#oh god oh fuck oh god oh fuck not TWO of tem doing it please oh my god what do I DO???

[monty-glasses-roxy]

So do the girls ever gain the title of "sisters"? Like imagine someone making Roxy cry and Cassie squares up to them like "Leave my little sister ALONE" Plus Roxy would totally do the same thing for Cass

They are sisters, yeah!! And I'm glad you referred to Roxy as the little sister too because she kinda is lmao

They start calling eachother sister's very early on after Roxy starts living with Cassie and her dad (who I'm calling Eddie). A little more context here, is that this version of Meteors is set after my Ruin Aftermath fic that I... haven't written anything for yet. (I wouldn't need to though, I could integrate it fairly well with Meteors I'd say. Maybe.) But basically, in the aftermath of Ruin, Roxy and some of the reactivated Minis that came to her aid, find a very injured Cassie underground, and the group have to navigate the basements of the old Pizza Place, avoiding the Mimic the best they can, to try and find a way to stop it for good. Because until then? They can't leave without letting the Mimic out.

All this to say that even before Meteors, Roxy and Cassie are thick as thieves. They're a team! The Minis love Cassie and Cassie loves them! Cassie comes back to see Roxy regularly, even convincing her dad to come and meet her in the lobby after some pestering! Cassie already saw Roxy as an older sister figure and a best friend, and Roxy always adored Cassie, but could never describe it outside of 'like family' before due to not really thinking about it too much. She loves Cassie like family and that's all she needs to know!

Now that things are different though, and Roxy is a new flesh and blood version of herself, they see each other a bit differently now.

Cassie feels like Roxy is a little sister sometimes, and a big sister other times, but most of the time they're just sisters. Roxy's a bit confused (not offended, just confused) the first time Cassie calls her the little sister, but after some thinking about it and a conversation, Roxy feels the same way with Cassie. Neither of them are strictly the older or the younger sister, but they're always sisters, and even Eddie refers to them as such from the moment they proudly announce it to him.

Sure, they didn't immediately start calling each other that. Cassie's always felt it, and Roxy just never thought about it before. As with a lot of things now, Roxy just needs to figure some stuff out before she knows where she stands, and Cassie is beyond happy to answer any questions she has about it. When she understands it, Cassie is the first to know and the two celebrate being sisters with a sleepover in Cassie's room! The pair of them make a mess trying to do all the things Cassie had always wanted to do if she'd had a sibling before and it's a blast. But yeah uh... neither of them know what they're doing for a lot of these things but because they're both fucking it up together, it's probably the most they've ever laughed in their lives

And yeah, Cassie defending Roxy? Sticking up for her when she's upset and doesn't know what to do? Cassie is the one saying, "Excuse me, she asked for NO pickles." while Roxy looks awkward and nervous behind her lmao. Cassie will not let anyone treat Roxy badly, and won't let Roxy get walked on because someone decided to take advantage of her lack of information. She's the big sister in these scenarios and she's damn proud of it too!

... But Cassie isn't a fighter. She'll defend Roxy with confidence, words and is not afraid to be a 'tattletail' if it makes someone back off. You know who is a fighter? Roxy.

If anything happens to Cassie, especially when Cassie is defending her? She stands behind her, ears back, fur a little fluffed up, growling up a storm with her sharp, canine teeth on full display. She is not letting Cassie get hurt you can bet on that. Roxy has the intimidation of her wolf characteristics and that's usually enough to scare anyone that dare upset Cassie away, but if it doesn't work? She will throw hands! She will claw! She will bite! And she will win! .......... And get lectured by Eddie later lmao

And I like to think, much to Eddie's dismay, that this rubs off on Cassie a bit too. While Roxy starts to learn from Cassie how to use words to de-escalate a situation, Cassie is learning from Roxy how to defend herself should she ever get in a fight. This is great for both of them until Eddie gets called into Cassie's school because she punched someone that was picking on her. Yeah... thats a fun conversation lmao. This post is getting long, and I could think about how that goes now, but yeah. Long post lmao gonna wrap this up

Tl;dr: Yes! Roxy and Cassie are officially sisters not long after Roxy starts to settle in her new place at Cassie and her dad's flat! They are the 'She asked for NO pickles' meme with Cassie asserting herself while Roxy doesn't know what to do. And of course, Roxy will throw down for Cassie.

They're sisters and they love each other as such!

[susie-dreemurr]

(Was out so liveblogs of where I stopped in HXH election arc up till beginning of ep 144 were written in notes app. It’s long .)

Lmaooo even Hisoka is like “bitch you think Killua loved you? Tf is wrong with you”

Oh my God Pariston is a fucking influencer

Let’s fucking go

LEORIO. AND KURAPIKA. ALALUIEA

Gon is LITERALLY IN THE SAME TOWN as Gin but he can’t go see him because he’s in a coma. Fuck everything and FUCK GIN

LEORIO THE GOAT I LITERALLY DAYDREAMED ABOUT A CHARACTER TELLING EXACTLY THIS TO GIN. LEORIO JUST LIKE ME FR FR

LEORIO THTE GOAT PUNCHED GIN IN THTE FACT AND TOLD HIM TO “DIE YOU ASSHOLE” THATS MY BOY

LETS GOOOO LEORIO PUNCHING GIN IN THE FACE NOT ONLY SAVED THE ELECTION BUT ALSO MADE HIM GET THIRD PLACE IN CANDITACY. GIN DYING IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT. GIVE IT TO THEM. I love democracy

Please Leorio win this election it would be so fucking funny. If not you then Morel because Bisky is too cool to be president as wel so

HELP “Gin Freecs o vagabundo dos Zodíacos. Foram votos de pena que o colocaram aqui?” Quem quer que for o comentarista (não posso ouvir a voz mas acho que é o feijão verde) te amo.

ILLUMI FUCKING DISOWNED HIM

Also I never mentioned it before but. Everyone but Killua deadass misgendering Alluka. Zoldyck family (aside of Killua and Alluka herself) will be killed in the gender war.

Btw Ginger Hisoka is strange to see can your hair go back to being pink-ish. Also can’t believe he’s the tamer one out of tbh he two Illumi really is unhinged

… did hisoka intentionally rile him up to show people Illumi is here. Because as soon as he found out there were rules Killua knew, maybe he’d be hoping then that Gon would be able to be saved after all. He wants to fight him so bad— HEP THE SHOW LITERALLY STATED THIS RIGHT AFTER. Unfortunately I know Hisoka well enough to tell.

“Alluka, if I were the only person in the whole world who loved you, would you be alright?” Fuck he’s asking that because he knows. He knows they don’t love her. At the very least, they don’t show it not even a little bit.

And yet all Alluka can hear is that there is someone in the world who loves her. All she can hear is she’s loved, after all.

Btw given that “you could have fought the president or those ants had you not been playing tag with Chrollo” so I’m assuming that the reason Kurapika isn’t going to Gon is because he’s back to hunting the Phantom Trouoe

NAOOOOOO GOTOH PUTA QUE PARIU. Tem algum jeito dele sobreviver com esse pescoço não :((( uma das duas únicas pessoas boa pro Killua nessa casa….

You know I was thinking to myself more jokingly that I was so starved for girls in shonen interacting that Canary and Amane are yuri to me, but… “You’re cute when you let lose a little” 🤨🏳️‍🌈? Canary do you have something to share with the class. (And then Amane blushes.)

HELP. Illumi and Hisoka “need more people” but neither of them have any friends aside of MAYBE each other so Illumi has to resort to brainwashing. Ok the cringe & fail duo

Ok is it bad that I’m rooting for the Anti-Netero faction. Like they make a good point (the exam allows to many crazy ass murderers in) … although their speech isn’t good, but like. Politics.

NO WAY GIN DIDNT EVEN SHOW UP JUSTIFY HIS LOSS. Cringe & fail.

Fucking. Hisoka trying to sabotage Illumi with a fake map but Illumi having a real one so Hisoka is just like “ah. Never mind.” Anyway fucking insane that we have to rely on Hisoka of all people

Btw I’m like 99% sure Amane is the “spy” Illumi is talking about so RIP my Yuri. Oh well, what fictional gay couple didn’t betray each other at least once, right?

Oh Tsubone was the spy. Nvm.

HES CRYING NOOO KILLUA :((( also fucking creepy too Illumi godamnit

KILLUA DISOWNING LETS GO

Hisoka don’t you dare do what I think you will. Get this murder card OUT of the hospital

Oh thank God it wasn’t gonna target Gon or Morel

Lets go call Gin’s ass out Pokémon character looking girl

[starlightrows]

Welcome back to Krax Watches! Today I’m watching: Sons of Summer

Spoilers below!

Movie starts out fantastic, first person we see is Tem! A++

Exactly what we saw in the trailer with the hand off

You guys, his salt and pepper stubble is EVERYTHING

You know this girl is cool because she has a chuck of pink in her hair

Getting right into it with “one last job”

I have a terrible habit about picking up accents, this is going to make me parrot an Australian/New Zealand accent for the next several days

Several minutes of unnecessary surfing B Roll

They call it liquid ballet… I hope they don’t actually call surfing that

More surfing B roll

These actors are really stiff

Flashback montage of their looooove

This is a stupid stupid stupid stupid plan. Like the definition of a half cocked plan

No one drives a fancy car to a drug drop. Aren’t you supposed to blend in and not stick out?

Oh my fucking god that suit!

I can just see it now, him in the suit checking his watch will be made into a gif in the next week

A mob bridal dinner?

I kind of forgot Tem (still don’t know the character name yet) is kinda the bad guy in this

Ew ew ew smarmy man

I was confused as to what just happened…. They stole the car that had the drugs in it.

The intense red lighting in this (very tame) car chase

More very stiff acting

This dude is more concerned about his girlfriend leaving him for being involved in drug trafficking than the traffickers finding him and busting his skull for it… what the fuck?

How does he know that the girl knows anything?

Or what? What do you mean or what?

Also Tem’s character finally has a name, Frank

Ooooooh he’s in the apartment….. he’s not a bounty hunter in this but I feel like whatever he is, is worse

I don’t know how he didn’t catch her… but the second she leaves that closet he’s going to be sitting there

More surfing

I went to the kitchen to get a snack and make a cup of tea and they are STILL surfing

Who is this woman? That the girlfriend called out of nowhere

Can’t tell if this is trying to be a murder mystery about who killed the blond guys dad? Or if it’s just weird background information

Another rando is introduced

More surfing

Oh… now one of the surfer boys is comatose

Finally a fight scene!

More love scene flashbacks

What the fuck just happened? 😂 why did this bro-y campfire just turn into a fight? The dialogue was more like a porno line than a threat

Oh my god. I can’t stop laughing. “You’re old!” “No you’re old” stab stab slow motion stab 🔪

What the fuck he wasn’t even holding anything to stab him with?

More god damn surfing

So is the cost of dying…. What does that even mean?

Hand is bloody before he punches the tree

This movie just cuts from random scene to random scene with no connection

Blondie is suddenly fine after punching that tree, screaming in the rain and weeping about his dead friend… also their other friend is comatose in the hospital still

Please god no…. Not another surfing montage

Their hair is lightly damp and perfect

ooooh a bromancy vacation montage

Dramatically on a bus for a singular second before cutting to another unconnected scene

Another surfing montage?! How? Why? Fucking why? There’s only 20 minutes left, this better be the last one (just kidding I know there is at least two more coming)

Hang on… there’s only 15 minutes left and this girl has still not been kidnapped like in the trailer… what the fuck?

Lying is bad for your health…. Okay that was funny

Sean Bindaboo… that can not be a real last name

So…. Did the girl just decide to take a bus to nowhere and go on a walking holiday?

Fuck him up Frank!

There is no way. On this entire god damn planet of earth. That Frank just runs into the girlfriend on the side of the road

Finally she’s been kidnapped! I never thought that would make me happy

At least Frank isn’t violent with her

Not gonna lie…. The way Franks speaks when threatening big blond idiot…. Pretty hot

They way Sean runs 😂

His friends are so fucking stupid

What the fuck? The rando girl from the surfing montage agreed to help them with this drug drop? What the fuck is this movie?

I do not buy it. Blondie successfully drowned Frank. I know that’s what happened in the canon of the movie, but that’s dumb

Old footage? For no reason?

Plastic lei and all of them surfing

Wow comatose guy lived! And is surfing with a bandage on

No! Don’t leave the plastic lei in the ocean you assholes

Frank’s not dead!!!! Wait what? How is that the last scene of the movie?

You guys this movie is terrible. 3/10 at best. Glad I watched it though, had to see for myself

[pandasized-crevice]

MY FRESH JUST WATCHED KINNPORSCHE EP12 THOUGHTS

porsche back on a motorcycle i LOVE TO SEE IT🥵

chay my baby:(:(🥺😭

CHAY NO WTF 😧

pol my beloved jester😚

hmm kinn didn't take anyone you say.......

ARM MY HUSBAND😍

code red?

PORSCHE COME ON MAN KINN ISNT CHEATING

DUDE WHAT HIS BUTTON IS A MICROPHONE?????!!!(arm ik thats your doing HE'S SO FUCKING COOL)

i love that arm is porsches accomplice in this

help about porsche?....WAIT WHAT 😀

mr spikes!!

pete my love☺️

don't expose vegas like this pete....

DENIED ACCESS

porsche:(:(

YALL MY HEART HURTING RN

and this godforsaken sad song playing in the fucking background STOP

pottery time with korn

AYO KORN JUST SPILLING THE CAR CRASH BEANS LIKE THAT?!

oh girl if its not one thing ITS ANOTHER WHEN WILL PORSCHE BE AT PEACE

pretty moon shoot🌕💜

NO MR SPIKES:( BRO IVE GROWN ATTACHED

lets escape pete come on babe

goddammit pete won't leave not when vegas looks like a sad miserable thing

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😫MR SPIKES😭😭😭

pretty lights in the captivity room🫶

A Y OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

if i had a nickle for eveytime a guy with a name starting with P surprise kisses a theerapanyakul🧐🤨, id have two nickles

anyway- AAAAAHHHHH WE GOING VEGASPETERS🚨😶🏃

omg the grip on the chains...

OMG BARE CHEEK GRABBING?SMOOCHING BITING😧

oh my god dude WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY

AND THE FEET ARE CHAINED?!?!

where are bible and builds awards?THEY ARE NEEDED ASAP🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🫅🫅

omg petes smile? BYE YALL

O H?! KINN AND CHAY INTERACTION TIME

royal farmhouse bread hey girl🥴

the couple is being sweet,it's chays time to flee🏃

yall better not do another bread kiss....

B R O KINN PLEASE

wait so they're living at porsches instead?

kinn is so sappy i love him

gotta give royal farmhouse her solo shot

TAY!!!!!!🥰🥰

yes tay & porsche friendship it's what we deserve

these fools bro💀

noodle product placement yuh

tay my love:( FUCK TIME BRO ALL MY HOMIES HATE TIME

its freaking jom and tem FUCKING BET ITS GONNA GET WEIRD

dammit its korn

THE DRIVER AYO👁

DANG WE CAN'T KILL HIM

MY PORSCHE DESERVES EVERYTHING IM CRYING TOO SHIT

TRAILER SCENE TRAILER SCENE BE MY BODYGUARD

the l i n e yall

BYE i'm sobbing don't look for me

kinn🕴🏻 🤨im waiting for you to say i love you to porsche 👁👁

kim looking mighty fine...😵‍💫..MIGHTY FINE

hair product placement nice

AH SHIT CHAYS GOING GOOD BOY GONE BAD

chay's friend super cute🫣

oh when porsche finds out he'll be p i s s e d

WEEWOO WEEWOO A PREDATOR WITH THE DRUGS🚨🚨

OH HEY KIM..……..well after that mark me down as scared AND horny

i'm with kinnewww bugs

you're both pretty lets get that straight

the worst bug of them all😠

SHIT MORE FUCKING QUESTIONS NO REST FOR PORSCHE

[is-there-an-echo-in-here]

Part 2 of me live-texting the Kenobi show - episode 2 (warning: incoherent)

Spoilers under the cut:

Because he doesn’t stand out in his fucking JEDI ROBES like dude, we love your aesthetic, but for the sake of your life it might be time to get an outfit change

HEARING TEM’s VOICE AND KNOWING ITS A CLONE WHAT THE FUCK

Who had homeless clones on the tragic Star Wars content bingo??

And having stormtroopers walking past ONE SECOND LATER

‘HIS DAUGHTER’

Obi-Wan I missed your sarcasm dearly

Does he LOOK like a bounty hunter dude come on

OH ITS THE HALLWAY FIGHT and it was short as hell - rude

Man Jedi really are God-like in this universe, huh? Didn’t know they could bleed? Fuck

The power of face masks folks

Leia INSTANTLY smacking him, I love it, what a meeting

IMMEDIATELY sassing his ass

Leia like ‘I gotta accessorise bitch’ even at five years old

ENDOR LEIA VIBES HELLO

No WAY is she ten god I don’t know shit about kids do I

“Kenobi is the last ember of a dying age” my god what a raw as hell line

Obi please you don’t have to pretend to be a dick we know you’re a softie

Man we really are getting every trailer shot in these two episodes aren’t we

Sis is just doing some gymnastics

Oh my god the effort it took for him to use the force I’m actually a bit shook that’s scary man

Aight Haja’s actually funny as shit I take it back

She’s STILL just parkouring

The way he talks about Padmé… like I need a minute

I DONT HAVE A MINUTE SIS IS DIRECTING A HORROR FILM APPARENTLY

I thought she said “your BEARD betrays you” and I DID NOT EVEN QUESTION IT like ‘yeah that’s a staple of obi-wan, dead giveaway you’re right’

Oh

OH GOD NO

UM FUCK WHAT

Aight bye bye mr inquisitor see ya

NO HES NOT OKAY LEIA AND NEITHER AM I

Holy shit

[silhouetteofacedar]

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic Ch.3: Jesus Is A Pisces

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, rated E

Mulder has forgotten Scully’s birthday every year but one. Actually, make that two now, since this year he’s determined to make the day special for her somehow. He’d asked her casually what her plans were, and she admitted that outside of a lunch with her mother and some church friends on Sunday the 22nd, she didn’t really have any intention to celebrate.

“It’s been a rough couple months,” she’d explained softly, and that’s all he needed to hear.  She’d gained and then buried a daughter within a few days’ time over Christmas, for fuck’s sake. He didn’t know how she managed to stay sane after that, and if he thought about it for too long the waves of powerlessness and guilt that rolled over him were debilitating.

So instead he focused on what he could do.

“You wanna do something after work on Monday? I promise to be as un-festive as possible,” he offered.

She looked uncertain, licked her lip. “Just us?” she asked.

“Just you and me,” Mulder assured her, the words giving him a tiny, shameful thrill.

She was quiet for a moment. “Sure,” she said finally.

Come Monday, February 23rd, it’s business as usual in the basement office. They finalize their reports from the previous week’s case, wrangle their receipts, argue over who broke the stapler (It was him, she insists; while he claims she jammed the staples in and made it impossible to use properly).

At three minutes to five o’clock, she clears her throat softly as she gathers her things, and he can feel her preparing to speak.

