#shart is soft for her okay

[dustybones]

the collabs continue! @smallcanofworms came to me with this adorable idea and i just couldn’t help myself

[letters-from-dekarios]

fighting fate

summary: you had some choice words for your friend who set you up on a not-so-blind date. but, because it went well, you decide to meet with him again. it’s not long before the spark reignites like when you first met, and you can’t help but fall for him.

or: you go on a second date with gale

word count: 5.5k

tags: *this is a sequel to ‘a blind date with a wizard’, you do not have to read it before this one :)* gale x implied f!reader/afab!reader, astarion and shart are terrible wingmen, elf!reader, fluff, some small angst, mildly medium burn, alcohol usage, wyll is also there and also your ex, omg karlach is also there

author’s note: this is my little disclaimer that i personally love wyll! i’m just using him as a plot point since there’s not many other main chara options that haven’t been mentioned already (that i would use in his place). its for the plot guys i swear i’m a wyll lover too

Okay, maybe you couldn’t be mad at Astarion and Shadowheart. Yes, they betrayed your trust by setting you up on a faux blind date with their wizard friend who already knew your entire life story. And yes, they did not take accountability for their lies and instead kept asking if you enjoyed yourself. But, their little plan worked, and you were scheduling a second date with the man they set you up with.

“I am still pissed at you both. Especially you, Astarion,” You glared at your friend as he flipped through outfits in your closet. Shadowheart was busy doing your makeup, turning your face back towards her.

“Look, you can’t stay angry forever. You needed someone to get your mind off of Wyll. I just did what I do best,” he replied, holding up one rather… skimpy outfit that you turned your nose up at.

“Lying? You could’ve at least told me a little about him so I didn’t feel so mortified! You told him all about Wyll and when I tried to vaguely mention that I had a bad breakup, he already knew all about it!” You huffed, and Shadowheart grabbed your chin to steady your face. She gave you a cautionary look as she got underway applying your eyeliner, her hand steady and precise. She had cast duplicity to do both sides at the same time, which made the process much easier.

“Sweetheart, if you knew half the things about him you’d refuse to meet with him. I kept you in the dark so you can see for yourself who he is,” Astarion held up another outfit, one a bit more casual but still would be pretty on you. You nodded in approval and Shadowheart nearly had an aneurysm.

“If you don’t stop moving your damn head I’m going to let you leave here looking like a sibriex,” Shadowheart warned you again, and you took heed of her notice this time.

With your makeup done and your outfit fresh, all you had to do was wait for Gale to arrive. The two of you had been back and forth for weeks now, mostly updating each other on current things you were up to. A few days prior, with your schedules finally open, he had sent word of when he’d like to take you out and you responded as soon as you could. Now, you waited for the date to commence.

“You can at least thank us for our assistance in getting you out of the house. Had I not convinced you to go on that blind date, you’d still be crying over Ravengard’s oldest disappointment,” Astarion remarked, and you snorted at the insult of a name.

You sighed after, messing with the ends of your hair. “You can’t blame me for being annoyed. You wouldn’t like it if I set you up with someone and told them you were a vampire before you could,” you raised an eyebrow at him knowingly. He couldn’t deny that you were correct on that front, but he wasn’t about to say that to you.

“Just be grateful he didn’t tell Gale about your little misadventures as a—“ Shadowheart began, and you quickly clamped your hand over her mouth, shushing her.

“Don’t mention that! It’ll bring bad luck to my date tonight,” you frowned, and both of your companions busted out in laughter.

You continued chatting until a soft knock sounded on the door, and you screamed internally. After getting up from the couch, you made your way to the door. You took a breath, eased your mind, and then opened it up for him.

“Hey,” you beamed at him, trying to contain your excitement. He bowed in acknowledgement and pulled out a small bouquet from behind his back.

“Good evening, my lady,” he smiled at you, extending the flowers in greeting.

You felt your face become hot while a small giggle left you. You took them from him and briefly smelled the assortment. “They’re lovely, thank you,” you replied, inviting him inside for a beat so you could set the flowers down.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite wizard of Waterdeep!” Astarion swung his legs over his chair, standing and heading towards him. He slumped his arm over Gale’s shoulders, patting his back. “Isn’t he just amazing, Y/N? Such a gentleman— is that bluestars I smell?” Astarion whacked him on the back once more, stepping around to you as he observed the flowers. Bluestars was a rather expensive perfume in Faerùn, costing over two hundred gold pieces for just a small bottle. You had never smelled it before, but you were sure you would later.

“Leave him be, Astarion,” you gave him a look, voice low to avoid Gale hearing you.

“Ah, I pay no mind to Astarion anyway,” Gale watched you as you placed the flowers neatly in a vase and filled it with water. “If I did, I sincerely doubt I’d be here at the moment,” he chuckled, and you beamed at the reply.

“You’re such a pain, Gale. You know that?” Astarion whined, before slipping back over to the couch.

“I’m sure he’s plenty aware,” Shadowheart called over her shoulder, focused on a book she had brought out.

“Thank you, Shadowheart, for your helpful insight on the matter,” Gale retorted, raising a hand to you once you were done with the bouquet. “Shall we?”

You took his hand, your face flushing again as he led you out the door. “We shall,” you answered, smiling sweetly at him.

“Bring her home before one!” Astarion called out as you both left.

“Oh, that may be difficult!” Gale retorted, allowing you to close the door behind you both as you departed.

“What, you plan on stealing me away for the whole evening?” You raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously, laughing as you interlocked your arms and he began to walk with you.

“Perhaps.. if you’d let me,” he nudged you gently, before leading you off to a small restaurant in the heart of the city.

“Hmm… it’ll depend on how this night goes,” you flirted, patting his arm tenderly. Soon enough, you were being seated inside the little restaurant, and looking over the menu. Everything looked… expensive. You didn't want to hurt the man’s coin pouch, assuming he was paying for it, but there weren't exactly any reasonable options, either.

“What are you getting?” You questioned, and he pointed to some mildly pricey menu item. That was your hint at expenses, and you picked a dish that sounded promising but wasn’t going to put you in debt if you ended up paying for yourself.

The date was filled with idle conversation, the two of you discussing parts of your home life here and there, commenting happily on the food you ate, and just sharing the good parts of yourselves. It was going great, extraordinary even.

Until he showed up.

Wyll Ravengard. You didn't even feel the eyes burning into the back of your head until you heard someone pleading with him to stop, attempting to keep him back. You flicked your attention over to the commotion, eyes going wide as you saw him. You wished you hadn’t made eye contact, that you’d minded your business, but you hadn’t. And now you had to deal with it.

You wanted to shrink down into yourself. Disappear into nothing- hide under the table like a small child. With the way things ended, how could you face him? He was a gentleman for your whole relationship— until he wasn’t. You couldn’t stand to see the face that spoke to you in such a way that night. No matter what influence he was under, what he did that night you broke up… you couldn’t forgive him.

You recalled the many nights after that fight, how depressed you had become. He tried several times to get your attention and apologize to you, but you were so wrapped up in yourself that it was hard to pay attention to anything. Some nights he was kindly about it, others he was swearing like a damned sailor who couldn't take no for an answer. You weren't sure who he had become, and no matter how hard he tried he was unable to reverse the past.

“Y/N!” He shouted your name, and you put your head in your hands. Maybe if you didn't see him, he would disappear.

“Wyll, please, not here-“ his friend Karlach, you recognized her as, tried to hold him back. But with his thrashing and flailing, he managed to worm his way free of her grasp.

“Impero te!” Gale moved to his feet quickly, and Wyll froze in place. You recognized the words as a command spell. It appeared Gale chose that over a holding spell, perhaps so he could speak with Wyll first. You knew it would wear off soon, so you placed your coin on the table and got up.

“Don’t you dare leave, Y/N!” Wyll exclaimed, and Gale turned to check up on you.

“I’m okay,” you reassured him, smiling faintly as you grabbed your things. “I’m just going to go outside for a minute.”

He nodded and waited for you to leave before his attention was on Wyll again.

You weren’t sure what happened after that, but only a little while later and both men were being tossed out by two guards you’d seen in the restaurant earlier. Gale’s face was down, his hand held up to his nose, and in the candle-lit street, you could faintly make out blood on his knuckles.

“You bastard!” Wyll ran to, presumably, take another swing, but Karlach grabbed him in time before he could.

“Gale-“ you rushed to his side, now that Karlach had a tight hold on Wyll, and checked him for any other injuries.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” he soothed, despite the blood dripping down his face. You reached into the small bag you had brought and took out a cloth, gently wiping at his face.

“Does this jackass speak for you now, Y/N?” You heard Wyll snarl, followed by Karlach’s aggressive warnings for him to calm down.

“Mates, I’m really sorry for his behavior. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. Can I pay you back for the dinner?” Karlach surrendered, nodding down to a small coin pouch at her hip.

“It’s not your fault, you don’t need to pay for his stupidity,” you answered, moving Gale to sit down on a nearby bench. “Tilt your head back..” you instructed, a delicate motherly tone to your voice, and he did so, holding the cloth tight against his nose.

As you spun to face Wyll, you saw he was bloodied just the same. You had to hand it to Gale, he was more than just a gentleman. You sighed, composed yourself, and put on your bravest ‘what the fuck are you doing’ face.

“What do you want, Wyll?” You coldly asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

“You know what I want,” he huffed, still struggling in Karlach’s grasp.

“Actually, as a matter of fact, I don’t! It might surprise you, but I haven’t known what you wanted from me since the night we broke up. What could you possibly need from me after everything that transpired?” Your eyebrows furrowed together, irate with him. Thinking about that night hurt your mind and your heart, you’d much rather continue with your date like nothing happened. But, of course, the universe was always against you.

“Y/N-“ Wyll calmed slightly, his likely drunken stupor fading as he regained his senses seeing you like this. For a moment, he looked like how you remembered him. For a moment, he was yours again.

That quickly dissipated as he continued to speak, reaching towards you, begging, “I want you- I miss you. I should’ve never let this go, I should’ve never let that bastard get his hands on you. You’re mine, right? Like we used to say?”

You took a step back at his words, feeling sick to your stomach. After all this time, he still had that false hope he could get you back? That you still belonged to him? And what was worse, he called Gale a bastard. Again.

“I’ll have you know that bastard back there, is twice the man you ever were. I suggest you rethink your ownership because, to my knowledge, I belong to myself. I was finally- finally!- feeling free from your grasp and here you go, trying to steal my peace from me.” you clasped your hands together, groaning out in frustration before running a hand down your face. “I was done with you a long time ago, Wyll. Please, for the love of all of Faerún, let. Me. Go. Drop this faux apology and the pathetic act and move on with your life. That was embarrassing!” You sighed, running a hand down your face. The arguing in public was only adding to your humiliation, though many passersby just assumed you all were drunk.

“Y/N-“

“No, Wyll!” You cut him off, waving a hand dramatically to silence him. “I was so happy to be finally moving on from you and rebuilding myself after you left me in pieces and you had to come here and ruin it! You had to smash me to bits all over again! I just want to be happy, and you can’t even let me have that?” You could feel tears welling in your eyes, but you pushed them down like all your other worries. “Please, go home. Go away. I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want to see you anymore, I want to go home. Without you.” It seemed that those final words got to him, and he realized his defeat.

As much as you had loved him in the past, he was no longer who you loved now. It was beyond you to change him to become the man he used to be, and you cried for the day he would find the love he would become that for. You wished he could do that for you but you knew it wasn’t right. It wasn’t even worth it anymore. Besides, you had to get Gale home and cleaned up anyway. What good would worrying about Wyll do for you?

“You’re sure you don’t want any coin, mate? I feel awful about all of this,” Karlach offered again, and you waved her off.

“Get him home safe, that’s all I ask,” you replied, and they were off. You watched as Wyll’s sad, defeated eyes stayed locked with yours until they were far enough away, and your heart broke all over again.

Gale knew when not to meddle in things that didn’t concern him, so he left that talking up to you. It was not his place to speak to Wyll for you, but his charming act of heroism in punching the shit out of Wyll was plenty for you.

You took another breath, unclenched the fists you had unknowingly created, and returned to Gale’s side.

“How are you doing?” You asked him, kneeling in front of him as he laughed softly.

“As good as a man with a broken nose can be. You don’t happen to have any healing potions on you, do you?” He replied, smiling at you.

“Not here, but I have some at home,” You offered, and he shook his head no to that.

“I’d rather not return to Astarion’s commentary on my little.. quandary here,”

You pondered for a moment, and then a metaphorical lightbulb appeared over your head. “Vis medicatrix,” you chanted, placing your hand on his arm to heal the wound. Blue light emitted from your palms and eyes for a moment and then faded. Why you hadn’t thought of that prior, you had no idea.

“There. How do you feel now?” You repeated, and Gale lowered the cloth from his nose. He breathed in and out a few times, and then nodded in satisfaction.

“You’re quite good at that,” he chuckled, trying to wipe off as much blood from his face as he could. His knuckles were covered in Wyll’s blood, you noted, and you were oddly surprised Gale didn’t have more marks on him from whatever took place inside.

“What even-“

“Perhaps later.”

You pursed your lips in understanding, standing straight as you waited for him. Where would you head off to now? He looked a mess, and you could hardly stand to be around everyone who had just witnessed what occurred. What would people say? They undoubtedly recognized Ravengard’s son, so what would the rumors tell about you? Those were worries for a later time.

“There’s a travel sigil nearby if you’d like to head to my home in Waterdeep with me,” Gale offered, and you interlocked your arms again when he stood up.

“I’d like that,” you agreed, letting him guide you home.

After a bit of walking and some magical travel, you were inside Gale’s rather lavish tower in Waterdedl. The walls were practically lined from floor to ceiling with books, showing his studious nature. The smell of thousand-year-old tomes and scrolls filled your lungs, mixed with the neverending hint of brandy and vanilla. He took good care of his belongings, despite his continued apologies over what he considered a mess. Though, the only clutter you saw was that of a well-studied scholar. It was impressive just how many books he had, and you wondered if he really had read all of them.

“I believe I have a bottle of Ithbank somewhere around here, let me get myself cleaned up first,” Gale offered, and you had half the nerve to speak up.

“Let me help you,” you proposed, and he smiled at you. That cheeky, knowing smile, akin to one Astarion would give you when you’d talk of something scandalous he was already doing. He nodded his head in the direction of his washroom and you followed along behind him, allowing him to sit on a small stool as you wet a rag.

“Well, go on,” you urged, tilting his face up by the chin as you stood between his legs. Gently, you began washing the blood off of his face. “What happened?”

“After you stepped outside, Wyll began saying some rather choice words,” Gale recounted, the night's events playing over in his mind, eyes ever trained on you. “He wouldn’t cooperate with leaving. He took the first swing, I assure you. It’s not like me to throw first, or even second. I usually counteract with magic but, albeit adrenaline was forefront in my mind, a more physical response felt qualified.”

You chuckled at him, shaking your head as you took his hands and cleaned them off, too. “I’m not a damsel in distress, you know. I just didn’t want to deal with him.” You informed him, wanting to make perfectly clear your reason for aversion.

“Oh, I’m fully aware. But I like to play the white knight now and then, if you’d indulge me,” he grinned, turning his hand in yours and taking it gently. He kissed the top of your palm in thanks for your help.

You giggled at him, splashing his face gently with water, to which he gasped, reached over towards the sink, and splashed you back. You both burst into laughter as you started a miniature water fight, flicking water droplets at one another. You, though, wouldn’t give up this nonsensical fight so easily, and splashed a small cup in his face. His expression turned sour and you darted out of the washroom, Gale quick on your tail, and began dashing around bookshelves to avoid him. The initial droplets soon became minor castings of ‘create water’, both of you careful not to damage the papers surrounding you.

“This honestly seems unfair!” He called over to you as you shimmied behind a small space between two bookshelves. Abruptly, he went quiet and you began to peek around some books to see where he was.

He didn’t even say a word as he wrung out his cloth over your head, your hair becoming completely wet.

“Gale!” You screeched, turning around to his shit-eating grin. You whipped out your cloth while grabbing his collar, suddenly pulled his shirt slightly off his body, and wrung out all the remaining water from yours down his chest. Then, you flattened his shirt against his chest, allowing it to become soaked in its own right.

He jumped slightly at the coolness and glared down at you, albeit playfully. He quickly pulled you against him by the waist, effectively getting your clothes damp, too.

“You know, this is one of my favorite shirts. It’s not supposed to get wet like this so the fibers don’t fray,” Gale hummed, staring down at you with a suggestive look in his eye.

“Oh? How ever will I repay you for ruining it?” You asked, batting your eyelashes at him with faux innocence.

He thought about it for a moment, pondered just a beat too long, and tugged you close against his hips. He leaned down towards you, letting his nose brush against your own.

“A simple apology should suffice,” he smiled softly, looking down into your eyes.

“Well,” you lowered your voice, your eyes flicked from his to his lips, and back up again. “I’m so sorry, Mister Dekarios..” your hands made their way to his chest, and you planted them flat against him. “I should dry this off for you too, shouldn’t I?” You pouted, pulling out the wide, cutesy eyes for him.

He took in a breath, placing one hand on top of yours while the other rested on your lower back. “While I love that offer..” he started, brushing his lips against yours, “Let’s take things slow, yes?” He asked, and your breath hitched. Good gods. You couldn’t believe how goddamn gorgeous he was up close. You wanted nothing more than to spend the whole night with him, whatever that would entail.

“Y/N-“

“Yes.” He didn’t even need to ask, but he started to anyway. Almost instantly, his lips were against your own, the hand on your back gently pulling you closer to him as if there was any distance keeping you apart. Your eyes fluttered closed, indulging yourself entirely the moment.

You replied instantly to him, grabbing at his shirt as you leaned up towards him. One of your hands released the fabric and slid up his shoulder, then into his hair, tugging gently.

He hummed happily in response to the pull, grabbing tighter at your waist. After another beat, he drew back and rubbed his nose against yours.

“Gale…” Your eyes slowly opened again, ever so slightly still shut, looking up at him with an unknown kind of intensity and love.

“I know…” he whispered, pressing a small kiss to your lips again, before he trailed down your neck with them, his hands solid against your back and keeping you steady.

You let out a soft, satisfied little groan, running your hands through his hair. He pulled back again after another brief indulgement of his thoughts and looked down at you. He was so perfect, you almost felt bad for making him deal with you and all your imperfections.

“Can I stay the night with you?” You asked, and then panicked as you realized he might get the wrong idea. “Not- like- we don’t have to do anything! I just… want to be here… with you…” your voice went quieter by the minute, and he chuckled at your shyness in asking.

Tilting your head up by the chin, he calmed your nerves. “Of course, you can,” he leaned down to you, pressing another small kiss to your lips.

He slowly pulled away from you, his hands ghosting on your waist before he stepped back, coaching you to follow him with his all-knowing smirk, bringing you to his kitchen. As you followed, he pulled out the aforementioned bottle of Ithbank and two glasses. You hopped up onto one of the counters, watching him pour into each.

“So, I have to know,” he began, handing you the wine, “if you’d be willing to share,” he took a sip from his glass, stepping between your legs this time, “what exactly happened with Wyll? Because that kind of a reaction from someone doesn’t suggest that the breakup was just messy, it suggests that it was, well, horrid to say the least.”

