#not elias almost saying 'i missed you' and then deciding not to

[moodriingz]

Waiting Room | Q. Hughes

Summary | Reader works for the Canucks’ socials and has an unrequited crush on Quinn. Based off of Waiting room by Phoebe Bridgers.

Pairing | Quinn Hughes x reader, Elias Peterson x platonic!reader, reader x oc

Warnings | unrequited love, angst, moving on?

Author's Note | Oh my gosh this ended up so much longer than intended, so buckle in it’s a long one. I thought about trying to shorten it but I had so many ideas about what to include. I was also so nervous to write this one that it took me forever to finish. Also thinking of writing a part two, but let me know what you think. Please send in requests for other players!

Masterlist

Part two

If you were a teacher, I would fail your class

Take it over and over 'til you noticed me

“This is why you are the best person ever,” Quinn said as you carried an insane amount of coffee for some of the team and the Canucks social staff.

“Oh, it’s no big deal I always just pick some up when I get mine,” you say as you almost drop the lattes from your hands. “I’m going to find Elias and drop his off and then head to my desk. See you at practice.”

“Y/N how did you know I didn’t get the chance to pick up my coffee?” Elias asked with a smirk. “Or did you just get extra so it wouldn’t be obvious you love to get Quinn’s coffee?”

“Goodbye Elias! I’ll see you on the ice in a bit!” You shout as you walk down the hall to the social media office.

You set down the last two coffees on your desk, go through your emails, and write down some ideas for content before your morning meeting. 

“Y/N you have to stop buying his coffee, you're just torturing yourself,” Megan says as she sets her bag down. “But please don’t stop bringing me coffee because I never have enough time to get some myself.”

“Ok Megan I’ll keep that in mind, but I don’t get it just for Quinn, I also got it for Elias today,” you say with a blush covering your cheeks.

“Yeah alright. Let’s go get this meeting started.”

If you were a waiting room, I would never see a doctor

I would sit there with my first aid kit and bleed

After the meeting with the rest of the social media and communications team, it’s decided that you have to go on the ice to capture content today. Usually, you can just film from the bench, but your boss wanted some trending content that required you to skate with the team. The only bad thing about filming on the ice was your awful case of clumsiness.

You were filming content with Brock when you tripped over your own two feet. Normally, you’d laugh it off after getting up, but your left foot twisted under your body. 

You wince as Brock helps you stand to skate off the pain but yelp the second you put your weight on the foot. Quinn watches as Brock’s hands are on your waste and immediately skates over the second you cry out in pain.

“Are you ok? What happened?” Quinn asked, putting your arm around his shoulders to support you as he took you to the bench.

“I-I’m fine. I just twisted my ankle as I fell,” You say looking into his worried eyes.

“Ok, let me take the skate off, and then we can go to the trainers and get you ice,” Quinn grimaces as he takes the skate off and sees your ankle already swelling.

“It’s probably just a sprain, but we need to get ice on this ASAP. I’ll take you to the trainers, let's go,” Quinn says standing to help you up.

“But what about practice? You guys have your East Coast road trip coming up, and I’m not going to be the reason you skip out on practice,” You say trying to figure your way to get ice or wait until Megan comes to help. 

Truthfully though, you don’t want him to take you because the way Quinn is taking care of you makes you fall harder for him.

“Don’t be crazy. Practice is almost over and they won’t miss me for the five minutes it’ll take me to make sure you’re ok,” Quinn says as you nod reluctantly. You feel your blush coming back and know you’re never going to get over your silly crush on Quinn Hughes.

I want to be the power ballad that lifts you up and holds you down

I wanna be the broken love song that feeds your misery

The next night the Canucks lost to the Flyers with just a game left before the two-week road trip. The loss was hard following Christmas, and Quinn was beating himself up over the game. You found him after finishing up your content for the night and he finished his interviews. He tried to smile at you, but it looked like a grimace from how tight his lips were.

“Hey how are you,” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” You say sheepishly.

“Yeah, I guess. Are you busy tonight? I was hoping we could hang out at my place and watch some movies,” Quinn’s question surprised you. You’ve only really hung out in group settings or when the team went out after a game.

“I’m free, let me just finish wrapping some stuff up and then we can go,” You say with butterflies forming in your chest. 

You go and find Megan and tell her everything that happened with Quinn.

“Shut up you’re going, right?” She asks.

“Yeah of course I am, I think I’d be stupid not to. I’m just nervous,” You respond. 

“Don’t be. He asked you over for a reason he must not hate you.” Megan says practically pushing you out the door.

You nod and go back to find Quinn talking to Elias while he waits for you to come back. 

“Hey ready to go?” You ask.

“You’re replacing me for our movie nights?” Elias blurts out of jealousy.

“No, not completely replacing you. I just didn’t want to wallow alone. Plus I figured Y/N would be free,” Quinn says nonchalantly. There’s a pang in your chest because not only is this a tradition with someone else, but that he just assumed you’re at his beck and call. You both arrive at his apartment after a silent drive from Rogers arena.

“Do you want anything to drink?” He asks, swaying back and forth. Is he nervous? Why would he be? It's not like this is a date or anything. This is something he always does with Elias. 

“Can I just have water?” You say quieter than intended. You felt small and out of place in his apartment.

“Of course. Do you want to pick out the movie? I figure you should do the honors for your first movie night,” He says as he pours your water. 

You think for a second and immediately know you should put on your favorite rom-com 13 going on 30. It’s kind of a comfort movie and you might calm down with something familiar. Once it’s pulled up he sits down with you on the couch.

And I can wish all that I want, but it won't bring us together

Plus I know whatever happens to me, I know it's for the better

He told you he’s never seen the movie as he sits down and watches intently until the birthday scene.

“Man, I feel so bad for that Matty kid.”

“Why,” you say, keeping your attention on the tv.

“His unrequited love with Jenna,” He says it so plainly like he’s toying with you for your confession.

“Yeah unrequited love is the worst,” You say finally looking over at him.

“Why do you have feelings like that for someone,” He chuckles at the idea. You realize he doesn’t know that you have feelings for him.

“No. I did at one point,” You say, and the subject is dropped. You watch the rest of the movie and he orders you an Uber home. You realized that night that your crush needs to end no matter how hard it is.

And when broken bodies are washed ashore

Who am I to ask for more, more, more?

Quinn seems to be in a much better mood from the loss the night before. But you want to avoid him at all costs today. Your boss asks you to do something with him later. There’s nothing you rather do than work with Quinn, but You want to stay in your boss’ good graces.

She asked you to shoot a video with a concept that had been performing well on socials with other players. You find Quinn before he steps out for practice to let him know you’re following him for the day.

“Hopefully you can keep a better balance than you did with Brock,” He chuckles.

“Yeah I’ll try my best not to fall today,” you say with your signature blush covering your cheeks.

“Well if you do I’ll catch you. Can’t have my favorite staffer breaking something.” Oh, he must be playing with you. Your face is completely flushed and you give a court nod before running to the restroom to calm down.

You start to think over your last couple of conversations. Had he been flirting? Or giving you more attention than usual? You think about how he rushed to your side and left practice just to help you even if it got him in trouble. You think about his smile when you bring his coffee. You think about last night how he was so tuned into unrequited love.

“No Y/N there are bigger things than a silly little crush. You have to go do your job.” You say to yourself in the mirror. After your pep talk, you go out on the ice, shoot your content quickly, and then go back to your office to edit. You tell yourself that you need to stop focusing so much on Quinn.

But you're breathing in my open mouth

You're the gun in my lips that will blow my brains out

The Canucks win the next game, and before you can make it into the locker room to shoot content Brock stops you.

“Y/N! Are you coming out with us tonight?” He asks. You can see Quinn’s head pick up waiting for your response.

“Yeah, I can. I just need to film a couple of the post-game interviews and then I can leave,” you say excited for a drink.

When you all arrive at the usual bar you head straight up to the bar. You give a once-over of the crowd and how many people are there tonight. You go find the boys at their usual table. And you find Quinn’s eyes already staring at yours. 

“I think I’m going to go dance,” You tell Elias before turning around to head to the dance floor.

“Where’s she going,” Quinn asks Elias, watching your retreating figure.

“Going to dance. Are you going to replace me there too?” He jokes.

“Haha, very funny. I’ll be back in a bit,” Quinn says as he leaves to find you.

Of course, you’re in the middle of the crowd and once he finds you’re already making new friends. Quinn laughs to himself because you’re so sociable unlike him. 

“Are you ok if I join you,” Quinn says leaning in. You can only nod and note his proximity but brush it off due to the crowded area.

He dances close to you as music plays over the speakers. His energy and presence make you feel alive. He follows your moves as you’re face to face and you never want this night to end. However, at the end of the song, he notices your glass is empty and offers you another drink. You nod and follow him back to the bar.

“Aren’t you going to order something?” You ask after he only requests your drink. He shakes his head no and gets closer.

“I figured I’d be the designated driver to take you home tonight,” he says with his breath hitting your ear. The alcohol already going straight to your head makes the room spin and gives you confidence.

“Usually I only take guys home after the third date,” You joke, instantly regretting it. He laughs it off and says that you need more water instead of a drink. Even though you’re tipsy you remember that this crush is going to hurt you regardless of how he feels.

I want to make you drive all night just because I said maybe you should come over

I want to make you fall in love as hard as my poor parents' teenage daughter

At the end of the night, Quinn keeps his promise as he ushers you into his car. You’re giggling as he pulls you towards safety and you say goodnight to all of the team.

“Goodnight Pettyyyyy,” you slur and yell as you get further from him. He just waves and chuckles. 

“Get her home safe Huggy,” Elias shouts back drunkenly.

“Will do. See you tomorrow,” Quinn says finally getting you in the car.

“You know my dad used to drive my mom back from bars back in the day,” you say once he starts driving as you stare out the window.

“Oh yeah?” Quinn chuckles at your drunken state.

You feel so grateful that he decided to take you home. You hate taking Uber, especially after drinking. You take note that the bar is nowhere close to your apartment and his place is on the other side of town. It wasn’t an easy thing for him to do, but he did it without you even having to ask. Maybe your unrequited love isn’t so unrequited and you fall asleep in your bed hopeful for what the next day could contain.

She'll be the best you ever had if you let her

The next morning was rough to get out of bed, but get excited when memories of Quinn going out of his way to bring you home come back to you. You get ready and go to the coffee shop you always stop at with a pep in your step.

Once you get to the arena you go straight to the locker room as usual except you stop right outside of the door when you hear Elias and Quinn talking.

“So you and Y/N,” Elias said with a suggestive and teasing tone.

“Nothing happened between us. She’s sweet and all, but I’m not into her that way,” He says quickly. Your heart shattered and you turned around to leave before you could be caught.

You drop your things off at your desk and run to the restroom to let out a good cry. After a minute or two you compose yourself before going back to your desk and delivering the coffee like nothing happened.

You hand Quinn's coffee and he thanks you with his usual stupid smile like he didn’t say anything ten minutes ago. You give Elias his coffee and leave the locker room without saying a word. Little did you know, Elias followed you out and caught up to you in the hallway.

“You heard him didn’t you?” He asks you with sad eyes.

“Yeah, but it’s ok I knew this would happen. I’ll be ok. It’s just going to be awkward on the plane because we always sit together for roadies,” you say with a sigh.

“Sit with me,” Elias says simply and you just look at him perplexed. “I’ll just say I wanted my own movie night with you.” You nod and tell Elias you have to go for your meeting before you all leave.

I know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

You walk into the plane after your meeting and you finalize some posts to be uploaded while you’re flying. You see Quinn watching you expectantly for you to take your unassigned seat next to him. However, You miss the surprised and sad gaze he has after you walk past him to sit with Elias.

Elias always sits near the back of the plane, and Quinn knows you hate sitting so far back. He hears you and Elias pick a movie to watch during the flight and he gets jealous. It’s small but Quinn always wanted to do that on flights with you, but you always were more interested in reading or sleeping. 

“Do you want to watch 27 Dresses? Isn’t that your favorite?” Quinn hears Elias ask you and Quinn scoffs. He knew even before you came over to watch a movie that 13 going on 30 was your favorite move. That’s why he watched it before he invited you over so he’d have good commentary for your movie night.

You grab Elias’ hand as the plane lifts and apologize and say it’s muscle memory. You always get nervous on planes but Quinn always calms you down. You and Elias have fun for the rest of the flight. Watching movies even though it was something you wanted to do with Quinn. But you know getting over your crush is for the better. You and Quinn wouldn’t have worked out anyway.

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

Know it’s for the better

The next day you wake up in your hotel room after letting yourself sleep in a little bit. Even on road trips, you would make a point of getting Quinn’s coffee. But you decided now that you know he doesn’t feel the same, so you didn’t see the point in doing it anymore. You come down from your hotel room and see Quinn in the lobby. 

“Oh hey, I was just going to wait for you to come back from getting coffee for everyone,” Quinn says sheepishly.

“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to set an alarm and overslept. I can’t go today because I have to go meet the Blue’s social team before the game to go over rules for the game,” You say with little emotion.

“Oh ok, that makes sense. I guess I just see you at the arena,” Quinn says sadly.

“See you there!” You say with a smile leaving the lobby. This was the first time you felt like you could maybe get over Quinn Hughes.

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

The team returns from a successful road trip and you feel energized, which rarely happens after traveling for two weeks straight. You and Elias became good friends over the trip and now realize there is a lot more to your work than just Quinn.

After your meeting, you and Megan are talking about your plans as you settle back into Vancouver.

“You should let me set you up,” Megan blurts out, cutting off your list of chores.

“What? Who would it even be?” You’re intrigued where she’s going with this.

“My friend Evan just got out of a relationship a couple of months ago. I feel like you guys would really get along. Plus it could be good for-”

“You know what I’m in. Can you send me his number or something?” You decided you were ready to move on.

“Yes! I’ll send it right now. I'm so excited.”

You go to the ice to get ready for some practice content. Quinn is out first and gives you a weak smile. You feel a mixture of butterflies and your heart clenches. You missed Quinn. You haven’t had a full conversation with him since you all went out. Even though you’re trying to convince yourself to, you don’t know if you’ll be able to move on from Quinn Hughes.

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

Your date with Evan is today and you’re excited. You feel giddy all day thinking about the prospect of dating again. Your boss lets you go home early because you’ve finished your content and are ahead of schedule. As you walk out to your car you see the team going back to the locker room from practice.

“Hey Y/N are you coming out with us tonight? It’s nothing crazy we just wanted to go out to celebrate the road trip,” Brock asks 

“I would love to, but I actually have a date tonight,” You say with a grin and blush on your face.

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

There’s a couple of wolf whistles from the team when you tell them your plans. Quinn’s heart drops at the idea of you going out with someone else. He knew you guys hadn't talked a lot during the trip, but he just figured it was because you were busy with work or tired. He didn’t think it was because you started talking to someone.

He sulks as he gets ready to go home, and can’t stop thinking about who your date could be with and what you’re doing. He knows you look great no matter what you wear, but the idea of you dressing up for some other guy makes him uneasy. 

Quinn gets home and thinks about texting you, but what would he even say? “Good luck on your date hope you have fun” when he prays it goes badly so he has a shot again? He thinks about texting you to not go on the date, but knows it’s not his place and you might not feel the same way.

Instead he texts Elias if he wants to hang out. Elias comes over and immediately notices his sour mood. 

“What’s got you so down?”

“Nothing I guess I’m just in my head,” Quinn says.

“Is it about Y/N? I thought you said you don’t have feelings for her,” Elias says as a joke knowing Quinn would never admit it out loud.

“I didn’t think I did, but I’ve really missed her over the last couple of weeks and it made me think about her a lot. I just don’t know what to do,” Quinn says with his head in his hands. Elias is shocked at his revelation and doesn’t know what to say.

“I doubt the date is going to be that great. Tell her how you feel after,” Elias says and Quinn just nods his head. 

Know it's for the better

Know it's for the better

Know it’s for the better

You get ready for your date and get even more excited as it gets closer to your date. You know it might not go anywhere with Evan, but you’re just proud of yourself for trying to move on from Quinn.

You go to meet Evan at a restaurant downtown, and give him a hug when you see him. You quickly notice he’s the complete opposite of Quinn; he has brown eyes instead of Quinn’s blue eyes. Evan’s hair is light brown and barely has a wave vs Quinn’s dark brown curls. 

You quickly take note that Evan is more talkative and has a bigger personality than Quinn. He doesn’t seem to like silence and is always asking you more questions about yourself even as you try to look over the menu. Then you realize that if you truly want to get over Quinn, you’ve to stop comparing Evan to him.

That's when you guys hit it off. You realize he’s really funny and also understands your humor. You both have a lot in common too. You can’t stop smiling throughout the rest of the night. 

Know it’s for the better

Know it’s for the better

Know it’s for the better

After your dinner you both don’t want the date to be over just yet so you decide to take a walk down the street to continue your conversation. You have no idea how long you guys have been together, but haven’t gotten bored of each other for the night.

You stumble across an ice cream shop, and both note how much you love ice cream. And even though it’s freezing outside you both decide to get some to end the night. After you finish you both decide to call it a night and He walks you back to your car.

Know It’s for the better

Know It’s for the better

Know it’s for the better

“I hate to say it this way, but I didn’t think I could have this much fun on a date,” Evan says looking down at you.

“No me too, but I had an amazing time.”

“Do you want to go out again soon? I don’t know what your schedule looks like, but-” Evan rambles on and you decide to cut him off.

“I would love to. I’ll let you know when I’m free,” You say with a smile.

You get in the car and can wipe the grin off of your face as you drive home. You get ready for bed and almost want to text Elias, but know he’s with the team and didn’t want to interrupt their fun. 

Know it's for the better

I never grew up with you

And you’re not my waiting room

The next day you go into the office with your smile still wide. You see Megan in the parking lot and walk in together telling her about your date. 

“You were so right, me and Evan got along so well. He’s great. We’re going on another date too” Megan squeals and tells you she’s so excited for you. 

Little did you know that Quinn was nearby and heard everything. You spot him not thinking much about it and he gives you a small smile. You realize that your life will continue on after your crush on Quinn and you’re ok with that.

[melswifeasf]

Find my way back to you pt 4

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Pairing: Samantha Carpenter x Fem!OC

Summary: Sam realizes Estelle isn’t the person she once knew.

Warnings: underage drinking

(word count: 3733)

eight years ago…

Saturday nights were debatably the best nights of the whole week. Elias threw parties most of the time which always lightened Estelle’s mood even if she had the shittiest week ever.

October was always a memorable month to throw parties, especially when it got closer to halloween. that never changed. specifically that Saturday night, it was a week before halloween and Elias decided to throw a party. he spent most for the day setting up the house with his sister.

at first he thought it was pointless to decorate if everyone would just end up trashing the house but Estelle insisted on making it the most memorable halloween party of the year and Elias could never really say no to her.

that resulted in them buying over two hundred dollars worth of decoration. that Saturday morning, Estelle and her brother woke up and began setting up with Alex and Xavier. they started with the living room, hanging up fake cobwebs on some of the corners and throwing it lazily on the coffee table as well as setting up a fog machine that they already owned from prior parties. along with that, they set up fake skeletons and hung up a couple of other things that fit the theme of the party.

they set up most of the house with the same things, except the upstairs which everyone knew was off limits and the outside that already had decorations since October first.

they spent most of the afternoon pregaming and listening to Estelle’s orders that by the end of it they were all pretty buzzed and knew they would be wasted not even halfway through the party.

once the sun had set Estelle had gone up to her room to get ready. she initially wanted to match costumes with her girlfriend but she had been a total bitch all week so Estelle decided to ditch the whole ‘Joker and Harley Quinn’ and instead wore something more basic and yet would be turning a lot of heads. as she looked in the mirror she saw a black skimpy dress that hugged her body painfully well that barely reached a forth of her thigh and pushed her cleavage together quite a bit. she had on black wings to match with it and dark eyeshadow. she knew her girlfriend would be pissed by the end of the night and yet she couldn’t care less, she deserved to feel wanted.

her brother had on something basic as well, him and his friends decided to all just wear black button ups along with dress pants and a purge mask that would light up with a press of a button.

Estelle found it cute that they all decided to match. the three boys had been a part of each others lives since kindergarten and it seemed like that would truly never change.

it wasn’t until it began getting dark out that people arrived.

Estelle was buzzed by the time her girlfriend arrived. as soon as she saw the girl enter her home she squealed loudly as she ran toward her and threw her body into the taller girls embrace. Valerie chuckled as she catches her easily and brings her lips up to meet Estelle’s in a sloppy kiss.

“i missed you” Estelle said softly once she had pulled away.

“miss you too” Valerie responded. once Estelle was on the ground she took in her girlfriends costume, she had on a plain white shirt that had fake blood on it along with plain black jeans and a leather jacket on top. the side of her mouth had a slight drop of fake dried blood that indicated she was a vampire.

Estelle almost rolled her eyes at how little effort she put into the costume but decided against it as she instead grabbed the girls hand and led her to the kitchen where she began to pour her a drink.

three shots of tequila and two beers later Estelle was in her girlfriends arms giggling at whatever stupid thing she had just said. unlike Estelle Valerie was more sober, opting out of the shots and sticking with the beer Estelle bad handed her the second she walked in the house.

there was a song playing in the background - one Estelle couldn’t quite put a name on. her heart was beating fast and it was thumping in her ears causing most of the noise around her to be drowned out, she felt wobbly and her eyes were starting to feel slightly heavier and her body looser. none of that took the smile off of her lips as she had her arm hanging loosely on her girlfriend shoulder as the other was gripping the back of her neck for support. Valerie had both of her hands on the shorter girls waist, the dress she was wearing began to hike up making Valerie reach toward it and pull it down every couple of seconds.

she was pissed at Estelle for wearing such a short dress but Elias was close and watching them like a hawk so she couldn’t do anything about it. not yet at least.

wet kisses were being littered on Estelle’s neck as she danced with her girlfriend. she knew she was supposed to be focused on that but her eyes couldn’t leave Sam Carpenters. Sam was standing across the room with two girls and and a couple of guys, she had a beer in hand and much like Estelle, she wasn’t focused on the people around her, instead her eyes couldn’t leave Estelle’s figure.