“Yeah, Scully?” he murmurs.

“We still on for tonight?” she asks, sounding almost cautious, and his heart fractures.

“I’ll pick you up at seven,” he confirms, leafing through a file. “Be sure to bundle up.” He looks up at her and gives her a reassuring grin.

She looks happy and… relieved? Huh.

“Well, I’ll see you then,” she says, shrugging on her coat as she leaves.

Mulder smiles at the door as it clicks shut behind her. He’s unusually giddy about what he has planned for the evening.

Over the weekend he had gone to the grocery store since his refrigerator was barren, then camped out in his building’s laundry room all day Sunday washing every blanket he owned. He even stopped at the little bakery around the corner from his apartment, purchasing a single chocolate cupcake and a loaf of rye bread.

After work he packs his car with a cooler, a duffel bag, a large thermos of coffee, and a pile of blankets.

He’s surprised to see that she’s waiting for him on the steps of her apartment, wearing a heavy jacket and thick turtleneck sweater.

“I got too hot wearing all this inside,” she explains, climbing into the passenger seat. She seems almost excited, and he strangely wants to cry. God, he’s so fucking glad he had the balls to invite her out again.

“Where are we going, Mulder?” Scully asks.

“It’s a surprise,” he replies.

Seven minutes and three wrong turns later, he reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out the map, handing it to her. “Rock Creek Park, please, Navigator,” he says.

“Aha! I thought the route we were taking seemed… circuitous,” Scully says with a smirk, unfolding the map.

“Just tell me where to go; I don’t need a running commentary,” he gripes, secretly relishing her needling.

In about twenty minutes, they arrive at the park’s nature center. Mulder pulls into the lot next to the field across the road and cuts the engine.

“We’re here?” Scully asks, looking around. “It’s deserted. Mulder, please don’t tell me we’re ghost hunting,”

“Ghosts? No,” he says, climbing out of the car and going around to the trunk. “Help me with some stuff?”

Scully comes around to the back of the car, where Mulder hands her the cooler and thermos. He slings the duffel bag over his shoulder and gathers up the pile of blankets. “Close the trunk, will you, Scully?” he says, walking towards the field. “My arms are full.”

They trudge out to the middle of the field, cold winter air biting their cheeks. Mulder stops abruptly and drops the blankets onto the ground in a heap.

“We’re here,” he announces, setting down the duffel bag. He picks up a heavy wool blanket and spreads it out on the grass.

Scully sits down on the blanket, cooler and thermos beside her. “What exactly are we doing out here, Mulder?” she asks.

“Well first, we eat,” he replies, reaching for the cooler. He opens it and pulls out two waxed-paper parcels, handing one to her. “Pastrami on rye,” he announces. “I went a little crazy with the mustard on one of them, we can trade if you want.”

“You made these?” she asks, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite. “Oh my god,” she groans. “Mulder, you’ve been holding out on me. This is delicious.”

The satisfaction in her voice makes him flush. “It’s pretty hard to mess up pastrami.”

“True,” she agrees, “but I was starting to doubt you could even make food. Your refrigerator is usually pretty sparse.”

Mulder shrugs, opening the thermos of coffee and pouring her a cup. “Cooking for one doesn’t hold much appeal,” he explains.

“Mm,” she agrees around a mouthful of sandwich, taking the proffered cup. “So Mulder, tell me; is there a reason we’re having a picnic in the dark?” She eyes the duffel bag beside him suspiciously.

“I’m glad you asked,” he replies, unzipping the bag and pulling out a tripod. “You know anything about constellations, Scully?”

It’s a rhetorical question, of course. He already knows.

“A thing or two,” she replies casually, clearly attempting to hide the smile sneaking across her mouth as she eats.

“Well that’s good, seeing as I lugged this telescope and a star map all the way out here,” he says, pulling the telescope case out of the bag.

Scully is enraptured, and Mulder thinks this might be the best thing he’s ever done for anyone.

“I haven’t done this in years,” she says, peering through the eyepiece as she adjusts the telescope’s position. “Not since…”

She doesn’t finish her sentence, but she doesn’t have to. He remembers her telling him once, on a long car ride to some anonymous, unremarkable town, about stargazing with her father when she was a child. Captain Ahab and his Starbuck, navigating the night skies by way of celestial markers.

The temperature’s dropping, and Mulder drapes the ratty tribal weave blanket from his couch around her shoulders as she searches the heavens.

“You want a turn?” she asks, drawing back from the telescope for a moment.

He shakes his head, plops down on the blanket and gazes at her instead.

They could be astronauts together, sailors of the stars. Dropping anchor in pools of the Milky Way, swimming through constellations and running their fingers through glittering strands of nebulae.

“I’m good,” he replies softly.

“Mulder?” Scully says from under a pile of blankets.

They’re lying on their backs now, side by side, eyes on the sky. Waiting for a meteor, or a passing satellite, or for God to wave hello.

“Yeah, Scully?”

“Do you give any credence to astrology, or is that too close to religion for you?”

“I appreciate its historical and cultural significance,” he replies. “Beyond that, I can’t say I have much of an opinion on it. Aren’t you a Pisces?” he asks, as though he doesn’t already know that she is, and that he’s a Libra, and that the shitty magazine he picked up in the dentist’s office says they’d be a tumultuous but passionate match. Not that he gives horoscopes any weight.

Passionate, though…

“I am. And I’m inclined to agree with you, though astrology’s link with early Christianity is fascinating. For example, did you know that Jesus is linked to Pisces? His birth coincides with the dawning of the astrological Age of Pisces, which spans from 1 AD to the year 2150. There are many scriptural references to fishermen, and early Christians used the fish symbol as a sign of their faith.”

“Huh,” he says, tucking a blanket more tightly around his shoulders.

“I don’t believe that the stars dictate my temperament, by the way,” Scully continues. “But there’s something beautiful about having a constellation in the sky that corresponds with your own birth. Missy knew more about this stuff,” she say wistfully. “She’d read me my horoscope every morning before school while we brushed our hair or whatever, in the bathroom where Mom couldn’t hear. It was fun,” she says with a sigh.

“Do you think she’s out there, in the stars?” Mulder asks and immediately regrets it. He didn’t mean the question to sound flippant.

Scully takes it in stride. “Is it crazy if I say maybe? There’s… there’s things I’ve seen and heard, Mulder, that I can’t explain. Who am I to say how God operates? Maybe He’s laid the stars out like a map for us to read. That’s probably wishful thinking, but life would be a hell of a lot simpler if everything was dictated by heavenly bodies.”

“Better that than by governing bodies,” Mulder agrees.

Their eyes drift along the razor-sharp curves of the crescent moon.

“My mom wants to set me up with one of her church friends’ sons,” Scully says without preamble.

“Huh,” Mulder replies, tracing Orion with his eyes. “Let me guess; he’s a dentist.”

“Emergency physician, actually,” she replies. “He’s nice.”

Mulder suddenly feels the weight of gravity pressing him down to earth. He can feel the rotation of the planet under his back, spinning him at a thousand miles an hour. “You’ve met him?” he asks.

“Yesterday, at lunch,” Scully replies. “He’s a widower, with a six-year-old daughter. I think… I think my mom thinks we could help each other.”

Mulder’s stomach churns, a facsimile of seasickness rolling through his body. “What do you think?” he asks, voice oddly hoarse. “Do you… agree with her?”

Scully pulls the blanket higher under her chin and sighs. “I don’t know, Mulder. I’m thirty-four today, and my career runs my life. I’m not sure how many chances at a family will come my way in the future. It’s not ideal, but maybe I’m past the point of getting to choose.” She pauses. “I’m sorry, I’m being fatalistic.”

Despite the near-freezing temperature, he’s got a cold sweat forming on his back. “You can always choose, Scully. As far as I see it. It’s-it’s important to me that you know that.”

She rolls onto her side, snaking a hand out of the blanket to prop herself up on her elbow beside him. “Mulder, I know you blame yourself for the things that have happened to me. But they’re not your fault.” He opens his mouth and she interrupts him before he can speak. “Don’t argue with me. It’s my birthday.”

He’s grateful for a change of subject. “That reminds me,” he says, sitting up and reaching over to open the cooler.

He pulls out a small pink bakery box and opens it to remove a single chocolate cupcake with a candle stuck in the middle. He digs a lighter out of his coat pocket and gives it a flick, igniting the candle.

“Happy birthday, Scully,” he says sheepishly, holding out the cupcake.

The single flame shimmers in her eyes as she takes the dessert. “Mulder,” she says softly, in a tone that makes his heart turn to liquid. “I don’t… I don’t know what to say.”

“Just make a wish and blow the candle out before the wind does it for you,” he replies. There’s only a bit of a breeze but he’s not taking any chances. She deserves a wish.

Her eyes fall closed, and she sighs contentedly, no doubt formulating her request. Suddenly she opens her eyes and locks her gaze with his over the flickering candle, and Mulder feels a thousand words rumbling in him like an approaching avalanche.

Before he can say anything she purses her lips and extinguishes the lone flame with a breath.

She pulls the candle out of the cupcake and pops the end into her mouth, licking off chocolate frosting, and Mulder thinks he might die right there on a blanket in Rock Creek Park. He’s been so good, keeping his feelings to himself, but in this moment his only thoughts are that he loves her and wants her; no, needs her. He needs to touch her, taste the icing on her lips, map the constellations of freckles hiding beneath her sweater. Shake the winter chill out of his bones, letting the flames of her red hair lick across his skin and light his whole body on fire.

She’s saying something to him, biting into the cupcake, chocolate crumbs falling onto the blanket.

“Hm?” he asks, returning to terra firma.

“I asked if you wanted a bite,” she reiterates.

Yes, his body responds. Please please please-

“It’s yours,” he says as a declination.

“Therefore it’s mine to share,” she declares. She holds it out to him, and his stomach flutters as he leans in and takes a bite. He thinks of his parents’ faded wedding photos, of them feeding each other cake in black and white.

Don’t date the doctor guy, he pleads silently as he chews. Stay with me. Show me galaxies.

She falls asleep on the car ride home with one of his blankets tucked around her, the car’s heater cranked all the way up. When he parks in front of her building she stirs, likely awoken by the sudden cessation of warm air on her feet.

“Scully,” Mulder says softly, “We’re home.”

“Mmm,” she responds. “What time is it?”

“Almost eleven,” he answers, glancing at his watch. “Can you walk or should I carry you up?” The question feels faintly suggestive, and he’s only being so bold because she’s drowsy and likely not registering the subtext.

“I can walk,” she says, sitting up and removing the blanket. Her hair is a fuzzy red halo in the glow of the streetlights.

“I’ll go with you,” he says, unbuckling his seatbelt. “Make sure you don’t pass out on your way up.”

“Thanks,” she yawns. “I don’t know why car rides make me so drowsy,” she says. “It’s like I’m five years old again.”

“Or it’s hypothermia,” Mulder suggests jokingly. “It got pretty damn cold out there.”

“Winter night picnics aren’t the most practical, it’s true,” she says. “But the blankets and coffee were a good idea.”

When they reach Scully’s apartment door she turns to face him. “Thank you for this,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. “I didn’t realize how much I needed it.”

He smiles softly at her. “Happy birthday,” he replies.

He’s mentally debating giving her a hug when she reaches out and pulls him in gently, arms looped around his waist. He wraps his arms around her and drops a light kiss to the crown of her head.

It’s over way too soon.

“Goodnight,” she says. “See you tomorrow.”

If he says anything else to her before she slips into the apartment and closes the door, he doesn’t remember it. His feet are firmly on the ground, carrying him out of her apartment building and back to his car, but his head is far above the atmosphere, adrift in space.

He’s so in love he feels as though he’s running out of air.

[adorehs]

tryst

Hi! This is the first fic I fully completed and I wanted to post it even though I don’t like it much. I know the writing is underdeveloped and the ending is absolutely horrible (tried to expand but everything just seemed bad) but I tried my best. I haven’t written anything for fun in years so I thought I’d give this a try and post it so I can get feedback and improve!

This is my entry for @bfharry’s #boyfriendathon!

Summary: Y/N and Harry struggle to keep their new relationship hidden on a group trip to Ibiza. (3.3k words) 

Warnings: poorly written fluff and smut 

The four of you had been planning the trip for the past year, doing extensive research and saving up for the airfare and cost of living for your week trip in Ibiza, and you had finally arrived on the warm island after a day of travel. As excited as you all were and as much as you would like everything to be perfect, the trip had already started off with a few extra complications. 

For starters, your rental car didn’t have a large enough trunk to fit in all the suitcases everyone had brought along, so atop yours and your friend Tara’s lap you held a suitcase each and the gravel road made the thirty minute drive to the hotel practically unbearable. 

Along with that, you had arrived a few hours before your rooms were ready, so you and Tara stalled in the lobby as Harry and your other friend Niall went to a cafe to pick up a few essentials for everyone. 

When the boys had arrived with your coffees, the receptionist had informed you that your room would be ready in about fifteen minutes so you four sat down with your bags in a huddle around a small table, speaking in hushed voices as you waited for your keys. 

“Didn’t they say it would be ready by noon in the email?” you ask, pulling out your phone for proof. 

“I think so,” Niall agreed, “Maybe one of ours isn’t ready so they're giving us both at the same time,” he suggested. 

Harry groaned in response, “Still, I want to take a fucking nap before we go to the beach.”

You all murmur an agreement as you heard your name being called by the receptionist. You glance at your friends before heading over to the young lady to retrieve the keys for everyone. 

The process was quite quick since you had attempted to check in earlier and had given her all your information then, and soon you had four sets of keys to two hotel rooms. 

“Harry and Niall in 1406, me and T in 1408,” you hand everyone their keys, “They’re adjoined but you still have a separate door.”

“Thank god,” Niall exclaims before hurriedly transporting himself and his bags to the elevator, “I’m exhausted,” he comments when you all join him a few moments later. 

//

A few hours later, you all head to the nearest beach to relax. Niall and Tara led the way as you and Harry walked slowly behind them, his hand resting on your lower back as he whispered in your ear telling you how good you look. 

“Harry,” you giggle softly when he grabs your hand, “Come on you know we can’t…” you trail off, looking up at your friends, making sure they haven’t seen Harry’s display of affection. 

“Yeah,” he agrees with a sigh, “I hate lying to them but they would freak out.”

You and Harry had recently started dating (after a few dates that you promised didn’t have to go anywhere). You both knew that if Niall and Tara found out, they would freak out with the presumption that the group could fall apart in an instant. 

You dropped his hand and sidestepped as you saw Niall peer over his shoulder looking for you both, “Hurry up!” he called out, making you speed walk to catch up with your friends. 

By the time you had caught up with them, you were practically on the beach, so you set down your towels under an umbrella someone had left there before and you strip yourselves of extraneous clothing. 

“I’m gonna go look for somewhere to rent a surfboard, you guys want one?” Tara asks. 

“I’ll just come with, I need one,” Niall decides as you and Harry shake your heads no.

“Okay we’ll be back,” Tara calls out as she begins roaming the beach with Niall. 

Harry smirks lightly and throws his arm over your shoulder as you reach for the sunscreen beside you, “Alone at last,” he sighs dramatically. 

“Shut up,” you shrug his arm off you and replace it with a palm full of sunscreen, “Get my back, please?”

Harry nods, taking the bottle from your hand and squirting some sunscreen onto his hand. He moves your bathing suit straps down your shoulders slightly and you shiver at his gentle touch. Beginning at your shoulders, he massages the sunscreen in, relieving you of hours of stress. You moan lightly at the way his hands work at the crook of your neck and he chuckles under his breath. 

His hands lower themselves across your back with a suitable amount of pressure with every movement, making goosebumps rise on your skin, contrasting with the hot air of the beach. He unhooks your bathing suit and you yelp, quickly holding onto the cups ensuring you wouldn’t flash anyone walking about. “Relax,” Harry advises, “It’s only sunscreen.”

You look over at him with an unimpressed look plastered across your face, “It’s only sunscreen,” you mock him, sticking your tongue out childishly, “This is where it starts, but watch, next time there will be no sunscreen,” you predict. 

“Okay, you got me,” he smiles at you, rehooking your bathing suit and helping you shrug the straps back onto your shoulder. Harry taps your shoulder when you’re situated and kisses you lightly on the nose and then fully on your lips, “Will you get my back?” 

You smile and nod fondly at your boyfriend before shuffling on your knees so you are behind him. Following a similar process to Harry, you massage the sunscreen into his shoulders and press lightly on his back, feather a few kisses on his shoulder blade when you’re done, but scrunch your face together in disgust at the sour sunscreen that found its way into your mouth. 

He laughs lightly and kisses you, holding onto your chin, careful not to transfer the sunscreen onto his tongue as well. “Have I told you how sexy you look in this?” he asks between kisses.

You smile, “A few times,” before breaking out of his hold and reaching for a book you had brought along with you.

He studies you as you open the book, watching how your mouth draws a straight line and your forehead creases slightly as you concentrate on the words. Just as he is about to bother you again, he hears Niall’s laugh. Harry’s head snaps in the direction and he sees Tara and Niall laughing and pointing at a seagull who keeps trying to run away from an inquisitive kid. In both their arms, they hold surfboards and they have changed into wet suits. 

“The stand is over there,” Tara points to a building lined with surfboards, “You can change there too, if you want to come later.”

Harry nods, and through his peripheral vision he can see you do the same, “I’m gonna try and read but I might come out there later,” you reply. 

Harry just shrugs, “I might tan or nap but I’ll go look for food in an hour.”

Niall nods in agreement, “Cool, we’ll try and be back by then.”

Niall and Tara begin walking towards the ocean, pulling their wet suits on completely and Harry glances at you once they are out of earshot.  “So now that they’re gone, wanna make this another date?” he asks shyly.

You set down your book and balance your body on your elbows, “Okay, you have my attention.”

“So, I’m thinking, we get food before they come back and have a picnic on the beach and once they go next time we can do something fun,” he wiggles his eyebrows. 

You look at him, eyes wide in shock, “Harry,” you gasp, “Not here! Maybe next time we’re left at the hotel, but not here!” 

“Fine,” he dramatically sighs, “We can just cuddle if that's what you’re comfortable with.”

“Yeah, that’s what i'm comfortable with, dumbass,” you playfully push him and he dramatically falls over. 

“Jesus, woman!” 

Harry stood up and held a hand out for you, “Let’s go find food m’lady.” He pulled you up and you both started walking towards the pier where there seemed to be a few restaurants. 

You found a restaurant without a line fairly quickly and ordered a few entrees you thought Niall and Tara would like, along with a wrap for Harry and a falafel sandwich for yourself. 

Sitting down with your stuff again, indulging in the food while staring at the ocean. The sun was beginning to set and there was a nice breeze in tow, causing you to shiver. Harry noticed and immediately handed you a sweatshirt he had brought along just in case. He scooted closer to you and circled his arm around your waist as you grasped onto the outerwear.

“Hey, is this the one you gave me on our first date?” you asked once you had pulled the black material over your body.

Harry squinted, turning his head to study the sweatshirt, “Yeah, I think it was.”

“That was so awkward,” you laugh, resting your head on his shoulder, “We tried so hard to not mess anything up, it just ended up silent, like, most the time.”

