#ok enough tangents. bye now.

[itissadbutitsmy-artblog]

of all the things to turn into a ridiculous (cleaned up) long comic (i have PLENTTYY of sketched long comics) i chose: spader skips class

i still dont know how to panel comics but that s what practicing is. for

[vicioussickle]

I thought of this while honestly laughing at a gif of vah rudania in aoc before it smashes the ground and the like let me just

Like the build of it anticipation before it goes down is funny to me idek my brain is fried. I never rly noticed it while playing but the gif looping over n over I do now…

I was thinking tho it would be an interesting idea if groups of sheikah left to live among each region and learn the culture, temperament and temperature (literally vah ru is in a volcano.), geography etc all the things you need to know about a region to feel it out… then they would begin construction on each divine beast to suit region, since they all work in tandem with each pilot (and the sages wherever they fall ??) abilities.

They were helping the people and advancing society and creating sustainability and self sufficiency… I think that’s really why the king who banished it all began to fear them… “imagined sheikah betrayal”… I wonder why he imagined such a thing… A threat to his power? Maybe this king wasn’t of hylia’s bloodline either but for the sake of serving hylia and by extension all her creatures and the land - since they are all the shadow of the hylians - (oot, 1998) they still lended their help… after all… the true ones would come in time… the rightful heirs of the throne ⚔️ they know.

It is why I made T’ah Shaa self sacrificing and refuse to bend the knee… which would later go on to inspire the yiga clan blahblah my fiction. Similarly so, the monks who chose to practice sokushinbutsu…

Sheikah have always done things covert and inexplicably… THEIR DOMAIN IS THE SPIRIT REALM. Other than the shadow temple being a literal crypt, Twilight princess makes this so clear with the howl stones having their eye… Magic Songs passed down from oot link himself he learned from sheik on hylia’s harp… takes him to the spirit realm. It’s all connected 🔄 they come and go and go and come 🔄 always watching…

[shipcestuous-two]

Fallout (spoilers!)

@bourbonthesecond: The new Fallout show has canon incest. The lead has been fooling around with her cousin but breaks it off for an arranged marriage. It's apparently enough of a feature in Vault life that they have laws against it but it seems to be fairly culturally accepted. He's heartbroken and rebounds with her best friend.

Anon:  I imagine you must have gotten a number of asks about this by now but!! I just watched the Fallout show with my partners and I'm not over the canonical cousin-incest that takes place in Vault 33 lmao. Episode 1 has characters casually talking about fooling around with their cousins as kids (before moving on to "real" relationships for the sake of procreation), and the protagonist's cousin is openly in love with her. She turns him down, but to me they felt like that had more chemistry than she did with her actual love interest lol.

I really enjoyed Fallout (a couple things about it make me scratch my head but I enjoyed the ride either way) and I’ve seen it twice now. 

It’s clear that, at least in Vault 33, fooling around with your cousin is no big deal. I’m not familiar with the games, so help me out here if you know for sure, but the vaults seem to have 100-200 people if they’re full. While I can see how that would lend itself to cousins fooling around, from lack of selection, it’s also not like there wasn’t anyone else she could be with. 

Lucy states that her reproductive organs are intact and she maintains good hygiene, but she hasn’t been able to find a suitable marriage partner in their vault. 

So, except for Chet being her cousin, and she agrees that cousins shouldn’t have children together, she considers him a suitable marriage partner. (Given their limited gene pool, cousins really shouldn’t be having children together in that context, probably. But how long before they’re all cousins anyway? Maybe it’s a pointless delaying of the inevitable.)

She tells her friend Steph that after ten years of “cousin stuff”, she’s ready for the real thing. It’s unclear if she and Chet were having sex, it kind of sounds like they weren’t doing the kind of stuff that could have gotten her pregnant. But ten years! That’s a long time. 

This whole thing was a little strange, because it’s played for laughs, but there’s just a little more to it than that. Chet is in love with Lucy, it wasn’t just fooling around for him. And Lucy says that everyone knows he’s in love with her. No one cares about that either, but they all follow the rule that she and Chet can’t marry. So that was interesting point #1. Interesting point #2 is that Chet is one of the main characters in the Vault 33. He’s secondary character overall. He could have easily just been a throw away character never mentioned again. Interesting point #3 is that Chet being in love with Lucy gets mentioned again, a couple of episodes later. In a rather sad way, when Norm suggests that Chet came with him to investigate Vault 32 because he’s still in love with Lucy and being with Norm reminds him of Lucy. It’s like, ok, make me cry. Why is this so sad!

While it isn’t discussed explicitly after that, it’s pretty clear that Chet isn’t happy with Steph. For more than one reason, but probably mainly because he’s still in love with Lucy. 

I assume, given the circumstances, that Chet is the maternal cousin of Lucy and Norm. While Chet and Norm spent quite a few scenes together, I didn’t like that they never referenced that they were cousins, too. This is a tangent, but when Chet was sent to live in Vault 32, Norm called him a coward instead of being like, “Bye, Cousin. I’ll miss you!” But I think he was just bad at showing that he felt abandoned and that now he would be alone with all of his questions. But what I’m really getting at is that Norm had lost his mother, his father, and Lucy, and then his cousin gets sent to live in the other vault and they’ll only see each other every three years, if even. 

I also wanted to note that Norm calls Chet a coward, which was really hypocritical since we know Norm feels guilty about hiding during the big fight, but which also isn’t fair because when Lucy wanted to go to the surface, Chet wanted to go with her and she had to drug him to stop him. 

I really can’t believe that the show has a tortured canon cousins relationship, with sympathetic unrequited love and the two of them forbidden from marrying. 

While of course Lucy has a canon love interest on the surface and likely won’t be back to Vault 33 anytime soon, it is kind of fun that her arranged marriage, her “real thing” ended up being a man who tried to kill her. It’s like, Chet is looking pretty good right now, isn’t he? 

[loserchildhotpants]

I just wanna say, I ADORE your fic “What Used to be Mine”. I reread it whenever I just need to feel a cathartic ache and relief. So I have a numbered list of thoughts that have popped into my head each time I do:

the title is a reference to is a reference to the “Healing Incantation” from Tangled, right? Have you seen any of the animated series? Because it’s set post Movie and there’s a “Decay Incantation” (something something every light has a shadow etc) that makes me think of Dean in this fic, and how he’s mentions he realized he was “rotting” in his room. The Incantation goes “Wither and decay, End this destiny, Break these earthly chains, And set the spirit free, The spirit free” * so…yeah, in my head he’s been chanting this at himself the whole fic basically haha ☹️ (also the healing spell is a bit more…selfish? And the decay spell is more…sweeping/broad? “Give back what’s mine vs Set it Free” hmmm 🤔)

Also with the title, it makes me think of “She Used to be Mine” from the musical Waitress, it’s a lament of the titular Waitress (who loves baking pies for her diner and that’s the only positive thing she has left she at this point) over the loss of who she used to be, how life and her job and her dirt bag abusive leech of a husband have drained the life and vitality from herself. She’s mourning the person she was, that she considers separate and dead from herself now, but the issue is she’s pregnant now and she doesn’t know what to do, so she’s singing to her unborn baby (the line “…but now I got you. You’re not what I asked for” is to the baby) that, “that old me would have been a good mom to you, but not me” and a faint hope maybe this will situation will make her try and not just accept her life now. I don’t know that Dean has ever liked himself enough to be nostalgic for who he used to be but it does give me Dean&Jack feelings, maybe the nostalgia for old Dean was a Dean that has an alive Cas, that Dean could have been good to Jack. But if we make the “you’re not what I asked for” more general could be Dean to Cas (especially in like a 2014 Dean to say a later canon Cas… maybe a AU where Dean does die post Soul Bomb and that Cas meets a 2014 Dean that survived Samifier?) sorry tangent lol

I adore your Garth and I like to imagine post fic a lovely gentle family supper with Cas meeting Cas jr and Garth being so very happy to see Dean doing better. And that they do those suppers at least once a month as a reward for Garth doing all he could to keep Dean doing, all his favorite people in his pack sharing a meal

a) Speaking of post fic and the people looking after Dean, I do wonder about Sam once he finally learns Dean is alive and so is Cas. Either we get our patented Emotional Bro Moment ™ and slow path to healing. Or like, Sam sees Dean is alive and ok and so is Cas and Sam, who I assume has been feverishly hunting for Dean 24/7 since he ran away, is like, “you good Dean? Cas you staying with him? Ok I’m going to the Bahamas for a month talk later bye” and 4 b) does Sam ever find out just HOW bad off Dean was when Cas found him or is that just between Cas and Dean?

I adore just how NEEDY Dean is for Cas once he’s back and ooohh delightful co-dependency and it’s just so so Dean. I like to imagine he gets better about needing Cas touching at all time but he’s still always clingy. And that he sometimes just NEEDS as close as possible (nightmares, post a dangerous situation, Cas got away from Dean in the grocery store for too long, etc) and maybe Cas is like, “Dean if I could I’d be as close as possible all the time but unless I possess you I won’t be able to do [x]” and Deans like “…yes”. Because what could be closer? Maybe not full time and Dean likes Cas’s body a LOT but maybe as a sometimes thing Dean needs to feel Cas in every cell of his body and soul AND go to the post office/interview someone for a hunt (if Dean ever does hunt again even occasionally) so Cas hops into his body for an internal bear hug since he can’t do so externally without people lookin’ funny as they shuffle along

I might remember other things but again! love this fic so much! Sorry for rambling so much!

❤️❤️❤️

*vid of the Decay incantation here https://youtu.be/_jZ6LTmyW6U?si=8tSj36trhI5H-7uP (here they found the new Incantation and are like, what does it do/can we use it to defeat [insert big bad here]? And this is the result oops. There are even more Incantations but they have SPOILERS, as it’s about 2 different powers (Sun Drop/Moon Stone) struggling for balance etc etc it’s a 3 season show with LORE and it’s vry good. The LORE around the Moon Stone is why Rapunzel has her long hair back because she touched some magic moon stuff and the her hair grew back and…)

Oh! I wasn’t the only one to connect “She used to be mine” to Dean, here

It works very well it turns out!

But as a bonus question, do you think there’s a version of Dean that the Dean at the end of the show would nostalgically think was “good enough” for Cas? As like another denial tactic, where Dean of now is like, “yeah Cas loves me and I love him but as I exists now I don’t deserve him like I would have before I [pre Hell, before Dean was Jack's John Winchester (even temporarily), Pre Michael, Pre Divorce arc, etc], but now I just gotta stay just friends for his own good”.

Thanks again for writing a fic like “What used to be mine” that gets my brain whirring and my heart fluttering

+++

Hello, anon!!

Tumblr isn't letting me format this answer at all, which is super fun and has been just a joy to repeatedly struggle w! I'm gonna try to keep my points short since this is a v long post lol

Firstly, your meta is v cool and i hate to disappoint you, What Used to Be Mine was chosen arbitrarily as the title bc it was on the mood playlist I made while writing the fic, and then i was struggling for a title, opened the playlist, and it was the first song title i saw (and yes, it's the version from the Broadway show lol)

I love Garth, he's under-utilized T A T

As for the reunion scene, I've actually thought a lot about this. Tbh i'm bad at being succinct lol and I just knew that if I *wrote* the reunion scene, it'd be another 20k words, and I had too many WIPs going on at the time to dedicate energy and time to that.

In my mind, I think the reunion would be complicated. I don't think Dean and Cas would tell Sam how bad it got - Dean runs away, in part, to protect Sam from seeing him at his absolute lowest. He's parentified and wouldn't want to put that on Sam. So, I think ultimately, Sam would be told that he doesn't need to worry about the why or how, just be glad Cas is home and Dean is okay, and he'd be reluctant at first, and then kinda pissed off.

What he dealt with, with Dean in that fic, was emotionally exhausting. And then he was kind of abandoned. Being told to just shut up and smile wouldn't go over well w Sam, and it might take Garth's intervention to smooth things over, and remind Sam why it's a bad idea to poke at wounds like that, and to just let Dean have his privacy. With how codependent Dean and Sam are, i think it would just make Sam v angry that he's being shut out of the conclusion of MONTHS of agony for them both, but he'd eventually, gradually, release the resentment he might feel over it.

I like to think the Cas/Dean reunion scene in What Used to be Mine is a reflection of how they met in Hell; Dean not believing it, then fighting it out of fear or realizing he's being saved and not wanting to be, and then finally acceptance and surrender -- the neediness at the end i meant more to be... idk. like. upsetting? it's Dean at his most fearful and his most repentant. everything's always disappearing on him, people and opportunities and he felt what it was like to have even the memory of Cas stolen from him, so that moment, when he's sobbing and on his knees and clawing at Cas to get closer, it's more a sad, animal reaction than what i imagine as Dean being needy. but also i get what you're describing and i love needy!Dean in fic lol

im not entirely sure i understand what your last question is, but if im understanding it; i am sure a post-canon AU argument could be made for Dean circumventing any romance w Cas bc he feels undeserving, that's v in-character tbh. Dean's self-hatred is integral to a lot of plot on spn lmao it would stand to reason that Dean could, in theory, work through the shock and fear of being attracted to Cas, feeling that intensely for his best friend, who is a supernatural AND guy-shaped, and he might even accept all those things and come to the conclusion that he reciprocates romantic love, and then self-sabotage bc he's self-punishing. That absolutely tracks

I'm so so so so so glad you enjoyed What Used to be Mine!!!! ; u ; it means so much to me when folks talk to me abt my fics like this, i love seeing meta and talking abt the details and what-if's!! i hope i answered all your questions :333 feel free to send more any time u wanna talk abt any of my fics!! this really brightened my day ; u ;

[rnf-central]

Mario Wonder Direct Thoughts...continued.

Ok...where were we? The Badges right. I think the most interesting thing about the Badges is how to acquire them. It seems you can get them through a variety of mean, but the simplest is just buying them. If you'll recall the Wonder Flower (the glowing flower that transforms the level) also gives you a new purple currency. It seems certain shops in the Flower Kingdom can take them for things like Badges as well as some other stuff. It seems you can even get Wonder Seeds from shops. Wonder Seeds are what you collect after activating the Wonder Flower, and after beating a level. You need them to unlock certain levels. And oh my God! I know we talked about the levels already, but those overworlds. They look so nice! It also contains open areas with a collection of levels that you can play in any order. But I know what we're all...wondering. ha ha. Who is the villa-It's Bowser. Like what the fuck did you expect? It may be new and fresh, but it's still a Mario game. Yeah Bowser wants the Wonder Flower who cares, blah blah. But Multiplayer! That's what we want. Local Multiplayer is the same as always. 4 Players. Assumingly it's as chaotic as always. Though I still haven't seen someone pick another player up. So help me god if that's been removed. Anyway, one thing I can say for sure that is disappointing is sharing a life counter. I don't know. It's not a big deal, I just prefer when each player has their own. But either way I'm sure it'll be as fun as ever. They've perfected multiplayer in Mario Wii, 14 years ago. I'm sure even if it's not my favorite it'll still be good. Baseline minimum. So what else do I have to say? I mean I rambled on so long it's taken me 2 posts to get all my thoughts out. I mean there was some new enemies. They seem fun. We saw more of the Wonder Flower stuff. We didn't get much new info, but did see some more of the wacky ways it changes the levels. Honestly, it just looks like a fun time. I can't wait to get my grubby fingers on this game. If you're interested I will probably stream it, or do an LP on it in some way. I'm super excited for this. It's really been a while since I've felt this excited for a new 2D Mario. Like...Ugh. October 20th can't get here soon enough. Well the Pokemon DLC will hopefully keep me satiated. There was a lot in this direct, and I'm sure I missed something. I mean we never mentioned Prince Florian. Not much to say though. He's the prince of the Flower Kingdom. Nice to have a prince instead of a princess like usual I guess. Though I saw a lot of theories the Flower Kingdom would be connected to Daisy somehow even though it's not Sarasaland. I was kinda hopeful it'd be like a sub shoot of Sarasaland in some way and we'd be able to finally explore the area in a game that doesn't look like...well, a Gameboy launch title. But I always knew it wasn't likely. Womp Womp. But yeah let's end this now. It's gone on long enough and I talked about everything that really caught my eye. Though again, I may of missed some things. So let me know what you guys think of the direct. And what parts you're the most excited for. Thanks for reading my long tangent. I love you all and hope you have an excellent day. Buh-bye!

[ratwhowrites]

Goodbyes are Hard

Alright, posting this again. Hope y’all enjoy it. Next one I post will be the Iris Remi fic.

60 seconds

Ren’s eye was focused on the clock in front of him, impatiently tapping his foot in time with the second hand of the clock. The teacher droned on, his words going in one ear and out the other. Ren gave up trying to understand the class work, tuning out the remainder of the lesson.

40 seconds

“C’mon, c’mon..” Ren mumbled. He became more restless, his fidgeting became harder to control. His foot was tapping a lot faster as his fingers drummed aggressively on the desk.

20 seconds

The eyepatch clad teenager was already reaching for his backpack, despite the teacher’s instructions to wait until he dismisses them. He always hated that rule. He slipped one strap over his shoulder, ready to jump from his seat and take off. If only the clock would move faster.

5 seconds

The teacher was still talking. Ren already began to stand up, gripping his notebook tightly so as to not drop it. The bell had already rung but the teacher continued to talk. As soon as he dismissed the class, Ren bolted out the door, heading to the theatre building where his older brother stood waiting.

“Come on! We gotta run!” Nathan joked, speed walking away. Ren jogged to keep up, already panting from previously running. They hurried to Nathan’s car, Ren quickly tossing his things in the trunk before hopping into the passenger seat.

“And now we’re trapped.” Nathan remarked, gesturing to the line of cars trying to exit the school parking lot.

“I’m sorry! Anderson held us back just to squeeze in one last example! Can you believe that? It’s bullshit!” Nathan chuckled at Ren’s angry rant.

“Oh by the way, here’s your fidget cube thingy. You left it in my car again,” Ren takes the cube and fiddles with it, which made a satisfying click with each movement.

“But yeah, that guy always went on tangents. Makes me glad I don’t have him anymore,” He handed his younger brother his phone. “What do you want to listen to?” Ren bore a mischievous smile on his face as he typed something in. It wasn’t until the car’s speakers were blaring the Mary Poppins musical soundtrack did Nathan realize why. He feigned a groan of annoyance.

“Haven’t you had enough of Mary Poppins? We just finished the show!” Ren giggled, nodding his head to Practically Perfect.

“Never! The songs are too good! Favorite song from the show, go!” Nathan paused to think for a moment before responding.

“Definitely Precision and Order.” Nathan hummed as they drove, enjoying each song that came on. Ren felt content, just sitting there. His brother was always fun to hang out with. He dreaded when the ride would stop.

“How on earth did these kids get their licenses?” Nathan sighed as another car cut off the car in front of him. Ren raised an eyebrow and turned to his brother, chuckling.

“You sounded like mom just then.” Nathan’s face contorted into an expression of disgust.

“Ew, how could you?”

Neither boy were very fond of their mother. And for a moment they drove in silence, the cheerful music no longer provided a distraction from their destination. Ren skimmed over his notebook, trying to find something else to think about. Before they knew it, they had arrived at the familiar building. The salon appeared to be busy at the moment as all the seats in the waiting area were taken. Ren sighed and unbuckled his seat belt.

“Are you gonna come in and say hi?” Nathan scoffs at that.

“And spoil my good mood? I think not. I’d rather go to work in a good mood thank you.”

“…. She talks about you a lot. I think she misses you.” Ren mumbles, hugging his notebook. He wanted to stay in the car as long as he could.

“Not likely but that’s a nice thought I guess,” Nathan sighs. He unlocks the doors and ruffles Ren’s hair. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow ok? I did promise I’d take you to the bookshop. See you tomorrow kiddo.” Ren smiles as he exits the car and grabs his bag.

“Bye! See you tomorrow!” Ren walks into the salon, greeted by the ladies working. His mother walks out from the back room, not even glancing at him.

“You’re late.”

“I know.”

Ren wishes that he could’ve stayed in the car. He would rather be hanging out with Nathan than sitting in the back of the salon, waiting for his mother to finish work.

He didn’t realize that would be the last time he ever saw his brother.

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

Remedy – Howlin’ For You – One Shot

Description: Bucky finds out some news regarding his baby sister. 

Word Count: 2,500

Howlin’ For You - Masterlist

Read the series or you will not know what the fuck is happening.

Bucky awoke to the sound of his phone vibrating on the nightstand.

He unwrapped his arms from Y/N’s body, which unfortunately caused her to slightly wake up as well.

Bucky was used to receiving phone calls in the middle of the night. It was one of the side effects of being the leader of a biker gang that often enforced acts of vigilantism.

But it wasn’t a Howlie whose named flashed on his screen brightly.

“Buck?” Y/N mumbled, still half asleep.

“Everything’s fine, doll. Go back to sleep,” he whispered to her and gave her cheek a kiss for good measure before shifting out of bed with his cell.

