#my grandparents and coming over tomorrow this is going to kick my ass tomorrow morning

[zebracakesarecopingmechanisms]

me until 1.5 hours ago: I’ve never actually made OCs before. I mean, I’ve tried, but none of them really stuck with me, so it hasn’t been something I’ve actively pursued yet.

Me now at 2:30 am: I’m full of caffeine, I’m at my artistic peak, and these ballerinas are gay. Here are both of their entire life stories

[oh-for-fic-sake]

Tik Tok Leggings

Masterlist

Summary: Time to test these Tik tok leggings.

Warnings: swearing, Fluff, Cheeky Henry, Suggestive Themes, Plus sized reader

A/N: Just wanted to do something different thinking of maybe having a mini TikTok onshot series but unsure yet. Either way I hope you enjoy and happy Easter to those who celebrate  and those who don't? Have a brilliant Sunday xx

Taglist: will be in comment/reblogs

You eyed the package wearily... just how the fuck were you meant to pull this off? Slowly but surely the confidence  and 'fuck it' attitude was waning. They looked small.... very small.

You huffed a sigh looking at yourself in the mirror eyeing your form. You swear you'd gained some more weight, just a few pounds maybe? But you felt huge. Slowly you unravelled the leggings, it had been a good idea at the time but now you wasn't so sure. They were expensive and even thought you bought them as a little prank you did hope they would boost you confidence or at least be comfy enough to wear around the house.

Being a larger girl it was hard finding comfy clothes and you had to be comfy now that your boys were running around the house like headless chickens. You thought the terrible twos with trainers were bad? Your four year olds had scooters!

You grit your teeth and decided to try the leggings on gearing up for an all put war with the waist band but was pleasantly surprized. The fabric was firm and tummy controlling without feeling you feeling caught by a bloody boa constrictor! A comfy tight not spandex tight. You casually wondered about seeing if the company did bras, this shit would stop the girls from trying to knock you out on the stairs!

You pulled the material setting the... elasticated seam in your ass crack and winced... Okay that's a little strange... but not unpleasant and almost thong. You spun around eyeing yourself in to mirror. You didn't look to bad, if you said so yourself. Sure you wasn't magically strim and fit, you were blessed with a nice thick ass... but unfortunately had the thick hips and large thighs to go with it. You'd never be petite or dainty, but then again henry was huge behemoth of a man so you didn't need to be. As he said on many occasions he wanted a woman as thick as him... and you definitely fit that bill. His thighs were only slightly bigger then yours.

You turned around a few more times. Fuck okay hello there~ you grinned. You may not be the perfect sized woman but fuck if your ass wasn't glorious in these leggings~ this just might work.

You grinned and pulled on one of Henry's tshirts, the grey marines one it was snug and would ride up a little over your tummy showing off your bubble but that you felt was your best feature. And then padded downstairs, henry. Was in the large garden trying to teach the boys how to play rugby... Wanting to start them young.

You pottered about the kitchen chopping up the salad for tonight. Contrary to what people thought you were not large because you ate to much or did little exercise, you had always been bigger and admittedly since having the boys you had gained a little more weight but not ridiculously, you wasn't dangerously over weight.

You hummed looking out the patio door seeing henry jumping for joy as his boys and Kal played 'rugby' darting across the garden to the tiny rugby post at the end. Moving to Jersey to raise the kids was a brilliant idea, you had a huge country house with the land to go with it. Flat and immaculate that spread around the house in nearly four acres the lawn was mostly to the back and side and cornered off with tall hedge rows then beyond it a cornered off veggie plot and greenhouse and a work in progress chicken coop. Soon there will be a decent sized pond and some ducks... Henry didn't know yet, but if he was allowed to have a stables built four god knows how many horses you were allowed your ducks god dammit.

You grinned watching as henry ran around both the boys with his phone out cheering them on as they tor across the garden wrestling each other for the ball. You had panicked when you were told twin boys but you should have known henry would be able to handle it. It was perfect, days like this when he was home and strived to make his sons lives as magical and fun as he could, everyday was a holiday when dad was home.

You shook your head seeing the boys both lay on the floor in the shade completely tuckered out from the mornings fun. Henry can into the kitchen and you held your breath quickly bending over the counter a tad more then normal hoping to get a favourable reaction from your husband. But you couldn't help the tinge of doubt  what if he didn't like them? Or thought you looked bigger then you were?

"Hey sweetheart are the boys fruit shoots in the fri-oh sweet baby Jesus" he coughed cutting himself off  and took a half step back as he came in the kitchen. You giggled and turned to him then nodded your head to the fridge.

"Yeah their in there love" you said smirking and blushing as you saw him eyeing your ass tilting his head slowly down trying to get a better look at your ass making you bite your lip.

"Err yeah yeah... I... hold that thought" he said snapping out of it holding a finger up at you and looked to his phone.

"You just stay right were you are- no nope over bend over again babe... fuck me how did I get such a sexy little mama~" he growled one hand swiping over his screen. You flushed and wriggled our hips a little as you leant forward feeling on top of the world as he openly gawked at your ass. For a second you thought he was taking a photo and made to move wanting to snap up right but he napped his fingers to you pointing for you to get back down and brought the phone to his ear.

"Henry what are you?-" you tried standing once more but he crossed the kitchen pressing himself up against your ass and rocked slowly making you mewl as his bulge pressed against your ass half hard already. Henry huge hand pressed you down on the counter before him and winked then he spoke as who ever was on the phone answered.

"Hey mum, hi can you come get the boys?" He asked and you gasped at him shaking your head at him laughing. He wasn't palming the kids off to their grandparents because he wanted a midday fuck! Not that Marie-Ann would mind, she loved hosting the kids and frequently showed up out of the blue and took them out for the day. She was adamant that both you and henry still had alone time.

"No, no everything's all right I just- somethings come up~" he smirked and you laughed loud shaking your head at him, he was a little bugger! He wriggled his brows at you and nodded then flushed stuttering for a few comments.

"I.. No no of course not mum... muuuum stop- well yeah... yes I know you were young once-oh shit no I didn't mean of course your still young! Your in your prime! Okay yes, yes I promise to try my hardest... yes okay, see you in ten okay love you bye... bye mum I will. Yes I will mum bye" he muttered slowly moving through being embarrassed, shy and strangely confident before hanging up.

"Soo the boys are going out?" You giggled finding the way he reacted ridiculously cute. It wasn't what you expected, maybe a kiss on the cheek and a slap on the ass. But not him shipping the kids off for the day.

"And staying over night" Henry muttered moving both hands to your ass and squeezed and rolled the cheeks about making you squeak and try rising on your tip toes but he just growled following pressing a kiss to your neck.

"And what have we agreed to for this mighty generous gift? What have you promised?" You said arching back into him with a teasing tone knowing Marie would make henry pay for the 'young once' comment.

"Oh you know nothing too big just another grandchild, which wont be hard with these in your closet" he chuckled pinging the fabric that clung to your ass like a second skin. You flushed gasping out at him batting him away slowly. But it was a hard fought battle, Henry won easily sliding the cutting board back then let you spin to face him. He quickly hoisted you up onto the counter top behind you and kissed your lips moaning into you before pulling back and pointed at you.

"Right you stay- right here. Don't you move a muscle Mrs Cavill" he said seriously and backed away from you still pointing making you laugh and kick your feet biting your lip before nodding. Henry backed up to the back door and called out to the boys.

"Boys come on! Your going to grandmas for a sleep over! Go pack a bag, jammies, tooth brush and clothes for tomorrow! Come on mush hop it or cop it!" he called you smiled hearing two high pitch excited voices squealing at the thought of grandma. She spoilt them rotten. They dashed into the house quickly running past the both of you giggle as henry tried playfully nudging them on the bottoms with his foot when they ran through the kitchen to dart up the stairs and pack an overnight bag. Henry slunk out of the kitchen following the boys but kept glancing back at you.

"Remember right there babe, been too long since we fucked in here~" he growled making you flush remembering the last time you'd made love in here. It'd been when you were pregnant, the day you moved in before you redecorated you'd had Chinese take out and then made love in every room in the house.

"I'll be right here love I promise, now... You might want to sort yourself out before answering the door to your mother~" you teased pointing to the large lump in the front of his shorts making him grunt and cup himself trying to reposition himself and left the kitchen to help the boys pack.

You can safely say, these leggings were a success. You were definitely leaving a five star review... You did however regret not filming his reaction for tiktok. Honestly you didn't even have the app your sister in law had shown you and you thought it'd be something fun to try with Henry. You may just get more than you bargained for though, not that you minded... You just hoped you had a girl this time, it was about time to try and even things out a bit.

[babymetaldoll]

I've been working out a little bit (Spencer Reid/Reader)

Requested: Yes.

Summary: Spencer has been working out with Penelope, and they are doing their best to keep it a secret. Until (Y/N) finds out and tries to help. And though he doesn't want to because he is embarrassed about his poor athletic performance, somehow she manages to help.  

Category: Fluff

Warnings: Curses, frustration. Good old fools in love.

Word count: 3.8K

A/N: Hello, pretty people! I've missed you! I hope you like this little story. It's one of the last requests pending on my list. Tomorrow I can finally visit my grandparents, I'll be taking care of them for at least two weeks, and though I know it's hard work, I am just so happy I can be with them again!! I miss them! Take care, whenever you are! Love you!

Masterlist

                                    𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁

- "No fucking way, Spencer!" (Y/N) widened her eyes and laughed so hard tears filled her eyes. She was sitting at her desk at work, staring at her best friend, who could barely walk due to the two hours he had spent that morning training with Penelope.

- "Please, don't tell anyone."- he whispered and looked around the bullpen. He was too embarrassed already to let anyone else know he had to take the mandatory fit test. He wanted to avoid the jokes, especially Derek's.

- "Your secret is safe with me, as always, chipmunk"- (Y/N) smiled and bit her lips, trying not to laugh anymore- "But why on earth are you working out? You have enough case hours to cover a fit test!"

- "Apparently, I can't skip it this year. Both me and Penelope have to take it."- Spencer whispered and sat down very slowly, pain written all over his face.

His best friend stared at him reading the mix of embarrassment and physical pain he felt with each movement he made. (Y/N) smiled and opened one of her drawers, looking for the last Snicker she had hidden in case of need. Watching Spencer in pain was precisely the case. She stood up and handed him the candy, making his heart skip a beat. Spencer did his best to hide the blush on his cheeks and just looked away.

- "I can help you if you want."- (Y/N) whispered and cut him the most adorable smile she had.

- "Help me what?"

- "Working out."- she replied and bit her granola bar- "I can teach you how to kick ass, and I do look hot wearing sweat shorts."

Spencer nearly chook. He flushed and closed his eyes, trying to cover up his embarrassment. But (Y/N) giggled and turned around. Her job there was done. Now Spencer had to be picturing her in her sweat shorts.

Of course, he was. He couldn't stop, actually.

The two agents were the youngest of the team, and somehow sometimes in-between cases, it showed. Especially when they were on their own, and their conversations ended up in casual flirting.

(Y/N) was head over feet in love with Spencer, though she was never going to face it. God knows Penelope had tried to force her to deal with her feelings. But she was closed as an oyster. No matter how much Garcia insisted or how drunk they were, (Y/N) kept denying her true feelings in public.

Spencer wasn't indifferent. Not at all. As a matter of fact, he was in love with (Y/N). Everything about her bewitched him. Ever since the first time he laid eyes on her, he felt it. She was tailor-made for him. If only he weren't a nervous wreck each time he saw her...

After two years working together, Spencer had managed to overcome part of my shyness and awkwardness around (Y/N). They were best friends, and they would usually hang out in their free time. The little free time they had in the BAU. But even when they could playfully flirt all the time, Spencer was sure she didn't like him that way. He convinced himself she was just joking.

--

(Y/N) headed to the Batcave holding a large frappuccino and knocked on the half-opened door before walking in.

- "Penelope García, I had the feeling you were running caffeine low."

- "Oh my pretty little thing! How do you do it? You read my mind!"- the tech analyst nearly hyperventilated as soon as she held her ice and creamed coffee.

- "Reid and I were out for a little break, and I knew you would like one of these to cheer up your afternoon"- Garcia sipped her frappuccino and nodded. But as soon as she had finished savoring the perfect coffee, she asked.

- "So, you and Reid..."

- "We were out getting coffee, like the best friends we are."

- "But, there's coffee here in the kitchenette. There's no need to go out and get coffee unless you want to find an excuse to be alone with him."- (Y/N) raised an eyebrow and sighed. Garcia did that every single chance she got.

- "You and I know the FBI doesn't share our concept of "good" coffee."- (Y/N) looked at her friend and just smiled- "Besides, I told you, I felt you needed some extra sugar and joy in your life after your early workout session this morning."

- "That little snitch!"- (Y/N) chuckled and shook her head.

- "Don't get mad at Reid. He didn't tell me anything. I kind of figured there was something wrong 'cos he looked in so much pain just breathing."

- "Oh man, he is sored, but I am sure he would be way sorer if you train with him."

- "I offered myself to help him"- Garcia raised an eyebrow at (Y/N) 's words, and the young agent wide opened her eyes, blushing- "Stop staring at me like I'm a perv! I meant helping him train for the test. I could help you too."

- "Thank you, but no, thank you. I trained with you, and there's no way we are going to do all that boxing again."

- "Come on! You said you had fun!"

- "I did! I really did... but I could barely move the next day! And I had a date! I couldn't even dance, less doing... other... nevermind"- Penelope stopped herself in her tracks and shook her head.

- "Shit, PG!"- (Y/N) closed her eyes and chuckled- "Spare me the details."

- "Sorry... anyway... you and the little genius should definitely train in a more... horizontal way."

- "Garcia! Stop it!"- (Y/N) laughed and stood up- "I'm gonna go back to work 'cos clearly you have some hormonal issues today, and you are projecting."

- "Stop acting like you haven't thought about it!"- Garcia said and chuckled as her friend walked away.

- "I'm not telling you anything."

- "That means yes!"

- "No! it doesn't!"- (Y/N) was blushing; that's why she refused to turn around and look at Penelope.

- "Oh! It so does!"

--

The end of that day found Spencer even more sore, hungry and weary than he had felt in years. All he wanted to do was go home, eat pizza leftovers from the night before, and go straight to bed.

Until...

- "Hey, chipmunk!"- (Y/N) looked at Spencer, gathering all his things and getting ready to go home.- "Dinner at my place tonight. My treat."

- "I can pick the take out tonight?"- he said immediately and asked himself where did that come from if, a second earlier, all he wanted to do was to go to bed. Probably from the same place that kept coming back to the image of her in sweat shorts.

- "Even better. I'll cook"- (Y/N) answered and winked, playfully- "You deserve a proper homemade dinner after all the workout you did this morning."

Spencer looked at her and didn't even notice the silly smile on his face. If he had known how in love he was looking, he would have probably slapped himself. (Y/N) sighed and stood up.

- "I'm gonna take that silence as a "Great (Y/N)! Thank you! How considered! I'm so lucky to have you in my life".

Spencer rolled his eyes and shook his head.

- "Thank you, (Y/N). But I'll give you more praise if your food turns out to be eatable"- the young agent gasped, pretending to be insulted by his words, and hit Reid's arm with her knuckles.

- "Auch! (Y/N)!"

- "I'm being nice, and you are insulting me! I'm having second thoughts about driving you over!"

- "I can take the subway! You are such a slow driver I can actually be there faster."

Spencer stuck out his tongue at her and ran to the elevator, 'cos his friend widened her eyes and ran after him, probably to hit him again.

Morgan and Prentiss stared at the scene in silence, sharing a few looks, both of them thinking the exact same thing: "When are these two goofs ever going to hook up?"

- "They are annoying"- Rossi stood next to Emily's desk and crossed his arms on his chest.

- "They are in love"- she corrected, but David shook his head and sighed.

- "I know, and they are adorable, but it's so annoying staring at the same scene over and over again, waiting for something, anything, to happen between them."

- "Are you turning into a bitter old man who completely forgot about the charm of being young and in love?"- Prentiss raised an eyebrow and turned to Rossi. The Italian stared right into her eyes and shook his head.

- "I'm just saying someone should try to tell them something."

- "I've tried to talk to him about her a million times. But Reid is one private kid."- Derek said from his desk as the three of them stared at Spencer and (Y/N) getting into the elevator, still arguing and playfully playing.

- "And he is so insecure. He doesn't think she likes him."

- "Likes him? She is clearly in love with him!"- Prentiss said, annoyed- "I swear, if nothing happens between them this weekend, I'm going to intervene."

- "Now who is forgetting about the charm of being young and in love?"- Rossi joked and sighed- "Come on guys, dinner's on me."

--

(Y/N)' s dinner was a success. Spencer ate two portions of honey mustard-glazed chicken bake. She even managed to make him eat vegetables. And Spencer didn't even argue. Not only because it was delicious, and his body really needed some homemade dinner. But also 'cos (Y/N) got him wrapped around her fingers, even without knowing it. And if she asked him to eat veggies, Spencer (no matter how much he would argue) would eat his damn veggies. And he could actually enjoy them.

- "Ok, chipmunk, you ate all your food. You earned your dessert"- (Y/N) smiled and picked the dirty dishes from the table.

- "Let me do that. You already fed me. The least I can do is do the dishes."

Spencer followed her moves and took the dishes to the sink. (Y/N) didn't argue with that. It wasn't the first time Spencer cleaned the kitchen with her, after all. They had been good friends, close friends, for a long time, and they were used to being around each other.

But this time, it felt somehow different. Like there was something in the air warning them things were about to change for good.

- "Ok, doc. Do you wanna eat your dessert watching tv for a while?"- (Y/N) handed Spencer an ice cream bowl with chocolate chips on top and some whipped cream.

- "A smiley ice cream bowl?"- Spencer chuckled as he stared at it. He loved it.

- "Yes, you are never too old to eat food with a smile on it. And that's a life lesson, Spencer Walter Reid."- she said and walked to the couch, holding the remote control.

- "You are filled with wisdom, (Y/N)"- Reid teased her and sat by her side.

- "I know. It would help if you let me train you. You would pass your fit test in a blink."- she said and continued surfing channels.

- "Thanks, but no thanks. I wanna do it on my own."- Spencer glued his eyes on the screen and ate his dessert. (Y/N) just nodded and continued surfing channels.

- "Why?"- she asked him after a few minutes. They had been watching an old movie in silence, just eating their ice cream.

- "Why what?"- he whispered and looked at her just for a second. He didn't trust himself around (Y/N), especially under those circumstances: alone in her house. She had changed into leggings and an old extra-large sweatshirt. Her hair was in a messy bun. And Spencer didn't feel able to look at her into the eyes, 'cos he was going to cave in. He was going to grab her face with both hands and kiss her right there. No questions asked.

Which is why he avoided looking at her.

- "Why don't you want me to help you train?"

- "Just because"- he answered and glued his eyes to the screen. But (Y/N) knew better. She moved closer to him on the couch and held his hands. Spencer shivered right away at the sensation of her skin. It was so warm and soft. All he craved was some more of that. He wanted to feel her. Touch her. Taste her.

His head was going way too fast, and just because she held his hand.

- "Spencer, look at me"- she whispered and practically begged her friend to pay her attention- "I just wanna help. It's just a stupid fit test. It ain't hard."

- "For you."- he mumbled and looked down at his hand as her fingers played against his skin.

- "I didn't want you or anyone to help me 'cos I'm a fucking SSA who should be perfectly able to perform a simple fit test on his own. But no. I can't! And do you know what that means?"

- "That finally I know there's one thing you are not good at?"- she answered and smiled at him. Spencer raised his eyes and met hers. He knew his cheeks were all shades of pink, but for once, he just didn't care. He just wanted to look at her and see if she meant it. Or if she was just teasing him.

- "Right"- he snorted and shook his head.

- "I mean it, Spencer. You don't have to be good at everything."

- "It's a fit test. It's basic to be an agent. I need to be able to catch an unsub."- (Y/N) frowned and tried to understand where all that self-doubt and insecurity was coming from. To her eyes, Spencer had nothing to be ashamed of. To her, he was perfect in every single way.

- "You already catch unsubs, chipmunk. Everyday. You don't have to kick down doors to make a profile. And you don't have to run six miles to get the bad guy. Everything that you do every day at work is what an SSA is supposed to do. And you excel at it."

(Y/N) sighed and smiled at her best friend, trying to push aside the urge she felt to kiss him. His golden-brown eyes looked so big, like honey pools, she could stare for a lifetime. Spencer didn't know what to say. He really wasn't good with praises. He wasn't used to them. Not in that way.

- "Besides"- (Y/N) added after a few seconds of silence when she realized she might have said too much and started panicking.

- "It feels good to finally know there is one thing I am better than you at."

- "What are you talking about?"- Spencer answered right away, in the sassiest tone of voice.- "Just because I suck working out doesn't mean you are better. Even at my lowest, I'm still better than whatever you can do in a gym."

Reid was obviously joking. He knew (Y/N) could kick ass. Not only had she saved his life many times on the field, but also, he had seen her working out. And she could definitely kick his ass if she wanted to.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to tease her just because.

- "You take that back, Reid!"- she threatened him and

- "No"- he sentenced and crossed his arms on his chest

- "Last chance. Take it back, or you will pay for it."

- "Make me."

And that was it.

In a second, (Y/N) was on him tickling him, and trying to practice a chokehold on him. But Spencer was faster, and somehow, stronger than her. Maybe it was because he was struggling with himself. A part of him wanted her closer, and a part of him didn't want her too close, 'cos he knew his pants were going to start feeling too tight if she did.

Whatever the reason was, after two minutes of wrestling, Spencer had (Y/N) pinned down against the couch. And the way she panted against the fabric of the cushion wasn't helping him with his pants.

- "Spencer, it hurts"- she cried and tried to move from his grip, but he didn't let her go.

- "If you want me to release you, you have to say I am the best agent in this house."

- "Never!"- (Y/N) quickly answered and continued struggling.

- "Just say it, I've got you held, and I'm not going to let you free until you say it."- something in his tone of voice, it was teasing but also... sexy? (Y/N) knew Spencer wasn't trying to act that way, but it was working for her in a way she hadn't imagined. He would be so soft. And now, there he was, acting like a dominant man, holding her tight, not letting her move, literally pinned against the couch.

If only it were all happening in a different context.

- "Let me go, Spencer Reid!"- (Y/N) battled against his arms, but it was useless

- "Just say it"- he leaned in and whispered in her ear, and (Y/N) sword she could almost feel his smile as he spoke.

- "You are the best agent!! There, happy?"- she mumbled, making her best to sound annoyed and not turned on. Spencer released her, and she quickly sat down properly, rubbing her left wrist.

- "Did I hurt you?"- Spencer whispered and noticed how flustered she was. That was a first.

- "No. But I gotta tell you, you are stronger than I thought."- she said and stuck out her tongue to him, trying to be playful and innocent, though you could feel it in the air. That moment was anything but innocent.

- "Yeah, I've been working out a little bit."- Spencer answered and chuckled at his own words.

- "Well, you are going to have to learn how to control your new strength, 'cos this is going to leave a bruise"- (Y/N) whined and showed him her sore wrist. Spencer winced, ashamed he had been so hard on her without meaning any harm. He moved closer to her and held her wrist carefully. (Y/N) just looked at him as he kissed her wrist a few times.

That man couldn't be real. He was such a tease.

Did he know all the things he was, in fact, doing to her with that simple touch?

He surely had to know. Otherwise, there was no explanation, she thought.

- "Thanks"- (Y/N) whispered and fixed her eyes on his lips, still landing small kisses on her wrist.

That was when she stopped breathing. Spencer was literally breathtaking. He smiled at her, and she just couldn't help it anymore. (Y/N) leaned in and kissed him. It was a soft, short peck. But she had dared to do the unthinkable.

She kissed her best friend.

Spencer widened his eyes, shocked, and looked at her, not saying a word. They just stayed still for a good thirty seconds until Spencer finally made his move, cupping her jaw carefully with both hands and pulling her face against his.

The way she moaned into the kiss made him feel more in control than he had ever been before.

It was a soft kiss but intense. Spencer's lips rubbed carefully against her mouth, and his tongue moved carefully, making its way until he could taste her. (Y/N) moved closer to him until she was basically sitting on his lap, and his arms wrapped around her body, locking her against him.

They were in heaven.

Until it was over. Their phones buzzed at the same time, breaking the spell, ending the charm. (Y/N) jumped from Spencer's arms and grabbed her phone.

- "We've got a case"- she whispered and turned to him. He was agitated, his cheeks were red, his pants felt tight, and he was starving for more of those kisses.

- "Ok."- he replied but didn't move.

- "I'm gonna change, then we can go."- (Y/N) added, but he didn't say a word. To be fair, Spencer wasn't processing what was going on. He was still trying to elaborate a coherent thought. And most of all, he was fighting the boner in his pants that didn't let him stand up.

You could blame all the sugar in his body after the massive bowl of ice cream, or all the praising (Y/N) had given him, but Spencer found a new level of courage in that kiss. He decided it was time to stop overthinking it. It was time to act on his feelings.

- "(Y/N)"- Reid knocked on her bedroom door and heard her from the walking closet.