“Hey!” Harry whined, “That’s because we cared. We wanted this to work,” he shrugged, looking back at the ocean. “I think that’s Tara,” he said, untangling his arm from your body and scooting a few feet away from you. 

You whimper softly at the loss of warmth, wrapping your arms around your body to make up for Harry’s body. You see him exhale deeply and hide a smile as Tara approaches. 

“Oh thank goodness, I’m starving,” she says once she sees the food, “Think Niall’s coming in a few minutes, he’s talking to the lifeguard,” Tara points behind her carelessly. 

“Of course he is, always a flirt,” you glance at Niall who’s helping a girl in a red bathing suit down from the post. 

Harry laughs loudly, “She looks so confused, I think he’s trying to speak Spanish.” 

Tara snorts, “He knows, like, six words. He needs a lotta luck if he’s going to do… that.”

Niall arrives a few minutes later, laughing as he tells everyone about the girl and his limited Spanish vocabulary. You all share a few laughs and retell some old stories as the sun goes down and the temperature drops even more. 

Tara and Niall are shivering viciously because they were still wet from the ocean and they head back to the hotel, claiming they will let you and Harry in whenever you come back. You both bid them a goodbye and are left alone again. 

“Finally,” Harry says, sliding in behind you so your back is to his chest, and wrapping his arms around your front, “We can cuddle.”

“I’d hardly call this cuddling,” you glance back at him, “If this is what you consider cuddling, we’re gonna have a problem.”

“We’re spooning, no?” He smiles at you cheekily and you shake your head. 

“No,” you reply, and with a light push on Harry’s chest to speeden the process you carefully lower yourselves onto the towel beneath you, your toes tickled by a cool breeze as sand gets into your hair, “Now we’re spooning.” 

Harry flips you over in his arms so he is looking into your eyes. His left hand slowly caresses your face as his right traces your lips softly. “You’re so pretty,” he says softly. 

Your smile widens as you bring your hand up to his hair, “You’re prettier,” you counter. 

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he leans back slightly. You tug on his hair and push him back into you as he mumbles, “I think you’re blind. You’re out of my league.” 

“Are you joking? There’s no way you’re being serious.”

“I’m serious! You’re out of my league it’s just a fact.”

“No,” you look at him pointedly, “We are in the same league. Don’t get it twisted,” you crack a smile. 

Harry bursts out into laughter and you follow, falling into a fit of giggles. “Okay, same league,” he agrees. 

The two of you lay there in relative silence for the next twenty minutes, just relishing in each other and cherishing the time you have before the cold air becomes unbearable. 

Once it becomes too cold to think, Harry stands up slowly, wrapping himself in a towel and he holds out his arm for you before helping you up. You both gather all the towels and bags left over and head back to your hotel. 

//

The following day the four of you spent some time sight seeing and learning about Spanish culture. That night you ended up on the beach again, the four of you sitting around a bonfire. 

You weren’t doing much, just eating and talking whilst wrapped up in blankets. Harry found himself staring at your lips as you spoke about a party you went to your freshman year. Safe to say he had no idea what happened at the party. 

You wore a black dress with cherries on that you tied over your yellow bathing suit and Harry thought you couldn’t look better if you tried. A slight tan had made its way onto your body, your hair dry from the ocean water, and an effortless smile lying on your lips as you wrap yourself tighter in a towel you borrowed from the hotel. 

You looked up and made eye contact with Harry, smiling widely before looking down at your hands to not raise any suspicion. Harry frowned slightly and focused on Niall, asking him what he was going to do later that night. 

“Probably go to the pool,” he shrugs, “The ocean is way too cold now.”

Harry nodded, “I’m gonna go to bed in like an hour so I won’t join,” he looked up at you. You nodded slightly as Tara replied. 

“I’m gonna go to the gym, maybe I’ll meet up with you after.”

You looked up, “I’m going to go to bed. All the walking really got to me,” you informed. 

Everyone murmured their ‘okay’s and a few minutes later you had all packed up and headed back to your hotel rooms. 

You and Harry walked slightly behind everyone, Harry’s lips on your ear as they tell you how he’s going to have you tonight. 

Tara and Niall changed and headed back down to the shared lobby and you rushed to knock on the shared door between the two rooms. Harry hastily helped you inside and within seconds his lips were on yours and his shirt was thrown across the room and his shorts were directly beneath him. 

Clad in only his briefs allowed for the outline of his cock to show through the thin, black fabric and you glanced down at it when your lips parted, losing your train of thought for a moment. 

Your eyes widen slightly and your head rolls back as Harry begins kissing along your jawline and down to your neck. He leads you onto his bed, that he had laid a towel on, and helps you get rid of your shirt and shorts. 

He groans at the sight of the white lace set you had put on for him and you smile up at him, laying down on the bed, as he steps out of his briefs. 

“We gotta be quick, babe,” He reminds you, “God you look so beautiful. Quick won’t be a problem.”

You chuckle and lean up and grasp his arms, pulling him down onto you, “Thank you,” you whisper. He giggles lightly as his lips find yours. You pull him closer into your body as he deepens the kiss, immediately asserting his dominance. 

You moan lightly into the kiss as Harry’s hand finds its way down to your panties, pressing light pressure onto your core and moving his hand slightly as you arch your back urging for more. 

Harry’s lips detach from yours and find their way to your chest, his free hand skillfully unclasping your bra and you lean up slightly to help take it off your body. Your bra is thrown across the room and one of Harry’s hands finds your right breast, massaging it, as his mouth attaches itself with your left nipple. 

His tongue works skillfully, circling your nipple and flicking it harshly, hardening it instantly. He playfully nips at it, making you groan in pleasure, before he switches breasts and does a similar routine on the other. 

He kisses his way down to your body and to your core, placing a kiss directly on the wet patch that has formed on your panties. You groan at the feeling and he looks up at you, “You good?” You nod quickly, unable to speak, “I need to hear you say it,” he reminds you. 

“Yes, fuck, yes. Keep going, please,” you chant, closing your eyes and pushing your body towards Harry’s mouth. 

He groans at the contact and moves your panties to the side, attaching his tongue to your clit. He gently bites on it, teasing you further, and you grab his hair pulling lightly. 

He moans into your core, making you arch your back in ecstasy. “Harry, please,” you beg for his attention, causing him to smirk at your desperation. 

He sucks harshly on your clit making you practically scream in anticipation. In a rhythmic motion, you move your hips as he laps his tongue along your lips, making your legs shake with pleasure. He adds a finger unexpectedly and you moan loudly, pulling at his hair aggressively, this time. Your eyes close and your head rolls back, hitting the mattress, as you come unexpectedly onto Harry’s tongue. 

He smiles slightly and stands after cleaning you up quickly. Rolling on a condom, he watches as you rid your panties, sitting up to throw them where your bra lays on the floor. Making eye contact with you, he gets the sudden urge to kiss you. “You look so flawless,” he mutters. 

“You look perfect,” you reply, giving into his gaze. 

He smiles at you and kisses you softly, assaulting your lips, making sure you know you are loved by the man before you. 

He stands and regains his full height again, allowing you to adjust your body as you wish before lining up his cock with your entrance. 

Harry slides halfway into you with a wrangled moan, looking at you to make sure you’re okay. He lets out an exaggerated “Fuck,” seeing your innocent eyes looking up at him through your eyelashes before bottoming out, his hips coming in contact with your feet as you push him back slightly, nonverbally signaling him to move. 

He thrusts into you at a slow pace, making you whimper for more. You look at him with pleading eyes, in which he responds by slightly increasing his pace. “Please,” you whine, looking into Harry’s eyes. 

He smiles at you and pulls out before sliding back in with more force and speed then before. You moan with delight as he groans with pleasure and you allow him to continue his pattern of strokes before he comes, you following slightly after. 

He pulls out, heading to the bathroom to dispose of his condom before coming back and helping you off the bed so you could use the restroom and clean up while he puts the towel under a table in the room so nobody uses it. 

Walking back into the bedroom, you take in the sight before you of Harry putting his shorts back on. His eyes meet yours and he smiles as you continue to stare at him as he gathers your clothes for you. He hands them to you with a kiss and you change quickly into them before sitting back down on the bed to cuddle for a few minutes. 

You face each other and your legs intertwine as you admire each other and whisper sweet nothings at each other. “I love you,” He tells you. 

“I love you,” you reply.

[notquitejiraiya]

Chess [25] - {ShikaTema AU}

Sorry that this has taken such an awfully long time to write, but I hope it’s okay nonetheless! This chapter goes out for the wonderful @shikanaradai - happy birthday :)

[ READ / COMMENT on AO3 ]

Hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The smoke filtered through the window as he perched on his windowsill, knees up against his chest as he stared out at the clear sky. Finally, it had stopped raining, and the clouds—lighter and brighter—drifted with as little purpose as they had before the storms had crawled in. And while usually he’d always be glad to sit and watch them float endlessly, his own puffs of smoke joining them every once in a while, today Shikamaru was glad that he had something to do. Well, more glad that he was doing something with her.

From the pocket of his jeans buzzed his phone, reminding him he had only a little time to daydream before he had to make a move, and he was amazed himself that he wasn’t ready to go right now. Upon his eyes opening a mere crack, Shikamaru had woken up instantly in the knowledge that it was Saturday; that she had something planned for him, and that today he got to be with her.

But he had forced himself to calm down. He couldn’t let himself get too sappy. How exactly he was meant to take what his father had said to him a few days ago, he wasn’t sure. Shikamaru certainly still believed it was way too early to say that he loved her, but his constant awareness of how long it would be before he saw her again was undeniable. Nothing compared to what surged through him every time he saw her laugh or her lips even curl up into the tiniest smile. He’d switch out watching the clouds for making her laugh any say of the week.

He felt like a sap.

He absolutely hated it.

With a gentle tap Shikamaru dropped ash into empty aluminium can sat on his bedside table beneath him, and took a long drag. She’d said to meet her at twelve-thirty and it was ten-to-twelve now, and despite being desperate to go he couldn’t help being scared to move. It was just Temari—he knew that—and he’d go no matter what, but what if her perception of him had changed after what he’d done on Thursday. He wasn’t like that, he didn’t just walk in and pounce on people, and he could only hope that she didn’t think that was all he wanted from her.

“Relax, man,” he mumbled to himself, taking a drag. He let out a long breath through the open window and shivered as the wind hit his face. “Just fucking chill out…”

There was a gentle rapping on the door, and before he could answer the latch clicked and a voice sounded, low and controlled.

“Shikamaru?”

He looked up. “Shut the door or the smoke alarm will go off.”

Shikaku chuckled. “I just came to give you the keys.” He annoyingly clattered them in his palm.

“Thanks.” 

“But before you go,” he sighed, “I have one more question about her.”

Shikamaru grunted in response. It took almost everything in his brain to stop his fingers quivering with nerves.

“Is she pretty?”

With a smile he met his father’s dark eyes, nodding slowly. “Very. Ridiculously, to be honest.”

“Nice friends?”

He took a drag, raising his eyebrows as smoke clouded his words. “Careful or you’ll sound like an old perv.”

“My son the comedian,” muttered Shikaku as he threw the keys onto the bed.

There was a chuckle between the pair as the young man put out his cigarette on the aluminium. “I don’t know any of her friends. Two brothers though.”

“They scary?”

He shrugged, dropping the stub through the can’s opening. “I’ve only met one and he’s the sort of guy who pulls his hood up over his baseball cap, so…”

Shikaku chuckled, his weight pressed against the wall. “I really should stop you smoking in your damn room,” he groaned, eyes rolling to the back of his head. “Your mother would kill you if I told her you still did this.”

“But you won’t.”

Shikamaru smirked as he hopped off the windowsill and tore off his t-shirt, throwing it haphazardly onto the bed beside his father. He turned away, reaching into his wardrobe to grab the khaki sweatshirt which he drowned in, but before he could pull it over his head Shikaku piped up.

“Christ, son,” he chuckled. “Your back is raked up. What have you…”

With his arms halfway in, the young man froze, turning to face his father with bright red cheeks. Shikaku was biting his lip, forcing himself to hide an unsurprised grin, but Shikamaru wasn’t nearly as cheerful. He’d thought that by now the scratches she had made—that he’d been so conscious of on Thursday night—would’ve disappeared completely. Even if they hadn’t, the least they could do was be faint enough by now that his father’s hawk eyes wouldn’t register them. Obviously, from the snickers that slowly grew in volume, his body hadn’t been so kind to him. 

He froze and slowly turned around, utterly speechless upon seeing how high his father’s eyebrows were positioned on his forehead, and the snide grin on his face.

Shikaku shook his head. “You sly bastard…”

“Dad, it’s not like—”

“They’ve lasted a long time. Must’ve hurt like a bitch on Thursday, huh?”

Shikamaru pulled on the sweater quickly and crossed his arms, desperate to avoid this. “Oi, Dad. Let’s not do this again, yeah?” he huffed. “I am twenty-three. You don’t have to care.”

“And I couldn’t care less, don’t worry,” chuckled his father, a cheerful and mischievous glint hidden behind his suddenly blander expression. “As long as you’re happy, son, I’ll leave you to whatever rutting you decide to partake in.”

“Fucking rutting?” spat Shikamaru, his eyes firmly lulling to the back of his skull. “Honestly, Dad, just stop talking.”

He did an awful job at stifling a laugh at his son and swiftly got to his feet, making a beeline for the door. “Watch yourself with her though, son. Strong women often feel so much more than they show you.”

“And by that you mean?”

“By that I mean be careful.” He twisted the doorknob, twisting his head to shoot his son a warm smile. “I want you to be happy, but your mental state is always my priority kid. Always will be.”

Unsure of how to respond, Shikamaru grabbed the keys off of his bed and nodded, jangling them as his father had done before. “I need to get going.”

“Be careful, son.”

~~~

There had been radio silence for the last twenty-four hours, and as she stood alone in the crisp air outside the pub, already lively with jolly friends and families having lunch, Temari couldn’t help feeling forgotten. He’d been early for their date earlier in the week. Why wouldn’t he be early when he didn’t have to come on foot?

Maybe he thought it was a bit pathetic that, despite her brother being elsewhere today, she asked him to get her from the pub instead of her front door. Or maybe he’d broken down somewhere? Or he’d forgotten about her entirely?

“Oh, shut up, girl,” she muttered to herself. “He’ll be in traffic or something—yeah, traffic…”

Temari jumped as she heard an angry beeping and began rummaging through her bag to find the source. Please don’t be him, she wished as she fished it out, and answering her pleas, Gaara’s name flashed across the screen. She viciously swiped and held it to her ear.

“What do you want?”

“Morning.”

“It’s afternoon, Gaara.”

There was a chuckle. “I just called to ask where you are? I woke up and you and Kankuro were gone.”

“Of course I do,” she sighed. “I’m out.”

“Where?”

“I don’t have to tell you that.”

“You don’t,” he replied, “but you’re making yourself sound suspicious.”

Temari rolled her eyes, landing them on an approaching car; small and red, boxy and a little rusty. She turned to look at herself in the reflection of the window. “Don’t be annoying.”

“I’ll be out tonight. I’ve got a date.”

“Good for you.”

“Don’t be harsh on me,” Gaara complained. “It was Kankuro that—”

“I’m sorry, okay?” she whined, as engine whirring grew louder and more annoying. “I’ll wait up for you tonight if you like. And tell Kankuro if he comes back not to try and call me again. I already have to pass him in the hallway and given that he’s not going to listen to me anyway, I’m not up for talking to him.”

“He’s only trying to reconcile and—”

“I know, but it still isn’t okay.” Temari sighed. “I’ll see you later.”

There was a beat.

“Love you, Tem.”

Slowly her lips curved up. “Love you, too. Enjoy your date.”

“You too…” Gaara winced down the line. “I mean, um, thank you.”

She hung up with a groan, smirking to herself at Gaara’s awkwardness. God, what would she do without him to put a smile on her face?

Meanwhile, as he pulled up alongside her, Shikamaru switched off the radio and leaned across the gearstick, panting as he manually rolled down the window and hoping by the time he finished he would’ve stopped himself grinning like an idiot. But eventually he ended up staring at her back nervously, waiting for her to look up from her phone, and the blonde didn’t seem to notice anything around her had changed in the slightest. As she slid her phone into her bag she looked through the pub’s window, adjusting her hair.

Anxiously, Shikamaru cleared his throat and sat back. “Your hair looks fine.”

Temari spun around with a start, gaping. “Christ, Shikamaru!” she gasped. “How did you creep up on me in that?”

“I hardly think I did,” he offered, and she smiled in return, yanking open the door with all her strength.

“This car is a bit shit, isn’t it?”

“Trust me: I’m perfectly aware of that,” he laughed. “But you asked for a lift so don’t get fussy. Besides, you know deep down that you weren’t expecting anything good.”

Temari flopped into the seat and rolled her eyes. “Anyway, how are you doing?”

“What was it you said the other night about enjoying the silence?” He smirked, pulling away from the side of the road, and the woman beside him gave an impatient sigh. “I’m alright though, thanks,” he said, “but I have no idea where I’m meant to be taking you.”

“And you don’t have a sat-nav, do you?”

Shikamaru simply had to raise his eyebrows and laugh. “In this?”

“I didn’t think so,” she chuckled, prying her phone from her bag. “It’s fine I’ll direct you.”

“Can’t you just tell me where I’m going?”

As she looked over at him, his eyes stared ahead, so wide and cheerful with the same excitement fuelling his bright smile. Temari couldn’t help but mirror him, both in appearance and emotion. Ever scrap of anger at her brother vanished when she locked onto that grin. His satisfaction made her feel so light and carefree, to the point where even in moment she moved out of his sight that feeling remained. It was contagious, this feeling of euphoria he gave off. 

And yet she was about to direct him somewhere it was bound to vanish upon arrival; somewhere where the happiness in his eyes might instantly be replaced with pain. How could she laugh along with him with that knowledge? Surely that was just cruel.

Softly, she giggled and looked back at her phone, but Shikamaru kept his sharp, stubborn going as he spoke, “Unlike you I’ve lived here my whole life, Tem. I know this town.”

Temari sighed. “Just take a right.”

“Temari…”

“Take a right, Shikamaru.”

A chill flew up his spine as he registered the discomfort her voice tried hard to mask, and he—somewhat unwillingly—relaxed his shoulders, flicking the indicator and turning right, just as he had been commanded. Along the long straight road that followed, as silence compressed the walls of the car in a way he couldn’t quite stomach, Shikamaru began to edge his hand across the gear stick. When his fingers tickled hers, Temari’s head snapped up to him, mouth suddenly dry. Nervously she let his fingers wriggle between hers and grip them slightly, and her whole body seemed to relax.

“Left up here,” she told him, a strange, girlish giggle clutching onto her voice. “Then keep going as if you’re leaving town.”

“Are we leaving town?”

Temari shook her head with a sigh. “Do you have any music?”

“No,” he shot back, far too quickly.

“You definitely do. You at least have the radio. Can’t we—”

“It doesn’t work,” he chuckled nervously, tightening his grip on her hand as if he thought she would try and escape. “Don’t even try it hasn’t worked for years.”

“Shikamaru, I’m not an idiot.”

“What?”

As he turned the corner, he reluctantly took his hand from hers to help him steer, and Temari took her opportunity to rush her index finger to the on button of the radio, only to find Phil Collins blaring out.

Shikamaru hastily turned it down and huffed, rubbing his neck as he halted at some traffic lights.

“I was not expecting that.”

“And what exactly were you expecting?”

Temari bit down on her lip, staring at his troubled face. “I don’t know...some deep, meaningful stuff, or some old punk music or something. I don’t know. Just not Phil Collins.”

“It’s Genesis, for fucks sake...” Pursing his lips, Shikamaru tapped on the steering wheel. “You know what? I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“You don’t,” she smirked, “but you’re going to.”

He rolled his eyes and continued on down the road. “I really liked Tarzan, okay? It just went from there.”

“So did I,” she said, “when I was a child.”

“Then don’t judge me.”

“I’m not judging you.” Temari’s hand wandered over to brush her knuckles against his thigh, and she smiled kindly. “You’re just so strange I don’t know what to expect from you.”

“Thank you for the morale boost, Tem.”

“What? You are!”

“Plenty of people like Genesis and Phil Collins, and people like far worse things!”

“Wow, I have never heard you speak this passionately about anything...”

“Yeah, well you barely know me and you’ve only heard all my mental health bullshit before now,” he grumbled, turning off the soft music that resonated in the background. “It’s just music. It fills…silence.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“I know you didn’t mean anything by it, Tem,” he sighed. When she looked over she expected his cold eyes to had softened, and felt a little disheartened when they hadn’t. “Besides, I don’t really care what you think anyway.”

Despite his words, she smiled to herself. He totally does.

Shikamaru ground his teeth as they approached the next junction. You totally do, idiot, he thought to himself. And now she thinks you’re a nerd.

“Right again?” he tried, clearing his throat.

“Yes, Mr. Dad-Rock.”

He quickly shot her a glare, and she burst out laughing, causing him to follow in quick pursuit.

How did she do that? Make him laugh at things that weren’t worth laughing about. Her teasing drove him insane, and yet he yearned for more. When she turned the radio back on with a grin, Shikamaru chuckled to himself softly.

He was at her every beck and call, lost on this road without her, and somehow he was glad for it.