Sam was in a orange jumpsuit that had cuffs hanging on the side. she had on a white tank top that was on full display seeing as the jumpsuit wasn’t zipped and it was hanging by her hips.

she looked breathtaking and Estelle couldn’t seem to find a way to look away. Sam’s eyes were glued onto Estelle as if she were a magnet.

the shorter girl bit her lip in an attempt to keep her whimpers to herself. the feeling of her girlfriends lips on her neck as well as having Sam watching her like she wanted to take her right then and there, it was making her knees weak.

Valerie’s leg was in between Estelles and the girl wanted nothing more than to grind against it to have some kind of relief but there were too many people in the room and although she was wasted, she was conscious enough to know she’d regret it in the morning.

Valerie pulled away from the girls neck and whispered something in her girlfriends ear, Estelle wasn’t listening as she simply nodded her head and agreed with whatever dirty talk the girl was spewing.

she couldn’t concentrate with the stupid smirk plastered on Sam’s lips. she was enjoying this a little too much.

Estelle’s breathing shortened and she pulled away from Valerie completely. her legs were wobbly and she was beginning to regret wearing heals.

“what’s wrong?” Valerie asked a flash of concern overcoming her features.

Estelle shook her head, “i just need to use the bathroom” the short girl said and didn’t give her girlfriend a chance to respond as she turned around and began to walk away.

she took deep breaths as she slightly shoved people out of her path needing to find the nearest bathroom as fast as possible.

finally once she was out of the living room and in a dark hallway she took in a deep breath, leaning against the wall as she held her hand against her chest where she felt her heart thumping hastily against her hand.

“fuck” Estelle cursed lowly. she could the many things but never a cheater, it didn’t matter how many times she and Valerie fought, she never thought about being with anyone else. but seeing Sam was making things all too confusing. she shouldn’t have ever given her a ride, she should’ve simply called one of Sams friends that Estelle had seen her hanging out with all the time and called it a day. god.

Estelle had her eyes closed when she heard footsteps approaching. she didn’t open them, not yet. it wasn’t until she felt the presence of someone else in front of her that they slowly fluttered open revealing a pair of bright green eyes.

Sam was standing in front of her with a slight smirk on her lips.

“what do you want?” the short girl snapped as she crossed her arms against her chest.

the Carpenter girl shook her head slightly amused. she didn’t answer verbally as she took a step closer until she was completely invading Estelle’s space.

Estelle’s breath hitched in her throat, her heart beating even faster. instinctley her head snapped to the side where she was once dancing with her girlfriend. she couldn’t see her through the crowd of people causing a wave of relief to flood through her. the dark haired girl turned back toward Sam where the cocky smirk was still plastered on her lips.

“Sam..” Estelle whispered lowly, her eyes were looking into those dark beautiful eyes whilst Sam’s were trained on her lips. there was a look of pure want behind Sam’s eyes that was making Estelle clench her legs together.

the short girl followed Sam’s actions and glanced down at her plump lips, she didn’t have much time to even think as she felt them crash against her own.

Estelle gasped in slight surprise but soon kissed back, not wanting to miss this moment. Sams hands gripped Estelle’s waist firmly and Estelle wrapped her arms around Sams neck. Sam had the girl pressed against the wall roughly, her lips moving against Estelle’s hastily leaving no room for hesitation.

Estelle whimpered softly, the sensation of Sams hands gripping her waist with such strength making a wave of heat to run through her. she was sure there would be a faint bruise left behind from the tight grip.

Sams tongue was shoved into Estelle’s mouth, her lips wet and rough. Estelle was starting to feel light headed but she couldn’t find it in her to pull away. it felt too good and she knew once it was over it could never happen again.

wet kisses trailed away from Estelle’s mouth and toward her jaw down until they reached her neck.

Estelle moaned softly her hands tangled in Sams hair and she pulled on it roughly but at the same time pressed her head further into her neck to keep her there.

the shorter girl felt Sams leg in between her legs much like Valerie’s was before and she instantly began to grind down on it softly.

she was in the same position with her girlfriend just seconds prior and her this feeling was incomparable. everything was heightened.

“Sam” Estelle whimpered as the girls tongue met Estelle’s neck before she began to suck on the skin. at first the short girl let it happen, enjoying it for as long as she can. that is until she felt Sam begin to grow rougher, the force of it surely leaving a mark.

Estelle quickly shoved her away by her chest. Sam didn’t fight it, she looked slightly confused, her chest rising and falling heavily, her lips swollen and slightly red mixed with purple. the red was from Estelle’s lipstick and the bruise was from the force of it.

“i’m sorry i-” Sam began to speak but was cut off almost instantly by Estelle’s lips. it was a short kiss compared to the one they had just shared. Estelle pulled away, a dazed look in her eyes.

she opened her mouth to speak before it was closed shut quickly. she took one last glance at the Carpenter girl before she walked away quickly, shoving everyone in her way. she needed to get out of there quickly.

present

after leaving Tara’s room earlier that day, Estelle had stayed at the hospital. she wasn’t in uniform but she still had her gun in her holster belt. the girl was in the waiting area as she chatted with the receptionist. she was a nice lady and it’s not like she had much of anything else to do. Sam and her boyfriend were in Tara’s room meaning she couldn’t be there.

Judy told her to go home, it’s not like she could do much but Estelle couldn’t. she didn’t want to leave Tara alone and although her sister was there, Estelle was trained with a weapon and knew how to defend herself and others.

it’s not like she had work, Judy told her to take the week off after seeing Tara in such a traumatic way, Judy knew Estelle wouldn’t be focused on the job.

“help!” Estelle’s words were interrupted by the sound of someone’s faint yell and a door slamming open. “somebody help me! he’s trying to kill me!” immediately Estelle’s hand landed on her gun as she saw Sam running toward her at full speed.

the Carpenter girl ran into her ex girlfriend and Estelle quickly gripped her arms, “hey it’s okay. you’re okay. what’s going on?” she quickly said trying her best to calm the girl down.

her heart was thumping in her ears. she was taking deep breaths to try and calm her nerves, she was used to this, the danger of it all but that wasn’t why she was feeling this way. it was the fact that Sam had been in danger and she was just in the other room from her unable to protect her.

she reached for the door handle and threw it open, her gun pointed up as she swooped the room in one second. there were chairs and tables flipped over and on the floor but no sign of ghostface or a single person in sight.

once she was sure there was no one inside she walked back out where she saw Sam who was shaking still, a panicked look in her eyes.

“there’s no one inside” Estelle said softly as she approached her hesitantly. Sams eyes snapped toward her.

“what?”

“im gonna call Judy, okay?” the girl said gently as she pulled out her phone and went to her contact list.

while the girl was trying to contact the sheriff, Sam rushed to Taras room.

twenty minutes later they were all in Tara’s room again, Sam sitting beside her sister with Richie and Amber. Sam had said that the call came from Ambers phone so she was called in.

Estelle was leaning against the wall as she stared at Sam. the girl was staring into space with a distant, almost hollow look in her eyes. she looked exhausted and Estelle wanted nothing more than to hug Sam.

as soon as the thought popped into the girls head she shook it off, Sam and her were over. Sam left and broke her heart in the process. plus she was with Richie now.. although Estelle wasn’t quite sure what she saw in him.

the girls eyes snapped away from her ex as she looked between Amber and Richie. she didn’t trust him, not as much Amber considering she always like the girl. plus she knew there was something going on between Tara and her and she didn’t think Amber would be capable of hurting the girl she loved.

the two never became official but Estelle had popped in one Sunday morning to bring Tara breakfast after having driven her and Amber home from a party seeing as they were both wasted, only to see them both in a very.. compromising position on the living room couch.

from that day on Estelle learned to not listen to Tara when she would say to keep a key. she left her spare key on the kitchen island that morning.

Estelle’s thoughts were fading away as she heard Judy speak. “i’ve got a body outside a bar on Main. and then you get attacked here. you said the call came from Ambers number?”

“so? we know he cloned my phone before when he attacked Tara.” Amber said as she looked down at her ‘best friend’

“or, and i’m just spit-balling here you’re the killer” Richie said making Estelle roll her eyes.

fuck him.

the girl cleared her throat loudly making Judy glance in her direction. Estelle motioned toward the boy with her eyes which Judy immediately understood.

“and where were you when all this happened?” Judy asked with narrowed eyes.

“i was..” he trailed off. “watching Netflix”

“ooh yeah.” Amber nodded “super solid alibi bro” she said looking at him.

“so where were you” he rebutted with a slight smirk. one Estelle desperately wanted to punch.

“she was being questioned at the Sheriffs station” Estelle said this time quick to Ambers defense. she had known these kids since they were little and she wasn’t going to let some nobody who just now started dating Sam come accusing Amber of it to try and clean his own hands.

Judy nodded as she handed the raven girl her cell phone. “yeah. i came as soon as i heard. but you know, the Netflix alibi is good, too”

Estelle chuckled internally at her words.

“both of you, stop it” Judy snapped.

“you’re gonna put more cops on her room, right?” Sam asked ignoring little quarrel that had just taken place.

“yes” Judy nodded. “and i can move you to a private floor. Deputy Vinson knows what he’s doing. you’ll be safe” the sheriff said trying to ease the sisters worries.

“like we’ve been so far?”

the blonde woman smiled sarcastically, “Samantha, let’s step outside” she said nodding toward the door. the two did so and Estelle stiffened, she knew Judy wasn’t a fan of Sam.

“so.. why do you have a gun?” Richie asked looking at the girl. if Tara wasn’t literally fearing her life she would’ve laughed at how stupid his question was.

Estelle didn’t look at him, her jaw tightened. “ever heard of a cop?” she asked sarcastically.

Amber laughed and Estelle didn’t say anything else as she walked to the door and left the room. she was met with the back of Sams head, Judy gone by now.

as soon as the door closed Sam turned around. she looked slightly mad, even with how neutral her expression was Estelle could read her like an open book.

Estelle cleared her throat softly, “i’ll be around the hospital in case you guys need anything” she said. she didn’t wait for a response as she left the girl alone.

the short girl rushed to follow Judy. “Judy” she called out finally getting the blonde woman’s attention. she stopped in place and turned to face Estelle. “what happened? what did you say?”

Judy sighed. “just that it’s best she leaves” she shrugged.

“come on Judy. you know she’s just worried about her sister,i get where you’re coming from but she went through a lot of shit when we were younger” Estelle said in Sams defense.

Judy shook her head, “if she stirs any trouble further then this, i won’t hesitate to lock her up” the blonde threatened earning a quick nod from Estelle.

“aye aye”

eight years ago

Estelle was furious. after the little incident with Sam at the party, Valerie was pissed at her for the rest of the weekend. they had gotten into a huge argument that same night and hadn’t talked since.

the teen walked through the halls in search for the Carpenter girl, she had a determined look in her eyes, her jaw locked and her posture stiff.

she knew where she would be finding her.

walking for another minute she was right. she saw Sam near the back of the school with her little group of stoner friends. she marched up to them, standing in front of Sam.

“we need to talk” she grit out not looking at anyone but her and walking away. Sam didn’t even get a chance to respond as the girl was already practically stomping away. her friends laughed at her making Sam roll her eyes and throw up the finger.

she followed behind Estelle with furrowed brows, she was confused on where the girl was taking her until they were met with the girls bathroom. Sam smirked.

“is this round two?” she joked but Estelle wasn’t amused. once they were both inside the short girl locked the door behind them and searched the bathroom to make sure there was no one inside. Sam raised a brow, “are you gonna tell me why i’m here?”

“what the fuck was that at the party” Estelle snapped looking at Sam furiously.

Sam was slightly confused, “the kiss? i thought you-”

“you thought that i what?” Estelle cut her off, “that i wanted you to kiss me where my fucking girlfriend could see us? are you stupid?”

Sam chuckled amused, “i’m sorry. i guess when you were staring at me whilst she was practically fucking you that perhaps that’s what you wanted. complete miscommunication” she shrugged.

Estelle groaned as she threw her hands up and pulled at her anger in frustration, she wanted to slap that stupid smirk away from her lips. “this isn’t funny”

Sams smirk slowly faded and she sighed softly, “i’m sorry. okay?”

but that wasn’t enough for Estelle. she rolled her eyes once more as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “you aren-”

Sam didn’t let her finish her thought as she quickly grabbed Estelle’s wrist, “what is that?” she asked and pulled her sleeve up. there was a dark bruise on her arm in the form of a hand, it was angry and purple meaning the person who caused it had to have out a lot of pressure.

Estelle snatched her hand away in an instant, “it’s nothing” she quickly shook her head but Sam didn’t believe her. she tilted her head, a look of sorry still etched on her features.

“Estelle-”

the girl held her hand up to prevent her from talking, “just leave me alone Sam, okay?”

she didn’t leave room for a response as she turned on her heel and rushed out of the bathroom.

[agendabymooner]

mean ! max v. x ofc (hearth sister!ofc) - tltl series

"all you are is mean. and a liar. and pathetic."

summary: sylvie hearth and max verstappen didn't think that their friendship would come to the point where one of them would be attending a court hearing and earning money out of it. they also didn't think they'd come to the point where their friendship shifted into something more than "friendly." (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)

content warning: literally blurb/filler chapter, use of explicit language, brief court hearing scenario, spoiler: sylvie is getting a hot wheels shelf, shitty ex-friends, mentions bullying, defamation, protective!Toto, they're so in love and it's so apparent

note: mustang and cadillac are at it again :))) i also do not know much about where max's karting career as a child?? so forgive me if some of them are incorrect

masterlist

Sylvie Ford’s Former Racing Academy Issues an Apology Five Years After Her Expulsion, Claiming The Report of Misconduct Was False.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen Addresses Sylvie Ford’s Expulsion from Their Academy - The young driver publicly expressed his guilt for believing the false information. 

Sylvie Ford Sues Former Academy Classmates For Defamation and Emotional Distress — The Defendants Hoping to Receive $1M each for Damages in their Public Images.

2017

“This complaint was filed by Miss Tilly Hearth on February 12, 2008.”

“Yes.”

“Can you please tell us more about the complaint?”

“I don’t know much, but from what I am told, it was against me.”

“It says here that the report was made two months after Miss Hearth entered the Rotax Max Minimax class. You have been constantly teasing her about her abilities in the tracks.”

“If that’s what it says there,” Matt Bauer’s face remained impassive as he continued to look straight ahead.

“Looking at the records, it’s almost as if there is a report filed against you, Mr. Elias Whittaker and Mr. James Hudson every other month for the same reason from the same person— which is bullying,” Sylvie’s lawyer, Alicia, said.

“Objection,” the man’s attorney said from their table, “argumentative.”

“It’s not, Attorney Peterson,” the judge said, “Attorney Mason is simply stating the reports’ reasoning. Unless you missed something while you’re reading the evidence?”

Sylvie sighed quietly, her chin resting against the table while listening. Her other lawyer, Kim Halloway, sat next to her. The man nudged her side lightly, making her tilt her head in his direction before shooting him a smile.

She was getting bored of the hearing. But now that she thought of it, Aimee and Stevie were feeling that way somewhere in the back room.

This was way worse than Legally Blonde if you were to ask any of them. But then again, the Hearth sisters never really expected to find themselves in the court at this early stage of their adulthood.

It was already 2017, and what was a better way to start the year than to find out that your sister was bullied and kicked out of the academy without your knowledge? Not even their mother knew what happened, just that she left the class and continued her education.

Sylvie was headstrong, and she never backed out of a challenge. After each time her sister Tilly reported what she saw, Sylvie merely shrugged it off. She ignored the boys’ behaviour so much that she couldn’t face the consequences of her mental health.

Her family had been disappointed, of course, because why would she hide it away? She would’ve gotten the help that she needed. But the disappointment didn’t last long. Instead, they all started to find a way to speed up the process of the hearing— finding the best lawyers in England and getting each evidence to support her case.

And when Max Verstappen promised he’d be there for her, he never lied. He spent his Christmas with Sylvie and her family as they worked together on stating the case and essential details. Max decided not to spend his time with Dad, just telling him he’ll spend his time in England with Lando. Victoria had flown in to spend the holiday with him and their mother, Sophie, but left after.

He spent so much time with her that he nearly pissed himself whenever Toto visited the estate with Tilly and their son. Toto still didn’t like Max, and it was apparent. Was it because he was a Red Bull driver, or was it because he was a boy who was acting way friendly with Toto’s sister-in-law? Max really couldn’t tell. Looking at the Austrian man who would immediately turn his way was hard.

Regardless, Max remained there. By the third day of the hearing, he was brought up to provide his testimony. He gave them everything that needed to be heard, including how his “friends” manipulated him and how he felt so guilty about not finding out sooner.

And speaking of friends, Matt Bauer and the other two tried reaching out to Max, but the Dutchman didn’t have it. He never looked in their direction whenever they were outside the court, only keeping Sylvie close as they walked out of the courtroom.

So yes, this was more boring than Legally Blonde. Because Max wasn’t there as he finished his duty and nobody could sass her beside him. This wasn’t the kind of hearing she wanted. She really wanted him to chat shit.

She might text him after this.

The lawsuit hearing ended when the jury decided that Sylvie Hearth won her case. Therefore, she was receiving £1.5 million from the three men. Of course, they were outraged, but it was their fault that they had acted like fools. They couldn’t use the “boys will be boys” as an excuse because they all knew that even Max and their other racing friends wouldn’t do something as stupid as falsely exposing their only female counterpart, who had been kind and honest to them.

Hearing his phone going off, Max Verstappen peered down at his screen and found Sylvie’s childhood photo and her specific ringtone displayed. He excused himself from his father, who had asked him where he was going. He merely waved off Jos, going outside to answer the call.

“Hello,” he greeted her. He really should have worn earplugs.

“MAX EMILIAN!” Sylvie screamed through the other side of the call, “WE WON BITCH!”

“YAY!” Max nearly jumped up and down in joy as his smile widened. “You won!”

“I’m a million and a half pounds richer, Max!” She cackled hysterically, “They’re paying me a million and a half!”

“Look at you!” He exclaimed, “And I thought Christian’s paying you well this year.”

“A million and a half…” she muttered quietly before saying, “You know what that means, Max?”

“What?”

“WE CAN GET A CUSTOM HOT WHEELS SHELF FOR MY FLAT!” Sylvie squealed in excitement. Max could hear the kicking of her feet from the other end. “Max! My collection’s going to be displayed!”

Max only laughed at her excitement. He definitely missed her. This Sylvie, he meant. He missed Sylvie, who would get excited over any ordeal. It could be her podium win or the downfall of their enemy— he didn’t care; he missed Sylvie like this. God, the things he would do to see her giddy face.

Maybe it was terrible for him to laugh at his ex-friends’ demise, but it wasn’t that bad if Sylvie got the last laugh. Perhaps next time, they shouldn’t treat anyone like that again— they’d still be able to keep half a million pounds in their bank account if they decided to do so.

[dreamwritesimagines]

Enamored [29] - Confessions

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback my loves, you’re amazing!❤ I hope you’ll like this chapter as well, and please let me know what you think, thank you! ❤ And as always, thank you @theskytraveler for helping me with the chapter and the story❤

Summary: Midnight leads to whispered confessions. 

Warnings: Regency era society and social rules, mentions of sickness and death.

Word Count: 5000

Series Masterlist

Now that your best friend was back from her honeymoon, you couldn’t wait to actually enjoy living in the same house with her. You had been looking forward to it ever since she had got engaged to your brother, and now that they were married, you were going to have so much fun together.

Well, at least that had been the plan.

Your brother, on the other hand, seemed to have different plans.

You could barely see Cecily for almost a week after they had returned from Stormview. Anytime Elias was in the house, they were both busy, most of the time missing the breakfast or dinner. You had attempted to go upstairs to remind them of the time but for some reason, both the Duke and Aunt Lavinia had stopped you, telling you to leave them be.

So when Elias went outside to meet with Anthony and Simon at the gentlemen’s club, you had all but rushed upstairs to spend some time with Cecily.

It was the norm for a husband and wife to have separate bedrooms connected with a private door so that they could go to each other’s rooms if needed, though you weren’t sure why. Yet, Cecily’s room remained completely untouched, and apparently her and Elias had decided to spend their nights in Elias’s room, using Cecily’s for her wardrobe and her belongings.

“You sleep in the same bed then?” you asked Cecily with a frown on your face and she lowered her head to hide her smile as she made herself busy with the earrings she was trying to choose from the jewelry box in her lap.

“Um—yes.”

Your frown deepened. “But why? You have your own bed here.”

Cecily shifted her weight, trying to repress her smile and you sat up straighter.

“Cece, you must tell me what happens after one gets married!”

She pressed the back of her hands on her cheeks, shaking her head.

“I cannot!”

“But why not?” you whined, “I would’ve told you if it were me!”

“I will tell you right before your wedding,” she promised you. “And I will do a better job than my mama did.”

“What did she say?”

“Something completely different.”

“But what happens, really?” you insisted. “I will never get married, I told you. I’ve decided to become a spinster.”

She tilted her head to shoot you a look. “You’re being nonsense.”

“I’m not!” you said. “So you might as well tell me now. Is it that scandalous?”

“Oh more scandalous than you could ever think.”

“Cece!”

“I swear to you I will tell you before your wedding—you’re not going to become a spinster,” she cut you off when she saw you open your mouth. “Speaking of weddings, how is everything with you and Anthony?”

You pulled back slightly. “What do you mean?”

“How’s your…” she trailed off and smiled slightly. “Friendship?”

“Why do you sound so sarcastic about my friendship with him?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about—what do you think about these earrings for the Buxton Ball? With that gown over there?”

You thought for a second, then shook your head.

“Not those but,” you said, reaching into the jewelry box to pull out a pair of diamond earrings. “These would go well with—”

You never got to finish your sentence when a resounding thud reached upstairs and a sharp scream made you and Cecily both leap out of the bed to get out of the room.

“My lord!” you heard a maid’s voice right before you reached the stairs and as soon as you saw what was happening at the bottom of the stairs, your blood ran cold.

