#oh dang who left the stove on here

[d-x-z]

ICE ICE BABY!

Evil morty (from the fanfic) x male reader

Note: If you read the fanfic, I do call back to their times, and I mention this one before, but I will turn them into oneshots >:)

(Posted before the fanfic is published—needed to be proofread, arc 1 needs to be rewritten/improved— for context, evil morty is just morty prime but before he decided to go solo. Pre-rick event)

17+ DNI, 16 and under blogs only!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: if there's weird cuts that skips paragraphs that doesn't complete the last one please tell me cuz my clipboards weird and won't copy paste the whole thing so I have to cut it into sections and I post through phone and it's so fucking awkward to work around

Desc: snow angels, hot chocolate, ice skating, and a burning heart to warm themselves for the winter... and even a furball to surprise them♡

Type: love/fluff

"YAYAYAYA WAKE UP MORTY!!" The brunette was passed out on his bed as a drool went down his face."MORTY WAKE UPPPPPP ITS SNOWING!!" yelled the boy who was clinging unto his life as he's outside his window. groaning, he started clawing unto the window with his hands.

"I don't want to bother your parents by going through the front door!!" Trying to claw the window open, he then saw morty stir up. The exact moment he opened his eyes, he saw Y/n covered in snow. The only thing keeping him warm was the ear muffs and the sweater he wore, "what the? Y/n what are you doing??"

He yawned as he got up to open the window. Without thinking, he let Y/n in forgetting he was covered in snow "jesus! It's cold!!!" He shivered when Y/n shook his body spraying the snow towards him as well. As y/n picked up the ear muffs he shook off "Wanna go outside and make a snow man? It's snowing right now"

pointing his thumb behind him to the window morty looked at his clock "it's 6 in the morning.. let's go downstairs even mom won't be awake during this hour. It's holidays, " he rubbed his eyes as Y/n followed behind only problem was it was snowing a bit too hard, they had to wait for a few hours to calm down.

Morty went to the bathroom while Y/n went downstairs to the living room passing by the front door to take off his shoes. Sitting on the couch, he looked out the window it really was snowing hard...did he lock his windows??

He thought to himself before deciding to deal with that later. He heared footsteps behind and it was morty in a ugly Christmas sweater "yeesh goodmorning" Y/n tilted his head backwards to see morty, his view was upside down.

“anyways you ate breakfast?” Y/n sat back up to turn around “nah, got hot coco?” morty went away to the kitchen while Y/n followed by “not nesquick, like actual hot coco” Y/n stood beside him in the counter

“that will take a whole 20 minutes to do Y/n..” “it’s not that bad, We got the time it’s christmas! C’mon get the cups i’ll get the stove ready” Y/n opened the cupboard before morty got the mugs from the drying rack

Y/n placed a pot on the stove along with milk, “can you get the sugar and cocoa powder for me real quick” Y/n opened his palm while morty searched through the kitchen and placed it on his hand

Placing in cocoa and sugar he stirred the pot, “vanilla extract, i think summer placed it in the left cupboard the last time i remember” morty checked but it wasnt there, checking the other cupboard he finally got it

Handing over to Y/n. Placing a few drops of extract he handed it back to morty, stirring it morty handed over the mugs opening the fridge to search for the whipped cream “oh my god wait, we need chocolate chips morty do you still have some??”

“oh shit, no sorry dad used it all last night for his ginger bread house” morty rolled his eyes before walking towards him with whipped cream “dang it, it’s fine we still got the creamy version of it

Pouring the hot coca unto the mugs morty helped Y/n with placing whipped cream on it “there’s still some more, let’s just keep it here. They can heat it later if they want some” morty told before bringing the mug to his lips

Sipping unto the hot coca, he cringed and retracted “hot!” Y/n laughed “dumbass i JUST made it” morty and Y/n stood leaning unto the kitchen counter, morty looked at Y/n blowing unto his mug. Y/n looked at morty looking at him before he akwardly laughed “what? Got something on my face?” morty shook hid head no before sipping his hot coca

“well seems like you’re the one that does now” Y/n laughed before his hand reached to morty’s lips, wiping away the whip cream on the corner of his mouth “o-oh, thanks” he felt something

But he couldn’t exactly pin point what he did feel at that moment, “c’mon let’s get back to the living room i think there’s a new episode of south park out” “jesus, how many season’s do they have already?” “dunno, it’s fun watching though”

As the morning passes by, Beth and Summer woke up to see morty and Y/n under a blanket watching the tv.

“seriously? I still don’t understand how you’re a dog person morty” watching dogs surround Tom holland in his puppy interview “dogs are cool! They’re just really fun to be around”

“you wanna get a dog?” morty looked at Y/n crossing his hands with a happy grin “yeah?! Who doesn’t” “what are you gonna name it when you actually do get one?” morty rested his head on Y/n shoulder thinking to himself

“dunno...probably snuffles” Y/n snickered trying his best to cover it “Hey! I can feel you laughing!” morty called Y/n out “of course! But why snuffles? Not like i can stop you from naming your dog” Y/n wheezed at the thought

“they’ll have good fur! And we can cuddle too!”

“what if they don’t wanna?”

“...”

“what if they have short hair?”

“... I’ll still love him”

“what if it’s a girl?”

“Y/n!”

“PFFT- okay okay i’ll stop”

Hearing a pair of key’s chime both boys looked behind him “excuse me boys, can you both please wake up jerry upstairs. We’re going to be late for the towns christmas show, if you both want to go to the skating ring early then you better wake him up. And morty go get ready last time you forgot your scarf and gotten sick”

Both Y/n and morty complied before Y/n simply followed morty, “wanna go to some stores after ice skating?” Y/n brought up “im broke, used my last pocket money to get gta 5” “aw boo, okay then”

///

The towns center was crowded with people, Y/n and the smiths watched the stage as acrobats sang and danced together. Morty once more looked over to Y/n’s face seeing his eyes light up im amazment

Even though the snow is pouring in, and he’s barely keeping himself warm he couldn’t help but feel warm inside. Y/n looked back at morty snapping him back to reality as Y/n shook morty “MORTY LOOK AT THEM!! IT’S SO COOL!!” Y/n excitedly cheered

Instinctively holding unto morty’s hand to not get lost in the crowd, time passed by as now the show finally ended. Both Y/n and the smith family were now in a more cleared up crowd as they dispersed to the different food stalls and venders selling ugly christmas sweaters

“ok you both boys be safe alright?? If you need anything me and jerry are gonna be near the food stalls ok?” both nodded before Y/n dragged morty to the ice ring, morty slipped on the snow but Y/n still pulled him up with joyful laughter as the two boys laughed it out

Standing in front of a guy giving out skates “10 bucks each” Y/n gladly paid for morty before they went over to check which skates would fit them “you still don’t know how to skate Y/n you sure you can do this?”

“you doubting me pokemon collecter?” “you collect pokemon card too!?” Y/n laughed before standing both held hands before entering the ice ring, once they did Y/n instead gripped unto the railings

“okay! Okay! This could be the biggest regret ever!” Y/n held the ring like a scared kitty morty simply stood there perfectly fine “just try walking towards me, v shape remember?” Y/n looked at morty reaching his hand out while the other rest on his hips

Breathing out Y/n made small steps to him, a small smile appeared on his face after morty finally gotten to hold unto him “wow, im suprised you didn’t slip yet” “shut up” Y/n grinned looking down unto the ice

“now follow me, and don’t drag me down when you do fall” morty warned Y/n lightly “pfft, i definitely will” morty rolled his eyes before letting go of Y/n leaving him in the middle of the skating ring

“m-morty!! Asshole don’t leave me here!!” “well, just do the same thing you did before. Just without me holding you” Y/n wanted to panic but he’ll fall on his ass if he did “no! I WILL fall if i try going towards you”

Morty slowly backed up “quickly before the gap starts increasing” Y/n’s eyes twitched before his skate dug unto the ice skidding towards him, morty was actually shocked that Y/n managed to get himself to move faster than what he’s personally comfortable with

“w-wait i don’t know how to stop!?” Y/n yelled, morty moved a bit to the left before grabbing y/n. But he underestimated how fast the momentum went and got dragged along with Y/n

His eyes widened before he dug his skate to the ice preventing them both to fall,

the warm breaths of both boys breezed to their faces, as their faces were so close to one another. Both of their face’s turned bright red, either from the cold or their proximity, Y/n felt warm

His chest filled him with a warm shiver. Before he went to quickly kiss morty, before morty could reciprocate Y/n managed to stand up by himself “a-anyways, wanna go skate else where?”

Y/n grinned while morty looked at his eyes “y-yeah”

///

“that was fun” morty looked at y/n “you fell 16 times that whole 30 minutes we were in there” “still fun” looking around morty looked at a wishing station, “Y/n, you wanna go wish?”

Looking at Y/n “oh, sure-sure yeah!” he smiled “wait go ahead i’ll just tie my shoes” Y/n raised his eyebrows before slowly walking away “yeah but you need to hurry up m-”

SMACK!

A snow ball was thrown at the back of his head, turning around he saw morty holding a few more snow balls “betrayal!! C’mere you little shit!” he smirked before cupping snow on his hands throwing it at morty

Chasing after him both boys laughed “can’t catch me shorty!” “morty im literally taller than you!?” morty tried throwing a snow ball at him but Y/n dodged “nuh uh” Y/n looked at morty getting the reference

“the fuck you mean nuh uh!?” he quotted back, before throwing a snow ball at his back, morty threw his last snow ball but missed and hit another persons back. Both boy’s eyes widened before Y/n rushed to the closest stall to pretend to check out it’s contents while morty turned around seeming a bit lost looking around

The man looked around in shock and anger, but morty looked at Y/n and walked towards him “best fucking save ever” “best counter attack ever” morty looked at Y/n confused but his face was stuffed with snow

“BLEGH! It came in my mouth!” “mia khalifa’s sex tape” Y/n laughed proud of the reference he made, he helped clean his hair from the snow. And shockingly enough they were already at the wishing stall

Both boys were greeted by the stall worker “and how about you two? Care to give a wish stick a try?” Y/n smiled before pulling out 2 dollars “oh no need for cash, it’s free for couples” She smiled

Both boys looked at her with a blush, but played in for free wishes. The lady shook the box before presenting it to the boys “first think about your wish, then pick out one popsicle stick”

Both of the boys glances at each other before picking out a stick

[your embodied love, they aren’t far from your reach. Maybe they’re in plain sight]

Y/n hummed to himself with a smile

[everything you love, will be there for you. It will never find itself away from you]

Morty’s eyes clicked realizing something before looking at Y/n

“now, kiss the popsicle and burn the tip. It’s a sign of promise that whatever your wish was will come true”

Both boys kissed the popsicle and burnt the tip on the red candle.

“now keep that popsicle and never show anyone, you can only reveal it once it’s been granted to you” she smiled before the two boys thanked her and walked away

“i already got mine granted” “same here” “so what’s yours?” morty looked away before showing his popsicle stick Y/n “aww that’s so sweet! Mine’s cute” Y/n showed him his popsicle

Morty smiled at it “yeah, c’mon let’s go eat”

///

“morty try these crepes!! They’re really good!” Y/n offered some of his crepes to morty, morty took a bite off it before humming “it’s actually pretty good, want to try this shawarma?”

Y/n nodded before morty offered some as Y/n bit into it, “oh, it’s spicy” Y/n’s taste buds shifted from sweet to spicy “yeah, i just wanted to try some since they’re about to be out” both boys walked by each other before

Morty’s ears perked up and heared something, stopping and looking around Y/n stopped with him, confused. “you ‘aight?” “wait..” morty handed over his shawarma before shoveling his hands throught he snow

Y/n peeked to see morty holding a small dog “w-what!? Holy shit morty!? Is it still breathing, we need to get it near warm fire or something!??” Y/n panicked before morty took off his orange scarf and covered the dog for warmth

“c’mon let’s go to my parents there might be a warm fire around” Y/n followed morty before taking a sneaky small bite into his shawarma

“morty! Dear god where did you get a dog??!” jerry looked at morty in shock, they were sitting at a table Y/n placed their food down “let’s go to that stall they have barbecue maybe we can stand near it for heat!” Y/n pointed out before morty and Y/n quickly rushed over

Standing near the barbecue Y/n apologized for having the dog near the food but the one who ran the stall understood and allowed them to use the heat, even once the food cooked they placed it else where just so that morty can help the dog get warm

“who would leave a dog out here like that??” morty checked that it’s fur was quite dirty, probably a stray. morty slowly patted the dog to try pumping it’s blood flow, Y/n scratched the dogs ear

“poor little guy...” “he probably was abandoned, the snow unfortunately came around these times so he had to survive on his own” morty frowned Beth and jerry came over “okay boy’s let’s go home, Summer’s heading over to her friends house for a sleepover. And then maybe we’d find a way to take care of the poor dog. Where did you guys even find it?”

Beth passed their food to Y/n “we were walking after getting food and morty probably heared a whine under the snow” Y/n looked at morty holding the dog “yeah were going back home, now that morty can’t use his scarf he’s definetly going to catch a cold and the dog needs warmth and probably food”

“so you’re gonna keep the dog?” “of course i will!” “it’s funny, didn’t we talk about dogs this morning? It’s like some christmas miracle you just got him” Y/n held beth’s hair blower and had it to low heat

The dog was conscious but very weak, morty still kept it laying on his scarf a small plastic bowl with left over food from yesterday “what are you gonna name him? It’s a boy right?” morty nodded

“hmm, snuffles.” “you’ve got to be kidding me” “what? It’s the best i can come up with! And he also has nice fur!” morty patted the dogs belly “you could’ve gone with snow balls, his fur is white as snow. And either way he even looks like a snow ball when he curls up to sleep!”

Y/n explained before morty gave in “ok fine, snowballs...” the dog looked around before sniffing the bowl. Y/n brought it closer to it before it started eating slowly. Y/n sighed and leaned near morty since the heater was closer to him

Morty looked at Y/n with a smile before cupping his face to kiss him

“merry christmas Y/n”

A smirked laid upon Y/n face looking at morty

“merry christmas morty”

Note: ... I still wonder how i still written them as friends during this. It’s called a psuedo relationship, situationship is more sexual and negative i think? which is not what im looking for. So a psuedo fit’s more better since it’s more on acting like a commited relationship even though both never really talked about it. And i thought about homoerottic relationship but google lables it to be more of a sexual desire thing too which i don’t think is what im trying to find so idk how to lable these two.

BUT ANYWAYS they’re friends with benefits i think? Google went and said “people who fear to really confess to each other” but i don’t think that’s the case between those two, they’re more like. Like. Losers that doesn’t know what to when it comes to love so they just literally “go with the flow”

ANYWAYS AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE.

I will post the actual full fanfic instead of making one shots like these about them without much context and ig ‘canon’ plot explained so probably around january i’ll be posting it

[spiralnin]

"Just kiss me" her whispered request was filled with pained longing, desperation permeating her movements as she pulled his face closer to hers, lips pressing against his as her hands quickly found their way under his shirt. "I just need to feel you're really here with me"

Finding themselves in their own little world, tucked into the shadows of familiar places, there was no denying the fiery excitement that burns it’s furious song within his veins. Just hearing that with her voice wound in such a fashion, how impatience blended together with their daily routine only for the privacy of one of their many rooms to be applied for the perfect use. Naruto’s eyes held a half-lidded flare as he peered into those emeralds that burned with a difference purpose. An undeniably, mind-melting need that found him just as voraciously as he intends to put that to perfect use.

By building up even these moments with the kind of teasing he’s infamous for.

That said kiss wouldn’t be drawn just yet to those beautiful tiers. Instead she’d find his hot lips immediately attacking her neck, slow, hungry kisses working their steamy trail up that pristine column pulsing vibrantly. The flavor in itself was divine, leaving him to enjoy it as much as her fingers were, while they felt like they couldn’t decide whether to hang with the relaxing touches or to outright rip his shirt apart entirely, a small price for peppering these temptations upon her. He’d  feed upon the pride it gives him while basking in each firm graze of his lips upon skin, just a tinge of that fang carefully scrapping against her jawline. “Sakura..”

Was she aware how much of a double edged sword this made? For every brand of this secret melody he elicits, having her squirm with that same loving hunger, it only made the coals of his own fire immolate with a mindless need. Those broad hands found themselves adventurous, working along her full curves, skimming across those clothed hips to her full thighs, allowing the natural high heat of his to soak against her skin through such a flimsy barrier. Greedy squeezes of his palm would playfully test those limits, burning away the tension while allowing a much more potent force immediately take it’s place.

For a moment they remain a hair’s breadth away, blonde and blossom pink remaining meshed as their bangs meet, giving him the perfect view of just how drawn into the moment she was. A potent, energetic beat of his heart storms through his being as that hunger gnawing deep within his belly held one clear, concise demand as those powerful arms kept her locked in place.

“I’ma be as greedy as I want.”

Scratch that, both of them were going to beat.

Their lips meeting was pouring pure fuel in the foolish hope of quenching this hunger that ached in their veins. He knows it, he for damn sure Sakura knows it, leading to Naruto happily basking in this addictive flavor better known as her. It draws an electrical, searing pleasure through his veins, causing that low growl to edge against her lips while keeping her selfishly close. As one of those hands sweep up in order to graze through her sweet smelling tresses, the other cupped underneath her vibe, giving it a prime squeeze as the kiss they share immediately deepens, that growing fire poorly hiding itself to the miraculous medic seated upon his lap. There would be firm, shamelessly hard proof that grazes between her legs, being one of the many reasons those hissed utterances would be all for her to drink in.

@wokasho

[4townie]

Road to 4☆TOWN

part 1

Robaire grumbled to himself as he walked home. He was the best singer in that dang choir, why didn’t he ever get a single solo?! It was getting discouraging, almost to the point that he didn’t ever think he’d get his big break.

But then something caught his eye, and he stopped in his tracks. “Is that…” He bent down and picked up the partially crumbled flier. “Fortune Records is holding auditions for a new up and coming boy band?!” His eyes went wide. “Okay, okay wait there’s no way this is legit, right? This is way too lucky to be real.” He stared at the flier for a few more seconds. “Okay…okay, let’s approach this logically…Mom!” He rushed up the stairs and through the front door. “Mom, you have to check this out!”

Fabiola looked up from her pot of bean sauce. “What is it, baby?”

“Look!” He showed her the flier. “I found this stuck in our gate.”

Fabiola squinted at the flier. “What is this supposed to be?”

Robaire sighed. “Mummy, don’t you recognize that logo? It’s Fortune Records, that place I wanted to intern.”

“Oh, you got the job already?” Fabiola smiled brightly. “I didn’t even know you applied.”

“No, no, look.” He pointed to the audition dates. “It says they’re auditioning people for a new boy band this Saturday. Isn’t that awesome?”

“Oh.” Fabiola turned her attention back to the bean sauce. “You know…your father always hoped you’d do something a little more successful, like your sister.”

“Mom, what do you mean successful? All she does is sit at home all day with her kids and sometimes help out at the restaurant.” Robaire rolled his eyes.

“Exactly. She’s a good girl.” Fabiola turned off the stove and gently cupped her son’s cheeks. “Robaire, you’re a good boy. We just want what’s best for you.”

Robaire sighed. “Yes, Mummy.”

———

Christine glanced over her shoulder at Robaire as he sulked behind the counter.

“Ah, ma’am?” The customer got her attention. “Could I have some extra pikliz?”

“Oh! Yes, of course.” Christine handed him a couple of little containers. “Thank you, have a nice day!” She waved as the customer left the store. She sighed. “Robaire, you can’t keep sulking like this.”

Robaire answered by crossing his arms.

Christine groaned and walked around the counter to switch the sign to “Closed”. “I’m here to talk if you want to, but I can’t make you feel better until you do.”

Robaire’s eyes shifted as he thought. He opened his mouth to speak, but a small wail cut him off.

“Ugh!” Christine rushed to the break room. “Hold that thought!” A few moments later, she came back, bouncing her five month old daughter. “Okay, go ahead.”

Robaire looked her up and down. “How did you decide what to do after highschool?”

Christine thought for a moment and sat beside him. “Well, it wasn’t that hard. My choices were sending our parents into debt for college tuition or supporting our family business. Why do you ask?”

“I found this outside the house yesterday.” Robaire showed her the flier.

“Oh wow…” Christine’s eyes lit up. “This looks like an amazing opportunity.”

“I know, and I wanna do it so bad, but Mummy doesn’t think it’s a good idea.” He sighed and pouted. “Ugh, I don’t know anymore. I don’t want to disappoint our parents but I can’t miss an opportunity like this.”

Christine looked at him sadly. “Listen, I know you’re worried about Mummy and Papi, but I don’t think you’d ever forgive yourself if you passed up on your dreams.”

Robaire was quiet for a moment. “Do you really think I have what it takes?”

“I know you do.” Christine gently patted his back. “But I’d still like to see you prove it to everyone else.”

Robaire laughed. “Yeah, so would I.” He smiled at his sister. “Thanks, Christine. You always know what to say.”

“Of course I do. Who would I be if—” She was cut off by a loud cry from her baby. “Woy mon dieu! I thought she was asleep.”

Robaire groaned. “I guess I’ll go check on the griot then…”

“NO, YOU CAN’T COOK!”

[levi-lover]

Say my name

Levi x fem!reader

W/C: 1935

T/W: Smut, 18+, Female Masturbation, slight choking

A/N: I’m going through a writer’s block #rip so I edited the first smut piece I wrote back in December. It’s not my best but hey we all gotta start somewhere! 

You sat at the kitchen table, hunched over a book, entrenched into the words on the page. As the climax began to unravel, you swung your leg onto the chair and put your weight on your foot so you could lean closer to the table, closer to the book. Your body began to shake as you frantically read the pages, turning each furiously. 

You noticed you had less than ten pages to go, you slid your body closer to the table causing the ball of your foot to press against your core. You let out a small sigh, surprised by the sudden arousal. No, not now. Let me finish the book! You ignored the feeling but you kept on pressing your weight to your foot. You finished the book in a rush and as you closed the spine of the book, you let out a small sigh and untangled your legs from underneath you. 

“Wow,” you said out loud to the empty room. That was amazing, I can’t wait to tell Levi. After months of him pestering you to read the dang book, you finally read it. You hated to admit it but Levi was right, you did love it. You rolled your eyes at the thought of his stupid smug face tell you he told you were going to love it. Whatever at least I’ll have someone to talk about it with. Speaking of his stupid smug face, where is he? You looked over at the stove clock 4:23 it read. 

He had left over an hour ago to get groceries. He was normally quick and efficient, never gone for more than 40 minutes. Maybe he got caught up in traffic? You leaned back in the chair remembering the pressure in your core, you pressed your legs together and began to rub them. You closed your eyes in relief, another sigh escaped your mouth. You sat on your leg again, using your foot to apply pressure to yourself. As your body moved against your foot, your core began to tingle, with your left hand you grabbed your lower back and pushed yourself further into your foot, a moan escaped your mouth. You wished it would be Levi’s hands squeezing your lower back, hips, and thighs as he laid under your body, you wished you could be feeling his cock growing hard underneath you. 

“Fuck, where is that man? I need him.” 

You walked down the hallway into your shared bedroom. You sat at the foot of the bed, throwing your body against the crisp sheets, your legs dangled off the bed. You kept your eyes closed as your hand reached to your crotch, your fingers gently rubbing the fabric, your hips began to move along with your fingers desperate to feel more but you kept a slow pace. Your right hand reached over to your left breast and you began to massage yourself, feeling your nipple slowly harden under your shirt. A moan escaped your lips as you began to rub harder against your core, you reached your hands under your leggings feeling yourself over your underwear. You imagined Levi was the one touching you, closing your eyes tight, you pictured him laying over you, moaning into your ear. Heat began to pour into your cheek. You pushed your underwear aside, using your middle finger you touched your entrance. You trailed your finger up your slit, pressed down on your clit. Starting to draw tiny circles around the bundle of nerves, you felt the pressure build inside of you. You pressed down and moaned out Levi’s name. 

“Yes?” asked a deep voice from the doorway.

You rolled your head over and pulled the top of your body up. “Levi, you’re home!” Your hands still in your leggings, you smiled sheepishly at him. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

He chucked, “the lights were off. I assumed you were napping so I came in quietly. Tsk, looks like you were busy doing something else.” 

Levi was leaning against the door, one eyebrow was up as he looked over at you with amusement on his face. You could tell he was trying not to laugh. You pulled your hands out of your pants. 

“Oh, no. Don’t stop on my account, brat. Keep going” He walked over to you, the smell of pine and mint hitting your nose. 

Fuck, I did a good job when I bought that cologne. 

He was standing at the foot of the bed, looking down at you. His arms folded across his broad chest, his dark hair gently floating over his gray eyes. He put both arms on either side of your body as he leaned over, his legs spread over yours. You squirmed as you felt his breath near your face, you looked down overwhelmed by the heat coming off of your checks. He used his right hand to gently grab your face, his fingers were warm and firm. A sigh escaped your lips as he tilted your head up, forcing you to make eye contact with him. You saw the excitement and arousal in his eyes as he examined your face. He loved looking at you when you were like this, he loved knowing he was turning you on without even having to do anything to you. It made him feel powerful and it made him feel loved. 

As much as he loved giving you pleasure, he also loved making you wait for it. He looked at your lips, they were parted as small, jagged breaths escaped from your chest. His cock began to press against his jeans as he looked over you. He wanted to fuck you so bad but he knew he had to wait.

He lowered his head and began to whisper into your ear, “are you gonna stop touching that pretty little pussy ‘cause I’m here, huh?”

You closed your eyes and moaned, you felt yourself getting wetter. You loved it when he talked dirty to you. He placed his hands on your neck and began choking you gently. He pushed you onto the bed. 