- "I'm almost ready. Did you talk with Garcia?"

- "No, but I don't wanna leave things like this. I wanted to talk about what just happened."

(Y/N) sighed and took a look at herself in the mirror. She could still feel her cheeks burning after that kiss, after feeling her best friend hard underneath her body, holding her against him. But she wasn't sure she wanted to hear what Reid was about to say. Most of all, because she was sure it was going to be something along the lines: "That kiss was a mistake, you are my friend. I don't wanna ruin this."

- "That kiss was..."- he mumbled and walked to her as soon as she showed up in the room, but words were hard to find when she looked at him that way.

- "Spencer, I..."- she tried to speak, but he just continued.

- "Would you like to..."

- "Pretend it didn't happen?"

- "Go out on a date with me?"- the two of them said at the same time and widened their eyes in shock.

- "What?"- (Y/N) questioned and stared at her best friend in shock- "You want to go out with me?"

- "You want to pretend it never happened?"- he asked her, scared he might have rushed to the wrong conclusions.

- "No, no, no, I don't... I can't pretend it didn't happen"- (Y/N) quickly answered and held Spencer's hand, afraid she might have ruined everything.

- "I was just scared you were going to reject me or..."- (Y/N) bt her lips and dared to look at him- "I wanna go out on a date with you"- she whispered and watched his whole face change as a big silly grin drawn on his lips.

- "Really?"- he murmured, still not sure it was actually happening. He asked her out. She said yes. He was sure that was never going to happen in real life.

- "Really"- she assured him and leaned in slowly to kiss him one more time. But her phone rang again, and so did his. This time it was a message from Hotch. Wheels up as soon as they reached the FBI.

- "But after we catch the bad guy."- (Y/N) added, and Spencer chuckled.

- "Sounds like a plan."

Spencer Reid’s taglist: 

@calm-and-doctor @all-tings-diego

Requested by @shilohpug​ 

[mintchocolatechipnut]

bakugou cooking for his crush

Okay I just had the cutest idea: Bakugou falling for a classmate that's a really good eater. One day she stumbles across his food in the common fridge without knowing he cooked it. She steals a bite and is smitten with his food. And Bakugou, having seen the whole thing, becomes smitten with her.

Note: How this idea came about I have no clue... I just remember writing the entire thing on my phone at my grandparents’ house and really having fun writing it. To be honest, I don’t have the best grasp on Bakugou’s character, but I tried... For all my fellow food lovers out there!

Tags: more tooth-rotting fluff (the domestic kind), attempts at showing character development through cooking, Bakugou’s tough love (but of course, you’re here for that)

Word count: 3.5k

So I'm imagining that Bakugou likes to keep his cooking skills on the down low, because who knows if idiots like Kirishima and Kaminari show up and start whining at him to cook them food, and he doesn't want to be teased as being 'domestic'

He doesn't think there's anything wrong with cooking since he's able to take care of himself and his health, but if his squad saw him in the kitchen in his apron he wouldn't ever be able to live it down

That said, he brings his freshly cooked meals into his room and opens his windows so the smell doesn't linger, and he stores his leftovers in the deep recesses of the fridge where no one would ever think to look, not even food thieves

Luckily or unluckily for him, you were no ordinary food thief.

Bakugou is on his way downstairs because he's feeling peckish and wants to heat up some of the leftovers of his favourite dish, so imagine his shock and anger when he sees you and Sero poring over the blue Tupperware housing his food

Before he can take a single seething step, though, you've already spooned a bite into your mouth

His eyes widen, and now he's really mad that an extra like you had the audacity to eat his food

But then you let out a near inhuman noise, and it sounds… intensely satisfied?

'Oh my god, who cooked this?' Unable to contain your excitement you're shaking Sero by the shoulders, lips drawing up in a contented smile. 'This is the best thing I've ever tasted!'

For some reason, Bakugou's not so mad anymore. Obviously because for an extra like you, at least you had taste

But something about the pure joy in your expression made Bakugou feel… guilty that he was going to stop you

It's absurd because if anyone should be feeling guilty, it's you

As he's thinking this, the snap of the closed Tupperware brings him back to his senses, and all of a sudden he's fleeing the scene so he's not discovered

He's even more bewildered because there's no reason for him to be running away, and he hates running away

But somehow he felt a bit awkward and… embarrassed after hearing what you had to say about his food

With that he decided that he'd let it go once, and maybe seal his container a bit tighter

But he's sorely mistaken the next morning at the breakfast counter when you begin gushing about his food once more

Remember when he thought that you should've felt guilty for eating his food? There's not an ounce of shame in your words, though.

You tell the story of your tastebuds' meeting with heaven when you and Sero found a container full of something inside the fridge, and out of curiosity, you decided to take a peek

'I didn't mean to eat it, I swear I didn't! But it just looked so good, and I could imagine how it tasted… but boy did it taste so much better than that!'

Bakugou's left reeling at this praise, and there's an uncomfortable feeling upsetting his stomach as he tries to wolf down his cereal, trying not to think about how your words made his ears burn

Then the punchline: 'If we have a guy in our class who cooks like this, I'd marry him in a heartbeat!'

Bakugou nearly spits his milk

Luckily no one notices, and are instead calling you out for your food thievery or watching your animated hand gestures

On his walk to class, Bakugou has no idea how he feels about this; he just wants to banish it to the corners of his mind so he wouldn't have to waste time thinking about something that shouldn't have mattered so much before

Right before he steps into class he's met with a flashback of your smile when you ate his cooking, and suddenly a plan pops into his brain

…

You show up in the kitchen the next few days, wanting to see if the 'blue Tupperware man' struck again with his fantastic dishes

More often than not, you're met with disappointment, but your eyes light up when you see the familiar blue sticking out in your vision when you open the fridge one day

You're shocked to find a note attached: 'To Y/N: I know you've been eating my food. You can only have a bite of this, but not one more. Don't think I can't tell if you do, I WILL know.'

You're all around mortified, though you realise you really shouldn't be: practically everyone heard your declarations of food thievery that day

But the last line drove home the fact that the person who cooked this was here, and was indeed a student

The first thing you do is scan the area behind you for any immediate signs of life, in case the chef had been watching you

But when nothing turns up, you shrug, and rub your hands together in excitement

You swear you could hear stifled laughter, but the lure of the food in front of you was too much to overcome in favour of an investigation

As you eat and, once again, fail to be disappointed, Bakugou's eyes are trailing your face

There it is: the same expression, if not even better than he remembered, that you put on when you ate good food

And suddenly, Bakugou wants to see that expression more

The next few times a similar note addressed to you accompanies every meal, but when you tried to reply you wouldn't get an answer back

Then one day, the notes just stopped. You felt sad for a while, but then perked up when you saw the contents of the Tupperware, containing some of your favourite ingredients

From then on it was a given that you could eat from the blue Tupperware, and not more than three bites

You still cringe at the stinginess, leading to Bakugou muffling his chuckles every time

He doesn't come and watch you eat every time, because it's creepy, for one thing

But sometimes he'd be in his room, just knowing that you'd be tiptoeing down the stairs in anticipation of what's in the fridge, and a small grin would tug at the corners of his mouth

He'd also made it clear that no one else would attempt to try his food. Once Kaminari tried to sneak a bite, but when he opened the container the stench of rotting beans knocked him out

Bakugou cackled as he dragged Kaminari back to his room, but not before switching out the containers with the one meant for you

He's also quick to throw anyone who's out to discover him off the scent (ha)

Besides doing so in the literal sense, as with Kaminari, Bakugou makes sure to stay out of everyone's radar in the kitchen, and even goes as far to put your portion in a separate pink Tupperware, with your name on it

Yeah, no way would such a sappy move be from blasty boy Bakugou, right?

You'd been playing this game for a few weeks now when you just can't take it anymore

Bakugou awakes one morning to discover a text message from you in the group chat:

'To the person who always leaves me food (aka blue Tupperware!!), please PLEASE show yourself! I really want to get to know the person who makes such wonderful food!'

He felt his heart swell, and he's painfully reminded of your first words of how you'd marry him for his cooking

He's grateful he's blushing alone in his room

At this declaration in the group chat, however, more and more 'investigations' are popping up

Deku is a particularly difficult person to distract and Bakugou hates it

But so far he's been keeping it together, all he has to do is stick it out a bit longer

That's when Mineta of all people tries to impersonate him

Bakugou's infuriated when he's checking on you one night and you fish a note out of your container

'What's this?' you muse aloud, and begin reading it out aloud, much to Bakugou's benefit, 'Meet me behind the dorms tomorrow after school. I'll show you who I am.'

Bakugou knows it's definitely not him who wrote it, but he can't stop the rage arising in his chest when he sees your eyes light up in excitement

Who is this impostor and when and where would they like their ass being whooped?

Bakugou decides once again to investigate in his usual ninja fashion that he's perfected from watching you

He follows you to the back of the school discreetly, where you bounce on the balls of your feet in impatience

Suddenly a familiar purple head emerges from the bushes, and Bakugou has to physically restrain his palms from crackling

'Mineta?' He's happy that your eyebrows furrowed at the sight of him, but he's suddenly left reeling when he has an introspective moment about why he's been playing this game all along

He felt too afraid to face you. Too afraid to show his domestic side, and too afraid to come clean and say he cares. He knows he doesn't have the best personality in class, but he really wants your impression of him as ‘blue Tupperware’ to stay untainted and pristine

What would you think, then, if you discovered that your mystery chef was the abrasive, antagonistic Katsuki Bakugou, who didn't seem to have an ounce of empathy for anyone? Even worse, would you believe him even if he told you?

More than what it would do to his reputation, he realised that he didn't want you to see him in a bad light at all.

However, he's also mentally kicking himself because now bastards like Mineta can come and impersonate him

However, the words that leave your mouth makes him still

'You're the Blue Tupperware guy? Prove it.' There's a challenging smile atop your lips as you stare down Mineta, who falters from his previously smug swagger

'What do you mean? I cook you food, you love it. That's all there is to it, right?' A derisive laugh leaves you.

'Then tell me the names of the dishes you've made for me.' Mineta stands stock still, trying to comprehend what you've just asked of him. The beads of sweat now trailing down his neck don't escape your notice.

After some painful stammering and guesswork, then a beat of silence, you sigh. 'I kind of thought this would happen.'

'However, if it really honestly had been you, I wouldn't be mad. Because if I knew you were the one cooking with so much care and love, I'd still thank you for the meals.'

Bakugou's head goes blank. His hands begin sweating uncontrollably, and he's brought back to his senses when he hears his palms pop.

As he controls his quirk he's desperately trying to make sense of what you just said, but only one word rings out clear and true in his brain.

'Love'.

And suddenly he's trying not to grin at your epic shutdown of Mineta, trying not to feel his heart flutter when he pictures your multitude of expressions in all their glory, and trying not to remember the feeling of when he'd lie in his bed at night, the last thought he has before he drifts off to sleep being 'what should I cook next?'

He's in love with—

The sounds of footsteps coming in his direction shake him out of his reverie and he all but dives behind a pillar as you march off, leaving Mineta in the dust

Before the purple-haired pervert can leave, however, he's suddenly held up by the collar of his shirt, eyes wide before a murderous red gaze

'Try one more thing with her and I'll make sure you don't wake up the next day.'

…

From then on, Bakugou's mood lifts considerably.

Not only is he confident Mineta wouldn't rat him out (all he has to do is shoot him a glare), but he's eternally proud of how you stood up for him

Speaking of which, can he take your words you spoke to Mineta that day to mean that you wouldn't at all feel uneasy with whoever Blue Tupperware was, as long as you knew it was really him?

Now he's stuck with thinking of ways to shoot his shot

Little does he know that chance might come sooner than he thought…

One day he's running late because his work studies ran overtime

He'd planned to make something a little more complicated and out of his repertoire, though it may take him longer than usual

Though when he'd discovered what you liked to eat through your conversations with friends and what you ate in the cafeteria, he didn't mind, couldn't mind the extra hassle at all

It's not a difficult recipe, but he knows that it'll be dinnertime soon and that'd be dangerous

He looks at the clock, noting the twenty minutes he has before the first students come trickling into the common room. You won't be here until thirty minutes after. So he locks himself in the kitchen and gets to work

(yes I now know it doesn’t make sense for him to not be discovered in the kitchen during dinnertime, so let’s just say no one usually wanders in because all the meals are usually laid out in the common room when dinner rolls around)

He's smiling as he spoons the freshly cooked food into the Tupperwares, letting it cool for a bit as he washes up

But when he turns around holding them in his hands to put into the fridge, he freezes

There you stand in the doorway, eyes wide

'... Bakugou?' Damn, he would've relished the sound of his name on your tongue if you hadn't been looking at him like… like that. 'Are you Blue Tupperware?'

As much as he wants to laugh at the stupid nickname, he knows how straightforward and sharpshooting you can be with your words and intentions. And so the only thing that comes out of his mouth is:

'So what if I am?'

A beat of silence, then two. And suddenly your face morphs from bewilderment to pure joy, maybe even purer than when you eat his food. God bless his eyes that could bear witness to that moment.

'It's you!' you exclaim and a laugh as hearty as your appetite leaves your lips, and he's just awed, amazed. 'Thank you for the food!'

…

The immediate aftermath was everyone gaping at the both of you as if you each grew two heads as you ate from your respective containers

Sitting across him, you ask, 'Well… why did you do it?'

He’d imagined that you’d ask something like that, and he’s prepared an answer for it, but the eagerness in your smile, along with every other eye on him, prompted him to instead blurt:

'To… to stroke my ego and shit.'

Everyone goes painfully silent except for you, who leans back and laughs, 'As expected of you, Bakugou! But either way I get to eat really well, so thank you!'

You've been saying thank you for a while now, but what he can't get out of his head is that you expected him to be all narcissistic about cooking you food for his own selfish reasons? Man does that hurt.

But somehow, the others buy it too (which just really goes to show how much of a jerk the class paints him out to be), and the case of Blue Tupperware is solved

Now all that's changed is you pop in occasionally when Bakugou's cooking, and there are nights where you eat together

Oh, and the fact that he now knows you can’t cook for shit

You’ve tried to help Bakugou cook before, but at the time he'd felt as if he was in for a very rude awakening

However you are a god at cooking instant noodles of any shape or kind, so much so that when he misses you (or craves you lol) he eats instant noodles

Then again they'd never taste quite the same as when you cook them asifkajdks

When he actually confesses it's when you, out of the goodness of your heart, ask if you can help him out once more

He always finds himself giving in btw

But then you burn another pot and it's tough not to get frustrated

He's under stress, the weight of his sweat on his brow coupled with his ever growing feelings for you leads him to have even less of a filter on his mouth

'You obviously suck at this.' he says, noting your sad puppy eyes and willing himself not to surrender. 'Just let me do it.'

'But I feel bad that you're always cooking for me, and all I do is enjoy it.' You're biting your lip now, and it's all Bakugou can do before he starts thinking about what it'd be like to push you against the sink and kiss you senseless.

'Nonsense. It's enough that you enjoy my cooking, so let me do it. Let me take care of you.'

That last part did slip out, as denoted by the look on your face

'Wow,' again your straightforwardness comes into play, 'that sounded like a confession right there if I've ever heard one!'

Before he can stop himself—'do you wish it was?'

'Huh?'

'A confession—do you wish it was one?'

He watches your cheeks go tomato red and you purse your lips

'Do you wish that I wish it was?'

Aw, now you just playin

'I'm not hearing a no.'

'Neither am I.'

And then you nerds proceed to stare each other down in a palpable silence, the only sounds being the bubble of the soup in the pot before you

Who confesses first?

'Dumbass. I like you.'

You instantly beam, and you jump into his arms, even though you're dangerously close to the fire. Bakugou blanches, then draws you away from the stove

'Oi, watch it! You could get hurt, idiot,' but you're too focused on the way his arms had naturally wrapped around you to keep you safe and shielded

'You'll protect me, won't you?' you say, smushing your cheek against his chest. Bakugou sighs and places a hand on your head soothingly

'You bet I will.'

Bonus scene! “And that's how your father and I got together,” you say with a smile, as your four year old son bounces excitedly in your lap, while your six year old rolls her eyes at the amount of times you've told this story. “Yeah, we get it Mom.”

Your son has a different take on it though. “Start again! Again, again!” You let out a sigh mixed in with a chuckle at his insistence, but just then the wafting aroma of shrimp hits your nose. You close your eyes as you feel footsteps coming closer, and the warmth of your husband leaning in close to you as he sets the table leaves you giddy.

“Okay, that's enough storytelling for today,” Katsuki grumbles, placing the shrimp pesto on the table. Your daughter instantly perks up at the sight; she might not be as good an eater as you are, but she has a particular fondness for pasta. “Yay! It's pasta time!”

You set down your son in his chair as his eyes gleam at the feast in front of him, then walk up to your husband. 'Thank you so much, babe,' you relish the sight of Katsuki's ears, previously stained red from listening to your 'story', turning even redder.

“If you really want to thank me, there's something you need to do,” Katsuki mutters in a low voice, his gaze surreptitiously looking down at himself. You follow his eyes, and immediately burst out laughing.

“You're wearing it for us!” You'd really like to capture a photo of him in the 'Kiss the Chef' apron you'd gotten him for his birthday last year as a gag gift. Could Katsuki turn any redder?

“Shut up! Who burned my other apron the other day, hmm?”

This time you blush. “Maybe it was an expert ploy to get you to wear this,” you laugh, and before a snappy retort can leave his lips, you're smothering them with your own mouth. “Love you.”

You embrace him, arms lazily reaching for the apron strings in order to tug them undone, but your husband is pulling you in too, hands on your waist as he tucks your head in the corner of his neck so you can't see him or hear his next words too well. But you hear them nonetheless.

“I love you too.'”

[sylvie-writes]

Black Friday Shopping

Summary: Thanksgiving Dinner and Black Friday Shopping with Andy ft. your family.

Disclaimer: funny enough, I’ve wrote this back in September. 

Warnings: none. like one swear word.

As always, plz pardon any mistakes, the stories are always “proofread” but I tend to make many mistakes regardless.

Part of my Fall Writing!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, one spent eating loads of Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mac’n cheese, you name it!

Every year, you and Andy made it a tradition to go to your parents house for Thanksgiving. A time when all your aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents would flock to the (y/l/n) Household.

There wasn’t a time that Thanksgiving wasn’t looked forward to.

Your cousins brought the jokes, their parents bringing food, and your grandparents bringing the story.

It was always nice to see those distant relatives, especially now that you all had grown up, going out into the world, and started families.

Looking back, you can remember a time when you were a young girl, playing games with cousins. Now, here you all are, taking on the responsibilities that once were your parents.

Once thing you had done yesterday, was map out all the good black friday deals with your aunt.

She had all the flyers through which every family member passed around, plotting their destinations.

After all, you can’t go Black Friday Shopping without planning. 

You weren’t the kind to just shop around, no, you used Black Friday to get all the Christmas gifts. (Then again, who doesn’t?)

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving came to an end, although the fun didn’t stop there.

Since all the family was still in town for Thanksgiving weekend, you and Andy did the same, staying at your parents’ house. 

The two of you were snuggled into the full bed you had from childhood. 

That bed seemed a lot bigger when you were a kid.

But now, you had a personal furnace resting beside you. 

“Andy, honey, are you awake?”

“hmm?”

Taking the covers with him, Andy rolled over onto his back, slowly smiling as you were leaned over him, a grin on your own face.

“Well, good morning to you too Mrs. Barber.”

You wiped the mischievous smirk off his lips with a kiss.

“Just wanted to remind you that we are all meeting for breakfast in an hour and a half.”

Andy nodded and you slid out of bed. Walking to the dresser, you opened your’s and Andy’s suitcase, pulling out jeans and a grey sweater. 

First you got your shower, Andy then coming in to get his.

About an hour later, the two of you walked downstairs to be met with your parents holding mugs of coffee for you both.

Your parents love Andy like their own son. 

And for the many years you’ve been married, Andy too thinks of them as his own.

Honestly, you feel bad that your husband has no family or parents, so it really warms your heart to see him bonding with yours. 

The four of you enjoyed a few cups of coffee, just to kill some time before going to meet the rest of the family. 

Everyone had their own plans for the day, so you and Andy trailed behind in your own car.

Needless to say, breakfast was quite entertaining.

From your nieces and nephews, to many childhood memories, many laughs were shared around the table. 

Once breakfast was over, everyone bid goodbye and went their separate ways, tomorrow you’d see them all once again.

Luckily, you still knew your hometown like the back of your hand. It was really nice to leave the small town of Newton. 

You and Andy decided to hit up a nearby outlet mall, just for kicks and giggles. 

The two of you didn’t really have a plan per se. Sure, you had a few items you wished to pick up, but it wasn’t dire. You were just here to spend time with Andy. 

Every year, it was a constant battle to get Andy to spill the beans about what he wanted. He never told you and boy, was that irritating.

“Andrew Stephen Barber if you don’t tell me, for the love of God, I will divorce your ass.”

Andy knew you were joking, but he also knew that you were determined to get it out of him.

“Fine. I’ll tell you, only if you tell me what you want, ya hypocrite!”

In playful annoyance, you let out a sigh and agreed. 

To seal the deal, you put out your hand in a good ole fashion, “shake on it.”

Your husband shook your hand, but before you could pull it away, he pressed his lips to your knuckles. 

This time, your quip was silenced and Andy wore a smirk of victory on his lips.

So finally, the argument settled, the two of you exited the car. 

As you walked towards the outlet mall, Andy’s hand rested on the small of your back, a sweet gesture that you secretly loved. 

The first stop was a jewelry store, which carried Citizen Watches.

Andy had finally given in. He explained to you that his watch had broken and there was no fixing. 

At this you were delighted, not because the watch broke, but because you finally found a gift.

So, you paraded Andy around the store till he unwillingly picked once. You had to push him a bit. Curse his humbleness.

You gleefully walked out of the store, the watch peacefully resting in a neatly wrapped box, ready to be tucked away till December 25th.

This was gonna be the year you had gotten Andy the perfect gift...

“Everything is taken care of, I guess we should head to dinner then!”

Your poor attempt at deflecting Andy’s attention didn’t work, as he turned to look at you quizzically.

“Not yet Missy. I am going to get that purse you wanted.”

“Me a purse? I never said that…”

Andy, not phased at your feigned innocence, started to lightly tickle your waist with the hand that once rested on your back.

“Andy, stop! I’m gonna laugh and we are in the middle of foot traffic!”

“Nope. Not till you tell me which purse you wanted and be exact this time!”

“Fine! Fine! Follow me before I get any more weird looks.”

Your husband started laughing, slightly jogging to catch up with you, as you had power walked away from the embarrassment. 

The two of you were never ones to buy extravagant things, unless necessary.

As you see, Andy only let you buy him a watch because the one he’s had for ten years broke, and vice versa with your purse.

Upon walking into the purse store, the strong smell of leather flooded your senses, the variety of styles and colors blurring your vision.

It only took ten minutes for you to find the purse, and it made Andy uncontrollably happy to see your childlike giddiness.

As you walked out of the store, Andy’s watch bag dangled on your wrist, your own gift resting in the clutch of the man’s hand. Of course, your two free hands were interlocked while you both walked to the final destination. A nice little dinner at one of the food court restaurants. 

This year you and Andy had both finally succeeded in the gift giving department, definitely making for an interesting competition next year. 

[rimaiahwrites]

Slumber party—

Part five

Israel was sitting in her room with a thick book pressed in between her fingers while her cute round glasses hung on the tip of her nose. Since it was Friday, It was a chill day for her. She had no chores or errands to run because she had gotten them all done the day before, so that meant it was just going to be herself, her books, silence, And her baby turtle Franklin, of course. He was cute, small and a bit smelly but he was one of her first friend.

Israel slightly jumped from the screeching sound of her window Flying open and hitting her wall, with a loud slam.

The weather was a bit breezy today but Israel loved when it was like this. The sound of the wind blowing against her window and The soothing clicks and clacks of her mother Wind chimes hitting against each other. It triggered a feeling In her that was hard to explain... It brought her back to a place she missed dearly, her childhood. Summers at her grandparents house playing outside, and sleeping in a full size bed with four of her cousins, scratched up together with nothing to cool them down but the loud fan in the window.

it was a feeling that only lasted seconds before life pulled her back to the harsh reality that she was grown and had responsibilities.

She got up from her window seat and shut it. She glanced out the window and her eyes drifted over to the site of her parents loading the car up with what looked to be suit cases. Her eyes frowned in confusion before she throw her book on the bed and jogged down the crackling stairs. The front door opened before she could reach the bottom of the stairs, her mom came in frantically looking around the room like she was looking for something.

"Mom where are y'all going?" She asked concerned at this point. She had only seen her mother like this once, and that was when her oldest brother got arrested. That was another story for a different day.

Isabel finally grabbed her keys and headed for the door not even hearing her daughters question. Israel followed her outside and grabbed the car door before she could close it. "Where are you going? What happened?" Her mother let out a huff since she was out of breath from running around the house grabbing things.