The Duke was lying on the floor unconscious, two maids and the butler were checking whether he was alright while the rest of the staff rushed to the foyer. You could almost feel your whole mind freeze in panic and you just stood there, pinned to your spot, unable to look away from him. Cecily ran past you to hurry downstairs as she got on her knees to check whether he was still breathing, then turned to the head valet.

“Send word to the doctor and Lord Westcliff,” she said. “Now!”

                                                            *

The footmen carried the Duke to his bedroom as soon as the doctor got there. You and Cecily were basically the only members of the family in the house at the moment, Elias was outside, Kenneth was with Hugh probably at the park and Iona had gone to the modiste with Aunt Lavinia, so all decisions were to be made by you or Cecily—

Well.

Made by Cecily, because you couldn’t even think through the panic, let alone decide on anything or speak.

You kept your eyes on your father who was lying on the bed unconscious as the doctor talked to Cecily while you just leaned back to the wall by the corner of the room, trying your hardest to focus but before you could pull yourself together, the door opened and Elias walked in, breathing hard as if he had just run there.

“Elias!” Cecily rushed to him to hug him and he wrapped his arms around her for a moment as Anthony stepped into the room as well, making you turn your head.

Somehow, his mere presence was enough to soothe this horror that had taken control of you. He kept your gaze in his for a moment, but before he could do anything, Elias walked past him to pull you into a hug.

“Are you alright?” he asked and you nodded slowly.

“I am,” you murmured and he pressed a kiss on top of your head before walking back to the doctor. You bit inside your cheek, leaning back to the wall as your eyes followed him until they fell on the Duke. Anthony stepped closer to you to stand beside you, his hand close to yours, almost touching.

“What happened?” Elias asked the doctor and he took a deep breath.

“My lord, it seems that Duke Avon has had a problem with his heart,” he said. “Small issues such as these are not ideal, but can occur from time to time. That’s not the threat at this point, but…”

You held your breath and Elias swallowed thickly.

“But?” he asked and the doctor took a deep breath.

“The marchioness says he fell down the stairs?”

“He did,” Cecily said and the doctor looked at the Duke.

“A head injury such as this may cause fever.”

And just like that, blood rushed to your ears, muffling your hearing. You could swear you were pinned to your spot as you stared at the doctor, completely frozen.

“These couple of hours are crucial, and we cannot do nothing else but wait.”

Out.

You need to get out.

“Excuse me,” you heard yourself murmur before you walked out of the room as fast as you could as if someone was chasing you. You had no idea where you were going, you just knew you couldn’t stay there any longer, not when—

No.

You couldn’t think about that, not now.

You went through the first door you got to and found yourself in the library, but you could barely pay any attention. You went to open the nearest window, then sat down on the floor before you lied on your back, sniffling.

Fever.

It was fever.

Like before, like what happened with your mother, like those last days.

You shut your eyes tight, willing to stop the thoughts from making their way to your mind and tried to focus on something else, anything else.

The footsteps coming closer made you open your eyes and Anthony entered your sight. It wasn’t logical at all, yet you couldn’t help but feel as if everything would be fine just because he was there. Though panic was pulsing through your veins, him being with you offered more relief than you thought was possible.

“That looks uncomfortable,” he commented. “Do you mind if I join you?”

You kept your eyes on him before you turned your head to fix your gaze on the highest point of the shelf.

“Why not? It’s a funeral after all.”

“It’s not a funeral.”

“It’s fever.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t think you understand,” you insisted. “It’s fever, Anthony.”

A look of realization dawned on his face before he took a deep breath, then came to lay beside you.

“I’m sorry about your mother,” he said slowly. “I really am, but it doesn’t have to be the same for your father. Sometimes a fever is just fever.”

“And sometimes it’s not,” you murmured. “And before you say anything, I’m not going back there, I can’t. I already saw one parent die and I’d say that’s enough for one year, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Even if you’re right,” he said. “I’m not saying you are, but even if you are, trust me. You would regret it until the rest of your days if you weren’t there for him when the…when the time came.”

You pulled your brows together and turned to look at him better, guilt crashing down on you before you sniffled again.

“Can we just stay here for a little while?”

He smiled softly as held out his hand for you, and you hesitated for a moment, then entwined your fingers with his. A warmth spread from your hand, spreading through your whole system as his thumb caressed your skin, distracting you for a moment before you heaved a trembling sigh.

“I told him he was a disappointment,” the confession left your lips in a whisper and he frowned.

“Hm?”

“He didn’t allow me to marry Pierre,” you said, his grip tightening on your hand only for a moment as if he feared you would leave before it loosened again. “And I saw red, and I told him he was a disappointment to my mother, just to hurt him.”

“Y/N.”

“And the funny part is, she never said anything like that about him,” you said. “She never called him a disappointment, and I said it to hurt him, I said it to—”

“You’re his daughter, and he loves you, no matter what you told him.”

A bitter laughter escaped from your lips.

“I never wanted his love,” you said almost automatically. “My mother did. He should’ve given it to her instead.”

“You and I both know that’s not true.”

You clicked your tongue.

“I’m supposed to be angry at him,” you said through your teeth. “I promised myself I wouldn’t even go to his funeral, I shouldn’t be feeling like this.”

“It’s okay to not want to lose him,” Anthony said. “You’re not betraying anyone by feeling such, least of all your mother.”

A silence fell upon you and you bit inside your cheek, then squeezed at his hand.

“Anthony?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you,” you murmured. “For being here.”

A soft light crossed his gaze.

“I will always be here,” he said, his voice low. “No matter what.”

You could feel the tears rushing to your eyes but you managed to blink them back, swallowing thickly.

“Good,” you said inaudibly. “I like the sound of that.”

                                         *

By the night time, the house was more crowded than usual. Aunt Lavinia was back, so were Kenneth and Iona, and Lady Bridgerton had arrived to help with—

Well, anything really.

There was a completely different world going on outside the room, but inside the room, it was just you and Elias and the Duke. The doctor hadn’t said when the Duke would wake up, or whether he would or not for that matter, so the only thing to do was wait.

Which you were used to.

“I’ve heard one of the maids say…” Elias croaked out, “Say that I walked in here a marquess and I will walk out a duke.”

You shook your head even if you were thinking exactly the same. “You don’t know that. No one does.”

“Don’t we?”

“Elias.”

“I can’t lose him too,” Elias murmured. “I’ve already lost mom and I can’t…”

“The doctor said he might wake up.”

“Y/N, I’m not ready,” he said. “I’m not ready for any of this, least of all being a duke—”

“If it happens,” you said. “You have me, and Cecily, and Anthony. Trust me you will be fine, we will all help you. You won’t be alone in this.”

He nibbled on his lip and stole a look at you.

“How do you feel?”

“That’s not important.”

“Y/N—”

“It’s not the first time I sit beside a parent’s bed not knowing whether they will make it to the morning,” you forced yourself to say. “I’m fine.”

He wrapped an arm around you and pressed a kiss on top of your head.

“He loves you, you know that right?”

You blinked back the tears and scrunched up your nose, a bitter smile curling your lips.

“Eh, it’s not like I gave him any reason to.”

“That’s not true.”

“Elias, I’m fine,” you lied through your teeth. “I’m more worried about you right now.”

Elias opened his mouth, but then turned his head when the door opened. Aunt Lavinia sniffled, her eyes bloodshot.

“Elias, we need you outside for a moment,” she said. “There are things that need to be signed and Percy is…”

She couldn’t finish the sentence, and Elias’s jaw clenched, then he nodded before standing up.

“Y/N—”

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” you said and Elias took a deep breath, then walked out of the room, leaving you alone with the Duke. You heaved a sigh and reached for the wet cloth in the bowl of cold water, then wrung it before pressing it on his forehead.

“Mom never said that about you,” the confession left your lips in a whisper. “To be honest, she would probably ground me if she heard I called you such.”

The only thing that could be heard in the room was his stable breathing.

“And I’ve seen the room at the Stormview Park,” you said. “It’s clear there are things I do not know about my mother, or about you for that matter. Perhaps it’s because no one tells me anything. You and my mother have that in common.”

You dropped the cloth into the water before you wrung it again.

“I asked her numerous times, you know?” you said. “What really happened between you two, what your marriage was like… She always said, “the past will drown you if you let it ma chérie, best not give it the power” but I’ve always wondered whether she was in love with you, deep down. But you were, weren’t you? You were in love with her.”

He moved his head just a little and you pulled back the cloth, still holding it tight before the foreign word spilled from your lips.

“…Father?”

His eyes fluttered but didn’t open, and you let out the breath you were holding, shaking your head at yourself.

“Right,” you muttered. “Didn’t work with mom, wouldn’t work with—”

“Cassie?”

Your head shot up and you stared at the Duke whose eyes closed again even though he seemed to be fighting to open them, and goosebumps rose on your arms while your whole body froze.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to mumble and you blinked back the tears, letting out a shaky breath as he opened his eyes again, “Cassie I’m so sorry, I never should’ve believed him, please forgive me…”

“It’s okay,” you said through frozen lips, “Just save your strength, alright? Rest, I’ll be here.”

His eyes closed again and you clenched your teeth, commanding yourself to be calm as you repressed the sob climbing up your throat.

You were alright.

You weren’t going to burst into tears just because he was dreaming of your mother on his death bed just like she had dreamed of him—

The door opened and Aunt Lavinia stepped inside, wiping at her eyes.

“You should rest a little Y/N.”

“He is in an out of consciousness,” you said. “It’s better if I’m here I think.”

“I’ll be here,” she assured you, “Go and try to get some sleep.”

“I won’t be able to sleep, Aunt Lavinia.”

“Try anyway,” she offered you a small smile. “I mean it, I will get you dragged out of this room if need be. Go and get some rest.”

You sighed and nodded your head, then pushed your seat back and walked out of the room as if someone was chasing you.

You made your way to the main drawing room and by some miracle, it was empty. You figured it made sense, Lady Bridgerton was probably helping Cecily run the household upon such an emergency and Anthony had to be with Elias, so they were probably both in the study. Kenneth had taken Iona outside for some fresh air because she had been crying since she heard what had happened, so—

You were alone.

You walked to the sofa by the corner of the room, walking past the fireplace that was warming up the room and sat down before you curled up on the sofa, pulling the pillow under your head, blinking back the tears.

Fever made people see things, that wasn’t unusual.

You wiped at your eyes, gritting your teeth at yourself and closed your eyes, exhaustion making its way to your head, making all the thoughts fuzzy. You could feel the peaceful numbness of sleep surrounding you and soon enough, you felt yourself being pulled into darkness.

You didn’t know how long you had slept, but someone saying your name along with the pleasant scent made you open your eyes and you blinked groggily, taking in your surroundings. Anthony’s coat was on you, no doubt to keep you warm while you slept and he and Lady Bridgerton were sitting on the armchairs by the fireplace. The sofa you were lying on was in the darkest corner of the room unlike the light of the fire making it easier for you to see them, and you stole a look at the clock on the wall.

4:30.

“Not yet,” Anthony said, “I don’t want to disturb her, let her sleep some more.”

Lady Bridgerton smiled at him.

“You two have been spending more time together as I’ve noticed.”

Anthony looked down at the drink in his hand.

“She no longer walks on air,” Lady Bridgerton said, “But the last time I saw her, she looked happier than…before.”

Anthony sipped his drink and nodded.

“That’s my fault,” he rasped out and offered her a sad smile. “I took that from her and I don’t—I don’t know if it’ll ever come back, mother.”

She heaved a sigh.

“Anthony, you must talk about it with someone,” she said. “You don’t have to give me all the details, just…tell me. I swear it’ll make you feel better.”

Anthony let out a bitter chuckle. “Jesus, where do I even start?”

“From the beginning.”

You held your breath, keeping your gaze on his handsome face as he took a look around the room.

“I first met her right here,” he muttered. “The day after she arrived, and I thought…” He paused for a moment, then took a deep breath,

“I have never seen another person who is happier to be just alive,” he ended up saying. “It was strange, really. Even when I first saw her when she arrived in London—it’s the type of happiness that takes everyone around her under its own spell.”

You swallowed thickly as Lady Bridgerton’s smile widened.

“My dear, that wasn’t the first time you saw her.”

You frowned at the same time Anthony did.

“What do you mean?” he asked and Lady Bridgerton tilted her head.

“You don’t remember?” she asked. “I mean you were just a little boy but you did see her. Before Cassie left, I took you to Stormview and you and Elias sneaked into her room to look at her.”

Anthony pulled back. “Really?”

“Oh yes,” she said. “And apparently –I have no idea how you two did it— but you climbed to the crib to look inside and you ran back to me, exclaiming; she smiled at me!”

You felt a smile curl your lips and Anthony let out a small chuckle.

“Well, then nothing changed,” he said. “Years and years later, she arrived here and she smiled at me and…that was it. That was enough.”

Lady Bridgerton reached out to squeeze his hand. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Anthony said. “The funny thing is, she thinks she was the first to realize her feelings for me.”

“It was you?”

“It was me,” Anthony nodded. “I knew my feelings for her long before she did, I was just trying to ignore it. Took me a while to understand it wouldn’t work.”

“When did you know?” Lady Bridgerton asked and you held your breath.

“Do you remember that picnic we went to, the day after you invited her for tea? Simon and Daphne made me go with all of you?”

“Yes and you two were seen talking by the bridge? Daphne all but ran to ask me about you two that day.”

Anthony pointed at her with his glass, then took a sip.

“It was then,” he said. “Right on that bridge. We were talking and that whole time, I didn’t want it to end, like I could spend an eternity there, just being with her, talking to her. And then Eloise and Penelope came to take her to the garden, and I was watching her leave, and I remember thinking to myself that…”

Lady Bridgerton stayed quiet and Anthony turned to look at her.

“Sunlight shifts as she walks,” he said, making your heart beat in your ears. “I couldn’t look away— I can’t look away. Ever.”

A silence fell upon the room, and Lady Bridgerton took a deep breath.

“I could tell,” she said. “You were so happy. Happier than I’ve seen you in years and then…”

“Then I ruined it.” Anthony finished her sentence for her before downing his drink and reached out to pour himself another while you bit on your lip, watching them.

“I will not ask what happened, it’s clear that it pains you, just like it pains her,” Lady Bridgerton said. “But I know that she loves you, Anthony. Anyone can see that.”

Anthony’s voice was a mere whisper: “I don’t know if that will be enough for her to forgive me.”

“Do you want to be with her?”

“More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”

“Then it will be enough,” she said. “You two might not see it yet, but it will be.”

A tear escaped from your eye and you bit inside your cheek, commanding yourself to be quiet in your head.

“Heartbreak does not last forever,” Lady Bridgerton said. “Especially if love is still there.”

“It lasted a lifetime with her parents.”

Lady Bridgerton shook her head. “That was different.”

“It might not be.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember what Avon said to me?” he asked. “How I was living his cautionary tale? How there were parallels?”

The Duke had talked to Anthony?

Oh—

That had to have been when he sent you back into the ballroom, at the first ball you had attended after your heartbreak.

“Cassie and Percival…” Lady Bridgerton trailed off and scoffed a humorless laugh. “They burned very bright just like you two, I admit. There are some similarities between you and them but Percival is wrong. It’s not the same.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve seen them, and I’ve seen you two together,” she said gently as you gawked at her. “Cassie was one of the sharpest people I’ve ever seen, she was passionate, hypnotizing even, but she could also be ruthless when she wanted to, just like Percival. They found the perfect reflection of their own chaos in each other but towards the end of it their marriage was nothing but an emotional boxing match. They both knew exactly where to hit to make it hurt.”

You tried to swallow the lump in your throat.

“They didn’t teach that kind of malice, that kind of hostility to their children,” she said. “They raised them better than that, and that’s how it’s different, they made it right with them. Neither her, nor Elias will ever make the mistakes their parents did.”

“But her and I...”

“You two don’t have it in you to hurt each other like that,” Lady Bridgerton said. “It’s obvious even in the way you look at each other, Anthony.”

“I didn’t understand Avon before,” he admitted after a beat, “After the divorce he’s never been with anyone else, never recovered, never moved on, but I understand it now. It’s because once you…once you have that person and you lose her because of your own mistake, because of your own doing, you can’t even consider anyone else. Even the thought of it feels impossible.”

“You’re saying if she never forgives you—”

“It’s either her or no one,” Anthony cut her off, making your heart skip a beat. “I told you before. There will be no one else for me. I don’t care how long I have to wait.”

“And if she marries someone else?”

Even under the dim light you could see the flicker of pain on his face.

“Even if she marries someone else,” he said. “When she forgives me, when she no longer has a husband, when…you name it. Even if it’s just one day with her, it’ll be worth it.”

“You’re willing to wait for your whole life with the hopes that one day she might be with you?”

Anthony nodded and sniffled before heaving a shaky sigh.

“The hope of maybe being with her one day is better than the lifelong torment of knowing I cannot be with her,” he said. “If I have to spend my whole life waiting for it, then so be it. At least it will be spent on something worthy.”

“Anthony…”

He cleared his throat and wiped at his eyes before rolling his shoulders back, sitting up straighter and it was only when you realized tears were freely falling from your eyes. A silence fell upon the room but before anyone could say anything, you heard footsteps approaching and you closed your eyes to pretend to be asleep.

Soon enough, Cecily’s voice carried into the room.

“Your room is ready Lady Bridgerton,” she said. “Anthony, yours too.”

“How’s Elias?”

“Aunt Lavinia all but kicked him out of the Duke’s room so that he could sleep but…” Cecily trailed off, making you feel as if something was squeezing at your heart. “He just dozed off, I don’t know for how long.”

“You should try to get some rest as well Cecily.”

“I will soon. Once I make sure everyone is comfortable—Y/N is still sleeping here?”

“I can carry her to her room,” Anthony said and there was the sound of shuffling before you felt him lifting you up into his arms. You wrapped an arm around his neck, burying your face into his chest, his scent filling your nostrils, disbelief still making you feel dizzy.  

“I’m awake,” you mumbled, your voice way too weak but neither of them listened to you.

“Where’s…?”

“I’ll take you there, follow me.” Cecily said and Anthony followed her into the hallway before he reached the door to your room. Cecily opened it for him, and he gently placed you on the bed before pulling the covers over you, and you rubbed your eyes and looked up at him.

“You should try to get some sleep,” Anthony said, caressing your cheekbone with his knuckles, awakening fire underneath your skin as you tried to keep yourself from entwining your fingers with his.

“Cece, could we have a moment?” you rasped out and Cecily’s eyes darted between you two.

“I’m right outside,” she said and closed the door behind her, and you pulled yourself upright to sit on the bed.

“He’s not awake yet, is he?”

“Your father?” Anthony asked. “No, but your aunt is with him. You need to get some rest.”

“Will you stay?”

Anthony paused for a moment, then licked his lips.

“I wish I could,” he admitted. “But if anyone saw me leaving your room...”

“It’d be a scandal,” you finished his sentence for him and he took a deep breath.

“I’ll be in the house,” he said. “I’m not leaving, I promise. Send for me when you wake up, I’ll be here in seconds.”

You nodded slowly and wiped at your eyes again before sniffling and he reached into his waistcoat to pull out a handkerchief to offer it to you—

The handkerchief that you had embroidered. You stared at the stitching of your handwriting, then looked up at him.

“You kept it.”

Anthony frowned as if the thought of not keeping it was out of question.

“It’s the only thing I have of you,” he said. “Of course I kept it.”

You wiped your eyes with the handkerchief before you lowered it to fiddle with it, the guilt crashing down on you all of a sudden.

“I don’t have anything of you,” you confessed. “I burned them all and now there’s nothing.”

Anthony stared at you for a moment before he shot you a soft smile.

“That’s not exactly true,” he said, his voice low. “You have my heart in your grasp.”

A small smile curled your lips as well.

“Spoils of war,” you murmured. “You said it yourself. It hurt me so it’s my right to claim it.”

A fond light crossed his eyes before he nodded.

“It’s yours,” he said. “Completely. To do as you wish with it.”

You swallowed thickly and looked up at him as he leaned in to press a kiss on top of your head, his hand cradling your cheek.

“Good night, Y/N.”

“Good night,” you whispered and watched him walk out of the room before he closed the door behind him.

Then you lifted the handkerchief to press it on your lips and slipped under the covers, closing your eyes.

Chapter 30

[antiquatedplumbobs]

~a letter written from Freddy Sewell to his mother Violet~

Autumn 1911

Dear mother,

I was very gratified to hear from you about your Thanksgiving dinner and reports on the health of the family. My Thanksgiving was indeed lovely, and I did take several helpings of the aforementioned stuffing, thinking just of you, Mother.

School has been going well! The cold weather means we have moved our exercise to the indoor basketball gymnasium, and the classes remain as interesting, as always. I’ve continued to receive top marks in my science classes and passable marks in the more humanitarian and classical subjects. My chemistry lecturer, Dr. Braumhall, has been a real wealth of knowledge and staunch supporter of mine.

He in fact suggested that I apply to the University of Britechester for a degree in the chemical sciences. I didn't want to say anything until I heard, but I've recently received my acceptance to the chemistry department. They've even offered me a scholarship that covers the cost of my lodgings and tuition. Dr. Braumhall is an alumnus and had some pull within the department, to my utter good fortune.

I suppose that brings me to my bad news: I won’t be returning home this summer. Uncle Elias was able to find my a position working with the Foxbury Electric Co. for the summertime. It won’t be the most mentally stimulating work, but — we must admit — it is closer to the topic of my studies than dairy farming.

I shall be home for Christmas, and I am ever so looking forward to your ham dinner, Mother; Grandmother Minnie's can’t hold a candle to yours. I expect we’ll have an absolutely jolly time, so don’t worry too much about missing me.

Your loving son,

Fred Sewell

~an excerpt from a private note from Freddy Sewell to his brother, Willy~

Will,

I hope you’re well and that you haven’t died of boredom out in good old Brindleton yet. I’m sure mother will have told you all about my news to the family: unfortunately, I won’t be home to fish with you this summer.