He quietly closed Y/N’s bedroom door and made his way downstairs to talk privately in her living room.

“What is it Agent Stark?” Bucky nearly growled.

“That’s Director Stark now, actually.”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed into a glare, despite Tony not being able to see it. “Yeah, I heard you got a promotion after nearly getting Y/N killed.”

“Yep...almost got you killed, too.”

“What do you want?”

“Listen, I’m breaking a lot of protocols calling you right now…”

“Do you remember the part where you called me? I didn’t call asking for any favors. But I have a feeling you’re about to ask me for one…”

“No. No favors this time. This…uhh…this is family business.”

Bucky stopped pacing and waited.

“I figured you deserved to know.” Tony hesitated. “Heinz Kruger – friends called him Hank.”

Bucky’s blood went cold and all his movements froze. He hadn’t heard that name in years. And he hoped he never would.

It was the name of Rebecca’s ex-boyfriend. To be precise, the one Bucky almost murdered with his bare hands once he found out he was abusing his baby sister.

Tony cleared his throat, knowing he had Bucky’s full attention now. “He was found dead in his apartment this morning. They’re declaring it a homicide.”

“Am I on the list of possible suspects?” That was his first question. 

It would make sense. Becca had a restraining order against Hank. Bucky had a reputation for hurting people. It wouldn’t take a genius to put two and two together and suspect that the big, scary, older brother wanted revenge.

“Well, that’s the thing. I asked around, and you’ve already been crossed off the list. You were at a diner with Y/N last night, weren’t you?”

Bucky hated that he knew that. “Yeah.”

“On top of that, they’ve traced your presence through multiple security cameras. You were almost a hundred miles away from the scene of the crime. On top of that, the rest of your crew seems to be spotted at their usual bar…all accounted for.”

“Why do you sound so surprised, Stark?”

“I’m not surprised that it wasn’t the doing of the Howling Commandos. I’m surprised because it seems like whoever did to it wanted to make sure none of you could be framed for the job.”

Bucky was now just as perturbed as Tony.

“I know you’ve wanted the asshole dead for years. I figured – I don’t know – she would get some kind of relief knowing that he could never hurt her again.”

Then Bucky felt guilty for giving Tony such a hard time. Yes, he was bitter still about what happened. But at the end of the day, he knew Tony was a good man and always had the right intentions. He didn’t have to reach out and give him this news. But he thought he was doing Bucky a favor…and he owed him a lot.

“Thanks for calling, Stark.” Bucky finally put his pride aside.

Tony was silent for a moment. “How’s that girl of yours doing?”  

“She’s…umm…she’s doing alright,” Bucky could at least give him that, couldn’t he?

“I’m glad. Tell her I said hi…but I have a feeling you won’t do that.”

“Bye, Tony.”

Bucky looked around the dark house after he hung up. Only one lamp was turned on in his rush to pick up the phone call.

He didn’t think he could go to back to bed. There wasn’t sleep in the cards for him tonight. If he went back now, Y/N would sense his tension and wouldn’t sleep until she figured out what had upset him.

He’d let her sleep.

The rest of his night consisted of him drinking whiskey and trying to wrap his mind around the information Stark had just given him.

—————

The next morning, Bucky marched into the shop on a mission. 

Usually everyone messed around first thing in the morning, just trying to wake up before their days really started. But everyone saw that Bucky was a little off and all watched him carefully as he made his entrance.

“Nat, can I see you in the office?”

She looked around at the rest of the crew, but nodded and followed Bucky up the metal stairs to his private office.

“What’s going on?” She asked after she closed the door.

“I need you to track someone down for me. No following. Just get me a location and I’ll handle the rest.”

She shrugged. Easy enough. “Sure, Buck. Just give me the name.”

Bucky finally looked at her as he hesitated to give the only information she needed.

He quickly aborted her gaze and sat down. “Grant Ward.”

She opened her mouth.

“Nat, please…no questions,” Bucky quickly cut off her opportunity. “Just get me his location. Got it?”

“Of course.”

—————

Bucky was working on a bike in the garage behind his house when he heard her footsteps.

She didn’t bother to wait for a greeting. She knew that he knew she was there. And so, she plopped herself down on the couch in the garage.

“Bad day?” She asked.

He finally looked up at her, but kept working on the bike. “Not exactly.”

“You’ve been off all day,” Y/N pointed out. “Seems to have started with that mysterious phone call you got last night.”

Bucky looked up at her and gave her a stern look. “Y/N…” He warned.

This was her cue. The cue that she was close to getting too involved in Howlie business. Bucky had this talk with her awhile ago. There were just some things he couldn’t tell her. It was to keep her safe, keep her conscious clean.

“I know,” she replied. “I can just tell when things are heavier.”

He tilted his head. “Heavier?”

She nodded. “It’s like there’s this invisible weight on your shoulders.” Then she sighed. “Listen, I know there are things you can’t tell me. But I also know that you can’t carry it all alone all the time.”

Bucky gave her a shy grin after her little tangent.

“What?” She asked with pure innocence.

He got up from his kneeling position next to the bike and slowly walked to her as he cleaned the grease off his hands.

Then he leaned down to kiss Y/N, which she happily accepted.

“I love you, you know that?” He asked her.

“Mhmm,” she hummed as she smiled up at him. She stole another kiss.

He sat down on the couch and maneuvered her body so she was sitting in his lap.

“I gotta go out of town tomorrow night,” he told her.

Y/N tried to read his face, but nodded reluctantly. “Who’s going with you?”

“No one. Just me.”

“Well, what about Steve? He always at least–”

“Can’t. It’s just gotta be me, doll.”

She opened her mouth to argue further.

“I know you don’t like the idea of me going anywhere alone. I know it worries you. But it’s just something I gotta do, OK?”

Y/N was quiet for a moment, thinking it all over.

“Is it dangerous?” She finally asked.

“I don’t think so.” He wanted to say ‘no,’ but he learned the hard way that he couldn’t always promise safety in this life. He didn’t want to lie to her, even by accident.

———————

Bucky had been driving his motorcycle for hours. He’d have to drive through the night to make it back home before tomorrow started. But he was willing to do it, knowing that Y/N would be worrying for less time.

He was coming up to his location soon.

The bar was lined with dozens of motorcycles, already telling him what type of place this was and who it was meant for.

Bucky took of his helmet and shook out his hair. He knew it was probably a mess from being stuck under such restrictions for such a long time. So he threw it in a messy bun low on his neck.

When he walked in, he was immediately eyed by the patrons. It was expected. The Howlies do the same thing at their places, weary of strangers and newcomers.

Bucky knew he would find him here. Nat assured him that he had been seen at this exact bar 3 days in a row.

Bucky’s gaze went across the room, looking for the familiar face.

He didn’t find the face, but did find the back of his head.

The seats on either side of him at the bar were wide open, giving Bucky a perfect opportunity to slide right on in.

From the way he reacted to Bucky sitting next to him, it was almost like he expected him to come.

“Barnes,” he greeted lowly without taking his eyes off of his drink.

“Ward,” Bucky replied cooly before ordering a whiskey from the bartender.

“Figured you’d find me eventually,” Ward sighed.

“Yeah, well, Nat could find could probably work for the CIA if she wanted to…”

Ward finally turned to face him. “You here to turn me in or something?”

Bucky chuckled and thanked the bartender as she handed him his drink. He took a sip before he said, “No. I’m not here to do that.”

“Then why the hell are you here, Barnes?”

Bucky rubbed his face. A part of him didn’t want to do this still. But he had to silence that part before it could control him.

“I came here to thank you.”

Ward scoffed and shook his head. “You think I did it for you?”

“No, I know I had nothing to do with it.”

“Does…” Ward cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “Does she know yet?”

“No, I didn’t tell her. Steve said he…it’s better that he tells her than me. He’s going over there tonight to talk to her.”

Ward nodded.

“I’m mostly just wondering why…” Bucky thought aloud.

“Why?” Ward challenged.

“Yeah, why did you do it?”

Ward was silent for a moment.

“I know I broke her heart. But the worst part was what I drove her toward after I did that.” He shook his head. “You should’ve killed him when you had the chance. After what he did to Becs…” His words died out.

It was then that Bucky realized tears had formed in Grant’s eyes. But the biker managed to control his emotions. 

“After all the shit went down with Hydra, all I was left with was each of my mistakes and regrets. And…she’s the biggest one.” He rubbed the scruff around his mouth. “I just wanted to do something good for once in my life. And if I was gonna do that… I was gonna do it for her.”

Ward turned his head to Bucky. “How did you manage it? How did you manage to have it all? You got the Howlies, your family, your girl.. you got it all.”

Bucky sighed and took a sip of his drink. “I don’t know, man. I ask myself that fucking question every damn day.” Then he looked at Ward with a frown. “But I do know that I put them before myself. I choose them over me. And we both know that’s not what you did.”

Ward nodded, knowing he deserved that. “I envy you. I didn’t want to admit that.” He shrugged. “But fuck it. I do envy you.”

Bucky downed the rest of his drink and stood up.

Ward turned to fully face him. “I’m not going back to her... you know, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I know you’re not,” Bucky answered.

Because they both knew that Grant wasn’t good enough for Rebecca. There was a time where he could’ve been. But he threw that chance away when he joined Hydra and broke Rebecca’s heart.

“You’ll look after her, won’t you? Like you always do?” Grant didn’t know why he had to ask. Maybe he just needed Bucky to know that he still cared about her.

Bucky looked at him before nodding his head.

Then he tipped his head, “Ward.”

He did the same, “Barnes.”

————-

Steve watched Rebecca’s face as she processed the news.

She blinked a few times before her eyes glazed over in tears.

What was she meant to feel?

Happiness?

Relief?

Sadness?

Guilt?

Steve reached over and gripped her hand, reminding her that he was there for her.

“What are you thinking?” He asked gently.

She opened her mouth to answer, but then changed her mind and quickly closed it.

“Rebecca, there’s no right answer.”

“I’m…There’s a part of me that’s relieved. Despite knowing Bucky and you and the rest of the Howlies would never let him near me again, there was always a voice in the back of my head that was telling me he was still going to find a way to hurt me.”

She swallowed, realizing her throat was dry. “But I’m also sad because I know that even now that he’s dead…that voice isn’t going to go away. It’s always going to be there.”

Then her tears started falling. “And I’m mad…I’m mad because he turned me into a person who’s happy that someone is dead, that someone was murdered. I don’t want to be that person, Steve.”

He pulled her into him then, wrapping his arms around her protectively. “You’re not a bad person, Rebecca. You’re so much more than what he did to you. It’s barely even a tiny piece of you.”

Steve let her cry it out. Meanwhile he rubbed her back and let her know she was going to be OK.

When she finally freed herself from his grasp, she got caught in his eyes.

Those baby blue eyes that she’s known her whole life.

Before they could mesmerize her like they did when they were younger, she moved further away from him on the couch.

If Steve noticed, he pretended not to.

They weren’t those innocent teenagers anymore. They’d both lived multiple lives since then.

When they were younger, Rebecca could never figure out if she had a crush on Steve or she just didn’t know what it felt like for a boy to treat her kindly.

But none of that mattered anyway, Steve had never looked at Rebecca in any way other than the little sister he never had. That didn’t mean he loved her any less. Because he did love her.

She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Thank you, Steve…for telling me.”

“I know it doesn’t fix everything, but I told Bucky you deserved to know.”

Rebecca nodded. “Things are never going to go back to how they used to be, I know that.” She gave him a shy smile. “But maybe it’s a start.”

-------

Maybe all of you will hate this since Y/N really isn’t in it that much. But whatever. I wrote what I wanted to write. 

[threeletterslife]

01 | Redefining Destiny

→ next chapter

→ summary: You were convinced you were in love with him. A former member of the mafia in the states, that is. It was true love. Destiny. Until one day you wake up with a memory lapse; then that love is replaced with hatred. The thought of marriage is substituted with revenge. If your love with Jeon Jungkook really was destiny, you’d fall head over heels in love again. But if only he weren’t such a hot, goading asshole. 

→ pairing/rating: jungkook x reader | PG-13

→ genre: 70% fluff, 25% crack, 5% angst | e2l!au & soulmate!au

→ warnings: none??? (ok fine JK thinks ‘shit’ once but that doesn’t really count)

→ wordcount: 3.4k

Sweat slowly trickles down the back of Jungkook's neck as he stands behind the fiery heat of the burger grill. He's been gripping the metal spatula for so long that there's an angry red dented mark in his right hand. The greasy smell of oil from the french fries has penetrated through his nose for hours now; at this point, he has no other choice but to breathe sparingly through his mouth. God, he hates working overtime.

But he desperately wants to provide for you financially, and working overtime at his local burger joint was just one small step closer to financial stability when you both graduate. It's the least he can do for you.

Jungkook adjusts his red hat, which is part of his work uniform and checks the clock hanging on the wall. Ten minutes and he's out of here. He can definitely take this hot, stuffy kitchen for ten more minutes. He's been through a lot worse in his life; in comparison, this was nothing.

Ten minutes pass painstakingly slowly, but once the clock strikes 10 p.m., Jungkook pushes the spatula into his co-worker's hands and dashes out of the kitchen, grabbing his casual clothes from his corner at the back and rushing into the restroom to change. He hates the greasy, fast-food smell that clings onto his work clothes even more than you do.

And today's supposed to be a special day. Normally after a late shift, Jungkook likes to go home and lay in bed with you as you stroke his soft hair until he falls asleep. But today is definitely a special day.

When Jungkook comes out of the bathroom wearing his normal black jeans and an oversized hoodie, he sees his long-time friend Yoongi waving at him in a corner seat of the parlor. Jungkook smiles, rushing over to slide into the seat across from his friend.

"Hey," Yoongi says. "Just finished your shift?"

"Yeah," Jungkook answers.

"How was it?"

"It was okay," Jungkook lies. "It's bearable. And it's extra money."

"It's been a while since we got to meet up like this, huh?" Yoongi sighs. "How are you holding up?"

"Since..." Jungkook whispers.

Yoongi nods. "It's been nearly two years, Jungkook, but I know how much you miss them... or him."

Jungkook nods solemnly. Yoongi's right. It has been nearly two years since the Crescents collapsed and everyone but Jungkook was murdered on the spot. He's been having nightmares about that night ever since it had happened. Nightmares about his best friend... Taehyung... He shudders just thinking about it.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Yoongi says. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for it."

"It's really fine," Jungkook says, shaking his head. "It's not a big deal... I just miss Tae once in a while. It doesn't always plague my thoughts," he lies. "Besides, I have Y/N, you know?"

Yoongi nods, smiling. "You lost a loved one so the universe brought you another."

But Jungkook doesn't think anyone could become the Taehyung of his life—not even you, though he loves you more than mere words can describe.

"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you, Jungkook," Yoongi says, leaning forward in his seat and grinning. He's trying to lighten up the mood; Jungkook can tell. "My wife's pregnant!"

"Really?" Jungkook gasps, his eyes turning wide as he stares at his proud-looking friend. Well, this was news that he hadn't expected at all. "Wow, congratulations!" He really means it.

"I dunno about congratulations, but I am pretty glad I'm finally going to be a father," Yoongi hums. "Except that child is hoarding my wife's attention. And I'm kinda nervous," he sighs. "A lot of pressure to be a perfect example now..."

Jungkook nods. "I can imagine. But you'll be a great father."

His friend smiles. "Thanks. That means a lot. Anyways, how's school been going?" Yoongi asks, resting his head on his propped up hand. "I know you were kinda worried because of the age gap and everything..."

Yoongi's right. It wasn't easy to start up school again after neglecting to go to college in his early adult years. He would be at least three years older (or more) than everyone else in his classes... and he hadn't touched a textbook or actively listened to a lecture since senior year of high school. He was worried that he would be severely behind all the bright and chipper students who hadn't taken several gap years. And he was behind at first. But his determination to be somehow involved in law was just so much greater than the adversities that academics hurled at him, that he fought through. Of course, you'd helped him as well. So, as of now, school was going—

"Great, actually," Jungkook answers. "It's because I'm doing what I'm interested in."

"Good," Yoongi answers. "My wife sends you her best of luck. She said being a paralegal will definitely suit you."

Jungkook smiles. "Tell her I said thanks. That was sweet of her."

"You know my wife," Yoongi snorts. "Always trying to do the right thing. Oh yeah," he pauses, "how's the love of your life?"

"She puts up with me," Jungkook chuckles. "She's been great. We've been talking about her moving in for a while and it finally happened a few weeks ago."

"That's amazing, Jungkook," Yoongi says, smiling. "You really love her. I can tell."

Jungkook laughs, face heating up just thinking about you. "You know what's funny? I hated you for the longest time—no offense—because you left us, you know, for your wife. But now I know what it feels like to be crazy in love."

Yoongi snorts. "Yeah. Wait until she's pregnant with your kid, though."

"I still think I would love her as much as I do now," Jungkook says. "I don't think our love can ever fade."

Yoongi laughs out loud. "Oh, to be young and in love!" he declares.

Jungkook makes a face that makes Yoongi laugh even harder. "You're only a year older," Jungkook protests. "And if you were in school, we'd be in the same year!"

"Sure, sure," Yoongi says.

Jungkook's about to say something snarky to get back at Yoongi when he hears the familiar tune of your favorite song playing on his phone. Last Valentine's Day, you'd gone out of your way to customize Jungkook's ringtone when you call him. It was some Christian song that you belted out every Sunday at the top of your lungs—a song that Jungkook knew every word to after listening to it so many times. "Hold up, my girlfriend's calling," Jungkook says, fishing out his phone and clearing his throat to answer.

Yoongi leans back, nodding to himself as he watches his younger friend get excited over a call from his girlfriend. Jungkook presses his phone against his ear, lips already pulling up into a smile just at the thought of talking to you.

"Hey, baby!" you chirp the moment Jungkook picks up. "Can we please have ramen for dinner? I'm craving it so hard for some reason! And it's not like we can really afford anything else..."

"Of course, baby," Jungkook says, unbelievably happy just hearing your voice. "Do you want me to make it when I get home?"

"Yes, please!" you exclaim in your bright, golden voice. "We have a nasty quiz in ethics tomorrow, remember? I have no idea how you're hanging out with Yoongi knowing that, but whatever. I've been FaceTiming like six of my friends to cram for it... But also at this point, I'm kinda getting distracted—frick, I'm going off into tangents again. Wait, okay, sorry, Kook, I have to go."

"Don't worry about it, babe," Jungkook says. "Study well, okay?"

"Okay! Bye, Kook. Have fun with your friend!"

Jungkook can tell you're smiling just from your voice. "Bye, Y/N!" He ends the call, putting down his phone and looking a bit dazed.

Yoongi laughs at him. "God, Jungkook, you really love her. It's been like what, a year? And you're already even living with each other."

Jungkook scrunches his forehead. "You ran away from the only family you ever knew to be with a girl you've reunited with for less than a year," he retorts.

Yoongi chuckles. "Touché. Maybe we're both deranged love-seeking lunatics."

Jungkook laughs. "Maybe..." he muses. "Or maybe we've found our true soulmates and we're not stupid enough to let them go."

"Ha, good one," Yoongi laughs. "If I told my wife that we were soulmates, she'd tell me to open my eyes and wake up."

"Really? But she loves you and you love her," Jungkook says.

"So?" Yoongi asks. "You loved my wife too, once. So did..." he hesitates. "So did Seokjin and Taehyung... Just because we love each other doesn't make us soulmates."

"I loved your wife a long time ago. That shouldn't even count. And that was before I knew my soulmate existed," Jungkook huffs. "I guess maybe Y/N and I are lucky."

Yoongi smiles. "Extremely fortunate," he says. "True love like that doesn't happen often in this cruel universe." He folds his hands in front of him like a wise man, leaning in as if he were going to tell Jungkook a secret. Naturally, Jungkook leans in to listen to what the wiser man has to say. "You deserve it, Jungkook," Yoongi tells him. "You deserve to have someone like Y/N to give you purpose to live. To put purpose in your life. You deserve a lot, and from what I could tell, Y/N is the 'a lot' that you deserve."

Jungkook can't stop the wide grin stretching his lips. It's rare that Yoongi has such heartfelt words to say so openly in public. He must be out of his mind—or insanely excited about becoming a father.

"Thanks, Yoongi," Jungkook says.

Jungkook knows that Yoongi's always been a practical man who doesn't believe in soulmates or destiny or any of that cutesy, Disney princess, Hollywood shit. And for months, Yoongi was Jungkook's makeshift role model—someone to take the place of Kim Taehyung, who was dead now... But Jungkook knew he and Yoongi were too different when he met you. You were something else. Something so completely different that when he's with you, he feels like he's taken to the moon. He has to disagree with Yoongi on this one. Destiny exists.

Because destiny, and what was written in the stars of the vast universe, is what brought you and him together to fall in love.

