da park and Is sleep and da, looks, Is colored.” She showed him her pape where she was doodling. “Is had fun with Unka Pottie and Unka Race.” 

Jack smiled in appreciation at his two brothers. “Thank you for takin’ her.”

“Da?” Sammi waited until Jack looked at her. “Is da baby here?”

Race and Spot both raised an eyebrow in Jack’s direction, wondering the same thing. “Yes, da baby’s here. Would you like to meet the baby?” 

Sammi’s head bobbled in excitement. Jack promised she could as soon as he grabbed the food they had ordered. Their check was settled just as Jack returned. “Kat’s mum with her while I ran down here. Wes were gonna call yous tonight and let you know but it’s better that I rans into yous.” 

The four headed towards the brownstone, Race and Spot hanging back while Jack bustled through the door with Sammi on his heels. “Kat, wes got company.” 

Though it was quiet, Race could hear the groan that escaped Kat’s mouth. “Jack Kelly yous a dead man.” 

“Its your favorites, Katherine.” Jack sang back, grinning and motioning the two to sit in the living room while he escaped to their bedroom. They could hear the quiet murmuring from the room, while Sammi sat on the couch next to them. 

“Unka Race?” Sammi slipped her hand into his before looking at him with wide eyes. “Is ner’ous.” 

Pulling her onto his lap, Race dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Thats okay, cara. Is nervous too.”

“Yous ner’ous?” Her eyes went wide at the thought. “Whys?” 

“‘Cause Is only held ones babys before.” He whispered, a faint smile on his face. “Yous know whos that was?”

Not breaking eye contact with her uncle, Sammi shook her head. “Yous. Yous was the first baby I ever held. And yous sibling will be the second. And its okays to be nervous; that means its important to yous and me and unka Pottie and mum and da.” 

“Okays.” She whispered, eyes darting over to the door leading to the hallway. Her eyes went wide seeing her da, mum, and grandma standing there. “Mum, da.” 

Kat brightened at the sight of her three favorite people sitting there. “Hi sweetheart. Did you have a good time with your uncles?” Crossing the room, she sat on the opposite couch as Sammi hopped down and joined her mum. “Careful. Hi Race, Spot. Thank you for watching her this afternoon.” 

“Yeah.” She whispered, fingers at her mouth. She searched her mum’s face for something different but finding nothing, she cuddled into her mum’s embrace. “Wheres da baby?”

Wrapping her arms around her daughter, Kat smiled. “Look at da.” 

Poppin’ her head off Kat’s shoulder, Sammi’s eyes widened at the blanket wrapped bundle. “That da baby?” 

“Would you like to meet your new brother?” Kat asked, watching Jack cross the room to join them on the couch. Jack adjusted the bundle so Sammi could see the newborn who was sleeping soundly and smacking his lips. “What do you think Sammi?”

Running her index finger over his hand, she smiled watching his fingers curl around her’s. “He’s ‘ittle.” 

“Yes, he’s little.” Kat squeezed her close to her side. “Yous were littler than he is.” 

Eyes widened, Sammi looked around the room. “Is was ‘ittle?” 

“Yes, Samantha, you were once this little.” Kat grinned, looking over her shoulder at Race and Spot. “I just heard your uncle tell you you were this little once and you were the first baby he held.” 

The little girl’s head looked over at her two uncles. “Unka Race, Unka Spottie, Is got a ‘roter.” 

“Yes yous do.” Race grinned, looking at the bundle in Jack’s arms. “Whats his name?”

Jack smiled at Kat and Sam before looking at Race and Spot. “Wes had a hard time tryin’ to figure out a name. The middle name was easy but the first name was hard.” He nudged Kat, letting her do the honors. 

“Our son’s name is Thomas Anthony Kelly. We’re going to call him Tommy. Thomas after Jack’s da and Anthony after his uncle Race.” Kat smiled, as Race’s jaw dropped. 

Tears clouded Race’s eyes as he looked at his brother and sister. “Yous didn’t has to do that.” 

“We knows wes didn’t but Race, yous been there for us and wes indebted to yous.” Jack’s voice thickened with emotion. Passing the newborn to Kat, Jack crossed the room to pull Race into a hug. “Yous such a great uncle, friend . . . brother and wes want Tommy to have a great man to embody as hes growin’ up.” 

Race squeezed Jack’s shoulders, more tears escaping his eyes. “Is honored, Jackie.” 

“Wanna hold him?” Jack pulled back, taking his son back from Kat before settling him in Race’s arms. “What do you think, Uncle Race?” 

Race’s eyes swept over the tiny human nestled in his arms. Tommy’s lips were puckered, as if he had just eaten a sour lemon, eyes tightly shut, and quiet wisps of air were released as he soundly slept. “Hi’s Tommy, Is your uncle Race. That’s your uncle Spottie over there. Wes love yous so much.” Looking over at the new parents, he shot them a watery smile. “He’s perfect. He’s gorgeous.” 

Jack turned his attention to his daughter, grinning brightly as he picked her up. “So wes keepin’ him, Sammi?”

“Hes okay.” She gave her dad a look. “Will hes cry?”

Kat rolled her eyes at her daughter and husband. “He will cry sometimes but it’s just his way of letting us know he’s here. Will you help us?”

“Uh huh.” She gave her da a hug and smiled at her mum. “But can Is go to Unka Race and Uncle Potties without him?”

Kat and Jack both laughed as did both her uncles. “Already negotiating with me. This wasn’t supposed to happen for another couple of years.” 

“We’ll talk about you going to Uncle Race and Spottie’s house.” Kat shook her head at her daughter. 

“She’s your daughter and you can’t deny that.” Jack laughed at how similar Samantha and Kat were. “Wes in trouble with this one, though.” 

Kat’s eyes widened at the thought. “Oh crap, I didn’t think about that. Especially climbing up to private boxes just to talk with pretty girls.” 

“Worked for you didn’t it?” Jack raised an eyebrow, leaning over to steal a kiss from his wife. “Admit it, that’s what swept you off your feet.” 

Kat’s cheeks blushed. “That might’ve had something to do with it.” 

Race looked down at his nephew. “Yous parents are crazy but theys the best. Spottie and Is will be there when its too much for yous and Sammi.” 

Relinquishing him to Spot’s outstretched arms, Race smiled seeing Spot hold their nephew. “Thanks for that Race. If our kids ever runs away from home, yous house is the first wes checkin’.” 

Standing, Race crossed the room to pull Kat into a hug. “Congratulations, Plums. He’s precious.” 

“Thanks Race.” She stepped back. “Wes was going to tell you later on tonight to tell you. Jack said you were at Jacobi’s.” 

Seeing Jack, Spot, and Sammi all talking while looking at the baby, Race smiled. “Yous daughter wanted Jacobi’s.” 

“Yous hidin’ something.” Despite just having a baby, Kat’s observation skills hadn’t lessened any. “You want to talk?” 

He took her hand and led her into her office, closing the door behind him. “Yous the only one that wes told since we JUST decided this.”

Kat titled her head in curiosity, her finger going to her lip in concentration. “What? Spill it Racetrack.” 

“SpotandIsdecidedourweddin’date.” He rushed out, eyes shut, anticipating her excitement. 

Kat laughed. “How about you repeat that, this time spacin’ out your words?” 

“Spot and Is decided our weddin’ date.” He could see the excitement building on Kat’s face. “October 17.” 

Looking around the room, she found her calendar, a giggle escaping her mouth. “A Tuesday, Race, really?” 

“Would you expect anything different?” 

Kat shook her head, pulling him into a hug. “If you and Spot were any other couple, yes I’d expect something different. However, you two have never followed anyone’s path, always makin’ it your own. Why that date though?” 

“It’ll be a day less than a year engaged.” Race smiled. “Spot’s words not mine. The bugger’s a little sentimental, if yous didn’t knows that.” 

Kat smiled. “He continues to pleasantly surprise me.” 

“Me too. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Race smiled. “I will needs yous help with all of this. Wes don’t know where wes getting married.” 

She nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Come by this week and I’ll help. I’ve got some good ideas that’ll be perfect for you and Spot. But you two need to figure out if you want an indoor or outdoor venue.” 

Opening the door, Race stuck his head out the door, grinning at Spot. “Spot, for October, indoor or outdoor?” 

Looking up from Tommy, Spot’s eyes widened. “Ummm . . . Indoor. Is Kat cathootin’ with you?” 

“Of course she is.” Blowing a kiss to Spot, he closed the door again, only hearing Jack ask what was going on in October. “Indoor it is.” 

Kat clapped her hands in excitement. “Come by Wednesday after work and I’ll have some options for you two.” 

“Is haven’t said this lately, but thank yous Kat.” Race bit his lip. “Yous and Jack are the family neither Spot or Is had growin’ up and Is thankful yous my sister.” 

Tears clouded her eyes, as she smacked his shoulder. “Quit makin’ me cry Racetrack. I’m emotional already due to Tommy but you are being too sweet. You and Spot are just as much as family as we are to you. I was so excited for you two to meet Tommy. The rest of the newsies will meet him later this week but we knew you and Spot would meet him tonight or tomorrow.” 

At the sound of the door opening, Jack looked over at his wife and brother. “Do I need to pound Race for makin’ yous cry?” 

“Don’t you dare Jack Francis Kelly.” Kat’s eyes glared at him. “He just said something sweet and I’m an emotional mess.” 

Jack nodded. “Heard louds and clear. So Is hear yous havin’ a big party in October, on a Tuesday of all days.” 

“Yea Jackie. Yous free?” Race sat on the couch and gave his brother a big grin. “‘Cause bein’ a groomsman and all yous schedule will needs to be free.” 

