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ofstoriesandstardust · 2 months

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can't take the home out of oklahoma - ii. (k.c.)

a/n: we're soooo back! this is filled with banter and found family and all the sweet angst! also, it's come to my attention through a third rewatch that i've actually been wrong the whole time and kate's last name is in fact carter. if you catch any of my slip-ups, whoopsies! thank you to @cottagecori for letting me ramble about this one the phone for hours and to @sometimesanalice for listening to all the personal lore. i actually ended up having part iii written before i start part ii but now i think it needs a rewrite so that should be up in a few days. comments and reblog are always appreciated!

part i.

summary: You and Kate build a friendship until you stand on the precipice of something more.

warnings: swearing, alcohol, tornadoes, concussions, angst, kissing, scott is actually the villain

word count: 10.7k

Kate pushes the barn door open, a piece of toast in her other hand.

You’ve got another cup of coffee in hand as you follow Kate inside. She stops as you take the place in.

“This is where the magic happens?” You ask, taking it all in. The model town, the polymer tucked up at the top, extra equipment for the truck strewn about through the place.

“Just about.” She answers.

She hangs by the door, as you walk around, taking it all in.

Towards the back, where some of Kate’s papers sit, are photos. There’s some of the Wranglers, some of her Mom. Others of her and Tyler, some with her and Javi.

You nudge one of them aside, looking at one of the pictures tucked in the very corner.

It’s a picture of an obviously much younger Kate and Javi with three others you don’t recognize.

You think you should maybe be surprised that it’s clear Javi and Kate go back so far but in thinking about what you’ve seen from them, it feels like the signs were always there.

There’s a comfortable ease they have with each other that can only come with so much time of knowing someone, the same one Boone has with Tyler.

“You know, I owe Javi a lot.” Kate comments, coming to stand next to you.

“Yeah?”

She nods. “Without him, there wouldn’t be all of this. He brought Tyler and I together in a way. If he’d never convinced me to come back to Oklahoma-“ She breaks off, shrugging.

“I get what you mean.” You say softly.

“He’s my best friend. We’d do anything for each other I think. No matter how far apart we go, he’ll always be there. He’ll always be in my orbit.”

“You guys complement each other in a lot of ways.” You say softly and she nods.

It’s quiet again as you think of the conversation you’d caught on the stairs last night.

Javi, telling Kate she should give you another chance.

Kate, saying she doesn’t want to get hurt again.

You want to ask about these three people you don’t recognize but you know well enough that Kate probably wouldn’t tell you, would probably get annoyed at you for not having the wherewithal to not ask.

A knock against the wooden door of the barn pulls both your attention. It’s Javi, standing tentatively at the doors.

“Owens says we’re gonna leave in about an hour, so to be ready by then.” You nod, going to step away and Kate gestures her head, beckoning Javi in.

You wait as Javi walks over. “Just showing her all the grant stuff.” Kate says, gesturing to the messy table next to you. There’s a white board hung on the wall, grant and sponsor deadlines in a sprawling handwriting that screams Boone.

“That’s right, we’ve got the deadline for the proposal to talk to the governor and the senators this Friday.” Javi says, picking up a binder. “Good thing California’s got the experience writing proposals.”

“Really?” Kate asks.

You shrug. “Nothing too impressive, just research proposals. I haven’t written many as I’ve read them — comes with the territory of working in a Writing Center for four years.”

“The hell’s a Writing Center?” Javi asks, flipping through the binders, presumably to figure out what they should take on the road with them.

“Place to help students with their writing on college campuses. I spent two years one in my undergrad and then both years of my Masters.”

“You’ve got a Masters?” Kate asks.

“Yeah but not in anything useful.” You say with a shrug.

Kate clicks her tongue. “That’s okay. I don’t even think Javi knows how to spell the word conference, so we could use all the help we can get.”

“Hey now!” Javi defends, snapping the binder shut. “I was in the same PhD program as you!”

“Agh!” Kate shouts.

You shut the door, hand flying up to cover your eyes.

“Sorry!” You shout. “I thought you were still in the bathroom!”

You cringe, thinking of the scar running down’s Kate thigh you gotten sight of. You think of the picture tucked into the corner of the barn, the one with three people not around.

Kate opens the door and you spin around. She rubs her cheeks, a dusty pink covering them. “Sorry.” She says. “You just scared me.”

You shrug. “No, it was my fault.”

You two both stand there like in the doorway, awkwardly looking at each other until you hear heavy footsteps. You both look down to see Tyler standing at the bottom of the staircase, hands on his hips. “We’re waiting on the both of you.” He says matter-of-factly. “Hurry up. I’ll leave you here.”

He turns on his heel and you can hear the front door shut behind him.

“He will.” Kate says. “Leave us here. So we should probably-“

You nod, ducking into Kate’s room to grab your bag. She waits for you and then you both walk down the stairs, Kate shouting goodbye to her Mom as she does. Cathy meets her daughter at the door and you slip out, trying to not let your heart twinge at the sight of the obvious love and care Cathy has for Kate.

Tyler tells you you’ll be riding with Lilly and you nod, climbing into the passenger seat of her van as Lilly whoops, shouting something to Javi about finally not having hot cheeto dust all over her radio and dashboard.

Kate leaves the house a few minutes later and your eyes meet through the windshield. She gives you a tight smile and a small wave before climbing into the passenger seat of Tyler’s truck.

“You okay?” Lilly asks and you startle, not having realized she had opened the door.

“Fine.” You respond. She studies you for a minute before turning the key.

“Let’s go chase some twisters then baby!”

You shoot up with a gasp, feeling the sweat drip down your back as your breath comes out in short pants. Tears sting at your eyes as you take in the darkened space.

The Oklahoma rose nightlight sits in the corner, the grey cotton sheets beneath you familiar.

Okay. Okay. You were in Kate’s room. You were okay. You were safe here.

You press your palms into your eyes, trying to push back the tears as someone shifts next to you on the bed.

“Are you okay?” She asks softly and you have to bite back a whimper at the humiliating knowledge that you’d gone and woken her up.

“Fine.” You say, pulling your hands away from your eyes. She reaches over to her side of the bed, flicking her lamp on. “You don’t have to do that.” You say quietly. “I’m sorry for waking you. You can go back to sleep.”

Kate shakes her head but doesn’t say anything as she moves to have her back be supported by her headboard. Finally, you sigh, moving to match her position as she waits.

“You know, I used to get them all the time too.” She says, her twang a bit more prominent at this point of night. “The nightmares.”

“How do you deal with them?” You ask quietly, chancing a glance at her.

She sighs, shaking her head. “I don’t know that I used to deal with them per se. When I first moved to New York after it happened, I used to stay up for days at a time until I was so tired I wouldn’t dream. Some nights I’d have to spend hours reminding myself what was and wasn’t real. They’ve only gotten better since I’ve started to deal with what happened head on.”

You want to ask her what it is exactly that happened, an incident everyone but you seems to know, but you can’t bring yourself to dare to ask. She must know the questions you have though because she keeps talking.

“I see you look at that picture of them.” She says quietly. “The one in the barn. I’ve been waiting for you to ask.”

“I didn’t think I should.” You say quietly.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve ever made it clear you could.” She responds. “They were friends of Javi and I’s. That photo in there, it’s the last photo we ever took together. We were storm chasing that day; they were helping me with my dream.” She lets out a shaky breath. “The storm we ended up in was an EF-5, not the EF-1 we had been hoping for. We tried to hide under an overpass. Praveen was taken first, he never made it. Addy and I were trying to climb up when I got cut.” You think of the scar down Kate’s thigh, the one you’d only seen that one time on accident. “Addy got hit by debris right after. My boyfriend at the time, Jeb, he helped me get up, to cling to the metal piping. He was holding on to me until he wasn’t.” She swallows. “For years, I’d see them in my dreams. I’d wake up think Jeb was telling me we were going to be okay, that Addy was chasing one more storm with me, that Praveen was still there with his cautious concern. For years, I thought it was my fault.”

“Kate, I’m so sorry.” You whisper. “I couldn’t- I couldn’t even imagine.”

You think of Texas, of the horrors you’d seen there. And yet it almost can’t compare to the loss Kate’s lived through.

“It’s why I’m glad you’re joining Javi and I in DC next month.”

“How do you mean?”

She wraps her arms around herself, a tear trickling down her cheek. You resist the urge to reach out and wipe it off her face.

“Praveen’s parents told me after the funeral that they could never be angry with me for what happened; that they knew their son had died doing what he loved. Praveen had gotten struck by lightening a few weeks before and I don’t know, I think they knew that those were the risks he was taking after he decided to keep going back out. Addy’s parents blamed me though. Said that I encouraged her recklessness, that Addy would’ve been safe if it hadn’t been for me.” She swallows. “But Jeb’s parents- they’ve got money, the degrees in science. They’re pretty prominent in the meteorology community but they’re not storm chasers in any form of the term. They didn’t just blame me for Jeb’s death, they blamed Javi.” Another tear drips down her face. “Javi never even got close to the storm. Jeb was dating me; he’s the one followed me into the storm. He never would’ve been there if it hadn’t been for me. But they put that stain on Javi’s name too, it’s why Javi had to fight so hard to get StormPar together, it’s why he had to bring Scott on. I’m terrified it’s gonna affect what we’re trying to do here too.”

This time, you finally reach out for Kate. You take her hand, squeezing it. “Kate, you’re testing the unprecedented out here and it’s working. You’ve got the support of all the Wranglers, all their supporters. You’ve got this. You and Javi and Tyler - you guys are going to change the game, I’m sure of it. It doesn’t matter what they say, I see it every time you guys go out into the field and cause a storm to collapse. You’re going to change the world, I just know it.”

She gives you a watery smile as you bite back the you don’t need me for that.

“I hope DC is going to be good.”

“It’s going to be great.”

She sniffs, taking her free hand to wipe at the nose. “Anyways, I didn’t mean to make it about me.”

“No, you didn’t-“

She cuts you off. “Just that if you ever want to share that stuff that’s haunting you, the stuff that keeps you up at night, I’d listen.”

“You guys, I thought we had a no work at the dinner table rule.” Dani says.

She shrugs, crowding over your phone with Javi. “Technically foods not here, so it’s not dinner time.”

You’re inside with her Mom and Tyler and Dexter, getting ready to bring out all the food for dinner. Javi chuckles as they scroll through the outline you’d drawn up earlier in the day.

Suddenly, your phone starts ringing with a call and her and Javi shoot back like they’ve been burned.

She doesn’t recognize the name on your phone, but she knows you haven’t spoken of the life you’d left behind nor talked to anyone from that past.

“What do we do?” She hisses.

“Kate, just decline it.” Lilly says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

It probably is, but it doesn’t save her from pressing the wrong button and answering the call.

Her hands fly up to her mouth, looking around the table as they all fall silent.

Hello? Hello? Are you there?

She can hear a man say and she glances at Javi, wide-eyed, unsure of what to do.

Sweetheart, can you hear me? Are you there?

Javi’s hand darts out and ends the call.

It feels like the table lets out a collective sigh of relief when the phone starts ringing again.

Lilly reaches around Dani this time and ends the call. Javi picks up your phone again, going back to reading the outline.

“Kate man, you’ve got all those fancy degrees and you’re telling me you don’t know how to decline a phone call?” Boone crows from the end of the table.

“The question should really be are we going to say anything to her.” Dani says with a smirk on her face.

“Oh please don’t.” She groans, letting her head fall into her palm.

“Oh fuck.” Javi mutters from next to her and she steals a glance at the phone. “Kate can’t decline a call but apparently I can’t swipe away a voicemail notification either.”

Out of her peripheral vision, she thinks Dani’s eyes flicker up over her head.

“Hey guys, this feels like a real invasion of her privacy.” Lilly says and she’s right. Her Mom would wring her neck if she knew what her and Javi were reading right now but it’s like a bad car wreck they can’t look away from as the voicemail transcribes itself.

“Hey guys, she’s coming back, I’d put it away.” Boone says, shifting closer to take the phone.

“Okay, yeah, like put it away right now.” Dani says, scooping the phone up but it doesn’t make her forget what she’s seen and she knows Javi won’t either as they share an uneasy glance. “Here.” Dani says, offering you your phone as you slide the platter down in front of her and Javi.

She swallows, chancing a glance at you as your confusion about the obvious fuss over the phone turns into a hard look, sliding the phone into your back pocket.

You’re quiet through most of dinner as her and Javi keep looking at each other, both unable to participate in the conversation either.

Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. It sounded like you picked up there for a minute but maybe it’s a fluke, I don’t know.

I miss you, darling. I miss you so much. The last six weeks have been so hard without you and I just hope that you’re safe wherever it is you’ve gone. Your sister still calls me sometimes to ask where you’ve gone and I still listen to your favorite music hoping it’ll make you be there.

I know you’ve said we’re done, that you didn’t want to be with me anymore, but if you ever want to come home, please let me know. I still love you baby, I always will you. You can come home whenever you’re ready.

“Man, California, what’s all this? It’s like an art project.”

You look up at Javi from where you’re cutting out paper.

“I’m getting the questions for tomorrow’s video ready.” You smack Javi’s hand that’s reaching out for the pile that has Boone’s name on it. “Stop it - you don’t get an advantage.”

Javi hisses, retracting his hand as he glances at the kitchen. “And the cookies?”

“I got drunk and made cookies. Kate’s Mom said I could.” You pause, looking up at him. “Well, the getting drunk was all me. But Cathy did say I could make cookies.”

Javi chuckles. “Okay California, so what I’m hearing is I’ve got to catch up to you?” He asks, pulling another beer from the fridge.

You shrug. “Sure, but you’ve got to help me pull the cookies out to cool.”

He nods, sitting across from you at the table as he takes a draw from his beer. “So California, I gotta ask-“ You groan. “That voicemail.”

You sigh before reaching out for your own drink (a strong dirty Shirley Temple, Boone had teased you as you’d made them for you and Dani) and taking a long sip. “My ex.”

“Sounded like you broke his heart.”

“I probably did.”

“Why?”

You sigh again, looking over at your phone that had all the questions written down on it, the Sharpie squeaking against the cardstock you’d found shoved into one of the closets.

“It just wasn’t working. The relationship wasn’t right anymore. It probably hadn’t been right for a while, maybe ever, but I wanted to make it work.” Javi waits for more information and you sigh, capping the pen. “He was in the Navy and-“

“C’mon California, don’t you know better than to date a military man? Coming from a former military man.”

You raise an eyebrow. “You? Actually, yeah, that tracks.”

Javi chokes. “The fuck does that mean?” He says hotly but there’s no real malice behind his words, a wide grin on his face.

You give an unimpressed look. “Do you really need me to explain it?”

Javi laughs, shaking his head. “Nah, I get it.”

You nod, uncapping the Sharpie again as you start on Kate’s questions. “Anyways, he was also eight years older than me.”

Javi makes a noise through a laugh. “Hoohoo, so you mean to tell me you were the scandalously younger girlfriend?”

“I wouldn’t say it was scandalous. I was 22 when we met.”

“Making him 30. That’s pretty scandalous to me.”

“We only went on two dates and then decided to be friends so by the time we did date I was almost 24 and he 32.”

“That’s still pretty scandalous.”

You snort, setting Kate’s questions aside. “Yeah, well, my friends would agree with you there but honestly it never really phased me.”

Javi takes another draw of his beer. “Yeah, cause you were being groomed.”

The deathly look you give Javi sends him into a fit of laughter.

“I was not!”

“What are you guys doing?”

You look over at Kate and Tyler from where you’re laughing at the meme Javi’s showing you. You swallow the rest of your laughter, sliding off the kitchen counter like you’d been caught.

“California and I got drunk. We’re bonding.”

Tyler looks unimpressed as Kate steps into the kitchen, surveying the cookies. “Can I have one?” You nod.

“Damn California.” Tyler whistles when he sees the amount of cookies sitting in Kate’s kitchen.

You give a nervous laugh, scrubbing your forehead with your wrist. “Yeah, I know. Its my Dad’s recipe — I always forget how much the recipe makes and I even halved it.”

“So you disappeared from the barn to drunkenly make cookies?” Kate asks, not to you, but to Javi, and your face falls.

Right.

Right, Javi had been in the barn with Dexter and Kate and Tyler to talk science stuff. You couldn’t find your place in the conversation with Boone and Lilly and Dani as they had s’mores, so you’d come inside to make cookies.

Javi shrugs, a lopsided grin on his face as the alcohol paints his cheeks a rosy red. “Just trying to get to know our new team member, s’all.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract him.”

Kate shrugs as she takes another bite. “Not like it’s hard.” She swallows. “He’s like a toddler — he gets distracted by food and shiny things.”

“Hey now!” Javi says as you hear the front door open again. “Nah, California here was just telling me about her scandalous-“ Javi pauses as Boone and Lilly come through the kitchen, Dani behind them as they wait for him to finish his sentence. He must see something on your face cause he softens. “Nah California, that’ll just be between us.”

You give him a tight smile before turning to Tyler as the newcomers realize there’s cookies. “Owens, what time are we leaving tomorrow?”

“1. And we need to film that video for the YouTube channel, which is what I’m guessing this all is.”

You nod as he gestures to the table with the stack of questions on it.

“I hope Tyler loses again.” Lilly says and Tyler gives her a face in return. The group laughs at him, presumably thinking about after he had lost the game of Twisters last week, he’d had to feed Kate’s angry rooster Mr. Biscuits, who Tyler had, up until that point, thought was a dog.

“Hell no, I’m not doing that again.”

“Um,” You say as you pull the sleeves of your (Javi’s, though he doesn’t seem like he’s going to ask for it back at this point) pullover down your arms. “Can someone make sure the cookies get wrapped up? I think I’m gonna head to bed for the night.”

“Wait, but we were gonna watch a movie!” Dani protests.

You shrug. “Tired.”

It’s a weak excuse as the energy shifts in the kitchen.

Kate clears her throat. “I can. Make sure the cookies get put away.”

You give Kate a small smile. “Thanks Kate.”

“No problem.”

You turn to leave the room, various calls of goodnight following you as you walk up towards the stairs. You sigh when you reach Kate’s room, shutting the door behind you. The sleeping bag you’d gotten had migrated its way inside as you always ended up falling asleep on Kate’s floor.

She’d offered to share the bed again more times than you could count but ever since you’d awoken her from your nightmare, you’d elected to sleep on the floor in hopes to ride them out alone.

You all but flop onto the floor, feeling your body protest as you do. As much as you dismissed the uncomfortable sleeping conditions to the group and especially to Kate, your body protested more than anything after sleeping on the wooden floors of Kate’s house.

Your phone dings and your stomach drops as you look down at it.

Hope you’re safe wherever you are.

You swallow around a scream, seeing Jake’s name on your screen. Your fingers begin flying across your screen without your permission.

Jake gets blocked first, then Javy. Natasha and Bradley. Pete and Bob and Sophie, Elle and Sam following. Mickey and Julia and Reuben.

Before you can even realize it, most of the people you knew who were wondering where you were now had been blocked. Maybe you should’ve done it before now, seeing as how desperate you were to leave those memories in Texas where they belonged.

Angry tears sting at your eyes as you resist to throw your phone, deleting photos en masse.

As you hear laughter from down the stairs, an ache settles in to your bones.

Six weeks gone and it still sort of felt like you were always standing at the edge of this group, never quite able to find your place. They seemed to like you more now, Kate especially, but it still felt like the bonds they’ve woven together in the last year would always put you on the outs.

A lot of the time it still felt like you’d never really run from the memories of Texas, your past life left behind.

Kate says your name softly. “Are you awake?”

You shift in the sleeping bag, turning to face her. “Kate?”

“I’m sorry.” She whispers. “Seeing that voicemail- that was wrong of us. We didn’t mean to.”

You shrug, though you doubt she can see it. “Not your fault.”

“I know you don’t want to talk about why you left but I- it sounded like he really cared about you.”

“Caring about me doesn’t mean our relationship was right. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t unhappy for a while before I left.”

Kate sighs. “I get what you mean. It just sounded like he really missed you.”

You swallow, turning back over. “Yeah.”

“I get that we can’t make you stay.” She whispers. “But I understand how someone could miss you that much. I think I’d miss you that much if you left.”

Your tears are resurfacing but you can’t bring yourself to respond to Kate’s words.

After a few minutes, when it becomes clear you’re not going to respond, Kate bids you a quiet goodnight and rolls back over.

I think I’d miss you that much if you left.

“Now, you might be wondering where our fearless leader Kate is today.” Boone says through the grainy feed of the live stream.

“And her lovely sidekick Javi.” Lilly adds from her end.

“Tyler, why don’t you tell the viewers at home where they are?” Boone prompts, facing the camera to Tyler.

“Well folks, they’re in DC with our lovely social media manager to talk to the governor and Senators from a bunch of the states in Tornado Alley, particularly Oklahoma. They’ll be presenting the research we’ve been done out here in the last year in hopes of getting more state budgeting allocated to tornado research and relief.” Tyler informs the livestream and you grin as you type out a comment.

Tyler wasn’t invited because he’s not smart enough.

Boone lets out a bark of laughter, repeating the comment to Tyler. Tyler makes Boone gesture the camera over to him, getting real close as he drives. “I know where you sleep at night.”

Hello FBI, there’s been a threat made against my life.

The group sets off into laughter as Boone struggles to relay the message to Tyler through his laughter.

“What are you doing?” Kate asks, sitting down next to you, Javi across from you.

“Causing chaos in the livestream chat.” You exit it, turning your phone off. “How come you guys aren’t eating?”

“I think I’d throw up right about now.” Kate says, looking over to Javi, who does look much paler than normal.

“You guys can’t seriously be nervous?” You ask around a mouthful of Cheerios.

“You’re not?” Kate asks in disbelief.

You shrug. “I’m used to public speaking. Besides, I’ve been told I’m a pretty good presenter, if I do say so myself.”

“Great, want to present all the data?”

You blanch. “I wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of that. All I gotta do is talk about Tyler and well, he makes that part pretty easy.”

“So, it’s like I was saying, when I backed out of StormPar, a lot of these guys came over because of Kate.” Javi says as he makes introductions of his team, the ones who’ve been out in the field, using the radars to collect the data from the tornados Kate and Tyler have collapsed.

“Javi.” Someone says and the group turns. Javi’s face sours noticeably.

“Scott.” Javi says with a grim face before turning to you. “This is Scott, my ex business partner.”

His eyes gloss over you as they land on Kate. “See you’re still wasting your time with Carter here.”

Javi’s eyebrows scrunch up but you put your hand out, stopping him. “Sorry, Simon, was it?” Javi snorts.

“Scott.”

“Right, Sonny. Sorry. I mean- do you like take pleasure in being an asshole? That’s not a very attractive personality trait.”

“It worked for Owens, does it not?”

“Oh, Stephen, sweetie. The internet would never make thirst traps of you like they do him.” Javi has to cough in his fist to hide his laugh and Kate has a hint of a smile on her face. “Oh, I know! You must be jealous of Javi’s sauve charm or- no, it must be because you think Kate should be in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning right? Cause women can’t have degrees.” You snap your fingers. “That must be it.”

Scott gives you a displeased smile, turning to Javi. “When did you two get a guard dog? Couldn’t face me on your own?”

Javi introduces you. “She’s Tyler’s new social media manager, been out there giving us a hand.”

Scott clicks his tongue. “Maybe she’d like to meet my new investors.” Scott turns, gesturing over a woman and man, and the sight of them must mean something to Javi and Kate as they both take a step back, their faces going pale.

Scott introduces them to you with a smirk on his face. “She’s working for Javi and Kate, figured it might be good for you all to meet.”

The woman, in particular, has strong displeasure written on her face. “So, you decide to follow these two into a tornado?”

You give a half shrug. “Can’t seem to think of why the decisions of a stranger would matter all that much to you.”

She raises an eyebrow, adjusting her purse. “I just think you should be careful.”

“I think you should mind your own business.” You say sharply, catching sight of the aide opening the door for you guys down the hall. “If you’ll excuse us, we should be going.” You touch Javi and Kate’s arms, nudging them forward.

“And when you die for them, will it be worth it?”

It’s the man this time.

You turn. “Excuse me?”

“When you die for Kate and Javi, for this- this- hypothetical they believe in, like the one our son died for, will it be worth it?”

And suddenly it all makes sense. It all clicks into place.

Kate’s words come back to you, how Jeb’s parents who were meteorologists who had money, how Jeb’s parents blamed Javi and Kate for their son’s death.

Javi says your name softly. “C’mon, they ain’t worth it.”

“Your son didn’t die for some hypothetical. He died for research that’s working.” You say sharply. Kate grabs your wrist, pulling you back. “Maybe you should watch the YouTube channel sometime. Sounds like you could stand to learn a thing or two.”

The aide ushers you into the conference room after that. The presentation goes smoothly, no obvious signs of how much the encounter had rattled Javi or Kate, and it’s obvious that more than a few of them are impressed with what you had to tell them.

Until Kate asks if anyone has any questions.

“Ms. Carter, you’re from Salpulpa, Oklahoma, isn’t that correct?” The governor of South Dakota asks.

Kate swallows. “Yeah. That’s right, I am.”

“And six years ago, you were caught in an EF-5, right? Working on this research with your business partner here?”

She nods, hesitancy growing on both her and Javi. “That’s correct.”

“And this research, you were doing as part of your PhD? But there was a team of five, right? What happened to your three colleagues?”

You frown as Kate glances at Javi. “They were killed, sir.” Javi answers for her. “In the EF-5.”

“Sorry, I just- Can I ask why that matters?” You interrupt.

The governor shifts as the one of the senators from Oklahoma turns to him. “I’d like to know as well.”

“Well, two of my constituents are directly connected to that incident, as their son Jeb was dating Ms. Carter at the time. And they’re raising a lot of concerns about this research you’re out here doing. I mean, how are you going to ask me to sacrifice more lives and money to your data that’s not even backed?”

Kate seems stunned, Javi too. “Well, sir-“

“Sorry, what are you implying here?” You say, cutting Javi off.

“I’m saying that this research is led by two people who have a known history of being responsible for the death of my constituents and I simply won’t put any more time forth on this.” The governor stands, snapping his folder shut. “We’re done here.”

“So you’re saying Kate and Javi are responsible and at fault for the deaths of three equally educated researchers who willingly chose, by no influence of Javi or Kate, to go in the storm that day six years ago? Because I think that is incredibly gross and inappropriate.”

Javi reaches out for your arm. “Stop.” He whispers. “It’s fine, we can take it.”

You shake your head. “No, no because you’re wrong. To insinuate that what we’re doing out there is anything less than helping the people these tornados target is wrong. We use the data from the radars Javi’s team sets up to understand how these tornados are collapsing and when we can’t get to a storm in time, we’re there, on the ground, giving out food and water and helping people dig through the rubble of their lives while you sit in your fancy office, removed from the everyday struggles of these people!”

You finally breathe, taking a step back as you pray Javi and Kate can forgive you.

“You’re new to this team, that’s right?”

You nod. “Been here just under three months.”

“And how did you find yourself here?”

You shrug. “I’ve seen firsthand the destruction and death these tornadoes cause. I’ve seen what these people can do to help. All I’ve ever wanted is to make a difference.

“And when you die, cutting your life short, for this research?”

You glance at your friends. “Then I’ll die knowing I gave my life helping others to change the game. I’ll died knowing I did what I could to make a difference.”

Her and Javi sit in their hotel room, uneasy silence between them.

They’d invited you to come with them but you’d seemed hesitant and had retreated to your room down the hall.

“Can we talk about it?” Javi asks finally.

“You ever think about that voicemail we saw?”

Javi shrugs. “Not really, I guess.” He glances at her. “Do you?”

She shrugs, pulling her shorts down. “Sometimes. Just wonder what the hell she’s doing out here when she’s got people at home who seem to care about her that much.”

Javi shrugs. “Whatever they did to force her to Oklahoma, that cut’s gotta run deep because oh boy, she seems to be loyal something fierce.” There’s a knock on the door and Javi slides off the bed. “That’ll be our room service!” He jogs to the door, getting the food and thanking the person. He shoves a fry in his mouth, moaning around it, before he talks again. “I mean, she had the balls to stand up to the governor of South Dakota for us.” She doesn’t say anything response, running her fingers over the starchy fabric beneath her. “Kate.”

She glances up at him. “What?”

“C’mon, talk to me. What’re you thinking?”

“I can’t ask someone else to sacrifice their life for this.” She says softly.

Javi sighs, sitting back down on the bed. “That’s the thing I think you’re missing Kate. You’re not asking. She’s offering.”

“But why?” She croaks. “What is any of this worth to her?”

Javi shakes his head. “That’s the part I can’t quite figure out. I don’t know, Kate.”

Your head meets the table as Cathy slides a plate down in front of you. “I need three naps and an IV full of Diet Coke.” You mumble and Dani laughs into her coffee from her seat next to you.

“So, c’mon tell us about DC.” Boone says excitedly. “You said you’d say over breakfast.”

You can hear Javi sigh from across the kitchen at the coffee pot. “It didn’t go well.”

“What happened?” Lilly asks around a mouthful of food. “Javi stumble over his words or something?”

“Well, for starters, we saw Scott.” Javi says as you lift your head from the table. There’s various groans and boos from the group as Javi’s grins grows. “Yeah, but she was mean to him.”

You snort. “Yeah, I said the internet would never make thirst traps of him and he must think women belong in the kitchen. Oh, and that he must be jealous of Javi’s charm.”

“We also saw Jeb’s parents.” Kate softly, immediately sobering your friend’s laughter. Cathy frowns, reaching out for her daughter.

“They’re Scott’s new investors.” Javi explains as Kate looks at you.

“They asked her if dying for me like Jeb did would be worth it.”

Tyler scoffs. “That’s bullshit. You told them that was bullshit right?”

You sigh. “Them and the governor of South Dakota, whose pocket they’re in. Told him it’s was gross and inappropriate to ever say Kate and Javi were responsible for the deaths of their friends.” You sigh, standing up from the table. “Sides, I know my words won’t make any difference to men like him but they didn’t go into that storm for Kate. They did it with Kate. This was something they believed in and it’s something I believe in too.” You push your food towards Boone. “Here, you can have it, I need to go to bed.”

She sighs and Javi tosses her an irritating look.

“Alright Carter, cough it up. What’s bugging you?”

She shrugs. “Nothing.”

“Kate, do you really take me for an idiot?” She gives him a curious look. “Look, I see how you are with her. The looks you give her when you think none of us notice. The way you’re always trying to include her in conversation, the way you always want her to be around. What gives?”

She scuffs her heel against the asphalt of the parking lot. “Do you think she’s got a thing for T?”

Javi sighs, rubbing his hands together. “No, I don’t.” He nudges her. “I mean that genuinely. I ain’t just saying it cause I know it’s what you want to hear.”

They both look at where you’re sitting, crowded up into Tyler’s personal space. Tyler’s arm is resting on your head obnoxiously, a cross look on your face as you elbow Ty in the ribs. To an outsider’s perspective, she could see how someone would mistake you two for something more but she knew the truth.

Tyler Owens saw you nothing more than the little sister he had never had and had always wanted. Tyler was protective of his team, it was a given, but with you he was different. There was an innate, inherent bond between the two of you different from everyone else. And if Kate had to guess, it stemmed from where your pasts intertwined, even if they didn’t know how.

But maybe it would be better if you did have something with Tyler.

“Better how?”

She blinks, turning to look at Javi. “Didn’t realize I said that out loud.”

Javi studies her for a minute before standing. “C’mon, I need to get a jacket, come with me.” She follows as Javi shouts that they’ll be right back to the group and she catches your curious look from across the fire.

Only once the motel door of Javi and Boone’s bedroom is shut, Javi looks at her. “Kate, what’s up?”

She looks at her friend before sinking to sit down on the bed. “I didn’t- I didn’t think I could ever love someone again after Jeb.” Javi’s eyebrows raise. “Ty showed me it could be possible.” She swallows, feeling tears sting at her eyes. “But I can’t ask her to love me back and to die for it in return.”

“Wait, Kate, hang on.” Javi says, raising his hand. “You’re- Are you saying you’re in love with her?” She nods slowly. “Kate, that’s- that’s amazing.” He breathes.

“No, it’s not Javi!” She nearly shouts and he flinches back. “Tyler nearly died for it and I saved him from that fate. But Jeb died because I loved him and so will she!”

Javi sighs, running a hand down his face before moving to sit next to her on the bed. He’s quiet for a minute as their knees knock together.

“Kate, look at me.” She does only to meet with a flurry of emotions. Concern like she might be spooked by his next words, love and care woven into the proudness that’s written there. “Kate, just because- just because they died doesn’t mean that we don’t deserve to love afterwards. Just because Jeb died doesn’t mean you have to suffer and pay the price for that.”

“Their deaths are my sins, their blood is on my hands.”