"your aunt got into a really bad accident this morning, so me and your dad is catching a flight to Chicago to make sure she already, this was the earliest flight we could catch. We're probably gonna have to stay a week or two since she has no one to take care of her. Call and Tell your brothers we're leaving, and make sure to lock the door." Her mom yelled out the car window as her father drove out of the driveway slowly as Israel stood there dumbfounded by the news. She watched as they drove away. It more then odd but why would her mother lie about her sister being in a car crash? She shrugged before going back into the house.

She sat on her knees in front of the couch with her Palms facing The ceiling saying a quick prayer for her aunt before hopping up with a squeal.

She felt bad for her aunt...(even though she only met her once when she was about ten) she really did....but that didn't mean she wasn't excited to have the whole house to herself for the day. Having three older brothers will leave you drained and in-dire need to some privacy and alone time.

She decided it was the perfect time for her pamper routine she tried to do every week.

She jogged up the stairs before grabbing her speaker and phone. She Blue-toothed it to the speaker. Soothing music was a very important part of the routine, or else it was boring. She turn on her Noel soul/feminine empowering play list. Which was full of, erykah-badu, Ari Lennox, Lauryn Hill and Solange, plus more amazing female artists.

She ran her bath water hot, and clear of soap since she was very sensitive in her lower half area. She pull flower prattles in the water to make it look pretty before adding a few drops of some scented oils.

Her bathroom smelled of vanilla.

She stood in-front of her bathroom mirror, slowly swaying her body to the beat and voice of Ari Lennox. Backseat.

Israel dragged her oversized shirt over her head, and slowly dragged the thick fabric of her white sweatpants down her smooth pretty brown legs. She turned away from the mirror and dipped her foot in first before fulling sitting down in the hot water. She took a breath of relief.

She reached over her bathtub to grabbed the book she was reading. 'How to embrace your feminine' it read on the cover, in big bold pink lettering. She was very interested in the topic lately. And it was differently helping her embrace her feminine side more and more. Her mother, of course taught her the basics such as, how to properly clean herself and to cross her legs when she sat, but it was so much more to it then just making sure to cross your legs when you sit.

It was WAY deeper then that. It was the way you dressed, acted, speak.

When you hear that it may seem a bit intimidating but it truly changed the way the whole world looked at you, especially as a brown/dark skin women, Since they were seen as aggressive, anger, and bitter by Society for whatever reason.

It hurt a bit to know you have to change yourself for society to except you, but Israel wanted this. Ever since she was a young girl but never knew how To express her girly side since she was mainly around her older brothers.

A hour later, her music was interrupted by her phone ringing and she sat her book down on her sink before standing up from the water and stepping out, dripping water everywhere.

"Erik." She whispered, a grin spreading on her glossy lips, as she stared down at her phone screen. She jumped on her bed and unplugged it. "hello?" She answered, her voice getting softly automatically.

"Wassup babygirl, what you doing?" He asked, putting his phone on speaker so he could set it down on the floor next to him. Grunting as he pulled himself up, his chin tapping the pull up bar slightly before he lower himself, repeating it over.

She stood up from her bed and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around her breasts. She walked back into her bathroom and drained the now lukewarm bath water. "just got out the tube, and about to shave, exfoliate and put a face mask on." She giggled softly.

"Damn that sounds good as fuck right now, you mind coming over and pampering me?" He half joke, chuckling before jumping down from the pull-up bar to grab his ice cold water. She laughed throwing her head back. "Awww poor baby, you sore?" He sighed laying down on his mat. his hands on his head, feeling the soreness really kick in. It was most likely gonna be worst tomorrow.

"Hell yeah...my legs, arms and stomach feel like they just ran over."

"Why do you work yourself so hard Erik?" Things got quite on his side, she looked at her screen wondering why he was speaking. He was staring off into the distance with his lip in between his teeth. "Because I got some important shit to get done..." he tailed off.

"Life changing shit. Get ready I'm about to pick you up." She chuckled rolling her eyes, dipping her fingers in to the clay face mask that she was in love with. It made her skin so soft and scar free. It was a very important part of her skin care routine.

"How you know I wanna go somewhere with you?" He chuckled standing up from the floor taking the phone with him.

"Cuz you ain't got shit else to do." She opened and closed her mouth, offended but know he was right.

"Fine I guess, but this time I get to stay out how ever late I want since my parents are out of town." She cheered brightly. Smiling into the camera with her gray face mask on. Then She gasped As a genius idea popped into her head. "Oh my gosh can we have a sleep over at your house? That would be so fun!" Erik on the other side of the phone sorted. "A sleep over? What is this 5th grade?" Well shit. Israel thought putting a pout on her face.

"Well I wouldn't know since I never got to have a sleep over or go to a sleep over before of my parents." Having strict parents was a struggle. She knew that they only did it to protect her but she feels like she missed out on a lot stuff when she was a child.

"We ain't having no damn sleep over." He said sternly, pouring some cold water in his glass water bottle. Israel pout got bigger but Erik ignored her. Israel stomped her bare foot on the ground, the smacking sound catching his attention. "Please? Pleeeeeeease! We can get candy, movies blankets the whole thing....pretty please? With a cherry on top?" Erik sighed harshly staring at her with a bored expression. "Alright whatever Sasha, start packing ya shit, imma be there in like 30 minutes." He said chuckling before hanging up on her before she could ask why he called her Sasha. She laughed at the fact that he thought it was only gonna take her 30 minutes to get ready.

Israel shrugged and ran back into her bathroom to shaved, deep condition her kinky curls and moistures her whole body.

a horn honk was heard two times and Israel already knew it was Erik so she didn't bother looking out the window. She ran down the stairs and out the front door with her big brightly blue duffel bag. She locked the door before skipping off the porch happily, with a big grin on her face, Her big duffle bag swinging around from her running.

"Look at her spoiled goofy ass." He mumbled to himself smirking.

"You're 2 hours and 15 minutes late." She stated jokily because sliding into the passenger seat. He chuckled dryly. "Ha ha I was low key rethinking this whole thing to be honest."

Bold.

Israel had been trying to think of a word to describe him and one of them was bold. He didn't really have a filter...or maybe he just didn't really care about other people's feelings. Not saying that it hurt her feeling because she knew he was only joking...probably.

"Stop acting like you wasn't the one that asked me to come with you. You don't be having anything to do ether." She assed back, cutting her eyes at him. Only making him chuckled.

"What the fuck is in that bag? You pack ya whole room?" She rolled her eyes before unzipping it to show him everything.

"No, I just brought some of my favorite movies, some popcorn and the rest is some clothes and stuff."

"The notebook?" He said eyeing it in disgusted, picking it up and throwing it back into her bag.

"What? What's wrong with the notebook? It's a really sad and loving story." She defended her favorite movie hugging it to her chest. "That shit is so soppy-" she smacked her lips. "Ok and? You probably only watch thug where the main character always dies in the end from some gang related shit." Erik sat quietly because she was right. She snickered shaking her head.

"Yeah but that's real life shit, niggas die every in the hood but how likely is it that you meet this girl in high school, y'all parents make y'all break up on some Romeo and Juliet type shit then years later y'all find each other when one of y'all about to get married then y'all fuck fall in love again them find out whole time the bitch had short term memory lose-" Israel gasped at his harsh words, smacking him on the arm. "Erik!" She screamed covering her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

"That's shit is just not possible." He shrugged stopping at a red light.

"You're just looking at it In the wrong way- she grabbed the movie case looking at the back of it. -think of it like this, they had a love so strong that even years later they were still in love with each other, even after ally found love again there was no love compared to the love she had for Noah." She sighed batting her eyelashes towards the blue sky, like she looking at the love of her life.

"It's a beautiful story Erik." He rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath. "I still don't want to watch that shit but ok."

-

Erik unlocked his front door to his house and Israel stepped in.

His house smelled like him- was the first thing Israel thought, while spinning around to get a full look at the house from the door way.

Since it was a loft his Kitchen, living room and bedroom was all in one room, basically, Except you had to go up stairs to get to his bed. And it was all decorated with a African theme. Masks and ancient looking spears and weapons hung on the wall almost like in a museum. Israel was so intrigued She forgot Erik was even standing there. "Wow..." she whispered reaching out to touch The long sliver spear. "You like it?" Erik whispered in her ear making goosebumps appear on her arms The back of her neck. "Yeah...it's beautiful, where you get it? Is it real?" She said dragging her finger tips down the front of it feeling it's smooth texture. "You mean is it from a real African tribe? Yes it's is, it from a tribe of women." Israel's eyes lit up brightly.

"You have so many cool things up here." He nodded watching her look closely at everything. He went to the kitchen to let her explore a little while he popped the popcorn for the movie. Eventually she walked into the kitchen to find Erik pouring the bag of popcorn into a big bowl for the both of them to share.

"You have a beautiful home." She complemented him as he passed the bowl over for her to grab some. She stuffed her mouth full as she grabbed the bowl. "Thanks, Damn slow down mamas it's not gonna run from you shit." He mumbled watching her barely be able to swallow the rest that was in her mouth before a another hand full was in her mouth. "My bad, it's a habit." She laughed chewing slowly now.

"Nah yo ass just always hungry." He joked. teasingly poking her in the side, making her squirm from how ticklish she was.

"stop that!" She groans smacking his hand before grabbing a another handful of pop corn.

______

Israel plopped down on Erik's bed as he turned on his projector and set everything up for the movie.

She loved it here, his whole loft was a vibe. From the front door to his bedroom— his bedroom was probably her favorite part since she has never really seen anything like this.

"What are we watching?" Israel asked innocently looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"IT." He shrugged clicking on the movie before walking back over to the bed to sit next to her.

"but...I don't want to watch it..." she tilted her head to the side, sticking her bottom lip out at him. "Oh come on you cry baby you'll be fine, ain't no clown ass nigga bout to come in here and get you, and if they tried I'll kill his ass." He said making her laugh out. "I still don't want to watch this shit, imma be scared to night...I'm going to be by myself all weekend most likely and you live all the way out here so what you gonna do?" He only chuckled and hushed her pressing play on the movie.

Israel hide herself on the side of Erik as it began.

-

A hour and 5 minutes later A jump scare popped on the screen and Israel jerked so hard the popcorn spilled over landing on Erik's lap. Erik on the other hand was unfazed and haven't jumped not once yet, and it was annoying Israel. "You're making me look like a scary cat damn...at least jump once." She mumbled cutting her eyes his way. "Because it's not scary, you just a pussy." She gasped and smack him on the arm playfully. He chuckled and throw a piece of popcorn at her face that she throw back without a hesitation and then that turned into a popcorn fight.

Israel throw a hand full of popcorn and Erik won by dumping the whole bowl onto her head. "Erik! That's not fair!" He stuck his tongue out at her and hopped off the bed before she could throw more at him. "I won fair and Square, don't be a sore loser." He chuckled as she sat on her legs with a pout on her face and her arms crossed over her chest with the bowl on her head. "Stop making that face before I come over there and attack your cute ass."

"You always cheat when we play games....like last night when we played 8 ball-"

"I didn't cheat you just trying to make yourself feel better because you know you suck ass." Israel mouth hang open in fake shock and Erik tossed a piece of popcorn into it. She couldn't help but laugh at his dumb ass as he yelled "buckets!"

He pick up the remote and pressed Pause on the movie that they had completely forgot about and scooped some of the thrown popcorn back into the bowl. "Imma go get my vacuum, I'll be right back." Israel Nodded her head, popping a few m&m's in her mouth.

It was popcorn literally everywhere and Israel felt kinda bad that he was the only one trying to clean even though she helped make the mess. She didn't want him to think she was a horrible guest so she started to push the popcorn up in a pile in the middle the bed. As she was reaching over to grabbed more popcorn she stretched her leg out accidentally kicking something off of the bed. It made a loud crashing sound and Israel prayed that she didn't break anything. She was sure Erik would ripe her head off if she did.

She turn around and pecked over the side of the bed. It was a laptop- a Mac book to be exact. A two Thousand dollar laptop. "Shit." She mumbled reaching over to grab it by the screen. She plunged it back into the charger and the screen popped on. it was unlocked which was surprising since not many people left their laptops or phone without a password.

She hummed and focused on what was on the screen. It was a girl with pink prissy Lingerie and tall white platform heels on. Her makeup was bright and her curls were loose and blonde. It caught Israel's attention immediately. It looked to be on Tumblr but she wasn't quite sure. She knew it look familiar to the app that her cousin jazz spent hours. Jazz had tried her to get into it but Israel just wasn't really fascinated by the app. It looked boring and plan to her.

And eventually after looking at the picture for a couple of seconds Her Curiosity got the best of her And soon her fingertips were moving to the scrolling pad and she was invading his privacy.

The page was full of beautiful girls dressed in cute girly outfits and pigtails and she was hooked. She was already a whore for fashion so she was always up for finding and exploring with different aesthetic's. And this was definitely one that she was not TO familiar with. She has dressed in prissy and girly things of course since she was a girly girl but never to this Extreme. The hair bows butterfly clips, knee-high socks pastel color platforms and tutus styled with crap tops were so cute to her. It was nothing like the clothes she had in her closet.

Her style had multiple personalities and this was one that she definitely wanted to add to the Collection. Then something Else caught her attention, the words DDLG, princess, daddy, little, and dom/sub printed everywhere on the site. One girl put #miss my daddydom in her caption and Israel went to click on the tag curious as to what that meant. She knew the girl wasn't talking about her father with the type of picture that went with the caption clearly.

She was so lost in Computer and finding new pages that she didn't hear or see Erik walk back into the room...not until the laptop was being snatched away from her hands. She gasped and scramble to get her words out. "Why were you on my shit?" He hissed slowly pressing his body against hers making her lay flat on the bed with her palms gripping the cushion. She let out a shaky breath turning her head avoiding his eyes. "I'm sorry I-it was a accident-" He let out a deep and scary chuckled that made her blood run cold.

It was like he was a completely different person.

"So you accidentally turn my laptop on and was looking through my shit?" He asked. She then realized how stupid that sounded how much trouble she had just got herself into. She should have knew that he would snap like that since he did that the first she got in his car and was looking through his shit. "Well n-no I just meant I didn't do it intentionally....I accidentally kicked your laptop off the couch while I trying to clean up the popcorn and your laptop popped on and then the cute ass outfits that girl had on caught my attention and the next thing I knew I was scrolling through your st-uff." She whispered trying to Swallow the lamp that was Forming in her throat. The tears filled her waterline and her vision became blurry. Erik's face softened a bit and he sat her up on her butt. With tears now running down her face and a little pout silently asking for forgiveness.

Erik's big thumbs ran across her cheeks taking the tears with it. He let out a deep breath before pulling her head up in the air so that she was looking at him. "Stop all that crying shit, look at me." He demanded. Her doe eyes stared into his. "It's alright just don't be looking through my stuff without my permission, I hate that shit."

She nodded and they sat in silent until her Curiosity got the best of her. "What is...that?....i really like the way they dress... it's cute." She said batting her eyelashes trying to lighten the mood. Erik ran his hand down his face cracking a small smile before resting his hand on his chin, Staring at her.

"You like... the outfits? the only thing you saw was the outfits?" She shrugged. "I mean some of them were half naked but nothing more then their panties and bras" He plotted down on the bed next to her pulling her down with him so they were both laying down staring at each other. "I got some filthy shit on there I don't think you're innocent ass would be able to handle." She broke out into a fit of laughter, she laughed so hard tears came to her eyes. She didn't know exactly why it was so funny to her but it was- maybe it was the fact that she couldn't see Erik as a 'filthy' man. Erik didn't find it as funny as she did. Once she saw he wasn't laughing she stoped, and bit her lip. "Sorry."

"Why you laughing tho?" She shrugged again.

"I just...don't see you as- I don't know a dirty man. When I think of a 'dirty man' I think of a man that's really  really sexual. You talk dirty sometimes but you even talk about your sex life that much- a matter of fact you never talk about you sex life like ever, I mean expect for that one night but other then that you don't." He give her a teasing grin before pulling her closer by wrapping a arm around her waist.

"you want me to talk about my sex life?" She blush And smacked him on his chest, it vibrating from his deep laugh. "No of course not...unless?" She mumbled before placing her hand over her face to hide her embarrassment. "How you gonna say that then get embarrassed?"

He lick his thick lips slowly watching her peck through her fingers with a small smile on her face. "I just mean like....what so interesting about it? My cousin literally tells me everything about her and her man sex life so I'm sure I can handle what goes on in yours."

"'ight bet." He smirked getting up from the couch And over to the cabinet that was across the room. He grabbed a key that was hanging a above it and unlocked the cabinet. Israel leaned over to try and see what was in it but his bold ass shoulders were in the way of her view. Soon he pulled out a dvd case with no picture on the front and popped it in. He jumped back onto the bed with her, he watched the screen load while Israel starred holes into his face.

"What did you just put in?" She asked as she got a bit suspicious. His behavior had changed she could tell by the way his body shifted and the look on his face. It was hard again with a slight smirk glazing his lips. His eyes hazy and low. He shrugged at her question just as she did not to long ago to him.

He pressed play and the smirk he had on his face turned into a full on grin when a dark room with little to no light in it. The only light was a red LED lightbulb that gave the room a dark glow. Israel frowned as she tried to figure out what was happening. Realization hit her when she saw Erik come into the camera shot with a limp girl laying in his arms. She almost looked....lifeless with the way her arms just flopped around.

Erik laid her in the bed and took what looked to be rope from the dresser next to the bed. He brought her arms up to the headboard and tied them tightly. Since the girl was unconscious he had no problem tying her up. He kinda wished she was awake cause he liked the struggle sometimes. After he tired her arm and legs to the headboard he reached In the dresser again and pulled out a long white candle and a lighter. He sparked the lighter and the girl's finger twitched a bit and he grinned evilly knowing she was coming back. He lit the candle and let it malt slowly. The tip of the candle wax was clear now so he slowly pour it onto the back of the girl's legs since they were up in the air. She blotted awake in shook and in pain.

Israel slowly began to sink into her seat as chills were sent down her back, this wasn't something she has ever seen and he haven't even got started yet.

"You're awake.....how lovely of you to join me princess, how was your sleep." The girl breathing was heavy and loud but she calmed down when she saw it was just Erik. Erik ran his hand down her the valley of her breasts all the way down to her naked pussy.

Her body shivered slightly and jerk. "Just fuck me already Daddy!" The girl whin. He had already teased her to unconsciousness she was tired of his games.

"This is what you call foreplay, it's basically just getting the girl turned on before you start fucking her. Mainly because if she isn't wet it'll hurt her and won't feel as good for the guy ether." He answered before she could even ask because he knew she was going to ask. She clueless, poor thing.

She nodded trying to swallow her spit even though her mouth was dry. She was getting hot everywhere. Erik could tell by the way she squirmed and shifted in her seat. Her eyes were glued to the big tv screen. eyes watching his every movement, as crazy as it may sound she was slightly jealous of the girl on the screen. As she got older the more she craved to be touched by a man, she was definitely sexually frustrated and she just had to deal with it.

"Ok Erik I get it now we don't have to watch the whole thing." She huffed out a breath reaching out for the remote to turn it off but Erik snatched the remote from her.

"Nah you wanted to watch it so watch it." He snapped making her roll her eyes. They were now 15 minutes in and Erik was fucking the girl to tears. Her voice was horsed and almost gone with the way she was screaming for him to fuck her harder. Erik's body was glossy from the sweat that was dripping down in tear drops onto the girl's.

The tension in the room had gotten so thick that Israel was feeling a bit uneasy, her cheeks were hot and her hands were shaky but her eyes stayed on the screen.

This was probably the best porn she had ever seen- even though She hadn't searched and looked for porn on her own since she was semi traumatized from All the videos her cousins tried to get her to watch one night at a sleep over they had about a year ago. And all the videos that they showed her were videos of white girls fake moaning 'yes daddy give me that big thick cock' and ever since she it had been a big a turn off for her— but this? This was on a whole different level of sexy. The way his body moved mesmerized against the girl's. she couldn't help but imagine the girl as herself. In a deep arch gripping the sheets begging for him to let her cum.

Israel lip was sucked in between her teeth in a hungry manner and her feet played with each other on top of the blankets that were now at their feet.

"Erik..." he hummed at her, moving his eyes to hers. "Why are you showing me this?" He grabbed the remote and stopped the video.

"Because you asked to see it, don't ask me to show you for no shit like this again-" He mumbled taking the dvd out his dvd. "-cause clearly you can't handle it." He snapped, now facing her.

"I Didn't expect you to show me that..." she mumbled moving her eyes around the room to avoid his.

It was silent on both sides, Israel was more so embarrassed then amused like Erik was. "Why so quite now mamas?" He asked laying back on the bed.

"I feel...tingly, down there" He hummed, smirking. turning his face towards her. "You feel all hot and bothered?" She nodded her head before laying against his shoulder, in embarrassment.

The fact that she just admitted that to him was probably the most embarrassing thing she has every done.

"You want me to fix it?" He asked very softly, against the shell of her ear. She whimpered. "E, stop...can you put my movie in now?"

"You don't want daddy to help you?" He said in a jokily manner, Teasing her while poking her in the stomach.

"Erik stop teasing meeeee you're making it worse!" She whined pushing him off of her. "Nigga put my movie in." She demanded, pointing to the tv laughing nervously.

"Alright alright, Baby." He chuckled loudly before getting up to put her movie in.

Part 1 of 2

[wondersofdreaming]

Lost Boys - SEVEN

Characters: August Walker / Captain Syverson / Walter Marshall

Word count: 1.514

Warnings: Unloving parent. Beating. Alcoholic parent. Threats. Death. DUI. Drunk driving.

Author’s note: Everything in this story is a figment of my imagination, with inspiration and snippets from the movies ‘Mission: Impossible - Fallout’, ‘Sand Castle’, ‘Nomis/Night Hunter’. This is pure fanfiction. If something doesn’t make sense, it’s not supposed to.

I do now own any of the characters from the movies that I write about in this story. Only the OFC’s are mine.

Tag:@katerka88​ @littlefreya​ @hell1129-blog​ @mitzwinchester​ @mary-ann84​ @valkavill​ @sciapod​ @henry-cavlll​ @luclittlepond​ @iloveyouyen​​ @trippedmetaldetector​ @radaofrivia​ @omgkatinka​ @gothwhopper​  @fcgrizi​ @vania-marie​ @alyxkbrl​ @readings-of-a-cavill-lover​ @singeramg​ @onlyhenrys​ @henrythickcavill​ @mis-lil-red

Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the list.

Feedback is appreciated.

MASTERLIST

[ONE] [TWO] [THREE] [FOUR] [FIVE] [SIX] [EIGHT] [NINE] [TEN]

Oliver felt the weight of his new foster father’s hand on his shoulder, as they walked away from his brothers, his only family, but he was hopeful that they would see each other again, knowing that his older brothers would either find him or he would search for them when the right time came.

The flight to Virginia was long, and his foster father, Arthur Walker, wasn’t a talkative person. His clean-shaven jawline was tense. Oliver could practically see how the muscles were strained. Arthur had short raven black hair, brown eyes, and an aura around him that made Oliver feel cold and wanted to keep his distance. Amanda Walker was a petite woman with shoulder-length hair the colour of coal. Her chocolate brown eyes had shown happiness when he had walked over to them after he had said goodbye to James and Trevor, but a stern look from Arthur and her smile had disappeared.

Arthur and Amanda introduced Oliver to their daughter, who was six months old. She had been at her paternal grandparents’ house, and she instantly loved Oliver. She crawled on her tiny legs and hands towards Oliver, who backed away from the baby.

“It’s okay, Oliver. That is Ashley, our daughter. I think she likes you,” Amanda picked up the little girl and took a step towards Oliver, who moved backwards, shaking his head no.

“Boy, go sit down,” Arthur commanded sternly. Oliver walked in a huge bow around Amanda and Ashley, before he sat down on the sofa. “Mandy put her down. He has to learn to be near her eventually.”

Amanda sighed softly and sat down Ashley. Oliver kept a close eye on the baby, who gurgled at him. She smiled at him, showing off a single tooth. He started calming down, warming up to the giggling baby, whose happiness was contagious. In a matter of moments, he started to smile at her, just to keep her in a good mood.

Months passed without anything happening. Arthur was distant and didn’t really want anything to do with Oliver. Amanda was a sweet and kind foster mother, who was attentive and caring, at least when her husband wasn’t around. Arthur worked as a salesman at some company that Oliver knew nothing about. He liked being with Ashley and Amanda at home.

“Look here, Ollie,” Amanda motioned for him to come closer to the telescope they had set up in the backyard. It was in the evening and the stars were starting to show on the night sky.

Oliver peeked into the scope; he saw the moon closer than he had ever seen it before. Amanda adjusted the telescope again and let Oliver see the different stars.

“The brightest star is called ‘Polaris’ or the ‘North Star’, it doesn’t move much. If you ever get lost and don’t have a compass, use the stars to guide yourself home or to your destination.”

“How do I do that?” Oliver asked. Amanda gave him a soft smile and told him that ‘Polaris’ would show him where north was, and if he couldn’t find the North Star, he should try to find Orion’s constellation. Below Orion’s belt was three stars, where the bottom star, from his shoulders, were the tip of his sword and would point towards south.