You immediately sit up in bed when you hear an ear-piercing scream, quickly reaching across to switch on the bedside lamp and turning to your boyfriend. He's kicking the covers and whimpering, sweat running profusely down his face as he squeezes his eyes shut and frowns at the figures in his nightmares. You put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Kook?" you whisper, yawning and trying to blink away your drowsiness. "Hey, you were screaming again," you say, shaking him softly.

Jungkook nearly hits your head with his when he jerks awake. And the moment you see the fear in his wet but alert eyes, your drowsiness vanishes. "Baby, you're crying," you say, pulling him into your arms and hugging him.

He relaxes a bit in your embrace for a split second before tugging back and shaking his head. "I'm so sorry, Y/N," he groans nearly breathlessly as he massages his head with his hand. You try to wipe his tears away with the sleeve of your nightshirt. "It's so early in the morning... And we have a quiz today. You need to sleep."

You shake your head, ruffling Jungkook's hair. "Sleep is the least of my worries, Kook. Tell me, it's about your friends again, isn't it?"

Jungkook stays silent, still trembling slightly from the leftover shadows of his nightmare.

"C'mon... I wanna help, baby," you say, reaching out to hold Jungkook's hand. He's sweaty and his skin feels hot against yours but you don't mind. "You can tell me. It'll make you feel better, I promise."

"It was horrible," Jungkook finally whispers. "And you were right. It was about the Crescents again..." he hesitates and you patiently wait for him to gather his thoughts and continue. "I-I watched T-Taehyung be b-brutally tortured. A-And I... I couldn't do anything about it b-because I was in invisible restraints." He lets out a gigantic sigh, shivering from the last remains of the nightmare in his mind. "Everyone else was already dead and bled out," he quickly says, spitting the words out so fast he doesn't have time to stutter. "I want to spare you the details." He's shaking as he tells you this, eyes fogged up and lips set in a thin line.

"Oh, Kook..." you breathe. You reach out to hug him. "Hey... do you want me to get you an ice pack and a glass of water?" you ask, rubbing slow circles on his back. "We can talk about it in-depth when you're feeling better."

"No," Jungkook murmurs softly in your ear. "I swear, I'm fine, Y/N. You don't have to do anything. It was just a dream..."

"It was a nightmare," you correct him, pulling back from the hug. "And you keep having them. What can I do to help?"

"You're helping right now," Jungkook says. He gives you a grateful smile. "I'm sorry I keep waking you up at ungodly hours of the night."

"You shouldn't be sorry," you reply. "You've been through a lot, Kook. It would only make sense for you to have bad flashbacks about it... Hey, if you don't want to go back to sleep, I'll stay up with you."

Jungkook shakes his head. "No way. You need your sleep."

"You do too, silly," you say. "How about we both go to bed?"

Jungkook smiling, slipping back into the covers and dragging you under with him so that you're using his pillow instead of yours. "Can you stay by my side until I fall asleep again?" he whispers hopefully.

"Of course," you say, "you're really warm, anyways." You snuggle against your boyfriend, closing your eyes immediately to relish in the darkness. "Goodnight," you whisper. "I'll pray for you so that the nightmares won't bother you again this night."

"What would I do without you, Y/N?" Jungkook sighs as he closes his eyes too, wrapping an arm around you.

"Everything," you murmur. "You're... a strong man... Kook..." you trail off. Jungkook waits for you to continue, but it seems like sleep has overtaken you before you could say any more.

Jungkook smiles. When he's in your arms, he can finally have a peaceful slumber away from the nightmares and horrible memories. He dozes off the sleep again and this time, he isn't plagued by the fatal cries of his friends' last words.

When the 2 p.m. alarm rings, Jungkook's the first one up, hopping out of bed and checking to see if you are awake. You obviously aren’t, so he decides he's going to let you sleep for a little bit longer while he makes breakfast—er, lunch.

It's Friday, which means you and Jungkook only have one class today—ethics. Jungkook has a habit of studying for his classes little by little and every day but you tend to cram last-minute. You were up until 3 a.m. last night studying and you'd also woken up at around 4 to comfort Jungkook. Feeling a little guilty, Jungkook pads into the kitchen with heavy, drowsy feet and lets you get the extra sleep you deserve.

The smell of bacon sizzling on the pan permeates through the small apartment's air, reaching the bedroom to wake you up. Soon, you're making your way into the kitchen, stretching your arms as you yawn.

"Hey, baby," Jungkook greets you, turning around from the stove to give you a warm smile. "Sorry about last night... er, early morning."

You yawn again, waving a dismissive hand as you open the fridge to take out some eggs and apples. "It's nothing, Kook. Can you scramble these eggs? I'll cut the apples."

Jungkook nods, taking the eggs from you and cracking them open expertly against the fry-pan before letting the contents fall out. He takes the cooked bacon from the pan before it burns, looking around to find some plates to set them on.

"Here you go," you tell him, handing him just what he needed.

Per usual, it's like the two of you have telepathic communication.

Once the bacon is hot and ready on the plates, the eggs are scrambled into a golden yellow and the apples are freshly washed and cut, you and Jungkook sit down at your small table and eat. Jungkook's just about to finish up his eggs when you sigh. Jungkook looks up at you, and he sees that you have abandoned your silverware, twisting around your gold purity ring—it's a small habit you picked up when you're nervous.

"Is something wrong, Y/N?"

"No, nothing's wrong, Kook," you tell him. "I'm just worried about you. You keep having nightmares, baby, and I just think it might be detrimental to your mental health...”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” he lies, shaking his head in denial. “I’m fine. I promise, Y/N.”

You know he’s lying, but you don’t say it out loud. “In that case, I have a verse from the Bible for you,” you say, pausing to close your eyes. “Maybe repeating this in your head can somehow help you...” Your brows furrow as you concentrate to pull up the scripture from memory. "Be strong and courageous,” you begin, “do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

"Joshua 1:9," Jungkook finishes for you. "I know, Y/N. I know."

He doesn't really, though. Jungkook respects your closeness to God; he respects your religion and your beliefs, but he, a murderer, a major sinner, cannot possibly receive salvation. He can't take back the lives he's ruined, the people he's tortured and turned insane, the victims he'd killed slowly, taking his sweet, sweet time... You understand his struggles, so you don't push the subject of religion on him. But it had been a hard move for you to choose to date Jungkook. To choose to move in with him. To choose to sleep on the same bed and maintain your purity. Jungkook understands. And this mutual understanding—even though none of it was spoken verbally—is what makes the two of you so special.

You connect on a level that transcends speech and language.

"You don't deserve being haunted by the things you did when you were younger," you say. "Former mafia or not, you're a good man, now, Jungkook." You grab his hand from across the hand, encompassing it with your own. "That's what matters."

He smiles, nodding. "Thank you..."

"Of course," you say. "Hey, after class, wanna eat out for dinner? You know, to celebrate another quiz."

"Ah..." Jungkook sighs. "I can't, baby. I have to work overtime today."

"What?" you pout as a frown places itself on your lips. "You worked overtime yesterday. And you didn't get a good night's sleep today..."

"Well, we need all the money we can get," Jungkook says. "I'll be fine. Maybe you can get dinner with your friends? I'll meet you outside my workplace at 10?"

You sigh. "Alright, Kook, but you have to promise you'll sleep in tomorrow."

"I promise," Jungkook grins. "Hey, I'll clean up so you can cram a bit more for the quiz."

You laugh, shaking your head as you gather up your utensils and your plate. "No way, Kook. You know, I don't have to try as hard anymore. I'm not going to intern abroad."

"Really?" Jungkook asks, frowning. "But that's such a great opportunity, Y/N! You can't just miss out on it..."

"Well, going abroad would mean we'd be long-distance... And what if I never come back?" you say. "I'm not gonna risk that. I'm not going. I'll have to explain that to my parents... somehow."

"You don't have to give up on your future for me..."

You laugh out loud. "I think God meant for me to have a future with you, Kook."

Jungkook hums. "In that case, I can't really argue against what He planned for you, can I?"

"No," you giggle, shaking your head. "You can't."

Jungkook smiles; God or not, you and he were meant to be, and he'd prove time and again that he is worth your love.

After the ethics quiz that had gone fairly well, you and Jungkook part ways after he kisses your cheek goodbye. Usually, Jungkook walks straight to the burger parlor, but, today, he takes a little detour to the flower shop.

He's been buying you one sunflower every week since the two of you began dating. He doesn't really know how that tradition started, but it never really stopped because the two of you enjoyed it so much. But today, he wants to get you something special.

Jungkook feels a little guilty, after all, that you'd given up your internship abroad to be with him and that you always had to wake up in the middle of the night or at early dawn to comfort him through his nightmares. It isn’t much, but sunflowers give you happiness.

He makes his special purchase and walks to the burger parlor where the smell of grease and oil isn't as bad today—his mind is preoccupied with your reaction when he gives you your present.

You're already waiting for him outside the burger parlor when Jungkook comes out, a bit sweaty with the smell of burgers still lingering on his skin.

"Hey, babe!" you say brightly, hugging him and immediately taking his hand. "How was work? I went to get some street food with friends. It was so good! I have to take you there some time—goodness, are those—" Your eyes turn huge as you see the packet that your boyfriend is holding.

"Sunflower seeds," your boyfriend smiles. "I know I usually get you sunflowers... but I figured it would mean more if we could plant them and grow them ourselves."

You gasp, putting a hand to your heart. "That's so thoughtful, Kook. I don't even know what to say."

Jungkook shrugs shyly, face blushing. "It was nothing, babe... But hey, did you walk here alone? That's kind of dangerous..."

You laugh, shaking your head. "Oh no, my friend dropped me off here. I didn't even wait that long for you. You don't have to worry."

"Sorry," Jungkook says, squeezing your entertained hands. "I'm just... paranoid, I guess."

He's referring to Jimin and you know it. "Hey... I'm fine," you say. "It doesn't hurt to worry or be cautious, you know. Wanna start walking home?"

Jungkook nods as the two you begin to walk down the familiar streets, the bright moonlight illuminating what was otherwise dark. A few minutes pass before you speak again.

"It's a full moon, tonight," you say, looking up at the sky.

"I really like full moons," Jungkook hums.

You turn your head to look at him in shock. "Really? I always thought crazy things happen on the night of a full moon. Like men turn into werewolves and witches brew their potions and warlocks cast their spells?"

Jungkook laughs as he looks at you fondly through his half-opened eyes. "Maybe," he giggles. "But... I don't know... it's just that it's a better, more completed version of a crescent moon. I feel like it guides me in the right direction."

"I thought I did that, not the full moon!" 

Jungkook smiles. "You're better than the moon," he says, pointing at the stars twinkling in the night sky. "You're the stars, Y/N. You're the sun. You're my sunflower!" he exclaims confidently.

You smile, a faint, rosy blush tinting your cheeks. "I really don't know what I would have done without you."

"You'd be abroad," Jungkook says. "Studying a foreign language and becoming successful."

You shake your head. "Not at all. I'd be unhappy. I'd feel stuck. You know I hate what I'm learning..." you shrug. "Without you, I wouldn't have anyone to lean on."

Jungkook smiles. "Me too."

You smile, about to say something sweet right back to your boyfriend, but you halt walking instead. Jungkook stops with you, looking around to see if anything is wrong.

"Hey," he says. "You good?"

"Was that always there?" you say, tilting your head and looking curiously to the right. "I've never seen it before."

Jungkook looks to where you're looking and smiles curiously. It's a little shop, the windows displaying glowing potions and little sparkling trinkets. "A magic gag shop?" he asks. "Maybe it's new."

"Gosh, it's adorable!" you gasp, running toward the windows to peer inside. "Look, baby! There's a cute little flying teacup set! I can barely see the string that's holding it up!"

Jungkook catches up to you, looking in to see exactly what you are talking about. "It seems so professional," he says in awe. "Do you think the owner works in the film industry or something? Some of these look so real. Look at that!" He points at a crystal ball in the middle of the shop, displaying vibrant images of sunflower patches. "That's insane!"

"It's like it was made for us," you laugh. "Let's check it out!"

"Woah, uh," Jungkook hesitates, "it's late, Y/N. The shop's probably closed."

"The lights are on," you pout. "C'mon, I wanna talk to the owner! I wonder what they're using to get such vivid photos on that thing!"

With that, you tug your boyfriend into the little magic shop with you. One step in, it's like you've entered a new universe.

—next chapter

—masterpost

[falcon-eye]

Felt like I was neglecting Hamra a little bit, so this one is about him! Sorry Veko and Eloise will be back soon, I promise. Another part of my OC story from @inexplicifics Accidental Warlord AU! This one also got away from me. I started writing this literally not knowing where it was going and it just kinda ran wild. Potential trigger warnings for panic attacks, talk of past trauma (but no details yet, only allusions), and Hamra’s horrible self-image. I’ve also given up on italics cuz I’ve been writing all this on my phone and it’s been a nightmare to format lol Enjoy!

Tag list! Let me know if you want to be added! @ainawgsd @rocknrollphanda

—————————

Sonja and Fritz weren’t the only people to come look after the baby, but they were the only ones who knew Hamra was in the rafters and so they greeted him every time they came by. Strangely, it made Hamra feel good even though he came to this room to get away from everyone. They would peer up at him, wave or say hi occasionally, take care of the baby, and then say goodbye on their way out. After a while, Hamra stopped holding his breath every time he heard the door open.

The hole he had chipped in the wall for him to crawl through straight onto “his” rafters was big enough now that he didn’t dislodge bits of rock when he slunk through. Apparently, the baby’s mother had been concerned that the room was falling apart, but either Sonja or Fritz had assured her that everything was alright. Hamra hadn’t met the baby’s mother yet, and though he’d never admit it, he almost didn’t ever want to. Sonja and Fritz letting him stick around was one thing; the baby’s mother had every right to scream and kick him out. He supposed be could find another room, but with servants and apparently more nobles occasionally flocking to Kaer Morhen, the number of quiet, secluded rooms was dwindling. And though he knew about Camp Sulk, it felt uncomfortable to seek refuge in a place so many others used; the mixed smells and leftover emotions alone made Hamra’s skin crawl.

Not everyone who came to take care of the baby came in pairs, but Sonja and Fritz always came together. So it was odd when one day only Sonja showed, giving Hamra a little wave before tending to the child. Hamra waited for Fritz to enter but... nothing. It wasn’t like not having both of them was wrong, per say, but Hamra liked patterns; he liked having some kind of “normalcy” in his life, however form that took.

“Where’s—“ Hamra started, and Sonja gasped, clutching the baby to her chest. She looked up at Hamra and laughed awkwardly.

“Whew!” she said. “Oh, Master Witcher, you startled me! I almost forgot what your voice sounded like!”

Hamra slowly crept down from his perch. “Sorry,” he said softly. There was a few moments’ silence, Sonja watching Hamra, Hamra watching the ground, the baby babbling softly as he sucked his own fist.

“Did you... need something?” Sonja asked.

All the courage Hamra had was gone. He didn’t mean to scare her. Sonja ducked her head to meet Hamra’s eyes and blinked up at him expectantly.

“Wh-where...” Hamra began, but his voice failed him. He wrung his hands together, looked over at the door, pointed at Sonja, and then the empty space next to her.

“Oh!” Sonja exclaimed, and Hamra was just able to contain a flinch at the sudden sound. “Fritz! Fritz is... helping Miss Heddy today.” At Hamra’s blank look, she added, “Olek’s mother?”

Olek, Olek, Olek, where had he heard that name? Fuck, he was bad at names. He was bad at people. He was bad at a lot of things: talking, thinking, signs—Hamra hunched his shoulders around his ears as his mind went on a tangent.

Sonja apparently noticed Hamra’s discomfort. “Ah, I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you,” she said, “since Fritz and I are the only ones who know you’re here.” Sonja adjusted the baby on her hip and took his little hand in hers. “This is Olek!”

Oh. Yeah. That would make sense. The baby—Olek cooed and wrapped his hand around Sonja’s finger. Hamra, not knowing what else to do, nodded.

“You haven’t met Miss Heddy yet, have you?” Sonja asked.

Hamra heard the rush of blood in his ears. His eyes went wide and he met Sonja’s gaze. Oh gods, was she going to tell the mother he was there?

Sonja took a step back at his panic and held out a hand. “I-it’s ok!” she said, now a little startled herself. “I was just curious!” Sonja settled Olek back into his crib. “She’s a really nice lady,” she continued, still facing the crib. Hamra was greatful; having someone’s full attention on him was hard. “She brought Fritz and I here. We were... well, we were in a bad way when she found us. Miss Heddy used to be a merchant. Or, she still is, occasionally. She’s been down in Wolvenburg for the past little while, so that’s why she hasn’t been here with the little one, here.”

Hamra nodded despite the fact that Sonja was facing away from him. The fact that she wasn’t looking at him emboldened him, a little. “You... won’t tell her I’m here?” he asked softly.

Sonja made a move to turn around, but then thought better of it. She put both hands on the side of Olek’s crib and stared at the wall. “I won’t,” she assured, “but... why? I-if you don’t mind me asking!”

If he didn’t mind? He was the intruder here. “I-I want...” he swallowed thickly, picking at the skin of his palm. “To stay... here.”

This time, Sonja did turn around. “Why wouldn’t you?” Hamra didn’t answer, staring down at the floor, but he heard Sonja sigh softly. “If I can be honest, Master Witcher, I think she’d love to know that her baby is being looked after by someone so capable.”

Hamra met her gaze again. Capable? That wasn’t something Hamra had ever been called before, except by maybe Veko. But Veko was his brother, his twin. It would look bad if Veko openly considered his own flesh and blood to be mess that he was.

“You don’t think so?” Sonja asked. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, then suddenly spun around to pick Olek back up. “Here, would you like to hold him?”

Hamra’s slow heartbeat raced to a speed he wasn’t aware it could get to anymore. The baby reached out for him and Hamra surged backwards til he hit the wall. Sonja’s face fell. Fuck, he didn’t mean to make her upset! He just couldn’t... How could he hold a baby? How could he hold something so precious? All he did was destroy; all he did was hurt. Even Veko, the only person in the world to care for him despite everything he was, had been burned and scarred by Hamra’s destruction.

Hamra didn’t realize Sonja was calling him for a few moments. When he came back to himself, breath haggard, he found himself on the floor, curled with his knees to his chest. Sonja was kneeling a few feet away. Hamra sniffed, smelling before seeing with horror that Sonja was crying.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” she was saying, hands held up. “Master Witcher, I’m sorry, so sorry, are you alright?”

Hamra swallowed hard and slammed his hand onto the stone floor a lot harder than he meant to. Sonja flinched, but didn’t flee or move forward. Hamra scraped his hand along the stone, catching tiny bits of gravel and dirt in the lines of his palm, forward and back, forward and back, as the rest of the room came into focus. Olek was in his crib, making distressed noises.

“M-master Witcher?” Sonja said softly. Hamra sniffed again and nodded, staring at a point on the floor between them. “M-may I...?”

What was she asking? May she what? May she leave? She was a nice girl, probably trying to be polite to this fucking wreck of a Witcher—wreck of a grown man, even! But when he nodded, all she did was slide forward on her knees a few feet until she was directly in front of him.

It wasn’t until she reached out and towards him that he realized he was making a soft keening noise, because as soon as she touched his knee, he stopped. Sonja searched his eyes, and what she was looking for he had no idea.

“I’m sorry,” Sonja whispered. “I-I didn’t mean to upset you, Master Witcher. It’s ok. You don’t need to hold the baby if you don’t want to.”

Sonja gently brushed her thumb over Hamra’s knee and all of his attention focused on the feel of her hand on him. Why was she touching him? Didn’t she know what he could’ve done just then? What happened when Cats lose time like that? What happened to the people around them?

He must’ve made a noise or a face or something, because Sonja’s hand slid off of his knee. “O-ok,” she said softly, holding her hands up again for him to see. After a moment, she slowly lowered them to clasp together her lap. Mercifully, she also broke their eye contact. “I-I didn’t mean to... W-well, um...” A few tears dropped onto her skirt and she wiped her eyes hastily. He’d made her cry. She was nice to him, said hi and bye to him, and he made her cry!

“I’m sorry,” he choked out, the words sounding almost punched out of him.

“N-no, it’s not your fault!” Sonja said, waving her hands. “I-I didn’t know that would set spark.”

Set... What?

Again, Hamra must’ve made a face, because Sonja hurried to continue. “I-It’s something Miss Heddy says,” she explained. “She says some people call it different things but it’s like... when you’re trying to start a fire, a single spark is sometimes all it takes. And even though it’s so small, it can build and build until the fire is so large.” Sonja fumbled with the hem of her skirt and swallowed. “Some people, some things they hear or see or—or sometimes even smell, it... sets spark. Fritz and I... we were in a bad place, before the White Wolf came to power. And sometimes... sometimes I still... spark. Over small things. And I—I lose myself. B-but it’s ok! It happens to a lot of people. Especially people who have seen a lot of bad things in their lives.”