Javi shakes his head, taking her hands in his own. “No it ain’t. Would you say their blood is on my hands?”

“Never.”

“Then you need to understand that it isn’t on yours either. What happened was a terrible stroke of luck, maybe fate. I’d give anything to have them back with us, to have stopped it from ever happening. But we can’t go back, we can’t make our homes in the past. We’ll miss what’s right in front of us. And Kate, you deserve a love as soft as hers.”

She lets out a shaky breath, feeling her shoulders let some of the tension bleed out from them. For the first time, she doesn’t have the heart to argue with Javi, to tell him that he was wrong. She wasn’t sure she could when he looked so sure and absolute in his words.

You watch as Kate and Javi walk up the steps when Boone reaches over and nudges you.

“California, when are you gonna admit you got a thing for Kate?”

Your eyes slide over to him, giving a cool look. “Whenever you admit to the thing you’ve got going with Javi.”

The group lets out a bunch ohs and Tyler cackles. “She’s got you there Booney baby.”

“It’s just stress relief!”

You look back at Boone. “You know no one believes that right?”

“Man, stop deflecting, I was asking about you and Kate first!”

You roll your eyes as Dani breaks into silent laughter from across the fire, Lilly’s shoulders shaking as she works on the drone in her lap.

Tyler climbs off the truck, moving to stand behind you. You glance up at him as he does. “C’mon though. Seriously, what is going on with you and Sapulpa?”

“Nothing.”

Tyler sighs. “C’mon California, you really expect me to believe that little lie?”

You shrug. “It’s not a lie. I’m not denying anything I feel for her but I’m pretty sure Kate doesn’t like me in that way. Most days, I don’t even think she likes me period.”

“She likes you.” Lilly protests.

“Kate’s just a harder read because of…” Boone trails off, looking to Tyler.

“Because of what happened to Jeb, I know.” You say softly. “She told me.”

“I just wasn’t- We weren’t sure.” Dani says gently.

“But you guys always said she was a certain way with T right?”

Dani hums. “Yeah, but they aren’t exactly who I’d take as example from considering-“ She glances at Tyler. “Well, considering their fling lasted all of three weeks before they nearly killed each other.”

“Tyler, anything to contribute here?” Lilly says after a minute and you look back up at him. He’s got his hands on his hips, an unreadable look on his face.

“I don’t know that I should be encouraging any inter-company dating here. Team dynamics and all of that.”

Your eyes grow wide as you almost rocket out of your chair before gesturing to Lilly and Dani, who only laugh. You then turn to Boone, gesturing a hand at him. “Really?!” You nearly yell. “You’re so full of shit Owens!”

Tyler sighs. “California, I just don’t want to see anyone get hurt. I mean, if I tell you something wrong and it turns out to be a misstep, and shit goes wrong and one of you leaves, it’d be a huge blow.”

Dexter shakes his head, finally speaking up. “Kate’s not leaving.”

You can see the silent I know on the edge of Tyler’s lips, the It would be you leaving written in his eyes.

“Hey guys,” Dani calls. “We’re all still here. Wanna include us in whatever silent conversation’s happening over there?”

“I don’t want to get involved.” Tyler says with a wave of his hand. “Y’all are both too important to me for me to get this wrong.”

You sigh, settling back in your chair as you see Javi’s door re-open, Kate and Javi emerging. Boone sighs, patting the spot next to him and you move, falling into the space next to him.

“Boone, anyone ever tell you you need to shower more?” You mutter as Tyler meets Javi and Kate halfway, probably to bid them goodnight.

“I’ll take the shot if you do.” He whispers back. You glance at him as Javi and Kate return to their original seats across the campfire. Javi’s got a strange look on his face at the sight of you and Boone and Kate’s eyes are watery as Dexter hands her a few Oreos.

“You first.” You mutter.

Boone gives you a wolfish grin before sliding a marshmallow into his mouth. “I’ll think about it.”

“Guys, look.” Dani calls, and you and Tyler turn, seeing her hold a small puppy.

You coo, walking over to her as she holds the dog out to you.

“Where’d you find this little cutie?” You say, holding the little baby up, scratching underneath his chin.

“Heard him whining under a bunch of wreckage a few blocks over. One of the firefighters helped me pull him out. EMTs said the elderly couple who lived there didn’t make it. Probably couldn’t get to safety fast enough.”

You feel Tyler’s body deflate next to you as he kicks at a piece of wood at the ground.

“Ty?” You ask softly as the puppy nuzzles into your collarbone. You can’t read his face but it doesn’t seem like Dani can either as he scrubs at his forehead with his wrist.

“Could we keep him?” You ask softly. “You heard Dani.”

“We’ll find a shelter for him.”

Dani shakes her head. “Shelter here got destroyed; there’d be nowhere for him to go.”

You turn a pleading look onto Tyler, who has a storm brewing behind his eyes.

“We can’t have a dog on the road you guys. A dog, chasing after tornadoes? Really? Let’s use our brains here. Besides, I think Boone’s allergic.” Tyler snaps, hands falling to his hips.

Your pout grows as you hold the puppy up to your face. “But Tyler, little Enid wants to come with us. Don’t you Enid?”

“Enid?” Tyler asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, we found him in Enid so we should name him Enid.”

“First of all, that dog is not an Enid.” Dani chokes down a laugh at Tyler’s snark as he shoots her a look. “And we are not adopting a dog.”

“I think we should do a group vote.” You say, turning on your heel in search of the team.

“You can’t override me!” Tyler calls after you.

“Watch me!”

You find Lilly and Dexter first, handing food out. “Group poll - should we keep this little puppy? His owners passed away. Dani and I vote for yes. Tyler votes no.” You can hear Tyler walking behind you so you drop your voice to an over-exaggerated whisper. “For the record, Tyler’s vote is wrong. Vote yes.”

“This is not a democracy!” Tyler shouts.

“Man, just let the girl have her fucking dog!” Lilly shouts back.

“What dog?” Kate says, appearing from the back of the van. Her face softens. “This is such a cute little puppy.” She coos, bending down to scratch at his ears.

“I think we should keep him and name him Enid. Tyler disagrees.” You explain as Kate fawns over the puppy.

“He seems like such a sweet little guy, and you’d have so much fun on the road with us, wouldn’t you little Enid?” She coos, taking the dog from you.

“So that’s an enthusiastic yes from Ms. Kate Cooper.” You say, hands falling to your hips.

“Once again, this is not a democracy.” Tyler says sharply.

“It’s an Owens-acracy.” Javi calls from down the street. “Meaning Tyler does whatever the hell he wants.”

“Javi - Yes or no on keeping the puppy?” You shout back.

“Aw hell yeah! Our little storm chasing dog! Our little data dog!”

“We are not keeping the dog.” Tyler says firmly, impatience growing.

“Is Boone allergic?” You ask Lilly, who snorts and nods.

“Yeah but that man would die so happy covered in dogs. He loves ‘em. Had bloodhounds growing up.”

“A dog can’t stay in most motels.” Tyler reminds the group.

“As if he couldn’t be snuck in.” You counter. “Besides, you’re telling me that after a long day of storm chasing, you wouldn’t want to cuddle up with this little puppy here?”

The look Tyler gives you is answer enough.

“Somebody go find Boone and ask him if he wants to keep this dog.”

“Aw hell yeah, we’re getting a dog?” Boone crows, walking up behind you.

“Boone, you’re allergic.” Tyler deadpans.

“Man, I grew up hunting with bloodhounds, I’ve got like a natural resistance by this point!”

Kate holds up the dog, smile wide. “Boone, this is little Enid.”

Tyler sighs, turning on his heel. “We are not taking that dog and we are certainly not naming him Enid!”

“Famous last words.” Lilly mutters.

Tyler flips you all off as you break into laughter.

“Man would you stop pouting, you’re ruining my vibe!” Javi exclaims, which only causes you to sink further down in your chair.

“This is fucking stupid.” You mutter, kicking at the dirt as you do.

“I’m not happy about this either.” Tyler says from across the fire pit, begrudgingly looking down at the dog on his chest.

“I’m the whole reason Enid came with us and who does he want to spend time with? Oh, Tyler of course! Smoke practically came out of his ears when he saw Enid in the truck! But nooooo, that’s who the dog wants to be with!”

Boone’s chair creaks as he leans over. “You kinda sound a little crazy, talking to yourself like that.”

You shoot him a glare that has him withering back in his chair.

“I’d want a cat, I think.” Kate says thoughtfully from her seat next to you.

“I hate cats.” You mutter, crossing your arms. “I want a dog.”

Javi lets out a long sigh from next to you. “This is gonna get real old.”

You’ve been with the team for four and a half months when it happens.

You’re in some small town, just past the border of Oklahoma into Kansas, when the second storm cell you had all been tracking touches down.

“Hey guys.” You call, panic starting to creep into your voice. “That saying with lightning, how it never strikes the same place twice? Does that apply to tornadoes too?”

Moments after you finish your sentence, the winds kicks up, the sirens blaring.

It’s almost like you’re rooted to the spot, staring at the beast coming towards you as Lilly shouts from down the street to follow her to the shelter.

“California!” Tyler shouts. “What are you doing?!”

You sweep your gaze to him, spotting the truck as you. The unmoored truck.

He catches what you’re looking at and he shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, come on!”

“I got it, I’m right behind you!” You shout, already darting towards the truck.

You think Tyler curses but then he’s off down the street after the group. “Damn it, Boone.” You mutter, brushing the cookie crumbs off the console that are preventing you from getting to the switch. “The snacks have got to stop.”

Once the button has been pressed and you can hear the gears start, you throw the truck door open, sliding down to follow Tyler.

Except one minute you’re standing and the next, you’re on the ground, groaning.

You blink your eyes open to see debris scattering down the street and realize it must’ve taken your feet out from under you. You push yourself up and realize you don’t know where Tyler went. Your head hurts from its collision with the ground and through the pain, you can feel yourself start to panic. You roll over catching sight of the truck locked into the ground.

The truck.

The truck probably wouldn’t fly. The truck had harnesses. The truck had protected Kate once.

You crawl to the truck in hopes to avoid catching any wind, pulling yourself up and slamming the door as quickly as you can. You tug the harness on, debris hitting the car as the wind speeds pick up.

From the bed of the truck, you can hear Enid let out a bark, climbing over the arm console to curl up in your lap. He lets out a whimper, nuzzling closer to your stomach.

“It’ll be okay, Enid.” You whisper, letting your eyes shut as your hands curl in the dog’s shaggy fur. You guys really needed to take him to a groomer. “We’ll be okay.”

She watches her friends filter into the shelter, panic clawing at her as everyone from the town passed through the doors with no sight of you.

Javi’s pushes his way through the doors and he collides with her, her fingers clutching in his jacket. “Javi!”

“She isn’t with me Kate.” He breathes out, backing her up from the doors.

Her breaths coming in stuttering gasps as she clings to him. “Can’t be.”

“Kate, she’s probably with T, they were together. They’re coming, don’t worry.” Boone tries to soothe and Javi confirms his words, rubbing his hands up and down her shoulders.

Until Tyler appears through the doors, the last of the crowd.

“Where is she?!” She’s frantic now, a sob growing as she sees Tyler round the corner. “Tyler, where is she, I thought she was with you!”

Tyler glances over his shoulder, where they’re shutting the doors. “She- She was just supposed to nail the truck down.”

Kate’s moving towards the doors before she realizes it but she doesn’t get very far before someone’s arms are pulling on her jacket.

“Kate!” Javi shouts. “Kate, we can’t help her now!” She looks at him, feeling her eyes sting as she looks at his defeated face.

“It’s just like last time.” She chokes out into a whisper.

“I know.” He says softly. “I know, but there’s nothing you can do for her right now. We just need to wait.”

The mere minutes it takes for the storm to pass drag on, the tears unabashedly slipping down her face.

How could this happen again?

It’s maybe only 15 minutes later she’s standing outside in the clearing Oklahoma sky but it’s felt like a lifetime has passed and when the street is empty, save for their truck at the very far end of the street, it feels like it’ll all drag on for a lifetime more.

Her team is beside her but all she can do is wipe at her face, unable to stop the salty tears against her tongue.

“Kate…” Tyler says gently and she whips around, near snarling at him.

“This is your fault! You should’ve taken care of the truck, it never should’ve been her! She should’ve come with us, you never should’ve let her out of your sight!”

Tyler swallows, eyes growing glassy. “You don’t mean that.” He chokes out.

She doesn’t and she knows she doesn’t.

But this loss stings.

Lilly reaches out a cautious hand, and when Kate doesn’t push her away, Lilly pulls her into a hug. Dani joins, Boone not far behind. She thinks she can even feel Dexter join at the edge as the tears slips down her cheeks. She clings to Lilly, the girl running a hand up and down her back.

And then Javi shouts out.

You finally breathe, blinking your eyes open as you do.

You wince, your head throbbing as you begin to take the harness off and-

You pull on the door handle, tripping out of the truck as you start throwing up onto the gravel road.

Tears sting at your eyes, the small rocks digging into your palms as you empty your breakfast onto the ground.

“Yo!” Someone shouts from a ways away, but all you can focus on is the throbbing in your temple.

A hand is on your shoulder, gently pulling you up. You blink, wincing as Javi comes into focus.

“Javi?” You breathe out, leaning into him as the sound of footsteps running towards you gets closer. “Think I- head. My head hurts. Concussion.”

Javi doesn’t respond as another body collides with you. It feels like the wind has been knocked out of your lungs as the person trembles against you. “Thought you were gone. Thought I lost you.” Kate whispers.

“Kate, you’re gonna get vomit all over you.”

“Don’t care.” She whispers, still holding you. “I know you probably have a concussion, I’ll take you to the EMT’s please just- just let me hold you for a little longer.”

You nod. Despite how tight she’s holding you and the throbbing behind your eyes, it feels like you can finally catch your breath as she does.

“How’d you even think to hide out in there?” Lilly asks and you blink your eyes open, seeing the team standing before you. You don’t let Kate go.

“I truly was right behind you T.” You say, locking eyes with Tyler. He looks devastated, the relief of seeing you unable to loosen the tension in his shoulders. “But one minute I was standing and the next I was on the ground and you were gone. I think some debris knocked my feet out from under me and I sort of panicked. I remembered how it had kept Kate safe and it was the only place I could think of in time.”

“You gave us all quite the scare.” Dexter says. “Glad to see you safe.”

“Me too.” You whisper, squeezing Kate.

“Holy shit Enid! You been in there the whole time?” Boone shouts after a minute.

“My brain hurts. Paramedics now?” You ask. “Please?”

Kate nods, stepping back. “Yeah. Right now.”

“Stop looking at me like that.”

Tyler scoffs. “You can’t even see me.”

You’re laying on the RV bed, eyes closed. The lights are dim, the quiet conversation from outside barely audible.

Tyler had shooed Kate out to get dinner and told her she actually had to sit outside and eat it or he’d remove her concussion watch entirely.

“Yeah but I can feel it.” You reach a foot out, knocking Tyler’s knee. “T.”

He takes your foot, but must think better of whatever jerk move he’s going to pull because he lets your feet fall on his thigh softly, hand resting over them. His thumb finds your ankle bones and he rubs over it softly.

“That feel okay?” He asks quietly and you nod. The show of intimacy, however platonic, is nice as you sit there.

“I’m real sorry for putting you in harm’s way kid.”

You let out a breath through your nose, resisting the urge to open your eyes. You know Tyler will just get mad if you do.

“You didn’t. It was an accident.”

“Kate blames me. Hell, I blame myself. It would be okay if you blamed me too.”

“Tyler.” You say firmly. “It was an accident. You never meant any harm to come to me. I am fine, nothing more than a wittle baby concussion. The paramedics checked me out and Dani’s been keeping an eye on me the whole drive. I am fine.”

“You’re not fine!” Tyler snaps and you wince at the loudness in his voice. “Sorry, sorry. I just- You have a concussion, not to mention the bruises and cuts you’ve saddled yourself with. That’s not fine in my book.”

“Tyler, I got hit by a car in college. What’s a little debris?”

A smile tugs at your lips as you remember the way Dani and Javi’s eyes had gone wide as they’d sat with you as the EMTs check out you when you’d told the paramedics that story.

They’d told you it was incredible that this was the situation you’d ended up with a low grade concussion and the other only a sprained wrist.

“A tornado and a car are hardly the same.”

“Technically, the tornado never hit me. Just debris.”

“Semantics.”

“The semantics are keeping Kate’s sanity in tact so please don’t make the difference in front of her.” You say quietly and Tyler sighs again.

“She really cares about you, you know?”

“Thought you weren’t getting involved?”

“I’m not.”

“Then stop talking.”

Tyler pushes your feet away, scooting closer to you. “Your loss would’ve devastated her.” He says softly.

“So I’ll be more careful next time.”

He sighs. “You’re not listening to what I’m saying.”

You crack an eye open. “Tyler, my brain hurts too much for this conversation. Can you please get to the point?”

Tyler’s point never gets made as the RV door opens, Javi telling him that Dani had pulled him off concussion watch too.

You suspected Javi just wanted to be around you but you’d take his presence over Tyler’s interrogation. Javi sits next to you on the bed as you close your eyes again.

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, though I wish I could call my freshman year room mate and annoy her like she did me.”

Javi chuckles. “How do you mean?”

“She got a concussion in a skiing accident and made me talk to her for hours because she was bored and couldn’t do anything. I need payback.”

Kate wrings her hands, eyes flickering around the room nervously.

“Kate?” You say cautiously. “Are you okay?”

“I just- I mean, are you sure you’re gonna be okay here? By yourself, you know, I could stay with you?” Her eyes roam over your body. “No, I think I should stay. I’m going to- I’ll go tell Tyler right now. I-“

You grab Kate’s wrist, cutting her off. “Kate.” You say softly. “It’s fine. It’s a baby concussion. I’m going to sit here for a few days and force Enid to snuggle me. It’ll be fine.”

She sighs. “I don’t know, I still think I should stay.”

“Kate, you are no use to anyone here. Anything I need, your Mom can get for me. I’ll be fine.”

Your heart clenches at the concern swimming in your friend’s eyes and it’s going to take every minute of each one of those day to remind yourself that that concerns is only because of the losses in Kate’s past.

She’s lost three friends before, she doesn’t want to lose a fourth.

She sighs, taking a step back. “You’re right. But- you call me if anything changes, okay?” You nod and so she takes another step back.

You can hear Tyler shout up the stairs for the third time in fifteen minutes. “Tyler’s gonna get mad, you should just go.” You say, already taking a step back towards her bed though your eyes never leave hers.

“Yeah, I should-“ With one last look, she slips back out the bedroom door. You sigh, pressing your hands to your eyes, willing yourself to get it together.

“It doesn’t mean anything.” You mutter to yourself. The door creaks open and you glance up, seeing Kate stride through the door. “Kate?”

Kate crosses the room in three steps, pulling you into a kiss. Before you can even process what she’s doing, she’s pulled back.

Her hands fly to her mouth, a shocked expression on her face. “I can’t believe I just did that! Oh, I’m so sorry- Mmph.”

You cut her off, crowding her space before pulling her lips back to yours.

Your hands slide down to her hips as she cradles your head in your hands. Only does she break away when Tyler shouts up the stairs, heavy footsteps on the wood.

“I really should go this time.” She breathes.

“You’ll come back right?” You ask, nudging your nose with hers. “I want to talk about this, I want to make this work with you.”

She nods. “I’ll always come back for you.”

iii.

#kate carter #kate carter x reader #kate carter x female reader #twisters #twisters fic #kate carter fic #can't take the home out of oklahoma

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liv0nerd101 · 2 years

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Pairing: Cassandra Cain x reader

Pronouns: She/They

Warnings: none

Word count - 0.9k

A/n: this sucks balls but there is like two good Cass fics on here so i had to write one.

Cass pov

"Oh come on please!" Tim whined. "His dad won't let him come unless she goes," Tim had finally gotten a date with Conner only problem, Clark and Lois wouldn't leave their kid home alone for a weekend while they went on their anniversary.

"No,”

"Please, this is like the only time he can come to Gotham for more than a day, Please Cass just this once,”

"Why not get Steph or Babs to hang out with her," I'm sure she was nice but I was not interested in hanging out with some random super who's name I didn't even know.

"Babs is in Bludhaven with Dick and Steph is helping Bruce with a case,”

"Jason?" literally anybody else.

"Really? He's Jason, who knows where he is," Tim said, rolling his eyes. "Just do it. Please,”

"Kate,”

"She’s with her Girlfriend, just please I'm begging you," He grabbed my shoulders and shook me, "I'll do anything," I couldn't stand his puppy eyes.

"Urg fine but you owe me big time," His eyes went wide and he hugged me. "Go call Kon," He grinned ear to ear and ran up the stairs to his room. I already knew I would hate every second of this inevitably awkward weekend.

Y/n pov

"NO!"

"Please just go, Cass agreed to hang with you,"

"No, Cassandra scares me and I don't want to be third wheeling you and Drake the whole time. Pick a different weekend," That was a lie. Not completely, Cass did scare me but it's not like she could fly. And I had never spent any time with her but I knew she was pretty, gorgeous even and knowing me, I was bound to get flustered and embarrass myself. I turned and started to walk away.

"Bitch," he muttered under his breath. Temper. One of my many faults. I turned around and used all my strength to punch him across the face. He brought his hand up to his jaw, which if he had been human would've been broken. He swung towards me. I ducked but tripped backward knocking mums favourite lamp over and we watched in slow motion as it shattered. We looked at each other before he screamed, "MOM!”

"I'll go if you don't tell mom," I panicked. Mom loved that lamp more than us. I'd never be aloud out again.

"What honey," She stepped into the room and just about passed out.

"Krypto knocked over the lamp," Mom wouldn't let the poor boy in to house for at least the next week now. Oh well, sorry Krypto. She stomped off and started screaming at the poor boy before storming back upstairs. "Better get packing sis," I simply rolled my eyes and did just that.

"Bye Mom, Bye Dad!" We yelled before taking off toward Gotham city. We landed on Bruce Wayne's door step before Conner knocked on the door.

Cass pov

Bang bang bang. They were here. Tim came rushing down the stairs and bolted to the door. He opened it up and hugged Conner. I looked behind him and saw someone. Must be them.

"Hey, I'm Cass,"

"Y/n" I just nodded. I knew nothing about this person and I could tell she didn't wanna be here either.

"Why don't you come set up in my room," She smiled and picked up her bags before following me inside. I helped her with all her stuff and we set up a mattress on my floor for her. "I'm guessing you didn't wanna be here?"

"Nope, Kon blackmailed me sort of,"

"Sort of?"

Tim pov

"I sorta feel bad for forcing them into this,"

"Same but it was the only way we could see each other,"

"True, wanna make sure they haven't murdered each other yet?"

"Couldn't hurt,"

Y/n pov

After me and Cass got to talking, she wasn't so scary. She was sweet. Just as pretty as she was in pictures, if not prettier. God her voice was perfect. I could listen to it all damn day. She was my dream girl. There was no one like her.

"Y/n?" I was snapped out of my daze and Cassandra looked at me, confused.

"Damn I knew it," I mumbled. I knew I would do something like this.

"Knew what?"

"That I would get flustered because your just so pretty and cool and now I just admitted that so it'll be even more akw-" She shut me up with her lips. After the shock of her kissing me passed, I kissed back and slide my hand up to the nape of her neck. She pulled back, only because we needed air and rested her forehead on mine.

"You tend to ramble you know," I just smiled. The door swung open and we jumped away from each other.

"Huh, good to know your both still living," Conner said with a laugh. Both of our faces were bright red. "What?"

"Since when did you start wearing lipstick Cass?"Tim questioned. Cassandra brought her thumb up to her lips and wiped off the makeup. The detective glanced at his sister, me, then her again. his confused look quickly turned into an ear to ear grin.

I gave him a look daring him to say something to Conner which shut him up before he could take another breathe.

"Y/n put some on me," She grinned at me.

"Let go babe, leave the girls alone," Conner said to his boyfriend, clearly oblivious to what was going on.

"Sure," After the boys left me and Cass looked at one another.

"Favourite movie?"

"Y/f/m,"

"Perfect," Cass said. She set up her tv and laid down in my lap. My hand went straight to her hair and we slowly drifted off to sleep.

#cass cain #cassandra cain #black bat #tim drake #cassandra cain x reader #dc comics #cass cain fanfic #batfam #kon-el #lois lane #krypto #batman #superman #reader insert #orphan #superhero #i stole this from my wattpad

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estrellamorningstar · 8 months

Text

Dark Devotion [Part 17]

Warning: Smut, NSFW, 18+, blood, pain

Summary: We come to a conclusion. Not too much smut in this one, but there is some blood and fluffiness

Word Count: 4216

Over the next few months Celeste grows more and more confident in her ability to escape. She spends a lot of time training. Wesker had arranged it for her to be able to train with each Killer separately, although he doesn't let Trickster anywhere near her. There are some Trials that she still loses, but most of them are easy for her.

Just as Rebecca had said, the rest of the Camp have turned their back on her. Kate refuses to be healed by her and that hurts Celeste, but she follows Wesker's advice and locks her emotions, focusing on her goal to have complete control over her body and emotions. Carlos is the only one that still tries to form a truce between Celeste and the rest of the Survivors. He sometimes silently sits next to her while she waits for the names to be picked.

''Cielo, you just need to talk to them,'' Carlos says quietly to her one day. Celeste looks at Carlos and shakes her head. She often wonders what it would have been like to have stayed on Survivor side all those months back. Would Wesker have found a new victim to do as he pleases with or would Celeste be targeted by Killers relentlessly?

''I don't want to talk to them, Carlos,'' Celeste says harshly, regretting her tone when she looks at Carlos. Her features soften when she notices how he's looking at her. He really does see best in people when everyone else turns their back. She pulls the sleeves of her sweater down to cover her scars from Wesker's tentacles, she has been wearing long sleeved shirts and jeans to prevent people from asking her questions.

Celeste's mood isn't the best. She hasn't seen Wesker since she went to Killer camp. What annoys her the most is that she has been doing training with everyone but Wesker and she has been getting good, but the one person she is seeking approval of isn't even there to give her... praise.

She has spent countless nights fantasizing about Wesker. She has spent countless Trials looking out for him. Getting chased by anyone else isn't as thrilling as it used to be. In fact the other Killers either leave her for last or don't let other Survivors to unhook her when they manage to catch her.

''I miss you,'' Carlos says out of nowhere, taking the opportunity of holding her gaze for more than a couple of seconds in a long time. The directness of those words pulls at Celeste's heart and she looks away from Carlos, in hopes to wash away the meaning behind what was said.

The names get displayed on the screen, Celeste looks at the bright screen and when she doesn't find her name on there she feels even more annoyed. She stands up to leave, but Carlos grabs her forearm.

''Spend the night with me,'' Carlos looks up at her. When Celeste's face scrunches up in confusion, a quick grin appears and disappears from his lips, although his eyes keep a playful glint. ''I mean, let's talk. You still owe me an explanation.''

Celeste sighs softly. She has been avoiding him for a long time. It has been hacking at her conscience. Carlos was good to her without question, even when she started making unreasonable decisions he stuck by her. She agrees to it, it's not like she has anything better to do since her name didn't even come up for training.

They agree to go to Celeste's room since there are droplets of rain dancing with the wind that's slowly picking up. Celeste can't help but notice Jill rolling her eyes in the background. Jill has been one of the most outspoken people in the camp that have turned many people against Celeste. Celeste doesn't mind though, she was never popular at school, and she has spent her adult years completely alone.

Celeste prepares a tray of snacks for them in the kitchen. She notices that Carlos is leaning against the counter that forever will remind her of him. His hand slides over the surface of the counter and when she catches his eye, blood rushes to her cheeks. He silently watches her with a knowing smile on his face. Celeste hands him the tray when she's done and grabs a couple of bottles of beer from the fridge.

''You've changed, Cielo,'' Carlos says as he sits down on the end of her bed. Celeste has strategically placed a tray in between them as she sits on the other side of it, leaning against the wall. She looks at Carlos with a quizzical look.

''I wish you would have talked to me before you went to Wesker,'' Carlos continues when gets no response from her.

''Wesker came to me. I had no choice,'' Carlos shakes his head as she says those words. ''I had no choice, Carlos. He picked me even before the Trials.''

''What are you talking about?'' Carlos was about to take a sip of his beer, but the bottle stays still in front of his lips.

''Wesker put me in the Trials. I don't understand it yet, but I am his...'' she almost says plaything, but after thinking for a moment she settles with: ''Wesker's my sponsor. He brought me here.''

''How do you know?''

''He told me, and it all adds up,'' Celeste shrugs. ''He told me he will explain more when I see him next. I haven't seen him... for a while.'' Celeste's voice drops and she shoves some food in her mouth to conceal her disappointment.

''So where have you been going all the nights you've been summoned?'' Carlos asks curiously.

''Wesker arranged for me to train with the other Killers, he wanted to make the best Survivor,'' ...and reward me for it a voice at the back of her mind echoes.

''Oh...'' Carlos's mood seems to lift, he finally takes a swig of beer.

''What?'' Celeste thought that she didn't mind the solidarity, but having Carlos near her has made her more relaxed.

''I just assumed that you're spending nights being fucked into oblivion while he demands to be called a god,'' a hint of bitterness envelops his snicker. Celeste nearly chokes on her food.

''I am not going to dignify that with an answer,'' she tries to contain her thoughts and not let the disappointment show on her face. How she wishes what he said was true.

''I think about you a lot, Cielo. My bed is cold without you in it.'' Carlos watches her intensely.

''Carlos, don't...'' Celeste isn't ready for this conversation. She had hoped that giving him the cold shoulder would have made him forget about her. Celeste had not expected Carlos to make her miss some of her old self.

''You know that with Wesker there is no future, why do you let him do this to you?'' As always, Carlos doesn't have an ounce of accusation in his voice. He sounds concerned and somewhat wistful.

''I don't have answers, Carlos,'' Celeste doesn't know how to explain to Carlos that she was happy to find out that Wesker picked her, how he can make her crave his touch when he's not even near her, how he can control her with his voice.

Carlos stands up and Celeste almost feels sad that he's leaving, but instead he takes a step closer to her, extending his hand to her. She looks at his hand and reluctantly takes it. He pulls her up and wraps his arms around her. She tries to protest at first, but she gives in when he holds her tight against his chest and for a short while she feels like she's in a safe place.

She feels a tear building up behind her eyes and she takes slow breaths to keep herself from breaking down. Carlos gently rubs back and pulls her closer. She would be lying if she said she didn't miss this too.

''I wish you would feel safe with me, Cielo,'' Carlos whispers in her ear. His hands are gently stroking her back and the time stops, or Celeste wishes it would stop, for a while.

''I feel safe with you,'' she can barely get the words out, she's holding her tears back. Celeste tries to listen to Carlos's heart beat and calm herself down. She's letting her body control her once more, but she knows that she needs to stop herself before things get out of hand. She tries to move away from Carlos, but he pulls her back and just as she could have predicted their lips meet and she melts. What Wesker denied her is right there in that kiss. Carlos is giving everything to her.

She finds herself incapable of breaking the kiss, each passing second is making it less possible to make an excuse and blame Carlos for instigating the kiss. Carlos's breathing is accompanied by soft groans as the kiss grows deeper. Each time Celeste tries to break the kiss, even though admittedly she isn't trying hard enough, Carlos pulls her closer to him. When she finally breaks the kiss, Carlos just looks at her, his lips are parted and slightly red from the intensity of their kiss.

''Don't lie to yourself, Cielo,'' Carlos's voice is raspy and seductive. He doesn't let her go, but he doesn't move either. Celeste looks up at him, her cheeks are slightly wet from the tears that managed to escape her eyes when she finally gave into temptation. ''You don't owe him anything.''

Carlos pulls her closer to him and wraps his arms around her tightly. They stand in silence, neither of them want to move, in case the moment will be lost.

''Let me hug you to sleep, Cielo,'' Carlos's lips are pressed against Celeste's forehead as he says that. Celeste shuffles in his grip, her body tensing up at the idea. Carlos has slipped a foot in the door and Celeste needs to do shut him down right now. Wesker had trained her to be able to control situations like this, but she finds herself frozen, she is allowing life to happen again. Before she knows it Carlos has removed the trays of food from the bed and she is pulled into the bed.

Carlos pulls her into the most perfect hug she has ever felt, it could be that she hasn't had any real human contact for months, but his front is pressed against her back, one arm wrapped around her shoulder and the other softly stroking her leg. Celeste doesn't resist, even though an image of Wesker somewhere in the mess of her thoughts is warning her against any decisions she is avoiding to make. That fear gets wiped away by Carlos's lips on her neck.