Jack grinned. “For yous two, I’d clear the whole month if needs be. October 17 is a fine day for a weddin’.”

“A weddin’ that needs to be planned.” Spot and Race both groaned at the prospect of planning. 

Jack chuckled, nodding his head in sympathy. “With Kat’s it won’ts be so bad. She’s a master of plannin’ a weddin’.” 

“Thanks Jack.” Kat grinned, excited at helping plan the wedding of her brothers. “It’ll be the party of the year.” 

Race shook his head. “I thoughts that was Albert’s weddin’.” 

They all chuckled at that event - it was glitz and glam and very over the top but it worked well for the couple. 

Spot looked between Kat and Race. “Ous weddin’ will be nothin’ like that, clear?” 

Kat nodded, looking between Race and Spot. “That wedding would never fit for yous two. The simpler the better. And the actually weddin’ won’t be long - 30 minutes tops.” 

“Good.” Race threw his arm over Spot’s back, grinning at the newborn and enjoying the familiar feeling of the family enveloping him. Sammi, who was playing on the floor with her doll, climbed up in Race’s lap, gave him a hug, and mumbled “love you” before snuggling his chest. Smiling at Kat and Jack, Race settled. He was in his happy place and with those he loved most surrounding him. 

What do you think? Thomas Anthony Kelly is here. He will be making appearances throughout the rest of the series but the series will still focus very much on Race and Sammi as she grows older. If there’s anything you want to see, just send me a message and I’ll try to incorporate it. 

But the bigger news it that their wedding is the next part of the series. I haven’t started writing it yet so if there’s ANYTHING you want to see, send me a message. I have some ideas but it will be a couple of weeks before it’s posted! 

[enigmasalad]

Weddings Are Outdated, Overly Expensive Pageantry (But Please Marry Me)

(Here it is! The awaited sequel to “Weddings Are Just Funerals With Cake”! Please enjoy, and I thank you all for all of your support! WARNING: I can’t speak or write in any other language but English, so I use google translate. I’m sorry if it’s not accurate!)

Virgil swallowed thickly as he knocked on the door. He shouldn’t be nervous, this was his mom’s house for fucks sake! Then again, the reason why he was here was a nerve-racking one. He heard the door unlock and the handle turn. The red door swung open to reveal, well, his mom. Same brown hair in what’s known as the “dying anime mother’s” hairstyle, round glasses and calm look. “Hello dear. I’m so glad you’re here.” “Hi mom.” His mother stepped aside so he could come in. He knew his mother could tell he was nervous. She always did. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and decided to cut to the chase. “I need advice. Badly.” He said. “Of course. That’s what I’m here for dear. But let’s sit down somewhere more comfortable first.” She suggested. Virgil followed his mother to the living room. She sat down in her green armchair and he sat on the green couch. With her hands crossed in her lap like a woman from the 1800’s, she asked the question. “What do you need advice on?” “I uh..” Virgil felt his anxiety start to act up. What If his mother doesn’t approve? Or what if she doesn’t have the right advice? Oh god is it hot in here? “I-I’m wanting to propose!” He hurriedly said. Not even three seconds later he heard two familiar voices scream “WHAT?” He didn’t know who rushed into the living room faster, his little sister Missy, or- “H-Hello Miss Rosita. I didn’t know you were over.” You see, Virgil knew Miss Rosita all his life. She was his mother’s best friend. She lived nearby and often had them over for dinners. Heck she was like a second mother to him. Of course, there’s one VERY important detail about Rosita that Virgil can never forget. She was Roman’s mother. Well, Roman and Remus’s mother, but quite frankly, no one had seen Remus in years, ever since he disowned himself. “Ginerva did you know about this?!” Rosita asked accusingly. “No Rosita, I didn’t know. You owe me fifty dollars by the way.” Virgil’s mother said with a slight smirk. Rosita grumbled for a moment but then turned her attention to Virgil. Her face immediately went from pouting to a big grin. She was about to say something when a higher pitched voice spoke up. “You’re getting married?! Ew!” Yep. That was his little sister. Tough, aggressive, disgusted by romance, and overprotective over both of her siblings. “Not yet.” He replied. “I’m not wearing a dress! And I better be able to wear my Viking helmet! And you better not kiss a lot!” she said while crossing her arms. “Marietta Ursa Petrov please. You’re stressing your brother out.” His mother said softly, but not lacking authority. Missy just pouted and stomped off, probably to go sulk in her room. Right now Virgil wanted to sulk in his room too, but alas, he cannot. “So you came for advice on proposing el hijo?” Rosita asked with a smile that both filled Virgil with comfort and dread. “Rosita, don’t overwhelm him please.” His mother softly reminded. “Yes, Yes I know. I wouldn’t dream of overwhelming him. BUT! This proposal must be perfect! Its for my son after all! And my two other adopted sons of course.” Virgil’s mother laughed lightly. Yep, she was definitely Roman’s mother.

“What about a classic! Candlelit dinner, roses, a dance in the moon light!” Rosita suggested. “Uh, Logan wouldn’t really like that.” Virgil said. Rosita huffed. “Forgot he’s too serious. Hmm…” “What about going to the park? You could do it at night so there can be stars.” “Ginerva that’s boring! It has to be romantic!” Virgil tugged at his hoodie strings. Roman and Patton would eat that romantic stuff up, but Logan, he’d be uncomfortable. Virgil closed his eyes, trying to focus on something, ANYTHING, that would be perfect for the three of them. Oh god what would he even propose with? Wait, Is Patton still sensitive from what happened two years ago? Dammit he didn’t think of that! This wasn’t a good idea. Proposing is too soon. “You know what, I think it’s too soon to propose. Sorry for wasting time.” Virgil said, voice cracking. Fuck his voice cracked. Rosita and his mother stopped discussing and turned to him. “Oh honey.” “Dear what makes you think that?” Virgil swallowed and shifted uncomfortably.

“Well, I think it’s too soon. I mean yeah its been five years but It’s also only been two years since Patton, well, you know.” Virgil explained. “How could I not Virgil? Do you not remember Ginerva and I finding out where they lived and cursing them out?” Rosita said. “I will admit, I did like seeing that wretched woman cry.” Virgil’s mother admitted.

 Virgil nodded and fiddled with his hoodie strings once again. “I think its too soon.” Rosita and Virgil’s mother looked at each other for a moment. “Dear, how about you have a chat with your loves?” his mother suggested. “Wouldn’t that spoil the, well, surprise of a proposal?” Virgil asked. “It could, I won’t lie, but I think Roman, Patton and Logan would like to hear your input and give theirs.” Virgil nodded, feeling a bit more at ease, and yet nervous. “Ah, stereotypical romance doesn’t always work honey.” Rosita admitted with a smile. So taking his mother’s advice, he decided to talk to them about, well, marriage. Of course, when he got them together, he panicked and just said he wanted to plan the next date. Fuck.

Real smooth Virgil, totally didn’t fuck that up. Soon, the four boys’ schedules got busy, so Virgil forgot about a time to ask them. He was too busy watching his brother and sister while his mother and Rosita had “ladies’ night”. Not to mention all the work! Oh goodness the work! Five commissions in three months! At least he’s getting more known as a writer. So yeah, a stressful three months. And as if angels descended from heaven and took away their calendars, they had some time to be with each other. Roman insisted they go out to dinner and Patton insisted they go to the park. Logan luckily didn’t have anything against having a night out. Virgil himself agreed to the outing. Logan and Virgil shared a smile, watching their loves cheer and dance in victory.

Virgil was in the process of putting on his shoes when he froze for a moment. ‘Oh shit, this is what mom and Rosita suggested.’

 Pushing that thought aside, he tied his shoes. “C’mon slowpoke!” Roman huffed. “Dude I’m coming. Geez!” Virgil said. “Take your time, Roman’s just being impatient” Virgil heard Logan say. Virgil got up and met his loves at the front door. Virgil smiled cause Patton was bouncing on the top of his toes, which meant he was excited. They left the house and began walking to the restaurant they decided upon, which was a tiny sushi bar a block or two away. Sushi reminded Virgil of college. Of having a dorm room with his boyfriend at the time, Roman. Of both of them in tears admitting they both liked Logan and getting sushi afterwards. Of the three of them going to “Adam’s Bakery” after a sushi dinner, only to meet a cheerful and kind man named Patton, who dared them if he could stick fifteen marshmallows in his mouth, he could go on a date with them. Yeah uh, after six he almost started crying, but they had that date. “You seem deep in thought Virgil.” Logan said quietly, as to not alert the chattering of their boyfriends who were holding hands in front of them. “I’m fine. Just thinking about sushi.” He replied. “If you say so. If there’s something on your mind however, you can always come to me.” Virgil smiled softly and nodded. “Woo! Sushi!” Patton cheered as they arrived. “They better have Uni this time. They were all out last time we came!” Roma said. They were seated at their usual table and looked at their menus. Virgil was focused on his menu when he heard a slight squeal from what he assumed to be Patton. Virgil looked up to see a man proposing to a woman. The woman agreed and the whole dining room clapped. Virgil was going to look back at his menu but Roman’s face. He smiled wistfully. Like he wanted to be in the woman’s shoes, or the man’s. Virgil knew Roman would want to be both. Suddenly, a waiter blocked their view of the happy couple. “What would you boys like?” “Do you have Uni today?” Roman asked. “We do!” “Oh thank goodness!”