I've made some good chums out here, though none are quite as good at hooking a fat cusk as you. The fish in Britechester just don't get as big as they do out in the wilds of Brindleton. One of the only good things about the rural towns is the well-stocked fish ponds.

I’ve been spending some of my nights studying with some of my schoolmates. It started out as just us chaps, but then some of the more daring gals decided they would join us. It’s all very proper — we meet at the academy library, and the librarian on duty is the fiercest woman I have ever had the misfortune of speaking above a whisper near.

There are a few corners that are out of her infernal eyesight, though, and I’ve begun to frequent them when a little spot of privacy is needed. You remember Estie Browne, right? She attended the Brindleton Schoolhouse with us? She’s a part of the study group — quite an impressive woman; she can almost keep up with us men.

Your brother,

Fred

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

next / previous / first

[80pairsofcrocs]

baby scarab || 57

@jasminemohmed - hi! I am new to tumblr could I make a request? what if Marc takes baby scarab with him to visit his father in Chicago and Elias asking him if she's his daughter, and shows her around?

~~~

@yassmeenabass-deactivated2022101 - hey could I request for baby scarab? what if she goes with marc to visit marc's father in chicago and him showing her the city and elias asking marc if she's his daughter

~~~

A/N : sorry for leaving it unedited for a while, ignore if you already read this and werent tagged until now

masterlist - marvel masterlist - series masterlist

A/N : THERE IS NO MORE SCHEDULE, IM SORRY also thank you all sm for the support and requests :)))

please enjoy, and don't be shy if you want to be in the taglist, just ask <3, sorry for the long wait

pairings : steven grant x (platonic)reader, marc spector x (platonic) reader, khonshu x (platonic)reader, jake lockley x (platonic)reader

TW : medicine (pills), spidey stuff, mentions of violence, language, angst, very rushed and hard to read. let me know if i missed anything.

~~~

today was the day. you had to go apologize to casper’s family for potentially getting him killed.

you brought a small bouquet of flowers for casper, they were lilies since he told you he thought they were pretty.

marc was walking with you down the sidewalk, holding onto your hand that wasn’t occupied with the flowers to make sure you were comfortable, and wouldn’t sneak away and hide back at home.

he was also going to be talking to grace, to explain everything to her.

she was grateful while talking to him on the phone, grateful for you and marc for making sure his son was safe.

you both walked up to the door and marc knocked, only waiting a couple seconds before the door opened.

grace had answered the door, and she gave a genuine smile to both of you.

it was small, but it was there.

“come in, there are snacks if you’d like any” grace says gently, gesturing for you and marc to come inside and you do.

you just stood in the foyer, while marc and grace stood talking in hushed voices at the island that was in the middle of the kitchen.

grace looked to you for a moment before smiling again.

“casper is in his room. he mentioned wanting to talk to you” she says and you nod, slowly making your way inside the house and towards casper’s door.

you heard grace and marc talking, but you didn’t want to know what they were saying.

it was probably bad anyways.

casper’s door was only open a sliver, and you just stood there staring at it for a second before knocking on the doorframe.

you heard movement until the door opened, and you were face to face with casper.

he surprisingly grinned at you and opened the door wider for you to come in, so you do hesitantly and silently.

“casper.. i’m sorry-“

“don’t. don’t even start” he begins, so you sigh and hold up the flowers.

“i got these for you. it’s- it’s stupid..” you shake your head, deciding to stare down at your shoes.

casper takes them from your hand gently, and after that you put your hands in your pockets.

he smiles and stares down at them, recognizing them. “my favorite. you remembered” he says and you nod, avoiding looking at him at all.

“it’s literally the least i could do” you mumble.

“you remembered because you’re a good person” casper points out and you scoff.

“i wasn’t a good person when i murdered someone in front of you” you start, and casper’s smile fades. “you almost died just because you know me” you finally look up to him.

“it wasn’t your fault, you didn’t know-“

“casper stop! do you know what that would’ve done?! if you died?!” you exclaim, making him just stare in silence to let you finish your rant.

“think about your family, it would’ve torn them apart. you are all they have, and i almost took that away” you take a heavy breath.

“and it would’ve been on me. i’m lucky marc got there in time or.. you would’ve..” you can’t finish the sentence, and that’s when casper sets the flowers down on his desk to come up to you, taking your shoulders in his hands.

“but it didn’t happen that way-“

“why aren’t you mad at me?” you cut him off and he blinks at you a few times, making you think of the worst.

“you’re scared of me” you state and casper’s eyes widen.

“no i’m not! i could never” he shakes his head, but you give him a look.

“casper.. i…. i think we should maybe.. take a break. see other people” you change the subject and you could almost hear his heart stop.

“..what..? you don’t-“

“you’re not safe with me, you’d be better off with somebody else” you feel tears gather in your eyes.

“i don’t want somebody else, i want you” he argues but you take his hands off your shoulders.

“but i put you in danger, you have to understand that” you try to reason and he shakes his head with a stern look on his face.

“i am in love with you, y/n!” he raises his voice, making your mouth snap shut to listen to him.

“i- i wouldn’t be able to do this without you, and nothing can change that. ever”

“i killed someone, casper” you say quietly but he just scoffs.

“he was already dead to begin with, and he was manipulating you, and you know it” he starts. “he wanted you to ‘lose’ everything so that you would join them” he puts the word lose in air quotes.

you just stare up and nod slowly.

“i’m sorry” you let a tear fall halfway down your cheek. “i’m so sorry” casper pulls you to him gently, wrapping his arms around you while you bury your face in his neck.

you feel yourself choke on a sob before throwing your arms around casper’s neck while you freely cry into his shoulder.

casper was perfectly patient. he waited for you to calm down, and he would wait as long as it took no matter what.

it was only 5 minutes that went by where you made no move to detach yourself from him, but you did so eventually.

you refused to look up at him though, opting to stare at the floor again.

“please look at me” casper whispers, not able to bring his voice any louder.

he had tears in his eyes as well, but he refused to let them fall.

you slowly look up to him, so that you were looking him in the eye.

“say it wasn’t your fault. i need you to mean it this time” he tells you, and you hesitate before opening your mouth, bottom lip still wobbling.

“i.. it wasn’t my fault” you say quietly while bringing your arms around yourself to appear smaller.

“you saved me. you and your dad, you’re both heroes” he tells you and you look back up at him.

“are you sure?” you ask and he nods, lifting his hands up to hold your face in them.

“i’ve never been more sure about anything in my life” he tells you honestly.

you felt yourself smile a bit against your will, so you lean forward quickly to press a quick kiss to his cheek.

casper smiles at you, and takes you into another hug, this time you smile as well.

“i’m so glad you’re okay. i promise i’ll never let that happen again, i swear” you tell him and he nods.

“i’m counting on it” casper grins.

~~~

meanwhile with grace and marc, she was explaining how the whole situation wasn’t a big deal since casper was saved, but there was another issue.

reginald.

he acted as if he didn’t care that his son almost died, which broke graces heart.

she loved her kids, but reginald didn’t even try with them. always pointing out their mistakes and dragging them down.

he hasn’t even been home, claiming to be on a business trip.

“it’s hard because i can’t find a decent paying job, and reginald is our only source of income” grace starts.

“if i could have it my way, i would’ve left him a long time ago. he just.. he has a hold over me” she sighs and marc nods.

“if you need a place to stay with no strings attached, i know someone who could help you out” he says softly and grace smiles gratefully at him.

“as much as i’d like to, i can’t. it was til death do us part, and besides this is the only place my children have known” she explains.

“if you’re sure then i won’t pressure you, but if you change your mind our door is always open” marc tells her and she nods.

that was when you and casper both came out of his room, and marc looked at you with that one look on his face.

you just raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a thumbs up with pursed lips.

“i’m guessing it went well?” grace asks, noticing the flowers casper had in his hand.

well, the hand that wasn’t holding yours.

you could tell marc was about to say something, but his phone, which was sitting face up on the arm of the couch next to him started ringing, and it displayed a name you didn’t recognize.

marc’s eyes widened a fraction and turned his phone to silent, slipping it into his pocket.

he cleared his throat. “well uh.. we better get going then” marc starts. “you both need to actually go to school tomorrow” he finishes his sentence while getting up.

grace gave him a thankful smile, to which he returned it.

“thank you grace, for understanding the situation” marc says, coming towards you to guide you towards the door, causing you to leave casper’s side to follow.

you could barely say goodbye to casper or grace before marc rushed the both of you out, speed walking down the sidewalk while marc’s phone vibrated in his pocket.

“marc, who’s elias?” you ask but he doesn’t answer.

elias. the name that was displayed on the screen of marcs phone.

you didn’t know anyone by the name, and you were almost sure he didn’t either.

well, not so sure now.

“marc-“

“nobody, let’s just get home”

“but-“

“y/n please” he breaths out and you nod once.

“sorry” you mumble, and he just keeps walking.

~~~

marc had gone to take a call about a half hour ago.

he locked himself in the bathroom to talk to whoever this was and you could count the amount of times he said something decent on one hand.

though it was a bit muffled through the door, you could hear that he tried to keep quiet and ended up gritting out words through his teeth.

you heard him mention steven a few times too.

you really weren’t trying to eavesdrop, but you couldn’t help that you had extremely sensitive hearing now.

you could even hear neighbors washing dishes.

about a floor below you.

marc frustratingly unlocks the door and walks out, making eye contact with you.

“how much did you hear?” he questions and you shrug.

“close to nothing” you say semi honestly.

he just shortly nods and you notice a change in posture before realizing that jake was the one coming over to sit next to you.

“i hope marc knows i didn’t mean to upset him earlier” you speak into the air.

“he does” marc himself speaks up.

“..he’s having a rough time right now, princesa. it’s..” jake tries to find the right words but just ends up completely rewording it.

“it’s his father. his- our? father is who marc was on the phone with” jake starts to explain.

“and we haven’t seen him since.. since well… wendy’s shiva” he tells you in a more hushed voice.

you nod and look down at your knees, just thinking.

you should never have said anything. it’s not like you knew but you were insensitive.

“but you didn’t go in, is that why you don’t want to see him?” steven asks marc.

“well that and the fact that y/n has to go to school tomorrow” he starts and you sigh. “she already missed her first day and i can’t just leave her here by herself”

“what if i went with you?”

“you’d miss more school”

“well yeah, but marc think about it” you begin. “he probably misses you. how would you feel if i disappeared for years?”

marc stays quiet so you take that as a silent win.

“that’s different. and i’m not telling you how because you saw it” he tells you.

you looked down in thought while jake wraps an arm around your shoulders, pulling you to him.

“are you.. are you sure you’d want to come with?” marc asks quietly and you nod, looking at him through a small handheld mirror on the coffee table.

he just sighs and brings his hands up to dig the heels of his palms into his eyes.

“fuck it” he scoffs at himself. “we’re going to america”

~~~

so that’s how you ended up where you were now.

in a private jet that jake somehow owned, claiming he knew a guy.

your first time in a plane was to go to america while marc was having an internal crisis.

he sat across from you staring out of the window while you chewed on some ice to try and get your ears back to normal after they popped when you took off.

you felt terrible leaving casper, but he told you it was completely fine and he’ll be there waiting for when you get back.

but first you made him promise to be safe and have some sort of weapon on him just in case on his walk to school the next day.

you both already missed your first day of senior year, and now you were missing your second and possibly third.

all because of the situation.

you didn’t feel like thinking about it right now or ever again just for the sake of your sanity.

what you had to think about was the fact that he wasn’t lying when he said he loved you and it was okay.

“so, first time in america, yeah? me too- well- not exactly actually” steven starts, but ends up mumbling to himself.

“what state are we going to?” you ask and steven stops mumbling to answer.

“illinois. chicago to be specific” he starts. “i only remember some things, but i’m sure you’ll enjoy it” he gives you a lopsided smile.

“and are we there yet?”

“about 30 minutes”

you groan out of annoyance at his answer, and lean your head back in your seat.

“jake how did you even afford this?” you ask, referring to the private plane you were currently in.

“i maxed out marc’s credit card a couple years ago” he chuckles to himself.

“i’m sorry, years?” marc scolds his alter. “you’re an ass, you know that?”

“si”

marc just shakes his head then looks to you.

“i can’t believe i’m letting you take a day off school to make me talk to my father” he scoffs. “i mean, the last time i saw him i was drinking outside.. and then i.. that’s when…” you could tell he wasn’t exactly comfortable going into detail about the subject.

“you don’t have to tell me what happened” you start. “what was he like?” you ask instead, hoping he’ll think of good memories.

you felt terrible for marc. ever since you both saw each other’s memories you’ve felt so bad.

he didn’t deserve it, and it certainly wasn’t his fault.

he deserved so much better and he still does. you can tell that he’s suffering a bit inside.

“he always made sure i had a decent birthday, that’s for sure” he smiles to himself. “it would just be me and him in that moment”

“guess you both have something in common, huh?” you ask rhetorically and marc breaks out in a grin.

“i suppose so” he lets out a single laugh.

“i haven’t told him about you though. i was going to surprise him but.. i don’t know how he’ll react. i don’t even know why he decided to call now of all times”

“i’m sure he has a good reason.. maybe he thought you hated him” you suggest.

“what? that’s crazy i could never” marc defends himself.

“well you kinda just disappeared, mate” steven cuts in and marc shrugs.

“i was trying to give you a good life, so you can’t be pissed at me” marc says and you can see steven smiling in the windows reflection.

“so he does show emotion. i see” he says, causing marc to roll his eyes.

this is going to be a long half hour.

~~~

“oh and another thing- cars driver on the opposite sides of the road. can you believe that?” steven rants as the two of you get off the plane at a private runway somewhere in the middle of chicago.

“that’s.. pretty weird, yeah” you agree, seeing a cab pull up next to the exit.

jake fronted and guided you towards it, and you watched a man step out.

the man just gave a single nod to jake before walking away to god knows where.

jake just smiled and waved.

you got into the car, per jakes request and he glanced at you before starting the car.

“thank you for bringing me” you start, earning the attention from marc and steven.

“i know it probably hard for you” you say while looking to marc. “but uhm.. i guess i’ll be the one protecting you this time”

marc just lets out a single laugh, and shakes his head.

“i’ll be okay. we’ll be okay, i mean” he tells you and you nod.

~~~

“is that it?” you ask, looking to the house marc was staring at.

marc fronted right after jake parked, as promised.

“..yeah” he answers.

“…so are you working up the courage to get out of the car?” you ask rhetorically and marc rolls his eyes.

“no, i just regret this already” he mumbles, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door, you doing the same.

jake parked across the street, so you both had to cross the road to get to marc’s old home.

he walked as slow as he could on the road, which had almost no cars parked or driving.

he held your hand tightly in his as you walked up the couple steps.

you look to marc and see that he just stared at the door while biting down on his bottom lip.

that was a nervous habit of his, so you squeezed his hand a bit to get his attention.

he looks to you with a small but grateful smile, and takes a deep breath.

“alright, it’s now or never” he slowly brings his other hand up to turn it into a fist and knock on the door.

he seemed to tense after he did, and that’s when you heard quiet footsteps approaching from inside.

you could hear marc’s heartbeat too, and if it were any faster you’d fear for his life.

the door clicks twice before slowly opening, which revealed a man in thick framed glasses.

he reminded you of steven a bit.

he looked almost shocked to see marc, but smiles at him nonetheless.

but when his eyes shifted down to you, he looked almost confused before turning back to marc.

“you really came” he says, and marc gives a single nod.

“i had to. you.. you didn’t do anything wrong. it’s the least i can do” marc tells him quickly, and the man smiles at him before looking back to you.

“who’s this?” he asks, pointing to you.

marc squeezes your hand before answering. “this is my daughter y/n” he starts. “and y/n, this is my father, elias” he introduces.

elias breaks out into a grin, and holds a gentle hand out to you, to which you take it in your own to give a solid shake.

“it’s great to meet you- here, both of you come in, it’s getting cold out” elias offers, so you both go inside.

marc seemed more chill than you thought, since when you were on the plane you and steven made a plan where he would say positive affirmations if he noticed marc getting upset.

you all ended up around the living area, you and marc next to each other on a small couch and elias across you both in an armchair.

“..so, is she laylas?” elias asks gently and marc shakes his head.

“not exactly. we adopted her” he answers and elias raises an eyebrow.

“how long?”

“well we’ve known her since april, and we adopted her in august” marc starts, getting more comfortable. “technically she’s steven and jakes daughter too”

“now i know steven, but who’s jake? is he.. another one” elias asks, trying his best not to be too unknowingly offensive.

marc didn’t take it that way though, and answered. “yeah, jake just kind of appeared one day. and y/n here knew about it and didn’t care to tell us” marc elbows you in the ribs after he was done talking.

you turn to glare at marc, and he just smiles obnoxiously at you.

“would either of you like something to drink?” elias asks, and marc stands up hesitantly with a single nod.

“i can get water for all of us” he volunteers and you smile.

elias smiles as well gratefully. “the cups are all in the same place” he says and marc nods again, leaving the room.

now it was just you and marc’s dad. you could tell he was soft spoken, and most of all you could tell how much he had missed marc.

“you know.. i never expected marc to have kids. a daughter especially” elias tells you and you tilt your head a bit.

“he used to think kids were to fragile for this world. that they were perfect targets” he starts and sighs. “and i believe him. i hated lying to him every time i said his mother would get better”

“you knew? and you didn’t do anything about it?” you ask and elias panics before continuing.

“i did do something about it, i- i couldn’t do anything when i wasn’t home, but if i didn’t go to work everyday my boy would starve. both of them” he says quickly and you understand.

you take it upon yourself to change the subject. “so.. what was marc like as a kid?” you ask, hoping to get some dirt on him.

elias just chuckles before answering. “he used to make fun of his brothers drawing because they were always the same. a fish with only one fin”

that made you perk up. “steven had a fish with only one fin. his name was gus. but he died so now we have a gus the second. with two fins” you basically vomit words while elias smiled at you.

“and how is steven?” he asks.

“he’s good, he’s a nerd and he’s great at cooking even though he’s a vegan. he also had an identity crisis because a long time ago, he didn’t even know marc” you start ranting, and elias is delighted to listen.

“he did have a hard time with the whole khonshu thing though. and he never leaves them alone with moon knight business” you say, referring to khonshu.

“i’m sorry.. moon knight? are you saying that my son is moon knight?” elias asks and your eyes widen.

“no. he’s- i didn’t say he was moon knight” you gaslight, and you can tell he was not believing you at all.

on that note, marc decides to come back in with three glasses of water.

“what’d you guys talk about?” marc asks and you shake your head at elias, hoping he’ll get the message.

“just.. you” he answers and you let out a sigh of relief, taking the water from marc.

“why did you invite me here?” marc asks bluntly.

“i figured you would actually do it now. and i didn’t know if you were still in the marines” elias responds.

“i’ve been out of it for a long time” marc starts. “so why now?” he repeats and elias doesn’t respond.

“kid, why don’t you go wait outside for a bit” marc tells you rather than asking, and you sigh, getting up with a sorry look to elias.

after you were outside, you sat on the first step after closing the door, wondering what marc had to say that he couldn’t in front of you.

khonshu appeared to sit next to you, still towering over you in height.

“hey, i want to say thank you before i forget again” you immediately say to him, to which he tilts his head in confusion.

“for what, child?” he asks and you let out a breath, furrowing your brows right after.

“for saving marc. even if it was just to get another protecter of the night” you start. “you were a manipulative psycho but you still saved him” you look up at khonshu.

he simply nods and looks away from you. “i chose him for two reasons” he begins. “to protect the travelers of the night, and because i knew he was the best candidate. both- all of them” it wasn’t like the god to stammer over his words like that, but he did anyways.

“don’t tell him- them i said that” he tells you, and you nod, making a zipping motion over your lips.

“i won’t, promise. just thank you again, without marc or steven or jake, i would probably be dead in a ditch somewhere” you shrug.

“i doubt that very much” khonshu ends the conversation there, and that’s almost the best he can do with compliments.

with khonshu, what he said basically meant that he believes you could handle yourself just fine.

you and khonshu sat in comfortable silence for about five minutes before the door behind you opened again, revealing marc who was gesturing for you to come back inside.

and you were grateful because it was cold out. you quickly waved to khonshu before getting back up and following marc inside.

you didn’t want to pry, so you refrained from asking marc what happened.

you were now sat back down in the same spots as before, but it was a little less tense. whatever needed to be said or argued was over and both marc and his father were now good.

“so i have a few photo albums if-“

“no” marc interrupts and elias just smiles.

“or you can show her your room?” he offers instead, giving you and marc both an opportunity to be alone.

marc just lets out a breath and purses his lips before basically dragging you back up again to hesitantly bringing you up the stairs.

you sort of recognized the entrance to marc’s old room from when you saw his memories, but saw that a few things were different.

like the walls, they were lighter and more vibrant than you remembered, making the whole house just a bit more comfortable.

marc stopped you before turning to the door. “i don’t remember how i left it. and he said that he hasn’t gone in since i left” he starts, referring to his dad. “so just- don’t make fun of me, okay?” you sense a bit of self consciousness in marc’s voice, so you wordlessly nod.

he opens to door and peaks in before letting you come in as well, watching as you wandered in, eyes going immediately to the poster at the wall.

at the top was ‘tomb buster’ in large print, and in the bottom left corner was what looked like a quote.

‘when danger is here, steven grant has no fear’

you looked back at marc, and saw him already looking at you.

“he had to come from somewhere, right?” you ask and you hear steven stifle a laugh.

“you’re having a better reaction than i did” steven starts. “i always thought i was just me, but it turned out that.. marc just made me up” he tells you and you nod with your eyes cast down towards the floor.

“we talked it all out of course, it was just.. a lot” steven finishes and you nod again.

you then started looking around elsewhere, to which to found a small stack of white paper, all with what appeared to be the same drawing.

all goldfish. with one fin.

you could still sense marc’s eyes on you, so you took no surprise when he spoke up.

“my.. my brother drew those” he starts, voice quiet and timid.

you turn to him to pay attention fully. marc just stared at the picture on top, seeing that it looked like the exact one his brother drew the day he passed.