Celeste's hand finds its way into Carlos's hair. She has missed it and when his hand traces the curve of her waist, under her jumper and softly pulls her into him with a firm squeeze of her breast, Celeste knows she's in trouble. A desperate sigh sends warning signals through her body when she feels Carlos push his hips against her slowly as his kisses turn hungry. Carlos turns her head towards him.

Celeste is nestled tightly against him, he is holding her firmly with the arm she's lying on and she welcomes the soft strokes of her cheek as his eyes drop to her lips. Carlos runs his thumb over Celeste's cupid's bow and then to her lower lip. He softly pulls down her lower lip and searches her eyes for any resistance. Celeste's hand fists Carlos's hair in anticipation and he takes it as a sign to kiss her, deeply. Their tongues fill each other's mouths in a desperate, needy dance.

Carlos's hand finds the hem of Celeste's sweater and starts pulling it up, but she stops his hand. Carlos doesn't stop kissing her, his kisses grow deeper and more desperate, their bodies are so close, but the only way they can express their need for each other is their tongues. They spend most of the night like this, in complete silence, apart from desperate breaths in between long, needy make-out sessions. Both of them are overtaken by a desperate need for each other, but every time Carlos attempts to remove any clothing article from Celeste she stops him. She doesn't want him to see Wesker's marks on her body.

They wake up in each other's arms, fully clothed. Celeste looks at Carlos and regrets the moment she allowed her body to take over. The man looks like he would walk to the end of the world for her and that look is the one that is destroying her slowly. She doesn't deserve his time, let alone his trust. Carlos leans on his elbow and kisses her gently.

''Carlos...'' Celeste whispers against his lips. Carlos withdraws his kiss and looks at her. She hates her past self. How can she be so stupid to allow herself to believe even for a second that she has a future with Carlos, especially after signing her soul to Wesker. ''Last night was a mistake,'' she finally manages to utter. To her surprise, Carlos's lips curl into a smile. He strokes her cheek with gentle fingers.

''I will get you back, Cielo. You're not totally gone yet.'' He kisses her forehead, his lips linger on her skin before he gets out of the bed. ''The world isn't all bad, but you need to recognize when somebody is too far gone.''

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

Celeste starts yet another Trial, Carlos still fresh on her mind. She walks down one of the long hallways of RPD, looking for any tell-tale signs of who the Killer might be, although the new outfit she had to put on before entering the Trial is hinting strongly at Wesker. She finds a gen on a roof top just on top of some stairs and starts working on it without paying much attention, she's so used to the Trials by now, she already recognizes the slightest change in the sound of the machinery. Celeste's thoughts are wandering back to the previous night no matter how hard she tries not to and the potential meeting with Wesker causes her body to heat up. She feels like she failed Wesker by letting her emotions get the best of her, but she is determined to not let one slip-up destroy everything she has achieved in the last few months.

As the electricity starts to wake up the gen Celeste takes a closer look to her surroundings, she needs to get her head in the game or it will be a long Trial. Just as she realizes that right behind her there is a metal crate, Wesker comes out of nowhere and Celeste is slung over his shoulder before she can even take her hands off the gen.

''You have not been paying attention, kitten,'' his grip is tighter on her thigh than she's used to, the scars burn hot on the surface of her skin in response to Wesker's presence. Celeste doesn't even try to struggle free, she feels like she deserves to get hooked for failing as simple task as looking out for the Killer.

''I did not hear you or feel you approaching,'' Celeste thought it was strange before, but whenever that had happened with any other Killer, the tightness would have returned by now. Wesker stops in his tracks and drops her to the floor. She stands up and looks at him, confused, she shouldn't have been able to stand up. A gen gets finished somewhere inside the building, echoing the silence between them. Wesker is fixated on her, his tentacle appears quicker than Celeste has ever seen and she's slammed against the huge roof went she was standing next to and she's... fine. No infection, no bleeding, just a rush of excitement. Another gen not too far from them hums into action.

''Wait here, kitten,'' Wesker disappears into the building. Celeste examines her body, wondering if the simulation is broken. The only effect Wesker had on her was the painful throbbing under her skin. Just as she's about to take a closer look, she hears a high pitched scream and a tell tale sound of someone getting thrown against a wall. She curiously peeks into the corridor and sees Rebecca turn a corner, the blood trail she leaves behind her means that Wesker has managed to maim her. Rebecca goes down quickly. Celeste waits for Rebecca to be hooked, but when she hears nothing she slowly makes her way through the corridor.

She hears another scream in the distance, but still no sign of Rebecca. Wesker's working fast, more fast than usual, another body gets slammed to the ground. Celeste can finally locate where the sound is coming from. She makes her way to the entrance hall of RPD and just as she can overlook the whole room Wesker has knocked Carlos, who seemed to be taking a stand against Wesker, down.

''Kitten, you're just in time for our little game,'' Wesker's eyes find Celeste and without a word she walks down the stairs. Rebecca and Kate are bleeding out on the bottom of the stairs, both of them watching Celeste with anger. When Celeste turns corner she sees Carlos at Wesker's feet.

''What the fuck is wrong with your body?'' Rebecca's voice is pure disgust as she looks at Celeste's scars. Celeste is wearing a tight leather corset and leather high waisted shorts that hug her body perfectly, but every scar, apart from the ones on her ribs, is open for everybody to see. She had been hiding them well.

''Run, Cielo,'' Carlos's voice is weak, but it still echoes against the tall ceiling. Celeste follows Wesker's gaze, his smirk is as malicious as ever when she steps over the body of Rebecca.

''She won't run anymore, will you, kitten?'' Carlos is looking at Celeste with hopeful eyes, but Celeste's eyes are only set on Wesker. She had been waiting for this moment for so long, there is nothing but Wesker in her line of vision. Her scars come alive in his presence, the pain rips through her flesh, but the pain makes her feel alive, aroused even.

''Now be a good girl and decide who's getting the first hook,'' Wesker's tone changes from a seductive drawl to a more harsh one. Celeste's eyes widen and she finally looks around at the people around her. Kate seems weak and barely holding on, Rebecca looks rebellious, like she will put up a fight if Celeste comes near her. And Carlos... he is still looking at Celeste as if she hasn't done anything wrong, as if she's there to save the day.

''Now,'' the authority in Wesker's voice wakes up her carnal side, that word alone makes her impatient for feeling his hands on her.

Celeste knows that nothing will happen to them, this is just another Trial, but Rebecca's words resonate in her mind, she is turning her back to any potential truce with the other Survivors.

''You're a traitor, Celeste. I knew you will do this,'' Celeste forces herself to look away from the woman who's lying in a pool of her own blood, if a look could kill Celeste would not have survived Rebecca's scrutiny.

''Rebecca,'' her voice is quiet so when Wesker doesn't move she wonders if he didn't hear her. But the grin on Wesker's face makes him look even more like the Devil he is made out to be. She can see the fire behind the glasses, he clearly heard her voice.

''Pick her up, kitten,'' Wesker's orders are clear, but Survivors cannot pick each other up unless they're being healed, the simulator doesn't allow certain interactions. Even then, Celeste doesn't dare question Wesker's demand and she approaches Rebecca who is spitting fire at her.

Celeste decides to copy most Killers and to her surprise throwing Rebecca over her shoulder isn't strenuous at all. A gasp comes from Kate who has stopped trying to heal herself and watches Celeste in shock.

''Put her on the Hook,'' Celeste already felt the order coming, she already had taken a step towards the Hook that's in the middle of the entrance hall. She does it out of obedience, but a part of her is curious to know what it feels like from the Killer perspective. She follows through with the motions as if by instinct and the scream that comes from Rebecca makes Celeste's heart race faster. It's different than what she's used to though, her heart is beating in... excitement.

''Good girl,'' Celeste had been so into the whole process that she hadn't noticed Wesker appear behind her. His praise makes the moment sweeter. Rebecca is shouting profanities through gritted teeth. Kates sobs send a rush of blood to Celeste's brain, she needs to hurt her, to hook her.

''Hook them all,'' Wesker steps back and waits for Celeste to make a decision. Kate and Carlos are near each other and Celeste's heart hardens in that moment. She looks at the two people that helped her so much through her first steps of the Trials. Kate was always there when Celeste needed her the most. And Carlos, even now he looks at her in silence, Celeste's eyes get lost in his for a short moment and that moment is all she needs to make a decision.

''Cielo...'' Carlos utters. ''You can still stop this, don't let him control you.''

''It's pointless, Carlos,'' Rebecca sounds vicious. ''She made her mind up when he stuck his dick in her.''

''Hook them, kitten,'' Wesker is starting to sound impatient. Celeste obeys and despite Kate's desperate pleas she picks her off the ground. Kate's cries ring through the empty hallways of RPD, her face is wet from tears, but Celeste doesn't feel even the slightest bit of empathy towards her friend.

She finds Carlos and leans down to pick him up before Wesker has to say anything. Carlos doesn't protest, he doesn't even try to wiggle out. Surprisingly Carlos weighs the same as Rebecca did even though he is twice her size. She walks up the stairs to where Wesker is overlooking the carnage and finds a Hook at the top of the stairs. Celeste hesitates for a moment, but when Wesker takes a few steps closer to Celeste and removes his glasses she doesn't question her morality any more. Celeste hooks Carlos and looks up at him. Carlos's eyes are empty, he looks defeated and, when Wesker comes to his field of vision and places his hand on Celeste's waist, Carlos closes his eyes.

''That's my girl,'' Wesker pulls Celeste against his chest and his lips crash against hers, any traces of empathy she might still have had in her body leave her body and soul in that moment. The sounds of her victims are like a chorus to Celeste's darkest hour. She is too far gone to care, violence and dependency on Wesker will soon be a part of her life that she can no longer call her own. Wesker has created yet another Killer to join the ranks. The Survivors won't remember Celeste, she will be wiped out of their memory by The Entity and their Trials will continue.

Wesker's kiss is deep and electric, her whole body wakes up to his touch. Celeste feels pain building up rapidly and she breaks their kiss, looking at her arms. Wesker chuckles and watches her transformation. Celeste looks at him desperately.

''Let it happen to you, kitten, you will be able to control it soon.''

Celeste focuses on Wesker and allows the pain to become a part of herself. Her skin splits open painfully and what she used to think were leeches now resembles snakes. Hundreds of creatures burst out of her skin and wrap themselves around her limbs, but she feels like she controls them. They are her. She feels strong and thirsty for blood.

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

Celeste wakes up in the simulator. The Trial ended suddenly and she doesn't feel like herself. Or maybe she feels more like herself than she ever had. The nurse removes all the wires and Celeste stands up and walks towards a mirror in the changing room. She examines herself. The scars are still there, but they're red and burning hot. She knows that the snakes are still there and she wants to test them out. She focuses on one of the new muscles her body has gained and soon a small, black snake bursts out of her wrist. She can almost hear it asking her what to do.

''Leave your snakes inside your body unless you're in the Trials,'' the nurse shouts at her from behind the curtain.

''Or you will be punished,'' the hairs on Celeste's body react to Wesker's voice, at first she thinks she has imagined it, but when she walks back into the open room Wesker is right there in front of her.

''Come, kitten, it's time to kill.''

An announcement reverberates through the hallways of the Main Building as she follows Wesker through the door of the Killer camp.

Celeste Stellato is no longer available. A new Killer coming soon to Dead by Daylight.

#dead by daylight #fanfic #lemon #smut #albert wesker #carlos oliveira #the mastermind #wesker

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bunky-writes · 2 years

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World Past Six

Chapter: 3

“Bumping into someone”

After that incident, things got… interesting.

I met the others in the bunker, the kind woman was Mrs. Kate McCarthy, her ginger hair and green eyes gave away her Irish background. The 15-year-old, Joseph, was her son, and she apparently had another son. Paxton but he seemed adamant at remaining in the men’s bunkroom.

I don’t know how many days went by before I met him. At least two weeks. The actual meeting was… unexpected.

I was walking down the hallway where the bunkrooms were. I suppose I was in my world, not thinking where I was going when I bumped into someone. Hard.

“OW! FUCK!” someone cried out.

I landed on my ass. I wasn’t hurt but when I looked up from the floor, the person I bumped into was holding his nose. It was bleeding, badly.

“Oh god, sorry!” I exclaimed.

“You should be,” he replied but he laughed afterward.

“Paxton, you okay?” It was Mrs. McCarthy.

“Yeah, mom, just bumped into a beanstalk.”

‘BEANSTALK?? What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not that tall, am I?’

I snapped out of it, and helped, this Paxton, up.

Mrs. McCarthy came out of the women’s bunkroom. She glanced Paxton up and down.

“Are you dying?”

“No,” Paxton replied.

“Broken bones?”

“Not unless you count a bleeding nose.”

“Well, that’s easy to take care of, come here.”

Paxton and Mrs. McCarthy began walking towards the main room, most likely to search for tissues and an ice bag. I wasn’t sure if I should follow but I felt bad for giving Paxton a nosebleed.

As I got closer to them, I once again apologized. But Mrs. McCarthy just smiled and shook her head.

“It’s fine, sweetie. And it honestly makes me happy to know that you’re exactly as you appear.”

I was shy, for no reason in particular. But I finally got a good peek at Paxton.

He was not tall, but not necessarily short either, probably the ‘normal’ height. He had short, wavy, ginger hair. He looked pretty cool, with hanging space earrings, they were Saturns and a button-up shirt that looked like the carpet of an arcade or bowling place. He had on rosetinted heart-shaped sunglasses, even though it wasn’t bright in the bunker. But what struck me the hardest was his eyes.

Emerald green.

“The name’s Pax, not Paxton by the way. Nice to meet you beanstalk!”

Mrs. McCarthy snorted, almost like a scoff. But Pax just eyed whilst she went into the kitchen.

“Uh… nice to meet you as well, Pax…I’m Six?”

Pax nodded, presumably hoping he’d sit somewhere. “Shall we?” and we proceeded to sit down on one of the picnic tables. Mrs. McCarthy came back soon with tissues and an ice bag.

“That’s all?” Pax said, evidently skeptical that was enough to relieve the bleeding nose.

“Are you the nurse turned doctor in this family?”

“No, ma’am,” Pax replied, whilst rolling his eyes.

“What did I say about rolling your eyes, they’ll get stuck you know?”

“Mother, I love you but that’s horseshit”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at their bickering. I was sort of envious too, I’d never had such a relationship with my parents. Sure, my mom and I were on good terms but she was frequently sickly and hence too fatigued to banter.

“Soo- Pax began -how old are you?”

“Oh, I… I just turned 19.”

“Cool! When?”

“Uhhh… 10th of July?”

“Oh… shit. Not the finest birthday gift, huh?”

“No- I awkwardly chuckled- certainly not.”

Mrs. McCarthy resumed aiding her son’s nosebleed whilst my mind wandered off. It’s been occurring more commonly after The Incident. I guess I’ve had a lot to think about. I was sad that my father and stepmom were possibly or even most likely dead. However, I wasn’t shedding any tears about it. I hardly even knew my dad after my mom passed away. It kind of frightened me, to be honest.

What sort of child doesn’t cry when their parent dies? I mean, I understand if the said parent was abusive, but mine wasn’t, if anything he was thoughtful. Distant but kind.

Taglist:

@saltofmercury

#apocalypse #my ocs #ocs #original character #original story #post apocalyptic #world past six

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musingsofabookworm1 · 1 month

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My Last Seven Reads - August 2024

*After We Were Stolen by Brooke Beyfuss

If you have any interest in this book, do not read the plot description online or on the book cover/flap. It gives away too much. Here’s what you need to know: Avery and Cole are part of a big family who live on a compound and are known outside of that as being part of a cult. One night, Avery wakes up to the house being on fire and leaves, never having left the compound in her life. Sound good? Read it! 4 stars from me.

*In a Dark Mirror by Kat Davis

This one was a quick read, but the end wasn’t as satisfying as the rest. We meet protagonist Maddie after she’s being released from a ten-year sentence in an institution after, at age 12, she was complicit in a murder with her best friend. The murder was a sacrifice to Him - a dark being Lana (said friend) says is asking her to do things for him. As Maddie tries to make her way back into society, she finds an online forum of people who follow Him and gets sucked back in.

The narration is split between Maddie and the girl she and Lana murdered, and it worked. The writing wasn’t outstanding, but it was good. And the plot really kept me engaged. The ending just wasn’t what I was hoping for and left me hanging more than I wanted. 3 stars.

*The Moonflowers by Abigail Rose-Marie

Best book of the summer! This historical mystery was one of Prime’s First Reads this month. Protagonist Tig Costello is an artist. She’s been commissioned to paint a portrait of her grandfather in the small Kentucky town where he lived and was a local hero. Tig’s father and grandmother never shared much about her grandfather (her grandmother and father had left town shortly after he died when her father was just a baby), so when she got to town, she wanted to talk to people who knew him to get an idea of what kind of man he was. The person whom she wants to talk to most is Eloise Price who has been institutionalized for the last fifty years after (insert gasp here) killing Tig’s grandfather. The way the tale is weaved, the writing, the strong female characters… 5 stars over and over and over. Read. This. Book!

*The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

This is the summer I’m let down by authors I love. Now, this book was not bad. If another author wrote it, I wouldn’t have been disappointed. But I just expected something different as a lover of Quinn’s other novels. Not that she owes me anything!

My problem lies in the structure. Each very, very long chapter focuses on one woman living in the Briar House: a female boarding house in 1950s Washington DC. The friendship runs deep as does the suspicion brought on by living in the McCarthy era. We first meet Grace who is the last of the women to move into the house. She is the one that starts the Briar Club of Thursday night dinner parties with all the residents including the owner’s children. Thursday night is chosen due to the owner/mother being gone to her bridge club. She’d not approve of the fun.Or any fun for that matter. So back to the structure. As the reader, I got sucked into one story, and then it was done and another started. The characters weave their way into one another’s stories, and things do come together in the end, but I really like the way Quinn’s done her other books.

Now the end was good. I didn’t think it was a surprise as noted in some things I read about it both before and after, but the way plot and characters came together was well done. So 3.5 stars.And here’s hoping Quinn goes back to her norm for whatever she has coming up next! To be honest, if she doesn’t, I’ll read it anyway.

*The Sisters of Blue Mountain by Karen Katchur

Here’s how the plot summary of this back cover/flap of this starts: A sisters’ secret. A mysterious phenomenon. A murder that ties it all together. Sounds good! The mysterious phenomenon: hundreds of dead geese! Who doesn’t love dead birds more than me? Sadly, the writing was really below par. Some of the most simplistic I’ve encountered in awhile. The characters were nothing special. I did finish it because it was insanely quick but just 2 stars for this one.

*We, Jane by Amiee Wall

I stumbled upon this one in an FB book group, and our library didn’t have it. Neither did Libby. So I ordered it for less than $5 on eBay. I had to read it as it was a play on the underground Jane Network of 1960s Chicago.

The protagonist, Marthe, begins a relationship with an older woman. Both hail from Newfoundland. The older tells the younger of the small-town Jane-type network back home. This finds Marthe going back to Newfoundland to learn the ways of Jane in hopes of carrying on their work.

I really liked the writing. Good mix of sentence length with some poignant short sentences smartly placed. Some paragraphs, though, got a little long, and the second half of this short, 200-page wasn’t as enjoyable as the first. 3 stars.

If you’re interested in the Jane Network, though, check out All You Have to Do is Call by Kari Maher.

*Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

I thought this was a horror book, but it’s not. It’s a mystery. And it’s a good one! And it takes place in a real, unincorporated Wisconsin town: Allen’s Grove. Beth, Nicole, and Michael, siblings, grew up there. Beth has spent the last number of years caring for their mother as their father walked out on them ten or so years prior. Nicole is a drug addict who Beth’s tried to care for the best she can to no avail. Michael is a rich tech entrepreneur who left for California and never looked back. When the three reconvene after their mother’s passing and begin cleaning the house, they take a break to watch some old video tapes they found of major family events. And what they find on one of the tapes holds secrets that no one can believe. I’ll stop there as this one is short (just under 250 pages), but it really worked. If it had been drawn out, it definitely would not have been as good. Quick, intense, well-wrtten and well worth your time! 5 stars.

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plxviofiles · 3 years

Text

strangers in the night

#kate bishop x fem!reader, fluff !!

WARNINGS: none

→ instead of ruining her night even more, bumping into a pleasant stranger who offers her free therapy seems to make kate’s night much less tiring than it already was.

A/N: this is my first fanfic, so feedback is appreciated! I hope you will enjoy reading! also kate in a suit. yeah.

! word count: 1.1K

kate navigated through the party with an urgency, weaving through the crowd and guests with the intention of getting outside as soon as she could.

she kept her head down low and didn’t stop for nothing, until-

“watch out!”

she hears a surprised voice when she bumps into someone. hard.

she keeps herself from falling, but the stranger wasn’t so lucky.

“ow,” you complain, clutching your head with a wince.

“I’m so, so sorry,” kate immediately apologises, practically scrambling to help you up, “I was rushing and-“

“it’s fine,” you smile at the mortified girl, “I’m fine, just a little sore, that’s all.”

kate seems a little shocked, but you just dust yourself off, “you don’t seem like you’re having the best night.”

she sighs, running her hand through her dark hair, “how’d you guess?”

kate scans your features with ease, your beauty is obvious.

“your slight pout and the tired sighs, maybe?” you quip, but judging by the contagious smile on your face, kate was aware of your teasing.

teasing this early in a conversation with a stranger. she was intrigued.

“and don’t you say sorry again,” you interrupt, and kate shuts her mouth, “let’s go out.”

“out?”

“outside. for fresh air? that’s what you wanted, right?”

“oh. right.”

she follows you out and soon you’re holding an ice bag she got for you to your elbow while you both sit on the sidewalk, hanging your heads and trying not to bring too much attention to yourselves.

“you sure you don’t want to go back in?” kate questions.

“the party wasn’t that fun anyway,” you mutter, adjusting the ice bag, “I’m only here for the charity auction.”

“right,” kate affirms awkwardly, “thanks for...sitting here with me.”

“of course.”

silence ensues but kate likes how she doesn’t feel like she has to say anything.

“would I be prying if I were to ask why you seem so down?”

“why so formal?” kate asks with an amused smile.

you shrug with a grin, “I’ve never seen someone look that good in a tux.”

“ah, so it’s about looks then.”

“so far.”

you look forward and your eyes widen when you see a golden retriever.

you inch your hand towards it and let it sniff you before you started petting it, “where’s your owner, doggy?”

one of his eyes remain closed, but he seemed oddly dubious.

he ran off the next second right when kate spoke, “aren’t you afraid of touching strays?”

“I’m a dog and cat person I can’t help myself,” you whine to the girl sitting next to you, and she simpers, thinking that your little interaction with the canine was cute.

“so, are you going to tell me?”

kate blinks for a second before she realises what you were saying.

then she launches into a whole explanation about her mom and her dreadful fiancé, armand, and anything else that was on her mind.

you listen with rapt attention, eventually putting the ice bag down and propping your chin on your hand.

her features are really, really pretty. her tie was slightly undone, her hair slightly unkempt, and her hands slightly shook.

wow.

she finishes talking and she looks at you with a huff.

“what?”

“tell me you were listening and I didn’t lose you halfway.”

“of course, I was.”

she doesn’t look convinced, but you laugh, “I wasn’t expecting a whole lifestory, but it sounds to me like you need a break from everything.”

kate lifts up her hands, “isn’t that why we’re out here now?”

“yes, smartass,” you tease, “but, let’s consider some ‘me’ time okay? after this auction or whatever, just go somewhere where everyone who’s bothering you isn’t. take your time and treat yourself.”

she considers this for a moment before suddenly turning to you, “you wanna come?”

“come where?”

“somewhere where everyone who’s bothering me isn’t.”

“am I not bothering you? giving you advice when I’m just a random stranger.”

kate shrugs nonchalantly, “weirdly enough, I think that advice was sufficient.”

“my, what high praise.”

“oh, shut it.”

now the both of you are smiling like idiots and you nod, “yes.”

“yes?”

“yes, I’ll follow you,” you confirm readily.

“great! super, wow.”

kate was rambling again, but you just chuckle.

“what about you? I was talking this whole time, and all you were doing was listen.”

you shake your head, “we came out here so I could escape my inevitable embarrassment of falling down in front of everyone, and because you needed fresh air.”

“I don’t even know your name.”

“neither do I know yours,” you counter with a raise of a brow.

“you don’t know me?” she says, surprised.

“you don’t know me?” you say in the same tone, playfully mocking her.

“is being annoying a personality trait of yours?”

“being this rude to a stranger shouldn’t be legal.”

“kate,” she finally says, “kate bishop.”

“y/n,” you shake her hand, “y/n y/l/n.”

“now, we’re not strangers anymore,” you grin.

“I guess not.”

“what hobbies do you have?” you ask, genuinely interested.

“fencing, gymnastics. archery. martial arts. you know, the usual.”

you snort and push her lightly, eliciting a small smile from the archer, “the usual? that’s amazing!”

kate looks shy at your response, but she also looks pleased, “what about you?”

“I think I could beat you at fencing and archery, and I love performing.”

“ah, so you’re cocky and a diva,” she nods like she has all the knowledge in the world.

“what a coincidence those are the same things I observed about you!” you exclaim sarcastically.

“theatre kid.”

“prima donna.”

you get into a brief, intense staring contest with her before you burst into laughter and so does she.

“I don’t remember the last time I had a conversation as nice as this,” she laughs, “or maybe it’s just cause I had a shitty night.”

“hey,” you grumble, flicking her forehead, “give me some credit, you’re the one who knocked me to the floor.”

kate rubs her forehead with a grimace, “and I don’t regret it.”

you stare into her eyes fondly for a person you met 30 minutes ago, and her shy smile makes the butterflies in your stomach worse.

she blinks herself out of her trance and abruptly checks her watch, “shit. I have to go.”

you quickly toss her your phone, and she looks confused for a second before her mouth makes an ‘O’ shape and she starts typing in her number.

she calls herself and lets it ring.

“just so I could have your number too,” she murmurs softly.

she practically throws your phone back and jogs away.

“make sure you call me, ms. pretentious overachiever!”

“same to you, annoying, sarcastic stranger!”

and you stand there, left with a dopey smile, joyful Christmas music playing around you, and snow coating your nose with the cold.

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allthislove · 4 years

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There’s a certain type of white woman that hates Meghan Markle on principle.

TW for su*c*de mention.

I said in the previous post that they hate that Meghan illustrates that white femininity is not the gold standard that they have been taught that it is. And this, in my opinion, is exactly what their problem is. And this is why I have no patience or sympathy or kindness for these women. It’s not a new phenomenon. I’ve seen it before in fandoms. The way a significant group of white fangirls hated and still hate Iris West on The Flash because she’s Black and is the love interest of the cute, white main character guy. They go out of their way to ship him with any white girl he knows, because they can’t wrap their head around him choosing a Black woman over them. They need to feel like their whiteness automatically makes them more desirable than any Black woman. Even when they are gorgeous and smart and wonderful like Meghan Markle or Candace Patton.

That’s all I see from these white women. I see obvious and transparent jealousy that, if they couldn’t have Prince Harry, it wasn’t another white girl they could project themselves onto. It was a Black girl (and in many of the British white women’s cases, an AMERICAN Black girl.) And yes, I know Meghan Markle is biracial, but that hardly seems to matter to white people. They don’t see someone who is white with them. They see tainted blood. The tragic mulatto stereotype. All they see is a Black girl who dared to sink her grubby paws into the Prince Charming they were told they were owed their entire lives. All they see is a street hoochie who saw dollar signs and isn’t good enough. An uppity n*gress who doesn’t know her place.

I see it in the venomous way they say she “wants attention” every time she does or says anything. If she touches her baby bump, or says “It’s a girl!” on TV. It doesn’t matter that it’s the daughter of a prince, one of the most famous princes in the world, and it would be huge news that he was having a daughter no matter who his wife was. To them, the tainted negro children might as well not even be Harry’s. They’re Meghan’s, and she’s somehow awful for daring to birth them or even be happy about it.

It’s in the way they call a millionaire actress a “gold digger”, or say nonsense things like “she was a washed up actress before she met him” (She was STARRING ON A CABLE TV SHOW, which is a good enough job for Jennifer Aniston, but when it’s Meghan Markle, it’s “washed up.”)

They say things like this, because they can get the benefit of the doubt and claim they don’t hate her because she’s Black. Because if they say that, they’d show their true colors. But they do.

Because all in all, she’s done nothing wrong. All in all, she’s just a woman who married a prince. ANY woman on Earth, including Beyonce and Taylor Swift, would get a profile and position boost from marrying into the British Royal Family. Again, it’s THE MOST FAMOUS ROYAL FAMILY ON EARTH. There are other royals, but most of the world doesn’t even know many of the other royals, unless they’re from those countries or just happen to be interested in royalty in general. EVERYONE knows Harry and Will.

Kate Middleton was a veritable nobody when she married Will.

Meghan Markle was at least a pretty successful actress with a following of her own. And SHE’S the gold digger? It’s thinly veiled racist language. It’s the image of the ghetto Black woman pumping out babies to trap a man. It’s the idea that a Black woman can’t be worth anything on her own so she chases a rich man.

I mean, I know Priyanka isn’t Black, but similar things were said about her when she married Nick, and she’s PRIYANKA CHOPRA. She was already a huge Bollywood star. And again, it was white women leading conversations like this, because again, they were faced with the reality that white femininity is not the gold standard. That a South Asian woman could get their favorite heartthrob and they couldn’t, nor did a cute white girl they could project themselves on.

DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE “MEGHAN MADE KATE CRY” LIE! This is a prime example of the weaponization of white femininity to demonize Black people. Been going on for centuries and will continue to. Weaponizing tears is the white woman’s bread and butter, especially if it can be used to demonize a Black woman. “Oh, boo hoo, that brutish Black thing made sweet little fragile, porcelain white me cry!” And to find out it was the other way around and NOBODY in that family said anything and just let the “angry Black woman” take the heat? It’s sick. And it’s common. It happens all the time. Because white femininity is soft and fragile and innocent, and Black women are never afforded that.

Even light skinned, biracial Black women like Meghan Markle. White women still refuse to believe she even has feelings. Crazy old hags like Megyn Kelly straight up think she LIED in the interview about HOW SHE FELT, because white people can’t imagine a Black person having feelings! They think we all just make it up because we’re trying to make them look bad or something, or that we like pretending to be hurt by their racism simply to make them look bad. So they don’t have to feel remorse for the racist shit they do and say. For making a pregnant woman hate herself so much that she didn’t want to live.

Like, we all know how bad hormones make people feel during pregnancy anyway. They can’t even believe that a pregnant woman who was being disparaged DAILY by the British tabloids ... felt sadness or hopelessness because of it?

Like, it really seems like white people think Black people have no feelings.

IDK, I’m still angry and hurt for her. And like, I’m so sick of white women only being feminists when it benefits them. I’m so sick of the absolute vitriol they have for Black women all the time. I HATE how they see us as beneath them, in every situation.

I really think these racist hags thought Harry would pick one of them. And when he picked someone not white, they couldn’t take it.

We have to stop letting white women hide behind this “I’m a woman, so I’m oppressed” shit, when they know exactly how to weaponize white supremacy to benefit themselves. And I don’t think Black women should have to be nice about it. White women need to get it to-fucking-gether and cut this shit out. Because it’s PERVASIVE, and like, when it’s a fictional character it’s one thing, but they literally drove this REAL, HUMAN WOMAN TO THE BRINK and they STILL refuse to stop. Inhumane cretins.

#Meghan Markle #harry and meghan #Prince Harry #racism #misogynoir #antiblackness #intersectional feminism #tw: sui mention #tw: suicide #tw: racism #meghan markle defense squad #white feminism

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newtonsheffield · 3 years

Note

The second half of your love was freaking perfect!! But I must insist you share Mary and Violet’s reactions to their children finally wising up and getting together, please and thank you!

Well, Well, Well, if it isn't the requester that started it all!

I'm so glad that you, of all people enjoyed this universe! I'm sure it's definitely not what you thought was going to happen when you requested an AU of Tension but here we are! As such, I suppose I owe you at least this much!

I just wanna see Mary and Violets reaction when they hear Kate and Anthony are finally together!!! The cuteness is flowing over! They’ll be so happy for them and their lil baby

Kate couldn't help the anxiety that swirled in her stomach that weekend as she sat in the passenger seat of Anthony's brand new Range Rover, Edwina in the back seat admiring the number of cupholders of all things. Kate had thought Anthony had been joking when he'd said they were going to buy a new car, but he'd sat on the sofa of her flat while she picked up a change of clothes and hummed

"Kate and I are going to buy a car, need anything while we're out Edwina?" As though he'd just said he was going to buy a packet of mints.

She'd spluttered and protested the entire way in the back of the the car he'd ordered to collect them but Anthony had fixed her with a serious look

"Let me take care of my child, Kate, and you. Let me do this." And she'd seen it for what it actually was, Anthony's need to protect everyone flaring into high gear around him, and this was the way he was choosing to show it.