“Amanda!” Both of them whipped their heads to the back door, where Arthur stood with a beer in his hand. He stumbled across the deck and kicked the telescope. “Stop filling his mind with silly things. He needs to learn skills he can use for when he becomes a man.”

Oliver looked angrily at his foster father. Tears were slowly pouring down Amanda’s cheeks, but she didn’t say anything, nor did she defend herself.

“I can use this,” he said, squaring his shoulders, setting his jaw, looking his scary foster father in the eyes.

“Do not talk back to me, boy.”

“Or what?”

The alcohol smell was strong when Arthur slapped Oliver’s right cheek. Amanda gasped and ran inside. She couldn’t watch what was going to happen to Oliver. She had been there.

“If you ever cross me again, boy, I will hurt you worse than this,” Arthur’s voice was filled with malice and fury. Oliver collected himself and walked towards his bedroom. He closed the door softly as not to wake the sleeping Ashley next door. He leaned against the wood and sank to the carpeted floor. The salty liquid wetting his reddened cheek.

Oliver tried his best to be brave in front of Arthur, who came home often drunk and angry. If Amanda didn’t have dinner ready, when he got home, he would slap her over and over again, until she apologized. Other times he would throw things at her when she shyly gave her opinion on something. When Oliver told him off, the boy would get a beating, and it became worse as time went by.

He was even forced to tell the social services that he was happy with the Walker’s when Arthur said he wanted to adopt Oliver. Else Arthur would have punched his own flesh and blood, Ashley, which Oliver couldn’t accept.

“From today on, you’re going to be August Christopher Walker. I will teach you how to be a real man.”

As the years went by, August became smarter and grew stronger, much stronger than Arthur. At the age of 18, he was about to leave for college, when Arthur came into his bedroom, drunk off his ass as usual.

“Boy, what are you going to major in?” He asked in a slurred voice.

“Psychology.”

August kept packing his things, while Arthur was hovering over him. The usual smell of bourbon and beer hung around the old man.

“Psychology is for pussies. Change it.”

“No.”

“No?”

August stood from being bent over his suitcase, packing his astronomy books that Amanda had given him over the years.

“I’m not changing my major.”

“Do not talk back at me, boy!”

“I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow,” August moved around his adoptive father to gather his clothes. “If I hear that you’ve as much as touched mom or Ashley, I will come back and then you will be sorry.”

The last sentence came out as a whisper, but he felt that Arthur heard him, when he gasped.

“You little shit! I’ve given you everything!”

“And you’ve taken everything from me as well!”

Arthur’s nose flared, his eyes caught fire, and he was raising his fist, but August quickly shoved the old man out of the room and smacked the door right in his face. Arthur tried smashing in the door, but he was too drunk.

“Fine, you can go to hell!” He heard the drunkard yell from the other side. August sighed and continued to pack his things. A moment later he heard a soft knock.

“Gus? It’s Lee, may I come in?”

August went to let his little sister in and locked the door again. The young teen went to sit on his bed and looked into his open luggage.

“What’s going on, sis?” He asked, noticing the frown plastered on her sweet face.

“I’m scared,” her voice was barely a whisper. August knelt in front of her. He pulled her small frame into his embrace and hugged all the anxiety out of her.

“I’m not that far away. I will have my phone on me always, so don’t ever hesitate to call me.”

Ashley nodded.

“And try to stay out of his way. I promise to get you and mom out of here, when I can, okay?”

“Okay. I love you, Gus.”

“I love you too, Lee. Go back to bed, before he finds out you’re still awake. I’ll see you in the morning.”

He walked his sister back to her room, tucked her in and kissed her forehead.

“Goodnight, little sister.”

“Goodnight, big brother.”

“I’ll always watch over you.”

A line he had told her many times, and he had kept until he went away for college. A year into his studies, he got a call from a sobbing Amanda.

Arthur had picked up Ashley from school while drunk. On the way back home, he had driven them both over a bridge. Father and daughter had died instantly.

August stood over their tombstones. Crying over the death of his beloved little sister. Amanda stood next to him, clinging to his arm.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here, mom,” he said sadly.

“It wasn’t your fault, sweetheart. It was mine. I should have left him years ago, when he started beating you too, but I was too weak, too scared, too everything to take the chance.”

“You did what you thought was best.”

“And it cost us Ashley.”

She sniffled, kissed his cheek and went to wait in the car. August’s eyes filled with hatred as he looked at his adoptive father’s tombstone.

“I will set the world on fire before I ever let someone like you have the power over me or anyone else again,” his whisper was cold and deadly, as he walked towards the waiting car.

[strangcrdoctor]

∞Yeah I’m out for the night, fellows. Reasons below. 

Today turned real hard this evening because I finally got news about Hell’s Granny. She’s relatively fine, but at 93 she finally had her first (minor??????) stroke. She seriously waited until 6 AM this morning to call my dad (who lives literally four doors down the street for this reason) because she thought it was just a migraine and wanted to make sure he got enough sleep because he’s a banker and has been working his ass off during the pandemic restructuring federal and public loans. And while she’s amazingly cogent and in good shape, because of my maternal grandad’s super abrupt coronary in April, she’s now my last grandparent. And I love my grandad, but between Hell’s Granny and my late gran, those two women were the reason why I never went to daycare or had a babysitter as a kid. This woman taught me how to hold a fucking pencil, write in cursive, arrange silverware according to high tea standards, garden like a badass, iron collared shirts, make Yorkshire pudding, and pick and process raspberries and rhubarb all before I was 7. 

She left her small hometown in Saskatchewan before she was 10 because her mother took her and her (technical - weird rural families are weird) niece to Drumheller, Alberta because of some truly horrendous shit done to that niece. So great-gran said Fuck The Patriarchy (because my gran was also an illegitimate child which at the time was Yikes), and took these two young girls to a mining town where Hell’s Granny later - with only the education a 14 year old woman could get in rural Alberta in the ‘40s - fucking took, didn’t ask, just took a job at the local mining office. This woman never finished high school, but then was the sole business partner and dispatcher for my paternal grandad’s trucking company, and often did delivery drives on her own. And she still lives in the house my dad grew up in (after they moved to the States) and drives? (She should definitely be doing neither, but predictably she’s a stubborn old bat.) 

And at fucking 93 she’s been starting to “feel her age.” 

Like. I’m sorry but for this literal ironsides woman to be feeling frail is hitting so fucking hard. Especially considering she sent me a care package to NYC before my parents even fucking managed it, and of course she sent me a gorgeous glass tea pot and cup set for blooming tea, and half a dozen tea bulbs. She watches the news every morning at 6 AM MST to know the weather in New York to know if I’m going to have a nice day. This woman wanted to buy a Hummer or a Camaro when she was car shopping in her 70s, and went on vacations to Mexico almost every year during that decade of her life. She wanted to go skydiving for her 80th birthday, but her blood pressure was too high. And even now, she wants to last long enough to meet both of her newest incoming great-grandchildren (due in November and February), and then come to see me in NYC if and when COVID resolves.

And even today when I called her in the hospital she hits me with the, “Well, love, time for the old noggin to get an oil change I guess.” Her job is to worry about her family, not be worried about and I am just. I’m hurting for her putting on that brave face for her grandkids, and holding out for her great-grandchildren.

So for those of you that don’t know even aside from the above totally valid wibbly nonsense, I’m also flashing back very hard to about 2017. Because back in 2017 I’d graduated from my first MA and had gotten into a PhD programme at the University of Edinburgh, which naturally I was over the moon about. My late gran at that time was at the final stages of serious terminal downward slope from dementia - a fight and decline I as the youngest of my siblings had been helping my mum through both emotionally and physically in helping her move her from facility to facility for almost 10 years - and in fact was too fragile to even be moved into a hospice facility so had to stay in her facility. She was literal skin and bones, and we had to sponge swab water onto her lips and eyelids. It was truly gruesome at the end. 

I knew then when I left for Scotland I would never see her alive again, but even after making peace and saying goodbye to her, it fucking ruined me that it turned out while I had been in flight and out of service she died the morning I arrived. Not only was UE a bad fit for me - because there was no funding available and I would have ended up $200K in debt from that alone - but my mum was in absolute pieces because of lack of family support from her husband and her brother (let alone her sons, who I am still bitter toward for that). So I spent less than a week in Scotland before wrapping up the programme - I cancelled my student loans 2 hours before the deadline - and flying home barely in time for her funeral. (My return flight even got delayed by hurricane Irma evacuation efforts, so I landed less than 10 hours before the service.) So needless to say, not a happy time. I had no job, no savings, no plans. I spent three months living with my parents which for my mum’s mental health was vital because my step-dad has the empathic capacity of a pile of bricks, but for me it was the darkest time of my adult life.

This year is the first time my career has gotten to get back on track since then.

Now, where I’m at with NYC isn’t that at all. Literally. I’ve got great savings, have good funding from the school, and have had an amazing (totally unwarranted) cashflow this year in spite of the pandemic. New York is right, and I’m enjoying it and feel much more comfortable (in spite of roomie drama) than I ever did in Edinburgh. 

I have so much to do, and Hell’s Granny is far from gone. In fact she’s told me every time we’ve talked that she’s proud of me and wants me to keep going no matter what. That I’m her legacy.

But all that good shit aside, today was a huge trigger and kicked me straight back into the hugely traumatic similar situation I dealt with in 2017: in a cutting-edge graduate programme, far away, grandmother/family matriarch having end-of-life health problems = (to my mind) oh god you have to put your entire life on hold again and go fix it, and how long is it going to take to pick your career back up this time? And that’s not what’s going to happen because it can’t. There’s nothing I can do for this situation, for better or worse. 

All the same, I’ve seen where this road goes, and my dad has been incredibly blessed that it’s only starting now. Because it’s not pretty. It gets harder and more painful from here, and at her age that’s just the reality. But I don’t know if I can do this for her. I honestly don’t know if I’m strong enough to walk another parent through this downsizing-until-death stage, now of all times. I’ll be there for her the whole way as a grandchild, but I just. If I don’t keep going on my own path through this, I don’t know if I’d recover from putting my entire life down again. 

So I’m fucking terrified for this woman I love so much, deeply sad that there’s no turning back from here for her, and just... unsure how to be distant, how to be resigned, how to be self-preserving just yet. I’m working on it, working on deconstructing the trauma and working on being brave by staying true to my life. But I have to be, from a complete lack of alternatives.

Thus, there are two options for tomorrow. One: I stay home, panic, and mope. Maybe pick at things? Probably miserably lurk. Two: I jump a train into the city and go take pictures of the sights for my gran in a fab outfit and take a day for me. Buy some books or records? 

Maybe do a fucking touristy bar and have a finger of scotch for the old bird, in case she doesn’t get to.∞

[lunaschild2016]

Belief - Part 1 (Edit)

Rating: M

Devi is Dauntless. Through blood sweat and tears she made a place for herself three years ago when she left her life in Amity behind. Not once in that three years has Eric Coulter even deigned to look her way. Not until that night. Now she has nothing but his attention. Eric/OC AU [Smut, Language, Romance]

 Title and story inspired by   Belief   by Gavin DeGraw

Character Inspiration:

Devi Nunez- Diane Guerrero

Eric Coulter- Jai Courtney

Elijah - Alexander Skarsgård

                                                      ~~Belief~~

Tonight you arrested my mind

When you came to my defense

With a knife

In the shape of your mouth

In the form of your body

With the wrath of a god

Oh, you stood by me

Belief

Builds from scratch

Doesn't have to relax

It doesn't need space

Long live the queen

And I'll be the king

In the collar of grace

Tonight, you arrested my mind

When you came to my defense

With a knife

In the shape of your mouth

In the form of your body

With the wrath of a god

Oh, you stood by me

Belief

[Belief, Gavin DeGraw]

                  **********************************************************

 Part 1

 A dare is a fucking dare, and Dauntless don’t give up. I’m dauntless now and have been for the last three years.

I’m doing okay here. I’ve made a place for myself and some friends. Although it was hard leaving everyone I knew behind in Amity, I did it. Even when I knew that my grandparents and brother would wash their hands of me when I left. It wasn’t anything personal but they’re just staunch advocates for peace.

Okay, so maybe for them it was a little personal. They felt like I rejected them, who they are, and everything they stand for. It hurt them badly.

I’ve always held a secret hope they would come to see that I left because my staying would be like a slap in the face to them every day. Small wounds that would build up over time until finally I would knick a vein and cause whatever love we had to just bleed out for good.

See, I can’t even make an analogy about how much I would end up hurting my family without it turning into something out of a war story or horror film.

The thing is I don't really have a big story or wrong from my life in Amity. Not really. It was kind of perfect and I followed along every day with a smile on my face. Granted, my family drowned ourselves in peace serum laced foods and drinks so that helped keep the smile in place. I arrived in Dauntless with the carb-laden proof on my hips and thighs and that took some serious work to fix my first few months here.

I still can’t quite kick the carb habit, so there’s more cushion than there should be probably.

Back in Amity I sang happily, played instruments, braided hair, and took part in the free love once I hit puberty and was flooded with all those lovely hormones.

But my favorite part of life back there was working with the animals. Horses mainly. When we had the rare chance to tame one, gentle we call it though others might have called it breaking them in, I was one of the first they called. I've always had a way about me. I can be gentle when called for but my stubbornness and determination always saw me winning in the end.

Looking back I know that should have been my first clue.

That life I led before, it all changed the day I took the aptitude test. I went in expecting nothing but a life in Amity. It was all planned out for me. That test changed everything in the blink of an eye.

Dauntless.

That was what the Abnegation woman told me, looking at me with understanding soulful eyes as she did so. There was no hiding my shock or stopping the sobs that wracked my body. The woman held me in her arms and told me that it would be okay. I didn’t know how it could be okay when I was feeling, at that moment, that my life was a lie. That  I  was a lie.

Just before I walked out of the door she reached out for my arm and held me back. Her eyes were full of determination and something else that reached deep into me. “You can choose Amity tomorrow, but if you do, you will never truly know who you are or who you could be.”

I went home with her words still ringing in my ears and a tangle of confusing feelings within my heart. I hadn’t been able to hide the pain on my face so my family saw it clearly. They knew as soon as they saw me what that meant. They didn’t ask what faction I got but they knew it wasn’t Amity and they made their position very clear. As gently as mi Abuela could, she let me know that if I left they would not see me again.

They would uphold faction before blood.

I was scared like I had never been before in my life, but I also felt strangely alive.

It was exactly like I felt in the paddock facing an animal that was easily eight inches taller than me and had at least a couple of hundred pounds on me if not more.  I’m a five-foot-four-inch Latina girl that has a few extra pounds in some areas, but I still look like the wind could blow me over. Imagine me standing face to face with beasts towering over me. It must have looked ridiculous.

Out of the paddock, I’m very self-aware, even a little self-conscious. But inside it that all melts away and there is no fear for me. 

When dealing with all the animals I understood that some of the things we had to do could and were considered cruel by others but they never bothered me. Even when some of those things involved the slaughtering of the livestock that is specifically raised for the purposes of feeding the factions. I always had the mindset that it had to be done but at least we could do it in the least stressful way as possible.

As I lay in bed that night after the test I went over things like that in my mind and it had been like unlocking some part of me that had always been held back until the revelation of the aptitude test. I knew then that the Abnegation woman from my test was right. I was given the truth and my path, and I knew I couldn't turn away from it.

I never backed down then and that’s something that hasn’t changed even now.

I have found myself here. It took a lot of work and some very unexpected struggles but I also like who I have become.

Generally, I love my life and who I am.  

Even during times like right now when I know that come the morning sober me is going to be hating the fuck out of drunk me. 

I glare over at my friend as she smirks back at me from across the bar table. I toss back the shot and beer chaser one after the other, then slam the glasses back onto the table.

“Fine! I will!” I snap at her, then shove my way through the bar and head to the door.

My three friends follow close behind me, alternating between disbelieving murmurs or begging me not to do it. I hear one pleading with me to back down for once and that only makes me even more determined to follow through with it.

But seriously, did she really think that was going to happen?

It's a serious character flaw, I know, my refusal to give in or up. Even when it results in situations like back in my initiation and the fights started. I refused to go down easy and more than half of them resulted in me being beaten up pretty badly. I still didn’t give up. And when my next fight came up, no matter how hurt I was, I stepped up and gave it my all.

That alone got me enough points to eke out the ranking I need to get my Physio Therapy and Medic Nurse positions and titles. Three years later and I've worked my way to the position of Head Nurse.  

Walking through the compound, drunk and on the highest heels I could manage to get, is proving a challenge. I wobble and curse as the stone floors throw up obstacles that make me look like I’m a sailor on the deck of a ship during a storm, swaying back and forth. It doesn’t help that even with the heels I am still a couple of inches shorter than most of the people around and have difficulties getting noticed that I’m trying to get through.

I finally manage to shove my way to my objective.

The Pit has different levels with various hangout spots throughout. Some are open-air, meaning they are shoved into some nook that’s carved out of the stone but otherwise have no real enclosures. Others are full-on bars with swinging doors and everything.

Where I need to be is an open-air hangout that is really popular with the high ranking people in Dauntless. It’s a prime location because it’s high enough up that the people there can see almost all places in the Pit. Leaders are known for hanging out there after hours to be able to keep an eye on things and while winding down.

I always thought that it made them seem like they were half part of the faction and half sitting on thrones, lording over everyone.

As I spot him that analogy seems to hit home. He sits at the table like a king on his throne and the people surrounding him sure seem intent on treating him like he’s one.

I can’t help but observe this with a sneer crossing my face as it sure doesn’t seem he’s much of a reluctant ‘king’ as he’s always claiming. He seems to be eating it up as they all gather to kiss his feet and lick his ass. That’s exactly the thought that got me into the position I am now. Drunkenly weaving my way towards his table.

Just a bit ago I loudly made that comment to my friends in the middle of an angry rant and my friend AJ immediately jumped on it, daring me to say those exact words to his face.

And dammit, I’m just mad and drunk enough that I’m going to do exactly that. He needs to know how fucked up what he did is and I am going to tell the legendary Four just what I think of him!

I make my way to his table but there’s a virtual wall of people around him. Some are standing but most are sitting in or on any available surface. Not one of them pays any attention to me as I give polite squeaked pleads to be let through.

One guy looks me dead in the eye, raises an eyebrow, and snorts at me dismissively.

If I wasn’t already pissed that sure did the damn trick. It just fuels it even more, driving any sense of propriety or rational thought from my mind.

Usually, I’m a pretty even-tempered girl unless it comes to something I'm extremely passionate about. But when I came to Dauntless I discovered that once my temper is lit it makes me into a volcano. A tiny one, no doubt, but don’t let my size fool you. I can do some damage now when I need to.

Lucky for the douchebag that fanned the flames my fuse was already lit by someone else and come hell or high water he's going to know it. I furiously look around and my eyes narrow at the nearest table as an idea pops into my head.

With a determined smile, I stomp my way over to the table and start to climb up it. I completely disregard the fact that this table is currently occupied. There was an empty space for me to use for the climb and that was invitation enough for me.

Glasses and bottles scatter and fall, breaking as they go tumbling while I scramble up onto the table and then wobble as I move from my kneeled position to try and stand. The table is solid stone and has no give but my slim stilettos don’t seem to like this new development.

I look down at the shoes I fell in love with and just had to have, prepared to give them a glare and order them to behave. Instead, I get distracted by the realization that they really do make my legs look killer. Vera gushingly informed me when I first showed up in them earlier tonight and I have to agree.

The shouting from around me, as the occupants of the table protest the loss of their drinks, brings me around and I shake my head and the drunken smirk from my face.

“Focus, Devi!” I loudly scold myself and square my shoulders as I stand up, lifting my chin as my eyes zero in on my target.

This is when I notice that many eyes are on me and there are even some people catcalling or whistling while chanting ‘dance, dance '. I would tell those idiots off normally but I see this has gotten the person's attention I wanted all along.

“Hey, Four!” I bellow out loudly, trying to really project my voice. I figure just telling Four what I think isn’t enough anymore. The whole damn faction should know.

The table under me shakes with the force of whoever just slammed their fist down as they yelled. “Fucking figures,” with something that sounds like a groan and growl all in one. But I’m too focused to see who that is or what he means.

Four is looking right at me, startled enough that he isn’t paying attention to the blurry yet vaguely familiar girl beside him who’s trying to get his attention and furiously whispering in his ear.

“I have something to say to you,” I yell with a hand on my hip and my eyes narrowed in anger.

“Devi?” He calls out and that stupid concerned looks he gets crosses his face. “Are you drunk right now?”

“No! And fuck you with your…” I gesture wildly at him, meaning to indicate his face and failing. So I try again using my face while searching for the words to describe what I mean but they're all coming up Spanish in my mind. When the English words finally come to me, I gasp out and continue on triumphantly. “Your stupid puckered forehead and puppy dog eyes, trying to look all concerned and nice. I’ve got news for you. Eres un cabròn. You aren’t as nice as you play at being or what everyone thinks and I’m sick of it!”

“Well, this just got interesting,” Drifts up to me from somewhere below me while around me I can hear mixed reactions from the audience.

There are a good many girls that are scowling at me, shouting out insults. Other people are simply chuckling or making various other sounds of amusement and cheers.

Four briefly looks at the blurry and out of focus girl (those drinks are starting to really hit me hard) who’s still trying to get his attention and seems to make some kind of reassuring gesture to her while he stands and locks eyes with me. His eyes are narrowed in that same concerned look while he slowly starts to raise his hands while approaching me.

I guess it's supposed to look like he’s trying to reassure me but honestly, to me, it just looks like he’s surrendering.

“If this is about earlier today…”

Four speaking and the raised hands just irritate me and I scowl while hissing to myself. “Dauntless don’t give up.”

Then I stomp my foot on the table in determination, ready to repeat that out loud, making something shatter beneath the point of my heel. Someone jumps back from the table cursing but again I press on.

“Remember that? A Dauntless doesn’t give up. We both learned the same thing but maybe I remember it better than you do. Maybe it was too easy for you, Mr. Dauntless Prodigy,” I snort the unofficial nickname for him. “Maybe if you had learned the hard way as I had to it would have stuck a little bit better for you.” I pop my hip out to the side and put my hand on it while staring him down.

“Do you even  try  …” I wave my hand out, almost losing my balance in the process but just barely manage to stay standing “...to actually help them? The initiates you insist on continuing to train yourself? Did you actually try and help that girl? Did you try and tell her that the pain would pass and she would get stronger for it if she could just hang on? No! What did you say to her while she was laying in that bed ready to give up and walk away?” I’m furious now, my blood boiling at the memory. “All you said to her was that these were the new rules and there was nothing that could be done. All you did was imply...  hey...I know you just got the shit kicked out of you but that wasn’t my fault. I didn’t make the rules. I just have to go by them.  Not one word from you that she could become more, that she could become Dauntless. It’s bullshit!” I yell once again, but this time even more fiercely.

The force my yelling and using my body to gesture in my anger unbalances my already precarious position and I lurch forward, arms flailing wildly as I pitch forward. I close my eyes, certain my end is coming and wonder what they’re going to say at my memorial at the chasm.

'Devi, she went how all Dauntless should. Drunk, pissed and stupid.’

“Alright. That’s enough for you tonight.” A voice drawls surprisingly close to me. I realize that the hard feeling against my body is actually that of someone else's against mine, not the ground as I expected. Someone that has me held tightly in his arms and even tighter against his body.

I decide it’s safe to open my eyes again to see who my savior from a very humiliating death is, and get an eye full of black clothes until they travel up to see a jawline made of stone and even harder blue eyes glaring down at me.

“Leave her alone, Eric. She’s drunk and doesn’t know what she’s doing. I’ll get her home.” Four says, getting my attention and I look to see he’s standing in front of me after having barely had to push his way through the crowd.

They all just fucking parted for him like Moses and the Red Sea.

“Como si fuera a ir a cualquier parte contigo. Metelo en el culo Mejor aún, ¡espero que un pollo te pique la polla!” I spit out furiously while glaring at Four.

“Sounds like she doesn’t want anything to do with you at the moment,” Eric says with a chuckle after I threw out a few more choice words in Spanish. More insults that were all livestock oriented and made not a damn bit of sense outside of Amity.

“I don’t!” I nod firmly with a look of smug defiance.

“Devi, you’re drunk and upset about the girl leaving. But you  don’t  need to be going off alone with  him .”

The already taut muscles of Eric’s arms go even tighter as he tenses. It almost feels like there’s a slight tremor in his muscles and apprehension radiates up and down my spine, tingling along the way. I might not know a lot about Eric, despite being in the same faction for over three years and having shared the same initiation. But there is one thing I know for sure and that is Eric’s temper makes mine look like a missile strike against his nuclear explosion.

Still, this isn’t Eric’s fight and I refuse to let him take it on and fight it for me. I started this and I intend to finish it.

“Fuck you, Four!” I snarl out, my face contorting in my anger.

He was already stepping forward, arms out to take me from Eric. I swipe at his arms violently but then immediately switch to gripping Eric’s tightly, nails digging in, when I felt him moving me. There was a moment I thought he was going to hand me over and I certainly didn’t want that to happen, but it turned out he was moving me away from Four.