“i would do anything to go back and change it” he sighs and you walk up closer to him.

“i just hope he knows how much i love him” marc directs towards you with downturned brows.

you just smile sadly up at him. “he knows” you start. “i can sense it”

marc takes that as the go ahead to reach forward and pull you into a hug.

you wrap your arms around is waist to hold onto the back of his shirt.

you felt his shoulders shake a few times while one of his hands traveled up to the back of your head to keep you close to him.

you just held marc for as long as he needed, before there was a small knock at the doorframe.

“oh- i’m sorry for interrupting” elias apologizes, while marc let’s go of you to wipe at his eyes.

“that’s alright” he mumbles and you bring your hands to your pockets.

“i don’t know how long you’re both staying, but i can order some food for you both” elias offers and marc nods.

“i can pay you back”

“that’s alright, it’s the least i can do” elias seems delighted by his choice to stay, and you don’t blame him.

“so what are you both in the mood for?”

~~~

you sat next to marc on one side of the dinner table, while elias sat on the other.

before you ate, both marc and elias did a short blessing to which you waited the patient ten seconds before eating.

you didn’t have much, since you didn’t exactly feel too hungry since just hours earlier both you and casper were having a crisis.

“so y/n shared some interesting news with me earlier” elias starts. “about.. you” he looks to marc who’s darting his eyes to you.

“what was it?” marc asks, and you stare down at your plate in silence.

“she may have accidentally told me that you were…. moon knight- but don’t blame her, she didn’t know that i didn’t know” elias defends you, and marc sighs tiredly.

“well she’s arachnid” he mutters childishly, following the sentence by taking a sip of water from his cup.

“oh i’ve heard of her, i saw her get hit by a car- are you okay?” elias directs the question at you and you shrug.

“mentally or physically?” you ask, and marc elbows you in the ribs, making you wheeze.

elias just watches in amusement. he’d honestly think the two of you acted more like siblings than a father and daughter.

he could see the resemblance between you two by the way you acted. you were completely comfortable with each other and it showed.

“wait- who do you like better? arachnid or that lame ass moon knight?” you ask, earning a scoff from marc.

“watch your language” he grits out.

elias just chuckles. “don’t take this too personally, son, but arachnid is cooler” he answers and you start laughing at the betrayal on marcs face.

marc just shoves you, almost falling off your chair before shooting a web out at his arm so you could pull yourself back up.

he rips the webs off of his sleeve to shove them down the back of your shirt, making you gasp and smack him in the arm.

“douche” you mumble, then look to elias who had a wide smile on his face. “sorry” you say, referring to the language.

“it’s perfectly fine”

now even though you had no idea what went down when you were outside, and realistically marc still has some sort of grudge but you sensed something different now.

he was less tense, as if he had gotten closure. and some selfish part of you thought you were a part of why he got said closure.

now, you and marc had left that night after elias confirmed that you were an official spector now.

it warmed your heart, along with marc’s dads.

he was so happy to find out he had a granddaughter, since he never thought marc would have any kids after what happened with his brother.

marc also happened to go back into the house and take those pictures that roro had drawn all those years ago.

he would keep them safe and cherish them forever.

just like he did with you.

marc had felt almost complete now that almost everyone important in his life had all met.

now all that’s left is for him to help you.

but how would he do that?

were you going to possibly make another stop before you go home?

only your dads know the answer to that.

and that’s how it will stay just until the time comes.