And really she hadn't been able to stop the flutter in her chest as he greeted the salesperson "Hi, my girlfriend and I are looking for a car for when our family arrives." The words falling so effortlessly from his lips. Though she had to admit it did make her a little embarrassed when he said, after much deliberation,

"If I write you a personal cheque for the full amount can we drive it home today?" The fact that he was willing to sign over the better part of £100,000 for her a little startling. But even she had to admit, the seat warmers were a very nice touch.

Anthony fluttered nervously on Mary's stoop, the bouquet he'd insisted on bringing held tightly in his hand.

"She's going to like you, Anthony, just relax." Kate whispered as soothingly as she could, her hand tight on his.

"I got her daughter pregnant in a hotel room, in Glasgow!" Anthony hissed a little wildly.

"Well, I didn't exactly share the specifics with her, Anthony. Christ tell me you didn't tell your mother that." Anthony's ears were far too red for there not to be some truth in it.

Kate sighed, following her sister inside, pulling Anthony along by the hand.

"Mum?!" Edwina called out loudly waiting for Mary to answer

"In the kitchen, sweetheart." before skipping off in that direction.

"Your Dad?" Anthony had gotten distracted by Mary's collection of family photos littering the entrance hall, her entire life catalogued for everyone to see. Anthony was pointing at the picture from Kate's 21st birthday, all of them huddled around the cake, her Dad smiling so brightly, none of them knowing he'd be dead 31 days later.

Kate nodded, and Anthony smiled "He seems...kind. I would have liked to meet him. You all look so happy."

"He was, and we were." Kate muttered, surprised by how little her chest ached with Anthony's hand in hers.

"Katie? Are you alright?" Mary called down the hall and Kate tugged Anthony past the photos.

"I'm fine Mary!"

"If you don't hurry, your sister will have- Oh! Hello!" Mary had let out an odd gasp as she looked up from Swatting Edwina's hand away from the frying pan, ad caught sight of Anthony, loitering nervously in her kitchen, her eyes zeroing in almost immediately on their joined hands.

"Mary, I thought it might be okay if I brought my boyfriend. This is Anthony." Mary did nothing for several seconds, the pancake she'd been about to flip, burning on the stove.

"Mrs. Sheffield, It's very lovely to make your-" Anthony didn't get to finish. Mary had leapt forward, and engulfed the both of them in a very tight hug, squashing them against her.

When she pulled back after several long moments, there were tears in her eyes.

"It's very nice to meet you, Anthony now come and sit down, breakfast is nearly ready."

Mary caught Kate's arm as they went to leave, the motherly affection in her eyes stinging at Kate's own. "I'm so happy for you, Katie."

"I'm really happy ." Kate had managed to choke out, stopped in her tears the next minute by Mary's low comment.

"Goodness, look at him. He's even more handsome than in the papers. No wonder you couldn't help yourself!"

"Mary!"

Anthony's method of telling his own family was a little different. They hadn't long been home from Mary's, Kate straddling Anthony on his sofa her teeth nipping at his adam's apple when his phone and rung.

"Ignore it." He'd groaned, tugging her lips back to his when she'd started to pull away. Kate glanced down at his phone.

"It's your mum, it might be important. Besides, I never said I was going anywhere."

Anthony had practically whined against her as he answered the call, switching it to speaker with a wink.

"Anthony, sweetheart it's mum."

"Yeah, Hi mum." He'd said, a little exasperatedly.

"I just want to talk to you about your Christmas plans." Violet hummed.

"Mum, can this wait? I'm kind of in the middle of something with my girlfriend." Anthony shot Kate a cheeky smirk as she gasped, slapping his bare shoulder indignantly.

The change in Violet Bridgerton was immediate. "I cannot believe you. The love of your life, your words not mine, is pregnant with your child and you're out there galavanting around with some-"

Anthony nudged Kate, mischief sparkling in his eyes, making him look so much younger and carefree than she'd ever seen him. And something about it made Kate want to be in the joke with him.

"Hi, Mrs. Bridgerton, It's Kate." She cut across his mother.

Silence echoed across the hone for a full minute, and then a loud, high pitched scream echoed through the phone for several long minutes.

#bridgerton and sons au #your love was my one and only shot #kathony #anthony x kate #anthony bridgerton #kate sheffield #kate sharma #mary sheffield #mary sharma #violet bridgerton #molly's asks and answers

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blueskrugs · 3 years

Text

Fallin' in Love (in the Middle of the Night) | Joel Farabee

or, as I said in a text to @nazdaddy a couple weeks ago: "hear me out. summer camp AU with beezer." I really miss summer camp and I feel like bee fits the vibes. I've been going to camp since I was 12 and a lot of this is based on that camp and the experiences I've had there. have fun reading!

tagging: @marcoscandellas @stlbluesbrat21 @dembenchboys @poltoncarayko @robthomissed @letmeplaytheblues @troubatrain @ayohockeycheck @blackwidowrising @aria253264 @antoineroussel @starswin @glassdanse @ch-ristiane @majdoline

length: 11k words

There was a new counselor at camp this year. His name was Joel, and no one knew much of anything about him. Most new counselors were freshly aged-out campers, or were dating a current counselor and got dragged along for the week. Joel was neither, and he’d been quiet and keeping to himself since he climbed out of his car and dumped his bags in Cabin 24 earlier that afternoon.

Avery found herself glancing over at Joel more than once while she caught up with some of her friends. He was hanging back from the clusters of other counselors, leaning against a tree and fucking around on his phone, though there was no way he was getting any reception all the way out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees. His baseball hat was on backwards, and his hair was sticking out in tufts from underneath it.

Avery’s co-counselor, Caroline, nudged her in the ribs and followed her gaze. “Think he’s cute?” she teased.

Avery scoffed, but she didn’t look away as some of the guy counselors pulled Joel into whatever dumb argument they were already having. “I’m not dealing with that shit this year,” she said. Every year without fail, there were camp crushes, and they never ended well.

“He’s in our age group,” Caroline told her, which Avery knew already. They’d all gotten the cabin assignments last week, and Avery had been wondering about the new guy since then. “You’ll get to know him, maybe change your mind,” Caroline said with a grin.

Avery rolled her eyes but didn’t get a chance to respond because the camp director was trying to get everyone’s attention so they could head up to the chapel for orientation. They went slowly, still chatting in groups and clusters, yelling out to each other as they made their way up the hill, past the dining hall and towards the chapel. Avery still found herself looking over at Joel as he ambled alongside the groups of counselors. He’s still quiet, though he’s obviously listening to the conversations around him, trying to catch up on years of history and inside jokes. He caught her eye as they duck through the double doors into the AC and sent her a grin.

Caroline might’ve been right about the cute thing.

The chapel on the campgrounds isn’t much of a chapel, and is more a big open room with some of the best wifi anywhere on the property. Somehow, Joel ended up sitting next to Avery in the circle of chairs set up in the middle of the room. He’d grabbed the orientation packet every counselor got and was flipping through it eagerly. Avery snorted softly, and she reached out with her foot to nudge Joel in the shin.

“Don’t worry, dude, it’s all common sense stuff,” she told him. Even the other new counselors, the ones who had just aged out of being campers, didn’t look concerned, though being at camp for a few years was definitely more than enough to know how to basically run the camp.

Joel looked up at her and grinned again. “Yeah, I’m getting that,” he said. “I don’t think I got your name earlier,” he added.

Avery was wearing a sticker with her name scrawled on it like everyone else, but she refrained from rolling her eyes. Barely. “It’s Avery,” she whispered as Austin, the camp director, stood in the middle of the circle.

“Who’s ready for some icebreakers?” he said, way too loud for the small space. Everyone groaned, and Caroline and Avery shared a look from across the circle. “Don’t be like that, we have some new faces, and it’s been a while since everyone’s seen each other,” Austin said.

By Avery’s count, Joel was the only counselor who was truly new, but there was no stopping Austin once he was in Camp Mode.

Two and a half hours later, after they’d painstakingly gone through every page of the counselor’s manual, they finally broke for dinner.

“Is it always like that?” Joel asked as they trooped back down the hill to the dining hall.

Caroline and Avery groaned again. Joel sent them an amused look.

“Every fucking year,” Avery told him.

“I think I have the manual memorized,” Caroline added.

Joel laughed. “Something to look forward to next year then,” he said.

Avery raised her eyebrows. “The kids haven’t even shown up yet. Don’t get ahead of yourself, you might change your mind before the week is over.”

He wouldn’t really, probably, but a week of yelling kids, walking several miles in the August heat, and shitty food definitely had the potential to drive the weak of heart away. It wouldn’t be the first time, and if they did scare Joel off, it wouldn’t be the last. Joel sat across from Caroline and Avery for dinner.

“Eat up, bud,” Avery told him, watching as Joel pushed food around on his plate. “This is the best food you’ll get all week.”

Camp food was notorious for being barely edible on a good day, but because the counselors got in for orientation on a day in-between camp sessions, the kitchen staff was able to make them an actual meal. It still wasn’t the greatest food, but at least it hadn’t been made in bulk and left to sit under heat lamps.

Joel sighed, but reached for the serving bowl next to him for seconds.

Campers arrived in two buses on Sunday afternoon, but first came breakfast and way too much downtime for the counselors. Austin always said it was good for “bonding,” even though most of the counselors had known each other since they were kids.

“How did you end up here anyway?” Avery asked Joel, who was sitting across the table from her again. He’d told her and Caroline at dinner the night before that he was from upstate New York, which was decidedly not anywhere near their little campground in the Midwest wilderness.

“Thought it would be fun,” Joel said around a mouthful of eggs.

Avery never did eat those powdered eggs they served that were a sorry excuse for fresh scrambled eggs. “Please don’t talk with your mouth full, gross,” she told him.

Joel just winked at her.

The counselors lounged around at the lakefront until it was time for the buses to start showing up. Avery caught Joel’s eye at one point in the chaos of unloading kids and their bags and directing them to the right cabins, and she laughed at the look of overwhelmed terror on his face.

The madness of the first day always made it pass quickly. Before Avery knew it, it was after dinner and everyone was trooping down to the fire ring for the opening night campfire. Avery watched as Joel’s campers clustered around him as they walked.

“Who is that?” one of her girls asked. Avery tore her eyes away.

“New counselor, Joel. He’s got our age group, I’m sure you’ll get to know him,” Avery told her. She just hoped they liked him once they got to know him.

Avery ended up sitting on a log with her campers, right behind Joel and the boys. She stared at the back of his hat while she zoned out, half-listening to the same welcome speech Austin gave every year. His backpack was unzipped.

Avery reached down and absently picked up one of the wood chips by her feet. She ran her thumb over it, still pretending to pay attention to whatever Austin was saying. One of her campers next to her caught on to her idea and snickered.

Avery tossed the wood chip in her hand into Joel’s backpack. It landed with a quiet clang as it hit a can of sunscreen, but Joel paid it no mind.

“How many before he notices, do you think?” she whispered.

“Only one way to find out,” Kate whispered back.

Avery picked up another wood chip. In the next five minutes before Austin called all the counselors down for introductions, she landed a little over a dozen more wood chips in his backpack, including one that bounced off of his back and in.

“Backpack’s unzipped,” she told him as she carefully stepped passed him, hitting the bottom of the backpack.

“Thanks, hey, what the f-“ Joel caught himself. He glared at Avery as he zipped up his backpack.

Avery laughed and went next to Caroline in the line of counselors.

It wasn’t a campfire without s’mores, and they broke out the marshmallows as the sun went down. The oldest campers were always in charge of the campfires and s’more assembly, so Avery was catching up with some of her former campers on the logs near the fire. Joel plopped down on the log next to her, one leg stretched out on either side, s’more in hand.

“Want one?” he asked, holding it in Avery’s face. His fingers were sticky with melted marshmallow.

Avery pushed his hand away. “Pass.”

Joel looked personally offended. “What kind of person doesn’t like s’mores?” he asked. Now he had melted chocolate on his upper lip. Avery was carefully not looking.

“This one,” she said. Joel reached out and tugged on her braid. “Ow, what the hell?”

“Just making sure you’re a person and not, like, a robot or something,” he said. Avery just rolled her eyes.

They found out the next morning that they were letting the boy cabins and girl cabins of the same age group sit together this year for meals. Somehow, it was actually less chaotic than if they were separated. Which is how, once again, Joel ended up across the table from Avery at breakfast. She had accepted her fate. He smiled at her, looking far too awake for so early in the morning.

“Hey! Beezer!” one of the boys yelled from the other end of the table. It sounded like Cameron, Avery thought.

“What?” Joel yelled back.

“Beezer?” Avery asked, because what the hell.

“Hang on.” Joel banged his knee on the table as he went to go talk to his boys.

“Beezer?” Avery repeated when he came back, still rubbing his knee.

“From my last name, Farabee,” he explained. “They said Joel is a weird name, so I said they could call me Bee or Beezer.”

“Yeah, because Beezer is so normal,” Avery muttered. Joel kicked her under the table.

It rained Monday afternoon. It was one of those late summer thunderstorms that blew up fast and didn’t really last very long, but it rained hard enough and long enough that all activities after lunch were cancelled. Which meant they were all trapped in their cabins with their campers.

Some of the girls were doing who-knows-what in their bunks, while most of the boys had elected to stay in their cabin with Sam. Joel had followed Avery and Caroline, though, and was now lounging in the common area with them and a handful of their campers.

“I’m bored,” Joel said. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Caroline threw a Goldfish at his head. “Ow,” he said, watching as it bounced to the floor. “Hey, I could’ve eaten that,” he whined. Caroline threw another Goldfish at him, but this time he caught it and popped it in his mouth triumphantly.

“Does anyone have a deck of cards?” Caroline asked.

“Spoons?” Avery asked, getting up to dig her cards out of her bag.

“I have markers!” one of their girls yelled, dashing off to her bunk.

Joel was sitting up again and looking more interested when Avery came back and sat back next to him. She tossed the deck to Caroline to shuffle.

His hat was crooked, and Avery absently straightened it as Joel asked, “How do you play spoons?"

Caroline gasped. “How have you never played spoons before?”

Joel shrugged as he watched the bag of markers get dumped over the table in front of him.

“It’s like musical chairs, but with cards and spoons,” Avery explained. “Alright, how many are playing?”

“That explains literally nothing,” Joel said. “I’m in.”

Avery carefully counted out six markers and laid them out on the table. Caroline started dealing cards to everyone. Joel poked Avery in the arm; she ignored him.

“You’re gonna get four cards,” Avery started explaining. “The goal is to get four of the same number, four queens, four sixes, whatever. Carol is dealer, she’ll keep sending cards around one at a time. If you see a card you want, keep it, and pick a different card from your hand and pass it on instead. First person to four of a kind grabs a marker, the person who can’t get a marker is out, and then there’s one less marker in the next round.”

Joel blinked at her a couple times. “I think I’m still confused.”

Avery laughed and patted him on the leg. “You’ll figure it out,” she told him, picking up her cards.

Joel did figure it out, but only after he was too slow in the scramble for a marker in the first round and got stuck watching for a while.

“I want back in,” he complained. He poked Avery in the back with his foot where she had moved to the floor in front of him. “You’re too fast.”

Avery reached behind her to smack his hand away. “Years of practice, bud. And you’ll get back in when this game’s over.”

Joel stuck his tongue out at Avery, but only Caroline saw it.

By the time the rain let up a little over an hour later, Avery had nearly elbowed a camper in the face fighting Joel for a marker (which she won), Joel threw a marker across the room so Caroline couldn’t get it (and was automatically disqualified), and no less than three fights had broken out.

Basically, they’d had a great time. They still kicked Joel out to go back and deal with his own campers for a while, though, on the grounds of infringing on their territory.

On Monday night, Avery was standing outside her cabin, trying to make sure her flashlight actually worked when Joel came over to her.

“What’re you up to?” he asked.

Avery clicked her flashlight off. “What’re you up to?” she countered.

“Stealing extra snacks from the staff cabin,” he said easily. “You didn’t answer me.”

Avery smiled at him. He was still wearing his baseball hat, turned around the right way now, even though it was well past dark. “I was gonna go for a walk around the campgrounds,” she told him. “Carol’s in with our kids, and I usually go out for a while before bed.”

“By yourself?”

Avery almost laughed at how worried Joel looked. “Bee, I know every inch of this campground, I’ve been coming here since I was a kid.” And then before she could think better of it: “You could come with me if you want.”

Joel’s face lit up. “For real?” Avery did laugh at his face this time.

“Yes, for real. Just let me get a hoodie.” It was still summer, but nights on the lake got chilly.

“Here, just take mine, I won’t need it,” Joel said quickly. He tossed her the hoodie he’d been wearing at dinner.

It was big on her, and warm, though it no longer carried any of his body heat. It smelled like bonfire smoke and whatever deodorant Joel wore. When he turned to head back to the main path, Avery tucked her nose into the collar and took a deep breath.

“Alright, where the fuck are we going,” Joel asked when Avery caught up to him.

Avery shrugged, though she wasn’t sure how well Joel could see it in the dark. She said, “I don’t know, we usually just wander around for a while.

“We?”

Avery usually went on night walks with one of the guy counselors she was friends with, Alex, but he wasn’t there this summer. “You don’t know him,” Avery said.

Joel huffed. “So what, am I just the other guy?” he asked.

Avery laughed. “Something like that. Ooh, there’s a paintball course on the back corner of the grounds, if I can remember how to get there,” she said, already turning so she could head in the right direction. Maybe.

“Oh, lit!”

Avery could not, in fact, remember how to get to the paintball course. They’d made it partially there before Joel got freaked out because he was convinced he’d heard something in the woods behind them. Avery telling him it was probably just a raccoon did not help.

So, they ended up turning around and heading towards the front end of the campgrounds. There was a vacation lodge on that side of the lake, which had never quite made sense to Avery. She could see some of their lights glistening on the black lake. It was a clear night, and there was no one else around, which meant stargazing. Well, after Avery convinced Joel they weren’t trespassing by laying on the tennis courts.

“Do you know anything about stars?” Joel asked. He didn’t look over at Avery, still gazing up at the sky.

Avery snorted softly. “Nah, I just think they’re pretty. You can’t see stars like this in the city.” There were still some lights scattered around the campgrounds, but it was nothing compared to the light pollution of a city. “Our old camp director used to tell us one of those myths about how the stars were created, but I don’t think I remember enough of it to repeat it.” He also used to scare the kids with ghost stories, but Joel didn’t really need to hear about how the campgrounds were haunted just yet.

“Great story,” he said. Avery smacked him on the stomach. “Ow! Hey, be nice to me, or I’ll leave you out here.”

He wouldn’t, and they both knew that.

“Hey,” Joel said suddenly, pointing straight upward. “Is that Orion?”

“Isn’t Orion a winter constellation?” Avery asked. She had no idea where Joel was pointing.

“What?”

“Never mind.”

They mostly laid in silence, just watching the stars and enjoying the closeness and the quiet. Avery always missed hearing the frogs at night when she wasn’t at camp. The black night sky stretched endlessly above them, dotted with stars. Avery would live under these stars if she could. It was getting late, though, and they still had to be up bright and early the next day, so when Avery caught Joel yawning for the third time in as many minutes, she sat up.

“Time for bed?” Joel pouted up at her. “I know the mattresses here aren’t comfortable, but I promise it’ll be better than sleeping on a tennis court,” she told him. It had only been one day of actual camp, and she could already feel some aches settling in. “C’mon, Beezer.”

Avery stood up and stretched before offering Joel a hand up. He groaned as she pulled him to his feet. They made their way back to the cabins together, still in comfortable silence, Avery still wearing Joel’s hoodie.

Joel was carefully peeling a banana when Avery and her campers made it into breakfast Tuesday morning. His hat was facing the right way for once. She dropped her backpack on the bench and groaned.

“What took you guys so long?” he asked. Almost all of the other cabins had made it to the dining hall already. He moved Avery’s bag onto the ground at his feet. “C’mon, sit, food’s coming out soon.”

“Ava lost one of her shoes, and we all had to look for it,” she told him. Joel snorted. Avery tapped the bill of his cap, shoved it down lower over his eyes. “No hats at meals,” she told him.

Joel rolled his eyes, but he took the hat off and ran his fingers through his hair. “Or what?”

“Or it goes on the moose,” Avery said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at the taxidermied moose head that hung over the door.

Joel gave her a look, like he definitely didn’t believe her. He’d learn.

When Avery got back to the table from the bathroom before lunch later that day, there was a baseball hat hanging from the moose’s antlers. Joel was hatless and disgruntled-looking.

“Told you,” Avery said, swiping a potato chip from his plate.

She took pity on him later and fished his hat down with the broom handle.

Swim time down at the lakefront had always been Avery’s favorite parts of summer camp. In the middle of all of the craziness of the week, the lake was always peaceful and calm. Avery could take out a paddleboard or a kayak and just float, away from yelling kids, losing track of time in the glassy blue surface of the lake. She’d spend a whole day out there if they would let her.

She had snagged a paddleboard and had made it out to the middle of the lake. She was chatting with a couple of her campers when Joel approached on a kayak. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Hi, Beezer!” the girls in the canoe chorused. Avery grinned at him.

Sam came up on Avery’s other side on another paddleboard. He floated up until he bumped into Avery’s board. She wobbled, but didn’t fall over. “Oops,” Sam said.

Avery pushed Sam’s board away with her paddle. His balance wasn’t as good, and he toppled over. “Oops,” Avery echoed. Sam flipped her off where he thought the girls couldn’t see.

It was warm in the sun, and Avery leaned on her paddle, tilting her face up to the sun. Joel poked her leg with his kayak paddle. When Avery glanced back at him, his cheeks and nose were red from the sun.

“Are you wearing any sunscreen?” Avery asked him.

Joel shrugged. “Nah.”

Avery tsked at him. Sam had made it back up onto his paddleboard.

“Hey, Aves,” he said. “Water feels nice, you should try it.” He was holding his paddle a little like a spear.

They weren’t allowed to swim out in the open water of the lake where all the kayaks were, but they could get away with it if they “fell” in, which is how the counselors usually ended up spending most of their time on the lake trying to knock each other into the water. Avery knew where this was going.

Avery paddled backwards once, trying to get out of Sam’s reach, but she bumped into Joel’s kayak instead.

“Oh, no.”

Joel’s grin turned a little wicked. Avery didn’t have time to brace herself before Joel was shoving her paddleboard, and it went out from under her. She heard everyone laughing as she hit the water with a splash. She came back up, pushing her wet hair out of her face, and hooked her arms over her board. She glared at Joel.

“Rude,” she told him.

Joel shrugged. “Thought you looked hot,” he said.

The water did feel great, actually, though Avery was loath to admit it to either of the boys. Avery sighed and heaved herself back into her board, but she didn’t stand back up, instead sitting with her legs hanging in the water on either side. The girls in the canoe were still giggling, so Avery used her paddle to splash them.

“Hey, come on, they’re innocent!” Joel protested. Avery splashed him next.

Tuesday night meant all-camp kickball on the lower fields.

Avery had never been one for making a fool of herself in team sports, so she was lounging on a blanket in the grass with Caroline and a couple of the counselors for the older girls, safe from any stray flying kickballs. Avery was just debating digging through her backpack to reapply bug spray when Joel made his way over to them.

His hat was perched backwards on his head like always, and he was squinting into the setting sun as it dipped below the treeline. His forehead had gotten sunburnt from being out on the lake earlier. “We’re getting a counselors game goin’. You girls in?” he asked, but Avery had a feeling it was directed more at her than the other three.

She raised an eyebrow up at him and absently swatted at a mosquito on Caroline’s leg. “I don’t do sports,” she told him.

Joel’s face fell. Avery hadn’t even realized how earnest he’d looked. Someone on the other end of the field called his name, and he glanced over his shoulder. “You sure? It’ll be fun,” he tried.

Avery had grown up with most of the other counselors, knew firsthand just how competitive they all were. Fun, maybe, but also intense and way too serious for summer camp kickball.

“I’ll pass,” Avery said.

“Your loss,” Joel tossed back over his shoulder as he jogged away again.

Caroline was smirking. Avery half-heartedly smacked her on the arm. “He definitely has a crush on you,” she said.

“Does he think he’s being subtle?” Meg chimed in from the other side of the blanket, not looking up from the friendship bracelet she was making.

Avery flopped backwards onto the blanket with a groan.

Avery was still on her back, dozing off while listening to the sounds of yelling kids filling the humid air, when Caroline reached over and poked her in the ribs.

“Your boy is up to bat,” she said.

Meg snorted as Avery sat up and leaned back on her elbows to watch. “He’s not ‘my boy,’” Avery grumbled. Then, “Is it still called an at-bat in kickball?” She burst out laughing as Caroline rolled her eyes.

Joel was indeed up next, and Avery watched as Joel kicked the ball and sent it sailing over Drew and Sam’s heads. He easily headed to second base, but the grass was still wet from the rain on Monday, and he wiped out as he stepped on the rubber base. All four girls on the blanket burst out laughing. Joel was still sitting in the grass, looking somewhat disinclined to move.

“You really looked like you were having fun out there,” Avery said to him later, as they all walked back up to the cabins in the dark. “That wipeout was great entertainment for us, too.”

Joel took a step to the side so he could bump into Avery, but reached out to steady her when she lost her balance. “Whatever,” he said. “That really hurt, actually.”

Avery just laughed.

Joel showed up late to lunch on Wednesday with a giant bandage covering his knee and dried blood down his leg.

“What did you do to yourself?” Avery asked as he dropped into the empty spot next to her and reached for the nearest plate of food.

He still had ash streaked across his cheek from firebuilding that morning, when he’d bet Avery that he could build a fire faster than her. (He’d won, but only barely, and because he’d used a battery instead of flint, like they were supposed to.)

Joel didn’t pause in piling food on his plate. “Jackson left his water bottle down at archery, so I went back down to get it for him, and when I was running back up the hill, I slipped on some loose gravel and fell. I think there might be some gravel in my knee now,” he said. Some of the kids at the table laughed.

“You’re a mess,” Avery told him with a sigh.

They were back down the hill towards archery after lunch on Wednesday to hang out in the Nature Center for the afternoon.

“Alright, please fill me in on what we’re doing today,” Joel asked, falling into step next to Avery.

One of Joel’s campers turned around to walk backwards in front of them. “We get to play with snakes!” he said. His name was Jack, Avery was pretty sure, who was very different from Jackson. It all got a little confusing after a while.

“Cool!” Joel said.

Avery rolled her eyes. She poked Joel in the ribs. “You would get excited about that.” He flinched away and pouted at her. It wasn’t that Avery hated the Nature Center, but the animals were the same every year, and you can only get excited about them so many times.

“What? Snakes are cool,” Joel defended.

“Boys,” Avery sighed, walking faster so she could be next to Caroline instead.

Disdain in front of Joel aside, it was fun to get to chill in the AC and hang out with the animals for a while. There was a little milk snake that loved to chill out in people’s hands named Dudley that all the counselors were weirdly fond of. Plus, they got to play around with the ferret they had, which was always highly entertaining.

Joel was just as excited as the kids, which Avery had to admit was kind of cute. He bounced around and looked eagerly into various cages with the kids. Avery and Caroline watched from a couple of the chairs in the corner, content to just hang out until the snakes came out.

“D’you think I’d get in trouble if I put him in Joel’s hood?” Avery mused, idly watching Dudley calmly wind his way around her wrist. Joel’s back was to her, and he was wearing a hoodie despite it being nearly 100 degrees outside.

Caroline giggled. “That’s mean.”

Dudley was making his way back towards Avery’s hand now. “He did say he wanted to hold him,” she said. And with that, Avery took a step forward and carefully deposited Dudley in Joel’s hood, where he promptly curled back up to sleep.

“What are you doing?” Joel asked.

“Just fixing your hood,” Avery said innocently, patting him on the shoulder and taking another step forward and pretending to read the info card of the cage they were standing in front of.

“Avery.” Avery glanced over at Joel. His arms were crossed, but he looked like he was fighting back a smile. “Why is my hood moving.” It wasn’t phrased much like a question.

Avery bit back a smile of her own. “Is it?” Dudley’s head popped out of the hood just then, slithering up onto Joel’s shoulder a little bit. He startled, then shot Avery a dirty look. Avery couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re actually the worst, why.” Dudley continued to make his way across Joel’s shoulder, happy to explore. “Help,” Joel whined, “I don’t think I can reach him, and I don’t wanna drop him.”

“Hold still,” she said, carefully reaching to grab Dudley back out. “Here, he likes to be held.”

Joel obediently held his hands out to take Dudley from Avery. “Hey, take my picture will you?”

Even if Avery never spoke to Joel again after this summer, she was definitely going to keep the picture she took of Joel grinning at the camera with a snake in his hands.

They were walking past the dam later when one of the boys stopped short. Joel, not paying any attention, bumped into him.

“Hey, Avery,” Jack said.

“Hey, Jack,” Avery said back.

“Can we go check out the cemetery?”

Avery shuddered. “Absolutely not.” She wondered who had told the boys about it.

Joel looked at Avery, wide-eyed. “There’s a cemetery here?”

“Yes, and we’re not going back there,” she told him. Several of the boys groaned, put-out. Joel still looked a little nervous, so Avery added, “These grounds used to be privately owned. The cemetery is hidden behind the dam, most people don’t even know about it.” That last part was directed more at their nosy campers.

They had started walking again. Up ahead, one of the campers yelled, “Wait, does that mean no one’s told Beezer that the campgrounds are haunted?”

“They’re what?”

Avery was not too proud to admit that she hated the barn dance a little bit. It was fun for a little while, but after about twenty minutes, it just became hot and dusty. Avery had never been good at following along with the steps they tried to teach, and it was a lot more fumbling and embarrassment than it was worth.

This year she made it through the Cha Cha Slide– which they normally didn’t play until the very end– before she dipped and left the barn to go sit back on the blanket with Meg and Caroline. They spent most of their time just laughing at their friends as they struggled to keep up with music. Avery had only been sitting out for ten minutes when Joel emerged from the crowd and made his way towards them.

“Scoot,” he said, carefully sitting next to Avery. Meg raised her eyebrows at Avery behind Joel’s back.

“Not one for dancing?” Avery asked him.

Joel stuck his tongue out at her. “You’re one to talk, you’ve been sitting over here forever.” Avery stuck her tongue out back.

“Real mature, you two,” Caroline muttered from next to them.

“Hey, wait, actually,” Joel said, reaching out to tug on Avery’s arm. He pulled her closer to him, until she was situated between his legs, leaning back against his chest. He draped his arms across her shoulders and rested his chin on the top of Avery’s head. “That’s better.”

“You’re so weird,” Avery said, but she relaxed into his hold. She rested her hands on his and settled back in to watch the semi-organized chaos of the barn dance going on in front of them.

Thursday morning found Joel hunched over a Styrofoam cup of coffee with his glasses on and hoodie pulled up over his head.

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Avery said, sitting across from him and swiping his coffee for a sip.

“Hey,” Joel whined, “I need that.”

Avery snorted and handed him his coffee back. “Why are you so tired, anyway?” Avery had gone back to the cabin after barn dance and passed out herself.

Joel made a noise in the back of his throat. “We couldn’t get the boys to shut up and settle down last night.” Said boys were at the other end of the table, looking about as tired as Joel, actually.

“Y’all better wake up down there,” Avery called. “We’ve got Alpine today.” “What the hell is the Alpine Tower, anyway?” Joel asked. “No one will tell me.”

The Alpine Tower was hard to describe, and it was better to experience for the first time if you didn’t know what you were getting into, so Avery just said, “You’ll see.”

Joel groaned and put his head down on the table.

After breakfast, Joel was by Avery’s side, as was becoming typical, as they started the trek towards Alpine Tower. He’d woken up considerably as his coffee hit. “How far is it anyway?” he asked.

“Far,” everyone else chorused. Joel looked taken aback.

“You should know by now that nothing here is ever a short walk,” Avery told him. The shortest walk on the grounds was probably from the cabins to the dining hall, and that was still almost half a mile. Ahead of them, a group of their campers were chattering excitedly about their climbs later.

Joel reached out and tugged on Avery’s braid where it was pulled over her shoulder. “You should give me a piggyback ride.” Avery raised an eyebrow at him. Joel easily had a head on her. “Or you could give me one,” she countered, not really expecting Joel to take her up on it.

Except. “Only if you carry my backpack,” Joel said, already shrugging off his backpack and handing it to Avery.

She laughed. “Bud, I was joking.”

Joel adjusted his hat and came to a stop next to Avery. He was eyeing her expectantly. “Last chance.”

Avery sighed and put Joel’s backpack on over hers. “Jesus Christ, what do you have in this thing?” she asked. It was heavier than hers by a lot. Joel crouched down so Avery could climb onto his back.