Virgil and Patton laughed. The writer wrote down Roman’s order. Of course, Logan ordered his usual Unagi roll, Patton decided to try an order of the Crunch rolls and Virgil ordered the Philadelphia rolls. The waiter left, now showing the couple were being all lovey dovey. “Aww. I’m so happy for them!” Patton said. “Indeed. I wish them well.” Roman agreed. “Let’s hope they don’t regret it in twenty years.” Logan added, then taking a sip of water. Virgil didn’t want to look. Their relationship was perfect the way it is. They didn’t need to get married. Fuck when did he get so sappy? He blamed Roman and Patton. Patton and Roman always led the conversations, Logan and Virgil putting their input every now and then. Soon they had their food, much to Roman’s delight. “Mmmm! This is what I’ve been craving all week.” Roman sighed in content. “God get a room.” Virgil teased.

Patton giggled at Roman’s unamused face. “Maybe I will!” “Roman don’t bring sushi into our bedroom. It will smell.” Logan said while dipping his roll in soy sauce. Dinner was nice. They finished rather quickly, which wasn’t a problem. That meant they had some daylight to enjoy the park. They paid for the check and went to the park. Patton and Roman rushed to the swings at the playground like children at recess. “Virgil push me!” Patton said. “Alright, alright.” Virgil said with a smile. Virgil pushed Patton, enjoying his laughs. “Logan push me!” Roman demanded. “No. You know how to swing.” “Coward!” “Oooooh!” Both Patton and Virgil found themselves saying. If there was any way for Roman to get Logan to do something ridiculous, it was to call him a coward. Logan’s face changed from neutral, to determined. Logan straightened up, went behind Roman, and PUSHED. Roman practically cackled in delight over how high Logan pushed him.

“Be careful boys!” Patton reminded. “We’re fine!” both Logan and Roman said. Virgil shook his head, smile on his face. His boyfriends were dorks, but they were his dorks. “You know, I’m really, REALLY happy for that couple back at the restaurant.” Patton said. “Yeah I guess.” Virgil replied. Virgil pushed Patton, watching him get higher and higher. “You alright Virge?” Patton asked, worry in his voice. Oh fuck, he said it loud enough for Roman and Logan to turn their heads and look their way. “Yeah I’m fine.” “Now that sounds like you’re not fine.” Roman said, not pushing, just an observation. “Roman.” Logan warned.

“I’m fine guys. Really.” Virgil reassured. Patton’s look on his face, ugh, Virgil’s chest felt weird. He looked worried but accepting. What had he done to deserve such amazing boyfriends? Maybe… No! It’s too soon. If he mentions it, their relationship would fall apart and be awkward. Heck Patton might cry. Roman and Logan would hate him for hurting Patton this way. Just keep it locked inside, away forever.

But, the look on his loves’ faces. The care, softness, understanding,

love

. They wouldn’t judge him for asking their thoughts on it. He could trust them. He could always trust them.

“Hey um, what are your thoughts on marriage, all of you?”

Virgil felt his heartbeat quicken and anxiety pool his gut. It was at this moment, he knew, he fucked up.

“Weddings are nice when it’s with people you love.” Patton said.

He’s not crying. In fact, he’s

glowing

. That’s a huge relief.

“They’re glorious displays of love, and how it conquers all,” Roman enthusiastically said “plus all the extravagant outfits, the dancing, the food, you get to share that with everyone you love!”

“Weddings are expensive and not completely necessary, but the idea is not necessarily one I will reject. As long as the people who are to be wed have a strong enough relationship it is fine.” Logan added.

Virgil felt like he could cry. His heart swelled at the words his loves. So, they didn’t hate the idea, and he wasn’t the only one! He wasn’t alone.

“Ok. Cool.”

“May I ask why you brought up this topic Virgil?” Logan asked, not pushing.

“Well uh, a couple months ago I visited my mom for advice.” Virgil nervously said.

“Oh! The advice about proposing!” Roman said.

Wait what?

Virgil’s head snapped up and looked at Roman. Roman rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Mama accidentally told me. When I visited her last month, she burst into tears at the sight of me. I was really worried!” he explained.

Suddenly they heard a sniffle. Virgil looked in front of him. Patton had gotten up and was looking at Virgil, tears falling from his face and a huge smile on his face.

“Oh Virgil!”

With that Patton hugged Virgil tightly. Virgil felt his own tears form. Suddenly there was a body hugging his side. It was Roman. His eyes sparkled with happiness and love as he hugged his two loves. Virgil turned his head and looked at Logan. Logan’s cheeks were flushed, and even his own eyes were slightly watery. He walked over and joined the hug.

“I couldn’t be happier to marry you three.” He admitted quietly.

Virgil found himself hiccuping. Then it turned into sobbing. A joyous sobbing. They wanted to be wed. They didn’t hate him and reject him. They were going to be husbands!

Everyone else at the park, they would be concerned. But in their little huddle, was only smiles, joyful tears, and unmeasurable love for one another. And this, was the perfect proposal.

[saultnpeppah]

Day 4: Save the Date

May 2. Prince Residence - Santorini, Greece. 17:47.

Bruce

"Don't even think about it, Bruce."

Diana stares at me from the corner of her eye, her brow furrowed in an attempt to seem serious, but the faint curl of her lip into that devious smile shows me she is still giddy from talking about the wedding. We've been talking about this, what we want to incorporate, who we want there to celebrate alongside us, where we want to have it, and all are things we can agree on easily or are quick to compromise on, but there is still one thing neither of us can settle on: a date. Since proposing two months ago, Diana and I have constantly gone back and forth, both set on our own timeline for our impending nuptials. Diana would like to wait a while, get everything in order, plan properly and have plenty of time to get things settled with work. Me? Hell, I would marry her this afternoon if I could.

I had waited long enough to be in a relationship with her, waited even longer to tell her how I truly felt. I didn't want to waste anymore time unnecessarily, wanting to start my life as her husband as soon as possible.

"What?" I ask innocently, absentmindedly flipping through one of the open magazines atop the bed we lay on, casually discussing the wedding and other events that will fill the year's calendar, waiting on Hippolyta to come back from the office. "You don't think a nice summer wedding would be wonderful," I ask, tilting my head as I flash that smirk I know she can't ignore.

Diana, who has her own wedding magazine grasped firmly in her own hands, turns her head to glare at me, shaking it profusely at the question. "Not if it's this summer," she comments. "You know how much we have going on in the museum right now. That is not enough time to get everything done."

"You forget who you're marrying," I say, but the look in Diana's eyes as she turns to face me once more tells me she is in no mood to discuss the idea any further. I let out a sigh and fall back onto the bed we have been sharing for the last few days, staring up into the ceiling of the villa Hippolyta owns. This trip had been planned months in advance and I had hoped seeing the beautiful weather back in her hometown would persuade Diana that a summer wedding, with the sunshine and ocean breeze providing the perfect backdrop, would be the picture perfect wedding. She had politely shut down that idea, stating both our work schedules would not allow us to take much time off during the summer.

I had offered to hire a wedding planner, wanting to lighten a bit of stress of the load Diana had been carrying, but she simply refused. She wanted to do this herself, and I wasn't going to deny her that.

"What about March?" she asks, her eyebrow raising as she mentally plans a few details, convinced I will agree, and as much as I would love to, I have prior obligations.

"I'll be in Germany for half the month," I say, reminding her of the business trip that has been in the works for over a year. Her eyes close and she lets out an exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose as she grows increasingly more frustrated. "I'm still loving the summer wedding," I comment once more, the cocky smirk on my face growing as I reach out to touch her back. Her shoulders tense and she closes the magazine in her hands, placing it on top of the mattress as she swings her feet over the edge of the bed and stands.

"I've already said no," she says, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Why are you so stubborn," I find myself asking, however seeing her shoulders tense even more, I realize the comment should have never left my lips. Diana turns to face me, her face tensing as she becomes angry, huffs, and storms out of the room, letting the door slam shut behind her as she stomps down the stairs. "Why, Bruce," I reprimand myself, "why must you push her buttons."

Getting out of bed, I carefully place the magazine I had absentmindedly been browsing through back onto the pile by the foot of the bed, and follow Diana out of the room. Descending the stairs I can hear her talking to someone in Greek. Her tone is angry, and even though I've picked up a few words and phrases since high school, she's speaking too quickly for me to comprehend anything.

Diana finishes and lets out a huff as her companion chuckles before she responds, letting me know it is Donna she has run into and has been complaining to about me; if there was one word I understood throughout that entire rant, it was my name.

I turn the corner, forcing myself from my hiding spot, and step into the family room. Diana and Donna quiet when they see me, the three of us staring at each other, until Diana lets out a huff and walks out the room. When I try to take a step toward my fiance, Donna steps in the way, places a hand on my shoulder, and shakes her head. "Let her cool down," she says calmly, and as much as I want to apologize to Diana, I know Donna is right about her sister.

I give Donna a reluctant nod and throw my head back, letting out a sigh as her hand retreats from my shoulder. She takes a seat on the edge of the couch and waits for me to follow, her blue eyes staring at me until I comply and take a seat on the chair across from her. Her eyes continue to stare at me, watching every breath I take, studying me. Since the moment Diana and I announced we were dating, she has kept a close eye on me, and for good reason. Diana is her sister, and she would never let anything happen to her.

The two have been close, well as close as two people with an age gap as big as theirs can be. Ten years her junior, Donna joined the family when Diana was just heading off to college. After her mother died, and her father had abandoned her, Hippolyta and Diana were the only family Donna had, and after much consideration, and much convincing from Diana, Hippolyta had taken the child in and raised her like her own. At first it had been an adjustment, as Donna had just become an orphan at the age of eight, something I knew much too well, but Diana spent most of the summer before college helping her become acclimated to life with her mother, and again the following summer when Hippolyta had decided they were going to move back to Greece. In fact, our first year of college, I don't think Diana spent an entire weekend on campus, choosing to make the three hour drive each Friday night to spend time with Donna.