“Go to the top of the bed. That’s an order” 

You nodded and whispered, “yes, sir.” 

You laid your head on your pillow and looked back to Levi, he was on his knees staring at you from the bottom of the bed. 

“Take off your shirt.” You pulled off the shirt you were wearing and tossed it somewhere in the room. “Good girl. Pull down your leggings and only your leggings.”

You yanked down the fabric as Levi watching, smirking. You laid back, feeling the cool air of the room touch your naked body, goosebumps appeared on your stomach and thighs. Levi looked at you, waiting for you to make eye contact before he made his next order. He loved to look directly into your eyes during sex, he loved knowing you were fully present with him, that you needed him. 

“Touch yourself but if you even dare to put a finger inside, you’ll get punished, okay?”

“Mmmm” you mumbled, as you began to rub yourself again, the pleasure from before quicking rising inside of you; knowing that Levi was watching you turned you on even more. 

“Am I joke to you?”

“N-,o” you mustered out as your body began to tense, a coil starting to form inside of your stomach.

“Then answer me when I speak to you, got it, slut?” Levi’s voice became rough and dark, he wasn’t joking around. 

“Y-yes, what do I do next?” you moaned. 

“I want you to keep on rubbing yourself, do a good job for me.” You peaked over at Levi and who started to rub himself through his jeans. He was biting his bottom lips trying to hold in a moan. You arched your back at the beautiful sight. 

“Start fucking yourself,” he ordered. 

“Yes, Levi.” You start by putting in one finger and curl it into your body, slowly you insert one more, you could feel every inch of yourself. The noise of your wet cunt and moans filled the air. Levi let go of his moan and he began to unzip his jeans. Fuck, I love him so much. You squeezed your eyes shut and focused on Levi’s moans.  

“I want to hear you say my name.” 

“Yes, Levi.” you took your fingers out of your entrance and ran them back up your slit, your back arched at your touch, this was good but it would feel so much better if it was Levi doing this to you. You started touching your clit again, circling around it, the coil getting tighter and tighter. From the bottom of the bed, you heard the sound of Levi’s hands on his cock, you bit your lip just thinking about it. 

“I told you to say my name like the good girl you are”

You threw your head back and started shouting Levi’s name.“F-fuck, Levi.” 

“That’s what I like to hear.”

Levi tossed his head back, he was holding his cock in his angular hands, stoking it up and down. He wanted to shove it inside of you, you were so wet and all he had to do was boss you around. He smiled at the thought of you fucking yourself to the memory of him. 

“Mmm Levi, ‘m close.” You rotated between rubbing circles around your clit to pressing down on it, As the coil snapped, your back arched and pleasure flooded your body, your legs began to pulse. You looked over to see Levi’s face twisted in joy as his cock twitched in his hands and white strings of cum shot out from the tip. He looked at it with content before pulling off his t-shirt to clean off his hands. He glanced up at you and smirked, “that’s my good girl.”

You let out a sigh of relief and held your arms open, inviting him to come in. He chuckled before crawling his way to you. He rested his head in the crook of your neck, wrapping his toned arms around you. Levi placed small kisses on your skin, his hands caressed your waist with a feather-soft touch. You started trailing circles around his back. He loved when you touched him like this, so gentle and full of love. 

“I missed you,” you whispered. 

“Tsk, I wasn’t even gone long.” 

“Yeah, but you were gone longer than usual, it was pure pain!” 

He laughed at your dramatic nature. 

“I guess since you couldn’t keep my name out of your lips.”

“Fuck you.”

“I know you want to,” he retorted. 

“Whatever, anyways what took you so long? I finished the book and I wanted to talk about it!”

“I see. That’s why you were moaning my name. I had to wait for them to stalk up on someone’s favorite brand of oat milk. But you liked it, huh? I knew you would.” You didn’t even have to look at face to see the smug expression he was making. 

“Yeah, I did like it, so what? But wait you got me oat milk? Doesn’t that need to be refrigerated?” you asked. The both of you had been going at for a while now. 

Levi jumped out of you arms and shouted, “fuck! I didn’t put the groceries away!”

“Haha, loser!” 

“Shut up, Brat. Help me put them away and then I’ll actually fuck you.” 

“Aye, aye, Captain!” You shouted like a soldier getting ready for battle. You put clean clothes on and raced him to the kitchen. When Levi said he was going to do something he would do it.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Pull

Sequel to Push

Warnings: noncon sex, oral, violence, abuse, and death.

This is Lee Bodecker (who is already dark!af) and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: The sheriff keeps coming around.

Note: Okay, so probably a three-parter. I didn’t intend for this to go beyond a one shot but same old story, eh.

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Love you guys!

Please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3

“Oh what the hell she says I just can't win for losing And she lays back down”

-Her Diamonds, Rob Thomas

🚔

You stared out the window. The trees along the edge of the yard were pale and barren, a sheet of frost laid over the ground. There was a wailing in your head. The tears blurred your vision and your fingernails curled into the lip of the sink.

"Goddamn it, girl," you flinched at your father's voice. "The kettle's fucking screaming."

You pushed yourself away from the sink and shook away the haze. You turned the knob and moved the kettle to the front burner. You took off the lid of the percolator and poured the piping water inside. You left the coffee to brew and turned your back to the stove.

"Are you alright?" Will asked as he cut up his eggs with his fork.

"She's fine. She just ain't wanna do her work." Your father growled through a mouthful. "Way she's been draggin' her ass lately like the rest of us ain't work a lot harder than rinsing a pan or sweeping a dang floor."

"I've been doing all that, daddy." You cringed after you spoke. Not just because you knew you're father wouldn't like it but because that word, 'daddy', tickled that memory in the back of your head.

"Try to do it without makin' a bigger mess," he snarled. "Your ma raised you better. She was still here, she'd be shakin' her head."

Not just at me, you thought but kept it to yourself. You turned and filled the four cups lined up with coffee. You set each before the men at the table. Your brothers thanked you, your father grumbled for the sugar. You set the dish in the centre of the table and backed away. 

You would eat after them. A bowl of porridge with cinnamon as your daddy went to his shed and the boys drove into town. Your only peace for the day although you hadn't had any since that night.

Six days. You counted each in your head. Laying in your bed, sleepless. Even after almost a week, you still felt the Sheriff's intrusion. You were still sore; bruises on your ass and thighs, a hole deep in your being. You closed your eyes and you were bent over the chair or the table. Your skin crawled and your stomach flipped. You couldn't shake the terrible shadow from your mind.

They left without ado, the boys in an argument over Mr. Calver's new car and what year it was. You cleared the table and sat to make yourself eat. It was hard but after a two day fast, you'd almost passed out against the burning stove. So you ate without tasting and washed the dishes.

You found yourself gazing out the window again. Snow began to fall and you shivered. You looked down, your hands mindlessly in the dishwater that had long turned cold. You pulled the plug and dried your pruned hands. 

The gravel crunched outside as the wind battered flakes against the window panes.

Your heart dropped. It used to be weeks between visits, sometimes a whole month. As of late, Sheriff Bodecker had taken to visiting more often. You were never very vain but you suspected it might be on your account. How could it not be?

You went to the door and peeked out the tall window beside it. It was him. The lights atop the cruiser and the emblem painted across the door. It was early but every visit was unexpected.

He looked at the house and you let go of the curtain. You pressed yourself to the door and listened. His footsteps trailed away and he knocked on the shed door. Your father answered in his usual gruff demeanor.

You felt brittle as you pushed away from the door. You walked to the stairs and looked up. The carpet was worn away by years of steps taken up and down. You leaned against the railing as you climbed. Don’t think about the man below and perhaps he wouldn’t think of you.

You took a cloth from the linen closet at the end of the hall and began to wipe down the plates that decorated the wall. Each was painted with a landmark; Niagara Falls, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids in Giza. You focused on cleaning each, even as your hands shook and your legs threatened to crumple.

His hands on you, his sickly sweet breath, his body crushed against you. You gripped the plate with the image of the Coliseum. You stared at the hundreds of windows, the falling facade. Your eye overflowed and the door below slammed.

You sniffed and set the plate back in the hooks. You wiped your eyes with the sleeve of your sweater and wiped the top of the side table. Thick soles climbed the stairs and a figure stopped in your peripheral. You turned as Lee peered down at you, fingering the heel of his gun as he neared.

“Your pa said I could use the facility,” he said.

“Behind me,” you said quietly as you picked up the vase and wiped the inside. 

“What’re you doin’? Tryna hide from me up here?” He tapped two fingers on the table.

You shook your head and put the pot down. You looked at the old sepia picture of your parents beside it.

“You know, I was wanting to come back sooner but… duty calls.” He lowered his voice as he leaned close, “There’s not much to do sittin’ around in the cruiser. I end up thinking of you. Wishin’ it was your hand down my pants instead of mine.”

“Sheriff,” you breathed. “Please, don’t--”

“You mad ‘cause I been gone, I get it. Not right of a man to be with a woman than just leave her waitin’,” he touched your cheek as you looked away. “You smell nice.”

“You better do your business and get goin’, sheriff,” you uttered. “I got laundry to do.”

“No point in actin’ all coy anymore,” his hand stretched over your jaw and he forced you to look at him. “And I can’t hold out much longer. You remember the river, where I take my break, you meet me there at midnight, after your pa’s asleep.”

“It’s snowing,” you argued.

“I don’t care if it’s a goddamn blizzard. You come find me or I find you,” he snarled and his hand slipped down to the top of your dress. He undid the top two buttons and squeezed your tits together as he watched them with a lewd leer. “I gotta pay more attention to these… but that ass is so nice.”

“My daddy--”

“Half drunk, as usual,” he huffed, “I could fuck you on his bed right now and he’d be none the wiser.” He purred and admired your tits as he bounced them. “Midnight… I’ll keep the car warm for you.”

He winked and dropped his hands, his palm brushing over the front of his pants and causing him to groan. He turned away and unbuckled his pants as he entered the bathroom. He kicked the door closed and you whimpered.

If your daddy found out what had happened, even if it was the Sheriff, he’d string you up by your knickers.

🚔

You found the flashlight under the stairs and waited until the house was filled with snores. The old standing clock ticked as you counted down the hours sat on the stairs across from the front door. The snow wasn’t thick but enough to make it slippery. With the night, the temperature dropped and seeped in around the windows. It would take you a while to get through the woods.

You opened the front door carefully. You wore the old hand-me-down coat and your heavy boots. You hated the forest after dark. When you were kids, your older brothers like to tell tales of grisly murders and other atrocious acts there. You’d since learn much of those were fantasy but it didn’t make them any less sinister.

You flipped the flashlight on as you neared the trees. You hit it twice to get the bulb alight. You pointed it ahead of you and followed the glow like a beacon. If your daddy knew what you were about, if your mama was alive to know it… you could hardly bear it yourself.

Your teeth chattered as the bitter wind swept under your skirt and you crossed your free arm over your middle. You hunched against the cold as flakes began to fall once more. You heard the river ahead of you and came out onto the dirty shore.

Bodecker’s cruiser sat waiting, his flashlight on the dash as it lit up the interior. You saw him in the yellow haze as you neared. He got out as he spotted you and rounded the car. His breath fogged before him and he rubbed his hands together.

“Got the heat on, not that you’ll be cold for long,” he said, “Come on,” he opened the back door and reached for the flashlight. You handed it to him as he waved you into the car. “On your back.”

He was out of pretense, out of patience. You sat and shimmied back on the seat. He got in behind you and pulled the door closed as he huddled on his knees on the seat. He was bent awkwardly as he grabbed at your skirt.

“Common, let’s get these off,” he reached up and grabbed the waist of your wool tights and jolted them down your thighs. “It’s so fucking cold. I don’t know we can keep to the car through the winter.” He left your tights at your knees and tore down your underwear. He pushed your legs up so they hung around him, the wool stretched across his stomach. “There’s a hotel in town. We can drive in…”

His voice trailed off as he fumbled with his pants. He grunted and planted a hand beside your head as he bent over you. He slapped the tip of his cock against your cunt as you turned your face away from him. You pressed your lips together. Better to have it done with.

“What’s the matter, girl?” He grabbed your chin and turned your head. “Open your eyes…” he rubbed his nose against yours and pushed against your entrance. “Look at your daddy, girl.”

“Please--” You opened your eyes and begged. “Please, don’t make--”

He impaled you and let out a long groan. You yelped and as you curled beneath him and he sank to his limit. It hurt just as much as before. He hit the same bruises as he began to thrust.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he said with each tilt of his hips, “You don’t know how I’ve been thinking about you.”

He pushed himself up as he continued to move against you. He unzipped your coat and unbuttoned your blouse with some difficulty. He ripped your jacket, shirt, and brassiere strap down your shoulder. He grabbed your tit as it fell loose and toyed with your nipple. He flicked with his thumb and circled the hard nub.

“You need to dress yourself up, girl,” He purred between thick breaths. “Show off what you got. Just for me, no one else.”

“I can’t-- I can’t--” You squealed as he sped up and sent a pang up your spine. “Ow, ow, ow.”

“I ain’t care about your pa,” he murmured, “I’ll buy you something nice, hmmm? Then I can fuck you in that.”

You blinked away the tears as they threatened. This man could use your body but he wouldn’t see you cry. You hadn’t truly done that since your mama’s funeral. 

The car rocked with him. He crushed you into the seat as his feet hit the door. He was too tall to be crammed in the back of the cruiser atop you but it barely seemed to matter. The leather of his coat squeaked as he hammered into you and the scent of his sweat permeated the air. 

He dropped down on you, smothering you as his hips kept going. He nuzzled your ear and gave a throaty grunt. He came and slapped the seat beside your head. He slowed and went limp over you, out of breath as he shuddered.

“Mmm, can I use my cuffs on you next time, girl?” He lifted his head and tickled your temple. “Hmm? You can be my perp?”

You stared at him, mortified. You nodded, unable to speak.

“Tomorrow,” he rasped, “I won’t wait another week.”

🚔

Your nights belonged to the Sheriff and the days had never truly been your own. Two weeks of his sick game, trekking through the dark, cold woods to his cruiser by the frozen river. Face down on his seat, cuffs behind your back, him behind you, on top of you.

That day, he’d been by to see your father. He found you in the kitchen before he went. “Forget the underwear tonight, girl.” That was all he said before he left you to dread him again.

The same path, the same bobbing light before you, the knot deep in your gut. You were as sick with yourself as you were with him. You let him use you. Maybe you didn’t have a choice but you didn’t fight. You just laid there and waited for him to finish.

As you walked through the woods, you still jumped at every snapped twig and every rustle. It all seemed louder that night. The wind was wild and the branches shook above, no leaves left to block the moonlight.

He took your jacket off that night. You shivered and he cuffed your hands behind your back. He bent you over the hood and hiked up your skirt. Your thigh highs began to sag as he entered you. Your cheek nearly stuck to the cold metal of the car as he pushed your head down.

“Fuck yeah, girl, you like when daddy fucks you?” He snarled as he slapped your ass. The open zipper of his jacket brushed your skin and his pants scratched the top of your thighs. “Hmm, you like being a whore?” He tugged on the cuffs as he fucked you harder. “That’s it.”

He snorted and slowed. You sensed a disturbance and he reached to his loose belt.

“Who’s there?” He called out as he slipped out of you.

“I fucking knew you was sneakin’ around,” Your father’s voice cut through the air. “Might be with a policeman but it don’t make it any better, you tramp.”

You tried to stand and Bodecker pushed you back down. “She’s a grown woman and times are changin’, Rhett. Why don’t you go back home? You know I’ll get her there safe.”

“Home? Uh uh, she can stay out in the cold. I won’t have no whore under my roof.”

“Now, let’s not be rash, Rhett, I’ll take care of her. You won’t have to. I was just--”

“Everyone knows about you, Lee,” your father barked, “This where you take your other whores?”

“I’m a changed man,” Bodecker insisted and you heard a subtle snap. You watched as their shadows got closer in the dark lit up only by the flashlight thrown onto the ground. “She’s--”

“You can keep her. Maybe you can find a man who will buy or sell her when you’re done.”

“Don’t be sayin’ that--”

“You fat fuck, don’t you--”

You were deafened by the sudden bang and your ears rang as your father’s body slumped to the floor. You stood with some trouble and stumbled back. You heard your father gasping as he twitched in the dirt. Bodecker turned and caught you before you could stepped away from the hood.

“I didn’t tell you to get up,” He growled as he bent you over the hood again.

“Daddy!” You cried out. “What did you do? Daddy--”

“I told you,” he pressed the gun to your head and poked around until he slid back inside you, “He ain’t your daddy no more.”

Your boots kicked in the dirt as he fucked you. The cold metal of the gun had you frozen, your eyes on your father’s body as the life slowly drained from him. You closed your eyes as his last, moist breaths escaped him. You bit down; you couldn’t cry, not even then.

You didn’t even notice as Bodecker finished and backed away. As his cum leaked from you and your legs folded. You fell onto the cold ground and he hauled you up into the back seat. He slammed the door and got in the front.

“Daddy…” You muttered.

“Pity. You never know what scoundrels are hanging out in the woods after dark,” Bodecker said as he started the car. “That’s some bad news to wake up to, isn’t is, girl?”

“Wh-why-why?” You stammered.

“Shhhh, you gotta be quiet, girl,” he coaxed, “‘Specially when drop you off. Better not wake any of your brothers, right?” He was quiet for a moment and cleared his throat loudly, “Right?”

“Right,” you whispered as your sticky thighs rubbed together, “Right, right, right…”

🚔

“Now, girl, you go inside and put your clothes in a bag and wash yourself up.” Those were Bodecker’s instructions as he dropped you off. 

You didn’t remember doing it but you awoke with damp sheets and a bag by your bed. You rolled over, stiff from the night spent tense and rolling back and forth. It hadn’t really been sleep. More shock.

You laid there. Numb. You heard the gurgling again. Saw the lifeless black form of your father’s body in the dirt. It wasn’t real. You’d go downstairs and he’d be there. Once you put on the coffee he’d get up and demand a cup. It couldn’t be real.

You sat up and kicked the bag under your bed. You wore the grey dress with the pleats, a black sweater over it, with black stockings, and your mary janes. You descended the stairs one at a time and put the kettle on the stove. You stared out the window. It had snowed more in the last hours of the night.

You got out the tray of eggs and the sausages. You searched for the large skillet and Will walked in with a yawn. He was always the first up. You stared at him as he sat at the table. You tried to say something, maybe you said ‘good morning’, and then you went back to your work.

Arn and Cal came shortly after. None of the three mentioned your father’s absence. It wasn’t that unusual. Sometimes he drank too much, sometimes he had been up for hours or hadn’t slept at all. You served them and added the bacon grease to the jar of lard.

Where was he? He couldn’t be there. In the dirt. In his own blood. Dead. No, he was going to come right through that door.

You heard the tires before the knock. Your heart raced as reality closed in around you. Arn got up to answer it and came back with the sheriff. He didn’t even acknowledge you as he nodded at the men around the table.

“Pa’s not awake yet,” Will said and chewed the edge of a strip of bacon.

“Well, I think…” Bodecker hooked his thumb in his belt, his stomach sticking out awkwardly, “I think we need to talk about your pa. Can I sit?”

“Course, sir,” Cal said, “Should be enough fixins if you want some.”

“No, no thank you,” Bodecker sat heavily and sighed. He was an effective actor. “Look, your pa… well, we don’t know exactly what happened but… we all agree he must’ve been drunk.”

“What’s goin’ on?” Arn snipped, “What do you mean? Pa is here--”

“You remember when he went to bed last night?” Bodecker asked.

“Well…” Cal frowned and looked at his brother. “Well, I think I laid down before him.”

“Me too,” Arn said.

“I’m always the first asleep,” Will added. “Same with my sister.”

You gulped as the sheriff finally looked at you. “Well, you know we had them flyers around town for the longest time about the woods. About the criminals we got hangin’ around these days and there’s really no easy way for me to say it but it looks like your pa ran into one of them last night.”

“All the way out in the woods? But why?” Cal asked.

Arn’s nostrils flared as he shook his head. “Because he got no sense. You remember last summer. We found him face down in a bog out there. Took the three of us to get him out.”

“Yeah, but so late…”

“You know how he’s been since ma.” Will intoned.

You were dizzy. You grabbed onto the counter as your legs turned to liquid and you cried out. “No!” You fell to your knees and touched your forehead. You knew it was real, you’d seen it, but you had wanted so badly for it to have been a dream. A nightmare.

Will was the first at your side. Bodecker helped him lifted you back to your feet and get you to a chair. Arn and Cal watched in concern.

“You sure it was our pa?” Arn asked.

“I’ll save you the sight. I can assure you it’s him.” Bodecker said as he rubbed your shoulder and Will stood over you. “She should be fine. Get her some water. It’s the shock. You know the ladyfolk and their temperaments. They aren’t so equipped for things like this.”

“Any idea who? Why?” Arn prodded.

“Don’t think your pa had the sense to take his wallet but his belt buckle was gone and we can’t be sure what else they took,” Bodecker took your hand and caressed the back of it, “Honey, you drink tea? You want your brothers’ get you some?”

“I-- I--- You--You--” You stuttered.

“Come on, boys, let’s get her laying down,” Bodecker said as he stood. “She’s just havin’ a moment.”

Will and Cal lifted you out of the chair and carried you to the sofa in the front room. You were stiff as a board as they angled you onto the cushion and you could only babble at the ceiling.

“Go get that tea going, Will,” Bodecker ordered, “Cal, you go get her something to keep her warm.” Arn stood in the doorway and watched. “And Arn, get some wood for the fire. We should get it going.”

The boys dispersed as you laid across the couch. Bodecker touched your shoulder and you latched onto his wrist.

“You--” You hissed.

“Shhh, I only did what I had to. What you made me do,” he whispered, “‘cause you weren’t careful.”

You turned your head back and forth and squirmed. “No, no, no! You raped me! You killed my daddy!’

He covered your mouth and leaned over you. “Shut up! Shut up!” He sneered and his other hand went to your throat. “Now you got your clothes in a bag.” You nodded with wide eyes. “Good. I’m gonna take your brothers into town and you’re gonna burn them. Got it?” You nodded again. “And you’re gonna shut up.”

He released you roughly and stood as Cal came in with a blanket and tossed it over you. Bodecker helped straighten it and looked around.

“Think y’all should come back with me. We can get you sorted at the station then see about the caretaker.”

“All that already?” Arn asked.

“I ain’t rushing. Bodies don’t keep long, though. Investigations neither. We’ll get some statements from you boys and you’ll be free to choose what you wanna do from there.”

🚔

Will stayed home from school to keep watch over you. You didn’t know what was wrong with you. When your ma died, you didn’t feel this empty. You had cried for her, mourned for her. But now all you could do was sit there. Was it your fault? Even if Bodecker had pulled the trigger, you had brought your father there. You had been so concerned with keeping the sheriff from telling your secret, you had failed to hide it yourself.

Bodecker stopped by almost daily. He claimed it was to ask more questions or check on the family but you didn’t miss the way he looked at you. The way he made the excuse to be in the same room when he talked to your brothers. The way he shifted on his feet and peered around the house in silent triumph.

On the fifth day, you made Will go to school. He shouldn’t miss class because of you. He was the only one out of the boys who had ever read a book full through. So you saw them off, a proper breakfast for them for the first time since that horrifying morning, and you went about the list of undone chores.

You looked out the window at the shed. Your daddy never said much to you but you were used to his presence; the noise of his activity just outside. You couldn’t blame him for his faults, he’d fought a war, he’d worked hard, and he’d lost a wife. And now he was dead because of you.

You were scrubbing the floor when you heard the engine and the rubber treads on snow. You didn’t stop as you tried to scour away the salt stains and layer of dirt from the hallway. Boots clambered up the stairs and you kept your head down. 

No knock, no warning as Bodecker opened the door. You looked up at him as he kicked the snow off his feet.

“You’re up and about today,” he said in a pandering tone.

You said nothing and focused on your work. He took off his jacket and hung it on the rack in the corner. He wiped his boots on the mat and watched you. He hummed as he tapped his toe.

“I like that. You on all fours.” He taunted.

You sat back on your heels and dropped the rag in the bucket. “I got cleaning to do, Sheriff, and if you don’t recall, my daddy’s gone… for good.”

“Oh, I know it,” he said as you lifted the pail and he followed you to the kitchen. “But do you? Do you really know it?”

You dumped the water down the sink and plunked the empty bucket on the floor. “I know it and I know who done it. I saw you. How could you?”

“Your brother Arn’s gonna get the house in the will. He’ll be lookin’ for a wife soon. Means Cal’s gonna have to get his own place, take Will with him or get a wife of his own. And you? Where does that leave you?”

“There’s jobs for me out there, I can clean, I can cook,  I’m sure I could waitress,” you argued as you crossed to him. You grabbed his arms and tried to shove him. “Go. You don’t need to worry about me. I’d prefer it if you left me alone all together. You got what you wanted, Sheriff.”

“Not all of it,” he smirked. “You gonna drive yourself mad with all this.”

“What do you care?” You slapped his chest with both hands. “You don’t care about no one but you. You killed him!” You hit him again, “You killed him!”

He grabbed your upper arms and shook you. “You shut up about that now. You say anything again and you’ll be lyin’ beside him. If that ain’t enough, I’ll put your brothers there first.”

You reeled as if he’d slapped you. Your lip quivered and you sucked it in to keep from sobbing. “What do you want from me? I never wanted any of this.”

“You can’t know what you want, girl,” he wrenched you back and turned as he dragged you through to the living room. “So let me show you what you want. What your new daddy can do for you.”

“Get off of me!” You wrestled with him as he angled you around the couch. He shoved you and you fell back onto the cushions. “Leave me alone!”

He forced you back as you tried to stand and grabbed your chin. He squeezed as he looked down at you.