“Wood chips,” Joel deadpanned as he adjusted Avery on his back, hiking her up a little higher. Avery tightened her arms around Joel’s neck.

“You’re ridiculous,” she muttered, but Joel didn’t respond as he started walking again, jogging a little to catch up with Caroline and the kids.

Caroline gave them both a look as they reached the rest of their group, but didn’t comment. Joel carried Avery for most of the long walk towards Alpine, and it was mostly fine, except for the moment he stopped to hike her legs up higher around his waist again and nearly accidentally flipped Avery over his head.

He came to a stop as they reached the first big hill. “Nope, ride’s over. Sorry, sweetheart, I don’t do hills.” He let Avery slide off his back and back onto the ground.

“Sweetheart?”

Joel blushed a little and wouldn’t meet Avery’s eyes. Avery purposely bumped into him as they both started walking again. Joel was panting by the time they made it to the top of the second steep hill, but he stopped short once he saw the Alpine Tower for the first time.

“Oh, hell no,” he said.

Avery laughed and went to drop down in the wood chips on the ground next to Caroline.

“What took you two so long?” she asked.

“Joel’s slow,” Avery told her.

“I heard that!” Joel called. He was only a few feet away, sitting on the low bench next to one of his campers.

“You were meant to!” Avery called back.

The Alpine Tower had once been described to Avery as “a rock wall on steroids.” What it really was was a triangular platform fifty feet in the air, and it was up to the climber to figure out how to get to the top. Each of the three sides were varying degrees of difficulty, and it was always one of Avery’s favorite camp activities. When she glanced over her shoulder, Joel was still staring up at it.

“Scared, Beezer?” she asked.

Joel scoffed, but he didn’t quite look like he meant it.

They made it through the safety demonstration and got a couple kids going up the Tower, and Avery settled in to watch, cheer her kids on, and wait for her turn. Until someone started pelting her with wood chips from behind.

“Can I help you?” she asked, turning around to glare at Joel.

He was already in the middle of throwing another wood chip at her, and it hit her in the forehead this time. “Oops.” He didn’t look particularly sorry, actually. “You gonna climb?” he asked.

“Yeah, of course,” she said. “Are you?” Joel just shrugged. “Wouldn’t have pegged you to be scared of heights,” she added.

Joel stuck his tongue out at her. “I’m not. Just-” he trailed off.

“How ‘bout this,” Avery said, turning fully to face Joel. “I’ll race you to the top. I’ll even let you take the easy side,” she told him. She’d been planning on taking one of the harder sides, anyway, but Joel didn’t need to know that. Joel rolled his eyes, but Avery saw a familiar glint at the prospect of a competition. “Unless you’re too scared, Bee,” she added, just a taunt, really.

“Whatever, you’re on,” he said, half-heartedly throwing another wood chip at Avery’s leg. Avery grinned at him, and Joel grinned back. Caroline shook her head at both of them.

After all the kids had taken their turn at climbing, the counselors were allowed to strap themselves into harnesses and helmets. Avery and Joel stood next to each other in the shadow of the Tower, listening as they were attached to ropes and given final instructions by the climbing staff.

“Fuck, this thing is tight,” Joel muttered, shifting uncomfortably.

“Shh, language,” Avery scolded. Their campers were all in high school, and they’d probably all heard or said “fuck” themselves by now, but still. Joel flicked her in the helmet. “Hey, be nice to me, and I might let you win.”

Joel huffed. “Let me win, sure, alright.”

“Good luck, Bee,” Avery yelled to him, already heading over to start her climb.

She was on the “middle” side, which was harder than the side Joel was starting on, but Avery had the advantage of having climbed that side more than once before. It didn’t take long before she had caught back up to Joel, who had sort of gotten himself stuck.

“Help?” he called, trying to look for a way to keep moving forward.

“Sucks to suck, Beezer,” Avery called back, reaching up to pull the cargo net she was about to climb towards her. This is where it got harder, requiring more upper body strength than Avery actually had, but when she glanced back over her shoulder, Joel had gotten himself unstuck and was moving again.

She stopped paying attention to Joel mostly after that, though she did hear a thump and then an “Ow,” that she was assuming was Joel hitting his head on something, which would definitely not have been the first time someone had done it.

She was about to climb her last stretch of cargo net when she heard, “Shit, why are you so good at this?” from below her. “Quit checking out my ass, Joel,” she yelled without turning around. She cackled when she heard Joel make loud noises of protest. It didn’t really matter; she had a race to win.

In the end, Avery barely made it to the top of the Tower before Joel. She had just stood up on the platform when one of Joel’s hands appeared, grappling for the little rock climbing rocks they had for grip on the top of the platform.

“A little help?” he asked. She could just barely see his head.

“You made it this far, you can do it,” she told him, but she took a couple steps closer to him. It was entirely ungraceful, but Joel eventually scrambled onto the platform and then to his feet.

Avery took a moment to appreciate the view. They were high, above the treeline, and trees stretched out in all directions for as far as Avery could see.

“Fuck, we’re high up,” he said.

“Stop saying fuck,” Avery chided, but she offered him a high five. “Told ya you could do it.”

“Have I told you that I hate you?” Joel asked, shaking his head. He took the high five, though. “Wait, how do we get down again?”

Alpine Tower took up most of the morning, and by the time they all made it back to the dining hall, lunch was already in full swing. Joel stretched out on the bench with a sigh.

“How am I already sore?” he asked, to no one in particular.

Avery nudged his leg. “Move over, dude, the rest of us have to sit, too.”

Joel groaned, but sat up, though he was still sitting sideways on the bench. He leaned forward and rested his forehead on Avery’s shoulder. She patted him absently on the thigh. One of the campers was setting out lunch on their table, and she was trying to see what it was.

“I’m tired,” Joel said. He was quiet for once, and Avery barely heard him over the general din of lunch.

“You can take a nap instead of coming out to the mud cave, meet up with us again for swim time,” she said, knowing full well he wouldn’t do that. He’d been talking about the mud cave ever since Avery had told him about it on Sunday night.

Joel sat upright again. “No way, I wanna get dirty.”

Avery groaned. “Please never say that again.” Joel wiggled his eyebrows at her. She knocked his baseball hat off his head.

The two cabins met back in the circle drive outside the dining hall after lunch, dressed in their dingiest clothes and oldest shoes, ready to pile into the old van that took them out to the edge of the campgrounds. For once, Joel wasn’t wearing a baseball hat. He couldn’t stand still, bouncing around while he chattered with his boys while they waited.

The van pulled up, as rickety and rusty as ever, helmets were handed out, and everyone clambered into the van. There wasn’t a lot of space, and it was hot as the van made its slow way across camp.

“Why is everyone wearing their helmets already?” Joel asked, as the van hit a bump in the road and Joel bounced high enough in his seat to hit his head on the roof. “Ow, okay.”

Eventually the van came to a stop at the creek that cut across the overgrown field they were in. Everyone piled out of the van, blinking in the sunlight.

“So, where’s the cave?” Joel asked. A couple people laughed.

“Across the creek, through the field, and then about another mile into the woods,” Avery told him, patting him on the shoulder as she went past him towards the creek. The campers had already started wading across. When she glanced back over her shoulder at him, he looked a little dismayed.

The creek was clear and cold despite the late summer heat. It came up just past Avery’s waist as she splashed across. The field on the other side was just as overgrown as the one they started in, if not more, and everyone tried to get through it and away from all the bees as fast as possible.

“Is it really that far of a walk?” Joel asked as he caught back up to Avery. His nose had gotten sunburnt at some point, was peeling a little.

“Unfortunately,” Avery said. They were walking back into the shade of the woods now. Avery’s shoes were still squishing a little from the creek, and she could already feel a blister forming on her heel.

Joel groaned, but he was otherwise quiet as they kept walking. They walked in silence for a while, and Avery basked in the sunlight filtering through the trees and the sounds of the birds and cicadas.

“How much farther?” Joel whined after a while. Avery bumped sideways into him.

“We’re almost through the week, don’t tell me you can’t handle a little walking now,” she teased.

Joel bumped into Avery back. “Sorry, one of us walked all the way up to Alpine Tower today,” he said.

“Hey, I walked up the hills at the end!” Avery protested. It wasn’t like she had begged Joel for a piggyback ride, either. Joel rolled his eyes at her.

They had finally reached the cave, and everyone was clustered around the permanent member of the camp staff who would lead their group. The kids were listening eagerly, but Joel was paying attention to literally anything else.

Avery nudged him with her elbow. “Focus, Beezer,” she whispered.

Joel stuck his tongue out at Avery, but started paying attention to where their leader was warning them about bats. “Hang on, you never said anything about bats,” Joel hissed. In front of them, the kids were lining up to head into the cave. Avery just grinned at him and shoved him forward to walk in front of her.

It was immediately cooler when they stepped into the cave. With all the rain on Monday, the water was higher than some years, and it was quickly up over Avery’s shins. In front of her, Joel clicked his flashlight on, but it did little as they made their way deeper into the blackness of the cave.

“Shit, this water’s freezing,” Joel said, way too loudly.

Avery laughed quietly. She felt her shoe unstick from the mud as she took another step. “I don’t know what you expected,” she whispered. It was hard to navigate the uneven footing in the dark and the water, and she tripped a little bit as the ground sloped suddenly beneath her. She caught herself with a hand on Joel’s back. “Shit, sorry,” she said.

Joel didn’t say anything, but he slowed down a bit so Avery could stay closer to him and his little circle of light. He kept a hand outstretched behind him in case Avery tripped again. It was quiet in the cave, just the sounds of everyone making their way through the muddy water and the occasional quiet giggle or curse from the campers. Avery lost track of time a bit, and before she knew it they had reached the back of the cave. All flashlights were turned off, and they stood quietly in the pitch black for a few long moments. Joel was standing close enough to Avery that she could feel his body heat, chasing away some of the chill of the cave. When they finally turned to leave and headed back out of the cave, Joel’s hand found the small of her back, steadying her, just for a second.

At the mouth of the cave, their leader insisted on streaking mud across everyone’s face before they could leave. Joel wrinkled his nose and poked at his cheek as they stepped back out into the sunlight. “Feels weird,” he complained.

“The mud is what you have a problem with?” Avery asked. Yeah, it itched a little as it was drying, but they were also covered in muddy water, well past both of their knees.

Joel just shrugged.

The walk back to the creek always seemed longer. It was still hot and humid, even in the shade of the woods, but it felt worse after spending almost an hour in freezing water and the damp dark of the cave. Everyone walked slower, dragging their soggy feet.

Joel ended up in the creek ahead of Avery. The kids were splashing around, relishing in the clean water.

“Hey, Bee,” Avery called.

Joel turned towards her, but Avery missed a drop-off of the rocks that made up the creek bed, and stumbled. Joel caught her quickly before she face-planted into the water.

“Careful,” he said, grinning down at her. “No need to throw yourself at me,” he added.

Avery rolled her eyes. She had found her footing, but Joel was still clutching her arms. She pushed at his chest and laughed as his heel slipped and he fell backwards. He disappeared under the water for a moment.

“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that,” he said when he reappeared.

Avery tried to dash away, but the water came up over her waist, which made it hard to move quickly. She splashed as much as she could, but she felt Joel grab her around the waist and haul her backwards until they were both falling back underwater. Avery shrieked. Joel let go of her after they both went under, and Avery pushed herself away and stood back up. They were both soaked now. Joel was laughing, and Avery couldn’t help but to laugh, too.

“Alright, you two,” Caroline yelled from the shore. “Quit flirting and get out of the creek.”

They both grumbled about it, but they made it to the other side of the creek without further incident.

Back into the van everyone went. It felt less hot with everyone still chilled from the cave and playing in the creek. Joel slid in next to Avery, pressed up against her side. They were stopping off at the lakefront swim next instead of going back to their cabins, and Avery was looking forward to spending more time out in the sun on the lake. Joel nudged her in the ribs with his elbow, drawing her attention away from where she was staring out the window.

“You goin’ out on the lake?” he asked quietly. The van jolted, and he ended up nearly in Avery’s lap for a moment.

“Of course,” Avery said back.

“Wanna grab a canoe together and chill?”

Avery thought for a moment. “Not interested in trying to knock me off a paddle board some more?” she teased.

Joel shook his head, grinning at Avery. His helmet was off, and his hair was a mess from being underneath it. “Too tired,” he said.

“Lame,” Avery said. Then, “Dibs on the front of the canoe.”

It didn’t take long to change out of their drenched and muddy clothes into swimsuits and commandeer a canoe. Joel got stuck doing most of the steering, with Avery only paddling when necessary. They mostly just drifted, letting the breeze push them along the open water. The lake was steel grey, the sky above them dark with clouds that had rolled in while they were in the cave, threatening more rain. Avery sat back and let her fingers brush across the water.

“Hey,” Joel said. His voice echoed a little, carrying across the lake. “Look at me for a sec.”

Avery turned as much as she could without jostling the canoe. Joel had his phone out, and when she turned, Avery heard the artificial shutter sound as Joel snapped a picture of her. She flipped him off with a grin; he took a picture of that, too.

The dining hall seemed extra loud that night, campers running back and forth between tables, everyone desperate for a few extra minutes with their friends before everyone went their separate ways the next day.

“You’ve got a little-” Joel poked the dried mud Avery still had across her cheekbones, sitting next to her at their table.

She swatted his hand away. “Shut up, I didn’t have time to shower after swim.” Joel slid down the bench, away from Avery. “Okay, rude,” she said. Joel grinned at her. He didn’t move any closer.

After dinner was the closing campfire. They were at the big fire ring this time, down near the lakefront as the sun set. Joel found Avery sitting on one of the benches off to the side of the fire by herself and plopped down on the bench next to her. His backpack made a muffled thump when he dropped it in the wood chips at their feet.

Avery dropped her head to rest on Joel’s shoulder. “I’m tired, Bee,” she whined. As much as she loved camp, it usually kicked her ass by the end of the week.

Joel laughed softly and patted Avery on the thigh. “Last day tomorrow,” he reminded her.

Avery stared into the flickering flames until her eyes went unfocused. “But I don’t wanna go home.”

She didn’t want to leave camp, her happy place, didn’t want to leave Joel, who she was maybe falling in love with, didn’t want to leave her friends and the endless days of summer behind.

Joel laughed again, but it wasn’t mean. “I get that.” The kids were starting in on their s’mores. “I wasn’t sure how much I was gonna like it here, honestly. Especially when I got here and everyone else already knew each other, and I was just the new guy.”

Avery lifted her head and looked at Joel. The firelight was casting shadows across his face, but he was gazing out over the lake. His hand was still on Avery’s leg, just above her knee.

“Did you like it after all?” Avery asked. She thought about him talking about next year on the very first day, saying he thought camp would be fun.

Joel grinned then, and it was familiar and comforting. Avery hadn’t expected that to happen at the beginning of the week.

She found herself wanting to see Joel’s smile forever.

“Yeah, I did,” was all Joel said. Avery put her head back on his shoulder.

They were quiet for a few minutes as the sun sank fully below the treeline and the lake glowed red next to them. Avery shivered in spite of the warm air as a wind blew. Joel bumped her head with his shoulder so Avery sat back up, and then he was bending over to dig something out of his backpack. He dropped a hoodie in Avery’s lap. She hadn’t seen him wearing it ever during the evening, which meant he’d thrown it in his bag just for her. She pulled it on with a small smile.

“You might not get this back, bud,” she told him, tugging the sleeves over her hands. Guys’ hoodies always seemed more comfortable than any sweatshirt Avery had ever owned herself.

Joel just shook his head at her and tugged on her braid, but it was gentle, half-hearted.

“Oh, wait, I’ll be right back,” Joel said, jumping back up and disappearing towards the s’mores table. When he came back a few minutes later, he had a s’more in one hand.

“What, nothing for me?” Avery teased.

“No, because you don’t like chocolate, you freak,” Joel said, but he reached into his shorts pocket and triumphantly produced an unopened sleeve of graham crackers, tossing them to Avery. She squinted suspiciously at him as he sat back down. “Carol told me you’ll eat the graham crackers,” he said casually.

Avery opened the crackers carefully and stuck one in her mouth. “Thanks, Bee,” she said around it. It came out softer than she meant for it to.

Joel winked at her and stole a graham cracker.

Every year, there were rumours of campers planning to sneak out of their cabins on the last night of camp. Really, they were terrible at being discreet about it, but they thought they were being subtle. Regardless, the counselors still had to be careful and watch to make sure no one actually did manage to sneak out.

Which is how Avery and Joel ended up sitting out in front of the stars at the small fire ring in front of their cabins, perched on the cold stone wall with both of their cabins in view. Avery was still wearing Joel’s hoodie.

“Do you think they’ll actually do it?” Joel asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

Avery shook her head and tilted her chin to look up at the stars. “Probably not, but I’m not about to get in trouble with Austin if they do.” It had happened once while she was still a camper, and it hadn’t exactly been pretty the next day with an entire cabin in trouble.

It had been cloudy earlier in the day, but it had cleared up, and the stars were as bright as ever above them. The moon was low and yellow in the humid air. Avery wished for a second that she had a camera to capture this moment, a memory to last forever.

Joel mimicked Avery, looking up at the stars. “Bright tonight,” he said. Avery hummed in agreement. “Hey, you know what we should do after the kids fall asleep?” he asked suddenly.

Avery raised an eyebrow at him. “Sleep?”

Joel huffed out a quiet laugh. “I wanna check out that cemetery you guys were talking about,” Joel said.

“At night?” Avery said. “Hell no, it’s creepy enough during the daytime,” she told him.

She’d been back there once before, years ago. There were broken headstones scattered throughout the overgrown grass, and it was shaded by the dam and a dozen trees, making it cooler, even in the heat of summer. It felt like it was a world away from the rest of the camp, quiet and eerie, and Avery had zero plans of ever going back there.

Joel rolled his eyes. “You know what else we could do?” He turned so he was facing Avery.

She tilted her head to look at him. He was smiling softly at her. It was a little scary how quickly he’d become a part of Avery’s life, how she went from knowing nothing about him to trusting that he’d always be by her side.

“I don’t know, Joel, what could we do?” Avery whispered.

Joel’s smile grew, and then he was leaning in. Avery’s eyes closed as their lips met. Joel’s hand was wrapped around one of Avery’s wrists, thumb rubbing absently over the skin there. When he pulled away, he was still smiling. They were sitting closer together than they had been, though Avery wasn’t sure which one of them had moved.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all week,” Joel admitted.

“Well, why didn’t you?” Avery asked, and then she was wrapping a hand around the back of his neck to pull him in for another kiss. She could feel Joel smiling into the kiss, even as he tugged her closer.

Distantly, Avery heard a cabin door open. She pulled away to turn and look, and Joel dropped his head to her shoulder. Avery ran her fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck. Caroline was walking towards them.

“I was going to tell you that the kids are asleep and you two can come back inside, but you seem pretty busy,” she said once she got closer.

They both flipped her off, and she laughed at them as she turned and headed back into the girls’ cabin. Avery shivered in spite of herself then. Joel rubbed his free hand over Avery’s thigh, a little bit for warmth, and a little bit just to touch her, because he could do that now.

“Last day tomorrow,” Joel murmured. Avery leaned closer.

“Don’t wanna talk about that,” she said. She looked back up at the stars, hoping that they would have some answers, for how she was feeling, for how she was going to go back to a normal life after this.

Joel used a finger to pull Avery’s chin towards him again, to press one last kiss to her lips. He used the hand on her wrist to pull her to her feet.

“Better get to bed,” he said, and it sounded a little wistful.

As much as she didn’t want to leave Joel, Avery was cold, and her ass hurt from sitting on the concrete wall for so long. “Walk me to my door?” she asked. The cabin was only a couple hundred feet away, but she was going to hold onto every last moment. Joel held his arm out for her to loop hers through. “Don’t want to get attacked by a raccoon or something,” she added.

Joel ducked his head and stole one last kiss when he dropped her off, Avery’s hand already on the doorknob.

“See you tomorrow,” she whispered to his retreating back.

The last day of camp was always weird. The buses didn’t come to pick up the campers until after lunch, which left several weird hours of downtime to kill in between cabin cleanout and the time everyone actually left camp. Even with everyone still lingering and saying their goodbyes, with the cabins standing empty, camp had an eerie and melancholy feel.

Cleaning out the cabins was always a mad scramble of kids hunting down their belongings and cleaning up week-old messes. They only had half an hour after breakfast before they had to be out of the cabins, and there was never enough time.

“How does someone always lose a towel?” Avery asked Caroline. “How do you not realize you don’t have your swim towel?”

Joel had sat next to Avery at breakfast, like usual, but they hadn’t talked about the night before, or what was going to happen in the future. Avery was trying her best not to think about it. Which is to say, it was all she could think about.

Caroline waved her hand in front of Avery’s face, jarring her back to the present. “What’s going on in that head of yours?” she asked.

“Joel,” Avery admitted.

Caroline smirked. “I can’t believe it took you two that long to get your shit together. Thought for sure you’d be hooking up after the first night.”

Avery shoved at Caroline’s arm until she fell off the path and stepped into the grass, cackling. “Why am I friends with you.” Caroline stepped back on the sidewalk. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do. Summer camp is a whole different world from everything else.”

“I think you’re overthinking this,” Caroline told her. Ahead of them, Joel was helping one of the younger boys carry his heavy bag. Avery sighed.

“I don’t even think he lives around here,” Avery said, remembering when Joel had told them he was from New York. She had never thought to ask how exactly he’d come across their little camp, how he’d ended up in the Midwest.

Caroline shoved her back. “You know how you could find all that out?” she asked. “Talk to him.”

They had caught up to Joel. “Who are we talking to?” he asked, shooting Avery a knowing look.

They lost him in the chaos of trying to organize all the kids’ luggage into the proper bus piles, but he cornered Avery in the basement of the dining hall as she was about the head back upstairs.

“Hi,” she said. He was wearing his hat the right way around for once. Avery reached up and flipped it backwards, so she could pull him down for a quick kiss. Joel’s hand was warm on her waist.

“What was that for?” Joel asked, but he ducked down to steal another kiss. “Heard we needed to talk about something,” he went on, without waiting for Avery to respond. She poked him in the stomach, got him to back off from where he was caging her in against a wall.

“How does this work?” Avery asked. Joel had taken a step back, but he stayed close, close enough that Avery could see the way his eyebrows furrowed when she spoke.

“What do you mean?”

“Camp doesn’t last forever, Joel,” Avery said.

“So what, this has to end?” Joel asked.

Avery took another step away from Joel. “I don’t know, does it?” she snapped. “What even is ‘this,’ anyway?”

Joel stepped closer and took Avery’s hand. “I don’t know, but I know that I like you, and that I want to find out,” he said.

Avery looked up at Joel. The look in his eyes was earnest, genuine. She felt the fight drain out of her. “How do we do that?” she murmured.

“We’ll figure it out as we go, yeah?”

Avery smiled. “Yeah.”

When they made it back upstairs, Caroline was shuffling a deck of cards, and there was a pile of spoons stolen from the kitchen in the middle of the table. Joel was still holding tightly to Avery’s hand as they walked. A couple campers made room for them at the table, and his hand rested on her thigh instead. Avery leaned into his side.

“Deal us in,” she said.

#cait writes things #joel farabee #joel farabee fic #joel farabee imagine #joel farabee fanfiction #nhl fic #nhl imagine #nhl fanfiction #hockey fic #hockey imagine

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andreafmn · 3 years

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I'm Not Afraid - Chapter 5

xWord Count: 3,374

Characters: Female Reader Argent Character, Original Male Argent Character, Derek Hale, Allison Argent, Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski, Isaac Lahey, Lydia Martin, Chris Argent, Jackson Whittemore

Story Description: (Y/N) Argent arrived at Beacon Hills to put to rest her father’s sister, Kate Argent. For the first time, her family has decided to settle down and sustain a life in this interesting small town. After 17 years, (Y/N) has the opportunity to establish interpersonal relationships but will she be ready to face the complications that come with relating to her cousin’s, Allison, friends; especially, the infamous Derek Hale. She will face the adventure of being associated with the Derek and McCall pack as well as being faced with the discovery of certain aspects of her life she never imagined.

*DISCLAIMER* I do not own in any way Teen Wolf, all credits of the pre-established characters, script, and storyline belong to Jeff Davis and MTV Network. The only thing I own is Argent Reader insert, her immediate family, and her storyline, as well as her effects in the others’ storyline.

Chapter: 5/?

A/N: If you enjoy my writing I’ll also be posting them in AO3 and Wattpad along with other stories (I also hope to start taking requests if ya’ll want) Hope you enjoy and all constructive criticism is encouraged.

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Chapter 5

I woke up to a heavy and warm wight around my waist. As my mind started registering the scene around me, I noticed the soft snores that were filling the room, the strong smell of cologne, the rough skin encircling me, the chest in front of me that raised and fell at a slow pace. At some point during the night, Derek must have crawled into bed, and I couldn’t say that I minded.

He looked peaceful when he slept. No supernatural problems, no feuds, no hunters, just peace. My hand unconsciously landed on his cheek, softly stroking his cheek. Still succumbed to slumber, he leaned into the touch, nuzzling his head onto my hand like a puppy. I wish this could be the way it always was, but now that I knew the reality of the world we were in, there was no chance it would ever stay this way.

Deciding to let him sleep longer, I tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen where breakfast had already been prepared. I looked around and noticed that their car keys were gone, which meant they had left early in the morning to do whatever it was that they always did. I greeted Brody who had trotted my way from the living room, and filled his dog bowl, adding a few tasty treats. While I served two plates, I put the coffee machine to run, ensuring the freshest pot for the morning. I looked around for a tray to take the breakfast upstairs in case my parents came back at any moment, eating my food as the coffee brewed. Placing some cream and sugars on the tray, I made my way back to the bedroom where Derek was starting to wake up, Brody following behind.

“Morning, sour wolf.” I softly pushed open the door, the tray in front of me. Derek was rubbing the night from his eyes, a soft smile playing on his lips. Upon seeing the man, Brody jumped on the bed greeting him with slobbery kissed. Derek laughed and petted his head as he laid at the foot of the bed.

“Morning,” he yawned. “Whatcha got there?”

“Some eggs, bacon, and hash browns. Also, some coffee.” He took the tray from my hands and set it on the bed. Taking one of the coffee cups, I sat over on my desk to work on the homework I had left pile during the week. Derek grabbed the plate and came to stand behind me, leaning down to rest his chin on my shoulder.”

“What are you doing?” He inquired, downing the food from the plate quickly.

“Homework. You know, the thing people my age have to do to be able to graduate from high school with good grades.” I looked to the side, my heart beating faster noticing the closeness of our faces. “I’m sure you wouldn’t know much about that.”

“I’ll have you know I was a good enough student.”

“Emphasis on good enough.” I booped his nose with my pen and continued my work. “When you’re done you should head home, don’t want my parents catching you here just in case.”

“Why? We’re not doing anything.” He sipped his coffee and sat down on the bed, Brody laying his head on his lap. I turned my chair and faced him, a laugh escaping my lips.

“I think you’re forgetting who you are and who my family is. Apart from that, I don’t think my dad will particularly enjoy the fact that a 21-year-old werewolf is in his teenage daughter’s bedroom, alone.” I grinned. “But suit yourself. I’d love to see how it will play out.”

“Alright, but can I at least take you out some time this week?” My heartbeat quickened, the sound loud enough for me to hear. “Is that a yes?”

“It’s not a no,” I grinned.

“I kind of need an answer,” he pressed. A grin played on his lips by the point he had stood and rested his hands on the arms of the chair.

“How about, I’ll let you know?”

“I’ll take it,” he smiled. “I’ll text you.”

“Alright, I’ll be waiting.” He kissed my cheek and grabbed his jacket to head towards the door. “Where are you going?”

“Home?”

“Not through the door you’re not.” The dumbfounded look on his face was hilarious. “what would I do if my parents walked in.”

“I’m fast, you know. Like supernaturally fast.”

“Mm, I’ve seen you. Not fast enough.”

“Fine,” he surrendered. “Keep watch of your phone.”

“I will,” I smiled. He took a step back and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Brody got alerted by the sudden move and jumped off the bed to bark at the window, standing on his hind legs to prop his eye out. I joined his side and saw Derek standing normally in my backyard as if he hadn’t just jumped out of a two-story window. He waved and I waved back as he became a blur, vanishing before my very eyes.

I slumped down on my bed and ran my hands over my face. What was I doing? There were so many things that were pit against us. My 18th birthday was still a little less than a year away, he had something going on with Erica, my family and he are natural-born enemies, we are currently under the terror of a reptilian shapeshifting Jackson, and that was just scratching the surface. I couldn’t scrutinize why he would ask me out too much, it was probably not even in a romantic way. It could just well be that he wanted to keep an eye on me since I was new to this whole werewolf, Kanima, hunter thing.

A couple of hours went by where I took Brody out for a walk, finished what was left of my homework, and started watching a movie when my phone went off.

“Hey, I heard the good news! You’re staying in town.”

“Hey, Allison. Yeah, it looks that way.”

“Well then, I believe you owe some people an apology.”

“What could you possibly mean?” I scoffed. But she was right, as hard as it was to admit.

“Don’t act dumb, (Y/N). You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“I don’t like it when you’re right,” I sighed. “What do you think I should do?”

“I could invite them over to your house and you could apologize to them. They never object to free pizza.”

I was glad. Instead of sulking on the 'he likes me, he likes me not' nonsense, I prepared the house for Allison and her friends, the people I hope to win over. One by one they arrived at my doorstep. Scott, Stiles, Lydia, and Allison. I had put out some snacks and the pizza I had bought. Scott and Stiles were not shy about their hunger as they dove in right away.

"So, what's the purpose of this meeting?" Lydia asked, her usual cocky attitude on full show.

"Uh, well, I wanted to apologize for being such a bitch these past few weeks."

"Hm, understatement of the century." Stiles chuckled with his mouth full.

"Actually, she can be 1,000 times worse. That was just level 1 bitchiness."

"Point taken. But why would you apologize? We get it you don't want to be our friend."

"That's not it, it's just... ugh... Look, it’s honestly a very long story, but moving around it’s hard to cut ties and start over for so long. After a while it’s easier to builds walls up and maintain everyone at arm’s length." They all stared at me. Hopefully I was getting through to them. "But this time I'm changing that. I want to be your friend and that's why I'm apologizing."

"Well, I don't know about the other guys, but I've always considered you my friend. I mean, I've considered Lydia my friend and she hates me."

"Oh, please, Stiles. I don't hate you, you're just, um.... special."

"I'll take it."

"We understand. And of course you're our friend, (Y/N). You were just too stubborn to notice." Scott smiled at me. "Now, is there more pizza?"

"How the hell did you two boys just finish two boxes of pizza?"

"We're growing?" Stiles said with his mouth full.

"Barely," Allison mumbled.

"You know I can hear you, right?"

"That's the point, Scott."

The whole room laughed and continued to enjoy a very pleasant afternoon. It felt weird to finally feel like I belonged somewhere; that there were people around me that cared for me despite my flaws. As I looked around the faces of the group that had welcomed me with open arms, I couldn’t help but feel that someone was missing; the person that had first accepted me.

The clock had hit 4 o’clock when the last piece of food was gone, and the gang had gone home. After cleaning up, I decided it was time to call Isaac. I didn’t like the person he had become after the bite. But I couldn’t say I didn’t understand. He felt confident, strong, but he was using the wrong outlet. Just like I was.

“So, you’re finally talking to me,” Isaac chuckled, a cocky tone to his voice.

“Only if you’re done being a douche.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ever since you turned into a werewolf you’ve been nothing short of unbearable with your cocky behavior and holier-than-thou attitude.” I could hear him shifting on the other line, the news taking him aback. It seems Derek hadn’t told his pack that I knew everything.

“H-how… who told you?”

“Derek, your alpha. He told me everything the other day. I know all about werewolves, kanimas, hunters, pack, blah, blah, blah. But none of that excuses your behavior,’’ I sighed. “So, are you done being a dick?”

“Maybe,” he chuckled. “Can I see you?”

“Sure. Why don’t we go grab a bite? I’ll pick you up.”

“Alright!” He sounded excited. “I’ll text you the address.”

After hanging up I decided to take a quick shower before leaving. I threw on a white t-shirt and jeans and paired them with my leather jacket. As I tied my boots, I reached for the keys of my dad’s Chevrolet Suburban. Hopefully, I didn’t crash. In the car, I typed in the address Isaac had sent me. It was an industrial loft not too far from my own home. I honked my horn to notify Isaac I was there as well as sent a text.

“Are you stalking me now?”

I jumped at the sound of Derek’s voice and the knock he left on my window. . He appeared like a ghost and leaned on my door. “I could say the same about you. I’ve never been here before.”

“I live here,” he laughed, pointing at the building. “It’s my loft.”