You took the wine glass from him, wrapped your legs around his waist, and sighed loudly. “I’d like to know about you and your ex first,” you replied, taking a sip slowly, “I don’t know much about you and right now the scales are quite imbalanced,” you finished, setting your glass down beside you. You leaned forward, draping your arms over his shoulders, and began to mess with his hair.

“Ah, Mystra…” he chuckled, though it wasn’t as enthusiastic as it usually was. He pursed his lips together, frowned slightly, and then began to speak.

“As you may know, Mystra is the Goddess of Magic, the Mother of the Weave, if you will. And I, myself, am a rather proclaimed wizard,” he started, bringing your arms down from his shoulders as he stepped back. He began to manipulate the weave around you both, a soft purple light shimmering and sparkling between and around you. “From a young age, I was using the Weave. I had much of it mastered by the time I was just ten years old. One of Mystra’s former chosen, Elminster, took it upon himself to train me in her absence, as she was not alive at that point.”

You saw the face of a man, conjured by Gale, who you could only assume was the Elminster he spoke of.

“When Mystra came back, she had lost a part of herself in her former death. Thus, she was weak. But, she could still sense my fascination and usage of the Weave. Soon enough, she began appearing to me. Only briefly, mind you, she was still far too injured to show herself entirely, but she still did.” This time, you saw the face of a rather beautiful woman, whom he alluded to as Mystra. How had he given up a Goddess? Well, you’d find out.

“At that time, she picked me to become one of her Chosen. Recognizing my skill for harnessing the Weave, and understanding my desire and devotion to her, it was an obvious choice. She started mentoring me, showing me parts of the Weave I had not yet discovered,” he continued, using visualizations of the encounters to help guide the storyline. “Eventually, we became friends. And then, even closer than that. Lovers. I desired to become great for her- intertwine our souls together, prove just how much I loved her. Remind you, she was dead for a long time,” he paused, making sure you were following him.

“When she came back, she had to regain the parts of the Weave that she had lost. I, knowing this, happened across a tome that told of a portion of the Weave that Mystra had not yet been reacquainted with. Lost to time, the elements, and Mystra’s long respite, this part of the Weave had gone uncollected by her and was still separate. It was imbued with Netherese magic from the folly of one of her chosen from many centuries prior, that in of itself is a story for another time. I sought to retrieve it and return it to her as an act of love- or, perhaps, egotism. I shall never know the true intent of my heart in those days, but, rest assured, I am no longer the same,” he smiled warily at you, hoping he was not losing you in everything. Both in the storybook tale he was telling, and romantically.

“The act of mine failed, rather horrendously so. What mortal man takes a piece of the weave for himself? A selfish one, indeed. Cursed with this portion, it was bestowed upon me. There are many details that I’m leaving for the sake of not boring you, but in a gist that is what happened. And now, this Netherese magic rests within me, seeking out parts of the weave to regain what it too had previously lost. Without magical artifacts, death very well could be the consequence. So, safe to say, I am no longer on my Goddess’ good side,” he paused, debating on what else to say. “It’s an arcane hunger, that’s what my Tressym, Tara, and I have figured out. I must consume those artifacts regularly to ease the hunger and calm the orb, otherwise I’ll… well, let’s just say it won’t exactly be very pretty.” He laughed slightly again, that sad, disheartened chuckle, and you felt terrible for him.

Mystra had essentially cursed the man she claimed to love, and you found that unfair. Why wouldn’t she just reabsorb the magic? Why put him under duress when all he wanted to do was prove his devotion? You would never say it aloud, but you despised the Gods and their unusual cruelty at times.

“I… don’t know what to say. That’s awful, Gale.” You realized that the details he had provided to you on your initial date were rather vague. Now that he explained it in more depth, your situation with Wyll felt minuscule in comparison. What’s a lover's quarrel in the shadow of a devoted, lovesick chosen being cursed with a gift he intended for his Goddess?

“Do not pity me, Y/N. It’s the consequence of a foolish man seeking more than he could attain. Had I not been blinded by my insatiable need to grow stronger and unlock arcane secrets that were not mine to know, I would not be here. Mystra had told me to be content, and I just couldn’t listen. But had I, I would not be with you. If going back in time meant that I would lose out on what I have now, I would suffer it all over a thousand times more,” he smiled at you, the magic fading as he returned and stood in front of you again.

“You’d suffer through losing your Goddess’ favor for me?” You asked, and he nodded. The look in his eye… was one of complete seriousness. While soft, you could see the determination behind his gaze. He did not intend to fault you like he faulted his Goddess. He wanted to savor this, savor you. You weren’t sure whether to be scared, or honored. What else was he willing to risk for you?

“I’d disown even the angriest of Gods if it resulted in our union being inseparable,” he placed his hand under your chin, tilting your head up towards him. “I have only known you for a short period of my life, and yet I’d live a thousand more years with you if I could.”

You felt your eyes water, the sentiment touching your heart. You looked towards the ground, before throwing your arms around him and pulling him in for a hug. You wrapped your legs tightly around his waist, and he pulled you close against him.

“Thank you, for everything,” you told him, burying your face into his chest. He held you just like that for a moment, allowing his head to rest on top of yours. When you finally pulled away, looking up at him with the sweetest doe eyes, he couldn’t help but lean down and kiss you again.

“You’re adorable,” he laughed softly, kissing you again and again. Your giggles broke the kisses and you whacked him gently on the chest to get him to stop.

“Are you alright? I know that was quite a lot to take in,” he asked, and you admired his sensitivity to your headspace.

“I’m alright. I’m still stuck on the fact you eat magical items, though,” you joked, and he rolled his eyes at you.

“Alright, alright. Enough about me. It’s your turn,” he wrapped the conversation back around to you and Wyll, and it pained you for a second to think about it.

And then you looked at him, enjoying his glass of wine with you, and you couldn’t help but feel connected enough to talk about it.

Until you heard the birds chirping happily outside, the two of you labored over the blow-up with Wyll. It was a weight off your shoulders, bantering with him about all the shitty things that happened that night. Like two drunken schoolgirls talking shit about a mutual ex-friend, you both couldn’t help it.

You weren’t sure how long you slept, just that you were comfortable, warm, and safe. Safe within the tight hold of Gale’s arms, under the silk sheets that lined his bed.

You had this inkling feeling that all was right in the world. The universe, for once, was back on your side. Back on his side. It was like mending a pot with the age-old art of kintsugi- melding two broken pieces together with gold-dusted glue. Was it perfect? By no means. But it was together. It was whole.

You were whole again.

At least, until you got abducted by Mindflayers.

[smolgloves]

Shrouded

Summary: Shadowheart can't quite place why holding Freya feels so familiar

Tw: descriptions of blood and maybe some dehumanization if you count it? Shart fans may know what I'm trying to reference with this.

Shadowheart's eyes fell upon the battered and bloody borrower. “Gods, what happened to you?”

“A rat chased me into some thorn bushes.” Freya forced a smile despite the clear pain she felt. “Would you mind helping me before Tav gets back and freaks out?”

Letting out a small chuckle, Shadowheart reached out to lay her hand down for Freya, she remained still as the young woman climbed onto her palm without a second thought. The sensation of feeling her squirm in her grasp seemed so familiar to Shadowheart, but she quickly shut off those thoughts to focus on the simple task. Pulling her closer, Shadowheart examined the cuts on Freya's arms, the blood that oozed certainly made her look worse, but the cleric's trained eyes could see how superficial they were; it wouldn't take much power to close the wounds with a simple healing word. Brushing a finger against her arm, Shadowheart murmured her spell, letting the cerulean glow seep into Freya's skin, closing the wounds.

“There, that should save you from Tav fussing over you.” Without thinking, Shadowheart let her fingertip pet the top of Freya's head, her blonde locks feeling soft beneath her touch.

“What was that for?” Freya asked, moving her head away from the digit.

Shadowheart's cheeks grew hot as she tried to wrack her brain for any answer. The motion felt as familiar as blinking for Shadowheart, but there was no good reason as to why she did that. “I…. see some blood in your hair, maybe we should get you cleaned off too.”

Freya didn't object as she was whisked away to the cleric's tent, setting down on the nearby table as Shadowheart got a rag and water to clean her off with. She didn't waste time gently scrubbing the blood away from Freya, damping her hair and face from all sorts of grime. Shadowheart felt as though she was in a trance, nothing else mattered except for helping a small creature get better.

“Okay, something's up with you.” Freya raised her eyebrow and backed away from Shadowheart.

“I'm not sure I understand.”

“You're not usually as handsy with me than others.” Freya kept her eyes on Shadowheart, staring at her with a quizzical look in her eyes.

“I thought I was helping.” Her voice grew soft, just how uncomfortable was she making Freya?

“I'm not upset by it.” She said. “I'm just surprised you're doting on me like so.”

“I can't exactly explain why I'm doing this stuff,” Shadowheart admitted, darkness protect her from the embarrassment she was feeling right now. “But I just had this familiar urge to clean and… pet you. I'm sorry.”

Freya ran a hand through her knotted hair as she was lost in thought. “Do you remember meeting other borrowers before me?”

That was not the response Shadowheart expected to hear, but it was certainly one that made her think. Before Freya, she never even knew of borrowers, but that didn't mean she was always ignorant of the tiny people. “If I did, Lady Shar had taken that memory away. Why?”

Freya shrugged. “I was just wondering if I was sparking a memory for you, just a silly theory, that's all.”

“Perhaps you are, you're quite impressionable.” Shadowheart responded with a chuckle. “So I wouldn't be surprised if you're bringing some memories of a borrower to light.”

Freya's cheeks immediately flushed to a pink color. “You think so?”

“I'm quite sure.” She flashed a gentle smile towards Freya as her mind wandered to the thoughts of who this mysterious borrower from her life was, and where they could be now? But those thoughts were silenced as the wound on her hand seethed with pain, Shadowheart cried out; no matter how many times she felt this pain before, she never got over the agony that coursed through her hand, but just when the pain reaching its peak, it was over in an instant.

“Gods, are you okay?” Freya gasped out.

“It's fine.” Shadowheart breathed out. “It's over now.”

“Are you sure? Your wound-!”

“I'm sure.” Shadowheart quickly interjected, she was never sure why Lady Shar would inflict such pain on her but she had a feeling it was a reminder to not continue to look into memories that were sealed away for a reason. “The pain is gone, for now, let's focus on cleaning you up… and getting you a drink.”

Freya met the cleric's playful glance with one of her own. “I can't disagree with that, seems we both could use one.”

“Then I'll go scrounge up the good wine.” She said standing to her full height. Maybe some wine will numb the curiosity that still lingered in the shadows of her mind, itching to be discovered, but Shadowheart knew better, all will be revealed when she completes her mission.

[the-fiction-witch]

Cold

Media the maze runner death cure

Character Newt

Couple Newt X Reader

Rating flirty jokes but adorable

Concept 'i was cold'

I woke up in my bed slightly dazed and a little confused. It was still dark, still night over the right arms camp so I didn't need to be up. I wonder what woke me up? I immediately noticed I was warm. Warmer then I usually am. And cozier then usual.

It was then I noticed.

As I laid on my back on the little camp bed my blankets around me to keep out the chill, only in my boxers and my little shirt, I wasn't alone. Y/n one of the group b girls I met in the compound who has escaped wicked with us was sharing my bed. She had a pair of socks half way up her legs, a little lace pair of panties hugging her closely and a similar shirt to me, her hair in a little bun with a ribbon from some old shirt or something, her eyes closed, her breathing soft,

"Uuuuuuuuuuughh… hi"

"Hi newt" she yawns 

"What uhhhh what are you doing. In my bed?"

"I got cold"

"Cold?"

"Ummm I was frozen. So I came here to warm up. Did you want me to go?"

"Uhhh no. It's ok." I told her and she smiled moving a little closer to wrap her arm around me laying her head on my shoulder

"That uhhh doesn't explain why your in my bed?"

"I was cold" she says "your so warm and cosy newt" she giggled "you make a good little radiator" 

"Oh. Okay" I smiled attempting to make myself warmer trying to radiate heat and all I think I actually did was shart shaking slightly

"I said radiator newt not vibrator" she giggled 

"Oh. Sorry"

"It's fine. I'm sure you'd make a good one of those too" she giggled

"You think so?" I blushed 

"I do" she smiled giving my lips a little kiss making me completely freeze and turn bright red "goodnight newt"

"I uhhhhhh ummm yeah. Goodnight y/n" 

"You can cuddle me too if you like too?"

"I can?"

"Umm hum"

"Okay" I blushed wrapping my arms around her to bring her close the two of his huddling close under my blankets "ummmm goodnight love"

"Goodnight newt" she smiled nuzzling into my neck a little before we drifted off to sleep. 

[astarionposting]

hi! hope this is okay to ask (: i wanna try my own at swap out companions and use gale and my tav for romance scenes, but other than his own romance scenes etc. i know how to do the swapping thing but i wondered - which companion romance scenes do you recommend to use? i havent tried them all so i dont know which one is which and how they look or anything. would you mind doing a lil description or something for me with the scenes you recommend and a little about them/visuals? etc: astarion scene x - tav does this, astarion does this, mostly nude. etc etc (: also im fully up for the ntsw scenes :D hope this isnt a bother, or if you know a place where i can watch ALL the romance scenes of every companion. sorry this got long. thanks so much!!!!!

Not a bother at all!

My favourite romance scenes are:

Astarion Act 1 (in the forest at night and then depending on when you trigger this scene, you will have a convo in the day or night), Lae’zel Act 1 (u have sex with her and eat her coochie), Shart Act 1 (she invites you to drink some wine with her and then u kiss), Astarion Act 2 (soft hug 🥰 ), Gale Act 2 (He either conjures up an illusion of being at his home in waterdeep and then u have astral projection sex, or he conjures up a bed and u have bed sex), Karlach Act 2 (her kiss and her sex scene in front of the campfire usually, but I haven’t tried it with swapped models yet actually…), Wyll Act 2 (He dances with u and it’s very cute), Astarion Act 3 (Graveyard for spawn Astarion, it is very sweet and some spice at the end when he kisses u/Ascended Astarion basically has sex with u and then turns u into a vampire, it’s very very nsfw), Shadowheart Act 3 (Selunite Shart is like a skinny dipping on the beach together at night and DJ Shart is u put blood on a Selune statue and kiss and then she jumps on u and bites u/puts blood in your mouth) and Wyll Act 3 (he proposes to u with an acorn and then pills u to the ground for some smooches, very very cute), Lae’zel Act 3 (watching the sunrise together, and then u hold hands; nothing beyond that happens and it’s a very warm scene). OH and I forgot to add, minthara’s Act 1 scene: she sits on ur lap and kisses u, then u guys have SEX and she gives u a blow job/eat ur coochie and then u guys cuddle until u wake her up and kiss again—I have also learned the hard way that you can only resculpt Minthara into other body type 1, resculpting her into a body type 2 DOESNT WORK! It is actually horrifying cause her head just disappears lol

I haven’t tried Karlach’s Act 3 yet and I’ve only watched Gale’s Act 3 on YouTube. I’m not very good at describing the scenes lol, so it is better to watch on YouTube to see what you like or just romance the companions and try them out first hand!

As much as I love Halsin’s scene, he is a big boy (we love to see it), so the other companions do not fit his animations, and it looks messed up 💀 just don’t do it it looks so weird LOL

Hopefully this helped with an idea of what most scene entails!! Some are longer than others and it’s easier to get shots, but some are really short and you’ll be reloading the same save like 10 times before getting the right shots 😔😔 I often have to reload scenes like 15+ times to get what I want cause I’ll either miss it/or accidentally unpaused 😭 😭

[boo-moved]

OUGH okay tav questions !!! 12, 17, 19, 21, 22 NO NEED TO ANSWER ALL OFTHEM IM JUST CURIOUSES

I WILL ANSWER ALL THESE YOU KIDDIN ME SDKLJFGHSKJDF

THANK YOUUUUUU

12. How does your Tav feel about Us? Did they free them, maim them or leave them behind?

They thought Us was a hallucination at first ngl, and freed them because they could. Then they met them again under Moonrise and was literally so hyped, they keep them like a cat now, much to everyone else’s chagrin.

17. Does your Tav’s starting armor reflect them? If not, what would they wear instead?

*Haarleps hahaha no instert here* Komi was taking a break from their shift at Sharess Caress', they would not be wearing that green atrocity. It'd be something loose with exposure to the chest, something like Minthara's pjs, but flowy and made of like a silky fabric. With like a harness beneath it ofc ofc. (Followed by companion reactions, Gale was a little unnerved.)

19. What’s your Tav’s personality like at the start of the game? Does it change as the game goes on?

Komi is and was emo af, but very much so softening and more trusting as time went on. At first they were almost never speaking, kinda going off on their own, forgetting they had people follow him around like ducklings. Also very heavily spaced out. But at the end he was more... there, soft smiles and big eyes.

21. Which companion do you get first? If you get Shadowheart first no matter what, who’s the second one?

Gale usually, I just like him, but lore wise Komi can kinda feel the magic tugging at them.

22. What is your Tav’s first impression of the other companions (Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Wyll …)

WOOO OKAY BIG ONE

So Lae'zel, they liked her, they kinda let her do what she wanted on the ship because they were still getting their bearings and what not, trying to find a time to slip away and explore. They also pressed a lot of buttons and getting Shart out was a complete accident (They were curious if it would gloop her.) After that, freeing her from the cage was an obvious choice to them, she had big sword and can fight good. They got along like a flame and oil, burning the other brighter.

Shart... They didn't mention the fact getting her out was an accident and kinda wanted to see if she would go gloopy. They were curious about the artifact but gave no shits otherwise. They acknowledged her cageyness, and saw a bit of themselves in it so they just shrugged and didn't ask.

GALE oh... oh Komi hated Gale. They didn't remember a lot (blame the concussion), but they do remember the feeling of a wizard, a tower, silence, hate. He recoiled as soon as Gale landed at their feet, body going into overdrive, breathing coming in quick bursts and magic tingling in their fingertips, ready to extinguish whomever it may be. It took Gale a few moments to realize this, he immediately jumped into warnings about not killing him, and tried to prove he meant no harm. safe to say Shadowheart was confused, trusting the drow's instinct. Eventually they put away their hatred and let him tag along, knowing a wizard may be useful, and it would be cruel to leave someone behind with a tadpole in their heads. (Also Gale promised to make the group food and they liked that idea.)

Astarion... this was interesting, because the two had met, but once again neither remembered. They knew he was about to try something and tried to fire off a cantrip, which led to the two on the ground tussling. Astarion had the upper hand with his body ass limbs and blade already out, ready to slice their throat while trying to question them. Komi then flipped the situation and pinned the vampire, eventually the two came to an understanding and started to travel together. Komi liked Astarion, liked his survival instincts.

WYLLLLLLL, so these two met when they were kids at the beach down by the lower city. Komi showed off some magic tricks and Wyll was enthralled. They didn't see one another again after that, and neither remembered the other. So this led to when they re-met, Komi immediately liked the man. His flair for the dramatic and treatment of others, they were curious about the whole being a warlock thing though, not wanting to push.

Karlach... They liked her heat, her energy, her lust for life. He understands well the need for getting that anger out and that sheer scream for freedom. They saw a kindred spirit in her, one that wasn't beaten down by her situation. They liked her.