“Take them bloomers off now,” he ordered. “And hush your mouth.” You gaped up at him. He turned his hand and rested it against your cheek. “There’s one sure way to knock some sense into a woman,” he slapped you lightly, “You can decide if this lesson is an easy one or not.”

You sat back as you shrugged away his hand. You winced and lifted your pelvis and slipped off your underwear. As you did, your stockings bunched at your knees. Lee watched you with thick breath and purred. He knelt down and pushed your legs apart.

“Put your arms up. Just across the couch. Relax.” He directed as he got closer. “I wanna show you somethin’ makes the girls happy.”

“What are you--”

“You stop asking questions before I make it so you can’t. Now,” he squeezed your knees and his hands slipped up your thighs as he urged them further apart, “Just don’t think. Just sit there.”

He lifted your skirt over your head, one hand still on your legs. His warm breath tickled your pelvis and you squirmed. He pinched you and you exclaimed. You stilled and he slid his tongue down your cunt and poked between your folds. You choked on air as he dragged the tip of his tongue around your bud and your legs tense as your feet tried to arch in your flats.

He delved more firmly into your pussy and you grabbed onto the sofa. Your heart sped up and you pushed your pelvis out without thinking. You looked down at his head draped in your skirt as his mouth made sloppy noises. You felt a strange tingle as he kept on and your neck was pricked as you filled with guilt. It should feel good, whatever he was doing.

“Stop, please, Sheriff,” you begged.

He lapped hungrily as he ignored you and his hands gripped your hips. He pushed you into the couch as he devoured you and drew your pleasure to a point on his tongue. Your breath hitched and you moaned without thinking. You wanted him to stop but more, you wanted him to keep going.

And he did. He seemed to enjoy it just as much as your core pulsed. Your fingers dug into the cushion and your toes curled. You cried out, a voice that didn’t sound like yours, and rocked your pelvis against his face as you were overcome with delirium. You’d never felt so delicious.

Every ounce of strength drained from you. You panted as you slouched against the couch and he pulled away. Your skirt slipped from his head and his lips shone with your juices. He rubbed your legs and watched you writhe as your nerves were overwrought.

He stood with a grunt and unbuckled his belt. He licked his lips and tilted his head. “I knew you wanted me and now you know it too,” he said, “Now you show me that ass. You know I can’t resist.”

[poisoned-peppermint]

Part 3 of incorrect quotes because people liked the other ones

~~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: I think I just figured something out. I got to go.

Bad: Aren't you forgetting something?

Skeppy: Uuh...*hesitantly kisses Bad's forehead before running out.*

Bad: No, pay your bill! Dang it, who raised you? 

~~~~~~~~

Bad: Well, Skeppy and I finally did it!

The rest of the squad: *gasps, shocked expressions, etc.*

Bad: That's right... We kissed!

~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: I love you.

Bad, not paying attention: What was that?

Skeppy: I said I’m selling you to the zOo-

~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: You’re not jealous, are you?

Bad: No!

Skeppy: Good, ‘cause I consider my fake relationship with you a lot more meaningful. 

~~~~~~~~

*Bad and Skeppy are in Paris.*

Bad: I'm...moved. I...I don't know what it is I'm feeling right now. I feel...destiny?

Skeppy: But...

Bad: I don't know what it is. I feel like... I just never thought I'd see it with my own two eyes. And here it is. It's just there. It's right in front of me, and...

Skeppy: This is what you wanted to see? The bridge from Inception?

Bad: Yeah.

Skeppy: But the Eiffel Tower is behind us, babe.

Bad: Yeah, but this is the bridge FROM INCEPTION.

Skeppy: Okay, alright

~~~~~~~~

Bad: Sorry I’m late, I was doing things.

Skeppy: Hi, I’m ‘things’

~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: Are you sure Bad's even gay? They barely even looked at me.

~~~~~~~

Bad: Ugh, crushes are so dumb.

Skeppy: I know. Whenever I’m near the person I like I just start acting stupid.

Bad: But you’re always acting stupid?

Skeppy: ...

Skeppy: Yeah, don’t think about that too hard.

~~~~~~~~

Bad: Can I have 2 straws with that milkshake?

Skeppy: Aww-

Bad: With 2 straws, I can drink it double as fast!

~~~~~~~

Bad: I’m going to defeat you with the power of friendship! ... And this knife I found

~~~~~~~

Bad: So... what would you do if you were in bed with me?

Skeppy: Depends. Is your bed comfortable?

Bad: Yes.

Skeppy: I'd sleep.

~~~~~~~~

Bad, to Skeppy: We had a date!

Bad: *aggressively points to Hello Kitty Coloring Book*

~~~~~~~~

Bad, at the slightest provocation: I came into this earth screaming and covered in someone else's blood and and I'm not afraid to leave the same way. 

~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: That was so hot, Bad.

Bad: I literally called the person who just flirted with you a degenerate dog and told them I hope they get dragged through the streets.

Skeppy: I'm so in love with you

~~~~~~~~

Dream: Where's Sapnap, Skeppy, and Bad?

George: They're playing hide and seek.

Dream: Where?

George: I don't think you get how this game works.

~~~~~~~

Skeppy: Good morning.

Bad: Good morning.

Sapnap: Good morning.

George: You all sound like robots, try spicing it up a bit.

Dream: MORNING MOTHERFUCKERS! 

~~~~~~~

Sapnap: You really put aside everything and came all this way for me? How did you even get here so fast?

George: Several traffic violations.

Dream: Three counts of resisting arrest.

Bad: Roughly thirteen cans of energy drinks.

Quackity: Also, that’s not our car.

~~~~~~~

Sapnap: Hi, could I ask how exactly does one accidentally set a lemon on fire??

Quackity: Microwave for 40 minutes. 😔

Bad: Why were you microwaving a lemon???

Quackity: I read boiling lemons helps cover up bad smells (I wanted to cover up the scent of burnt oranges) but I didn't own any pots.

Karl: Did you burn an orange too? How???

Quackity: Microwave for 40 minutes. 😔

~~~~~~

Tommy: Is stabbing someone immoral? Techno: Not if they consent to it. Wilbur: Depends who you’re stabbing. Phil: YES?!?

~~~~~~~

Tommy: *Screams*

Wilbur: *Screams louder to establish dominance*

Phil: Should we do something?

Techno: No, I want to see who wins.

~~~~~~~

Phil: Wake me up…

Techno: Before you go go!

Wilbur: When September ends…

Tommy: WAKE ME UP INSIDE-

~~~~~~~

Tommy: Techno isn’t answering their phone

Phil: I’ll call

Tommy: Wilbur and I have both tried six times each, what makes you thi-

Techno: Hello?

~~~~~~~

Cop: You’re receiving a ticket for having three people on one motorcycle.

Phil: Shit.

Techno: Wait, three?

Cop: Yeah?

Wilbur: OH MY GOD TOMMY FELL OFF!!!

~~~~~~~

Tommy: ARE YOU-

Wilbur: Fucking.

Tommy: KIDDING ME?! YOU-

Wilbur:Fucking.

Tommy: IDIOT!

Techno: …What was that?

Wilbur: Phil banned Tommy from swearing, so I’m helping them out.

~~~~~~~

Wilbur: *tapping fingers on table*

Techno: *taps fingers back furiously*

Tommy: …What’s going on?

Phil: Morse code. They’re talking.

Wilbur: -.-- ..- .-. / - …. . / -.-. ..- - . … -

Techno: *slams hands on table* YOU TAKE THAT BACK! 

~~~~~~~

Tommy: I'm bored.

Techno: Wanna commit first degree murder?

Tommy: Sure!

Phil, hearing them: No- Stop, don't do that! Put that knife down! Put Wilbur down!!

~~~~~~~

Wilbur: Oh god, they texted you ‘hi.’’ punctuation only means one thing, Phil. They're mad at you.

Phil: No, it's Tommy. They're just being grammatically correct!

*meanwhile*

Tommy: And then I used a period so they'd know that I'm mad at them.

Techno: A period doesn't say 'I'm mad', it says 'you're dead to me'.

Tommy: I stand by my choice.

~~~~~~~

Wilbur: Phil, we're hungry!

Techno: Phil! What's for dinner?

Tommy: We're hungry, Phil!

Phil, frying a bottle of ketchup over the stove: *screams* 

~~~~~~~

Wilbur, writing in a letter: "I'm going to kick.. your... ass."

Wilbur: THERE. Now send it.

Tommy:: Dude, your handwriting is terrible, are you sure you want to-

Wilbur: JUST DO IT!

later

Phil: So what does it say?

Techno, reading the letter: They say they're going to "lick my...."

Phil:

Techno:

Phil: Gross- 

~~~~~~~

Quackity: Karl, what do IDK, LY, and TTYL mean?

Karl: I don’t know, love you, talk to you later

Quackity: Ok, I love you too, I’ll just ask Sapnap.

~~~~~~~

Quackity: I love you guys, you're the best thing that's happened to me.

Karl: We're the best thing that's ever happened to you?

Quackity: Yes!

Sapnap: I'm starting to feel a little sorry for you.

~~~~~~~

Quackity: Sapnap and I were crossing the street, and this dude drove by and honked at us

Karl: *Sighing* What did Sapnap do?

Quackity: They chased him to the next red light, then reached into his window and...

Sapnap: Who wants a steering wheel?

~~~~~~~

Quackity: In my defense, I was left unsupervised.

Karl: Wasn't Sapnap with you?

Sapnap: In my defense, I was also left unsupervised. 

~~~~~~~~

Sapnap: Karl you can’t move in with Quackity. Karl: Why not? Sapnap: Well, um, how are you going to feel when they see you without any makeup? Karl: I’m not wearing makeup right now. Sapnap: Holy crap, you’re beautiful.

~~~~~~~

Sapnap: *is wearing silk pants* How does this look?

Quackity: Like its slips on and off really easily.

Sapnap:

Quackity: No, I didn't mean it like that-

Karl: We know what you meant. 

~~~~~~~

Quackity: I didn't drink that much last night.

Karl: You were flirting with Sapnap.

Quackity: So what? They're my Husband.

Karl: You asked if they were single.

Karl: And then you cried when they said they weren't.

~~~~~~~

Karl: Why doesn’t Sapnap find me sexy when I bite my lip?

Quackity: What do you look like when you bite your lip?

Karl: *bites lip*

Quackity: ...Have you considered biting your bottom lip instead? 

~~~~~~~

Bad: Are you trying to seduce me?

Skeppy: Why, are you seducible?

~~~~~~~

Bad: I don't need to go to bed. I'm not tired, I'll be fine.

Skeppy: But, darling, I'll be so lonely without you. Come curl up in my arms so I can feel whole again.

Bad: O-oh. Well. Are you trying to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns??

Skeppy: Is it working? 

~~~~~~~

Skeppy: Relationships should be 50/50. Bad cooks us dinner while I sit on the kitchen counter looking pretty. 

~~~~~~~

Bad: I still have no idea how I’m attracted to you...

Skeppy: Yeah, well, you’re stuck with me, and no take backs, honey.

~~~~~~~

Bad: The first time I saw you, you stole my heart.

Skeppy: But I'm a kleptomaniac, so that doesn't mean anything. 

~~~~~~~

Bad: Valentine’s day is just a consumerist holiday that holds no real value other than drive people insane buying heart shaped chocolates for their significant others and pos-

Skeppy: I wrote you a poem.

Bad, already crying: You did?

~~~~~~~

Skeppy: This date is boring!

Bad: This isn't a date. I said I was going to the store.

Skeppy: Then why did you invite me?

Bad: I didn't, I specifically said "don't come with me" then you said " screw you Bad I'll do whatever I want!

~~~~~~~

Skeppy: When you said 'Magic in Bed', I wasn't expecting this...

Bad: *pulls out card from deck* Now, was this your card?

Skeppy: Holy moly- 

~~~~~~~

Bad: I owe you one.

Skeppy: That’s ok. You can just date me and we’ll call it even. 

~~~~~~~~

If this does as well as the others I’ll make another.

[plsbyallmeans]

yuck, why am I doing this episode 2.

NOT REALLY A SERIOUS Commentary. just for the lulz.

I was prohibited by Tumblr to comment further on my original post hence this huge ass post. HAHAHA.

I actually like ML's friend. HAHAHA.

Ewww so this is where Monica hurriedly went to her mom and told her that the President kissed her. She looks so thrilled and proud like as if Bill gave her a star or something. GIRL, I MEAN SERIOUSLY. HOW COULD YOU BE PROUD OF THAT?

She's really delusional. That's it.

Clive Owen is so funny. LMAO.

Awww where Bill hugged Hillary and Chelsea but lmao this is so uncomfortable. Everyone looks like shit.

Dang girl she really likes beret. LMAO.

Ewww so this is where she is pictured giving Bill a kiss on the cheek on the ground of White House. LMAO. Clive is so funny. So awkward. lmao. Seriously the hilarity of this series. LMAO I THOUGHT MONICA WILL BE KISSING BILL'S JACKET. LIKE GADDAMN THE GIRL IS SO THIRSTY.

I SWEAR TO GOD THAT MOMENT IN THE LAWN IS SO FUCKING FUNNY. THESE PEOPLE ARE FUCKING STIFF.

YA GIRL YA THRISTY WOMAN.

Girl is so damn cray cray.

oh yikes, so this is where Monica said it's the President. lmao. She finally told Linda that it's the President and of course. of course, Linda got crazy because she could see all the $$ $ $$ $ $ $ $

lmao.

Oh she's now recounting when it first happened.

She's really obsessed with him. lmao. Oh hahahaha she literally showed her thong. HAHAHAHAHA. I laughed more than necessary on the thong scene. Bananas.

Here's the Pizza scene. I know where this is going. What's with the slowmo? This is sickening. LMAO.

Eww, these two. hahaha.

It gets lonesome some days - Bill Clinton

LMAO these two. fudge.

Ewww, Bill is flirting.

Shucks. This two is crazy and even nuts. Oh they literally skipped the part where Bill asked for permission. Actually, the kiss is solid. lmao. crazy

"We secretly plan to run to each other."

Yes damn down to 35 minutes.

HAHAHA. Girl, you are naive. Wow, this girl fell hard. Girl, your ass is going to fall hard on the concrete after your confession to Linda. Watch ya back.

Linda is so crazy.

They really characterized Bill as someone who would take advantage of the women working in the White House. LIKE DUDE. U OK? I mean it's being insinuated.

#Isurvivedthegrosskiss2021 #Isurvivedthiscrazyseries2021

Girl you trapped.

#yourgirlisstillpinning2021

he ain't calling you because he's having seks with Hillary. ya dammit.

lmao, Bill you crazy shit. But I still you. Like you and your troubled soul.

"I missed your voice" BWAHAHAHA! BILL YOU OAF.

These people are fat because they like microwaving stuff. Don't people have like a stove or something?

"I have a gift monica," - Linda. Yes, Linda, you have a gift. A gift fit for a witch. wtf. you monster.

Yes, 29 minutes left!!!!!

They really have an ugly setting. ugly background. boring. boring.

dull. wtf. don't they have funds?

Everyone is so ugly. WTF. That's why this series is not getting views (besides its boring plot).

That and it's still fucking dark.

Seriously, I know that back in the '90s are not yet modern with makeup, dang girl, everyone looks ugly. I mean, I'm not that beautiful but come on I expected something.

LMAO ANN COULTER IS "FIRED AGAIN"

Ann is really horrible.

Awww, Cobie. I still love you. <3

COBIE WTF WITH YOUR ACCENT?! LIKE THE FUCK GIRLLL GET YOUR ASS BACK IN MARVEL.

See everyone is really crazy about Bill's eggplant.

"THE GOAL IS TO EMBARRASS HIM" - YEAH SIR you got that right.

I can't wait for this series to end. <3 <3

oh, they really want ya Bill to get impeached.

22 minutes before it ends, come one. end now. this is so boring. no wonder this couldn't pull viewers.

will they show Bill and Hillary kissing because I am more interested in that?

WAT. Can I fast forward? This is so boring.

Wow ya girl is persistent. Wants to be the one to send the gift and she wants to get back in the white house.

"SHE'S A GOOD KID" - like what the fuck. lmao.

Oh here's the blue dress. YAY. Monica keeping it as a souvenir. HAHAHAHA. I still cannot.

ALSO THE FROG. WTF. HUHU WHY DO YOU HAVE TO.

LMAO MONICA WEARING THE RED DRESS. HAHAHAHAHA. I CANNOT.

"It's just Hillary" - like girl, u ok? that's Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton for you, Linda.

lmao - hahahaha Bill is hinting to Monica that she's being a weird-ass stalker. lmao.

LMAO LINDA USED AN EXCEL TO DO A TIMELINE FOR MONICA AND BILL'S "MOMENTS". girl, I would also do the same. Like how I do my fanfics.

Let's just get it done and over with. GIVE ME EDIE - I want to see cold robotic Hillary Clinton.

I miss HILLARY huhu. love you girl.

HAHAHAHA THE INAUGURATION DANCE.

LMAO THIS IS SO FUNNY.

HAHAHAHAHA! Actually bill and Hillary dancing together smiling kinda gets it. I mean it lacks the sweetness but it's kinda there.

DUDE EVEN IN THE SHOW IT SHOWS CREEPY SHOW BILL HAPPY WITH COLD SHOW HILLARY. They actually look kinda cute.

YAY 12 MINUTES LEFT!

you know I kinda understand why Sarah Paulson hated taking this role. Linda is just a monster.

lmao Paula Jones got a glow-up in her interview.

I think everyone's ugly because of everyone's nose. They all look huge. WTF.

Just give me Cold Show Hillary pls. I am so tired.

Bill's playing solitaire is gold.

aww I miss Bill and Hillary. <3

LMAO "TESTING 1 2 3" - I imagine Bill doing this.

EWwww here comes creepy Monica giving Bill a creepy dreamy stare. ewwww. ewww. ewww.

Yay down to 7 minutes!!!!!

"Boy I miss that smile" - Bill Clinton - eewww, Bill. Like u ok? hahahaha. I laughed.

Wait what did he gave her? i thought it's a wand. like a harry potter wand.Fucking studio light. I cannot see everything.

Oh, it's a hat pin! I thought it's a pen.

EEWWW "IF YOU GOT ME THAT I WANT TO OPEN IT IN FRONT OF YOU."

oh, here's the leaves of weeds book.

Bill should have given Monica a bible.

6 more minutes! I am done!

These monkeys. Hurry the fuck up.

I really miss the Clintons. lmao.

"We have to be really careful." - Bill Clinton ; eeewww, yuck

oh they kissed twice in this show. Ewww. this two. gaak.

Overall comment:

they really depicted it as what it is: Monica is crazy about Bill. She teased him. They had consensual affair.

Monica pinned hard for Bill, he didn't return the fondness.

Monica had a mistake trusting Linda.

She was trapped by people who have a selfish interests.

I think Monica wanted to make herself innocent by making it appear that she is just someone who fell in love with the wrong person and who trusted the wrong friend.

The way they portrayed the whole thing is really consensual. But they made Bill really look predatory.

The lighting is really so bad. lmao. Their makeup is kinda bad. It's still boring

Nothing new that we don't know of.

I actually don't hate Bill after watching this. LMAO. I actually missed them! bwahahaha. I miss seeing Bill and Hillary. Maybe I would read some fics and watch their past interviews.

[tigerseye46]

Another Peachpig? With A56, B73 and B90?

Using this to explain how their bracelets look. Credit to a friend who expanded the design!

A56. “Don’t be boring, dance with us.” B73. “Your smile is beautiful.” B90. “Good morning, want some breakfast?”

Wukong groaned as he felt hands pushing against his arm. He heard a sigh. “Wukong, get up,” his partner commanded.

“Noooo,” he whined, burying his face in his pillow.

“Get up.”

“Five more minutes.”

Pigsy facepalmed. “Oh my gods. Since when did the Great Sage get so lazy?”

“I’m allowed to be lazy. Especially when I have a beautiful partner such as yourself.”

“I- shush. Now come on.” He smirked because he knew his partner’s face was a bright red. “Wake up, babe.”

“Ugh, fine.” He opened his eyes to see Pigsy looming over him with his chef attire on.

“Good mornin’. Want some breakfast?”

Wukong stretched and let out a cute yawn. “Sure.”

“Alright. Get dressed.”

“Fine. Demanding.”

Pigsy rolled his eyes and gave him a quick kiss before leaving to make breakfast. Wukong looked around the room, grinning to himself. They had only been dating for a few months but slept at each other’s houses a bunch of times. They even moved some of their stuff just in case they ended up crashing, although Wukong slept more at Pigsy’s house since it was a hassle for the pig to travel back and forth constantly from Flower Fruit Mountain. Wukong could travel easily with his cloud.

He hummed to himself then got ready and put on his regular clothes. He walked towards their shared kitchen to see his partner flipping pancakes. He trudged towards him and placed his arms on his waist, his nose pressed up against his back. “Hi, sleepyhead.”

“Mmm,” he mumbled.

“Hm?”

The king lifted his head up. “You know you’re absolutely terrible for waking me up this early. How could you do this to your poor boyfriend?” He cried dramatically.

Pigsy scoffed and replied, “Quiet, ya big baby. If I have to get up, so do you. I don’t want ya trashin’ my apartment.”

He gasped. “Do you really think that low of me, love?”

“Yes,” he responded bluntly. “You almost burned my apartment once.”

“That was an accident,” he pointed out.

“Whatever you say, babe.” He went back to flipping. The monkey took the opportunity to kiss his back. “Hey, I’m cookin’ here,” he scolded.

“So?” He kept kissing.

“Why do I put up with you?”

“Because you love me.”

“Unfortunately. Can you set the table?”

“Yep. Can do.” He did as his boyfriend asked of him, putting plates and some silverware down.

Eventually Pigsy finished his cooking and they ate breakfast together mixed with light conversation and teasing.

They stood in the doorway of the apartment, their foreheads were touching and their fingers intertwined. “I’m goin’ to see you at the shop later, right?”

“Of course you will. Why? Can’t work without me?”

Pigsy sucked in a breath that made Wukong narrow his eyes, he was only teasing. “Maybe I like seein’ ya.”

“I would hope so. Got everything?”

“Almost. Give me a second.” He went to their room and came back out with his golden courtship bracelet.

The bracelet had one orange and one red gem on it, one was cut up into the antique cushion shape while the other was round. It had some oval patterns surrounding it. On the inside was an engraving that read “My fellow king.” It made the pig filled with glee to know that he was thought of as Wukong’s equal.

Wukong didn’t have his own, Pigsy hadn’t given him one but that was about to change. He knew the king didn’t mind either way but he wanted to do something special for him. So he had one made. He was sure the king was going to love it.

He couldn’t keep the grin off his face, tilting his head to see his partner gazing at him with extreme adoration. He raised his eyebrow in a questioning manner. “What?”

“Just… Your smile is beautiful.”

He ducked his head to prevent the monkey from spotting the way his cheeks burned. They left the apartment together with Wukong in his human form, they went their separate ways with the king floating to his mountain and Pigsy making a little detour before going to his shop.

He was excited, he didn’t even complain when Tang stole some noodles, dang freeloader could have all the noodles he wanted for now.

The others could tell something off by the way the pig was beaming more than usual. Since he had started dating Wukong, he had lightened up a little, their animosity long past.

They didn’t ask though, afraid it would sour the chef’s mood.

Eventually Tang had to leave and the kids thought it appropriate to start an old radio that Pigsy kept around. They began dancing and laughing while the chef’s back was turned.

He paused when he heard a third pair of laughter appear. He turned around to see his boyfriend dancing with the kids, a fond smile arose on lips.

Wukong waved at him. “Hey, babe!”

“Hey, hon. Decided to sneak up on me?”

“It’s not sneaking up if you weren’t paying attention. Join us!”

“I’m workin’.”

“Come on, Piggy,” Mei shouted.

“Yea, take a break.”

“Kids,” he growled, “I’m workin’ which is what MK is supposed to be doin’.”

“After this song! Promise.”

“Ugh.”

The king held out his hand. “Don’t be boring, dance with us.”

“Babe.”

“Pleaseeeee, it’s like the kid said, after this song then you can go back to working.”

The pig glared at him, the monkey’s bottom lip quivered. With a shake of the head and checking if he flipped off the stove, he walked out from behind the counter and took his hand. “Fine. After this song.”

The three cheered. “I knew you would see it my way.”

“Shush and dance.”

They danced together with the kids being impressed at how Pigsy was an excellent dancer.

The song died down and MK left with the orders with Mei following behind him. “That was nice,” the pig mumbled.

“Mhmm. Should do that more often.”

“Yea. Maybe when I’m not busy.”

The monkey smooched his cheek. “I appreciate you making time for me.”

“Well you’re cute which helps. Before I actually go back to work, I have somethin’ for you.”

“Oh? Is that why you were kinda weird this morning?”

Pigsy furrowed his brows. “Yes. Glad to know you’re kinda observant.”

“I’m always observant. Now what is it? Show.”

Pigsy grabbed a small box from down underneath the counter. “I know ya said I didn’t have to get you a bracelet but I wanted to give you one like you gave me. So here.”

He opened it to reveal a silver bracelet with a pink gem in the shape of a heart, leaf patterns around it and the inside said “My peach.”

“Do you like it?”

The king put it on without hesitation, his tail thumped from side to side. “I love it,” he confessed. “It’s amazing. You didn’t have to do this. I was fine without one.”

“I know but… I didn’t want ya to go without one. I have one so you got to have one too. It lets people know you’re taken, y’know?”

“So you want me all to yourself, Pigsy?”

“Yep. You’re mine.”

“Oh, great,” he said, resigned to his fate. “Guess I don’t mind.”

“Ya better.”

“Thanks, hon.” He gave him a soft kiss.