~~~

“Here! Pull over here!” Temari demanded, pointing to the lay-by they were approaching.

Shikamaru slowly eased over there with a sigh, and parked, turning to her, exasperated. “Temari, this is a housing estate.”

“I’m perfectly aware of that, Shikamaru,” she managed through her nerves. “I wanted you to come and do something.”

So this wasn’t a date. He had totally got the wrong idea, hadn’t he? Why did he think that with Temari anything could just be as easy as getting in a car and going on a date? If there was some affectionate element to this escapade, he could tell that it wasn’t going to happen right now. A housing estate was hardly the most romantic of places, but was he meant to expect romantic? They weren’t together, after all. They were just two people who had done some things they probably shouldn’t, two people who’d got far more intimate than was appropriate, two people who found each other disasterously attractive…

But did that mean anything at the end of the day? Was he tying her down in the same way he felt compelled to do right by her? Something in him told him no, but there was this other, nagging crevasse in his brain taking charge, forcing him to think positively.

Because maybe, despite what he’d said, she wanted him to meet people; her friends or her family. Oh, what a horrendous idea that sounded, and an idea that he definitely wasn’t up for.

But at least, if that was the case, she really did care about him as much as he cared about her.

“I already told you, Tem, that I’m not ready to meet your—”

“It’s not Gaara,” she interrupted, tutting at his predictability. “Come on. It won’t take long.”

He watched her hop out of the car and, with a huff, mirrored her actions. He slammed the door shut thrice—it taking its usually excessive time to properly close—and leaned on the top of the car, watching her walk away with her nose in the screen of her phone. A smile grew on his lips as he nervously tapped the metal with his fingertips.

“Oi!” She called back to him, waving for him to come closer. “Hurry up, flower boy.”

With a shake of his head, the young man knocked on the roof, cocking his head slightly to one side. “I don’t appreciate that,” he laughed back.

“Don’t appreciate what?”

“‘Flower boy’, obviously.”

“Tough, now come on.” She held out her hand behind her, expecting him to grab it, and when he finally caught up to her, a very slight spring in his step, he elbowed her with a smirk and kept walking. “Asshole,” she spat, snickering to herself.

“That’s right.” Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets, elbow brushing against her arm every few moments. “Now, can you tell me what exactly is happening?”

Temari slowed her pace to keep beside him, chewing on her lip. “We want number 40,” she mumbled, her fingertips brushing his.

She couldn’t help but worry, and not just the subtle feeling of butterflies in the tummy kind of worry. This was full blown, palms sweating, knees ready to give out from guilt worry. What if this wasn’t helpful, and only upset the pair of them? What if she’d lead him into a situation in which he grew more panicked or upset than she’d ever seen him be? It would be entirely her fault—could she handle that? She wasn’t sure she could.

But it was too late now. As they paced along the pavement, their steps becoming synchronised, Temari’s heart began to beat faster. His eyes scanned the doors of each house, and she wondered what he thought was happening. He must’ve had a million ideas, and she was sure none of them were less enjoyable for him than what she actually had in store.

Her toe caught on the edge of the pavement and she stumbled slightly, immediately sending her whole body into panic mode. She should’ve turned them both around and taken them to the movies or something, or grabbed yet another unhealthy meal to tide him over until the next time she fancied scrutinising him.

However, just as it had been a moment before, it was too late—far too late—and Shikamaru started to slow, raising his arm.

Temari gulped, totally unprepared for what was to come.

All she could do was act like this was normal. It wasn’t. It wasn’t in the slightest.

“Well that’s 38,” he sighed, pointing to their left, “so that one must be…”

Shikamaru stopped, silent as he stared at the house before him. The figure in the window downstairs, her back to them, looked so impossibly familiar, and as her profile came into view before she left his line of sight, Shikamaru’s worst nightmare set in motion.

“Tem, tell me that this isn’t her house.”

“Who’s house?”

“Kurenai’s house. The lady I saw on the bus.”

Temari rested her head on his shoulder, threading her fingers through his so carefully it was as though they might crack. Right now, for all she knew, he might crack hers. “I can’t tell you that.”

“Okay,” he wheezed, an uncomfortable smile coming and going from his face in a matter of seconds. “I’m definitely not going in there.”

“Yes you are, Shikamaru.”

“I’m bloody not.”

“Shikamaru,” she sighed, “all she’s going to do is say hello. You’re not going to upset anyone, and she definitely doesn’t hate you or anything. I mean come on!” Temari urged, squeezing his palm in hope it was more encouraging than her bossiness. “She literally tried to talk to you the other day without prompting.”

“To which I ran away.”

“Because you didn’t know what to do.”

“Yeah, because I’m a fucking coward.”

She frowned. “Shikamaru…”

“It’s Saturday, Temari,” he said, pointing at the framing window from which the figure had disappeared. “It’s her weekend. It’s her daughter’s weekend. They don’t want me intruding. I don’t know about you but I was brought up to respect other people’s privacy.”

Temari shot him a vile look. “Right that’s it.” She dropped his hand and adjusted the strap of her bag sharply. “I’m fucking done.”

“What?”

“I’m done,” she repeated, exasperation filling every inch of teal in her eyes. “I’m done trying to help you and having you not try to help yourself.”

“Temari…”

“No, Shikamaru. Don’t.” Her arms linked, crossed across her chest—a barrier he was yet to break through on his own. “I know I sprung this on you quickly, but there’s nothing I want more than for you to be okay so our whole situation can be guilt free—”

“Guilt free?”

“But when you refuse to even try to conquer this huge hurdle, how can I do that?”

“Do what?”

She didn’t answer. She simply turned slowly and pointed in the direction of his little, red rust-bucket.

His blood boiled, and his stomach knotted to the point he felt like he couldn’t breathe, but the look in Temari’s eyes overpowered every ounce of negative emotion in his body.

“Fine. Okay? Fucking fine!” Shikamaru stormed up to the door and knocked rapidly, and she could see his body immediately freeze as he rapped his wrist again the wood the final time.

Seeing the man shut down, his muscles as still as if they’d been made out of wax and unready for the pressure and heat they were about to receive, did nothing for Temari except bombard her with heaps of guilt. She’d forced him into this, and he’d been fine to ask know questions. Why she ever thought that he wouldn’t put up a fight, she didn’t know. Why she even considered deliberately guilting him into striding up to that looming red door and knocking made her feel so much more liable for someones pain and discomfort than for anything else in her entire life.

She’d laughed at Kankuro the day he broke his elbow, and the only thing she’d ever forced him or Gaara to do without the help of guilt was to go to therapy. So why if she could laugh off someone’s pain so easily did she fill herself with dread knowing she’d caused Shikamaru to be hit with a tonne of it instantaneously, even before he’d seen the face beyond that door? And why if she’d guilted her brothers into doing things for so many years  why did doing so to Shikamaru feel so criminal?

But she didn’t have time to lament to him her every thought, call him back and pretend this was all just a game of ‘knock down ginger’ as they sprinted back to the car. Before the young man could even turn to see the distressed look on Temari’s face, the loud click of s latch echoed, and the door flew open, the long black hair of Kurenai Sarutobi fluttering in the breeze instantly.

“Shikamaru...” she whispered in disbelief, her bright eyes widening as though she’d seen a ghost.

Despite his inability to run, Shikamaru didn’t have a clue what he was to say. After all these years surely there was so many things she deserved to hear fly from his lips, but ultimately he just nodded. As he bit down hard on his lip, he knew there was only one thing that connected every thought that flew through his mind.

“I, um...” He stopped himself, hand edging towards the back of his neck. Three words had never come less easily when he was so desperate to say them. “I won’t bother you long, but I—uh!”

Never could he have expected the gigantic hug the lady had enveloped him in, but in only a few seconds he felt himself warming, softening his shoulders into her hold. It took no time for him to hug her back, and wrap his arms tightly around the older woman’s torso. Somehow, now, it felt like seeing a family member, despite the fact he was almost certain less words had been exchanged between them in the last ten years than in the last ten seconds, and Shikamaru immediately felt a weight lifted from his shoulders as the weight of her head rested on one.

But it didn’t take long for a shiver down his spine to appear, combatting any warmth the hug had mustered. As the piercing eyes of her daughter stared Shikamaru out, Kurenai pulled away from him, softly smiling beneath the many layers of surprise. But he could barely take his eyes off of that little girl and the structure of her face, the glare and the book in her hands—that was Asuma’s daughter. It was so impossible to think about. That girl was old—she was a baby, she was an actual child. Seeing her on the bus hadn’t given him time to let that sink in, but now he had no choice but to notice, and knowing that what happened was so long ago that she sat before him as she did provided some shift in his perception of all this. Not much, admittedly—he couldn’t work miracles on his own mind—but a little.

Then again, how was he still so damn pathetic about it after so many years? God, he thought as the little girl turned her attention back to her book, get your shit together, man.

Fighting the urge to force an awkward smile, Shikamaru ducked his head and shoved his hands into the pocket of his jacket. “I, um,” he began, just about making eye contact. “Kurenai, I just wanted to say sorry.”

With a gentle frown and a slight smile, Kurenai squinted at him. “Sorry?”

“Sorry that I never came,” he added. “Like I told you I would. Back when...you know…” He coughed nervously, his eyes drifting towards his feet. “And sorry for many, many other things…”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous,” Kurenai sighed, reaching for his forearm and tugging his sleeve slightly. “Please, come in.”

Shikamaru screwed his expression up, shivering as his shoulders tensed up. The little girl was back there. “Oh, Mrs Sarutobi, I count possibly—”

“Please, Shikamaru. Come in.”

Afraid and lost for words, Shikamaru turned to Temari, expecting her to say something that might save him from stepping through the threshold. Surely she wanted to do something else with him today other than this, or was her itinerary for the day exclusively filled with mental torture?

The gentle smile she gave him in return gave him the impression she had a mix of both on her mind.

“Your girlfriend can come in, too,” said Kurenai, letting his sleeve fall. “Please. Both of you. I would love to talk to you.”

Why did she want to see him? After this long?

Given that he could hear Temari’s boots clicking on the pathway up to the door, he could only assume the woman he so hated for bringing him here was wearing a fantastic grin to accompany the inevitable nodding she was doing. So, hesitantly, he took as step forward through the door and wiped his feet carefully before entering into the lounge. He could feel Temari looming behind him and hear the shuffle of her coat as he arms brushed against the doorway, but her presence did little to lighten his mood for a change. The little eyes staring up at him were far too powerful for her to work her usual magic.

It took little to notice his discomfort upon entering, and Temari made sure to squeeze his hand gently as she passed him, shrugging her coat from her shoulders and reaching out to shake Kurenai’s hand. “I’m Temari, by the way,” she said confidently, a bright smile across her face. “It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs Sarutobi.”

“Oh, please don’t—I’m not a work. I don’t need more people calling me that,” she laughed. “Call me Kurenai, Temari.”

Temari smiled. So she was a teacher, too? Interesting…

“Tea?” sounded Kurenai’s voice as she stepped backwards through the lounge. “Coffee?”

“Tea would be fantastic, please,” the blonde said, her voice far sweeter than she liked her tea. “Milk, no sugar for me, please?”

The kind woman nodded and turned her attention to Shikamaru, who still loomed in the doorway, hands in pockets, and firmly on the child who occupied a spot on the sofa.

“Shikamaru?”

When Temari said his name, he barely managed to turn his head to look at her. It was only when she grabbed his sleeve that he snapped round, confused.

“What?” he muttered.

Temari let the corner of her mouth raise. “Do you want coffee?”

He nodded slowly, looking at Kurenai for a moment then back toward the girl.

The older woman’s gentle eyes followed his gaze slowly, as did Temari’s, and set on the child with a gentle smile. Gently her voice sounded, and she stepped over to her daughter, a hand grazing the black hair that topped her little head. “Shikamaru,” she smiled, staring down at the girl, “this is Mirai. And Mirai, this is Shikamaru.”

Mirai looked up, a cute flush across her nose and cheeks. She pawed at her mother’s hands nervously before looking up, across the room at the young man who stood so incredibly still. “Shikamaru?”

His entire body shook as she said his name, and he’d never been more glad for Temari’s elbows to nudge him out of his freaked-out haze. 

“Yes,” said Kurenai. “He is one of daddy’s old friends.”

The sentence whipped through him, a wind in his sails which all at once lifted him up and sent him crashing down. It amazed him how he could feel so instantly lighter, and yet feel like the world was now pushing its weight even further onto his shoulders. Even more surprisingly was the indifference that laced Mirai’s eyes—a child who he’d been so afraid to meet, and so terrified to look in the eye, smiled at him and said a feeble, “Hello,” before turning her attention back to her book. She couldn’t care less who he was, or what he did. She didn’t know him before this very moment, and she had no idea what he had done in the past, but Shikamaru couldn’t decide if he felt better or worse for that.

“You have pretty hair, Miss,” mumbled Mirai, her bright eyes fluttering to Temari for a split second as her mother backed out of the room. 

Temari smiled and leaned forward slightly, raising her eyebrows. “Well, thank you. Your hair is very lovely, too.”

She heard Shikamaru snort as he finally started to slip his coat from his shoulders, and have him a swift elbow in the stomach to drop his backside onto the chair. With a groan he sighed and shook his head, and within seconds the little girl before them was giggling.

“Mummy said it’s wrong to hit people.”

“Well,” whispered the blonde, her thumb pointed at Shikamaru, “he is very annoying and makes fun of me, so I make an exception.” She bit her lip, cheeky, and squinted. “Is that fair, do you think?”

Without a second to think about it, a grin stretched across her chubby cheeks, Mirai nodded with another giggle.

Shikamaru nudged Temari desperate to look into her eyes, but as their gazes collided and her bright orbs stared him down, he was unsure whether to feel grateful or pissed off at what she’d done. This was, undeniably, one of the most unenjoyable moments he had spent with her. It probably even made it into the top ten worst moments of his life—or most awkward ones at the very least—and yet he wanted to smile at her. She didn’t look like she meant to upset him, and he had to believe that. He did believe that.

“You really threw me in at the deep end,” he muttered, his hand firmly on the back of his neck. As her fingertips dragged it away and gripped his tightly, a triumphant smile subtly staining her lips, Shikamaru couldn’t help adding an even quieter, “Thank you.”

“You’re more than welcome, stupid,” she sighed. Temari rested her head on his shoulder momentarily, giving his hand a quick squeeze. “Next up on the agenda is visiting his grave.”

“Your sense of humour is vile, Temari,” he chuckled, whipping out the lighter that dug into his hip like a thorn.

Temari couldn’t help noticing he began to open and close it rapidly, an irritating clicking sound resonating through the room. In the silence, it was impossible to ignore, and Temari was moments away from snatching it from his grasp and stuffing it in her own pocket. But then, as she registered the way his jaw clenched, she remembered what Choji had told her when she met him; how he flicked it all the time, and that he did so for fun. But she could see now quite clearly that Choji wasn’t quite right. Maybe it was her time around so many nervous people given her job, or maybe it was just intuition after knowing him a short time, but it seemed to her like the lighter came out when he was nervous; like some sort of comfort blanket.

Admittedly it felt good to know he hadn’t done this around her before, and to know he felt less nervous with her than people he’d known years. It was possible that what he said about her bringing him calm was true, after all.

There was a little shuffling noise and the sound of mugs settling down on wood.

“That’s how I recognised you on the bus,” Kurenai said, sadly, plodding towards the pair with a mug in each hand. “The lighter, that is.”

“What is it?” Mirai asked timidly, following her mother’s eyes to the metal object. “I thought you said don’t play with fire, Mummy.”

“Shikamaru was friends with Daddy,” she said softly. “The thing he’s holding, the cigarette lighter; that was Daddy’s.”

A sincerely amazed look spread across Mirai’s expression, and she slammed shut her book to hop off of the sofa, dragging her little feet across the carpet to her mother. As the little girl reached up and grabbed the woman’s hand, Temari felt a sinister pang of jealousy in her chest. And, when the pair smiled, she could feel her throat tightening shut.

She wanted to cry looking at them, and while she had no place to tear them apart the desire to do so was overwhelming to her. It was rare, but upon seeing things like this, mothers and daughters together, that she yearned for the warmth of her mother’s hand in her’s. If some scrap of motherly love could drift her way she’d be pleased, but never would it happen; just as it hadn’t for the past decade or so.

But she missed her, so much, and hearing Kurenai’s words were nearly too much for her. The softness of her tone, just managing to shave off that patronising hint to reveal the pure affection and care that lay beneath. It was far too reminiscent of the sort of things she used to say to Gaara when they were children, and her mind flew to every night under the stars in their Godfather’s garden, every midnight meeting in the room her brothers shared to hold them until they calmed down, and all the times when she’d been the only one who understood; the only one who remembered.