Halsin - "Where'd the bear go." They kinda had an intrigue in him, liking his voice and everything. Beyond that, it was kinda spacey until they heard his story.

Jaheira was fun, they didn't like the vines, gave them a rash and made their scales itch. She was fun though, and full of life.

Minsc... Komi liked Boo a lot, Minsc came with it.

[firerose]

For the sentence starter 😊

Adrien fell to his knees, head hung low as he fought to keep the tears in.

@fictionalnormalcy,

He couldn‘t show weakness, couldn‘t be vulnerable.

That was just what Farfalla was waiting for.

And the villain didn‘t deserve another victory today.

But oh god, she looked so fragile as he took her onto his arms, so broken.

It was his fault, his alone.

He always had been her protector, he had promised her he was.

And now they were here.

Her identity was exposed to all of Paris, her body sliced by glass sharts after a giant moth Sentimontser had thrown her into a window.

And all because of her last words, all because Farfalla was mad.

He had run to her aid the moment she heard of her capture on the news.

Unfortunately, he came just a few seconds too late, a few seconds his girlfriend had paid with her life.

No, she is not just your girlfriend.

More blades stabbed into his heart at that thought.

Around him was chaos, people were screaming, sirens blaring too late to help.

But Adrien was deaf to all of it.

His ears were ringing, his chest was aching as a question repeated itself in his mind.

What should he tell Luka?

Sobs formed a lump in his throat.

His gaze wandered to Marinette, her sapphire blue eyes, her loosening pigtails.

His chest ached as the question turned to memory.

“ If Farfalla ever……..captures me-“, Marinette had started and Adrien had immediately interrupted.

They had spent a beautiful summer day on Lukas boat the sun setting on the river.

He did not want Marinette's worries to ruin her good mood.

“ Then we‘ll save you my lady!“, He had promised to lean over for a soft kiss on her cheek.

Back then he had fully believed those words and the pink blush on her cheeks had made him smile.

Luka who had said on Marinette's other said chuckled and then put on his serious counselling face.

“ He's right melody. We are not going to let you go, not ever.“, He had softly said placing a hand on her shoulder.

Marinette had taken their hand connecting them on her lap.

“ I know that's what I wanted to say. If something bad ever happens to me. I would only trust you two with continuing my ……. work.“ She had said her voice hesitant.

She had never enjoyed those dark thoughts clouding her mind but they did anyway.

Her work.

Adrien couldn‘t even imagine, back then and now, to do everything she did.

Being Ladybug, the guardian, the one that always had to fix everything.

He admired her for not cracking under the pressure as he would have in her place.

He hadn‘t bared to think about what it would be like without her.

A nervous laugh had been his attempt to shake away those dark possibilities.

He quizzed her hand and Lukas as well.

“ I‘m flattered by that my lady.“, He told her trying to sound amused.

It was silly, maybe even rude to joke about such a heavy topic, to not take her fears seriously.

But Adrien had never been good at confrontations, never good at hiding emotions.

So he used humour to cover it up no matter how uneasy it made him feel.

Luka had felt the slight tension growing between them.

He was great at telling such things.

“ That's part of being a hero, the fear of the maybe…..but now let's enjoy this moment, let's forget our hero persona and act like normal kids okay?“, Luka had asked softly.

He was the oldest of them, the wisest and so they had listened to him.

They had spent the evening leaning on each other's shoulder, laughing about more comfortable topics.

But Adrien had seen that Marinette's idea had not left her mind.

He knew her planning face too well after three years.

She had been thinking, he hadn‘t.

No, he had spent her remaining time living in the fantasy that he would always save her, always protect her from all harm.

And now here they were.

Here were the maybe had become reality, where he had broke his promise.

read more on ao3!

[pulchratormentum]

@endxwithme thank you for letting this happen. nightmare::

they hardly speak, let alone spend time together beyond early greetings and soft mumbles. it’s not awkward, right? still, she isn’t sure he’s done that great at trying to ‘patch things up’. it’s not like he’s tried to get to know her a day in his life, right? two sons. that’s all he needed. it’s okay. it’s only a little trauma. it’s not like she’s trying, either. they’re biding time until one of them gives the fuck up and leaves.

the extra body in her house accentuates her insomnia. maddie’s sitting so carefully in the corner of her living room. is she chain-chugging green tea and cigarettes? bet your ass, she is. it’s a christmas miracle she heard it. heard him. 

that deepening of breath. 

                                                   that exhale.

                                                                                       the scream.

she’s up without thinking, guest room door pushed open and kneeling beside the bed. it’s all instinct now. pull him out slow. wake him easy. if you can avoid the latter, great. never talk about it again. 

“ now, i've heard there was a secret chord.

                              that david played, and it pleased the lord

                                                           but you don’t really care for music, do you? ”

that’s it. ease him out of it. his breathing steadies. less frantic as he fights himself behind his eyes. he’s not calm enough to wake entirely. why would she volunteer herself for a black eye? she’s acutely aware how winchester men sleep. like burning dumpster sharts.

“ it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth.

                                    the minor falls, the major lifts

                                                              the baffled king composing hallelujah. ”

she’s humming the next bit; has him calm enough to reach out and touch with gentle fingers. she still doesn’t trust fully waking him. there may be no need. he’s calm enough for now. still. why take the chance? even she knows how easy it is to fall back into a nightmare. 

“ your faith was strong but you needed proof

                                      you saw her bathing on the roof.

                                                       her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her. ”

that’s it, john. you think of those happier places. your sons. your wife. think about the night you married her. the day you got out of the marines. think about the day you held your newborn son. the first word sam ever said. think about dean waiting eagerly for you to come home. to play toy guns and soldiers. think about blonde hair and a beautiful smile. think about what makes you feel at home. safe. loved. 

she knows she’s never going to hold a memory like that from you.

she knows she’ll never live up to the boy you molded and the boy you cherished.

but, that doesn’t matter, does it?

tonight, the nightmare is gone. and when the sun drifts through the curtains, you’ll never know she was there.

but, then again. you never do, do you?

[sheeple]

Real thing | 9B: Drop it

GIFS NOT MINE. THIS IS ALL FICTION. Genre(s): mafia!au / hacker!au Group(s): NCT Pairing(s): Qian Kun x fem!reader / Jung Jaehyun x fem!reader Summary: (Y/n), a college student who joined WayV ─ an international crime organization ─ for some extra cash as one of their hackers. But what happens when she gets mixed up in a lot more heavy stuff than only sitting behind a computer and disabling security cameras? Warning(s): angst? / use of guns / blood A/N: There it is, the last chapter. Even though the series has ended, I’m probs not gonna stop writing for it. Maybe some drabbles? Maybe a spin-off? Who knows [Masterlist] [Mini masterlist]

I shake my head while tears stream over my face. "You're right, I don't want to do this." I let the gun glide out of my hands before taking a couple of steps only for Jaehyun to grab me and bring me closer, wrapping his arms around my body. 

"It's okay", he whispers stroking the back of my head, "you're safe now."

At those words, I burst out in tears. Mostly from shock, but also from all the bottled up emotions. 

The weeks of emotional damage are finally over. The reign of Qian Kun over me has ended and it almost feels... like a heavy burden is lifted off my shoulders. Freedom and choice finally mine again after fearing for long.

With a sigh, Jaehyun lets go of me. "Let's go while Qian is still distracted. Once he notices you're gone, he will be furious. Can you run?"

My gaze goes down to my feet, which I notice are bloody from the glass I run through. Jaehyun follows my eyes and hisses, concern on his face.

"That's..." 

"Painful", I say, my feet starting to sting as the adrenaline begins to settle down. "But I'll manage." I grab Jaehyun's hand and give it a reassuring squeeze, a tight-lipped smile on my face.

He nods while pulling me out of the alleyway, stopping before the end and peering around the corner. I see him mentally count down before pulling me towards a black SUV, a yelp escaping my lips.

He quickly pushes me inside as soon as the door slides open. "Quick Mark, get us out of here. Doyoung, fix up her feet, will you?"

Doyoung, who's sitting shotgun, turns around with an annoyed expression. "What she's doing here, Jung." He narrows his eyes suspiciously. 

"Calm your tits, Kim. Can't you see the glass shards sticking out of her feet." Jaehyun answers Doyoung's glare with the same kind of stern gaze.

With a lot of grumbling, Doyoung climbs down the backseat with a first-aid kit under his arm, pushing Jaehyun out of the way. He places my feet on his lap and starts to clean up the blood and dirt, roughly pulling out the sharts. 

As my feet get mended, I have time to look at the driver. I notice that it's one of the guests of the party, the guy with high cheekbones and black hair, now messily pushed out of his face.

He throws me a smile once he catches my eyes through the rearview. "So", he begins to break the silence in the car, "are you Qian's girlfriend?"

I shake my head. "No, I just work for him. He kind of forced me to go with him tonight. He used one of his Uno trick cards on me." A shiver runs up and down my spine at the memory of him screaming at my face and his cold eyes. 

"Is that why you had... a panic attack?", Jaehyun questions while draping his suit jacket over my shoulders. 

I give a short nod. "Yeah, I told YangYang later on... Oh God, Yangyang! I can't leave him without anything. And all my stuff!"

"We don't have time for you to return to your dorm to pack up your stuff. Besides, I'm quite sure Qian will send someone to check on you once he notices you're gone", Doyoung says while taking out a shard and I hiss, slightly pulling my feet back. 

"He's not home, my roommate", I mumble through locked lips as Doyoung manhandles my feet. "He's staying at a friend's place." 

With a loud sigh, Mark nods and turns the wheel around. "Fine, just make it quick, okay?" 

I nod happily and let Doyoung bandage up my wounds, stippling out a route for me to walk without being seen.

I close the door behind me softly, my eyes scanning the apartment. The lights are off and the curtains are drawn. Would Yangyang be already back?

I make my way towards my room. The door creeks and I suck in my breath, waiting for a sound. But nothing comes and I move around the room, clothes and other necessities in a large bag. 

I rip the dress off my body and put on the first best clothes I see lying on the floor, rushing to get my shoes on to get out when the door opens. 

Yangyang stops in his tracks and looks at me with wide eyes. “(Y/n)? What happened to your face?”, his eyes scan my face before going to the bag in my hand. “Where are you going?”

Tears fill my eyes as I rush towards him and hug him, for what can be the last time. “I’m so sorry”, I whisper before turning around and sprinting away. 

As I stumble out of the building, I see Jaehyun leaning against the van with his arms crossed, his eyes fixed on the door. His eyes light up and he opens the door, helping me inside and throwing my bag in the trunk. 

“Finally”, sighs Mark when Jaehyun is seated and drives away, taking sharp turns and not stopping for any traffic lights.

“Are you okay?”, whispers Jaehyun as he takes my hand in his, rubbing circles on the top of my hand as he notices tears streaming down my cheeks.

I sniff, leaning my head on his shoulder. “I... I don’t know.” I look up into Jaehyun’s eyes and wipe away a fresh tear. 

“It hurts now, but in the end, everything will be alright. I promise.” He pulls out a handkerchief from his pocket and lets me blow my nose with it, a soft smile on his lips. 

I crumble the handkerchief up in my hand and close my eyes, a tired sigh leaving my lips. If I just close my eyes for a second, it will be okay.

My brows knit together as I hear the sound of birds chirping. I turn around with a groan and bury myself under the fluffy blankets, laying closer to the warm chest next to me.

I open my eyes, blinking at the bright light the comes through windows with white drapes and lay on my back, letting my eyes get adjusted to the sudden brightness. 

“Good morning”, mumbles the sleep-filled voice of Jaehyun next to me as he pulls me closer by the waist, snuggling his nose in the crook of my neck.

“Wh- where are we?”, I question confused as to why I am no longer in the van.

“We’re in London, in one of NCT's hideouts. You fell asleep in the car and wouldn’t wake up, not even when we boarded the plane.” A chuckle leaves his lips. “I guess that’s how your body handles with stress.”

I sit up. “London? Wha- what?” I shake my head and blink, my eyes travelling across the room we’re in. A bedroom.

“Well”, begins Jaehyun as he also sits up, leaning against the headboard. “We had to leave the country after I stole the sweetheart of the most dangerous man in Hong Kong, if not China. It was not safe for you to stay any longer there. London was the first place available.” 

A blush spreads over my cheeks. “I wasn’t...”, I mumble and look away. “He and I weren’t... anything. I was more scared of him than anything else.”

Jaehyun chuckles as he scoots over, making me look at him. “Everyone saw the stars in his eyes when he looked to you.”

“All I saw was cold eyes and hatred. He’s controlling...” A shiver runs down my spine and I quickly get out of bed and walk towards the window, my gaze fixating on the red double-decker bus riding around the streets. “I want to do nothing to do with him, not anymore. It was never my choice to join his stupid gang.” A sigh leaves my lips. “It was Yangyang that convinced me to work for him, seeing I have my way with computers.”

I feel Jaehyun move behind me and he wraps his arms around my body, his chin on my shoulder. “It’s okay. That part is all over now.”

Another sigh leaves my lips and I step away from Jaehyun, his handprints leaving burning hot pain where he touched me. “Look, Jae... I like you, I really do. But the truth is, the past couple of months all men have done is hurt me, scared me, scar me. Their cold eyes and taste for destruction, it chills me to the bone.”

A silence overcomes the room, the traffic outside the room so much louder all a sudden. I wrap my arms around my body and walk towards the windows. My eyes follow the red busses and caps, people walking past us, oblivious to what is happening right now. If they only knew that a gang had their hideout right in front of them, they would freak out.

Jaehyun stands awkwardly in the middle of the room, his eyes focused on me, his hands clenching and relaxing his sweatpants. “I... I am sorry. And I know, those words mean shit for all the mental damage you’ve had, but let me prove that I am─”

“─Not like them?”, I cut him off with a humourless chuckle. Jaehyun nods. I turn around and look at my bag on a chair, still zipped close. “Just... give me time. That’s all I ask from you.”

Jaehyun nods as he takes a step back. “Then that’s what you get. Take all the time in the world you need to heal and I’ll be right beside you, ready to be there you when you need me to.”

[merci-bitch]

Forceful Love

Rose The Hat x Reader

Request: For sure! Somethings challenging.....hmmmmmm lemme thinkkkk. How about something angsty and let’s do Rose, I feel like Rose is a good angst character. How about A Rose x reader or OC, Rose is in love with a girl who’s good friends with Dan and she’s trying to get reader to abandon Dan and join her lots of angst maybe even some smut of you’re up for it. Is that okay?

Warning ( s ) : alcohol, abuse, sexual tension

Words: 3k

A/N: This was actually very fun to write and it was a real help. I’m still wondering if I should do a part 2 of this, I’ll you guys decide. And again, many thanks to @shart-xing !! I absolutely adore you! Thank you for being there for me ♡ And sorry if there are any mistakes in spelling, I just wanted to get this finished :)

I had known even as a child that I wasn’t some ordinary child. I could read other people’s mind and use a form of communication inside their mind. A normal child wouldn’t be able to do that, would it? I would always lay awake at night, being scared to close my eyes and sleep. I always felt as if something or rather someone was watching. I’ve only caught a glimpse of this ‘thing’ once. I think I was about the age of 5. It was a tall looking man. He was about 6’3 tall and he was wearing this weird hat. It looked old and it was ripped up. His clothes were old and pretty saggy. They looking like they hadn’t been washed in ages and the same with him. His face was always a blur. The only thing you would be able to see was his eyes. His eyes were shining with this bright blue color with a hint of white. It always scared me. I didn’t know why all of this would happen me. I kept telling myself to just be normal like the other kids. I didn’t understand why I was like this and why I was the only one. I thought I was the only one like this, that was my thought until I meet Dan.

Danny Torrance. I was about 14 when I meet him for the first time. I sat in a library, trying to calm myself down from all the mean comments I had read and heard. I kept telling myself in my mind to just be normal until I heard him talk. Not out loud but inside my head.

“Stop”

My eyes went wide. I thought it was him. I started to panic. I looked all around, making people look at me as if I was crazy. Then I heard it again.

“Relax, it’s not who you think it is. I’m Dan. I’m the boy on your left”

I looked over to my left and saw a boy waving at me. With a smile on his lips as he walked over to me. I counter control my thoughts. After all these years, I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only one with this ‘shine’. He sat down next to me and reached out for my hand. I shook his hand as he introduced himself.

“I’m Dan, Dan Torrance. You’re Y/N right?” My eyes got wide. How did he know my name? I’ve never met him before so how could he know my name? “Don’t worry Y/N.” “How do you know my name?” He let out a chuckle. “Lucky guess?” His eyes were so soft. No fear were in them. “So you’re also different?” I leant in and whispered to him. “I’ve always called it the shining” Hw whispered back with a smile. He handed me a box. “What’s this? Other then that it’s clearly a fancy box” Dan let out a laugh. “A friend of mine told me to create a box like that in my mind to trap all those monsters who would haunt me. I guess you’ve had trouble with someone yourself?” I nodded. “But how to I trap someone in my mind?” I placed the box down onto the table as I leant back in my chair. “I know it’s sounds difficult but trust me. It will save you so many tears and nightmares. Whenever your little ‘friend’ decides to visit, just imagine you’re opening the box in your mind and BAM! They will be locked up in your head until you decide to let them out.”

This idea he gave me was rather good. I mean it wouldn’t bother to try, would it? So that was what I did. Later that night I had the box Dan gave me on my nightstand and the next thing I knew the man was standing at the end of my bed, smiling wickedly. I gave him a smile as I spoke, “hope you enjoy yourself” He croaked his head to the side as I closed my eyes and opened the box inside my head, hearing a scream before the box closed itself. I opened my eyes and he was gone. He was no longer at the of my bed. It worked. I couldn’t believe it. Dan was right. I couldn’t wait to tell him. I owed him so much.

I woke up by my mother yelling at the end of the stairs. “Y/N! Get up! It’s time for school!” For the first time in so long, I’ve gotten a good nights sleep and it was all thanks to Dan. I got up and got dressed after I had taken a shower. I walked down the stairs, into the kitchen with a smile on my face as I greeted my parents. “Aren’t you looking happy for once?” My father laughed as he took a sip of his coffee. “Just had a good night sleep. That’s all” I sat down next to him as I started eating.

I soon left for school. At lunch I saw Dan sitting alone. I walked over to him and sat down. “Hello my hero” He let out a chuckle. “Your hero?” I nodded. “Your idea with the box? It worked. He’s really gone” He took ahold of my hand as he leant in. “Such monsters aren’t always gone. They will always come back in some way. This is just a way to slow that process down.” He smiled at me. At this moment everything seemed perfect. But that didn’t last long. Don’t they always say that when you’re finally happy something come in the way and everything goes down the drain again? Well, it certainly did.