Diana knew Donna needed a friend, and after having her own father walk out on her life, Diana knew she could form a connection with her. She gave her advice on how to deal with Hippolyta's constant overbearing nature, even if it was out of love, and the two became inseparable. Donna was part of the reason Diana had returned to Greece for a time, knowing the girl was having a hard time acclimating to the country and her new found family. It was one of the reasons I fell in love with Diana. She was, is, so willing to sacrifice her own personal needs for her family, leaving the country to help the distant relative she didn't know she hadn't known about for years.

But as I continue to watch Donna stare at me, I wonder just how distant the two are. Donna looks just like Diana. The two have the same dark wavy hair, the same piercing blue eyes, the same tall, muscular, yet slender build. It's uncanny.

"So, she's pretty angry?" I ask, even though I know the answer. Diana doesn't storm off much, but when she does, it's usually because she has good reasons. I only hope I can apologize before I ruin the rest of the trip for her. It's not very often she gets to see her family and I want her to have nothing but the best of times.

Donna nods and chuckles, leaning back into the couch as her arms fold over her chest. "Understandably so," she comments. She watches my face, watching as I raise an eyebrow in confusion, before she adds, "Bruce, it's not that Diana doesn't want to get married as soon as possible. She does. But did you ever think that maybe this summer isn't the best time for her?"

I nod. I know she has a million and one things to do and maybe I've been a bit selfish about this whole thing. I can move my schedule around much easier than Diana can, and I never took into consideration how preoccupied with work she has been. I suddenly feel like an idiot and a jerk for the comments I've made to Diana.

"When she came to Greece, she gave up a job offer in New York," Donna explains, "and when she got back to Gotham, she had to fight for the job she has now." I never knew she gave up a job offer. I want to ask Diana about it when I see her again, but the look on Donna's face tells me I should think otherwise. She looks guilty. She looks as though she blames herself for Diana giving up that dream job to come and help her through a rough patch, and the look in her eyes tells me she will never stop feeling that way. I suddenly realize it is not something that needs to be brought up again.

"When the two of you started dating, and Diana got into the papers and tabloids, there was talk about her being dismissed from her job."

Her words spark an emotion in me that I can only describe as both anger and sadness. I never wanted Diana to lose her job, lose anything, because of me. I knew when we started dating the press was going to have a field day with printing any and all details about our relationship, no matter how accurate or fabricated they had been. Her life was going to be scrutinized by people who knew nothing about her, and although I tried to keep her name out of the papers, never wanting that for her, I suppose rumors and lies spread elsewhere. Had I known her job had been in jeopardy, I would have been a bit more cautious on how we approached everything.

"She never told me this," I say. My hand clenches into a fist and I take a deep breath, trying to control the anger that is rising within my chest.

Donna shrugs. "I told her to, but Diana is stubborn. You and I both know that." She lets out a chuckle and adds, "Hell, all of Santorini knows this." While Diana in the spotlight is not a new development, after all, her mother is essentially royalty here in Greece, she hasn't been in the papers since she was eight. But even as a child, she was as stubborn and headstrong as she is now, and if Hippolyta's stories are any forewarning, any children we have are going to be nearly impossible to sway away from something they want.

"She convinced them your relationship would not affect her job, and she's made good on that promise for over a year. Diana has worked hard, has put in extra hours, has proved herself time and time again. If she neglects her duties to get married this summer, when there are two galas and another exhibit planning to open in September, who knows how this is going to affect her."

My heart sinks when I realize everything Donna has said is true. I never knew Diana's job had been threatened because of her association with me, but if I had paid attention, I would've seen the signs. I knew Diana worked hard, harder than most, but I never knew it was because she feared losing her job. After all, she had already given up one dream job, I couldn't be the reason behind her losing another. I am suddenly overwhelmed by guilt. I have been selfish, more so than usual, and I owe her so much more. I should be working with Diana, not against her. I should be getting married when we both feel it is right. It isn't right of me to want to rush her for my own selfish wants.

"I'm an idiot," I mumble, dropping my head into my hands and letting out a sigh.

"No," someone says, and my head snaps up to see both Hippolyta and Antiope, her girlfriend, standing behind Donna. Hippolyta offers me a small smile and takes a seat next to Donna, placing her arm around the girl that has become her second daughter, before she leans in and kisses the teen's head. "You're not an idiot, Bruce," she says as she stares at me and I wonder just how much of this conversation she and Antiope have heard. "You two have been best friends for years, so naturally you've both clicked fairly well for a majority of the time. Sure there have been a few spats here and there and as I recall you two didn't talk for nearly a month your Junior year."

I try not to let my face give away anything, as the only reason Diana and I had gotten into that argument resulting in our avoidance of each other in the first place was because we had slept together. Once we started talking again, deciding to forget about the whole thing, Diana had let it slip that she had lied to her mother saying we had argued about a class project, but Hippolyta was smart.

"And don't think I didn't know why you were arguing," she says, narrowing her eyes at me. Guess Diana wasn't as convincing as she thought. "The point is," she begins, "You two need to be flexible and take each others' needs and priorities into account. There are going to be days when you're not readily available for her and there will be days when she's not readily available for you. You work through it, and compromise."

As Hippolyta finishes her lecture, Antiope walks up to the woman and takes a seat beside her, placing a hand on the older woman's knee. "That and you'll have to learn the Prince women are stubborn but they mean well," she teases, turning to Hippolyta who only scowls, offended by her comment.

"How dare you," Hippolyta says, feigning insult as Donna and Antiope share a laugh. Antiope kisses Hippolyta's cheek and offers me a smile, however I am only convinced that everything is going to be okay when Hippolyta joins in and smiles widely as well. "Don't worry, Bruce," she says, "you two will figure it out."

XXXXXXX

It is dark when the door to Diana and my shared bedroom creaks open and she walks inside, her skin covered in a sheen of sweat and her cheeks are flushed. Her earbuds are still in her ears, blasting the soundtrack to her run, so she doesn't hear that I am still up, but I haven't been able to stop thinking since she left. For the past three hours I have done nothing but think, and now that she's here, I want to run a new idea by her.

She continues to bob her head as the music continues to flow through the wireless devices, her heart rate still elevated from running the all too familiar streets of her childhood home. A part of me wants to reach out and touch her arm, wipe the sweat from her brow, and let her know I'm awake, but I also enjoy watching her as she sits on the edge of the bed, slowly pulling her shirt over her head. She turns to flip on the light by the bed, letting out a small shriek when she sees me sitting up and staring at her.

Her hand instinctively goes to cover her bra clad chest before she realizes it's only me and lets out a sigh of relief. "I didn't realize you were still up," she whispers. She pulls the earbuds from her ears and places them in their charging container, carefully placing them on the desk beside the window along with her phone.

I quietly flip on the bedside lamp, watching as she pulls the tie from her hair, letting it fall out of the ponytail into a pool down her back, before she pulls off her socks and tosses them into the adjoining bathroom. "Couldn't sleep," I confess. It's partially true. I couldn't sleep without Diana here, safe and sound beside me, but I wanted to make sure she knew I was sorry for everything that happened this evening.

I pat the spot on the bed next to where I lay and I watch as she contemplates the offer, lets out a small sigh, and obliges, laying down beside me. I let her get comfortable before I roll onto my side, watching as her eyes widen in surprise, before I lean down and kiss her softly. "I'm all sweaty," she whispers, letting me know she wants to shower soon, before she kisses me back.

I nod. "I know," I start, "but I want to talk to you before you jump into the shower." She gives me a nod and sits up, watching as I copy her pose, sitting in the center of the mattress. I grab her hand and give it a gentle squeeze, before I lift it to my lips and place a kiss on the back of her hand. "I'm sorry," I say. "I didn't realize how selfish I was being about this whole thing."

She says nothing so I continue, "You have given up so much for me. You've been scrutinized by the media, and I know planning this with work hasn't been easy." She raises an eyebrow and shakes her head, unable to believe Donna told me what she had confided in her sister about her job. I know she doesn't want me to worry, but I can't help it. I love her so much and her problems, by default, become mine.

"Donna told you?" she asks. I only nod and she lets out another sigh. "Bruce, I never wanted you to feel like I couldn't come to you. I just-"

"I know, Diana," I say. I know she can handle herself. I know she doesn't need me to save her. "I'm sorry."

Diana scoots over to where I sit and places her head on my shoulder, gently kissing the skin of my shoulder, and I wrap my arms around her, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "I do want to ask your opinion on something," I say and she nods against my skin. "We started our relationship on the first," I begin. "Maybe that's when we should get married?"

Diana tenses for a moment, pondering over what I've just said, before she pulls back and looks me in the eye. "A winter wedding?" she asks.

I nod, flash her a smile, and bite my bottom lip as I consider the option I've just given her. "To persuade you a little more," I begin, "Neither of us will be swamped with work during that time. We both are free from other obligations, and we're going to have family around anyway."

She stares at me, contemplating what I've said. I can see her mind is running a million miles a minute, her eyes shifting from my face to the wall behind me as she tries to see if this is a viable option. I watch as she begins to count on her fingers, mentally calculating everything. "Two years ago I started the year as your boyfriend. Next year I'd love to start the year as your husband."

She is still for a moment before she turns to face me and smiles. She leans in and places a kiss on my lips, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me close. "January 1st," she says, "Did we just agree on a date?"

I am unable to help the smile that forms on my lips as she leans in for another kiss. "Yes," I answer and she gets giddy. The wedding planning is back on and now with a date set in place, we can finally get back to planning for the wedding and our future.