~~~

A/N : sorry this took so long i’m just busy so bear with me. also this chapter is very centered around marc, so the next one with have more of steven and jake. love you guys!!!

~~~

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[eliaskahtri]

Setting Things Right || Elias & Marcus

LOCATION: Elias's apartment TIMING: Right after the events of Slobberknockin' PARTIES: Elias (@eliaskahtri) & Marcus(@thenavysealkie) SUMMARY: Elias dropped his phone in the woods on Marcus. Marcus turns up at Elias's apartment to make sure he's alright. CONTENT WARNINGS: None!

It had been a few months now, and Marcus still had no idea what to make of this Elias guy. On the one hand, he seemed incredible intelligent and charming, and had a brand of cheesy humor Marcus loved. On the other hand he was really flaky and reserved, almost to the point of being secretive. Now to top it all off, a regular conversation he was having over the phone with him was cut short by a loud thud and screaming from Elias. Now he had no idea if he was okay and he was really starting to get scared. Should he have been this scared? Regardless, he knew had to head to Elias’s apartment right now to make sure everything was alright.

As he trudged up the steps, he felt the dread set in with every stair he climbed. What if he didn’t answer the door? What if he was really hurt, or worse? He wasn’t answering his phone, so the only way he could find out was to knock. It was almost like Schrodinger’s door, is the Elias alive or dead? Won’t find out until that door opens up. Marcus was determined to break it down if he had to.

After taking a deep breath, Marcus curled his fingers in and gave three harsh knocks at the door. He decided not to announce himself, as Elias was probably more likely to open the door if he didn’t know it was Marcus knocking. Sometimes he wondered if Elias even liked him at all with the way he acted towards him.

After the encounter with the weird tree lobster and the even weirder man who had seen hellbent on cutting his hair off, Elias headed straight home to figure out his hair. Right as he’d headed up to his apartment door, there was a familiar figure waiting there. Wait, did he miss something? Was there something he was supposed to do that he had forgotten about? Why did he feel like he’d forgotten something?

“Marcus?” Elias spoke, confused as he tried to remember why Marcus would show up at his apartment unannounced. He thought for a moment. Shit, he’d been on the phone with him, hadn’t he? Elias grimaced. “Shit. I meant to call you back. I got… attacked by some weird tree lobster.” He pointed to his messy hair, something he usually kept well taken care of.

“I meant to call you, but I forgot after the guy threatened to cut my hair, and I have a weird attachment to it.” He was rambling on again, and he didn’t know how to shut himself up. Shit, Marcus looked so worried and then so angry. Elias’s gaze fell to the floor. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have forgotten to call you back or something.” The dagger that Emilio had given him stuck out of his pocket like a sore thumb. He awkwardly tried to push it further into his pocket, but still, the entire hilt of the thing stuck out.

As Marcus looked at Elias, he could immediately tell how disheveled he looked. His hair looked an absolute mess, which was very unusual for him. He also noticed something sticking out of the man’s pocket. Was that… a knife? Just what kind of run through the woods was Elias on?

“A tree lobster…” Marcus said incredulously while holding eye contact with Elias. He believed him, but still wanted to make him squirm a bit as punishment for not calling him afterward. After a few seconds of awkward silence Marcus simply shook his head and said “You’re lucky all sorts of wacky shit happens in this town. Definitely can’t say I don’t believe that.”

“Who threatened to cut your hair? And where did you get that knife?” He said, pointing to the blade sticking out of Elias’s pocket. It wasn’t the one had used to kill the giant snake before, yet it looked strangely familiar.

“Look, I can tell you’ve been through a lot. A quick ‘Hey, sorry about that. Not dead, don’t worry’ text wouldn’t have killed you though. Unlike those feral tree lobsters” he said, lightening his tone. He shot a smirk at Elias, indicating he wasn’t mad, just worried. He then opened up his arms, inviting Elias in for a hug.

“Yeah, it looked like a lobster and it fell from the trees.” Elias responded with a wide-eyed blink. “Like I’d told you, I was headed out to check something out that I’d heard, and then boom! It was in my hair with a death grip.” He rubbed his scalp at the mere memory, frowning deeper. “Wacky shit that apparently falls from trees and into my hair.” He remarked with a pout, desperately trying to fix his hair back to how he’d done it that morning.

“Some guy was in the woods when the thing fell out of the tree, kept telling me we’d have to cut it out of my hair. I freaked out and pulled the thing out of my hair while it kept pinching me– Elias pointed to the various punctures on his hands that validated his story– and threw it on the ground. I won’t be getting a bad haircut.” He was almost shaking now, the memory of someone just happening to find him at the right moment, was the guy following him? Elias’s frown deepened even further.

Elias’s gaze fell back to the floor as Marcus admonished him, but knew the man was right. “Yeah, I’m sorry.” He said again, feeling like a kid caught doing something they shouldn’t have done. Then, Marcus opened his arms. For a brief moment, Elias hesitated. A hug? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure of much of anything at that point. Finally, he let go of all the fear he harbored in his body and fell into Marcus’s arms for a hug. “I’m not letting some fucking stranger cut chunks out of my hair,” he complained into his shoulder.

Marcus couldn’t help but notice how visibly upset Elias was getting at the idea of having his hair cut off. Granted, the man had very nice hair. But still, it seemed a bit odd that he was more concerned over his hair than having his scalp bitten into.

“Hey now, your hair still looks fine. A little messy, but not too bad. Nothing a comb can’t fix.” Marcus began before turning his gaze over to Elias’s hands. “Those wounds look pretty nasty. You should wash them out if you haven’t already. Otherwise your hair is going to be the least of your worries.”

Marcus did find it a bit odd that some random stranger just happened to be nearby, ready to cut out chunks of Elias’s hair at a moment’s notice, but he didn’t dwell on the issue too long. It was probably just a case of someone being in the right place at the right time and nothing more.

“Come on, let’s get you inside and cleaned up.”

His own instincts told him that he should tell Marcus to go. He always had the gut instinct to push away when people got too close to him. But Marcus kept trying despite everything Elias threw at him. With the constant pushing away, he came right back. Maybe Elias needed to stop being so afraid, or maybe he at least needed to tell Marcus the truth. But he didn’t know how.

He simply nodded his head and moved toward the door to unlock it. The apartment inside was finally beginning to be decorated, the boxes he’d had long since unpacked and gone. There were figurines on shelves, posters hung on walls, and different movie prop replicas hung and mounted all over. Finally, his apartment was starting to look more like a home. Maybe he wasn’t going to abandon Wicked’s Rest again after all.

Elias flicked on the light at the door took the large, scary-looking knife out of his pocket, and set it on the console beside the door with a deep, tired sigh. “Maybe he was right. Maybe I need to be more careful.” He muttered as he walked over to the sink to wash his hands.

“You livened things up a little in here since the last time I came over. It’s finally starting to look home-y. I like it” Marcus said with an appreciative nod as he looked at the apartment in its finally decorated state. There was finally some of Elias’s personality being injected into this place.

Marcus couldn’t help but cock his head a bit at Elias’s comment. He’d been given similar advice by someone here in the past. “Who told you to be more careful? The guy who wanted to cut your hair?” He then stole another glance at the knife. He couldn’t shake the feeling he had seen one very similar in the past, but he couldn’t remember where exactly.

“Look, it’s not your fault that happened. Even if you locked yourself in a bunker this town would still find a way to attack you. The important thing is you made it back home safe and sound. And…now you know to look out for tree lobsters next time you go out for a run!” he added, trying to sound optimistic. This town certainly had a penchant for danger, while also coming with new and interesting ways to do so. Marcus supposed killing the town’s residents would get boring after a while unless you spice things up a bit.

“Now might not be the time to bring it up but…it hasn’t just been today. You’ve been really dodgy with me, on and off, for a little while now. Is there something I’m not getting? Or maybe I’m just reading too deep into things.”

“Yeah, I figured if I’m going to be stuck here, might as well be happy to hide away in my apartment.” Elias responded with a shrug. It wasn’t for lack of trying, he supposed. But with the job he’d found, he felt that he had to stick to it for a while, he couldn’t just quit because he hated it. Well, hated was a strong word. He shook his head, realizing he was getting lost in thought.

“Yeah, same guy.” He answered with a nod of his head as he rolled his eyes. “I’m an experienced hiker. I can handle myself, right? Even though I’m only a human?” He was worried that despite it all, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. He was so fucking afraid of everything because he knew when it came down to it, these people with supernatural abilities would always have the upper hand over him, no matter what he did.

Marcus was right, as he usually was. No matter what he did, there would be danger. Still, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Uneasy that he was weaker, uneasy that he didn’t have the knowledge to defend himself properly against these creatures. Elias looked to Marcus and was unable to crack a smile at his attempt at lightening the subject at hand. He just couldn’t do it.

Then he asked the question that Elias knew Marcus would ask eventually. Why he’d been running away so much? “Because I’m afraid,” he said honestly, looking over to Marcus with a serious expression, something that once had been rare and was now becoming increasingly more common. “I’m afraid of being too close because if I’m too close, I’ll get… hurt.” He frowned, realizing how stupid he sounded. “I’m not used to being close to people. I was the weird kid growing up, I’m into cryptids, for fuck’s sake.” He sighed, burying his face in his hands. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m in my thirties and I’ve never truly had a relationship. I’m afraid.”

While Marcus could sympathize with Elias’s rationale for decorating, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Elias didn’t exactly seem happy in Wicked’s Rest. “Well, at least you have a nice looking apartment to help you through the rough patches.”

“You’re experienced with normal trails. The wildlife here is, as I’m sure you’ve already figured out, a bit more aggressive than a normal trail would have.” Marcus said. “Although I will say, you have very good survival instincts for a regular human. Most people would have just let that thing chomp right through their skull because they’d be too busy panicking.”

Marcus listened closely to Elias as he confessed he was afraid of getting close. It wasn’t an unreasonable fear. It was one Marcus also held. It didn’t seem unreasonable to him that being alone could be better than being heartbroken again. Still, he wasn’t one to be shy about his feelings, and wished Elias could be the same way with him.

“I get what you mean. Opening up and getting close, it’s a really nice thing. You share yourself with someone in ways that you haven’t with most. And you get the honor of learning about them too,” he started, keeping his eyes on the floor. He remembered William again, and the perils and pitfalls that came with getting too close. “It does have its dangers too. It’s a risk you take. But losing out on the joy of a life unlived is far worse than the risk of getting hurt. At least, that’s my take…”

One thing Marcus couldn’t sympathize with much was that Elias hadn’t ever been close to someone before. While Elias had been a loner, Marcus was surrounded by an affectionate and close knit family. He was popular all through schooling and was everybody’s friend while serving in the Navy.

“I understand though. I mean, why you’d be afraid. Listen, I’m not going to be the one chasing after you. You have to make up your mind. You don’t have to do it right now but…” he trailed off, trying to find his words. “I kinda feel like an ass running after you like some lost puppy just to get brushed aside. It’s not fair to me. So…figure out what you want. If you want to be with me, great. If not, you won’t hear from me again.”

Elias’s shoulders sagged as he was corrected. Why did Marcus always have to be right? Probably because Marcus wasn’t human, which stemmed back to Elias’s whole problem with being afraid. It was so frustrating that he was so afraid of, well, everything. He wanted nothing more than to just live a simple life with simple things with simple worries. But that didn’t seem to be in the cards for him anymore.

Then, Marcus started talking. Talking about living life and finding joy and… it was a lot. He put his arms out onto the counter in front of him as he listened to Marcus talk, expression going from vulnerable to downright closed off. He didn’t have an answer for Marcus. He didn’t want the man out of his life, he’d come to mean something to him. But he supposed that was the crux of the issue.

Elias felt something for Marcus, and while he was so keen on running from it, he’d been hurting Marcus in the process. He’d been reached out to multiple times, and each time he found an excuse of why he couldn’t. But he wanted to. “You have to know that I really don’t know what I’m doing.” He told Marcus with a worried expression. “Like, I really don’t know. Everything I’ve got is from the media.” He rubbed his hands over his face, groaning.

“Marcus, I really don’t know how to date someone. You don’t want this!” He gestured to all of himself. “I’m afraid of everything, I chase after supernatural creatures that could probably eat me in two bites, I don’t think before I speak, and I… I don’t know how you could possible want to be with someone like that.” Elias deflated, putting his elbows onto the counter and burying his face in his hands. He hadn’t expected to have this kind of conversation anytime soon.

Marcus listened intently to Elias’s response. He could sympathize, to a point. Elias was afraid of being hurt, that much was evident, but he moreso seemed to be worried about the unknown. This was far from Marcus’s first rodeo, but he still remembered his first relationship. He was scared then, just as Elias was now. He didn’t really know what he was doing and struggled often to navigate the complexities of a relationship that close. However, he learned, and he was certain Elias would learn as well.

“Nobody’s got it all figured out. Not even I do. But that’s the point, isn’t it? Figuring it out together? Working through things as a team?”

His heart dropped a bit at Elias’s self-deprecative gesturing towards himself. So he may be a bit awkward at times, did he really think he was undeserving of being loved?

“Elias…it’s normal to be afraid of things. Life is full of danger, it’s your body’s way of letting you know things are getting a little too dicey for your own good. As for chasing after cryptids, I actually find that kind of cute about you. You have a passionate interest and just so happen to be in the perfect place to pursue it! Your fear factor doesn’t kick in for that and, honestly, it just makes you all the more interesting.”

As he spoke he slowly walked his way over to Elias until he was standing right next to him as he leaned over his counter. “I see a very bright and passionate man, who would be fiercely loyal to anyone lucky enough to give him a chance. I see someone with a great sense of humor and an inspiring sense of adventure. Why wouldn’t I want to be with you?”

Elias wasn’t used to being brave. But in that moment, he knew he had to be. That, and a little selfish. He walked around the counter to stand directly in front of Marcus and took his hands into his own. “You’re going to have to put up with a lot of my very extreme shenanigans.” He warned Marcus with a careful smile. “And I can’t promise that I’ll always return in one piece. Well, I’ll try to, but I can’t promise anything.”

“I’m sorry that it took you chastising me to get me to see sense.” He told Marcus, giving an apologetic smile. “But I’m serious, you’re going to have to take the lead on a lot of this if this is what you really want. Because I’m hopeless.” He was starting to lose his nerve, but he bit back on it. That’s what being brave was all about, right? Pushing forward even when everything in him was screaming to turn back.

Elias was standing in front a man who cared about him, who cared enough to make sure he was okay after he thought he’d been hurt, who had been there time and time again when he’d needed it. He truly was an idiot for letting himself run away from something like this. So he decided to seize it. He surged forward and captured Marcus’s mouth with his own.

Marcus was extremely relieved that Elias had finally reciprocated his feelings. Work or no work, he was determined to see things through here. He was especially surprised when Elias pulled him in for a kiss, but he quickly kissed the man right back. Sure, they had gone much farther before, but this time there was real emotion behind the act that made it feel much more personal and meaningful.

“If anything or anyone takes a piece out of you, they’re going to have to answer to me now. You’ve got someone looking out for you, which is a very good thing since you’re a fan of shenanigans.” Marcus told him with a wink. While the idea of Elias getting hurt was a real threat, it wasn’t one he saw as being especially likely to happen anytime soon. Just in case, however, he was perfectly comfortable taking on a protective role for his new partner.

“I’ll happily lead the way until you’re good and comfortable. After all, we gotta support each other, right?”

And with that, Marcus squeezed both of Elias’s hands with his own, allowing himself to flash a genuine smile of happiness to the other man.

[butterflyintochains]

Bubble Playoff Boredom

In which Elias is in Edmonton for the 2020 Bubble playoffs, and his girlfriend is bored out of her mind.

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

Elias left yesterday for the return to play in Edmonton. He's been so bored over lockdown without being able to skate or play hockey, so she's glad he can get back to what he does best. Joanna, however, always had something to do. Studying, student union zoom meetings, the odd online chess tournament. They both have just moved into their first home together, a lovely condo roughly in between Rogers Arena and UBC, so have been constantly working on getting the place ship shape for their needs. Now, she's the one left at loose ends. Potentially two months without him, and unable to just hop in the car to visit her friends and family are going to fucking suck. Ever an early bird, Joanna is up at eight, and gets ready for her day. She eats her breakfast, and looks around the condo for anything that needs to be done. She hones in on the bookcase, and decides to rearrange it. Putting her university and non-fiction books on the bottom shelves, all arranged by author, and their novels closer to the top. She keeps the middle shelf for trinkets and pictures, as well as Elias' various hockey mementos. ''Much better.''

That takes her until just before lunch, she didn't know quite how many books she had until now. Next, she makes herself some lunch, and watches something on Netflix. Elias said he'd call her every night, so she has a bunch of time to kill. ''Right, what next?'' She says to herself. Eyeing up her knitting baskets, Joanna sorts through her projects, and places the finished ones in a separate basket. Her needles and crochet hooks are in a box in her desk drawer upstairs. Her unfinished projects are put in another basket, and she sorts her wools out, arranging them neatly into colours and types. She spends the rest of the day getting some of her projects finished, Elias' gloves for winter don't take long, neither do hers. A hat for her friend Jonathan is a quick finish as well, and goes in a special gift bag for him with Chelsea's scarf. Those take her until dinner. She eats, watches some tv, and goes to get ready for bed.

Finally, she gets her facetime with her boyfriend. She almost wants to cry at seeing him again. ''Hi, sweetheart, how are you?'' She asks, relaxing into her pillows. ''Bored senseless, alskling, you?'' Joanna sips her water. ''About the same, what did you do today? Surely there's something you guys can do, right?''

Elias says. ''Well; Brock, Thatch, Quinn, and I got a Mario Kart event going between ourselves. Finished that book you told me to read.'' She gave him her Dark Tower books by Stephen King for the bubble. ''Really? Did you like it?''

Elias nods, earnest as always. ''Yeah, I did. I'll crack open the next one tomorrow after training.'' He asks her, blue eyes sleepy. ''Now, what did you get up to today?''

Joanna says. ''Well, I sorted our bookcase out finally, and got my knitting stuff in order. My desk is a disaster, so that's tomorrow sorted.'' She pauses and sighs. ''I miss having you here, Lias, this place just doesn't feel like home without you.''

Elias sighs as well, running his free hand through his silver blond hair. ''I know, Anna, I know. Believe me, I'm no happier about this than you are. Just, try and sleep for me, okay?''

Joanna nods, swallowing past a tightening in her throat. ''Yeah, you too. I love you.''

Elias says. ''I love you too.'' They hang up, Joanna lies down, and almost forces herself to get some sleep.

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

A couple of days pass, and the Canucks have begun their qualifying campaign against Minnesota with a 3-0 loss. Joanna notices the day after that they need some groceries. So, she makes herself a list on her phone. Essential stores are open now, so she'll be fine. Her first time out of the condo since Elias left for Alberta. She grabs her purse, and jumps in her car. She drives down to the store, and heads inside, it is unfairly hot today. The store is all but empty, only staff and a few other shoppers milling about. She swings by the produce section for more fruits and veggies, then grabs some chicken breast and smoked salmon. Next, the dairy aisle for more milk and yoghurt. In the hygiene section, she bumps into her best friend. ''Tessa, oh my God, you are a sight for sore eyes.''

Theresa laughs behind her tiger print mask. ''Bored at home alone, Anna?'' They chat while six feet apart, the two little girls who lived in each other's pockets for two decades. ''God, yeah, with Elias out of town, I'm just counting the days until he's home. Cup or no Cup.''

Theresa says, eyes crinkling with a hidden smile. ''Nate and I had a little wager on, twenty bucks to me if you got bored before qualifying, twenty bucks to him if it happened after. Looks like I won.'' Joanna adds some pads and moisturizer to her cart, along with some of her favourite lip balm. ''Looks like you did.''

Theresa says. ''Anyway, I should get going, I love you, bestie.'' Joanna says, being a touchy person during a pandemic isn't fun. ''Love you too, Tessa.''

Joanna swings by the bakery section for some bread and some of their favourite cookies. Then, she grabs some ice cream. She picks up some cleaning products, and goes to a self checkout.

Once home, she chucks her mask in the laundry, and washes her hands before putting everything away. Then, she finds a knitting pattern for a cute teddy bear, and begins working on it.

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

The team go into August 6th having tied the series, and shutout the Wild 3-0, with Elias getting his first ever playoff goal! Joanna watches from home, having to dry her eyes all night. Her boyfriend's first playoff goal, and it was beautiful, and she couldn't see it in person. She quickly readies herself for bed, putting laundry on her to-do list for tomorrow, and jumps on facetime with Elias, who looks radiant. To add to the unfairness, his beard is coming in! Fuck you, Covid. Joanna groans. ''Hey, beautiful, did you see it?'' Elias asks, sounding justly proud of himself.

Joanna laughs, and says. ''Oh, I saw it, darling. I continue to be so proud of you, you know? Here's to many more.'' Elias chuckles, the same way he does when she tells him a joke. ''Your lips to God's ear, alskling.'' He takes a minute to scan her face, he knows her too well by now, when the calm sea hides a tsunami. ''Anna, are you okay? You look like you've been crying.''

Joanna purses her lips. ''Yeah, I'm just happy for you, love, that's all.'' He cocks an eyebrow. ''Anna, please, just tell me. It's okay, Quinn's asleep, it's just us.''

Joanna confesses, because he always knows how to unravel her. ''I'm just... pissed off. You scored, and it was amazing. But, here I am, stuck watching you from home. I pictured you finding me in the stands and blowing me a kiss after your first playoff goal.'' She pauses to collect herself. ''I know it's for safety, and people are dying, but, that's what I pictured.''

Elias sighs, and looks emotional himself. ''I know you did, so did I. Tell you what? That's my celly for my next goal, I'll find a camera, and kiss your rose pendant you gave me.''

Joanna beams at him, what stars aligned to give him to her? ''Sounds good to me.'' They say their goodnights, and hang up.

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

That gameday would come against the defending champions - St Louis. Game one of the best of seven. Joanna finishes a deep clean of the house brought about my nerves, but she doesn't miss the start of the game. Bo and Perron score in the first to hold things level at one goal apiece. Early in the second period, however, Elias hammers it to the back of the net, beating out Binnington with grace. He finds a camera close to the net, fishes the rose pendant out from his jersey, and presses a kiss to it for her. Elias mouths to the camera. ''I love you.''

Joanna, barely fighting tears, says. ''I love you too.'' Her phone rings, her dad. ''Hi, daddy, what's up?'' She sniffles.

Her dad asks. ''Was that for you, princess? That celly? Your mom thinks it was.'' Her parents got her the rose necklace for her fifteenth birthday, and she's only ever removed it to give it to Elias before he left for Alberta.

Joanna gleefully says. ''Yeah, dad, it was. I know we're still so young, dad, but he's it for me.'' She watches as Schwartz levels it up again. Her dad chuckles down the line. ''I think so too, princess.'' They talk for a bit, and hang up.

Troy, Bo, and JT lead the team to the win. As Joanna is readying for bed, she gets a text from Elias.

Beloved: Grab your laptop, I have an idea.

She smirks to herself, and replies.

Joanna Rose: Okay. 💓

They facetime each other to sleep that night. Talking about the game, his goal celebration, and the series to come.

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

The series trundles along nicely, it's tied by the 18th. Joanna decides to go for an early morning run that day, and showers once she's home. Things are a bit more bearable now that they have the routines down, but coming home to an empty condo is still depressing. Her younger siblings are locked down with her parents at the manor, her older siblings have their partners. Her friends are all living with their partners by now too. She finishes eating breakfast, and works on her teddy bear again. All it needs now is the finishing touches. She sews on some buttons for eyes and a nose, and knits a little bowtie from soft pink wool. Her niece's knitted duck plushie was a hit, Rose never sleeps without it according to Edward and Cassandra. But, this one will be staying here. She may be 21, but she is terribly touch starved.

After lunch, she plays some chess online against some other players, her elo is up to 1200 now, it was a bit higher when she was competing as a teenager. She was even competing against the boys, and winning most of her matches. None of her boys have ever beaten her, and only Elias came close, mostly because he kissed her mid-move to confuse her. And, there it is again, that ache in her heart. That ache that feels so good but so bad all at once. She breathes it in, and lets it go on the exhale, he'll be home soon enough, Cup or no Cup.

After dinner, she fills up the bird feeders she's hung on their balcony. Loading them with seeds, nuts, and dried berries for the little songbirds that come around here. She also fills the hummingbird feeder with fructose water. Joanna heads inside to fetch her book, and reads the evening away.

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

The Canucks take a 5-2 series lead over the Blues with a beautiful 4-3 win on the 19th. And, win the series two days later in a beatdown 6-2 game, knocking the defending champions out. Now, they face Vegas. The day before that series begins, Joanna comes onto her period. Always later in the month, so she runs to the store to stock up. Something she could usually ask Elias to do, but he's not here. Her back is killing her by the time she gets home. So, after washing up and binning her mask, she crashes on the couch with some cookies, tea, and Downton Abbey - always a comfort show for her. Life must have been similar for her family back then, an old money family needing to adapt to an evolving world. She's always wondered what her great-grandparents and their parents must have been experiencing. But, she'd say they've adapted pretty well.

She has her laptop facetime in bed with Elias that night. He looks so excited to have won the St Louis series, and a bit tired from training today as well. ''How are you guys holding up?'' She asks him.

Elias yawns. ''I think we're okay, Rouss has been getting extra physio, so has Motter. but, We're doing good, so far. How are you? It'll be that time of the month, won't it?''

Joanna smiles, placing a hand on her lower abdomen to calm a cramp down. ''Yeah, it started literally today.''

Elias tells her. ''The boys miss you too, Quinn and Brock especially.'' Joanna sniffles, hoping it's just her hormones acting up. ''I miss them too, it's so weird not having the gang together.''

Elias hums. ''I know, and we won't be able to have them over until at least next year too, with the way things are looking.'' Joanna gives her boyfriend a tired smile. ''At least we'll be back together.'' Elias nods, and yawns again. ''At least there's that, yeah. I love you, I'll see you soon.''

Joanna says, resting her head. ''I love you too, see you soon.'' They fall asleep on facetime again.

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

UBC sends Joanna some materials for junior year of her degree the day after the Canucks get shutout 5-0 by Vegas. The files get saved to her laptop, and the books go on the lower shelves of their bookcase. Still no real news on how semester is going to work yet, the dean and the board are working closely with the provincial government to evaluate things, and should be issuing an email to the student body in a couple of days. She's just fine to study from home, it's union meetings she's worried about. Online meetings sometimes give people excuses not to attend. The orcas right the ship the following day, winning 5-2 with yet another goal from Elias. The next day, Joanna is up early for some yoga before breakfast, and heads out to the store quickly. She spends the afternoon reading over her course materials, classes will be online until after christmas it appears.

Joanna watches some tennis highlights while she makes herself some spaghetti for dinner. Tennis is also back behind closed doors, and the sound of it is amazing, the ball is so much louder with the empty stadium. She's played to very few people on various ocassions, mostly in high school, and the sound is so familiar. She eats while watching tennis, and goes to bed at ten like she always does. She and Elias fall asleep together over zoom again, not knowing when they'll be back in the same bed together.

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

Vegas win two in a row to take the series lead over the coming days, Marc-Andre Fleury standing on his head in game four. Joanna spends the day of the 31st of August baking, muffins and cookies are in the oven, and she tidies up after setting a timer. There should be enough there for at least a week. She also goes over some notes for a Student Union meeting for the 9th of September, their first of the new year.

While she's cleaning up the living room, the timer dings, and she takes her muffins and cookies out of the oven to cool off. Everything is baked all the way through. She gets a call from her friend Genevieve. ''Hi, Genna, how are you?''

Genevieve says. ''Hi, Anna. I'm good, Natalia is bored out of her mind, we both are. She misses her soccer, and I miss my lacrosse. How are you, it's been what? Three weeks since Elias left?'' Joanna smiles sadly, her heart aching at hearing about her friends having each other through this. Genna and Nat are a sports couple UBC relies on for results. ''Yeah, it's been rough. This condo just doesn't feel like home without him, can I confess something to you?''