“No problem. Now I’m goin’ back to work. Want to help?”

“Sure, babe. I promise I won’t burn down your shop.”

The pig cackled. “I’ll hold ya to it.” He dragged him to the bar where they cooked together, proudly holding up their jewelry for all to see.

[galadrieljones]

As You Were (Chapter 4)

Fandom: The Last of Us | Pairing: Joel x OC | Content: Fix-it | Rating: Mature

Masterpost

When Joel and Ellie take a wrong turn on their journey from Pittsburgh to Wyoming, they find themselves lost in, what feels like a time warp: a beautiful place with a dark and dangerous secret. While there, they meet Cici and Noah, a mother and son fighting tirelessly for survival, and who have recently endured a terrible tragedy on their family farm. Amidst their joint desire to find hope for the future, the two groups decide set out west together, changing the course of the story (as we know it), and the very course of their lives.

This is an AU, starting after the events of the Summer chapter in the first game, and extending into the timeline of the second game. Joel lives.

Chapter 4: The Trench (Pt. 1 and 2)

“I’m scared of ending up alone.”

1.

She walked along the river, and she found him sitting on the grassy bank, with his feet in. He still had his boots on. “Don’t,” she said, crouching beside him. “You need to take off your boots first.”

“No you don’t,” he said. He smiled. “Come try it out.”

She sat down, but she didn’t put her feet in the water. The river bank was wet anyway. It was getting her jeans damp. She didn’t feel like taking off her boots. “I thought the whole point was to be free,” she said.

“You can be free any way you like,” he said. “That’s the definition of freedom.”

“I guess you’re right,” she said.

The big blue sky cast out above them as opals. There were no clouds. No anxious metal sounds. There were no fears.

“I know you’re pregnant,” he said. He was staring at his boots in the water. “I saw the test.”

She looked down at her hands. Everybody was always doing that. “You saw it?”

“I didn’t mean to. You left it in the trash. Where did you even find one?”

“Amy,” she said. “She had some, from the Wal-mart. I had to pay her with two chickens.”

“Pretty good deal, considering.”

“Are you mad?” she said.

He looked at her with his brown eyes. Sometimes they could be hard as bolts. Today, they were soft. “Why would I be mad?”

“Because we didn’t mean it,” she said. “My dad is gonna kill me.”

“No he won’t,” said Will. He took her hand and pressed his thumb against her knuckles. “Nobody is gonna die.”

Mom. Don’t go back.

“Cici?”

She opened her eyes. When she looked around, she realized it was morning, well past the break of dawn. She had fallen asleep on the couch. She was looking at Joel now. He was standing in the middle of the living room, wearing a new tee-shirt but the same jeans. He had a rifle on his back, and a shotgun. He was looking confused. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “I’m sorry. Hi.”

“You sleep down here last night?”

“Yeah,” she said. She put her feet on the ground, her face in her palms. “I was just reading, pretty late. I guess I must have been so tired. I slept through the night.”

“Well that ain’t so bad,” said Joel. He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. “I was just, uh. I was gonna head out, with Noah. He’s gonna show me the work that needs doing on the perimeter. I’m sorry if I startled you.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “You said you’re going with Noah now?”

“Yes, ma’am. He says it shouldn’t take past lunch.”

“I’ll have something ready,” she said. Then, she looked around. “Is Ellie still asleep?”

“No,” said Joel. “She’s out, feeding the chickens and gathering eggs.”

“Oh. Okay, well, good.”

“I think she likes it here,” said Joel, glancing out the window. “She ain’t never spent time outdoors like this before. It’s good for her.”

“I’m glad,” said Cici. She was still sort of out of it. She got up and started walking to the kitchen. “Did Noah make any coffee this morning?”

Joel kind of paused. He seemed taken off-guard but he hid it well. “Noah didn’t mention any coffee,” he said.

“He probably just forgot,” she said, putting a kettle on the stove. “We scavenged a couple big bags from the roastery in town, a couple months ago. I mean, it ain’t fresh, but it does the trick. I can make you some, if you like. It’ll just be a minute.”

Joel walked over to the table. He leaned against one of the chairs. “Uh, sure,” he said. “Sure, that’d be fine.”

“You look dumbfounded,” she said. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” said Joel. “Everything’s, uh, just fine. I just—I ain’t had coffee in a while.”

“How long?”

He glanced down at his watch, which she had noticed early on. It was broken, but she figured there was a good reason he must have kept wearing it, or else it could have just been habit. Grown men were like that, she knew. They just got to doing things for so long sometimes, they forgot why or how. They just kept doing it till they died. “Years,” he said.

“Well, you’re in luck then,” she said. “Would Ellie want some, or is she too young?”

“I don’t think she’d like the stuff,” said Joel.

“Noah doesn’t either,” she said.

Ellie came inside a moment later then, as Cici was boiling the water. She was holding a whole basket full of eggs and looking very pleased with herself. Noah followed behind her with his familiar shotgun set on his shoulder.

“Look at all these eggs,” said Ellie, holding up the basket. “Joel, do you see this?”

"I do.”

“Very good haul,” said Cici. The kettle was whistling. She started pouring the water over the grounds, through a cone, into a mug for Joel. “I’m just making Joel a quick cup of coffee, before you boys head down to the perimeter.”

“You guys got coffee?” said Ellie, sitting down at the table. “Holy shit, Joel. You must be freaking out.”

Joel then gave her a little bit of a side-eye. “I am not freaking out. Though I will admit, it’s a treat.”

Ellie started counting the eggs, one by one. "Anyway," she said. "What do you guys think you’ll see when you go down there? Is it pretty gnarly?"

“Hopefully we'll see nothing,” said Noah. He picked up an apple, from a blue porcelain bowl on the counter. “Hopefully we’ll just finish the trench, reset the mines, and be done.” He took a bite.

"Good," said Ellie.

“I’m just happy to see the two of you out of danger,” said Joel, sitting back in his chair. “Whatever I can do. This place deserves a second chance.”

Cici just focused on the coffee. She wanted it to be good.

When they got outside, Noah took Joel out to the crow’s nest where he wanted to pick up a small canister of gasoline and a lighter and some other stuff, including the replacement mines, and a true blue improved explosive. That one, said Noah, was more or less just some parts his mom had made for a fancy pipe bomb, plus a proximity sensor. He had them up there stored in a backpack. When they got up to the top of the ladder, Joel notice the Pearl Jam poster and did a double-take. In some ways, being on that farm in the middle of nowhere, it felt like he had stepped through some sort of time warp.

“My dad liked them,” said Noah, reading his mind, pocketing a book of matches and loading his 9mm, which he then holstered in the waist of his jeans. “That was his.”

“That’s a blast from the past,” said Joel.

“What year were you born?” said Noah.

The question was surprising, and direct. Both Noah and Cici had these unfiltered ways about them in which they could sit in complete silence for multiple moments at a time, but then, out of nowhere, abruptly come to the truth, simply asking and saying the things they meant with very little pretense or warning. “Uh, 1984,” said Joel.

“Dang,” said Noah. “You’re as old as my Uncle Nick.”

“Who's Uncle Nick."

“My mom’s step-brother," said Noah. "He was old enough that he was in Iraq.”

“What year?”

“2004, I think, was the start of his first tour."

Joel took a deep breath. He had his hands on his hips as he was nodding his head to the memory. “Yeah, I knew a lot of guys that enlisted,” he said, “after 9/11, in 2003. At the time, it seemed like there was something to fight for. It wasn’t that uncommon where I grew up.”

“Did you enlist?” said Noah.

“No,” said Joel, glancing back to the poster. It was a silkscreen, from a concert in Madison, probably back in like 1996.

“Why not?”

“I thought about it, but I had—well, I had other responsibilities at the time.”

Noah just stared at him, unclear.

“Let’s get a move on,” said Joel.

It took them about twenty minutes to get all the way to the section of the perimeter that needed maintenance. Noah said this was an especially vulnerable spot, as it pushed right up against the woods, with a wide frontage to the Kickapoo River just a few miles away on the other side. To get there, they had to follow the creek, which was overgrown in some parts with a great deal of bramble. At some point, they emerged and then had to walk through about five acres of arable land that had gone to seed. There was also a fairly overgrown apple orchard, and a field of actual, farmed corn, plus a stable, in the distance. Most of the trek was downhill, but the sun was hot that day. They were cooking.

Noah didn’t talk much. Joel was getting a little apprehensive about what, exactly, it was they were going to run into out there. He knew they were going to finish digging a trench, and he knew they would have to navigate their way through a live minefield, using the map that Noah had stuffed in his back pocket. He trusted the kid, and he trusted Cici, but he still had no idea what the hell he was doing. Part of him was worried about getting a leg blown off. The other part was amped up, just in case they were set to run into a horde. There were a lot of trees out there, and he didn’t really understand how it was they had kept this place fully booby-trapped in such an organized fashion for so long all by themselves. But then he thought about Bill, back in Massachusetts and suddenly, based on his most recent memories of a life lived with Tess, in which the two of them survived mainly by navigating the loopholes of a fully-fledged but decaying QZ, he began to realize that perhaps the kind of hard work he was used to, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t that difficult at all.

“You know, I asked your mom yesterday,” said Joel as they scaled down a shallow ridge overgrown with prickly shrubs, “about whether y’all had some idea of what’s been causing the increase in activity out here, with Infected.”

“What did she tell you?” said Noah.

“She told me to talk to you.”

When they got to the bottom of the ridge, they walked a little further out, through a meadow with a dry well. Up ahead, finally, they saw it—the minefield. It was on the other side of an electric fence, about ten feel high. The fence had barbed wire spooled along the top, but it didn’t seem to be properly electric anymore, as there was a huge hole cut in the links, which they took turns squeezing through.

“You know how I told you, the water, coming in from the Kickapoo, the Bad Axe, some other major tributaries off the Mississippi, it’s ain’t safe?” said Noah.

“Yeah,” said Joel.

“Well, one day,” said Noah—he had a machete, which he was now using to hack through some of bramble on the other side of the fence, “about a year and a half ago, we heard a distress call from the Amish. There used to be a whole huge family of them on the other side of them woods, over north. They didn’t use the radio, but they had a hand-powered siren, which they would use to signal any threats in the area.”

“These the Amish that got the scrapyard?”

“Yeah,” said Noah. “They were called the Lapps, before. Anyway, when the siren went off, my dad and my uncle went over there, and some of the other guys in the area that we knew. They thought they were gonna find maybe some reavers, or a small horde, wandering in from the town. But when they got there, it was like, the whole entire family was turning. Every single one of them, like dozens of people, infected, at the same time. It was insane, my dad said. It was starting to rain, so my dad and my uncle, they just herded them all into the barn and locked them in, and then they came home. They said it was bizarre. If one person gets infected and starts turning other people, why did the distress call come in so late? Why weren’t there more dead? Everybody was just sick, they said. All at once, as if they'd all been infected at the same time.”

Joel was focused on his footing, stepping through the tall grasses. There were so many grasshoppers, you couldn’t count. “Did you figure out what caused it?"

“Eventually,” said Noah. “We were used to using a well, which draws on a aquifer, under the ground, for our water. But the Amish, after the Outbreak in 2013, they apparently started hauling their water in straight from the river, fished it all the time.”

“Spores in the river?”

“In all the rivers,” said Noah.

“How?”

“All the tributaries coming into the floodplain, they’re all contaminated. A couple of travelers came through not long after the outbreak at the Lapp farm. They said that every city up and down the Mississippi, and on a major tributary, everywhere is going nuts with Infected. They said that, in LaCrosse, you could see the Cordyceps, growing right off the banks. There was something going on.”

“Jesus.”

“So like a year ago,” Noah continued, “all of us—me, my mom, my dad, and my uncle, we went up to LaCrosse.” He stopped in his tracks then, took a long drink of water from a canteen in his backpack.

“What happened?” said Joel.

“We got cornered by a horde before we could make it into the city,” he said, “in a church just south of Shelby. There was a fire. My mom and me got out, barely. My dad and my uncle didn’t. By the time the two of us got back to Viroqua, the rest of the Amish in the area had either abandoned their farms, or turned. The whole town, anybody left in this part of the Driftless, they were almost all of them gone. Dead, turned, or gone.”

Joel felt heavy, blindsided. He looked at his boots in the tall grass, getting wet from the river marsh. When he looked up now, he could see it there, in its glory: the minefield. Just like a long, flat expanse of grass that spread out, stretching around the property, maybe about twenty yards deep. On the other side of the minefield was the trench, and then a whole lot of trees, growing up the side of a wooded ridge. “Everything you just told me, that’s all true?” he said.

“Yes.”

“Jesus Christ, kid.”

“I know.”

“You said there are others in the area. The Amish who got the scrapyard. Some of them survived?”

“Yeah,” said Noah. “One of the families had been on a supply run, eastward, during the outbreak. They came back, and they stayed. They still live over the hill. There are a few others, a couple families here and there. My Aunt Amy, she was married to my Uncle Nick, she left a little bit after we got back from LaCrosse, went down to the Quad Cities with her daughter. They had family down there, on Amy’s side, in Moline. We’ve tried to keep tabs on what’s going on down there, but it all went dark a while ago. I have no idea if they made it.”

“So you think the Infected, they’re coming down the river, with the spores.”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t know why, or how, the water became like it is? Because it ain’t like that in the northeast. Spores infecting people through the water supply is news to me.”

“We don’t know what’s causing it,” said Noah. “We know there’s something going on in LaCrosse, but we’ve never gone back.”

Joel took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry, son,” he said. “I am. That’s a tough hand.”

“Thanks,” said Noah, shaking his head. “But I doubt it’s any worse than your sob story, or Ellie’s, or any of the other sob stories you must hear traveling around these days.”

“That don’t matter,” said Joel. He regarded Noah, whose cynicism was familiar to his own. “In the grand scheme of things, one loss might seem meaningless, but just because a lot of people are dying that don’t mean the people that you lose, that their lives held any less significance to you when they were still alive. You get that?”

Noah was just staring at him, as if the words he was hearing were foreign, or new. He did, however, nod stiffly, and then he looked away. Joel didn’t know if it had gotten through. He just felt for the boy.

“All the shit we need to do, it’s up there,” said Noah.

Joel squinted past the minefield toward the trench. “It looks like it’s nearly finished.”

“It is,” he said. “The Infected tripped two mines and one bomb yesterday. We’ll clean up the trench, and then we'll replace the explosives. With you here, it’ll be fast.”

“What are the odds we’re gonna run into Infected out there at that trench?” said Joel. “There’s a lot of trees.”

“I don’t know,” said Noah. He took the map out of his back pocket, unfolded it. It was hand-drawn in blue pen. “They hang out in there sometimes, because it’s cool. They get lost, and then they freak out if they hear you. Just like, stay alert. And while we’re in the minefield, follow in my footsteps exactly so that you don’t blow up. We’ll go slow.”

Joel sighed profoundly. He closed his eyes, gathered his courage, prayed to the good lord nothing would happen, knowing it was fruitless, but doing it anyway. “Alright then," he said.

2.

By noon, they had finished the trench. The sun was high, and they were both sweating and starving, ready for some respite. Joel watched Noah assemble the pipe bomb while leaning against a shovel in the shade of a lavish white oak. Noah had about him a sense of precision that suggested he had been doing this sort of thing from a very young age.

“Where the hell did y’all learn to do all this?” said Joel. His gray tee-shirt was almost soaked through with sweat. He was dirty and he could feel the sunburn on the back of his neck.

“My Uncle Nick,” he said. “The one who was in Iraq.”

“That what he did over there?” said Joel.

“Yeah,” said Noah. “It was basically his whole job to disarm these things. He also went to some African countries after his initial tours for demining operations.”

“Goddam. That’s some brave business.”

“Still took a zombie apocalypse and a church fire to kill him,” said Noah, digging out an impression in the dirt with his bare hands. “Fucking clown world.”

“You’re telling me,” said Joel. “You almost done?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m gonna go take a leak,” said Joel, looking around. “You good?”

Noah nodded, working carefully. “Just be careful.”

“I will,” said Joel.

After showing her how to sheer a sheep that morning, Cici showed Ellie all the different, easy parts you need to make a perfectly compact pipe bomb. “You can take it with you anywhere,” she said. “You can make them fancy, but they don’t need to be fancy. This gets the job done.”

They were out in the shed, which was more or less a workspace. It was all full of guns, assembled and in pieces, hanging on the wall, and in piles. There were axes, machetes, and two grindstones. There were shelves and shelves of different sized containers and wires, all colors and lengths, lining the walls. As Cici worked, Ellie sat on the tool bench, watching, rapt, by the good light coming through the window. “Where did you learn to do all this?” she said eventually.

“From my step-brother,” said Cici. “He was an EOD specialist in the Army.”    

“What’s that stand for?”

“Explosive Ordnance Disposal.”

"That’s insane,” said Ellie. “Back in Boston, we had some demolition training, but it was basically just like, how to make five different versions of a Molotov cocktail.”

“Those work pretty well, too,” said Cici.

“Later, I met this guy, Bill—he knows Joel—and he had basically trip-wired this entire little town where he lived. He showed Joel how to make nail bombs, too.”

“Nail bombs are not that much different than what we’re doing here,” said Cici. “Maybe a little cruder.”

“Seems a lot cruder.”

“So how do you like it?” said Cici. “Traveling with him? With Joel.”

“It’s okay,” said Ellie. She rested her chin on her knees. “He’s kind of...terse. Just sometimes though. He doesn’t talk much. When he does, I don't know. It’s okay. He seems a little stern, I know, but he's really not that bad.”

“He said you lost some people, back east. In Boston. And in Pittsburgh. I just—I wanted to say I’m sorry. That must have been really hard, and really scary.”

Ellie looked down at her Converse. One of them had come untied. “Yeah,” she said. “It’s not really...easy. I guess.”

“No, it isn’t.” Cici completed the pipe bomb, set it neatly on the workbench between them, like a cake. She didn’t press for details, on Boston, or Pittsburgh. “Voilà,” she said.

Ellie was oddly comforted. “That’s so freakin cool,” she said.

Back at the house, Cici got Ellie started on making a new loaf of bread. Meanwhile, she sliced up a fresh loaf from the pantry and set about making sandwiches.

“So, you go from making bombs to making sandwiches, huh?” said Ellie. She was standing at the counter kneading the dough. It was squishy, she thought. Weirdly satisfying.

“Pretty much,” said Cici. She had prepared four tall ham and cheese sandwiches, on sourdough. Simple fare. For the them, and for Joel and Noah. “Sometimes, we watch movies. Maybe we can watch one tonight.”

“This is my kind of living,” said Ellie.

They smiled at each other.

But then.

“What the fuck was that?” said Ellie.

They heard the mines going off, one by one, well into the distance. A rapid succession. Too many.

"Cici?"

“Shit."

"Was that the mines?" said Ellie. "Are they okay? What the fuck?"

In the trees, Joel zipped up and resituated himself. The thicket out there beyond the trench was quite beautiful. The nature sounds were almost deafening but in a way that suggested an earthly innocence. Joel was used to wearing a backpack, but with a home nearby, he didn’t really need one that day, so he felt light, despite the sweat and the physical exhaustion. Oddly enough, it had felt good to dig and to use his strength for something productive. Rather than killing, he was building for once. It had been a long time. He took the shotgun off his shoulder and checked the rounds. The sound it made was metal and ran in cacophony to the ongoing symphony of the trees.

He’d gone out maybe only ten yards or so, from Noah, who he could no longer hear but he could still see, through a crack in the foliage. He had made sure not to get beyond sight. Ready to head back, he put the gun strap back over his shoulder and took a step, breaking a twig beneath his boot, and the sound should have been innocuous, but instead, it seemed to trigger a familiar, inhuman noise nearby, and then that seemed to trigger another.

Joel swore under his breath, pumped the shotgun, and waited. He stood very still and listened to the cicadas clicking off in the trees in that ongoing rhythm, and out the corner of his eye he then saw something woman-shaped dart between a break in the foliage. If he truly parsed the noise of the thicket he could hear their heavy, frantic breathing. It was stalkers.

In slow silence he backed out of the thicket and made his way back to Noah at the trench. Noah was finishing up his wiring of the pipe bomb to the motion sensor and said something about how they were pretty much all set to go, whenever Joel was ready. Joel shushed him.

“Fuck,” said Noah, in a whisper. He picked up his shotgun off the earth. “What is it?”

“Stalkers,” said Joel. “I caught sight of one, but there’s more.”

"If we stay quiet, we can—”

But it was too late. They heard unsteady footsteps coming up the thicket. Raising their guns, they waited. A runner, looked to be a man, dressed in fishing gear stumbled out of the trees, bloodied up, shivering and afraid. Joel and Noah tried to stand perfectly still, but it saw them, and they were backed against the minefield, and it was no choice. Joel blew the thing’s jaw clean off. It dropped to the soil in silence, but the sound of the gun brought the stalkers out of the trees.

“Follow as close as you can,” said Noah.

“I will. Now go.”

It happened fast. As they navigated the mines, the sounds of the Infected in the woods rose up behind them in a maelstrom. There were way too many, maybe two dozen, must have been dormant in there, fucking lulled under the shade. When they got to the fence, Joel and Noah slipped back through the other side, turning around to watch a whole shitload, gnashing through the trees and descending upon the perimeter in total disorganization. Several fell into the trench, and the rest tripped the mines, plus the brand new pipe bomb, causing loud explosions that shrouded the whole field in a cloud of dust and smoke.

Joel and Noah hit the earth. It was so loud, Joel could feel the ringing in his ears vibrating in his teeth, and when, as he caught his bearings, he finally looked up, realizing it wasn’t over, Noah was dragging him to his feet, shouting something incomprehensible. Then, GET BACK. Scrambling into the tall grass, Joel watched as Noah lit up the canister of gasoline with a couple rags and chucked it as far and hard as he could past the barbed wire spools over the fence. When it landed, it blew to high heaven and in its wake, the sounds of all the Infected leftover from the mines turned to chaotic agony. There were birds dismounting from the trees in all directions, squawking. Then, a deadly quiet.

“Fucking shit,” said Noah, stumbling backward. He fell to his hands and knees, coughing from the dust.

As the ringing died down in his ears and in his molars, the afternoon seemed to crack wide open. Joel was on his back, staring up at the clear blue sky. “You okay?” he said.

Noah was heaving now, out of breath, covered in the detritus from head to toe. He walked over, held out his hand, hauled Joel back to his feet. “Yeah,” he said. “You?”

“I’m okay,” said Joel. He dusted himself off, still coughing and waving his way through the dust. He tripped forward to the fence and pressed into it, trying to make anything out at at all in the minefield. He could see some of the blistering bodies, smell the explosive energy, the roasting, human carnage. It was horrific. Then, he saw the trench. “Goddammit,” he said. “The whole thing is pulled up again.

Noah was keeled over, squinting out at the trees. “This place is fucked,” he said, more to himself than anything. “Lets get the fuck out of here.”

Cici took the walkie out of her back pocket. She shouted into it for a while, but nobody answered. She then rushed them out of the house.

"Where are we going?" said Ellie.

"Crow’s nest.”

Up the ladder, Ellie felt like she was just blowing in the wind, no direction. But Cici had kicked into some sort of military high gear. She was holding a sniper rifle, which Ellie did not remember seeing her grab. She then handed Ellie a loaded rifle of her own, which had been hanging on a hook by the door. It felt heavy and wooden, but Ellie understood it. Cici asked if Ellie knew what to do.

“Yeah,” said Ellie, shaken. “Joel showed me. In Pittsburgh."

She then handed Ellie a pair of binoculars, told her to watch the horizon, westerly. Ellie did as she was told.

The sun was hot. There were no clouds. The sky was big and blue, as a gem. She spotted a few plumes of smoke at the perimeter, but she didn't see Noah or Joel. If she couldn't see Joel, she didn’t know what she was supposed to be looking for. All those explosions had sent her into an adrenaline-baked sort of panic, so that when Cici finally got Noah on the walkie, Ellie was so fucking relieved, she let go of the binoculars so that they thudded to the floor. She felt stupid, picked them up immediately, but then closed her eyes and felt an unexpected flood, again. Like she wanted to go home. Whatever that meant. But it was really powerful. She thought she might puke. She held it inside. “Holy shit,” she said.

“We’re okay,” said Noah over the walkie. “Infected ambushed us at the trench. But it’s done. Over.”

“Thank fucking god,” said Cici. “Me and Ellie got the scope on your location, just in case. Over.”

“Thanks,” said Noah. “I’m pretty sure they’re all fried. But they took the trench with them, and a bunch of the mines. We had to light up the rest with gasoline. The whole section is fucked up, even worse than before. Over.”

“Jesus Christ,” said Cici, hanging her head. “Okay. You boys just get back here. Over.”

“Okay."

Over.

Ellie watched then as Cici set down the walkie and leaned, slowly, against the rifle, almost struggling to keep her balance. She had her eyes pressed shut, as if praying. Her blond hair was braided over her shoulder, but the plaits were all loose now. “Fuck,” she said, in a whisper.

"They're okay," said Ellie.

But Cici was talking to herself then. Not in a crazy way, just a stressed way, almost like she had forgotten that Ellie was in the room. “I can’t do this anymore,” she was saying.

"That’s my fucking brother," he said.

She was not okay, in the radio tower.

"Screw it."

Ellie went over to Cici and placed her hand on Cici’s shoulder. She didn’t want to be standing there alone anymore, and the smell of the smoke was starting to waft in with the breeze.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Story about something crashing on little Sammy parents farm. Maybe the government comes and forces them out for a while to collect it?👽

Warning for disturbing imagery and dead animals!

Summary: Joey Drew Studio is snowed in, so while everyone tries to keep warm for the night they end up reminiscing about the oddest things they had ever experienced. Sammy ends up recalling a rather bizarre event from his childhood.