She rises from the bed and walks to the bathroom, discarding her leggings when she steps into the bathroom. She turns to face me and raises an eyebrow, flashing a smirk toward where I sit, the hint obvious. "Is my fiance going to join me?" she asks flirtatiously, disappearing behind the bathroom door. Her bra is discarded onto the floor and it is all the motivation I need as I jump off the bed and rush toward the bathroom where Diana has started the shower, letting the room fill with the steam provided by the hot water.

Diana squeals when I discard my own clothes once I'm inside the bathroom and wrap my arms around her, pulling her against my naked body. January first this woman is going to be my wife, and I cannot wait until I see her walk down that aisle, ready to start the rest of our lives together. Only eight more months to go.

@fyeahwonderbat

[feelingfolegandros]

Day 2,3,4, - Wednesday, October 28 - Friday, October 30 2020

Apparently I’m a masochist, because I scheduled two client sessions for my second day back. Well, technically they scheduled themselves that day, but I blame myself for opening my calendar up so soon. Oh well, c’est la vie! I am blessed to have work! Especially work that doesn’t really feel like work. And really, the most lovely people somehow want to work with me, so that feels great. 

The first one was at 9:30am, and I thought I’d do it in my bedroom, because I have a little desk setup in here that is something in between a coffee table and a side table with a very loungey chair with pillows to cushion my butt.. I love it. However, the internet in this room doesn’t always love me. The connection in this particular room isn’t so stable, and it was making it difficult to have a flowy conversation with my client. After moving into the main room where B.W. was working away on her laptop (we’ve joked that it’s our coworking space), I couldn’t concentrate... When I have a one-on-one session, I really need total silence and privacy otherwise it kind of all goes to shit haha...I decided to ask my client to reschedule and she happily obliged. Phew! We had our proper session the following morning (Thursday) and it went well. 

On Thursday, I turned on TV in the living room/ coworking space for the first time and someone’s Spanish Netflix account was still logged in. Score! Not because I need to use a Netflix account (My Dad pays for a shared family account, thank you very much), but because I didn’t have the patience to figure out how to log in or type in my Dad’s email with the freaking TV remote. I gleefully watched Season 4 Episode 1 of Keeping Up with The Kardashians while lying down on the couch eating pasteli (I think that’s what they’re called.. It’s these Greek snacks made of sesame seeds and honey). I don’t think I’ve seen this season before… But it takes place c. 2009 or so when Khloé has her whirlwind romance with Lamar Odom and they get married about a month after they first start dating. Honestly… iconic. I found myself drawing parallels between Khloé and myself. The situation with my boyfriend also feels like quite a whirlwind although I’m not expecting a proposal nor a wedding anytime soon. However, I can’t say I haven’t already fantasized about our Big Fat Greek Beach Wedding, possibly held at the same taverna we met at. 

On Wednesday night, I went for a solo walk in the early evening in Chora. I love being alone here. I spent a lot of time alone on Folegandros when I came for the second time from mid-September to early October. Later, Z.X. came over, mostly because he forgot his phone charger. He ate too much and was a bit stressed about some things regarding his house (which he is renovating himself) so I made him a mint tea. The next morning (Thursday), I discovered we had fresh mint in the garden! So lucky! The mint made an appearance later the same day when I brought a bunch of it to my friend C.D.’s house. He is the brother of the bride of the wedding where Z.X. and I met. I met C.D. at the taverna he works at in the summer alongside his sister. They’re both amazing and funny and warmhearted. C.D. basically lives next door to B.W. and I, and we both paid him a visit - bundle of mint in tow. He boiled water in a traditional Greek coffee contraption for our tea, and we all drank our beverages outside, even though it rained earlier that day. He made himself a freddo espresso with milk. 

C.D. worked in IT in Athens for much of his life, but moved here at the end of January for a fresh start, away from city life. The four of us - the two Greeks Z.X., C.D., and the two Berliners B.W. and I all moved here for the same reason this year… Very interesting! It’s nice to be around people that are all still enthusiastic about the island. Some OG locals, ie. those who were born and raised here, are a little more jaded after the decades they’ve been here. Living somewhere, anywhere, long enough, you’re bound to find things about it that irritate you, even if you live on an island where each beach you go to is more beautiful than the next. 

Today is Friday. Z.X. proposed we go to the beach today, so he picked B.W. and I up around 13h. Before that, we put a load of laundry in and I took the garbage we’ve accumulated over the past couple of days to the bins near the bus stop. (It’s important to note that the plumbing here on Folegandros like much of Greece, is not that robust, so you’re not supposed to flush paper down the toilet. So most people put their used toilet paper in a bin. Hence, part of the reason why we had accumulated two medium-sized bags of garbage in a few days.) I realized on my way back home that there were bins much closer to the house. Another too-late realization was that the shortcut I took on the way there cut through a sheep’s / goat’s pasture. I did notice some poop as I was walking through, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. Are goats chill? I have no idea… I won’t take the risk again, and I also noticed two locals taking the official shortcut which doesn’t involve shuffling over two waist-height concrete walls… It involves using makeshift ladders to scale them! 

Back to the beach! This time, we went to Livadi beach near the port. While B.W. was gleefully swimming parallel to the shore, Z.X. and I were standing about ankle-deep in the water. Suddenly, we felt the submerged sand below us slowly, surreally shift. (Too many “s” words, but I’m leaving it… hahahah) I’m not sure who mentioned it first, but we soon concluded it must have been an earthquake. It reminded me of the only other time I felt one - just over a decade ago when I worked in a giant office building one summer. To me, it felt like a strange tear in the time-space continuum, a strange physical and existential headache, and like techtonic plates below were shifting (which I guess they technically are). Anyway, Z.X. and I got out of the water, more in awe than afraid, and he called one of his friends, who also felt it, and experienced it as dizziness. He checked his phone and there was indeed a 6.6 earthquake further north in Greece. On Samos, two teenagers lost their lives, and in neighbouring Turkey, there were more deaths and injuries as part of the country experienced a tsunami. 

Z.X. and I planned to see each other next on Saturday night, but he called me later on Friday saying that Ireni’s Restaurant (my favourite) was serving rabbit tonight, he was going to eat there with a few of his friends, and would I like to join? Hell yes I would… Hell yes I did. Ireni - a Greek grandmother / matriarch / goddess / chef extraordinaire - obviously stewed those rabbits for us like they were the last rabbits she’d ever stew. They were served very simply with French fries, but we also had chorta (bitter greens) and Greek salad before the main event. Everyone drank alcohol… white wine and Raki I believe, probably beer too, while I had my usual neró (water). It was my first time eating at Ireni’s since the summer, and I was so delighted to be back there. Meeting Z.X.’s friends was great too. One of them lives on Folegandros too, and has a lot of common with Z.X. The other two live in Sifinos (either that or Sikinos… so confusing!) and were in town for a month or so. They could all speak varying degrees of English (more than my pathetic amount of Greek) and it was yet another elbow in the side from God or whoever to learn some more of this beautiful language. Photos from that meal below...

That’s all for now. I have a lot of catching up to do on my daily life here… Both in writing and in general (all shall be revealed soon), but I hope you’re enjoying reading all of this, whoever you are....

[pocket-luv101]

Summary: Licht gets jealous. (LawLicht, Fem Licht)

“I’m going to the restroom. Watch Dad for Mom and make sure he doesn’t set the park on fire.” Licht told her daughter, Lucy, and lightly joked with her. After he heard them both laugh, Hyde didn’t mind the teasing. He couldn’t be angry when he saw his two angels smile. She patted her blonde hair before she left. Lucy walked to his side and took his hand.

“Dad, Lucy wants to go on the monkey bars. Help me reach.” She ordered and urgently tugged him towards the monkey bars. Lucy was still a toddler so she too short to grab the bars by herself. He doubted she could hold onto them for long even if she was able to reach them. Yet, her eyes were filled with determination as she jumped in place.

Hyde carefully lifted her onto his shoulders so she could hold the bars. She stretched her hands towards the next one and her fingers barely brushed it. He walked forward when she caught the bar in her tiny hand. She laughed happily as she swung to the other side. He smiled up at her. “You’re like an adorable, little monkey, Lucy. I think you reached the other side faster than anyone your age.”

“Lucy practised with Mom.” She grinned down at him. She let go of the bars and he gently took her hands so she wouldn’t slip off his shoulders. Her eyes were drawn to the ring on his finger. “Mom wears the same ring but hers is prettier. I want one too.”

“This is a special ring that tells people Dad and Mom are married. When you grow up and fall in love, you’ll get a matching one with your partner.” It was far too soon to discuss the future and he lifted her off his shoulders. Hyde placed her on the ground again yet she refused to let go of his ring. The curiosity in her eyes was mixed with wonder. He slipped the ring off his finger and showed it to her.

“Treasure!” Lucy took it into her hands. She stared at it in her palm for a while before she turned and ran. “Lucy will bury this and we can have a treasure hunt!”

“Wait, Lucy, don’t bury my ring! If I lose it, Mom will kill me!” He called after her but she only ran faster. Hyde groaned and chased after her. He was faster than her but Lucy crawled into a small tunnel that only a child could enter. She sat at the end of the tunnel and stuck out her tongue at him. “Lucy, it’s rude to take things. Give Dad back his ring.”

“Dad has to find it first. Pirate treasure hunt!”

“I know it’s in your hand, Lucy.” Hyde thought her imagination was endearing but he knew there was a time and place for it. He didn’t want to lose his wedding ring. He wondered when Licht would return since their daughter would only listen to her mother. She turned away from him and tried to sneak it into her pocket. “I saw you put it in your pocket.”

“That’s cheating, Dad.” She pouted and he chuckled slightly.