Genevieve says. ''Always, go ahead.''

Joanna fiddles with he hem of her dress. ''I don't care about that Cup, I just want my boyfriend home however he gets here.'' Genevieve says, an athlete herself. ''I know, I've felt that for you, girlie, his place is with you, Cup or no Cup.''

Her boys fight like orcas should the following day. Beating Vegas 2-1 with goals from both Brock and Elias. Then, do it all over again to level the series a dominant 4-0 shutout from Thatcher with the offense firing on all cylinders.

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

It's the following day, while she's cracking on with the first load of coursework for junior year, that the news reaches her that the boys will need to isolate for ten days upon return home whenever that is. She rolls her eyes, and accepts the news, it's for the best. At least Elias will be back in BC. They'll also need to return two negative Covid tests. She'll need to return one for Elias to return home. She takes her deep breath again, and gets back on with her work. She'd love to see her boyfriend lift that cup, she knows better than anyone does how much that weighs on this city. How 1994 and 2011 plague this team. But, the selfish part of her just wants him home now. Road trips are bearable, but this has been uniquely painful.

Joanna stops for a lunch hour, which she takes on the balcony, and goes to get back on with her work until four pm. She makes herself a small fish curry, something her friend on the union, Rajeev, turned her on to ages ago. It's since become one of her favourite dinners, she's tweaked his recipe to add salmon instead of haddock.

That night, in bed, she jumps on zoom as usual, and gets cozy. Elias looks just exhausted from it all, she's pretty tired herself right now. ''Hi, sweetheart, how are you holding up?'' She asks him.

Elias slowly blinks a few times, like a cat would, if only to keep himself awake. ''Hanging in there, how are you doing, beautiful?'' Joanna yawns, twirling the end of her braid around her finger. ''Getting back to university work, but looking forward to having you home.''

Elias also yawns, running a hand through his hair. ''I'm looking forward to being home, Quinn's a great room-mate, wouldn't trade him for anyone. But, that is our bed you're sleeping alone in, know what I mean?'' Joanna nods, putting her head down, she knows exactly what he means. ''Yeah, I do.'' The conversation trails off from there, until both fall into sleep together.

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

Game seven is a washout, the Canucks are eliminated 3-0 in a shutout from Robin Lehner. Ending their run in the second round, a good showing all things considered, and no one in the bubble got sick, which is nothing short of a miracle. So, the Canucks must clear out the following day, and fly home to BC. Then, the ten day isolation begins. Joanna receives a text from Elias on day five of BC isolation while she's working.

Beloved: Took my test today, all clear!

She smiles, clicking her pen a few times, and replies.

Joanna Rose: Great! Do you know when I should take my test?

He must be texting management, because his answer takes a few moments to come through.

Beloved: Day nine, same as us.

She nods, and makes a note on a pink post-it.

Joanna Rose: Cool, I guess I'll see you soon! 🌹

He replies quickly.

Beloved: See you soon! 💙

Five more days! Five! And, she can have her boyfriend back from hockey for a while. Still no news on next season, by rights it should start in october, next month, but she can't see that happening.

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

Day nine comes, and she takes her Covid test after dinner. The sting in her nose and throat is the most uncomfortable thing she's probably ever felt. This must be what taking a pregnancy test feels like, she thinks as she washes her hands. The test is done, and thankfully negative. She bins it, and texts Elias.

Joanna Rose: Took my test, negative!

Elias texts her back.

Beloved: Also negative!

She's so excited to hear that news, one more day then.

Joanna Rose: When are you being released?

Elias takes a moment to answer her this time, probably just checking with Benning.

Beloved: Tomorrow evening, just after dinner.

That's gonna be an agonizingly long day. She replies.

Joanna Rose: Cool, I'll be up. See you tomorrow!

He replies, seeming excited too.

Beloved: See you tomorrow!

Finally, she's getting him back, these past few weeks have sucked being here in their home without him.

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

She's up early to tidy the condo the next day, there isn't much to do, but she wants the place to look neat for Elias returning home. Once that's done, which takes her through a lunch break, she gets on with some homework while listening to some music. That takes her until dinner, the hours feeling like years all of a sudden. She eats a quick bowl of pasta with some fruit juice, then, she waits. Half-watching something on Netflix until she hears the familiar sound of a car outside, and footsteps on the stairs. The door clicks open and closed, Joanna springs up, and bolts through to the foyer to greet him. Elias laughs behind his team mask, and says. ''Hang on, I just need to wash up.''

He washes his hands, and chucks his mask in the laundry. Then, at long last, he can sweep her into his arms for real. He holds her close, and breathes her in, he's home, at long last, he's home. Joanna also inhales his scent, savouring the feel of him in her arms again. Her friends can never understand how this feels, her family can't either. This feeling is all theirs. ''I've missed you so fucking much, alskling.'' Elias says.

Joanna sniffles, overcome by it all. ''I've missed you too, darling.'' Finally, they kiss, brought back together after far too long apart. This is the best feeling on earth, it must be.

Joanna gets the kettle on, and makes them tea with her cookies. And, finally back together in their home, they talk late into the night like they always do.

[gutsfics]

Evening Plans

Fandom: Laws of Attraction Characters: Reigan Lee (M!MC), Joaquin Morales Length: 1710 words Rating: General No warnings apply

Prompt: @choicespride aromantic celebration- a night in with just your pets. Summary: Joaquin tries to use some information related to the Colby case to get Reigan to join him for dinner-- but Reigan has other plans.

A/N: I'm really scraping by getting this out by the teeth of my skin whoops. Anyway like the first half of this is mostly from LOA bk2ch10, the part where Joaquin asks the MC out to dinner. Just so ya'll know.

Reigan narrows his eyes as he stepped into his office, unhappy and, frankly, annoyed to see Joaquin splayed in his chair like it was his own office. “Joaquin. If you keep showing up like this, I’ll have to increase security.”

Joaquin shifts in the chair, crossing his legs. “Probably not a bad idea. I have to admit I was surprised Lucy just let me walk in here.”

“We’ll be sure to enact a stricter policy from now on.”

“Good. I could have been a lunatic.”

Reigan sighs and rounds his desk, coming to a stop behind his chair, hands resting on the back.

He doesn’t miss the way Joaquin’s face lights up when he tips his head back to grin up at Reigan.

With a roll of his eyes, Reigan pushes the top of the chair forward, dumping Joaquin out.

He stumbles, but catches himself. “Now, what was that for?”

“Stay out from behind my desk.”

Joaquin puts his hands up and moves to sit in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk.

“Care to tell me the point of your visit?” Reigan asks, sitting down himself.

Joaquin grins again, that dazzling smile that could make anyone fall in love.

“But we’re having so much fun.”

Well. Almost anyone.

Reigan scrunches his nose, unaffected by his charm. “You and I seem to have different ideas of fun. This is a social call, then?”

“I’d certainly like Martin to think so. A little ruse that would gain more credibility if you let me take you out to dinner tonight.” Joaquin leans forward, almost hopeful. “I would make it worth your while.”

Shaking his head, Reigan decides to ignore the attempted flirting. He picks up a pen and rolls it between his fingers. “What makes you think that Martin’s going to be okay with that?”

“He holds the misguided belief that I prefer to keep business and pleasure separate. I’ve told him you fall into pleasure.”

The pen clatters to the desk. “Why on earth would you tell him that?”

Joaquin reaches across the desk, picking up the pen and rolling it in a way not dissimilar to how Reigan had been. “Call it wishful thinking.” His eyes meet Reigan’s, then drop down to Reigan’s lips. “Even Martin knows you’re a knockout.” He turns his head to physically drag his gaze away. “And before you ask, if you join me, I promise there will be a business benefit for you.”

Reigan snatches the pen back, tucking it away in the top drawer. “So, what, you’re bribing me to go out with you?”

Joaquin shrugs, smiling coyly. “I’d like the pleasure of your company enough to guarantee I’ll have it. So? Tonight?”

“Already got plans.”

“Can I crash them?”

“No. It’s a phone call with an out of state friend.”

“After, then?”

“It’s been a while since we last talked; we’ve got a lot to catch each other up on.”

“I’ll wait however long you need me to.”

Reigan lets out a huff. “How many times do I have to say no before you listen?”

“How about a raincheck, then?”

“If it’ll get you to leave my office faster, sure.”

“Alright then. But I will get that dinner.” Joaquin stands up. “No harm in telling you what I wanted to now though. Consider it part of my ongoing job application.”

“...Sure.”

Joaquin tells Reigan of how Calvin Colby referred Elias Ritter to Mcgraw Bryne, specifically with the promise that Martin could “protect” him from Ricci & Associates.

Reigan thanks him for the information and waves him out of his office.

Just before he opens the door to leave, Joaquin stops. “This friend of yours… is it that doctor? The one you quit working at Mcgraw Byrne for?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Last I heard, they had been caught in the middle of an assassination attempt. How’s their recovery?”

“It’s… fine. They were discharged about two months ago.” Reigan shakes his head. “You don’t even know them, and I’ve never told you about them. Why are you asking.”

“Just… curious. Glad to hear they’re all right.” Joaquin pats the doorframe. “Let’s get that dinner sometime soon.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

-

Reigan had lied.

Sort of.

He and Baxter had had a phone call planned for the evening, but just before Reigan had gotten into work that morning, Baxter called to let Reigan know that some work thing had come up- some team bonding exercise in the form of rubbing elbows with the new owner of Edenbrook’s peers and associates in the tech industry.

But Joaquin did not have to know that.

On his way home from work, Reigan stops by a deli for a sandwich and a bakery for a slice of chocolate hazelnut cake- his favorite.

Even before he makes it to his apartment door, fumbling with his keys, he can hear one of his cats on the other side meowing in increasing distress, the way she always did when he came home. The second he gets the door open, her crying immediately halts, replaced with a friendly “mew!”, her fluffy orange and white tail raised in greeting.

“Hello to you, too, Commander T’ana,” Reigan says, bending down to scoop her up before she dashes down the hallway. “You have got to stop crying like that when I get home, the neighbors might complain.”

T’ana purrs happily in response, batting at his chin with a paw, claws sheathed.

He laughs and kisses her right on her fuzzy little forehead, kicking the door shut behind him. With the door closed and locked, he places T’ana back on the floor and heads to the kitchen-- trying his best not to accidentally kick or step on T’ana as she tries to climb up his pant leg. He sets his own dinner on the counter before getting two cans of wet cat food out of the pantry.

The sound of the cans being opened beckons his other cat, Quark, out from where he had been hiding in a basket of blankets, and the process of getting dinner for both cats and himself becomes a bit of a struggle as Reigan tries to push both cats away from the dishes he was attempting to fill with food.

When he finally gets T’ana and Quark’s food on their little eating mats for them and sits down for his own dinner, all of that energy he had left from the day just drains out of him. For a moment he just sits with his forehead against the table and exists, trying his best not to think about the stressful world just outside his apartment, the one where his colleague’s grandmother’s rights have been stolen from her, the one that nearly killed his best friend- which he had been unable to do anything about because he was too busy suing a woman for birthing a baby that was “too ugly”.

Sometimes it was hard not to take the worst parts of work home.

Joaquin’s insistence on flirting with him every time they saw each other despite Reigan’s constant rejections did not help in the slightest.

He stays like that until he is no longer Reigan Lee, hotshot NYC lawyer who solved the murder of a beloved actress, and instead Lee Sungwon, Star Trek fan and cat parent.

A man who’s toasted sandwich is getting cold.

Oh, shit.

His sandwich.

Sungwon sits back up and shoos T’ana- done with her own food and now trying to steal his- off the table.

Even with the meal in his stomach, something about the day had left Sungwon with an off feeling, like he just needed to turn off his brain and veg out for a bit, so he flopped down on the couch and started scrolling mindlessly through his Netflix recommendations.

Nothing seemed to jump out at him, so he decides to turn to his failsafe for picking something to watch: having T’ana pick one at random.

He grabs a pen and some index card from his office and sits on the floor next to where T’ana was sprawled out. “Wanna help me pick something?”

She makes a little chirping sound.

“I’m thinking the options for tonight will be… Deep Space Nine-” he writes it down on one of the cards- “The Voyage Home-” the second card- “and…” he pauses, the pen hovering above the last card. “You know… Everyone is always saying I should branch out from Star Trek. I supposed it wouldn’t hurt to just try something else for once. What do you think?”

But T’ana doesn’t answer, too busy being a cat and trying to chew on the pen in Sungwon’s hand now that it had stopped moving.

“No, no, you’re right. Trust the system. If you pick the something else then we’ll watch the something else.”

On the last card he writes Breaking Bad, which he had been recommended several times by many different people but had never gotten around to watching.

He shuffles the cards around and places them, face down, on the floor in front of T’ana.

She looks at the cards as if she were genuinely trying to make a decision, then baps a paw down near the one on the left. Or perhaps she was just going for a small bug on the floor Sungwon hadn’t noticed.

He turns the card over.

The Voyage Home.

“Aw, yes, that’s what I wanted to watch!” He scratches T’ana under the chin and gets up to put the movie in the DVD player.

When he sits back down on the couch, Quark leaps up onto his lap and makes himself comfortable, purring happily as Sungwon pats him between the ears. T’ana climbs onto the couch as well, settling half on the back and half on Sungwon’s shoulder.

Sungwon relaxes, ready to just chill after a long day.

Snuggling with his cats and watching his favorite movie- there was nowhere else he’d rather be right now.

-

It isn’t until the credits are rolling and Sungwon is cleaning up from the earlier meal that he gets an urgent text from Aislinn telling him and Gabe to turn on the local news.

And just like that, the good vibes Sungwon had been trying to build up since coming home were gone.

[][][]

Tags

All fics - @peonyblossom

Fic of the week - @choicesficwriterscreations

[spaceoperajay]

Your fic titles are so organized! Tell me about DMV because it sounds like the literal DMV and I'm intrigued

its organized that way so i can keep all txt and docs in one folder and totally hasn't resulted in me almost sending porn instead of my resume

It's a crackfic based on some post where someone was like "Elias really killed all those people just to live long enough in line at the dmv" and it's Jon taking a statement from this poor woman who happened to be there.

-

"Ah yes, please sit down, Miss?" The Archivist gestures to simple wooden chair in front of his desk.

"Amelia Waters. I saw the devil."

Jon sighed, loudly, pointedly, would-much-rather-be-researchingly, "This isn't a confessional booth. We are looking for statements about the genuine supernatural, not whatever rubbish your pastor's been speaking."

"He wasn't baiting people with apples, he was doing something else. I don't quite know what he was doing, but it was evil! A cat will play with it's prey but it wouldn't be cruel enough to delight in filling out from E-49 or Z-234B, or God I think he brought his own forms-"

"So the supernatural event is...paperwork."

"You of all people are not taking me seriously- you crackpots pretending to be academics!"

"You're welcome to walk a few blocks to the Church," Jon said blandly but then imminently regretted. This woman was unpleasant but something in his neck tingled with curiosity about what she had to say, but he decided he was going to ignore it just like he did the ache in his neck from sitting all day and be a hater.

[moodriingz]

Waiting Room pt. 2 | Q. Hughes

Summary | part one it’s Quinn’s turn to pine over the reader while she tries to move on, but can she do that when she’s still in love with Quinn?

Pairing | Quinn Hughes x reader, Elias Peterson x platonic!reader, reader x oc

Warnings | Angst?, mutual (but blind) pinning, cursing maybe 

Author's Note | Thank you so much for all of your support for part one! I feel so bad that it took me forever to write part two, but this semester really kicked my ass. I hope this lives up to the hype. I honestly just wanted to get it done to move on if that makes sense? I’m hoping to continue writing so feel free to send requests! I’ve also recently gotten into F1 so you can send requests for that too!! xx

Masterlist

“You were so right, me and Evan got along so well. He’s great. We’re going on another date too.” 

Quinn felt sick to his stomach. Not only had your friendship dwindled out of nowhere, but now you’re with someone else. Worst of all there was no explanation to why you pulled away. Quinn racked his brain for any reason why you would stop hanging out with him. 

Now he had to watch you give your attention to someone else. He was so jealous of this random guy. Quinn wondered what made Evan better than him? All he knew was that the bright smile and light blush you seemed to always have was for some other guy now. 

A couple of weeks passed and Quinn barely spends time with the team outside of practice and chooses to spend his time going through old photos and videos of the two of you or watching anything you’ve ever suggested to him. He’s halfway through one of your favorite movies when there’s a knock on his door. His heart flutters hoping it's you, but is immediately let down when he realizes that it's Elias and Brock at his door.

“What do you want,” He asks begrudgingly, leaving the door open as he returns to his couch.

“We wanted to make sure that you’re alive,” Elias said.

“Well now you know bye,” Quinn quips at them.

“Dude something is up with you and we’re not leaving until we find out,” Brock said.

“Is this about Y/N?” Elias asked.

“Fine yeah it’s about Y/N. I just really miss her,” Quinn admits after taking a deep breath.

“We used to talk almost everyday and that all stopped on the last road trip and now she’s seeing that new guy. I was finally going to ask her out and she just shut down.”

“Wait you were? You told me you didn’t see her that way and she overheard,” Elias says confused.

“She heard me? Why didn’t you say anything?” Quinn asks as his heart shatters all over again. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt you.

“She was so upset and I didn’t think I could change your mind. She had been pinning after you for months and you never did anything, so I just believed you,” Elias said with a shrug.

“I didn’t think she felt the same way so I was just putting my feelings aside because I cared more about our friendship,” Quinn says, putting his head in his hands. “I think I royally fucked up.”

“Maybe not, Y/N and Evan don’t seem super serious yet. You might be able to wiggle your way back in with her,” Elias says sitting down with Quinn.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“Maybe bring her coffee? Start there and see what happens,” Brock suggests and Quinn just nods making a game plan to get his girl back.

The next morning he gets up early for practice to go pick up your coffee from the cafe you always go to. He knew where to go because the cafe printed their logo on their cups and he had plenty of time to take note of it. As he walked in he immediately recognized your silhouette waiting in line.

“Looks like you beat me to it today,” Quinn says walking up to you in line.

“Beat me to what?” You ask confused why after not talking to each other for a month he decided to come to your cafe.

“I was going to bring you coffee today,” He says awkwardly with a small smile on his face.

“Oh well you can still pay if you want,” You suggest as a joke.

“Yeah I guess that’s true,” Quinn says, hoping a conversation would start on its own. After a minute of silence he gives in and asks, “So what’s new with you I feel like we haven’t really talked that much recently.”

“Nothing much, you know filming you guys all day,” You say wondering if you should mention Evan. It’s still so new and you don’t know if it's going to work out, but he makes you so happy.

“I actually just started seeing this guy. His name is Evan, I think you would like him actually, he's really nice,” You say, deciding to rip off the bandaid.

Quinn knew he wouldn’t like Evan because he was getting with the girl of his dreams.

“Yeah maybe you should bring him out with us after a game or something. I'd love to meet him,” Quinn says kicking himself because that’s the last thing he wants, but anything to get back in your good graces. 

You give him a smile at his comment thinking of what to say next. Luckily for you the barista calls for you two to order. And just like you suggested, Quinn paid. He offers you a ride to the arena before you even start walking back to the metro station to get to work.

You both sit in silence trying to think of anything to talk about. You finally start the conversation by mentioning that an author you had recommended to him a while ago put out a new book and how excited you were to pick it up. 

Just like that the two of you fell back into conversation like you hadn’t missed a beat. You arrive at the arena way quicker than you thought you would and almost don’t want to get out of the car and leave Quinn again. You walk inside and as you are about to separate, but Quinn stops you.

“Would you like to go stop at a bookstore after work today to pick up that book? I could take you home after so you don’t have to take the metro home,” He asks hoping you would say yes.

Yeah that would be really nice. I’ve really missed hanging out with you,” You say with a smile and leaving to go get your work started.

“What’s got you smiling like that? Evan?” Megan, your coworker, asks jokingly.

“Actually no I ran into Quinn this morning when I was getting my coffee and we just talked for a while. Now we’re hanging out after work,” you say, taking a sip of coffee. Hoping to hide your smile behind your cup.

“Wait, really I thought you two were going to avoid each other forever.”

“Well I guess not. He said he was going there to pick up my coffee which was really sweet of him.”

“Oh he’s so into you,” Megan says sitting back in her chair. 

“No he’s not, why would you say that?”

“Think about it, he stops talking to you right after you start seeing Evan and out of nowhere he’s doing all of these nice things for you?” 

You stop and think about it, but there’s no way he told Elias that he could never see you that way. You brush it off and get on with your day. You didn’t have to shoot any content today so you didn’t see any of the guys during their practice, but Quinn was waiting for you after work to take you to go find your book.

You try not to think about what Megan said to you today, pushing it to the back of your mind. Once the two of you get to the bookstore you feel like a kid in a candy store showing Quinn all of the books you had on your reading list but haven’t gotten yet. Without you paying attention he grabbed a basket and started throwing them in there to pay for them himself.

He finally leads you up to the counter and insists on paying for all of the books he grabbed for you. You try to convince him that he didn’t need to but you were cut off by the clerk.

“Girl just let your cute boyfriend pay for your books. That’s what I would do.” You try to deny the accusation from this random teenager, but before you could they were announcing the total and Quinn was inserting his card. He grabbed the bag and walked you back out to the car.

“Sorry if what they said was weird, but just think of it as a payback for all of those coffees you got me,” Quinn said, trying to make you feel better.

“No it’s fine I think it’s kinda funny actually.” You say finally realizing you were there for several hours and were too tired to make dinner.

“I think I’m just going to order take-out for dinner if you want to keep hanging out at my place,” You say with a blush creeping up your cheeks.

“Yeah that’d be great,” Quinn says as you start ordering. He stops at the restaurant while you run in to pick it up. He decides to text Elias and Brock an update and that he’ll tell them more later. 

The drive to your apartment was filled with playful banter about what you should watch and Quinn just watches you as the streetlights illuminate your face. The two of you finally arrive and settle on a new movie you just saw. It really didn’t take much convincing for him to give in; he just wanted to push your buttons a little bit.

Later, they are surrounded by take out tins and you’re starting to drift off. At some point during the movie your head ended up on Quinn’s shoulder and you started to doze off. Quinn wasn’t complaining, but felt like it was time for him to go as the credits started to roll.

“Hey Y/n/n wake up,” He says quietly as you groan and cuddle into him further. “Y/n/n you have to get up-the movie’s over.”

When there’s no sign of you moving he decides to just pick you up and bring you to your bed. Thinking you’re asleep he decides to give you a “friendly” kiss on your forehead and says goodnight. You feel the butterflies that you thought were now reserved for Evan coming back all over again. Quinn grabs the trash from the takeout and sees himself out, and can’t seem to wipe the smile off his face. On his way home he decides to call Elias.

“Elias I’m in so deep I don’t know what to do,” Quinn says concerned because he doesn’t want to break you and Evan up and ruin something else for you.

“Wait what happened?” Elias asked confused because all Quinn had told him was that they were heading back to her place.

“I kissed her-” Quinn said before Elias cut him off.

“You what? You move fast, man.”

“Well I kind of kissed her. She fell asleep on my shoulder and wouldn’t move so I carried her back to her room and then I kissed her forehead. Now I’m going home,” Quinn says still with a deep smile on his face. “I just don’t know what to do.”

“I guess act like nothing happened. She was asleep right? Just leave it be for now and still hang out with her. I can talk to her and see what’s going on with Evan and then you can go from there.”

“Yeah good point thanks Elias, I’ll see you later.”

The next day you walk into work reminiscing last night with Quinn hoping you could relive it again soon. Silly crush aside, you missed your best friend and wanted things to go back to normal. 

Elias practically corners you just to ask questions about Quinn.

“Quinn told me you two hung out last night, so you aren’t ignoring him anymore?”

“I was never ignoring him I just was busy,” You say trying to move around him to get to his office.

“Yeah alright. Anyways, how is it going with Ethan?” Elias asks, teasing you.

“Evan is great. I think I might invite him to a game or something soon,” You say, rolling your eyes.

“Oh wait, really?” Elias asks as you start to walk away. “For the record I think that would be a great idea. Maybe next week against Winnipeg?”

“Yeah I’ll have to ask him. Now if you will excuse me I have to go to my desk.” You say finally walking away. 

You set your things down and open your computer and Megan starts questioning you about your evening with Quinn.

“It really wasn’t anything crazy. We just went to the bookstore where he bought all of them for me and then we went back to my place and got dinner,” You tell her leaving out the fact that he brought you to your bed and kissed you goodnight.

“The fact that he bought all of your books is enough to tell me that he’s into you. I know you had a long list you were slowly buying for yourself.” Megan may have set you up with Evan but she wasn’t blind to how much Quinn was into you and vice versa. 

“I’m thinking of inviting Evan to a game. What do you think?” You ask to change the subject.

“I think it would be a good idea if you weren’t afraid of what your work husband would do,” Megan says, teasing you.

“I- what are you talking about,” You ask, hiding your blush.

“Y/N you can pretend to be oblivious, but Quinn really likes you and you should think about his reaction to having your new boyfriend at a game.”

“Who even knows if Evan would want to go,” You say before locking in on your work for the day.

You had already made plans to go out with Evan later that night so you figured it would be the best time to ask him then. You go home and get ready for your date thinking about what Megan said to you earlier in the day. 

Soon enough you leave to go meet Evan at some new restaurant you would never pick out because it was too fancy for your taste. He greets you with a kiss to your cheek asking you how your day was.

“It was good I just had to deal with Megan and Elias berating me all day,” You say, aiming to leave the questions about Quinn out.

“Why would they do that?”

“Oh I was just thinking about inviting you to a game soon and they were just making fun of me,” You say sheepishly.

“That would be so cool! Would you be able to hang out with me or would it be like a wag situation where I just watch you do your magic,” Evan says with a chuckle as you start to look over the menu.

“I could probably get the night off and sit with you. Do you think you’d be free for the game next Saturday against the Jets?”

“Yeah that would be great! I’m looking forward to it!” He says closing his menu to signal he’s ready to order.

You continue to hang out with both Quinn and Evan, but choose not to tell Quinn about your invite for Evan to come to the upcoming game.

Saturday’s game finally rolls around and Quinn notices your absence during the warmups. You usually can be found on the bench shooting content but tonight it’s Megan in your place. 

“Hey Petey do you know where Y/N is tonight?” Quinn asks hoping Elias might have some insight.

“Yeah she’s in the crowd tonight with Evan,” Elias says pointing towards Y/N and Evan in their seats.

Quinn’s heart drops. You had mentioned that you were thinking about inviting Evan but didn’t think it would be so soon. He tries to forget that you brought your boyfriend to the game, but he can’t forget the fact that you’re wearing his jersey. He can’t help but feel a fire ignite when Evan leans in to say something to you. The sense of jealousy does not go away, but there is a sense of pride knowing his name is the one on your back.

You spot Quinn looking at the two of you and give a shy wave like you had been caught. Evan leaves to go grab some water and you are stuck worrying about what Quinn is thinking about you bringing Evan. 

Honestly since you started hanging out with Quinn again you just felt like your heart wasn’t in it with Evan anymore. You were planning on ending it but he kept talking about how excited he was for the game, so You decided to wait until after to end it with him.

There were no goals by either team after the first period, but something about Quinn seemed off. He was checking the other team left and right and was obviously agitated. The crowd is electric even though the Canucks are down 3-2 half way through the third, but it doesn’t seem to help his mood.

Quinn continues to instigate against the Jets and eventually gets himself into a fight against some player who was aggravating him all night. It doesn’t last long, but enough to get himself a penalty. He looks even more upset than before watching over the play.

Y/N was worried for Quinn. He never was this short tempered and she couldn’t figure what made him that upset. Evan can feel the nerves radiating off of her and rubs her shoulder to try and calm her, but he can’t help but feel like he is the last thing she needs right now.

“Hey Y/N I hate to do this here but I think we should probably end this,” Evan says and you finally take your eyes off Quinn. There is nothing you can do but sigh.

“Evan I’m so sorry I really wish I could’ve been better for you.”