As her mind had whirred around, Kurenai had sat down with Mirai, their arms around each other, and her mouth was moving as she spoke to the little girl. Temari could barely hear her over the guilt she wallowed in, jealous of this relationship. However, the gentle nudge of Shikamaru’s knuckle on the back of her hand brought her swiftly back to reality, and with a grateful smile she nudged him back.

Though neither of them noticed, they shuffled a little closer together, and immediately the room felt empty.

Smiling slightly, Kurenai looked up and over a Shikamaru. “I have to admit,” she said, “I’m amazed you still have it. That you kept it all this time.”

He scoffed, and with one final tap he flicked the lighter shut. “As if I was ever going to get rid of it.”

“He’d be very humbled.”

He nodded, knowing full well that her words weren’t an attempt at kindness, but rather just the truth. His palm wrapped around the metal, a calming cool against his hot hand, and the other found Temari’s by instinct. For a moment he worried if she would accept his plea to hold her, keep her there for what was undoubtedly going to be a difficult conversation for him not matter how kind Kurenai was. Why he had visions of the blonde snatching her hand away, he had no idea, because she grasped it quickly and squeezed wholeheartedly.

If at any point he felt uneasy, he had her. With one squeeze she would ground him, and he had never been more grateful for anybody in his life.

[turnupswritessometimes]

Lavender Eyes - Glimmerdora - Ch6

Title: Lavender Eyes

Chapter: 5

Word Count: 4119

Summary: Adora’s on the football tem. Glimmer’s in band. They think they can’t stand each other, until a series of accidents forces them to open up to each other.

Note: This is also available on Archive of Our Own and it’s probably best to follow it there, as I remember to update it more. I would post a link, but then tumblr wouldn’t include it in search results.

6

Things had changed. But in some ways, they hadn’t changed at all, because Catra may barely be speaking to Adora, but that didn’t stop her from sitting in the passenger side of Adora’s car on Monday morning.

Adora didn’t say anything. Mainly because Beatrix was still peering out of the window and it was really none of her business what was happening at school. That was something that Catra and Adora had always managed – to lie about what was happening between them and what was happening at school. Kid drama never got taken to the adults. That meant trouble. So she kept her mouth shut and started driving.

There was a different atmosphere in the car. A tense, unsure how to step around each other atmosphere.

“You going to pinky’s again?” Catra asked. They were already halfway to school.

“Yes,” Adora said. “Probably. And don't call her that.”

“What?” Catra’s foot was up on the dash. It had never bothered Adora before. She had never allowed herself to look at just how tight Catra’s jeans were getting. “That's not the worst I could say - could call her a dy-“

“Don't. Catra. Do you even know how offensive that is?”

“Why do you even care?” She could sense narrowed eyes on her face and kept her eyes on the road, resisting not to beep the horn at the guy in front of them. He wasn’t even driving that slow. “If I didn't know better I'd say you were gay.”

Adora paused. She wanted to take the leap – because if she couldn’t trust Catra, who could she trust? “What if I was?”

“You? Please. Pretty sure Beatrix wants you to marry a doctor, have two children - a boy and a girl, naturally and live happily ever after.” Catra crossed her legs over, looking out of the window again. Adora couldn’t see her face.

“Maybe I won't marry anyone.”

“Perfect Adora not doing what mummy says?”

“Are you telling me delinquent Catra is going to do what she does say? Are you going to get married?” This was easier, Adora thought. This was teasing and banter and it was all surface level. That’s how it should be. Surface level – not deep, meaningful conversations with Bow.

Catra frowned at her, her bottom lip sticking out in a pout. “Touché.” She paused then, her eyes glancing over Adora’s face with sudden sincerity. “You’d tell me, if you were, wouldn't you?”

“You're my sister,” Adora said. “We tell each other everything.”

It wasn’t an outright lie. It had never been a lie, but it was fast becoming one.

Still, Adora reasoned to herself as she pulled into the school parking lot, Catra was being unfair too. Catra was hiding drinking and smoking and who knew what else from Adora. So it was only fair.

They had parked up when Catra put a hand out. She didn’t even look at Adora as she said, “Hey, ill take your phone. Then beatrix can't track you.

Thanks.

This is for me. So, I don't get into trouble for not going everywhere with my keeper.

They had parked up when Catra put a hand-out. She didn’t even look at Adora as she said, “Hey, I'll take your phone. Then Beatrix can't track you."

Adora blinked. Then pulled out her phone and held it out. "Thanks."

Catra took it without looking at her. "This is for me. So I don't get into trouble for not going everywhere with my keeper."

With that, she slammed the car door.

Adora waited for a full minute, her eyes on the clock built into her car. Then she climbed out too, shrugging her backpack onto her back and walking up to the school. It was clear that things had changed. She was receiving odd looks and people muttered as she walked passed. Lonnie ignored her when she opened her locker.

Then slammed it closed. Lonnie was scowling at her palm on the door, but still didn’t look at Adora.

“You gunna talk about Friday night or not?”

“I…don’t know what there is to say?”

“The band? You thanked the band? No one thanks the band-“

“They work hard and-“

“And what? It’s their hobby! That’s what they do.” Connie finally looked up, her eyes fierce.

“And we should just ignore them?”

“Yes. That’s what we do.”

“Why? Why, Lonnie?”

“Because. Because they’re annoying and pretentious and think we’re all stupid,” Lonnie said. “Because they’re all on the student council too and they don’t do shit for us. Because they’re fucking weird, Adora.”

“How are they weird?” Adora asked. They did think the football team were all stupid jocks, she knew that. But things had changed. Glimmer didn’t think that – anymore.

“Fuck, Adora.” Lonnie shook her head.

“Go on, Lonnie. Tell me.” There was an edge to Adora’s voice. She was challenging Lonnie, she realised and it made her heart race. This wasn’t a fight she wanted to have, but it wasn’t one she could avoid either. One that she could have a long time ago. Now it was harder. After sitting in a car with Glimmer and seeing those lavender eyes sparkle at her, she couldn’t ignore it.

“Because, Adora.” Lonnie leant against the locker, rolling her eyes. “They’re all lessies.”

“Oh, right,” Adora said. “Of course.”

She slammed her locker door closed and walked away. Her face was burning – with anger, she hoped. She really hoped that it looked like she was furious with Lonnie for the insinuation. Not that she felt sick. That her heart was racing because for a moment, for just a night, she had believed that it would be okay. Coming out would be okay. Maybe not.

Maybe this really was the point of no return. Now, the rest of the team was avoiding her too, shooting her confused looks. Adora had never been without friends. She had always had a clique. Since kindergarten and it scared her. If she wasn’t popular then who was she?

It played on her mind for the rest of the day. Lessons weren't so bad - she could pretend to be engrossed in Spanish or physics. It was lunch that was the real test.

For the first time in her life, Adora sat at an empty table. And maybe part of it was choice - part of it was not wanting to be sat with people who threw the terms 'lessie' and 'dyke' around. But part of it wasn't and she didn't like that part.

It was Bow who came to her rescue, carrying a tray with one hand like a waiter and a grin on his face. He sat down - like it was completely natural - like they did this everyday.  

"I've thought of a solution to your problem," Bow said in the place of 'hello.' "I'm calling it Schrodinger’s lesbian."

"Schrodinger’s lesbian?" Adora echoed. She hadn't touched her own food. Her stomach was in knots.

"Just don't come out to your mum. Keep it a secret."

"Maybe I'm not a lesbian. Maybe everyone gets feelings."

"Riiight." Bow rolled his eyes. "Adora, have you ever wanted to kiss a guy?"

"No." She spoke quickly at Bow's judgemental eyebrow raise. "But that's only because I've been ear deep in my studies my whole life."

"Right, right." Bow shrugged it off, his tone casual. But then he glanced up with that smile. "And who made you want to pull yourself out of that quicksand?"

"That's different."

"Of course, it is."

"Look - I don't - it doesn't even matter, because it's not like Glimmer even-" she paused at the look on Bow's face. He was smiling at her.

"What if I told you that Glimmer told me not to say anything on that subject."

Adora frowned.

"What did Glimmer tell you not to say anything about?" Glimmer was suddenly at the table. Sitting down and giving Bow a warning glance.

"Nothing, nothing." Bow was still smiling.

"So, we're eating lunch together," Adora said.

"Is that allowed?" Glimmer asked.

"I guess so. It's not like anyone else in lining up."

"That's what happens when you stand up for the band," Glimmer said.

"Welcome to the loser's club." Bow stretched his hands out in front of him, still grinning.

"You're not losers."

"I was quoting It."

"What?"

"It."

"What's It?"

"The movie. It."

"Oh my God." Glimmer put her head in her hands. "It's like watching dumb and dumber."

“Where you see idiocy, Glimmer, I see an opportunity.” Bow leant forward. “Movie. Night. This. Evening.”

Adora looked at Glimmer. Glimmer looked back at her, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sure Adora has better things to do with her time,” Glimmer said.

“I don’t think Adora does,” Adora said. “I think Adora would like to try a movie night.”

“On a school night?”

“Yeah.” Though her heart was pounding. A school night. Home late. No studying.

But she could do this. She could go to Glimmer’s house and watch a movie and not freak out. And she did. She managed to laugh along in the car, even though Glimmer and Bow were quoting vines and she had literally never seen a single one in her life. She managed to say hello to Glimmer’s mom, which made her smile at them from above their laptop.

“Congratulations to the football team on another outstanding victory.”

“Thanks, ma’am.”

That had made Glimmer’s mom laugh and Glimmer take Adora’s arm, rolling her eyes and muttering, “really, Adora? Do you have to be so perfect all the time?”

“Oh, I really do,” Adora said.

Glimmer turned then, a strange smile on her face that seemed to live mostly in her eyes. It brought heat to Adora’s face and she had to look away. Her stomach was still in knots, but she was determined to ignore it. It would be fine, she told herself. She did not have to study every day. In fact, she deserved a day off. She deserved to spend time with her friends.

At least, if Catra was allowed, she should be too. The thought wasn’t convincing. She wasn’t Catra – there weren’t the same rules. But she was trying – she was really trying because she wanted to be less like herself and more like Glimmer.

That was, until the movie started. Children singing a nursery rhyme that sent chills up Adora’s arms.

“Wait,” She said, too late. “Is this a horror movie?”

“Yeah.” Bow said. He had buried himself in pillows, creating a wall between himself and Adora. Which meant that she was incredibly aware of Glimmer’s arm pressed against her own.

“I’m really not into horror movies.”

“Have you ever watched one?”

“Well, no.”

“Well Adora, sometimes you have to try things to know if you like them or not.”

Adora looked at Bow. He smiled back, but his eyes were behind her. On Glimmer. He raised an eyebrow slightly and Adora scowled at him. It was better to focus on the movie than on his smug face. Or how Glimmer shifted so that she was sat better every five minutes or so. Every time she did, she nudged against Adora.

The film didn’t end up being as scary as Adora thought it would be. Not when Glimmer and Bow were making sarcastic comments all the way through, and especially not when she could smell the shampoo Glimmer had used.

And when it was over, Bow glanced at his phone and groaned, throwing himself backwards onto the pillows.

“Look at the time! And I’m so tired! I don’t know how I’ll ever make it down the street!”

“Do you want to stay here the night, Bow?” Glimmer said, with a tone that suggested she knew the answer.”

“It’s so late, Glimmer, I couldn’t bother my dads at this time of night.”

“It’s not even ten o’clock.” Adora said.

“So late.”

“You can stay too if you want,” Glimmer said. She glanced at Adora.

“Yes!” Bow was back up in an instant, an arm around Adora’s shoulder. “Best friends night! We’ll marathon the original It as well, make s’mores in the microwave-“

“It’s a school night,” Adora said. It was one thing to blow the afternoon off – but she had a sneaking suspicion she would be looking at her textbooks before she went to sleep. It was meant to help you remember it, after all.

“I’m staying.”

“Bow, half of your house is already here,” Glimmer said. She rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling.

“I also don’t have my phone with me.”

“You can use mine.” Bow was already pulling his out of his pocket.

“No – no, my mom – she doesn’t – she doesn’t answer if she doesn’t know who it is.” It was a half-lie. Generally true, but she also couldn’t risk Catra spilling the beans. Anyway, her phone was at home. By all accounts, she was too.

“It’s fine,” Glimmer said. Almost too quickly.

“Did your phone break or something?” Bow asked. “Why’d you forget it?”

Well, she wasn’t about to tell them that Beatrix had installed a tracker. That she was sneaking out and breaking the rules just by being with them.

“Yeah, just left it on the side like a dummy.” Sometimes it scared her how casually she could lie. Between her and Catra, it was easy to come up with something believable fast.

There was a pause. A horrible pause where Adora was terrified that they were about to find out. But then Glimmer nudged Adora with her elbow. “C’mon, you, I’ll drive you home.”

Adora’s stomach jumped. She tried not to let it show on her face as she stood.

“Can I hang out with your mom whilst you’re gone?” Bow asked after them.

“No.”

“Can I raid the fridge?”

“As long as you leave my chocolate.”

“Boo.”

Glimmer flipped the bird at him before she followed Adora up the staircase.

“Bow’s actually going home?” Mrs Gongjunim called from the living room. There was a documentary on as they passed.

“Ah, no,” Glimmer stuck her head around the doorframe and Adora dithered behind her. She couldn’t imagine springing something like that on a parent. A few days notice was needed, at least. “He’s staying, I’m dropping Adora back.”

Mrs Gongjunim looked around. She smiled at Adora with the air of a queen and she found herself trying to fix an awkward smile on her face back.

“Thank you for having me,” she said.

“It’s a pleasure, Adora. Though, I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave Bow alone.”

“He’s been alone here plenty of times,” Glimmer said. There was a tightness in her voice.

Mrs Gongjunim raised an eyebrow. She stood, switching off the t.v without even looking. “It’s getting late, Glimmer. Why don’t I drop Adora back?”

“Because that would be weird? She’s like half an hour away – tops.”

“Is this just because I’m your headteacher?”

“It’s because you’re my mom.” Glimmer crossed her arms.

Adora shifted her weight. An argument was brewing in the air – she could feel it. It made her tense – made her want to run. To make herself small and get out of the way. She wondered if Mrs Gongjunim would shout. If Glimmer would shout back. An image popped into her head of Glimmer with bruises that matched her eye colour.

She squeezed her eyes tight – voices buzzing around her like wasps. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening here as well – where everything was nice, clean and smelt of vanilla-

A hand touched her shoulder.

She opened her eyes to see Mrs Gongjunim looking down at her. She was smiling slightly, but there was an elegant crease in her brow that showed concern. Glimmer was stood behind her, her arms crossed as she scowled at the floor. She had blown out her cheeks slightly and it brought a cute blowfish to Adora’s mind.

“Shall I meet you in the car?” Mrs Gongjunim said. She smiled as she glanced between them. “I’ll leave you to say your goodbyes.”

That made Glimmer blush bright red. “Mom!”

But Gongjunim was laughing at her child yelling at her as she headed down the hall, fishing car keys out of a trinket dish like a Roman lady plucking grapes from a bunch.

Adora’s face was warm too. The insinuation had been heavy in Mrs Gongjunim’s voice and she cleared her throat as if that would help to dispel the awkward atmosphere.

“Thanks – for today,” Glimmer said. She pulled at the sleeve of her oversized cardigan and smiled self-consciously. She wasn’t quite meeting Adora’s eyes. “I know it must have been a struggle.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Adora tried to bluff.

Glimmer just shrugged. “It just seems like – you’re not a person to change up your schedule. It was cool that you did, for us. When we’re the reason the team ditched you.”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m doing you a favour.” Adora was surprised to find anger sprouting in her voice. “You’re doing me a favour. Just for letting me hang around you when I’m an asshole.”

“Then the pleasure was all mine.” Glimmer was really smiling now, her cheeks glowing. She glanced up at Adora, then suddenly she was throwing her arms around her. She was hugging her – tight – maybe as tightly as she had at that first game of the season. Adora couldn’t tell. It seemed much more intimate now. She could feel the shape of Glimmer’s body against hers and Adora’s arms were around Glimmer’s waist before she could think about it. Glimmer was warm. And she smelt of vanilla and pink lemonade infuser sticks. Adora hadn’t known two smells that worked so well together – that were so Glimmer.

Then the moment was over, and Glimmer was walking Adora to the door, looking only slightly better. Adora wondered if her face was still boiling – she figured it was, from the way the cold air felt against her cheeks.

She climbed into Glimmer’s mom’s car – a Honda, the most mom car imaginable, turning to see Glimmer’s silhouette at the doorway. She was leant against the doorframe, waving and smiling. Adora felt short of breath.

“You know, I used to hate you,” Glimmer’s mom seemed to be talking almost to herself as she started down the driveway. She saw Adora’s expression in the rearview mirror and laughed. “I only mean because I had to hate whoever Glimmer hated.”

“She really hated me, huh?” Adora managed to stumble out.

“You know, I could never quite figure it out. She’d curse you in one breath, then turn around and say that you had beautiful blue eyes in the next.”

Adora stopped breathing for a moment. “Oh.”

“But she doesn’t talk to me. I have to try and catch her and Bow’s conversations.”

Adora forced a laugh. “You don’t listen in?”

“I respect my daughter’s privacy,” Mrs Gongjunim said. “If there’s something she wants to tell me, she knows I’m all ears. But there’s a line. She can decide where she wants to place it.”

“Would you,” Adora paused. She took a breath. Something about this felt safe – in a mom’s car in the dark. “Would you track her phone?”

"We considered it. Just in case either of us were out late. But I'm not out very much these days and Glimmer's always with Bow, or most lately, you. I know she'll be safe if she's with someone else, and if I'm worried I can call. I trust her. That's the most important thing - trust."

"Did you swallow a parenting book, or something?" Yet Adora was picking her nails. Beatrix didn't trust her. And Adora didn't think she trusted her either. She was far more likely to call Bow or Glimmer of she needed help.

"In a way." Mrs Gongjunim smiled. "I have a degree in child psychology."

"Oh." Adora wasn't sure what to say to that. They were there. At the top of her road and she said, "I can - walk from here."

"Nonsense. I'm seeing you get through the door safely."

So Adora scrunched in her seat, as if that would stop Mrs Gongjunim realising what street they were on. She stopped outside Adora's and cut the engine.

"How long have you and Glimmer been together?" she asked.

Adora was sure that her brain had stopped circuiting. For a moment, she froze, then all of her words came out at once. "We're - we're not- dating. We're - friends. We're just - I'm not even, well I'm not sure if I'm even-"

She was getting used to the word, but she didn't want to say it in front of her headteacher. It felt like a word adults shouldn't hear. Just a teenage secret.

"I see." But Mrs Gongjunim's face was kind. She smiled at Glimmer in the orange light of the streetlamp. "Adora, if you're ever struggling, I'd be happy to talk you through some of your feelings."

"I - I don't think-" Adora broke off. There were so many awkward elements to that. How on earth could she go to her headteacher and say that she had a crush on her daughter? Not to mention the kick in her gut at the mention of it. Counselling. It made her physically recoil. No. No, counselling wasn't perfect. Counselling was admitting that she couldn't cope. And she could. She could cope. "I think that would be kind of weird. You're my best friend's mom."