“Excuse me,” A voice he didn’t recognize came behind him. Hyde leaned out of the tunnel and saw a mother behind him. A small child stood next to her and he guessed the child wanted to play in the tunnel. He backed away from the tunnel and apologized.

“Did your kid want to play in here? Sorry for blocking the play tunnel but my daughter is in there. I’m trying to get her to come out. She’s being a little stubborn though. She’s an angel with a mischievous side but that’s what make fatherhood exciting.” He said with a hopeless smile.

“I saw you playing with her on the monkey bars. My husband would never take our son to the park. Do you come here often? We can make a play date for our kids. How about we let them play while we talk?” He realized the woman was flirting with him. Hyde lifted his hand to show her his wedding ring but he remembered that Lucy had it.

“I’m married and I love my wife. She’s an angel and no one will ever compare to her.” He rejected her bluntly. Lucy crawled out of the tunnel and jumped onto his back. “I would show you my ring to prove it to you but my daughter took it to play Treasure Hunt. Even if I wasn’t married already, I wouldn’t accept your play date. That’ll make me a bad example to my kid.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to get to know each other at least?” She asked.

“What are trying to do with my man? As an angel, I will fight you for him.” Licht cut between them with a hard glare. She walked to Hyde and hugged him tightly. “Lucy, give Mom the ring you took from Dad.”

Their daughter handed her the ring and Licht slipped the ring onto his finger. “You’re mine, Hyde.”

“Mine.” Licht bit Hyde’s neck hard enough to leave a mark. She clung to him in bed later that night. It was rare that she became jealous since she was a confident and secure woman. Hyde grabbed the blanket and pulled it over her naked body. A small smirk played on her lips as she said: “You outdid yourself tonight. I might be pregnant now.”

“Licht,” Hyde whispered her name and she tilted her face up to him. She was comfortable in his arms and she didn’t want to move an inch. She felt him run his fingers over her arm and sighed contently. “Hey, don’t fall asleep on me, Lichtan. I want to talk. I know that whole thing about getting you pregnant was dirty talk but what do you think about trying?”

“Another baby?” She mused and closed her eyes.

“I know Lucy is already a handful but I think we can handle a second angel. I have a lot of siblings and they helped me through so much. It’ll be nice if Lucy can have the same. What do you think?” He asked and looked at her. Hyde ran his hand through her hair and then massaged her temple.

“I was an only child and I was lonely sometimes. But the reason we stopped trying was because we didn’t know if she was ready for a younger sibling. She’s a greedy angel. The former part is from you.” She poked his chest and giggled softly. “We can ask her what she thinks about having a brother or sister. Last month was her birthday so she might be more ready now. Also…”

“Licht?” He said her name when she trailed off. She untangled herself from his arms and turned on the lamp. She flipped through a small calendar they kept on their nightstand. Hyde didn’t know why she suddenly went quiet. He moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He looked over her shoulder to the calendar. “Did you forget an appointment?”

“I missed my period this month. I stopped tracking my cycle a while ago so I didn’t notice until now. But it should’ve come last week.” Licht counted the weeks again. She turned on his lap so they were facing. “I could be late or… pregnant again. I haven’t been feeling nauseous or any of the other symptoms though. We’ll have to buy a test to know for sure.”

“You always give me the best surprises.” His smile was soft and full of love. He kissed her hair and hugged her against his chest. Hyde laid back down with her sprawled on top of him. He stroked her back but then he stiffened. “Did I hurt you two when we had sex? I didn’t know you were pregnant and I was rough. Shit, I’m the worst dad ever! No more sex.”

“Your dick isn’t big enough to hurt us.” She said and he burst into laughter. Licht could feel his laugh rumble through his chest. She followed the motion with her finger and drew shapes on his chest. “It might be that or I’m just late but I hope it’s a baby boy.”

“We can start trying again if it’s not.” He offered and carded his fingers through her hair. “When we got married, I promised to give you everything you want.”

[smolberry-milk]

You guys...

I'm at a loss for words and I desperately need advice. I work at a company, (well worked) called White House Black Market. I was a sales lead and I loved every minute of that job. The people, the employees. That place became my second home and my family. (Not even just the generic way people say that, I come from a really dysfunctional home and I latched onto them like family because they treated me nicely.)

I was only part-time and needed full-time hours to move out, so I figured- I love the job, I love this store and what I do.. let me shoot for assistant store manager, which was one position above me. These past few months I've worked so hard. I worked hard to prove to my boss I could do it and that she could trust me. Yeah, I had a few setbacks, the pressure and stress of making and doing everything 100% perfect was alot, but I managed to get a 30 day trial period.

I believe that I worked myself to above and beyond the roles I needed for the position, as did everyone else. However, my boss didn't notice any of my accomplishments while they were so great. She noticed the small things I missed, or the things that could use a one time correction or guidance like setting up floorset. So, despite everyone else in the company believing in me, the one person I needed did not believe in me. Therefore, I did not get it.

I began looking for something full-time, as Chico's FAS as a company does not allow full-time for individuals not in the assistant manager position at least. (whbm is part of Chico's, as is Soma.) I had no intentions of leaving this job. I couldn't. I loved it too much.

On June 20th, I got a call from another store offering me full-time hours and great package to come on board. It was at a bridal store. I accepted the offer and immediately called my boss. I was off that day and would be in tomorrow with her. I told her I had something to talk about with her tomorrow that is important, knowing that it's Saturday and one of out busiest days would she rather talk before my shift starts or before she leaves for the day. She said she would rather hear it now rather than go into the back room on a Saturday. I hesitated, but told her regardless.

She asked me if I wanted to drop down to a sales associate, as I was in the sales lead position. I could only give her two days availability, which others have done before, and I told her I wouldn't mind being a sales associate. I said "I just know I don't want to leave, because I love it here and I love who I work with." I remember it very clearly.

Our other two sales leads would be on vacation the day I started the new job, so of course the timing was terrible. But I couldn't control that. That's just how the stars aligned...

The next day, she would not talk to me. We had a big promo setup coming up and all three sales leads were on that day. She talked to them about the promo change, but not me. She did not go outside with me for a smoke like we always did. (Saturday we actually we're extremely quiet.) She said a couple passing words, throughout the day but that was it. It crushed me. I looked up to her not only as a boss, but a role model, a motherly figure, a friend, a mentor. Because of my attachment and abandonment issues, I latched onto her the hardest, because she gave that tough love like a mother, but also gave me advice on life. I fell in love with the people there and assigned them titles in my heart as "sister", "mother", "aunt", "cousin".. and felt comforted by that. Unfortunately my boss became mother, so being rejected by her like that crushed me.

It crushed me so much so that I flipped from idolizing her, to hating her— as most borderlines do. She abandoned me and rejected me, I hated her guts. I couldnt stand to look at her. She was going to replace me. I didn't want to be there that following Monday. I was in a mindset of "fuck this, fuck you, fuck being here." This sanctuary I had was completely destroyed.

Yesterday, (Tuesda, June 25th) I came into my shift at 4pm. I clocked in and read mail on the company computer, like usual. I came out to the floor and asked to be paced in with what was going on for the day. My boss pulled the calendar and said to me "let's go finish up our conversation from the other day." Since she was pulling the calendar, I didn't think anything negative. I figured we were going to discuss what day's I could give her. I perked up a little bit.

We get into the backroom and sit down and she tells me she needs me to write out my notice to her just so she has it in writing. I knew this was standard, but figured because I was dropping in position and not leaving the company, I didn't need to write a two weeks. I asked her what to write. I've never had to drop down in position before, so I was unsure. She told me all I had to do was write that I was giving my notice and sign it. I asked her, AGAIN, because I didn't know BECAUSE IVE NEVER DONE THIS... Should I write that I'm dropping down to a sales associate and she said "no, you just write that you gave two weeks like we spoke on the phone." I say to her as I'm writing that my start date for the new job got moved to July 6th (one day later) so I had still had that Friday I could give her, making my availability two weeks and and extra day or two. She said my last day would be Friday July 5th.

I signed the paper and handed it to her and as soon as she took it she told me that today was my last day and I could go home.

I looked at her confused, my heart in my chest. Asking her what? What do you mean? Tears already welling in my eyes and my hands shaking. She said she thought I should focus on my full time job and that they were competitors. I said that I hadn't even started yet so time to focus on what? And competitors? I sell wedding dresses..? She quickly snapped back at me saying that I would also be selling shoes and accessories, like WHBM sells. I asked her why it was okay for me to work at another clothing store during the holidays and nothing was ever said then? She had no response. I asked her if I did something wrong. She said, no not at all I just think this is the best thing for you. I gave her my keys, crying and shaking, holding back anxiety because now at this point, I had alot to say but couldn't because of how hard I was holding back a full blown panic attack. I emptied my drawer and left out the back door. I kept my composure until I pulled away from the store and then broke down, screaming, crying, wailing. She knew how much I loved it here and knew I was going to drop down.

I spoke to the DSM (her boss) yesterday, after a chain of phone calls to all of the girls who had become my family. Most of them are older than me by 20 years and it was hard because I knew the age difference was so great that keeping in touch wasn't going to be likely. The DSM had no idea this happened, despite her and my boss talking about things regarding me a few days ago. She didn't know my boss was letting me go. She knew we would be needing someone to help fill in since I would be a sales associate starting July 5th and her other two sales leads would be on vacation.

Is this wrongful termination? Was this decision made out of anger because of me getting a new job? If offered to finish out the two weeks (since I had only worked 4 days out of the 14 before getting shooed out the door.) Should I decline? I'm afraid to go back into the store because of my boss. I realistically could finish it out in another store, but what if it follows me. My boss is constantly in touch with the surrounding stores. I'm scared. My next pay date would have been my last day as a sales lead. But now I'm out of two weeks of pay. I should have opened the store this morning, but here I am.