“You don’t get to tell me what I should do and that girl has a fucking name by the way. It’s Rain, and now she’ll never have the family she left everyone behind for because you didn’t even try to talk her out of walking away. Why didn’t you try!" I yell, my voice breaking a little. "You could’ve told her that it gets better and the pain doesn’t last. You always want to look down your nose at Eric but at least he's always been honest with her and all the rest of them. Yes, he was pushing them hard but at least when he was people like her had a chance. Then you went and complained to get your way. Everyone is always so ready to kiss your ass and lick your feet….” I pause and shake my head because that isn’t right, “I mean kiss your feet and lick your ass…” That sounds right but confusion makes it feel like it isn’t. “You know what I mean!” I huff finally. “Sometimes you have to break someone to make them stronger and she needed to know that. She needed her trainer to tell her she could do it.”

I can tell I’ve royally pissed Four off but I don’t care. It’s all true. And it also hurt me too much to watch that girl throw her life away by giving up. That made me need to hurt someone in return.

“Enough, Devi. You’ve had your say. Now go sleep it off but we will be talking about this privately.” Four says lowly before turning and walking away, vanishing into the crowd that rushes in and blurs around him.

Things had already started to go on the blurring, spinning side, but it feels like hits me even harder all of the sudden. I guess the rush of adrenaline that was pushing me through my drunken state has finally started to fade enough that all that liquor I downed in a short amount of time has decided it’s time to really have fun with me. You would think it's already had its fill by me showing my ass in the Pit but obviously, there is more in store for me. It’s leaving me spinning and groaning as I let my head briefly rest against the solid surface of Eric’s chest.

“I don’t feel so good,” I mutter into his chest after some minutes pass and the spinning hasn’t gotten any better.

I don’t dare to open my eyes. At first, it feels like the air is rushing past my body. Making me think I really am spinning. When I look up all I can see at first is Eric staring straight ahead with his jaw tense but his mouth moving slightly. Like he’s muttering under his breath. I look away from him to see that sensation of air rushing along my body is because we're in motion. Eric still has me locked against his body and is walking at a steady pace but doesn't seem to be rushing. We are nowhere near the pit, telling me he’s already been walking for a bit and I didn’t even realize it.

I try to determine where we are but everything looks like blurred streaks making my head hurt and stomach flip. I groan and slam my eyes shut again.

“I swear if you throw up on me I’ll assign you maid duties in my apartment for a fucking month.”

“I won’t. I just spin.” I reply with a pained sigh before I dare to open my eyes again. Trying to look around me. The doors and hallways are still all speeding by and nothing looks familiar. “Are you taking me home with you, Eric?”

The words come out and I pause, tilting my head because it sounds off to me. Almost as if there was excitement in my tone.

Eric chuckles but it’s so deep and husky that the only reason I realize it is a chuckle is that his body and chest vibrates with it.

He comes to a stop and looks down at me when I tilted my head back to look up at him. His eyes look darker in the light of the residential hallways and the shadows from them make his cheeks morph so that his natural predatory expression just seems even more feral. His eyes flick away from me and he takes a breath then shifts so he has all my weight on one arm while also using his leg to balance me. He leans towards me until I can almost feel the heat of his breath on me.

“Not tonight, little one,” He pauses and lifts his free arm to pound on a door then wraps that arm securely around me again.

Silence fills the heartbeats as I look between him and the door, wondering what the hell’s going on. When there is rustling coming from the other side, Eric gets my attention again. This time it isn’t just the heat of his breath, but the brush of his lips against my ear as he speaks.

“You might not have ever meant to get my attention, Devi,” Locks are being thrown on the other side of the door when I swear I feel the nip of his teeth on the tip of my ear, “But you certainly have it, little one. You better be ready for me now.”

Is that a threat? A promise? Why does it feel like both?

The door opens suddenly and I see Tori standing there, completely disheveled and looking extremely put out to be disturbed. She's not even a bit less intimidating by her state of dress at all.

That’s the thing I most admire about the older woman. I’m sure that most people would be uneasy having to approach her when she is looking like this. While if I tried to pull this same look off it would make me look like a petulant child. She’s certainly always been respected by those that know her but especially now that she became one of our leaders after all the bullshit that went on with Erudite with the assistance of the old Dauntless leader regime.

I grin drunkenly at her which causes her to sniff even as her expression softened slightly for me. Then her eyes shifted over and hardened again when she eyes Eric. Or rather me in Eric’s arms.

“Little late for a tattoo don’t you think, guys?” She deadpans while crossing her arms over her chest.

I start to chuckle, while Eric starts to move without even replying. He doesn’t even ask before he moves forward and through the door, with Tori scowling in his direction but not stopping him either.

His steps take him quickly to the couch where he leans down from the waist and deposits me onto the cushions while speaking over his shoulder to Tori. “Take care of that for me, will ya? I’ll be back to retrieve her in the morning.” He straightens and turns his back to me. Completely ignoring the fact that he’s disregarding me while doing so, and continues to speak to her. “I expect her to still be here.”

The fact that he hasn’t once looked at me again from the time Tori opened the door, along with the fact that he’s treating me like some package he has any control over, just pisses me off. So obviously I have to say and do something about this.

I pop up to get off that couch with every intention of telling him I sleep where I want. When I want. And with who I want….

Only the room starts spinning. I flop back against the couch like a fish out of the water while moaning loudly and putting a hand to my head.

“Wait! Why am I the one being stuck with the extremely drunk girl? One that looks like she’s minutes away from being sick all over my carpet? Need I tell you how hard that shit is to clean from white carpet?”

I crack my eyes open to try and get out something in protest but only let out another moan. I see Eric casually shrugging then turning back to me, reaching down like he’s going to scoop me back up but he does it very slowly and with a smirk on his lips. “Okay. I can take her back to my place like she was asking but I won’t be responsible for what happens there. I just thought I would give that thing that you're always on me about a try. You know, to be less of a selfish dick.”

“Well fuck,” Tori sighs and pushes him away from me just as his hands brush against me. “Fine. But you owe me.”

He grins at her, flashing teeth and looking younger somehow. It occurs to me that I’ve never seen Eric Coulter smile before. At least not like that. I watch all of that as he walks towards the door with some kind of rekindling of a long-dormant, repressed really, desire inside of me as I watch him go. 

Maybe it's my stomach rebelling and Tori really should be worried?

Before he gets to the door he looks at me, really looks at me, for the first time since we entered the apartment and winks.

Wait...Eric just….winked at me?

It takes entirely too long for me to process any of that and by that time Tori is walking towards me from somewhere. In her hands, she has a glass of water and a bottle of pills while a shirt is draped over her arm.

You wouldn’t think it with how she greeted the two of us and the exchange just after, but Tori is the closest thing to real family I have here in Dauntless. She has been since shortly after I arrived. Sure, I have friends now, but none of them are as close to me as she is and none of them were there for me like she’s been.

In my initiation, I was a pariah.

My former faction alone was already a source of ridicule but I had other things going against me from the start. Most everyone just pretended I didn’t exist since it was easier to refuse to get close to someone that was never going to make it. Others seemed to take offense at me being in Dauntless at all. This was usually conveyed by their taunts and making fun of me in any way they could.

Once I was even attacked. I didn’t go down without giving them as good as I got. But I usually faced them, and anything during that time, alone.

One day I wandered into the parlor and after that, I practically lived there every day when I wasn’t involved in something for initiation. I never really let on to what was going on with me or how bad it got and Tori never pressed. Just being there helped and I think she knew that. I wouldn’t say I was working at the parlor, because that wasn’t technically allowed, but I was helping out. From designing things, once Tori and Bud found out I could draw, to helping stock or clean. I learned the ropes and was even thinking about taking up the tattoo gun when initiation ended.

I figured I would probably get a good enough rank for that at least.

When I ranked sixth Tori was the one that urged me to try for something better. She knew that one of my passions and eventual goals in Amity had been to be one of their healers. I had hoped to try and bring in more than what the faction normally allowed for treatments but that had been more of a long-term goal for me then. When I left Amity, I just accepted that wasn’t going to be in the cards for me but Tori made me rethink it and go for the position that was open in the clinic.

She believed in and supported me when I needed her and that the most.

“Devi, Devi, Devi.” She sighs out my name while shaking her head.

By this time I’ve already changed into the shirt, taken the pills and drank most of the water before I had to lay down when the spinning threatened me again.

She runs a hand over my hair softly and worry mars her brow. “What have you done?”

I smile faintly as I remember the night and my triumph. “I told Four off!”

Tori’s hand pauses in mid-stroke of my hair and her eyes widen. Then a smile curls her lips and she laughs softly. “Of course you did.”

“Eric caught me when I fell and then Four tried to tell me I shouldn’t go with him but I told him off again.”

“Did you now? Twice in a row. No wonder.” I frown in confusion but she’s just smirking at me. “I’m sure he doesn’t even realize what he's in for.”

I shrug still not understanding but not up to figuring it out. “I  have  to close my eyes now or I can’t promise I won’t make a Pollock painting of your carpet.”

“Eww.” Tori groans and gratefully grants my request.

I hear her shuffling away and the light that was on in the room clicks off, making the dark behind my eyelids even darker. I let out a blissful moan and reach up to put the heels of my palms over my eyes and gently put pressure on them. Hoping the spinning will stop soon.

It does eventually seem to slow down and I can feel that kind of unconsciousness that happens when I’ve overindulged. Some would call it a blackout but that’s not what happens for me this time. As the spinning slows images start to stream by, some I can’t make out at all and others I can make out but they make no sense whatsoever.

Like the feather duster and the extremely short, frilly black and white dress……..

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, @isthatbloodonhisshirt!

*****

I'd let you win

“I can't believe you just did that to me, and in front of everyone!” Stiles exclaimed while being manhandled into his house by an equally frustrated Derek.

Shutting the front door, Derek turned to face Stiles. The sound of his leather jacket crinkled as he crossed his arms. His nostrils flared in anger, and his thick black eyebrows furrowed as he yelled back, “You were being an idiot! I saved your drunk ass! ”

“You treated me like a child. In front of all my friends!” Stiles yelled back, his hands thrown up in exasperation.

He walked further into the front living room. He kicked the back of the sofa, frustrated.

“If you don’t want me to treat you like a child, then don’t act like one! You got in a stupid fight and risked both our family’s reputations!” Stiles glared as Derek got right in his face He felt the warmth of Derek’s chest against his own.

“You’re such a hypocrite, Hale! You jumped in and knocked the jerk out cold! You then had no right to shove me against the wall and tell me off in front of everyone! You caused an even bigger scene and humiliated me!” He yelled at  Derek with his fists clenched at his sides. “I'm twenty-one! An adult! I am not weak. I can handle myself.”

Backing away from Derek, Stiles rubbed a hand down his face, barely containing his irritation.

“I am not fragile, Derek. Just because you are two years older than me, built stronger and look like a damn serial killer doesn't mean you can get away with punching that jerk and looking like the good guy while you make me the bad guy!” Stiles was more agitated than he's ever been.  

It made his anxiety go through the roof to the point that he started fidgeting.

“You don't understand. I'm trying to protect our family and their reputation!” Derek pinched the bridge of his nose and counted to three in an attempt to calm himself. “Did you forget that we are royalty? Everything we do could damage our parent’s reputation. You have no idea what you're doing. You’re throwing a tantrum because you don’t agree with our parents. Do you think going out and getting shitfaced in public in the answer? Picking fights with strangers, ditching your bodyguards?”

“I didn’t pick a fight?! That jerk grabbed my ass, and then had the audacity to talk shit about my mom in front of me! ” Stiles huffed out an angry breath.

With his eyes closed, he takes a deep breath and slowly exhaled before speaking again. “Whatever. You wouldn’t understand, and I don't need protecting! Especially not from you. Since when do you care about me?”

“I don’t!” Derek huffed and looks at him expressionlessly, a lie hidden in those words. “We’re betrothed and getting married in three weeks. I’m responsible for keeping you in check and making sure you don’t ruin it for both our family’s. Just like today. If it weren’t for me, you’d be the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper. I can see it now:  ‘Prince Stilininki found drunk at a bar, fighting a civilian. King Stilinski can’t even control his own son how will he run this country,’ Derek mocked, moving forward closer to Stiles, cornering him to the wall.

“Fuck you.” Stiles rolled his eyes and looked away, he hated the way he felt with Derek being so near. “Get out.”

His head was starting to pound, and Derek was only making it worse.

“I live here!” Derek growled.

“Yeah, well, this is my house! You’re living under my roof! I don’t care who you are! Ge-” Stiles gasped, feeling warm lips against his own.

He instantly melted against Derek’s lips, kissing him back hard. A few seconds later, he pulled away panting, his heart beating fast. Stiles flushed red, shoving Derek away; he quickly stormed off to his room.

Derek stood there a few minutes, shocked at his actions. He slowly headed up to his room.

The next morning, Stiles avoided Derek like the plague, walking the opposite direction if he spotted Derek coming near. He played it safe by hanging out in his room with his best friend, Jackson.

“Why don’t you just snap out of it and jump his bones. There’s so much sexual tension between you two and you’ve been so uptight lately. You need to get laid, man,” Jackson suggested.

Stiles glared at up at him, stopping mid-game as he threw down his controller. “Shut up, don’t even start with me, Whittemore.”

“I’m just looking out for you, you’re going to have to share a bed eventually, you might as well make it less awkward. Plus, you’re going to be with Derek for the rest of your life. I know you like him. Don’t bother denying it, and I’ve seen the way he stares at you. He looks like a sad puppy when you ignore him,” Jackson said with a shrug.

“Jackson! Whose side are you?!” Stiles covered his face, letting out a whine, the words muffled under his hands. “I’m fucked.”

“Well, you would be if you admitted your feelings,” Jackson teased.

Stiles smacked the back of his head and got up, heading down to grab a snack. He stopped by the kitchen doorway, watching Derek make himself some lunch. He shuffled his feet awkwardly, debating whether he should go in after trying so hard to avoid Derek or just starve.

The thought of food made Stiles’s stomach grumble. That caught Derek’s attention as he stared up at him.

“What do you want.”

Stiles’s stomach grumbled louder,” I’m hungry.”

Derek sighed and slowly pushed his plate that had a sandwich to Stiles and started making himself another one.

Stiles walked over and sat down, taking a bite of the sandwich. He ate quietly. Derek kept his focus more on the sandwich than him.

“Why?” He stared at Derek.

“You said you were hungry?” Derek furrowed his brows at him.

“Why did you kiss me? I thought you hated me.” Stiles stared down at his food.

Derek took a deep breath, sighing. “Stiles, I don’t hate you. I never have. I like you, I like you a lot. I have ever since I first met you. You weren’t like the other royals I’ve met. You’re smart, witty, and you don’t give a shit what others think. But more than that, you’re kind-hearted, you care deeply about your family, and you’d do anything for them. You’re beautiful.”

“Derek I…,” Stiles was at a loss for words processing everything he said. “I like you, too,” he admitted. “I never thought you would like me back and that you just agreed with this for our grandparent’s dying wishes.”

Derek strode over grinning. He pulled Stiles up into his arms, embracing him tightly.

Stiles smiled and leaned into him, resting his head on Derek’s shoulder. Derek pulled back to face him and gently pressed his lips against Stiles.

After a minute, Stiles pulled back and leaned his forehead against Dereks, panting softly. “I know it’s a little too fast, but will you marry me?”

Derek laughed. “That’s very forward of you, but I don’t think my fiancé would like that.”

“Oh, is that so? I guess I’ll have to fight him for you,” Stiles chuckled.

Derek smiled softly, “I’d let you win.”

[hybridfanfiction]

Picture Perfect

Cat Hybrid Jaebum x Reader

Word Count: 3,190

◇

“How’s your project coming along?” 

“Almost done actually! I got my mom and grandparents to sit for me, and it only took me about a month. Just trying to get the shading right at this point.” 

“Lucky you. I had to start at the beginning of class, and I’m only just now finishing it since it took me forever to even find a model.” 

“Well, we still have a week until the final piece is due. If you’re this close to finishing, then there’s no need to worry.” 

As you eavesdrop on the conversation in front of you, you realize why you’ve had that nagging feeling in the back of your mind. To your horror, you’ve forgotten all about the portrait project that was due at the end of this art class. I mean, it was only 40% of your grade, no big deal that you were an idiot and now had to rush to finish a full 18x24 portrait - never mind figure out what it would be about or find someone to sit for you. The only sure thing was that you would have to use acrylics instead of oil paints since the former dried in a matter of hours. 

You groan and press your fingers to the throbbing pulse on your temple as a headache grew. You had made the mistake of taking six classes this semester, and between everything you had to do for all of those classes and the new addition to your home mere months earlier you supposed something was bound to have escaped your notice. You just wish it hadn’t been something worth so much of your grade. 

“Wow, are you okay? You look like you’re going to puke.”

Your classmate Yugyeom leans over right into your face, causing you to blush as you playfully swat him away. He’d only recently started sitting next to you, as the two of you had discovered you had four classes together and started talking. He was really sweet and cute, but you weren’t sure where things were going. He sometimes seemed like he was flirting, but other times he gave you clear friend vibes. He was really confusing, but thankfully you had too much on your plate to seriously give pursuing him much of a thought. 

“I feel like I’m going to puke. I forgot all about the final project.” 

“You’re kidding! Dude, I had mine done like three months ago. You’re usually ahead of me on everything. What happened?” 

You huff, completely annoyed with yourself. 

“I don’t know. I just overreached this semester, and on top of that, I adopted a hybrid a few months ago. He took up a lot of my concentration.” 

Yugyeom nods knowingly. “I have one too, a cat, so I know how you feel. Bam’s an ass sometimes, but he’s awesome. What’s yours?” 

“Jaebum’s a cat too. I wasn’t even planning on a hybrid, especially not while I was still in college and at the beginning of the semester too, but I couldn’t resist. They were having some weekend event near a park and I made the mistake of making eye contact as I passed by. He was so cute I couldn’t resist.” 

Yugyeom chuckles. “Yeah, sounds familiar. Listen, I had an idea. You don’t know what you’re going to paint yet, right?” 

“Not a clue.” 

“Right. Paint me and Bam Bam!” 

Your mouth drops as you gaze at Yugyeom with hope. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah! Bam would love it and I would be happy to accept the finished painting as payment when the professor returns them after grading. What do you say?”

“I think you just saved my life. I accept.” 

Yugyeom grins and slings his backpack on, standing up to leave. 

“Great. Bam Bam is going to be excited. Can we come by tomorrow? I’m off work then, but if another day works better we can figure something out.” 

“No, tomorrow is fine. God, thank you so much. I’ll text you the address.” 

“Awesome. See you later!” 

You wave as he leaves the classroom, quickly send the text of your address before you forget, then gather your own things. Visions of your portrait becoming more clear now that you had a subject. You sigh with relief as you head home, thanking the powers that be for making Yugyeom so nice. 

◇

“Jae, I’m home!” you yell as you close the door behind you and throw your bag near the kitchen table. 

Jaebum’s head pops out of the bedroom, grinning and twitching his tail. 

“Hey. Dinner should be done by the time you’re finished with your shower.” 

You roll your eyes and head towards the bathroom, as usual finding a pair of comfy sweats and a shirt already waiting for you in there. 

Jaebum was a sweetheart, but he was incredibly possessive of you. He’d never had a home outside of the hybrid shelter and wasn’t used to having anything of his own, so naturally, he clung to the one thing that had ever been his alone. 

He was fairly nice to the handful of your friends that he’d met as long as they maintained a respectful distance from you, something Jackson had learned the hard way and had a scar on his hand to show for it. Random strangers or hybrids were out of the question. You might as well have been President and bodyguard with the way Jaebum acted whenever you went outside together. 

This was also the reason why he refused to get near you until you took a shower whenever you got home. He always claimed you reeked of hundreds of other people and hybrids and it drove him crazy. So no matter what, as soon as you got home you were to jump straight in the shower then allow him to scent you. His compromise was to take over dinner, which you’d been more than happy to hand over to him. It was nice to have a meal to come home to after a long day. 

With your shower done, you present yourself to the waiting hybrid on the couch. Jaebum is quick to place you on his lap and begin rubbing his face all over your neck, purring and sniffing in a few areas, tickling you with his warm breath. You were always glad for your human senses not being able to pick out whatever he was rubbing on you because you had a feeling it was pretty potent. You’d seen other hybrids wrinkle their noses at you before so you guessed Jaebum laid it on pretty thick. You were basically a walking ‘hands off’ sign. 

A timer dinged in the kitchen, so Jaebum sighed and reluctantly let you slide off of him so he could go take something out of the oven. The table was already set, so you simply sat down and waited. 

“Ah, this is the life. Coming home to a nice hot supper without lifting a finger,” you giggle, only for it to become outright laughter as Jaebum gives you a look filled with mock disgust. 

“Spoiled human,” he mutters with a tiny smile, carrying a big tray to set in the middle of the table. 

“Thankful human. What’s on the menu?” 

“Tuna casserole, dinner rolls, and a salad for you since you insist on having disgusting vegetables in the house.” 

“Hey, I’m human. I actually need those veggies to stay alive, JB. You want me to live, don’t you?” 

“I suppose.” 

“I can feel the love,” you chuckle, giving the casserole a quick sniff. He made this one a lot, as it was one of his own favorites, but it was really good. 

The meal was awesome, as usual, and you spent the rest of the evening relaxing and chatting with Jaebum. The next day was Saturday and you had no classes, so both of you simply rested and cuddled on the couch watching television until it was time for bed. 

You had an odd feeling you’d forgotten something though. 

◇

You were stuffing your mouth with cereal and laughing as you and Jaebum watched cartoons and talked about what you wanted to do this weekend. He kept saying there was some concert in town he wanted to go to, but he seemed to forget that hundreds of other people would be going to this thing, not to mention this one was famous for playing in the middle of the downtown square. Meaning all the attendees were literally standing on the little jet fountains and purposely getting soaked. You decided to keep that part to yourself. It would be worth going and getting drenched just to watch Jaebum freak out over his precious fluffy tail getting wet. 

When the doorbell rang, both of you jumped in surprise and Jaebum’s tail instantly shot high into the air. It flickered nervously as he pulled you behind him and slowly crept towards the door. 

“Were we expecting someone?” 

You cringe to yourself as you realize you forgot to give Jaebum a heads up about Yugyeom. If there was one thing he hated more than other men in his territory, it was other hybrids in it. 

“I’m sorry, JB honey. I forgot all about it. I have a project due for my art class and I have a friend and his hybrid coming to help me.” 

Jaebum stares down at you like he can’t believe you would do something like this to him. You feel so guilty. 

“I promise, I’m so sorry. Just...be a good boy and I’ll give you whatever you want later.” 

He sniffs haughtily and wraps his tail around your waist, pulling you closer as he goes to open the door. 

“You better.” 

He flings the door open and crosses his arms, staring into the surprised faces of Yugyeom and his adorable hybrid Bam Bam. 

“Listen up. You’ll keep your paws to yourselves and stay in my sight at all times. And you...furball. If I catch you scenting anything, I will not hesitate to kick you out on your ass.” 

The other’s orange ears and tail twitch as he sniffs with indignation. “Furball? Really? With a tail like that you’re probably hacking up hairballs all over the place and I’m the furball?” 

“I don’t hack up hairballs.” 

You perk up and glance at Jaebum. “Wait. Is that why I always hear you coughing in the morning?” 

“I DON’T HACK UP HAIRBALLS!” 

Jaebum throws his hands in the air and stalks towards his usual spot on the couch, glaring at everyone. 

You sigh and gesture for the two to come inside, closing the door behind them. 

“Anyway. Jaebum, this is Yugyeom and his hybrid Bam Bam. Please be nice because they are doing me a huge favor.” 

“What kind of favor?” he asks, his gaze suspicious. 

“We’re going to model for her,” Bam Bam purrs with a smirk, and you have the distinct feeling this one was trouble. He was definitely trying to antagonize Jaebum on purpose. 

“Excuse me?” Jaebum growls, his volume now soft and low. Meaning danger.  

You put your palms out placatingly. “For a painting, Jae. I was a dummy and forgot all about my final project, so Yugyeom said he and Bam Bam would sit for me. This project could mean the difference between me passing or failing, so be on your best behavior.” 

He doesn’t answer, instead turning back to his show like he was done with everything. Except his ears were still trained towards the three of you and his tail was flicking high above him. 

“So, where do you want me?” Yugyeom asks, smiling brightly like a hybrid showdown didn’t almost occur in your living room. 

“The window bench right over there. Relax and get in a position you can handle holding for a while. Just give me a moment to grab my paints.” 

Jaebum jumps up to help you carry the tall easel into the room as well as the table for your paints. Once everything is in place you finally look at the pair again. 

Yugyeom and Bam Bam are looking pretty cozy, lounging across the pillows on the window bench with their legs and hands entangled and Bam Bam’s head laying against Yugyeom’s shoulder. The sun lends a warm glow over the pair, their matching golden rings catching the light as they stare at each other fondly and...oh. 

Well. That explains that. 

Your fingers move quickly as you pencil sketch the scene to try and capture as much as you can today. 

“So...” you clear your throat and peek at the two with a teasing grin. “How long have the two of you been together?” 