"Yes, I can see why that would be an issue." There was a pause. Adora put her hand on the car door. She was itching to get out. "I'll save you the over protective talk on if you hurt my daughter, then."

Adora gave an awkward laugh - as if that was amusing - just to be polite, and climbed out the car, still muttering thank yous.

It was only when she had closed the front door as quietly as she could behind her, that she realised what she said. That Glimmer was her best friend. How did that happen?

No, she knew how. It was the car rides and the milkshakes and everything in between. But she didn't know when. Couldn't pinpoint an exact moment where she had felt like Catra wasn't her friend.

And Glimmer was, apparently. Adora's best friend, who she had a crush on. She couldn't believe the cliche of it all. And it was terrifying. It was terrifying how Glimmer's smile made her heart pound. As terrifying as a horror movie.

Yet, the horror movie that they had watched hadn't been scary at all. Adora had managed that. She remembered what Bow had said at lunch. That Glimmer had told him to shut up about it. Glimmer's mom had said Glimmer had talked about Adora's eyes.

So maybe it wasn't that scary after all.

*

"I don't think your mom likes me."

"I meant to tell you I like your hair like that."

Adora wondered if she should have been surprised to find Glimmer crouching on the porch roof. But it seemed so natural. That she would just be drifting off to sleep to hear a knock on her window. She had peeked through the curtains – terrified at first that it was one of the team. Then her eyes had made out Glimmer’s shape in the darkness. She had opened the window without a second thought and now they were there – just staring at each other.

"What?"

"What?"

“You'd better come in," Adora whispered. "Unless you want to stay out there all night, Romeo?"

Glimmer grinned at that. She pressed a hand to her heart, the other to her forehead. "I take thee at thy word – call me but love, and I’ll be new baptis’d!"

"Ssshh!" Adora pressed a finger to her lips, but she was giggling. Giggling. Adora. The words didn't usually go together. "You'll wake my mom or Catra."

"Oh shit, wouldn't want to wake the nurse."  Glimmer climbed through, sitting on the windowsill so that the night air stirred the hair on the back of her neck. “No, more like that gross-ass guy in Tempest.”

“Don’t.” But Adora was still reeling from the Shakespeare. She couldn’t quote it – not like that. “Did you leave Bow on his own?”

"Yeah, why?" Glimmer swung her legs slightly. "He's busy texting his dreamboat. I thought I'd hang out with you."

Adora sat on the end of her bed. Why was she nervous? How could she be nervous in her own home? Of Glimmer. Glimmer, who she said was her best friend.

Glimmer who wanted to hang out with her.

"Isn't Bow your best friend?" she asked. It used to make her heart pound, now she just felt curious.

"Yeah, but, hanging out with you feels," Glimmer paused, tilting her head to one side. "Different." It made Adora's breath catch. "My mom doesn't hate you."

"She seemed - I don't know, like she was giving me the third degree." Adora leant backwards on the bed and turned her lamp on. It lit the room with a soft, yellow glow. Made Glimmer look like the colours of a sunset. "Like she was a dad cocking her gun because I looked at her daughter."

Glimmer laughed aloud, then clamped a hand over her mouth when Adora shushed her. Her eyes bulged as they waited to be found out.

But there were no sounds in the hallway. Only Glimmer and Adora trying to stifle breathless laughter.

"God," Glimmer whispered. " I'm so sorry. It's better than when she was trying to get me to come out to her."

"Oh yeah?"

"She kept telling me about all these lesbians on shows that she's been watching. I think she was just googling them."

Adora wanted to laugh, but her smile faded when she went to . "At least she - cares."

Glimmer tilted her head again. She frowned, ever so slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean - I don't - I don't even know," Adora took a breath. She couldn't finish the sentence.

"Have we given you a case of the gay?" Glimmer was smiling about it, as if it was nothing. As if it was a perfectly good thing.

Adora smiled despite herself, as if smiling would fix things. "Maybe."

“And you don’t know how to tell your mom?” Glimmer moved, so that she was sat on the edge of the bed too.

“I don’t even know how to tell myself,” Adora whispered. She brought her knees up to her chest and realised just how plain her room was. Plain white walls, plain wooden furniture – no fairy lights or posters or anything with her name on it. No heart shaped cushions or fluffy blankets. It was like a hotel room.

“Oh, Adora.” Glimmer’s voice was soft. Her fingers brushed against Adora’s hair, pulling it back behind her ear. “You know, I did mean it earlier – and I meant to say it the other day, but I chickened out. Your hair looks good like this. You should wear it down more.”

Glimmer was close and her voice was low and her finger was still close to Adora’s ear. And yet she felt strangely calm. Her heart was still hammering out of her chest, but it seemed to be spurring her on. She thought that she was starting to connect the dots.

“That’s really not helping my case of the gays,” she whispered.

Glimmer paused. She was still smiling, but she wasn’t meeting Adora’s eyes.

“That sounds like a you problem,” Glimmer whispered back. “I can’t help being beautiful.”

“I never said that.”

“Yes, you did.”

That was when Adora remembered. It seemed like lifetimes ago that Glimmer was sat in her passenger seat, leaving glitter on the seat and scowling at Adora. Ages since she blew that kiss at her.

“I was feeling like shit that night,” Glimmer continued. She started to pick at some of the glittery nail polish coating her fingers like icing and, without even thinking about it, Adora put her hand over Glimmer’s to stop her. Her fingers looked like ivory against Glimmer’s olive skin. “And hearing you say that – well, I still didn’t like you, but it made me feel so much better about myself. And ever since then I’ve felt more – and I know this is about you and I’m making it about me, but – thank you. Thank you so much, Adora.”

And just like that, Glimmer tilted her face to the side and pressed her lips against Adora’s cheek.

She froze. Completely froze. Her hand was still on Glimmer’s and her heart was still pounding but she couldn’t move. It was as if she had been snapped in a polaroid camera and was just – stuck. She could only listen to the beating of her blood in her ears. Glimmer’s hand was warm under hers, and her breath was hot on her cheek.

“Oh, I’m – sorry,” Glimmer whispered. She pulled away, pulled her hand out from under Adora’s. “That – that doesn’t have to mean anything, if you don’t want it to. It can just be – like a gal pal’s thing, if you want.”

And it felt like taking a nosedive off of a cliff. It was the point of no return, but Adora was chasing Glimmer’s hand with her own fingers and squeezing it tight. She knew that her hands were cold – knew that she was freezing – and yet she hoped that Glimmer might share a little of her warmth. Just for a little while.

“No – I – I’d like it to mean something.”

She wished that she hadn’t turned the light on because it was suddenly hard to meet those lavender eyes.

“Oh,” Glimmer breathed. “Oh. Well then, I suppose we should…”

She trailed off, leaning back towards Adora. It had only just occurred to her that she didn’t have a lot of experience in this department – no experience in this department – and Glimmer almost certainly had more than her. What was she going to do? How was she going to manage to pull this off? She was going to have to kiss a girl – a girl she liked, and –

And Glimmer’s lips pressed against her own. It was a clumsy, awkward, partly misplaced kiss. Yet it made Adora’s mouth tingle and she liked it – liked it almost as much as she liked Glimmer – and if she could just tilt her head slightly –

A door creaked open in the hallway.

“Adora? Are you okay?”

She swore. Her hand tightened on Glimmer’s out of reflex. “She can’t find you here.”

“Right.” Glimmer was at the window in the next moment. She turned, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at Glimmer. Her cheeks were pink – pink and round and Glimmer was glowing. Adora felt the same – like she was full of fire and it was escaping through every one of her pores. “I’ll see you at school.”

She blew Adora a kiss, and then slid off the roof in the next moment.

Adora had never given much thought to Romeo and Juliet. She had only said it tonight in a throwaway joke. But now she was tempted to pick it up and read it – just read it for fun.

Only because she was pretty certain that she knew exactly how Juliet felt.

[artlessictoan]

what abt ino x temari

whelp, safe to say that temari and Chouji have won the unofficialrarepair contest kdfjhgskd also.. please consider…….. Super-Buff Femme tema andGlamour Butch ino………………

ok requests are closed for now, I’ll finish off the one I’vestill got in my askbox and then get back to my other projects, this was reallyfun though so next time I’m low on ideas I’ll do another rarepair fest orsomething! thanks to everyone who sent me stuff, hope you enjoyed it!

---

She’d never in her life been as petrified as she was at thismoment. She’d walked through hell and come out the other side to tell the tale– loudly, to anyone in the bar willing to indulge her drunken bragging – butsitting here at her dining table, staring intently at the candles slowlydripping wax into their decorative holders, counting the seconds until contact likeshe would in a courtroom, Temari felt anxiety she’d never known tickling up anddown her spine.

This was gonna go terribly,she just knew.

Mentally she went over the plan again; in approximatelythree minutes Ino was due to arrive, she would walk – not run, walk – to the door and greet her with aconfident smirk and a light peck, then usher her swiftly into the dining room,where she would unveil a beautiful feast and her girlfriend would squeal andgive her a tight hug and they would immediately dig in and marvel at thedelicious meal.

Temari had been preparing for this day for months, she’dbeen training and had thrown several dozen speeches in the bin in frustrationas she sought out the perfect words, but there was no more time left to plan,now she’d just have to pray that she’d done enough.

Her alarm going off made her jump, even though she’d known it was coming, as did the tuneful rappingon the door several seconds later.

Glaring at her phone, she swiped the screen to shut it up,then barrelled to her front door at almost full-speed – nearly twisting herankle when her stiletto heel managed to find the space right between twofloorboards – before practically crashing into the wall. Leaning on it heavilyfor a few moments to collect herself, she quickly glanced in the hallway mirrorand tweaked a few strands of her short, wild, curly hair, hiked up the top ofher strapless dress, then took a deep breath and opened the door.

“What the hell was with that thumping just now, you trip orsomething?” Was the first thing out of Ino’s mouth, followed by, “You look gorgeousbabe.”

She smiled at the compliment, glad that the light dusting ofblush she had would cover her flush and leaned down to place a kiss to hercheek. “Thanks, you do too; is that a new suit?” she asked, eyeing hergirlfriend’s sharp, tailored look appreciatively.

“Mhmm, thought you might like it” Ino said, winking as shesauntered past.

Temari shook her head at the door as she locked it, before placinga firm hand against the small of Ino’s back and pushing her towards the diningtable, even pulling out a chair for her with a smirk.

“Madame.”

Snorting, Ino dropped into the seat. “Enchanté,” she drawled, running a feather-light caress up Temari’s muscledarm, lightly squeezing at her bicep with that slightly delirious giggle shealways gave whenever she admired her girlfriend’s physique – a sound that neverfailed to boost her confidence. “So, what’s on for tonight?”

Gently pulling herself from Ino’s grip, Temari walked overto the kitchenette and pulled out the dishes she’d been keeping warm in theoven, carefully placing them on the table, before lifting the lids with aflourish. “Ghormeh Sabzi, served with rice and bread, and rose rice pudding fordessert.”

“Oh…” She gasped as she looked upon the spread before her. “Ohno… Temari, did you cook this?”

She thwacked her lightly with the oven mitts. “Hey! I knowI’m not a great cook but I’ve been practicing for weeks, I got Kankuro to tutorme and everything-” he’d walked out after two hours, declaring her a lost causeand insult to the culinary arts, but Ino didn’t need to know that, “-I couldfollow this recipe in my sleep I’ve made it so many times!”

Her girlfriend gently brought a hand to her heart in a waythat Temari honestly couldn’t tell was patronising or not. “Aw, babe, you didall that for me?”

Rolling her eyes, Temari sat down across from her girlfriendand started spooning some rice onto her plate, saying, “If you’re gonnacomplain you can just go home.” She knew wouldn’t though, because Ino couldnever resist the beckoning call of a train wreck waiting to happen… no matterhow many times she had been burned in the past.

Sometimes literally, when it came to Temari’s food.

“Oh, stop pouting,” she said, reaching across to take herown fill, the short hair tucked behind her ear falling forward as she did so; sheblew it out of her face with an annoyed huff. “I’m sure it’s lovely!”

Their mutual soft smiles lasted all of five seconds.

By the time Temari had grabbed a roll of kitchen towel, Inohad spat her mouthful back onto her plate and drained half her glass of wineand Temari was seriously regretting attempting to actually swallow.

“Why is it so bland? I’ve eaten paper more flavourful thanthis!” Ino wailed, desperately wiping at her mouth. “And how was the ricecrunchy and mushy at the same time?”

She shook her head desperately. “I don’t know! I followedthe recipe exactly; except the parts that seemed like a waste of time, I meanit was all going to be cooked in the end, so what’s the point in soaking the rice,or that ‘simmer gently’ bull – more heat means faster cooking! – or frying somestuff just to put it to the side only to go back in later, you should just cookit all in one pan at once, why make things harder for yourself!”

“Babe,” Ino said, dragging a hand slowly down her face, “Ilove you, but you can’t even boil an egg properly, what made you think tryinganything more ambitious than a sandwich was a good idea?”

Fully prepared to be deeply offended the entire night, perhapseven giving her girlfriend the silent treatment until she apologised, Temarimade the mistake of taking another bite of her objectively horrendous dinner.

“Ugh, god, fuck!”

Ino snorted, helpfully passing over the wine bottle, whichshe drank from liberally. Eventually she managed to recompose herself, though shecouldn’t remove the sour look from her face.

“…Guess we’ll give dessert a skip then.”

“It’s for the best, good thing I came prepared!” Ino reachedinto her blazer pocket and withdrew a long, thin envelope, holding it out toher as she said, “Happy anniversary!” with a wide grin.

She blinked a few times before hesitantly accepting the gift;sliding a short nail across the seal, she pulled out the contents, staring atthe paper in her hand for a good long two minutes before bursting into laughter,barely managing to speak through her cackling. “You absolute fucking bitch.”

Her girlfriend was stillgrinning at her, head leaning heavily on one hand as she tapped the menus in Temari’shands. “So, what do you feel like ordering?”

“How about some damn respect for all my hard work?” she asked,not able to sound even slightly annoyed.

“Aww, sorry, that’s out of my price range, but maybe I canget you some more wilful self-delusion when it’s back in stock.”

“You’re paying for this you know,” Temari said, idly glancingthrough the menus.

Ino recoiled in shock. “But I’m the guest! Your baby brotherwould be appalled at your sub-par hosting.”

She leaned forwards, batting her girlfriend on the nose withthe Chinese takeaway. “Hey, don’t play the Gaara-card on me, he’d be morelikely to get on your case about not finishing my food like a polite guest would-”

“I’m pretty sure eating this would put me in a hospital.”

“-and you can consider it practise for when you’re not a guest anymore,” she finished,ignoring Ino’s input in favour of checking out some desserts.

There was a long, heavy pause, before she finally realisedwhat she’d just said and how much wine was left in that bottle again? Becauseshe was pretty sure it was Not Enough.

“…Tem-”

She immediately dropped the menus and started waving herhands to cut her off, desperately trying to speak through her heaving lungs, “Oh,shit. I’m, I’m sorry, that wasn’t- Imean, it was, but that wasn’t how Iwanted to ask, I’m just…”

Soft, slender fingers caught her flapping wrists, tugging untilshe’d calmed down a little. Across the table, Ino was giving her the gentlest smile, bright eyes sparkling inthat way she adored, as she stood from her seat and slowly walked around to herside, crouching down so they were eye-level with each other and reaching onehand to tangle in her hair.

“Yes, I’ll move in with you,” she said, giggling andpressing a light kiss to Temari’s nose, “but only if you promise to never touch a frying pan ever again.”

Trying and failing to hold in her excited laugh, she presseda kiss of her own to Ino’s lips. “Deal.”

---

[knight-of-heart-and-art]

all of them

D oh my fucking Gog

John Egbert: the time I was like nine and I hooked the chair out from under my sis when she sat down probably, I suck at pranks

Dave Strider: A car, a torch, a death and march to the sea by TØP and Bastille’s cover of basket case

Rose Lalonde: What’s your MBTI type? I. Don’t remember. 

Jade Harley: What’s your favorite celestial body? PILLARS OF CREATION I LOVE TEM SO MUCH

Jane Crocker: How good do you consider yourself to be at baking? keep me away from the fucking oven

Dirk Strider: What technological advancements are you hoping to be accomplished in the future? can I just learn enough about programming to know why my tumblr looks like it does p l e a s e 

Roxy Lalonde: What’s your favorite retro game? LoZ ocharina of time. Or pacman. Or pole position.

Jake English: What’s the last action movie you saw? uh…..hellboy ? Idk 

Aradia Megido: Name your favorite historical site/sites. The Cahokia mounds in st Louis, they’re so big? You can see for literal miles from the top. 

Tavros Nitram: Do you like collecting? If so, what do you collect? Hahaha….smuppets. Bones. Coins. Everything I can get my grubbly lil hands on, I’m basically a crow. 

Sollux Captor:How sarcastic are you on a daily basis? potato

Karkat Vantas: What’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever witnessed? my friend joy and my other friend adyn when they were still dating

Nepeta Leijon: Do you consider yourself a cat-person? yes but please remember I’m also a dog person

Kanaya Maryam: What’s your ideal look when in comes to fashion? …on me? clothes. 

Terezi Pyrope: What’s the weirdest craving you’ve ever gotten? does the time I ate a full jar of pickled jalapeños when I was like two count

Vriska Serket: Do you believe in luck and fortune? yeah definitely

Equius Zahhak: Do you consider yourself physically and/or mentally stong? I can pick up an 140-pound person but don’t ask me to perform social interactions or get yelled at rip

Gamzee Makara: Do you prefer comedy or tragedy? yes

Eridan Ampora:Magic or science? hahahaha give me a world where there’s both. Like piers Anthony’s incarnations of immortality series. 

Feferi Peixes: Favorite sea creature? MANTIS SHRIMP THEY CAN SEE LIKE TEM EXTRA COLORS AND PUNCH THROUGH GLASS and I’ll probably never see one in person since they break aquariums

Damara Megido: Do you consider yourself a vengeful person? ….uh. Not really but it’d depend. 

Rufioh Nitram: If you could dye your hair any color, what would it be? deep blue

Mituna Captor: On a scale of 0-10 how would you rate your skateboarding? oh god I fall but 3 because I keep trying. Although last time someone tried to teach me I fell off, bruised my hip, the skateboard flew off at a tangent amd broke a pipe and I’m just lying on the garage floor laughing hysterically as water slowly floods the area and Brandon tries to shut it off. 

Kankri Vantas: Are you prone to going off in lengthy rants? uh I want to but then I remember that I suck amd I don’t have enough friends to alienate people by ranting so yeah

Meulin Leijon: Approximately how long are you on the internet everyday? too many

Porrim Maryam: Your stance on feminism? …I am a feminist? I think? 

Latula Pyrope: Favorite outdated slang word?  all I can think of is “fuc” because mom’s watching deadwood and that’s literally every third word out of everyone’s mouth but. Groovy? All the old words for gay and lesbian? I don’t know

Aranea Serket: What’s your all-time favorite book? The entire dark tower series by Stephen king, which can new extended to include almost all Stephen king books written. 