I'm shattered.

[gwydionae]

I am posting this to show 1.) how big of a nerd I am, 2.) what KIND of a nerd I am, and 3.) just how much I went through to end up in complete agony, lol.

I really like facts, concrete evidence that something is true. I also like a good puzzle, being given some information and travelling down the rabbit hole to try and piece said info together. You know what else I like? Fictional universes and their concept of time. The Dice, Camera, Action! fandom might know me as the insane lady who carefully tries to construct a proper timeline for a DnD show with no official timeline whatsoever, going simply off of in-game clues.

You know what show gave me a character’s birthday, another character telling said birthday character “happy birthday” seemingly quite a bit after his birthday, and then proceeded to dump an actual, real calendar on me? Mob Psycho 100, of course! So what did I decide I wanted to figure out? Just how long HAD Mob and Reigen been apart during the “separation arc”?

Now, I actually DO have a pretty good guess! See, based on Reigen’s character profile from the manga, along with the email his mom sent him on his birthday, we know that he turned 28 on October 10, 2012 (if he was born Year of the Rat and is using a cellphone in present day, he had to have been born in 1984, thus it being 2012 on his 28th birthday). According to the above included calendar, this would be a Wednesday. He had already been separated from Mob for a little while previous to that, though. The first day could have been a school day as Ritsu came home in uniform and said that Mob was “home early”, but it couldn’t have been a Monday as the day before that was definitely a school day. So that would likely make it either Tuesday the 9th or Friday the 5th. We then see Mob in class/club, out shopping with Ritsu, and out again in a different outfit (this being Reigen’s birthday). If his birthday is on a Wednesday, their first day apart couldn’t have been Tuesday as there are at least 2 days in between their fight and Wednesday, so likely they fought on Thursday the 4th, meaning that October 5, 2012 would be the first day of their separation.

So! Reigen went 6 days before getting his serious Mob withdrawal symptoms. Ok, how much time passed after that? Well, I figured it couldn’t be TOO much, as while Mob’s belated “happy birthday” is said in the past tense, it’d be weird if it came, like, months later, but there’s only so much actual evidence to go on. We do know that Reigen started going all out with work, and one job in particular - the video game player killer - had him staying up “many nights”. But that one job made him go viral, essentially, and he got interviewed for a magazine. “And a few days after that” he got asked to be on the TV special, which took place “one week” from when he was asked. We then see people reporting on him being a fake the next day, and the day after that Mob is at school and being told about it for the first time. This gave me my first clue, making me think the special must have been on a Saturday night, with Mob finding out on Monday. After this, we get the line “in three days, being the ultimate evil had become Reigen’s public image”, which would put us on a Tuesday as the day he gets cornered into holding a press conference the following day (Wednesday). And, of course, that’s the day he finally sees Mob again.

So for sure we have 4 days since the night of his social collapse, and before that 8 days between which he got asked to be on TV and then he appeared on TV the following week. So we’ve got a confirmed 12 days total so far, but obviously that’s not counting the “many nights” playing the video game plus any work time he put in before or after. The earliest possible date that he could have been contacted for the TV would be Saturday the 20th. This would give him about a week and a half to get big, and it would put the spooky exorcism special the Saturday before Halloween. But that’s not a lot of time to build up his name, and it would put his press conference on Halloween itself which seems a bit odd to me (though maybe Japan isn’t too big on Halloween specials). So I figured the best bet would be to say he got asked to be on TV Saturday the 27th, appeared Nov 3rd, and held his press conference on Wed the 7th, exactly 4 weeks since his birthday, and a total of 34 days since he’d last seen Mob.

BUT WAIT! Why did I say I was in agony over this if I’ve got a pretty decent idea of how much time passed? Oh, Studio Bones. I love you. I love you a lot. I do. I really, really do.

But.

BUT.

*sigh*

You just HAD to put a REAL calendar in the very next episode, didn’t you?

Ok, so admittedly at first I was pretty excited about this! After all, at first glance, it actually seemed to line up pretty well! It looked like it could be a calendar for Oct 2012! But then I noticed that according to that screenshot, the date is supposed to be the 1st. Well, ok, fine, maybe my first guess was correct and Reigen actually DID get popular in a week and a half and held in press conference on the 31st. But... no, that couldn’t be it either because this month has 31 days in it - that doesn’t even work for November at all! Could it possibly be December already? Did that much time actually pass?? In what year did December 1st fall on a Mon- WAIT! NO! THAT’S NOT A MONDAY! THAT’S A TUESDAY!! THIS CALENDAR STARTS WITH MONDAY!!! That means that even my theory of “they had the right calendar for Oct 2012, but just marked the wrong date on it” is debunked, too!! Wait wait wait!! Hold up! Just what month/year IS this supposed to be a calendar of, then??

It’s January 2019.

They just used the dates from January 2019.

......................

How dare you, Bones.

I trusted you. I trusted that you would actually pull through for me, that you had given me concrete evidence to support my hypothesis. That you put so much care into your animation that SURELY putting in the proper dates wouldn’t be hard.

I was a fool to be excited. I will never trust your dates or calendars again. You have lied to me with false facts, and now every time I see that calendar, it makes me upset because it is simply factually wrong, and I don’t like it.

...THIS is what kind of nerd I am. XD

Now if you’ll excuse me, my sister is about to watch the latest episode, and I am going to make myself happy again by enjoying her pain, because she, like me, is an anime only, lol.

[amyscascadingtabs]

you must be my once in a lifetime

Jake had said that night at Shaw’s he could pinpoint the exact moment he knew he wanted to spend the rest of her life with her. It wasn’t quite as straightforward for Amy. Not that she didn't want to marry him - the opposite, of anything - there were simply too many moments to choose from.

Or, how Amy figured out she wanted to marry Jake.

2976 words // read on ao3

Jake had said that night at Shaw’s he could pinpoint the exact moment he knew he wanted to spend the rest of her life with her.

It wasn’t quite as straightforward for Amy. Not that she didn't want to marry him - the opposite, of anything - there were simply too many moments to choose from.

She had never put marriage or kids on the physical life calendar. It was too risky, too uncontrollable and had too elevated of a risk being broken. Thinking about spending her forever with someone had given her more than one panic attack before, and she wasn’t even excessively scared of commitment. She was purely... cautious. She was hesitant to be sure about a thing so definite as forever when death threats and time spent undercover seemed an unavoidable part of the career path she had chosen. And did she really want to settle down only because it was expected of her? No, marriage had been the last thing on her mind for so long the first time Amy thought about it, it shocked even her.

~

Jake had stayed over at her apartment countless times before. She was as used as she could be to waking up to the cutest of light snores and the ever impressive bedhead, and yet this time was special. He wasn’t staying over. He was home.

Yesterday had been a long day of unpacking boxes and laughing over the unreal absurdity of the fact that their possessions were now crammed into the same two-bedroom Brooklyn apartment. After a celebratory pizza dinner eaten straight from the box while they sat on the counter, complete with toasting in orange soda and wine respectively, they were officially living together. His sneakers were on her shoe rack, the skincare products she’d bought him for Christmas had taken place next to her own in the bathroom cabinets, and a single Die Hard poster adorned the inside of the closet where neatly ironed pantsuits and flannels now hung side by side. For the first time in her since-college life, Amy Santiago was living together with someone else.

Her waking up first was the norm rather than it was unusual. With Teddy she’d often found herself bored to death waiting for him to wake up, had even made a habit of going for a run in the morning so she wouldn’t have to lay there idly for at least an hour. She’d never needed an escape-plan with Jake. With him she could lay there for what felt like forever, listening to the sound of his breathing, smiling when she sometimes heard her own name mixed in with the incoherent mumbles he made in his sleep. She could admire the ruffled hair and the sight of him in either a baggy t-shirt or nothing at all, stare at him for exactly as long as she wanted without anyone asking what the hell she was doing, and after the six months they had spent apart earlier she never wanted to stop.

The bed was so much warmer with him in it, a godsend blessing to her always cold self. Moving closer to him so she could obtain more of the welcomed heat, she took the moment in act to press a few lazy kisses to the little dip in his shoulder.

“Mm-hmm”, he responded to this action, voice still heavy with sleep. “Morning, Ames.”

“Morning, Jake.”

“Time is it?”

“Half past eight.”

“S’early. “ He feigned annoyance, putting his right arm around her to draw her so close she was practically on top of him. “Need more sleep.”

“Jake, we shouldn’t waste a whole day because we have off. We should get up and eat breakfast.” An idea popped into her head. “I can make pancakes.”

“Oh, no .” The look on his face as she said this was one of genuine horror. “I’m not letting you almost burn down my kitchen again.”

“ My kitchen? Excuse me - since when is this your kitchen?”

“Since yesterday! And I’m not letting you set fire to it.”

“Okay, then.” She reluctantly moved to allow him the chance to get out of bed. “You’re in charge of pancakes.”

“For you and only for you, Amy Santiago.”

She helped set the table and make coffee while he whisked together the ready-made mix and flipped imperfect, but guaranteedly less burnt than hers would have been, pancakes. Maybe , Amy thought when they sat down to eat, the two of them could do this for a long time .

~

The m-word wasn’t yet explicitly on her mind. Somewhere in the background, though, she could feel it hiding.

It hid there as winter turned into spring and the cherry blossom trees in Central Park started blooming, as she booked the sergeant’s exam with shaking hands and created a notoriously detailed schedule to have time for studying, work and little bouts of free-time where she could get them.