Yugyeom flashes you a guilty grin while Bam Bam’s purrs merely increase in pitch as he watches Yugyeom with love shining in his eyes. 

“Caught that, huh? It’s been about three years. He was my hybrid growing up, but we didn’t start anything until I went off to college and he decided to follow me. Literally. He waited two days before he hopped a bus and found my dorm room by scent and moved himself in.” 

“Like you wouldn’t have missed me and begged me to come anyway. I was just saving your dignity.” 

You giggle at their teasing. “You guys are cute.” 

Yugyeom nods towards Jaebum. “What about you guys? You said you adopted him fairly recently, right?” 

“Yeah, beginning of the semester. Um, I don’t know. We’re still getting to know each other, I think. Although I’m sure you noticed he’s pretty protective of me, so I guess that means he tolerates me at least.” 

“You also reek of him. Smells like mate to me,” Bam Bam grinned with a wrinkled nose. 

“Mate?” 

“Oh yeah. That stench isn’t the regular this is mine scent. It’s this one is mated fuck off,” Bam Bam explained with a very poor impression of what you guessed was supposed to be Jaebum’s voice. 

“Huh,” you mumble, pausing your drawing to peek over at Jaebum. His eyes are still trained firmly on the television, but his cheeks are flushed. He was definitely listening to the conversation, but he didn’t immediately refute Bam Bam’s claims. He just sat over there quiet and blushing. Was it true? 

You shake your head and focus on your work, steadily getting everything down. Jaebum only had to interrupt you a couple times to get you to have something to drink and let everyone take a bathroom break. He’d gotten used to doing that, as he’d learned that you would often work seven or more hours straight until you were practically fainting of hunger if left without supervision. Finally, when the last bit of natural light disappeared and your fingers ached, you laid everything down with a sigh and called it a day. 

Bam Bam and Yugyeom sat up and stretched before coming around to look at the canvas. Jaebum quickly jumps up and joins, wrapping his tail around your waist possessively,  and using himself as a buffer between you and the pair. 

“Wow, I almost wish the project was for a pencil sketch, because this is perfect as is,” Yugyeom exclaimed, appraising the canvas with a raised eyebrow. 

“You think?” you ask, staring at the piece. It was hard to judge your own stuff, as you were overly critical of everything you did. 

Yugyeom nods enthusiastically. “Definitely. I’m excited to see the final work.” He grabs Bam Bam’s hand and leads him toward the door. 

“We’re going to head out, it’s pretty late and I need to get him fed. Good luck. Oh, it was nice meeting you, Jaebum!” 

Your hybrid barely acknowledges them, grunting something that you supposed was some sort of farewell before heading back to the couch. You shake your head and wave until they reach their car before shutting the door and plopping down next to Jaebum. 

“Sorry I just sprung that on you. Thanks for being good about it.” 

“It was fine. They were alright, I suppose.” 

He said it with such an air of nonchalance that you giggled, knowing full well that it had probably taken everything in him to keep his mouth shut. It had probably helped when he learned the two were together and therefore had no designs on you. 

“So...is it true?” 

What you were asking about apparently needed no explaining as the blush from before built on his cheeks again as he silently shrugged. 

“Were you ever going to tell me?” 

“Eventually,” he mumbled quietly, pulling his tail into his lap. 

“Why eventually?” 

“Humans need time for that kind of stuff right? Hybrids don’t. We can smell when someone is our mate right away. I didn’t want to scare you off and I didn’t even know if you were open to thinking of hybrids like that. You’re good about not treating me like a pet, but a boyfriend is a whole different thing.” 

You nod thoughtfully as he explains. It’s true, you probably would have freaked at the thought of dating a hybrid when you’d first gotten him. But now you knew him well and were aware that he was perfectly able to make his own decisions. You realize the thought of dating Jaebum makes you excited, the idea of calling him your boyfriend and going on real dates with him making your heart flutter a bit. You basically acted like a couple already, you just needed the label. 

“What if I said I was okay with it?” 

Jaebum’s head swirls to stare at you, his eyes wide with surprise. 

“You want to be my mate?” 

“Yeah.” 

His eyes narrow as if in disbelief. “You realize mating means for life, right? At least for me. You might be able to move on, but you’d be it for me.” 

“I remember reading that, yes. And I still want to do it.” 

Jaebum’s happy rumbles fill the air as he pulls you towards him, mashing your lips together in a very unpracticed but no less satisfying kiss. He nuzzles your cheeks and neck happily, licking a long stripe up your neck. 

“Remember how you said I could do whatever I wanted if I was good and didn’t punch that cocky cat in his piehole?”

“I don’t remember those exact words coming out of my mouth, but sure.” 

“I want cuddles all night tonight, and then tomorrow we are going to the concert downtown.” 

Images of Jaebum wet and outraged, holding his formally fluffy tail to his chest fill you with happy giggles. 

Jaebum tightens his hold on you and presses a kiss to your cheek. 

“Also, you’re only painting me from now on.” 

“Sure thing, love. Anything you want.”

[leah-halliwell92]

Doesn’t Really Matter

Summary: Taylor Mae Miller has been friends with Adam since they were in high school and a musician in he own right and has known Queen for just about the same time he’s been touring with them. Their bond strong and growing ever stronger, Mae decides to move across the pond not only to be closer to her new found friends but to get away from her volatile and toxic relationship thrust on her by her mother. Will her new found family be enough to reassure her that she is loved?

Chapter 2

“Are you joking?” Roger asked incredulously.

Adam couldn’t hold it anymore and broke into a fit of laughter.

Taylor gave the men a knowing look hand to her mouth to keep from laughing, and nodded. 

“Like I said,” she said trying to hold back her laughter, “My grandparents are hippies and music junkies!”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Roger asked still not getting it.

“It means they were going to name me something out of the cosmos or after one or more of their favorite singers or bands,” she said as she couldn’t hold bacon her laughing anymore.

Brian nodded in understanding before shaking his head with a warm laugh of his own.

“She was names after her grandmother’s favorites Roger,” Adam as he came to.

That’s when the penny fell and Roger’s eyes widened in realization.

“She named you after your favorites, huh,” he said boyish grin appearing on his face.

“And there’s the ego boost,” Brian says jokingly.

“Well I never,” Roger said faking outrage.

You all share a laugh and continue eating your food when Adam stands with a quiet ‘excuse me’ when his phone goes off.

“Why so glum Liz Taylor?” Mae asked noticing the serious look on Roger’s face.

“Your mother...”

“Is not here,” she says voice going hard, “And as Adam told me on the way here...she is not here to tell me what or who to do.”

“NO boys,” Brian and Roger said in unison causing the wives to laugh and Mae to shrug and then a chuckle when Brian added, “Or girls.”

“Still,” she said voice somber., “It isn’t like she’s a mum mum to me, she’s my mother she birthed but that is as far as the connection goes. She was all for my brothers but when it came to her only daughter she saw a bargaining chip.”

“Jesse and Jonah tried,” she said with a shrug, “Sometimes it would work and other times it would blow up in our faces.”

“Sounds like a traditionalist in the worst possible way,” Roger said as he tossed the now empty plates into the food bag to be disposed of later.

Taylor nodded and sighed.

Adam stepped back into the room an annoyed look on his face.

“Everything ok?” Taylor asked.

“Yea,” he said with a roll of his eyes making his sarcasm more than a little evident, “Manager needs me to go back to go over scheduling to make sure my tour and our tour don’t over lap.”

You nodded and rolled your eyes. Those schedules had been done for ages. And have been checked and double checked that everything was where it’s suppose to be.

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Brian said with a grin.

“Same, but dude’s wanting to check makes me think that he thinks he did something wrong,” he said annoyed before going to Taylor and pulling her into a hug, “I’ll see you at breakfast.”

Taylor nodded and went to get the mattress when and incredulous Roger said, “Wait...she’s spending the nigh here? Alone?”

“I was going to come back after my meeting,” Adam said before he reached the front door.

“You know as well as we do that scheduling revision is going to take most if not all night,” Roger said knowingly, “She’ll be staying with me.”

“Um...you have a thing in London remember?” Sarina said withholding a laugh after sharing a look with Anita the younger woman knowing very well that Rog had a couple of errands to run in London.

“And I have to study for a play will be showing in two weeks,” Anita said gently.

“I can give you the keys to my place Mae,” Adam said about to take said keys out.

“And stay there alone?” Roger said not liking the sound of that one bit.

Taylor rolled her eyes and said, “I feel like a rope...”

Sarina and Anita laughed at that and nodded.

“Why not a hotel?” Taylor said with a shrug.

“You have a home here little Mae,” Roger said with approaching her, “Not one but a few if Brian and Anita have anything to say about it.”

“It’s settled then,” Brian said beamingly.

“What?” Roger said clearly confused.

“Mae will be staying with me,” Brian said trying to not look smug at the suggestion, “You and Adam will be busy in London, the girls will be preparing for their performances leaving me to my lonesome.”

Roger looked at Brian in disbelief. 

“My best mate just swindled me out of time with my namesake,” Roger said in disbelief.

“You forget thought Roger,” Mae said with a smirk, “I am Little Mae.”

“Hush you,” he said ruffling her hair causing her to laugh.

“I’ll put her stuff in your car then,” Adam said and left to do just that.

Taylor made her way to Brian who pulled her into a warm hug.

“You maybe Little Mae–” Roger began in a sure sign of that famous Taylor tempter.

“She’s got two daddies to take care of her,” Sarina cut in as she laughed at her husband’s antics, “Which means, she’s got family here.”

“More family than I ever thought I would,” Taylor said eyes glued to the ground.

Brian gave her a reassuring squeeze and said, “But family none the less.”

Taylor smiled at that and nodded. It was going take a bit to get used to being a a part of a stable family. But she was sure it was going to be a hell of a lot better than being on her own.

That settled, Adam said his goodbyes to everyone and left to kick his manager in the pants and see what the issues where with the schedule, Sarina left to get her bag from the trunk of their car and head to the airport to her own filming destination and Anita opted to take a cab to the theater to do her study.

“I will probably be back late but I will see you both in the morning,” Anita said bidding Taylor and Brian good bye with a hug and kiss.

“And you...” she said giving Roger a hug, “Behave.”

“I always behave!” He huffed indignantly.

Taylor and Brian laughed at that before Brian said, “Well since lunch is over and done with let’s go get you settled in.”

Taylor nodded and followed after the men.

“Before we head in why not go for tea?” Roger said a grin on his face.

“You really want to treat me to something don’t you,” Taylor asked rhetorically.

“Well...what is a mother supposed to do?” He said a cheeky grin.

Brian shook his head at them but offered Taylor his arm, ever the gentleman.

Together the trio took a stroll around the area until the found a quaint little tea shop walking distance away from her flat.

And as promised, Roger treated her to tea. The fact that Brian was there to also enjoy the fruits of his labor is another thing entirely.

“How are things with Jonah?” Brian asks as he serves the tea.

“Things with him have always been good,” Taylor said with a grin, “But better now that he mentioned settling down.”

“Oh?” 

“Yea, he applied to be honorably discharged. Said something about making an honest woman out of Clair once and for all,” Taylor laughed at that and said, “I think he’s finally going to propose!”

The men gave a quiet cheer at the news.

“About time too! Clair’s been waiting for him to propose since she met him his senior year in school,” Taylor said with a laugh remember the day her best friend met her oldest brother.

“And him?” Roger asked curiously.

“He needed time to grow and mature away from our mother. I think the army did that for him,” she said with a sigh and a gentle grin, “Jesse’s another story though...he’s always been my mother’s baby. The one to always kiss her ass when she decided something needed to go one way or another, the one to back her up when she decided I needed to follow what she said because and I quote, ‘I am your mother. I birthed you raised and am raising you so the least you could do is acknowledge the fact that I know what is best for you’.”

The men bristled at that as they pieced together more of the puzzle that is Taylor’s life and the people within it.

“And you're dad?” Roger asked carefully.

Taylor grinned sadly and said, “Dad passed away a little over two months ago.”

The men gapped at that.

“Pancreatic cancer,” she said as she played with the teacup that is on the table, “And before you say anything about not having told you earlier...I didn’t do it out of spite. I really didn't know how to say it, how to say he’s...he’s...”

Brian pulled her on his side as she breaks down.

“We cremated him as per his request, service is next week in my gran’s Irish home,” she said when she calmed down some. 

Roger sat in shock at the information and downed what was left in his cup no wishing it had something bit stronger in it.

“I think it’s time to take her home,” Brian said as he stood and helped her stand up as well.

Roger nodded and stood going to pay for their tea.

Brian walked her to the bathroom hall where she went to the laddie’s and make herself presentable. It wouldn’t do for the paparazzi to see her looking like they kicked her puppy.

Now looking more presentable, they trio made their way to the flat where they Roger left them with warm hugs and a kiss to Taylor’s forehead.

Brian helped her into the car and made his way into town making a bee line to Save Me.

“Wait here dear,” Brian said as he got out of the car and went into the facility.

Taylor waited brow furrowed in curiosity and confusion as to what the man could possibly be planning.

A little bit later Brian came back a satisfied smile on his face. 

“Tomorrow you and I are going to be busy,” he said as he drove out.

“Do I want to know?” She asked with a small smile.

“Nope,” he said with a grin, “You’ll just have to wait and find out.”

~//~

If you wanna be tagged to my Queen/Borhap forever list tell me! Feedback is appreciated!!

Tag List:  @queenattheopera, @brianandthemays, @theborhapboysawakenedmywhatever, @ramibaby, @captain--americanna, @awkwardangelshezza, @avengerraven1023, @danamaleksworld, @pastywhiteperson, @readinghorn, @i-was-born-like-this, @redspecialstardust, @reedusteinrambles, @rogertaylorsfalsettogivesmehives, @readinghorn, @subbysharkbabe, @capan-devereaux, @bowieandqueen11, @bellamy1998, @reedusteinrambles, @mazzello-lee-jones-malek, @sincereleygmg, @bleu-jean-baby, @brian-mayonnaise, @0hour9am, @toomuchtellyneck, @kimanne723, @kyleetheeditor, @glamrockmonarch, @rawyld, @queensdivas

[starrystarrybabe]

Oh, How the Mighty Fall [In Love] CHAPTER ELEVEN (Ben Hardy x OC)

Lily Anne Mercury is brought in to help with Bohemian Rhapsody at the request of her Uncle Bri and Uncle Rog, and along the way, she might meet someone to share her life with. The only problem with this is that while their friends and the world can see that they’re perfect for each other, they’re going to be fully blind to this for a while. 

DISCLAIMER: I’m fully aware that it would’ve been physically impossible for Jim and Freddie to have a child even with this method during the time they were alive, but the idea of Freddie as a dad and the idea of how his child would turn out to be was just too sweet for me to not write.

So sorry for the long ass wait! I went through a rut and real life became too much, and I finally got the chance to continue today. I got to school two weeks ago, so a lot is happening.

CHAPTER ONE, CHAPTER TWO, CHAPTER THREE, CHAPTER FOUR, CHAPTER FIVE, CHAPTER SIX, CHAPTER SEVEN, CHAPTER EIGHT, CHAPTER NINE, CHAPTER TEN

Triggers: none that I noticed

~

FACECLAIMS:

Kelly Gale as Lily Anne Mercury

Sira P. Kante as Ezichi Adebayo

Erika Linder as Bronwyn Ryan-Hughes

Bree Kish as Madigan Ryan-Hughes

Sonakshi Sinha as Anusha Laghari

~

Lily has been feeling exceptionally nauseous and moody these past few days, and now she knows why since it is typical for the second month of pregnancy to be the time morning sickness, food aversion, and a host of other unsavory symptoms to arrive. This particular morning, she awakens from her slumber and runs to her en suite bathroom, vomiting up last night’s Indian food. She groans as Katie opens the door and comes inside.

“I guess I should say congratulations, Lily,” Katie says, getting her a glass of water.

Lily groans and gargles before weakly spitting into the toilet and flushing it. She presses her cheek to the cold toilet seat and smiles at her assistant. “Thank you, Katie. I appreciate it.”

“Can I get you anything to eat before today’s rehearsal? Any tea? You shouldn’t drink coffee while pregnant.”

Lily sits up slowly and sighs. “I’ll take a chocolate croissant and an earl grey tea with two sugars. Buy yourself something to eat as well, love. Whatever you want, it’s on me.”

“But--”

Lily waves dismissively. “I know, I know. You’re not a charity case, my dear. Just let me treat you this once, please. It’s the last day of the tour and you’ve been a trooper.”

Katie sighs. “Of course, Lily. I’ll be right back with your breakfast.”

When Katie leaves, Lily gets out of the bathroom and flops into bed, curling up under the plush comforter. Her phone buzzes, and she picks it up to see that Ben is trying to FaceTime her. She presses the accept button and smiles weakly at him.

“Hello, love. How are you?” He asks, looking concerned. “You look pale.”

She sighs, moving to a more comfortable position. “I had my first bout of morning sickness just five minutes ago. It was disgusting.”

Ben nods, looking down before meeting her eyes again. “But… doesn’t morning sickness mean the child is healthy?”

She nods, smiling. “Yep. Little Baby Jones is developing as he or she should.”

Ben smiles, letting out a little laugh. “Little Baby Jones?”

She grins. “Do you like that? The band came up with it and I thought it sounded lovely.”

Ben nods, running a hand through his hair. “Little Baby Jones. I love it.”

Ryan Reynolds comes up behind Ben and grins into the camera. “Hi. Sorry to intrude, but congratulations, you two!”

Ben is on set for reshoots today, just for a few scenes with Ryan. 

Lily grins. “Thank you, Ryan. How’s Blake’s pregnancy going?”

Ryan shrugs. “Just like the last two. She’s a bit mad at me right now because the kid won’t stop kicking, but she’ll get over it.”

Ben laughs and looks to Lily. “Surely you won’t blame me for when Little Baby Jones kicks.” He looks fearful. “Right?”

Lily purses her lips. “I’ll be very hormonal. Don’t hold your breath, Hardy.”

Ben nods and Ryan claps him on the shoulder. “It’ll be alright. Just change all the diapers the first week after she gives birth and she won’t be angry anymore.”

Lily smiles. “I like that idea! Very clever, Ryan.” She smiles at Ben. “I’ll let you two go now. Break a leg!”

Ben smiles at her when Ryan leaves to go to his trailer. “I love you, Lil. See you tonight.”

She smiles back at him. “I love you too, Ben. I can’t wait to get home.”

~

Lily yawns, exhausted as she exits the car and walks back to her home. She holds her travel pillow in one hand and has her backpack in the other, and shuffles through the door to see a fresh vase of roses and lilies with a handmade sign in Ben’s handwriting, saying “Welcome home, Lily!” She smiles sleepily and crouches down as Reykja and Frankie jump on her to kiss her, wearing new collars that have bow ties on them. She scratches their heads as the security detail puts her suitcases in the foyer, and closes her eyes, holding the pups in her arms, moving to sit on the ground.

“I missed you too, babies. Mama has gifts for both of you, don’t worry.” She kisses the pups and smiles.

The security detail leaves and locks the door behind them, and she hears a welcome voice as she opens her eyes.

“Do you like their bow ties? I thought you’d appreciate it,” Ben says, leaning against the wall of the foyer wearing gray sweats and a loose blue sweater.

Lily looks up at him, nodding. “I do appreciate it. They’re ready for the Met Gala.”

Ben laughs and helps her up before hugging her tightly. Lily breathes in the scent of his cologne, her face pressed up against his sweater, and relishes in his warmth. His hand travels to her back, fingers splayed against the oversized sweater that was once his, and he closes his eyes.

“I missed you,” he says quietly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Same here,” she replies. “It’s lonely at night without you next to me. You’re my favorite pillow.”

He smiles, looking down at her. “I just washed the sheets and am ready to be a human pillow.”

She looks up with a tired smile. “How’d I ever get so lucky?”

He gives her a peck before pulling away from her to bring up her backpack. “You earned me, and I earned you, somehow.”

She scoffs. “You would be a gift to anyone, Ben. I’m the lucky one in this relationship.”

Ben looks at her and raises a brow. “What did I say about you putting yourself down?”

She purses her lips. “That I shouldn’t do it and you love me?”

He kisses her forehead. “That’s right.”

They go upstairs to their bedroom, and Ben smiles as Lily flops face-first onto the bed, the dogs jumping up to lick her face. He shoos the dogs away, and helps her roll onto her back, positioning her to lay on her pillow. Frankie and Reykja sniff the air before moving to lick Lily’s stomach, and she smiles at the sight.

“They know,” she says, scratching their heads. “You two will have a little sibling to protect. Isn’t that exciting?”

The pups snuggle into her stomach protectively, and Lily smiles at Ben, who moves them to the foot of the bed in order to cover her with the duvet and curl up around her, one hand resting on her stomach. She places her own hand over his and closes her eyes.

“When should we tell everyone the news?” Ben asks, kissing her shoulder.

Lily shrugs. “I think at the party in two days. It would be a good surprise for everyone, and we wouldn’t have to make the announcement more than twice.”

Ben nods, holding her closer. “We should visit my parents to tell them about the baby.”

She turns around, fear in her eyes. “I’ve only ever FaceTimed with you and your parents, and the first time I meet them you’re just going to drop the ball that I’m pregnant?”

Ben nods slowly. “I mean, is there any other way to do it at this point? We shouldn’t wait any longer.”

She sighs, closing her eyes. “What if they don't like me and think I tried to trap you in a relationship with this child?”

Ben shakes his head, kissing her forehead. “They don’t think that, Lily. They trust my judgment, and if I thought we weren’t going to stay together for a good long time, I would have asked you to reconsider if you wanted the baby or not.”

She raises a brow. “A good long time? Is that your way of saying forever?”

Ben takes a moment before nodding. “I guess so. I really hope you feel the same way because you’re never getting rid of me.”

She smiles and pulls him down for a kiss. “You’re the best annoyance I could ever have.”

He kisses her and laughs, curling up next to her contently.

~

Lily twists the ring on her finger nervously as Ben drives them over to his parents’ house two hours away in Bournemouth. They’re thirty minutes away, and Lily has bought onesies for her baby’s grandparents to tell them the news.

Ben looks over at his nervous girlfriend and puts a hand on hers, prompting her to look over at him. She holds his hand, and he brings it to his mouth, kissing it gently.

“Everything will be okay, love. I promise you that they will be happy and supportive,” he reassures her.

She smiles at him weakly. “I hope so. I want your parents to like me. I know they’ll like their grandchild, because Little Baby Jones is half you. I’m not worried about that. Hopefully them liking the baby will make them like me, since I’m making the baby.”

Ben lets out a little laugh. “You’re overthinking it, love.”

She sighs deeply and nods. “I know. Sorry.”

Ben smiles and as they hit a red light, leans over to kiss her cheek. “They’ll love you. Don’t worry about a thing.”

She smiles at Ben as he begins driving again. “How are you feeling about all this?”

Ben takes a deep breath. “I’m excited. My mum can’t wait to meet you, and my dad is happy that I found someone who loves me just as much as I love them. They already like you. I think they’ll be shocked and happy about Little Baby Jones, but ultimately, supportive.”

She nods. “Even if they aren’t, I’m betting on Roger crying tomorrow when he finds out, and that will fill me with joy.”

Ben lets out a huff of laughter. “We’re videoing their reactions, right? I feel like we should.”

She nods. “Definitely. We should make home videos for Little Baby Jones. Freddie did it for me while he was still alive. Jim kept it up, but his camera work was shoddier than Freddie’s.”

Ben smiles, imagining his child grow up, and being able to show them videos of themselves as a baby. It’s so cute he almost cries. He kisses Lily’s hand.

“We should look for good cameras online and get one as soon as possible,” he tells her, and she grins at him, kissing his cheek.

~

Ben rings the doorbell with one hand and holds Lily’s hand in the other, squeezing it as he hears his mother run towards the door, calling out to his father to turn off the television and greet his son. The door opens and Lily is faced with a short woman with blonde hair and Ben’s eyes, and a smile that could light up a dark room. She gasps as she sees Lily and brings her in for a hug, and Lily is surprised, but reciprocates the gesture.

“Oh, Lily! It’s so nice to meet you in person!” She pulls away, pushing some hair out of Lily’s face. “I’ve heard so much about you from Ben. You’re even more beautiful than he described you to be.”

Lily smiles at a flushed Ben whose eyes are very interested in the ground and turns back to Ben’s mom. “I certainly hope he only told you the good things about me. The tabloids will tell you the rest.”

Ben’s mom turns to her son and pulls him down, kissing his cheek. “Oh, he adores you, Lily. He’s never been so excited to tell me that he got a girlfriend.”

Lily grins, and watches as Ben hugs his mom. The woman waves them inside, and as Lily enters the humble home, her boyfriend is embraced by his father, who has the exact same nose as him, and even though he’s turning gray, she can still see some brown curls. 

After hugging his son, Ben’s dad turns his attention to Lily and smiles. “Finally Ben brings you over! He’s been talking about you for months.” He hugs Lily and pats her on the back.

“I’m sorry it took this long to meet you! It’s just been hectic for me, work-wise,” Lily replies, smiling at the man.

Ben’s dad nods. “You just got back from a huge tour, didn’t you?”