“No it’s ok we had a great time and I’m happy being your friend I just think you have feelings for someone else,” Evan says with little to no hurt in his voice.

“Yeah I would love to still be your friend,” You say with a small smile as he gets up to leave.

Quinn sees Evan get up, but he just assumes that Evan is getting you something from the concessions. He realizes he needs to stop focusing on your date tonight and lock in for the rest of the game.

Unfortunately the Canucks lose 4-2 and Quinn looks like a kicked puppy, but luckily he isn’t assigned to interviews so he can just clean up and get ready to head home. He hopes he can just forget this night, especially seeing you with Evan. 

Little does he know that you’re already waiting for him in the hallway all but pacing the area hoping he’s not too upset to talk to you. Quinn keeps his head down not wanting to see all of the sweet reunions of the couples and families until he hears you call his name. 

He almost doesn’t want to stop worrying Evan would be with you, but you ran up to him to get his attention. Quinn turns around surprised to see you alone with a worried look on your face.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” He asks, his voice laced with annoyance. His comment leaves a sting in your chest.

“Um we actually ended it, but I just came to see how you were doing. I was really worried about you. I've never seen you so upset,” You say with worry lacing your voice.

“Well thanks for checking on me but - wait you ended it with Evan?” Quinn asks, lighting back up.

“Yeah we were better off as friends. I honestly wanted to end it a while ago because I kind of have feelings for someone else, but he was really looking forward to the game,” You say rubbing your arm hoping he might start catching on.

“Oh?” Quinn says with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, but still guarded in case it is someone else.

“Yeah he’s some goofball who was stupid and got himself a penalty tonight,” You say, stepping closer to Quinn.

“Well hopefully he can get that under control for the rest of the season, I’m sure you don’t want to be stuck with someone spending time in a box the whole game,” Quinn says with a smirk and leaning in.

You decided to close the gap and the kiss was all you had ever hoped for. There was a mix of fireworks and something that just felt like home as he grabbed your sides to pull you in closer. Neither of you wanted this feeling to end, but unfortunately you had to come back up for air. 

Quinn has the slightest pink tinge and smile on his face as he pulls back far enough to scan your face for any regrets.

“I’ve been waiting to do that for so long,” He says.

“Finally!” Elias says as he rounds the corner to see the two of you still wrapped up in each other's arms.

“I never thought he would make a move,” Elias adds as Quinn tries to hide in your neck.

“Well maybe we should get out of here and talk a little bit,” You suggest and Quinn excitedly nods, grabbing your hand to lead you out.

The two of you get into his car and you leave the arena stealing kisses from each other at stop lights and looking forward to your future together.

[jmagnabo92]

It's A Twin Thing - Ch 5

The twins' birthday starts with some interesting revelations, meanwhile Hetty worries that Jeremy's visit may get Trevor sucked off.

AO3

***

They spent the whole night talking about each sketch with Trevor asking about the various dreams that he can remember and Jeremy taking the sketches out and making a timeline with them (since he didn’t always dream or remember them in order).  

The result is that when they wake the next morning, it’s to ghosts and living alike entering the room (since the door was open) to drawings everywhere and Trevor and Jeremy asleep in the mess of drawings.

“What is all of this?” Jay asks, as he picks up a drawing of the ghosts at the dinner party and the one of Trevor’s slow clap.  

“Oh, those are drawings – of Trevor’s time here,” Jeremy offers as he goes to collect them, again, when Jay picks up a notebook – one that worked as a flip book from Elias going to hell.  He could flip through it and see Elias disappearing, the ghosts reacting and Hetty trying to send Trevor to hell and his reaction.  

“This is so cool – check this out, babe, it’s a flip book,” Jay says, showing it Sam.  

“Isn’t this when Hetty tried to send you to hell?”

“Yes, it was.”  He gives Jeremy a look.  “You really had to capture that one?”

“I dreamed about it for weeks, so yes.”

Trevor rolls his eyes.  He knows Jeremy probably dreamed about it because Trevor kept having nightmares that it worked, and he’d wake up in hell.  He didn’t like sleeping alone because of it, so Flower had let him share with her until they wore off, luckily, they had worn off by the time they had to ‘bunk up’.  The comfort of sleeping next to someone had made him ache for more, hence trying to convince Hetty to stay for pillow talk once they got together.  Honestly, he had spent a lot of time avoiding her after that until what happened with Ari happened, and finally felt accepted by her.

“I still can’t believe your girlfriend once tried to send you to hell and yet…”  Jeremy teases.

“I did not actually think it would work,” Hetty huffs, as the ghosts that didn’t realize they were still dating act surprised.  “And I have since apologized.”

“You two got back together?” Isaac questions, surprise evident on his face.  

“They never broke up,” Flower says, cheerfully.  “Am I the only one that pays attention?”

“You don’t pay attention to anything,” Isaac retorts.  

“Then you must be more oblivious than I am – I mean, ever since the almost banished thing and the conjugal visits question – you didn’t notice that they’re always by each other or that Hetty’s been holding onto him rather than you or that whenever one’s missing so is the other?”

Trevor frowns, “We’ve been terrible at hiding this.”

“Wait, wait, wait – almost banished?  Conjugal visits?  How did I miss this?” Sam questions, before realizing that she probably doesn’t want to know and says, “Wait, don’t wait – I don’t want to know.”

“I want to know,” Jay complains.  “I should really be allowed to see them.”

“I just don’t understand,” Isaac says.  “I thought you decided that you weren’t meant to be after the disastrous tea date?”

“You mean this one?” Jeremy asks, picking up another sketch.  “And they didn’t actually break up – they just pretended to.  See?”

He gestures at a few different drawings of the fight (with speech bubbles) and them meeting up in the room to kiss moments later.

“Damn it, Sass, you’re really slipping now,” Sass mutters.  “It’s such a dumb plan, I should’ve noticed!”

“Obviously, it was a smart plan because none of you noticed except Flower – why are you all in here anyway? You don’t usually storm the guest rooms,” Trevor states, somewhat disgruntled.

“Oh!  We got distracted,” Sam states.  “Apparently, your phone died and when didn’t answer your mom called – something about wanting to make sure you were alright on your birthday.”  She hands the phone to Jeremy, as she says, “You didn’t tell us today was your birthday?”

“Ghosts don’t celebrate birthdays.”

“You’re celebrating this one,” Jeremy states, before saying, “hi, mom,” into the phone.

“We’ll leave you two alone,” Sam offers.

“Can I take some of these downstairs to look through?” Jay asks, and Jeremy nods.  

Most of the ghosts leave the room as Jay and Sam collect the drawings, except that Hetty is looking on uncertainly, as if she wants to join them, but before either he or her could offer or ask to stay, Isaac takes her by the arm, evidently insistent that they talk about the revelation that she and Trevor ‘fake broke up’ three months ago.

He doesn’t stop her from leaving with Isaac, as he wouldn’t want to get in the way, and within a minute, Jay and Sam bow out, too, leaving the brothers alone.

Jeremy puts the phone on speaker.  “I know you can’t hear him, but he’s here.”

“Hi boys.  Happy birthday.”

“Thanks,” Jeremy says.  “Sorry, my phone died, we were kind of up all night talking.”

“As if that’s the only reason your phone died – your phone was always dead because you hated technology.”

“I’ll have you know I’m much better about it now.”

“No, he’s not,” Esther says.  “But he tries.  Although I assumed that it was probably something to do with the two of you catching up.”

“I only try because the last thing I’d want is …”

“A repeat of me – you know, not knowing what happened?” Trevor guesses.  “That would never happen.”

“You don’t know that.  I could’ve easily overdosed –”

“You’ve never done drugs in your life.”

“Well, I could’ve done something else stupid.”

“You’re not the stupid one, J.”

“You’re not stupid, you’re just reckless.”

“There’s a difference?”

“Of course there is.”

Trevor huffs.  “I put two pills together to make green after drinking and doing coke that’s pretty stupid.”

“It wasn’t stupid because it wasn’t any different from your other parties, which you survived.”

“That’s the point, I was in danger of dying every time I did one of those parties… you wouldn’t be in danger of anything.”

“Not true – technically, I could die like Thor or Pete or Alberta or Flower …”

“You’re not dumb enough to hug a bear.”

“Okay, the bear one is unlikely.”

“You’re also unlikely to die by an arrow.”

“Okay, yes, the arrow is unlikely as well, but…”

“And you don’t drink and getting struck by lightning is like one in a million.”

“Okay so those accidents are unlikely – well, Alberta was murdered, but some other accident COULD happen. Sam almost died here, too.”

“That was my fault.  I wanted to beat the vase.”

“I know, but the point stands.”

“Fine – I can see why mom would be worried and why you would try harder to keep your phone charged, but that means that you’re kind of a jerk for not charging your phone just in case.”

“I’m not a jerk because I was distracted by you and let my phone die – you could’ve reminded me.”

“Why would I remember?  I can’t use a phone.”

“Not true – if you can use an iPad, you can use a phone.”

“But I wouldn’t be able to charge the phone – so the point stands.”

“That’s not the point – you always remember things I should be doing –”

“BOYS!  You’ve been together for a day and you’re arguing about phone charging?  And whether or not Jeremy could spontaneously die like Trevor?  Why are you putting me through that on your birthday?  Why?”

“Sorry, mom.”

They share a guilty look. 

“We weren’t really thinking,” Jeremy states.  Sometimes, it’s hard for him to remember that she struggles as much as he does with the loss of Trevor, especially since she can’t hear him right now.  “But we’ll stop that for now.”

“Good because knowing that Trevor’s up there, does make me a little nervous and –”

Trevor grimaces.  “Maybe…”

“No, I didn’t finally get the courage to visit just to leave so suddenly.  Besides, I want to get to know your girlfriend.”

“Don’t worry about my nerves, Trevor.  I want you boys to enjoy some time together.”  She pauses.  “How did you find a girlfriend in the afterlife?”

“She’s been here for a while �� she’s actually the Lady of the House – the dead one anyway.”

“Wow, J,” Trevor states.  

“And it’s a long story, but they got together on the 26th of December.”

“Oh, that’s so nice.  I’m happy for you – not really surprised, I’m guessing it’s the one with the floofy dress?”

“How’d you know?” Trevor asks, before realizing that his mother can’t hear him.

“Because she’s featured in more and more of my drawings – and even though there’s some I haven’t shown mom –”

“Oy vey – ones where…”

“Yeah, I can’t really control my dreams and visuals.  Wish I could, though.”

“Has it been – no, you know what…”

“It’s nothing too – inappropriate but I figured…”

“Still here, boys.  In case you’ve forgotten.  What’s her name?”

“Hetty Woodstone.”

“Does that mean she’s a relative of the weird woman that owns the B&B?”

“Sam and David, yes.”

“Wait, she’s related to your friend, David?”

“Yeah, she’s his great-great-great-grandmother – did you know he died at a strip club?  Sam wouldn’t tell me how.”

“He’s a ghost at a strip club?  Wow.”

“Who’s a ghost, where?”

“David – Trevor’s friend.  Although some friend he is throwing your body in the lake – is Hetty’s great-great-great grandson and he died at a strip club.  Fitting for that idiot.”

“He’s not that bad!”

“Do I need to repeat that he threw your body in the lake?”

“No, Thor does that enough, thank you.”

“Thor sounds like an awful roommate.”

“He is, actually.  Well, sometimes – he and Flower have scared me off with having sex ten feet from my head and before that he had nightmares about eating his squirrel best friend, but it’s not too bad…”

“It’s not too bad – you what?  I just… how?”

“Because now I just sneak into Hetty’s room with Flower.”

“Why wouldn’t you just trade rooms – you know what?  I’m not asking questions.”

“I have some questions.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know, mom,” Jeremy states.

“Well, anyway.  I wanted to check on you and the woman said you were both still asleep, so why don’t you call back later?  I could get your father here and we could facetime.  We wouldn’t be able to see Trevor, but…”

“I’d be able to see you.”

“He’d be able to see you,” Jeremy repeats.  “We’d like that, mom.”

“Then we’ll talk later?”

“Sounds good.”

“Love you, both.”

“We love you, too.”

***

Hetty didn’t really want to leave Trevor and his brother alone.  She had tossed and turned all night, eventually getting up and going to the twins’ room only to spy them so lost in conversation and half-asleep that she couldn’t bear to interrupt.  Instead, she watched over them for hours, worried that if she wasn’t watching Trevor would get sucked off and she wouldn’t even get to say goodbye.  

It hadn’t really occurred to her that as much as they all wished to be sucked off that somehow any of them would be or that she would be this upset about it.  Maybe if it were Isaac, but she never believed that she could have this sort of attachment to Trevor.  

Trevor, the pantsless son of a bitch that had stolen her heart.

She never thought it was possible, but now, she could lose him.  

She’d never seen him so happy.  So at peace with everything.  In the last year, he’d essentially resolved many of the issues he had that would make sense for him to be staying there – he’s learned about his friends’ betrayal (and somehow forgiven them), his parents found his body (and they had a memorial even) and now, his brother – the other half of his soul – is here and they’re dealing with all of their issues. 

What if Jeremy is exactly what Trevor needs to move on and leave her behind?

Fortunately, he hadn’t, yet, left her behind, but she still didn’t want to be away from him for too long just in case.  Before he could invite her to stay when Sam suggested they all leave the brothers alone, Isaac takes her by the arm evidently wanting to discuss why she and Trevor had gone back into the shadows.  

She wanted to stay, and she could see that Trevor maybe… possibly wanted her to stay, but she could understand Isaac wanting to speak with her after the revelation.  

Rather than going downstairs, Isaac leads her into an empty nearby room.  

“I don’t understand, Henrietta,” Isaac states.  “Why would you pretend break up?  Did the tea date not show that he doesn’t fit in with us?”

It takes a second before Hetty realizes that Isaac meant what he said after the horrid tea date.  Although they had intended for the date to go poorly as part of their plan for things in their relationship to be on their terms rather on Nigel’s terms, she’s quite surprised that Isaac could live with Trevor for twenty years and think one awful attempt at tea should scare them off being together.  

Especially since she and Trevor had spent time together prior to getting together – watching TV, discussing livings, and even listening to each other’s stories.  He seemed to enjoy her stories as much as she enjoyed his stories, and it was not just during ‘pillow talk’. 

It may have taken awhile for her walls to ‘come down’ as he said, but when they did, she has yet to regret it. The man has wormed his way into her heart, and she cannot believe that Isaac is standing before her believing that one horrid tea date was enough to scare her away.  

She laughs.  Actually, laughs and shakes her head.  

“Isaac, as much as I enjoy your company and Trevor’s company, I do not believe that horrid tea date is a show of whether or not Trevor and I are compatible.  Particularly due to the fact that we did that on purpose.”

“What – what do you mean?  You purposely tanked the date, why?”

“Surely, you realized that Trevor and I coming out happened rather dramatically, yes?” Hetty questions.

“Of course,” Isaac states.  “I assumed that it was because Trevor likes that sort of thing – with all of his stories and such.”

“It was not for Trevor that I made such a big deal of our coming out.  It was because Nigel had caught us together the week prior and had opted to blackmail us into keeping his silence.”  She pauses.  “I am ashamed to admit that I was too embarrassed and wanted to follow through with the blackmail, as a result, Trevor and I broke up, but when Trevor went to tell Nigel that there was nothing to blackmail us with anymore, he said that he would still inform everyone of our entanglement.  Trevor followed through with giving Nigel what he wanted, despite getting nothing out of it and it was then that I realized that I had - that I have … feelings for Trevor.”

Not that she’s admitted such things to him.  

Isaac still looks entirely confused.  “I don’t understand.  How did that lead to everything that happened?”

“Well, I decided that the only way to deal with the situation and show Trevor that I was not embarrassed was to tell everyone.  We beat Nigel – checkmated him.  Yet, it felt as if he pushed us out before we were ready.”

She smiles slightly when she thinks about what happened after the big announcement.  Trevor had been delighted that she was no longer embarrassed by him but could understand that there was a level of uncomfortableness regarding how and why they came out.  He didn’t like that Nigel had essentially forced them out of their little horny nest as he enjoys calling it.  Thus, they had discussed it and decided that with both of them okay if people found out about them, they could essentially scheme their way back into the shadows and come out on their terms.  

“… and so, everything (aside from Stephanie’s input) that happened that day was planned, from the overly obnoxious way we showed off ‘being a couple’ to the awful tea date and the discussions we had with our friends in the house.  Everyone surprisingly played into it well, thus it was easy for us to fake fight and break up.”  Hetty smiles. “Then it was just us, again.  At first, we tried to be less obvious, but then I was almost banished, and we assumed that if we were found out, again, we would just let it happen.”

“This is what you want?” 

“More than anything.”

“Then, I support you and I shall talk to Nigel about this – blackmail business.  Perhaps someday soon we can actually attempt a proper double date.”

“It may take some time, but I think Trevor and I may enjoy that at some point in the future.”

“Good.”

[tessherongraystairs]

TLH Characters as TS Lyric Tattoos:

“Give you my wild, give you a child” - This is a personal favorite of mine, like I would totally get this one tattooed on me and I’m considering it for the future. I have two options for this one; Anna and Eugenia. For Anna it would be COT, after she and Ari decide to adopt a kid together, idk it just fits the vibe. I personally think Anna would have it tattooed on her palm, so she can always look at it. For Eugenia, it would be based in the one AU where she’s Atticus’s (Elias’s illegitimate kid) mother (which is only in one fic I wrote) and she would have it on her collarbone, specifically her left one

“I was once was poison ivy”/“but now I’m your daisy” - Jordelia couple tattoo, obviously. James has the poison ivy part inked down his forearm, with Cordelia have the daisy part inked down her forearm as well (opposite ones obviously). This one was just obvious with the daisy and James calling her daisy

“Like we were Paris”/“Like we were somewhere else” - It’s Thomastair obviously, the one and only Paris couple. I think they would both have both lyrics on their upper shoulders in each other’s handwriting to be exact. They totally dance to the song all the time

“Forever is the sweetest con” - Matthew Fairchild, one hundo percent. I just feel like he loves cowboy like me and it’s honestly my favorite Fairstairs song, even though I don’t ship them. This lyric just fits Matthew’s cynicism towards love

“All my flowers grew back as thorns” - Blackthorn siblings (Grace and Jesse) tattoo. I’m feeling a wrist tattoo for Jesse and a collarbone tattoo for Grace (partnered with an actual tattoo of thorns). Again, thorns, Blackthorn. It was just too easy

“Blue as the life she fled” - Not technically a TLH character but Tessa. It gives me Tessa after Will dies vibes and she can’t remember the exact blue of his eyes anymore

“Heartbreak is the national anthem (we sing it proudly)” - It’s a Real Found Family™️ group matching tattoo. They all have it inked somewhere on their body

“No body, no crime” - Lucie Herondale would have this tattooed behind her ear, tiny and subtle. I feel like that song is her anthem and I wholeheartedly believe that

“Women like hunting witches too” - Lucie and Grace matching tattoos vibes. They both have it on the back of their neck. This is the ultimate matching tattoo in my opinion and that’s all I have to say on this one.

“This is me trying” - It’s Alastair Carstairs coded and he has it on his wrist or on his neck. It’s either/or for him tbh. But he definitely has this one

“I prefer hiding in plain sight” - Thomas Lightwood absolutely has this one, probably near his compass rose, hidden in plain sight (on the nose obviously). He has it done in white ink to hide it more

“My friends found friends who care” - The entire TLH cast tbh

I need to stop before this gets any longer

You should honestly keep going

I love the New Romantics one

I LOVE PARIS THO

Oooo what about oh my love is a lie

This is me trying for Alastair stop

I almost shed a tear

Miss Americana and the heartbreak prince could be a couple tattoo (wessa? Coz Tessa was American and all Herondales are known heartbreakers)

I FEEL LIKE CARDIGAN IS A SOPHIDEON SONG LIKE I REALLY REALLY DO SO A LURIC FRKM THERE (aside from you drew stars around my scars)

[marlasomething]

(my) Mag a Week: Square Circle

Hello there!

I am participating in the "a mag a day" idea by  @a-mag-a-day  which is BRILLIANT and I decided to do "statement a week", rolling dice with the characters and fears that were ftw that week in the episodes I have listened.

For today I rolled Archivist!Elias Bouchard (the one that is already Magnus, not the pot-smoker one) and The Spiral (Eps. 126-132).

As usual, please do forgive my quick tipper and non-native speaker mistakes, Marla

Allons-y!

CW: almost of character in here is an ass, major character death (or worse), irreality, PTSD, insomnia

Also on AO3!

Statement of Lucia Wright, regarding the road she took to get here.

Audio recording by Elias Bouchard, still The Archivist.

Statement begins.

 The decadence that set off the events that eventually brought me here begun months ago. It had already been about a week since I had spoken to your assistant…Gertrude, right? Yes, I believe that was her name…I thought talking about what had happened to me in Istanbul would made me some good, feel better, somehow. However, it just worsened everything beyond all expectations.

My nightmares have changed. They used to be vague memories, sometimes even just twisted reflections of what had actually happened. All too much to keep a sane mind in the long term, but within what could be expected after what happened to me. Now, I…they are not dreams anymore, they are still memories , but vivid ones. Not only in the sense of feeling quite realistic, but as if they were actually taking place as I dream about them. What happened to me, that hole of meat, all that people…they are really there and I just can watch from my very own frozen body, that only moves to imitate up to perfection all the gestures I did the first time. And then, there is the Darkness. The Darkness that stays where she , your assistant, used to do.

Because she was there, every single night, staring at my misfortune…Until she was no more, and, now there is this gap that I want, I need , to fill myself because I am certain that, if I let it remain open , whoever comes afterwards will be far worse than her.

So, in summary, sleeping had become an activity I would rather avoid, though most nights I just fall asleep, ready for my torture, by merely letting myself get relaxed on a horizontal surface. My life is far too tiring for any other outcome.

Only one solution possible: night walks.

 It is funny how after enough days of going on with just the bare minimum of sleep that you cannot simply allow your body to miss, even the straightest, brightest street becomes the dingiest of passageways.

I was walking right alongside the Passport Office, in Eccleston Square and the wide well-lit street started to feel… confusing , blurry. My knees trembled and I felt the sudden need of having to hold tight to something, just to realise I had planted myself as far as humanly possible of all the porches nearby me. Hell, even the cars parked seemed to be miles away!

I bit my lower lip and cower a little bit over myself, folding my knees in a vain attempt of keeping my equilibrium and failing tremendously. I swear as those small shreds of glass weren’t there just before.

I yelled as the back part of my muscles was pierced and, just as my body was deciding that, maybe, this was the last straw and I had to go into deep sleep, almost clinical unconsciousness, a voice cut through the mist that had been installed in my brain for months already.

“Do you need help?” it was a typically female-presenting voice, and it gave me just the right tone for me to trust them immediately. Because they didn’t sound completely certain of what they were saying and, at that time, I would have refused the help of anyone who had perfect confidence on their own self.

The last few people I met that were that way…well, you already know that story, right?

They never actually introduced themselves, and just pointed to a door that tried to be yellow but instead was purple with some neon bright colours being born from the lowest part of it up to the top. Now, I am aware this not-quite-right­ door should have been the biggest red flag in history of red flags but, the thing is…I was in pain, tired and there was something about the wrongness of this person that felt as the only kind of “Ok” I could deal with at the moment.

So, as of what had been already years for me, I opened the door.

I am currently looking at your calendar…apparently, it had been barely a couple of months and, maybe…even less? What year you said we were in?

 Sorry, I get dizzy. Even though I actually got some quality sleep while walking through this person’s residence , I am still deadly tired. Not that the ambiance helped, at all. It was all wrong, because I was supposed to be walking through corridors, but they weren’t always the shape a corridor should be. Sometimes, they were just turn into rooms, all kinds of them, without rhyme or reason. Mostly, rooms that had price-tags on them; I know it might sound funny from your perspective but…it absolutely isn’t. It made all feel as stock pictures. Stock pictures that I kept walking along with my host nowhere to be seen.

Literally, I didn’t get a single glimpse of them, not even the sound of someone breathing behind my neck…I was utterly alone . The one time I thought I saw someone, it turned out to be just my reflection; though it wasn’t truly me, not anymore.

The Me on the reflection without mirror was the woman that would have loved this place, having it being presented as a museum of the bizarre. I followed her and, just a couple of days later, I began to not only feel tiredness, but also hunger, thirst and other bodily function being reactivated…and, in barely a few hours, I somehow knew that the door in front of me was my only way out.

After all, it was the only thing that was truly yellow in the whole place.

  Statement ends.

  The Spiral, as untrustworthy as always. I guess this was whatever is left of Michael trying to just leave another prove of what a terrible monster Gertrude Robinson was…

…pot calls kettle black, I guess.

Funny how Helen is still a bit of a real estate agent. Jesus, maybe feeding her to The Spiral wasn’t as inspired as I thought…although…she might be useful.

I thought that, finally , after more than fifty years, I could get my Institute back, but, no, that… prick of Sims has to appear, courtesy of the Buried, with his trained Stockholm-Syndromed dog Daisy Tonner, took over and…well, I might not be as powerful as I once had the potential to be.

And, then, of course, there is the fact that that bloody coffin ate Peter. Not that I cared that much, but he is a useful ally for getting My Institute back (and in other fields) and I would hate for him to just be lost without having completely served me. It is just that.

I hope he likes the present I’ve sent him, though. My indications were intense enough for Miss Wright not to get lost inside the coffin, in her search of a final resting place, and it is not as if she wasn’t already alienated enough for The Lonely to take over.

Enjoy it, Peter.

End recording.

[bookloveravenue]

World of the Narrows (book 0.5): Saint by Adrienne Young

Author Adrienne Young returns to the world of The Narrows with Saint, a prequel to Fable and Namesake.

As a boy, Elias learned the hard way what happens when you don’t heed the old tales.

Nine years after his lack of superstition got his father killed, he’s grown into a young man of piety, with a deep reverence for the hallowed sea and her fickle favor. As stories of the fisherman’s son who has managed to escape the most deadly of storms spreads from port to port, his devotion to the myths and creeds has given him the reputation of the luckiest bastard to sail the Narrows.

Now, he’s mere days away from getting everything his father ever dreamed for him: a ship of his own, a crew, and a license that names him as one of the first Narrows-born traders. But when a young dredger from the Unnamed Sea with more than one secret crosses his path, Elias’ faith will be tested like never before. The greater the pull he feels toward her, the farther he drifts from the things he’s spent the last three years working for.

He is dangerously close to repeating his mistakes and he’s seen first hand how vicious the jealous sea can be. If he’s going to survive her retribution, he will have to decide which he wants more, the love of the girl who could change their shifting world, or the sacred beliefs that earned him the name that he’s known for―Saint.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60505562-saint

********

December 15, 2022

My Review: 5/5 Stars

Saint was one of the most interesting characters when your first meet him in Fable. You don't truly know what to think of him and how he feels about his daughter until Namesake. Or maybe even before that if you can guess. He is just very closed off and hard to read. But knowing that he lost Fable's mother to the sea and everything that happens after, you can't help but wonder who was this man before it all happened. What was he like when he was younger? And we finally get our answer! This story takes us back to Saint's early days as he trying to build the life he wants. One of those things being getting a license to trade. And with that goal almost in his grasp, of course there is something--or should i say someone--who threatens it all. Isolde. Yep, Fable's mother. So we get the beginning of their love story and the day Isolde ran from her mother, Holland. Loved this story! Loved seeing who these characters were and to know their thoughts. It goes to show you how far these characters will go for one another when it comes to love. Love drives them more than anything. If you loved the other books in this series, you don't want to miss this one. If my to be read pile wasn't so large, I would be rereading the rest of the books. Such a fun series with unforgettable characters.

[mvncesa]

" it's not the same without you. " @ elias !

It felt more than a little strange to be more in a Shatterdome. Seven years, almost a full decade, was enough to make that happen. The fact that he had thought that all of his closest friends had been dead did not help. He had done a lot to focus on the life that he had gotten himself into. It was easier to focus on whatever shady sort of business that he got himself into helping than focus on the fact that he had no life outside of that. Something about the whole situation made him feel like he was surrounded by ghosts. The ghosts of what the program used to be, the almost empty Shatterdome and Yancy. 

The only other thing that could have made him surrounded by more ghosts was if his own co-pilot. But that was the one thing that was absolutely impossible. (Though he could have said the same about seeing Yancy again just a couple of days before). 

“Could say the same thing about you, ya know.” He took another second to shove some of the food around on his tray before he found enough courage to glance up at Yancy. It still felt like he was talking to a ghost at that point. There was a small pause as he seemed to consider his next words. Whether he should even say it. “Is that your lame way of saying that you missed me?” It was easier to turn it on the other and tease him, though.