It hid there when she and Jake babysat Terry’s kids and she listened to him try to explain racism to two four-year-olds without frightening them. When they left Terry’s house still chatting about what an exhausting but also rewarding of an experience babysitting had been, she had sworn she could feel the voice in her head change from kids are out of the picture to if I want kids, I want them with him .

It hid there when he found her on the rooftop of 397 Barton Street, convinced her to take the exam and promised of course things would change between them if she passed , but change wasn’t always a bad thing. She’d linked hands with him as they walked to his favourite ice cream place after the test to celebrate, thinking once again maybe they really were in this for good.

It hid there in the car at Flaxton Hill farms when she promised she would wait those fifteen years if she had to, would keep working and fighting and doing it all for him. It hid there when she gasped for breath after the jury declared him guilty and it hid there when the first visiting day finally came and she got to hug him and breathe in his scent for a few dreamlike seconds. It hid there when she finally calmed down after an hour-long panic attack in the car as they were about to leave, because Boyle didn’t know how to help her through them like Jake did and she needed Jake there with her , now and maybe even forever.

~

“I’m never letting you go again”, she whispered when he was finally filling up the space in their bed that had been empty for those eight, long weeks of prison.

“Good”, he whispered back, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close, close until there was no space between them at all. “Because I’m not leaving.”

“Good. Because I don’t want you to.”

“I love you.” He kissed the top of her head, cupping her face with both his hands to look into her eyes. “So much. I missed you so much. And as much as I thought about sex with you while in prison, which I promise was loads and definitely more than I thought about the food I wished I was eating, I think I’m going to pass out if we don’t go to sleep now so it’s going to have to wait.”

“A true romantic.” She laughed and pressed a last kiss for the night to his lips before closing her eyes. “I’m just glad you’re here. There will be other nights.”

“So many other nights”, he agreed.

Maybe the rest of our lives , the voice in her head whispered. I really want it to be the rest of our lives.

~

“I think I want to marry him”, she admitted to her two year younger brother, Tony, in the end of a long phone call where he’d originally called her to get a big sister’s opinion on a girl he’d started seeing.

(“You’re good with love stuff”, he explained when she asked him why he was calling her for romantic advice. “How are things going with Jake, anyway?”)

“Well, maybe you should. You guys seem pretty solid.”

“He literally just got out of prison. I don’t think it’s the greatest time to propose.”

“You don’t have to do it now. But you could - I don’t know - set a date? Mark a random date a few months from now and decide if he hasn’t proposed by then, you’ll do it.”

“...Actually not a terrible idea.” She reached for her pen and notepad to scribble a date down, the first she remembered.   14th of January 2018 - the four year anniversary of their post-bet-date, exactly three months away. “Thanks. How… when did you get so supportive of me getting married, anyway?”

“Because I’ve only seen you with him once, but in all of the time I spent growing up with you I still don’t think I ever saw you so happy. Not even when you won your school’s Math competition in sixth grade or when you got into the academy.” He coughed, and although it wasn’t a video call she could swear he was blushing. “If you tell any of our other siblings I got all emotional on the phone with you - “

“I won’t, Tony. Promise.”

She folded the note carefully after drawing a heart around the date, then hid it in one of her old art history books where she knew Jake wouldn’t go looking.

~

Seventeen days later his proposal still took her entirely by surprise. It was all she’d ever dreamt of, butt-mentions and all, casually moving her to tears when Jake admitted planning the heist turned proposal was the one thing which truly kept him sane during prison.

“We’re getting married!” They repeated it to each other between kisses over and over while celebrating at Shaw’s, her strict rules about limited PDA becoming decreasingly strict the later it got and the more drinks she had.

“Everyone heard you the first time, you don’t have to keep repeating it”, said Rosa with a swig of her beer. Jake’s gaze didn’t stray from Amy’s as he answered.

“Too bad, because I’m never going to shut up about it.”

She tried out the words for the first time in her mind the next morning, whispering them over and over to herself.

Jake Peralta, my husband.

She loved the sound of them as much as she loved the sight of the gorgeous ring on her finger.

~

Even when all of her careful planning for the perfect wedding was shattered into smithereens by a bomb threat, the ceremony still ended up being the most wonderful memory of her life. It wasn’t even remotely close to what they’d planned, but it was beautiful and it was them and nothing could have made it more perfect.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you”, she told him after her vows, meaning every word of it and more.

Had anyone told Amy back when she’d just started enjoying the company of her immature but entertaining deskmate she would be sliding a thin gold band onto his left ring finger one day, she wouldn’t have been able to stop laughing. Jake Peralta, growing up enough to want to settle down? Unlikely. Her, falling for the goofy grin that absolutely did not make her heart skip a beat sometimes? Not happening. The two of them becoming something other than two strictly professional colleagues who were both highly skilled at their profession? Never. Until they did.

She’d fallen for his ability to make her laugh, stumbled again for the unusual yet fascinating way his mind jumped to conclusions in its own way, and tumbled right down a rapidly descending hill for the way he showed he genuinely cared about her whether it was as a friend or as something more. And yes, fine, he was stupidly attractive as well. The smirk had done things to her from the start, but so had the soft brown eyes making her feel at home when she looked into them, so had the hands she kept imagining roaming her body whenever she let herself look at them for more than a split second.

Three years of being in a relationship with him had taught her not only an unreasonable amount of Die Hard facts and too many Taylor Swift lyrics for her liking, but also the charm of sometimes breaking rules and allowing things to be unpredictable. It had taught her even though they appeared so different, their competitiveness and passion made them strikingly similar when it came to the important things. He had grown up a little, learned how showing emotions didn’t equal death and preparing for things could be of great benefit sometimes. She had learned relaxing a little didn’t automatically lead to the worst outcome, and even if it did, he would be right there with her to handle the consequences.

(She had also learned Jake Peralta was a great kisser.)

(Great at other stuff, too.)

( God , she was lucky.)

How could she not want forever with that?

~

“Crazy to think the two of you are married”, said Rosa when they were all at Shaw’s after the ceremony, sipping the glass of whiskey she’d asked for after Amy insisted she would buy her a drink as a thank you for the bouquet and attempt at fixing the veil. “Gina and I were betting on how long you two would make it when you first got together, but neither of us thought you’d last more than a month.”

“Why not?”

“Felt unlikely, I guess. Never thought you’d date someone from work, or someone who wasn’t the single most boring man you could find. Kind of seemed to be your type for a while. But you surprised us all. Well done.” She raised his half-full glass to her friend’s champagne flute. “Jake’s earned himself one hell of a badass wife.”

“Wife. Sounds so official.” Amy faked a shudder. “No going back.”

“Not unless you get a divorce. Don’t get a divorce, please - Charles would probably kill himself”, her best friend and fellow sleuth sister added.

“I don’t think we’ll be needing one.” She looked over at her husband, perched on a barstool talking to Gina, warmth and affection emanating from the knowing smile he aimed at her upon meeting her gaze. “I haven’t gotten to say the words my husband nearly enough times yet.”

“God, you two are going to be so annoying from now on”, Rosa groaned.

~

They slept in late the next morning, feeling rather well-deserved of some rest after yesterday’s chaos.

“Hey.” She flinched awake at the sound of Jake’s voice, still raspy from sleep, next to her ear. “Morning, wife.”

“Morning, husband.” Saying the word sent a warm, tingling sensation through her body. “You woke up before me.”

“Not by a lot. It’s boring being awake without you.” He kissed her temple, once, twice. “Then again - every single day I get to be with you at all is crazy to me.”

“I recognize that. Is it a Harry Potter quote, by any chance?” She teased, dragging her left hand through his hair to draw him closer and kiss him, not even caring about morning breath when he was right there and real and her husband.

“For practically having made them up on the spot during our impromptu wedding outside a police precinct, I think my vows are actually better than a Harry Potter quote.”

“You think your wedding vows are better than ‘Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light’?” Amy gasped, doing her best attempt at looking offended.

“I’m saying they’re up there, somewhere.” There was the goofy grin again, melting what little attitude she was trying to gather. “Also, you’re wrong about best Harry Potter quote. The best one is clearly ‘Do not pity the dead, pity the living, and above all those who live without love’.”

“Are you trying to seduce me with the help of Harry Potter quotes?”

“Is it working?” She kissed him again in response, with more passion and intensity now than the lazy kisses of before.

“I can’t believe my husband is a giant nerd.”

“Hey! That’s ‘giant nerd who read those books because his wife loves them so much’ to you, thank you.”

“I know. I love you.”

“Love you too.” He laced his left hand into hers, admiring the sight of their identical gold rings gleaming in the sunshine seeping through their blinds. “Ready for our first breakfast together as spouses, Mrs. Santiago-Peralta?”

“More than ready.”

Since Amy Santiago learned to read at a mere three and a half years of age, she’d gone through an extensive list of favorite words. Epiphany had been one of them, one of the first big words her father had taught her to pronounce. Serendipity, expectations, quintessential, oblivion - lengthy, sophisticated words to embellish written as well as spoken sentences.

Eating a fresh cream cheese bagel from the bakery down the street and drinking a scalding hot cappuccino from the same place with Jake trying his best to help her solve the Times crossword puzzle she hadn’t had the time for yesterday, she decided it was time to add a new one to the list.

Husband - defined by Oxford Dictionaries as a married man considered in relation to his spouse and defined by her as the word she could now use freely to describe the love of her life.

The prospect of forever had horrified her up until she started realizing she might actually want it with the man sitting across from her, chewing absentmindedly on the lid of a pen and making little progress with the puzzle he had offered his assistance with. Now, she felt like forever wouldn’t be nearly enough.