Lily nods. “Yep! A huge North American tour. It was exhausting but amazing.”

Ben’s mom leads them to the dinner table and they sit down to eat a homecooked meal.

~

After a hearty dinner and a wonderful conversation that has brought Ben’s parents and Lily closer together, Ben squeezes Lily’s hand. She looks over at him and raises a brow.

“Do you want to give them their gifts now?” He asks.

She nods, and watches as he hands over the presents to his confused parents.

Ben’s mom frowns. “What is this? You didn’t have to bring us presents.”

Ben gestures to the bags. “Open it and you’ll see.”

The parents open the bags at the same time and pull out the onesies, going quiet in shock. Ben’s mom looks like she’s about to cry, and his dad’s jaw has dropped and won’t come back up.

Lily takes a deep breath. “The reason this visit was on such short notice is that I wanted you two to meet me before our relationship progressed and the press found out I’m pregnant. I realize everything has moved very fast, but I promise you that my feelings for your son will not fizzle out. We spent so long waiting for the right time to confess that we wasted ten months on useless pining, and even though this baby came rather quickly--”

“Was it planned?” Ben’s mom asks, looking at Lily.

Ben shakes his head. “Not at all. You know I wouldn’t decide to have a child with someone just a few months into dating them. We were careful, but this happened, and we decided that we should keep the baby.”

His mom smiles, wiping away tears. “How far along are you?”

Lily smiles at her. “I’m about two months along. I don’t know exactly how old Little Baby Jones is, but based on my symptoms and the timing of things, that’s my guess.”

Ben’s dad clears his throat and wipes away tears. “I’ll need to see if they make baby-sized rugby jerseys.”

Ben looks over at his parents. “You’re not mad or shocked?”

Ben’s mom shakes her head. “Oh, we’re shocked, alright. But mad? Love, you found the perfect woman for you and now you’re making a family with her. How could we possibly be mad about that?”

Ben’s dad looks over at Lily and smiles. “You’re an amazing person, Lily. It is an honor to have you become a part of our family.”

Lily smiles and nods. “I’m glad that I can be a part of it.”

Ben’s mom gasps. “Oh!”

Ben turns to face his mother. “What is it, mum?”

She grins. “The baby will be here for Christmas! Oh my lord, my little grandbaby will be able to be a part of the Christmas celebration!”

Ben’s dad nods and looks at the young couple across from him. “If you two feel up to driving over for Christmas, please do. The whole extended family will be here, and they’ve been waiting for Ben to settle down with a nice woman and have a child. We all have. Little did we know that we’d be sharing the grandparent title with Freddie Mercury.”

Lily laughs. “We’re going to tell Brian and Roger and the rest of the BoRhap cast tomorrow about the baby. My bandmates already know because they helped me get the tests on the road.” She grins. “I was planning on having Brian and Roger also be grandparents for this baby.”

Ben’s dad leans back, smiling and holding the onesie. “Never thought I’d meet Queen, and now they’re gonna be part of my family.”

Ben’s mom smiles fondly at Ben and Lily. “This is amazing news, you two. Congratulations. You’ll be amazing parents.” She bashfully looks down. “However, if you need a weekend off, we will gladly take the little one and babysit them for you two.”

Ben lets out a laugh and wraps an arm around Lily’s shoulders. “We’ll be sure to take you up on that offer.”

On the car ride home, Lily smiles and holds Ben’s hand, her other on her stomach. She’s so happy that his parents like her, and even happier that they cannot wait to meet their grandchild. 

~

The next day, Lily sets up a camera in a houseplant, and Ben makes sure all the gift bags are properly labeled and prepared. They’re getting food delivered since they’re all too tired to even think about cooking, and the Taylors and Mays are joining the band and the BoRhap boys for the get-together.

Lily is wearing a loose top with a pair of jeans, and looks at herself in the mirror, her bump barely visible. She can still tell it’s there, though. Ben walks in the room and sees her examining herself and smiles at her.

“You’re barely showing, Lily,” he says.

She sighs, looking in the mirror. “I know, but with the rumors I need to be extra cautious. People will already be suspicious and this looks like a bit more than bloating.”

He walks over and places his hand on her stomach, kissing her forehead. “It’ll all be okay. We’ll be fine.”

She closes her eyes and leans into his touch, smiling. “Thanks, Ben.”

Ben pulls her into a hug. “You’re welcome, Lil.”

~

The party is in full swing, and Lily smiles as Ben comes back into the room with a bottle of beer, sitting next to her on the loveseat and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Joe sits with Anusha across from them, and Gwil is next to Lucy on another couch. Rami is making himself and her cocktails. Bron and Madi are picking up the food they’ve ordered, and Roger and Brian and their respective wives have just arrived.

They’re discussing the tour and the funny shenanigans that went on during their time on the bus, and when Roger pitches in with stories of Freddie and himself taking care of a drunken Brian during their early tour days. Brian immediately turns red, but Lily and the band prompt Roger to talk more, and they are all enthralled by the stories the older man has to articulate.

Of course, when Bron gets into the shenanigans Room 301 got into on tour, she pointedly avoids telling them the best one.

~

After a filling dinner and wonderful conversation, Lily looks over at Ben and he passes out the gift bags to everyone. She smiles as her friends and family examine the bags.

“As thanks to all of you for being such good companions, Ben and I bought these gifts for you. I think you’ll love them, and I’m very excited for you all to see what they are.” She looks at Ben before pressing her lips together. “You can open them now if you want.”

As the gift bags are opened, the reactions begin to make their appearance.

Joe’s face is reminiscent of a child’s at Christmas. He pulls out the onesie and gasps, a smile spreading across his face. Anusha pulls her onesie out and her jaw drops as she looks at Lily, who’s leaning back in the loveseat, a smile on her face.

“I knew it!” Joe exclaims, standing up and laughing.

Anusha is still staring at her friend. “You really wanted to lock him down in this relationship, didn’t you, Lily?”

Lily laughs and looks over to see Gwil, Rami, and Lucy digesting the information. Lucy looks over at her and a smile spreads across her face before she hugs her tightly, letting out a squeal.

Rami is still speechless, but Gwil gets up and hugs Ben tightly.

“Congratulations, Ben. Congratulations to both of you! This is amazing, really. Unexpected, but wonderful!” Gwil hugs Lily as well, and she smiles.

Rami nods, smiling. “This is a great gift, guys. I’m so glad I get to be a part of your baby’s life.”

Lily squeezes Ben’s hand, and he speaks up.

“I know this is kind of sudden, but we’re really happy about it. I can’t wait to be a father. I feel even better about this because I know Little Baby Jones will have a wonderful support system.”

Lily looks at Roger and Brian, who are still looking at their onesies in awe. Roger’s fingers shake, and Sarina holds his hand. Anita is wiping away tears. 

Brian smiles and nods approvingly. “Little Baby Jones can come to the animal sanctuary as often as they’d like.”

Anita nods. “We will gladly babysit.”

Sarina rubs Roger’s back, tears in her eyes. “We have more than enough children to keep the baby occupied if you need a break.”

Roger finally speaks up, letting out a laugh. “Fucking finally!”

Ben blinks, confused. “Huh?”

Roger huffs. “I have five kids. Five. A few of them are older than Lily. Do they have kids of their own? Of course not!” He shakes his head. “I’ve been waiting for my first grandchild for years now, and for the child to come from you and Lily— who finally got her shit together and admitted that she liked you—“

“Blame me like that again and you won’t be Little Baby Jones’ grandfather,” Lily threatens, raising a brow.

Roger raises his hands in surrender. “All I want to say is that I’m very excited to have a new child to corrupt. Especially since you two are such a good couple and I’ve wanted you two to date from the day you met.”

Lily hugs Roger and after they part, he hugs Ben tightly, whispering something to him that makes him smile.

Brian hugs Lily, sobbing into her shoulder. She comforts him, smiling. Anita comforts her husband as he pulls away, rubbing his eyes. Lily squeezes Brian’s hand.

“I-I’m so happy. Pardon the tears, please. It’s just... you deserve this, both of you. A child is the best gift you could possibly receive. You two will be amazing parents, I know it.”

Lily smiles as Ben comes up to her and wraps an arm around her shoulders.

Roger speaks up, grinning. “Enough tears! We need to celebrate! Where’s the champagne?”

Lily laughs and sits back on the couch when Ben goes to find the champagne. She leans into Roger, smiling.

“I’m so proud of you, love,” he whispers to her, kissing her forehead. “You chose a good man.”

She smiles up at him. “I couldn’t have done that without you.”

He ruffles her hair as Ben, Ezichi, and Gwil come back with champagne glasses and sparkling seltzer for Lily. 

After they toast, Joe gasps and everyone turns to face him.

“What’s up, mate?” Ben asks.

Joe grins. “Can you imagine how cute that kid is gonna be? I don’t think we properly spent time thinking about how gorgeous a baby with Ben’s eyes and Lily’s hair would be.”

Lily nods. “That’s what I want. A tan baby with dark hair and green eyes.”

A few hours later, they’re looking at pictures of babies on Pinterest and grinning.

“Lily, Little Baby Jones could be a model!” Anusha exclaims. 

Lily leans against Ben’s chest, smiling as their friends gush over the child yet to come.

~

Later that night, Lily posts a picture of her ultrasound on Instagram with the caption, “Little Baby Jones, coming December 2020!”

She wakes up to enthusiastic comments and a phone call from her Aunt Kash. She sits up in bed and smiles as Ben holds onto her in sleep, one hand firmly on her stomach. The pups sleep at her feet, guarding her unborn baby from any harm.

“Hello?” She whispers. “We need to be quiet, Auntie. Ben is still sleeping, as are the pups.”

Ben shifts in his sleep, cuddling further into Lily. She places one hand onto his head, running her hands through the curls growing out from the haircut he’s just had.

Kashmira lets out a little laugh. “I’ll try, but it will be hard. I’m just so happy, Lily! You deserve this and will be an amazing parent.”

Lily smiles. “Thank you, Auntie. I’m excited. Ben will be a great dad, I just know it.”

Ben lets out a little puff of air and groans, adjusting himself to be even further on top of Lily.

Kash lets out a shaky breath and Lily can tell she’s smiling. “I’m just so happy. We need to get together and go shopping for the baby. You’re going to be the best mother, and that child will be— there’s no way you’ll produce an ugly child, not with yours and Ben’s genetics.”

“He is quite the beauty, isn’t he?” Lily says, smiling down at her man.

“Quite. I’ll let you get back to him, but I just wanted to tell you that I’m so happy and proud.” 

“Alright. Thank you for calling, Auntie. Come over soon and we can have dinner,” Lily says, smiling.

“Of course! We’ll set a date. I love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

Lily hangs up and puts down her phone, looking down at Ben, who opens his eyes and blinks sleepily, yawning and nuzzling into her stomach.

“Mm... who was that?” He mumbles, eyes shut.

“My Aunt Kash. She was congratulating us on Little Baby Jones,” Lily says, running a hand through his hair.

He smiles up at Lily, eyes heavy. “I have a name for the baby.”

She raises a brow. “What is it?”

Ben rolls over and yawns again. “Taylor May.”

Lily nods, smiling gently. “Brian and Roger would love that.”

Ben looks up at Lily. “Would you?”

Lily thinks for a moment. “Taylor May Jones. That’s a solid name. Not to effeminate. Not too masculine. I like it. Taylor would also work for a boy. I think we should keep it in consideration.”

Ben smiles and nods. “Alright. I’m okay with that.”

Lily leans back against her pillows. “You want a girl, don’t you?”

Ben closes his eyes. “I’d be perfectly happy with either.”

She lets out a little laugh as he dozes off again.

He definitely wants a girl. 

-

TAGLIST: @andtheytoldustotellyouhello @plethora-of-things @everybodyplaythegame @i-the-fangirl @deakydeakydeaky @shisterfackisback @samanthadegaro @lv7867 @fatbottomedcurls @redspecialty @haisimsim @peterparkeroos @teenwolflover28 @ixchel-9275 @alessandra-elle @onexlittlespark @queenficarchive @leah-halliwell92 @rrrogah-tayluhh @maddistudiess @queen-fam @evrsncnewyork @reddiefreddieee @babebenhardy @toms-irish-girl @bensrhapsody @good-old-fashioned-rogerina 

[gotbts7fics]

Positive | Four |

 Three |  May to June 2017  | Five |

The month began with you frantically arranging all the tasks you needed to accomplish. Jaebum had messaged you several times, each one left unanswered. You assumed he was just shaking his head at your stubbornness, not really assuming anything was wrong. That he would come home and make sure everything went back to normal. Except you wouldn’t be there when he came home. It was heartless, you knew it but you couldn’t figure out what else to do at this point. You had hidden a pregnancy, broken your own heart and were about to leave a country you called home for over three years. 

“You should at least write him a letter. You’re going to break his heart anyways. At least give the dude closure so he can move on from your pathetic ass” Bree snorted through the screen. It was your weekly skype date with the two women who you loved more than anything. However, the conversation was not going in a positive direction as neither of them pleased with your actions and justifications at the moment. 

“I also think you need to write him a letter, if not, text. SOMETHING! This is insane you just leaving him without thinking of the bigger picture.” Kassie stated as a matter of fact. 

“Well what do you want me to do. ‘Hey Babe, I’m sorry, but I am kinda eighteen weeks pregnant. Sorry for hiding almost half a pregnancy….SURPRISE!’ Like really?” You bit out, face contorting in annoyance. It was the same conversation lately. Everyone was upset with your decision. They couldn’t believe you were actually going to hide this baby and run away. 

“Well whose fault is that!” Kassie retorted with just as much annoyance. You huffed out a response to her. 

“Ladies enough. Listen, we love and support you no matter what. We just feel like this was not the best way to handle the situation, but we support you. We just know how much shit you’ve been through and you deserve the world babe.” Bree insisted while looking intently at her screen. 

“I love you both. I know the decision I made is selfish, but I didn’t know what to do…” You mumbled looking down to your lap, tears threatening to spill over any minute. These pregnancy hormones were killing you. “Hey, listen, I’m sorry. We got you. Everything will work out eventually. I promise” Kassie assured.

“thank you…” You replied. After several more minutes of chit chatting the girls said their goodbyes, having to get ready for work, and you needing to get ready for bed. Tomorrow you had another ultrasound appointment, and were excited to finally find out what the gender of the baby was. As if they knew you were thinking about them, the little human sent out a very hard kick. “Well, hello to you too, little bean.” You whispered rubbing your belly. You definitely were starting to show now, however still able to hide the small round belly with sweaters. Sighing, you stood up from your position and headed to bed. It was going to be a long day tomorrow. 

The following morning after dropping Jaidyn off to school, you made your way to the clinic for your eighteen week check up. The clinic was busy on this particular morning, with many moms to be already in the waiting room. Upon registering for your appointment, you took a seat in front of the window, figuring to pass time you can watch people walking by as you read over different pamphlets on pregnancy and the first few months after birth. It was a painfully long 45 minutes with a full bladder, before you were finally called in by a nurse to a room. 

The technician followed her in and began the vigorous amount of tests and scans of your uterus and the human inside. As the technician swirled the wand around your belly, you watched as the little human you had created twisted and turned on the screen. You were already hopelessly in love with this tiny being.

 “Alright Ms Y/L/N, your baby is developing perfectly, everything looks healthy and on tract. Would you like to know the gender of your baby?” The technician asked as she rolled the wand around your stomach for a better view. “Yes please, if it is easy to tell” You replied with a wide smile on your face. The technician brought the ultrasound in between the baby’s legs. “Do you see?” She asked with a smile. 

“Yes, yes I do” You smiled, as tears slowly fell down your face. You were looking at the newest member of your little family. After receiving the ultrasound pictures, you packed your things and headed to work. You only had a few more days until the end of your contract, which was a bitter sweet reality. You clutched the picture of your beautiful baby, thinking about how this tiny human was about to make your life so much sweeter. 

Before you could even fathom it, you were days away from heading home. May went by seemingly fast after your last medical appointment, a combination of finishing work, and packing your life away and were getting ready to ship your belongings home, had left little time to dwell on the reality around you. You had the hard conversation with Jaidyn that you two would be moving home to Canada. Jaidyn was not happy, she had a life in Seoul that she loved, and moving home was not “a good choice” in her words. However, after much persuasion, you had convinced her that she was going to be happy back home, in your little town with her grandparents and friends. JB had continued to message you, but you refused to answer any of them. His last text had been almost a week prior, and as you reread it, your heart was breaking. You were causing him so much pain. 

[3:16pm] Jaebum: Look, I am angry. You’re being a selfish frigging brat. I get it, you’re upset but to be so immature that you can’t even respond. I am trying here, but I will only give you so much. I need to think about myself too. You’re hurting me. I want nothing more than to hold you and love you, but you can’t even give me a text back. I miss my daughter and you won’t even send me pictures or answer the phone. You’re just…  Wow… really. We’re heading to Thailand from Japan. I’m sorry, I wish I could see you sooner. I’ll be back in Korea on June 5th. So please baby, let’s talk this out. I hate this shit. I love you. I’ll be waiting. 

“He’s returning to Seoul on the day I leave.” You said into the receiver.

 “And you’re really not telling him anything?” The male on the other line asked. 

“No, I’m not.” 

“What’s so bad about this guy, that after what… three years, you can’t even be honest with him?”

“Nothing is wrong with him, He is perfect. But I won’t wreck his career. I can’t do that.”

“I don’t understand, you’re putting this guy ahead of you and his child… what type of man… You know what… whatever. I don’t understand. I just know that this guy doesn’t deserve you if you think that his career is worth more than this child. When you come home, you will have me to support you” Owen said, he was having a very difficult time with you being dishonest, but he was your best friend, and he would be there to pick up all the pieces when you came home. 

“Thank you, I know you don’t get it. I know it sounds crazy and after everything you’ve been through… I just love him so much I need him to succeed” You were toying with your hands now, anxiety getting the best of you.

“Okay, I love you and because I love you, I will support your decision. I am also selfish because I want my niece and you home.”

“Will you pick me up in Toronto? I know you hate the city….”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss this homecoming for the world.”

“OK, I’ll talk to you later. I am going to get some packing done. I can’t believe I’m moving home.”

“Me neither, I was against you abandoning me in the beginning anyways so I am excited to have you back, you jerk” He said right before he ended the call. You smiled to yourself, it was a little bit easier to go home to him. The man who had been your best friend since you were sixteen. The man who has been there non stop as the stellar uncle to your kid when her own biological father was a flop. You knew without a doubt he would be just as amazing with this new baby as he was with your first born. You went back to packing the apartment after that phone call. Time was running out in Seoul. 

“Mom, can we get Starbucks?” Jaidyn asked as she wheeled her suitcase along the corridor to your designated gate. Why was this airport so big? You thought to yourself. You had popped in your opinion now, enough that if people knew you, they would be questioning your rounder belly. Still today, a very hot day, you wore a hoodie to hide the not so little bean growing rapidly in your tummy. 

“Sure, hey… I’m going to get us a chair over there, you go right a head and get in line, can you see me?” Jaidyn nodded after your question.

“Good, you know what I like, get us both a treat baby” You said with a smile on your face. You were having cramps today and were anxious about flying. Your nerves intensified when you checked the flight schedule and noticed there was a huge possibility that Jaebum may arrive to Incheon prior to you actually being on the plane now due to a delay. You dreaded seeing him. Especially since you literally only texted him an hour before, well aware that he was in the sky and he wouldn’t get it until he landed. You knew what you had done was unbelievably heartless, yet you refused to take it back. Your phone chimed to notify you of a text message from your mom, wishing you a safe journey home. With your phone open, you went to the conversation you had with JB. Countless unanswered messages from him where he declared his love for you, for Jaidyn, telling you how he was miserable with you ignoring him. It all came down to your last message to him.

[1:15pm] You: I’m sorry. I’m moving home to Canada today.  

  It was a simple, yet devastating text message. The type the punches you in the gut and leaves you kneeled over and sobbing. And now you were silently praying that your flight wouldn’t hit a further delay and overlap the time you and him would both be at this airport, because if you saw him, if he begged, you would fall into his arms and tell him everything. If he asked you to stay, you would. You would ruin him.   

“Mom, is Appa going to meet us here, I miss him so much. Will he at least say goodbye to me?” Jaidyn asked as she returned and placed a drink in front of you, drawing you out of your thoughts. Her seven year old self was asking so many questions lately. You were avoiding them at all cost until you arrived in Canada. You just didn’t want her to know about this baby yet, or know you had ended it with the man she saw as her dad. It was weighing heavily on you, and your sanity was slowly unravelling.

“No baby, he’s not home from Thailand yet. We will talk to him once we are home in Canada okay?” You answered, looking down at your drink. You had become a liar. Constantly avoiding the issues at hand to try and keep the peace within. 

“Less than twenty minutes until we board the plane love, are you excited to see Uncle Owen and Gramma and Grampa” Asking to distract her. 

“Oh yeah! Uncle Owen is picking us up!!! I can’t wait to see him!!!” She exclaimed as she took a sip of her drink. You guys sat in silence for a bit, just waiting for the agents to call boarding. That’s when you heard the screaming. Your breath hitched in your throat and you tried to make yourself small. You knew all to well those types of screams. Fans screaming. Oh Fuck, you thought. Taking deep breaths to prevent yourself from having a panic attack, praying it was some other idol group walking through the airport, and not the man you were desperately trying to avoid.

“Maman, who is that? Why are they screaming?” Jaidyn looked around from her chair. “I don’t know sweetie, lets not stare.” You replied, also while trying to be discreet as you looked around. Please, please, please.... You silently prayed. Ding. Your cellphone went off. Pulling it out of your pocket cautiously, like a bomb that could explode any minute, you opened to your messages. 

[3:55pm] Jaebum: Are you in the airport?

[3:56pm] Jaebum: Please baby, tell me you’re still here.

[3:56pm] Jaebum: Baby, please. At least let me say goodbye to Jaidyn. 

You took a deep breath, you knew he could see you had read the messages. You struggled with yourself. The internal battle waging on. 

[3:57pm] Jaebum: Answer me. I will fucking find you in this airport so help me god! 

[3:58pm] You: I’m sorry, I truly am. But I don’t think it’s best to see each other. Please think of your fans 

His reply was instant. 

“Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentleman, we are now ready to board Air Canada flight AC062 destination to Toronto. We kindly ask you have your photo ID ready and locate the zone number on the top of your boarding card. We will be boarding zone one momentarily” You exhaled as you heard your flight being called for boarding. This was it, you were finally leaving. 

[3:58pm] Jaebum: I will fucking tell the world right now about you, I will do whatever I need to do to make sure you don’t leave me. Please baby, don’t leave me. I need you, I need Jaidyn. DO NOT GET ON THAT PLANE! 

Your phone started buzzing, JB was calling you. You quickly rejected the phone call. You didn’t know how much willpower you had to keep yourself from answering until you were on that plane, seated and buckled in. JB was frantic at this point, you had ignored his phone calls, them going straight to voicemail. He had been so elated to see you had finally messaged him back after weeks of ignoring him. Only his happiness had been crushed when he read your message. He didn’t think you were serious about breaking up, he figured he could fix this like he always did. You were stubborn and bold, but you loved him. He couldn’t believe you were actually ending it, and moving across the world. Why, what had he honestly done to make you this unhappy to make you move back to Canada. You loved Korea, Jaidyn loved Korea. He was trying to engage you in what little conversation he could, buying himself enough time to find you. You were in the airport, a quick search of flights shown there was only one to Canada, which meant if he could get to that gate he could find you, and hold you. Hell. he was pretty sure he would tackle you to the ground at this point and not let you board that plane, not caring who witnessed it. He hadn’t even had time to let anyone know what was happening. He had just showed his phone to Jinyoung and prayed he understood. Jinyoung had stared at him with wide eyes and then told him to go, pulling out his own, JB assumed, to message the others. He was running now. Surprisingly he had managed to get away from the fans who had been waiting for them. Trying his best to get to you, where ever you were in this godforsaken airport. DING! Please baby, please he thought. 

[4:03pm] You: I’m sorry JB. Goodbye.

  JB stopped in his tracks doubled over, gasping for air. No. He couldn’t stop himself, staring at your text message, he began to cry. 

  You were anxiously in line, desperate to get on that plane, looking around cautiously. If he saw you, if he found you, it was game over. What felt like forever you approached the agent, handing her the passports and boarding passes to scan. You were just about to walk through the doors when you caught the eye of someone. Jinyoung was standing just off to the side, staring at you with wide teary eyes gasping for air, looking like he wanted to yell at you. You shook your head not even bothering to try and hide your tears falling. Ushering Jaidyn away and onto the plane. Jinyoung’s heart broke for his friend, for the loss of you and Jaidyn. 

  You watched as Korea disappeared before your eyes from your tiny window. Jaidyn had fallen asleep the moment the engines turned on leaving you in a self loathing, pity party. You left the only man who had shown you what love really was, because you couldn’t be honest with him. You left behind your home and your life our of fear and selfishness. You were a terrible person, well, that’s what you were telling yourself until you felt a swift kick in your bladder and a head falling onto your shoulder. You were a mother, and even if it was selfish, you were going to protect the three people you loved the most. You hoped one day the people you loved would understand the choices you made

. JB found his way back to his members after what seemed like forever after watching your plane take off, feeling numb to the pain that was in his heart. The members just looked at him cautiously, knowing that this loss would forever change him, would change them. You had become family, they had helped raise that little girl of yours. There was confusion and anger, unanswered questions that they needed clarified. This wasn’t you. You loved them all, you loved JB with your whole being. Something was wrong. 