Hamra was enraptured; he thought this was only a thing that happened because of his mutations and his fucked up head. The idea that others experienced even something similar to what he had—it was almost overwhelming. And the idea that it happened to Sonja... made Hamra incredibly sad. She was so nice; she shouldn’t have to experience that.

Sonja nodded to herself and met Hamra’s eyes again. “I don’t always, um,” she bit her lip again, searching for the words. “I don’t always lose my breath, like that. I... cry. And I get quiet. I-I know I talk a lot, and I ramble, but... but when something sets spark, I go quiet. Because I was... never supposed to speak, before. They didn’t like it. And when something sparks, it’s like I’m back there again and I need to be quiet. Or something bad will happen. A-and I know the people around me aren’t them, but it’s like a part of my mind can’t tell the difference.”

Hamra wanted to destroy any and everything that ever made Sonja feel that way. For a moment, he almost became consumed by the anger at the mere thought. He started breathing heavier, but tried so hard to calm down. No, this wasn’t helping. He was just going to make it worse.

Hamra slammed his head back against the wall and Sonja yelped. “N-no! Don’t do that!” she exclaimed. “Please, don’t do that, I’m sorry Master Witcher!”

Admittedly, it hadn’t been a great idea, but the pain in Hamra’s head made his anger fade. He cupped the back of his head in one and and curled forward with a groan. He heard the rustling of fabric and very gently, Sonja’s hand came to rest on the back of his.

Hamra looked up at her as she was wiping her eyes again. “That’s another thing some people do,” she said. “H-hurt themselves. Please, Master Witcher, don’t do that.”

“H-hamra,” Hamra said softly.

“Master Hamra,” Sonja said, nodding.

Hamra shook his head. “Just... just Hamra.”

Sonja smiled, and fuck if it wasn’t beautiful. Behind them, Olek let out a loud whine and Hamra winced. Sonja stood and went to the crib; Hamra stood as she did so. Fuck, he felt like he’d just been hit by... well, every Witcher in the keep. And a wyvern.

Sonja settled Olek down and when she turned, Hamra was already back in the rafters. She smiled gently at him and nodded. He nodded back and waved. Why did he wave?

“If, um,” Sonja cleared her throat. “If you ever need—or want—to... to talk. I’m, um. I’ll—I’ll listen. Or if you just need someone to—to be there—“ She was blushing, and Hamra could hear her rapid heartbeat. “I can...” Sonja gathered the supplies she’d brought for Olek and took a deep breath. “I, um, I need to be going now. Think about it, maybe?”

As Sonja opened the door, something akin to courage came over Hamra. “Goodbye, Sonja,” he said.

Sonja smiled up at him softly. “Good day, Hamra.”

[fanfictrashdump]

Universe in a Jar, 5 - Phase 4 fic

Recap: Some days ago, I reblogged this post about the magical trio. And then my brain went off on a monumental tangent and, I wrote Universe in a Jar.

Characters: Stephen Strange, Loki, Wanda Maximoff, Wong, OC

Rating: T?

Warnings: Language! Mentions of sexual encounters, sarcasm, terrible storytelling, and typos prob.

Summary: Baby-sitting beings arguably more powerful than him goes awry for Doctor Strange. He knows one person who can possibly keep them isolated and out of trouble. Well, he knew someone who could… he hasn’t seen them in decades and for stupid reasons.

Previous Chapter

XX

"You have to stop getting frustrated, pet. You know that is what's keeping you from achieving anything," Loki suggested gently, holding onto Persephone's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. The way the words rolled off his tongue gave indication of just how many times he had repeated them. His voice was still gentle, the way it always was when speaking to Persephone, a gentle urging rather than the acid tone he was known for, but the thinning of his patience was beginning to bleed through.

Persephone groaned, falling back onto the living room rug with a dramatic flail. "I know! I just–I can't visualize it!"

"We're just molding the glass. Taking your magic and giving it different shape," Wanda added, helpfully. Luckily, Seph couldn't see the grimace set on the witch's face. "Take the house, for example. How did you shape your portal to fit into your apartment so that you could stuff the farmhouse in it?"

"I didn't. I summon, it happens. Like a fluid, it just fills the shape of whatever it's in. I can't actually control it."

"You can," Loki interrupted her rant, "because I can. I already showed you that I can warp the walls. So, you can, too."

With a huff, she threw her forearm over her eyes, as if this shielded her from the rest of reality. "I don't understand how it works. I haven't needed to understand how it works. The books aren't helping and this is stupid!"

"Hey..."

Seph involuntarily flinched at Stephen's voice coming from beside her. When she peeked over her arm, she found him crouched down to her right, a calm look set on his face–very different from the borderline pitying and frustrated looks she was getting from the rest of the room.

"Here." He held out a bar of her favorite chocolate for her to take, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Where'd you get this?"

Stephen then smirked. "Portal'ed into Old Man James' shop. Can't believe he's still alive, by the way. He has to be a hundred and ten, by now." He shook the bar. "Go on. You know you need it. Studying isn't your thing."

Seph sat up quickly, fidgeting in her place as she fought with the wrapper. "I didn't tell you–I thought you were busy–I didn't intentionally not tell–"

"Hey, you're fine." He waved away her concern. "We both know I don't have the patience to teach."

"That's not true. What you lack is the desire."

He laughed. "That too." He paused just long enough to reach over and tear the wrapper in the corner. "I have some things to take care of at the Sanctum. Do you think you can manage with these two?" He offered a nod in response to hers and he rose to his feet. "Chocolate and a five minute break when she gets overwhelmed. Works miracles," he muttered to Loki as he brushed past and patted him on the back.

"Thanks, Stephen," Seph called after him as he walked through the portal he had just made by the door.

He waved it off for the second time that day, seeming so much more level-headed than she ever remembered him being, and disappeared into the Sanctum halls.

Loki and Wanda stared at each other before the witch plopped onto the sofa nearest Persephone. "Why aren't you asking Stephen to help? He seems to know how you function pretty well."

"Learning from him is a nightmare. He actually has all the patience in the world, but I get easily frustrated, and then he gets frustrated… It goes south very fast from there." She shrugged.

Wanda groaned. "You know, you two not having sex is putting a real damper on our progress."

"Wanda!"

Loki snorted somewhere beside her and Seph stuffed a chunk of chocolate into her mouth.

"She's not wrong, pet."

"Well, you're both going to have to deal with it, OK? This is not up for debate."

Persephone's brow furrowed as she concentrated once again on the veil between the worlds. So far, not even a glimmer was present in her efforts and it was getting more frustrating by the moment. Tutting quietly under his breath, Loki slipped onto the floor beside her. His hand trailed gracefully down her shoulder until he grasped her hand in his. Locking their fingers together, he gently pried her digits open with his own.

"Focus. Can you see where your magic touches reality?" With a shudder brought on by his velvety voice in her ear, she shook her head in the negative. "Can you feel it, then?" She gave a nod. "Stretch your hand to where you feel it begin." He followed her movements until their entwined fingers were nearly touching the wall. No one could deny the smile on Loki's face at the imperceptible twitch of her fingers as the static of magic prickled at the tips. "Your magic is something flowy. Like silk or satin." He hummed under his breath for a beat as he paused to think. "Maybe lighter. Like gauze or gossamer. It's curtain between realities, keeping Nebraska inside of New York. A house within an apartment. An infinite within another infinite. How much or how little one world seeps into the other depends on how much you open the curtain. You control the curtain and you need only to grasp the fabric," he closed his hand around hers, "and pull it open."

His hand moved both of theirs back and a sliver of boring beige wall peeked through the intricate wallpaper that filled the house. Persephone gasped, doubly so when Loki let his own hand drop and the gap between worlds still existed. Committing the sensation to memory, she opened her hand and reality sealed itself back again.

"Once more, love. Peel away the garments and let reality figure itself out," he murmured and another shiver ran down her spine. This time she didn't hesitate, and though her attempt was a little shaky, soon a swathe of beige was barely visible. "There's a clever girl." His fingers danced over the curve of her waist, prompting Seph to stare questioningly over her shoulder. Their eyes locked, eternities passing in quiet contemplation of each other.

"Monster, monster, monster!" Wanda called in a panic, magic swirling in her hands ready for attack.

Seph dropped the divider with a shriek at the sight of the twisted maw of what she assumed was a hell beast. The creature hissed and growled as it slipped through just shy of this reality stitching itself together. Without missing a beat, Loki flicked his hands forward and the monster dissolved into green sparks and stardust that flickered and sparkled on the hardwood floor.

"It's just a void hound. No need to panic," Loki announced matter-of-factly.

"A what, now?" Wanda asked, twisting her hands with sneer to rid the floor of whatever remained of the creature.

"Void hound. Your people call it the monster under the bed or the grim. It's just a shadow that slipped through the cracks in reality."

"You knew this could happen?" Seph had shuffled all the way back against an armchair and away from the walls.

"It's a possibility, but I was here. Besides, I just wanted to show you what was possible. You can open the walls between realities, but what you want to do is mold from the inside. Hounds can't slip in if you don't give them a place to slip into, after all."

"So," Wanda began, "if I hadn't been here and stopped you from eating each other's faces off, what would have happened?"

"Consumed by ever-looming darkness and despair in the void, most likely."

The short silence that followed nearly drained the color from their surroundings.

"Nope. No more magic. Don't need it. Bye." Seph rescued her chocolate bar from the corner it had been flung and was moving quite swiftly out of the living room.

Loki rolled his eyes, a little glad he was well out of her sight. "I was kidding, love! Nothing's going to harm you."

"Nope. I don't–" A loud screech interrupted her. In her distraction, she had not seen Stephen arrive and was not expecting the warm hand on her shoulder.

"Jesus, Peep! It's just me!" He glanced at Loki and Wanda with a disappointed look. "You get rid of it?"

"Yeah, Loki turned it into dust," Wanda retorted simply.

"Good." Stephen turned to look at Seph's tight-knit brow and wide eyes. "Why are you running away?"

Seph answered the question for one of her own that she deemed far more pressing. "There's monsters!?"

Stephen frowned. "Sorcerer, witch, alien sorcerer," he started, pointing at himself, Wanda, and Loki, in turn. "At what point did monsters become too implausible?"

"I don't want monsters!"

"Which is why I told them not to have you opening the veil, but clearly that bit of information didn't stick."

"You told–you knew I was doing this?"

Stephen couldn't help but smile at the little notch forming between her brows, even as his right thumb smoothed it away. He nodded as if there was nothing to it. "I asked them to. I knew you wouldn't ask for help to try out what you've read and I didn't want you to try on your own."

Persephone sighed, her head hanging forward between her shoulders as she tried to work out the situation in her head. She gave up shortly after starting. "Why?"

Stephen shrugged. "I want to fix my mistakes. This is what I can give you, right now. Skills, support, making sure you don't go out without proper tools in a very confusing world. It's not much, but–"

"Shut up, Steve!" There was an edge of exasperation in her tone, though her volume remained soft. "You really gotta learn when to skip self-deprecation station." She wrapped her arms loosely around his waist with a little groan that he replied with a quiet sigh and a gentle, almost hesitant kiss on her forehead.

"My Jiminy Cricket has been busy. I'm out of practice."

"I am not a cartoon cricket, Strange. Or your conscience, for that matter. You wouldn't be in this shitshow if I were," she mumbled from somewhere within the t-shirt he wore.

That pulled a heartfelt chuckle out of the Sorcerer. "You say that, but I call Loki a conceited twat–"

"Be nice!"

"–and that happens."

"To be fair," the Asgardian Prince cut in, "he's not entirely wrong. Though he mistakes conceit with confidence."

"Oh, no, I am confident you're a–" Persephone's hand slammed onto Stephen's mouth, though he continued mumbling behind the makeshift muzzle. He would later swear up and down that it was the principle of the thing that made him finish. Stephen peeled her hand off, shit-eating grin beaming at her. "Do you want some help with portals?"

"Help from the Sorcerer Supreme? Lucky girl." Wanda's tone earned her a half-hearted glare from the woman still clinging to said Sorcerer. "What? It's cute! Stephen pretending he's not still in love with you, you and Loki pretending you definitely don't want into each other's pants, all us pretending we're not delaying an inevitable, tragic end by hiding out–"

"You are way out of line, Wanda."

The witch stomped a warpath, eyes glowing red and tendrils of scarlet weeping from her person. Seph jumped back, sharing a short look with Loki, a mutual understanding to de-escalate the situation if it got too out of hand.

"And you have no idea what you're doing, Strange! We're wasting time. My family–"

"Is a manufactured fallacy! Do you know how many holes you created in the multiverse just because you wanted to play house with Vision? Wong's up to his neck in timelines to be corrected, which I can't help with because I don't want you rooting around my brain to figure out where they are!"

"Stephen…" The hand wrapped around his bicep both made him start and settled down his anger long enough to notice he had been poised to deliver a blow of equal magnitude as Wanda was planning. He snapped his fists closed, orange runes disappearing. "Peep, step back."

Ignoring the command, Seph stared at Wanda with a quirked brow. "Drop it."

"Persephone–" The witch's lip quivered.

"I know. I understand, Wanda. But you two have the potential to destroy each other. Let's not do this. Please." Everyone let out a collective breath when Wanda chose to cross her arms and avert her gaze. "Thank you." She squeezed the bicep in her hand again. "You know, the tractor has been stalling a lot. I'm pretty sure it's the injector." Stephen opened his mouth to protest. "Please. For me?"

The group watched Stephen nod curtly and turn on his heel, marching out the kitchen door towards the barn.

Loki cleared his throat, awkwardly. "I'll put the kettle on, shall I?"

"Thanks, Lo." Letting her shoulders sink, she stepped quietly towards the witch and opened her arms. "Come here." There was no hesitancy at how Wanda launched herself into Seph's embrace, promptly breaking into a sob. "I know, honey. I know."

Wanda's response was a half-choked and raspy, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. We'll all be fine." Seph led them to the sofa, gently carding her fingers through auburn tresses in an effort to soothe her friend.

"He just doesn't understand."

Persephone chuckled. "Oh, honey. That is not true. He probably understands better than anyone." She titled her head to catch Wanda's gaze. "He's been losing people his whole life. He's still convinced he's responsible for some of them."

Wanda pulled away, sinking into the back cushion with a scowl. "Then why won't he let me search for my family?"

"Every Universe is slightly different. It's an amalgamation of every alternate path to every decision. There are hundreds of millions of Universes and the one where your family is still alive, may also be the Universe where Thanos won, or Vision joined Ultron or you died. It wouldn't be your family." She shrugged. "In his own, twisted way, he's trying to protect you."

"I don't want his–"

"Protection. I know. But… can you trust that he's doing it for good reason? If you work with him instead of in spite of him, I think you'd get a lot farther."

She got a scoff in return. "I hate him."

Seph giggled. "Join the club. He has one of those faces… and attitudes… and egos."

She smiled up at Loki who had brought out a pot of tea and was precariously balancing two mugs atop it. Craning her neck, she glanced out of one of the back windows to see Stephen scuffing his way up the hill to the barn. Smirking, she slapped her thighs with a resolute nod and got herself out of the sofa.

"I need to go check on him. He'll probably come back and apologize, later. Thanks for your help, today. It was actually good to understand how the portals work." Just as she rounded the corner to exit the house, she paused, stepping backwards until she was back in the living room. "Just for the record, if you ever feel the need to comment on my or anyone's love life to get a barb in because you're frustrated, again, I will lock you in a box and you better hope to God that Stephen and Loki can get you out. Understood?" She held Wanda's gaze until the witch nodded, cheeks reddening. "Perfect. Thanks for the backup, Loki."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, smirking behind his mug and giving her a two-fingered salute before she disappeared out the kitchen.

[travesty-majesty]

Logan’s Here!

Remus and Logan had started having meeting in the evenings every second day. Logan would venture through Roman’ side of the imagination (making sure he wasn’t caught) until he made it to Remus’ side, where Remus would have a documentary or something along the lines ready and waiting. Logan would sit down beside him as they pressed play. Around five minutes in, Logan would ask hoe Remus’ day went, and Remus would go off on a tangent that did start with his day, but then to wherever his mind went, often cutting himself off mid sentence.

And every time Logan arrived, Remus would loudly cheer “Logan’s here!” so Logan knew he was happy about it. Logan wasn’t the best with emotions,so Remus made his best efforts to help, although he tried to play it off as him being his usual energetic self.

So today shouldn’t have been any different, right?

They organised to meet at around 8pm each evening, which usually caused Thomas to have a mix of facts and intrusive thoughts in his head for the next few hours. So when Logan wasn’t there at 8:30pm, Remus was starting to get worried. Wow, Remus worried? That’s an accomplishment.

8:45. No Logan. Where was he? He wouldn’t have ditched Remus without telling him, that wasn’t like him. So where was he?

“Maybe he got lost. Yeah, that’s it! I did rearrange my half of the imagination yesterday. He probably can’t figure it out! Ha!”

He had a feeling he was wrong, but he shoved that feeling deep, deep down. Further down than his dick, than his feet, right to the core or the Earth where it’d probably burn up and die.

8:50.

8:55...

At 9pm, he finally felt a presence. He heard footsteps growing closer, albeit slower than Logan’s usual determined steps. He didn’t pay much mind to that, though. He sprung up and spun around.

“Yayy! Logan’s he-!”

Well, Logan was definitely here.

“H-Holy shit! Logan! Logie, Logan, I- what the fuck, what the fuck?!”

He sprinted over to Logan, who had limped his way over, a gash across his chest. 

“Remus- Remus, it’s fine, I’m fine... I’m a figment of Thomas’ mind, it isn’t fata-”

“Shut the fuck up for a second! I don’t care if it isn’t fatal or whatever, you're still fucking bleeding! How did this- how are you- are you ok?! Here, sit down! Holy shit...”

He guided Logan over to his couch, sitting him down carefully. Logan only winced slightly. “Yes, I’m OK... Just a small bit of pain, I’ll be OK.”

“I...” Remus was, admittedly, at a loss for words. He hadn’t expected this sorta thing tonight. He had expected Logan to come and sit down with him, and ask him how his day was while they watched a documentary about space. He hadn’t expected to see one of his intrusive thoughts formed in front of him.

“I- shit, I didn’t expect this! Like- what the fuck?!”

Swearing was his go-to stress reliever when he couldn’t kill something. And between you and me, he’d really rather not kill Logan.

“I-I was nit expecting to be attacked either, Remus... Do you have a first aid kit or something along the lines?” Logan asked. Remus nodded.

“Yeah, sure, one sec...” he conjured one up beside them and grabbed it. “You- did you say you were attacked?”

“Ah... Yes, unfortunately. I was caught on my way here, and... well, the interaction was not a pleasant one.”

Remus nodded silently for a second, thinking.

“Probably already know the answer, but... who did this?”

Logan grunted as Remus made his best effort at stitching Logan up. “You most likely already have an idea, but Roman. I-”

“I fucking knew it! That cock sucking, motherfucking, cockle doodle dick! I’m gonna kill him, I swear. He doesn’t just do shit like this and get away with it, lemme tell you that!” Remus yelled, willing to bet Thomas could probably hear him. 

“Remus, please. He didn’t do it on purpose. He was... frustrated, I suppose. It wasn’t an act of violence, I-”

“Not an act of violence, my ass! I-”

“As hypocritical as I am being with this statement, please attempt to restrain yourself from interrupting me, and I will do the same for you. I get enough of that up there.” Logan said, sighing.

“K, yeah. But, like- I just- I swear to whatever god there may or may not be, he doesn’t just do this and get away with it! Why did he feel the need to pull a- what, a sword, on you?!” Remus asked, finishing up and starting to pack away.

“Again, frustration, I suppose. When I explained to him, calmly, that I was making my way to your half of the imagination, he didn’t take it too well. I assume you can see where that went. Oh, and thank you, bye the way.”

“Huh?”

“For stitching me up. It would have been a lot harder to do on my own.”

“Oh, yeah. No problem, whale penis- I-I mean, Logan.” Remus said, sitting down properly beside Logan. “Are you ok, though? You had to make your way over here while literally fucking bleeding out! You must be super tired. Also, just for the record, this is once in a lifetime concern, so enjoy it while it lasts.” 

“Ahaha...” Logan laughed weakly. “Yes, I’ll be alright with a bit of rest. Would it be too much of a burden if I stayed over here overnight? I do not have much energy, so both rising up and walking would be exceptionally difficult-”

“Oh, you're staying here either way! Ya think I’m just gonna let you leave after you come to me like this? Hell no! You’re staying here and recovering, while we watch a documentary and maybe Big Hero 6 if we're up that late! We’ll see. Got it?”

Logan just looked at him for a second, and Remus thought that maybe he had been a bit too forceful with his approach. But then Logan smiled, and Remus relaxed.

“Ok, that sounds... ideal. Thank you, Remus.”

“Hehe... No problem, teach. Now, lemme get this started.”

“Ok. How was your day, by the way?”

“Well, aside from you getting fucking stabbed, let’s see...”

Sure, Logan had come to him wounded, but at least Logan was still here. He hated to think about what could have happened had Logan not have arrived, but now he didn’t have to. They’d both be fine.