---

[[MORE]]

"I'm sorry to impose so much Mrs. Harrison. I trust Abigail will behave, she's a little angel I assure you." Sammy fidgeted with the phone chord nervously as he listened to his elderly neighbor. "Yes, yes thank you... Oh certainly! Let her on so I can wish her a good night..."

Susie watched as the tired look on the music director's face melted away to welcome a gentler smile. She could sort of hear a child's voice on the line (his little sister that he'd mentioned a few times). It was quite endearing to see Sammy with such a calm and content expression instead of the usual grumpy scrawl that scared half the band into submission.

"Good night Abby, be good to Mrs. Harrison." The call was coming to a close. "I love you too."

Susie smiled at him and nodded, taking her turn to call home now that he was finished.

"Wally is heating up soup in the break room. The stove's thankfully working." She called after him as she dialed the number.

"Everyone camping out there?" He asked as he looked back at the voice actress.

"Everyone but Joey, that devil of a man actually has an insulated office... The rest of us are sleeping by the stove." She sighed "Thankfully Norman and Grant thought ahead and brought a few blankets to stay warm."

Clever thinking and also a necessity, as Grant's office was very drafty, and Norman's booth got cold from the pipework frosting over a bit (since the music department had been a repurposed bathroom) in cold weather. Mr. Cohen also knew the likelyhood of Joey having paid the heating bill. Slim to none.

"Great... Just what I wanted, to sleep in a stuffy room full of people and the smell of that rancid soup..." A soup he'd enjoyed at first (due to it reminding him of his father's cauliflower soup which had little bits of bacon in it), but which had lost its luster on the third week of being asked to take a few cans home. Abby hated the stuff so he'd had to eat it himself. "Don't you just love getting snowed in?"

"Only when I was a child. The snow usually meant no classes." Susie finished dialing and waited for her mother to answer.

He left her alone to go back into the break room where Wally and Norman were passing around bowls of soup. Grant greeted him with a blanket, which he graciously took. The damn studio was absolutely freezing in November. The freak snowstorm hadn't helped.

Honestly he'd loved the look of a snowy New York when he'd first moved here with his father. It had looked beautiful and new, almost magical, unlike the ranch he'd grown up in until he was 11. Looking back now, he missed the expanse of snowy fields instead of the cold streets. He also missed watching a few of the animals play in the snow.

Getting stuck in the studio made him a little nostalgic.

"Here ya go Sammy!" Wally passed him a bowl of soup, which he nearly dropped in surprise, and grinned "It ain't my ma's beef stew and it definitely lacks a spoon since we don't got that many of those to begin with, but at least it'll keep you warm from the inside!"

"I, yes at least that." He sniffed it and grimaced. Pork grease and chunky bits that definitely were less bacon and more cartilage. "You ever wonder how they made this slop?"

"I'd rather not think about it. It's like hot dogs ya know... The less you know about it, the better they are!" The janitor shrugged and went to sit on one of the chairs closer to the stove. Everyone was very much huddled close by, swaddled in shared blankets, rubbing their hands together to keep them warm, or drinking soup.

Norman nodded at the music director once he sat down to join the group. Not too long after Susie was sitting beside him, and he offered to share his blanket with her.

"So, what do we do now?" Wally asked as he looked around. The issue would be sorted in the morning but it was still only a quarter to eleven and no one was particularly keen on sleeping just yet.

"I'll tell ya what we could do!" Shawn called out from his spot, voice slightly muffled by his big red scarf. "I say we pass t'time by indulging in the ye old grand art that is story tellin'!"

"Story telling? What, like a sleepover?" Jack questioned. Sammy found it amusing that he'd swaddled himself in his blanket in a way that pressed his hair tight against his skull, to the point where it looked like a makeshift scarf and ear mitts. "Like when we were little kids?"

"Well we're all sleepin' here t'night aren't we? And ya don't need t'be wee little ankle biters t'go tellin' stories." Shawn huffed "Besides, what better way t'know yer co-workers than share some harrowin' tales? I sure got a few that'll intrigue you folks I'm sure."

"Is it about potatoes?" One of the art department workers asked, only to get a slap on the back of the head and an elbow to the ribs.

"Very funny, that muppet over there's a real comedian coddin like that..." The Irishman rolled his eyes. "Right, you folk ever hear 'bout the legend o'the banshee?"

Everyone gave him a peculiar look, which Shawn took as permission to carry on.

"The tale varies some dependin' on t'person who tells ya. But the way me ma told it to me was somethin' like this: The banshee is a sweet singin' virgin, pretty as a button, a real feek." He tapped his chin thoughtfully as he recalled his mother's words. "Sometimes she has long black hair, other times it's a bright red like fire. Always pale... But don't be thinkin' she's just some little lady, oh no. The banshee is a spirit, one that heralds death in the family. Her ghastly cries precede the death o'loved ones and fill ya with a mighty chill o'dread... And I saw one when I was just a wee lad."

"Ya saw... A ghost?" Lacie wrinkled her nose. "And ya sure it wasn't some regular girl you just saw?"

"Couldn't o'been. She was right outside the window Lacie. And me room was on the second floor..." Shawn shook his head "And I knew it had to o'been a banshee. She looked just like me cousin, who died o'the shakes a few months prior. My pa always did say she might come back as the household haunt, she wasn't ready t'leave just yet."

"So, that's it? You saw some apparitions at your window and think it was some folklore horror?" Sammy rolled his eyes.

"Yep. An' then in the morning me grandpa was dead. Dreadful song she went and had t'sing. I was just 5 too! T'damn beour coulda gone bother me brother instead... He was t'one that used to scare us wee lads with these tales o'ghosts n' ghoulies..."

Well, that wasn't a very nice story. And it likely had a reasonable explanation behind it too. Just a small child frightened by tales and likely still coming to terms with losing a cousin.

"Oh, that's nothin'!" Wally grinned. "Ghost stories aren't anythin' compared to what I found in a ditch when I was 8!"

"Oh yeah? Then enlighten us, oh scare Meister!" Shawn barked back, glaring slightly. "What coulda been worse than a banshee?"

"How about a maneater?" The janitor offered.

Shawn fell quiet and others began to whisper among each other at the claim, before Norman began to hush everyone.

"Go on then... Yous can't just say that an' not tell us."

"Oh man, it was the dang scariest thing I'd seen as a kid!" Wally grinned. "Us tykes from Brooklyn? We didn't grow up with monster stories and such. Our mas and pas told us about kidnappers and murderers instead, cuzz those are like, real dangers you know?"

He took a sip from his cooling bowl of soup, before clearing his throat.

"But you know what kids are like. They like adventure and don't really listen too much cuzz, you only believe it when you see it!" He carried on. "Me? I was with a couple a pals exploring this old ditch that had some neat stuff people used to throw in there. Busted watches, trinkets, sometimes a lost wallet with a little bit of cash in it...Well that day there wasn't just goodies."

Sammy sipped his own soup and felt Susie's arm brush up against his as she got on the edge of her seat. She was excited to hear wherever Wally's story was going.

"Local news had like, been going on about this one loon that had run off from the big house or somethin'. Some big mug who was a pervert or whatever. Adult stuff we kids didn't care for." Wally looked around as he spoke. "Only he wasn't no pervert, just really messed in the head. A cannibal. A cannibal that liked eating little tots. You know, stories like Little Johnny went pokin' around where he shouldn't and now there was no Little Johnny no more? Yeah that nearly was us."

"You found the guy in the ditch?" Sammy guessed.

"Nope! Found my neighbor, Sally, partially eaten and all kinds o' messed up." Wally replied "I figured we were in trouble so we ran like our butts were on fire and screamed the whole way back. Coppers caught the fucker and his picture on the paper still gives me nightmares. If we'd found him instead, we woulda ended up like Sally!"

Everyone looked extremely disturbed at the thought of a couple of 8 year olds finding another child's partially eaten corpse.

"Shite... No wonder yer such a mog. Brooklyn's fucked up!" Shawn winced.

"Hey!" Wally pouted.

"Also your story was misleading. You didn't actually encounter the "maneater"." Sammy pointed out. "That's not how you should advertise a tale you twit."

"Would ya rather I have found the creep that did it?"

"No, next time just don't make it sound like an actual encounter when it's an anecdote about another outcome entirely."

"Don't go bein' an ass Lawrence." Norman called out. "I thought the story was good. Messed up, but good... Granted it don't top what I experienced when I was still in the cradle."

"Oh, this ought to be good." The blond smirked. "Word of mouth?"

"My Nanna never told no lie. Yous won't find a more honest lady." Norman smirked back.

At this point everyone had finished their soup and was practically laying or leaning against one another for warmth. It helped that the story telling atmosphere had all but made everyone forget about the cold.

Norman being so tall and obscuring the stove ever so slightly, cast strange shadows on the wall.

"Now, this happened a few months after I was born. My Nanna was lookin' after me while my mama and memaw was helpin' my pops and pepaw out in the cotton fields. My brother and sister wasn't that much older either, not yet ready to go pickin', so they was in their room playin' together." He leaned back in his chair, a content smile on his face "Nanna was just preparin' lunch while I was layin' in this big ol' basket full o' pillows and blankets, just sleepin' away like babies do. She turned 'round to chop up some carrots when she had this weird feelin' all of a sudden."

Sammy put an arm around Susie as he listened. Norman was a pretty good story teller. Had this voice that just pulled you in. He could almost imagine a little chubby baby in a basket while an old lady prepared food in the kitchen.

"Nanna Polk always had a feel for when things were no good all of a sudden. She'd known when Poppop weren't doing well in the head, and she knew how to pop a shot into a big gator when it got too close to the house. She wasn't afraid o'nothin'." Norman carried on. "But she was afraid. She was afraid when the blade o'her knife caught the reflection o'this big brute pullin' my basket out the window."

Sammy winces and Susie tightened her grip on his arm. The others were quite aghast as well, at the thought of an innocent little babe getting snatched away by some stranger.

"Nanna didn't scream. She didn't wanna scare my siblings you see... Instead she tiptoed towards the backdoor, knife in hand, and kept outta sight o'the man that was tryin' to take me away." Norman hummed as he thought back on what Nanna had told him. "You know, they often tell ya 'bout southern hospitality. If yous is friendly and respectful, yous always got a friend. They don't tell yous about Louisiana ladies like my sweet Nanna tho... They is forged of iron and grief. Strong and protective o'their youngins... She knew what that man wanted from me, an' she wasn't bout to let it happen."

"What did she do?" Wally asked, bitting his knuckles as he put his legs up to his chest.

"Put the knife through his back. She pushed him so he wouldn't go an' fall on me, oh 'course, and that basket well about saved my life cuzz it was damn well padded and didn't so much as wake me when it hit the ground."

"Holy shit..."

"Now, that might sound a little extreme to yous, but I trust Nanna's judgement." Norman began once he noticed the horrified looks on his coworker's faces. "That man woulda taken me somewhere no one could'a gotten me from, an' she wasn't 'bout to lose anyone else to them creeps. Nanna was smart, and Nanna was hard workin'. She buried the bastard where he fell, an' planted a tree t'remember it too. I got to put a swing on it when it grew big enough to support the weight."

"Where were they going to take you?" Sammy finally asked, once he realized no one would do so. "The man?"

"Hm, well I don't know exactly. But she did say it was where my Poppop grew up, so I know it wasn't a good place." Norman frowned. "They did bad things to him, made him messed up in the head an' dangerous. Nanna saved me from endin' up the same way... Don't care if it wasn't the right way t'do it, them folks don't deserve no pity if they go stealin' babies from their cribs t'do god only knows what."

"Well... For what is worth, we're glad your nanna saved you Norman. You're a gem." Susie smiled which got the much larger man to chuckle.

"How's that for a story then? Anyone steppin' up to top it off?"

No one seemed to have anything that quite matched the energy of this... What should he call it? Cultist kidnapping story? It certainly sounded that the man was some underground cultist if he was taking babies to indoctrinate, or whatever...

The blond watched, saw no one step up to the challenge, and then remembered.

"Well, it may not be as bad as getting snatched away. But I do recall a rather peculiar set of events from before I moved to New York with my father." He began, the band members snorting and whispering among themselves that it was probably something stupid. He glared their way before looking at Norman who gestured for him to go on.

"Floor's all yours Sammy."

"Right." He thought back, way back when he was 10. Just a year prior to his mother's death. It was all a little foggy but the more he concentrated on what his father had told him about that night, the less his explanation made sense once correlated with his own memories. "I didn't exactly grow up in the city. Not until I was 11 that is... I actually lived in a cattle ranch for a while."

"That explains why you call us sheep." Johnny laughed.

"No, I call you sheep because your job is to follow me, you damn goat." Sammy snarled back at the interrupting organist.

"Ouch." Jack winced.

"Either way, as a child living with a father who raised cattle for a living, one can expect that I was often tasked to help with a few of the animals. Mainly cleaning the pens and, if I was particularly lucky, shearing the sheep." The sheep, he confesses, had been his favourite. They were dumb and cute. "My father usually dealt with the larger animals. When this event occured, he'd just bought a big healthy heifer. His ornery old bull had covered our best breeding cow but she'd not been having calves."

"Was she called Bessie?" Wally grinned.

"The name of the cow isn't of importance!" Sammy rolled his eyes. "It was Felicity by the way."

"My mistake."

"Either way, my father was a breeder, so his breeding female not producing offsprings was a big deal. I was a kid so I wasn't particularly interested if Felicity had issues, I just liked watching her when she had little calves. They were the cutest thing right after the baby lambs." Sammy carried on "The new heifer, Clarabelle, arrived that day and immediately the bull was put to working. My father thought That'd be the end of his problems... An easy fix. Except it wasn't..."

"She sterile?" Norman asked.

"Oh I wish that had been it. I was 10, had seen animals in plenty of states from sickness or wild animal attacks. But never had I seen a cow turned inside out, other than in a damn butcher's..." Sammy shuddered. He could still remember it... Going outside to get the eggs like his father had asked, and just finding this massive dead heifer with no skin on her body. His mother had said he'd screamed like the devil himself had been before him.

"Oh god..." Susie gagged slightly. "That couldn't have been nice..."

"It wasn't. I was freaked out and my father was furious. Clarabelle had been an expensive purchase. And she wasn't the only casualty." Sammy shook his head. "The pen was wrecked, the bull was in better state but no less dead, and poor Felicity must have run into whatever butchered them both because she had a massive wound on her hind. Every animal was spooked out of their minds and even our sheepdog wouldn't come out of the house. Peed himself when we tried coaxing him."

"Did ya find what did it?" Shawn asked.

"No, we couldn't find anything that explained it." Sammy carried on. "No tracks, no trails of blood, nothing. The pen was just ruined, like it had been splintered apart, and Clarabelle looked to have just... I don't know how to explain it. Pop? Like a balloon?"

"I figure your father wasn't too keen on going' about business after that?"

"He wanted compensation, but you can't exactly put the blame on anything if you can't even find a cause." The music director sighed "We eventually just decided to call it quits on figuring out what the hell happened and went on with our lives. But then things just got... Weird."

Strange lights at night, bizarre noises, and horrific night terrors. Sammy's father had lost his patience when he'd found their dog's remains and called the authorities.

"We were all on edge, unsure what was going on at the ranch, and losing animals every night. My father called the cops, saying someone must be playing some seriously messed up joke to terrorize us. He'd made a lot of enemies with his attitude over the years, so I wouldn't have been surprised..." He trailed of, beginning to feel goosebumps as he recalled the final night of these strange occurances. "And then one night I saw something strange out of my window. Stranger than anything else."

Everyone was eager for the conclusion, he could tell. Taking a deep breath, he recounted what he'd been a witness to.

"I wasn't sleeping well, no one was, but I just couldn't settle in bed that night. It felt too warm in my room so I got up to open a window." His 10 year old self had always struggled with the latch on his window, but not that night. That night it opened without a fuss. "I saw... A figure. Out in the fields. Cast in weird green light that I couldn't put a source to. They were tall, and I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but I assumed man because there wasn't a hair on its head... I just stared, and it looked to be staring back. Next thing I know, I'm outside in my pajamas, staring up at this pitch black figure... Taller, imposing, faceless. No eyes, no nose, no mouth... And yet it felt like it was glaring hatefully at me. Frustrated, angry... It pointed at the woods and I don't... I don't know what it wanted and I was just a scared kid."

He gulped heavily as he recalled how oppressive everything had felt.

"Again I blacked out, but this time awoke inside to my mother fanning me. My dad was yelling at the cops and it was morning." Sammy frowns "Yelling at them to get that damn thing off his property, and to fuck right off since they were so useless at their damn job."

A soft amen from a member of the writer's department. Followed by a chuckle from another one.

"My throat was raw, and when I tried to ask what happened, my mom told me they'd found me outside at the edge of the woods, screaming until my voice went. Screaming about wanting out of the woods. Screaming about wanting to go home... Screaming that nothing here was good to eat and that I was going to die... I don't recall doing it, and my father said I'd probably had a nightmare of some kind. A fever dream even, since mom had been trying to cool me down for a good reason." He bit his lip "It's odd, I'd just fallen ill overnight and everything was fuzzy... I asked why the cops were here, and my father said when he'd gone to get me he'd spotted a weather balloon of some kind in the woods. The cops were there to take it away."

Everyone stared, confused and trying to figure out how these events connected. He gave them a shrug.

"I have no idea what was going on, so don't ask. I was 10, animals were dying weirdly, and I got so sick all of a sudden that I started sleep walking and hallucinating demonic figures. No one ever said anything about the weather balloon in the local paper either, so I don't even know what to think of that." He leaned against Susie "It was weird, but it stopped. Still that thing kept appearing in my nightmares for a while... It faded with time but it bothered me while it was still fresh in my mind."

"Sounds like aliens." Wally pips up.

"No such thing." Bertrum laughed at the suggestion. "Just a bunch of vandalism, fallen governament property, animal attacks, and a child's overactive imagination."

"No, I'm serious! Stuff like that happens in farms all the time! Stuff no one can explain..."

"Wally, there's tons o' things none can explain in this world already." Norman pointed out. "I'm not sure what sorta thing Sammy might o' stumbled upon as a kid... But little green men don't sound plausible."

"Oh come on, ain't it obvious? Cows gettin' killed, the strange damages? The fallen thing in the woods? The spooky figure? The one person who no one would believe being chosen to see the alien? Then the cops just swoopin' in and covering it up? Happened just the same to my uncle Paul!"

"What I saw wasn't little or green. Don't make it another one of your outlandish tall tales." Sammy grinned, enjoying how much Wally was puffing up.

"Bite your tongue! It ain't a tall tale!"

"Sure it's not."

"Boys don't fight... Because I've got one heck of a story that'll make Norman's and Sammy's feel like child's play!" Susie cut in, with a devilish grin of her own.

And so the night carried on, with more stories to be shared. All the while Sammy laughed and listened, content with the situation.

Although... He did still wonder what he'd seen out in the field. Surely it couldn't have been extraterrestrial.

Hm... Yes, surely not. Just a bad dream and some sick prank. Had to have been.

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Share a Lair 06 || Sharing His Space

Max surfaced some time in the afternoon. Jasper and Henry were sitting at the island, eating plates of food whenever he walked into the kitchen and smirked to himself when he saw them. Charlotte’s face brightened up as soon as she saw him. That made him break out into a wide smile. “Morning, Charlotte!”

“Morning? Try maybe three hours ago, Friend.” She laughed and he came over to where she was standing near the stove and leaned against the counter, “You cook?” He asked.

“Oh, no. I didn’t have time, but my Uncle Roscoe is ALWAYS concerned that if the whole family doesn’t have greens and black eyed peas that the year won’t go right. Despite the fact that he’s been cooking and eating this every year himself for ages and I haven’t seen him have a year that I thought went right in my entire life.”

“Can I have some?” Max asked.

“You ask for things nicely?” Henry asked.

“He asks Charlotte things nicely,” Jasper said. The two of them smiled at each other and she furrowed her eyebrows. What the heck did they mean by that?

She ignored them and told Max, “Of course you can. There’s greens and black eyes peas that he gave me entire pots of. All I had to do was warm it on the stove. And also a whole meat pan of ribs, and I may have shot my shot with his cornbread recipe.”

Max grabbed a plate, “So, your family has like a FEAST for New Year’s Day?”

“Kinda,” she said. He just smiled at her.

Jasper watched them carefully and wondered, “Is there something going on here?” Max realized that he was standing extremely close to Charlotte, practically in her personal space and they were just smiling at each other. They both got some distance at Jasper’s question, and he said, “Nevermind.”

Max sat at the table and ate, then had seconds and thirds… Henry’s eyes were wide, “You can really put some food away, huh?”

“I’ve got superpowers,” was all that Max said.

Charlotte, having been finished eating a while ago, but was still in an apron, now nursing a cup of tea sat down and said, “Right, your biology is a little bit different than ours. Like, your scans and vitals and stuff register differently, so of course, your metabolism and probably other functions would too. Plus, with the range of powers that you have, your natural internal processes are probably so different from ours that our estimations can’t really comprehend it!” She sounded so interested, but also, Max almost felt like she was speaking about some bizarre creature.

“I’m human. I have human functions, but yes… my genes do some things differently.”

“Yeah, I mean, yes - obviously you’re human, but you’re superhuman. It’s not exactly the same.”

“I mean… It’s not, but it is!” He said, kind of irritated. Something about the thought of her seeing him differently was troubling for him. Henry grabbed his empty plate and gave Max a weird look as he went to make another plate for himself.

Charlotte said, gently, but sternly, “I wasn’t trying to upset you, Max. I’m trying to understand.” She shrugged her shoulders and left it alone. He obviously didn’t care to talk about this.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” He wondered. “We got back here pretty late and you called me this morning.” Great. Subject change. She nodded.

“I got about 4 hours of sleep, no… 3.” She sipped her tea. “I’ll probably crash tonight as soon as my head touches my pillow.”

“I wore you out last night, I’m sure,” he said. Jasper choked on his food and Henry snorted laughter. Charlotte’s lip dropped. “Grow up. I only meant I kept her out all night, party hopping.”

“What else would he mean? Because everybody here knows that nothing else would have ever happened between us! I’m not… That girl.” He thought about last night’s little kiss… Actually, he hadn’t stopped thinking about it. He’d been thinking about it from the time it happened, even through the dream portion of his sleep. He couldn’t believe that something that lasted so short in real time was having such a lengthy after effect. But also, she clearly didn’t want her friends to know that it even happened.

He got up, collected his plate and tossed it in the sink. “Henry, don’t forget that you or Jasper have clean up duty for the next two months,” he said and retreated back into his chambers.

Charlotte asked, “You lose a bet or something?”

Henry and Jasper both stammered over word vomit, avoiding admitting that they sold her out with house chores. She put her tea cup away, went to Max’s door, and pressed the button that she guessed worked like a doorbell. His voice came through the speaker, “Yes, Charlotte?”

“Hey… Are we okay?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“I don’t know. You seemed… different… than last night…”

He was quiet for a while and she wasn’t sure if the connection had ended, but he sighed and said, “I’m not the only one.”

She whispered, “Okay, sorry. I will loosen up more. Like last night… Well, maybe not like last night, but…”

He heard him chuckle, “Okay, Charlotte. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

.

Charlotte was more at home in the place than Henry felt lately. He was usually trying to be more mindful about the shared space, considering that he had to be the one to clean it up for now, while she just sort of chilled. She would straight up go into the shared spaces without checking in with Max anymore. She’d pretty much made herself at home.

She even started to wander in wearing night clothes or bringing some to change into, at times. That started, she claimed at Max’s suggestion.

It was the third weekend in January and she staggered out of the tower, exhausted beyond imagination and almost didn’t even notice that Max was outside. When she did, she yelped and startled him. “What is your problem?” He asked, with his hand over his chest.

“What’s yours? What in the world are you doing out here at this time of night?” She asked.

“I live here. I can be out here at whatever time of night I feel like it. What are you doing out here?”

“Getting ready to go home!” She said, a little snappy. “It’s the MLK Weekend and if I miss ANY of the festivities, my parents will have a long, civil rightsy fit. So, I am about to try not to fall asleep as I head back to Swellview so that I can hopefully get a few winks of it before the parade tomorrow morning. Why are you outside of the tower, though?”

This was the best spot for testing out his experiments when he went outside, because the opening was larger than on the other side of the lair. But, he was more concerned about what she’d said before that. “Should you be driving, if you’re this tired? I mean… You could just crash here and meet your folks in the morning, right? Or at least take a nap or something before you go?”

“It sounds like you’re worried,” she said amused.

“You’re the only thing that keeps my housemate and I from battling to his death,” he joked. “But, seriously, it’s dangerous, not just to yourself, but to others on the road.”

“I don’t have much of a choice. Captain Man and Kid Danger didn’t finish their assignment until a few minutes ago, and I can’t sleep in my day stench and old clothes. Gross.”

He sighed, frustrated, but forced a smile that she could see perfectly, even with just a few lanterns and the moonlight. “How about this? Tonight, I can lend you overnight clothes and my shower and stuff and the next time you come around, be sure to have a weekend bag, in case your shift goes too long.”

“Max, I could’ve inconvenienced Henry this way, but I’m not gonna do that to you.”

“It’s not an inconvenience. I’m gonna be way more inconvenienced by wondering if you and the other people on the road made it home safely when I should be testing out this awesome new hoverboard. And Henry? Don’t make me laugh. I feel like I can confidently assume that you wouldn’t be caught dead using his bath products.”

“He uses the same soap for everything.”

“There’s a special place for people like that,” Max said.

She sighed. She really didn’t want to make that drive. “Well… if you’re offering, it’d be rude of me to decline, especially since you’ve made such valid points. But, first thing’s first, lets see what’s so special about this hoverboard.”