My mother grew sick and the sooner the later she passed away. My father started drinking and started blaming it all on me. He started beating me and everything that comes with that package. All of this started 10 years ago.

~~~

Here we are. 2019. I’m now 10 years older. And I had learned to live with my father, despite him being and alcoholic and abusive. Me and Dan were still very good friends but sadly Danny had gotten into the same problem as my father but he had it from his. But despite that, I didn’t leave his side. I still owed him so much after he practically saved my life all those years ago.

I had made a new ‘friend’ or whatever you would call it. I worked as a waitress at a small café here in town. For a short time period this woman would come in every morning and order the same thing. A grande late. I didn’t know her name exactly so I just called her ‘The Pretty Lady In The Hat’. She was rather kind towards me. Always tipping me and completing me. Looking at me with sorrow sometimes as if she knew what had happened to me. Sometimes I wondered if she was like me and Dan, if she could read my mind.

“Well, hi there Y/N!” I jumped a bit before turning around. I was meet with that very woman. Her smile shining. But how did she know my name? “It’s on your shirt, my dear” She pointed to the name tag that was on my shirt. Now I understood how she knew m- hold up. How did she know that I asked that? Did I say it out loud? “Oh no sweetie. You didn’t.” My eyes went wide. Her smile turning into a grin. “You-I, how?” She signaled me to follow her. We sat down at a table. “My sweet. You are a special one aren’t you?” I couldn’t help but feel my cheeks grow hot. “I’m no where near special miss.” I looked down at my fidgeting hands. I heard her pull her chair closer to me as she pulled my chin up with her finger. “Don’t say that. Of course you are! You’re just like me, aren’t you?” I didn’t say anything out loud.

( You mean you can hear me? )

She nodded as she gave me a smile. “But I thought me and Dan were the only ones. Hell, I thought I was alone” Her smile dropped as she took ahold of my hands. “Poor sweet thing. You are no near from being alone. You have me! And my very good friends are just like us but with different abilities. You’re definitely not the only one, however you might be the prettiest” She was cheeky which made me blush again. “You have a thing for blushing don’t you, my dear?” I let out a chuckle. “If you don’t mind me asking. What’s your name?” I looked up at her. I realized how close she actually were to my face. “My name is Rose, Rose The Hat.” She tipped down her hat. I noticed all the details that was put into her hat. I looked like an old magicians hat. “It’s a nice hat Rose” I touched the leather of her hat. “Thank you, my sweet” I looked behind Rose where a clock was hanging on the wall. “Shit! Fuck!” I got up and accidentally spilled Rose’s coffee all over her. “Oh shit! I’m so sorry!” She laughed it off as she stood up and took ahold of my shoulders. “Don’t worry, my dear. I’ll see you tomorrow morning” She leant in and kissed my cheek as she walked out the door. I was left standing by the table with red cheeks and my hand touching where she had kissed my cheek.

But the weird thing is, she didn’t come the next mornin. In fact, I never saw her again. I had told Dan about Rose and he had told me to stay away from her. I couldn’t understand why. She had been so nice to me. Dan had been in rehab and had gotten much better. Despite the fact that I didn’t just wanna forget about Rose I followed Dan’s advice. I had finally earned enough money and moved away from my father with quick pace. I moved to the city where Dan was living. I moved into a nice apartment with one bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom and a living room. A cozy little apartment. Not too much and not too little.

~~~

I opened the door and walked inside, closing the door behind me. As I turned around I saw a figure sitting on my couch. “Well, hi there!” My eyes went wide as I realized who it was. After I had moved here Dan had told me about everything he knew about Rose. What Abra had told him, what she saw. My once lovely and nice ‘friend’ had turned into someone I feared deeply. And how the hell did she find me? “Oh it was quite easy” Forgot that. “Could you stop?!” She was taken aback. “My, haven’t you outgrown yourself” She got up from the couch and walked closer to me. Trapping me in between the wall and herself. “Why are you here Rose” My was trembling already. “Aren’t you happy to see me?” She pouted her lips as she raised both her hands, placing them on either side of my head. Her nose was barely touching mine.

“I know who you are. What you’ve done” Her smile only turned into a grin. “Look at you. All smart and intelligent. Then tell me Y/N. What is it I do” She got even closer, until her lips ghosted over my own. “You kill people, eat children” Her face expression went blank. Her eyes went from the warm and the color blue/grey eyes to completely dark. Her left hand went to my throat. Squeezing slightly. “And why would you think that?” I let out a snort. “Don’t lie! I’ve had enough of lies! My whole life has been one big lie! Just tell me the god damn truth!” She let go of my throat as she walked back over to the couch and sat down, patting the space next to her. “Sit” I slowly walked over and sat down, keeping my distance from her.

“I’m just like you Y/N, but slightly more powerful. I know things that you don’t. I could show you so many things, if only you would let me. And shit in what others say. What matters is what you think Y/N. But what you should know is that I would never hurt you, as I told you months ago. You’re a special little one.” Her hand caressed my cheek. Despite what Dan had told me I couldn’t help but relax at her touch. “You shouldn’t believe in everything everyone says. They aren’t always right, you know? You and this ‘Dan’ are slightly different when it comes to your shine. Yours is more powerful, and if you let me help you it could be even stronger. You just have to trust me, and you do trust me?” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to react to anything.

“I-I don’t know” She moved closer to me. Taking ahold of my hand as she looked at me. “You don’t want a family again?” I lifted my head and looked her in the eyes. Did she know? How could she know? Both her hands grabbed my cheeks as my eyes started to tear up. “So much terror, so much fear” She knew. She knew what I had been trying to hide for so many years. Something I was ashamed of. She pulled me into a hug. “I’m here sweetheart. Just let it out, I’m right here and I’ll never leave you” My grip around her only got tighter. She kissed my cheek as she broke apart.