Horuss Zahhak: Opinion on horses? they,,, lorge  :2

Kurloz Makara: Would you give up your voice for telepathy? On the one hand my voice sucks but on the other hand telepathy is a vague term I’d need more specifics

Cronus Ampora: Your favorite thing about the 50s? the fact that they’re nothing like happy days depicts them as and also pulp era sci fi

Meenah Peixes: Favorite fish-pun? shell phone

Caliborn: Any old pieces of fanworks you could share? if I get one (1) ask aboutbtjis I’ll GI through my deviantart and post anything presentable here

Calliope: Do you consider yourself to be an optimistic person? its complicated but on good things no amd bad things yes. Like I assume that the thing won’t happen. 

Lord English: How far would you go to achieve your goals? ?? ????? ?????

Lil Cal: Do people consider you creepy or intimidating? probably yeah I’m weird as fucl

The Midnight Crew: Do you prefer brains or brawn? a blend of both fuck you

The Felt: If you could have one ability, what would it be? teleportation of a singular object or person from where it is to where I want it to be. Useful for getting my moirail where they belong. 

Dad Egbert/Crocker: Would you wear a fedora? do u know how long I’ve been trying to get one fuck yeah I would

Bro: Favorite bro pun? Bromeo, bromeo, why the fuck are you bromeo

Mom Lalonde: Do you have any regrets? …yeah…lots.

Davesprite: Have you ever felt inadequate? have I ever in

Lil Hal: Favorite meme? I lik the bred

Davepetasprite^2: Nya? owo what’s this??

Jasprosesprite^2: Favorite color combination? Pfffft blue and olive, black and royal blue, red and grey

Arquiusprite: How helpful do you try and be to others? as much as I possibly can please let me be of some use

Erisolsprite: Are you called moody on a regular basis? ….by. some people. 

Carapacians: Do you play chess? If so, do you usually play with the white or black chess pieces? no one will play with me :0( but I’ll take either

Doc Scratch: Ever ‘predicted’ the future? Okay so. There’s a book called…okay I don’t remember what it’s called. Something about a witch king, it’s by mark Anthony amd is in the harpers series of the forgotten realms series. In the emd they leave a character in the collapsing treasure room. Effectively killing him. I loved this guy okay? I wasn’t about to accept that shit. So I went “fuck you mark Anthony” and mentally composed an arc where he found a magic item and escaped. Turns out there was a second book and that’s literally what he did  

Ancestors: What’s the kind of mark you want to leave behind you. just let me make someone hapoy

Hussie: Your zodiac sign and/or god tier? Virgo/leo and knight of heart. 

goddamnit its done. Its done. D I love you but what the fuck. 

[setoangel01-fanfiction]

Confrontation

Beautiful Disaster - Chapter 3 (Previous Chapters)

Rated: T

Chapter Summary: Ash tries to get some answers from Johnny as to how he acquired his injuries - it's a lot harder than she expects.

Fanfiction.net

A03

Ash wasn't even fully aware of what was happening since her eyes locked onto the horrific injury. Vision blurring with unshed tears as she stared in abhorrent shock at the slit in his green jumper and the blood pooling around it. Some of the blood drenching it is dry, dark and clinging to the fibers of the shirt but also way too obvious that some was far too fresh. Johnny dodging her hand as she tried to help him must have injured him further…and that killed her.

This whole situation was outright horrifying.

It had to be a dream or some kind of demented nightmare for who on earth would hurt him? Johnny would never even fathom hurting another soul; so gentle and kind to everyone he met - what cruel, heartless person could actually stab him?!

…just what the hell happened…?!

Ash had grown completely unaware of how she was practically hyperventilating; eyes blurring with tears as she stared at the obvious stab wound Johnny had acquired…

The worst part was he still refused to tell her what took place tonight…

"Oh God, Johnny…Oh my God!" she screamed, hand moving to cover her mouth in the sheer horror of what she was witnessing. Something inside of her chest shattered at the reality she was being faced with and yet, Johnny refused to clarify whatsoever.

"It's alright! I'm alright! Everything turned out fine!" Johnny muttered, trying fruitlessly to pull away from her but found he didn't have the energy; only able to scoot up a bit further against the cold tiles of the wall. Part of him wished to flee, but Ash had already seen the wound and it was too late to hide it now.

Ash pushed her hand forward, ignoring Johnny flinching at her action but not caring in the least, as she touched the stained cloth around the wound she still had yet to see in its brutal entirety. Anxiety steadily began building in her gut; all too aware of the amount of blood staining his shirt and the fur underneath.

Just so much blood…

Lungs filling with frigid air; chest a gaping wound as she continually stared at it; confronting the reality that this indeed happened to Johnny - this wasn't a nightmare but brutal reality.

Yet, the questions still lingered like a horrible overcast shadow - Who did this? Why would anyone hurt him? How could this have happened to someone like him? Someone who had never hurt anybody…

Absolutely none of this made sense and Johnny tried to hide it from her; pulling away and treating it as if it was NOTHING! That he wasn't stabbed and possibly bleeding to death and something inside of her snapped.

"What the hell do you mean you're alright?!" something in Ash finally broke; the words came out choked and raspy but she found out she didn't fucking care. All she wanted was answers and dammit, she wanted them now.

"..."

"How can you possibly be okay?! You call this fine?!" the voice that came out of her mouth was so incredibly raw; the pain etched in it made Johnny flinch back a bit.

"..."

"...and what if it hadn't!? WHAT?" Ash continually shouted not even giving him time to ponder any sort of response..

"I-I don't…." Johnny tried to speak but Ash didn't let him finish.

"I'll tell you - you would have died, Johnny. That…that tomorrow, you'd never show up for work. I-I would gonna call your phone and you don't answer. T-T-That I'd be watching the news and find out my best friend had been killed and found dead i-in some ditch or dirty alley somewhere…Is that okay to you!?" Ash yelled, voice breaking and eyes misting over as she stared angrily at him.

Johnny grew completely silent; his chestnut eyes falling from her drilling gaze.

"This is not okay, Johnny. It's not. You're not… B-But before I argue with you anymore, I-I need to call an ambulance. You need to go the hospital!" she muttered more to herself as she reached into her skirt pocket to retrieve her phone when suddenly Johnny's hand was on hers and effectively blocking her from her task.

"NO!" he shouted and Ash's quills prickled on end…she had never heard Johnny shout like that and apparently, he hadn't either by how surprised he was when it came out.

"I-I'm sorry Ash…I…B-But, no…I-I-I can't go to the hospital." Johnny continued as almost an afterthought, pulling in on himself; his arms wound tight around his waist in a fruitless yet desperate attempt to keep his wound out of sight and out of mind for her. Needless to say, it didn't work.

A few moments passed before Ash found her voice again.

"Heh. W-Why not? In case you haven't noticed - you got fucking stabbed!" Ash said a lot more calmly than she felt at the moment. Her heart was beating a million miles an hour and her head was aching something fierce. None of this made sense and the horrific nature of what exactly took place tonight was driving her out of her fucking mind and now he refused to go to the hospital?!

A part of her questioning if any of this was really happening…

"Ash, please…I-I can't. Alright?" Johnny avoided her gaze the best he could but all it succeeded in doing was for her to keep drawing her eyes to the bloody stain in his jumper his hands didn't bother to hide anymore. The crimson leaking into the green staunchly contrasted and one thing for sure, Ash would never associate those two colors with Christmas ever again…

"...Why the hell not?" Ash asked steadily, doing her best to stay calm in this hellish situation.

"I-I…"

"Why not, Johnathan?" she growled, using his full name as a last resort.

"...because I can't bloody afford it, Ashley!" he growled back while using the same dirty tactic on her.

Ash's eyes narrowed at the use of her full first name (the ones her parents would use to especially ruffle her quills) and context but it worked for a moment, she had to give him that. All she wanted to know is when she became the one being disciplined in this situation.

Yet Ash wouldn't be silenced, "C'mon, you have to have some kind of insurance or something! Hell, even Moon has those that need it on that one program of his."

"...Ash…I'm bloody broke. I have nothing, alright? Nearly every cent I make is going to my dad's high-end lawyer - if I miss just one payment - just one - he'll drop my dad as a client, and…I-I can't let that happen. I just can't…"

"So, let me get this straight - you've been stabbed yet won't call the ambulance - will you at least call the police? Because dammit, Johnny, I'm not stupid - someone did this to you and they're still out there! What's to say they won't do it again?"

Johnny turned his face away; gaze steadfast off to some far off point before mumbling out, "I can't call the police..."

"...why the hell not? What if they're still looking for you and want to finish the job? You want those maniacs on the street?"

"I can't call the police because I don't want my dad to know! If the police find out, word will get to him…I know it will."

"Heh. I hate to put a hitch in your plans, but your dad is going to notice especially when you show up looking like this!" Ash didn't mean to yell, she really didn't, but she couldn't help it. Looking at Johnny's battered and blood smeared face broke something precious in her.

"I-I'll just tell him I was busy with work. I can get away with that since it's not really a lie. I just won't go see him until I've fully healed." Johnny shrugged and Ash's countenance fell.

"...does he have something to do with this?" It was like a light went on in her head; recalling Johnny telling her his father's extensive criminal history. How many years he'd been the leader of a gang that worked with a seedy under-network of criminals to steal vast amounts of cash and other goods. Johnny's father was almost like a kingpin - it shocked her how his son turned out so squeaky clean and not a bad bone in his body with a father like that. His mother must have been one hell of a good woman…

It had been long drawn out minutes but Johnny still hadn't answered the question and to Ash, that was an immediate 'yes' whether he wanted to admit it or not. Sometimes Johnny's silence was more telling than him speaking - she could read his eyes better anyway. The boy wore his heart on his sleeve.

"Johnny, why don't you want your father to know?" Ash asked; thinking perhaps a different tactic was in order if she wanted him to keep talking.

"..." Johnny remained silent.

"Look, if whatever happened tonight was somehow the result of your father's involvement in any way - this isn't your problem. What's the problem with telling him about it?"

"...Ash, my dad very may spend the rest of his life behind bars…" Johnny sighed and it wasn't news to her but the way he said it with his shoulders slumped and the saddest expression on his face hurt her like hell. "Yet, with this lawyer, he could possibly be out in as little as ten years - and…I want that. I-I want my dad out of that place. To have some kind of future…He's all I have left and I…I want to bring him home." he whimpered the last part; tears filling his chestnut eyes and it broke her heart in two.

"..." Ash didn't know what to say so she remained silent.

"If I told him what was happening - hell, even if word got out that I got me arse kicked by anybody - I have no doubt in my mind that my dad would break out of that prison again to murder whoever did it." Johnny muttered and Ash was surprised by Johnny's use of profanity, but seeing how emotionally and physically battered as he was right now - it seemed well warranted.

"The wardens and prosecutors already warned us that if he tries that stunt again…it's automatic life without parole…" his teary eyes finally met hers and the pain lacing them shocked her to her very core, "Ash, my dad would die in prison…I can't let that happen…I just can't." Johnny finished with a sigh, a shaking hand lifting to wipe at his face; flinching when he touched his swollen flesh and Ash was so tempted to pull his hand away so he didn't further hurt himself but she didn't.

Ash froze - staring as Johnny as if for the first time.

Realizing now just how selfless this guy was - always thinking of others and scarcely of himself. It hurt that as open as he was with her, he never bothered to tell her any of this; that for as close as they were in and out of the theater, he never mentioned the demons he was secretly battling.

On the tip of her tongue, she wanted to argue, to rebel against the harsh realities he told her. To tell him to call the police and ambulance to get him more help and catch the assholes that hurt him, but a part of her knew Johnny wouldn't allow it. Didn't want to go against his wishes and rupture this relationship she had with him - refused to ever let that happen…

It left Ash with only one choice…

"Fine. Since the ambulance and even calling the police is off the table - let me help at least clean up your wounds." Ash offered and for one of the few times tonight, Johnny met her eyes.

"Oi, Ash, you don't 'ave to. These are my problems - not yours."

"...I want to. Now come on." Ash offered a shaking paw which she just noticed had a few splotches of his blood staining her fur. It bothered her immensely but she ignored it for now to keep her offer open.

"...A-Ash, I…"

"Please." the words felt so foreign on her tongue, "I want to help you, Johnny…Let me help you."

The offer of her hand extended; Johnny's eyes flicking from the proffered hand to her face and back again as if trying to figure out of here was any ulterior motive but there was none in those crystal blue eyes.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he'd given her a stiff nod before taking her hand.

[winterschild999]

5 29 26 64 with bucky and lots of angst maybe? Thanks!

I am sorry it took so long to write . This is all the angst I could write . I hope you like it . 

PROMPT LIST  

”This was a mess before I came here”

“Please don’t make me hurt you.”“I am not spying . Just copying some files that belong to them.”

“Tell me you’re kidding.”

You were now officially an avenger . You don’t do anythingthat you did in the past . You have learnt the difference between wrong andright . And to now actually make the world a better place you decided to jointhe avengers . You helped people , you saved them . It made you feel better .It didn’t wash away your sins , but it gave you a reason to live .

You were happy . You were doing something that made you andothers happy .

Walking to the lab you were thinking about the life you madefor yourself . You were around people who cared for you and had your back .Bucky , your boyfriend for the past year made you the happiest . You couldn’task for more  . You only hoped that yourpast doesn’t come seeping through the cracks of lies you had created to be here.

As you opened the door to the lab you saw Natashadownloading some files into the printer .

“Tell me you’re kidding.” She muttered to herself .

“Nat? What are you doing?” You asked walking towards her ,confusion etched on your face.

“Nothing.”, she answered nonchalantly .

“Are you spying?”

She laughed a sarcastic laugh .

“I am not spying . Just copying some files that belong to them.”“To whom?”“Bucky and Steve.”

A pit of anxiety started emerging in your stomach . Whatif…. NO!!! This can’t be happening . You erased every evidence of your past .But you knew Nat was very good at what she does .

“You know…I always sensed something weird with you . Imean , you have no notable trace before the age of 20 . I always wondered why.And today I found it .”

FUCK…

“Nat ..Please . You can’t do this . You can’t do this to me, to Bucky . Please don’t create a mess now.”

“Oh honey . This was a mess before I came here.”

You were on the verge of tears . This was your worstnightmares . You didn’t know what to do . She started walking towards the doorand you followed her .

You pulled her back with her arm .

“Please Nat . Don’t do this . I don’t do that anymore .”.,you cried .

“Please don’t make me hurt you Y/N  . And I don’t trust you .” Shepushed you harshly before starting to walk to where  Steve was .

You followed her , crying all the way .

 You were finallyhappy . You left everything back to correct all your sins . You were trying .You were trying to become better . Trying to help . But every time you thoughtof moving on , you were kicked right back to square one . But you already knewthat today you couldn’t escape .

“Steve , look what I found .”

He started going through all the files on the computer , hisface falling , slowly anger creeping in .

You stood behind Natasha . Your eyes glued to the ground .Thinking about the consequences .

“Y/N.”, Steve said your name in horror .

“Steve let me explain.” You started reaching out to him .

“Nooo…There is nothing to explain.”

“Steve …Please…I was taken as a kid . I didn’t know .”“I don’t care . You are the very person because of whom our life has beenhell.”“Steve NO!!! It wasn’t me . I stopped long ago . Please , you have to believeme .”“I can’t . I don’t . It was you .”“Noo. Steve . You of all people should understand . Bucky…..”“Don’t fucking talk about him!!!! Bucky was different . He was brain washed .He was a victim . But you…..” He came closer to me , with anger radiating offof him. “You did this with all your senses . You weren’t brainwashed . So don’t evenbring up Bucky’s name.”

“SMACK “  Steve slapped you right across the face .

“I trusted you.” He said pointing his finger , a tearescaping his eyes .

“Steve!!! What the fuck???”

Bucky said as he saw you on the floor , sobbing .

“Bucky..Stay away from her .” Steve pushed Bucky as he wasapproaching you .

Steve started explaining to Bucky while Nat was calling NickFury .

“Bucky , listen to me . She worked for Hydra . She was apart of them for 12 years . She did things to people that no one can imagine .She tortured them , she made them do bad stuff . She put people through much worse than you have been through . She is not to be trusted . We are sending her tojail . She needs to be locked up.”

You could see the way Bucky expressions were changing . Hewas clueless at first . He couldn’t believe what was happening . But as Stevecontinued explaining he seemed to get angry and in the end you could see thathe was hurt .

“I trusted you . I loved you .” He said stalking towards mewith tears flowing down his face .

“I thought you understood me because you …you….Oh my god  !!!WHY??? Why did you do it??”

“Bucky …listen…”“I can’t…I can’t think .I feel dirty . You touched me . I had your lips on me. You had your hands all over me. I feel disgusted . How could you do this? Doyou still work for them? Are you here to take me back?”“Bucky no.”, you cried reaching to hold him but he moved back .

“Did you even love me?”, he whispered .

YES .Yes you did of course love him . He gave you thecourage to become a better person . He made you brave  .He made you who you were today . He gave youhope . He made you feel like you deserve a second chance .

As you were being dragged from the floor by the officials tobe put in jail , you looked up at Bucky one last time .

You never wanted to hurt him . You never wanted to betrayhim . He looked so lost and hurt .

You couldn’t look at him . Only his face flashed across youreyes .  Teary eyed , drained face .

Your parents were killed by HYDRA and they took you in whenyou were only 8 . What child would at that tender age understand the differencebetween wrong and right . You did what they told. They made you believe thatyou were getting rid of bad people that corrupted the world . They gave yourewards for killing tem and it made you happy knowing that you were doing greatthings for the world . But you were 19 when you realised the truth . It tookyou one full year to escape HYDRA . You made a new life , away from bad stuff .You beat yourself up everyday thinking about how good you felt taking innocentlives .

You tried moving on but the nightmares kept those memoriesalive . Two years of struggling you came to terms that you couldn’t change yourpast but you can definitely make your future better . You erased every trace ofyour existence before 20 and made a fake one .

You joined the avengers due to the vast experience in combatand medical field .   You were feelinggood .  You were doing good . Until itall came crashing .

You were thrown into the cell for life time imprisonment .

All you could think of was the hurt on Bucky’s face . Maybeyou didn’t deserve second chances like Bucky did . Maybe you didn’t deserve tomake things right like Bucky did . No one fought for you like the way Steve didfor Bucky . Even Bucky didn’t fight for you . 

Maybe it is because you weren’tworth fighting for .

@supersoldierslover @mytrueself @hellomissmabel @justareader @buckyappreciationsociety @elwenia @elwin-smaragd @hopelessgarbage @aingealcethlenn @winterboobaer @topkay @tol-sam @badassbaker @mcfuccfairy @psychicwitchphilosopher @the-witching-hours12-3 @marvelatthepeople @marveloussssworld @emilyevanston @mjcumberbatch @crazybutconfidentaf @yknott81 @panickedpandaposts @magellan-88 @melconnor2007 @cassandras-musings @chipilerendi @learisa @superantonija 

[starlightrows]

The Lady of The House

Pairing: Boba Fett x fem reader

Word Count: 1.4k 

Warnings and Tags: swearing, not a lot of Boba reader interaction, mostly reader just asserting her position as queen

Summary: Two guards, my original characters Tems and Rhys, have been tasked with informing crime boss Boba of an intrusion... but there’s one problem. It’s the middle of the night and he’s currently with his wife sleeping.