“I’m here to pick up Isaac,” I said sheepishly. “So, he’s been staying with you. I thought you live in the woods.”

“It’s my family’s house and it’s under my ownership, but it’s not under livable conditions. And, yes, Isaac has been staying with me.”

“Hey, Derek.” Isaac finally emerged from the doors and jogged up to my car, patting Derek on the back. The man’s expression rapidly changed as soon as Isaac joined the conversation. The playful smile he wore had been replaced by a menacing scowl. “We’re going out for a while. I’ll see you later.”

We said goodbye and as I drove off, I stared at Derek. His body was tense, and his jaw was clenched. He was angry, but I didn’t know why. When we were alone, he was a completely different person than what he showed to others. There was this terrifying façade that was impenetrable by everyone else, yet he was a completely different person with me; he was an Alpha to the others, but he was just Derek to me.

I parked the car at a small burger joint Isaac directed me to. It wasn’t too full, so our food came out quickly. We sat at a table in the back, far from any prying ears.

“So, what did you mean about this cocky attitude?” He popped a french fry into his mouth, playing around with his food. “You seemed quite mad about it. Mad enough that you avoided me for some time.”

“Ever since you transformed you’ve been carrying yourself like you’re above everyone, you don’t even bother to be respectful of teachers or anyone for that matter. I miss the old Isaac.”

“You mean the pushover wimpy kid?” He scoffed. “I can’t say the same.”

“That’s not what I meant.” My hand reached out to his clenched fist and his hold softened. “You were nice and respectful, and knew how to treat others because you knew how it felt to be mistreated. Of course, you could have done with more confidence, but that’s not what this is. It’s almost as if you’re turning into Jackson, heaven forbid.”

His eyes softened and I knew I was getting through the wall he had built up.

"I'm sorry, (Y/N). It's just… this is the first time in my life that I have felt powerful, like nothing and no one can touch me. I've dealt with so much shit that I thought I deserved to act like that," he sighed. "Can you ever forgive me?"

“You’re practically my best friend, how could I not?”

“Thanks.” He gave me a smile that I happily reciprocated. For the first time in a while, I was seeing the Isaac I had met some time ago. “So, what is it that you needed to speak to me so eagerly.”

“Remember how I mentioned that I would be moving at the end of the year so you shouldn’t get attached?” He nodded. “Well, it seems you’re gonna have to put up with me for a long time. Beacon Hills is now my home.”

“What?! That’s great!” He exclaimed a little too loud. Heads turned towards us and Isaac tried to hide his blush. “Does that mean we can truly be friends now? Not just study partners or casual conversation acquaintances?”

“Yes, Isaac. That’s exactly what that means,” I laughed. His face had lit up as the hard mask he wore finally broke apart. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what happened the night that I picked you up? It was such a weird night.”

His whole demeanor changed, clearly a sore subject to talk about. "If Derek told you what we are I presume he told you about everything else." I nodded. "The Kanima. It killed my father. We, um, had gotten into a fight and I ran out. It seems he went out looking for me but didn't get to me. I found him dead in his car, but I ran and called you."

" Isaac, why didn't you tell me? I mean, I know why you didn't tell me, but something; you should have told me something.” I looked into his eyes, worry evident in them. He had gone through such a traumatic event basically by himself. “Is that why the police were looking for you?"

He nodded. "They thought I had something to do with his murder because of something Jackson said. He was unfortunately my neighbor and had seen me running out of the house, but there were no tracks leading to me. I'm not a fugitive anymore." He smiled softly.

“I’m glad, Isaac, really. And I’m truly sorry for everything you’ve had to endure alone for all these years. You didn’t deserve it.”

“Thanks, (Y/N). At least that part of my life is over.”

“Now we just have to get that damn Kanima and get on with our lives.” We laughed.

Before we knew it, the sky outside had turned dark, signaling the arrival of the night. The car ride back was filled with mindless chitchat and soft background music. It had been a long few days and exhaustion was evident in both of us. Soon enough, the grey building had come into view.

“Do you want to come in for a bit?” Isaac leaned into the open window of the driver’s side.

“I think I’m just gonna head on home. I’m a bit tired and we have school tomorrow.” I smiled. “But, I’ll take you up on the offer someday.”

“Isaac, good to see you’re back,” Derek announced himself, his two betas following behind. “You’re late for training.”

“Sorry, Derek. Time slipped away.”

“Sorry won’t cut it.” His voice was commanding and a bit intimidating. I could see why everyone around me feared him. “Go with Erica and Boyd. Get started.”

'‘Bye, (Y/N). I’ll see you tomorrow.” I smiled and nodded, trying my best to comfort him.

“See you.” Derek stood back as we both watched the three figures disappear into the building. His chest moved, heaving, and he reeked of jealousy. “What’s your problem?”

“What?” Did he truly believe I was that oblivious? “I just…”

“You’re acting like a prissy child, Derek. You knew where Isaac was, who he was with, and that there was a possibility that he would come back late. There’s no need to grill him that hard.”

“He’s old enough to manage his time correctly, (Y/N). He needs to learn discipline. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Clearly, that’s not what’s happening here,’’ I laughed dryly. “Look, pardon the metaphor, but this whole alpha male act is gonna get very tiring, very quickly. If this is how you’re gonna be, don’t bother on scheduling that date this week.”

“Don’t be like that, (Y/N). I swear this has nothing to do with you. There are certain rules that we have to abide by, a different life. It’s complicated.”

“You’re not making any sense, Derek.”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Yesterday we said no secrets, Derek. What changed in the hours that have passed?”

“Nothing’s changed. I’m sorry if I seemed too harsh on Isaac, but I have to be. They’re young and reckless, and it’s my job to make sure they stay safe. No matter the cost.” He ran his hands across his face as he let out a loud sigh. “Why don’t we just keep the supernatural and our personal lives apart.”

“We can try that for a while, but they’re bound to intersect at some point.”

“I know, but…”

“Let’s play it your way and see how it goes, okay? And lay off Isaac and the others? They are just kids.”

“I’ll try,” he smiled softly. “Text me when you get home, okay?”

“If I remember.”

I backed the car up and sped back to my house. When I opened the garage, my father was sitting on the spot where the car usually went. I had forgotten to tell them I would be gone, and my phone’s battery had died a while back. I was in so much trouble.

“Good to know you’re alive, darling daughter.” The sarcasm spewed from my father’s mouth, and it stung.

“I’m so sorry. I went out with a friend and my phone died. And I know I forgot to say I was leaving the house, but I rarely do that, so please forgive me.”

“Calm down, (Y/N),” he laughed. “We just wanted to make sure you were okay. You weren’t answering your phone, so we got worried. But remember, there’s a tracker on the car. We figured you were out. And I’m glad to hear you have a friend. It’s about time.”

“Thanks, dad.” He wrapped me in a hug and patted my head. If he knew who my friends were I’m sure he wouldn’t feel the same way. “But, if you knew where I was, what was this whole scary setup? I for sure thought you were going to kill me.”

“Nothing like that, honey. But your mother and I have something we have to talk to you about.”

“What is it? You can’t take back that we are staying.”

“It’s not that, but it is serious. Let’s go, your mom is waiting in the kitchen.”

My heart was beating at a rapid pace, a million thoughts running through my head. Although, at the bottom of my heart I knew what this talk was going to be about.

Tag List: @hellowinterlane @lokisgoddesofpower @mersuperwholocked-lowlife @malar-region

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itsallyscorner · 4 years

Text

💌 Requested by: @real-kate-bishop-aka-hawkeye

Pairing: Sebastian Stan x Reader ft Marvel Cast

Request: Age gap! Reader is in a relationship with Sebastian Stan and they’re in a movie together that has been nominated for the Oscars. Both of them are up for best actor and actress.

a/n: I hope you like this, I’m so sorry for the long wait, love! Enjoy!💖

Double Win

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m a bit nervous. But I’m excited to be here. It’s gonna be a good night.” You reply with a smile as Sebastian squeezed your hand. The two of you were currently in the car on your way to the venue that hosted the Oscars.

“Hey, whatever happens tonight, whether we win or loose, I’m proud of you.” Sebastian says as he brings your hand up to his lips and presses a kiss to it.

You and Sebastian were both nominated for your first Oscars ever. The movie you guys both starred in has been successful in the box office and has snagged multiple nominations during awards season.

You first met Sebastian during a table read for a disclosed Marvel project. You were a new actress in the business having been in small movies and had some parts in tv shows, but being casted as Kate Bishop was your big break (I know she’s like 16 in the comics, but for the sake of this request let’s just assume the actress casted is in her 20s). You and Seb instantly clicked at the table reading. From there on a beautiful friendship formed which slowly grew into a relationship. Despite the age gap, everything you guys did together felt natural. Natural in a sense where it was familiar, as if you guys have known each other for years. When you were with him everything fell into place.

“I’m so happy that you’re finally getting recognition for your work. You work your ass off on these movies, you deserve it so much.” You admitted as he strokes your hand with his thumb. Sebastian tilts his head at you with that crooked smile on his face.

“After all, you were robbed for I, Tonya.” You added as you nudged his shoulder with yours. His smile breaks as he laughs.

“Are you still mad about that?”

“YES! Oh my god, it irritates me so much. Like how did you not get nominated for I, Tonya? You were amazing as Jeff!” You exclaimed waving your free hand in frustration.

“Well that doesn’t matter anymore. Because now, I’m nominated for a movie I starred in alongside my girl. To me, that’s all that matters.” He said as he leaned in closer to you. You hum contently as he nudges your nose with his. He presses a kiss to the corner of your mouth, careful to not get any of that sinful red lipstick on his lips.

The moment was interrupted by the driver announcing that you have arrived at the venue. Before leaving the car you quickly fix your hair and make sure Sebastian didn’t have any lipstick on his lips. Sebastian buttoned up his suit and looked back at you before opening the door.

“You look beautiful, by the way. I just wanted to tell you before everyone starts shouting it at you.” He tells you with a boyish grin on his face. You playfully roll your eyes and thank him. He opens the door and you guys are met with the flashing lights and chaos of the red carpet.

🕓 Time Skip

Half an hour into the awards show and they’ve announced the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Your nerves were getting the best of you, making your leg bounce in anticipation. You tried having a few glasses of wine to help you loosen up, but it was no use. Sebastian, who had been beside you the whole night, noticed your nervous tic. He placed a reassuring hand onto your leg to help calm you down. He didn’t say anything but his silent gesture was appreciated. His hand helped ground you and tell you that he was there for you.

Chris Evans and Brie Larson walked out from backstage and entered the stage. The audience clapped as they approached the mic.

“Hello everyone! Of all the movies that have been nominated for this category tonight, something that they all have in common is a female lead who is a force of nature and captures the attention of the audience with their strong presence on screen.” Brie starts.

“Here are the nominees for Best Actress.” Chris continues as they announce the names of the nominees. As your name is announced you feel your heart beat quicken and squeeze onto Sebastian’s hand, a smile hiding your anxiousness.

When they finish the names, Brie excitedly opens the envelope. She and Chris share are look before they announce the winner.

“And the Oscar goes to..”

“(Y/n) (Y/L/N)!!” They scream into the mic.

You freeze as you hear your name. Around you the people clap and stand as you remained seated in your seat in shock. Sebastian is the one to pull you out your state of shock, leaning down and gently pulling you up.

“Baby, you won!” He exclaimed as he pulls you into his arms. You come back to your senses and wrap your arms around him quickly pulling away. You make your way up to the stage as people congratulated you as you passed by the aisle. When you approached the stairs, you hold the train of your dress to avoid pulling a Jennifer Lawrence. Chris is quick to help, lending you a hand up the stage. He hugs you and congratulates you over the audience. Brie approaches you with open arms and hands you the Oscar. The two move to the side to give you your moment. You face the crowd with a big smile, Oscar in hand.

“Thank you guys.” You start as you glance at Brie and Chris. You look back to the crowd and quickly spot Sebastian, who has the most proudest look on his face.

“This is unbelievable, I can’t believe this is happening! I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a little kid.” You mused as you looked at the Oscar gleaming in the light.

“I guess I should start by thanking the Academy. Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you to the cast and crew who have been part of this movie’s journey I love every single one of you. Thanks to my team, who have been so kind and supportive to me from the start and have helped me get to this moment. To my family, I owe you all so much you have been so supportive of me and pushed me to follow my dreams and have been there every step of the way. Also, to the women who were nominated alongside of me tonight, you guys are amazing and continue to inspire me to become as talented as you all are. Lastly, I want to thank a special person. My co-star in this movie, my best friend, biggest supporter, my rock, my lover. Sebastian you have done nothing but been there for me through thick and thin. I don’t know what I did in my past life to deserve someone as special as you, but I’m thankful that I have you. Without you I don’t know how I would survive in the madness of this, I love you.” You looked at Sebastian through blurred eyes as you made your speech.

“Thank you!” You finished as you excitedly held the Oscar up in the air. The usher instructed you to stand by the side as Brie and Chris walked to the mic.

“And now for Best Actor!” Chris says as they announce the nominees. When Sebastian’s name was called you clapped and cheered as he gave the camera a shy smile.

“And the Oscar goes to!”

“SEBASTIAN STAN!” They announce, Chris screaming it a bit louder than Brie. You gasp and clap as you see Sebastian being congratulated by your fellow co-stars and director. He makes his way up to the stage instantly looking for your eyes. A giant smile is on your face as your eyes connect. He’s hugged by Brie and Chris. Chris moves to hand him the award but Sebastian is already striding towards you. The audience laughs at Chris’ reaction. Meanwhile Sebastian brings his hand to cradle your face and pulls you into a passionate kiss. The crowd cheers and whistles as you wrap your free arm around him. For a moment it feels like it’s just you two in the whole venue. You pull away, lovingly smiling at each other.

“Go get that Oscar, champ.” You teased and nudge him towards Chris, who claps him on the back as soon he approaches him.

“Sorry, got caught in the moment.” He chuckled making the audience laugh.

“Man, I—. This is just an honor, thank you so much for this. I don’t know what I did to get here, but thank you so much. Thank you to the Academy. Thank you to the cast and crew who’ve worked hard day and night to make this amazing movie the way it is. My team, thank you for dealing with me, I appreciate it. I wanna say a very special thank you to two of the most important women in my life. My mother, who sacrificed so much to give me a better life, I’m up on this stage because of you. I love you and I’ll make sure to give you a call as soon as I’m home. I think you guys know who the other woman is.” He exclaims as he turns to you with a twinkle in his eyes, the crowd cheering him on.

“When I say this I’m being dead serious. I’m gonna marry that woman one day.” Sebastian points at you making the crowd go wild. You laugh, looking down as your face turns 50 shades of red.

“(Y/n), you keep me going everyday. You inspire me to better myself and become a better man. For the two years we’ve been together, you’ve been beside me through it all and I just want to thank you for everything you do. You’re my safe place, I love you.” He said while looking at you the entire time. He thanks everyone again before the music begins to play.

🕓 Time Skip

As the show came to an end everyone headed towards the after party. The cast and crew of your movie celebrated over champagne, some speeches, a little crying, and lots of hugs. The whole night Sebastian never left your side, his hand was either around your waist or the small of your back. Constantly whispering sweet nothings into your ear as he pressed kisses to your face.

“Seb! (Y/n)!” You and Sebastian turned to the voice to see Chris pushing through the crowd along with Scarlett and Brie.

“Hey!” You greet them as you all pull each other into hugs.

“Congratulations you two! You must be on cloud nine!” Scarlett said as she squeezed you as tight as she can.

“The look on your face when you won, oh my goodness! Priceless!” Brie laughs as she held onto your arm.

“I honestly can’t believe it! It’s just so surreal like what the fuck? I’m still processing it!” You rambled, eyes wide with shock. The two laughed at your reaction.

“I’m guessing Seb is gonna be getting some as soon as you guys get home?” Scarlett teased. You rolled your eyes glancing at Seb who was talking to Chris and Samuel L. Jackson. He caught your eye and sent a quick wink towards you.

“I don’t kiss and tell, Scarlett.” You winked at the blonde. Your name is suddenly being called across the room by Chris.

“When’s the wedding?” He asked, a few feet away from you and the girls.

“As soon as he gets the ring!” You answer teasingly making Seb blush. Chris turns back to Sebastian pointing at you.

“You heard the lady, Seb.”

“Who says I don’t already have the ring?” Sebastian shot back making everyone sound like a bunch of teenagers.

When you guys got back home, you and Sebastian celebrated in the early hours of the morning between the sheets. When you wake up the next day you see a blue Tiffany’s box paired with a rose resting on Sebastian’s side of the bed.

And you said yes.

#ally’s requests #marvel #mcu #avengers #sebastan stan #sebastian stan oneshot #sebastian stan headcanons #sebastian stan drabble #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan imagine #Bucky Barnes #winter soldier #bucky barnes x reader #marvel cast x reader

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acciocriativity · 3 years

Text

The bet || Harry Potter

Pairing: Fred Weasley and George Weasley x Platonic/Reader (Tiny not so tiny George Weasley x Reader)

Summary: You had a normal life at Hogwarts, until the Weasley twins decided they weren't going to leave you alone anymore, and what was the reason? You would give five galleons to anyone who knew the answer.

Word Count: 4,0k

It was still early, I was walking through the corridors towards the Great Hall when two red-haired figures appeared in my sight.

"Hey Y/N!", one of them waved cheerfully at me, I still had no idea which one. "Why do you suddenly look tall today?", the other said with a smile, which made me want to punch him.

"Why are you suddenly more annoying today? It sounds like a serious illness, so excuse me, I don't want to catch this", I walked as fast as I could so they couldn't keep up with me.

I could hear their laughter behind me and the whispering but decided not to pay attention to what was said, that would bring me more calmness.

And why do I basically run away from them? It is very simple.

One day I was just another Ravenclaw student, and the next day I had the attention of the most popular twins at Hogwarts.

They liked to tease me about absolutely everything, no matter if I was just sitting down reading or trying to concentrate in a class, one of them would find a way to annoy me.

I never tried to differentiate which was Fred and which was George, it made no difference, they both seemed equally annoying to me and knowing who is who was not going to guarantee me anything.

"Hey, wait. We have a deal for you", the tallest of them spoke with a grin plastered on his face as he walked up to me in stride.

"And why should I agree? Anything coming from you guys is pretty suspicious", I replied with my eyes screwed tight and crossed my arms.

"Because you can have your quiet time again, we won't tease you anymore as far as possible", the other said with a small smile and I stopped to think for a few seconds.

"Well, that sounds good enough, and what do I have to do? You're going to have to get something out of this, obviously", I still remained in the same position analyzing the two, who seemed to be enjoying themselves more every second.

"You'll have to guess who is who at the end of the day", one of them started and my face dropped at the same moment."Since we're nice, we'll just say it once", the other added.

"What if I don't succeed then? If there's a prank, I'm out."

"There won't be anything out of the ordinary, just an extra dose of us", I took a deep breath just imagining what my life would be like with these two following me around the castle. "So are you going to accept or not?", he raised an eyebrow.

I took a deep breath and looked away, a good opportunity had fallen into my hands but I would have the rest of my peace lost if I didn't win, which would be no small thing but a part of me was just screaming to accept it at once, the competitive part, the part that was going to win this little challenge.

"I accept, it won't be that hard", I replied with a smile, a wave of confidence built up inside me and I really thought it wouldn't be a problem at all.

"Okay then", they just walked past me and kept walking and if I could see my forehead, a big question mark would be hanging there, "Hey? You still have to tell me which is which, it was part of the deal", I said, taking a few steps behind them but they soon stopped and looked at me.

"Oh, you're so confident, do you really need us to tell you who's who?", I clenched my hands tightly to hold back the urge to kill him.

"Of course I don't need to but... HEY!It's not polite to leave a person talking alone", they had the audacity to walk off and wave at me on top of that.

7:30 a.m.

I wasn't going to get any help from them, why did I expect to get any? Obviously they don't want me to win but I will and they will have to swallow that. That's my new goal today, screw the herbology paper.

But now it would be more difficult, few people would know the difference, I would have to ask one of his friends or one of the other Weasleys who studied at Hogwarts.

I wasn't intimate with any of them but I had classes with some, we never spoke but I will change that today.

I just hope they actually tell me something useful, one of the twins could have easily told no one to help me and made everything even more difficult.

8:25 a.m

"Hey Kate, what's up?", I said with a smile just as she was about to pass me down the hall, it was really worth it to eat fast or I wouldn't have made it in time.

The expression on her face already told me everything, the same gleam in her eye that twins have when they are disturbing me, why do I get the impression that it won't be so easy?

"Good morning Y/N, do you need anything?", she said leaning against the wall with a mischievous smile that I chose to ignore. "Actually yes, you should already know, the Weasleys challenged me to set them apart and you as a friend should know how, anything is useful, anything really", I liked that she was direct because I could be too. I don't like wasting time with small talk, especially when I don’t have too much time.

"They actually told me it would happen, but they didn't tell me more details, what happens if you lose? Some kind of prank I bet.

"They will annoy me twice as much as they already do, I don't know how you manage to be friends with them, she stared at me for a few seconds and then grinned. "What?"

"I'll help you since you're asking me but maybe you'll soon see that it wouldn't be so bad to lose", I just nodded without really believing it would happen. "Fred is louder and generally more annoying, George is quieter and more careful. You can find out more by noticing for yourself, I'm going to get going, I want to practice a little before class begins", she pointed to the castle entrance.

"Thank you so much Kate, I'll owe you this one. See you later", I smiled and waved as she walked away from me after waving as well.

Now I know the basics but they might try to trick me, switch places or pretend to be the other one. I have to be prepared and there is only one way.

9:00 a.m

The bell rang and the halls filled with heads hurrying not to be late, especially the poor first year students heading for the dungeon. I could see some shaking on the way out of the Great Hall but my destination was completely different, I headed up the stairs along with the other forty years to Minerva's class.

There was no sign of any of the twins, if they had decided to skip this class my plan was destined to fail.

The class was about to start when the two of them entered without any hurry and I smiled internally for having kept an empty chair next to me, just in case.

"Are you gentlemen having a problem with your audition? The bell rang five minutes ago. This kind of behavior is not tolerated, Mr. Weasleys. Minus ten points for Gryffindor", her angry voice boomed, and no one seated dared to breathe.

"It won't happen again, professor", I was surprised not to hear any funny remarks as a comment and I'm sure she was too but didn't show it.

"Sit down and open your books, let's move one more step forward from yesterday's lesson...", she continued talking but I barely paid attention after one of them sat down next to me.

"So, you're George, you can tell me now that I already know", he looked a little surprised for a few seconds but soon regained his posture.

"How did you guess it? I didn't even say anything", he said looking at me intently and I just shrugged, I wasn't about to say since this is clearly a plus for me.

"That's a secret that will stay with me, it wasn't that hard", I commented, dipping my quill into the ink to start writing what Minerva was going over on the blackboard.

Behind us it was possible to hear Fred's excited whispers that I had learned to ignore after all these years. Now it seemed so much easier, it's not as if I hadn't noticed them both all this time, it's a bit impossible since they make themselves present everywhere.

We remained silent, since this is the only way I can concentrate. I even mentally thanked him for that, but it didn't seem to do any good today. My attention kept being drawn to the red-headed boy next to me, I couldn't help it.

Internally I blamed it on my will to win, because to do so I would have to pay more attention to him, that's all my body wanted to do, focus on George Weasley.

I only realized that I was crossing the line when I noticed that his cheeks started to take on a reddish tint and a shy little smile appeared. To make matters worse, there was Fred's giggles, who was watching everything with the best view; there was no way I could get away with this.

After this awkward moment, I forced myself to pay attention even though my desire was to get out of there, since he now decided to start watching me not as discreetly as he thought he was being. I was much better at that.

"Is there a problem?", I mustered up the courage to ask when it was already 15 minutes before the bell rang again.

I noticed him bite his lips and crack a small smile before looking forward again, "why would there be a problem?"

"You were looking at me", I answered quietly so as not to draw attention from the other students and especially from Minerva who was passing between the desks checking to see if everyone was practicing the spells correctly.

"You were looking at me before that, discretion is not your specialty, you know?", I was a few seconds without knowing how to answer that and in the meantime, I could see him savoring the fact that he had left me speechless.

"Yes, I was watching you to differentiate you better from your brother, and why were you looking at me?", I spoke in a direct tone looking him straight in the eyes and the other redhead's laughter sounded behind us and George gave him a nonchalant look, as did the woman, who had just passed us.

"Is something wrong Mr. Weasley?", she asked and of course, everyone around us had to pay attention too, because they had nothing else interesting to do.

"No, I just remembered a joke I heard, I could tell you if you want. I assure you it is very funny", he assured holding back the urge to laugh even harder.

"Your little jokes stay outside the room Mr. Weasley, and you all, if you haven't perfected today's transfiguration can get back to work", she caught everyone's attention and continued walking peacefully.

We ended up getting distracted from the main subject, he obviously took the chance of not answering me and just kept on training as I did.

12:00 a.m

We had the next 3 classes together and I stayed close to them and their friends as well. As I imagined everyone was very nice to me, we could have become friends much sooner if we weren't stuck in a fixed group of friends.

Some things had become much clearer in my head and others even more blurred. They didn't seem to be picking on anyone but me, although it hadn't happened all day. Then why? I was going to find out.

"Will you come sit with us today?", Katie said with an arm around Angelina's shoulders, both looking at me with a smile that wouldn't let me deny them anything.

"Sure, I'd love to. It's kind of funny that we have more things in common than I expected", I remarked as we walked slowly, with the hasty crowd in front of us. I would usually be with them but it's much better this way, time is not as important as catching up with everyone.

"I had no idea you liked quidditch, have you thought about joining the Ravenclaw team?", Angel, as she asked to be called, inquired and at that moment, I should but I didn't notice her gaze leave me and go to the twins, several times.

"I'm not as good at playing as I am at watching, so I prefer to stay in the stands", I replied with a small smile until I noticed everyone in that small group communicating with their eyes, which I chose to ignore.

"So Angeli, since when did you start playing?", I started the subject that was going to last throughout the entire lunch hour and it couldn't be better.

Everyone had some story to tell, I must admit that Fred's and George's were the funniest. At no time was there any kind of awkward silence, or a moment when I was not included in the conversation. I did notice that some of my classmates were surprised that I sat there, but in general they were looking at us because of the noise. Their special talent was talking, which I found refreshing since I could hear more and talk occasionally.

The worst part of it was that I ended up not paying as much attention to either George or Fred as I had planned, although now I know a little more about both of them and my new friends.

3:00 p.m.

After two classes of Aritmancia, I had a free period and many homework assignments to do and as I walked to the library, a familiar voice called out to me.

"Y/N!", I turned around and was faced with George and his broom near the stairs, not so far from me, "We are going to practice a little, do you want to come too?", I was about to say no, as I was already busy but then I remembered, I still had to guess who was who at the end of the day.

I had really forgotten and started to enjoy their company, I had to remind myself that I wanted to win and that it made perfect sense to spend some more time with him, if it meant that I could guarantee it. Or at least, I tried to convince myself of that.

"Sure, who else will be training?", I asked as I walked over to him and then we walked together to the castle entrance and towards the field. "Just Angelina and Fred, the others have classes or something to do," and I just nodded in agreement.

We hadn't spent any time alone since Transfiguration class and I didn't know what to say, as did he but I didn't feel uncomfortable, just lost in my own thoughts.

"You came to watch half the best quadribol team play today. You won't regret it," Fred was the first to speak up as soon as we arrived and I could only laugh, how could one person be so confident? I needed some tips.

"My expectations are higher than you Weasley, you better not let me down after that speech," I wasn't trying to be funny but I heard a chuckle come from the redhead next to me. "You're not out of it George, none of you. But remember, no pressure. I'm only going to judge a little bit," I said smirking, not really taking any of the words I said seriously.

"Go sit down and prepare to be impressed," the black haired girl gave the last words, grabbed her own broom and flew to the three right hoops as I hurried to the stands.

Luckily, I didn't miss much and less than 5 minutes later, I could tell with certainty how good the three were. They took turns as goalkeepers for Angelina, even though it wasn't really their position in the game.And after 15 minutes, the dynamic changed for the two of them to try to hit her, one at a time, for them to practice as beaters.

But honestly, I paid much less attention than I normally do. I couldn't tell them apart from so far away, and this realization made me face the shameless excuse I had created for myself. I just wanted to be there, and the reason for that I wouldn't say out loud.

More than 30 minutes later, the three of them instead of landing on the ground, came flying towards me and stopped by my side.

"So you can talk about how impressed you are now", I pretended to think for a few seconds and the indignation on his face was so funny I almost didn't say it but after such an arduous training like that, they deserved it.

"You guys were amazing, if someone from another house could watch the official training sessions I would really come to see more", I smiled and it was extremely adorable to see George's already red face redden even more after my compliment.

"You already know you can't watch the official practices, we are finally starting to understand each other", Fred said and took a step to hug me and I immediately took one back. "You're soaking wet Fred Weasley, don't even think about it. This is not the time for hugs".

"But I think it's a good idea sweetie, you can't hide from a Weasley, so just accept it", he said with an evil grin on his face and I was ready to run, I hated sweat especially when it wasn't mine but his long legs came into action once again.

"That's the most disgusting thing I've ever experienced, so you have something to be proud of after all", I complained, pulling away seconds after he had cornered me in the hug, which wouldn't have been so bad if it had been any other time.

"If that's the grossest one, you really don't know what's waiting for you honey. This is just the beginning," Angel said with a satisfied smile on his face. "But we better go now, I need a shower and we still have one last class today," she added and flew out of there after waving to us.

"Yeah, I need to take a shower too, I'll see you guys later," Fred said before getting out of there as quickly as possible, leaving me alone with George again.

"Well, do you want a ride? It's much quicker to get down that way," he smiled slightly at me and I agreed without a second thought.

I held his bare arm, because I thought it was better than hugging him and regret appeared immediately because I always had some issues with flying. It wasn't the worst thing in the world but it was far from being one of my favorites.

All I could do was close my eyes as we crossed the field, my hands automatically closed around his arm, the weather was windy and I could feel the shivers that went through his now red skin as well as mine.

It was a few seconds if I'm really honest but it didn't feel like it to me, I've never picked up a broom other than for classes and it's been a long time since I stopped having fun in those classes.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I felt my feet on the ground again.

"I'll see you later then, I haven't forgotten about the bet. You better be prepared," he gave me a beautiful smile and the consequences of that is the only thing I wasn't prepared for.

5:00 p.m.

There are those moments when you have to stop and ask yourself, what the hell is happening to me? For countless reasons obviously, and it was my turn. I didn't come up with any answers that made me blind to reality, which was really frustrating because that way it would be easier for me to just ignore.

But nobody told me it was going to be easy, which is a shame because I would have someone to blame.

All this played out in my head before I received an owl from them, telling me that I could go to the Gryffindor common room to finish our bet, along with the password for the day. I was prepared after being warned by basically all their friends, all I could think of on the way there were some spells, mainly revenge because I wouldn't let it go if there really was a prank.

But what happened was quite different, the place was quieter than I imagined, although they had many people sitting and talking normally including Fred and George.

"Oh hello stranger, you have finally decided to give us the honor of your presence, I can say for everyone, we are all grateful," I had barely stepped into the room when Fred spoke up with the most sarcastic smile I have ever seen, should I be confused?

"If I get all this reception every time I come here, I will definitely come back more often. Thank you, I feel very welcome," I said with an equally big smile, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Okay smartass, it's time for your answer," he continued speaking, the same voice but now that I was close, in front of them, I noticed that there was something very wrong there.

"Why are you talking like that George?", was my only thought, they were imitating each other, the voice was extremely similar, I could never tell the difference just by that, but looking at him, it is impossible to be mistaken.

Their expression dropped on the spot and I realized that there were more people watching me and maybe they knew the plan, because everyone was a little shocked too, was it that simple?

"That's impossible, who was the snitch that told you? Whoever it was, you're going to have a tough future," Fred even stood up and didn't bother to do another voice, he spoke and I was sure I won.

"Nobody told me, I didn't need much to realize that you guys were faking it. He spent the whole conversation scratching his arm, it's been like that all day," I pointed to George who had not taken his eyes off my person so far.

At that moment they looked at each other for a few seconds and then back at me. I should be happy but I wasn't. Even if I wasn't going to admit it out loud, they just proved to me how amazing they are and I wasn't going to lose that.

"Now that I've won, I want to change my reward. It's very simple, I want to reverse the reward and the punishment. I want an extra dose of Weasleys," I had to get a certain amount of shyness out of the way to say this but it was worth it.

It was worth it because I could see a sparkle in both of their eyes that went beyond a successful prank, it was worth it because I had the best years at Hogwarts with the best friends I could ever want. It was worth it because I found the best boyfriend in the world that day. I never thought I would be so grateful for a silly bet.