Max LOVED when Charlotte was around for one of his inventions. She was one of the few people who he felt genuinely was curious, interested, and impressed by them from the moment she first heard about or saw them. He explained to her about the issues that previous hoverboards ran into and how he made this one with adjustments to those problems and also what he added to make it even better. She totally understood. Whenever he got on it to test it, it took off way faster than she expected and she gasped, but then laughed with excitement at how fluid he seemed on it, even when he did tricks and stuff. Like… WOW. She knew he was athletic, but dang… Ugh… He looked so cool doing stuff on that expert equipment. He pulled back in next to her, kicked an end of it as he leapt off and caught it and placed it under his arm. “I’m gonna be bringing this baby into battle with me. Can you imagine me fighting someone with the aid of this?” He was truly excited, and she was too.

“I can imagine it. I am imagining it, and I will download and save any Hero Tracks that capture it…” He put his free hand in the small of her back and walked her back towards the front entrance.

That night, she realized that his provisions were DEFINITELY more reflective of his work than she would’ve imagined. When you first entered his chambers, there was a long hallway and she noticed that he was deactivating stuff as they walked it, casually speaking and flicking his fingers. So, the lead up must’ve had some great security. Then, they came to what looked like an elevator and he moved his fingers, like he was pressing a code, but of course, didn’t need to actually touch the keys to do so. She worried. Was this going to be like Ray’s elevator? Because she wasn’t sure her head could handle it. But, when it opened, he opened a trap door in the floor and said, “Okay… This slide is really intense. You want me to hang on to you?”

“What? Slide?” She laughed. He sat down and reached for her. “Dear God…” She didn’t know what to pray as she climbed onto his lap and he smiled mischievously before pushing them off with one hand and holding on to her with the other. She. Screamed. This… might have been WORSE than Ray’s elevator. It was like one of those super slides from a water park, but no water and a terrifying drop down. Whenever they came out on the other end, they were practically shot out of the tunnel and floated for a moment as the gravity level of the room accommodated their safety. Her screams should have woken up the entire neighborhood. His laughter was a little bit louder, though. Then, they were released onto a landing pad. He smiled at her as she caught her breath.

“I… That was… Really fun!” She cackled and covered her face. “Oh my God. Is this how you always come home?”

“Usually I cross my arms across my chest like an X, slide down like a boss and control my own landing, but the slide sensed another body and tripped the gravity field control.” Now, she got up and looked around. She never thought that she would be here. He wasn’t a very open person and this was his most private space. It was very dark and mysterious, but also… not creepy, weird, or scary. More like… deep and tranquil. She explored, and to her pleasant surprise, he didn’t stop her. He let her meet his current Venus fly trap, showed her a few gadgets that he was currently working on, and such, and warned her which things to be careful around, because they were either weapons in disguise or guarded possessions with safety systems attached or nearby.

“How do you never accidentally set things off yourself?”

“Gifted, I guess,” he said, grabbing a onesie for her. “Here,” he said and tossed it to her.

“Why do you have a bunny onesie?” She asked, chuckling.

“I can’t wanna be cute and cuddly sometimes?” He gave her a washcloth and a drying towel and said, “Soap and stuff’s in there. Nothing hazardous. The one place that’s completely harmless.”

Charlotte stepped in and asked out loud, “What did they give him the prefect’s bathroom?” She studied the bathtub… She wasn’t really a bath person, but the stuff that was there for a nice long soak might be good for her, and she could always get into the shower afterwards, which there was a little walkway with drains leading to. She went to look at the shower. It had what seemed to be music settings, steam settings, aromatherapy… This bathroom was like… she didn’t want to leave it, to be honest. Henry’s bathroom had your traditional two in one bath/shower and the tub wasn’t even half as big as Max’s. Also… while he just had a toilet, Max also had a bidet! She was gonna have to light a fire under Henry. He would have to work his chops off if he wanted to get some good funding. He probably couldn’t really catch up to Max, but he could maybe at least upgrade a little. “You okay? I don’t hear anything…” Max called from the other side of the door.

“I am fangirling over your amazing bathroom, if that’s okay?”

He laughed. “Carry on. Also… The bathtub has a hot tub setting. If you need it.”

“Oh my God, can I come work for you, instead?” She joked.

“I don’t need any staff, but if you just wanna use my bathroom sometimes, I can grant you an access code.”

And he did! She didn’t tell Henry and Jasper, because, well… it wasn’t their business. And whenever she got up in the morning, having slept in Max’s bed, he was asleep on the landing pad beneath his slide with a sleeping mask on. She wasn’t sure that morning how to get out of the place, so she unfortunately had to wake him up. He ripped off his sleeping mask, alert and practically ready to fight, until he saw her. “Oh… Hey… Morning.”

“Sorry. I don’t know how to get back to the surface.”

He pointed to a door that looked yet again like an elevator, but whenever she opened it, it was an escalator. Okay. She got on, thanked him and left. He dragged himself into bed and laid down. His pillow smelled like her hair. He couldn’t help but to smile about that. He hugged it close and kinda wished it was her. He could’ve possibly made a move last night, but… then she might have thought that he was only nice to her for that. He didn’t want to scare her or make her distrust him. Besides, it was cool kinda building a friendship with her. They didn’t HAVE to be more… Probably wouldn’t be.

.

But, whatever they were, Henry knew that Charlotte had some type of… power in this house. Power that he didn’t seem to have. “Char… You think that you could get Max to agree to some more living room time?”

“I’m not his housemate, Hen. You are.”

“I know, but he likes you, though.”

Her face got warm, “What? No he doesn’t! I mean, we respect each other. We have a sort of rapport that we’ve managed to develop. But, that’s it. Besides, I told you which of those tower rooms you can make into a wonderful living room within your chambers.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have the SAL swag that is in our shared living room.”

“Technically… That stuff belongs to both of you, or it’d be in Max’s chambers. Believe me, his space is SUPER luxurious.”

“You’ve… been in there?” Henry asked, shocked. “This is what I mean! He let you into his chambers. He would never let me or Jasper in there… Maybe he does like you.”

“God, Henry, not everybody is like you. Some people can just be nice because you’re friends, colleagues, or kindred souls. You don’t have to like everybody that you’re nice to!”

“You’re acting so weird about this. Can you please just get me the living room for the last weekend of this month slash first weekend of next month for a videogame tournament?”

“Ohhhh… He’s having that here, with his friends. You can probably come.” She laughed and waved a hand, “You live here. Of course you can come!”

“His friends? He… Has friends?” Henry said.

“The guys from his high school band, Billy and Nora, and maybe Phoebe? I can’t remember who all was tagged in the post.”

“He… You were tagged in a post invited here, where I live, and I wasn’t even so much as spoken to about it?”

“I didn’t think to…”

“I have to try to get a new housemate,” Henry said, shaking his head.

“Henry…”

“No. I don’t care that in the past couple of weeks he’s become your buddy or whatever is happening there. I work hard too and he can’t treat me like an unwanted guest in my own lair that I share with him.”

“I’m just going to tell you that if you file for a transfer, it’s a lot of paperwork and they ask you to try a number of roommate reconciliation tasks and morale building before they determine that indeed you can’t live with the person that they placed you with. He can’t be that bad, Henry.”

“He is, though. He’s the absolute worst. I’d rather live with Ray.”

“Shameless lie, huh?”

“It felt differently before I actually said it.”

“Tell you what… I will talk to him and if he doesn’t care, then we start looking into some of the SAL reconciliation tasks.” Henry gave Charlotte a big hug, lifting her off of the ground and kissed her hard on the cheek.

“You’re the best, Char!”

“Yeah, every time you need something,” she teased and gave him a shove.

[xmagicxshopx]

Spring Cleaning - Chapter 1

Genre: Fluff, Romance, Comedy Rating: PG Warnings: None at this time Pairing: personal assistant!jungkook x ceo!reader Notes: AU fic. Not idol!jungkook. Single quote marks ‘ ‘ are for thoughts and double “ “ are for talking. Additional Notes: It’s a slow start but trust me, things will get better. ;3 I’ve not proof read this so be warned.

Summary: Your mother built you to be a thriving business machine. However, in her old age, she’s growing soft and wants grand kids to spoil. Your home and yard are a mess due to your busy schedule. So your mother attempts to kill two birds with one stone.

chapter 2

A modest looking SUV slowly rounded the corner till it came to a soft halt in front of a gorgeous looking home. Checker patterned roof sparkled under the sun’s light as did the water from the outdoor pool. The surrounding trees helped keep the beautiful architecture hidden from the public eye. Good thing too because the woman stepping out of the SUV couldn’t help but scoff.

“Really, child?”

Mumbling to herself, the middle aged woman sporting a sundress with matching heels walked along the path that lead to the front door. The walk felt like it was taking forever as she had to endure the sight of overly tall grass and weeds along with trees that desperately needed trimmed. The pool clearly hadn’t been cleaned properly......was that scum in the water???

“Oh, my child......what have I done to you?”

Annoyance turned to guilt as the woman known to all as your mother suddenly started making her walk of shame up to your door. It had been no secret that you were being trained to be the successor of a grand cosmetics company; your mother’s company. Something she had built from the ground up. Something that she was proud of.

However, your mother was growing too old to properly lead the business. Naturally, that left you to take over. And take over you did. Good gravy, how your mother was so proud of you. You took control with no fear and handled yourself wonderfully in the face of struggle. You faced stock market crashes, losses and gains alike. You faced it all and you faced it with grace.

You had been trained well.

A little too well.

In becoming the greatest CEO in the cosmetics industry, you had also became heartless. Nearly void of emotions. Your own feelings were determination and the satisfaction that came with success. Aside from your mother, your only other love was work. Once a child who despised work and only wanted to play......had become a woman of all work and absolutely no play.

And your mother was to blame.

Ringing the doorbell, it came as no surprise to the older woman when you opened the door with a phone stuck to your ear. Phone tucked snugly between your ear and shoulder, you had put a tablet and matching stylus pen in one hand so you could open the door.

“Yes......Yes that’s perfect. Type that up and have it ready for Monday. I’ll have the proposal done in time for you to look it over before the meeting.......Alright. Sounds good. Talk to you later.”

“Working the weekend through, I see.”

You simply ignored your mother’s comment as you hung up the call with your second in command. His name was Jimin and he was amazing at what he did. He was the only other employee you could just to get things done even outside of work hours. He wanted to see this company thrive just as badly as you did. Jimin was in this for more than just the money and that pleased you greatly.

After letting your mother in and shutting the door behind her, you settled for letting out a soft sound of acknowledgement before asking casually while looking down at your tablet,

“Want something to drink, mother?”

“Oh it’s alright, my dear. I can get something myself.”

Receiving nothing but another hum of lazy acknowledgment, your mother sighed as she watched you retreat back to the living room. It was a beautiful, spring filled Saturday and your mother was feeling......things. She had been mulling over her life choices and thinking about what she wanted with this last half of her life. In her younger years, she had thrived just as you were now. But.......things were changing in your mother’s old age.

As your mother rummaged around for a glass to pour herself some water, she noticed your pantry was practically empty. You had more takeout boxes than you did dishes and your stove and oven looked untouched. Half afraid, she opened your refrigerator only to find a few bottles of water, a few condiments, and some left over takeout.

“Oh dear god.”

Quickly closing the door to the fridge and nearly slamming it shut, the older woman had to lean on the kitchen counter to try and collect herself. Her daughter, the beautiful young woman just in the other room, was working herself to death. Cooped up in this huge home void of love. Nothing but work. Work work work work. It was consuming you.

“Honey? Why don’t we head out to the back patio? There are some things I’d like to discuss.”

“Sure. Let me just grab my tablet and----”

“Oh you won’t need the tablet, honey.”

You stared at your mother in confusion with an arched eyebrow. Surly if your mother wanted to talk, notes would need to be taken. Clearing your throat, you spoke up softly but professionally,

“With all due respect, mother, I would like to take notes of the discussion.”

Oh how you were breaking your mother’s heart. You were so blinded and consumed with being a CEO, that you couldn’t even recognize an invitation to a normal, non-work related conversation when it was presented to you. Smiling sadly with what she hoped was apologetic eyes, your mother took both of your hands in her own and spoke softly,

“Come sit with me, my beautiful girl. We need to talk.”

Finally sitting out on the back patio, your mother took note of all the dead potted plants littered throughout the area. Apparently you had attempted to try and brighten up the place at one point. But due to your never ending work schedule, the plants had long been neglected and failed to be watered, resulting in them dying before they even got a chance to live.

Were you going to end up like that? Working your life away before you even got a chance to live? A chance to discover something exciting? Or perhaps.....someone exciting?

“I noticed your yard is looking a little rough around the edges.”

“Ah......Yeah........I need to cut the grass before nightfall. I’m just waiting for the weather to cool down a bit. It’s a lot of grass to cut.”

“Indeed it is.......this place is beautiful but it’s a lot for one person to take care of. Especially when they’re so busy with work. Don’t you think?”

You glanced over at your mother to see her flashing you a smile that you had never seen before. Were her eyes twinkling??? While you were over here fidgeting like a druggie going through withdrawals. Normally, your hands were busy with either your cell phone, work phone, or tablet and pen. Sometimes even a combination of the three. But right now all you could do was tap anxiously on the patio tabletop.

“Yeah but I’m managing.”

“Oh, honey. That’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told me. You were a far better liar as a child.”

Your head quickly spun to face your mother once more and this time, your mother was anything but impressed. This was so freaking awkward. Why was this conversation happening??? All you wanted to do was get back to work. A big meeting was coming up Monday and this was Saturday. Which meant you had only a day and a half left to work on this presentation. Well you were working on the proposal part of it but still.

“Wa-What?”

“You heard me. Look at this place. Look at yourself. Honey.......you’re working yourself to death. It’s causing you to neglect not only your home, but yourself.”

Before you could argue, your mother went on.

“Your grass is taller than the Amazon Rainforest, both your front yard pool and back yard pool look like swamps. These poor potted plants would have lasted longer at the store you bought them from. And while we’re at it, let’s discuss the inside of your house.”

Oh boy.

“You have absolutely no food in your kitchen. Your refrigerator looks like you just put it in yesterday. Your work clothes are all over the floor and it’s hard to tell how much laundry you have to do. I saw a good three inches of dust on your coffee table and it’s hard to tell how many spiderwebs I counted.”

Aaaannnddd she was still going.....

“And let’s discuss you. You have bags under your eyes that would put a panda bear to shame. You eat nothing but sloppy, greasy takeout food. You’ve been put on high blood pressure medicine and you’re way too young for that. And----”

“Okay, okay. I get it. I get it.”

After taking a couple breaths to get the oxygen back in her lungs, your mother found herself pouting a bit as she realized this was it. The moment she had been dreading but needed to get off her shoulders or the guilt was going to eat her alive.

“This is all my fault.”

Okay.....your mother was acting really weird today. With knitted eyebrows and orbs filled with confusion, you stared at the older woman across from you as you waited for an explanation.

“I did this to you. I turned you into this unhealthy workaholic. At the time, I was simply thinking about making sure the company I had worked so hard to build and make a success stayed a success. You were born to take my place. But now......things are changing and.......I’ve seen the error in my ways of thinking.”

Smiling sadly with......were those tears in her eyes?

“Instead of preserving my legacy.....I have been destroying it. I’ve been destroying you. My beautiful girl. My only child. I am so very sorry, my darling.”

“Mother......what’s gotten into you? You’re talking nonsense. I’m fine.”

You tried to put on a smile that you had hoped was reassuring, but dang it felt awkward. The only times you ever smiled was during business meetings when you needed to go in for the kill. Your smiles had always been extremely fake. And now here you were trying to soothe your own mother but didn’t know how.

“I just.......times have changed. Things have changed. My priorities are shifting, my dear. At first, I wanted a successor. But now......I just confess......You see.....”

Now as your mother was wiping away tears, she was turning quite bashful. You had rarely ever seen your mother turn shy for anything or anyone. Perhaps your father, when he was still around. Biting her lower lip in apparent nervousness, she finally admitted,

“I want grand kids, honey.”

Thank the good lord above you weren’t drinking anything, because you would have choked. Your eyes widened and you stared at your mother in complete and utter shock. Had you heard her right? She wanted what??? Swallowing hard and clearing your throat, you adjusted yourself in your patio chair and mumbled a bit stupidly,

“You want what???”

“Oh you heard me, child. I’m not getting any younger and neither are you. All the women at the cafe are talking about spending time with their grand kids and I’m stuck there feeling jealous. They talk about small feet and tiny toes and big round eyes.”

Your mother was flat out pouting like a child herself and you could see the jealousy radiating off of her. So that’s what this was really about. It wasn’t your house or yourself, this was about her. Your mother had always gotten everything she wanted because she was in a position to obtain it. But a grandchild......That was a little more difficult. Only you could give her that.

“Mother......I love you dearly. I really do. But........I can’t give you a grandchild. I can give you just about anything else your heart desires......but not that.”

It was deadly silent as you carefully stood up from your seat. The air of defeat surrounded your mother as she too slowly stood up; her head bent a little in disappointment. Clearing your throat, you spoke in your usual polite but professional tone,

“I’ll see you to the door.”

It had been a few weeks now since the awkward visit from your mother. In that amount of time, you had attempted to clean up your kitchen area and at least do a couple loads of laundry. The front yard was cut but the back had not been touched. You tossed all the potted plants in the huge dumpster. Eh. They had been pretty while they lasted.

You still hadn’t kicked your habit of takeout. It wasn’t like you had a choice, though. With your busy schedule, you didn’t have time to cook anything. Hell, you didn’t have time to grocery shop for the food to cook. It was far more convenient to just run in, grab food that was already cooked for you, and go. Of course you were no fool, you knew this food was horrible for your health but again......what choice did you have?

Work continued like usual without any contact from your mother. Usually she’d check in on you with either a text or phone call but these last two or three weeks, you had heard nothing. Was she mad at you? Probably. Then again.....Your mother was used to getting everything she wanted. Granted she had worked hard for everything she had, but this was something completely different.

“Got something on your mind?”

You looked up to see Jimin as he was in the middle of going over another proposal you had typed up yourself. Given the lack of sleep you were getting, you often didn’t trust yourself with spelling and grammar so you had Jimin look over your work before anyone else could lay eyes on it. Clearing your throat and adjusting your suit jacket, you shook your head and mumbled softly,

“No. Just tired, I suppose.”

Meetings, proposals, late nights, more meetings. It never ended. Emails coming and going. Playing phone tag with companies that were being hard to get along with. It was all just so frustrating. There were some days you just wanted to throw hands and walk out. However.....This was your mother’s pride and joy and you knew that wasn’t an option.

It was finally Saturday and you planned to sleep in......Okay......So you were going to sleep in till 8am. That was normal, right? Sighing heavily, you rolled over onto your side so that you could reach over for your personal phone only to see that your mother had sent you a text.

Mother: I’m coming over today for lunch. Please be presentable.

Be presentable? What the hell did that mean? You were always presentable. Scoffing, you rolled out of bed and decided to take a shower so you could be presentable. After scrubbing and washing yourself in annoyance, you dried yourself off and did your hair like you normally would for any other day of work. A tight and tidy bun with not a hair out of place.

You applied all the concealer you could to try and hide the bags that were under your eyes. Dear god they seemed to be getting worse. Why? You got plenty of sleep. Or at least that’s what you told yourself. After dressing in a simple blouse with a pencil skirt that came down to your knees, you adjusted your pantyhose and made just to wear a pair of heels that matched your business attire.

Upon looking in your kitchen, you had absolutely nothing to eat for your mother. Well......the two of you could always go out somewhere for lunch, right? Nothing wrong with having a lunch meeting out and about, right? Sighing heavily, you decided to wait by the front window and peeped out between the blinds just in time to see your mother’s familiar SUV parking in your front driveway.

What you didn’t expect.....was her to have company with her.

Oh dear god......Please no......Please please please please please pl----

And there the doorbell rang. Hands suddenly sweaty and clammy, you almost tripped on your own feet as you scrambled towards the door. Taking a second to collect yourself, you took a deep breath before finally opening the door and offering your classic fake smile. The one you use at business meetings. The only smile you knew how to make.

“Honey! You look radiant as always.”

There stood your mother holding a couple boxes that you could only guess contained food, judging from the smell, alongside a young man that had to be close to your age. He smiled warmly as he too was carrying a couple boxes full of food. The smell instantly made your stomach clench in pain as you were starving. However, you were too scared out of your mind to think about food right now.

“Be a dear and let us in. The food is going to get cold. Jungkookie, help me set the table, will you?”

“Of course, Mrs. Kwon.”

What the blazes was going on here?!?!?

You just stepped aside and let your mother and some stranger into your house like it was no big deal. Furthermore, said stranger was making himself at home and helping your mother set the table for lunch. Wait..........

Wait wait wait wait wait wait.......

“Mother----May I have a word with you?”

“Oh honey, just be patient. We can talk once we sit down to eat.”

“Mother---I meant in private.”

“Nonsense nonsense. Now come sit with us and enjoy some lunch. You’re practically skin and bones.”

Sighing heavily, you made a move to sit at the table but made sure to sit as far away from the mystery male as possible. Which put you sitting straight across from him. At least it wasn’t right next to him. Thankfully you had just enough bottles of water in your fridge and ice left in your ice making machine to produce three glasses of ice water for all of you.

“Darling, this is Jeon Jungkook. His family has a prestigious landscaping company and Jungkookie here just happens to be amazing at lawn care.”

“Mmm. I see.”

You really tried to appear respectful, but it was so dang hard when all you could think about was your mother’s true motives. You had been subconsciously stabbing the food on your plate ever since the three of you sat down to talk. It was more than obvious that the only male in the dining room was extremely nervous.

He looked super handsome. Almond shaped doe eyes and a slender nose. Rosy lips and a sharp jawline. You couldn’t help but notice his earrings. Was that a double helix he was sporting? Truth be told.....in your younger teens......you had always been a sucker for guys with earrings. And lots of them. Wait......did your mother know this too???

“Considering how Jungkookie is amazing with landscaping as well as cooking and cleaning, I’ve taken it upon myself to hire him as your personal assistant. Where he will take care of the things that you don’t have time for outside of work.”

It was dead silent at the dining table as you processed what your mother had just so casually explained. Personal assistant, huh? Yeah right. You knew better. As you gave the male sitting across from you a sharp and quizzical stare, you simply took a sip of your ice water before asking just as casually,

“So just how much is my mother paying you to knock me up?”

“Honey!”

It all happened so fast. Your mother looking appalled while you remained unfazed. Meanwhile, poor Jungkook was coughing as his food had went down the wrong pipe. He had been right in the middle of swallowing when you asked such a blunt question. Needless to say, it had taken him by surprise. Finally calming down with a few sips of water and your mother rubbing his back, he tried to gain his composure by quickly shaking his head and raising his hands in defense.

“I can assure you, Miss. Kwon, I mean nothing of the sort. I am strictly here to take care of your chores and errands that you otherwise cannot complete in your free time. I am here to serve and make your life less stressful. Less complicated.”

‘Such pretty words from a pretty mouth....’

Still looking bored and unimpressed, you simply nodded and took one last sip of your water before setting the glass down. With a heavy sigh, you simply stood and started to gather your half eaten lunch and spoke softly but firmly,

“Your services are not needed here, Mr. Jeon. I’m terribly sorry for my mother wasting your time.”

As you walked away to place your dishes on the kitchen counter, you could hear your mother speaking softly, no doubt with a hand on the boy’s knee.

“She’ll come around, Kookie. Just give her time.”

However, when your mother approached you in the kitchen and left the boy alone in the dining room, the older woman was anything but soft. A silent glaring match took place as you stood there facing your mother. The woman who took you under her wing and built you into the strong young woman you were today.

“My dearest child, you go in there and apologize to that poor young man. He’s absolutely mortified.”

“With all due respect, mother, I’m not going to apologize for asking a perfectly reasonable question. We both know why he’s really here. He’s the perfect age and ripe for giving you a grandchild. I’m not stupid.”

“I never said you were. Look----While I may have other motives behind hiring him......Your house is an absolute mess. Zoo animals are living better than you.”

You couldn’t help but scoff as that seemed to take a blow to your pride and ego. As you tried to sooth said pride, it was your mother’s turn to sigh heavily as she added in proposition,

“Look---Just give him a chance. Let him take care of the indoors and outdoors and if he sucks at his job, you can fire him. You don’t have to like him, just let him pick up the slack. He really is great at what he does. He’ll have this place looking beautiful again in no time.”

And that’s how you wound up with a personal assistant living with you. His name? Jeon Jungkook.

[bapyess1r]

Amphetamine

WARNINGS: you already know lol

Chapter 2

Talia’s POV

I was awakened by the sound of live music being played in the distance. I winced a bit as I looked over the clock. 9:30 AM. ‘Are they practicing already?’ I thought with a groan as I sat up. I scratched an itchy spot under my messy bun and stood to crack the bones in my back. Stretching my arms, I made my way to the bathroom. I almost startled myself as I noticed my swollen eyes and dried drool in the corner of my mouth. I had to fix it. I briefly adjusted my nose ring before ridding myself of the large tee shirt and began my shower. I took a deep breath as I stepped into the hot water, basking in the pleasantness of the morning sun coming through the windows. I could hear some solos being played from the shower and began to imagine Sam with his guitar in hand. I grinned, actually excited for the night ahead. Then I remembered him pointing a pistol at me and pouted a bit. I couldn’t just forget about that. What started off to be a great morning suddenly turned dull from the thought. I changed into a black AC/DC crop top (cut off purely because I was bored), white cargo pants fitted to every curve, and beat up black converse, the laces wrapped around my ankles. I combed my hair and put on a fair amount of makeup, thick black wings lining my eyes and lashes not too long. ‘Don’t wanna fly away and shit…’ I thought with a brief guffaw. I left the bathroom, drying my hair a bit more with my towel as my Godmother left from the kids room carrying her baby boy. The youngest of her three.