Roman, however?

...Well, Remus could deal with him tomorrow.

(Based on a prompt I submitted to @ameliessanderssidesblog! Hope they don't mind me actually writing this out lol)

(I’m also gonna post this to my ao3 {Gravestone_Monarch} if you wanna check it out there! Reblogs definitely aren’t necessary but are greatly appreciated! See you round! ^^)

(plz dont tag as tw Duke or dukedontlook!)

[artificialqueens]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Chapter 1 (Crygi, Jan x Nicky) - Joley

ao3 link

“Mail call!” Crystal called out, even though it was only her and Jan in the apartment. She sorted the pile out between the two of them, ending up with two slightly messy stacks. “Looks like you got an international package!”

That brought Jan barreling out of her room, nearly slipping on the rug on her way in. She grabbed onto the counter to support herself, taking a gasp of air before standing upright. “Oh yay!” She grabbed the package with the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning and took it back to her room along with the rest of her pile, not bothering to close the door behind her.

Crystal chuckled, looking over to see her cat perched on the couch, staring into Jan’s bedroom with something of a perplexed expression. “It’s nothing for you, Tic. But maybe she’ll let you play in the box,” she mused before her gaze drifted back to her pile of mail, sifting through what inevitably turned out to be nothing but junk. With nothing else of her immediate interest, she wandered into her roommate’s room, sitting on the bed while Jan was at her desk. “What’d you get?”

Jan carefully opened the box, gliding the box cutter down the tape seams so she didn’t have to rip and yank and risk tearing anything inside. She took the neatly folded letter out first, holding it to her face and taking a deep inhale. The scent of patchouli and vanilla wafted into her nose and made her smile. It was the smell she most associated with Nicky, every package and letter she sent came laced with the aroma of her perfume.

“Bonjour, mon petite poupée,” she started to read, ignoring the way Crystal started to laugh at her butchering of the French phrases. “I hope spring is as beautiful there as it is here. I have sent you a box of macarons—I enjoy them year-round, but my mother always loved to bake them the most this time of year. I wanted to send you some of hers, but hopefully bakery ones will suffice. I’d love it if you FaceTime or Skype me when you get them, I want to see your live reaction, and I sent you enough to share with Crystal, so be nice. Until then, câlins et bisous, Nicky.”

Jan smiled broadly as she finished reading the letter, noticing the lipstick kiss print that Nicky signed off every letter with, and gently set it aside. “Okay, it’s like nine at night where she is, she’ll still be up,” she said as she took the pastel box tied neatly with a white lace bow out of the package. “Oh look, this is so cute.” She took out another piece of paper where Nicky had hand-drawn each macaron and wrote the flavor next to it, making a color-coded guide. “Isn’t she so sweet and thoughtful?”

“She told you to share, so yes.” Crystal chuckled, running her hand through her hair to look presentable while Jan called Nicky on Skype.

Nicky answered the call right away. “Hi Jan! Hi Crystal!” She greeted them with energy even though she was dressed for bedtime, wearing a black tank top and white cotton shorts (the latter not being visible in the frame). Her hair was damp, air-drying, and draped over her desk chair. “Did you get my mail?”

Jan nodded, holding the box up for her to see. “Just did. Thank you so much, Nicks. That’s so sweet of you.”

“Of course, I’m still making my way through the gift basket you sent for my birthday. I have opinions on all the different Oreo flavors.” Nicky giggled. They had gotten into a discussion about all the different flavors of the cookie, and she had become obsessed with the idea of trying the variety. So, when her birthday rolled around, Jan had painstakingly arranged a cookie bouquet (along with a few other treats) with as many flavors as she could find.

In the year they’d been communicating, Nicky had both come to expect Jan to go the extra mile and would still be surprised every time. The university course that had brought them together through its pen pal program certainly didn’t require an exchange of presents, but it started with Jan not being to help herself and (unbeknownst to Nicky) progressed into an ever-present desire to impress her.

“We can get to that next, I’m really excited to try these. Which one is your favorite?” Jan asked as she took the bow off the box without untying it and opened it up. “Oooh, it still smells fresh-baked.”

Nicky grinned as she watched her, opening up a bottle of rosé and pouring herself a glass. “I am partial to the red velvet and the apricot.”

Jan licked her lips. “You know I love red velvet.” She plucked the deep red cookie from the box before handing it to Crystal, who was making grabby-hands at it. She waited for her friend to choose and set the box down on her desk. “On three.” She counted down, then took a bite. “Holy shit.” She covered her mouth, not wanting to talk with her mouth full. “Nicks, these are delicious. You’re gonna have to send these on the regular.”

Crystal was enjoying herself just as much. “Is there a word for like, food horny? You know, like it tastes so good, I’m kind of turned on?”

Nicky snorted and Jan looked down and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just say you like it, Crystal.”

“I do,” she confirmed, then looked down at her phone. “Anyway, gotta go. Bye Nicky, thanks for the cookies!” She waved at the screen before darting right out of the room.

Jan chuckled, knowing exactly what propelled Crystal out of the room so quickly and shouted “Tell Gigi I said hi!” after her. Then she faced forward again, her attention effortlessly returned to Nicky. “Anyway, how have you been?” “No complainings,” Nicky hummed, aimlessly strumming her fingers against her glass. “Did you get around to listening to that study playlist I sent you?”

“Oh my god yeah, I forgot to say anything because I kept listening to it after I was done studying and fell asleep,” Jan admitted with a laugh. “You have impeccable taste.”

She twirled her slowly drying hair around her manicured finger. “Tell me something I do not know, darling.” She winked.

Jan’s breath hitched in her throat and she covered it with a cough. Nicky exuded a seductive beauty so effortlessly and it didn’t take much for Jan to get flustered. If their friendship wasn’t exclusively long distance, her crush would have been impossible for Nicky or anyone else to not pick up on. Hell, Crystal only knew because she had been aching for the release of gushing about her feelings and her roommate lent a willing ear. “Last time I did that, we ended up talking about juice boxes for an hour,” she retorted once her body had unclenched.

Nicky chuckled softly at the memory. It was so easy for them to go off on tangents about the smallest things. It was probably her favorite part of her conversations with Jan, everything flowed so easily, awkward silence simply didn’t exist between them. “That is true,” she conceded. “But I’ve got to go eat dinner. We’ll talk tomorrow, yes?”

“Go eat.” She never quite grasped how Nicky always ate dinner so late at night, but she had all but memorized her schedule by now. “Au revoir,” she cooed, just because she knew it would make her laugh, and waved as she ended the call.

——

When Crystal got the text ‘come hang out, im done with class,’ she was out the door before she even sent ‘ok.’ Gigi was a junior while she and Jan were seniors, but all of them going to the same university had their schedules aligning relatively often. But she and Jan were living off-campus, so she didn’t want to waste any time on getting to her.

“Hey.” Gigi smiled, greeting her best friend with a hug. “Come on, we’re going on a coffee run,” she said, leading the way. Her direct nature was something Crystal had appreciated—she didn’t ask questions, she made statements, and it came off as harsh to some, but Crystal was terrible at making daily decisions, so she was happy to leave it in her hands.

“Sounds good. You should come over soon, Jan got these amazing French cookies from Nicky. I think she’ll let us steal some,” Crystal mused, linking their arms as they walked.

“Cool.” She nodded. “Has Jan told Nicky she’s in love with her yet?” It had come up in conversation in the past, leading to Crystal giving the entire backstory of Jan and Nicky’s relationship. Luckily, Jan hadn’t held it against her and could live with one more person knowing the truth.

Crystal laughed softly and shook her head. “Nope. But, you know, you can’t push someone to admit how they feel if they aren’t ready.” Her tone was a bit strained in the remark, looking straight ahead as she spoke.

But Gigi didn’t notice the shift in her voice anyway. “That’s stupid,” she said flatly. “They’re like, four thousand miles apart, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Feelings are feelings.” She shrugged as they entered the café. Of course, she could relate to what Jan was going through, but as far as she was concerned, her situation was worse. A pen pal could be out of sight and out of mind, she reasoned. But having a crush on your best friend made day-to-day life excruciating. She was constantly torn between the desire to distance herself so her emotions didn’t overwhelm, and the powerful urge to spend as much time and be as physically close to Gigi as possible. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latter would always win. “So, how’s your final project going?”

Gigi let out an exasperated groan. “God, I’m killing myself making a dress for the wedding I’ll never have,” she lamented. “I never want to see white lace again once I’m done with it.”

Crystal winced, averting her gaze. “You don’t think you’ll ever get married?”

“Not the takeaway here, Crys,” she rolled her eyes, but there was still fondness in her expression. “Listen, I’ve made it this far in life without a relationship, maybe that’s just my destiny. I’ll just be far too busy taking over the fashion industry to worry about it.”

It wasn’t a personal rejection, but it was painfully difficult for Crystal not to take it as one. Her heart ached and her chest felt heavy with a sudden sadness, coupled with her active efforts not to let it show. “No, yeah, I get it.”

Gigi rubbed her arm gently. “Don’t let my cynicism ruin that hopeless romantic in you. It gives me hope in this cold, dark world.” She looked into her eyes, silently offering the apology she was just a little too proud to verbalize.

Crystal lightened back up, though she was embarrassed that Gigi had such a hold on her emotions without even realizing it. “I’ll do my best.”

——

Crystal returned to the apartment just as the sun was setting. Coffee had turned to dinner and time had just slipped away from her. But when she got inside, she went right over to knock on Jan’s door, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Come in!”

“Jan, I had an idea!” Crystal let herself in and sat at the desk, as Jan was now in bed with her laptop.

Jan closed the laptop and set it aside. “I’m scared already,” she joked.

“No, no, no, I’m totally serious, and it’s a good idea,” Crystal insisted, shifting to sit cross-legged on the chair. “You and Nicky are like, a million miles apart and that really sucks, right?”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me.”

Crystal waved the comment off and continued. “So here’s the plan—you tell her there’s a big event that you’re going to this summer and you want her to come to visit. Dunno what the event would be, but we can worry about it later.”

The brunette tilted her head to the side. “Like graduation?”

“That’s not enough time. It has to be something that’ll happen in like, a month or something,” she explained. “But you guys will just be so excited to be together that you’ll forget about the event entirely, problem solved.”

Jan stared blankly at her friend, wondering if she had become delirious from too many all-nighters. But then she shrugged, what did she have to lose? “I’ll talk to her about it in the morning, then. It couldn’t hurt to bring up…”

“That’s the spirit!” Crystal clapped her hands together. “Let me know how it goes!” And with that, she left the room with a spring in her step.

And Jan did sleep on it, weighing out the pros and cons of creating an elaborate ruse just to get the girl she was pining after to travel overseas. It wasn’t that they hadn’t talked about visiting each other, but they could never ‘justify’ it, there was always something else they needed to focus on, or the finances just wouldn’t allow it (she wasn’t about to ask her parents to send her to France when they were already paying her bills). The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a decent idea.

After breakfast and a shower, Jan called up Nicky on FaceTime. “Are you busy? I’ve gotta ask you something.”

“You have my undivided attention,” Nicky assured.

Jan smiled, sitting down on the couch. “So, I’ve got this big event coming up next month, and I know we haven’t been able to arrange a visit yet, but I think this would be the perfect opportunity. I really want to see you.”

Nicky tilted her head in curiosity. “I want to see you too. What is the event?”

“A wedding,” Jan answered confidently. She had decided that it would make perfect sense for the time of year.

“I love weddings.” Nicky’s face lit up. “Whose is it?”

Fuck. Why hadn’t she planned one step further? “It’s…” At that moment, she somehow forgot the name of everyone she had ever known for a brief moment, and she wanted to yell at Crystal for giving her this stupid idea in the first place and—

“Crystal and Gigi’s,” she blurted out.

Nicky knew Crystal had a romantic interest in Gigi just from passing conversations, but she had never quite pieced together the nature of their relationship. She was a little surprised at how serious it apparently was, but decided there was no need to question it. “Oh, good for them. I’ll have to double-check, but I think I will be able to be your plus one.”

Jan didn’t realize she had been holding her breath until she exhaled in relief. “Great! I’m so excited, I’m sure Crystal will be thrilled to hear it.”

“Send her my good wishes, I have to get to class, though,” Nicky replied, exchanging goodbyes before the call ended.

“What am I gonna be thrilled to hear?” Crystal asked as she tossed her bag into her bedroom. The door was always left open so TicTac could go in and out as he pleased. She had just returned from class, dried paint splotches still staining her fingers and palms.

Jan’s face froze. Yet another issue she had not accounted for. “Nicky is going to come visit.”

Crystal beamed triumphantly, getting ready to rub her brilliance in the other girl’s face. “See? I told you it—”

“She’s visiting for your and Gigi’s wedding.”

She blinked, looking at her incredulously. “Mine and Gigi’s what now?”

“Look, I panicked, it was the only thing I could think of. And this was your idea anyway, so if I’m going down, you’re coming to hell with me,” Jan got up as she spoke, pacing around the room as she desperately tried to figure out what to do next. “Just go with it, please.”

It had taken another moment for Crystal to fully process the information. How was she supposed to tell Gigi? What was she going to do if she couldn’t get her on board? But she didn’t want to compound Jan’s panic and make everything worse. “Well, Gigi does have a wedding dress in the works…” She looked over at her friend who was still on the verge of an anxiety attack and rushed to her side, wrapping her arms around her. “Listen, we’ll make this work. I don’t know how, but we will, I promise.”

Jan took a few deep breaths, allowing herself to be calmed down. She hugged Crystal tightly, hiding her face against her shoulder. “Where do we go from here?” Her voice couldn’t reach above a whisper.

Crystal chewed her lip as she rubbed Jan’s back. “I guess first thing’s first—I have to tell Gigi we’re getting married.”

[missjanjie]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered | (1/?)

Title: Signed, Sealed, Delivered Summary:   Jan is in love with her French pen pal, Nicky. Her roommate, Crystal, is in love with her best friend, Gigi. A (perhaps ill-thought out) plan emerges: give Nicky a reason to visit by inviting her to Crystal and Gigi's wedding. With a month to pull the scheme together, no one knows how this will end up. Word Count: 2.8k (this chapter) Relationship(s): Sportsdoll (Jan Sport/Nicky Doll), Crygi (Crystal Methyd/Gigi Goode Rating: T (so far)

Read on AO3

also, thanks to @janssports and @imalwaysaslutfordrag for beta-ing xo

“Mail call!” Crystal called out, even though it was only her and Jan in the apartment. She sorted the pile out between the two of them, ending up with two slightly messy stacks. “Looks like you got an international package!”

That brought Jan barreling out of her room, nearly slipping on the rug on her way in. She grabbed onto the counter to support herself, taking a gasp of air before standing upright. “Oh yay!” She grabbed the package with the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning and took it back to her room along with the rest of her pile, not bothering to close the door behind her.

Crystal chuckled, looking over to see her cat perched on the couch, staring into Jan’s bedroom with something of a perplexed expression. “It’s nothing for you, Tic. But maybe she’ll let you play in the box,” she mused before her gaze drifted back to her pile of mail, sifting through what inevitably turned out to be nothing but junk. With nothing else of her immediate interest, she wandered into her roommate’s room, sitting on the bed while Jan was at her desk. “What’d you get?”

Jan carefully opened the box, gliding the box cutter down the tape seams so she didn’t have to rip and yank and risk tearing anything inside. She took the neatly folded letter out first, holding it to her face and taking a deep inhale. The scent of patchouli and vanilla wafted into her nose and made her smile. It was the smell she most associated with Nicky, every package and letter she sent came laced with the aroma of her perfume.

“Bonjour, mon petite poupée,” she started to read, ignoring the way Crystal started to laugh at her butchering of the French phrases. “I hope spring is as beautiful there as it is here. I have sent you a box of macarons—I enjoy them year-round, but my mother always loved to bake them the most this time of year. I wanted to send you some of hers, but hopefully bakery ones will suffice. I’d love it if you FaceTime or Skype me when you get them, I want to see your live reaction, and I sent you enough to share with Crystal, so be nice. Until then, câlins et bisous, Nicky.”

Jan smiled broadly as she finished reading the letter, noticing the lipstick kiss print that Nicky signed off every letter with, and gently set it aside. “Okay, it’s like nine at night where she is, she’ll still be up,” she said as she took the pastel box tied neatly with a white lace bow out of the package. “Oh look, this is so cute.” She took out another piece of paper where Nicky had hand-drawn each macaron and wrote the flavor next to it, making a color-coded guide. “Isn’t she so sweet and thoughtful?”

“She told you to share, so yes.” Crystal chuckled, running her hand through her hair to look presentable while Jan called Nicky on Skype.

Nicky answered the call right away. “Hi Jan! Hi Crystal!” She greeted them with energy even though she was dressed for bedtime, wearing a black tank top and white cotton shorts (the latter not being visible in the frame). Her hair was damp, air-drying, and draped over her desk chair. “Did you get my mail?”

Jan nodded, holding the box up for her to see. “Just did. Thank you so much, Nicks. That’s so sweet of you.”

“Of course, I’m still making my way through the gift basket you sent for my birthday. I have opinions on all the different Oreo flavors.” Nicky giggled. They had gotten into a discussion about all the different flavors of the cookie, and she had become obsessed with the idea of trying the variety. So, when her birthday rolled around, Jan had painstakingly arranged a cookie bouquet (along with a few other treats) with as many flavors as she could find.

In the year they’d been communicating, Nicky had both come to expect Jan to go the extra mile and would still be surprised every time. The university course that had brought them together through its pen pal program certainly didn’t require an exchange of presents, but it started with Jan not being to help herself and (unbeknownst to Nicky) progressed into an ever-present desire to impress her.

“We can get to that next, I’m really excited to try these. Which one is your favorite?” Jan asked as she took the bow off the box without untying it and opened it up. “Oooh, it still smells fresh-baked.”

Nicky grinned as she watched her, opening up a bottle of rosé and pouring herself a glass. “I am partial to the red velvet and the apricot.”

Jan licked her lips. “You know I love red velvet.” She plucked the deep red cookie from the box before handing it to Crystal, who was making grabby-hands at it. She waited for her friend to choose and set the box down on her desk. “On three.” She counted down, then took a bite. “Holy shit.” She covered her mouth, not wanting to talk with her mouth full. “Nicks, these are delicious. You’re gonna have to send these on the regular.”

Crystal was enjoying herself just as much. “Is there a word for like, food horny? You know, like it tastes so good, I’m kind of turned on?”

Nicky snorted and Jan looked down and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just say you like it, Crystal.”

“I do,” she confirmed, then looked down at her phone. “Anyway, gotta go. Bye Nicky, thanks for the cookies!” She waved at the screen before darting right out of the room.

Jan chuckled, knowing exactly what propelled Crystal out of the room so quickly and shouted “Tell Gigi I said hi!” after her. Then she faced forward again, her attention effortlessly returned to Nicky. “Anyway, how have you been?” “No complainings,” Nicky hummed, aimlessly strumming her fingers against her glass. “Did you get around to listening to that study playlist I sent you?”

“Oh my god yeah, I forgot to say anything because I kept listening to it after I was done studying and fell asleep,” Jan admitted with a laugh. “You have impeccable taste.”

She twirled her slowly drying hair around her manicured finger. “Tell me something I do not know, darling.” She winked.

Jan’s breath hitched in her throat and she covered it with a cough. Nicky exuded a seductive beauty so effortlessly and it didn’t take much for Jan to get flustered. If their friendship wasn’t exclusively long distance, her crush would have been impossible for Nicky or anyone else to not pick up on. Hell, Crystal only knew because she had been aching for the release of gushing about her feelings and her roommate lent a willing ear. “Last time I did that, we ended up talking about juice boxes for an hour,” she retorted once her body had unclenched.

Nicky chuckled softly at the memory. It was so easy for them to go off on tangents about the smallest things. It was probably her favorite part of her conversations with Jan, everything flowed so easily, awkward silence simply didn’t exist between them. “That is true,” she conceded. “But I’ve got to go eat dinner. We’ll talk tomorrow, yes?”

“Go eat.” She never quite grasped how Nicky always ate dinner so late at night, but she had all but memorized her schedule by now. “Au revoir,” she cooed, just because she knew it would make her laugh, and waved as she ended the call.

------

When Crystal got the text ‘come hang out, im done with class,’ she was out the door before she even sent ‘ok.’ Gigi was a junior while she and Jan were seniors, but all of them going to the same university had their schedules aligning relatively often. But she and Jan were living off-campus, so she didn’t want to waste any time on getting to her.

“Hey.” Gigi smiled, greeting her best friend with a hug. “Come on, we’re going on a coffee run,” she said, leading the way. Her direct nature was something Crystal had appreciated—she didn’t ask questions, she made statements, and it came off as harsh to some, but Crystal was terrible at making daily decisions, so she was happy to leave it in her hands.