Harry Potter Masterlist

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thr-333 · 4 years

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Mismatch- Part 25

In my defence I didn’t forget about updating here, I just didn’t want to.

First < Previous

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“How do I look?” Marion asks as people fuss around him, not least of all Marinette herself.

“I hoped that would be obvious seeing as I designed this look,” She smirks at him eyes sparkling he can tell since the whites of the Domino mask are removed.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re the greatest and all that,” He waves her off as a stylist tries to tame his hair to fit the messy look she wanted.

“Well it is true isn’t it?” She teases, someone also trying to follow her with a brush and comb as she flies around the room in a whirl of designing.

"Perhaps," Marion hums, gaze drifting over to the door where he notices a familiar figure, Marinette follows his smile.

“Luka!” Marinette exclaims, wrapping her friend in a hug, “When did you arrive?”

“Last night," Luka smiles, she was glad she got the chance to become his friend again as MDC, not that he knew their secret identity, "This city is so majestic,”

“Gotham at night?” Marion scoffs, turning in his seat, only to get scolded by the stylist, “Are we talking about the same place?”

“CD maybe you just haven't taken the time to really hear the city’s song,” Luka strums a few cords to demonstrate, “You should its melody compliments your own,”

“I’ll have to take your word for it,” Marion shrugs, sitting forward again, “Do you think you can use it to reach out to the Gotham audience? I really want to connect with them,”

“Will do boss,” Marion sticks his tongue at him, Luka only ever called him that in jest.

Luka gives a playful wave leaving to go sort out the music. He had his own responsibilities as the opening act. Marinette feels someone watching them and dismisses the stylist, congratulating her on a great job. She looks a tad peeved as Marion's hair is largely the same as when she entered, but many employees are used to the twins randomly leaving anyway. The door to their dressing room clicks closed and the presence makes itself known.

“What can we do for you, Batman?” Marinette asks, offering him a seat, although she knows he won’t accept it.

“MDC,” he inclines his head, not showing if he was taken aback by her catching him out, “We have reason to believe the concert will be attacked tonight,”

“Yeah, we thought that might happen,” Marion gets up, stretching, “Just try to keep whoever away from the crowd and we can handle the rest,”

“You don’t seem to understand, after the last attack-”

“Sorry to cut you off,” Wow it was weird acing professional around the same guy they had been tormenting the past few weeks, “But that was an impromptu event this one has been planned out for years,"

Officially not but they had designed the building to help them catch akuma in Paris while keeping an event going, they just applied that design to Gotham.

"If you would like to call in the rest of your coworkers we can show you the defenses we have in place so you can work with them,”

Batman seems surprised. What did he think they were just air-headed celebrities? Well, that wasn’t going to be the only surprise of the day then. Sure enough, he calls everyone in and Marinette’s a little hurt to see he invited everyone but Sparrow and Songbird to join in the fun. She hides this fact leading the ragtag group through the backstage area. Spotting their manager she walks over.

“Could you please clear our schedule we want to give them a personal tour of our security measures,” She asks Kate, to her credit only looking mildly surprised to see the whole Batfam trailing after them.

“I thought you might, I’ve already worked it into your schedule, just make sure you're there in time for the costume checks,” Kate looks down tapping away at her tablet, “Also call your uncle arrived in town last night he’ll want to wish you good luck so watch out for him,”

“We couldn’t do it without you,” Marinette beams, letting her go to attend her other duties.

They must make an odd sight, two superstars guiding a pack of vigilantes like ducklings through the backstage. They go over all the security protocols. Safe rooms that the staff was instructed to go to under certain circumstances. There were carefully lain traps that only a few people could trigger to set off. On the stage itself was a secret compartment Marion could make a quick getaway to get change in, a tunnel leading backstage. The entire backstage was a maze in itself all the staff specially trained to navigate it.

To protect the audience they hadn't packed it nearly as much as they could have so it meant it easier for them to reach the exits. Indeed there were hidden emergency exits that people could escape through if villains blocked the obvious ones, they were set to reveal themselves if that was the case. There were also hidden trapdoors in rows of seats that would glow if people were forced to duck behind the seats. It leads to underground tunnels that would lead them safely away. There were even tunnels connecting to the staff safe rooms so they could come and direct the audience as needed. Marinette had made sure to make the tunnels look inviting ad pleasant so no one would panic at being underground.

Then there were the special (comfy) perches that they showed to the Batfamily, each situated to look over everything and be hidden by the lights. There were wires leading to the stage and audience in case they needed to get down quickly and quietly. They also made a web above that they could run along and run any interference with ariel attacks. They also gave them each a blueprint of the stadium so they could see all the secret tunnels that were perfect for a surprise attack. There were ones leading into the entrance subtle enough someone could be pulled in while walking into the building, for the purposes of catching criminals before they even entered. There was also a trap door that could open underneath, she gave them each a remote control to these, warning them to use them wisely. Each hidden door leads to a room suited for fighting, carefully crafted to give the bats and edge.

It had taken a long time and a lot of money but they had invested, making a safe place they could rent out to other performers so there could be more shows in Gotham conducted safely. She could tell that by the end of the tour even Batman was impressed as they headed back to the stage through the empty audience seating.

“Hey! Superstars!” Jagged's voice booms across the arena, waving from the entrance of the place.

“Uncle Jagged!” Marion jumps over seats to reach him, Marinette a step behind him as they both tackle him into a hug.

“Good to see you too,” Jagged ruffles their hair, Marinette sends a silent apology to the stylist, “This place looks Rockin!”

“You bet just wait till I take the stage,” Marion grins, as they both hug Penny and Fang as well.

“Why wait! Show me what you got,” Jagged sends Marion off, who runs to the technicians asking if they can do an early mic check, everyone scrambles to make it happen.

“So how’re you finding Gotham?” Jagged asks her, walking with a side hug back towards the Batfamily.

“Oh, you know… busy,”

“I’d say the news with Marion? That was wicked!”

“Yes… wicked,” Penny pales at just the memory, and yeah fair enough.

“Yo Batman great to meet you!” Jagged boisterous nature meets Batman’s stoic one but the poor guy barely has a chance to adjust before Jagged’s moving on.

“Yo Red Hood right?” Hood looks a little shocked as Jagged claps a hand on his shoulder, “You saved my nephew, I really owe you one!”

“Oh-that's not- I just,” Marinette shares a smirk with Jagged which would have surely had Marion screaming.

“Yeah, he really looks up to you!” Jagged has him spluttering more, she would show him mercy but they only have so much time before Marion catches on.

“Oh Uncle Jagged I wouldn’t phrase it like that,” Marinette says in a suggestive tone, the stage is still empty of Marion.

“Of course, no I’d say it more that...” Marinette could actually laugh as Red Hood practically vibrates from anticipation, “He likes you,”

I think we just killed him, Marinette notes as Red Hood internally combusts. Well now wasn't the time to show mercy.

“I’d say that's putting it rather lightly,” Marinette smirks as Red Hood is sent into another spluttering mess, and oh how she wishes he wasn't wearing that helmet.

“Right it’s more like-”

“Stop it both of you,” Penny’s reprimand has them both doubling over with laughter. The Batfamily looking absolutely bewildered. Minus of course, Red Hood who they may have to call an ambulance for soon if he doesn't start breathing.

“What are you two laughing at?” Marion walks to the edge of the stage, someone fusses with a microphone not too far away.

“Nooothhinggggg,” They chime simultaneously, with matching grins.

“Penny?” Marion all but whines, fidgeting nervously.

“They haven’t said anything bad,” She assures him, Marion foolishly relaxes.

“Hey is this the guy that saved your hide?” Jagged asks, having the guts to swing his arm around Red Hood’s shoulders.

“Uncle Jagged,” He hisses at the same time Penny hisses ‘Jagged’.

“You should thank him... sing endless!” Jagged exclaims, and Marinette couldn’t be sure he hasn't been planning this from the start, “You wrote it for him didn’t you?”

“Not for him its not-” Marion makes a bunch of vague gestures, “You know?”

“Not at all,” Jagged grins, dragging Red Hood closer to center stage seats, he plops down Red Hood right in the middle of the stadium. The rest of the Batfam take seats around them. “Sing Endless!”

Marion is scowling but doesn't have much other choice as a stagehand tell him he’s all set. He takes the microphone. Marinette mimes at him to breathe, he rolls his eyes but does anyway. The music starts Marion hitting his cue and with just the first few words she could see the tension drain away.

“And the world starts slowly caving it~”

It was such a gentle song. So many people had told him and still told him that it didn’t fit the violent vigilante. The producers had argued they should just fit it to someone else, someone people liked more. In the end, they had caved to Marion's arguments probably because it wasn't made to be an upbeat pop song so they weren't too attached to the money making aspect. That didn't stop the audience from arguing about it afterwards. Some claimed they just randomly selected the song, or that they shouldn't have done one for him at all.

Marion pointedly told them they were all wrong. And looking at Red Hood now, completely enthralled with Marion's singing she could tell that, yeah it had fit him perfectly all along.

"All the words you said were they true? or just selfish li-es~"

Marinette broke her gaze away from Marion to look at the rest of the Batfamily. Suffice to say they were all enthralled, hopefully they wouldn't be this distracted at the concert tonight. Although she supposed it was a good thing they were doing the mic check now so they could watch now and focus later. Then again she doubted Red Hood would be much use regardless, he was leaning forward in his seat the rest of the world dead to him. To fair Marion wasn't much better. In a crowd he would look around or at least pick a random stop to sing to no one. This time however? this time he was locked on to Red Hood sinign directly to him and he probably didn't even realise.

"Gave all I ever had try to make you laugh try to please you~"

Batman looked uncomfortable at the line. Judjing by the times she had seen them spend together there was a tension between them a past she didn't know. How Marion managed to pick up on that long before they came to Gotham she doesn't know. It was almost like he could see into his soul, a connection there despite never having met, like the pull of a miraculous.

"All I know is gone, now I'm all alone~"

Marion wasn’t testing out the mics. That much was obvious. He was straight up performing. And no he hadn’t written the song for Red Hood persay. But she had watched him every night and day agonize over the right words to use, the tune, the feeling behind it. Scraping up every bit of information he could it was probably more thorough than any police investigation done on Red Hood. It was then she realized, their room covered top to bottom in pictures of him covering the ones she had of Adrien, that Marion had completely and utterly fallen for the guy. No, it wasn't a song for him, it was a love letter for him, to him, about him. It was a picture that painted exactly how Marion saw him.

And she was willing to bet that the only people that didn’t realize it were them, both completely captivated by each other as Marion finished.

“What is it~” He holds the next note until the music fades out into nothingness, “Inside~”

The music stops, Marion opening his eyes, almost seeming startled that there were other people sitting before him. It’s only then he seemed to realize that there was more than just one other person in the arena and spirited off to check with the sound. It was as he turned to walk away Marinette could tell Hood had seen it, the robins newly stitched up the back of his jacket.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug fic #miraculous ladybug #ml fic #ML #bio! dadbrucewaynemonth2020 #bio dad bruce wayne #Mismatch #marinette is mdc #twins au #vigilante AU #Popstar AU #MLB #salt #Slight salt #lila #lila lies #class trip au #maribat

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lesbianlotties · 3 years

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Journeys end in lovers meeting - Sam/Deena - Bly Manor AU

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Fear Street Trilogy (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Fraser/Deena Johnson, Sarah Fier/Hannah Miller (Fear Street), Christine "Ziggy" Berman/Nick Goode, Samantha "Sam" Fraser & Deena Johnson Characters: Samantha "Sam" Fraser (Fear Street), Deena Johnson, Kate Schmidt (Fear Street), Simon Kalivoda, Josh Johnson (Fear Street), Constance (Fear Street Part 3: 1666), Christine "Ziggy" Berman, Nick Goode (Fear Street), Alice (Fear Street Part 2: 1978), Sarah Fier (Fear Street), Hannah Miller (Fear Street), Solomon Goode (Fear Street) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, The Haunting of Bly Manor AU, Not Canon Compliant, Haunted Houses, Ghosts, Character Death, Minor Character Death, Canon Lesbian Relationship, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending, Au Pair Sam, Gardener Deena, Housekeeper Kate, Cook Simon, Josh and Constance as troubled kids, Ziggy and Nick in an unhealthy relationship, minor Cindy/Alice, Martin cameos, special appearances of all the Shadyside killers as ghosts, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, The Rest Is Confetti Summary: The year is 1994. Samantha Fraser recently moved to Shadyside, and she desperately needs a job that will help her leave her troubled past behind. She starts working as au pair at Shadyside Manor, where she is not the only one tortured by ghosts. Grief, regrets, guilt, innocent victims, and an ancient curse. At the center of all of it... love.

Chapter 4:

Sam really didn’t want to eavesdrop, but it was a hectic day for everyone but here. It was an accident, really. She just wanted a glass of water, but when she heard Deena and Kate arguing in the kitchen, she stopped before reaching the doorway, and couldn’t help but listen.

“Are you seriously not going?” Deena was saying.

“No, Deena,” Kate replied, in a tone that made it obvious it wasn’t the first time she said so. “I’ll only go to a funeral when I’m dead, thank you very much.”

“Maybe I should kill you then,” Deena grumbled. In the hallway, Sam fought back a smile at the grumpiness of the gardener. “He’s your platonic husband and you’re letting him down in the most fucking tragic day of his life, Kate.”

“He understands,” Kate snapped back at her. “Besides, we’ve let each other down before.”

Eavesdropping on teenagers feels even worse. But Sam can’t help herself, again. She just seems to be at the right place at the right time, and nobody hears her coming. She was just looking for Constance and Josh when she found them talking in the classroom in whispers. She worried they might have been planning something unwise, so she listened in for a moment.

“Do you think they can follow us?” Constance asked in a whisper.

“No, I don’t think it works like that,” Josh replied.

The girl hummed thoughtfully and then added, in a considerably more distressed tone, “Do you think they’ll try to stop us?”

“Shh! Constance!” Josh stopped her. “Let’s just… see what happens, okay? We’re in this together, right? All of us.”

Sam considered intervening, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what they were talking about. She could barely keep track of their changing moods or Constance’s name. In the end, she walked away, deciding to keep an eye out and studying them more closely when she had the chance.

Sam had tried her best, but she really had nothing else to do at the moment. It was strange, having a day mostly free from her responsibilities as au pair. Deena would be taking Josh and Constance with her to Simon’s mom’s funeral. A little lost in her thoughts without anything else to do while they all got ready, Sam took a seat near the bottom of the stairs, looking out at the gardens she could see through the open door. It started out as a particularly sunny day, not at all something you’d expect for a funeral.

The au pair was leaning against the railing of the stairs. A little behind her, under the safety and familiarity of the manor’s shadows, Harry Rooker stood perfectly still. His clothes hadn’t changed at all in all the decades he had been wandering those halls, even his bowtie was in still place. The same couldn’t be said about his face though. The passing of the years, one after another, had slowly washed away his features. His eyes were no longer there, his mouth was barely noticeable and his nose wouldn’t likely last long. The burn on the side of his face, which had hurt him so much during the war and cost him so much even after his return, was still there, stubbornly, almost mocking him. As well as his knife, always in his hand, always sharp. Never being useful anymore.

The sound of a heavy pair of boots coming down the stairs, as often, disturbed the peace of the foyer. Sam tried not to look too excited as she turned her head to look at Deena descend the stairs, but when she saw the gardener’s outfit she probably failed to hide her pleased reaction.

“Hi,” Sam gasped a little and stood up, “You look…”

“Like I remembered how to take a shower?” Deena smirked. She reached the bottom of the stairs and showed off her clothes, consisting of all black pants, shirt, and blazer that fit her perfectly, made her look a little too good for a funeral, if Sam had to give her honest opinion.

“Like a waiter,” Sam said, biting her lip to keep that honest opinion from spilling out.

“Hey! Didn’t know that side of you, Sunnyvale. Rude,” Deena replied, smiling the entire time. When her expression softened a little, she asked, “Are you sure you’re okay staying here by yourself?”

“Yes, t’s okay. Besides, Kate’s here too.”

Deena made an unamused sound. “Sometimes it feels like she isn’t,” she murmured.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed quietly. Before the silence could stretch for too long, she spoke up again. “Anyway, I, um, had to… be present in a funeral, not too long ago. It’s… I can’t, again. Not yet.”

As she spoke, Sam couldn’t look Deena in the eyes. Not when the only thing in her mind was Sunnyvale. Peter. Her mother. Peter. Twentyfive entitled children in a classroom. Peter. A heavy engagement ring and suffocating wedding dress. Peter.

But it didn’t start like that. It started with her father getting sick, her mother being cruel enough to divorce him on the spot to save herself from taking care of him, and Sam being already in Sunnyvale, thirty minutes away, when he finally died. It started with her mother wrapping her in her best dress, too old for her already, and dragging her to the neighbors house, because they were rich, and look at that handsome young boy, he already has his eyes on you! They were only eight. But then they were twelve, and Peter got in a fight for her and felt entitled to her attention ever since, and nobody ever told her she didn’t have to give him anything she didn’t want to. So when he demanded it, she gave him a kiss, a second date, the color of her prom dress so he could get a matching tie. She gave and she gave until she didn’t know what else he could take from her, but everyone made her feel like she still owed him. So she gave hiim a second chance when he first hit her, and she gave him her bags when he told her to move in with him, she gave him a third and fourth chance, and she gave him the answer he wanted when he offered her a wedding ring.

“Sam? Are you okay?”

In the blink of an eye, Sam was back in Shadyside Manor, with Deena’s gentle hands on her elbows, anchoring her to reality, and those warm brown eyes worriedly searching her face, not knowing what horrors they could find behind the walls Sam spent a lifetime building.

“Yes,” Sam blurted out. “Yes, I’m okay. I’m okay.”

“Right,” Deena nodded and slowly stepped away from the au pair. “Well, I’m leaving now. Try to come up with something real to tell me when I return, okay?”

Sam suddenly couldn’t come up with any words so she nodded, smiled, and watched holding her breath as Deena walked away from her, not without glancing over her shoulder by the door.

Sam stood awkwardly in the middle of the chapel. She had made it too far to turn around now, but she didn’t dare move closer and interrupt Kate who appeared to be praying. Except, before Sam made up her mind about her next move, Kate spoke up without turning around.

“Are you just going to stand there like a ghost?”

“Sorry,” Sam blushed. “Uh, how did you know I was-”

“I have eyes on the back of my head, darling,” Kate replied with a smile and finally turned around.

“Am I interrupting you?”

“No, it’s okay,” Kate softened. “I’m not a funeral type of person. I deal with loss in my own way.”

“I get it,” Sam nodded. She found the courage to continue walking closer to the other woman.

“If you ask me,” Kate continued, somewhat unprompted, “This is more for our own comfort.” She nodded her head to the side, indicating the five red little candles burning. “You have to be there for people while they’re still alive. Simon gave his entire life for his mother. I’ve been there with him for most of the journey, in ways that I know count so much more than missing out on one tragic goodbye party.”

Again, Sam nodded. She took a seat down on one of the pews close to Kate. She really didn’t want to think about the funerals in her own life. Her mother made sure they arrived late and left early for Sam's father’s funeral. And then a few months ago…

“You two are very close,” she blurted out. It was a statement, a question, and mostly just a way to get Kate to keep talking.

“Best friends since childhood,” Kate said and she wore one of the most genuine smiles Sam had seen on her. “We kissed once, and afterward I punched him in the face. We’ve been inseparable ever since. Which might be the best and worst part about our friendship.”

“What do you mean?”

This time Kate took her time before replying. Her smile was gone.

“Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to leave Shadyside and see the world. But there was nothing that could have convinced Simon to leave his mom. He missed a chance to work at a restaurant in Paris, I missed my chance to see the world, but we have each other. We have each other and ninety-nine percent of the time it feels like the right choice.”

The remaining one percent of the time hung in the air of the chapel so heavily it was almost palpable.

“What about now?” Sam asked, not without a good amount of hesitation.

The meaning of her question was obvious. Simon wasn’t tethered to Shadyside anymore. However, there was no answer from the housekeeper. Kate chuckled sadly, completely dismissing the idea of grabbing a bag of her best clothes and her best friend’s hand and moving away to Paris any day now. Instead, she stood up and threw the little box of matches for Sam to catch.

“What?” Why?” The au pair looked back and forth between the matches and Kate.

“Light a candle,” Kate replied. She noticed the confusion in Sam’s face, but the au pair, unknowingly, carried her heart, broken and hopeful at once, on her sleeve. “Dead people, regrets, protection, good luck,” Kate said while methodically fixing the wrinkles on her red skirt, checking her ponytail, and mindlessly passing her hand over the back of her neck. “Everything counts.”

Sam stayed silent. She watched Kate walk out of the chapel and then she moved toward the candles. She moved almost automatically, lighting up the first match, but then she couldn’t bring herself to actually light the candle. The small flame burned bright for a second, highlighting the sadness in Sam’s blue eyes, but she let it die before reaching for a candle. }

Eventually, Sam decided to light up a new match and light up a single candle at random. Not for dead people, and not for her attempts at forgetting about them, but for the time she had wasted trying to please people that did nothing but hurt her for so long.

On the way out of the chapel, Sam made the mistake of glancing at the windows. Of course he was still there. He would never leave her, would he? She had seen him angry at her more times than she could count, but never like that. That expression of outstanding disgust and fury was forever etched in Sam’s memory of him. He was just a shadow, he was pure darkness in the shape of a man she once knew. But Sam had to look away and walk as fast as she could away from him, fearing that any day now his image would definitely leave the restrained space of reflective surfaces and finally kill her, like she had killed him.

“Dinner… is served!” Simon announced with a flourish.

Simon and Deena dropped several bags on the kitchen table and they chuckled when everyone else eagerly jumped forward to look at the contents spilling on the table.

“There’s nothing like an absurd amount of junk food to fix all your problems,” he smiled proudly at the scene in front of him. All the people closest to him with smiles on their faces, exchanging a warm meal and easy conversation. His smile turned just nostalgic enough, thinking about his mother, the woman who taught him that lesson. She used to fix all problems with food. She had special meals for every sickness, mended broken hearts with each person’s favorite food, and she celebrated every occasion with big feasts. So far, Simon couldn’t say she had ever failed.

Simon, Deena, Kate, Sam, Josh, and Constance, sat down at the table. They got started with their junk food feast. Everything was still hot, smelled amazing, and tasted even better. Behind Simon and the teenagers, stood Ruby Lane. She tilted her head one side and the other, observing the scene in front of her. Her slightly blurred expression showed confusion, then a hint of sadness, and finally settled in something surprisingly close to affection. Eating. Food. Good company. Friends. She distantly could remember the feeling of it all. The details had left her a while ago. But if she focused hard enough on the smiles of these strangers, she almost felt right at home, almost felt like she belonged with them, almost let herself believe that if she wanted to she could reach out, take a seat, enjoy a meal with them… Almost, almost but not quite.

At the table, conversation flowed easily. Everyone was enjoying the food, and the adults all had one or two beers with the meals, perhaps a little more. Despite the emotionally heavy day, the group was in a surprisingly good mood. A consequence of growing up in Shadyside, maybe. They were either the best or the worst at coping with loss. The trick was not knowing how to tell the difference between both extremes.

Sam was a little concerned about the fact that the pair of teenagers looked so refreshed and so much like themselves after attending a funeral. Maybe they just needed the time away from the manor. She just hoped it would last.

While all of them discussed favorite meals and comfort food, Simon finally explained his choice of food for the day. “This is actually from the first place where I worked,” he confessed.

“Really?” Sam asked, leaning forward with a kind smile.

“Yeah. My mom got me the job,” he added. “She was the sweetest woman, but she could be scary as shit if she wanted to. She convinced them to give a part-time job to little old me. I was barely fifteen.”

“Tell her why you got fired,” Kate said, raising a playful eyebrow in his direction.

Simon rolled his eyes and picked up a couple of fries to throw in her direction. “For giving you free food you asshole!”

While all the others laughed, Kate gasped loudly and wore a nearly comically offended expression for a moment. It was her turn to roll her eyes and lean across Deena to look at Sam and explain, “This bitch throwing me food like a toddler? He got fired for being too talented for a food truck, basically.”

“Ah, whatever,” Simon laughed. He ran a hand through his messy blonde hair and pushed through his unexpected shyness to explain. “The food was good, but it was also too slow and expensive. Got me fired but got me noticed.” He stopped then, and tried to make it seem natural and not at all like he was holding back information. Which made Sam think about the missed opportunity across the ocean that Kate had mentioned earlier that day. “But!” Simon went on, with extra cheerfulness on his voice to hide who knows how many things anymore, “now I get to happily cook for all of you, ungrateful little shits that you are.”

“Hey!” Deena protested, stopped a second to swallow her food and continued. “I am grateful. Dude, I love your food. I survived eating this cheap shit almost exclusively for like a decade. I’m in heaven when you cook actual food.”

“Do you just love me for my food?” Simon pouted dramatically.

Sam watched them banter with a smile. Before she could stop herself, she was joining the conversation. “This actually reminds me of my childhood in Shadyside,” she said, holding up a burger in her hand.

“What?” Kate smirked, “You don’t have these bad boys in Sunnyvale?”

Sam laughed along with everyone else, she was starting to feel just the slightest bit tipsy, and this time decided not to mention the fact that Kate hadn’t even taken a bite of her burger yet. However, she hadn’t managed to shake herself from the weird, nostalgic mood that had had a hold of her the entire day. One moment she was there, seated at the kitchen table in Shadyside Manor, and with the blink of an eye, she was back at an expensive Sunnyvale restaurant.

She had been more than a little tipsy back then, she had needed the courage in any way she could find it. During the meal, a hundred different memories of her mother’s cruel comments on her weight and eating habits passed through her mind. She didn’t push them away though, she focused on them, because it hadn’t been just her mother, and she needed to focus on that pain and resentment. Because seated across from her was Peter. Peter, who had joined her mother in criticizing her. Peter, who never once defended her from his own mother. Peter, who had hurt her emotionally and physically more than anybody else.

Peter, who refused to lose an argument, who didn’t know when to let it go, and would never let her go. They didn’t get to the altar, but since their first kiss, he had assumed only death would take her away from him. He didn’t consider he’d go first, he might have even dreamed of a second or third wife, and one or two times he had been close to being responsible for that sudden end. Instead, it was their anniversary, they were both drunk, Sam admitted more than she had meant to, he was yelling at her in the middle of the street, threatening to kill her, taking a step backward when she reached for him, and then there were the truck’s headlights…

“Oh, yeah,” Sam blurted out, and hoped they wouldn’t notice the way her voice was trembling. “But in Sunnyvale, we add a little caviar on top of the burgers.”

Sam was surprised to see everyone laugh at what she had considered a pretty lame joke. It was a beautiful sound. She didn’t think she’d ever been surrounded by the incredible number of five people that genuinely liked her for who she really was. Josh even choked a little on the food he had been chewing, and Simon slapped his back, maybe a little harder than necessary. It made Kate and Constance laugh even harder. Those were things that Sam noticed, but her focus was actually on the woman beside her. Deena had laughed with all of them, of course. But the soft smile she was directing at Sam was something completely different, something she couldn’t even compare to anything else she had ever experienced.

When the conversation hit an inevitable lull, Constance was the first one to notice the way Simon’s mood dimmed, his shoulders slumped and he stopped eating, just fumbling with the papers on the table. There was a lot a person could say to a friend that just lost their mother, then there was what a moody teenager with an exceptionally tragic life could offer.

“My aunt was a shit cook,” Constance blurted out. “These burgers were all she got for me when my parents died. But I couldn’t eat it… I thought I would never eat again, which would be okay because that would kill me and I’d be reunited with…” She shrugged, and everyone else at the table listened to her intently, rendered speechless not just by the unexpected confession, but because of her expression, neutral without being insensitive, sincere without being very emotional. “But then,” Constance continued, adding the smallest smiles here and there. “It was like I could hear my mom yelling at me for not eating. Cindy Berman could be a pain in the ass in case you didn’t know. But that feeling… it was like she was right there with me, beautiful and annoying and never gone entirely.”

For a moment, nobody knew what to say. Simon, although his eyes were glassy, smiled brightly at her. “You do not act as if you’re listening to your mom,” he said.

“Hey! I ignored her when she was alive too, she gets it,” Constance rolled her eyes playfully. “But the point is I know that we have to keep eating, and keep living… for them. Don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do,” Simon agreed.

He took a deep breath to get a hold of his emotions and raised his beer bottle to the center of the table, where Kate, Deena, and Sam joined him in a toast for the living. Constance joined in enthusiastically with a can of soda, but Josh didn’t move a muscle.

“Hey, do we have some more beer?” Josh asked a moment later. “I could really use one.”

“Uh, no. Not at fifteen you can’t,” Deena replied immediately. She tensed on her seat.

The teenage boy rolled his eyes and focused on the au pair across the table from him. “Miss Fraser, do you think I could have a beer?” He asked with a sharp, charming smile that looked just a little off on the edges.

“I… agree with your sister, Josh,” Sam replied carefully. She didn’t want to cross any boundaries, but she was also responsible for the teenagers.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve gone without a real drink?!”

“I remember my first beer,” Kate interrupted him, reminiscing with an easy smile on her face. “It was my first time babysitting Constance, and then Christine thought it would be a good idea to give me a beer.”

“My mom hated beer,” Sam said. “She used to say one sip could mean I’ll end up in hell.” Then she took a hearty sip, thinking of her mother and the thousand suffocating rules she’d pressed upon Sam’s shoulders her entire life.

“Well,” Deena smirked, “You did end up in Shadyside so…”

While most of them laughed, Josh’s face contorted into an expression of deep frustration and rage until he didn’t look like himself anymore. “Why the hell am I being controlled by a bunch of dykes?!” He slammed his hand on the table furiously.

But just as soon as the words left his mouth, Sam and Deena jumped out of their chairs. Deena was his sister, and maybe Sam was just the au pair, but while Deena was so angry that she couldn’t even get any words out, Sam got ahead of her.

“That language, and that attitude, and beyond unacceptable, Josh. You are going to your room right now. No discussion. Did you hear me?” Sam said, her voice firm, unwavering, and her stance perfectly commanding.

All eyes were on her, but she was staring straight at Josh. He didn’t budge, he was stronger than most teenagers Sam had ever worked with, but she was even stronger. She didn’t hesitate at all. She glanced quickly at Constance, and the girl, despite intensely rolling her eyes, stood up and walked toward Josh. She not-so-gently grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the chair. Slowly, and with Josh throwing threatening looks at Sam over his shoulder, they walked out of the kitchen. After excusing herself, Sam followed them. She didn’t look back to see the impressed looks her friends were exchanging, pleasantly surprised by that side of her.

“Hey, Sunnyvale,” Deena said as soon as she caught sight of Sam walking down the stairs of the manor to the foyer where she was waiting for her.

Sam reached the end of the stairs and noticed that Deena was wearing a jacket, and holding Sam’s own jacket in her hands. But when the au pair reached out to grab it, Deena pulled back.

“Ah, ah. Not yet,” Deena said. She was smiling, but there was a hint of worry in her eyes. “You only get warmth in exchange for information.” Her words made the au pair chuckle, and Deena instantly felt herself relax a little. “How did it go with my asshole brother?” She finally asked.

“Um, it was fine, I think,” Sam replied. “He… Well, I think he’s embarrassed. He probably regrets it a lot. He’s acting almost as if he doesn’t even remember what he said.”

“That doesn’t make it better,” Deena frowned. She felt pretty embarrassed about the entire incident, and she was so not looking forward to having that conversation with Josh, who apparently had turned into some kind of monster in the place of her sweet younger brother. “I’m sorry about it.”

Sam shrugged and attempted a smile. “If it helps, I think he really listened when I explained that we all just want what’s best for him, and having that makes him luckier than most of us.”

The gardener nodded thoughtfully. “I agree with you there,” she said as she held open Sam’s jacket to help her put it on. Deena was careful, and her hands were confident, but at the same time, she barely touched Sam’s body as she helped her. The only thing she couldn’t help herself from doing was standing perhaps a little closer than necessary. Enough to feel her heart skip a beat when Sam’s blonde hair brushed her cheek, and the smell of some sweet-scented shampoo filled her senses. “But also, how depressing is that for us?” Deena said, stepping back from Sam. The au pair laughed and turned around to stare a Deena, who offered her a hand and said, “Come on, let’s go be depressing outside for a change.”

#helloo please support my attempt at sad spooky fic #fear street #sameena #sam x deena #sam fraser #deena johnson #deena x sam #fear street fanfiction #my fic

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riversofmars · 3 years

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The final chapter! It's been a wild ride! As sad as I am that this story is coming to a close, it also always feels like a great relief when a long, complicated adventure gets wrapped up before spinning out of control lol. I hope the ending will be as satisfying for you as it was for me to write it.