“Hyung, I am so sorry!” Jinyoung gasped, rushing forward and wrapping his arms around JB.

“I couldn’t find them, I couldn’t find them before she left.” JB buried his face into Jinyoung’s shoulder. 

“I tried to stop her Hyung, but I was to late. I am so sorry, she was walking on to the plane when I finally found her” Jinyoung said, his own tears threatening to fall. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I asked so much of her, she tried to tell me how unhappy she was. She just wanted a normal life. I ruined everything” JB mumbled, tears still falling. 

“Let’s go home and just try to figure out what to do next. We will get her back Hyung. There is no way she is gone” Jackson piped in. All JB could do was stay positive he would find you again. 

[thephantomofthe-internet]

Stupid Cupid

Steve Harrington x Reader

Author’s Note: So, two important things to note here: one, this is for @moonstruckhargrove‘s 1k Challenge, which ended two days ago I know. Two, in regards for this being late, I have a reason! I started some fucking angst with both Billy AND Steve and it...fine. And then I just hated it and it was over 6k and I just had to scrape it all. So now we have some fluff and longing, which I’ve probably written five times and is probably boring. BUT when I say I’ll do something, I do, so enjoy I guess

Tag List: @hargrovesgoldilocks @moonstruckhargrove @casaharrington @denimjacketkisses @lilmissperfectlyimperfect @thechickvic @alex--awesome--22 @so-not-hotmess

Word Count: 2,995

Warnings: cheating, maybe swearing?

Prompt: 11. I love you, you enormous pain in my ass 

You’d been dancing around the subject for a month and a half.

You really shouldn’t have been, but you were scared.

You’d started dating Billy the second he arrived in town and Steve thought you were actually nuts. At first, it might’ve been because he was in love with you, but then he got the shit kicked out of him by the fucker and all bets were off. He didn’t tell you about the scene, because he didn’t want you to worry or worse, bring it up with the asshole that’d done it to him, but he didn’t hold back his disdain about him with you anymore.

But you had a feeling something more was going on. Billy was not exactly subtle about his disdain for your friend, but you assumed it would fade eventually, a sort of jealousy on both their parts. But that didn’t fade and soon Steve was actively pissing on your guy. And Billy, well he’d always been an ass about Steve, so nothing much changed.

What changed was Billy’s attention. Kristen McMasters got a boob job over the Christmas break and all bets were off. Billy was…enticed to say the least.

Everyone seemed to know it was coming before you. Everyone except Steve. He would’ve told you, he swore that and you believed him, but he was distracted by his hatred and missed the signs. And you certainly didn’t see it coming. You knew enough about Billy’s family to guess that the holiday season was not going to be a merry season for him. You thought he was stressed out by upcoming exams and finding the cash to buy gifts for his stepmother and Max, which Neil was forcing him to buy. You thought it would fade when you got to Macy’s birthday bash.

And it did, sort of. Because he abandoned you and, after you went searching, you found him with Kristen McMasters riding him, her fake tits bouncing wildly. You guessed it was a good stress reliever for him.

You blamed Carol, for not telling you what was happening in the room she declaring your missing boyfriend was in. You blamed yourself, for not knocking first. You blamed Kristen, for going off with your boyfriend and screwing him. But mostly, you blamed Billy for being unable to ignore the lure of big, perky, fake boobs. You blamed him for being such an awful boyfriend.

You thanked Steve.

He found you, screaming at Billy and crying as he dismissed your emotions and smacked Kristen’s ass as she scurried out, red faced and head hung in shame. He led you away, letting you cry it out in the car, and letting you punch Carol in her bitchy face, wiping the snotty smirk off her face. Best of all, he let you hide at his place when your mother sent you angrily over to the Hargrove-Mayfield house with the big batch of cookies she’d made for them for Christmas. You gorged yourself on baking while watching movies in his big empty house; his parents weren’t home till Christmas Eve and you hid a batch your mother had made in the freezer for them to have, switching the notes she’s written out from ‘To Billy, Love Y/N’ to ‘To the Harrington’s, season greetings from the Y/L/N’s’ and insisting Steve pull them out to defrost before his parents returned. It was a nice that turned into several days as you just kept hiding their, studying for exams and listening to music and forcing him to decorate.

He helped you heal over Christmas. He helped you when you had to return to school. He held you back when you found Kristen and Billy were a couple and bragging about how Billy hadn’t been satisfied before he ditched you. He drove you to school and brought you coffee and kept Billy off your ass. He took a lot of grief from the guy in exchange for him ignoring you.  It was something he didn’t even think twice about; you didn’t need his bullshit and Steve didn’t really care, it just made Billy look like an asshole.

And it was making Billy look like an asshole. Even Tommy didn’t think it was that funny anymore.

The semester shifted wildly in Steve’s favour-suddenly, the world seemed to go back into place. But Steve didn’t want it anymore. He didn’t want to be King Steve; he wanted to be the world’s best babysitter to Dustin and his friends and your best friend. Internally, he wanted to be your boyfriend, but he didn’t think that was gonna happen and so he held out for the friendship you shared.

Of course, you were more than ready to be with him, if he’d ask. Steve, post Nancy, had gotten incredibly good at hiding his feelings. He didn’t want to get hurt again and you couldn’t stand the idea of ruining your friendship or his comfort with you by bringing in silly feelings. You’d just suffer in silence and watch him be happy.

But it was sort of weird. As Steve gained his status back among your peers, the girls who hadn’t been so vocal in their interest in him began crawling out of the woodwork and into his lap. Maybe they had always been there and you hadn’t noticed, or maybe they simply jumped ship from Billy onto him. But either way, Steve wasn’t as interested in them. And that threw you for a loop-Steve was always a ladies’ man, a womanizer and a flirt. Every girl seemed to have a Steve Harrington story-an encounter or a near miss that bound them in some sort of gossip circle. You didn’t have one of these moments, at least not one that you’d tell anyone about.

Steve was trashed, positively trashed. You knew that he was gonna go nuts, seeing as how it was March break and he had the house empty, again, meaning no one to catch him trashed upon his return. Katy Andrews, a naïve junior, had decided to throw the annual Spring Break Bash at her house, her parents seemingly equally naïve as to leave her alone while they went to Florida to visit her grandparents. The house was destroyed and poor Katy was crying in the bathroom, moaning that her parents were going to kill her, and you had to get Steve back home before he blacked out or did something even more regrettable. He had already smashed poor Katy’s pool table in the basement, although you weren’t sure she knew about that yet. You intended to get Steve out before he started blabbing about it.

Steve wasn’t easily dragged off by most, but you grabbed him tight and kept him moving, hooking an arm around his chest as he whined about wanting to “fucking party!”You were just glad Steve lived close so you wouldn’t have to drive him anywhere. Once you were out on the sidewalk, Steve went with you without a hitch, a goofy smile like pure sunshine on his face. When you arrived at him house, you pulled the spare key from under the mat and unlocked the door, not bothering to try to get Steve to remember where he put his.

“Finally, I got you alone…” he slurred stumbling into the dark house, his warm hands coming to your hips as he walked, well tripped, up the stairs.

“Oh god, Steve, be careful you’re gonna fall down the stairs and take me with you.” You laughed, pulling his hands off your waist and hoping he didn’t fall from the change. He whined loudly as you pushed him up and into his room.

“Alright lay down I-”

“Woah woah slow down, baby, I like it slow.” His hands came to your face and you froze, unsure if he was kidding or not. But his lips came to yours, quick and warm and gentle. And you let yourself kiss him back, a selfish decision you rationalized as the only one you’d ever make with him. He broke away first, rubbing his thumbs over your cheeks, smiling softly at you “You’re so beautiful, Nancy…”

Your blood ran cold, but you maintained an easy smile as your heart broke “And you’re so drunk, Steve. Let me go get you some water so you’re not hung over tomorrow.” You said, patting his cheek gently and pulling away. Steve didn’t follow and you took the opportunity to let a loud and sad sigh trying to keep from crying. You’d done it yourself, letting yourself get your hopes up that he could feel the same way about you. You filled a glass, bringing it back upstairs. Steve had passed out and you decided not to wake him, letting yourself feel a bit of vindictive anger and letting him suffer in the morning. You had told your parents you were crashing at a friend’s house and so made your way downstairs, crashing on Steve’s couch, feeling smaller than ever.

You never reminded Steve of this moment, you didn’t want to embarrass the poor guy, but you distanced yourself a bit after that. You had had hope before that moment but after it you put some space between the two of you. You didn’t want to get hurt and you really didn’t want to get hurt by Steve. So you did your best to break away-you went out with other people, including one terrible date with Keith from the arcade. You partied without him, you drank and danced, you even hung out with Tommy and Carol again and got high in Tommy’s basement, watching Kristen beg for Billy’s attention as he kept his locked on you. It wasn’t fun, not nearly as it would’ve been to just get high with Steve, hot boxing his bedroom with a bag of cheese puffs between you. But it was what you needed to do. You needed to be away.

But Steve kept dragging you back.

He couldn’t lose you, he wouldn’t. He didn’t know what he did but he was determined to get you back. He chased you single-mindedly, determined to keep you in your life. And he did, you were never going away, and he knew that.

He made his moves in small ways too. He took you to prom, under the guise of him needing a date for when he won prom king, which he did by a landslide. He tried to not marvel at you in stiff taffeta as you shuffled around, trying to blow stiff pieces of hair out of your eyes as you sipped spiked punch with a bored expression. Prom wasn’t exactly your scene, but you had some fun dancing with him. He looked so handsome in his dumb suit and, later, in his cheesy plastic crown, you couldn’t keep your eyes off him. Despite not wanting to go at all, you had a lot of fun. It would’ve been better if he was actually your boyfriend, so you could be jealous when Tina tried to hit on him and make a scene. Instead you watched in silence, barely listening to Nancy as she whined about Jonathan’s whining about the music playing at the event. You wanted Steve to be happy and if that meant Tina then you’d deal with Tina next to your broken heart.

As summer came and college approached, you began to hit your breaking point. You had two options for college, one within driving distance and one on the opposite side of the state. You had been honestly been considering staying in two, a cheaper choice that could mean renting an apartment in between the school and your home town. But staying in town could only lead to more pain from your longing, a pain that could be ended simply by leaving him behind. Steve was staying in town, he was going to the police academy, so leaving could be the right choice.

But there was only one way to find out.

Steve had been working at Scoops Ahoy! all summer, leaving him smelling like spoiled milk all the time, but flushed with cash and a new found disdain for his classmates and their parents. You hung out with him at work often enough, meeting his co-worker Robin, who you thought Steve obviously had a crush on, until you learned about her girlfriend Heather. You felt silly after that, but it just reminded you that you had to tell him how you felt.

And soon.

You waited until July, because you had to submit your acceptance by the end of the month for community college and the second week for your second choice. You needed to know before you chose.

Normally, you wouldn’t invite yourself over to Steve’s house, especially without a call first, but something in your gut told you that if you tried to call, you’d chicken out. So you got in your car and drove, grinding your teeth and locking your eyes on the horizon, fingers rapping on the steering wheel erratically. You knew Steve’s parents were gone to the summer house in Spain, a trip Steve wasn’t invited on, but you didn’t know if Steve was home.

His car certainly was. You parked behind him, scurrying up the steps and knocking loud and fast on the door. There was no answer, but you tried again, ringing the doorbell, pressing the button a few too many times.

You heard Steve’s voice through the door “I’m coming! Jesus Christ…” He pulled the door open with a scowl that fell away when he saw you. He had obviously just been in the pool. You started to wonder if someone else was here. Still, you held your ground.

“Hey, Y/N, I didn’t know it was you, what’s up?” he said awkwardly, smiling tersely.

“I need to talk to you.” You said, pushing your way past him and into the dark house, dropping your bag on the table by the door. Steve followed behind you awkwardly, wet feet squishing on the tile. He didn’t know what you were here for, but he wasn’t exactly going to kick you out now.

You stopped in the living room, unlit and quiet. You turned to look at Steve, trying to settle your heart and breathing. “Should I go away for school?” you asked breathlessly, the words falling out of your mouth in a tangled string.

Steve’s eyebrows flew into his hairline “Why are you asking me?”

“Cause you’re my friend and I want your opinion.” You snapped, crossing your arms over your chest, foot tapping fasting on the carpeted floor.

“Well I don’t know, do what you want.” Steve said, your tense energy starting to feed into his own and making him tense and snippy.

“Well I don’t know! That’s why I’m asking you!”

“What does my opinion matter anyway, Y/N?” Steve sighed, looking away. His body language changed and you noticed instantly.

Because of course Steve didn’t want you to move away. He wanted you to stay right there in his pocket, where he could hold onto the hope that you’d one day catch onto these signals he was so sure were obvious to everyone and you feel the same.

“You clearly have an opinion, so let me hear it, I wanna hear it!”

Steve groaned, dread settling into his stomach. He didn’t like this conversation, he knew it would only end in a fight.

“Go wherever you want, Y/N, what does it matter what I think?”

“Because I love you, you enormously stubborn pain in my ass and I’m not gonna move away if you feel the same!” you cried exasperatedly.

Well there it was. It’s out. And Steve was deadly silently, staring at you unblinkingly. That was answer enough for you, you pushed past him and rushed towards the front door. You knew you were about to cry or scream and you wouldn’t let either happen in front of him.

Steve grabbed your arm, pulling you back and crashing you into his chest, his other coming to your face, kissing you hard before you could interject or try to pull away.

He’d frozen when you said that you loved him. Because that had never happened before. He’d said it once and the results were disastrous for his self esteem and mindset. But you loved him. It rocked him to his core, he didn’t know what to do. And then you were walking away and he knew he’d waited a second too long. And now he was kissing you and you were kissing him back and oh my god the world could end and he’d be utterly content.

He broke away first, he needed to take a deep breath, but he kept his hands firmly on your face, looking down at you with the softest, most love struck expression you’d ever seen.

“Don’t go, okay? I want you to stay here with me.” He whispered softly.

You couldn’t help the grin that broke onto your face “I thought you didn’t have an opinion?”

“I thought you didn’t feel the same.”

“How could I know how you felt if you didn’t tell me?” you asked teasingly, poking a finger into his chest.

“I thought you’d catch on to…the obvious signals I was giving?”

“And what signals would those be?” you asked, watching Steve flounder for an answer, which he never found. “If it makes you feel better, I was looking for proof that you didn’t like me at all.”

“We’re idiots aren’t we?” Steve asked, pulling you closer to him.

“Nah, we’re just…selectively smart.” You grinned, and Steve pulled your chin up to meet his lips. You pressed a finger on his lips, keeping you apart for a second. “Wait, you…you like…you love me too right?” you asked awkwardly, watching as the error hit Steve again.

“Oh yeah! Shit, right, I do! I love you!” Steve blushed and you pulled him down to kiss you again, clinging onto him as if your world was ending.

In a way, it was.

[theoddcatlady]

The Grunp

The Grunp was just something my cousins and I made up while at our grandparent’s place. We went up almost every summer for a week or two at a time when we were old enough, and I think we first started telling Grunp stories when I was nine.

The Grunp’s appearance and personality would evolve and change as we got older. The first time we told stories about the Grunp, he was a naked man with one giant eye in the middle of his head. The next year, he was covered in thick, white fur, with empty holes for eyes who walked on all fours and chewed on bones. 

The last year we told Grunp stories he’d finally evolved to his final state- a white, furry creature who walked on two legs, smelled like a dumpster, had two blazing orange eyes and a drooling mouth crammed full of dozens of yellowed and rotten teeth. He could climb up walls and had claws half a foot long. He hated the kids that tramped through his forests every summer and plotted to steal one away so he could skin it alive and spit roast it for a delicious meal.

One thing never changed about the Grunp though and that was that he lived in my grandparent’s old barn.

The barn was ridiculously creepy, I’ll admit. It didn’t have any light or electricity out there, hadn’t been used in years either so it was empty other than a few remaining piles of hay and a broken lawnmower. We weren’t allowed to climb into the lofts because Grandma was afraid that the old floor wouldn’t support our weight so we’d fall and break our necks. I climbed up only once because I thought I heard something.

I didn’t see anything other than a dead rat but there was a lot of unexplained sounds in that barn. That’s probably what planted the idea of the Grunp in our heads. Some unexplained monster that lurked just out of sight, full of hatred and salivating at the idea of ripping us to pieces.

Given all this, probably the shittiest thing we could do was send Sissy Sandy into the barn for a night. And that’s exactly what we did.

I was eleven at the time and most of the cousins were about that age too, except for Sandy. Sandy was only six. Unfortunately, she was the only cousin in that age group, but since the rest of us started going to grandma and grandpa’s around that age her parents sent her with us anyway. The closest cousin in age to her was Bobby and he was nine.

You can imagine how we all felt about Sandy. It didn’t help that Sandy was a crybaby. She didn’t like sleeping in the dark, so whoever had the poor luck of bunking with her had to deal with a nightlight. She didn’t like being alone. She hated bugs and if she saw one she’d start screaming like she was being murdered. And she was terrified of The Grunp.

Most of the time we’d manage to ditch her with Grandma, who would play Go Fish and bake cookies with her. But when Grandma took a nap or we didn’t escape fast enough, we’d have to deal with Sandy tagging along. And oh boy, she’d complain about everything. She was too hot, she was too cold. She didn’t want to play near the barn. She didn’t want to play in the backyard. She was hungry. She was thirsty. She was bored.

I mean, typical six year old, but all of us were tired of it. We didn’t help the situation either by constantly teasing and picking on the poor kid. I think Jay was the one who started calling her Sissy Sandy, because well, she was scared of literally everything. I’m not exaggerating when I say that Sandy was probably scared of her own shadow.

It’s probably why we’d tell the most Grunp stories when she was hanging out with us. We’d get increasingly more morbid, talking about how the Grunp liked to peel off the fingernails of his victims and make them into earrings or that he’d use them to pick the flesh of his victims from his teeth. I think one time I even said that he would hang up his living victims in his cave and wait until he was hungry before chopping off their heads and chewing off their faces.

Sandy would go green and squirm, and then when she’d start crying we’d say that the Grunp was going to get her. That would make her run back to Grandma, saying that we were being mean, while we were all laughing our asses off.

Yeah, we were jerks. Poor Sandy. She just wanted someone to play with. And she really tried her best to keep up, she was just too little and we had no intention of playing with a ‘baby’.

I don’t know whose idea was it to play Truth or Dare, but I do remember it was my turn and that Sandy was my target. Sandy had been a pain in the ass all day, tagging along and complaining more than ever, and I’d had it. I asked if she wanted a truth or a dare, and I said if she’d pick dare, she’d get to play with us all she wanted tomorrow and we’d not tell any Grunp stories or call her Sissy Sandy.

Sandy’s eyes lit up as she proclaimed dare. We’d already had a dare where I did the chicken dance or where Jay called his best female friend to tell her he had a crush on her. Surely we’d not pick anything too bad for her, right?

I dared her to spend a whole hour in the barn. Without crying and without screaming. If she chickened out, then she had to spend the rest of the week with Grandma and that she couldn’t follow us.

I’m a monster. There was no worse dare I could’ve picked. The barn was already creepy in the day, I couldn’t have been paid to go out there at night. And if Sandy turned down the dare we really would have doubled down on calling her a sissy and she knew it.

So Sandy dragged her feet out to the barn. Grandma and Grandpa had already gone to bed so there was no one to catch onto our cruel joke. Jay highfived me, Bobby was bending over with laughter, and I was standing proud, thinking I was the most clever kid out there. Mary was already betting that she wouldn’t last five minutes out there as she set the egg timer.

Five minutes passed. Ten. Fifteen. By thirty minutes, we were all getting bored, we couldn’t hear Sandy crying and she’d yet to come out of the barn. We’d started playing Truth and Dare again and had almost completely forgot about her until the timer dinged.

I was impressed. I yelled out to Sandy that she could come out now, she wasn’t a sissy and that she could play with us tomorrow.

Sandy didn’t respond.

Figuring she’d fallen asleep, I ran out to the barn and poked my head in, calling after her again.

My heart dropped into my stomach when I saw that Sandy was nowhere to be seen. I knew she wouldn’t have climbed into the loft but I climbed up anyway to check. I came back out and everyone was starting to look a little nervous.

“Maybe she’d managed to get past us and went back to bed,” I said, attempting to reassure everyone as we headed back inside.

She wasn’t in bed. She wasn’t in the kitchen, or the basement… not like she’d go down there anyway, it was full of spiderwebs and she hated spiders most of all.

That’s when we realized something was wrong and that it was time to wake up our grandparents. We had to repeat it twice for Grandpa, he’d taken his hearing aids out before bed, but we didn’t tell the truth- we said that Sandy wanted to explore the barn and she’d not come back.

I already felt shitty for what I’d done. I felt even shittier for lying.

Cops swarmed the house, we were all counted up to make sure we were still accounted for, and we stuck to our story- Sandy went to explore the barn, she wanted to prove she wasn’t a sissy. We didn’t make her go out there.

Technically we didn’t, but I wanted to throw up every time I repeated our lie.

It’s when I overheard a conversation with one of the cops and our grandparents that I realized I had gotten my little cousin killed.

They didn’t know I was there. I was in the hall next to the kitchen, about to get a drink of water, and one of the cops was showing my Grandma a picture.

She narrowed her eyes for a few moments before she nodded. “Yes, I think I do know him! He came by a few days ago, asking for a meal, and I fixed him up with some leftovers from lunch and a slice of pie. Saw the kids p… playing… in the backyard...” Grandma went white in the face. “… Oh god, he pointed out Sandy. He… he said she looked like a real sweetie. Oh god, what have I done? What have I done?” Grandma clung onto Grandpa and began to weep.

I sunk to the floor as the cop shook his head. I found out many years later that the man in the picture was a man named Gene Hayes. A child sex offender with a preference of girls that looked like Sandy.

I didn’t know those details back then, but I knew that my little cousin had been kidnapped by a monster.

And he wouldn’t have had a chance if I hadn’t sent Sandy out to the barn alone.

I didn’t sleep that night. I just stared at the ceiling and thought about poor Sandy. How scared she would be and how I might never see her again, how it would be my fault if she never came home, how I’d never be able to face Uncle Ken and Aunt Barbara again. The next morning, before anyone was awake, I put together my next plan of action- I grabbed a baseball bat, made myself a few sandwiches, making sure to make one with grape jelly and to cut the crusts off. That way when I found Sandy she’d get something to eat.

I knew the nearby forests probably better than most of the searchers, I knew all the places people could hide. I knew I could find Sandy.

And I did… just not in the way I expected.

It was getting close to mid-afternoon when I stumbled across Hayes’ campsite. The place was a mess, beer cans piled near a burnt out firepit, muddy magazines scattered about, a small table turned over, sleeping bag crooked.

When I kicked over the sleeping bag, I realized it was soaked in blood and that there was five large slashes through it… and I saw one of Sandy’s pink hairties.

I stumbled back, falling on my ass and crawling back. My baseball bat rolled away. Had a bear gotten to Sandy’s kidnapper? Did it get Sandy?

I heard a twig snap behind me and I turned around to be face to face with The Grunp.

Our final description of him was actually pretty accurate. A bipedal, white furred creature with blood soaked claws and a drooling maw of hundreds of fangs, smelling like death and with hatred in his gaze. His eyes were a shade of yellow-green though- the color of dying grass.

And by his side was Sandy.

One of her pigtails had fallen out but the other was still tied in place. She looked pretty beat up, bruises and scratches on her arms and a busted lip and bloodied chin. She stared at me, almost as if she didn’t quite recognize me.

The Grunp carefully pushed Sandy behind him, shielding her from me. “Are you… his friend?” The Grunp asked.

Another thing that didn’t match our stories- The Grunp could talk. I shook my head no before I dug in my bag. “… Sandy? I brought you your favorite… made sure to cut off the crusts too.” I presented the sandwich, now a little squished from being in my bag all day.

Sandy blinked a few times before she smiled, revealing teeth stained bright red. “No thank you, I already ate.”

“Sandy, you don’t refuse food,” The Grunp patiently explained, taking the sandwich baggie between two of his claws and handing it to her, “You can eat it for dinner.”

Sandy nodded, clutching onto the bag. “Thank you,” She looked back up at the Grunp, “Can we go home now?”

The Grunp leaned down, carefully picking up Sandy as to not catch her on his claws, and set her on his shoulder. “Good day,” He said before he ambled off through the bushes.

And like that, he was gone.

I managed to get home by nightfall, where the search had turned into one for Sandy and me.

All I said before collapsing was, “She’s with The Grunp.”

We’ve never found Sandy. I try not to think about her, but I do, especially at night. I wonder if she’s doing okay. I wonder if she’s happy, if she’s not such a scaredy cat anymore.

And I wonder if she’s eating well.