“Join me and you’ll have a family again. A family that loves you for who you are and not for who the world wants you to me. You can be exactly who you want and no will ever hurt you again.” She leant her forehead against mine as she closed her eyes. “Do you trust me?” I nodded my head slowly and soon I felt my whole body go limp. “Sleep well, my dear” Was the last I heard until everything went black.

~~~

SLAM! I sat up as my eyes slowly opened. My sight was not my living room. It looked like some RV. A tv hanging on the wall as the walls were filled with different things. “Well, hi there sleepyhead! You’ve been out for quite some time” I turned to my left as I saw Rose standing by the door, holding a cup of tea. “You want a cup of tea?” I nodded m head slowly. I felt completely drained. Like I hadn’t eaten in years. It was so hard to lift any part of my body. Rose walked over to where I was sitting, which I guess was her bed. She handed me the cup of tea as I stood up. “What did you do to me? And where exactly are we?” My words slurred. “You’re home, my dear. And what I did doesn’t matter now. Drink your tea.” I took a zip as the door opened and in walked a man. A man who reminded me so much of the man who had haunted me as a child. I dropped my cup of tea as my eyes went wide. The cup shattering on the floor as Rose took ahold of my shoulders as she shouted at the man to get out. I couldn’t move. I thought I had him locked up.

“Y/N? Sweetie?! Look at me” She grabbed my chin and pulled it towards her as she looked me int he eyes. My eyes were filled with another set of tears. “I-I, it was him” She looked confused at me. “It was who sweetheart?” My body started shaking. “The monster at the end of my bed” I though I had him locked up in the box Dan had given me. “What monster Y/N?” I looked down as tears trilled down my cheeks. “Who would haunt me” Her eyes were soon filled with raw anger. She pulled me close and rocked me back and forth. “I though it worked. I thought Dan’s box worked” She patted my head as she whispered sweet things into my ear. “What did I tell you before we got here. Don’t believe in everything people say”

After some time when I had calmed down Rose had walked out of the RV to talk to the man who had haunted me for my whole childhood. While Rose was away I took time to explore her RV. It looked so cozy, and there was even a bathtub at the other end of the RV. A little kitchen as well. I’ve a,ways liked the idea of living like this. All the posts on Pinterest. A real dream. The door opened with force as it closed the same way. I felt arms sneak around my waist. I started to tense up when I felt the person kiss behind my ear. “Relax. It’s just me sweetie” I let out a sigh in relief as I let my shoulders drop. I laid my head on her shoulder. “Rose, I wanna have a family again” She hummed in my ear as she started to sway both our bodies to the music that was playing quietly in the background.

“I wanna join you” I felt her freeze. She turned me around and looked me dead in the eye. “You sure?” I nodded my head which earned a smile from Rose. “I’m proud of you, my dear” She leant in kissed my nose, my cheek and then my lips. Her hands going around my waist, pulling me closer as the kiss grew more heated. Her kisses flowed down my neck as I felt her scratch my skin under my shirt. “Rose, you’re leaving marks” I heard her let out a laugh.

“Well of course I’m marking you. You’re mine”

[sunsetcurve]

UMANA I WANNA HEAR ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS RIGHT NOW IMMEDIATELY

OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY

starting from the beginning. let me just say that the whole idea of a superhero school is something i’ve always loved and it works SO PERFECTLY here. like i just am happy that ray isn’t thrusting these kids into the whole crime-fighting thing like he did with henry because that shit was problematic as HELL. but i love like, the classes and the training drills and everything. it’s just such a fun vibe and i cannot WAIT to see more of it.

and the kids. oh my god the kids. like i honestly cannot get over how much i love them already? they’ve all got such unique personalities and they’re all SO chaotic together, like it’s just so fun to watch them bicker and chase each other around and be like “he did it!” like they’re just KIDS and i’m baby eyes emoji. i love that they’re SO enthusiastic and they’re not afraid to call ray out on his bullshit. like i think a key difference was that especially early on henry and char and jasper all looked up to ray a LOT as like “swellview’s hero” which made it harder for them to stick up for themselves, but these new kids don’t have the same reservations and i love to see it.

also, i feel like i might like ray at least a little better here. he seems to be going back to like, season 1 ray and he’s learned a lot from his time with henry and the whole like...tired dad!ray vibe is literally everything. him and schwoz are like the parents of these kids and i’m so freaking here for it.

going back to the kids i love every single one of them with my entire heart. bose? pure. angel. no thoughts head empty. SHARTS. miles? chill. constantly vibin. funny as hell. chapa? not afraid to call people the FUCK out. badass. angry and loud and i love her for it. and mika is DEFINITELY my favorite. god i think i’d literally die for her, like i’d die for all of them but MIKA. babe is SO freaking enthusiastic. she wants to be a hero so badly, she is READY, she knows what she wants and she will GO FOR IT. she’s literally so fucking cute and smart and she’s just doing her best like...sdgfjhjljdfhj i love her with my whole entire heart.

stuff i’m obsessed with: can i say the entire episode? but more specifically i LOVE the drill scene. they’re so freaking chaotic together and it took them an hour and a half to just get their suits on and literally like. they’re perfect. i love them all ending up in mika’s room? idk it just...the fact that they all had the same thought of going to her first made it feel like she was the leader, and not just that but i can feel a really really strong friendship in the works. like just...imagining this being a regular thing where they hang out and have sleepovers after school makes me REALLY soft. i love that they’re trying so hard. they all want to be heroes so badly and i just love their enthusiasm and i especially love the fact that they’re not perfect from the get-go.

like, as much as i loved hd, which i did, a lot of the energy this had was REALLY refreshing. we got to see henry grow a lot, we really did, but we didn’t get to see him learning to be a hero in the first place or even figuring out his powers. it was kind of immediate for him; he just put on the suit and got out there. which was fine the way they did it, i think, but i like the way this worked because like...okay, so in HD ray was very easily the most childish out of all of them. we never really got to see the kids being just kids, like there were definitely episodes here and there but like, char and henry especially were pretty consistently responsible and didn’t cause chaos. and like i said, i think that worked for that show, but what i really love about danger force is that like...we get to see these kids being kids. we get to see them bickering and running around and screwing up, whereas i feel like henry wasn’t really allowed that. we get to see them making mistakes and being awful at their job, but that just sets us up to watch them grow so much. i’m not saying this as a better or worse thing, because i really do think that hd had its own way of developing its characters and did it well, particularly for henry, but i am really excited for a new energy. i literally cannot wait to see where this show goes from here, and i really hope it succeeds because it was like...perfect. 

[iamthegaysmurf]

Ok 3 and 28 is so soft and already so wayhaught but I think I am going to request 24, please.

03.  forehead kisses28.  forehead touches or nose nudging or any soft variation on the theme24.  ‘just really needed a hug’ sort of a hug13.  family

@darienplays6688, I wasn’t sure if you were asking for #24 instead of #3 and #28, or if you wanted that in addition to both of them.  So…  I went ahead and included a little bit of those for you, too.  Just in case.

———-

Okay, so…  Here’s the thing.  I know these were all supposed to be “Super Soft And Fluffy” prompts, but…  I think my brain overloaded on all of the fluff that wrote during the last three or four of these prompt fills.  If I didn’t let out some of this bottled up angst, I’m pretty sure I was going to explode.

So, like…  That’s not to say that this doesn’t have some really soft moments in it (and a happy ending, of course), but there’s definitely some angsty stuff along the way, and it’s not what I would call “fluffy” by any stretch of the imagination.

I’m really sorry, guys.  But I just couldn’t do it.  I hope you can still find a way to enjoy this fic that you’re getting instead.  : /

———-

Set just a day or two after the end of 3x07, but before it picks up with any of the events of 3x08.  

Also, the scenes are not in chronological order.  It starts in the present, and then alternates between flashbacks and then back to the present again.  Should hopefully be pretty easy to follow, but just wanted to give you a head’s up.

———-

“Hey, Babygirl.  I think you might need to come down here.”

“What’s wrong?  Is it Nicole?  Is she hurt?”

“No, she’s okay.  She’s just, uh…  really quiet and kind of spacing out.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was stoned.  But this is Nicole ‘I have a lawbook shoved up my ass’ Haught we’re talking about here, so…”

“Wynonna.”

“Yeah.  Anyway.  I think maybe the stuff from today just kind of got to her a little.”

“Oh, god.  The little girl.  Was she…?”

“No!  No.  The kid’s fine.  Haught was a goddamn superhero today.  But don’t you fucking dare ever tell her I said that.”

“Where are you guys?  I’m packing up now.”

“You can meet us at the Shelterlands Forest Trailhead.”

“That’s where you guys are?  Fudgenuggets.  No wonder Nicole is spooked.  I’ll be there in like thirty minutes.”

“Half an hour?!”

“I’m at the library, Wynonna.  Unless one of you has figured out how to teleport yet, then it will take me thirty minutes to get all the way out there.”

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with your ginger poptart until then?  I think she’s slightly burnt right now instead of lightly toasted.”

“I don’t know, Wynonna…  Maybe try talking to her?”

“Come on, Waves.  You know I’m fucked when it comes to all of that soft and gooey feelings bullshit.”

“That’s not entirely true.”

“Just… hurry.  You gotta fix your girlfriend before I end up breaking her even worse.”

//

“You sure you’re okay, Waves?”

“I’m fine, Wynonna,” Waverly answers, shoving notebooks and tomes into her bag.  “There’s nothing going on today.  I’m just gonna do a deep-dive into some of this research.  I’m tired of us always being two steps behind on everything.”

Wynonna understands the frustration.  They’ve been behind the 8-ball on this thing from the very beginning, dating all the way back to Wyatt himself.  

But she knows there’s more to Waverly’s mood, and it has everything to do with Mama skipping town again a couple of days ago.  At least she’d left a letter this time, but that had done little to quell Waverly’s heartbreak.  She doesn’t think Waverly had been completely caught off guard by the disappearance – it was less surprise, and more disappointed resignation – but that doesn’t mean she’s hurting any less.

Wynonna wishes there was more she could do to console Waverly, but to be completely honest, she still hasn’t quite recovered from the sting of it herself.  And that’s not counting the fact that she’d discovered Doc’s betrayal not five minutes after reading the warning Mama had left her.

Welcome to the shitshow, population: me.

“If you’re gonna do research all day, why are you packing everything up?” Wynonna eventually asks, worried about what Waverly might really be planning.  She’s not sure she has the energy, nor the mental capacity, to save her sister from some half-cocked mission she’s concocted to prove something to herself and everyone else in this godforsaken town.

“I’m just going to the library,” Waverly snaps, rolling her eyes.  “Didn’t realize I needed your permission.”

“Whoa, now,” Wynonna says, dropping her feet from the table they’ve been propped up on.  “Calm your tits there, girlie.  I was just wondering why you aren’t going to use the BBD office since everything is already here.”

“Sorry,” Waverly sighs heavily, her shoulders sagging as she drops into the nearest chair.  “It’s just…  Jeremy’s doing one of his experiments and he’s gonna be back any minute and I just don’t think I have it in me today to listen to him ramble all day.”  Shame causes her head to hang low, and she picks absentmindedly at one of the pockets on her bag.  “Nicole’s gonna be out on patrols all day to try and get her visibility up right before the election, so I can’t even use the desk in her office, and I just…  I just want to be alone with my books for a while.  My mind needs some peace and quiet,” she mumbles at the end with a half-hearted shrug.

Wynonna hesitates for a minute before finally biting the bullet and reaching out to place her hand over Waverly’s on the table between them.

“Whatever you need, Babygirl,” she says quietly, giving it a gentle squeeze.  “I’m here if you need anything.”

“I know,” Waverly says, eventually meeting Wynonna’s eye, but Wynonna can tell by the tremor in her voice that she doesn’t know.  That Mama’s selfishness has proven to be a crippling setback for Waverly, erasing the year and a half of progress that Wynonna and Nicole have been making toward helping Waverly believe they’ll never leave her.

Her baby sister may as well be at the bottom of the well that Bobo recently vacated, for all the good the past couple of months have done toward her abandonment issues.

Wynonna continues to hold Waverly’s gaze for a few more seconds, saddened by the doubt she finds there.  Squeezing her hand one last time, she finally leans over the table and kisses Waverly’s forehead.  She could kill Mama for what she’s done to Waverly again, and she could kill Doc for being complicit in her getaway.

She grits her teeth as she pulls back and stands from her chair.

That’s a problem for another day.

“So, you said Tater Haught’s gonna be on patrol all day?” Wynonna asks as casually as she can.

“Yes…”  Waverly looks Wynonna up and down.  “Why…?”

Wynonna shrugs, playing with the fringe on her leather jacket.

“Thought maybe she’d like some company.”

“You are volunteering to ride around on patrol with Nicole?”  Waverly hesitates,narrowing her eyes suspiciously.  “What are you really up to…?”

“Nothing,” Wynonna huffs.  “I’m just bored.  The Revs are quiet.  We have no new leads on Ball-Shart.  You’re off to find your Fortress of Solitude, and that leaves me with Opti-mug Prime over there.”

And Waverly may be looking for some peace and quiet, but the last thing Wynonna wants right now is to be alone with her thoughts.  There’s also that.

“You know what the Fortress of Solitude is?” Waverly asks and Wynonna immediately winces.  “Wow, you really have been spending too much time with Jeremy.”

Waverly giggles, and despite Wynonna’s mortification, she’s glad to see the small spark of joy in her sister’s eyes, no matter how fleeting.

“Right?” Wynonna gasps, feigning disgust.  “I’d much rather drive around with Haught Sauce and heckle the townsfolk than have to learn one more thing about a comic book character today.”  She spins Peacemaker around her finger ominously, surprising even herself when she doesn’t fuck it up this time like she usually does.

“I doubt Nicole will let you get away with much heckling.”  She watches Wynonna fumble with Peacemaker for a minute and then drops her hands to her hips.  “Although…” she starts, her head cocking slightly.  “Maybe a little ‘quality time’ would do you some good.  Might even be better than the get-along-shirt I ought to make you two idiots wear after all of the trouble you caused the other day.”

Wynonna opens her mouth to launch some snarky retort, but Waverly holds a hand up to stop her and Wynonna’s mouth snaps shut on its own before she even realizes it.

“I’ve already heard every excuse under the sun from both of you.  I’m not in the mood for reruns.”  Wynonna grumbles and shoves Peacemaker back in her holster, but refrains from arguing.  “Good.  I’ll text Nicole to pick you up out front.”

With that, she finishes gathering up her things and breezes past Wynonna, pausing in the doorway only long enough to tell her to have a good time and to behave.

Wynonna stands alone in the BBD office, silently wondering when she became the child to Waverly’s mom friend instincts, but then she hears Jeremy’s cheerful chattering coming down the hall and she decides to hightail it before she gets cornered by another one of his science-fiction lectures.

Grabbing a donut from the box Waverly had left on the table earlier, she stuffs the entire thing in her mouth in one go and rushes out of the station.

Still brushing the litany of crumbs away from her shirt and jacket while standing on the front sidewalk, she doesn’t notice the cruiser pull up to the curb.  When Nicole chirps the siren right behind her, Wynonna trips over her own feet, nearly doing a header right off the sidewalk and into the street.

She can hear Nicole’s laughter, even through the rolled-up windows of her patrol car.  She flips Nicole off as she stumbles closer to the car, so Nicole proceeds to chirp the siren at her again.

“Fuck you, Haught!” Wynonna curses through her remaining mouthful of donut as she wrenches open the passenger door, drawing a smug sort of satisfaction from the appalled look on Nicole’s face when even more crumbs come flying out of her mouth to litter the front seat.

“Gross, Earp!” Nicole scolds, immediately scooping the crumbs into her hand and depositing them in the little trash compartment she keeps in her center console.

Wynonna completely ignores her, propping her feet up on the dash.

“Let’s roll, Haughtie.”

//

“Maybe try talking to her,” Wynonna mocks under her breath when Waverly ends the call.

Wynonna slips her phone back in her pocket and glances over at Nicole.  

She hasn’t moved a muscle in at least five minutes, just staring blankly into the open trunk of her patrol car while the climbing harness still hangs from her hips. Wynonna may not always be the most observant person, but she’s not as oblivious as she likes to let everyone think she is.  She can see the way Nicole’s entire body is trembling, the carabiners on her rigging jangling softly with the constant movement.

“Maybe try talking to her,” Wynonna mumbles again, kicking a rock and watching it skid off in the opposite direction.  “What the fuck do I know about this kind of trauma,” she grumbles as she finally takes a step in Nicole’s direction.

A lot more than you might think.

Wynonna rolls her eyes at herself as she approaches Nicole.  

Okay, that’s a fair point.

She hesitates briefly when Nicole doesn’t seem to notice her, then reaches out to lay a cautious hand on her shoulder.  Nicole jumps and spins to face her, hand immediately falling to her sidearm, ready to draw if necessary.  Wynonna stumbles back a step, eyes wide.  She knew Nicole was a little zoned out, butshe wasn’t expecting that.

“Jesus, Wynonna,” Nicole croaks, trying to catch her breath.  “I could have shot you.”

“You could have tried,” Wynonna returns, patting Peacemaker at her hip with a wink, opting for an off-color attempt at humor as she so often does in these situations.  It doesn’t land, of course, and Nicole just continues to stare at her blankly.  “Okay, okay.  Geez.  Sorry.  I didn’t mean to startle you like that.”

“Sorry,” Nicole says, her shoulders sagging a bit.  “I was just…  just…”  She looks back into the trunk of her cruiser, then down at the climbing gear still dangling from her waist, then back up at Wynonna with a frown.  “Fuck,” she sighs.  “I don’t even know what I was doing.  Sorry,” she mumbles again.

Wynonna wonders again how the person with the worst interpersonal skills ended up in this position.

Dolls.  Dolls was always good at calming me down when I was freaking the fuck out.  What would he do to help Nicole right now?

“Take a deep breath, Haughtstuff,” she tries, awkwardly patting her on the shoulder again.  “Let’s start by getting you out of that harness.”

Nicole looks down at it again, but makes no move to start unbuckling it, her hands still hanging uselessly at her sides.

“That’s what she said…  HA!”  Wynonna holds out her hand for a high five,proud of her joke, but still gets no reaction, even after high-fiving herself.

Fuck.  That was a terrible Dolls.  Focus, Earp.

“Snap out of it, Haught,” Wynonna says more firmly, reaching out to place her hands on both of Nicole’s shoulders this time, looking her square in the eye.  “You were a hero today.”  She immediately winces.  “Dammit…  You weren’t supposed to hear me say that part,” she mutters, but straightens her back and raises her chin anyway.  “A goddamn hero.”

Much better.  Very Dolls-like.

“Now I know I must be losing it,” Nicole finally says, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly as she shakes her head.

“Ha, ha.  Very funny,” Wynonna says dryly and punches Nicole in the arm, snorting when she grabs it and whines dramatically.  “Seriously, though,” she continues, gesturing back at Nicole’s gear.  “Finish taking that off so we can relax for a minute, Haughtpants.”

“Yeah…”  Nicole turns back toward the trunk, staring into it again for a few more seconds before finally starting to unbuckle the harness.  “Yeah, I should do that.”

Wynonna leans against the back bumper, watching Nicole step out of the harness and begin to pack away the rest of her climbing gear.  She nods to herself, and for the briefest of moments, she could swear she sees Dolls smiling at her from over Nicole’s shoulder.  But when she blinks, he’s gone again, and all that’s left is a strange whisper on the wind.

Proud of you, Earp.

//

“So this is what you do all day?  Just drive around town and jiggle a bunch ofdoor handles?”  

Nicole completely ignores Wynonna, not even taking her eyes off the road long enough to glance in her direction.

“Because I can think of some things that are a lot more fun to jiggle,” Wynonna says with a wicked smirk, leaning far enough over the console to nudge Nicole in the ribs.  “We could always go and visit Pussy Willows again, like we did that one time.  Maybe one of the girls could pull that rod out of your ass for you.”

Nicole’s hands tighten around the steering wheel, and Wynonna can see the muscles flexing in her jaw.  She immediately wishes she could kick herself.

“Fuck.  Sorry.  I didn’t mean to–”

“It’s fine,” Nicole cuts her off, voice tight.

The massacre.

The massacre that had brought the Cult of Bulshar to the forefront of their investigation.

The massacre that dredged up traumatic memories Nicole had locked away for twenty years.

The massacre that, according to Waverly, had conjured nightmares that haunted Nicole nearly every night since.

That massacre.

Wynonna doesn’t even think Pussy Willows has re-opened in the two and a half months since it happened.  But here she had gone and dragged it all up again, just for a cheap laugh.

God, I’m such a fuckhead sometimes.  Looks like Doc’s assholery is contagious.

Doc.  

There’s another subject she doesn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole.  She’s batting a thousand today, it would seem.  Desperate for any change of subject she can come up with, Wynonna backtracks to the last relatively safe thing she said.

“So these door checks…” Wynonna mumbles, plucking nervously at a string that hangs from the frayed hole in the knee of her jeans.  “You have to do the same ones over and over again?”

“It’s important work, Wynonna,” Nicole says defensively.  

Wynonna recognizes the look on her face as the one she makes when she’s preparing herself to be made fun of.  A pang of guilt stabs at Wynonna’s gut when she realizes just how often she must badmouth Nicole and the way she does her job.  It’s not fair and she knows it, but sometimes she just can’t help herself.  It’s like a compulsion.  

“I know,” Wynonna agrees, still trying to smooth things over.

“You do?”  Nicole obviously wasn’t expecting that kind of response.  Wynonna glances up to find Nicole looking at her while they’re stopped at a stop sign, eyebrow raised as though she’s expecting there to be more to it than that.

“I mean…  I think I know,” Wynonna falters.  She frowns as she continues to pick at the string on her jeans.  “Okay, actually I don’t know,” she finally admits.  Nicole’s face falls, resigning herself to whatever jab is about to come next.  “Butyou could explain it to me,” Wynonna continues.  “Or whatever,” she adds at the end with a wave of her hand, still trying to play it cool like she always does.

Nicole is silent for a long moment, and Wynonna considers just climbing out of the car while it’s not moving and starting the long walk back to the station by herself.  Surely she can’t fuck that up as much as she’s fucking this up right now.

“You’re really asking?” Nicole finally ventures, and the skepticism is etched deeply on her face, but Wynonna thinks she catches a glimpse of something else in her eyes.

“Nevermind,” Wynonna sighs, deflating a little.  She’s not getting anything right today.  “You don’t have t–”

“No, it’s okay.”  Nicole reaches into the center console and withdraws a metalclipboard.  “I don’t mind,” she says, handing it over to Wynonna before pulling away from the stop sign and turning at the intersection.