“Good morning, night owl! I was afraid you weren’t gonna wake up in time, you were up and out so late.” She laughed.

“I know! I’m sorry! I hung out with the band for a while after practice- hey baby!” I was distracted by their youngest daughter, Ava, who walked up to me with open arms in hopes to be picked up. Of course I did. She wrapped her arms around me as I sat her up on my hip, continuing the conversation as I followed my Godmother to the kitchen. “And that Sam guy came back so there’s that….”

“Oh yeah?” She smoothed a blonde strand of hair behind her ears as she put JJ in his baby booster seat.

“Yeah. I spooked him on accident but he was really nice about it.” I told her, skipping over the part about the gun as the baby gave me a big juicy gummy smile as he laughed joyfully. ‘Oh to be that carefree again…’ I thought with a smile as I turned on Disney jr for the kids and started on breakfast.

“Oh so you’ve met him already?” She began to grab bowls and spoons for the kids before walking to the kitchen, passing me as I made way to the stove.

“Yeah. He’s kinda cute for an old guy.” I smirked.

“He is good lookin’, right?” She whispered to me with a girlish grin, hoping her husband hadn’t heard. It was adorable. “Are you gonna play with the band tonight?”

“Well I was but he wants to play with just them tonight since it’s been a while. I’m gonna play next weekend.” I prepared to make bacon and eggs as she poured cereal on the booster seat tray and in the bowls for her daughters.

“Well that’s very nice of you, Talia.” She sounded proud of me. But I was honestly just being courteous.

“I wanna go see Sam!” The oldest of the three, Mariah said, waving her spoon in the air as she smiled at her mother.

“You’ll get to see him tonight when they play tonight, sweetie! You guys wanna go hear some music before bedtime tonight?” And with that, the girls cheered. “James gets off early today so you won’t have to worry about watching the kids tonight.” She said to me.

“Thank you! Because I had not a clue about how I was gonna watch the three of them and prepare for the block party.”

“Did you need me to ask your Godfather to stop somewhere and grab anything?”

“I may need some ice. Possibly some lighting fluid for the grill. Marcel is gonna grill what I prepare. And then Louie and Jules were gonna go purchase the alcoholic beverages…” I wiggles my eyebrows thinking of how absolutely trashed I planned on being tonight. And my friend from New York was supposed to come down and visit as well. Remembering that- “SHIT- I mean….dang…” I switched up my language, remembering I was in the company of children. “I forgot I have to pick up Anna from the airport! I’m gonna have to pick her up.”

“Do you need the car seats for the kids? I can set them out for you when you get ready to go.” She asked as I scooped up all of what I cooked into a plate with a piece of toast.

“That would be great! Now… I’m gonna take my breakfast to my spot on the docks and consume a bit of Can- Do- Nicotine.”

“Ok. I can take care of them til you’re done but then I gotta go to hospital.”

“Will do!” I hollered, grabbing my cigarettes and lighter on the way out the door.

As I exited into the driveway, I could hear the band practicing behind closed doors. I bobbed my head to what I thought might’ve been Orange Crush by R.E.M. It sounded almost exact. I sat down with my legs hanging off the ledge of the docks and lit my cigarette, ready to relax and consume breakfast. But then they stopped playing. “Booooo!” I said to myself in disappointment. I wanted to catch Sam singing; guess I missed it. I took a healthy drag and it wasn’t too long before he found himself outside with me.

“Y’know I definitely recall finding this smoke spot a long time ago.” He said and I turned with a large grin. He was decked out in a tight white v neck and a bold palm leaf printed Hawaiian shirt, his eyes hidden behind black shades. He smiled at me as a cigarette dangled from his mouth as he tried to light it against the winds.

“Finders keepers. And you were here to be fair.” I said before scooping the eggs and bacon onto my toast and holding it like a taco, taking a massive bite out of it. With an amused chuckle, he sat down and joined me. “Nice duds.” I gestured to his outfit of choice for the day with a slight look of judgement.

“What- you don’t like this?!”

“I didn’t say all that… It’s just an interesting look.” I giggled, diverting my eyes to the calm morning sea.

“You don’t like it.”

“I…. think there’s better Hawaiian shirts out there. Ones that don’t give off narc vibes.”

“Now I look like a cop?!”

“The shades and the conceal pistol doesn’t help your case either.”

“Wooooooow…..” he said in disbelief causing me to deliver the ugliest laugh. “Speaking of…. I just wanna apologize again for how I reacted to you last night. It was a long night and I’m still a bit jet legged.”

“Where’d you come from?”

“Peru.”

“Oooo what’s in Peru?”

“The Lost Treasure of Lima…” he waved a hand across the horizon of the sea for dramatic effect. Shit, it worked on me. I ooo’d in the background and allowed him to tell me about it. “Captain William Thompson was supposed to be in charge of transporting all of Lima’s riches to Mexíco as they were about to be on the edge of a revolt. He couldn’t resist the temptation of all that money and turned pirate.”

“How did I know this was gonna be about pirates?”

“What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good pirate story.” He smirked before continuing. “Basically, he and his crew were caught by the Spanish, they made a deal that they’d take them to where they ‘allegedly’ buried the treasure, got them as far as Cocos Island which was pretty close to Costa Rica, then split up to divvy the treasure. They managed to escape the jungle and were never seen again. The Spanish still never found the treasure.”

“And you did?” I asked, extremely impressed.

“I did not. Unfortunately.” he replied sourly, taking a drag of his cigarette. “We were close though…”

“What stopped you?” I asked, letting the nicotine fill my lungs. He sighed and began fidgeting with his lighter again.

“Would you believe me if I said we weren’t allowed to hunt there?”

“I see…” I definitely didn’t believe him. He didn’t seem like the type to just stop when he was so close. I began to finish the last few bites of breakfast and lit a second cigarette.

“What are your plans for the day? Seeing as you’re not playing tonight.” He said with a sneaky smirk.

“Go ahead and rub it in.” I joked. “I am preparing a few foods for Marcel to grill after your set.”

“A woman after my own heart!” he dramatically placed a hand on his chest and began fanning himself. I felt comfortable enough to punch him in the arm playfully. “Whatcha cookin’?”

“Devilled eggs, potato salad, chicken salad, kebabs, I have some chicken I managed to marinate before bed last night, burgers, and corn on the cob. And I have YET to start on a good chunk of these things AND I’m watching the kids until my Godfather gets off work. I also have to pick up my best friend from the airport. She’s visiting this weekend.” Just thinking about all of it, I got stressed out all over again.

“Well you do have a lot on your plate. Who’s your Godfather?”

“James Edwards.”

“You’re James’s kid?! Shit. I’m in big trouble.”

“How so?” I asked with a curious smile. He readied his mouth to answer but I could tell he made the decision to change the subject.

“Listen, I’m done rehearsing for the day. I can come over and help with the kids while you cook and run n’ grab your friend.” he offered. I looked at him with so much hope.

“Oh my god would you really?”

“Yeah! I love those kids! I kinda missed 'em since I’ve been gone.”

“So you’re close with my Godfamily then.”

“James and Barbs are good pals of mine. They never mentioned you to me not once.”

“I just moved here a month ago. I guess right before you left-” Just then I was interrupted by my Godmother’s call. “That’s my cue.” I began gathering my plate and ashed out my cigarette, he did the same.

“I’ll come with.” He smiled. For some reason, my stomach lurched and I became really nervous about it. If we were going to work together on the band, I was going to have to get used to it. He hopped up from his spot and offered a hand to me. With ease he pulled me up and grabbed the plate out of my hand to trash it for me as I walked towards the gate. Still, he beat me to it and opened the gate for me, gesturing to the entrance all corny-like. “Ladies first.” he said rather smoothly. I took an exhausted deep breath and brushed by him quickly, not allowing him to see my burning red face. “Howdy, Barbs!” He greeted my Godmother as she rushed to her car but stopped to hug him briefly and hand me JJ. “Hey, slugger.” He poked the baby in his little pudgy tummy and I smiled.

“Hey Sam! I heard you got in last night! We missed ya around here. Been too quiet.” she said opening the door to get in her silver accord.

“I’ll take the compliment.” he chuckled heartily. “So just a heads up, I’m gonna help Talia with the kids while she cooks and runs her errands.”

“That’s sweet- are you sure? I know you just got home.”

“Nah, I’m well rested and ready to get this show on the road. It’s no problem, really.”

With that she sighed. “Well the kids will be happy to see you, that’s for sure.” she quickly checked her watch before turning her attention to me. “Now, I gotta go. They’ve eaten breakfast. Just let ‘em play for a while, give them lunch, put them down for a nap. They should be good to go until James gets home.”

“Got it.” I nodded before she winked at me and smiled at Sam as he closed the car door for her. Sending her off with two heavy pats to the hood of the car.

He followed me into the cool air conditioned house and with a sigh he took off his bold hawaiin shirt and wiped the sweat off his face with it before hanging it on the back of one of the bar stools. As soon as the kids saw him they screamed their heads off swarming him. “AYE! There’s the little princesses!” He shouted, scooping them both up into his big arms. A man with kids was easily one of the most attractive things on the planet and he was really doing it for me. My thoughts were interrupted by a sharp tug on my hair. JJ had grabbed a fistful and tried to eat it.

“Lord, child….” I grunted as I tried to pry my hair out of his strong little baby hands. JJ just giggled at my struggle. “I love you, but you’re a pain!” I said kissing his forehead.

“Are you gonna stay to play, Sammy?” Mariah asked him, sweetly.

“I sure am, sweetheart.” he winked at her and she hugged his neck tighter.

‘Christ, that adorable!’ I thought as I walked over to him to give him JJ.

“Alright kiddies, while I’m doing a bit of cooking, you guys are gonna hang out with ‘Sammy’.” I said, emphasizing his little nickname to tease causing him to dart his eyes my way. I winked at him and backed away into the kitchen. “Have fuuunnn….” I sang as I stalked off. And with the kids outta the way I began to prepare for tonight's shindig. Just when I was getting started, I got a text on my phone from my best friend Anna.

Anna: I’m in the air, should be there in a few hours!

Me: get off the phone! Ur in a fucking aircraft!

Anna: well fine! Be that way bish! <3

Me: see you in a bit! Lol

[neshabeingchildish]

Sharing His Space

I have to edit whenever I get up. Well, not so much edit as you know, the italics and ish that gets lost when you switch to Tumblr. Knocking out soon. @chenoahchantel @adorkable-blackgirl @kiddangers @henryhearts

Share a Lair 6

Max surfaced some time in the afternoon. Jasper and Henry were sitting at the island, eating plates of food whenever he walked into the kitchen and smirked to himself when he saw them. Charlotte’s face brightened up as soon as she saw him. That made him break out into a wide smile. “Morning, Charlotte!” 

“Morning? Try maybe three hours ago, Friend.” She laughed and he came over to where she was standing near the stove and leaned against the counter, “You cook?” He asked.

“Oh, no. I didn’t have time, but my Uncle Roscoe is ALWAYS concerned that if the whole family doesn’t have greens and black eyed peas that the year won’t go right. Despite the fact that he’s been cooking and eating this every year himself for ages and I haven’t seen him have a year that I thought went right in my entire life.”

“Can I have some?” Max asked.

“You ask for things nicely?” Henry asked.

“He asks Charlotte things nicely,” Jasper said. The two of them smiled at each other and she furrowed her eyebrows. What the heck did they mean by that? 

She ignored them and told Max, “Of course you can. There’s greens and black eyes peas that he gave me entire pots of. All I had to do was warm it on the stove. And also a whole meat pan of ribs, and I may have shot my shot with his cornbread recipe.”

Max grabbed a plate, “So, your family has like a FEAST for New Year’s Day?” 

“Kinda,” she said. He just smiled at her. 

Jasper watched them carefully and wondered, “Is there something going on here?” Max realized that he was standing extremely close to Charlotte, practically in her personal space and they were just smiling at each other. They both got some distance at Jasper’s question, and he said, “Nevermind.”

Max sat at the table and ate, then had seconds and thirds… Henry’s eyes were wide, “You can really put some food away, huh?”

“I’ve got superpowers,” was all that Max said. 

Charlotte, having been finished eating a while ago, but was still in an apron, now nursing a cup of tea sat down and said, “Right, your biology is a little bit different than ours. Like, your scans and vitals and stuff register differently, so of course, your metabolism and probably other functions would too. Plus, with the range of powers that you have, your natural internal processes are probably so different from ours that our estimations can’t really comprehend it!” She sounded so interested, but also, Max almost felt like she was speaking about some bizarre creature.

“I’m human. I have human functions, but yes… my genes do some things differently.”

“Yeah, I mean, yes - obviously you’re human, but you’re superhuman. It’s not exactly the same.”

“I mean… It’s not, but it is!” He said, kind of irritated. Something about the thought of her seeing him differently was troubling for him. Henry grabbed his empty plate and gave Max a weird look as he went to make another plate for himself.

Charlotte said, gently, but sternly, “I wasn’t trying to upset you, Max. I’m trying to understand.” She shrugged her shoulders and left it alone. He obviously didn’t care to talk about this. 

“Did you get any sleep last night?” He wondered. “We got back here pretty late and you called me this morning.” Great. Subject change. She nodded.

“I got about 4 hours of sleep, no… 3.” She sipped her tea. “I’ll probably crash tonight as soon as my head touches my pillow.”

“I wore you out last night, I’m sure,” he said. Jasper choked on his food and Henry snorted laughter. Charlotte’s lip dropped. “Grow up. I only meant I kept her out all night, party hopping.”

“What else would he mean? Because everybody here knows that nothing else would have ever happened between us! I’m not… That girl.” He thought about last night’s little kiss… Actually, he hadn’t stopped thinking about it. He’d been thinking about it from the time it happened, even through the dream portion of his sleep. He couldn’t believe that something that lasted so short in real time was having such a lengthy after effect. But also, she clearly didn’t want her friends to know that it even happened. 

He got up, collected his plate and tossed it in the sink. “Henry, don’t forget that you or Jasper have clean up duty for the next two months,” he said and retreated back into his chambers.

Charlotte asked, “You lose a bet or something?” 

Henry and Jasper both stammered over word vomit, avoiding admitting that they sold her out with house chores. She put her tea cup away, went to Max’s door, and pressed the button that she guessed worked like a doorbell. His voice came through the speaker, “Yes, Charlotte?”

“Hey… Are we okay?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?”

“I don’t know. You seemed… different… than last night…”

He was quiet for a while and she wasn’t sure if the connection had ended, but he sighed and said, “I’m not the only one.”

She whispered, “Okay, sorry. I will loosen up more. Like last night… Well, maybe not like last night, but…”

He heard him chuckle, “Okay, Charlotte. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

.

Charlotte was more at home in the place than Henry felt lately. He was usually trying to be more mindful about the shared space, considering that he had to be the one to clean it up for now, while she just sort of chilled. She would straight up go into the shared spaces without checking in with Max anymore. She’d pretty much made herself at home. 

She even started to wander in wearing night clothes or bringing some to change into, at times. That started, she claimed at Max’s suggestion. 

It was the third weekend in January and she staggered out of the tower, exhausted beyond imagination and almost didn’t even notice that Max was outside. When she did, she yelped and startled him. “What is your problem?” He asked, with his hand over his chest.

“What’s yours? What in the world are you doing out here at this time of night?” She asked.

“I live here. I can be out here at whatever time of night I feel like it. What are you doing out here?”

“Getting ready to go home!” She said, a little snappy. “It’s the MLK Weekend and if I miss ANY of the festivities, my parents will have a long, civil rightsy  fit. So, I am about to try not to fall asleep as I head back to Swellview so that I can hopefully get a few winks of it before the parade tomorrow morning. Why are you outside of the tower, though?”

This was the best spot for testing out his experiments when he went outside, because the opening was larger than on the other side of the lair. But, he was more concerned about what she’d said before that. “Should you be driving, if you’re this tired? I mean… You could just crash here and meet your folks in the morning, right? Or at least take a nap or something before you go?”

“It sounds like you’re worried,” she said amused. 

“You’re the only thing that keeps my housemate and I from battling to his death,” he joked. “But, seriously, it’s dangerous, not just to yourself, but to others on the road.”

“I don’t have much of a choice. Captain Man and Kid Danger didn’t finish their assignment until a few minutes ago, and I can’t sleep in my day stench and old clothes. Gross.”

He sighed, frustrated, but forced a smile that she could see perfectly, even with just a few lanterns and the moonlight. “How about this? Tonight, I can lend you overnight clothes and my shower and stuff and the next time you come around, be sure to have a weekend bag, in case your shift goes too long.”

“Max, I could’ve inconvenienced Henry this way, but I’m not gonna do that to you.”

“It’s not an inconvenience. I’m gonna be way more inconvenienced by wondering if you and the other people on the road made it home safely when I should be testing out this awesome new hoverboard. And Henry? Don’t make me laugh. I feel like I can confidently assume that you wouldn’t be caught dead using his bath products.”

“He uses the same soap for everything.”

“There’s a special place for people like that,” Max said. 

She sighed. She really didn’t want to make that drive. “Well… if you’re offering, it’d be rude of me to decline, especially since you’ve made such valid points. But, first thing’s first, lets see what’s so special about this hoverboard.” 

Max LOVED when Charlotte was around for one of his inventions. She was one of the few people who he felt genuinely was curious, interested, and impressed by them from the moment she first heard about or saw them. He explained to her about the issues that previous hoverboards ran into and how he made this one with adjustments to those problems and also what he added to make it even better. She totally understood. Whenever he got on it to test it, it took off way faster than she expected and she gasped, but then laughed with excitement at how fluid he seemed on it, even when he did tricks and stuff. Like… WOW. She knew he was athletic, but dang… Ugh… He looked so cool doing stuff on that expert equipment. He pulled back in next to her, kicked an end of it as he leapt off and caught it and placed it under his arm. “I’m gonna be bringing this baby into battle with me. Can you imagine me fighting someone with the aid of this?” He was truly excited, and she was too.

“I can imagine it. I am imagining it, and I will download and save any Hero Tracks that capture it…” He put his free hand in the small of her back and walked her back towards the front entrance. 

That night, she realized that his provisions were DEFINITELY more reflective of his work than she would’ve imagined. When you first entered his chambers, there was a long hallway and she noticed that he was deactivating stuff as they walked it, casually speaking and flicking his fingers. So, the lead up must’ve had some great security. Then, they came to what looked like an elevator and he moved his fingers, like he was pressing a code, but of course, didn’t need to actually touch the keys to do so. She worried. Was this going to be like Ray’s elevator? Because she wasn’t sure her head could handle it. But, when it opened, he opened a trap door in the floor and said, “Okay… This slide is really intense. You want me to hang on to you?”

“What? Slide?” She laughed. He sat down and reached for her. “Dear God…” She didn’t know what to pray as she climbed onto his lap and he smiled mischievously before pushing them off with one hand and holding on to her with the other. She. Screamed. This… might have been WORSE than Ray’s elevator. It was like one of those super slides from a water park, but no water and a terrifying drop down. Whenever they came out on the other end, they were practically shot out of the tunnel and floated for a moment as the gravity level of the room accommodated their safety. Her screams should have woken up the entire neighborhood. His laughter was a little bit louder, though. Then, they were released onto a landing pad. He smiled at her as she caught her breath. 

“I… That was… Really fun!” She cackled and covered her face. “Oh my God. Is this how you always come home?”

“Usually I cross my arms across my chest like an X, slide down like a boss and control my own landing, but the slide sensed another body and tripped the gravity field control.” Now, she got up and looked around. She never thought that she would be here. He wasn’t a very open person and this was his most private space. It was very dark and mysterious, but also… not creepy, weird, or scary. More like… deep and tranquil. She explored, and to her pleasant surprise, he didn’t stop her. He let her meet his current venus fly trap, showed her a few gadgets that he was currently working on, and such, and warned her which things to be careful around, because they were either weapons in disguise or guarded possessions with safety systems attached or nearby. 

“How do you never accidentally set things off yourself?”

“Gifted, I guess,” he said, grabbing a onesie for her. “Here,” he said and tossed it to her.

“Why do you have a bunny onesie?” She asked, chuckling.

“I can’t wanna be cute and cuddly sometimes?” He gave her a washcloth and a drying towel and said, “Soap and stuff’s in there. Nothing hazardous. The one place that’s completely harmless.” 

Charlotte stepped in and asked out loud, “What did they give him the prefect’s bathroom?” She studied the bathtub… She wasn’t really a bath person, but the stuff that was there for a nice long soak might be good for her, and she could always get into the shower afterwards, which there was a little walkway with drains leading to. She went to look at the shower. It had what seemed to be music settings, steam settings, aromatherapy… This bathroom was like… she didn’t want to leave it, to be honest. Henry’s bathroom had your traditional two in one bath/shower and the tub wasn’t even half as big as Max’s. Also… while he just had a toilet, Max also had a bidet! She was gonna have to light a fire under Henry. He would have to work his chops off if he wanted to get some good funding. He probably couldn’t really catch up to Max, but he could maybe at least upgrade a little. “You okay? I don’t hear anything…” Max called from the other side of the door.

“I am fangirling over your amazing bathroom, if that’s okay?”

He laughed. “Carry on. Also… The bathtub has a hot tub setting. If you need it.”

“Oh my God, can I come work for you, instead?” She joked.

“I don’t need any staff, but if you just wanna use my bathroom sometimes, I can grant you an access code.”

And he did! She didn’t tell Henry and Jasper, because, well… it wasn’t their business. And whenever she got up in the morning, having slept in Max’s bed, he was asleep on the landing pad beneath his slide with a sleeping mask on. She wasn’t sure that morning how to get out of the place, so she unfortunately had to wake him up. He ripped off his sleeping mask, alert and practically ready to fight, until he saw her. “Oh… Hey… Morning.”

“Sorry. I don’t know how to get back to the surface.”

He pointed to a door that looked yet again like an elevator, but whenever she opened it, it was an escalator. Okay. She got on, thanked him and left. He dragged himself into bed and laid down. His pillow smelled like her hair. He couldn’t help but to smile about that. He hugged it close and kinda wished it was her. He could’ve possibly made a move last night, but… then she might have thought that he was only nice to her for that. He didn’t want to scare her or make her distrust him. Besides, it was cool kinda building a friendship with her. They didn’t HAVE to be more… Probably wouldn’t be. 

.

But, whatever they were, Henry knew that Charlotte had some type of… power in this house. Power that he didn’t seem to have. “Char… You think that you could get Max to agree to some more living room time?”

“I’m not his housemate, Hen. You are.”

“I know, but he likes you, though.”

Her face got warm, “What? No he doesn’t! I mean, we respect each other. We have a sort of rapport that we’ve managed to develop. But, that’s it. Besides, I told you which of those tower rooms you can make into a wonderful living room within your chambers.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have the SAL swag that is in our shared living room.”

“Technically… That stuff belongs to both of you, or it’d be in Max’s chambers. Believe me, his space is SUPER luxurious.”

“You’ve… been in there?” Henry asked, shocked. “This is what I mean! He let you into his chambers. He would never let me or Jasper in there… Maybe he does like you.”

“God, Henry, not everybody is like you. Some people can just be nice because you’re friends, colleagues, or kindred souls. You don’t have to like everybody that you’re nice to!”

“You’re acting so weird about this. Can you please just get me the living room for the last weekend of this month slash first weekend of next month for a videogame tournament?”

“Ohhhh… He’s having that here, with his friends. You can probably come.” She laughed and waved a hand, “You live here. Of course you can come!”

“His friends? He… Has friends?” Henry said.

“The guys from his high school band, Billy and Nora, and maybe Phoebe? I can’t remember who all was tagged in the post.”

“He… You were tagged in a post invited here, where I live, and I wasn’t even so much as spoken to about it?”

“I didn’t think to…”

“I have to try to get a new housemate,” Henry said, shaking his head.

“Henry…”

“No. I don’t care that in the past couple of weeks he’s become your buddy or whatever is happening there. I work hard too and he can’t treat me like an unwanted guest in my own lair that I share with him.”

“I’m just going to tell you that if you file for a transfer, it’s a lot of paperwork and they ask you to try a number of roomate reconciliation tasks and morale building before they determine that indeed you can’t live with the person that they placed you with. He can’t be that bad, Henry.”

“He is, though. He’s the absolute worst. I’d rather live with Ray.”

“Shameless lie, huh?”

“It felt differently before I actually said it.”

“Tell you what… I will talk to him and if he doesn’t care, then we start looking into some of the SAL reconciliation tasks.” Henry gave Charlotte a big hug, lifting her off of the ground and kissed her hard on the cheek. 

“You’re the best, Char!”

“Yeah, every time you need something,” she teased and gave him a shove. 

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 15

Blargage. Sorry about the pause guys, work got crazy there for a while. For the record, I understand that there is a second season to Brotherhood (for some reason broken up into multiple parts on iTunes), I was just expecting that there would be an intro change at the season halfway point cause I’ve gotten used to that from other anime. Granted, the ones that come to mind are one-season or currently-only-one-season shows like KlK or AoT, so that perspective’s probably a little skewed. Onwards with Brotherhood!

Episode 15 - Envoy from the East We open in a city at ni- wait, what’s with the electricity? I thought the Terminator died last episode? Ah, an Alchemist duel, got it. In the alleyway the smoke clears to show what. What is this. Why am I looking at an Evil Mister Monopoly?