“Sounds good. You should come over soon, Jan got these amazing French cookies from Nicky. I think she’ll let us steal some,” Crystal mused, linking their arms as they walked.

“Cool.” She nodded. “Has Jan told Nicky she’s in love with her yet?” It had come up in conversation in the past, leading to Crystal giving the entire backstory of Jan and Nicky’s relationship. Luckily, Jan hadn’t held it against her and could live with one more person knowing the truth.

Crystal laughed softly and shook her head. “Nope. But, you know, you can’t push someone to admit how they feel if they aren’t ready.” Her tone was a bit strained in the remark, looking straight ahead as she spoke.

But Gigi didn’t notice the shift in her voice anyway. “That’s stupid,” she said flatly. “They’re like, four thousand miles apart, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Feelings are feelings.” She shrugged as they entered the café. Of course, she could relate to what Jan was going through, but as far as she was concerned, her situation was worse. A pen pal could be out of sight and out of mind, she reasoned. But having a crush on your best friend made day-to-day life excruciating. She was constantly torn between the desire to distance herself so her emotions didn’t overwhelm, and the powerful urge to spend as much time and be as physically close to Gigi as possible. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latter would always win. “So, how’s your final project going?”

Gigi let out an exasperated groan. “God, I’m killing myself making a dress for the wedding I’ll never have,” she lamented. “I never want to see white lace again once I’m done with it.”

Crystal winced, averting her gaze. “You don’t think you’ll ever get married?”

“Not the takeaway here, Crys,” she rolled her eyes, but there was still fondness in her expression. “Listen, I’ve made it this far in life without a relationship, maybe that’s just my destiny. I’ll just be far too busy taking over the fashion industry to worry about it.”

It wasn’t a personal rejection, but it was painfully difficult for Crystal not to take it as one. Her heart ached and her chest felt heavy with a sudden sadness, coupled with her active efforts not to let it show. “No, yeah, I get it.”

Gigi rubbed her arm gently. “Don’t let my cynicism ruin that hopeless romantic in you. It gives me hope in this cold, dark world.” She looked into her eyes, silently offering the apology she was just a little too proud to verbalize.

Crystal lightened back up, though she was embarrassed that Gigi had such a hold on her emotions without even realizing it. “I’ll do my best.”

------

Crystal returned to the apartment just as the sun was setting. Coffee had turned to dinner and time had just slipped away from her. But when she got inside, she went right over to knock on Jan’s door, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Come in!”

“Jan, I had an idea!” Crystal let herself in and sat at the desk, as Jan was now in bed with her laptop.

Jan closed the laptop and set it aside. “I’m scared already,” she joked.

“No, no, no, I’m totally serious, and it’s a good idea,” Crystal insisted, shifting to sit cross-legged on the chair. “You and Nicky are like, a million miles apart and that really sucks, right?”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me.”

Crystal waved the comment off and continued. “So here’s the plan—you tell her there’s a big event that you’re going to this summer and you want her to come to visit. Dunno what the event would be, but we can worry about it later.”

The brunette tilted her head to the side. “Like graduation?”

“That’s not enough time. It has to be something that’ll happen in like, a month or something,” she explained. “But you guys will just be so excited to be together that you’ll forget about the event entirely, problem solved.”

Jan stared blankly at her friend, wondering if she had become delirious from too many all-nighters. But then she shrugged, what did she have to lose? “I’ll talk to her about it in the morning, then. It couldn’t hurt to bring up…”

“That’s the spirit!” Crystal clapped her hands together. “Let me know how it goes!” And with that, she left the room with a spring in her step.

And Jan did sleep on it, weighing out the pros and cons of creating an elaborate ruse just to get the girl she was pining after to travel overseas. It wasn’t that they hadn’t talked about visiting each other, but they could never ‘justify’ it, there was always something else they needed to focus on, or the finances just wouldn’t allow it (she wasn’t about to ask her parents to send her to France when they were already paying her bills). The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a decent idea.

After breakfast and a shower, Jan called up Nicky on FaceTime. “Are you busy? I’ve gotta ask you something.”

“You have my undivided attention,” Nicky assured.

Jan smiled, sitting down on the couch. “So, I’ve got this big event coming up next month, and I know we haven’t been able to arrange a visit yet, but I think this would be the perfect opportunity. I really want to see you.”

Nicky tilted her head in curiosity. “I want to see you too. What is the event?”

“A wedding,” Jan answered confidently. She had decided that it would make perfect sense for the time of year.

“I love weddings.” Nicky’s face lit up. “Whose is it?”

Fuck. Why hadn’t she planned one step further? “It’s…” At that moment, she somehow forgot the name of everyone she had ever known for a brief moment, and she wanted to yell at Crystal for giving her this stupid idea in the first place and—

“Crystal and Gigi’s,” she blurted out.

Nicky knew Crystal had a romantic interest in Gigi just from passing conversations, but she had never quite pieced together the nature of their relationship. She was a little surprised at how serious it apparently was, but decided there was no need to question it. “Oh, good for them. I’ll have to double-check, but I think I will be able to be your plus one.”

Jan didn’t realize she had been holding her breath until she exhaled in relief. “Great! I’m so excited, I’m sure Crystal will be thrilled to hear it.”

“Send her my good wishes, I have to get to class, though,” Nicky replied, exchanging goodbyes before the call ended.

“What am I gonna be thrilled to hear?” Crystal asked as she tossed her bag into her bedroom. The door was always left open so TicTac could go in and out as he pleased. She had just returned from class, dried paint splotches still staining her fingers and palms.

Jan’s face froze. Yet another issue she had not accounted for. “Nicky is going to come visit.”

Crystal beamed triumphantly, getting ready to rub her brilliance in the other girl’s face. “See? I told you it—”

“She’s visiting for your and Gigi’s wedding.”

She blinked, looking at her incredulously. “Mine and Gigi’s what now?”

“Look, I panicked, it was the only thing I could think of. And this was your idea anyway, so if I’m going down, you’re coming to hell with me,” Jan got up as she spoke, pacing around the room as she desperately tried to figure out what to do next. “Just go with it, please.”

It had taken another moment for Crystal to fully process the information. How was she supposed to tell Gigi? What was she going to do if she couldn’t get her on board? But she didn’t want to compound Jan’s panic and make everything worse. “Well, Gigi does have a wedding dress in the works…” She looked over at her friend who was still on the verge of an anxiety attack and rushed to her side, wrapping her arms around her. “Listen, we’ll make this work. I don’t know how, but we will, I promise.”

Jan took a few deep breaths, allowing herself to be calmed down. She hugged Crystal tightly, hiding her face against her shoulder. “Where do we go from here?” Her voice couldn’t reach above a whisper.

Crystal chewed her lip as she rubbed Jan’s back. “I guess first thing's first—I have to tell Gigi we’re getting married.”

[inthedreamatorium1]

I would love one of your Ted-talks about the Jeudi 17.32 "I love you"-clip if you didn't already write one :) :) :)

I haven’t done this one yet and I was reaaaaaaaally hoping no one would ever ask me to do this one because I honestly don’t know what to say about it? Every. Single. Part. Is perfect.

I’m such a sucker seeing couples, particularly LGBTQ+ couples, show affection. Lucas and Eliott do it in spades. They legitimately cannot keep their hands off each other and they are so OPEN about it too! It’s not something they just do in the safety of their beds. We see it at school around their friends! We see it when they’re at the park, surrounded by classmates! The level of affection and intimacy they’re showing in front of others is so so sweet to see.

Remember how Lucas was so deeply in the closet that he had to google how to act straight? He latched on to Chloe whenever he felt his “straightness” wasn’t straight enough. He would say super offensive and vulgar things about women and things he would do to women to overcompensate that even Mr Gross-face himself, Basile, was shocked. My point is that imagining THAT Lucas be openly affectionate with another man in front of other people would have been wildly unbelievable to not only him but to us the viewers.

But being around Eliott changes things for Lucas. We saw and felt the level of intimacy he had with Eliott after their first kiss. Yes, Lucas initially reacted negatively when Eliott gave him a kiss in the middle of the hallway, but he still leaned in to kiss him again to say good-bye to him and was so disappointed it didn’t happen. He genuinely loves being close and intimate with Eliott.

(where the hell am I going with this? I swear, these two can take me on a million tangents)

YES ok Jeudi 17:32.

What I think I was trying to say up above in a very confusing way is that I love how openly affectionate they are around each other and how they don’t have any hesitations of showing that affection openly in public. They were at the bus stop (their spot!) and had zero awareness of anything outside their soft bubble. God, Lucas was full on clinging to Eliott and I dare Eliott to go a day without cradling Lucas’ face. There was no fear. No hesitations. The world melted away just leaving the two of them.

One of my favorite Isak and Even’s scenes is the bench one in episode 410. We had spent a lot of time witnessing Isak caring and supporting Even, so seeing them flip roles and having Even be the one to calm Isak and center him was so wonderful for us to see. We saw more of their dynamic and reminded us that Isak needs to be cared for too. We see that here. Eliott was supporting and caring for Lucas. He wouldn’t let Lucas’ mind go to a dark place. He was soft with his words and with his hands, gently tipping his head up every time Lucas’eyes dropped.

There are a million reasons why I love Skam France but one of the big reasons is the way they bring us, the viewers, into the scenes. We felt every bit of sexual tension between the two, the heartache and internal struggle Lucas was struggling with, the intensity of Eliott’s manic episode. This scene was no different. The camera stayed so close to their faces it allowed us to be a part of this quiet and tender moment. 

We joke about Lucas being overly dramatic about Eliott only going back to his apartment but we gotta remember that they spent an entire week together, a week that was probably very emotional for both. They talked a lot. They held each other. And chances are Lucas told him more about his mom and what his home situation used to be like. Lucas’s dad straight up left him, and not only left him but rejected him. While he now seems to understand his mom better, she was emotionally unable to care for him and so she too checked out. I can’t imagine where his mind is going. Eliottrecognized this. 

“Minute-by-minute, remember?”

This isn’t just for Eliott, it’s for Lucas too.

(also, just had to share, the way he says, “c’est pas des adieux” straight up murders me)

Jesus, Eliott in this entire scene is SO GOOD. He’s so tender with Lucas, I’m honestly getting teary-eyed thinking about it. How Eliott went through so much shit and walked through life pretty much alone and needed Lucas to save him from the darkness but he also got to be the hero in his own story and help save Lucas and it’s really really fuckingoverwhelming when you sit down and think about it.

(have I mentioned yet that I need an Eliott season? BECAUSE I DO. What’s his home life like? Why does he live in an apartment by himself? What’s his relationship like with his parents? When was he diagnosed? What happened with Idriss? Does he have any family? When did he start identifying as a raccoon? I have questions, David and Niels, and I need answers.)

I’m at like, 900 words and I didn’t even touch on the sweet kisses Eliott kept laying on Lucas. Or the way he gently wiped Lucas’ tear with his thumb. Or how he placed his hand on Lucas’ heart as he pulled away. 

Eliott Demaury is the most romantic and sensitive soul in this entire world.

Eliott Demaury is also the devil because he had to go all soft and “je’taime” us and then fucking Lucas Lallemant had to hammer in that final nail in our collective coffins and go all “moi aussi” 

THE SOFT WAY ELIOTT CLIMBS ONTO THE BUS BACKWARDS AND JUST STARES AND SMILES AT LUCAS AS THE DOORS CLOSE.

AND LUCAS’ TEARY EYED SMILE AS HE WATCHES THE BUS LEAVE.

RIP KERI.

(i would like to give a shoutout to the bus driver for recognizing that there was something superbly major happening because he was very patient with waiting for Eliott to not only get on the bus but he also let him block the doors. Because let me tell you, if Eliott pulled that shit here in DC, the bus driver would either have A) closed the door and drove off with him or B) refused to move the bus until he got out of the way of the doors. So thank you, kind Parisian bus driver.)

(apparently, I DO have a lot of things I to say about this scene…)

[brighidvanguard]

gen:LOCK Episode 1-3 Review and Discussion

Ok I’m just gonna come out and say it. I love this show already. Gray really has made such a great show with a VERY strong start. We’re already getting to see sone great action along with fantastic world building and lore as well. So I’m just gonna go over what I wanna tak about that I found through these first few episodes.

So first off, the cast. With a great, diverse cast which already has big names in it like Michael B. Jordan and David Tennant, it doesn’t seem like they could go wrong. But, I was pretty skeptical after watching the first two episodes. I thought that some lines were just kind of delivered in a static way. But, after seeing the third episode, I have hope. They were able to display a lot of strong emotions in one scene and then in the next they show them al having fun together. And it all seems geniune and I loved it. So I don’t really have any problems with the voice acting at all.

Now onto the characters. First up, there’s Julian Chase. As one of the main characters, you’d expect him to be more expressive than anyone else, yet they seem to kind of write him in a bit of an emotionless way. He doesn’t really have a lot of moments where he shines yet, but I’m hoping we’ll get that eventually, although I do love his interactions with his family in the first episode. And of course there are his buddies, Miguel, Jodie, and Leon. At first, they generally fit into the archetypes that a lot of being the protagonist’s bros with one being the funny one, one being the serious one, and one being the cool one. But, I don’t think that that’s a crime. They seem to have character outside of just that and they aren’t glued to Julian at all times. In fact, Julian was presumed dead for 4 years and they all moved on. So yeah, I don’t mind them fitting into archetypes all that much.

Anyways then we move on to Chase’s main love interest, Miranda. At first I liked her, but then after Chase died she became kind of emotionless and a bit moody to me. And then after he came back she became even more moody and a bit standoffish towards him, which is kind of understandable, but also like, c’mon. There are a couple of moments where she’s just a bit too mean to him and it’s annoying. But I imagine that they’ll develop her further, especially since in the latest episode it’s revealed that she and Jodie have a thing together.

Up next we have Colonel Marin and Dr. Weller. Both these characters play off of each other very well. While Marin is much more strict and a bit uptight, Weller is more relaxed and also has a lot more faith in the gen:LOCK team. Weller is also just a hilarious character and has some of the best lines. I though that that would’ve been his downfall because they would’ve made him like the crazy doctor character, but he’s also very driven and motivational, driving the gen:LOCK team to do what is right. He’s honestly my favorite character so far.

And then there’s the gen:LOCK team. I love all of them. First there’s Yasamin Madrani. Once a former member of the Union, now she’s working with the Vanguard and Dr. Weller as a gen:LOCK pilot. And as we’ve seen, she does not like her previous ties to the Union and now wants to fight them. Her previous ties will clearly lead to complications with others, but I really hope that the other characters will see past that because she’s a really great character. Next up there’s Kazu Iida. He seems to be kind of the reckless type who doesn’t play very well with others. But, it doesn’t seem like he’s opposed to working together with the others om the gen:LOCK team. But I really like him. After that we have Cameron MacCloud, or Cammie is people seem to be calling her. First of all I love how Scottish she is. She’s one of the most expressive characters in the show so far and I love it. She’s not afraid to speak her mind or be vulgar. She’s also very cute and is a nerd which I love. And finally, there’s Valentina Romanyszyn (had to look that up to spell it). Aso I’m not quite sure yet, but the wiki uses they/them pronouns for Valentina so I’m just gonna use them too. So Valentina is probably the most edgy character we’ve seen so far. They don’t trust anyone and they hate the Union. The’ve also fought against the Union before New York was attacked so we know probably just how sick of the Union they are. But overall, I love them as a character so far.

Also, quick side tangent, I love all of the positive representation in this show. We have an actual diverse cast playing the gen:LOCK team, which is fitting since the gen:LOCK candidates are from all around the world. We even have Japanese voice actor Kōichi Yamadera playing Kazu which is awesome.

Anyways back to the topic at hand. Other than the characters, we have a lot of lore in this world. The story takes place in our world but just 50 years in the future. So, obviously everything is a lot more high tech. But I love how all the characters just act like everything is commonplace, because to them, it is. I also love how they make great use of all of the tech in believable ways. It’s great. I also love the idea of the holons being piloted by uploading people’s minds into the holons themselves. It’s so innovative and cool and so unique for a mecha show. Outside of the tech, the only other lore I could think of is the Union itself. Ok so apparently the Union is a group that formed from a few contries with similar views coming together and forming a huge military power and essentially trying to take over the world and eliminating anyone who has different views than them. That concept is terrifying, yet also a believable enough motivation. Also, another lore tidbit I saw was when we got a look at a map of the US and we see that almost all of the states have different shapes. So that shows how much thing have changed in their world.

I also wanna talk about the absolutely stunning animation for a second. They have all of this futuristic tech and all of these huge movements in mechas and jets, yet they still look believable. Ir really immerses you in the story. Also the lighting in the show is spot on.

Oh yeah and the OP is kickass and I love it. It really gets me hyped before every episode.

Aso I absolutely love the scene where Cammie, Valentina, and Kazu all link up to their holons for the first time. It’s great.

Anyways that’s pretty much all I wanted to talk about. I’ll be back next week with another review. So thanks for reading! Bye!

[mysteli]

es in vegas (choices crack series) part 1

A/N: This is gonna be so weird I already know! But it’s hopefully gonna be fun. This is my first crack-fic so don’t mind if it’s a little messy but this first chapter is the lead up to Vegas so it’s  bound to be all over the place. Anyway, I hope you like it! You were all really excited for this so I hope I did it justice!

Warning: the best way to describe this is probably... mature? mainly of the content in it because if it’s just clean then it ain’t really Vegas. this series will feature implied nsfw but not really anything descriptive (mostly just mentions), exaggerations on use of alcohol, strong language and... crazy behaviour? It’s just weird and I’d proceed with caution... 

PS: this chapter does feature a little bit of nsfw but it’s barely anything... it’s just a little innuendo. 

Disclaimer: most of the plot belongs to the Hangover and the characters belong to Pixelberry. I’m just mashing the two together. 

Pairings: Jake X MC, Craig X Zahra, Diego X Vaaryn, Aleister X Grace - just the OG pairings for now but things could change ;) -

Tag list: @brightpinkpeppercorn @likethetailofacomet @xo-endlessmayhem-xo @sceptilemasterr @indiacater @chyeahboy @candychoices @zaffrenotes @nicknameking @bailey-choices @szeherezada @whatsernamerps @aries-light @endlessly-searching-for-you @justboredtrash @beckettsattunement @gerrysacushla @mind-reader1 @sweet-honeybird @allykrane @seraxa @violarobics

I tagged everyone who liked the post just in case! If you wanna be removed, just let me know!

Let me know if you wanna be tagged! 💗and let me know if the tags work because Tumblr is acting up.

Masterlist

Summary: With Aleister and Grace set to be married in a matter of days, the gang decide to have separate last minute bachelor and bachelorette parties before they tie the knot. And what better place to go than... Las Vegas!

Words: 9003 (I apologise in advance)

ENDLESS SUMMER IN VEGAS PART 1 - SIN CITY

“Oh my god... oh my god.. is this really happening?” 

The shaky excitement practically bouncing off of Grace’s usually more timid voice echoes in Logan’s ears, as she once again listens to Grace having a literal panic attack over a goddamn party. Sure, it makes sense. She sounds excited but the worry seems to shine through more than anything. It’s painfully obvious that she isn’t too experienced in parties or a lot of social events and it appears in her voice like she’s trying to hide the fact that there are any nerves activated at all. 

Grace worries about everything. She overthinks things way so much almost all of the time and ever since she and Aleister announced their engagement, she’s done nothing but excessively worry about planning the wedding. Now, with only a few days to go, the group came to the conclusion that both of them needed a break. So they all suggested separate bachelor and bachelorette parties so that the two of them can cool down and at least enjoy their last few nights as single people. With this idea in this place, Grace and Aleister were pretty up for it... until Jake chimed in with the addition of going to Vegas. 

Of course he would be the one to announce that sort of idea and everyone was really excited about that and Grace and Aleister had no choice but to accept, no matter much they tried to say how much they wanted something quaint and simple. They’re crazy if they think a trip to Vegas is gonna get put aside when it comes to their group. Besides, it seems like a great chance to bond together again and enjoy a nice weekend in America’s most sinful city. 

Now they’re around an hour away from leaving and Logan has been trying to finish her packing while Jake is on the phone trying to get out of work for the weekend. Should be pretty busy, even if he is the world’s worst liar. Logan basically give him that trait by pointing it out. He’s too dedicated to this Vegas trip to not be determined enough to get outta work so he should be fine. Meanwhile, Logan hasn’t been able to finish her damn packing since she’s been on the phone with an extremely anxious Grace for about an hour now. The girl is doing nothing but panicking. Clearly she doesn’t believe she can summon the courage to go to Vegas and actually enjoy herself. Maybe it’s the thought of being without Aleister for a night or maybe she’s just socially awkward or maybe she doesn’t wanna waste her money. She’s mentioned all those things and not settled on one. 

Logan huffs in annoyance at Grace’s constant panicky state. She’s spent an hour now trying to keep Grace calm but nothing seems to be fucking working. She grabs her heels from the bottom of her closet and tries her best to keep up with Grace’s repetitive tangents. 