Excitement.  That’s what Wynonna had seen rippling beneath Nicole’s skepticism.  And maybe even a little hope.

God, she really does love this job.

“What’s this?” Wynonna asks, looking over the pages of checklists on the clipboard.

“That’s our Daily Patrol Log,” Nicole explains as she continues driving to the next location on the list.  “I sat down with several of the local business owners last year when Nedley first started giving me more leeway and responsibilities.  We worked out a schedule of rotating patrols for their establishments to help with the new visibility directive I was writing, and also to encourage better preventativepolicing.”

“So you really do just…  drive around and jiggle their door handles every day?” Wynonna asks after staring at Nicole for a long moment with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s more than that, Wynonna.”  Nicole rolls her eyes, but continues explaining, her tone much gentler now.  “Increasing our visibility in these areas helps make both the owners and the customers feel safer.  We do a rotating schedule during the day shifts, which mostly just consists of driving by, or checking the locks on the back doors and storage areas – jiggling the handles, as you put it – so that we don’t interrupt their normal business.  People get used to seeing us around, even in the background, and that makes it less likely for a bunch of shitheads to show up and cause trouble.”

She glances over to see if Wynonna is actually paying attention or if she’s already being ignored.  To her surprise, Wynonna is still watching her intently.  

“And for the night shift, we check every business on every shift – so long as time allows; sometimes we’re too busy with active calls and have to just do spot checks when we can – but we still try to do them in different orders so that no one can pinpoint exactly when we’ll be there.”  They pull into the back parking lot of the Crown Surplus, and Nicole shifts in her seat to face Wynonna.  “The night checks are a little more involved.  We get out and walk the perimeter.  Check all of the doors and windows.  Make sure the alarms are engaged.  Clear out any jackholes that are drinking on the premises.  Things like that.”

“And this…”  Wynonna gestures first at the clipboard in her hand, and then out the window at the building they’re parked behind.  “It actually works?”

“Some.  It’s just…”  She tilts her head to the side and Wynonna watches as she searches for the right words.  “I mean, Purgatory is a dangerous place, evenwhen these people want to bury their heads in the sand about what’s going on.  And if I…  If I can get them to trust us, even just a little bit more than they used to, then at least they’re more likely to come to us – to me – if some weird shit starts happening.  You know?  Like if they have someone that they think might actually believe them instead of just telling them they’re crazy…”

Nicole sighs and turns to stare out the window, the sudden silence in the car covering them like a thick blanket until it’s almost smothering.

“I don’t know,” she finally says, still looking out the window.  “Maybe it’s stupid.  Just wishful thinking on my part.”

“It’s not,” Wynonna says immediately, reaching out to lay a hand on Nicole’s forearm.  She turns back to look at Wynonna, clearly surprised by the gesture.  “It’s not stupid.”

“It’s not?”  Nicole doesn’t sound convinced.

“No.  It’s important,” Wynonna says quietly, squeezing Nicole’s arm gently.  “What you’re doing for these people.  Whether they recognize it or not.”

It’s in that moment that Wynonna realizes she’s talking about herself, too, and clears her throat uncomfortably as she jerks her hand back away from Nicole’s arm.

“You came up with all of this on your own?” she asks, settling back into her seat and plucking at the string on her jeans again.  She smirks to herself when she sees Nicole’s face immediately begin to flush.

Some things never change.

“Yeah, I uh…” Nicole mumbles, rubbing at the back of her neck.  “I guess I did.  I ran it all by Nedley after I’d written it up, before I met with the business owners. But, umm…”  She gives a dismissive half-shrug.  “I guess I just wanted to help any way I could.”

Wynonna doesn’t say anything, but she does give a slight nod that causes Nicole to duck her head shyly.  They sit in an awkward silence for a long moment before Wynonna hands the clipboard back to Nicole.

“So I guess we gotta g–”

“Haught,” Ruthie’s voice interrupts as the radio crackles to life between them.  “Got Ranger Jett on the line for you.  Sounds urgent.”

“10-4, Ruthie,” Nicole answers after grabbing the console mic.  “Go ahead and patch him through.”

“10-4”

There’s a short beep followed by a series of clicks before a new voice comes through, slightly staticky from the relayed connection.

“Hello?  Sheriff Haught?”

“Hey, Robin.  Not officially the Sheriff yet,” Nicole says with a slight grin, “but what’s up?”

“It’s a little girl, Sheriff,” he continues, ignoring Nicole’s playful comment.  “She’smissing.”

//

“I can’t, Wynonna.  I’m still on shift.”

“Technically, your shift ended two hours ago.”  Nicole eyes her carefully, and Wynonna shrugs.  “Just sayin’.”  She gives the silver flask a jiggle where she’s still holding it out between them.

She had done her best to channel Dolls earlier when she’d needed to snap Nicole out of her stupor.  But recognizing the haunted look in her eyes now, Wynonna decides it’s time for some good old-fashioned Earp tactics.

Whiskey.

It’s never let her down before.

Okay, maybe it has…  but who’s counting?  That’s not important at the moment.  What’s important is that Nicole is warring with a darkness right now, and sometimes you just need a little fire in your belly to hold it at bay for a little whilelonger.

Or at least until Waverly can get here and fix things the right way.

She watches the gears turn in Nicole’s head, like she’s weighing a heavy decision, and is more than a little surprised when Nicole reaches out to take the flask from her.  She raises an eyebrow, but Nicole levels a look at her that practically dares her to say something about it when she raises the flask to her lips and downs several large gulps without so much as flinching.

“Well, alright then.”  Wynonna takes the flask when Nicole hands it back, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.  It’s more than half empty.  Wynonna gives Nicole an impressed look, raising the flask in a mock toast.  “Cheers, Haughtshot,” she says before downing the rest of it.

No way she’s gonna let an Earp be outdone when it comes to drinking.  Especially not by Five-O.  Though, to be completely fair, Wynonna has always been impressed with Nicole’s constitution.  It takes a lot to get her drunk, and even then, she still continues to hold her own.  She’s proven that over and over again.

Drinking whiskey that night at the station a year and a half ago, back when times were simpler.  Nicole had matched her swig for swig, but the minute they’d gotten sucked into an actual case down in the morgue, she’d sobered up instantly.  That’s not easy to do, and Wynonna knows it.

Just a handful of months later, covering for Wynonna while staking out Jonas by drinking for both of them just to keep the baby safe.  She’d definitely gotten drunker that time around, but no so much so that she couldn’t still shoot out a fuse box from across the room with a .380 Walther PPK she’d pulled out of her sock, and that’s saying something, given their long history of questionable accuracy.

And just a couple of days ago in that Revenant bar.  Nicole had been drunk off her ass by the end of that disaster, but even though she would never admit it out loud, Wynonna knows that Nicole is the one that technically won that drinking contest fair and square.  The Revenant had lost when he’d hurled everything back up.  And Wynonna…  Well, Wynonna had been cheating the entire time.  And that leaves Nicole.  Who matched Wynonna and the Rev drink for drink, kept all of it down, and then, even though she was unsteady on her feet, she still managed to help Wynonna kick some ass in the woods.

If there’s one thing Wynonna can respect, it’s the ability to hold your liquor.  And Nicole keeps proving over and over that she can match pace with an Earp.  So that’s pretty solid in Wynonna’s book.

She looks back at Nicole, whose cheeks are now flushed from the healthy dose of whiskey.  Tucking the empty flask back into the inside pocket of her leather jacket, she climbs up onto the trunk of Nicole’s cruiser.  Nicole starts to balk, but Wynonna ignores her, patting the space beside her.

“C’mon, Haught.  We got a little time before your unicorn gets here.  Take a load off.”

“Waverly’s coming?”  That’s the first sign of hope she’s seen in Nicole since they originally got the call from Robin.

“She’s already on her way.”

Nicole lets out a weary sigh, but climbs up next to Wynonna without protest, leaning back on her hands as her feet find purchase on the bumper.  She looks up at the moon, already visible in the dimming twilight, and Wynonna can see the deep worry lines etched across her brow and at her mouth.  For a fleeting moment, she looks far older than her twenty-seven years would suggest.

Wynonna knows a little bit about that.  She’s twenty-eight now, but sometimes she feels like she’s already been dragged through a hundred lifetimes full of griefand guilt and loss.

“Hey, it’s okay to relax for a minute.”  She reaches over and pats Nicole’s knee.  “Today was a win, Nicole.”  

She’s quiet for a long moment, before whispering something so softly that Wynonna can barely make it out over the rustling leaves in the nearby trees.

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell in this town.”

Ain’t that the goddamn truth.

//

“We’ve been out here for hours, Nicole.  Maybe we sho–”

“We’re not giving up, Wynonna!”

Nicole stomps off through the trees, and Wynonna lets her go.  

It’s suspicious that another kid has already gone missing in the woods again, especially so soon after what they went through with the missing kids on Christmas just barely a week ago.  She and Charlie had tracked them down andwiped out one of Bulshar’s evil beekeeper hives, rescuing Robin and severalothers in the process.  Surely he hasn’t already rebuilt and started over again…

No, something about this one feels different, she thinks as she watches Nicole search for tracks in the underbrush up ahead, weighed down by far more than just the pack full of gear slung over her shoulders.  Her phone buzzes in her pocket before she has time to think any more about that.

Angelpants:  Are you still with Nicole?  She’s not answering her phone.

Bacon Donut:  we’re on a call

Angelpants:  Everything okay?

Bacon Donut:  little girl missing in the woods

Angelpants:  Bulshar???

Bacon Donut:  nah peacemaker isn’t giving me any tingly feelings in my pants

Angelpants:  WYNONNA

Bacon Donut:  i think she just got lost

Bacon Donut:  mom lost track of her by the playground whilechasing after toddler

Angelpants:  Is Nicole okay?

Bacon Donut:  she’s in full sheriff mode right now

Angelpants:  You guys need anything?

Bacon Donut:  the whole cavalry is out here

Bacon Donut:  i think we’re good

Bacon Donut:  you just work on that research babygirl

Angelpants:  Okay…  But keep me posted?

Bacon Donut:  10-4

Angelpants:  You really have been spending a lot of time with Nicole lately.  lol

Bacon Donut:  shut it shortstack

Angelpants:  Be careful, okay?

Bacon Donut:  you got it boss

Wynonna slides her phone back in her pocket and does her best to catch up to Nicole again.  Nicole continues to ignore her, and Wynonna approaches cautiously.

“Hey…”  She hesitates when Nicole freezes in place, but doesn’t turn around.  “Charlie has the entire fire department out here, and Robin called in all of the other Park Rangers.  I wasn’t suggesting that everyone give up, Haught.  I was just wondering if we shouldn’t leave it to the Search & Rescue boys, since that’s what they do.”

“I’m Search & Rescue, Wynonna!” Nicole snaps as she finally spins to face Wynonna.  She points at one of the patches on the pack she’s carrying.  “I got certified in it at the Academy, because I never wanted another little girl to be stuck in the woods by herself with no one to come looking for her.”

Oh.

Oh.

Wynonna suddenly understands everything.

That explains a lot.

She opens her mouth to say something – anything – but it seems her brain has forgotten how to string two words together right now.

“It’s going to be dark soon, Wynonna,” Nicole continues, much quieter this time.  Her eyes are hollow and she’s white as a ghost.  Even paler than usual.  “It’s going to be dark, and she’ll be out here all alone, cold and scared, and…  and…” Nicole swallows hard around the lump that Wynonna can hear is stuck inher throat.  “What if it had been Waverly?” she pleads, desperate for Wynonna to stay out here with her.

“Okay,” Wynonna says, finally finding her words again.  She reaches out and catches the trembling hand that Nicole’s been waving around.  “Okay, Nicole.  We’ll keep looking for her.”

They hear the muffled calls of the other groups echoing through the forest as they continue their search.  Nicole was right: the sun is beginning to set, and the beautiful colors painted across the sky bring a sharper chill in the air with them.  They’re running out of time.

Wynonna suddenly feels an odd weightless sensation, and then her stomach is in her throat as she starts to tumble forward.  Before she connects with anything, though, she’s being yanked backward by her collar, until she’s lying on her back,staring up at the trees.

One red-headed tree in particular.

“You’ve gotta watch where you’re going, Earp,” Nicole says sternly, hands on her hips as she looks down at Wynonna.  “I don’t have time to be saving your ass,too.”

“Thanks, Haught,” Wynonna manages to croak.  “I didn’t even se–”

“Shhhhh…” Nicole whispers harshly.  “Did you hear that?”

Wynonna frowns, straining her ears in the eerie silence of the forest around them.  Just as she’s about to accuse Nicole of losing her mind, she hears it, too.  It’s faint, almost as though they’d imagined it, but it’s there.

“Hello…?  Is somebody there?”

Nicole trembles slightly as she pulls Wynonna up from the ground.

“This is the Sheriff’s Department!” she yells, loudly enough to make Wynonna wince.  “Call out if you can hear me!”

They both wait, staring at each other with wide eyes.

“HELP!  WE’RE DOWN HERE!  HELP, PLEASE!”

“We?” they mouth in unison, still frozen in place for half a second longer.

“Don’t move!  We’re on our way!” Nicole finally yells back as she turns and sprints in the direction of the voice, along the edge of the ridge that Wynonna had nearly tumbled over.  

Wynonna does her best to keep up with Nicole in the waning light, struggling to stay upright in the wake of the sure-footed Sheriff.  It’s painfully obvious that Nicole is far more comfortable in this terrain than Wynonna will ever be.

They finally begin to slow their approach when they start to hear barking mixed in with the small voice.  That must be the ‘we’ the little girl was referring to.

“We’re almost there, Ashley!” Nicole calls out again as she begins looking around the new area.  “Can you tell me where you are?”

“I fell,” the little girl cries in response.  “I can’t move my leg!”  Her answer is accompanied by another round of barks and frantic whines.  “And Hugo’sdown here, too,” she adds.

Nicole drops to her belly in the dirt and the leaves and creeps closer to the stony ledge.  Wynonna crouches and carefully peers over Nicole’s shoulder to find asheer rock face, wrought with stray branches and roots and moss-covered rockssticking out at odd angles.  Wynonna knows from experience now just how easy it would be to miss a step if you weren’t looking and suddenly find yourself twenty feet below with nowhere to go.

There, in a muddy patch of snow and leaves tucked away in the shadows below the ledge, they can see a puffy pink coat with a matching set of snow boots – one leg sticking out at an odd angle – and a large dog wrapped around a shivering body.

“Hi, Ashley.  I’m Officer Nicole.”

“Hi, Nicole,” Ashley answers weakly.

“Don’t move,” Nicole says again, gentler this time.  “I’m coming down to get you, okay?”

“Okay,” the little girl sniffles.  “Hurry.  I’m sca–  I mean, I think Hugo is scared.”

“Don’t be scared, Hugo,” Nicole says, nodding seriously at the dog.  “Everything’s gonna be okay now.”

Hugo barks once – a muted sort of woof – and Ashley clutches a little tighter at his fur.

“He says he’ll try to be brave.”

“That’s very good, Ashley.”  Nicole pushes up onto her hands and knees.  “You and Hugo just need to be brave a little longer while I get my rope ready, and then I’ll be down to get you, okay?”

“Okay…”

“You can talk to my friend Wynonna here while I’m working.”  Nicole nudges Wynonna a little closer to the edge, despite the what the fuck look she levels in Nicole’s direction.  “Just talk to her, Wynonna,” Nicole says so that only Wynonna can hear her.  “So she knows we’re still here and she’s not alone anymore.”

“Uh…  hi,” Wynonna says awkwardly, sticking her head over the ledge and waving.  She turns to see Nicole unpacking her gear, ratcheting one end of her rope to a nearby tree that looks sturdy enough to serve as an anchor.  “I’m Wynonna…”

“Duh,” Ashley says, giggling a little in spite of herself.  “Officer Nicole already said that.”

“Officer Nicole says a lot of things,” Wynonna grumbles loudly, sticking her tongue out dramatically at Nicole behind her back.  Ashley giggles again, and Hugo thumps his tail against the leaves.  “My little sister would love that pink coat of yours,” Wynonna adds after a moment, unsure of what else to say.

“You have a little sister?”

“Uh huh.  Her name is Waverly.”

“Walervy?”

“Eh… Close enough, kid,” Wynonna snorts.  “She loves pink stuff and rainbows and unicorns.”

“I have a unicorn!”  There’s less sniffling in Ashley’s voice now, replaced by excitement instead.

“So does my sister!” Wynonna laughs, especially when hearing Nicole groan behind her.

“His name is Sparkle!”

“His name…  is Sparkle…”  Wynonna can barely contain herself.  “That’s–”

“Wynonna,” Nicole hisses quietly.  “Be nice.”

“–a great name!” Wynonna finishes.

“What did your sister name her unicorn?” Ashley calls up again after a moment.

“Officer Nicole,” Wynonna giggles, and then yelps when Nicole kicks her right in the ass with her muddy boot.

“What?” Ashley asks, confused.

“Ummm...  I said Tootsie Roll!” Wynonna calls back a little louder this time, still trying to stifle a giggle.

“Like the candy?”

“Yep,” Wynonna answers, popping the p loudly.  “Just like that.”

“That’s kinda weird…” Ashley says, thinking about it for a moment.  “But I like it!”

“Yeah, that’s kind of what I thought, too,” Wynonna says, glancing back over her shoulder and catching the hint of a smile on Nicole’s face, just barely hidden behind the curtain of her hair.

“Okay, Ashley,” Nicole says, stepping back up to the ledge.  “I’m coming down to get you now.  All I need you to do is just stay still, okay?  Don’t try to move until Iget there.”

“Okay,” Ashley answers, sounding nervous again.

“You need to hang on to this for me,” Nicole tells Wynonna, handing her a portion of the rope after making sure it’s secured through her climbing harness.  “Getting down there shouldn’t be too difficult, but I’ll need your help when I’m climbing back up with her.”

“What?” Wynonna balks, trying to back away.  “I don’t know anything about this shit.  What if I fuck it up?”  She can’t handle this kind of responsibility right now.

“Wynonna, focus,” Nicole says sharply, grabbing her by the shoulder.  “Look.”  She points over to the tree.  “I’m rigged up to a pulley system.  All I need you to do is keep this part tight.  When I create slack from climbing, just keep pulling it tight, okay?  It will keep me from falling backward if I lose my footing with her inmy arms.”

Wynonna doesn’t understand how any of this climbing shit works, but she thinks she can manage at least that much.

“Okay,” she finally says, still a little unsure.  “Hey, wait…” she adds when Nicole starts to back up toward the ledge.  “Do you have our coordinates or whatever?  I was just gonna shoot of a quick text to Charlie with our location so he can send some of the EMS boys this way.”

Nicole pulls out her phone and frowns at the missed calls and texts from Waverly.

“It’s okay,” Wynonna says quickly when she sees Nicole’s face.  “I texted her a while ago to let her know we were on a call.”

“Thanks…” Nicole says softly.  “I didn’t mean to ignore her.  I just…”

“Had a lot on your mind?”

“Yeah,” Nicole answers sheepishly, and then clears her throat a couple of times.  “Here’s the coordinates,” she says, handing Wynonna her phone with the GPS app open.

“Okay, got it,” Wynonna says after typing a few things into a text message.  “Now go and save the day, Sheriff,” she says, warmly and with no hint of sarcasm, as she hands Nicole’s phone back to her.

Nicole rappels down the rock face with ease, and Wynonna watches as she pulls out the emergency med kit from her pack and places a cervical collar around Ashley’s neck to stabilize her c-spine.  It’s not ideal to be moving someone like this without a full backboard, but sometimes the circumstances of these search and rescue situations don’t always provide the best conditions.  At least she’d been sitting up the entire time she’d been talking to them.  That has to count for something.  Hopefully.

After placing a makeshift splint on Ashley’s leg, Nicole begins to prepare her for transport.  She carefully works another harness up over Ashley’s legs and hips, and then secures it to her own with another short section of rope and somecarabiners.  Then she slips Ashley’s hands through a set of loops that almost look like handcuffs made of rope, explaining that they will help her hold on to Nicole while she’s climbing back up.

Ducking her head to put it through Ashley’s arms so they’re around her neck, Nicole scoops her up and holds her close as she moves back to the rocks and slowly begins her ascent.  Wynonna is diligent in keeping the slack out of the rope, digging her heels into the soft earth to help her hold her ground.  It’s much slower going, and they’re nearly out of light now, but soon enough, Nicole’s head pops up over the ledge and Wynonna kneels down to take Ashley from her and get her back on solid ground.

“Can you tell us what happened, Ashley?”  Nicole asks as she takes off her jacket and drapes it around Ashley’s shoulders.  Wynonna is immediately reminded of the photo she’d recently seen of a young Nicole wearing Nedley’s coat on the morning he’d found her downstream from the massacre.  

“We were playing in the park with Mama and Matthew,” Ashley starts, sniffling again.  “Matthew kept tryin’a run away, and Mama had to chase after him.  But then Hugo saw a squirrel and tried to catch it and we just kept runnin’ and then we were in the woods and there were so many trees and we got lost and then I fell and… and…”  Anything else she wanted to say gets lost in the heaving sob that wracks her entire body.

“Shhh…  It’s okay,” Nicole soothes, wrapping her arms around the little girl.  She tucks her face securely into Nicole’s shoulder, and Nicole strokes her hair gently. “It’s okay.  You’re safe now.  You’re safe.”

“What about Hugo,” Ashley eventually hiccups, once she’s caught her breath again.  “You can’t just leave him down there!”

Wynonna and Nicole peer over the ledge, watching Hugo prance and pace along the edge of the rock face, whining and searching for his human.

“Okay,” Nicole says after a brief moment of deliberation.  “You stay here with Wynonna, and I’ll go and get Hugo.”

“How in the fu–  …the f–”  Wynonna’s eyes slide over toward Ashley.  “The eff are you gonna do that?”

“Ummm…”  Nicole thinks for a moment, looking at everything that’s spread out in front of her.  “I think I have an idea.”  She dumps everything out of her pack, until it’s completely empty, and holds it up.  She eyes it for a minute, and then shrugs at Wynonna.  “Hopefully this will work…”

“Oh, my god,” Wynonna groans, resting her head in her hand.  She knows exactly what Nicole is going to do.

Nicole slings the empty pack back over her shoulders and starts toward the ledge again, but pauses when Ashley reaches out and takes her face in her little hands.

“Officer Nicole,” she says very seriously.  “You have to be very careful with him.  Mama says he’s an old man now.”

“I’ll be very careful with him,” Nicole answers, her voice cracking a little.  “I promise.”

Wynonna definitely doesn’t have a lump in her throat.  Nope.  Absolutely not.

They begin the process all over again, and Nicole sits with Hugo for a few minutes at the bottom so that he’ll calm down and hopefully trust her enough for what needs to happen next.  After a bit of coaxing and a couple of false starts, she finally manages to get the aging German shepherd into her giant backpack, with just his head sticking out so that he can watch over her shoulder.  He doesn’t seem particularly pleased about this development, but he lets her secure the zipper and lock it in place so he can’t fall out on the way back up.  It will have to do.

She hoists the pack back up onto her shoulders and starts climbing the wall again, Wynonna dutifully working her end of the rope.  It doesn’t take quite as long as it did when Nicole was bringing Ashley up since she has the use of both arms, but Wynonna can tell she’s feeling pretty exhausted by the time she reaches the top.