Chapter 15: When the Ends Justify the Means

Gallifrey, during the Time War

The Dreadshade’s explosion was disorienting and gave the Twelve the opportunity to flee the Panopticon. Gravely injured, she staggered down the corridor without a destination in mind, her only goal was to put as much distance as possible between the Doctor and herself. She wanted to die in her own time. She had miscalculated and she was about to pay the price, her body was already fizzing with regenerative energy. She had one more regeneration left - twelve to thirteen - but was it worth it? All her personalities seemed to have an opinion. All things considered, the Twelve had been good at keeping them in check but as her physical strength was waning, so was her mental resolve.

“You have been a disappointment,“ the Eleven was of course the first to comment on their demise.

“You didn’t last two minutes,“ the Four added, equally as condescendingly.

“What an embarrassing miscalculation with the Dreadshade,“ the Seven huffed, as if that could never have happened to him.

“Never could keep your mouth shut, could you,“ the One scolded.

“Shut up, all of you,“ the Twelve snapped, wincing in pain as every cell in her body started to burn up. “Maybe this is it, maybe we should just put ourselves out of our misery…“ It was certainly worth considering. She was tired of the eternal struggle and she didn’t want to become just another voice, trapped in the back of the mind of a mad man.

“One last try,“ the Nine insisted and the Six added:

“Make them all pay.“

“But how?“ The Twelve stumbled. She collapsed against a pillar. She had made it to the Matrix chamber. Surely, no-one would assume she was there. She felt the ancient power of the Matrix reach out to her. Maybe she wouldn’t regenerate after all. Maybe she would just enter the Matrix and that was that. She could feel its power engulfing her and images started flashing before her eyes. Exciting, thrilling images at that: The Citadel in ruins, Gallifrey on fire. The Twelve laughed at how beautiful a sight it was and how much she longed to see it being accomplished. They had always treated her as the outsider, the black sheep, the one that had gone wrong. They deserved to pay.

“Look at my work, Doctor, and despair!“ There was a man with dark hair and beard, and with him a blonde woman whom he had addressed and who appeared devastated at the sight in front of her.

“All this death… finally makes you happy?“ She turned to the man and the Twelve felt like she was looking right at her. She recognised the Doctor, even with a new face and a very different one at that. She looked so much older than the Doctor she had last encountered.

“Ecstatic,“ the man answered with a wide grin.

“And has it calmed all the rage?“ The Doctor demanded, leaning in closer, baring her teeth like a wild animal, intent on intimidating him and ready to leash out.

“I don’t think anything could ever do that,“ the man answered almost thoughtfully and the Twelve felt the sentiment in her very bones. She had tried to be better, in some small way. Not like the Eight but… better. And where had it got her? The rage was burning more fiercely than ever before and she smiled, a little at first and then, her face contorted into a wide grin as her skin started glowing. She had seen the future, she knew what she would be working towards. She would make them all pay.

“That’s right, that’s it. Burn Gallifrey to the ground. Make them pay,“ the Three was utterly delighted at the prospect, and even the Five had to admit:

“I’m partial to a beard, that is a future I’m keen to experience.“

“Fine, one last time. Just to make them pay,“ the Twelve giggled and regenerative energy burst out of her skin, shaping her body in accordance with the image she had seen.

——

Unknown Location

The Doctor spun her sonic in her hand as she regarded the Thirteen.

“It took me far too long to catch on, that’s on me. I did think it odd when you hardly spoke to Kate and Martha at all, considering that we do know each other pretty well. But the complete lack of your other personalities surfacing did have me fooled, you’re really not that great at controlling them. But when I realised who you are working with, you were bound to have taken a neural inhibitor from Gallifrey just in case,“ the Doctor explained with a triumphant smirk. “Neat trick, that you put a bandage around your arm like the Master had, that was clever.“ It had been a believable ruse.

“Your epiphany comes far too late as always, Doctor. The trap is sprung, you’re here, where we want you,“ the Thirteen snarled, slowly regaining control of his personalities again upon their chaotic release.

“What do you need me for anyway? You were right there on the TARDIS with me the entire time, why not kill me when I had my back turned? Why bring me here?“ The Doctor fixed her eyes on him.

“We have been carrying out very important work here,“ Padrac announced. “We will bring back the Time Lords and since your son’s DNA clearly doesn’t cut it, we are having to go back to the source once more.“ Padrac had hoped they would be successful with the Doctor’s child but clearly the genetic inheritance of River Song muddled the results somewhat.

“The Time Lords are gone. For good this time. You can’t just bring them back,“ the Doctor’s eyes shot to him.

“You watch me,“ Padrac smirked. “And your precious humans, no less. I did give it some thought, you know, and I figured: what a poetic justice. You’re the reason our people are dead, so I’m going to take your favourite race from you in turn.“ The Doctor recognised an age-old bitterness in him and she wondered if maybe part of him had been aware of the passage of time while in stasis, plotting his revenge and his anger festering over millennia.

“Giving them immortality hardly seems like taking them from me,“ she shot back.

“Not all of them of course. Just the ones that prove themselves worthy,“ Padrac carried on to explain.

“You mean, anyone that will follow you,“ the Doctor concluded, and the blond Time Lord nodded:

“People like Daniel Barton were more than eager to join the course.“

“I bet,“ she huffed. People like Daniel Barton would never miss out on an opportunity such as that. She returned her attention to the Thirteen: “And you? Out for your own skin? Twelve regenerations aren’t enough for you, are they, so close to the end?“

“You owe me a few, yes,“ the Thirteen chuckled.

“And for your last one, the Master’s face… how did that happen?“ The Doctor asked as it seemed like an incredible coincidence, even if they were working together.

“Oh this?“ The Thirteen pointed to his face and snarled: “Thought it was me, when the Matrix showed me the destruction of Gallifrey. Silly mistake. I so hoped it would be me to do that… small disappointments. Suffice to say I’m looking forward to getting a new face once we’re done here.“

“And the Master? Pulling the strings? What’s in it for him?“ It remained the one mystery she still couldn’t figure out. The Master had destroyed the Time Lords, why would he want to help Padrac bring them back? The Master had killed the Eleven, why now align himself with the Thirteen? It made no sense. “Where is he?“

——

“Stay where you are,“ River insisted, keeping her gun on the Master.

“River!“ Jack exclaimed, delighted to see her and worried she might make a foolish decision. “No need for that,“ he assured her, trying to make her lower the gun.

“Jack, what are you doing with him?“ River frowned.

“We’re escaping, he released me, and we’re just getting Ryan and Graham,“ Jack tried to explain but everybody else found that incredibly hard to believe.

“He released you?“ Graham asked, incredulous.

“Yes, that’s what I was just about to tell you,“ Jack nodded, looking into disbelieving faces.

“There is really no need, Professor Song,“ the Master spoke up at last, focusing his eyes on River who stared back at him with unveiled distaste.

“You bet there isn’t. You don’t know who you’re dealing with,“ River spat, good and ready to pull the trigger.

“Professor, contrary to what you might believe, I am here to help, and I’m glad to see you received my message, even if it needed redirecting a few times. Couldn’t risk being traced,“ the Master was patient to explain.

“That message was you?“ Yaz looked to River who appeared just as stunned. The only reason they had been able to find their way here had been a message, relayed through the Archangel network, with spacetime coordinates and passage codes. The person that had sent it had even been kind enough to lower the protective force fields around this place. They had presumed it was Jack’s accomplishment.

“I think you’re thinking of the wrong person.“ The Master frowned, realising the mistake.

“The wrong person?“ River echoed and he nodded:

“I’m not the Thirteen. I am the Master.“

“The Master? No, impossible, I have met the Thirteen and the Master and you are most definitely…“ River started, and he interrupted her firmly, they didn’t have time for this.

“We have the same face,“ he explained upon realising the last face of his that River Song had seen, had been Missy. The confusion could be forgiven.

“Who’s the Thirteen?“ Ryan, Graham and Jack exchanged confused glances. “That’s most definitely the Master.“

“How is that possible?“ River asked and the Master took a step closer to her, her gun pressing into his torso.

“I will tell you but first, you put the gun down, there is somewhere we need to be“, the Master insisted. “I will explain on the way.“

“He has been helping us so far,“ Jack said, hoping to assure everyone around.

“Why would I trust you? You are just as bad as the Thirteen…“ River started, slowly wrapping her head around the fact that two of her spouses' enemies were involved in this convoluted plot.

“I’ve had children… so has the Doctor, before now, I mean…“ The Master answered, and it was an explanation enough. “And when you’ve lost a child… you don’t let that happen to anyone else, your friend or your enemy.“

“Where are we going?“ River lowered her gun.

“To save your son,“ the Master explained. “And your wife, though I am less keen on that part.“

——

“The Master?“ Padrac echoed and nearly started laughing. “What has he got to do with anything?“

“He’s in on this, isn’t he?“ The Doctor frowned, confused by his reaction.

“The Master? You seem to forget he killed my eleventh self!“ The Thirteen laughed. “He’s better off running, if I get my hands on him, I will kill him.“

“Then how did he willingly swap places with you?“ The Doctor looked in between the other two Time Lords.

“Coward. He stole my TARDIS on Demon’s Run, without him there would have been no need for me to stoop so low and impersonate him,“ the Thirteen snarled.

“Hang on, you mean you’ve come straight from Demon’s Run without your TARDIS and you haven’t been back here?“ It was Padrac’s turn to look confused now.

“When would I have had the opportunity to do that?“ The Thirteen looked at Padrac bewildered.

That’s when it dawned on Padrac that there was an unbidden guest in their midst. He slammed the communicator on his wrist.

“Lock down the base, check on the prisoners,“ he ordered but there was no response. “Hello?“

“Something the matter?“ The Doctor grinned when the penny dropped for her too. She was not the only one that had fallen for the old switcheroo.

“The com-lines are down. What have you done?“ Padrac yelled at the Doctor.

“Me? Nothing, but I think I may have underestimated my oldest friend,“ she grinned in return.

“Ma’am?“ Strax took the opportunity to tug at the Doctor’s sleeve.

“Yes, Strax?“ She asked.

“Do you think now would be a good time to…“ He nodded towards the guards.

“Now would be a perfect time to,“ the Doctor nodded in confirmation, and Strax didn’t need to be told twice. Neither did any of the others, they threw themselves at the guards, and a wild fistfight broke out.

“Imbeciles, subdue them!“ Padrac shouted but with Jenny and Vastra in possession of swords, momentum quickly shifted.

That was when Padrac panicked, drawing upon his last resort. It was a mad gamble but he dashed to the wall controls and lowered the temporal grace field. With a blinding flash, the grenade that Strax had engaged before went off. Padrac was most disappointed when he realised it had only been a flash grenade with the purpose of disorienting the enemy. The Doctor’s friends weren’t mad enough to gamble their lives after all. It was enough to disorient them as advertised, and the Thirteen grasped his opportunity. He surged forward and wrapped his arm around the Doctor’s neck, pressing a knife to her throat.

“Doctor!“ Vastra exclaimed when she got her bearings back and realised what was going on.

“You’re coming with me!“ The Thirteen snarled.

“Calm down everyone, it’ll be fine!“ The Doctor shouted to her friends.

“Surrender or the Doctor dies!“ Padrac shouted.

“Nah, that’s your problem, we’re out of here,“ the Thirteen pulled the Doctor along, and Padrac realised he had backed the wrong horse.

“Just you and me then?“ The Doctor huffed at the Thirteen, shooting her friends reassuring glances. “Why not! Lead the way.“ She allowed herself to be dragged away down the corridor.

“Do something!“ Padrac was shouting panicked commands at his few remaining soldiers but to no avail, he was cut off moments after by the arrival of more unbidden guests.

“Show’s over, Padrac,“ the Master snarled but it was River that struck him down with a right hook that sent him flying. And just like that, the fighting was over.

“Professor Song!“ Vastra exclaimed in delight as Strax set about putting handcuffs on the unconscious Time Lord. That had been quite the right hook.

“Yaz!“ Jenny called in relief and Gwen was quick to rush to their friends as well:

“Jack! Ryan! Graham! You’re ok!“ There was a moment of elation in victory.

“Vastra! Jenny! Strax!“ River was overwhelmed. “Kate, Gwen, Martha, Mickey… wow, that’s quite the…“ She looked around the room, noticing one very important person amiss: “Where is the Doctor?“

“The Thirteen took her…“ Kate answered quickly and picked up her gun. Now that the temporal grace field was gone, they were of use again.

“This way Professor.“ The Master wasted no time to drag River along.

——

“What do you think you’re doing?“ The Doctor asked as the Thirteen forced her onto a stretcher, strapping her to it. They found themselves in what the Doctor could only presume to be the main laboratory at the heart of the base.

“Shut up. I can do this,“ the Thirteen hissed as he turned to the instruments but seemed at an utter loss.

“No you can’t, you haven’t been here, you don’t know anything about the research, you were in the TARDIS with me,“ the Doctor reasoned.

“Shut up!“ The Thirteen snapped again. “I need to focus.“ His voice was tense, his posture jittery, and his eyes darted in between the instruments indecisively. The Doctor saw her opportunity. The Thirteen was slowly panicking.

“You’re going off the rails, it’s all going wrong, isn’t it, you can’t focus,“ she said, poking the bear.

“Shut up!“ The Thirteen roared, with the Six taking over.

“Can’t do it, can you? What are you even doing?“ The Doctor sensed she was on the right path so she pushed on as the Thirteen picked up a syringe. “Not that one.“

“I don’t need you to be conscious,“ the other Time Lord spat with the Seven emerging, his movements more purposeful.

“Yeah you do, cause you need my help,“ the Doctor insisted and the response was quick and violent:

“I don’t need your help!“

“If you don’t, then why haven’t you done it already?“ The Doctor put on her best condescending smirk.

“Doctor!“ A voice called from the door and the Doctor allowed herself a sigh of relief. She had no words for how happy she felt for hearing her wife’s voice again and to see her rush towards her, followed by ample reinforcements.

“Hello all,“ she smiled though she only had eyes for River. For a moment she even forgot about the Thirteen and her own precarious situation. Her hearts burst with joy of seeing her wife alive after having presumed her dead for so long.

“Step away from her.“ It was the Master’s snarl that drew her back to reality. The Master of all people advanced towards the Thirteen who was his spitting image.

“I don’t think so, no no no, I've got to finish this.“ The Thirteen shook his head and quickly retrieved his knife to press it to the Doctor’s throat again.

“Get away!“ The Master repeated, his voice low and threatening.

“No, you get away!“ The Thirteen exclaimed, his eyes darting around the room, and he slammed a button on the workstation.

Suddenly, out of a hidden dimension, a cot appeared.

“Phased a few seconds out of time, clever.“ The Doctor balled her hands to fists as she laid eyes on her son for the first time. River gasped in surprise and the Master squared his jaw, watching as the Thirteen picked up the child as a means of defence. River was about to go for him but the Master held her back.

“Out of here, all of you!“ The Thirteen barked. “Don’t make me do something you’ll regret!“ The Doctor exchanged a glance with the Master and forced her mind into sharp focus. She couldn’t allow emotions to cloud her judgement, not now, not when River was barely holding it together. The Doctor looked to her wife, the expression of pain and longing on her face broke her hearts, as she struggled against the Master’s firm grip.

“Someone help me out of this!“ The Doctor called and Vastra was quick to oblige as the Thirteen watched with mad determination.

“Don’t try anything!“ He threatened and the baby in his arms started crying.

“I’m going to kill you,“ River growled trying to reach for her gun but the Master continued to restrain her. He glanced to the Doctor who took a deep breath, deciding on the best course of action. She knew how to deal with a mad man, she had plenty of practice.

“See, here’s the thing, whatever you’ve been doing here, I can’t let it continue, all of this, it needs to go,“ the Doctor said, facing the Thirteen. She focused on his face, rather than the crying infant in his arms. She couldn’t get distracted. “So what we’re going to do is blow this whole place up.“

“You can’t,“ the Thirteen spat. “Not while I have your child!“

“Yes, we can. You’ve drawn the short straw in this standoff. We can blow this place up anytime. I’ll regenerate, so will the Master, so will my son! Really, it’s just you that’s left, isn’t it, and you will die a proper death this time,“ she stated, her voice low and threatening.

“Get everyone else out of here and get the Sontaran to rig the place,“ the Master called to Vastra. The Silurian shot a quick glance to the Doctor who just nodded in confirmation.

“Out of here, everyone!“ Vastra ordered and Kate relayed her order, they had to trust that the Doctor knew what she was doing.

“I’m staying as well, I’m not going anywhere until I have my son,“ River announced and stopped struggling at last. She realised her wife knew what she was doing and she chose to trust her. The Master, in turn, let go of her.

“There is a compromise to be made here, Thirteen,“ the Doctor took a step towards the renegade, demanding his attention as the room emptied. “You’re scared of dying, I get that, I can help, we can help. The Master has expertise in this too, we can give you another circle of regenerations but only once you hand my son over to River.“ She looked to the baby who’s hair was beginning to turn to soft curls, reminiscent of his mother’s. “Or we go the nuclear option.“ Her eyes snapped back up to the Thirteen. “What the hell, time for a new face.“

“I was looking forward to getting to know this one,“ River commented with a sigh.

“Sorry, love.“ The Doctor gave a soft smile, and the Master went along with it as well:

“Ah what the hell, I don’t want to be left looking like him anyway.“

“Fine, fine!“ The Thirteen exclaimed, feeling the pressure but panicked again when the Doctor stepped closer: “No, no, don’t come closer, you give me what I want first!“ He demanded. “You have no way of knowing whether he will regenerate or not! His DNA wasn’t enough to replicate the process, what makes you think the little mudblood can even regenerate? You fix up the serum first!“ He gestured towards the medical instruments.

“Alright look, here…“ The Doctor held up her hands appeasingly and turned to the workstation. She picked up a syringe. With all eyes on her, she drew up a sample of her own blood and placed the syringe back on the tray. “If you run it through the sequencing process and then generate the serum, it should work.“

“How do I know you’re not trying to trick me?“ The Thirteen spat.

“That’s the sort of thing you’d do, I’m not like you. Now, you haven’t got much time.“ The Doctor took a step closer and held her hands out to him. The Thirteen made no attempt at handing over the child. The Doctor pulled out her screwdriver and returned to the work station. She soniced it once she found what she was looking for and pressed a button. “Start a countdown and blow up this place in five minutes,“ she spoke into the newly restored intercom, and only seconds later Kate replied on the same channel:

“Affirmative, we’re out of here, Doctor, starting the countdown for five minutes. Good luck!“ The line went dead with static.

“See?“ The Doctor turned back to the Thirteen. “Clock is ticking, time to make a decision, hand over my son.“

“No, no, no, it’s a trick,“ the Three pushed to the forefront of the Thirteen’s mind.

“No tricks but a ticking clock,“ River announced, taking a step towards him. “You still have time to get out of here with the serum.“ She pulled her gun on him for added pressure but she didn’t dare fire, her eyes fixed on her son. The Thirteen was right of course, there was no way of knowing whether their son was actually able to regenerate. It stood to reason as she had been able to herself at some point too, but it was not a given. She couldn’t take the risk. She trusted her wife knew what she was doing. She had dealt with the Thirteen far more frequently than the Master or she herself had.

“Feeling the pressure yet?“ The Master for his part appeared to be enjoying the sense of impending doom as he took a twirl.

“What are you doing?“ The Thirteen shrieked.

“You were never good under pressure, none of you were,“ the Doctor commented. “Four and a half minutes.“

“Stop it!“ The Thirteen shouted.

“Why, are we confusing you?“ The Master laughed.

“Give them the child!“ One of the Thirteen’s personalities shouted in near panic. “No, don’t, kill them, get out of here, kill the child and run-“ Another protested. “No, don’t, stop it, we can’t keep going like this, thirteen is enough, no more, please!“ Yet another interrupted pleading, until the Thirteen regained control. “Shut up all of you!“ He yelled, pressing a hand to his temple.

“Eight! Was that you?“ The Doctor recognised the voice that had pleaded for them to stop.

“Yes, but I can’t hold on, they’re all fighting amongst each other, too much-“ The Eight was there, distinct amongst the other voices, but the Thirteen forced him back: “Back in your box, Eight!“

“Some of you are reasonable, Twelve, you know this is just a stupid way to go! Seven, you too! Eleven, after everything, your desperate struggle for survival, are you really going to let it end like this?“ The Doctor saw her chance and the Thirteen was staggering now, disoriented.

“Four minutes,“ the Master interjected.

“Eight, come on, you can do it,“ the Doctor implored him.

“No. No, no, no, no,“ the Thirteen whimpered.

“Doctor, we need to do something.“ River was getting nervous, they weren’t getting anywhere.

“Help me,“ the Doctor said and River turned back to the Thirteen.

“Eight, remember when we met? The Doomsday Chronometer? You were trying to stop Padrac and your future self then, you can do it again now,“ she drew his attention away from the Doctor. She tried her best to recall the Eight when he had been himself. Kind, helpful and good, perhaps the Doctor was right, perhaps he could do this one last thing for them. “You are a good man!“

“NO! Shut up!“ The Thirteen yelled but River’s words cut through the chatter. “Professor, I’m so sorry, I can’t…I… don’t want to keep doing this anymore, please, you have to stop this.“ The Eight was back and he staggered forward.

“Three minutes,“ the Master announced.

River rushed forward and met the renegade Time Lord half way. The Eight held on just long enough to hand over the child and River pulled her son into her arms.

“It’s okay, Eight, it’s okay, thank you!“ The Doctor let go a sigh of relief.

“You are an embarrassment, we will bury you…“ The Thirteen shouted, wrestling control from his past self and River didn’t hesitate. She pointed her gun at him and shot him square in the chest.

“River!“ The Doctor exclaimed, shocked. “What have you done?“

“What the Eight wanted,“ River answered as she watched the Thirteen drop to all fours, his lives and energy spent. There was no golden hue, no fizzing of energy, not this time. They didn’t hang around to witness what happened next, their time was up.

“Let’s get out of here before the place blows up,“ the Master grabbed both of their arms and pulled them along, back to the TARDIS that they had two and a half minutes to get working again. With all the shields and suppression fields lifted, it was the easiest job of the day.

——

The TARDIS

“How… are you doing…“ The Doctor took a step towards River as the TARDIS launched and made for Torchwood Two.

“Good… we’re both… good…“ River managed a little smile as she smoothed back her son’s curls. “We should run a scan, maybe, make sure he’s really, properly, okay…“ She hummed but for the moment, she contented herself by holding him close. He had settled in her arms as if he had never been away.

“I can’t believe you’re really here…“ The Doctor breathed, looking at River in wonder. Against all odds, her wife had returned to her. It had been a most painstaking adventure but maybe, just this once, the end justifies the means.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…“ River met her eyes and the Doctor just smiled.

“Things got away from us a little bit, didn’t they,“ the Doctor sighed and River chuckled.

“All is well that ends well.“ She reached out and cupped her wife’s cheek. “Thank you for coming for us.“

“Always,“ the Doctor promised and pressed a soft kiss to her wife’s lips.

“Do you want to hold him?“ River asked and the Doctor bit back tears.

“Yes, please,“ she whispered and River passed their son to her. She rested her head on her shoulder as she watched her wife and son get acquainted. The Doctor swallowed and took a deep breath, struggling for composure as she ran her hand along her son’s cheek and the baby reached out, curling it’s little hand around her finger.

“He will need a name,“ River hummed and pressed a kiss to her wife’s cheek.

“Master Junior!“ The Master called from the console and River and the Doctor looked around, the perfect family moment ruined. They had completely forgotten he was even there. “Sorry, were you not quite done yet? It’s not like she’s in any state to come up with a name now anyway,“ he snarked. “I’ll have us arrive in six hours time then, shall I? Give everyone a chance to get back to your little base yeah?“ He gestured to the TARDIS controls. “Am I the only one who thinks practically around here?“

“This doesn’t undo what you did on Gallifrey…“ The Doctor spoke at last.

“No, I don’t suppose it does…“ He retorted without looking at her, his voice surprisingly reflective.

“But it’s a start.“

——

Torchwood Two Hub, 21st Century

“Thank you all so very much,“ the Doctor looked around the room to her numerous friends who had managed to make their way back to their base. She was beyond relieved to find them all with only minor injuries from the fistfight and in good spirits all round. They had won!

“It has been a pleasure,“ Kate took it upon herself to speak for all of them. They all shared the same sentiment.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, any of you. I’m sorry if… I was a bit much to deal with at times…“ The Doctor looked around the room into knowing faces.

“That’s an understatement…“ Yaz huffed and everybody laughed. In victory, the bumps and bruises they had sustained along the way were forgotten. What mattered was that the Doctor’s child was safe. The little boy was sleeping peacefully in River’s arms after they had checked him over and he turned out to be completely fine.

“Sorry, but are we going to forget all the Master’s crimes because he did one nice thing?“ It was Martha that felt she needed to be the voice of reason as she pointed to the Master who was hanging back, staying close to the door as if ready to make an escape at any point. It was obvious from his body posture that he didn’t feel he belonged here.

“No, but I am under the impression the Master is eager to make amends,“ the Doctor announced looking around to him.

“I am?“ He frowned and she nodded.

“He is,“ she confirmed. She had had a little bit of time to consider the best course of action and she felt confident she had found it. “There is a TARDIS in the wreckage of that place… you will find it, repair it and for your first trip take Madame Kovarian and Padrac to suitable new homes.“

“Where might that be?“ River asked. She herself would probably have opted for executing both of them, a sentiment the Master surely could get behind, but she knew it wasn’t the Doctor’s way. She was still upset with her for having shot the Thirteen but she had come around to see her reasoning. The Eight had asked for a release, and it was the only thing they could do for him, after he had returned their son to them.

“Stormcage for Madame Kovarian, I was thinking, time she found out where her schemes led River and how thoroughly unpleasant prison can be when you haven’t got the luxury of a Time Lord bailing you out now and again,“ the Doctor answered. “And I think Padrac would like to return to Gallifrey, wouldn’t he? To the ruins of it. Let him try and rebuild there.“

“I suppose so,“ the Master huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. It wasn’t the most unpleasant task. He would enjoy dropping Padrac on the dead rock that was their home world, it seemed like just punishment, and while he didn’t have much of an opinion on Madame Kovarian, it was a favour he wouldn’t mind doing the Doctor and her wife. All things considered, he would walk out of the arrangement with a TARDIS of his own so it seemed worth the trouble.

“And, as hopeful as I might be that you have changed your ways, I am not inclined to believe it just yet. So I would suggest an entourage of Torchwood and UNIT agents? I’m sure they would appreciate your help in dealing with the frequent incursions they face,“ the Doctor carried on, a winning smile crossing her features.

“Come on, Doctor, that’s not…“ The Master started to protest but she shook her head.

“No, you’re not getting out of it. You have amends to make. Remember my time as a UNIT special advisor? Let’s say it’s your turn now.“

“How long for?“ The Master huffed.

“Until I am satisfied that you have repaid your debt. You have destroyed one of my homes, now you can do your bit to protect the other,“ the Doctor explained sternly. “At least while I take some time away to be with my family.“

“Anything else?“ The Master sighed, exasperated.

“That’ll do for now, I’ll be in touch. I would have said you can drop Vastra and the gang on your way but I suppose they might want to get home sooner rather than later.“ The Doctor smiled at Vastra, Strax and Jenny who this fateful adventure had started with. “Come on guys, let’s drop you home.“ She nodded for them to follow out of the hub and back to the surface where her TARDIS was parked. “And you, my brave, wonderful friends…“ She beamed at the remainder of her companions, words failing her for how grateful she was to each and every one of them.

“I’m sure we will do just fine with our new recruit.“ Kate gave her a reassuring smile.

“No doubt about it,“ Jack confirmed with a grin, as did Gwen, the Osgoods, Martha and Mickey.

“I’m sure you will.“ The Doctor winked at the Master who rolled his eyes and held his hands up appeasingly. He seemed to have no intention of making life hard for them.

“Fam, I think you’ve found a new home here.“ The Doctor turned to Ryan and Graham who had walked over to join the Torchwood and UNIT agents.

“Well, someone needs to look after Earth while you go on paternity leave,“ Graham joked and the Doctor chuckled and nodded. She was glad to see them doing so well, it was an incredible joy to see them all working together. “What about you, Yaz, are you staying with them or…“ She wasn’t sure how to approach the third member of her fam. Yaz had wanted to keep travelling with her but this would be a bit different going forward, at least for a time.

“You know what, Doctor… I think I’d like to go with Vastra, Jenny and Strax… if they’ll have me of course…“ Yaz looked to the Paternoster Gang with a sheepish smile. It had been quite the adventure they had been on together and she had given the matter a lot of thought. She wasn’t quite ready to give up on the life of adventure yet but the Doctor would need to spend time with her family now. After their epic adventure through space, solid ground would make a nice change. Fighting crime in Victorian England sounded like just the adventure she needed next.

“You are welcome to stay for as long as you like,“ Vastra smiled.

“How come?“ The Doctor asked, genuinely surprised and curious in equal measures. She would have expected her to want to stay with Torchwood but she had clearly underestimated the journey she had been on with the Paternoster Gang.

“I’ve had enough of space and age-old feuds for a while… I think I’d like to discover more of Earth and focus on more human monsters for a while. What can I say, I’m a trainee police officer… who better to learn the trade from than a real life Sherlock Holmes,“ Yaz grinned, delighted at the idea. She knew that she could always call upon her and hatch a lift back to her time when she was good and ready.

“Well in that case, next stop Victorian London!“ The Doctor grinned and bid farewell to the protectors of 21st Century Earth.

——

“Professor, I just want to say… I’m sorry we weren’t better guardians to your son.“ Vastra felt the need to apologise one more time as they found themselves outside the front door of Paternoster Row.

“You are the bravest, most loyal group of friends anyone could wish for. You have crossed all of time and space to bring us back together, you saved me from Demon’s Run, you have done more than I could ever ask of you.“ River took Vastra’s hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze. She understood the Silurian was a creature with an honour-based belief system, but surely she had to see that any debt she thought she owed her had been repaid tenfold.

“We’re just glad everything turned out alright,“ Jenny smiled, looping her arm around her wife’s.

“Everything turned out just fine,“ the Doctor assured them.

“Ma’am, will we be having visitors, shall I prepare tea?“ Strax asked and Vastra looked to the Doctor and River.

“Would you care to come in? I’m afraid the kitchen is still a bit of a mess but I’m sure Strax can manage,“ the lady of the house asked.

“We will get out of your hair for now,“ the Doctor chuckled. “But we will be dropping by, don’t worry.“ The Doctor gave Yaz a kind smile, hoping she would enjoy the change of scenery and the young woman mirrored the gesture.

“Look after yourself and your family,“ Yaz smiled and the Doctor nodded, sharing a glance with River, intent on doing just that.

“Let’s go home.“ The Doctor reached for her wife’s hand and pressed a kiss to her son’s head before they headed back to the TARDIS.

END.

-------------------

Author notes: Okay, so first of all, thank you very much for reading!!! I appreciate each and every one of you and your lovely comments, ideas and opinions, they honestly make my day and bring me so much joy, it keeps me writing and knowing you enjoy my sometimes confusing and ridiculously complicated stories, that's just the best!!!

I really hope you found the ending satisfying and that I wrapped up all plot points properly. I'll leave you to imagine what adventures the Master gets up to with UNIT/Torchwood and whether he can stay on the straight and narrow, how Yaz gets on in Victorian London with the Paternoster Gang and of course how the Doctor, her wife and their son navigate family life together! I don't now if I will ever revisit this universe, probably not for a while, but I left my options open (hence them not watching the Thirteen die and the Doctor leaving the sample behind, who knows maybe they find a way of dragging themselves over there, making the serum and getting more regenerations before everything blows up, Time Lords take forever to die :P).

I had several different endings planned for this along the way (The Master was going to be evil and behind it all when I first set out. At one point I had planned for River to go back in time and abduct the baby from Paternoster Row and replacing it with a flesh avatar - that's why I gave her the Clocksmith's TARDIS in the first place :D - and she was going to drop him off with the Eighth Doctor at Bakerstreet...) but in the end, this felt like the one that fit best. I really wanted to have the Master working with UNIT and mirror the Third Doctor's time in exile that way. So yes, all in all, I really hope this worked for you!!

Last but not least, I'd be delighted if any of you chose to check out the big project I'm going to be focusing on now: A Numbers Game (I'll probably be posting the next chapter tomorrow!). I realise it's a bit of a departure from my normal stuff but I'm very excited about it and the storyline will be as timey-whimy and confusing as this one lol. Also, you've now spent plenty of time with one of the Eighth Doctor's best villains, why not spent some time with Eight and his companions and read about them fighting Daleks with Thirteen, River and co? Plus, there will be more of UNIT, Torchwood and the Fam teaming up! :D

Anyway, enough self-promotion :D Again, thank you very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

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