“Logan... I am not prepared for something as huge as this.” Grace suddenly says and Logan rolls her ocean eyes, really not sure what to make of this entire scenario. 

“What do you mean something as huge as this? It’s Vegas. You get drunk and have fun. That can’t be as difficult as getting married.” Logan points out, impatience running around her tone and she runs a hand through her platinum hair out of frustration. She can’t pack with all these damn distractions. 

“Of course not but... I’m just nervous. What if we don’t come back? What if we get too drunk and make some dumb mistakes? Oh shit... what if we kill someone?” Grace is really starting to sound like an idiot now. It’s like she thinks they’re taking part in the fucking Hunger Games or something.

“Listen, Chidi... this is Vegas.” Logan smirks at the actual good nickname she just used. Wow... if only she said it in front of Jake. He would be so proud.

“Exactly. It’s Vegas. You’ve heard all the horror stories, haven’t you?” Logan can practically hear Grace biting her own nails and gritting her teeth because of how damn worried she is about this trip.

“You haven’t been watching those, have you? Cause that’s called clickbait, Grace.” Logan warns Grace and rightfully so. If Grace is worrying about what fake people are saying on the internet than this is just ridiculous. 

Grace is silent for a moment and that is all the answer that Logan even needs. “...No.” is all Grace manages to mutter and Logan just rolls her sapphire eyes at the thought, stuffing her last shirt into her bag. 

With a heavy sigh, Logan composes herself and tries to actually provide Grace with decent advice. “I’m gonna tell you this right now. Nothing bad is going to happen. It’s just all twelve of us having a fun time in Vegas. And remember you’re celebrating your last few days as a single woman, which means you gotta make the most of it! I suggest you loosen up and shed all those nerves because you’re gonna need your confidence when you’re out there.” Logan nods to herself proudly when she catches the sound of Grace sighing with a sign of relief, which clearly reveals that she’s calmed down at least a little.

“You’re right... I shouldn’t be worrying. I shouldn’t be panicking. I should be ecstatic because we get to go to Vegas and it’s my bachelorette party. This will be fun!” Grace seems to be trying to energise herself now with reassuring words and motivation. She’s not really talking to Logan anymore.

“Good. That’s the attitude we want, Grace.” Logan appreciates Grace’s sudden mood change and she releases a deep sigh when she realises this is a good time to hang up and finish packing. “Ok... well I’m gonna let you get to it and I’ll meet you at the—“

“Wait!” 

“What?!” Logan questions, suddenly worried that something’s happened. 

“What if Aleister hooks up with a stripper?!” Grace alarms Logan for no reason and she is left just completely fed up.

“Bye Grace.” 

Logan swiftly hangs up her phone before she loses her sanity and the last of her brain cells. Exhaling sharply, she tosses her phone on the bed and tries to remember what the hell she was doing before. That conversation with Grace might have completely messed her up. Luckily, a lightbulb goes off in Logan’s head and she quickly gets back to finishing her packing. After about fifteen minutes of finishing everything up with her bags and cleaning the bedroom, Logan makes her way out of the bedroom, hooking her bag on her left shoulder as she exits the area. When she reaches the living room, her sapphire eyes glance over a familiar figure pacing back and forth, with a phone pressed against his ear. Of course its Jake and Logan can’t help but form a weak smile at the sight of him. He looks proud of himself and it probably means that he was successful in his plans to get out work. 

From the corner of his eye, Jake spots his wife with her own ocean eyes fixed on him. He shoots her a flirty wink and a clean thumbs up before quickly finishing up on the phone.

“Yeah ok. I’ll see you Tuesday morning.” Jake ends the call and stuffs his phone in the pocket of his jeans before making his way over to Logan, who is eyeing him with expectancy. “I got out of work.” Jake declares with a natural confidence (something Grace definitely doesn’t have).

“Oh I know. I could tell by the sly smirk on your face.” Logan counters with her own smirk crossing her lips and she presses her palms against Jake’s chest after letting her bag drop to the floor. She doesn’t really seem to notice though and neither does Jake. 

Jake responds to her action eagerly by snaking his hands around Logan’s waist and letting his hands explore the curves of her body. “That’s always there, Princess.” He whispers before leaning in and briefly bringing their lips together. He chuckles lowly as they pull away when he spots the clear excitement in his wife’s eyes. “Guessing you’re ready for Vegas.”

“Of course I am. I’m so glad we’re taking Furball as well!” Logan exclaims excitedly and Furball is propped up against the sofa, dancing with glee.

“Mmmmrf!”

“I’m also ready to down every drink I buy and...” Logan takes this an opportunity to have some fun with the moment they’re having. “...maybe see some strippers.”

“Oh really now? You’re lucky I won’t be there to kick their ass if they even look at you.” Jake retorts, a little surprised that Logan is choosing now to play a game like this. He leans in again, lips pausing inches away from Logan’s - their heavy breaths bouncing off of the other’s lower lip. 

“You’re not gonna be there though, are you?” Logan pouts as she continues to torture Jake, meeting eyes with him and she can practically see his own darken with desire. Damn, they aren’t even in Vegas yet. 

“Trust me on this though, darlin...” Jake begins, letting his eyes roam over Logan’s heavenly features and allowing his hands to be dragged up her back until they’re tangled in her hair. “...I’ll leave you so damn satisfied, you won’t even know those strippers are looking at you the way they will.”

With that, Jake yanks Logan in for a well overdue kiss, immediately building up a steady rhythm and the passion inside them both is let out the second their lips connect. They got about twenty minutes and that’s plenty of time to just get in some... rounds before they head off to Vegas. Besides, they’re gonna be separated most of the night so it isn’t a bad idea to just have fun with each other before they leave for Vegas. Hell, they don’t even know how they’re gonna survive at a party that is about Grace and Aleister. No offence to them but they aren’t exactly the most lively in the group. They’re the ones that tend to keep to themselves the most and reject the offers of everyone hanging out together but this whole thing they just couldn’t get out of. They prefer solitude and that’s their problem honestly.

Logan roughly bites down on Jake’s lower lip, taking it between her teeth for a few seconds and letting him know that she’s ready to spend the next few minutes using their more wild sides. Jake obliges, sweeping Logan off her feet in one swift motion and steadying her in the air by her waist. Logan helps by wrapping her legs around his waist, as Jake leads her over to the kitchen and carefully places her on the counter. The kiss never breaks and the heat never dies. It’s impossible for that to happen when it comes to them because they’re always wanting each other and needing each other. Maybe they’re just crazy but it also makes sense for people like them. Just shows how much they love each other. 

Logan blindly uses her hands to guide Jake’s jacket off his body and he smirks against her lips as she carries that out. He breaks the kiss momentarily, letting his lips drift down her neck and his lips linger in one place for a moment. He’s almost preparing to leave some sort of love bite but before he can... 

“Holy mothertrucking poop on a wenis!” 

The sound of a very traumatised voice forces Jake and Logan apart and just the extreme exaggeration of the reaction to them gives away the identity of the intruder. Carefully and slowly, Jake turns to where the witness is standing and he barely manages to hold back a laugh, while Logan is left with complete embarrassment flooding her expression.

“Raj...” Of course it’s Raj. “Chill. You didn’t see anything gross. What you saw is what... pigeons do in broad daylight and I don’t see you getting mad at them.” What the fuck is Jake talking about?

Logan facepalms hard and her humiliation only grows. “Jake... please stop talking.” 

Raj’s chestnut eyes are wide with disbelief, that natural innocence lost the moment he walked in on... this. Jake presses his lips together and avoids all eye contact with Raj as an attempt to stop himself from laughing his brains out. Logan cautiously hops off the counter and tries to bring back Raj back to the real world. The dude seems dazed and completely out of it. 

“Raj?” 

No answer.

“Mimosa Man? You okay?” Jake just has to chime in with that nickname. 

“I thought you weren’t supposed to call him that.” Logan reminds Jake with arched eyebrows. 

“No that’s the one he likes. The one he didn’t like was Tequila Stealer.” Jake responds and revisiting that nickname only makes it more difficult to not laugh. 

At last, Raj manages to blink and breathe and gather himself finally. He flicks his gaze between the two lovebirds before him and he cringes a little when he reminds himself of what he walked into.

“Jesus would be disappointed in you...” Raj states randomly. It almost comes across like a joke but his solemn expression tells a completely different story.  “...and the kitchen?! Really? That’s where you cook, dudes.” 

“We’re sorry, Tequila St— I mean Mimosa Man.” Oof. Jake almost released the devil of all nicknames again. 

Raj is really coming off as intimidating right now. This whole moment is just unbearable and awkward. “Ugh... okay. Come on, guys!”

“Where?”

“Vegas! Duh!” Raj rolls his brown eyes as a reaction to Jake’s stupidity. “We’re all going one of Grace’s mom’s limos so come on!”

Logan is taken aback a little by that statement. “But I thought we were taking Quinn’s minivan.” 

“Catch on, my dudes.”

After what feels like forever, the oh so amazing limo that Grace’s mom had set up for them to drive in - with Grace being the only one who is allowed drive it because if anything happens to to it... well someone will get hurt - finally passes the memorable Welcome of Vegas, completed with a description of the city in one word... Fabulous! The limo is pretty sweet though but it does have one price. They didn’t even get an arranged driver. Grace has been bugging her mom about having her own responsibilities lately instead of having everything handed to her. Well her mom granted her wish by giving her the responsibility to drive the limo there and back and not damage it all in the process. What the fuck does she think they’re doing? They’re in Sin City.

Grace is starting to get frustrated with the amount of traffic that’s building up in their surroundings and they aren’t even that far from the hotel. Luckily, she’s a calm driver but if anyone else was driving this car, we’d have many problems and many arguments. Lots of noise. With the slight pause, everyone (yeah everyone is in the limo and even Vaaryn decided to tag along) takes this as a chance to talk about their plans for the parties. 

“So... what do you all wanna achieve tonight?” Quinn challenges the group to name their goal for the night and everyone’s faces just light up at the thought of what they might do in Vegas - well everyone aside from Aleister. Grace is now a lot more into the idea than she was before and Aleister is really the only one left who is in denial. At Quinn’s question, everyone else is pleased to answer but Aleister just rolls his icy eyes and hangs his head, tuning out of the conversation. 

Raj starts things off with some kind of far away fantasy that he seems really serious about achieving but no one could be drunk enough for it to happen. “My goal is to be drunk enough that I will somehow wake up and end up in Disneyland.” He tells the idea to the group rather confidently and he seems really proud of something like that. Quinn seems fascinated by it and she knows she’d love to do it too.

“Disneyland?! I would do it even if I wasn’t drunk.” Quinn exclaims, giddy and excited and her sky blue eyes sparkle with excitement.

“Pretty sure you’d need more than mimosas for that, buddy.” Jake points out, causing Raj to roll his eyes.

“What is with you and comparing me to mimosas, Jake? I like other things too.” Raj questions, raising his eyebrows bewilderedly at Jake.

Jake merely forms a devilish smirk and just that look is enough to know that a comeback is coming. “Like tequila?” He retorts, only earning a rough nudge from Logan who shoots him narrowed eyes of annoyance.

“Says you. Before I saw you and Logan fucking on the kitchen counter.” Raj randomly points out, completely exposing Jake and Logan and they are suddenly washed over with humiliation, as all their friends react about the way you’d expect them too. 

“What? Why would you do that? It’s so unhygienic.” Michelle pipes up and it’s surprising that she’d be the one to say something as dismissive as that. 

“Dude! We weren’t even fucking. We were barely even kissing!” Jake snaps, folding his arms out of irritation and eyeing Raj with complete disbelief, not finding the strength to believe he just exposed them like that. 

“You looked like you were about to suck the blood out of poor Logan.” Raj counters, a sympathetic look on his face as he looks directly Logan’s way and she just shrugs her shoulders, unsure how to even react to whatever the hell just happened. 

“You think I was trying to turn my wife into a fucking vampire or something? Actually that’s called giving someone a hick—“

“—Okay! Moving swiftly on...” Quinn cuts Jake off before he can completely tamper with Raj’s innocence. He don’t deserve that. “Let’s not ruin anyone’s lives today Jake.” 

With that, Jake scoffs mockingly and leans back in his seat, his back sinking into the soft leather. Maybe he’ll learn that his comebacks are not needed, especially in times that are supposed to be fun like these. 

“Who wants to go next?” Quinn surveys the sight of the limo, smiling faintly when her eyes land on one specific person. “...Aleister. What about you?”

Aleister doesn’t even glance up, shaking his head defiantly as his icy gaze remains fixed on his phone screen. “I’m not gonna participate in some ridiculous game, where you make up stupid fantasies that you’d never have the true guts to do anyway.” He snaps in a cold tone. It’s been so obvious from the beginning that he isn’t really up for this whole Vegas thing but he could at least pretend to be onboard for the sake of the rest of the group having fun.

In truth, everyone really needs this time to take a break from all their hectic lives. Everything has been going really well career wise but nobody has the time to relax or enjoy themselves for a while. That’s why this time away is so important to most members of the group and with the wedding so close, you’d think Aleister would be more eager to participate. 

“Al... come on. Just tell us what you wanna do in Vegas.” Grace tries to reason with him since she’s the only one who ever has any success. 

“I wanna sit around and do nothing. I’m aware I’ll be the only one who is sober throughout the night.” Aleister states solemnly, lifting his head momentarily and staring pointedly at Jake as he mutters those last few words. Damn, what a low blow. 

“So wait... you’re not gonna drink?” Sean questions, raising his eyebrows with disbelief.

“Why the hell would I want to?” 

“Um... because it’s your bachelor party.”

Aleister is flooded with a tension as those words come out of Sean’s mouth. “I never even said I wanted this but you all dragged me along anyway. I’d rather just be married but no... you all just had to hit me with the lie that celebrating my last few single days mattered.” 

“Were not saying it’s a requirement. We just want you to have fun for once.” Logan points out, slightly offended since she’s the one who supported this whole idea when Jake suggested it in the first place. It’s actually a great thing but Aleister is too guarded to see that. 

“Whatever, Logan. Just know that I won’t be drinking. I’d rather be sane, thank you very much.”

“Watch us spike it.” Zahra hisses, a devious smirk planted on her face and Craig high fives her in response. 

Eventually, the traffic clears and the group finish up their conversations as the limo edges closer towards the hotel. Grace calms her frustrations with the traffic and you can tell she’s keeping it bottled up inside so she doesn’t lash out. She seems to be the type of person you wouldn’t expect to have a mean streak or a dark side but would have one anyway. Don’t judge a book by its cover is the lesson we’ve learned today. Now there is still one more matter to address...

“Oh my god... I still can’t believe you wanted to come to Vegas with us, Vaaryn.” Diego exclaims, probably the most excited out the lot. Mostly about the fact that his one true love was joining the group for Vegas. It sounds like a great thing and an amazing opportunity but at the same time... it could be devastatingly scarring.

“I’m mostly doing for you, my love, but it would be nice to experience more human things and Vegas you speak of, is a very popular place for sinning and I know that sinning is something humans do a lot of.” Vaaryn responds and he sounds completely clueless. He really doesn’t know what’s in store for him. 

“Vaaryn... do you even know what’s in Vegas? Has Diego taught you anything?” Estela questions with a knowing smirk, shooting Diego a pointed look, who facepalms at what Estela is insinuating. 

“He hasn’t told me much. Just that it has an Eiffel Tower and it’s very easy to lose yourself.” 

Zahra sees this as the perfect oppurtunity to chime in. “Well then let me know tell you about the wonders of Vegas.” She declares, learning her chin on her fist and revealing a genuine look of interest. 

“Please... don’t.” Diego pleads anxiously and Logan pats him on the back apologetically. “He probably won’t even understand what you mean.”

“I’ll explain it then. Very vividly.” Zahra counters, folding her arms. 

“Oh man! Diego... your dude is so screwed.” Craig exclaims, obnoxiously laughing in the background at the scene and pointing mockingly at Diego, who’s head is now in his hands. 

“Oh come on, this is mean. Just let Avatar find out for himself. Telling him is too easy.” Jake suggests and that causes Zahra and Craig to smirk and giggle in unison.

“You’re on. Have fun, Vaaryn.”

When Grace successfully parks the limo outside the Caesar Hotel, everyone leaps out and makes their way inside. The lobby is absolutely fucking huge and they have to really search using their eagle eyes in order to even locate the front desk. Luckily, they manage to spot it and Michelle leads the group over to the front desk, since she was the one who offered to pay for their reservation. She ends up paying for a villa, which is probably the most they could get out of Michelle since she isn’t great on spending all of her money on the room. But she’s a doctor! Who else was gonna pay?

Excited and energised, everyone rushes to get to the designated room, clutching the straps of their bags and being as careful as possible so they don’t drop them. But once they get to the room, all the carefulness and caution is pushed away and everyone just throws their bags to the side, amazing at the sight of the huge room. There’s thirteen of them so some of them may still have to get together in bunks but they would much rather just have one room together than be in separate ones because once the two parties travel back to the room, they can all celebrate together afterwards. It’s a strangely thought out system but it works for them so who is to judge?

“God fucking damn. I missed Vegas.” Jake suddenly points out and Logan raises an eyebrow at her curiously when he says that.

“When was the last time you went?” 

Jake smiles at the thought of reminiscing. “Mike and I went to Vegas once when I brought him back to visit my family for the first time. We had a crazy fucking time in Vegas, I’ll tell ya that. Don’t actually remember much though.” Jake explains, laughing under his breath but exhaling sharply when he sees himself talking about Mike again. 

Noticing, Logan wraps him in a hug and briefly brings their lips together in a reassuring kiss. “I’m sorry he couldn’t be here for this, babe. He just couldn’t get out of work like you could.” 

“Yeah well... sometimes plane jobs suck.” Jake laughs before knocking his forehead against Logan’s and smiling. “You gonna be able to have fun without me, Princess?”

“I’m sure she’ll manage, cabron. Sometimes she’s tougher than you.” Logan and Jake turn to find Estela smirking at them, both hands resting on her hips. 

What’s very different about Estela though is that she’s already fucking dressed?! It only feels like they’ve been in the room for 10 minutes or so. She done her makeup and her hair and everything in a matter of minutes. Aside from the timing, she also looks pretty fucking hot. For the first time in forever, Estela is dressed in a clean, skintight dress that is completely pitch black and pauses halfway down her thighs. At the front, in the centre, a golden zipper travels from the top to the bottom. To complete this whole ensemble, Estela has paired the simple yet so sophisticated dress with a pair of leather black heeled boots with zippers down their side. Her silky brunette hair has been let out of the normal ponytail and straightened ever so perfectly. This look appears like it took her hours when really she only spent a few minutes doing this.

Jaw dropped, Logan struggles to speak at the gorgeous sight that is Estela Montoya. “How the fuck did you get ready so fast?” is the best reaction Logan can summon. 

Estela just giggles aloud, dusting off her dress and smoothing our her hair. “I’m just fast, ok? The others are being so fucking slow and you haven’t even started yet!”

Logan flicks her gaze between Jake and Estela, clearly confused. “Well I’ve been—“

“Eye-fucking your husband. I know and I get it but you gotta move your ass before I make sure you lose it!” Estela warns, arching her eyebrows and narrowing her dark eyes at Logan, causing her to panic a little.

Logan swiftly turns to Jake and he just laughs at the fact that she’s asking for his permission. “Go ahead, darlin’. I’ll be out here to see you before we go.” Jake urges, planting a quick kiss on her forehead before letting her go get ready. 

Jake watches her walk into the other room, biting his lip at the sight of her and his cerulean eyes darken slightly. It’s Estela’s exhausted groan that suddenly brings him back to reality. He glances back at the brunette to find her staring at him with disbelief. 

“What? I love my wife. What’s fucking wrong with that?” Jake questions, his intentions appearing rhetorical and Estela notices that.

“Nothing. The look on your face is what’s disgusting.” Estela retorts, shaking her head at Jake with an expression where you can tell she’s been cringing. 

“Ha. Ha.”

Logan finally finishes touching up her makeup with the rest of the girls and she’s finally ready to take on Las Vegas. Turning towards the mirror, Logan admires her chosen attire. She’s gone for something rather classy but still great for a fun night out. A clean, crisp white romper, is what she’s gone with, that contains a semi-deep dip of cleavage but not overboard. She’s aware that will drive Jake crazy. Then she’s paired it with white strappy heels and a silver necklace that is longer than most you’d see. It’s one of those more layered ones and it matches her outfit perfectly. Her platinum blond hair has been curled exactly to her liking, curtesy of Michelle. And her makeup is mostly natural because she doesn’t trust herself to go for something bolder. 

Taking one last glance at herself in the bathroom mirror, it’s time for her to reveal her look to the group. She’s the last one to finish getting ready of course, even indecisive Michelle beat her to it, so everyone is waiting for her and they’re excited to see what’s she chosen to wear. All the rest of the girls have gone for slutty and glam because it’s Vegas. Hello?! Even Zahra decided to wear a cocktail dress of sorts and it’s a beautiful deep crimson colour that matches her hair perfectly.