Thankfully, Charlie and the boys have arrived by then, already tending to Ashley while Nicole frees Hugo from his port-a-puppy status.  He barks a few times and then runs in an impressive amount of circles before finally jumping up on the back of the ATV and settling in next to Ashley, refusing to leave her side again.

They all set out back toward the trailhead where Ashley’s family is waiting for them, leaving Wynonna and Nicole standing alone in the silence of the dusk-covered woods.

“That was some Haught shit back there, Officer Nicole,” Wynonna says after a few minutes.  She pats Nicole on the back when she gets no response.

Nicole says nothing, merely swaying on her feet until she has to reach out and lean against one of the nearby trees for support.  

Then she promptly doubles over and vomits all over her boots.

“Okay, even I didn’t see that coming…” Wynonna says, unsure of how to react.

Nicole still doesn’t say anything, heaving three more times before she’s apparently emptied her entire stomach out into the muddy snow.  When she finally stands back up, Wynonna takes her by the elbow and starts leading her back the way they came.

“Alright, Red.  Let’s get you back to the land of the living.”

//

“Maybe try talking to her.”

Waverly’s voice is still bouncing around in Wynonna’s head as she watches Nicole stare out into the darkness, shivering slightly despite having her jacket back after Charlie had replaced it with a proper blanket.  She reaches out and places a hand on Nicole’s knee.

“I shouldn’t have called you ‘Deputy Dipshit’ the other day.”  Nicole immediately stiffens beside Wynonna.  That definitely touched a nerve.  She curses herself and starts to change the subject, but she sees Waverly glaring at her with her arms crossed, telling her to talk to her about it, so instead, she pushes on.  “I was only fucking with you,” she hastens to justify, “but I still shouldn’t have gonethere.  It was a shitty thing to say, and you didn’t deserve it.”

“Maybe I did,” Nicole sighs, visibly deflating.  “Seems like everyone has that opinion these days.”

“I don’t,” Wynonna says immediately.  “Nedley doesn’t.”

“Right,” Nicole scoffs.  “You drag my ass about my job every chance you get.  And Bunny Loblaw…”  Nicole swallows had and looks away again.

“Bunny Nut Cheerios can choke on her pearls, for all I care,” Wynonna seethes.  “And me…” Wynonna starts, a little more sheepishly.  “Well, since when do you listen to a word I say, anyway?”

Nicole just raises an eyebrow at her.

“Okay, look.  You know I don’t have the best track record with cops.  Even Nedley, from before I came back.  But you’re…”  Wynonna waves her hand around awkwardly.  “…Different.”

“Different,” Nicole repeats in a deadpan voice.

“Yes.  Different, okay?”  Wynonna kicks her foot on the bumper of the cruiser while she tries to figure out what to say next.  “Like.  Even before you kneweverything, you still tried to look out for me and my sister.  And then you took a bullet for her.   And you believe me when I tell you something’s important, even if I can’t always explain it right then.  And…  and you didn’t just automatically assume I was crazy and needed to be locked up again.”  

That last part comes out much quieter than the rest of it.  Nicole turns to fully face Wynonna and opens her mouth to respond, but Wynonna holds up a hand to stop her.

“I’m not very good at this shit, but I’m trying to say something important here.  Let me get it out.”  Nicole just nods silently, and Wynonna continues.  “And then my sister fell for you, and that scared me.  Because I thought you were just going to take her away from me.  But you didn’t, and you stayed, and she stayed, and…  You tell me you love her, and then you told me you love me, too, and…  and…”  Wynonna sighs and buries her head in her hands.  “Look, I’m just sayin’,” she says, popping her head back up again.  “I know we made up and called a truce the other night back at the station, but I still shouldn’t have said that.  You didn’t deserve it, okay?”

“Okay…”  

There’s a lot to unpack there, but Nicole is apparently willing to just let it go for now.  Thankfully.

“What if I can’t do this, Wynonna?” Nicole asks instead after a few moments of silence.  “What if I’m not cut out to be the Sheriff?”

“No way,” Wynonna snorts.  “That’s not possible.”  Nicole shrugs a little helplessly at her.  “Listen, Haughtdog.  Nedley has been talking about you non-stop since you started working for him a year and a half ago.  That man believes in you more than he believes in Willie Nelson.  And I told him a month ago – before any of this other shit started happening – that you were ready to take his place whenever he was ready to let you.  That you had the kind of fight in you that this town needs right now.”

“You…  you did?”  Nicole seems genuinely surprised by this.

“I did,�� Wynonna nods.  “And I know for a fact that you heard every word I said to ol’ Bun Bun after we finished saving her ass.  Naughty Haughty and your eavesdropping.”  Wynonna gives an approving waggle of her eyebrows and Nicole shoves her playfully in the shoulder.  “But the truth is, Nicole…  You’re the best goddamn cop this town has ever seen.  Nedley is a good man, and he’s done the best he can with trying to balance the protection and the cover-up for the past thirty years.  But you’re…  Well, like I said.  You’re different.  You’ve got your eyes wide open going into this, and you’re everything this godforsaken town needs right now.”

Nicole stares down at her hands, suddenly very interested in the stitching on her gloves.

“I mean, look at how much of a difference you’ve already made just with something as simple as your handle-jiggling thingy.  The people trust you.  They’re glad to see you coming, and that’s important in a town like this.”

“Maybe so…”  Nicole glances back up at Wynonna.  “Thanks, Earp.”

“For what?” Wynonna asks pointedly.  “If you ever tell a living soul I said any ofthat, I’ll deny it to my grave.”

Nicole snorts and shakes her head.

“Fair enough.”

“Now, uh…”  Wynonna wipes the palms of her hands nervously on her jeans.  Her head is screaming at her to just leave it at that, counting this conversation as a win.  But her heart remembers the way Nicole had looked in the woods, and how haunted she’d been when they’d gotten back to the parking lot of theTrailhead.  She feels Waverly coaxing her to continue.  “Do you, uh…  want to talk about what’s really bothering you?”

Nicole instantly shrinks back into herself, looking back up at the darkened sky.  Wynonna could kick herself for being such a bull in the china closet, but she’s really trying here.  That’s got to count for something.

“How much do you remember from that night?” she asks tentatively.

“Not a lot,” Nicole mumbles.  “Just flashes.  That asshole in black leather.  Screams.  Blood.  Floating in the canoe.  Freezing so badly I thought I was turning to ice.”

“That… sounds like a lot to me,” Wynonna says.  “And the little girl today?”

“I knew how scared she would be.  Alone.  In the dark.  In these woods…”  A tear trickles down Nicole’s cheek.  “It put me right back there again.”  She wipes discreetly at her face, and Wynonna chooses not to say anything about it.

“Waverly said you’ve been having nightmares about it?”

“She told you about that?”  Nicole tries to sound mad, but Wynonna recognizes the truth in her voice: embarrassment and shame.

“She tells me a lot of things,” Wynonna says gently.  “Do you… want to talk about them?”

“What would you know about it?” Nicole huffs angrily, instantly starting to throw up a wall between them.  Wynonna isn’t having any of it.  Not this time.

“About what, Nicole?” She cuts in firmly.  “About something so traumatic from your childhood that it still haunts you twenty years later?  About darkness and death that twists you up so badly you end up in the loony bin for it?  About closing your eyes and seeing every person that’s ever died because you failed them etched across your eyelids until you can’t tell what’s real in the moment and what’s only a memory in a dream?”

Nicole stares at Wynonna, wide-eyed and mouth gaping open.  Wynonna just sits patiently, waiting for Nicole to process everything she just said.

It takes a minute.

“S-sorry…” Nicole eventually stutters.  “I wasn’t thinking.  I didn’t…  I…  S-sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize, Nicole.”  Wynonna reaches out and takes one of Nicole’s hands.  “I was just trying to point out that maybe I get it a little more than you might think.  If you ever…  you know…”  She lets go of Nicole’s hand and waves it awkwardly in the air.  “…Needed someone.  To talk to, I mean.”

“Waverly’s so good.  She’s always there for me through the nightmares.”  Nicole sighs, looking back down at her hands.  “But sometimes I feel like I’mdrowning in it.  Like I’m going to drown both of us, and I can’t even see what it is that’s dragging me under.”  She wipes at her face again, more openly this time.

“Yeah, I get that,” Wynonna admits.  “Why do you think I left for so long?”

“I’m not going to leave her, Wynonna!” Nicole says sharply, sitting up straight again with her brow furrowed.

“I know,” Wynonna defends, throwing her hands up between them.  “I know.  That’s not what I meant.  It’s…  I just…  You’re a lot stronger than me, Haught.  I was too weak.  I had to leave because I couldn’t handle it.  I couldn’t handle it myself, and I sure as fuck couldn’t hand dragging Waverly down with me.”

“Am I?” Nicole asks quietly.

“Are you what?”  Wynonna frowns, confused.

“Dragging her down?  Would she be better off without my baggage?”  Wynonna doesn’t think she’s ever seen Nicole look so broken before.

“No,” she says firmly.  “God, no.  You’re the one that’s given that girl wings,Nicole.” 

“I don’t know about that,” Nicole sniffles, smiling slightly despite herself.  “Seems like this Julian dude probably had more to do with that than me.”

Wynonna can’t help but snort.

“Can’t believe Mama bagged herself a fucking angel.”  She barks out a laugh, but then her tone turns darker.  “You deserve your angel far more than she ever did.”

This time it’s Nicole that reaches out and takes Wynonna’s hand.

“Hey.”  She squeezes gently until Wynonna meets her eye.  “We’ll figure this out together, okay?  All of us.”

Wynonna searches Nicole’s eyes and finds nothing but genuine compassion there.  She wants to say something – feels like she should – but she can’t seem to find the right words, so she just nods her acknowledgement.  

Then, as if someone else is controlling her body, she reaches out and wraps her arms around Nicole, pulling her in close.  Nicole feels stiff at first, like she’s notsure what’s happening, but then she relaxes into the embrace, reaching aroundto close her own arms around Wynonna’s shoulders.

They stay like that for several long moments, losing track of the number of heartbeats, before Wynonna pulls back again, looking a little flustered with herself.

“What, uh…  What was that for?” Nicole asks through a lopsided smile.

Wynonna shrugs as casually as she can manage.

“You just looked like you really needed a hug.”

Just then, a pair of headlights comes sweeping into the parking lot, eventually coming to rest on the trunk of Nicole’s squad car, lighting both of them up in the sudden brightness.  The engine cuts out and they’re left with visions of a red jeep swimming behind the sunspots now floating in their eyes.

“Speak of the devil…” Wynonna says, wiping the salty tracks from her own face now.  “Or angel, I suppose,” she adds, nudging Nicole in her ribs with her elbow.  

They both share a laugh as they hop down from the trunk, wiping their hands on their pants and feeling all of the joints in their body crack as they stretch out their weary limbs.  Waverly approaches them slowly, eyebrow raised.

“Am I interrupting something?” she asks, her tone suspicious.

“Nope,” Wynonna hurries to say.  “Not a thing, Babygirl.  We’ve just been waiting on you.”

Waverly eyes Nicole, who just nods along innocently.  

“Riiiight…”

Before she can say anymore, Nicole has closed the distance between them, sweeping Waverly into her arms.  She kisses her deeply, far more than just a quick peck on the lips, before finally pulling back to nuzzle their noses together and eventually letting her forehead rest against Waverly’s.

Wynonna would normally clear her throat or make gagging noises or harass them in some other way, but instead, this time she quietly watches.  Really watches.

Watches the way Nicole seems to draw strength from the simple fact that Waverly is near.  Watches the way Waverly clutches at Nicole’s jacket, keeping her close and present in the moment and steady.  Watches them whisper softly to each other and the way Nicole’s body instinctively relaxes at Waverly’s touch.  Watches the way they both seem to be trying to protect each other at the same time.

She’d meant it before when she admitted to Nicole that she was scared when Waverly fell in love with her.  Scared that Nicole would take her away.  That Waverly would leave her.  But as she watches them now, she doesn’t feel scared anymore.  They were made for each other.  They deserve each other.  And there’s no way she can be jealous of that.  She couldn’t ask for anyone betterto be taking care of her baby sister, and for all of the blustery sarcasm shethrows Nicole’s way, she’s also glad that she has someone like Waverly to takecare of her, too.

There’s been a lot of reevaluating lately.  About what family truly means.  Is it just about blood?  Are they destined to be bound to those who are related to them simply because they share some common DNA?  All Wynonna’s blood brings is a curse of failure and leaving and death.  Generations of Earps had fallen to forces outside their control.  Daddy and Willa had betrayed their family.  Mama had bailed…  twice.  Is that really what Wynonna wants her family to be?

And what about the family you choose for yourself?  She’s not doing much better in that department, either.  She had to kill Shorty with her own two hands.  Dollsleft her to all of this alone, even though it wasn’t the same way Mama had left.  And Doc…  Doc had chosen to betray her, to become the very thing they hunted, all because he couldn’t deal with a little manpain.  

She has Alice, and will always love her.  But god knows when the next time she’ll get to see her will be.  If she ever gets to see her again at all.  Just another piece of family that’s been ripped away from her.

Maybe some things just aren’t in the cards for the heir to a curse that she never asked for.

But then she looks over at Waverly and Nicole again.  Remembers Waverly telling her that she loves her.  Remembers Nicole telling her that she kind of loves her, too.  Remembers Nicole telling her ‘I got you, Earp,’ and actually meaning it.  Remembers Waverly telling her ‘I’m here for you, now and forever,’ and staying with her even though she could have run so many times.

Something clenches in Wynonna’s chest, and she nearly forgets how to breathe.  She does have a family.  And it’s right here in front of her.  Just the three of them against the world.  Her sister, and…  her sister’s girlfriend?  Her…  Nicole?  Her…  best friend.  The words feel foreign in her mind.  She’s never had a best friend before.  Not really.  But she looks back over everything she and Nicole have been through, and she thinks maybe…  maybe this is what that is supposed to feel like.  

Besides.  Something tells her that at some point, she’ll eventually have to start calling Nicole her sister, too.

She doesn’t think that would be such a bad thing.

“You okay?” she hears Waverly asking, and she realizes that both Waverly and Nicole staring at her with raised eyebrows.

Fuck.  Get your shit together, Earp.

“Uh, yeah…”  She clears her throat a couple of times and gives her patented thumbs up.  “All good.  You guys ready to get out of here?” she asks, hoping to distract them.

“Please,” Nicole answers wearily.

“Grab your bag and toss me your keys, Babygirl.  I’ll drive your Jeep home so you can ride with Haughtstuff.”

“You sure?” Waverly asks, her eyes lighting up.

“Of course.  Go take care of your girl,” she says, walking over to kiss the side of Waverly’s head as she takes the keys out of her hand.

“Nicole said she’s starving.  We were gonna stop by Mama Lou’s.”  Waverly’s voice is muffled as she digs through the cab of the Jeep for her bag and her purse.  “You wanna join us before you head home?” she asks when her head pops back out again.

Wynonna glances over at Nicole, not wanting to intrude on their time together, but Nicole nods at her with a warm smile.

“Sounds good,” she admits.  “I could murder a stack of pancakes.”

“We’ll follow you there,” Nicole says as she watches Waverly settle into the passenger seat of her squad car.

Wynonna nods and turns to climb into the Jeep, but stops when she feels a hand on her arm.

“Wynonna…”  Nicole’s mouth opens and closes a couple of times like a fish out of water as she tries to find the words to say.  “Thanks,” she finally settles on.  “I, uh…  I don’t think I could have made it through today without you.”

Wynonna smiles genuinely, no trace of sarcasm or teasing.  Then she shrugs like it’s the easiest thing in the world to say.

“You’re family, Nicole.”

[borrovved]

Off Season

kinda like that one taylor swift song but not really, promise. instead, it involves basketball

jaehyun x reader

have I mentioned I'm a band nerd ;)

word count: 2,405

One of the redeeming qualities about your school was most definitely not the class average attendance or the sports teams lack of winning streaks, but hey, give all the money and glory and attention to them and leave the fine arts kids out of it. Are you pissed? Oh, most certainly.

There's little to no funds for the art class, drama class, choir class, and most certainly not the band. At least it's not like one of those cliche movies where you guys are bullied. It's better, no one pays attention to you. It's honest to God good that no one pays attention to students like you, because the popular kids are always caught up in their own petty shit. The dumbest of all shits. Who sent nudes to who, who started liking pictures of who, who's eating lunch with who, who shaded who on who's Snapchat story. Like, who gives a damn?

You can at least appreciate the pom and cheer squad because it's not like you can dance or do flips like they do, and at least they can win something. The football team on the other hand, is a complete joke. There has not been one single game last year where they've won. Not. A. Single. One. Even after they lose you have to play the fight song. The best part is that you get to play the song really slowly when they get obliterated. Nine points to fifty-four. It's incredibly pitiful.

Even after football season is over, you still have to play pep tunes for your mediocre team: the basketball team. At least they're not as bad as the football team and can come close to winning, and actually do it, sometimes. The girls' basketball team is playing and they're doing pretty well. Ten points ahead of the visitors. It's halftime, you don't know how the hell the game works, but you're having fun. You're singing "Hey Baby" like it's your last (because it is, senior year baby!) and you feel like you're having the time of your life, on this Friday night.

Your friends snuck in some Dr. Pepper into the stands and you have to drink some water first in order to not wreck the insides of your clarinet. You have 15 minutes to yourself, so you head to the water fountain. You make your way out of the gym, and you see Jaehyun and Chittaphon talking to each other in the hall way. You make sure to take a quick peak at Jaehyun in his basketball uniform without being obvious. If the football team's players are a snack, this guy is a whole ass meal.

He's almost six feet tall, has nice, muscular arms, and a lean body. You have history class with him and he sits right next to you, and you have Johnny sitting right in front of you. Jaehyun constantly has his body facing towards Johnny, considering he is his only friend in history. It gets kinda annoying when they don't shut up and Johnny has to ask you what the teacher was saying, but when Jaehyun asks, your heart might just burst.

He always speaks in a soft voice and taps your shoulder when he needs something. One day he needed a pencil, which is unfortunately the one day you woke up late and forgot to wear a bra and pack your regular clothes to change into after 7 AM marching rehearsals, so you sported a wrinkly, loose tank top and running shorts the whole day.

"Hey, I left my pencil bag at home while revising for the Socratic Seminar, do you have an extra pencil I can borrow?"

Your eyes widen and you always get shocked when he asks you for stuff instead of Johnny, because it's not like you guys are close or anything. It doesn't help that the teacher put the air conditioner on full blast and his warm, soft fingertips leaves your shoulder and heart ablaze.

"Y-yeah! I only use mechanical pencils so I hope you don't mind." You bend down and start digging in your backpack only to hear Johnny snicker in front of you. At first you ignore it because it's Johnny, and the little (pretty gigantic) shithead laughs at everything, like the pictures of nude statues your teacher took during her trip to Italy. It's only when Jaehyun tells him to "stop staring" when you realize what exactly he's laughing at. It's also then that you realize Jaehyun has a perfectly clear view of the predicament you're in, with the room being cold, you practically giving him a free show, and now that you look down, there's a bit of fake grass down there too. When you're in marching band and have to rehearse every morning for two hours, bits and pieces of the turf from the football field starts to collect in your clothes and then you end up having your own little football field.

Damn, do wish I could choke on those turf turds and never have to think of this day ever again. But no, it gets even better. Jaehyun is polite enough to look at the board and pretend whatever happened just now didn't, and when you finally hand him your pencil, he does something that makes your insides turn in twists and makes your cheeks and ears feel hot. He takes off the jacket he has on and drapes it over your shoulders, and gently places his thumb on your collarbone to sweep the little artificial blade of grass off.

Johnny whistles lowly and Jaehyun hits his shoulder hard enough for him to wince, and looks at you with a sincere smile, dimples and all, and says to you "You can wear the hoodie all day if you want to, I don't need it."

You can't tell if you're living in a fantasy at this moment and you just stare at him and say, "You can keep the pencil all day too." You must be seeing things because you see a faint rosy color collect on his cheeks.

After using the water fountain, you're lost in thought about what happened that day and how dreamy and cliche it all was. You're still lost in thought, and when you turn around you bump into someone, with your face burrowed into someone's (might you add) strong chest.

You look up and almost come stumbling down after being taken aback that Jaehyun is the one you bumped into, and he has a strong hold of your arms to keep you steady.

"You okay there?" You like to consider yourself level headed and not easily swooned by a cute face, but his parted hair and sparkly brown eyes is making you melt, and your band polo is just making you warmer as each second passes while his arms are still around you.

"I'm okay now." You smile hoping that he would just let go already because you are this close to sharting yourself. He puts his arms to his sides and steps aside from you to let you go around him and he gets to the water fountain. You're walking away as fast but casually as possible when you hear him talking to Chittaphon again.

"For a band nerd she's kinda cute, huh?"

"Ten, shut up."

"So you do think she's cute!"

-

The girls' portion of the game is over, with a tie in the end. The boys are up next in ten minutes.

You come back sweating just a teensy beensy bit after the awkward encounter into bumping into Jaehyun, trying to act normal as you slide into the bleachers next to your best friends Doyoung and Yeri. Yeri hands you back your clarinet paying no mind to your expression. Doyoung doesn't miss the flushed look on your face and pesters you about it.

"Did you see him or something? You look like a tomato."

"Thanks Doyoung. Yes, I did. It was awkward and I don't want to think about it." Yeri's ears perk up and faces her whole body to you.

"Well, now you have to, spill." She says. You try to keep your eyes on the leaderboard but instead have it locked on Jaehyun, seeing him stretch.

"You're drooling dear." She giggles. You hit Yeri in the arm and Doyoung laughs.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Guys, the game is about to start." Doyoung whispers. Your band directors have been keeping a close eye on the band to see if you were paying attention or not. Not because they care about the game necessarily, but because playing pep tunes in time the home team scores a point is important. "Loses the effect" if you're seconds late he says.

All these games you've been forced to go to as a band student never interested you, and you never understood what the hell was going on anyways. The only interesting thing was seeing Jaehyun score points.

"You're being so obvious." says Doyoung.

"Suck my left ass cheek." you say in response.

"You fucking wish." You hit him in the arm and Yeri just laughs. You don't know where you would be without your companions.

-