Mr. Monopoly is chuckling as he fights oh hai Scar, how’s it going? No sunglasses? Heeey, this episode doesn’t have any subtitles. How am I supposed to spell this guy’s name then? (currently boasting that he’s the Silver Alchemist, name sounds vaguely Italian) Whatever, I’ll just stick with Mr. Monopoly. Not like he’ll be around much longer, facing Scar. Mr. Monopoly is certainly living up to his name, Transmuting numerous presumably silver weapons to fling at Scar. Doing fairly well too, dodging the Ishvalan’s attacks when he has a peg leg. Captain Monopoly, then? But it doesn’t last, one scratch is exchanged for a broken peg leg, the Silver Alchemist takes a bath and gets a Face Death Grab. Bye, Captain Monopoly! Ooh, new intro! Seems we’ve got a guy singing the intro this time, pale-shaded Al and Ed before we get normal-colored Ed on a hill reaching towards the sun/title. Hey, the captions are back! Wait no, it’s the gossiping at Central from last episode, Roy walking through the hallway. Guess the captions are broken this episode, turning them off. Odd. Intro continues with clouded skies, Ed and Al sitting under a tree- suddenly panda? Yeah there’s a little girl with a little panda on her head, striking martial arts poses. The titular “Envoy from the East”? Now another new character, older black-haired guy with a ponytail and sword standing on some ruins, what looks like a pair of ninjas drop into the scene before we transition. Quick shots of Roy’s Crew (Havoc, Furey, two others I don’t remember but one appears to be a Big Eater, and Riza) and Roy himself. Now we’re back to Ed glaring at the camera, a clear shot of Hohenheim/Papa Elric glancing back? Ooooh, they’re looking at each other in a graveyard, no doubt over whose grave is between them. Shot of metal-armed Ed getting pulled into the Gate, while a human right hand reaches for him? Dunno if symbolic or if he frak’d up again. Winry is sitting at a desk next to a picture board, we see the Elric Family with Papa Elric’s face still covered. Quick scenes of Scar surrounded by flames (“dang it, I did leave the stove on”), Lust and Gluttony on a rooftop at night (what the heck is up with Gluttony’s face?!), a dark red-eyed face surrounded by screaming masks (charming), an Uroborus left eye that I recognize as Bradley/Wrath, and Father/clearly Papa Elric sitting in his Pipe Chair holding a cup of “wine”. What is his deal, even? More fight scenes, Ed earthbending at Envy and Gluttony, Bradley firebending at Lust, werewolves charging at Panda Girl? Who’s got some neat Alchemy moves, cool! Then we get Bradley swordfighting Sword Man and the ninjas, who are actually getting in some hits? Seeing as we know that Bradley is a Goth now, this makes me very happy! Then Screaming!Scar fighting Screaming!Ed, screen whites out from their attack before we get Ed closing his watch (Don’t Forget Oct. 11), and the Elric Brothers walk along a traintrack into a desert. Episode proper continues with Scar, who does not seem happy and is asking “Who is this?” Inside the dilapidated house is that weasly guy from last episode who led the bounty hunters to Scar, is Scar crashing at his place? There’s also Intro!Girl, who politely introduces herself (going without captions here, apologies for misspelling) as Mei-Chang. And that is a little panda she has with her. Cute! Mei-Chang’s saying that “Master Yoki” (Scar shoots Yoki a look at this) found her collapsed by the side of the road and brought her to the house. Scar tries to shoo her out as she’s feeling better now, but Mei sees that Scar’s leg is cut, and says that she’ll close the wound. She sets up a standard circle-star TC, but puts shuriken at the corners? Oooh, we get to see foreign Alchemy styles now, neat! Scar and Yoki are shocked to see the injury healed so quickly, Mei says that’s it a skill called (please forgive the spelling, not having captions is really annoying) “Alcahestiry from the land of Shing”. Yoki scoffs at Mei’s claim that she crossed the desert from the east, Mei insists that she did it along with Shao-Mei (Assuming the tiny panda here). Scar is shocked when said panda looks back at Scar while Mei’s saying all this, he reaches out to either Hand O’ Doom it or pet it, I can’t tell which. Mei looks back though, and Scar freezes. Which means Mei sees his tattooed arm and identifies it as Alcahestiry? Ooh, Scar family backstory! Scar says that his brother researched both Alchemy and Alcahestiry (so there’s a distinction between the practices, then). Mei is very complimentary of his brother’s skill. Methinks that Scar doesn’t like to think about how he got the tattoo, though. Yoki notes that with Scar healed they can continue on to Central, Mei invites herself along. Saying something about immortality? Yoki dismisses her, and gets a bite from the panda for his rudeness. Ha! We get a mental monologue from Mei that she knows immortality doesn’t work with Alcahestiry, but it is possible through alchemy (Yoki’s behind her still screaming about the panda eating his hand, Scar’s sitting clearly already Done With This). That’s why Mei’s here, to meet the man she’s heard so much about. Wait, what’s with the roses and music… uh oh. Oh dear Leto no. Mei’s got a crush on Edward Elric. As cute as that is, I think Ed’s a little old for you, dear. Also, Winry. Central at night now, a blond woman (looks kinda like Riza) is walking her dog through an alleyway when the dog spins around and starts growling. Creepy laughing? Aw crap I know that hollow-voice, that’s Barry the Chopper! Run! Wait… ha! Ok, sorry for not recognizing you properly Riza, haven’t seen you out of uniform before. When faced with a Soul Armor serial killer, Riza just pulls a pistol from her groceries and starts blasting at the panicking Barry. Who tries to freak her out by removing his helmet? Pfft, sorry dude. That might work for some civilians, but Hawkeye knows Al. She just blasts his helmet away. Which makes Barry start crushing on Riza? Ew, no. Also, props to the dog who’s gnawing at Barry’s cloak. We’re at a warehouse now, puppy standing guard as it seems that Barry’s being questioned by Roy and his Totally Non-Military Civilian Friends. With Barry the crew’s got the lead on the secret lab that Bradley ordered Armstrong not to discuss. Now that Roy’s clued into the military producing Philosopher Stones, he wants to investigate the researchers- but it seems that when their research was done they got used to make Stones as well. Roy also asks if Barry was the one who killed Hughes, but that’s a dead end. Hey, it’s Rush Valley! Finally, we get to see Winry again. How’s her apprenticeship going? The mechanist is walking out of a story when she hears a familiar voice: Edward! Who’s reeeealy hoping that she’s in a generous mood today. Because yeah, Ed’s arm took a bit of a beating in the last episodes. Winry is not happy about this. Later, Winry is patching up Ed’s arm (who is slumped on a table, blood-stained wrench by his side), chiding him for getting into trouble even when their pickpocket acquaintance has an honest job as an odd-job woman. As for the brothers, they’ve made some progress but can’t give any details. Winry’s dones with the patch-job, but still needs a few parts to finish it, so until then she shoo’s the two out to kill some time. Ed’s complaining about there being nothing to do as a non-engineer in a town of nothing but automail shops. But Al’s found something in an alleyway. Aw, do we get a cute “caring for a stray cat” episode? Actually, wasn’t there a white cat in the credits scene? Oh! Not a cat then, rather an unconscious Intro-Sequence character in the form of Sword Guy. And rather than an extended healing sequence, we cut right to the guy (who sounds an awful lot like Vic from Red vs Blue) chattering away at a table piled with dishes, saying that they shouldn’t quibble about who’s paying (not him). Sword Guy says that he’s from Shing (sorry, actual map shows up saying that it’s Xing), and he crossed the desert to visit the ruins of Xerxes. *notes namedrop for future episodes, there’s no way that mention won’t pay off later* Sword Guy (when are we getting his actual name?) is info-dumping about Alcahestiry, saying that it’s actually Alchemy, or probably closer to Bio-Alchemy given the emphasis in Xing for healing. Ed remarks that for Amestris it’s more for military, what with border skirmishes to the south (Aerugo) and west (Creta), with a huge country Drachma to the north, with a sort of Russian Agreement: tentative non-aggression treaty and there’s a wintery mountain range between them, but relations are dicey. Finally there are introductions, Sword Guy says he’s Ling-Yao. Buuuut he’s not actually an Alcahestrist, he’s just in town looking for something: *dramatic eye opening* The Philosopher’s Stone. Aw come on, I was just starting to like this guy. Don’t tell me he’s another ��Immortality at the expense of other lives” jerk. Ed claims that he doesn’t know anything, Ling wonders if they’re lying, snaps his fingers and SUDDENLY NINJAS!

*Sigh* Yep, Ling smirks and says he want’s to achieve immortality. Well we did kill off Greed last episode, I guess we needed someone to take his place. Mid-episode pause here, we get character portraits for May Chang (w/ Shao May) and Ling Yao. Ok, so got Sword Man’s name right, I blame Avatar for mistyping May’s name. Back to the show, Ling’s telling Ed to spill the beans, Ed bluffs that it’s a bunch of nonsense. Then he breaks free nope boot to the head. Al gets tossed too, these guys are no joke. But if they can survive Teacher, they can survive these ninjas! Across the city pickpocket-girl (sorry I can’t remember your name) notices the sparks and smoke from the fight, and Ling just laughs as he sees the fight move away and orders some dessert. Sliding along some awfully large pipes now Ed transmutes a metal staff (and of course damaging the infrastructure like that causes no immediate problems), but Silent Ninja is easily beating Ed in this close-quarters combat. Experience fighting other Alchemists? Ed rants about getting attacked just because he didn’t give them information, “you and your boss with the freaky closed eyes”- wow ok Silent Ninja really didn’t like that, tried to poke out Ed’s eyes. Yeesh. Aw, poor baby Ed. He was so proud to finally land a hit on Silent Ninja, but nope another boot to the head. But now that Ed’s seen that Silent Ninja’s weakness is insulting Ling (hmmm, sudden suspicions about Silent Ninja from that), he has a plan. Begin the trolling! On Al’s side of the fight, he’s running down the street when pickpocket girl starts calmly jogging along side him. Al’s happy to see Paninya (thank you!) again, asks her for a favor. Mustache Ninja is thinking about how “every living person emits a flow of ki”, but he doesn’t sense any from Al. So he doesn’t know that Al’s a Soul Armor, then? Quick Al, pull a Barry and remove your helmet! Suddenly Al and Paninya turn around, Mustache scoffs at the aid of one person- and we’re back to Ed vs Silent. Ed is doing what he does best and annoying the crap out of his opponent, a dodge and gutpunch later he’s got Silent by the mask and yup no surprises here that Silent is a lady. Ed is shocked (shocked I say) that he’s been fighting a girl. Buddy, you of all people should be aware that the ladies are some of the biggest badasses in this show. Riza, Winry, Teacher, a quick flash of Paninya aiming her cannon-knee… and Silent’s now neutralized Ed’s arm and dropped a grenade in his face. Ouch. The townfolk panic at the dual explosions (really? You lot live in a town revolving around Automail, I’d think you’d be used to events like this), Mustache is thinking that this county is a force to be reckoned with, when Al swoops in and binds him to the town’s sign and demasks him. Mustache is surprised to see “Alkahistry without an array”, reminder at how special the brothers are to Transmute without TCs. On brother’s end… things could be going a little better. We see Ed’s mechanical arm reaching up through rubble as Silent walks up, and now I need a new name for her as she complains that she overdid it and that Master Ling will be furious- aha, the arm’s detached! A snare is sprung and the ninja’s hoisted into the air, Ed reclaims his arm and chides her for using a weapon that would have killed anyone else. Callback to the island, setting traps for rabbits. Nice continuity! Al and Paninya arrive with Mustache in hand- And then Sword Man shows up all chipper, complimenting their skills and offering them jobs to take over the country. Ed’s giving this the proper response, when… uh oh. The townfolk aren’t very happy right now, somebody’s gonna have to cover all these damages. Ed points to Ling, who suddenly can’t speak Amestrisian good and skedadles. And of course in the few seconds we looked away from the ninjas there’s nothing but cut ropes now.

Welp, now to fix everything back up- oh right, Ed’s armless. Wait, why is it surprising that Al can Transmute without a TC now? This is a recent thing? I honestly thought he could do it from the beginning, my bad. Aw, chin up Ed. Just because your younger brother is taller than you and now he’s got your super special no-TC style as well, it doesn’t mean you aren’t important. Just… less so. Poor, poor Ed, collapsing in despair and writing something in blood. No subtitles here, can someone translate for me? Later that day, the Elric Brothers return to the AutoMail shop where Winry is apprenticing, and guess who they find? [Ling]: “Hello, we meet again!”

Ed immediately bashes Ling over the head with his detached arm, who just tries acting all friendly. Still hoping to hire the brothers? Ah, info on the ninjas! I’m approximating the girl’s name as Lahn-Fahn, and the old man is Fu. Their family (so they’re related? Father/daughter?) has served his for generations, and are quite good as we’ve seen. So what about Sword Man, what’s Ling’s deal that he has ninjas working for his family? (Also, this guy in a purple shirt and suspenders drinking tea with Ling, another employee?) Oh, Ling’s “the Emperor’s son”! The Elrics… burst out laughing? Ling’s a little nonplussed about this reaction, but the Elrics explain that they just didn’t see it coming, that the guy who they found collapsed in an alley and mooched food off of them is a prince. Lahn-Fahn does not approve of this disrespect, yikes. Oh, a lesson in Xing politics, the country’s broken up into 50 clans, and the Emperor gets married to a daughter of each of the clan leaders (yikes). Currently Ling shares the prestigious title of Prince with 23 other sons, with him at #12. Obviously this family setup makes succession complicated, and with the current Emperor’s health iffy all the clans are working to gain favor. Ling’s attempt is to discover immortality, I’m assuming for himself to increase his own survival rather than give it to dear old pops and never get the job. So he asks again for info, Ed refuses to say anything, and the noble Prince immediately latches onto Ed and declares that he’s sticking around until Ed cracks. Ed beings wailing on Ling with his arm, Lahn-Fahn prepares to respond to this aggression- Uh oh. Winry’s just arrived, talking about how there was some sort of fight on Main Street. Just in time to see Ed waving around the broken arm she’d fixed earlier that day. Ling watches with a vapid grin as tools go flying and Ed pleads for nonexistent mercy, until Fu pokes his head through the window for his young lord. On the rooftop, Fu asks why Ling is acting subservient to a commoner, Ling just says that with the fate of 500,000 clansmen on the line a little bowing is a small price to pay. Huh. So is his clan at risk if he doesn’t become Emperor? Inside the shop Winry’s asking where Ed plans to go and break his automail this time, working away at the arm as Purple-Shirt looks on (I’m assuming that he’s the mechanic Winry’s working for right now). Al mentions that they’re planning on continuing their investigations in Central, Winry asks to go along to- uuuuuuuuuuuuugh. [Winry]: “I’d like to go see the Hughes’ family again.” Whyyyyy. Why must these poor kids be heading towards such bad news? Ugh, the scene where they’re told what happened is going to be excruciating. Al asks about Winry’s work in Rush Valley, Purple-Shirt (who Winry calls Mr. Garfield and who I now headcanon as having tea and discussing prototypes with Leeron) encourages her to take a break. [Ed]: “Okay, we’ll all go!” [Al]: “Central, here we come!” [Winry]: *Cheerful giggle* [Ling]: “Oh, we’re going to Central? How exciting!” Snrk. Cut to a wagon, with a sleeping May and Shao in the back (based on tropes I can guess that May’s a half-sister Xing Princess who’s off to try and find the secret of immortality like Ling, although I’d be impressed if the writer subverted expectations by having them be unrelated). Yoki’s chattering about how he doesn’t know Scar’s name, the Ishvalan says that names among his people are considered sacred gifts from God. But he’s renounced his name, and snaps at Yoki to keep moving. [Scar]: “I am walking down a path with no return. So I will leave behind me every gift I have received from God.” New credits sequence! Singing is a mix of English and Japanese, a view of the countryside behind a short white-stone wall. Winry’s standing against a blue cloudy sky with hair blowing, Ed’s looking away from the camera in his red cloak, same with Al, shot of their burnt-down house. The new characters of Ling and his Ninjas get dramatic determined poses, May and Shao get their own against a sunset background. Flashback of Baby!Ed and Baby!Al shopping for groceries, then walking along a path back home as the sun sets. Return to the wall of pictures (with Papa!Elric’s face still covered, come on show we know what he looks like), and then Papa!Elric looking away from the camera towards Central. And back to present Ed and Al walking towards the horizon, sequence ends with a night-time shot of the Rockbell’s home. Alright! New characters from Xing promise some new shenanigans, with everyone going back to Central I’d say things are coming to a head but we’re only a little over halfway through the first season. Bleh, our poor babies learning about Hughes is going to be awful, can we get that out of the way soon so it’s not hanging over our heads anymore? Assuming that they manage to get back home next episode and aren’t delayed by filler, we’ll see how things shake out in Central.

[on-the-brighter-side-au]

Suger Rose, mysterious friend

Authors note: sequel What's the weirdest situation you've been in? Again thank you @ace-spiritwell for the idea your the best

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Okay so Joan and Tylan didn't usually do this but this time it needed to be done

So Thomas had given them a key to the apartment in case they wanted to visit or if it was an emergency

And they never really used the key since neither of them really wanted to scare the life out of Thomas since he's forgetful and probably forgot he even gave them that key

After a bit of walking they finally made it to Thomas's apartment Joan carefully inserted the key and walked inside with Tylan

And neither of them believed what they were seeing

Standing there was Thomas being scolded by and talking to a man with a red leather coat

He looked like he had just returned from a fight and was currently cooking something on the Thomas's stove

Thomas was standing to the side with a rare serious expression "you need a nice bath and to relax"

But the man didn't turn away from the stove "First off this is relaxing. Second of all you need to eat more then just sugar! You will eat this burger and salad!"

Joan and Tylan entered a state of confusion he sounded just like Thomas expect less childish

Thomas shook his head and had a small pout "I will not go a single inch near that salad! And besides it'll help you Rose"

Joan and Tylan freezed

This was Rose? The friend from another universe? What?

"Not really I've told you I enjoy the mundane tasks around the house Tea" Rose spoke with a knowing tone like he's done this before

But Thomas never took no for an answer especially when it came to his friends well being so he just huffed "I know but you look like a mess"

They could hear the smirk in Rose's voice as he spoke "like my life"

This caused a reaction out of Thomas seeing as he huffed again and raised his voice just a bit higher than he usually would "No!"

And at that response Rose just chuckled "Dude, you've seen my sides, hell, my creativity made you cry by shapeshifting into Joan and bringing out his tentacles. My personality is a mess, like my creativity has PTSD, how does that even work?"

And as Rose spoke Thomas's expression went from serious to worried and a slight uneasy look and he just shrugged not really knowing what to say

Suddenly Rose stopped cooking and looked over at Thomas "Tea, it's OK. I might be unable to go home for long but I get to meet people like you and Blake. The twins are OK. The realm of Creativity is an amazing garden and while the old kingdom is in ruins and overgrown, it's still full of life. My sides work with what happened. So do I. I know you get worried about me but I'm OK you don't need to"

Thomas gave a nod but he still held a slight uneasy look and held his arms as he spoke in a quiet voice "I...I just care about you alot and want you to be alright" Thomas was never one to try and hide his care for his friends

Rose simply shook his head seemingly trying to figure something out "I will never understand why you and Blake care so much. I just....Appeared. The twins just appeared. Yet you try so hard to care for me. I'm only a blip in the universe. Shouldn't even be here, yet you care and leave your door open...Take the twins so they can hang out with the little ones..."

Thomas gave a tiny sigh "I care because your my friend throughout my life I've learned to care for people especially my friends I want to make sure my friends are happy and let them know that I care and will always be here for them"

Rose smiled at him "you're a great person Tea. I wish I was more like you. More caring" those words made Thomas have a small blush he always got easily flustered if something good about him was said "You're a great person too Rose"

Rose just snorted "hardly" then he suddenly turned around and froze upon seeing Joan and Tylan standing there

And they both weren't far behind either

Rose looked exactly like Thomas expect he was much more tall and looked more tired

It filled them with confusion

Thomas huffed and looked confused as to why Rose froze until he turned his head and suddenly he lit up "Hi guys!"

There were a few moments of silence before Rose gave a small chuckle

"Well, this is as helpful as fucking a cactus. Fan-fucking-tastic."

Upon hearing those words Joan immediately snapped out of their confused state and yelled "Hey! Don't say that infront of Thomas!"

And Rose gave a shit eating as he leaned on his arms "which one?"

This just sent Joan back into a state of confusion and Tylan was currently pointing at Rose and Thomas looking puzzled all the while Rose was laughing at them

Joan was really trying to get over this confusion and tried another attempt "Thomas Sanders"

But Rose just yelled out "Present!" Then he started laughing even harder almost falling over

Joan had somehow forgotten that Thomas- their Thomas was in the room until they heard a huff "don't be mean to them!"

And Rose who was still laughing threw his hands up and give a small smile "Sorry Sweet Tea, I forgot they're not my best friend.... "

"oh"

Meanwhile Joan was questioning why Thomas was being called Sweet Tea instead of his actual name "Sweet Tea?"

Rose chuckled and turned back to stove and started to cook again "It gets confusing with all the Thomas I run into, it's also hard with the sides so I come up with nicknames. I'm so use to being called Rose I sometimes forget about Thomas. Sweet Tea is because this guy is way to cute"

Joan just stared and was questioning so many things "other Thomas's?"

Tylan wasn't even focused on the conversation as they were too busy snickering at Thomas as he blushed and flapped his sweater sleeves around

Rose simply shrugged at Joan's question "hungry? I'm making burgers and salad and Tea! You will eat the salad because you can't live off of sugar!"

It wasn't a surprise that Thomas pouted and stomped his feet a little "No no no! I won't eat it!"

"Tea come on! Just eat the dang salad dude!" "Nu!"

This went on for a few minutes the two just going back and forth arguing and in the end Rose won

"hmpf" Thomas pouted he wasn't happy but that disappeared quickly as another conversation was started up

"Sooo Tea how are the Twins doing with their dragons parts?" "I'm sorry what?"

Rose looked back at Joan for a moment before looking at Thomas "They don't know?" "Know what?" "It's supposed to be a secret" "wait you've been hiding something from us?!"

Hearing that Rose turned around and faced Joan again with a grin "congratulations you have just found out that my Twins accidentally turned Tea's Twins into dragons"

Joan looked at Thomas with realization "wait is that why you own cat toys? And also those dragons that I saw were Roman and Remus?!"

Thomas nodded and even looked a little guilty "yeah...sorry for not telling you I was told to keep it a secret" and Joan sighed not bearing to look at Thomas be upset. Thomas always listened to things he was told they couldn't blame him even if they wanted to "it's fine Thomas just try not to hide something too big next time" "okie dokie!"

Rose was about to say something else when suddenly two Twins came up

One wore black and red with heeled boots and had a cape and the other had ruffles on his shoulders and wrist they were both tall

They were holding Ro and Re who in turn were hugging them and were giving them fond looks

"Uhh what?" "Roman Remus-"

The pair looked at Rose and held Ro and Re closer "OURS!" And as quickly as they came they sunk out and left

The was silence again before Rose spoke up "well....they where just kidnapped. I'll let you know when they're back"

Joan was expecting to see Thomas freak out or even seem a bit concerned but no Thomas just giggled and nodded as if this happened everyday

"Thomas aren't you even a little worried about Ro and Re?" Thomas just looked at Joan still smiling "nope! The Twins love to hangout with Rose's Twins they even call them their big brothers it's so cute!" "it still surprises me that they even got along in the first place"

Joan let out a sigh they had no idea about any of this stuff and they were one of Thomas's closes friends there was so much information that needed to be taken in

They must been loud since when they looked back up Thomas was looking at them with concern "Joan? Are-" "I'm fine Thomas just...this is alot to take in right now. The others think that what you were saying was just your imagination and not actually real" "I am very real thank you very much"

Joan was at a words loss due to all the confusion so they decided to not say anything

Nothing was said for a few minutes the only sounds that were heard was Thomas making sound effects and spinning around and having to sit down because he got dizzy and was almost scolded by Joan and Rose for wanting to get up and spin around again

"The foods done anyway" Rose spoke as he put two plates down in front of Thomas one had a burger and the other had a salad with vegetables (except for carrot's of course)

"so-" Rose paused the bitter look on Thomas's face while he stared at the salad was very noticeable and Rose was having none of that

"Tea your gonna eat that salad"

Thomas's response was to push the salad forward not pushing it off the table but pushing it away from him only for Rose to push it right back infront of him which made Thomas whine "I don't want to" "well your gonna have to now eat"

Thomas stared at Rose for a few moments before getting up from his chair and running "Tea! Get-" Rose didn't even finish his sentence before Joan had already caught caught Thomas and held him in the air "Really Thomas? Your almost the size of a midget you know you can't run" Thomas's only response was to whine and struggle against Joan in an attempt to get free and run away again and ultimately failed

He grumbled as he was put back in the chair and this time couldn't run away since both Rose and Joan were blocking his way he responded by crossing his arms and pouted

Rose sighed "Tea your my friend and all but it's like I'm talking to a child most of time" which only made Thomas pout even more

Minutes passed and still nothing no one moved knowing one wrong move would send Thomas running away again

He kept looking for a way to try and leave he even tried to crawl under the table only to pulled right back up

The silence was starting to become unbearable until finally Thomas caved in and grabbed the fork and started eating the salad with a bitter look

Joan patted his back and Rose grinned at him "see? told you it wasn't that bad" which only made Thomas huff in response

Rose just smiled and turned away "welp I think it's time I get going it was nice seeing ya Tea I'll come get the Twins in a few hours" Rose spoke as he opened up a portal and began to walk through and waved "bye Tea bye Tylan bye Joan"

Everyone waved as Rose walked through the portal

But quickly Rose poked his head through the portal again "Also Joan make sure Tea finishes the salad and burger okay thank you bye!" And went back through

Joan nodded and was about to turn back to Thomas when suddenly he made another run for it and this time Joan didn't catch him in time

"Thomas get back here!" "No!"