Finally, Logan collects herself enough to find the strength to exit the bathroom. She wanders out of the other room carefully, determined to stay steady on her heels and when she opens the door to the main area, all eyes are on her. 

Some eyes widen and some jaws drop but the most continuous thing is everyone’s silence. Everyone is speechless. No one will talk. All Logan can do is question their well-being and not really focus on the fact that they’re in that current state because of her walking out of a goddamn room. Jake, especially is just shell-shocked and it’s painfully obvious. Logan takes advantage of the silence and decides to admire everyone else’s appearances since they all look hot. 

That deep red crimson dress that Zahra is wearing looks even more captivating on her than Logan noticed from a first glance. Her ombré hair is left to rest on her shoulder and she’s caked in a lot more makeup than she usually would be, probably because she never typically wears it anyway. She looks so damn different.

Then there’s Grace, the featured guest of the bachelorette party and she’s decked in a bronze, glittery dress that is haltered at the top and it goes down to the floor. The revealing thing about it is the slight slit at the side. The dress hugs her figure carefully and the way she’s styled her hair only makes her look more beautiful. Everyone was scared that Grace would dress like she’s going to prom or something but no... she surprised everyone and she did herself justice. 

Of course Quinn managed to blend a beautiful elegance with a little bit of a daring approach so perfectly. It’s like a natural talent to her and she’s successfully made herself look beautiful again. She’s rocking a deep indigo dress that almost matches the one she wore at the New Years Party on La Huerta. She’s gone for more of a deep cut down the middle and the dress fades into a lighter blue at the end. It’s only a slight gradient that could easily be missed. Her auburn hair is gracefully cascading down her shoudlers and each curl you can tell was done with care. Hell, even the dress matches her eyes. There’s nothing this girl can’t wear. 

And finally we have Michelle, who has literally outdid herself again. She’s decked in a long, black jumpsuit that hugs her curves ever so perfectly. There’s also a more revealing approach that is shown through the sight of more cleavage. Though she wears it well, amazingly well. She’s paired it with more pointy nude heels and a black choker at the tome. Her ombre hair is tied back into a loose ponytail with two pieces hanging like strays at the front. To complete it, she’s wearing large silver hoop earrings that just give it that extra amount of sophistication.

Basically, all the girls look like fucking queens and this is their night to shine. As for the guys... well there’s not much to say. They’re wearing suits. Yeah, that’s their description done. Though there is one strange thing that stands out and that is Craig’s extremely colourful shirt. It’s a fucking double rainbow up in there. So many vibrant colours and patterns. It’s very difficult to not go blind just by looking at it. Like damn... another thing is how weird it is seeing Vaaryn in a suit. Like what? And Furball... looks so fucking cute and he’s not even in a suit. 

After what seems like forever, the only thing Logan can summon up to say is... “Nice shirt, Craig.”

Craig almost blushes. He’s so flattered by the little compliment. “Aw, Lo. Thanks for noticing, dude.”

“Pretty sure the gorillas in Africa noticed your goddamn shirt, Craiggers.” Zahra retorts coldly and Craig’s eyes widen with hope.

“Oh my god. That would be so cool!” 

Sean rolls his eyes and places his hand on Craig’s shoudler idly. “Let’s make sure you don’t drink anymore tonight.”

“You guys are no fun.”

While the bickering commences, some of the gang hurry over to Logan - that includes Quinn, Estela, Michelle and Jake. “Holy shit, Logan. You look so hot!” Michelle exclaims with a rare enthusiasm barely used but she’s been like this a lot for Vegas.

“Thanks, Meech. I did what I could.” Logan dusts herself off and takes a quick glance at Jake, noticing how his cerulean eyes constantly drift up and down her figure and his gaze burns into her body so eagerly. Oh fuck... she knows what he’s thinking. “You ok there, Aragorn?”

Estela scoffs at the look on Jake’s face. “Ha. Pretty sure he’s dead after seeing you like that.” She points out and correctly, mind you. “We’re leaving in five so we’ll let you say your goodbyes.”

The girls take off to the other side of the room, leaving Jake and Logan alone for the last few moments of their time together before they separate for a few hours. Jake finally snaps back to reality as the girls leave, clearing his throat in order to compose himself but it feels like there’s a rock planted deep in his throat. 

“I am so close to not letting you go anywhere tonight, Princess.” Jake whispers in a low husky tone that sends shivers up Logan’s spine. In response, Logan bites down on her lower lip and admires Jake’s chosen suit. It reminds her of the one at the La Huerta New Years Party - except everything is black. 

She reels him in by his pitch-black tie for a long, slow kiss that lingers more than it should. As they pull away, she smiles innocently against his lips. “Nice suit, Aragorn.” She whispers back, knocking their foreheads together sweetly.

“Goddamnit, can I swap Aleister for you?” Jake questions, almost like he’s begging and he almost looks serious. “I can’t handle more than an hour with that bore.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll manage.” Logan assures, rolling her eyes at his exaggeration of the situation. “Just remember that this is about Aleister. It’s his goddamn party.”

“Well I’m the one who suggested it.” 

“Which gives you more of a reason to make it about Aleister. Even if he is a bit of an asshole, remind him that he’s supposed to be having fun.” Logan suggests, wrapping her arms around Jake’s neck and dragging him in for another kiss, biting down on his lower lip this time before pulling away. 

“Watch me try and watch me fail.”

“Jake.” Logan says his name as firmly as possible. 

“Fine but as long as you torture me when I get back. It’s more fun than being tortured by Aleister‘s dull taste in fun.” Jake retorts, rolling his eyes at the fight that he just lost. 

“I promise.” Logan swears, planting one last kiss on Jake’s lips before finally letting him leave her. 

The bachelorette party has been active for about an hour already, with the girls already having a little alcohol in their system but not enough that will make them wanna do anything so crazy just yet. Well all except Logan Mercer because she’s the oddest of them all. 

All of the girls are pacing across the street, having had just experienced a wonderful meal in the closest restaurant. Now they’ve got the fancy shit out the way, they can move on to the more fun part. 

“That fucking food was too damn fancy for me.” Zahra points out, executing a fake vomit-like noise with her hands and everyone just roll their eyes at her expected remark. 

“I know you wanna get drunk, Zahra, but you still need to eat.” Grace replies, hands on her hips. 

“We can eat! But we’re in Vegas. We should be eating somewhere trashy like... Burger King or Pizza Hut!” Zahra exclaims and no one can really make out what point she’s trying to get across here. 

“Zahra, all you eat back home is Burger King and Pizza Hut.” Michelle bites back, flipping her hair to one side and giggling at the ridiculous context of this conversation.

“What exactly do you wanna do now then, Zahra?” Quinn questions, genuinely curious. 

“Anything that isn’t boring and fancy!” 

A lightbulb suddenly goes off in Logan’s mind and a sly smirk crosses her lips. “Ok... I might have an idea.” 

“Yes, Mercy! Someone smart. What is it?” Zahra eagerly enquires, showing interest in Logan’s insane idea.

“I know we agreed earlier with the guys that we wouldn’t... go see strippers but they can’t exactly stop us when they’re not here.” Logan points out correctly and all of the girls match her level of deviance with their expressions, all except one. Grace, of course.

“Um... Lo. Im not sure I can agree to that. What if it’s like I’m betraying Aleister?” Grace asks with anxiety in her chestnut eyes. 

“Grace, you’re not hooking up with strippers. You’re just watching them. Besides you’re the guest of honour, you should let yourself have some fun!” Estela assures, rubbing Grace’s shoulder comfortingly and that causes her to release a sigh of relief. 

“But just so you know, even if you don’t agree, we’re gonna go to the strip club anyway. I don’t care if you’re the guest of honour. So you either come with us or we leave you on the street?” Michelle warns, a solemn look in her hazel eyes. Clearly she’s not kidding and Grace actually respects that attitude. 

“Agh, fine.” 

“Woohoo!” Zahra reacts, clapping her hands together like a fucking seal. “This what I came for!”

“Really? You didn’t just come for booze?” Logan jokes, her smirk widening.

“Nope. Strippers too.”

The bachelor party is dying pretty quickly, even after the guys’ tacky meal in Pizza Hut but everyone still enjoyed it because its good fucking pizza. Well, everyone besides Aleister. He’s been such a goddamn buzzkill during the first hour and it’s impossible to have fun when the dude is constantly telling someone to shut up and when Jake dares to make a joke about offering Aleister a drink and he almost tosses it on Jake. But he resists, shooting the pilot an icy glare instead. 

Jake is trying his very best to make this all about Aleister, just like Logan asked him too. But it’s impossible to make this dude happy! Everyone else is having fun. Diego was teaching Vaaryn all about pizza and all the different flavours while they were there. Craig was trying to see how many pieces of pizza toppings he could get in his mouth. Raj has been telling lots of fun stories and Jake has managed to not mock any of them, no matter how crazy they are. Be proud of him. Even Sean has managed to not be a buzzkill and he’s actually turning out to be a lot of fun, with plenty of banter and jokes to go around. And Aleister is just being... petty and ungrateful.

Now they’re here, semi-drunk and trying to figure out what the fuck they’re gonna do next. Everything has been pretty low-key so far and maybe this is the time to kick things up a notch. 

“Well that meal was absolutely atrocious.” Aleister is of course the first to comment on the food and it’s not even a compliment.

“Al, I know you hate all of this but could you not trash the food because I paid for that.” Sean asks as politely as his voice will let him and Jake is surprised and maybe even impressed that Sean could call Aleister out like that.

“Of course. This whole thing is sleezy anyway.” Aleister responds, his shoulders slumping back in a hopeless manor. He’s naturally stiff. 

“Well, what do you wanna do then, Aleister?” Raj questions with a genuine curiosity. Usually that type of thing would come off as sarcastic and rude, especially if it came out of Jake or Craig’s mouth. But no, Raj is the only one who could ask such a question and Aleister would actually take it as a real request. 

“Well I—“

“Bro, don’t ask him that!” Craig pipes up before Aleister can say anything else. “He probably wants us to play a game of chess or something. I hate chess.” 

Aleister’s expression sinks at Craig’s hurtful assumption. Don’t think he meant it that way however. “Nevermind. I’ll just let you airheads guide me through his hell hole of a night. It’ll all turn out fine when I wake up.” 

“Harsh, Malfoy,” is all Jake has managed to say throughout this entire situation until an entire new idea pops into his head. “Wait... since Jack Frost is giving us total control... how ‘bout we hit up a strip club?”

“We can’t do that. Didn’t we promise the girls we wouldn’t—“

“Diego, don’t ruin this.” Jake urges, folding his arms in a confident manor and smiles faintly at Diego when he silences himself. “I know we did. But they ain’t fucking here so what’s the problem?”

“I see Jake’s amazing logic here, bros.” Craig agrees, a bright smile fixed on his features.

“Me too. Let’s do it.” Raj is also ready for this as well, it’s clear from the eagerness in his tone.

“Sorry, my love, but what is a strip club?” Vaaryn dares to ask Diego, who just looks at him bewilderedly.

“I’ll explain on the way or I’ll just let you see for yourself.” Diego responds, careful with his choice of words and he pats Vaaryn on the shoudler reassuringly. 

Happy that most are on board, Jake expectantly turns to Aleister with a hopeful glint in his eyes. “How ‘bout you, Frosty?”

Aleister barely tilts his head, in disbelief that Jake has even dared to ask for his permission. “Absolutely not. It will be like I’m betraying Grace.” 

“Seriously? That’s your excuse.” Jake reacts, raising an eyebrow pointedly.

“Wouldn’t you feel as if you’re betraying Logan?” Aleister challenges and Jake just scoffs mockingly.

“Me and Princess got an understanding. Trust me.” Jake lies a little bit at the same time they kind of do. They always have. Even if Jake let Logan know, she’s probably gonna be okay with it. 

The ongoing argument is interrupted by a soft bark echoing from the ground and into the ears of the members of this weird bachelor party. Jake spots Furball curling up by his foot and a smirk immediately crosses his lips when he finds him. Furball has a choice which party he wanted to attend and he ended up going to Jake so this is where he ended up. Recently, it’s been like Jake is Furball’s all time favourite and they’re developing a real special bond. It’s cute.

Jake squats down so his finger can gently stroke the little fox’s teal fur and that gives Jake an idea. “Ok... this is it. The fox has the final say.” He declares in a proud tone and everyone around seems to nod along, all besides Aleister.

“What? That’s preposterous.”

“You have no say, Malfoy. Animal rights are talking now.” Jake pushes Aleister’s out the way completely and blocks his protests out. All that’s left is for Furball to announce his opinion. Jake turns to Furball with hope but also certainty because he knows he won’t be betrayed. “So Furball... ready to lose your innocence by going to a Vegas Strip Club?”

With no hesitation, Furball responds with an eager yelp. “Mmmmrf!!!l” With that, he crawls up Jake’s back and props himself up on the pilot’s shoulder, smiling widely. 

“Then it’s settled, kids.” 

Having much more fun than they were before, the girls have taken the bachelorette party to one of Vegas’ finest strip clubs. They’re all gathered around a booth, sipping on champagne and enjoying the sights before them. Grace is a little uncomfortable but she’s lightening up the longer they’re there. Meanwhile, the rest of them are having the actual time of their lives, especially Zahra. Everyone is starting to feel the alcohol now. 

“Can I tell you guys something?” Michelle suddenly asks, a slight shakiness in her voice. It’s extremely obvious that the alcohol is starting to get to her head and she’s not even the lightweight, she’s just had a lot more than any of the others.

“Sure.” 

Michelle forms a crooked half-smile and holds up her glass eagerly. “How about we make a toast and also an agreement that Sean is an absolute ass?” 

“Wow, Meech. Didn’t take you long to point that out.” Zahra scoffs, her dark eyes roaming over all the pretty sights before. Following her gaze, Quinn can’t help but let out a humoured giggle, not able to hold it in. Zahra catches the sound of her laughter and raises an eyebrow questioningly. “What?”

“You do realise you have a boyfriend right?” Quinn points out and rightfully so. “Pretty sure he wouldn’t appreciate you eye-fucking those strippers like that.” 

Zahra just scoffs mockingly. “You kidding? Craig would love it.”

“Kinda sure that doesn’t signal a healthy relationship, Z.” Logan counters, chugging down half of her champagne and pressing her lips together in order to contain the bitter aftertaste. 

“What can you say, Mercy? Would Jake want you sniffing around strip clubs?” Zahra retorts, folding her arms in a confident manor. 

Logan smirks at the comment, an unreadable look in her ocean eyes. “Me and Jake have an understanding.”

“Ok, all of you need to calm down. This is about Grace remember.” Estela calms the situation and raises her glass, gesturing to Grace with a faint smile. “To the guest of honour! And let’s hope that her marriage to Aleister is enough to make him at least a little more fun.” Everyone laughs along at Estela’s words and join in raising their glasses. 

“Aw, thanks guys. You’re all crazy but I really do love you all.” Grace performs a little speech and that’s when everyone clinks their glasses together. It really is memorable when they all hang out together, especially for a special occasion such as this. They’re all there to watch one of their best friends get married and it’s truly a great chance for them to bond. 

“You should. We’re amazing.” Zahra points out proudly, a smug smile on her face as she lowers her glass.

“Holy shit... guys look.” Estela’s voice interrupts the heartfelt moment, as her dark eyes widen at another sight. Curiously, everyone follows the brunette’s gaze, only to find a familiar group entering the strip club. 

“Oh no...” Grace reacts, covering her face with her hands out of shame. “Aleister is not gonna like this.”

“Well it looks like they had the same idea.” Logan points out, shaking her head at the sight of the guys standing at the entrance of the strip club and you’d expect to look a lot messier than they actually do. Jake looks so damn guilty. This has to be his idea. “Jake has gotta be the mastermind behind this.”

“So basically, you’re both as bad as each other.” Quinn counters, hiding her smirk behind her glass but Logan still manages to spot it anyway. 

“Jake knows what he should and shouldn’t do and at least he’s actually making Aleister have fun.” 

Michelle throws her head back and scoffs at that. “Ha! Aleister doesn’t look like he’s having fun at all.” 

“That’s because he hasn’t had a single drop of alcohol.” Estela points out, gesturing to Aleister with her glass. “Trust me... he’d be much paler.”

While everyone is discussing the current state of the guys, Logan surveys them carefully, trying to resist the urge to laugh at them. But her cover is blown when she locks eyes with Jake, who finally spots her and immediately a natural smirk crosses his lips. Of course, he’s smug about it already. 

“Oh fuck...” Logan mutters under her breath and nudges Quinn as discreetly as possible, a lot harder than she intended. 

“What the hell, Lo?”

“The guys have spotted us.” Logan tells Quinn, slight panicky about what their cocky reactions might be. It will be unnecessary but it will happen. Then it just gets worse. “Shit. They’re coming over.” 

Logan leans back in the velvet booth as she notices Jake and the guys are starting to pace over towards the girls. Clearly they’ve been skeptical and suspicious about why the girls are there just as much as they were about the guys. Now it’s come down to some sort of face off and this is just bound to get awkward, especially with Aleister following behind with an icy expression fixed on his face. It’s obvious he isn’t happy to see his soon-to-be-wife messing around at a strip club and she’s clearly having fun as well, which only makes the tension worse.

After what seems like forever, the boys reach the girls and both parties look like they’ve been caught red-handed, which they have. You’d expect one of them to be pretending it isn’t their fault but no, everyone looks equally guilty, which means no one has a good excuse.

“Look who we found.” Sean pipes up first, arms folded and an amused look on his face. “Guess you couldn’t handle the no-strippers rule either.” 

Michelle simply narrows her eyes. “You are a little late to the party though.” She retorts, a light scowl on her face but it’s hidden enough that Sean doesn’t notice it. 

“Was this your idea, Al?” Estela chimes in with joking intentions but Aleister merely rolls his eyes, not amused. 

“Obviously not. It was all Jake’s doing.” Aleister responds, shooting Jake the side-eye and at first, you’d think Jake would be more angry at Aleister but no... he’s more proud and only Jake Mckenzie would be proud of such an idea in this situation. 

All eyes move to Logan as Aleister rats Jake out. Her only reaction is a knowing smirk reaching her lips. “Oh really, Jake.” 

“Well ours was all down to Logan.” Grace pipes up, causing Logan to flinch a little, especially when Jake’s smirk only widens at the revelation. 

“Oh really, Princess.” He reacts, folding his arms in a condescending manor and he tilts his head cockily. 

“Oh my god... you brought Furball?!” Logan reacts, gesturing to the little blue fox curled up on Jake’s shoudler with nothing but excitement in his magenta eyes. He’s more excited about this then Aleister ever will be. ““Looks like you got into his head Jake.”

“He was the true mastermind.” Jake admits, high fiving Furball proudly.

“Ok... since you’re all here and we got booze and strippers around us...” Zahra begins and everyone suddenly realised what exactly she’s getting at. “...how ‘bout we combine these two parties into one?” 

“That’s... not a bad idea. Pretty sure it’s too late to go to another strip club anyway.” Jake jokes and he seems to be the only one who’s laughing at his comment. 

“This is just... madness! Can’t we just give up and end this little waste of time?” Aleister protests for the millionth time. He’s sulking like a mere child now. 

“Aleister, hunny. I mean this in the nicest way...” Michelle begins, easing Aleister into her comment. “You’re being so annoying and we don’t really care for your opinion.”

“Then looks why we’re gonna compromise.” Logan confirms, raising her glass once more. “To not getting too drunk.” 

“Hey! At least wait until we got shots before you toast.” Craig interrupts Logan before she can perform a toast.

Just as that is mentioned, Vaaryn comes bounding around the corner with a tray of around twelve glasses. Damn... good timing. He looks extremely proud of himself but also a little clueless like he has been this entire time.

“Holy shit! Blue Bro got shots!” Craig exclaims excitedly, his hands rising in one swift motion and he leaps out from the booth, heading for the tray of shots like a cheetah chasing prey. 

“Is that what they are? I was standing beside them before and this man in a bow tie asked me to fill them up and bring them to a table.” Vaaryn explains and everyone’s eyes widen at what he just implied. 

“So wait... you stole them?” 

“I am no thief. I did what I asked. I brought them to a table.” Vaaryn corrects and most seem on board with that idea. 

“I’m liking Avatar’s logic.” Jake points out, stroking his jaw thoughtfully before he sneakily swipes one of the shots. “I say we toast now. Go ahead, Princess.” 

Everyone grabs a shot while Logan clears her throat, preparing for her toast. “As I was saying... to not completely ruining our lives tonight.”

“And to a night we’ll easily forget.” Michelle adds and everyone laughs along. 

That light-hearted comment seems like a really good laugh at that moment. An easy joke that passes everyone by. Little do they know, that forgotten statement... is about to become a reality when morning arrives. Besides... no one can escape Vegas. 

trust me... the next part gets even weirder