The game ends with the boys' team winning (about time.) By then it's 10 pm, you're tired, your friends are tired, and you have a clarinet lesson tomorrow in the morning. You just want to skidaddle outta there as fast as you can, but thank goodness you took your time walking and talking with Doyoung and Yeri, otherwise, Jaehyun might've missed the chance to talk to you.

You shoot daggers at Doyoung when you hear him snicker. Yeri gives you a thumbs up while they both watch you gawk at Jaehyun. That boy is truly Adonis reincarnated, hell, perhaps even better.

"I wanted to say sorry for bumping into you earlier and-" you blink back in surprise. Shouldn't this be the other way around? You were the one daydreaming and being distracted.

"I'm sorry to interrupt Jaehyun but, I feel like I'm the one that should apologize. I was the one spacing out and bumped into you.”

“To be totally real with you, I just needed an excuse to talk to you, regardless if it’s your fault or not...which I don’t think it is anyways, but I digress.” you just blink blankly at him.

“Uhm..okay. What is it you wanted to say?” you ask.

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Yeri smacking her hands and jumping up and down with Doyoung trying to grab her arm to make sure the two of them are out of sight of Jaehyun so they don’t embarrass you. You’ll need to thank Doyoung later.

“I’m really flattered, but why me exactly?” Now it’s Jaehyun’s turn to stare at you blankly.

“Because you’re cute, for one, and you seem like a good time. I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while but couldn’t find the guts to actually ask.” he laughs under his breath while scratching the back of his head.

“Yes.” you say.

“Wait, what?” he says dumbfounded. It physically hurts Doyoung to overhear how slow you guys are to put two and two together and realize you like each other already.

“Yeah, I’d actually love to go on a date with you.”

Jaehyun smiles that precious dimpled smile and says “I’ll text you when I’m picking you up.”

“You know my number?”

He chuckles awkwardly. “I had to ask one of your friends for it because of how shy I was.” You whip your head around to see Yeri and Doyoung scurrying off to the band room. You really need to thank them later. Perhaps yell at them for giving out your private information like that, but definitely thank them.

“I have to get back to my friends, but I’ll reply when you message me Jaehyun.” Before he even has the chance to say anything else, you’re catching up to Yeri and Doyoung to give them a piece of your mind.

-

The next day rolls around and you're a little drained from your morning lesson. Trying to play F above the staff in tune is probably the most vigorous physical activities you've ever done. You can march all day, eyes closed while using backwards technique, but an F above the staff is something else.

The night before was also draining, considering you stayed up really late at night to wait for Jaehyun's text. You figured his friends dared to ask you out, something like that, because why would a boy that handsome and popular ask you out? Fortunate, very fortunate, that you didn't fall asleep just yet, because when 12:30 AM rolls around, that's when you hear the high pitched ping.

Jaehyun: sorry for texting late! I hope you're not asleep or anything. I just got back from having celebratory pizza with the team. :P

You: Nah, I was just scrolling through my phone haha, I sleep super late because of band and procrastination. Also, don't you have an iPhone? Why are you using regular emoticons lol

Jaehyun: :D well I'm glad you asked. I just find them cuter lmao

Jaehyun: Like you

You would like to think you're a reasonable person. A reasonable person who sees a good opportunity and takes it. This moment is an example of a good opportunity to flirt back. Did you do it? No, instead you were spazzing out on your bed while texting in the group chat for you, Yeri, and Doyoung about the screenshot you just took of the convo with Jaehyun. Precious time spent on spazzing was wasted. A winky face would have sufficed, but no, you just had to react like any teenage girl in some dumb book. Jaehyun changes the subject after exactly 6 minutes of waiting for your reply.

Jaehyun: Does 6 pm sound good for our date?

You: totally

Definitely didn't sound like a surfer just then

Jaehyun: (typing)

At this moment, Jaehyun was deciding whether or not to call you babe and say goodnight. He was typing for so long that you started to panic (for no reason at all.) If your heart wasn't already racing any further, good thing Ten was sleeping over at Jaehyun's and leaning over his shoulder the whole time, because he pressed send.

Jaehyun: That's cool, see you then babe. Night :)

Needless to say, Yeri and Doyoung were blowing up the groupchat after your screenshot.

A/N: what do you guys think? please send commentary, it would mean very much! I’ll be making part 2...at some point.

[brownstonearmy]

2020-04-24: A Party You Can’t Refuse

July 21 (Tuesday morning)

The rainy weather of the past few days has given way to a fair summer morning with light cloud cover. Our band of intrepid adventurers has once again converged at SHART HQ for their newest assignments. Dave has been training Bob (the slightly damaged monodrone modron from Mechanus) to do some work as a receptionist and document service requests from the citizens. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Bob doesn't quite grasp the concept of what is an appropriate request that requires SHART's attention. Dave informs the party that someone has requested their presence at a birthday party in a few hours.

Normally Dave would disregard cases that don't require sanitation expertise, but Dave isn't about to let some poor kid get disappointed. But the rest of the service request isn't very helpful. Aside from identifying the birthday boy as Alston Cormellis and giving his address, there's no information about his age or even what the party is supposed to do at the party.

Do they need to bring a gift? Nobody's sure, but Lucky has an idea for a surprise gift. When asked as to what the gift is, she declines to specify, probably because the party would try to talk her out of this particular surprise. Spleenifer suggests making a doll, or perhaps bringing some goats along to make an impromptu petting zoo. The party's appearance is requested just before noon, giving everyone about an hour and a half to get prepared. Lucky and Spleenifer use this time to change in to appropriate clothes, with Lucky putting on actual clothes underneath her magical ones, and Spleenifer going on the Minor-Goat-Retrieval-Quest-of-Tuesday-Morning.

Meanwhile, Q (who goes by Sparkle today) and Norm set off to the address to do some recon for the situation. Sparkle is wearing their finest sparkly purple tunic and fuzzy pants, though the warm July day causes Sparkle a small degree of regret for choosing the fuzzy pants part of the outfit. The walk to the party's location is only a few blocks to the southwest, just past the Brownstone Park Memorial Grotto. As the pair walk past the park, they notice several shadowy figures congregating around central statue in the small park. The shadowy figures scatter as soon as they are seen.

A moment later, Norm and Sparkle arrive at address where the party will soon be taking place. It's in a poorer part of town, outside a tiny house next to a run-down stable where horses are shoed. A woman who looks like she hasn't slept in a few days is flitting around an improvised table made from stacked crates while Alston the birthday boy wanders around. But before Norm and Sparkle can approach, a halfling dad and his daughter pass nearby. The halfling dad is low-to-middling level crime boss in the City Runners gang named Average-Size Tony. Norm recognizes Tony as a potential source of intel for the next steps in Norm's secret investigation of the drug trade after the incarceration of former Devil Boys distributor, Magic. Average-Size Tony walks up to Alston's mother and gruffly reminds her that under no circumstances is anyone allowed to enter the house until he's done, then gives his daughter a kiss on the cheek and sends her to play with Alston.

Once the coast is clear, Sparkle and Norm introduce themselves to Leah Cormellis, Alston's mother. She's grateful for everyone appearing on such... SHART notice (no, I will not apologize for that pun). Norm and Sparkle start discussing business with Leah, and asking some questions about Alston's preferences. Sparkle mentions possibly getting King Chonk to attend as an honored guest and also that they were the performer behind the famous song about King Chonk. Leah is interested, and Sparkle wonders if this might turn into a "flirty single mom" situation. Before excusing herself, Leah mentions that she was able to scrounge together some cake but she would like there to be some more food for the kids if it's not too much trouble.

The time of the party draws nearer and the (adventuring) party reconvenes again. Spleenifer's got her goats, and Lucky knows some folks who might be interested in catering the event. Yep, it's the Folks From The Yolks, Kosja and Turalisoth! It's not too difficult to find a wandering house on the outskirts of town, and Kosja is more than happy to have the opportunity to test her experimental cooking on soft-skins. The lizardfolk in disguise have recently discovered the soft-skin food called "cheese" and wish to expand their menu offerings before opening up a proper restaurant. Lucky hops in the house and directs Kosja where to park for the party.

As the house lumbers over to the party site, Lucky sees an unusual covered wagon parked outside the farrier's stable with a sign on it that says "JUICED! Energy Drinks". Lucky helps Kosja get set up and start cooking, but the resulting food doesn't smell too appealing to non-reptilian sensibilities. With some tactful suggestions for possible improvements, Lucky gets the culinary ship sailing in the right direction.

Spleenifer shows up to house with her goats and tethers them to the chicken legs of the lizardfolk's mobile home. Norm appears in clown garb and starts up a juggling act. As Sparkle is setting up, they notice more shadowy figures congregating on the perimeter of the party site. Children start arriving, but the lurkers on the periphery keep on lurking. Sparkle recognizes the street urchin nicknamed Nosebleed hanging out with the lurkers, intensely watching Alston's house. Sparkle walks up to Nosebleed and questions him about what's going on.

Nosebleed informs them that his friend, Pokey, is in the house. Pokey is an older kid in the Devil Boys gang who started running drugs when Magic got busted. But Nosebleed saw Pokey get beat up and kidnapped by some goons from the City Runners gang. Sparkle tells Nosebleed to enjoy the party and go back to working at Robin's ranch when it's over. Sparkle promises Nosebleed that Pokey will get rescued one way or another.

While this discussion is happening, Spleenifer's goats are getting a lot of attention in the makeshift petting zoo. One kid gets a big chunk of their shirt eaten by a hungry goat, but the kid didn't seem to mind. Norm's act gets more interesting when he incorporates knife juggling. And once the lizardfolk start prepping their next dish, Cool Cheese Soup, Lucky wades into the party entertainment gig with an impressive display of blindfolded knife-throwing.

Lucky conjures up a floating target and starts slinging knifes. She gets two bullseyes, one right after the other. And for the finale, Lucky asks Alston what his favorite animal is. It's an Owlbear! Lucky throws another knife, which ricochets off of multiple surfaces and still manages to hit the target. Alston claps with excitement, but wants to know if he can ride in the walking house with Lucky's friends. If the lizardfolk say it's okay, it's okay with her. Alston races over to the house to get permission, and Tony's daughter, Meri, chases after Alston.

As the two children are clambering up the ladder into the house, a bloodcurdling scream erupts from inside of Alston's house. The scream startles some nearby horses and Spleenifer's goats, which in turn startles the lizardfolks's home. The walking house lurches off as fast as it can, and Spleenifer's goats are still attached to the legs. The cauldron of cool cheese soup spills all over the children, and the partygoers on the ground start a food fight with the globs of partially-melted cheese.

Average-Size Tony emerges from the house to ask just what the heck is going on, only to get rushed by the Devil Boys under the cover of the food fight. Sparkle grabs Nosebleed before he can enter the house and convinces him to stay out of the fight. Meanwhile, Spleenifer is trying to untie the goats, but the rope refuses to budge. So she tries her backup plan, which is to attempt to ride one of the goats and untie their collars.

Except that doesn't work as planned, either. Her long legs trip up one of the goats and the both fall prone to the ground, but the rope breaks for that goat and thus both are safe... For now. Lucky casts Misty Step and teleports into the rampaging house, but it triggers a wild surge and she ends up covered in flakes of rust upon her arrival. She looks for a way to convince the house to stop running, and finds a perfect little pressure point that stops the house from fleeing. Lucky cleans up Alston and Meri with some trusty prestidigitation and sends the pair back to the ground.

Back in Alston's house, Norm sneaks inside and hears the sound of a scuffle coming from behind a cracked door. Average-Size Tony is giving out free samples of halfling Kung-Fu to three other Devil Boys while another kid whom Norm recognizes as Pokey is tied to a chair and bleeding. Norm uses some of his flash paper to temporarily blind Tony while Sparkle sneaks in to untie Pokey. As Sparkle is working on this task, she sees that there isn't any men's clothing in the house. Maybe Leah is single and available?

Alston runs into the house with Lucky following closely behind. It's finale time! Lucky polymorphs Alston into an owlbear and directs him to sit on Tony, which he does. While Tony is pinned, Norm takes out a knife and makes a deal with Tony: give up knowledge about the Devil Boys leadership in exchange for Tony being able to keep on living. He readily accepts the offer and spills the beans on everything he knows.

Spleenifer, having finally gotten the goats under control and joins the rest of the party inside the now-trashed home. She has many questions, such as whether it's socially acceptable to the collect a poop sample from an owlbear at a birthday party. Lucky politely discourages that plan since that owlbear is actually the birthday boy in disguise. She conjures up a little birthday hat and places it on the owlbear's head to emphasize her point. Lucky and Sparkle clean up and repair the house to better-than-new condition.

Pokey tries to sneak away, but Sparkle flags him down and tries to get some more information out of him. He reports that he was attacked by the City Runners and they offered him a lot of money to flip from working as a distributor with the Devil Boys to helping launder money for the City Runners. He refused, and that's why Tony started beating him up even more. The City Runners were using a terrible energy drink called JUICED! as their front for laundering money. Sparkle and Pokey loot the JUICED! wagon behind the house, and Sparkle uses some of the coins to help out Robin's ranch and also to give a monetary gift to the birthday boy. Sparkle also grabs a few energy drinks for fun and research purposes but doesn't consume them.

Once the house is cleaned up, Pokey takes the empty JUICED! wagon and lights it on fire in the middle of the street. Spleenifer offers one of her goats named Marge Thatcher as a gift to Alston. You would be forgiven for thinking that "Marge" is short for "Margaret," but it is actually short for "Margarine" and the "Thatcher" part of the name comes from the goat's propensity to munch on thatched roofs. Norm relieves Tony of all his ostentatious jewelry before letting him go.

The adventure concludes for the evening and everyone advances to the next level. Stay tuned next time for more!

[the-blueberry-jellyfish]

Lets spread some positivity!! Why not tell us about 3 of your favourite artists/writers/bloggers!! Let them know why they're so great!! 💖💖

Oh goodness. Yeeaahh can’t do just three c: but I’ll try to keep things short. Maybe.@yourfriendlyneighborhoodspork They’re my irl sibber, a heckin’ good artist, and a super sweet/supportive person c: They have such freaking cute ocs and i looove them.~ And Namazzi is a cute little shart, so you should visit Spork’s blog if for nothing else than to go bug Azzi with questions lol. GO.

@tirasanySorrynotsorry but i love Tira’s stuff so, so much lol. all the ocs are just. yes. good. They’re all designed so well and the art is freakin’ grreeeaaaat. HHHHH.10/10 real good. Not to mention, Tira’s super nice c: So go to her blog. Cherish her and her lizzers. NNNNow.

@sear7sear-seasHHHHHHH. I love Sear’s art~ It’s just. so dang good. It’s so pretty and his style is amazing. It’s a gift you can give to yourn neyeballs today. And them ocs? They gOOD. PLUS he’s freaking rad? and super chill? A good bean.

@friku8706Friku? Is? So? Freaking? Nice? like omg. Such a sweet and supportive bean !! And she’s got a handful of super cute ocs ! I love them aaall. And then she posts cutesy art and goooood writing and is just ??? a good, positive blog to follow c:

@littlepukuHER ART MAKES ME SO HAPPY like aaaa. It’s freaking adorable and so soft?? I live for it. Got some 10/10 great ocs. And then Puku’s so dang sweet too, like??? hhh. A pure bean c:

@negakuuraMaggie has,,, a horde of lizzers and I love them all. ALL. They’re cute and unique, and the style is hhhhh gOOD. THE ART IS AAA. Underappreciated, I feel like and I dont?? understand?? why?? And then Maggie’s like… so nice and cool. (is that lame of me? lmao. like “hh so cool”) A good bean!

@coldphoenixAnother super supportive person right here! :0 She’s so nice??? Like. I feel like she tries to make sure everyone’s okay and just, like, cares a lot?? And then she’s got gooood ocs, cutesy art, and gooooood writing. I mean, c’mon, she’s got a book, my dudes.~

@astrosaurustyrannusY’all know ‘Stro lmao. THE BIG GAY. A sweet, silly, good bean with freaking cute ocs and greaaatt 10/10 art. Hhh. Like. Wowie man. Idk what you’ve been doing if you aren’t already following her tbh.

And theeen there’s @chibijinebra (great art!!), @theshyesticicle (cuute ocs and goood writing~), @friskyhellspawn (great ocs, grreeat art), @friezadidnothingwrong (freaking good ocs), @captainsealid (gooood art~), aand I feel like I’m forgetting people >.BUT I LOVE EVERYONE, OKAY. lol. Everyone is so talented and sweet!

[leslywood]

EP7: That’s why you are you

“You know I’d do anything for you. I have something to give you, I hope you like it.” Denisha said. She was carrying a gift box. She knew it in her heart she was crazy in love with this girl. Denisha was the type of person that’d do anything for someone she loves, and it could be scary.

“I know :) What is it babe?” Wandy kissed Denisha on her lips while she was washing dishes.

Denisha opened the box. There was a LEVIS shirt. It was from the Pride special edition and hard to find.

“I love it. I don’t have many shirts so.. I’ll wear it everyday. Thank you.”

“Haha you don’t have to do that. I’ll buy you more shirts. You can have everything you want. Just ask.”

“I love you and only you. Please know that.” Denisha’s heart was beating so fast as she genuinely believed what Wandy said.

“I know. I love you too.”

——————————

[Back to the present]

“I’m so sorry that we couldn’t finish our date like we expected. Well, like I expected. Can we go on a second date? I’ll make it up to you :) ” Samy said to Milan. They were sitting in the living room of the beach house. It’d been 10 days since Samy got to the Hornykru beach. After the Erin incident happened their group was the only group that didn’t go back to Leslywood. Samy admitted to herself that it was so peaceful after the other leslywood people left because she hated sharing the beautiful beach with them.

“Sure :) Can you take me to ride a horse? To be honest I’ve never been on a horse before.”

“I-” Samy was hesitating to answer. It was such a thing that she would only do with Bonita.. but as she was thinking that, she looked at Bonita who was talking to Rena in the kitchen. Samy thought “Bonita is probably having a good time with Rena.. but wait that’s none of my business.”

“Sure! Let’s go after we go to the movies. After that we can have dinner together :) ” Samy said to Milan. Well, she deserved a good date with an amazing gorgeous girl anyway.

——————————

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess..” Rena said to Bonita. She knew that Bonita and Carah were not talking to each other and it was because of what happened the other night at Neverland.

“Please don’t say that. It’s no one’s fault. I’m single and you are single. SHE isn’t. She has no rights to be jealous or whatever. I’m just done. ”

“I’m not sorry about what happened that night. I’m just sorry to see you sad because she thinks she still can do that. I know how close you two are and I wish this situation is not going to end your good friendship with her.”

“Yeah.. I hope you feel better though. And I want to thank you, I had a really good time. ” Bonita said.

“I had a really good time too.. but” Rena was hesitating to say something.

“What is it?”

“I think this should be the end of it. of us. I don’t think I wanna be seeing someone right now. I want to focus on myself, my better self. Let’s focus on having fun and having a good time with each other with no string attached.”

“Sure. No need to be worry. Whatever makes you happy. Well, I’d say throwing another party would be a good start but Annabelle is still missing so that wouldn’t be appropriate”

“Should we go help them find her? Luce seems to be very worried. I also don’t want them to think that this has anything to do with Erin. She is our student after all.”

“YEAH alright. Should I call Sa-” Bonita was gonna say Samy but then she realized that Samy was with Milan. She couldn’t say Carah either because they were fighting.

“Sa what? Sa who?”

“Salamanders”

“What???????”

“I mean Blair, Janice and Violet. I call my students Salamanders sometimes”

“Hahaha Weirdo” Rena giggled and questioned nothing because she was so used to everyone’s nonsense.

Bonita called the “Salamanders” and asked them to help her find Annabelle. The Salamanders agreed to meet Bonita and Rena at the living room in the Leshouse.

——————————

[Leshouse-14:00]

“She’s probably with some leslywood student tbh I saw her with a few of them that night.” Blair said. Luce got a lil bit angry hearing Blair say that, but she was too worried to fight with a student at the moment. Luce’s friends who were also in the house tried to comfort her. Luce had been waiting for the police’s call.

“Nah I don’t think so. They weren’t playing with her.” Erin said. Janice and Violet just shook their head because they were so high.

*Nanananana Chanananan La* Luce’s phone rang.

“Hello….. yes”…..… “What??!!! Where is she now??”……….. “Alright thank you I’m coming.” Luce hang up. She was freaking out.

“WHAT DID THE POLICE SAY. WAS THAT THE POLICE” Bonita panicked.

“Yeah.. they found her..”

“Okay alright let’s go everyone” Blair was heading to her car key.

“No no.. you guys don’t have to come. I’ll go alone. It’s okay. Thank you guys so much for helping me. and Erin, I’m sorry for accusing you. ”

“Wait what-” As Blair was about to say something, Luce left the house to her car and drove away.

“Wasn’t that a lil bit weird? Damn I don’t remember selling her my rainbow” Violet said

“Yeah it was weird. Well at least she is fine and found” Bonita said

The Salamanders went up to their room to smoke. Luce’s friends left and the rest was still in the living room. [Bonita, Rena, Erin, Shae, Denisha(Sleeping on Shae’s Lap)] They spent their evening  playing cards and PenguinTrap.

------------------

[hours later]

Later on, Samy and Milan were back at the house after they spent the whole day together at the movies and a restaurant. They saw no one at downstairs so they went up to look for the others at one of the movie rooms.

“I’M BAAAAACK BISHES” Samy bashed in the room uncivilizedly.

“HOLY FUCK SAMY” (Denisu)

“FUCK YOU” (Erin)

“I HOPE YOU HAVE YOUR PERIOD TWICE EVERY OTHER MONTH” (Blair)

Samy scared the shart out of everyone. They were watching a horror movie as Bonita and Rena had suggested. The movie was called “The unholy story of Ashley: Scorpio Origin”

“We are so sorry” Milan said quietly. She was a lil bit scared by the movie (that she wasn’t even watching but only heard a few sentences in the non-ghosty scene.)

“No we are not. What are y’all watching” Samy said

“It’s a horror. The internet says it helps with bonding because when people share the same fear they tend to feel closer to each other. The adrenaline rush helps intensify your feelings towards your friends and family who are watching with you, and no matter how you feel about the movie, you feel like you are having a great time.” Violet said the exact statement she found on the internet.

“So you are saying you guys are bonding without me? Why are y’all like this”

“Well if you hadn’t gone out with Milan, you would have gotten to spend time with us.” Bonita saltily said.

“Yeah Samy. This actually seems nice. Can we join?” Milan didn’t notice the salt because she was too soft and innocent. They joined the kru and they all ended up sleeping in the movie room together.  

—————————————

[3.30am that night, at the airport]

I guess this is the best way out

Carah thought as she was catching the flight.

—————————————

The End of Leslywood Season 1