AN: Happy Monday! This blog is getting a bouns fic today!

“I don’t wanna go in there Rhys...” Tems said shakily. 

“The boss said he had to be informed immediately if someone was caught trying to break in to the palace, if the alarm on his ship ever tripped, or if the Mand’alor hailed him.... and all three happened over the course of 20 minutes. We have to tell him Tems!” Rhys waved off his patrol partners fretting and made for the handle on the large ornate door leading to Boba Fett’s private chambers “he will feed us to the rankor if we don’t go in there” 

“Look, you’ve only worked here for three lunar cycles. You ever wonder why there was a job open?” Tems grabbed his arm, yanking him back. The Rhys narrowed his eyes, and gave a shake of his head. “You’re all happy to point out the rules the boss has about being informed. But what is the other, number one fucking rule he has?” 

The realization struck him and his eyes went wide, he gave a silent “ohhh” 

Boba Fett’s number one rule, mostly for his business partners, but also his staff: Do not disturb the lady of the house. Boba Fett’s wife.

An unassuming woman, she was kind and gentle, slightly out of place among dangerous and somewhat violent bounty hunters and crime families that frequented the upper halls. She spent most of her days working on fixing the lower levels of the run down palace. She kept to herself, with the notable exceptions of her husband and his loyal bodyguard, Fennec Shand. The rule seemed to be, if she spoke to you, answer respectfully and do as she asks. But if you bother her, get in her way, or insult her... there would be hell to pay. 

“W-what happened to the last guy?” Rhys shifted nervously on his feet. He honestly hadn’t considered why there was a position available when he accepted the job. 

“He barred the lady from entering the throne room when the boss had guests. He didn’t know the guests were there by her request, but that doesn’t make him any less dead right now” Tems told him, looking uncomfortable at the memory. 

“Well we just won’t wake up the lady then” Rhys said “we’ll be really quiet. We’ll only wake up the boss, alright?” 

Tems still wasn’t convinced “Do we both have to go in there?” 

“You’re a fuckin’ coward,” Rhys threw up his hands in exasperation “every second we wait to go in there, the more angry he’ll be that we waited. I’m going in there, you can stand out here like a little bitch if you want to,”

Tems was tempted to throw a punch, this guy had no idea just how dangerous Boba Fett really is, or how scary he could be right after waking up. Nonetheless, he followed as his partner made for the door again. 

The heavy door swung open silently, surprising given how massive it was. The room was dark, lit dimly by the silvery light of the moon coming through the small window high up on the wall. Against the far wall, was an enormous bed where both guards could see their employer sleeping soundly with his wife tucked securely to his bare chest. 

Tems wanted to die. Every step he took deeper into these chambers felt like a step closer to a painful demise. While Rhys was excited, he had never seen any of the residential chambers of the palace. And this one was huge. 

Rhys creeped up to Boba’s side of the bed, while Tems stood awkwardly by the entrance to the chambers. As Rhys approached, reaching out to shake the bosses shoulder, Tems seriously considered making a run for it. Rhys made contact, giving the large scarred shoulder a few good shakes. 

“Sir?” Rhys attempted to whisper. Boba made no movement towards wakefulness, he just continued softly snoring. 

Your eyes flew open and a fearful gasp left your body. You backed up, trying to put distance between yourself and the supposed intruder. 

“Oh my god. No no no no. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry ma’am,” Rhys backed away, hands raised. Tems practically blacked out but stayed frozen in place. 

I’m gonna fuckin die, and it’s all that idiots fault  he thought 

Your eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and you recognized the young guard. You drew the covers up to cover yourself, you felt exposed in your thin nightgown. 

“What are you doing here? These are private rooms” you whispered harshly 

“I-I- I have orders,” Rhys stammered, knees knocking together in fear “To-to get the boss if” Rhys lost his voice. He could not seem to get the words to come out of his mouth 

“Get out,” you whisper “Go back out there and do not move. I will be there shortly,” 

Your tone was authoritative and stern, leaving no room for questioning. Rhys practically sprinted out of the room, dragging a paralyzed Tems with him. The door slammed shut behind them, making them both cringe. 

Tems doubled over, placing his hands on his knees and heaving with labored breath. “Oh by the maker... we’re gonna die. We’re gonna fucking die. I’m gonna be sick. We’re gonna die” 

Rhys was pacing back and forth, hands gripping and pulling his own hair. “Shit shit shit shit shit.... you were right. We’re gonna die,” 

The large door swung open once more, and shut again firmly. Both men snapped their heads towards the direction of the sound of the door closing, awaiting the blaster blot that would surely end their lives. But it didn’t not come. Instead, there you stood, in a long robe tired securely about your waist, arms crossed over your chest. 

“Alright, what’s all this about then?” You asked tiredly. Neither man spoke a word, staring blankly at you. You grew annoyed, and tapped your foot impatiently. 

“Oh for heavens sake!” You exclaimed “He sleeps like the dead when he’s had a glass of wine before bed. He won’t be coming out here to throw you in the rankor pit anytime soon, but if one of you doesn’t speak up I most certainly will,” 

“The Mand’alor hailed for the boss,” Tems said quickly. 

“And the alarm on the bosses ship tripped,” Rhys choked out 

“And a scavenger was caught at the southern entrance trying to get in,” Tems added. You blinked at them in surprise. 

“That’s a lot of information to take in,” you said “Okay gentleman, first things first, has the scavenger been dealt with?”  

“Yes,” Rhys piped up

“Yes ma’am,” Tems avoided your gaze, staring meekly at his own two feet. 

“Lovely, and the ship. What tripped the alarm?” You asked, feeling slightly less angry by being awoken. If anything you felt a little bad for these two. 

“We’re not sure ma’am. The guards in the landing bay couldn’t find anything wrong with the ship, and couldn’t find any intruders,” Rhys said, taking Tems’ cue to use a respectful title when speaking to you 

“So then it can wait until morning for a follow up,” you noted “and the Mand’alor? Did he give a particular reason why he was hailing my husband?” 

“No ma’am, but he said it was important,” Tems supplied 

“Hmm, Djarin is a bit of a drama queen. But if he isn’t hailing repeatedly, or flying here himself, then I’m sure it can also wait until morning,” you mused. Rhys and Tems were visibly shaking with anxiety. 

“Well, if that’s all settled then I would love to back to bed. Goodnight gentleman,” you said turning to go. 

“My lady, I’m sorry” Rhys blurted out. You turned back to look at him. 

“For doing your job?” You asked 

“For disturbing you. For breaking the bosses cardinal rule,” he said “I should have listened to my partner. I shouldn’t have gone into your private chambers,” 

“Your job is to follow the orders you have been given. Protect this palace. And report when circumstances deem it necessary, no matter the time of day,” you stated evenly “you’ve done well. And your loyalty will not go unnoticed by my husband,” 

“Please don’t tell him,” Tems said “please don’t tell him it was us,” 

You cocked an eyebrow at him “I won’t if you truly do not want me to, but tell me why,” 

“My lady if the boss knew we came into your chambers, disrupted your sleep...” Tems shook his head “please don’t tell him my lady, I beg you” 

You heart softened, you forget sometimes how truly frightening your husband could be. And these men were genuinely afraid of his wrath. You nod gently. “You have my word,” 

“Gentleman,” you nodded quietly, slipping back through the door. 

The with door now shut, a heavy silence settled over the palace. Tems still felt violently ill, and Rhys was quite sure the boss would kick down the door any second despite the reassurances of his wife. 

“Rhys?” Tems said 

“Yeah?”

“I fucking hate you,”

[notquitejiraiya]

Chess [3] - {ShikaTema AU}

[Read Part 1 Here], [Read Part 2 Here]

Two updates in two days. I’ve had the time and the drive, so why not? I hope you all enjoy this chapter - it was a LOT of fun to write, to be honest.

Thanks for taking the time to read it. Enjoy!

CHAPTER THREE

“So, how was it?”

Temari threw her bag and keys down on the table and gawked as she saw her younger brother lounging across her sofa. “Kankuro, that’s my lasagna!”

“It was in the freezer,” he laughed back, shovelling the food into his mouth with reckless abandon. He preceded to mumble with his mouthful. “It wasn’t labelled. It’s mine now.” With a gulp, he turned around fully, grinning. “Unless you want it back.”

“As if I want it back.” For the thousandth time today, Temari rolled her eyes. “You have mince in your teeth by the way. God, when did you become so gross?”

“I am not gross. Grab me a beer.” When his sister scowled, the younger man smiled hopefully, adding a feeble, “Please?”

She laughed, shuffling over to the fridge to grab her brother and herself a can each, before lobbing one his way and cracking hers open. “You owe me at least one-pound-fifty for that lasagna. Maybe two-quid.”

“Two quid?” Kankuro seemed offended at the demand, almost snarling. “Two bloody pounds for a medium sized plate of mediocre lasagna? I don’t fucking think so, Tem.”

“The hell do you mean ‘medium sized’ and ‘mediocre’. Piss off you ungrateful sod, it wasn’t even for you.” Temari groaned as she kicked her shoes off and hurled herself over to the sofa next to him. “Where’s Gaara?” She stuck her finger into the tomato sauce on the side of his plate, and immediately Kankuro snatched it away.

“Who cares? Stop eating my lasagna and answer my question.”

“Your lasagna?” she argued, bemused. “No, I don’t bloody think—”

“Oh, just shut up and tell me how your day went.” He turned down the TV, virtually to mute and stared at her. “How was your first batch of weird—”

“Kankuro, don’t,” she warned. “Don’t be a dick; you know they’re not weird.”

He frowned, saddened. “Sorry. It’s just ever since you told me about the guy who came into your uni who said he constantly heard seagulls, it’s hard to think of anything else.”

“I get it, but there’s nothing weird about mental illness,” insisted Temari. Nothing upset her more than when people treated those who’d lost their way or were confused like they were weird, and nothing made her want to punch her little brother more than hearing him make the same sad joke for the thousandth time.

“Okay.” Kankuro placed his plate on the coffee table and sat back. “I’m sorry. But how was it? Anyone interesting?”

“I can’t tell you specifics, Kankuro. It’s utterly against the confidentiality code that comes with the job—”

“No, I know, but I’m asking how you found it.”

“Um,” she faltered, wondering how best to phrase mostly-shit-with-good-moments, without mentioning her undoubtedly favourite patient of the day. “Well, I guess it was okay.”

“Years of training and you guess it was okay?”

“Well, to be honest, Kankuro, I didn’t expect to be shat on and yelled at by the first few of them.” She could see the smile developing on his face, and quickly shot it down with a glare. “No, not literally shat on. You’re such a child.”

“Sorry,” he giggled, reaching back over for his plate. “So it was crap, basically?”

Temari shook her head, taking a long swig from her beer can. “No, no, not completely.” She gave it. “Mostly shit, yes, but with good moments.” Yeah, that really was the only way to get her exact feeling across. “The last three were pretty nice to me, actually. At first I wanted to punch one of them, but that subsided. It’s tough for them, after all—nobody really wants to be there.”

Solemnly, Kankuro nodded. “No, they don’t. It must be especially tough if you’re forced to go. I mean…” He paused for a moment, chewing as he thought. “I’m sure they’re forced out of love, but I can imagine that at first it won’t feel that way.”

With a small giggle, Temari got to her feet and headed for the fridge.

“What?”

She just kept smiling, rooting around the shelves until she found a microwave meal with Kankuro’s name on it. “You’re the one who’s a weirdo.”

“Oi, what? Why?”

“Because one minute you’re being stupidly insensitive, and the next you’re being really empathetic. You really are ‘both a nightmare and a daydream’.” Her grin grew.

“Hey, no!” He winced. “You can’t keep throwing that back at me, okay?”

“Are we teasing him about Ana’s poem again?” sounded a voice from the hallway. “Brilliant.”

“Shut up, Gaara!”

“I certainly won’t, ‘prince of splintering wood’!”

Temari couldn’t bite down on her lip much harder than she was, trying to hold back her laughter.

“It’s not fair. Temari’s last boyfriend wrote her a song, and nobody teased her about that!”

“Yeah,” retorted Gaara, “but it wasn’t actually bad at all.”

“And it was before we split up,” the blonde added, smirking.

Gaara nodded in agreement, blatantly ignoring Kankuro’s desperate hand motions and groans to drop the subject. He’d picked on them enough, and the bitter break-up poem that Kankuro’s ex-girlfriend had written about him provided the pair with their chance to fight back. “Why on earth did she think it was a good idea to write that?”

“And why did she put it up on YouTube?” Temari put her food in the microwave and leant against the counter, arms crossed as she smiled at her youngest brother. “It has like three-thousand views now, you know?”

Kankuro slumped back into his chair, sulking.

“Yeah, I know,” chuckled Gaara. “At least a thousand of those are me.”

She tried to stifle another laugh.

“Tem?”

“Yeah, Gaara?”

“Three-thousand-and-one?”

“Oh, yes, I think maybe we should—”

“Okay, enough!” Kankuro called out, through gritted teeth. “You guys really know how to give it, don’t you?”

The redhead shrugged as he turned his attention to the kitchen table and the fruit bowl in the centre. “As do you, ‘soul with the skin of a conker’.” He played with an apple between his hands. “Ana really didn’t leave anything out did she? She wanted it to be very clear it was you she was talking about.”

“And that you were particularly spiky,” added Temari.

“Tem,” Kankuro pleaded, from his hiding place behind the cushions, “your whole job is to stop people feeling like shit. Got to admit, you’re crap at it.”

“You’re not my patient.”

“No, I’m not. But I am your brother.”

“Exactly.”

Gaara nodded to her and raised his apple up as if to get her attention. “Oh, how was your day then?”

“Clearly not as good as yours,” interrupted their brother, the only person unwelcome to the conversation. “You’re far too cheerful these days. Where’s gloomy old Gaara gone who was too cool and too kind to gang up on his big brother?”

All Temari had to do was clear her throat for him to snap his head in her direction. “After living through so many years of being ganged up on by said big brother, are you really surprised he fights back?”

“Yeah, but he never used to have a sense of humour.”

“Have you considered that maybe after all the weight Dad put on his shoulders lifted that things might’ve got a little bit lighter—easier—for him?”

“He is also stood right here.” Gaara took a bite out of his fruit, uncomfortable with the rising tones of his sibling’s voices.

“I’m sorry,” Temari sighed. “I’m glad you’re free to be how you want now, Gaara.”

“So am I, man; I swear.” His older brother put his thumb up. “I just sometimes miss you being the mediator.”

Temari raised her eyebrows, gasping. “Ooh, Kankuro…big word.”

“Look, I’m not stupid—”

“We know, we know,” she giggled. “After all you earn a heck of a lot more money than we do, and you do manual labour all day—I certainly wouldn’t be up for that. I like my comfy chair, my toffees and my chess matches much better, thank you.”

The microwave, very loudly, screamed ping.

The brothers frowned at her, leaning toward their sister with confusion. “Chess matches?” Kankuro enquired before Gaara could finish his mouthful. “You’re a therapist, or psychiatrist—whatever it is you choose to call it—why were you playing chess?”

Quickly she span around and opened the microwave, hoping the smell of ready-made, packeted curry would wake her brain up; tell her what to say. “Well,” she gulped, “I put a chess board in my office just for show, to be honest. You know I like to play, or at least I used to like to play with Baki—we all did—and I thought it’d make the room look more professional. But I actually played today against one of my patients.”

“And…” Kankuro took a sip of his beer, his eyes trained on her constantly. For the first time he seemed actively interested rather than just polite and supportive for the sake of it.

“And it got him to talk when he otherwise wouldn’t,” she mumbled, smiling faintly.

“Was that the one that—”

“That I wanted to punch at first? Yeah. But he was okay; it’s not his fault.” Kankuro nodded slowly, looking down at his lap. She smiled at Gaara, who looked proudly at her for her efforts, and she felt warm inside—suddenly she felt like she had done well, or at least a good deed for the day. Gaara’s smile, the happy face of her once tiny little brother, always made Temari feel like she was a worthy big sister, and that she’d done a good job. She lifted her can to her lips, taking a sip as she did.

“Was he hot?”

Temari spluttered, almost spitting out the small amount of beer in her mouth. “Kankuro, what the hell?”

“Well,” he shrugged, “you did the girly melty eye thing you do.”

“I did not!” she shouted. “Gaara, tell him I didn’t!”

Feebly, Gaara screwed up his nose and shrugged. “You kinda did. In the same way you do when we see the dog rescue shelter adverts on TV.”

“That’s because I feel sorry for them, not because I think they’re hot for crying out loud!”

“But you do think he’s hot,” Kankuro insisted. “You’re fanning yourself with the tea-towel. You always do that when you’re nervous.”

Damn them for knowing me so well, she thought. But I don’t think he’s that hot. Well, maybe a little bit, but only in that sort of…see it and agree kind of way. He’d my patient it’s not like I’m going to jump him. That’d be totally inappropriate.

“What colour hair does he have?” the youngest brother quizzed. “Dark?”

She silently glared back.

“I’m sorry. I was just wondering.”

Temari let out a massive sigh and pulled a fork from the draw behind her. “Black. Like, really really dark black. And it was in a ponytail, messy. He completely didn’t look in a mirror while he was doing it.”

“Yeah, you’re totally into him.”

“Kankuro!”

“Don’t lie to me,” he shot back, laughing.

“I’m not! He’s a patient; it would be totally inappropriate.” She grumbled and took a bite of her food, drooping her shoulders. When she’d finished her mouthful she sighed, mumbling, “Yes, he’s a handsome guy, but I’m not attracted to him. Like I said, he’s a patient.”

Regretfully, Gaara and Kankuro exchanged a look and dropped the subject, and Gaara strode towards his brother and fell down beside him on the sofa. As she watched them chat about their days between the pair of them, leaving her to eat in peace, she couldn’t help but notice how lucky she was to have such a family: one that cared about her so much they didn’t have to tell her because she already knew. Her siblings really were such an important part of her life, and they’d shaped who she was today.

When she saw Kankuro down the remains of his beer, she flicked open the fridge to check there were eggs and bacon inside for her brother’s fry up the next morning, and immediately she knew what he next question would be for Shikamaru Nara when she saw him again.

No, if she saw him again. It wasn’t certain, after all.

Still, she had an inkling that he wasn’t the same as her; he seemed like an only child. Not in the stereotypical brattish way seen so often, the sad and lonely way that makes you feel like nobody is the same as you. It was something she desperately wanted to know and to understand, because it’s something she would never feel, but felt so sorry that anyone had to. She’d always had her brothers and they’d always had her. No matter what, they always would.

And despite their differences in height, hair colour and even gender, they were the same at heart, because they’d all had the same life growing up to some degree. That was something that bound them to one another that an only child, one as alone and miserable Shikamaru, hadn’t the chance to feel.

Nothing seemed sadder to Temari, than the thought of such loneliness. Because despite, how they’d changed and how they drove each other up the wall, nobody understood her like her brothers did, and nobody ever would. To be without them, even with all the friends in the world, would leave her companionless in that special way.